In fact it is almost the complete opposite. It seems turmoil surrounds us everywhere we look right now whether it is the transfer debacle of Nasri & Cesc or if we look at the other end of the scale where there are no imminent arrivals; nothing seems right in the Goonerverse.
I am heartedly disappointed with a number of things going on at the moment and the way things have been handled. As such it seems that today’s post is going to mainly consist of me bitching and moaning with very little good news. In fact I’d go as far as to say that this may be an anti-management post. Please don’t get me wrong I am not one for hating on Wenger for no reason and as I have previously mentioned would count myself to be in the Wenger loyalist/overly optimistic camps but there have been a series of grossly mismanaged situations which have reared their ugly heads to make this the worst summer for a long time. Please also do not think this is directed just at Mr Wenger as it is equally directed at the board including KSE and our man with the master plan; Ivan.
So here are breakdowns of some of the situations that have plagued our summer which in my opinion could have been avoided.
1. Nasri situation – In my opinion easily the most avoidable. How on earth has our beautiful club let one of our top players run into the final year of their contract? It is a question I have asked myself but unfortunately this is not the first time which makes this one so much worse. We did the same with Edu and Flamini which begs the question, why is it happening again. Alright, I know the situations were slightly different, particularly with Flamini. He didn’t really perform until his final season. However I just do not understand the logic of letting someone leave for free. If Nasri now stays he will cost the club in the region of £35million. That is just for one season. A break down of the figure is: £3.1m on wages, £22m in potential transfer fees we would miss out on and a very conservative estimate of £10m to replace him next summer. £35MILLION for one season! It is absurd for Arsenal fans to think we would spend anywhere near that on a new addition, but to keep a player who wants to leave it apparently makes footballing sense according to Wenger and the board. If we let him go this season for the oft mentioned fee of £22m and a replacement was bought in for even £20m we would still be in the green. I don’t understand how we can be so frugal for new acquisitions because we don’t have “oil money” but he can afford to be so careless regarding a player in his last year.
Solution: Pay him the extra money to sign which he doesn’t deserve or sell him NOW!
2. Cesc situation part 1: Barcelona’s shameless pursuit – No human can deny that Barcelona have revealed themselves to be heartless, classless and truly disgusting, vile creatures all the way from the hierarchy to the players. They have relentlessly tried to unsettle a player whilst not actually doing anything to buy him aside from ridiculous offers only designed to lower the asking price. Worst of all this has been allowed to happen and has seemingly worked. It looks like we are not risking injury to Cesc at the moment to not scupper the deal. I feel something may happen this week. Could this have been avoided? An unequivocal YES! A strong management team would have clearly said, “Meet the asking price by August 1st or do not bother”. But we do not set such deadlines for we like to be bent over and raped with our pants on. We should have told them to swivel and told Cesc to get on with it. Surely, if he knew he was staying in August we would not have seen the disgusting behaviour that has ensued. Taking me on nicely to…
3. Cesc situation part 2: Sulky McSulkison – To say that Cesc has played a game this summer is stating the obvious. He has not spoken of his desire to leave publically and has shown up for the photo opportunities such as members’ day like a good little boy. However behind closed doors it is becoming apparent that he has sulked, moaned and bitched (a little like this post) his way out of the managers plans for pre season. He has managed to disgrace himself when he was previously untouchable. Not playing in the Emirates cup, leaving at half time on day one and looking about as happy as a kid that has just found out Father Christmas is not real.
He has managed to make it almost impossible to keep him and to be honest even if does stay it will be interesting to not only see how he responds but how we respond. I am not one for booing my own team but would not be surprised to hear some boos come his way. Who would have thought it even a month ago?!
Solution: Sell him for the right money or make him play and strip him of his captaincy.
4. Not investing in the club – The man, Ivan, who always says the right things promised a busy transfer window. He assured us of tireless work to ensure we sign the greatest talent across the globe to improve our beloved Arsenal. Wenger always remained more cautious. Even whilst declaring a busy summer of new arrivals he only mentioned “two quality signings”. That is really not that busy Mr Wenger. To be fair to him we did already sign Jenkinson at that point so he may have been referring to 3?! Hmm. This is even more worrying considering the apparent imminent departures of two of our creative lynchpins. Now not only will we have to sign TWO players to replace them but also another “super quality player or two” to improve from last season. Let’s face it, even if these two players were happy and were both staying, at the start of the season we were still looking for significant investment in the form of 3 or 4 players. If we now sell them we are looking at 5 to 6 players arriving and I think we all know that is not going to happen.
Even if we do reinvest the money that we get for selling Cesc and Nasri, even if it is a significant portion of it on great players, we will still not be any further forward when compared to last season. We will have (I am assuming) even less experience and will be back at the stage we were at the beginning of the summer plus Gervinho & Jenkinson, still in dire need of strengthening. I fear though, and am even willing to go as far as to say that I can guarantee that, even if we sell both Nasri and Cesc we will only buy one player to replace them. Maybe, just maybe, if we are really lucky we will get a defender as well but I wouldn’t hold your breath. This is just made worse by Wenger’s assertion that we have real quality that can challenge for the league. Yet at the end last season Ivan declared that we needed to strengthen. It is all very bizarre and something that could have been avoided. Had the club said clearly we will look at only bringing in 2 or 3 players and there will be no major overhaul at least our expectations would be in line with what has happened. I know PR is not our strong point but with the phrase “busy summer” brandished and in turn taking off in the media, the inevitable link to almost anyone with a pulse and a professional contract made our lack of activity harder to take. There is still time but it is getting past the stage where it is likely so we shall see.
Solution: Sell them as soon as possible and replace them adequately and quickly. Then buy two more quality players to add to the squad in time for the start of the season. Unlikely now, eh?
Now if we were a bit more proactive and sorted out some of these situations a lot earlier, it wouldn’t seem as if all is lost. We would be looking at one of the most exciting Augusts’ in memory. We have a month which includes a visit to Newcastle, hosting Liverpool and Udinese (Champions League), then travelling to Old Trafford and finally continuing our travels into Italy for the return leg. Had we sorted out our squad it would be an august which would have all Gooners licking their lips however I fear it has instead left many a Gunner filled with doubt and yet more trepidation about the coming season.
On that gloomy note, I bid you farewell.
Tune in tomorrow.
Goonerverse
No comments:
Post a Comment