Posted on Saturday, 1st September 2012 by Tony Merakli
The summer transfer window closed last night and with no transfers on deadline day, like last year, many Arsenal fans have been left possibly a little bemused of the lack of activity by Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal board this summer.
Despite signing Lukas Podolski, Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla early on in the window, after losing Robin van Persie and Alex Song to Manchester United and Barcelona respectively, some of the Arsenal faithful will feel a little disgruntled and ask why the club didn’t manage to sign at least one of their reported targets, such as Rennes’ Yann M’Vila.
Between June 1st and August 31st, The Gunners managed to tie up 14 deals in total, 17 less than last year – acquiring just three new recruits.
Six players left the club, while another five have been shipped out on season-long loans.
Here is a summary of Arsenal’s transfer activity during the summer transfer window:
IN
Santi Cazorla from Malaga for £16.5 million.
Lukas Podolski from FC Koln for £11 million
Olivier Giroud from Montpellier for £13 million
OUT
Alex Song to Barcelona for £15 million
Robin van Persie to Manchester United for £24 million
Kyle Bartley to Swansea for £1 million
Henri Lansbury to Nottingham Forest for £1 million
LOANS OUT (season-long loan)
Joel Campbell to Betis
Denilson to Sao Paulo
Ryo Miyaichi to Wigan
Park Chu-Young to Celta Vigo
Nicklas Bendtner to Juventus
RELEASED
Gavin Hoyte to Dagenham (Free)
Manuel Almunia to Watford (Free)
So in total, Arsenal spent approximately £40.5 million on their new arrivals, whilst recouping £41 million on player sales, thus making a profit of £500,000.
So, are you happy with Arsenal’s transfer activity this summer?
Did Wenger get it right in the end, or could he have done more/better with his resources available to him?
Give us your thoughts on the matter below
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Tags: Alex Song, Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Denilson, Gavin Hoyte, Henri Lansbury, Joel Campbell, Kyle Bartley, Lukas Podolski, Manuel Almunia, Nicklas Bendtner, Olivier Giroud, Park Chu-Young, Robin Van Persie, Ryo Miyaichi, Santi Cazorla, Yann M'Vila
Posted in View From The Sphere | Comments (20)
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September 1st, 2012 at 2:32 pm
Wenger is entitled to his opinion regarding spending by o clubs. The red faced has spent billions to refresh his squad and has been winning trophies. Chelsea and MC likewise.
The fm wants to stand by his own self sustaining model. Nothing wrong except don’t expect other teams to follow it which so far has proven unable to win the big prizes.
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September 1st, 2012 at 2:37 pm
Couple of things. Giroud cost 9m. The selling club confirmed this. The British media is so laughable the way it picks a rumoured figure and sticks with it in the face of the truth. If only Levenson would extend to this type of journalism….
And the 16.5m on Cazorla should read 12.5 m with the potential for add ons (which, if they are based on Arsenal winning trophies, will never be paid)
And you missed Vela (2.5m rising to 4m I think).
Sorry. Not major points, but it just gives a clearer idea of our transfer dealings.
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September 1st, 2012 at 2:44 pm
You forgot Vela £4m
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September 1st, 2012 at 2:45 pm
And about £5m in loan fees!
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September 1st, 2012 at 2:47 pm
Estimated profit £9.5m
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September 1st, 2012 at 2:54 pm
ive always been a big wenger fan but the time has come for change.the board must love him. he has stopped being a football manager and become a businessman. profit,profit,profit.if you look at what we’ve spent (or made)over the last number of years it shows our lack of ambition. top four is our goal now.anything else is unrealistic in the extreme.i dont blame fabregas,rvp , nasri etc for wanting to leave.
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FDon Reply:
September 1st, 2012 at 3:10 pm
EXACTLY, WELL PUT!!! I AGREE 100% THE BOARD, THE MANAGER NEEDS TO CHANGE OR EVEN BOTH.
I HAVE BEEN AN ARSENAL FAN ALL MY LIFE AND EVEN ME I AM SOMETIMES TEMPTED TO CHANGE MY TEAM TO A BETTER TEAM SO I KNOW HOW ALL THOSE OTHER SUPPORTERS FEEL. WE PROBABLY HAVE LOST AT LEAST A THIRD OF OUR SUPPORTERS IN THE PAST SEVEN YEARS.
HOW LONG DO THEY WANT US AS FANS TO SUFFER?
I DONT THINK THEY REALLY CARE ANYWAY. WE SHOULD HANG BANNERS AND START A PROTEST WITH THE BIN LINERS SO THAT WE CAN GET THIS CHANGE AND MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.
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September 1st, 2012 at 3:02 pm
Add £0.55m for Ozzy too
Pedro ££0.5m sold
Almost £10m profit plus £25m from property sale
We are miles ahead in winning profit league
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September 1st, 2012 at 3:11 pm
I do think we’re ambitious, I just don’t think wenger is a gambler. Would have been nice to keep van persie but it wasn’t to be. Song I’ve never rated. Which one of our established players will go next year? Wenger must balance the books each year that we know. I fall for it every year that he has £40m to spend and just when you think it’s happened we go and sell £40m worth. We’re always a couple of players away from being up there with the top 2 fighting for the league.
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September 1st, 2012 at 3:19 pm
Arsenal Financial Corporation. I just pray they make the top four…
Vamaelen, Koscienly, Cazorla… U guys shld start thinkin of the future… For d season, my support has bein loaned to real madrid
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September 1st, 2012 at 3:24 pm
i think this was absolutely crap, would’ve loved to seen a premier league striker like ba or cisse from newcastle come in. absolutely disgusted with this. only two strikers, both of whom are yet to prove themselves. If they’re both injured will we be forced to bring back denilson and let him play as a striker?
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September 1st, 2012 at 3:57 pm
Am I happy… No. We lost two players who were integral to our team . Furthermore, we did not bring in any defenders, back up keepe, defensive midfielders and if podolski plays on the wing we should have bought in another striker.
Our squad is thread bare and one or two injuries will spell our doom
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September 1st, 2012 at 5:04 pm
Wenger has became a failure to contend for the title and this the 8th yrs. The worse part in arsenal tranfer is the sell of alex song to fc bar.
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September 1st, 2012 at 5:30 pm
You got your numbers wrong. 17 players have left the club permanently. plus a further 10 have gone on loan. 4 new signings plus 12 new scholars. as for the main deals just 2 main players have left the club. whilst 3 main players have joined. We needed more firepower for the first team so we have replaced rvp with 2 players giroud and podolski. we all cried out for more creativity and better defending so we have replaced song by giving arteta the defensive role whilst cazorla has been added to improve creativity. no one can deny that we have looked stronger defensively and the fact that cazorla has created 11 goal scoring opportunities in 2 matches has to prove we will be better in that department. ok so the goals have not materialised yet but bergkamp took 6 matches to open his account and henry took 11. i dont thinl either of those turned out too bad did they? the big problem is that everyone is jumping on the media bandwavon to have a pop at arsenal. my tip is to switch off talk shite radio. dont buy the shitty papers and ignpre the mugs on sky and motd. if u really want to watch some football get yourself a ticket and get to the match. if that is not enough pop along to the u21s and next gen where you will see that our club is in very good hands. we still have a couple of spaces available in our squad for a couple of out of contract signings 1 homegrown and 1 non-homegrown so how is this for some striking talent michael owen and didier drogba?? we could then just de-list chamakh and squillaci and look for a couple of put of contract defensive type players one for midfield and one versatile defender.
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September 1st, 2012 at 5:41 pm
@anon
we have 23 homegrown/non-homegrown players out of a possible 25 we also have approximately 13 under 21s that would get into most first team squads in the epl if not their starting x1′s. back up keeper how about polands no.2 or an italian u21 keeper who set a new record for clean sheets last season
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September 1st, 2012 at 6:34 pm
I think Steve Bould will make a big difference – we have good defenders and now we are seeing the benefit of a good defensive coach.
When all fit, I think we have a good crop of midfielders, and I like Arteta in the deeper role, spraying the ball around like Pirlo.
I think, with time, we have the players to score goals.
However, we desperately needed a ‘marquis’ signing to make a statement of our intent for both the fans and our foes. Without this, we gooners fear the worse as usual.
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September 1st, 2012 at 6:41 pm
I assume denilson and bentner will see the contracts outthen they go on a fre. We could have sold for less money and got somthing back before they leave for nothing. All the investmet in lansbury et al has gone to nothing. The set up and high wages for youngsters has to be reviewed. We are a selling club now with a board accepting a top four finish as good turn over. If fansare happy with thiscontinue to pay for your tickets and the board will happily accept your mney along with he 40m for finishing in the knock out stges of the l league each year.Forget the league as its history and its about what might have been now if we ha only strengthened the young side we had a few yers back….. all the promises of the board and wenger have come to noting since we left highbury
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September 1st, 2012 at 6:55 pm
ps the board know most of us wont change our team and so will continue in the same manner for the next few years. Wilshire will be the next to barca for the customary 15m……
song wasnt the best but he stayed fit, contributed tothe goals,had pl experience,a few years on his contratc and we sell him? whats that all about ffs!!!! and the answer is we have good coer with diaby or wilshire who is not fit? why not sell him in january once diaby and wilshire are be to full strength-just does not make sense so eith the club has no money due to the staduim cost or money in lining pockets of non supporin board members
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September 2nd, 2012 at 6:21 am
As I keep saying we all would have loved a bus load of world class players to roll up at Emirates, sign on and win everything in sight, but it wasn’t gonna happen. Everyone is pleased Cazorla Podolski and Giroud have arrived but some want a EPL quality striker to warm the bench behind them as some kind of insurance.
1. Wenger doesnt work that way
2. What decent striker wants to come and warm the bench?
Some want a “proper” (usually pronounced “proppa”) Defensive Midfielder …regardless of the fact that Arsene doesn’t play like that and who gets dropped? Arteta? He is the holding player atm. So we are back to asking someone to sit on the bench – would they be significantly better than Coquelin? If they are why would their club want to sell? My understanding is Biglia at least offers little over Coq and M’Villa has issues. Capoue I’m unsure of but I doubt he is of significant worth to justify the outlay over what we already have.
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September 2nd, 2012 at 9:31 pm
always not full wenger transfer
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