Ok, let me start this morning with some qualifiers.
I fully accept that Arsene Wenger, when making a decision about bringing back Cesc Fabregas, is coming at it from a much more informed position than I am. Only he knows what he’s planning to do this summer in the transfer market and he likely feels that the money at his disposal can be better used elsewhere.
In a few weeks time, after we’ve made a purchase or two, it might become abundantly clear why we’ve passed on the chance to take back one of the world’s best midfielders at a knock-down price (when you consider that Adam Lallana is being touted for £25m, Cesc for around £30m seems a bargain and a half. And David Luiz went for £50m!).
I also accept fully that there’s an emotional aspect to this for me. I loved Cesc as a player and the idea of him playing for Chelsea, under Mourinho, makes me kinda sick. That’s his choice, obviously, especially as we’ve made it clear to him that we don’t want him back, but I can still not like it or the circumstances that have led to this happening. However, aside from the fact it would hurt to see him in that disgusting blue rag, I really don’t like the fact that Cesc Fabregas feeding a striker like Diego Costa next season makes Chelsea significantly better than they were last season. I don’t like that on any level.
Those who suggest looking at it dispassionately have a good point. If it were any other player we probably wouldn’t be that bothered but it’s not any other player – not for me anyway. If you take emotion and passion out of football you rob it of the things that make it so great. It’s why losing feels so terrible and winning is so great. It’s important to use the head when analysing things, but dismissing the heart completely isn’t an option in this case.
Questions about been asked about his suitability and our need for him, and those are fair enough. We have a collection of attacking midfield players but with all due respect to them, there’s a quality gap with some of them, and the bottom line for me is that Fabregas would make us a better team. As I mentioned last week part of the remit this summer is to ensure our best players stay fit and part of that is adding depth to the squad.
If moves might be underway to add somebody to the coaching/fitness team in the summer, the most effective way of ensuring your players don’t burn out is having the ability to rotate your squad properly. If anyone thinks that our injury problems are going to be solved overnight with one appointment they’re living in dreamland, and there’d be plenty of football to go around for everyone.
Yet, it seems that Arsene Wenger doesn’t see the need for Cesc with his current set-up. I suspect much of that has to do with Mesut Ozil. Having paid £42m for a player who, in essence, plays in the same position and does the same job as Fabregas, he’s disinclined to bring back a player who might be an impediment to his second season development.
I’m very much of the opinion that Ozil’s first season was quite decent and I think we can see how he can be better next time around, but I also think we need the German to toughen up and get used to the more physical aspect of English football. If he’s struggled, that’s where it is and I really want to see him make strides in that area. To me it looks as if that’s something he doesn’t particularly enjoy, but the proof of that pudding will be in next season’s eating.
So much of what happens in football is down to timing. If this had been last summer, I don’t think there’d have been any hesitation on our part. Now, having bought Ozil for a club record fee, and with Aaron Ramsey having developed the way he has, the manager has made his call and decided against re-signing Cesc. And let’s be quite clear: he would have come back to us, no question about it. The desire on the player’s part was there, it just wasn’t reciprocated.
I do think James made the point well in the Arsecast Extra on Wednesday that it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which we’d have regrets about having him back and very easy to picture one in which we’re kicking ourselves that we didn’t. When a player of that quality is available to you at a great price and he wants to join, I just think it’s mad to turn it down. If you want me to look at it as dispassionately as I can, I think there are lots of very good footballing reasons for him to come back and not too many to preclude it from happening.
However that, as always, is just my opinion as I write this. Come the first game in August, as the Arsenal long-game has played out over the summer, we might see that there’s method to the ‘madness’. The signings we’ll have made (stop laughing down the back) will ease the discomfort of not doing this deal, and we might have everything we need/want to have a good tilt at the title. That striker, that midfielder, the defensive reinforcements, and maybe a little surprise, and the squad could be in great shape without Cesc.
I very much hope that’s the case, obviously, but given the reaction and depth of feeling regarding this one, there’s a real onus on the manager to ensure that the summer is a success so nobody can point that unforgiving ‘Told you so’ finger at him. All we can do is see what happens and hopefully when the new campaign kicks off Cesc is an afterthought – although if he does end up at Chelsea his influence and quality will, I believe, make success for us more of a challenge.
Aside from that, there have been some interesting words from Laurent Koscielny who, at a press conference, was asked what Arsenal need to kick on next season. Following the lead of all the players last season who urged the club to be active in the transfer market, he was quite up front saying:
We’ll need a goalkeeper, a right back, a midfielder and a striker.
And on the subject of that striker he was quite specific:
We need to recruit a very, very good striker, because it’s important for us, for competition for places, because Olivier needs that to become even better. Having a striker who scores more than 30 goals a season can help us win the Premier League. Compared to the squads like Manchester City, even United, Chelsea, you can see there’s a certain difference.
It does feel a bit as if Giroud has been damned with faint praise there, but the point itself is inarguable to me. I like Giroud, and I think he’s going to be an important player next season, but nobody can deny we need a forward who can provide that extra quality to make the difference and also get the best out of a player like Ozil who has, at times, struggled to connect with what we’ve got currently.
The goalkeeper and right-back positions are obvious due to departures, and it remains to be seen what the manager might do about midfield. Right now I’m not convinced we’re after a big signing there and if we do make one it would surely be a player with a more defensive outlook (given we’ve passed on that rather excellent creative option). That immediately has an impact on Arteta and Flamini but that’s not a huge concern for me. There are always casualties when you improve your team, that’s the way it works.
Again, all we can do is wait and see. And there’s nothing quite as fun as waiting for something good to happen when you’re not even sure it will!
Have yourselves a good Friday, till tomorrow.
