D-Day has arrived!
After a long and exhaustive summer we arrive at the end of the transfer window and whilst it has been a very mixed bag, despite the recent acquisitions there is still a very underwhelming feeling amongst fans and with good reason.
There are signs that is about to turn around and whilst the arrival of three quality players who are experienced there is every reason to believe more are on the way. Wenger’s priority coming into the home stretch was a midfielder and this has not been addressed. There are many player names being thrown around but as we saw with the arrivals of Mertesacker, Park Chu-Young and Santos anything Arsene does, does not tend to be in the public eye. There is speculation and most of it is just that; speculation but do not be surprised if there are one or two of the names that have been mentioned which we are actively pursuing. It is essential that at least one player arrives in the midfield at the very minimum as this is the area we are the shortest.
Even one player, ideally one capable of taking the creative mantle from Cesc would transform the midfield into a highly competitive force. If you have Jack Wilshire, Aaron Ramsey, Alex Song, Emanuel Frimpong and another high quality, ideally with more experience then you are looking at the basis of a strong central midfield. Our current injury predicament makes that hard to believe but that is a good start. If we add another two, one defensive and one more attacking, then we are looking at a midfield that has the potential to be a force. Of course that is dependant on two arrivals but as I have previously mentioned we are not a million miles away. The outlook of the team would look very different with two high quality players added to the midfield and whilst it is still not ideal given what we have lost, it is clear we will not be too far behind last season in terms of quality.
That in itself is not a good thing as we were all screaming for strengthening of the squad when we fell apart last season but we should still have enough in our squad to qualify for Champions League football.
If my calculations are correct or even close to it seems we still have around £60m - £70m which is more than enough for two world class players. Whether we chose to invest in one, two or even three remains to be seen but one thing is clear, the club, unless some miracle should befall us on transfer deadline day, has not progressed in the way we had hoped in terms of personnel.
That is not to say we cannot perform better than last season at all as our biggest problem against Manchester United was not only personnel but tactical approach and if something is done about this combined with our new additions it is more than possible that we can improve upon last year and potentially win some much needed silverware.
Of course this is all dependant on a willingness to change and one thing Wenger is not famous for is his propensity to change. We have a little over 7 hours to ensure that we not only sort out our inadequacies in the squad but send a statement of intent to all clubs, players and the wider world that Arsenal Football Club is here to stay and nothing is bigger than that.
PS. Happy birthday to Sacchin.. Have a good one!
Goonerverse
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