It’s not exactly a summer we expected…or maybe it was. The funds have been made available to Arsene Wenger, as we all know. Yet the Frenchman has only managed to sign a young French forward on a free!
We all know what needs to be done (in terms of in the transfer window) to fix our problems on the pitch. And I’m sure we pretty much have all the same players in mind that we would like to see come to The Emirates. Yet Wenger hasn’t spent a penny, and as a result of his lack of transfer activity, player prices are beginning to increase and, worryingly and frustratingly, time is running out.
And after watching Arsenal slump to a horrible 3-1 home defeat to Aston Villa, former Gunners manager Terry Neill strongly believes Wenger needs to spend big to solve our problems.
Neill told talkSPORT.com:
‘We are short of players, but because they’ve not signed anyone at the start of the window, the prices will be hyped up for panic buys at the end of it.
‘It’s not an impossible situation [for Wenger] but when you’re at the sharp end you have to do things to placate the supporters.
‘If it had cost an extra couple of million to get players in at the start of the transfer window that would have saved them millions at the end of it because now clubs know they are desperate so they hype up the prices and that doesn’t make economic sense.’
He went on to say that the club need a solid core, a spine, and has been left bemused by Wenger’s lack of transfer activity and inability to sign players which could have improved the side immensely:
‘They need the spine of a team.
‘The goalkeeper Cesar would be the first name you put on your team-sheet. That was one of the reasons I worked so hard to get Pat Jennings from Tottenham, because top goalkeepers scare teams.
‘They could have got Williams, the centre-back from Swansea, for £12m. Now he will cost lot more. And I did tell the Arsenal people four of five years ago about Victor Wanyama. They said ‘thanks Terry, but no thanks’. He would have cost two goalposts and a bag of balls but now he’s gone to Southampton for £12m, and he’s a superb defensive midfield player. So they need the spine of a team.’
Panic buys – this is all we should expect to see happen from now until the end of the transfer window. And it’s a real shame that it has once again come down to this knowing we had substantial funds to spend this summer.
This has gone about how I expected it to. You have a manager that is not really up to making buys, a GM who is incapapble of pulling any sort of trigger, and a controlling holder in Kroenke who we are all to familiar with here in the staes. When I come to London in the spring, I will attend a match or two time permitting, but I am not expecting much from the Gunners this year. AS we here in the states see the brand decline it is sad. My neighbor growup an Arsenal fan, and made me one back in 1991 as he was from Brixton like Wright. It has been wonderful following the team on satillite and even better watching at Highbury in 2006. I am pretty sure I will not come away feeling the same as I did then. I am a lifetime SF Niner ticket holder and we see how Kroenke has screwed the hated Rams over with his penurious ways…now is the time for supporters to pack those board meeting demand Alishar come aboard, as Kroenke will see the downfall of this club
Is it because they were trying to survive without signing anybody are they that stupid to think that this team could do what they did last year the board has to go and if wenger agrees with them he should go
The Arsenal board and Wenger are pathetic. The one thing they’re both good at is making Arsenal look like a bunch of clowns. We look like a joke thanks to these relics. I have, or should say had a lot of time for Wenger, but the diabolical attempt to sign decent players early on was made impossible by the idiotic cat and mouse game they try to play.
Stop it, grow some and act like a club with real ambitions, not a club simply happy to play the clowns. Look over your shoulder, Tottenham have spent big and are now s real and genuine threat to our CL spot.
Grow some or do the decent thing and leave, Now!!!!!
Yes, we need a top quality keeper! Shezers is good, he could be great… but he needs to learn and be an understudy to a top quality veteran keeper. How many years will we put up with these mistakes from keepers! I feel for keepers though i do, the buck stops with them and it is a difficult position to become a ‘great’ in… traditionally the best keepers were always in the mid-late 20s so its tough asking such a young keeper to do the job, especially when the team in front of him are making so many mistakes. But enough is enough, cut your losses and get in a top keeper.
We need another cb, at the moment we have three on the books, with verma out injured and kos suspended. It is a tough situation as mert, kos and verma (despite some performances) are real quality cb! But lets be honest, arsenal never go a season without big injuries to their back line! You could easily buy another world class player in that position and he would prob play as many games even if he was officially 4th!
Certainly need a dm/holding mid player! Needed one for years! No point going any further in that.
Been crying out for a 20-30 goal a year striker for years, even when Robin was with us we still needed an out and out striker up front.
So yes, we need a new spine in the team and i think i have been pretty fair and unbiased in my assessment