Arsenal: Maybe the young guns are just too young for glory

While the problem with players like Michu, Benteke etc is that they are quality players who have been shining at mediocre teams (read Aston Villa, Swansea) and thus, they have not tasted success yet. It is the applause of the football clan that has got them the recognition and led the big clubs to sit up and take notice. As it was the case last season with Giroud, who almost single-handedly led Montpellier to a French Ligue title, which in turn saw him donning the Arsenal jersey at England. It must be kept in mind that in England the standard of defending is pretty high. So the free flowing tiki-taka is not a very common sight at Barclays Premier League (BPL). As a result, the debut of Giroud was not a very exciting one. Nevertheless, he made his presence felt by scoring quite a few times. Thus, it remains to be seen what players have done for their respective clubs and can they emulate the same for the Gunners.

If the attacking duo of Rooney and Higuain do turn up at the Emirates, then the attacking lineup of Arsenal would certainly be enviable in the football world. With the likes of Podolski, Giroud, Walcott already in the team, addition of Rooney and Higuain will worry even the best defenders in the game. However, as we know sadly, in case of Arsenal, most of the time the speculations create the bigger news and not the transfers themselves. The story changed last to last season when the team was plagued with injuries and defeats and the condition was in rubble after the 8-2 drubbing at the hands of Manchester United. Damage control was sought which saw the likes of Arteta, Benayoun being bought/loaned to amend the shortcomings. Since then it seems Wenger has let go of its team building policy, and with last season transfers like Podolski, Giruod and Cazorla, all at the wrong side of their 20s, it is clear that Wenger is focusing more on trophies.

Hence, it seems a full cycle has been covered with Arsenal, with the team which was built by Wenger which reached the pinnacles of glory and then after that a sad demise that saw them fighting tooth and nail for a Champions League spot. Now, majority of the players in the team are not Arsenal products with exceptions being Walcott, Wilshere, and Chamberlain to some extent. Arsene Wenger is finally relenting to the pressure of the fans and going for established names as trophies seem hard to come by. The youth policy is off through the windows and Arsenal seems to add firepower to their lineup for their search of trophies. The cycle is vicious, as established players do not want to come to a club which has not seen silverware, and to add silverware the need is felt by Monsieur Wenger to turn to big names than school boys to yield the results. It remains to see whether any big guns will join the club this season, and with that what remains as far more intriguing is whether the Gunners can go with all guns blazing to win back the trophies which seem to have faded into the oblivion.