So with the Champions League final played 10 days ago, and the last round of games around Europe in certain leagues finishing last weekend as well, the European club season, for the majority anyway, is over. And that only means one thing, the start of the ‘crazy season’ with rumours galore and everyone and their dogs and unborn kids and cousins linked to your favourite clubs. Rumours will surface from everywhere, players, agents, super agents, managers, backroom staff, boards, directors, unnamed ‘club officials’, player’s parents, family, cousins, insider sources, spies, the hot dog stand vendor, player’s 3rd cousin’s nephew’s dog’s second owner’s 4th son and worse!
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Here I will try and put down what I think Arsenal needs, a fan’s point of view, as well as mention and try to break down the more serious and stronger sourced rumours and rationalize if we need them or not. And finally will speculate on those who are on their way out.
Transfer requirements-
Knowing Arsene Wenger is knowing he won’t change more than 3-4 players, as any more will change the balance of the team. And honestly we don’t need a complete overhaul of the squad, but adding some experience in the right areas, starting with the center of defense.
You can’t speak of Arsenal’s defense without bringing up the number ’53%’. That is the percentage of our goals this season that we conceded on set pieces. That is much too high and unacceptable for a team that has ambitions to win the title. Now no one expected Vermaelen to miss the entire season, like he did, but it still showed the need for a different set of skills at center half.
Wenger has spoken about Arsenal being ‘naive’ in defense and showing a lack of experience throughout. In a recent interview with French radio station RTL, Wenger has again picked up on these points but also expanded further stating
So we need players who know how to manage this kind of game, which means English players, or players who know the Premier League.”
This is a clear indication of the type of player Wenger is targeting, “English or based in England”. The two center halfs that have been linked with us strongly that fulfill this criteria are Gary Cahill and Samba.
The former of those 2 has been linked with us for an eternity and would check all the right boxes, experience, quality, skill, putting his head on the line for the cause, defensive stability. At the right price, he could be the missing piece that could stabilize the defense. But the important phrase here is ‘right price’. With Kolo Toure given a 6 month ban by the FA for testing positive for a banned substance, rumours are rife that Man City are in the market for a center half too, and unsurprisingly, Cahill is on the top of their list. If this is true, then there is no way Arsenal or anyone else can match what they offer and we may have to move to another target.
That other target being Samba, if news is to be believed. The latest bit of transfer related news doing the rounds is that Wenger has upped his 8m offer for the mountain center half to 10m. Now the opinion of fans on Samba is divided, many believe we need a leader like him, who is tall and can be a major asset against anyone on set pieces, on both ends. Others believe he lacks pace, doesn’t have the technical prowess to play out of defense in the Arsenal way, and will look odd. The player himself has said that Arsenal tried for him in January and were very close to signing him till the deal fell through.
The final target, although not English or playing in England, would be Mamadou Sakho. The frenchman may be young but he has a lot of experience, having played over a 100 games for PSG and over 50 international games for France, at every level. He has also captained every level showing leadership and maturity beyond his years. The player has no major weakness or hole in his game, and his reading of the game and tackling abilities have drawn comparisons with Lilian Thuram, who according to me was one of the best defenders in the world,very classy,calm and collected in the back. His height and aerial prowess also means he can be a commanding defender, which is what Arsenal needs. If this kid continues to develop like he has been, he will be one of the premier center backs in the world in the coming years. Wenger has been interested in him from a very young age and he made a move last year for the player, only for PSG to reject the offer stating they wanted to keep him one more year. The player himself has said that he has a set career plan, and knows where he will move once he leaves PSG, but wants to stay in Paris one more season. But a tempting offer may just rush the club’s hand and the player is known to be a big fan of Arsene Wenger. Having played the last 2 games for the Frace, the qualifier against Belarus and the friendly against Ukraine yesterday, his talent and value will only go up, with many clubs from around the world wanting to spend big money to get him, so this may be the right time to jump to the head of the queue and snatch him up.
The second position i think Arsenal needs is a defensive midfielder. The current ‘backup’ in that position, Denilson “Imawinner” Neves ( and i use the term backup DM very lightly here) wants out, meaning there will be a spot open. With the African Cup of Nations robbing us of Song for a month and a half in january next season, we would need someone who can take his place and the team not missing a beat. The 2 names brought up here the most are Scott Parker and Felipe Melo.
Scott Parker will be on the move this summer seeing how West Ham have lost their Premier League status, and there is a whole bunch of clubs interested in his services. The leaders seem to be Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool. The last of those can offer him the most money, but cannot offer european football, while tottenham manager ‘arry Rednapp, has trained him before and knows the player. They can offer him European football in the Europa League, while Arsenal can offer him Champion’s League football that may be the shiniest dangling carrot in front of him, seeing as he only has a few good years left in his career and this could represent the last chance he has at playing in the Champion’s League again.There are sections of gooners that say that he is not the right man as he was a flop at Chelsea, but the majority agree he would be an ideal signing, especially seeing how the player wants to stay in London. in the 433 that Arsenal deploy, he would fit in perfectly, as he has played and excelled in that role with England. Whats even more comforting is that he excelled in that role with Lampard and a certain young player named Jack Wilshire. So if he were to come to Arsenal, he could develop a partnership and understanding with Wilshire, which would be good for England too, and have a certain Cesc Fabregas play in the advanced Lampard role. this signing would also tick all the essential boxes as the player is a winner (the actual kind, unlike Mr Denilson) and has tremendous heart and will leave everything on the pitch to win, while having loads of experience, both at domestic, european and international levels.
The other player is Felipe Melo, who was a major target for Arsenal, before his switch to Juventus. His first year was a disaster which ended in him being voted the worst player in Seria A, but his second has been much better. It needs to be seen whether Wenger will revive his interest in the player, though he would not fit the ‘based in England’ criteria.
Lastly I think we may need 1 more attacker.
A lot of names have been thrown around, with Benzema,Gervinho,Higuain,Falcao among the most talked about ones.
Benzema would be my ideal signing as he has pace,skill,technique and can finish and create for himself and his team mates out of nothing, all skills that are prime for a striker. He is known to be a bit lazy but with the right tactician, he can blossom, like he did at Lyon. With Real Madrid looking for another attacker and close to sealing the deal for Adebayor, looks like someone may leave, and it could be Benzema.
On the flip side, it could be Higuain too, if rumours are to be believed. Honestly the way he has played, i cannot see any reason for Madrid to let him go, and the latest is that the player himself has said he will stay at the Bernabeua. He was also attracting interest from Tottenham,but really, who would go to them over Arsenal,you really have to be thick *grin*
Speaking of the spurs, they also wanted Falcao if his agent is to be trusted. Now this guy has had a legendary season, scoring at will in europe and leading his team to a Europa Cup win in style, while also scoring in his league. He is a big powerful forward who can play with his feet and his head,aerially gifted, and would be exactly what Arsenal need. The major problem is of course his fee, which will be 30m after his record breaking season, a price Wenger will find tough to pay. Also adding to this, Falcao is a typical center forward, and in a 433, there is only one such spot, which has to be taken by Van Persie seeing how he played the second half of the season. Falcao would struggle on the wider spot and unless Arsenal change to a 442, he would not fit in perfectly.
That brings us to the last of the name i mentioned, Gervinho. He has said his decision will be out this week, and it looks odd on for him to move to his ‘dream club’ in Arsenal. The guy offers a very interesting option. He is a central player who can play wide, loves to dribble and come in, beat his players and score. Unlike Falcao, he could easily slot outside on the wing with Van Persie able to stay in the middle. He has had a very solid season in front of goal, and along with Hazard, was Lille’s best player on the season, where they finally won the league since 1954! The latest is that he has agreed a move to the Arsenal and will sign as soon as the 8th of June, which is just a day away. Watch this space for more!
Many others have been linked to the Arsenal this summer already ranging from Ricky Alvarez to Buffon, Baines, Amalfitano, Canales, Downing,Luis Enrique, Hazard, Hargreaves(??), Izaguirre, Goetze, Grameiro, Jagielka, Per Mertesacker, Olsson, Subotic and Tasci. But these players look less likely to be serious targets, bar Hazard but his club have said they won’t sell him this season.
Officially signed and delivered-
Till now, Arsenal have completed signings of three youngsters with plenty of potential in Carl Jenkinson from Charlton and Jon Toral and Hector Bellerin from Barcelona.
One other youngster that looks set to be on his way to the club this summer is highly rated Southampton forward, Oxlade Chamberlain. The player himself prefers a move to Arsenal, while his father has asked him to follow the path taken by Theo Walcott and join the gunners. The player is very highly rated and one of the brightest and most sought after players in the country. Manchester United are very keen on him but looks like they will have to accept defeat again, like they had to with Walcott and Aaron Ramsey’s signings.
Players Leaving-
Now I have already mentioned Denilson and Bendtner wanting to leave, which works well as they were going to be sold so its best they realize it themselves. Apart from these two, i suspect two more may be on their way out, with Almunia surely having played his last game for the club, and if we get a new center half as Wenger has said a few times, then surely we would let one of the current ones go, as Wenger doesn’t keep more than 4. With Koscielny and Djourou younger and preferred to Squllaci, it looks like the frenchman may just be the odd man out here.
Then there are those that will attract attention most of the summer. Cesc Fabregas will surely be courted by Barcelona and their DNA hungry ‘purists’ all summer, though i don’t believe Barca have the money to get him, but that won’t stop them from trying every underhanded trick in the book.And finally there are the contract holdouts in Nasri and Clichy. The former wants assurances on big signings, and a little more money (hey who doesn’t!) and the latter is negotiating a new contract as well. I personally expect both of them to stay, though Wenger has made it clear he won’t let a situation like Flamini happen again, where the player left for a free transfer, so if these players don’t sign new contracts within the 4-5 weeks, they will in all probability be sold. Players are currently away with their National Teams, meaning nothing will move ahead before the last games of the season, to be played later on this week. I think Wenger will convince them to stay and show them the ambitions by signing a couple of players soon, within this month itself.
So it seems like it will be quite a busy summer at Arsenal this time round, with up to 4-5 players leaving, and possibly 3 new faces coming in. And if its true, we may be celebrating the first of those on less than 24 hours. For now there is a lot to look forward to and I fully expect Wenger to show his genius again, both in the market and in the coming season. I will sign off with the following message for my fellow gooners,
