I do hope that these latest comments from Arsene Wenger really are a precursor to Arsenal sealing the transfer of another Real Madrid player, and we all know who we want that player to be, with the France international Karim Benzema having almost single handedly kept the football reporters in Arsenal transfer rumours to write this summer.
The manager was also speaking about Real Madrid´s big rivals Barcelona as well, in a report by The Guardian, as the Frenchman alluded to the way that the transfer market has changed for the Gunners in recent years. For too long Arsenal were at the mercy of Spain´s bit two clubs as well as our main Premier League rivals and any other club that had a lot of money to spend and a good chance of a trophy or two to win.
But times have changed and not just with our financial situation. As highlighted by our signing of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil in successive summers, the players from the two La Liga giants are now a lot more available than before, mainly because of the strength and depth and the competition for places in their squads.
Wenger said, “What is new for us, there are two ways. Before, when we were building the stadium, the big clubs came to buy the players from us. Now we are in a position where we can keep our big players but sometimes there are so many big players in the other big, big clubs who are good but do not play. So after a year or two you can get a good deal. Sánchez is a case. Pedro is another case. Arjen Robben is another.”
This is all good and interesting but I have to wonder about why the prof has decided to talk about Real Madrid and signing players from them at this particular time, with all the rumours linking us with a possible swoop for Benzema. Is he just being mischievous or does he know something that we do not?