A lot of limelight has been shone on Arsenal lately, with fans, pundits and even ex-players having their say on the current squad and Arsene Wenger’s future.
Ian Wright, however, has been one of the most vocal in the last few days.
This is what the former Gunners striker had to say on Absolute Radio’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Football Show after the 2-1 win over Aston Villa at The Emirates yesterday:
‘£70m is not enough! If Arsenal are going to stay in the top four they are going to need £200m or so to really compete and attract the right players.’
This is the same man who has been campaigning for Wenger to be sacked, and I guess he will have a lot more to say between now and the end of the summer.
On player sales, Wright said:
‘Players leave the club, it’s the nature of football, Thierry [Henry] left, [Samir] Nasri left, Robin left but Wenger needs to replenish the squad in the right way and he’s just not doing it at the moment. £70m isn’t enough.’
He added:
‘Arsenal can’t be in the market for £15 million players, they need to add a few world class £30 million plus players to start competing again.’
I tend to agree with him, but saying that we need to splash out £200 million in order to stay in the top four is a little bit over the top. £100 million should be enough to strengthen our side over the summer.
Visit and Join our Facebook page, click HERE to do so.
Gunnersphere is currently looking for new writers to join the squad. Contact via twitter or at Gunnersphere@snack-media.com for further details.
Arsenal need to spend not 200 million but 2 billion. If not they could be stuck in mid table mediocrity tahanks to Arsenes’ vision.
Put another way … The best thing Arsene can do is to stay away from the training ground and let Steve Bould get on with it. That way we would have been higher up the table anyway. This despite being below par in key positions … thanks to Arsene’s views on Mertesacker, Santos, DFM etc.
yup…and it was the 1st time i see the manager doing the gamble yesterday by withdrawing jenkinson for podolski during match. AW still the men, but seriously he need to consider his approach…
How can he be ‘ The Man ‘ and have the wrong approach ?? He is yesterday’s man and has spent the last few years determined to prove he is right … and he has failed. Those years have been wasted !! Would have won far less without inheriting a great defence. Since those players all left or retired …. ZILCH.
A load of rubbish Arsenal just need about 4 top class players in 1 striker a keeper and 2 top defenders and with the others they have will be fine. If they get those in the summer Arsenal will win plenty of silverware from 2014 onwards as long as Arsene is still there to bring this young squad through.
They need to abandon Wenger’s personal crusade for wonderful passing football. With nil balance between attack and defence / ball playing and ball winning / incessant passing and shooting / open play and set piece. Oh and abandon his crazy socialist wage structure which has been a huge handicap. How can you not understand any of this ??
How much has Wenger spent on transfers and wages over the last 3 Seasons?If the team set-up,tactics and the motivation behind these is wrong then no amount of spending will make any real difference.Five years ago Arsenal were probably one or two players short.Admittedly, they now require at least one new centre-back, a defensive midfielder,a goal-keeper and a goal scorer.But there is no real point in throwing good money away after bad.A new Manager is required.Someone who believes that the team must compete for every trophy and wants to win every game.Someone with a plan-who can see how best to exploit the virtues of the existing squad and what needs to change.It is possible to summise that the existing Manager took over a team which was defensively sound but had lost it’s cutting attacking edge.Any new Manager will,undoubtedly,work out that this team has attacking merit but doesn’t have a clue how to defend-either the back four or in paricular the team as a whole.Unfortunately,the current Manager is living off past success and has forgotten how to “manage the team” as opposed to “managing the club”.He has become a Director Of Football and surely most other intelligent fans must be able to see this too?
Nonsense. A new manager like Mancinni or Mourinho would send Arsenal into the grave of debt. New and good players can be got cheap, Michu and Benteke are good examples but would the critical Arsenal fans give them the chance to bed in?
People of your illk are the problems, victory at all cost whether fair or not, whether bought or stolen. Arsenal can survive without supporters like you.
Over the summer Arsenal should buy Wanyama, Capoue (both about 10m), Villa (15m), Sanchez (20-25m), Amorebieta (free), Reina (10-15m). Total sum comes to around 70 million. I think with these players they’d be able to secure at least 4th. There are also a few players they should sell which will generate some funds, and there is talk that Vermalen and Sagna could leave, in which case they’d have to be replaced with players of similar ability.
Over the summer Wenger should give up and go away … to work out what most of us have increasingly seen over the last few years !!
And the you would be appointed the manager!
And then you would be appointed manager of Arsenal!
Unfortunately, Gunnersphere, I think you’re wrong, and Wrightie is right on the numbers (though I totally disagree with him about getting rid of Wenger).
I don’t think people realise just how much the likes of Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea, PSG, and that club in Azerbadjian have completely and utterly skewed the market for players.
For example, Van Persie will cost United around £48m over his 4 year contract (£25m transfer fee, plus £23m in wages over 4 years). The reported £200k per week, adds up very quickly indeed (do the maths, you’ll see).
A top class player is going to cost in the region of £40m to £50m just on the transfer, then you have to add another £40m to £50m to pay the players wages over a long term contract, so £200m will probably get you two-and-a-half top class players (in the mould of say, a Falcao).
Arsenal just don’t have the money to buy 1 or 2 top class players at £50m xfer + £30m wages each, so you have to ask yourself what other manager on this planet is going to get the same results with the resources made available to Wenger? Short answer – no other. That is assuming a top manager would even consider coming to Arsenal with the lack of funds.
Wenger needs to stay, he is actually our best hope of staying at the top table (top 4 in PL, CL in Europe) for the foreseeable future. Hopefully, FFP will make a difference, who knows, but Arsenal really don’t have any other options.
No other manager on this planet will be able to keep Arsenal at that level, on the funds that have been made available to Wenger.
Jesus guys, stop all this calling for wengers head.
Take a reality check, we’re two points behind Chelsea in third.
If spurs don’t win tomorrow and we then beat them next week we overtake them. How much did Chelsea spend in the last 12 -18 months… Hazard, Oscar, Moses , mata etc., and they are just ahead of us. Spending money guarantees nothing. We’ll still secure fourth, personally I think we’ll end up third. Being a football fan means taking the rough with the smooth. What has happened to our loyal arsenal fans??
And 21 points behind utd. Wake up mate and smell the beans. wengers finished…..
But Real are so many points behind Barca and heaven is not falling. Stop this nonsense
Every Arsenal fan wants 2 become a coach. I think u shouid take d job 4rm Wanger.
Good point made by Redrich. Yes, we may be 21 points behind Utd but City, with all the millions they’ve spent are 12. Wenger has made mistakes over the last couple of years, there’s no doubt about that but who else, competing with the Chelsea, City and Utd with the financial constraints he’s had (until very recentky) could achieve what he’s done? 2 points off Chelsea, Spurs away next week and third is up for grabs. Get behind the team, the rest will take care of itself in the summer. I’d also like to note, that the darling of many a football fan and pundits from a managerial point of view; Guardiola, opted to join Bayern. Now there’s a clever man, he know’s full well that he’s joining the club just about to enter a period of dominance in European football. I wonder how well he would have done at Arsenal over the last few years, my hunch us not as well as Wenger.
A lot of fans would have avoided Wenger’s more ludicrous mistakes. We would also let Steve Bould get on with it …
What has been Bould contribution to the defense? What is his track record? Stop making contributions that are not based on facts or at least logical and sound
Wenger has spent plenty over the seasons he has been here so much so that he has a net loss of around 14 million after player sells not bad for the time he has been in charge. No we don’t need to spend 200 million we need 3-4 players possibly 5 if we can stretch to it. those players are a keeper two defenders one right back and one CB and a striker and I would say a holding midfielder two if we can stretch to it after player sells. Djourou mannone park bedntner arshavin squillaci frimpong all to go with maybe the exception of frimpong then probably santos on topyou could probably make 15 to twenty million on that lot add that to the pot and you have a good transfer pot to play with. I can understand what wrighty is saying but he is wrong world class players cost more than 30 million add another 5-10 million on for wages then your looking at for a world class about 40 million that is nice but leaves you with 30 million to buy 3 more players. we have a good squad adding quality and experience in vital areas will be vital but should not cost over the top well if he goes for villa and valdes and gets them for the reported 22 million he has done well and if the defender we been linked to Amboretta comes on a free too the thats three players for around twenty two million plus their wages leaving a good thirty million for other targets to come in and extend contracts of some other players.
We just need a new diffence and 1 world class foward and we will overtake manure.
I hate to burst anyone’s bubble of media-fuelled cynicism here, but we’re already more than capable of finishing 4th.
Chelsea are catch-able, should we get back to reasonable form, and after we demoralize them, Sp*rs will begin their annual crumble.
When will they learn? Before every N.L derby they come out banging on about hos they’ve caught up with us, or as in the past few years, overtaken us. You’d think the delusional muppets have just put 5 goals past us a few times lately, or had finished above us in the league every year for a generation!
You don’t hear Atletico players claiming to be a bigger club than Real before every derby and after every decent start to the season.
Have you ever known a more deluded set of optimists?