Arsene Wenger gave his press conference ahead of Thursday’s match against West Brom where he played down reports of a move for Riyad Mahrez, and denied claims Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez were unhappy.
Key creative stars Sanchez and Ozil have been claimed to be seeking assurances over the club’s future before agreeing new contracts, with previous talks said to have broken down in recent months.
The French boss has moved to dismiss such reports however, claiming the pair are happy and are ‘keen to stay’ at Arsenal.
Wenger was also asked if the club are interested in signing Riyad Mahrez from Leicester City this summer, who is likely to pick up a surprise Premier League winning medal this season and is also the favourite to be selected to win the PFA Premier League Player of the Year Award.
The former Monaco chief played down such reports, but added that he would not tell us regardless.
To the supposed interest in Mahrez, he responded: “No, even if it was I wouldn’t talk about it this stage of the season.”
Wenger hardly ruled out a move for the Algerian stand-out star, but you would have to think that all the big teams in England and abroad would at least be looking at him.
Mahrez is the highest scoring non-striker in the Premier League this term, with 16 goals, as well as being credited with 11 assists also.
We have seriously lacked in the goalscoring department this season, and Mahrez’s goals or assists would be a huge plus.
How having Mahrez in our side this term have won us the league? Or do we still lack one or two others?
We don’t need a Mahrez or a player with potential in attack, we need a Griezmann or a Reus, a proven player that has been consistent for continuous years playing against the top teams. Giroud, Walcott and Ox should never be starters, players like Sanchez and Ozil need quality around them in order to be consistent, relying on them alone to carry us throughout a season is totally unrealistic. Likewise, Cech needs a more reliable defence in front of him, he already saved us 12 points easily but had his hard work by an inconsistent defensive unit. Flamini and Arteta have no longer been reliable for years now, Mertesacker is getting too old, Ramsey has no defensive discipline, Gabriel still needs time to adapt and for some reason the manager won’t trust Chambers. We need a new CB, a new RB, a new ST, a new RW and a new CDM to replace the deadwoods in our squad.
What do you expect him to come out with, ‘oh they want out cos I am not the manager for them’ which would be more realistic. More often than enough the”boss” is the last to know when lads are disgruntled.
Lol. Like Wenger is gonna say
Sanchez and Ozil reckon I am
a useless old hack manager
and will leave unless I spend
200 mill 🙂
We need five top class new signings to be completely ready, as follows
1. CF (I.e Suarez, Vardy, Aubameyang)
2. Dm (I.e Kante, lars bender)
3. RW/LW (I.e Mahrez, Reus, Draxler, grazman *spelling)
4. CB (I.e Varane, Stones).
5. Last but not the least a brand NEW MANAGER.
its about players..its about tactics and belief in players..its about showing passion
first i used to laugh at spurs bt now i feel they have set standards to match in every aspect
wenger needs to get in his head that he will need to spend heavy..
wenger if doesn’t go even i will b frustrated bt i want to atleast try and buy proven players
Possible, but I am doubtful. Wenger doesn’t get into bidding wars and he would have to sell Walcott or Ox first. He could sell on Cambell but I personally believe that he’s the best of the three.
Summer window should be interesting; either Wenger gets the plot and we’ll see 2 or 3 big players brought in, or he’ll promote kids,take 30 days to get Mongolian Messi for £2 million and spend rest of window telling us he could have bought Mahrez for £400, 000 back when.
Is Callstrum available in the summer? He can partner with Carrick to replace Flamini and Arteta in midfield. Yeah, that sounds about right money wise
Coy or not……… He’s been unserious with himself, His job and Arsenal in general …..He’s been doing this for ages!
High Time he comes out in plain Language and state his intent (would be best if he states his incapabilities and move on)….. What does he want for Arsenal?….what could he do for Arsenal?…..What goals is he planning on setting?….How much further can he go?….. These are the questions he should be asking himself
I think the first priority signing wise should be a striker followed by a centre back, both being world class. A world class striker could be anything from 20m to 70m, then a CB could be anything from 10m to 40m! So if we were lucky enough to get two players like that, I couldn’t see us buying anyone else, unless it was a cheap youngster for the future.
Having a player like Mahrez sign for us world be an excellent buy, but only after a striker and CB are brought.
Also Kante has a rumored 20m buy out clause which would be another steal
Just wanted to add:
If we sold players like walcott, Debucy, mertasacker,szczesny we could maybe make 30m and save loads in wages! Leading to an extra signing like Kante or Mahrez
Is it just me or is hustling
and pressing the new
mantra for teams
wanting in on the big time?
Athletico, Westham, Spurs Liverpool Dortmund
are firing up their players so they are
“wired” and running on adrenaline
They all have hard as nails unflinching maverick
managers who demand success at any cost.
No, what we lacked is a Vardy (or a Harry Kane). With Iwobi, Sanchez and Welbeck we’re well stocked in the wide areas.
I said all summer that we needed another goalscoring winger like Alexis Sanchez. Mahrez fits that bill. He’s a fantastic player. And I’m sorry, but he’s going to be crowned a premier league winner and will be the PFA player of the year. Unproven, you’re kidding right?
We need another top winger AND CF, to be honest if we want to compete in CL
We also could use a DM, CB and RB replacement for Debuchy.
Last summer we only needed two players. This summer we need a handful unfortunately
To be honest a lot of supporters have been saying the same we need DM, CB, etc etc and we are not on mega bucks a year but the powers to be have chosen to ignore the bulging facts.