The REAL reason Arsenal did not seal any late transfers?

For quite a bit of the summer the Arsenal fans were fairly happy with the transfer business that Arsene Wenger and the people behind the scenes at Arsenal were doing. but we also expected more from the club and as it often turns out that a lot of deals were done in the final few days of the transfer window there was not too much concern.

Then the window closed without Wenger adding any more players to the Arsenal squad than his early signing of Sead Kolasinac and Alexandre Lacazette and we were all left bemused after the Gunners actually made a profit while all of our Premier League rivals spent big.

Wenger and Gazidis have tried to tell us that the transfer window went according to plan but I fail to believe that, especially after the boss admitted that he had tried and failed to get Thomas Lemar from Monaco, so why did Arsenal do nothing as the window drew to close.

According to Jose Mourinho it could be because of the transfer record shattering move of Neymar from Barcelona to PSG. As reported by Sky Sports, the Man United manager thinks that deal changed the face of the transfer market and whacked up the price of every good player, making those late deals much harder and more expensive.

Mourinho said, “I think we were very clever. We thought that something could happen that could change the market forever.

“Normally the last part of the market is less expensive, but this season, after Neymar, everything changed – and changed for the worse in terms of prices.

“I think Lukaku on August 31 would have been £150m. Matic would have been £60m or £70m. Neymar changed everything.

“If the biggest transfer in history had still been Paul Pogba, I think Philippe Coutinho would now be in Barcelona at £101m.

“People look at the £200m figure now. Now the players of £20m became £40m, the players of £40m became £60m and everything changed.

“Lukaku and Matic, now, would have cost us £200m in total. But because we did it in the first part of the summer, it was much less. I think we did well in financial terms and well in preparation terms, getting them before the season started. That is not crucial but it is important.”

Is this why Wenger and Arsenal did not secure any late signings?

Bob.

24 Comments

  1. maureen is the one who messed up the market by overspending on average players like lukaku and pogba. if he bought lukaku for 90mill did he expect neymar or any other world class players to go for any less? (lukaku isnt world class)

    1. Doesnt matter. We have the money. We have the squad. We just didnt go all out. We know what thw market is these days. If arsenal had put in 70m for lemar from the start we would have got lemar i reckon. And as many fans have said. Lemar should be an addition not a replacement for sanchez. The fact is they lied and we allowed it

      1. spot on. Our dithering costs us every season. Same happened last year when we tried to get Laca but waited to up our offer until after the silly Higuain deal by which time the price for Laca went up.

    2. Sad that we don’t have average players like Pogba and Lukaku. Lukaku is a PL proven beast, maybe not world class but if he is average than what are the likes Giroud and Welbeck? From a track record point of view, Lukaku was a lower risk investment than Laca.

      I hope Wenger doesn’t continue to bench Laca until the guy has no confidence or game rhythm left.

  2. What happened to the ‘we are busy 24 hours a day??’ This statement came so early in the transfer window but here a good reason just popped up, “prices got inflated after Neymar sale”.

    Mourinho did his business early, always buying what’s missing in his team, always buying class players to add quality.. but our senile manager, always looking for top top quality players in the market, and comes back with the Sanogos and co.

    You can try everything to defend this old man, the truth is he’s past his retirement date, he’s just collecting his pension with no pressure to win anything at all

    1. So true about Mourinho. He might miss one here or there but he is very very good at assessing his squad getting rid of what is not working and buying what he needs. In one, maybe two seasons he puts together what he needs to succeed. Wenger on the other hand kept Arsenal always one or two players away from a complete squad and in the last couple of windows he completely messed up with transfers and internal contract extensions. Next year we will need 6 new players to compete, and at these crazy inflated prices, there is no way that is ever going to happen.

  3. Because Wenger and Kroenke don’t have a winning mentality and ambition.

    Wenger is also a stubborn, set in his ways manager. He won’t change his methods and beliefs

    All of Kroenke’s teams: Nuggets, Avalanche and Rams are average to below average. He cares about money not trophies

    1. Wenger isn’t as good as he used to be but you are just being sour, Wenger holding the record for most FA Cups shows ambition and he did want Mbappe, Lemar and Lacazette at the start of the window.

      Stupid_Girl needs to learn how to think FFS.

      Gazidis has been selling the BS year after year about how much we have to spend and then fail to get the managers targets, ending the transfer window in profit while Wenger was given 33% of what he asked for!

      Wenger gets moaned at for being private and not liking to do business in pubic so why would he think it would be a good idea to tie one hand behind his back in transfers and do a stupid tactic of letting teams know they can ask for more from AFC as AFC have a war chest to spend… That is Gazidis selling BS to season ticket buyers.

      1. Then why is Wenger staying? Why did he sign 2 years extension? As per him , PSG had contacted him and PSG would have definitely been a good move for him.He could have bought any player he wanted and did whatever experiment he wanted to do. He stayed here because he knows the board doesn’t care about trophies and rather is interested in making money. He stayed back because he has job security here, because people like you will accept his failures and blame others for not winning trophies. How many league title have we won in last 10 years?

  4. Almost like they waited and did nothing so they could bitch about prices and re-serve the same old hash at end of every window.
    Done with Wengers interviews and excuses; i already know what the old man will say.

  5. Wow, if there is any truth in this, it just shows how kroenke runs the club. No wonder the team is going stale, with a seriously stingy board and Wenger not being able to talk about it. Hope this Dangote-guy buys the club soon, our club is being run by a pack of blood-sucking goons.

    1. Not everything is Wengers fault. Tactics, poor man management, lack of winning mentality etc that’s all on him . I can’t wait for him to retire and write a book about what really happened in the past 13years . I feel he takes a lot of fury which should be directed at Gazidis, Kroenke and the board purely because he loves Arsenal and feels responsible for the situation. I’m not PRO Wenger , I’m PRO ARSENAL, if we get a world class manager who can inspire this club to glory I’m all for it but it will take a monumental change within Arsenal for that to happen . The owner , the director and the board must also aspire to win the Premier league as well, as the Champions league, which would mean working in unison with the manager to achieve that goal

    2. I hate defending Silent Stan but he inherited Gazidis and he has been the biggest cancer in AFC, he has been selling our future for short term gains since his 1st season in charge.

      The old board wanted a CEO who could lead the club while they bumped up share prices.

      Gazidis has been making those short term gains at the cost of greater gains later on.

      Silent Stan has seen gains so he will be happy to sit back and take those gains.

      If Gazidis was better at his job then Silent Stan could get his gains and we could get EPL titles, imagine if Gazidis was penny pinching all the time and the squad Wenger would have to work with… Okay Wenger would still play players out of pos 😛 lol but we would have a much better squad and we would be a better sale to sponsorship deals.

      I hope for Usmanov to buy out Silent Stan as I do think he would speed up the healing process, it is going to take years with Silent Stan… Can any of us imagine Gazidis getting kicked out when fans focus more on him and Wenger?

  6. No it’s because Arsenal f#%ked around and didn’t have the squad prepared for the start of the season, AGAIN. How many times have we seen this? It is so frustrating.

    Mourinho said at the end of last season he gave the board a shopping list of players he wanted and all Arsenal were talking about was players they were trying to keep, that didn’t even want to stay.

    Wenger, Kroenke, Gazidis, Law and every other doughnut that is so called running the club have to go. We are a f#%king joke.

  7. Arsenal is the 5th richest club in the world we pay the highest ticket in europe,we have one of the largest stadium in England and yet we cant buy a player of of 80m 90m we cant attract big players anymore even our so call big players dont wana extend, things keep falling apart whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?bad management no true leader,our team is business oriented,nothing more,i feel bad!!!!!!!!

  8. The transfer window is CLOSED , it’s time to move on from who we could have bought and start concentrating on inspiring this team with some positive thinking . There is so much of negativity on Arsenal sites which then permeates through the ground to the players . We already have a PAST DUE manager and an inept board coupled with the media who are hellbent on destroying Arsenal with their negative publicity. So let’s try to uplift this team and all fellow Arsenal fans with some positive thinking . I dont condone Wengers management nor do I agree with the boards negligence , I just want the players that we have to do their best and not be adversely affected by the negativity radiating from us fans .

    We fans compound the problem by spreading more negativity , I’m sure the players read what said in socal media and when it comes to Arsenal it is never anything positive . When the home game begins have you ever wondered why Arsenal start so slowly? It’s because the anxiety of the fans becomes the handbrake that holds this team back . The moment there is a misplaced pass we get on the players backs , we make them nervous which leads to them playing safe passing sideways. Do you think Leicester would have won the league had they been supported by Arsenal fans ???? NEVER , they would not have the inspiration to find an extra gear or spurt of energy to score the winning goal

    1. One thing you’re definitely right about is negative reporting from the media especially Sky Sports. They’ve hated us for years, ever since they started to run our game, yes, run our game, they put the money in and they run it how they want, they’ve dug us out for years, especially the years when we we’re the only team to challenge their beloved Man Utd and done something that even their hero Ferguson couldn’t do, stay invincible for a whole season You’ve only got to listen to Judas Smith and Judas Merson and see how they turn on us week in and week out. Mesut Ozil was right even Wrighty and Thierry are being turned by the big contracts given to them by Sky Sports. The only one who’s a true Gooner out of the whole lot of them is Charlie Nicholas , don’t know how he keeps he’s job

  9. Busy 24 hrs a day trying to find something for nothing, the needle ib the haystack that nobody could be bothered to try and find.

    Let’s face Maureen loves to gloat when it’s works out for him but Wenger just doesn’t have his ear to the ground or seen connected to the outside world of football anymore.

    1. So Gazidis gets 33% of Wengers targets and Wenger doesn’t have his ear to the ground?
      This the Wenger who tried to get Mbappe 12 months ago?
      The same Wenger that has wanted Lacazette for years and to be given players like Perez from the board?

  10. It could be, that here is some truth, in what he says.
    But if we (AW) had been clever and ambitious, the surely he would have tried harder to get Lemar in the beginning of the window to have more time to integrate him.
    Late in the window was more difficult not only because of the prices, also because Monaco already had sold several other players.
    Finally, it could well be, that our start to the season showed same old Arsenal with no chance to compete for big titles, and players wanting to leave rather than join.
    Either way you look at it Wenger has messed it all up.

  11. Summary Wenger is incompetent and too old for today s game, WENGER OUT let’s have empty seat at the Emirates for the next 5 Matches, my opinion

  12. Hi all, I feel if you fail to prepare, prepare to lose!!. Every year is the same, we are for ever hopeful that things will change but every year it looks like it will but fails to do so. It’s sad that we won’t and can’t attract top players anymore as players want to win and we have gained a reputation of being a nearly club. We could offer mbappe all the money in the workd but if he wants to win trophies that gain the club as being a top club then he’s not coming to arsenal. SO NEW Manager, owners, coaching staff and then we can change the mentality, we will have to suck it up until then!!?

Comments are closed

Top Blog Sponsors