Arsenal boss picks first fight of season – Slams LVG transfers

For those Arsenal fans out there who fancy a flutter, you can still get a pretty good price of around 5 to 1 for Arsene Wenger to steer the Gunners to a first Premier League title since 2004 and I reckon those odds will drop quickly once the manager adds another couple of new signings to the squad.

If Arsenal do make a good start to the campaign though, as we all expect them to, then there is going to be an absolute dead cert, although whether you can find a bookie to take your bet is another matter, and that is for Wenger and Jose Mourinho to have a public spat with each other. It could even happen as soon as next week ahead of the Community Shield clash.

It is not just the the two coaches do not like each other, although that seems pretty obvious, but that both have a burning desire to win and are standing in the way of each other´s goals. So maybe the Frenchman is now looking at Man United as a potential problem as well because he has laid into their extravagant transfer policy since the departure of Ferguson, as reported by Sky Sports.

Although he did not mention Louis van Gaal by name, Wenger clearly had the Dutchman in mind when he suggested that the Old Trafford club had abandoned it´s former policy of bring through young players and were simply flinging barrowloads of cash at every perceived problem, while he proudly declared that Arsenal had not done the same despite our financial position having improved a lot.

He said, “We want to continue to combine stronger financial resources with faith in our philosophy and policy.

“That means we want to continue to give chances to young players and build the players from inside our club with our culture.

“Afterwards, if we can buy the exceptional players, we can compete today. But that will not be the basis of our policy.

“Most of the clubs who have been successful are clubs who have done that well. You can take Barcelona or Man United, who had a generation and built their success on players who came from within.

“These are our values and it is our DNA and it’s important we keep that.

“With United’s success they have created huge financial resources and today there is no patience for them to continue what they did.

“They have the financial resources to go with a different policy. And they do not have available players like Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and David Beckham inside the club.”

I know that a lot of United fans are concerned at the new direction their club is taking and van Gaal has faced questions from the press about it many times and may well feel that he has to defend himself again. So has Wenger picked his first fight of the year before the Premier League season has even started? And if so, will he win it?

Tags Man United Mourinho Van Gaal

78 Comments

  1. Wenger must focus on preparing Arsenal to mount a serious title challenge not what other clubs are doing with their own resources!

    1. mourinho 2013-14…..”These chelsea team cannot win the premier league these year…
      …….its not strong enough and needs some changes on summer”
      mourinho 2014-15…..”I now have a strong squad that i believe i can win these league”

      Chelsea win the premier league after being no: 1 since September

      hate him, curse him, insult him, call him names but know these:
      WENGER MY LEGEND, HERO, LONGEST SERVING MANAGER IN EPL, MAYBE THE BEST MANAGER IN
      ARSENAL’S HISTORY CANNOT,WONT AND WILL NEVER MAKE THAT KIND OF STATEMENT. NEVERRRRRRRRR!!!

      i hope that one day we will have a manager that will make us fans feel confidence and
      great anticipation of winning when going into a season….
      someone that will not divide the foundation of the club which is the fans and someone
      who is open to change and positive criticism

      1. Jose just getting his excuses in first in 2013-14, not exactly inspiring is it – hearing your manager giving up before you start. After all Chelsea had just spent a paltry £106M in his first term, he needed at least another £118M in his second season to see his genius shine through.

        1. Why is it that when looking at other teams, arsenal fans never look at net transfer. And what was Mourinho supposed to say – This team has the mentality to win the league? No. That’s something Wenger has said almost every year since 2004, yet never has it actually happened. At least Mourinho is honest when he knows his team is not good enough for winning the premiership.

          1. I believe they could have actually won that year and the reason they didn’t was down to bad management on Mourinhos part for not instilling the proper belief/confidence in his players.

            1. I hate José, I really do but must admit he is way superior over Wenger. José built a team,he signed 4 players Chelsea needed and won the bpl. But for us it just won’t happen, Wenger is too stubborn to buy the two damn players we need to complete our squad. If he doesn’t make those signings and we don’t win the title I will never forgive Wenger. It’s time for us to win the bpl

          2. So why exactly couldn’t this Chelsea win the league? Mou not able to coach a group of players who had won the UCL a year previously?

            Chelsea making noises about low net spend the last 2 seasons is just a bad joke. Mou still spent £220M – the “low” net is only a temporary distortion caused by selling on stock-piled players through massive previous investment.

            1. It was a massive previous investment. That is the reason why their net spend was lower. Since 2005 till now I would like to see the transfer dollars between the top 4 clubs. 10 year period. Someone a few years back did it and it was mind blowing.

        2. hahaa…sell david luiz for 50m, the mata for 40 then buy fab for 30 and costa for 30….
          my oh my…yes i agree he spent badly in his first season but he has spent 0m in his second….
          your god must change and deliver or retire or walk away

          1. Wenger stating that Man United doesn’t have players like Giggs and Beckham in the club isn’t picking a fight. He is just speaking it as it is. How many players from the Academy has stepped up to Man United first team? He is just saying that they have the financial power to buy because they have made a platform and the Giggs and David Becks type of players aren’t in their Academy so promoting isn’t their DNA as it is for us, hence them spending for quality.

            We have loads of players with tremendous potential. Zelalem and Crowley are my favourites to step up. They’ve been great for the youth program when I watched them.

            1. You can ask this question…Which of the players from our academy currently are first team starters for Arsenal?
              Doesn’t that make Wenger a hypocrite and even more of a failure since he doesn’t win much while using players that aren’t from the academy?

              1. If he was talking about academy players then you would have a point. But he wasn’t and you don’t. He was talking about young players in general both home grown and foreign.

                1. Walcott came from Southampto. Rest of them I agree. For the first time I am feeling our investment in the academy has bore fruit with Coquelin and Bellerin coming through last season.

          2. I’m an atheist. But you worship your god by all means – a god who spent £40M on Cuadrado and Luis and is quietly trying to make them disappear before anyone notices his incompetence. I expect you’ll call that “real ambition” though.

            1. Mourinho is a better squad builder than Arsene. ferguson was the best at it, but Moutinho knows exactly the players he needs to play the way he wants to play. How many managers would sell Mata and buy Matic? He did, he sold a Ferrari and bought a Land Rover, because he knew that his team needed that to play at it’s best.
              Arsene does not know, how to build squads, he came upon one which was half built for him, the defense and Bergkamp were there already.And this is the first squad he has built since that might win something

              1. You do know Mourinho didn’t sign Courtois, Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill or Azpilicuuta – in other words his whole defence that won him the PL.

              2. 1996 – Wenger takes over a side that had won nothing for 5 years with an average league position of 7th. Spends £125M in 8 years culminating in the Invincible season.

                2004 – Mourinho takes over a side that finished 2nd in the PL and spends £300M in first 2 years. Wins PL.

                2013 – Mourinho takes over a side that had just won UCL and spends £220M in next 2 years. Wins PL second season.

                The bare facts do not suggest Mourinho is a great squad builder. Great spender of money for £15-30M finished articles.

                1. I am sure he spent that much at FC Porto too where he won the Champions league; a competition where with a better squad and Arsene Wenger we couldn’t win and have NEVER won. And the owners want to WIN rather than only FOCUSING ON PROFITS like we do here at Arsenal and so they invest. Its part of the job, bigger club, bigger budget. Ask David Moyes..You’re clueless if you don’t know this.
                  You trying to belittle Mourinho’s achievement is pointless because he has proven he can work miracles at a club with a smaller budget before. He is a better manager than Wenger and has achieved more than Wenger and can still set records Wenger would never match given their age. Wenger has NEVER won a single game against him. That is appalling and Mourinho even makes that clear and taunts Wenger about it and still he can’t win.
                  Get over yourself. Worship Wenger if you like, just don’t belittle other great managers. Its irritating that you try to knock down managers that win and make their fans proud and happy.

                2. @k-ool. No reply button beneath your last post. You are all over the place with your comment – difficult to find a point. But Mourinho the “miracle worker” is priceless, heard it all now. Porto the minnows with a bigger trophy cabinet than Juve, Bayern, Ajax and Man United and some of the best players in Europe in their team at the time. And who had won EC before without Mourinho.

                  And curious how I am irritating for knocking down other club managers and you feel entitled to do it continuously to our manager. That is very funny and not to mention odd.

                3. @JimBeam – no reply button. Net spend? What part of it do you want to talk about. Are you referring to Mourinho’s net spending?

                  Bigger picture:
                  Arsenal PL 1993-2015 Net spend: £136M
                  Chelsea PL 1993-2015 Net spend: £635M

                4. I don’t knock Wenger. He just doesn’t try enough. If he invests in the squad, takes risks and fails…I wouldn’t hold it against him. I’ll think he did the best he could. He doesn’t always do the best he can. For the past 4 years he has not done the best he can.
                  January 2014 transfer window, he signed an injured player, Kallstrom that couldn’t play until mid march or so. How is that doing the best he can?
                  Porto definitely weren’t the favourites to win that tournament. I bet the odds were against them and they weren’t even in the top 7 or 8 favourites to win.
                  Please don’t go on…its pointless.
                  You cannot convince me about Wenger. I actually used to dislike Mourinho but at the end of the day he is a very good manager. One of the best in the world if not the best.

                5. @Jonestown. Mourinho net spend last 2 seasons is 50M quid Wenger’s is 95M quid.
                  Mourinho one 3rd place one 1st place finish, Arsene one 4th place one 3rd place finish.
                  Who is the winner here?

                6. Kool, there are several important factors you are leaving out of this discussion…
                  1) maureen runs a boring pre-historic defensive system where there are hundreds of players out there who fit in to said shit system. Conversely Arsene runs a entertaining, fun offensive system that can only be run with certain types of players, thus eliminating a lot of the talent pool
                  2) other than Porto, maureen has worked for clubs where money was readily available and provided for him whenever he wanted for however much he wanted. Arsene has been limited in how much he could spend and had to haggle over every dime. He also had to sell his best players to settle debt
                  3) maureen would out spend everyone, win for a year or two and split town. he left Inter in such bad shape that they still haven’t recovered. Porto as well..Arsene has had to worry about Arsenal’s future as well and still kept us competitive for 20 plus years. maureen can’t say that can he
                  4) I am so happy that my team plays entertaining fun football, doesn’t cheat and try to intimidate the match officials and plays the game the right way that I wouldn’t trade our style for a few more trophies and plastic fans…COYG!!

              3. Better squad builder????? He’s never stayed at a club for more than 3 seasons and whenever he left the teams ended up collapsing. Wenger made everyone believe we could win the league with an average squad during our barren years so don’t ever compare Jose’s team building to Wenger and Fergie’s

      2. I hate to pinpoint a very obvious fact but in the £2.2 billion spent investment by Chelsea since Abromovich took charge, or the £4.6 billion spent by City since the Mansour’s took Charge in their stadium, world class players, world class managers training facilities… They have 1 European Cup between them. In that same period just between Real and Barcelona having only spent 2.9 billion on players and investment, they have 6 European. Dynasties aren’t bought their built! This is the one thing they can continously throw money at, but it doesn’t mean sh+t.

        1. @inapropriatetelletubbie
          Exactly…
          And the thing about ManU, that no one is talking about is, what happens next season after VanGaals contract runs out? Giggs is chompin at the bit to take the helm. I myself can’t understand what will happen to all of those WC(world class) high priced players.
          They might win something this season. If they gel quick enough. Then what?

      3. like WTF are you saying. either Ur hatred for wenger or your lack of knowledge made you ignorant that wenger said the same thing before the invincible season. he said we could go unbeaten and we did.

    2. wenger is putting his nose where it doesn’t belong……. What the heLL is his business with Manure’s transfer poLicy?……… If he ain’t ready to spend to challenge…… He can only sit ,watch and keep mute…….He ain’t the only manager with ambition and hunger for success…. Godammit!

  2. Wenger’s reluctance of spending , I am with Wenger on this one. Its sad to see a club like ManU gng Chelsea/ManC way. Honestly I respect ManU in this regard that their name and fame is rightly earned and not some oil acquisition. They have produced some of the most legendary English homegrown players. But its probably gng now. And this is not good for the world’s best league in the world in the long run or football in general.

    1. Agree Invincibles49 – but I am not sure what people mean when they say Wenger is reluctant to spend – is the Board lavishing him with huge funds and imploring him to spend and he stubbornly refuses or is is his spending dictated/limited by the board? The 2 scenarios are very different – with the first we can blame Wenger if we feel he is wrong, in the second scenario any anger needs to be directed at the board.

      Having said that – it is highly improbable that an employee (ie: Wenger) sets and determines spend levels and not the owners/shareholder board. But I’m sure some on here will say different.

      1. Like the man said it today

        “The thought of me (AW) not being at Arsenal/ retired frightens me”

        This means he will do anything his bosses will tell him to do and say

  3. The thing that makes me laugh is the fact that, some Arsenal fans will call Chelsea’s and Man United and City Fan’s plastic or refer to them as ‘rent boys’, because they celebrate success that in all honesty have just been bought,but the irony in that sentiment is those very same people will moan about how ‘we don’t spend enough’ and grow impatient over Arsenal spending policies…. I bet if we had been in the same predicament that Liverpool had been in whereby they wasted 120 million, we would have found the same people criticising the club. Rather than in pointing the fact that we haven’t spent as much as the other clubs, highlight the other fact that least we didnt spend 120 million and do f$ck all with it we won a trophy…I swear with most Arsenal fan’s its like a d&ck swinging competition…

  4. I think Manu have realised how the whole landscape has changed. The money being used to win titles is absolutely crazy. Sometimes you need to fight fire with fire. We cannot directly compete for players against the wealthiest but Manu can. Maybe we are getting there step by step but we will never try and fight fire with fire in my opinion.

    Some say it would have been the wrong road to take, a sugar daddy owner. I felt however that the only way of getting these type of owners out of the game is actually for ourselves Liverpool and Manu to operate in the same way. Lets face it, its not competition that these owners relish, they like to win, and spending whatever is necessary to win. If ourselves and the two clubs I mentioned made it much more difficult for these owners to taste success well then maybe they would pack up there bags and try a different country.

  5. Now though, I think we are going in a good direction. It’s too late to try and drive them out as they’ve become attached.

  6. I know a lot of you will disagree with me but this is exactly why I love arsenal, because of our ideals and philosophy which separates ourselves from other clubs.

    Wenger is a solid building a core of players and now he is sprinkling the team with world class talent. I think he will make 1 more big signing this summer, have faith let wenger work his magic

    1. Cheapest adult ticket for either day is £29 for the 2 matches – but sorry not sure what the discount is for kids.

  7. Who cares. You should stop focusing on principles and sign a damn striker. Our youth players will for sure get opportunities but make sure our first XI is good enough first. I’m looking at the man upfront and he blatantly stands out as not good enough.

  8. Young players at City, Chelsea, now Man Utd aren’t given the chance To see what they can do. One thing we do at Arsenal IS give young players a chance. Which Wenger has to take credit for.

  9. Last time I checked, Manchester United won the EPL 20 times and the CL 2 times. Barcelona has won 13 la liga’s in the past 25 years and 4 CL titles in the past decade. Arsenal has won the EPL 3 times the last being 11 years ago and has never won the CL.
    I think they can do what the hell they want with their transfer policy because I am sure they know that fans and success come before their egos. They have achieved success buying players and having exceptional youth talent or buying exceptional youth talent. There fans are also happy. You don’t see Barcelona fans saying we lost our values after signing Suarez for 75M, Neymar for 60M and winning the CL or winning the treble. We are not on the same level as they are.

    Clubs trying to improve their squads will never stop. Doesn’t he realize how urgent it is for us to succeed after 9 years of stagnation? Does he realize that at this time we can associate Man City with titles? Times have changed and Wenger must learn to adapt. The best managers do. He should focus more on the signings we need to win the major titles. It is stupid to have financial resources and not bolster the squad because of some self-righteous personal quest. Its not like if he assembles a team capable of winning now he will have to keep spending large every season. Look at Chelsea…they don’t really need to spend excessively this coming season. Their squad is fine as they are. Wenger should try to get to that point. But I am sure his personal quest comes first rather than the fans or success so lets just gear up for another 4th place championship season. That is why If you ask me, I highly doubt we will see another EPL and never the CL under Wenger. The competition is way stronger today than it was when it was a two-horse race between Arsenal and Man Utd.

    1. You are absolutely convinced that spending money equates to ambition and is the key to winning PL. Fair enough. But if money is the answer then let us extend the logic further – there are 3 teams that can presently outspend us all the time, every time – so what are you expecting to happen?

      And how exactly does a manager “learn to adapt” to other teams spending more money? I presume by “learn to adapt” you mean nothing more than spend lots of money.

      1. Love one of the thumbs down guys to tell us all what happens when Chelski/Utd and City continue to outspend us.

        1. They dont have to continue to outspend you( i didnt thumb you down btw). There comes a time where teams are very hard to upgrade. It tkaes one maybe two players maximum to do that. Look at Barca, they dont need anyone in any position. Look at Chelsea, they are not outspending us. But we need to catch up. There are enough players out there to go around. We need a world class defender, can we not buy one? we needed (my opinion) to buy Vidal he went to Bayern for 26M and 90k a week, could we not afford that? We need to buy a world class striker, could we not afford 40-50m and 150-180k per week? Once you have those players then, its upgrading one, maybe two players a year. Could we not spend that every year?

          Look, ambition costs money, we bought Mesut and Alexis fantastic players for a lot of money each, that means we can do it. Its a couple of players a year, every year. Now we are 3 short. At some point we have to catch up in terms of squad quality. Then it will become much easier.

          1. Fair comment mate. I think the argument is more about the pace of change/catching up – I’d wager a hefty sum that AFC/AW have a slightly longer term plan than some of the guys on here. You can see what happens when clubs try and force the rate of change in a single season or two. I can sort of understand the impatience and understand the need for the instant fix – but even the most hardcore AOB has to see there have been huge gradual changes since the Ozil transfer. Our May 2013 squad is unrecognisable from what we have now but it has happened quietly, piece by piece.

        2. I just explained in a rather lengthy comment what “learn to adapt” means but I can’t see it posted. It shows this site lacks credibility.
          Ruthlessness, player petting (continually giving chances to players like Giroud rwho will not lead Arsenal anywhere rather than going out and strongly bidding and buying a top quality ST), slowness in reacting deficiencies in the squad even in January windows where it is clearer and the season can still be turned around, not basing our transfer windows on banking or players who get injured consistently, getting players we need and making respectable offers for players we need (like the Suarez debacle) are some of the things I mentioned. And also how if we spent on what we need now, we wouldn’t have to continually buy every season if the team was good enough and complete just like Chelsea are now. They don’t need to but excessively or buy anyone major.

          I also mentioned that our major transfer activities are basically handed out to us by other clubs, players being out of favour, players at other clubs with special situations (like Cech wanting to leave Chelsea but not London OR the malaga financial crisis that led us to getting Cazorla). We are not decisive or proactive in the transfer market.
          Its not about our rivals continually spending. Nothing can be done about that.

          1. But Chelsea have been building and spending for over 10 years – that is how they got to the position of luxury they are in now. We only started playing catch-up 2 years ago. We have only recently bought our first £30M+ players – Chelsea have had 5 or 6 in their team for a few years now.

            Not going to bother with all your nonsense about transfers being “handed to us”. You have to pretty desperate to push an agenda like that – I mean how do you think all transfers happen. You buy available players who want to come to the club. Why did the “Malaga financial crisis” only have a consequence for Arsenal? Any team in Europe could have gone in for Cazorla. They didn’t – we did. And we only bought Cech because we could – imagine the s**t storm if we passed up on the chance.

            And precisely how do you know about our decision making and proactivity in the transfer market? You haven’t got the first clue what we are up to so why make it up?

            1. Can we right now go and buy Sergio Aguero from Man City? Can we go right now and buy Benzema from Real Madrid without waiting to see what happens with their team? Can we go right now and buy Lewandowski from Bayern? Can Real Madrid/Barcelona/Bayern/Man City get Ramsey or any player from Arsenal if they want? You bet your life they can. That’s my point. If they need a player that bad, they will get him. We don’t have that sort of decisiveness and aggression. We wait for outcasts and scraps or average players with good form or players in strange situations like Cech and Cazorla. Not saying this is wrong but just making the point that Wenger or Arsenal have not yet adapted.

      2. “Learn to adapt”: be ruthless with his squad, spend on what is necessary, make respectable offers for players, be proactive in the transfer market etc.
        Wenger is a player petter. Hasn’t wenger given some players too much opportunity already and they have failed? Why keep banking on them rather than trying hard to sign replacements? Giroud will NEVER cut it for Arsenal, so where is the ST? Why hasn’t enough been done to bring in a replacement since RVP left? Why isn’t he ruthless? Do you think Giroud would still start for any of Man Utd, Chelsea or Man City after his first season? What about 3 seasons? Would he still be there as first choice?..If we plan on going further in competitions with 1 DM and maintain the same tactical balance then might as well give Coquelin legs of steel for all those games if he isn’t signing another top DM. Why does he over the seasons keep basing our transfer activity on the hopes and perfect imagery that injury prone players (like Jack Wilshere, Walcott, Chamberlain) we have will stay fit rather than just going and getting the positions we need and letting them compete? Chelsea, Man City, Man Utd etc. buy players they actually need and not just for buying sake. Not 1 transfer made by Man City and Man Utd this window have they not needed. He can learn to adapt by making strong efforts to sign players we need rather than having some false hope that the players we have will suddenly turn water into wine.
        Its not about outspending its about being proactive in the transfer market. We are very reactive in the transfer market or as people have put it opportunistic. Was 40 + 1 respectable for Suarez? How about 46M? Would they have taken us more seriously then?
        If the squad isn’t good enough don’t say it is and use it as an excuse not to actively make efforts to sign top quality players. Like people have pointed out here…our biggest transfers have been opportunistic.
        Do you see Arsenal going to Bayern Munich now and making a respectable offer of 50M for Lewandowski? Or will they wait for him to be out of favour or deemed not needed (which is very unlikely)?
        The point is other clubs make things happen with their transfers. For Arsenal its the opposite. We have to wait for out-of-favour top players, other clubs and players in special situations at other clubs (like Cech not wanting to leave london but leave Chelsea OR Cazorla at almost bankrupt or financially sinking Malaga) make things happen for us in the transfer window. We only decisively make the move for average players nobody is interested or players who aren’t at the top of the pile like we did with Giroud, Arteta, Welbeck. We were very decisive in those transfers.
        That’s what I mean by “learn to adapt”.

  10. Bottom line is this – Ferguson is probably THE greatest manager of all time. He brought United out of a very dark place and with scraps, he moulded the club into what it is to day with his hard work ethic and die hard attitude. Even after all their success, you hardly ever saw Ferguson splash out big names, yet he somehow always managed to win with what he had at his disposal. I think Arsene Wenger is really the closest thing to Sir Alex Ferguson in this sense and I honestly believe if Arsenal had stayed at Highbury (even though building the new stadium was a obvious direction to take), our trophy cabinet would be a lot more decorated. In hindsight, Wenger still did wonders under the circumstances.

    LVG on the other hand, is more like Mourinihio. He needs a substantial warchest to be successful and without this they are average managers. The only way LVG thinks he knows how to fix the problems at United, is to throw money at it and although I’ll admit he has made some superb buys, we all thought Falcao and Di Maria would tear the BPL a new one, yet look how they turned out? Flops.

  11. I rather believe and trust in the things Fergi and Moro say then Wenger. Moro has proved Wenger wrong for the past 10 years. He even presented him for his 1000 game with a 6 to zero defead. Even going so far as call him A specialist in failuare. What was Wengers response to this? ………..

    If you cant produce the players you need in the team you go out and buy. Thats the secret and no pis%%ing around the bush bs Wenger loves to do. You wont win the leauge by default Wenger only bec you think you are the only one who plays all nice and fair.

  12. Wenger is running scared of Man Utd because they have made some good singing’s . Wenger is a master of deflecting away from the fact that he bar Cech that he is sitting on his hands and keeping the cheque book in his pocket as usuall . All the Top teams have brought in at least two or three new faces top quality players. Once again Wenger is going on about youth coming through . Arsenal are not going to compete against Chelsea Man City. Man Utd Liverpool in the coming season. Best will be another FA Cup and 4 place . So no change and there won’t be as long as Wenger is Manager . Wenger long past his sell by date.

    1. I agree United signings look good – almost as good as their signings last year. And yeah, you would have been the first to congratulate Wenger on bringing in some of those “top quality players”, Unal, Delph, Ings, Gomez, Bogdan, Roberts or even Milner, Begovic or Falcao on loan. Sounds like it is you running scared of United.

      And where is this new manager going to get his money from?

  13. You can say all you want about Wenger and Fergie having a rivalry but the two men respected each other. Wenger is now part of the “Old Guard” and not many managers will play the game his way – most top managers now are buying managers. Top talent is rarely harvested in the top teams, but rather, it is bought in. Even Barca, renowned for La Masia, are not seeing their products play for the first team as often.

    Now this is in part to the mass globalisation of football, but it’s also due to the money gulfs. The top teams are now in a situation where they can choose who they want and simply have to pay more than the other guy to get him. Managers at the biggest clubs can just take their pick – LVG actually said as much. This did not used to be the case. Wenger comes from a time where you had to have more than just money to win the league, you had to build something into your team. The Invincibles did not happen in one or two seasons – it took developing and building and even then, involved a LOT of bought players, just who had become embedded. Loyalty and cohesion were important and the fact Chelsea won with an embedded back four and continuity for almost the whole season in their starting 11 is actually testament to this.

    The reason Wenger is attacking LVG is because this “buy what we like” mentality means that the youth suffers. Wenger has long stated that the youth system in England is flawed, that we weren’t teaching the kids to play right and that the quality of grass roots was not high enough. Add to this, he has always strongly advocated giving youth the opportunity to develop. Whether you believe Wenger has used youth to cover for his apprehension to spend (for whatever reason), the fact remains that he has always given chances to young players he believed could step up to the next level. Man Utd have long been the same, and although with more budget, have always opted to try and build the English game; you could see in Fergie’s final years a CLEAR aim towards this in Welbeck, Rooney, Smalling, Jones, Cleverley, Zaha etc. This has now changed.

    The change is that Smalling and Jones will be replaced asap. Cleverley, Zaha and Welbeck were moved on unceremoniously. Rooney is the only player still in the first team and only due to his pre-established quality. Last year Man Utd lost two of their best young players because they didn’t fit the LVG mould and now they will stifle the chances of more young players by replacing in multiple other positions as well. They will continue to buy quality and not invest in their youth. They would prefer to spend £30m+ on Luke Shaw then develop their own players.

    City are the same, but Wenger has long been against United – the money boys of Chelsea and City don’t have a reputation to uphold. This is a signal that the old system has ended and the new has begun. Money is now more important than any other factor in deciding the quality of a top team in the PL EXCEPT Arsenal and Wenger clearly feels betrayed by United for making it a money game. Arsenal will not compete with the giants on that.

    I’ll say it now but we probably have 3 seasons max to win the PL before it will move completely beyond us (unless we change to a “Money Man” situation”). Our success is now very dependent on the qualities Wenger has highlighted in cohesion and attitude. We cannot buy the quality that other teams can and this gap will only increase as the wages and transfer fees of the top players continues to sky rocket. If we want to win again we HAVE to get those last pieces of the jigsaw and then have it click. We cannot buy the title, but we can certainly buy one or two missing ingredients. Our team now is good enough on it’s day to beat anyone. The couple added bits are to make sure it’s nearly almost always our day 😉

  14. Hold wait a minuet Wenger. We have got a better kit sponsorship deal plus an increased EPL deal. Either lower the ticket prices or buy top quality players. Stop moaning about Man Utd and what they have spent when I know we have the money.

  15. PS If you want to run AFC as a business, everyone knows you have to plough money back into the business to make more money. Better players = more trophies = more profit = more top quality players will want to join us. I have had my rant tonight I just hope someone takes notice of me.

    1. I take it the people who gave given me thumbs down know nothing about business. I have got a business and plough most of my profits back into it because I want it to be bigger and better.

  16. KARIM BENZEMAS AGENT…TODAY…

    “Karim is very happy at Real Madrid and he will be a Real Madrid player by the end of this transfer window, 1,000 per cent,” he told Sky Sports News HQ chief news reporter Bryan Swanson.

    “Karim is not looking to move anywhere this summer.”

  17. we have to be honest, as much as we like to see a group of academic players (like the class of 92) come through , in today’s modern game it’s not going to happen. At this time of football clubs are not patient for youth development, in order to compete they have to spend. it’s not only happening at United, it’s also the same for Barca, Real, Bayern teams who are known for their academy development. This could apply to Arsenal as well, from the starting 11, who is the academy player that is a regular starter? who perform consistently to mark his print on the team? And to be honest see academic players at United still given a chance (Blacket, macnair, Wilson,Januzaj,…).
    All teams are trying to give a chance for academy players but you don’t see them that much in starting 11.
    Time have change managers don’t have the luxury of given a contract more than three years right now. Specially in big clubs manager is expected to delivery in a short period.

    1. You wonder what the long-term effect of this will be. A whole football industry geared to the needs of the top half dozen richest clubs in Europe. All other clubs becoming feeders? An elite UCL just for the top 8 or so? A European super league? Youth academies closing down? The Sky TV deal bubble bursting as the PL becomes less and less interesting and even more predictable. It will become like the old Cold War scenario – a spending race rather than an arms race. Mutually assured destruction as rich owners give up the thrill of the chase. Clubs going bankrupt.

      Maybe that is what it needs for football to go back to its roots.

  18. Lewandowski is the best striker out there, will Bayern sell? who knows. I think Wenger will wait out the striker game until the end, in the meanwhile lets get a DM? or maybe a winger/striker.
    I would hate to wait all of August to see a single new fase.

    1. I agree JB – I rate him the best all-round striker/CF out there – but that is exactly why I can’t see how Bayern would sell him. Our best bet is Guardiola falling out with him – Pep can fall out with anyone. But even then there would be a dozen clubs sniffing around and several of them would stick him straight on £250-300K p/w.

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