Buzzin Football

This morning, I was half-way through my croissant and coffee when I noticed a whole article on Arséne Wenger in my newspaper.

“We are one of the ten best clubs in Europe and players who strengthen our team at that period of the season are not available, or at a price we cannot afford.” Arséne stated.

I nearly spat out my coffee. Not to offend fans of Arséne himself, but that’s truly a poor excuse for his lack of involvement in the recent transfer season.

He claims that the amount of money he is allowed to allocate his players is simply too low to attract any good footballers. But surely a £90k a week wage is enough to buy at least a decent striker?

Instead of trying to reason with his board, he’s been trying desperately to gain players like Maraouane Chamkh, and I have no doubt that he was heartbroken when, just hours ago, Chamakh himself said he was not prepared to move, at least not yet.

Many Arsenal fans, alongside non-supporters, are sceptical whether or not Arséne has performed well as manager this season.

Among these are many that also believe that Arsenal are in dire need of fresh new additions to their line-up, especially after Michael Ballack criticized Arsenal’s style of play, describing them as ‘predictable’.

At least Arsenal fans can rest assured that key player Cesc Fábregas, will not be transferring to Barcelona any time soon, despite recent rumours of his leave before the World Cup as Wenger has repeated stated that he still has ‘four years left on his contract’, and he is not prepared to sell him.

Although I deeply respect Arséne for the amount he’s done for Arsenal with so little money, I can’t help but think he’s only looking to buy stars, instead of looking for raw talent.

Arsenal have to adhere to their strict £90,000 a week rule, regardless of whoever the player may be. This means even their top players (Gallas, Arshavin), are on this.
Yet I think, although he might not be able to purchase a top-end player like Lionel Messi, he could definitely reel in some talent with that budget.

And besides, I think another small Arshavin-like player is not what Arsenal needs. What Arsenal needs is a large, powerful striker, to provide Arsenal with that muscle that the team sometimes lacks.

Even if his eyes are only on big names, surely he could sell some players that, frankly, just aren’t up to Arsenal standard (Walcott, Vela), and make an exception to bring in some world-class talent.

However, Arséne is adamant that his budget limit is necessary for the club to function healthily, and I think many people (including myself) respect the fact that he is cautious with his money, as we’ve all seen the effects of excessive spending with Portsmouth’s near-bankruptcy.

Anthony Duong
Guest Writer from GenXXL.com