Arsenal's Incomings and Outgoings an Opportunity Missed?
Arteta is he better?
By Eduardo
September 1 2011
In this analysis I will cover three main areas of our squad changes, financial, first 11, and the squad as a whole.What it cost.Unless you directly profit from Arsenal making a transfer profit, or get some scrooge like thrill seeing the club bank money, the financial facts of our squad changes this summer will not make for pleasurable reading.
Oh what fun we had discussing all summer long, just how much of a transfer budget would Arsene Wenger be given by our new owner Mr Stanley Kroenke. Surely he would want to make a statement of intent, show the fans he meant business. The smooth talking Ivan Gazidis had assured, or should that be reassured, Gooners everywhere, that we had major funds for Arsene to use to bolster the squad. After years of being hamstrung by debt, our time had finally come, albeit not City or Chelsea type funds, but our time was nigh.
It was estimated by the Arsenal Independent Supporters Trust, after analysis of the Club’s accounts that there would have a budget of £35M to spend on the squad (remember new contracts as well as transfer fees and new player wages had to be covered by this), and of course this would be bolstered by any player sales.
So what is the reality?
There was a large turnover of players, outgoing and incoming, I can not recall ever seeing such a turnover of players in my over 40 years of supporting Arsenal.
We sold
Cesc £30M
Nasri £20M
Clichy £7M
Eboue £3M
Traore £2M
Sunu £1M
Emmanuel-Thomas £2M
Loans out include Bendtner, Campbell, Lansbury
Total £65M
We bought
Gervinho £11M
AOC £7M - rising to £12M
Campbell £1M
Jenkinson £1M
Park £3M – rising to £5M
Santos £6M
Mertesacker £9M
Arteta £10M
Benayoun has been brought in on loan too
Total £48M – rising to £55M
So that is actually £10M minimum profit on Arsenal’s transfer dealings his summer. Add that to the £35M transfer budget and we end up with £45M left over. I will share my feelings on this in my summing up at the end of this piece.
The First Team
So we all know who and roughly how much they came or went for, but how does it actually affect the team. We sold 3 first choice (our best 11 when everyone fit) players, Cesc, Nasri and Clichy, and for me we at most bought 4 first choice players, Santos, Mertesacker, Arteta and Gervinho. So number wise that looks like an improvement, but what about the quality, how does the first team compare this season to last seasons.
Well in Szczesny I believe we have solved our goalkeeping woes, yes he still has lots to learn, but he is easily as good as Joe Hart was this time last year(for me he is as good as JH is now), and I think most if not all Gooners would have rejoiced if we had signed Hart last summer. So I’m happy with our goalie.
The defence was the main area of consternation last season, we shipped out Clichy and have now replaced him with Santos, Mertesacker has been signed to add height(all 6ft 6in of him), experience and German know how, Vermaelen is also fit again, so when you add in Sagna we now look like we have a top quality back four. Again I am happy with this.
Midfield is where it goes pear shape for me, Cesc is gone, a truly world class player, the heartbeat of our team, goal scorer and assist king. He has been replaced by Arteta. A good player, experienced FAPL player, he won’t let us down, but he wont, and could not be expected to, do what Cesc used to do for us. Song will be Song, and Jack Wilshere should be an even better player for us this season, so overall weakened, but for me not mortally. Other things like chance of tactics and the use of more of a team game will have to be done so the loss of Cesc does not affect us too much.
Attack is where we also lost one of our leading lights, Nasri. Like Cesc’s goals and assists, we have to replace Nasri’s goals. Thankfully Gervinho has been signed and he looks like he could be a fine replacement. Theo looks like he has goals in him and every Gooner worldwide prays for RVP to, for once, stay fit for an entire season and give us his usual ratio of goals. If he can, it would go a long way to compensating for not only the loss of Nasri but also Cesc. So once again I am happy enough with this area of our team.
The Back Up Players
This has been our Achilles heel for many a year. With our terrible injury record, and our not so good discipline record, and Wenger’s poor rotation policy, far too often and for far too long in recent seasons we have fielded far too poor deputies in too large a number, which was never more evident than in the OT game last Sunday. I am hopeful that our spending spree (5 signed since then) and the promotion of some of our youths, that this problem may not affect us again this season.
Look at what we now have in reserve and it seldom has been as good. Fabianski showed last season that he is a talented keeper who is up to the job. Gibbs is an England international. Koscielny for me is a quality CB and I have full faith in him. We should only see Squillaci in an emergency, he is at best 5th choice CB now, last year he was a regular for half the season, this alone shows this area of the squad is stronger. Ramsey is fit again and now we have signed Arteta, the young Welshman can work his way in to the team gradually and with less pressure. Hopefully Diaby’s operation will have fixed his ankle and we will finally see him stay fit and prove his undoubted ability. Rosicky also adds experience to the midfield backup. We are well cared for in this area.
Our forward back up now includes experienced players like Arshavin, Benayoun and Park, to go with the invisible man Chamakh; we can only hope our Moroccan rediscovers the form he showed early last season. 2011 has not been a good one for him.
Then we add to that experience the youthful exuberance of Jenkinson and Miquel in defence, Oxlade-Chamberlain and the bulldog ready to be unleashed that is Frimpong in midfield and Ryo and Afobe in attack and overall our back up players look much more capable than last season. So again I’m happy with our back up players in all areas, if used right and in the right numbers.
Summary an opportunity missed
Reading my views on the first 11 and the back up squad one would be forgiven for coming to the conclusion that I am very happy with our transfer dealings, after all its full of happy with this and happy with that, but the reality is that yes I should be happy with it all, but I am not, and it all comes back to where we started, the financial aspect of our team/squad building. You see I am delighted with all our signings, for who and what they are, all good players, some very good, but we sold a guy by the name of Cesc, and he was not just a good player, nor just a very good player, no he was an outstanding player, a truly world class player. If he was still here and we signed all we have then I would be over the moon, indeed if we had signed someone as good or even close to being as good (we all know there are not many even close to the level of Cesc) then I would also be over the moon.
But what have we done, we end up Cesc less with £45M in the transfer budget unused. Madness, if we did not want to, or could not find or afford a world class replacement, then at least we should have taken out extra insurance and bought at least one more very good player, we could have gone that extra £5M on M’Vila or Hazard. This would not have caused us any difficulty financially, after all the £35M transfer budget was there to be spent in the first place.
There is only one thing those in charge of this money can now do, that will get them in my good books again anytime soon, and that is use a large chunk of this money to persuade Van Persie, Walcott, Wilshere, Vermaelen, Sagna, Szczesny and Ramsey and others to sign new long term(4 or 5 or 6 year contracts), so that at least we do not have to go through another Nasri like drama again anytime soon, and can build year on year with a constant and settled squad
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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2011:09:03:10:35:34 by Padre Pio.
Although I woudn't be too disheartened, Mancheser Utd never got their marquee target Wesley Sneijder.
With Yossi on a 1 year loan and nobody in the team similar, I would say it's likely that Wenger is waiting for the 'super quality' player to fill that advanced role - I would say he's waiting for Hazard but you never know.
All in all we have spent well, we have experienced leaders and we have a great goalkeeper. Together with a solid centre back this means above anything the media cannot slate us for the 'usual' reason and that alone removes mega pressure of the team, manager and esp the young players!
We will come good this season.
im sure what we have till then will can keep us in contention
Furthermore if you look at the calibre of players we lost, those which the club really wanted to buy (Jagielka, Cahill, Mata, Hazard, Gotze, M'Vila ) and the second/third choice players we ended up buying is further evidence of our diminished standing in the game.
If Eduardo's piece a while back was true and it was a case of Wenger's "super quality" vs the boards fan pleasing signings I think its clear who won out this battle.
Whats abundently clear is that we are now viewed as a second rate club behind the likes of City, United and Chelsea.While they fight it out for the top names in European football, we now scrape around at the last minute for whatevers left on the shelves.
Whats new you might say?Well we were sold "project youth" for the last six years, how our altertnative model to the sugar daddys would create a group of young talented players who would grow up together to compete with the big boys.
Thats now in disarray, the key components gone and the duds with one or two feet out the exit door.
The calibre of player we signed yeterday is a tacit admission by the club that the direction over the last few seasons has failed.
As for using the remaining funds to get a top class midfielder..i ask; WITH ARSENAL LABELED A FEEDER CLUB & UNAMBITIOUS CLUB TROPHY-WISE WHICH TOP QUALITY PLAYER WOULD HAVE SIGNED FOR US ESPECIALLY AFTER THAT HUMILIATING RESULT AT OLD TRAFFORD.. THAT RESULT SORT OF LABELED THIS SEASON TROPHILESS SO WHO WOULD WANT TO ASSOCIATE WITH THAT. when we steady the ship this season we can afford to attract top class again as for now MATA said it all.
Can We Now Trust The Process 🤔🤷🏿♀️ or Should We Still Remain Cautious 🙇🏿♀️
I think we need to push forward with any protests and any pressure being put on the Club and specifically the Board.
I know - we need to get behind the team and these new bos and i agree fully.
The problem and has been all along - if not now when. Every year it's the same - there are always excuses to wait until its too late and then there is no point in protesting. We all know people who say "well, wait till the window closes" then "wait and see how the team does" then "wait till the winter window" then "wait till the window closes" then "wait until we're out of contention" than when that point is reached say "it's hindsight".
We need to put enough pressure on the Board and the media to see what we are saying so the media will question the Board and force them to defend their policies publically.
We should have people raising hell at the Various AGMs and outside Highbury House as often as possible.
Our goal should be as much to get the media involved in asking the queestions that need to be asked of the people who need to answer them as we ourselves trying to do so.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:09:01:18:35:15 by RadioFreeArsenal.
I also do not accept that the majority of them were planned.
The transfer window was handled badly and cynically.
But they have just about shut people up for now. Lets see how the players do but if the performances arent good enough then people are clearly going to jump straight down Wenger and the boards throat again and this will be justified in terms of
a) the lack of any top quality name to replace the two who left
b) the baffling amount of players we let go at the same time as signing a load.
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
Quote:celine dion
these are very conservative signings in terms of quality if not quantity.
I also do not accept that the majority of them were planned.
The transfer window was handled badly and cynically.
But they have just about shut people up for now. Lets see how the players do but if the performances arent good enough then people are clearly going to jump straight down Wenger and the boards throat again and this will be justified in terms of
a) the lack of any top quality name to replace the two who left
b) the baffling amount of players we let go at the same time as signing a load.
Absolutely excellent post and must-reading for any Gooner really.
Look no further than Tim Payton standing outside the Emirates hailing The Arteta siging 24 hours after rightly writning a piece in the Independendt suggesting the business model has to be changed and changed now.
Great post, mate.
However in the cold light of day its clear to me at least that these singings arnt the super quality Wenger wanted to replace the players we lost and the deficiencies from last season rather 3rd or 4th choices on the list of transfer targets.
Furthermore I reckon the board forced Wenger's hand to buy these players to stop a full scale revolt from the fans.
I sincerely hope that the those involved with the supporters groups are not swayed in their efforts to scrutinise the direction this club is taking and the business model currently adpoted by them
We lost 2-0 to Liverpool - booed wenger clapped the team including Nasri.nasri responded by slagging us off.
Man U fans cheered teanm whole game, team slunk off, RvP had to chase them back ot to thank fans.
Its the team that needs to respond to the fans.
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
Despite the loss of Fabregas I think we actually have a significantly stronger squad than we did this time last year (Wenger's so called strongest squad ever) so overall I am happy. The thing that does still grate with me though is the players we didn't sell. Money is clearly a significant issue for us and we are going to be paying millions for the likes of Almunia, Squillaci and Diaby to add probably nothing to the side all season.
on a final note we presently have true leaders now even Cesc wasn't so good in that area (personal opinion) but now we have added captains to our team to compliment TV5 and Szcesny. something we have lacked for a long while.
It would be stupid to pay more than that.
Instead we got Arteta & Benayoun. Not terrible in my books.
Quote:Eboractos
I think you're being overly kind on the likes of Fabianski & Diaby but that's a side issue to the main points you make which I do agree with. Just how have we made a profit on transfers yet again?
Despite the loss of Fabregas I think we actually have a significantly stronger squad than we did this time last year (Wenger's so called strongest squad ever) so overall I am happy. The thing that does still grate with me though is the players we didn't sell. Money is clearly a significant issue for us and we are going to be paying millions for the likes of Almunia, Squillaci and Diaby to add probably nothing to the side all season.
It was alleged that ALmunia wa son 50,000pw.
WHy should ALmunia want to leave Arsenal and taking a drastic paycut by as much as 40%. That is, if anyone want him.
Like Kanu, ALmunia just see out his contract, haapily living it up at Winston Bogarde Suite, getting pay 2.5-mil for doing f**k-up.....ANd bets f all, he can always sign a pre-contract with any club in January and eave on a Bosman in July 2012 with signing-on bonus and better renumeration with "zero trasnfer fee" factor into his salary.
Perhaps, in January, Wenger may allow him to leave on a free.
Similarly, if Miquel develops as expected, tehn Squillaci can also leave on a free in January.
Quote:arsenal009
We were willing to spend 35mln pounds for Goetze, but Werder rejected.
It would be stupid to pay more than that.
Instead we got Arteta & Benayoun. Not terrible in my books.
a) its Dortmund
b) Gotze is the best young German talent except for maybe Kroos and Muller.
c) to tie up a deal for him you arent going to pull it of by ringing up Dortmund 4 hours before the transfer window. We would have needed to start buttering up him and his parents last year.
d) In the context of all current transfers other than Cescs, he's worth 40-45 mil quite possibly.
e) we had no intention of buying him.
I don`t see how you can say that Mr Dion, as long as the media reports are correct. Nobody offers 35m pound with intention of not buying. It`s called doing the spade work.
And also Mr Goetze was not the player he is now, at the beginning of last season. Last season WAS his breakthrough season.
We sell Cesc for 35m, Samir for 25m and buy Mario for 45m?
Since the end of WW1, 1919, when the FA restarted its 4 tier football league, with Arsenal fc in the 1st div, there’s only ever been one club to have never been relegated from Div 1/ EPL.
Arsenal fc
Let’s keep making history
It's called bartering.
There were several targets. But no-one wants to sell.
Wotcha gonna do?
It was showboating, to the fans. If Dortmund had said yes, then our lot would have had a heart attack, because they would have then had to go about sorting our a 5 year 150 grand a week contract. In the space of 3 hours.