Did Arsenal get their last transfer business all wrong? By SK
A former Arsenal midfielder, Emmanuel Petit believes Wenger’s transfer business last summer has not helped his position. Speaking to a French sport outlet, SFR sport, Petit has this to say; “There’s a part of me that understands the fans’ frustration, it’s been years now that they have seen other teams win trophies, that the team gets weaker every year, always at about the same stage of the season. Don’t forget that it is a group of supporters, it is not all of them…Overall, there is been a lack of ambition in the transfer market. I think they completely messed up the summer transfer window. They were hasty regarding certain players. I think Arsene acknowledges that internally with his staff, who made mistakes in that area.”
Granit Xhaka, Shkodran Mustafi and Lucas Perez all arrived at the Emirates last summer for a combined 82 million pounds. But could we have done better than these players? I will say yes judging by what they have played for us this season.
If we had gotten Kante instead of Xhaka, Arsenal would have had more steel in the midfield. In Kante, we would have a player who knows how to win midfield battles without acquiring yellow cards in the process. Look at what he is doing at Chelsea and you will agree with me that he would have been a better option for us. He has premiership experience and he had just won the title last season. We could have gone all out to acquire this gem.
Lucas Perez was a star in star when we bought him but his lack of playing time at Arsenal may go beyond what we see or perceive. He may have the eye for goals but may be lacking in other aspects that will cause him problems in the Premiership. If we had emptied our finances to sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, we would probably be in the quarter final of the champions league! We miss the services of an all-out striker and this Gabonese would have been the perfect solution for us. However, I still believe if we give Perez adequate playing time, he can reward us with many more goals.
Nothing much to say about Mustafi because I don’t see where he has gone wrong so far but he can still improve on his markings. What do you think? Did we get our last transfer business wrong? And is that why we have failed to improve this season?
Sylvester Kwentua
Mustafi was good signing
Holding seems good
Xhaka only time will tell (we still lack a Top defensive midfielder)
Lucas was acceptable (but not the top forward we were yearning for. Lucas has only had one good season and nearly 29)
Again we need to blame Wenger for poor decisions
We needed a DM like Kante and another Top forward and Wenger screwed up
Now this coming summer not only do we need DM and forward (two if Alexis leaves) we also need a lb and backup RB and maybe CAM if Ozil leaves
Wenger has also given too much attention and loyalty to average players
Wenger’s poor transfers, reliance on average players and decision making has made it more difficult to challenge next season
Wenger Out
Again a fool blames Wenger without thinking for themselves.
Wenger had Dein when he 1st came to Arsenal.
Dein bought Vieira, Henry, Petit, etc. Wenger just pointed them out and set Dein onto the job.
Dein left Arsenal as he thought we needed to invest and as such needed an investor to allow us to spend a bit better while paying off debts. He got forced out by the greedy board.
For a short period Wenger done signings by himself.
Broke our own record to sign Arshavin and also payed over the odds after Nasri signed a new contract to bump up him value, Wenger just paid it.
Gazidis arrives and we miss out on Cazorla for 12 months due to a couple million short on the bid.
Xhaka has failed to impress but the WC showings had YOU along with others singing about how great he is, if Wenger hadn’t have got Xhaka then YOU along with others would have moaned.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Arsenal need a new Dein.
Wenger will do better if he could focus more on footballing side and less on business.
Next manager will have more time dealing with the squad instead of dealing with business interests.
But you jump on the bandwagon and repeat Wenger out like a bloody parrot without knowing for yourself. Not a real fan, nothing more than a plastic fan.
Why the hell should anyone believe what a fool like you is spouting anyway?
did Arsenal mess up last season? the answer is yes to every season. we needed a strong lad in the midfield like kante, but this issue has gone beyond last season for I don’t know what reasons, Wenger knows best. we have a lamppost as our striker, Lacazette was all in our minds and everyday news, an unknown Perez pops up and we are covered, Mustafi is a good buy but the lack of steel infront of them makes so vulnerable.
So, whether Wenger buys to fill all the positions or not, it’s always not enough coz he already lost the magic to buy talents since Dein left. 14th trophyless season and Spurs ahead of us
Nice to see someone else point at the loss of Dein.
I dont doubt Wenger can spot talent, I read less about Wenger missing out on top talent when he had Dein getting the players but since Dein we have read about a list longer than Adams gambling record of players Wenger missed out on.
I would point out though that Wenger did buy Nasri and he was a talent for us, Wenger paid over the odds to get him as he had just signed a new contract, ended up paying about 1mil more than we paid for TH14… For a kid!
Big difference is Gazidis arrives.
Look, is it reasonable to expect Wenger after 20 years in charge and at the ripe old age of 67 to have his finger on the pulls of football the way his young competitors do? Can you expect him to evolve with the game? Do you see him evolve with the game?
Kante £32 million – best midfield player in the PL IMO – less expensive then Xhaka at £35 and much better player at the moment also represented less risk since he was PL proven.
Wanayama £11 million – better DM than we have at the club, obvious transfer since he was PL proven.
Jesus £27 million – got injured early but it was obvious why he replaced Aguero as striker for City and he is only 19!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sane £37 million – great and promising winger.
Gundogan £20 million – got injured but had a great start to his PL career.
Jesus and Wanyama would have cost us less than we spent on Xhaka and Perez.
If we were not going to play Perez anyway we could have bought Kante and Wanyama and have the most dominating midfield in the PL, we probably could have paid Ibra for one season for the difference and that would have made us look fearsome.
But at 67 years old and after 20 years most of which he was a lone ruler who didn’t want input or alternative opinions but only yes man around him, it is not reasonable to expect Wenger to change his complicated approach.
We missed many tricks the past view transfer windows and that is not going to change.
Wenger isn’t final say on transfers.
An idiot can see the pattern of transfers when Dein was at the club, the 1 transfers done by Wenger after Dein had left and prior to Gazidis taking over and then Gazidis has been in the role Dein done since Gazidis arrived.
Oh, since then we have been poor in transfers.
Prior to Gazidis.
Nasri for an inflated fee and Arshavin at a record transfer.
Look at the clubs politics.
So called fans huh, seen more support from a baggy, ripped and stained pair of briefs.
Only an idiot would think Gazidis would buy or sell players against Wenger’s wishes.
I don’t think it was our worst transfer market … that was the year before. It does surprise me that Wenger always rolls over to Chelski in the transfer market … why? At least make an effort … Ones that spring to mind include Mata, Hazard, Kante – all who we were in the market for but rolled over as soon as Chelski declared an interest. Letting them have Fabregas, even though he wanted to come back was beyond belief.
It is one of a catalog of failures though … failure to start contract negotiations in adequate time, and leave it to the last minute … why? If Wenger can’t do it, get someone who can, illogical team selection – not based on performance or ability in a position, lack of team motivation, not treating the captain as an important post that relays the managers orders onto the pitch etc etc.
Was thinking myself, why are people talking like Kante was ours for the taking. Chelsea, soon as they came in for him that was only ending one way. When have we ever aggressively chased a player, when have we beaten Chelsea to a player. People need to drop this already, it’s all in their heads. If it’s about looking on with envy, we could sit here all day. Also, I don’t like it when people talk about transfers like they’re supposed to be a hundred percent certainty all around.
Unfortunately our full backs have been caught out of position too much this season and along with the lack of protection ahead of them our centre backs have been too exposed and dragged all over the place.
Coquelin, xhaka and ramsey have been really disappointing. Ahead of the wenger has shown too much faith in iwobi, who really has offered little.
Even our keepers have looked desperate at times.
Mertesacker Jenkinson and debuchy should have been sold we would have easily made 16m enough to buy a versatile xp player like howedes