Good morning from Dublin where it’s currently -5. This is ridiculous now. The only way this can be deemed in any way acceptable is if we get three months of scorching temperatures in the summer. If we don’t, well, someone’s going to have to pay.
As we head into the second week of the transfer window with ne’er a penny being spent, Ivan Gazidis has reassured fans we won’t be spending much anyway. If we do spend at all. He says:
We won’t be making moves to respond to short-term pressure and we won’t spend irrational amounts of money. But if we can find the right player that can add real quality to the squad, of course we’ll make the right move.
We’re in a good position, but the thing to always bear in mind is spending money by giving it to other clubs for the talent they have, is not necessarily the answer to all issues.
The last part of that statement intrigues me. It’s something he’s come out with more than once. Now, for me the bottom line is this – if you need a striker, then bar some miracle where you find one put out with somebody else’s rubbish with a sign saying ‘free to a good home’, you have to spend money to get one. That means giving money to another club. Similarly, if you need a defender then you go buy one. Or a midfielder or a goalkeeper.
I understand fully what he says about spending stupid money – when you see ridiculous stories about us preparing a €40m bid for an ex-Birmingham striker then you can write them off straight away – however, sometimes the best solution is to spend money. Sometimes the only solution is to spend money. We need a striker. Is Gazidis advocating the promotion of Sanchez Watt ahead of going out and buying one?
I’m all for us spending wisely, I’m all for us getting the best value we can for the best player we can afford, but I just have to wonder about a statement like that at a time when it’s patently obvious to everyone that we need to break out the cheque-book in January. Perhaps it’s been taken out of context a bit but it’s not particularly reassuring – especially when you read about how much the manager potentially has to spend.
Now, speaking of spending, or not spending, there’s a story in the Mirror today which suggests Arsene Wenger is set to re-sign Sol Campbell as a short term solution to our defensive problems. I hinted at this, based on some info I received, at the end of Monday’s blog. It’s clear that Senderos no longer figures in the plans. He’s got a World Cup coming up, he wants to play, Arsenal won’t play him so I’m sure he’s desperate to leave. That leaves us critically short of cover. Sylvester is all we’ve got left and that makes me turtle tail.
Alex Song is capable of playing centre-half but he’s away in Africa. Even if he was here you do the team a disservice by moving him out of the central midfield role in which he has excelled this season. Campbell has been training with us since his Notts County adventure went tits up and he would probably be an easy solution to a problem the manager cannot afford to ignore. On the other hand though, I would have grave doubts about his ability to still cut the mustard at this level. His last Premier League game was on May 24th last year when Portsmouth lost to Wigan.
This season he bizarrely chose to drop down to the lowest professional division, League 2, to play for Notts County. He lasted one game. A 2-1 defeat to Morcombe. Since then he’s been involved in a contractual wrangle with them. He signed a 5 year deal on £40,000 a week. I’m sure it was a very attractive offer but what the fuck was he thinking? It was a nice long contract, decent money to play at a level which wouldn’t be too taxing beyond coping with the huge gulf in quality between Premier League and League 2, and a chance to wind down his career while still being paid well.
What does the fact that he went there say? Were there no other Premier League clubs interested in taking him, despite the fact he was leaving Portsmouth on a free? Why didn’t Portsmouth try and keep him? I know they have big financial problems and freeing up his wages was probably part of it, but when they keep Utaka on £80,000 a week, Campbell’s relatively low £50,000 was probably manageable, especially as they have no defence. Was Notts County the best offer he had and if so what does that suggest about his ability?
Obviously Arsene Wenger has seen him in training and if he thinks he can still do a job then what can you do? Some will ask why we’d eschew the re-signing of Vieira on the basis of not looking back, something he never does, yet re-sign Campbell? Firstly, we don’t know if it’s going to happen, secondly, as Wenger said himself, we don’t really need a player in midfield. We definitely need a centre-half. Personally speaking I’d be surprised if it happened (a surefire sign it’s probably going to go ahead!), I’d be seriously worried that he’s simply not up to the task anymore – and that’s completely leaving aside the cloud under which he left the club in the first place.
The manager’s thinking might be swayed by the fact he’s likely to be able to find a better long-term defensive purchase in the summer, but I would hope that he and his scouting team are at least trying to find a better solution than Campbell. Let’s see what happens.
In early team news ahead of tomorrow’s game against Everton the only addition to the squad announced for the Bolton game is Tomas Rosicky. Cesc is still short but could be back for the Bolton game on the 17th, which would be good news. Arsene’s usual press conference and media engagement takes place today, no doubt we’ll get more on injuries and hopefully a little hint about possible transfers and some more on that Campbell story.
In a brief round-up, Arsenal are going to pay the travel costs for the Bolton fan who tried to make it Wednesday’s game. He says he’s going to spend it on a new cap for his whippet. And Patrick Vieira will join the Arsenal retirement home at Man City. It will make the game in April very interesting. He will get a great reception from the home fans, as will Kolo Toure, which will be in marked contrast to Adebayor who will be made fully aware of what a total cunt he is. It’s a bit sad to see Paddy back in England wearing somebody else’s shirt but Arsenal fans can take comfort in the fact that we got the very best out of him during his time here.
Right so, onto this week’s Arsecast. I’m joined by John Cross from the Mirror to talk about the Bolton game, potential transfers both defensive and attacking, and we get a bit of insight as to what it’s like, from a journalist’s point of view, to cover Arsenal. If you’re on Twitter you can follow John here. As well as that Andrei Arshavin pops in, there’s Talkshite Radio (kinda) and the usual waffle.
You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too. To download this week’s arsecast directly – click here (24mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.
That’ll have to do, time for some warming breakfast. And more coffee. And a hot water bottle on my lap. Till tomorrow.
