Arsenal season review: Victor Wanyama's agent's ugly truth, and transfer targets

The second half of Arsenal’s 2012-13 season was characterized by scrappy 1-0 wins. Though fans lapped these up blindly, proclaiming “1-0 to the Gunners”, and Wenger claimed his bunch of players to have “character, desire and hunger”; the plain fact of the matter was that after starting each game with high energy, Arsenal were not able to add the kill games while playing teams stationed in the lower half of the table.

A season review of the team would show the defence to have passed in flying colours, goals coming from varied sources in attack, and the centre of midfield be graced by some of the best passers in Europe. But apart from end of the season stats, a match by match review would have shown that the Gunners flattered to deceive.

Thomas Vermaelen has received heavy criticism for his lacklustre captaincy and total drop of form; and rightly so. Koscienly was declared as one of the ‘players of this season’; and considering that the Frenchman was out injured for the better part of 5 months, Vermaelen’s role with Mertersacker at the back stands out to be far more crucial. The fans obviously feel let down by their captain, who despite being error prone last season too, had shown the desire to excel in adverse conditions.

Another temporary bump was Theo Walcott’s contract issue, and the fuss surrounding this was not sorted out till November. And considering the fact that Theo would have been a free agent in January, a typical Wenger-esque contract forced the team members to think it was Groundhog Day. The contract situation definitely caused confusion in the Arsenal ranks, with some members of the squad hoping the worst.

Another blotch which I am sure many won’t agree with was Mikel Arteta’s start to the season. The Spaniard was the main anchorman in Arsenal’s end-season recovery, though keen observers point towards Aaron Ramsey’s influence in this period. The start of the season had indeed seen Arteta struggle to compete in Song’s role. But where Arteta gains in intelligence and positioning over Song, his physicality and pace is nowhere in the same ball park as Alex Song. The oppositions were quick to notice this flaw, and as one can painfully remember from the Norwich and Fulham games in 2012, the bigger centre forward looked to cover Arteta while the quicker No.10 midfielder ran directly at the defence. This happened with the combination of Berbatov-Ruiz and Holt-Hoolahan, where Arsenal dropped unnecessary points.

The unsteadiness in Arsenal’s system ran right to the very end, as the Gunners again held on to a 1-0 lead at Tyneside after Gareth Bale had scored a late winner in a simultaneous fixture. Wild celebrations at the end of the game showed how much the season meant to Arsenal.

What most EPL followers do not realize about Wenger’s era is that he has had to build innumerable number of teams from scratch, and then lost vital cogs at wrong times. The end season transfers of Nasri and Fabregas had meant that Wenger was unable to rebuild, and that the 2011-12 season was fully based on Van Persie’s performance.

This followed by the Dutchman’s sale meant that this 2012-13 season became a rebuilding phase, which in Thomas Rosicky’s recent words “got off to a very bad start”. The Czech international further reaffirmed his continual at the club and said that “no other player would be leaving this summer”.

This season turned out to be a satisfactory show for the Gunners primarily due to their transfer ventures in the last window. The captures of Cazorla, Podolski and Giroud plugged major gaps, only for others to be opened up soon. So it is up to Wenger’s wheeling and dealing in this window to decide the fate for next season.

Areas that need reimbursements are quite clear: Giroud has not been able to prosper as a lone striker so Arsenal needs either a strike partner for the Frenchman or an attacking No.10. Another area that could need an extra hand could be the CB role, in case Pep does swoop for Koscienly.

However, It is the category of the centre defensive midfield that interests yours truly here. Victor Wanyama has been a target for many Premier League clubs including Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, and considering recent reports it is Wenger who leads talks after having communicated with the player’s family. Wanyama’s agent was quite blunt in his statement, though a commission-induced swagger does look on the cards:

“He is still young and I have told him he needs to be careful about when he takes the really big step. I think myself that it’s better that he has a step in between before going to the really big level.

Celtic play nice football. But every competition is different and the English Premier League is the really big one. It’s just a question of what level Victor goes to.

Van Persie went to Arsenal then moved on later to Manchester United. Victor can do the same if he goes to Arsenal. And I believe that is what he wants. He wants to go to Arsenal.”

This statement might have incensed many, but some might have felt their dreaded fears truly come alive. Over the past eight seasons (or as per the recent troll: “Since Mourinho was last at Chelsea” ), Wenger has not won anything, and inspite of the mesmerizing football at times and the constant presence in the Champions League, Arsenal no longer provide the same fantasy football that brought Rosicky, Wiltord and Reyes in their days to the club.

Ironically, Wenger’s very own transfer policy in the past has led to his present choice of players to be second best. And the worse part being that the moment these players get close to their peaks, they prefer to jump on to the ‘next level’. The Frenchman’s signings of Cazorla, Podolski, Arteta and Mertersacker now seem to make more sense, as Wenger ensues that the newcomers rarely have the potential to peak after their Arsenal careers.

But still Wenger always likes his dose of youngsters coming in at the club, and this has seen some low-profile names linked strongly for the positions that Arsenal actually require at the moment.

Clement Grenier: If Sanogo was described in Adebayor’s mould, Grenier’s depiction as the next Nasri would have left most Arsenal fans wishing for the reported deal to have broken down. The young attacking midfielder has drawn praise from Wenger on French Radio, and his style of play has been expertly broken down here. The player has mentioned that “he has made his decision”, and considering that Arsenal and Liverpool were the interested parties, one can guess where a young French midfielder would go. Hopefully Newcastle is off the table.

Ruben Garcia: Yet again we have a young winger, having being extensively scouted by Arsenal earlier, now announcing interest in moving to London. His recent statement seems quite encouraging,:

“Arsenal would be a very nice club and I think it would be great. Things are being worked on.”

The Levante man is a typical Spanish left-winger who prefers to cut in onto his right foot. Coming from the Valencia academy, he became the youngest scorer in Levante’s history.

Having covered most of the candidates who seem to be tingling Wenger’s interests, there now remain only the cases of Wanyama and Ashley Williams. Victor Wanyama is no doubt a quality player as he proved against Barca in the CL, and if sources are to be believed he is another one of those whom Wenger has scouted for the last three years.

Williams on the other hand is the prime go-to player in case the Koscienly to Bayern move does take place. The Swansea captain looks certain to leave the club. A combination of Williams and Mertersacker at the back for Arsenal, would certainly mean an end to St. Totterringham’s Day in North London.

For a moment if we dare to enter an Arsenal fan’s dream land, there are plenty of transfers just about to happen. Strong rumours of Jovetic and Higuain’s moves to Arsenal are piling up, even though Juve’s management has declared a strong interest in the duo; Juventus are Italian champions you see.

Arsenal’s next season in short will be decided way before a ball is kicked in August. And with Jose Mourinho having landed on London shores now, a real battle for capital supremacy is now on our hands.