The Arsenal transfer rumours about Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal board doing their best to add the transfer of Leicester City’s Premier League star Jamie Vardy to the early summer signing of Granit Xhaka has certainly served to silence most of the criticism of Le Prof, with even the most ardent WOBs pleasantly surprised by this unlikely development from the Frenchman.
But in the cold light of day, is this move really what the Gunners need to ensure that a 12 year wait for the EPL trophy does not turn into an unlucky 13? Not according to a growing number of dissenting voices in the football media. The fact that one of the first of these voices was that of the former Arsenal and England midfielder Paul Merson will not come as much of a surprise to most of us.
Merson is quite clearly and vocally in the Wenger Out Brigade and if the Frenchman said the sun was going to come up tomorrow I reckon Merson would disagree, but that does not necessarily make any less valid his point about the pursuit of Vardy being the wrong move for Arsenal, as reported by Sky Sports.
He said, “It doesn’t fit with me. Arsenal don’t get the ball forward quickly enough. I don’t get the transfer, I really don’t get it.
“No disrespect to Vardy but his strengths are getting the ball over the top. Teams come onto Leicester and they hit them on the counter.
“The vast majority of Vardy’s goals came from one-on-one with goalkeepers. Teams kick-off against Arsenal and immediately put 10 behind the ball and they’ve got to try and break them down.
“I think Vardy is really thinking whether Arsenal would suit him. If that wasn’t the case he would have signed straight away, he wouldn’t have had to talk to anyone about it as Arsenal are one of the biggest clubs in the world. There has got to be a reason (for the delay).”
There are similar pieces cropping up in the football media, such as Dave Kidd’s piece in The Mirror in which he says the same thing about Vardy and Arsenal not being suited. He also suggests that Wenger could be doing this mainly to pacify his critics, take one of the main players off the only club that finished above us and use the striker only on occasions which suit him.
He wrote, “But why Vardy ? Well, while Wenger has clearly decided that financial commonsense is obsolete in a League crazed by cash, perhaps he also hopes to destroy the one team which finished above Arsenal last season, and believes Leicester’s striker can provide him with a bench-based Plan B.”
What do you make of all this Gooners? And is it the reason why Vardy has not jumped at the chance of joining one of the biggest clubs in the world?
Bob
Well, The saga as long as it continues will only create uncertainty in our transfer window. Vardy wants to come or not should have been done quickly. Since he is thinking, just move on. A club cannot be held to such a major decision making for a ransom by a player. Especially by one who is not even on our books.
Move on. Henry Miki, get that deal done.
I know this will sound a bit crazy but how about signing both Mahrez and Mhiki and move Sanchez to striker role???
Before you say he’s not a striker remember he was a striker before at Udinese and even barca.
With those 3 up top and Ozil behind then expect goalssssssssss.
Vardy doesn’t deserve to be on bench and I don’t think Wenger is buying him as a plan B. It’s either a change in a system to 4-4-2, or total change in the playing style back to our quick and fast attacks where Henry used to fit. Robin van persie reached his peak at almost the same age and won ManUre a trophy, why not try our luck also.
Tired of legends who are negative about any signing even when they know it’s better than what we have..You can only hear them offer support to Wenger when he fails to bring anybody..MIND YOU THEY ARE ALWAYS THE WORSE COACHES!
Yes. I rarely care what any former players think about these issues – they have their own agendas and biases. I trust the opinions of average Arsenal fans FAR more.
They have every right to be negative when Mourinho and Pepe are going for the best of the best. Vardy is good but what is he compared to Aubameyang or Zlantan ? Why don’t we got for a striker who will provide a long term solution ? Vardy will only be a stop gap for Welbeck and Sanogo, both of which haven’t shown any sign of being world class yet.
lets see, mourinho & pep coming back, so spurs & LC not going to be the problems, scoring clearly was our issue, vardy was 2nd in the epl in scoring, ummm, are we suppose to try the same thing again that has not worked for 4 yrs? don’t get it? when you take vardy you strip LC of their scorer, you keep him from one of the other hig clubs, and you get a scorer to use as you need…
luvdaguns the only problem with that is if what some experts say is true and Vardy don’t fit in to our team play then we are snookered once again without a top striker, we should of gone for Zlatan with two year contract and see if Dany comes up trump,
my first choice would be Robert Lewandowski
Vardy is one season wounder same as Carol Liverpool spent loads for him look what happened to him Vardy suits his club and nothing else but you never know I might change my opinion after the euros
I can find logical arguments from people both for and against acquiring Vardy. For me………
Pro: Vardy offers something Giroud does not – pace combined with reliable finishing.
Con: Vardy is an aging one-season wonder.
But it would be better if we could acquire a striker with mostly positives and very few negatives. And Wenger should not put all his eggs in that basket.
Some people only see and hear what they wantand then you have those who take a step back and take a good look around, whilst listening.
One dimensional or just plain desperate? Call it what you like, but I for one, wasn’t jumping for joy, when the Vardy rumours first started doing the rounds and even though Paul Merson comes across as a ‘F’ grade student, ( like me) he actually does make a valid point, regarding Vardy.
Exactly, there are plenty of better strikers out there but Wenger doesn’t want to search hard enough. Atletico and Dortmund always find top players for cheap so why can’t we do the same ? Vardy scored most goals in PL but Leicester and Arsenal’s playing styles are completely different. In addition the Leicester striker is only good for 1-2 years and after that we will find ourselves with no striker AGAIN. I would prefer a buying a forward who’s about to enter their prime that way we can be sure of having a solid 4-5 years of consistent goal scoring, it would give enough time for the likes of Apkom and Sonogo to develop without us having to underachieve.
Sorry, but Merson and the rest are wrong. Look back to the beginning of Weger’s reign; the saing was that a corner for the opponents was a goal scoring opportunity for Arsenal – we were so quick on the counter attack…
Too bad Walcott didn’t get enough time last season to fine tune his runs with Özil’s sweet, left foot.
Hahaha ? But that was two decades ago! ?
And just incase you haven’t noticed,
We don’t have that same team, anymore!
Some would also say that we don’t even have that same manager, anymore! ? just an empty shadow, in its place.
I’m sorry but why are we empowering a Leciester player first and foremost. No disrespect to Leciester but they are by no means a top club. Every team in the league will come at them next time around a don’t think these same mistakes will happen with them beating teams 1 nil over and over. Everyone will plan for that, nothing like beating the defending champions. Morata was indeed a target as well, we should have used this time to wrap him up with the intentions of getting another top ST or another Alexis type player who can contribute from the wing. Vardy can have his party’s but Arsenals party must go on. NEXT!!!
Ok I understand Vardy banged in 20+ goals last season and broke Van Nistelrooy’s records for scoring in the most consecutive matches, but you’re telling me we cannot find another with similar qualities like his in Germany, Spain, Italy, France, England, Holland, Portugal, or any of the lesser leagues for that matter? Better yet younger? I find that hard to believe…
The quality of the league has to come into it. Also a PL player is believed to settle much quicker than a foreigner, most of time. Also you will know more about the PL player from watching every week, you and your players will even know him personally. I don’t think we could find a foreign youngster with Vardy’s grit and determination, confidence, he’s a man, and we know youngsters are usually not the same kinda fighters.
Vardy is not a good fit with Arsenal. However, Arsenal will add another striker. The happiest player must be Theo Walcott. If Wenger adds another, then Walcott can continue to sit in the stands and collect his massive paycheck while still contributing nothing to the team.
What does Wenger see in Walcott? He is dead weight!
I read rumors of new players being added and mostly I hear about midfielders. Will Arsene ever address his leaky defense? He is so frustrating.
If the question is did Vardy score many of last seasons goals with opposition camped in their own area, well the answer is no, he got them on the break. Which by the way, is how we usually try to get ours in the latter stages of CL.
The question is can Vardy play in different styles or set ups, why are people presuming he cant, just because lei didn’t play a different way. I would take Arsenes and Wrights judgement over Merson any day. Especially when they are payed to go against the grain. Merson was a complete failure in management, one of the reasons for this might be down to believing a player can only play the way he plays in the team you buy him from.
One of the issues with our defence last season was collective. We had Giroud not coming back to defend. Ramsey busting forward and our collective shape was bad. we can learn from Athletico Madrid when it comes to shape and collective defending. Also, you can’t really say how a Striker will perform. Aubameyang was not that prolific when he first came to Dortmund. We all blame Giroud for a failure. I have not seen people blame. g Sanchez as well. Against Westham in the closing stages of the match. Sanchez messed up a goal scoring opportunity by failing to shoot the ball with his left foot. He went through many games without scoring a goal. we want our front men to have more goals. Oil should be scoring 12 goals in a season. He seriously need to work on that. not just assist. Shoot more. Winger should have rested Cazorla before he picked the injuries. We should learn from the mistakes of the past season. No matter the personnel we bring in, football is a tram game. We should focus on stamina, improve fitness levels, rotate more and be ruthless in front of goal. If Winger wants Vardy, let him sign him. If Vary does not want to come, then we should move on to other Strikers. Higuain, Lewandosky, Aubameyang are difficult targets. Any one of these 3 will go for over 50m pounds and that still does not guaranty winning CL or EPL. If we can’t get Vardy, then we can go for any of Jesse, Draxler, Jansen. And For next season, Iwobi will be a success. the guy has goals in him. Sanchez needs to be more consistent next season. Our midfield is the best in England. We just need to press more, defend more as a team and be ruthless in front of goal.