As it became more and more apparent over the course of the weekend that Arsene Wenger’s intention is to stay at Arsenal, I thought to myself, ‘I wonder when we’ll start seeing the stories about potential summer transfers’.
Lo and behold, they’re everywhere this morning. The Telegraph says:
Arsene Wenger is preparing for a summer overhaul of his failing Arsenal squad in a defiant attempt to end his historic tenure at the club on a high … plans are being made with the Frenchman for major on-field changes this summer.
And in the Mirror:
Arsenal have already drawn up a list of transfer targets, with Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette, Monaco sensation Kylian Mbappe, Borussia Dortmund’s Marco Reus and Celtic’s Moussa Dembele among their targets up front.
Hugely sought after young talent Kylian Mbappe? Check! Marco Reus klaxon? Check! It’s so utterly predictable as to be beyond laughable. The Mirror article continues:
There will be a major shake-up of the squad, big changes behind the scenes – they want a new Academy director and in the longer term a director of football – and an expectation of Wenger being able to take the club ‘to the next level’.
Next level? Check! People are talking about a sporting director? Throw that one there too! All that’s missing is some indication a retired legend might be appointed to the board to add some ‘Arsenal knowledge’ to the mix.
At least that piece references the potential/probable departures of both Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, which makes it even more ludicrous that a summer splurge from the Arsenal ‘war chest’ will somehow make things better.
Those two players were signed as the club loosened its purse strings, boosted by big new sponsorship deals and increased television revenue, to bring us to the next level. They were supposed to be the start of a new era in which we could compete for the best players in the world and compete properly for the Premier League while making some headway in the Champions League.
Now we have a situation where the futures of both are very much in doubt, and despite noises about keeping them for the final year of their contract, we know what will happen. Arsenal simply cannot afford to let two players of this value go for free, and history tells us that if they do go they’ll be sold for a much lower price than we’d get if they had longer left on their contracts.
Heading into the final 12 months is discount time, baby! We might something get close to what we paid for Sanchez, given he’s having a brilliant season in terms of productivity, but your guess is as good as mine when it comes to Ozil. I think we have to be suspicious of his situation, illness and mystery injuries are hard to disprove but as I said yesterday he’s featured in just two games since his agent’s quotes about him feeling scapegoated. It’s difficult not to think the two things are connected.
So, you lose your two star players, and what does that say about you as a club? The men that were supposed to be transformative have bailed on the project, and leaving aside the financial aspect for a second, the reputational damage it does is surely significant.
If you’re trying to bring top players and you can tell them, ‘Come join this team, play with Sanchez and Ozil and help us win things’, that’s a real draw. Now, players will look at the two of them leaving, having given up some of their prime years to a club which never competes for the league or in Europe, and think twice – at least.
Then let’s look at the financials. There’s talk of £100m being available to the manager to spend to help rebuild the squad at take it to ‘the next level’. Well, lets go back to last summer, shall we? Here’s what we spent:
Granit Xhaka – £35m
Shkodran Mustafi – £35m
Lucas Perez – £17.5m
Rob Holding – £2m
That right there is the guts of £100m, and those are players you’re adding to a side that already has Ozil and Sanchez. If we can spend that amount to augment a team with those two and not make it any better, what suggests spending it to replace them will make things improve?
Aside from all that, does Arsenal look like a place you’d want to go if you were a genuine star player, or even a promising young talent? A manager under intense, relentless pressure, and one who is struggling to get his team to do the basics. A club that is underachieving on the pitch and that has been embarrassed in the Champions League. The relationship between fans and the club strained very badly. Protests, an atmosphere that is increasingly toxic, divisions in the fanbase, banners, planes, plane conspiracies, and the people at the top of the club seemingly blind to the reality of most of this.
There was a very interesting bit in the Guardian piece yesterday which reported on Wenger’s intention to sign the new deal (and as I’ve said before, it may not be a question of signing it rather than announcing it has already been signed):
The view from behind the scenes has been consistent – that the seemingly vast swath of fans across social media that would like to see Wenger go is not representative of the whole support.
Look, there’s nobody with the slightest bit of common sense who would say that social media is a good barometer for what the majority of people think – whether that’s football or anything else. But to think that it’s only a vocal minority on Twitter or Facebook who want things to change is haplessly misguided, and if they genuinely think that they have misjudged things very badly indeed.
It only adds to the sense of chaos and detachment that people are feeling. It’s exacerbated by the fact that the information we get is leaked quietly to the press without hearing anything from the club itself – bar Sir Chips statement last week.
Ozil and Sanchez leaving. Money to spend. Top transfer targets. Wenger to take Arsenal to the next level after he signs. People who want change are just a few cranks with Twitter accounts. Drip drip drip, and still we hear nothing from the majority shareholder or the Chief Executive during the most tumultuous period this club has gone through for over 20 years.
Nothing. Absolute silence.
I’ve used this word before, but it’s so utterly craven. If you’re willing to bank a £2m+ salary plus bonuses, you should be prepared to put yourself in the firing line when it’s required – instead they hide behind the jolly-good Chairman and a manager who, even if it’s time for him to go and has played his part in the architecture of this mess, takes all the bullets.
What a mess.
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It’s a mess James and I try to get to grips with on this week’s Arsecast Extra. As well as looking at West Brom we chat about the manager, board, the precarious situation we’re in right now in terms of league position, and loads more. It’s an epic 90 minute episode which you can listen to below, and any shares, reviews, ratings on iTunes etc are very gratefully received.
Download – iTunes – Acast – RSS
Right, that’s your lot, more from me tomorrow.
