What’s Wrong with Arsenal Fans? By Galen
Arsenal football club has just spent 100 million or close to £100 million in one transfer window. Even with the Tv money, I never saw this happening. But this is a great day to be an Arsenal Fan. But to my greatest surprise some people seem to be unhappy.
Wait a minute, weere Arsenal fans really thinking we should pay £75 million for Higuain, £65 million for Lukaku, £50 million for Stones or the reported £50 million for Lacazette? I don’t always agree with Wenger but some of the prices quoted are crazy. £25 million for Johnny Evans? Please give me a break.
Now we first signed Granit Xhaka? I was really happy about him. Then fans are like its a waste of money and he is not what we really need. Weren’t we all asking for a defensive midfielder? Especially one that could pass a ball. Remember what happened when Cazorla got injured? We couldn’t win a game a foorball.
Now we are on the verge of signing a striker? Yes Lucas Perez. Okay he is not Aubameyang or Higuain but we need to at least give the lad a chance to play a few games and get behind him. The fact that Barcelona, Everton and leicester were interested, is enough for me. I cannot claim to know how good he is. But from what I have seen so far on youtube I am very happy with the Lucas Perez signing. He is completely different from Giroud and has got so much pace and is clinical.
We have been linked with Mustafi for the last 3 weeks and we are finally close to agreeing a deal with Valencia. First the fans complain that we should spend some Money. Spend, Spend. spend some money. Guess what, It’s reported we have paid about £35 million for Mustafi. Now the fans are actually sad that we have paid that much? Really?
First you complain and call Arsene a greedy old man. Then, when he spends you complain that the money is too much? What do you all want? We are on the verge of spending £100 million in a transfer window. Who knows, we might even nick James Rodriguez. Yet fans are complaining about transfer fees on twitter? Just drink a cold beer and enjoy the news while hoping the transfer goes through.
Some of you will not be happy even with the signing of Messi. Anyways, today seems to be a very good day. We have had loads of dark days in this summer and I will celebrate this one.
Wishing y’all a good weekend.
By Galen Sona.
Spot on Galen…
No, not spot on.
First of all, who has complained about buying Xhaka? I haven’t seen any sensible fan criticizing buying him.
The complaining is about:
A) dithering with the CB buy we’ve known we need since July. And now we are paying £10m extra because of this. Nevermind, we are a rich club but this could’ve handled better.
B) Buying a striker 4 years too late. Now, I’m excited about Perez. I’m not expecting +30 goals for him, but if he can score regularly even +20 goals, he’s more than a bargain. But this striker situation should’ve been solved when RVP left, and I can’t fully say its not solved. Time will tell.
C) Season is already on and because of Wengers shortcomings with transfers, we are 5 points behind leaders. Surely Mustafi and especially Perez could’ve been bought 5-6 weeks ago? What was the hold up? Would’ve we bought these 2 if we would’ve won both of our matches with clean sheets? I don’t know.
But these are IMO valid points to complain. If Wenger wouldn’t have signed anyone, I would’ve complained but understood it because he’s stubborn. Now that he has bought, the timing raises some serious questions.
Hope Perez and Mustafi have some serious steel balls because our situation and season is on the brink of disaster. The next 5-6 are all must wins and those two lads were brought to make a change now that we are desperate to win.
i think your comment completely justifies the article above!why didn,t we go for perez before?wenger might have been pursuing other targets?valencia wanted 50 millions from us but with one week left in the window and no one else coming for him they had to lower their fee also mustafi and his agent met with valencia officials only few days ago to push for a move,so you see they are many reasons that we don,t even know about why these deals weren,t done before,i don,t pretend to know everything but try to keep an open mind!!
I have seen plenty of comments on this site criticising xhaka signing, comments like his position not a priority, we should have signed a striker first etc.
Then thts not criticizing xhaka, it’s criticizing the way things were handled, Wenger stubbornness
@bran99
Only you would see it that way…
Do we know if Xhaka is any good yet? Hasn’t shown it yet. I know Wengwr has a type but this is silly. How many cutesy left footed white boys do we need on this team? Griezemann must be his wet dream.
You think their cute! ..good for you dude.
What’s with the racial comment?
You talk cart the CB we are getting is a World Cup winner and I think with today’s stupid money 35 mill is a fair price. Pay 50 mill for stones who is no better then our new young German. We have holding who I think will be a super player and I see a lot of him last year he’s very good and will just get better. I think LK can’t play every week so this will mix it up a little. As for the new CF well can’t be worse then OG can he. We have chance after chance with him and nothing remember 4 months without a goal? But AW keep playing him and by doing that he messed with the confidence of TW simple. Take your head out of the sand and get behind yr team
Well said, i dont know whats up with some guys they behaving like this two guys will bring epl in the emirates.cmone its gud to be excited but lets not let it blind us! We hve a huge task ahead of us but one thing is for sure atleast the mood in the emirates will be better so now we start the difficult task.
Because you fans are never satisfied, that is why we should stop buying players.
Selling and profiting from our players, is the only way you will appreciate them.
My problem? Why wait for the last week of the transfer window before addressing vital issues?
You know what? Wenger wanted to buy only one player as usual but thanks to the fans.
I believe this Perez will improve the team tremendously.
That’s right and I hope he does…that’s what we all want!
Its clear that we AFC fans…we all have same goals and agendas…the difference is in the approach and the way to get there!
@ Godswill.
We all wish it could be done early, But should we just pay £50 million in mustafi release clause? Just look at Napoli demanding £65million for Koulibally. Sometimes you need to wait, sometimes the player needs to force the deal just like the way Cech force the deal to come to Arsenal.
It is not just about having money. Valencia clearly expected Chelsea or liverpool to join in and start a bidding war. But when they didn’t come in and Mustafi saying on Tuesday that he wants to go , the price had to drop.
I just want fans to be happy instead of complaining about everything. Now lets all get behind our team and the Manager. We have just spent £100 million.
No wrong completely and utterly wrong. The longer you wait, the longer you dither, the more the prices go up. You do you business quick and early. Mustafi earlier in the window could have been had cheaper. Dont forget teams have to buy alternatives before they can sell.
@godswill
If you think that the fans influence AW in any way, I have a bridge in Khazazakstan made of gold I want to sell you. Cheap…
U have a fair point if those deals are done…
N we end our league trophy drought…
But still wenger should have done those deals earlier so that our new comers would gel into the team by the start of the season… always last moment transfers and waiting like vultures for özil like transfer sagas
There should be a proper transfer plan
You’s are talking like these signings were always gonna be the ones done. We would have likely tried to get a top striker ..which proved futile, and until we knew that for sure we couldn’t go spending money that we might have needed to get it done. Also who’s to say what our top targets were, but still you say we should have done this from start. You’s need to put more thought behind it.
I’m not saying these were our targets from the start… I dont know…. but what I’m saying is we should act early on whoever we are signing
Fans are not sure if Perez can make us real contenders. I understand these people. However, we should give the new guys some time to show us what they can do. The greatest fear I have is their manager, he is old fashioned and very bad at motivating his players when needed.
@John Legend,
I agree mate. And if they are or are not enough, we should anyhow support our players. It’s not like it was them who forced a move to Arsenal.
In the end, the glory or the failure will be because of the manager.
We had preseason for new players to show what they have… Too bad we buy new players after losing the opening game of the season.
Its not a good day, its a great day but only because all of the fans had resigned to the fact that he may not sign anyone at all. Other than that, this transfer window has been average compared to what others have done and similar to what we are used to.
Leave the fact that we spent close to 100m which wouldnt look just as big an smount spent when you compare it with all other premier league teams and not just Manchester clubs. But do consider where those clubs stand amongst the richest clubs in football list.
Lets just wait atleast till we recover the five points we have already against the other contenders before we start clapping and jumping and singing there is only one Arsene wenger.
And please dont get me wrong, I am happy we signed the two players we needed but I just think its unfair to blame the fans for being a little apprehensive abt Wenger after all that he has done and said during the last one month.
@ Maverick 12
We Buy a 3 good young players.
We buy a CB of International class. Just 24 yrs old
We buy of very good Central midlfielder who is still very young at 23
We buy a Mobile striker that is completely different from Giroud.
Then you say the Window has bn Average? If this is Average , what is good? Paying £100 million for Pogba?
Come on , give Arsene a break.
Mustafi is a good buy, Xhaka is a good buy, but I would have preferred Kante, with Prem experience and cheaper, Perez is a panic buy. We were offered Perez and declined as he was low on our list. I have never seen him play, I dont look at Youtube as that makes anyone look good. So i can not judge him as a player. All I know is that we went for Higuain and Suarez in the last few seasons and failed and now we bought Perez. To me it doesnt look like a move forward, but i will support him and hope that he turns into our Vardy for 2016/17
@Galen
I understand what you are saying, my friend. The signing probably are very good but the way its handled, Wouldnt you agree that it could have atleast saved 2-3 extra points already?
I am not saying Perez is not good, I like what I see, if he is strong and fast and it looks like he can shoot then he is probably all we need but dont you think that we could have done better on paper.
And by the time they gel into the team we probably would have missed 4 PL matches and if we lose any more points before our team is up and running then the premier league title is already out of reach.
That is why I think this has been an average transfer window, not because of the players we signed. The only time I criticize a player is for the lack of effort.
Maverick spot on.guys forget so many mistakes from the manager just coz he has purchased lol.i always say criticism is very gud for any team.we should learn to criticize lets not just sit and chill yet we can see so many problems. Thats why i feel guys should criticize the manager more only then will he work rather than be comfortable.lets learn to criticise when something is wrong not just cover it with a single gud.
If you really don’t see what’s wrong with AFC ,transfer policy etc and what the fans you mentioned in your article are talking about for a while now..then I must ask you Mr. Galen whats wrong with you mate?
I guess you didn’t read the article. Like i said , some fans would still complain even if we signed Messi. Am just happy today. The summer was long with several days of waiting. This is morethan good news.
Show me one fan that wouldn’t be happy with the signing of Messi? ffs! ? ?
Talk about taking things to the extreme! ? Wenger style!
Actually I did…and thats why I have commented on it.
What, you have some bad stats over reading your articles or …
The thing is that you did some kind of classification of the AFC fans…which is normal …I mean, c’mon this is free world..everybody has right to his own opinion..we know that, its not the rocket science….
…You know what I mean, right?
Well said galen.. however, if we nick James Rodriguez, the moaners going to pour cold water on it and say “here we go again with another Madrid reject”.
Some so-called fans should just do the honourable thing and go support another club.
@jamaican_gooner
RealTalk…
Galen stop making ridiculous comments like we wouldnt be happy with Messi. Most people here would have been happy with any top striker. Higuain, Griezman, Lewandowski, Aubumeyang, Ibrahimovic, just to name a few. And in the last 4 seasons we have had chances to do just that, buy a top striker. So excuse us for not taking the blue pill and forgetting about reality.
Yes, Mustafi is a good buy, everyone seems to be happy with that. Perez is a ?. We hope he is good but just dont know. And Yes I personally would have preferred to have spent 60-70M on a top striker and do without Xhaka in this window. Xhaka is a great buy, but I would have had a Lewandowski and Mustafi any day. Instead of Holding, Xhaka, Perez, and Asano.
Lol hahah now i can see the akbs and aobs taking a dig at each other.how our club has fallens the fans themselves are divided.haha everyone is excited even the guys who criticise wenger but unlike some guys they are not content with top four and want more(is it bad to desire epl for ur team).
Another finally know we will make it to top four we luk strong now and start saying things like master class wenger or only one wenger.
For a team competing for the title the bisna would hve been done before the season even kicked off so just the timing tells u the story.
Lets see how the lads improve our team.lets gun for the 3 points tomorow we really need to start rising
I’m part of the group that has been calling for Wenger’s resignation. I’ve not been impressed with his signings of late, neither can you blame him for the overvalued market. I would have called him Nepotist had he gone ahead with the crazy price tag placed on Lacazette. I’m convinced we’re going to have a fine season with the two incoming signings. All said and done, I wouldn’t mind our gaffer call it a day at the end of the year.
Wenger, make Arsenal great again.
First i must say that epl and la liga are the top-most leagues in the world.la liga teams hav an impressive record against epl teams,which shows that u need to be good to be playing there.the reason the epl teams lose is bcos of lack of rest and aggression.tbh i prefer pure football and skill to aggression.i honestly dont like the amount of injuries and problems occur bcos of bad tackles,so i would giv that to la liga…
This transfer window tbh i feel wenger has done a very good job.a skilled striker who has pace which is d most important thing with reasonable stats and EXPERIENCE OF PLAYING IN A TOTAL OF THREE COUNTRIES .and then a german international in d defense.overall,wenger has plugged d gaps well.and at 27 of course Perez is at his prime while msutafi already knows something abt epl…as for ppl who complain,i believe they are wrong.what makes arsenal ‘arsenal’ is that they spent decent money (not extravagant) on good players and make them superstars.i f arsenal spent like other top clubs,then arsenal are just a club like others and lose their identity….
I admit that wenger hasnt addressed issues in past seasons,but i forgive him after this.he has done really,really well,has been really sensible in spending.and honestly,i back arsenal to win title this season and even go far in champions league.didnt feel this confident even during times of arshavin,nasri,fabregas,rvp,rosicky as team lacked experience,din hav good defenders,and all time attacking style which backfired.team now is more balanced,and THIS IS THE BEST ARSENAL TEAM I HAV SEEN SINCE I STARTED FOLLOWING ARSENAL AT 2006…am fully with author on this,so to remind the akbs.fans like me doesnt want wenger to spend 50 or 100million on players,but we want him to address basic team issues at reasonable prices..THERES A BIG DIFFERENCE,SO OUR REQUESTS TO THE CLUB IS JUSTIFIED IMHO….
I think technically laliga is more superior than epl.just see how they pass,score they are technically superior to us (pl)
“Wait a minute, weere Arsenal fans really thinking we should pay £75 million for Higuain, £65 million for Lukaku, £50 million for Stones or the reported £50 million for Lacazette?”
Yes.
lol. hahahahahahahahah If some fans are complaining that Mustafi was expensive, £75 million for Higuain? he would needs to score 75 goals a season to keep you all happy.
Wrong again Gallen. I would take a top striker at whatever cost anyday. By the way, I dont give a damn how much we spend on a player. If we have the money, we spend it. Arsenal is NEVER going to go bankrupt. If we over spend one season, we can relax a little the next.
Arsenal should have spent 200 million in this window not 100. It is the only way to close the gap between us and the rest, I am not interested to fight for top four. I want to see the PL and CL trophies.
Mustafi, Ricardo Rodriquez, Xhaka, Greizmann, 180 Million that would be great transfer window.
This one looks great compared to last year thats for sure. But compared to the rest of the PL?
You’re really supporting the wrong club.
I am satisfied the club hasn’t entered the new season totally unprepared as was feared by many. That is a good relief.
I am not so excited about Perez like some are. However, on the evidence of what he done last season in the La Liga (statistically), I can’t argue he is not a GOOD striker. Good one there.
But I feel very confident about our defense and midfield going into this season. Super good change there. Welldone Arsene!
Talent wise, we are still not quite on same level with the Mancs. But hopefully with streetwise tactics from Arsene and consistent show of great hunger from majority of our players we may do a Leicester this season!!
Doing a Kallstrom this summer would have proved catastrophic -unarguably so.
Still, Wenger could have pulled a Kallstrom on us (he is ballsy like that), but he didn’t. For that I say Thank you Arsene.
Now I can atleast fantasize and hope that Wenger totally shocks the universe by going ahead to add someone like James Rodriguez (an opportunistic signing) on deadline day. LOL
Satisfaction only comes at the end of something that has been achieved and Completed!
Ask me the same question after we win the Premier league trophy or the champions league trophy. ?
If you’re satisfied because Wenger spent a £100 million on a few average player’s then good for You!.. enjoy the buzz, while it lasts!
Apart from Xhaka who is nowhere near the finished article that we really needed, the rest of Wenger’s signings will struggle to get much game time and are more than likely to be sitting on the bench for a while, as that seems to be the norm with wenger and his way’s of easing the players into the team.
Its beyond a joke how the Wenger fan’s are celebrating the wasted £100 million spent on mediocre! ?
Pogba and the freebie Ibrahimovic would have improved our team alot more than this lot! LOL!?
There was no need to send Campbell and the soon to be loaned chambers, Out!
Wenger has become an incompetent, joke of a manager and the fan’s who are happy with his dealings! are just as delusional …. Take a Step back and have a long hard look at what the £100 million was spent on ffs! ?
Don’t come to me with that inflated market bull ? either,
Thats Wenger’s fault for leaving it late.
wow. Man you need a drink. relax bro.
Fatboy is right – this is a top 4 team. Not enough for me and many other fans who want to see us compete for all the marbles.
Just go gloryhunt at some other team.
Very well said. To me its clear what arsenal are targeting for this year and that is our usual top four.we just got a shock that its gona be tough even to achieve that and hence we buy just enough to make us attain that goal.i hope i am wrong and we win epl but i can be 99% sure that we aint winning the league.what about u guys?
Still think AW can sell a few players now who just don’t cut it. But we have a few good kids that need to come in to a winning team. We have now a very good DM we have now a good back 4 with one of the best right backs in world football we have a mix in midfield again good and now we have a new CF who I think will fit right in. So it’s time to get behind your team because since January we have paid out a few quid on new players so don’t let them here you boooo make some noise as I think this will be AW last year at arsenal
Who wrote this article? I can’t recall anyone complain about signing of Xhaka and neither do I recall anyone complaining about Wenger spending £35 million on Mustafi. As a matter of fact, a large majority of the fans were screaming at Wenger to pay the amount already.
I agree. I don’t recall anyone complaining about Xhaka
I never complained about getting Xhaka. In fact I said I am happy he is with us because he is excellent in both attack and defense and completes central midfield. I also remember saying that he and Cazorla or Coquelin (with ozil) can be the best CM in the league
The only thing I said was that central midfield wasn’t the biggest priority or as important as getting a CB and Forward (because we have quite a few CM players) and also paying £35 mil for Xhaka shows that the board aren’t as tight with money as I thought.
But I am very happy we have Xhaka especially as we now have a CB and forward
I have seen a number of comments criticising the xhaka signing, along the lines of, not a priority, should have signed a striker first.
Cmone!!!! I think we should check how much crystal palace has spent or even liverpool.we as fans are not unhappy we just wish what is the best for our club.we’ve seen this movie unfold so many times and i beleive its due to the fans presure that we are even getting anyone.i know its a exciting time (only jump when confirmed) but lets not forget we hve dropped 5 points which would hve been prevented had we done our deals early.now we hve a huge task ahead of us catching up is no easy feat its easier to just keep going down the table than it is easy to rise
The first comment in this article says it all. Yesterday when I made a positive comment about the transfer policy all I got was ‘we needed a striker but we signed Ozil’ and ‘we only signed Cech last season even though we had Ospina’.
I really don’t want to go into why those two statements are wrong – mostly because Ozil is the best player Arsenal have ever had, and I say that as the no. 1 DB fan there ever was.
But WTF have any of us the right to question every single little detail? We have ****wits on here questioning the timing of substitutes! I’m sorry but your livelihood never depended on that sub. When it does then come back and tell me so. We have a guy that could have gone to RM and had his payday and instead spent his time convincing that dude that just because someone munched on his **** it’s OK but we make a villain out of him.
Sorry I’m short on irony today so I didn’t finish. RM went on to sign that player on loan and didn’t take him on…..
Oh stop it man.. Nobody questioned the talent of Ozil and Cech… We all love them and we are happy they are Arsenal..
But how do you forget that we have not been able to replace RVP and its been 4 years now.. How can an A-grade team like Arsenal not address this key issue year after year?
The supporters were vocal this time and Wenger had to heed.. I am happy he did and now its time to support our lads.. Go get Watford!!
Cut the nonsense
all we want is the team to win .if nt the league then atleast beat all big teams and prove that it a new era at the club
Cut the nonsense
all we want is the team to win .if nt the league then atleast beat all big teams and prove that its a new era at the club
I am delighted with these signings, but my complaint is that they are a year late. If we had made these type of signings last summer it would have shown ambition to ozil and suarez when they still had three years left on their contracts. We would probably now be PL champions, wenger could have retired on a high note, like fergie. We would now possibly have new manager and ozil and sanchez on new contracts or about to sign. There would be a real buzz about the club.
I think that there is poor strategic planning and it comes from kroenke. He miscalculated the need to show ambition and to win things, to maintain the Arsenal “Brand”. Fans accepted top four when we had to sell players to pay stadiun debt. Now the burden of debt has eased fans expect us to be challenging for the top spot right to the end of the season, not for it to be effectively over on 2 March.
So I am pleased now but last summer was a big missed opportunity.
I dont think it is Kroenke’s fault that we didnt buy anyone last year. Mustafi would have been 20M, Xhaka, 25M ( Vidal was 28M ) That would have been a good wndow along with Cech.
And in this window we could have spent all our money on a striker.
There’s a German player at man united BS well AW could do a lot worse then buying him just for his experience in the team
as with all signing the proof will be in the pudding, personally i would have preferred spend 100m on Griezman 1 to show our intent and 2 to improve us. i think our squad depth is better now although I’m not sure our first choice 11 will be much better. Lets see where we end up then we can say what we did was good or not enough
I assume you mean buying just griezman and not the others. This would be a big risk, injury to kos would have left us with no experienced CB. Also it is hoped that xhaka can replace cazorla should he be injured.
Let our season begins
You’re asking if Arsenal fans will ever be satisfied you need to talk to your man Konstantine. That writer wrote one of the most negative and ungrateful articles I’ve seen,yesterday, referring to Perez as a panic buy and saying we are trying to rescue our transfer window. I’m like WTF? Both Mustafi and Perez are good players that will strengthen our team. What more do you want.
If those signings come through which they should this will be our most successful transfer window as we would have spent around 100 million covering the areas we needed to strengthen. Have I missed something here.
The guy went on complaining about us hijacking Everton’s targets and questioning if we have scouts of our own, whilst complaining how shambolic the start to our season was. The guy complains how we weren’t able to law away Vardy when Chelsea were able to attract Kante. The guy needs to chill.
If Chelsea had signed Vardy after he snubbed us he would have had an argument but he is talking about 2 different players. Chelsea went for Kante and we went for Vardy. Whose to say Kante wouldn’t have come to us if we came knocking and Vardy would have just as well of snubbed Chelsea if they had tried to sign him. The guy moans about how players rejected us. What players? Vardy is one dude who wanted to stay at his club the same way Shearer chose to stay at his. I don’t think it has anything to do with us not being able to attract players or him not rating us. Leicester haven’t beat us since the 1994/1995 season. They fear us because we are their bogey team. I don’t know about the fans never being satisfied the most negative comment I’ve read on here this week is an article from one of your fellow writers. That article was so pessimistic even Piers Morgan would of said chill!
AW should have bought early (as always) and he would have got the best bargains…as it is, he HAS had to overpay, and that is obvious to any numpty.
He NEVER EVER learns.
but but but it’s only Jose and pep who buy the league. 100 million is not a small money, I can’t see howhas he spent the money wisely.
Glad we finally got another centre back, but as for Perez, the only problem I foresee is that he won’t actually be deployed as a striker, and if he does he won’t be first choice over giroud. Wenger will always pick giroud up top, it’s been proven time and again that he sticks by this guy despite him not performing when WE need him to. Perez can lead a line but his attributes look to me as though Wenger will play him out of position and stick him wide, in favour of giroud. Meaning we still need an out an out striker, not a guy who he says can play striker but he never does.
@galen. I think we, as fans, wanted a DM before last season because we only had Coq and didn’t believe in Arteta or Flamini. Predictably Coq and Santi got injured and we had no real options at DM. The fans were right IMO and Wenger responded by buying Elneny in the winter window.
I was sceptical about Elneny but I am the first to admit he was a solid signing. With Cazorla coming back this meant in many of our fans eyes that striker became our main priority particularly once Welbeck was lost for effectively the whole season.
Xhaka might turn out to be a great signing but he did not address our biggest need yet we spend more on him and bring him in at a much more opportune time than Perez.
The handeling of this transfer window including the various communications from Wenger and Gazidas has created a toxic atmosphere around the club and I don’t think blaming the fans for that is smart or reasonable.
Keown wrote a good article today (worth reading) and in a part of it he said:
“It’s crunch time for Arsene Wenger… the fans will only consider this year a success if they win Premier League ”
By Martin Keown for the Daily Mail
Published: 21:30 GMT, 26 August 2016 | Updated: 21:30 GMT, 26 August 2016
“Arsene Wenger needs to deliver success this season if he is to win the supporters back
Wenger seems to think that Arsenal fans won’t be happy until he spends huge money on a player, but I don’t think this is the case. What they want is change — they need to see something is being done to move the club forward, and the signings of Shkodran Mustafi and Lucas Perez should appease them for now.
But it’s not just the fans who need convincing. Sanchez and Ozil have yet to sign new contracts and they may start to consider their options if more big-name signings — as well as that elusive title win — don’t arrive soon.”