So who is set to be Arsenal’s transfer gamble?

It is now looking increasingly unlikely that Arsenal fans will get to celebrate the transfer that we wanted, even though the football media and it’s rumour mill are still determined to link the Gunners with the France and Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema. His agent has all but ended our hopes I’m afraid.

And with Arsene Wenger talking about taking a gamble in the transfer market, as reported by the Evening Standard, I reckon that the boss is aware that Benzema is off the table. This was always possible, of course, and I am sure that Wenger has been getting ready for the bad news by getting another list of possible transfer targets ready for this moment.

Wenger said, “There is always time to take a gamble and we are not against taking a gamble. But what you want is to take a gamble in a market where the opportunity is there.

“I believe this squad is ready to fight for the title and has a chance to do it given that we are continuing to develop as a team.

“That is the first thing. Internally we have the resources to do that and it is also important that we don’t have too many major injuries like last year.

“I said before that I don’t know how good the other teams will be. Man City started especially in an impressive way but the season is long.”

The fact is that the Arsenal boss has got money available to him and despite all his talk of the availability of the top players as well as the strong competition for them, he could sign a couple of players before the transfer window shuts. And his reference to Man City’s form suggests to me that he is edging that way, especially with the spectre of an injury crisis never far from the club.

But which positions and players could he be ready to take a punt on?

Tags Benzema Wenger

62 Comments

  1. I just don’t understand our transfer policy,
    we send all our young players on loan,
    we don’t add to the squad,
    and like we’ve all been sayinng we dont need much!!
    or maybe is wenger just satisfied with players like Giroud and Arteta
    who have had 2/3 years to prove themselves, and have proved to only be OK not top class
    and even if we do add a player or two, I dont understand why we wait till the last week to do it!
    why wait till the end of the window when most players have already moved and teams can overcharge you because they know you dont have much time and youre more desperate to buy.
    None of it makes sense to me.
    either way i’m hoping for a good season. COYG!

    1. Our transfer policy is reactive, recently we’ve simply been the beneficiaries of other transfer deals and we’ve tried to pass it off as effective transfer strategizing. It isn’t, and we STILL have the same deficiencies.

      The approach is comparable to walking into a supermarket right before closing and grabbing what you consider a “good deal” from the reduced items. Yea sure two-dozen donuts for 70p is great, but how does that help when you really needed to buy something for dinner?

      We need a DM and a CF…..for over 3 years now.

      1. So sanchez and ozil are “reduced items”? Sorry I’m just trying to understand your “logic”

        Also sanchez was purchased immediately and ozil is only an arsenal player because of meticulous planning by Wenger

        1. lets put sanchez at CF and ox/ramsey as wingers.
          OG and walcott didnt play well, so they go to the bench.
          or we could do sanchez/CF, ox,walcott on the wings. but where would ramsey go?

        2. No scooby-doo, I’m merely highlighting the premise of our transfer ‘strategy’ as one that searches for a deal late in the day. Care to argue against that?

          Ozil is a result of meticulous planning is he? Let me paint the picture of that summer for the 20th time: Cazorla had finished his debut season as our CAM with 11 goals and 12 assists, we didn’t have a DM of note (no coquelin), we had the same ST issue but with an even more raw Giroud, and we had questionable CB’s in terms of depth. So with the need for a ST, DM and arguably a CB you tell me why we ‘planned meticulously’ to buy a CAM for 42.5mil when our player of the year the previous season was……our CAM. Oh and the kicker, Ozil’s debut season he notched 5 goals 11 assists ie not a near 30mil upgrade on Cazorla from the year prior by any stretch.

          I love Ozil, was always my fave player outside of Arsenal before he signed. However do NOT try and tell me the decision to buy Ozil was at all strategized or THE most pressing of concerns. We could’ve easily bought a Lars Bender and Lacazette for 20mil a piece and been a better team. We didn’t, we lost to Villa and the fans were placated by the first big name we could get our hands on regardless of need. If you can’t see that to this day I have little else to say.

          1. Hahah the scooby doo was funny I’ll give you that, but I’m not arguing with you that we don’t need reinforcements in the positions you mentioned I’m all for adding to the team I’ve been believing wenger is gonna add 1 more big piece but you pretty much disrespected our 2 best players who are world class in there respective positions.

            And wenger did plan out the ozil transfer, he sold Gervinho to Roma, so Roma could sell Lamela to tottenham, Tottenham got their replacement for bale so they felt comfortable selling him to Real Madrid and we got the genius ozil. That sounds pretty calculated to me.

            And I’m hoping that wenger is buying cavani, maybe the benzema thing was a whole smoke screen for el matador! Wenger is cheeky like that

            1. There was no calculation, Real were giving up one of Benz/Ozil/Di Maria and only Ozil was able to be convinced to leave. We literally stood hands out at the feet of Real for the star they wanted to toss us. As I stated you cannot defend buying a 40+mil CAM when we needed a ST and DM.

              It would be the same thing were we to buy Varane for 35mil now. Great player, but we’d still be short of quality at DM and ST for the money it would take to land a Varane. Our transfers are a shamble. Schneiderlin and Lacazette would’ve given us a real boost heading into the season for about 55mil total. Or Gonalons and Aubameyang for 45mil. The idea there’s very few players that would make us better is such bs.

    2. Even most of our young players have ended up in the championship and below.
      They were not that good anyway especially when compared with what barca continously churns out .

      Our transfer desk needs upgrading fast .
      For me , Wilshere should have been sold to Man city when we had the opportunity. He is a fringe player anyway.
      Flamini and arteta should have been discarded and the money earned used to buy schniederlin or Arturo vidal.
      The striker position should have been sorted out .
      Many bang on about world class striker but in reality , arsenal simply needs an above average striker with pace, movement and good ball control .
      With the amount of chances our midfielders create , a better than average striker would score 20 EPL goal.

      1. “With the chances our midfield create…”

        You mean the 2 or three incredible plays after 87 minutes of failed backheels, running straight into 3-4 defenders with no outlet, passing the ball laterally for several minutes while the defense sets itself so the only options are to pass it out or chip the ball in some hope that the 2-3 defenders covering the runner are beaten? Those chances?

        I am admittedly no tactical genius with no real experience playing, but from what I see, either the midfield or the tactics have been our biggest issue for several years. Either we need to create more chances from our “all-star midfield” or the tactics need a major shift.

        Don’t say a word about defenses packing it in, because defenses pack it in against all the big clubs, but I seem to see Bayern, Real, Chelsea, and other teams score and create more with strikers that are marginally better than Giroud.

        How many times does Ramsey need to play on the wing to see that it doesn’t work? Either find a different way to play Ramsey, Ozil, and Cazorla together or JUST BENCH ONE OF THEM.

        Also, re our transfer policy and Ozil, the policy is more of a reactionary one. Wait for big teams to make their signings and take the WC player they need to get rid of to trim down the team and make the financial side work. Ozil doesn’t leave Real if the Bale megadeal falls through. Sanchez is valuable depth and rotation if Suarez stays at pool or moves elsewhere.

        1. Well obviously it’s reactionary, there’s no other way to do it. Bayern got Robben when he was not needed, Chelsea got Fabregas and Pedro when they were not needed. Unlike the mentioned examples, the WC players we’ve been interested in were first team players at their clubs hence why the clubs were reluctant to sell unless they had a replacement. Furthermore, if we ever openly admitted our interest, other clubs like United and Chelsea would have simply paid double the amount of the player’s true value. Did you want us to sign a player like DiMaria for 70m and then let him leave the next season ?

    3. OUR TEANSFER POLICY IS TO SPEND LITTLE (IF AT ALL ) AND FUNNEL AS MUCH CASH TO KROENKE’S BANK ACCOUNT .
      Wenger, Gazidis on behalf of Kroenke were trying to ride out the transfer window as they usually do.
      They do not want to spend and when they do , they spend it like they had no intention of spending .
      Did we really need Ozil when we bought him ?
      How long had we been shouting for a GK ?
      Have they addressed the exit of viera and van piersie ?

      On Giroud
      When a striker who cannot create his own chances Squander the chances created for him , then there is a problem .
      Giroud : 48 goals in 100 matches
      1 goal in every 2.02 matches
      Most against small teams .
      it takes an aguero less than 1/2 the time to score the same amount of goals .
      You know what makes us shit ,
      Because we knew of all the good players like aguero, hazard , yaya schniederlin, Vidal etc but wenger and the board chose to buy duds.
      For the past few years , we have not even been able to get rid of the deadwood see keep buying.no one wants them or nobody is queuing to buy them from us .
      Simply put, we are not good enough

      1. I think agueronis the best striker in EPL. …maybe even outside EPL.
        But if u r going to compare the two put on the facts of both.
        Maybe even facts of legends.
        I goal every two games isn’t a bad Stat. It’s actually a good stat

        1. 48/100 is good. but he misses loads too. if we replaced him w a WC striker, that striker would convert many of those misses. OG benefits from playing 6 yards out from the goal in front of our midfield which feeds him loads of chances.

      2. “Giroud : 48 goals in 100 matches
        1 goal in every 2.02 matches
        ………it takes an aguero less than 1/2 the time to score the same amount of goals”.

        Is that the Aguero with almost exactly a goal every 2 games career record? The numbers are there – why make it up or exaggerate? You think no-one will notice?

    4. our season is over!
      I’m not overreacting….I know we have a good team but a sad excuse for a manager who is too stubborn to make the necessary changes

  2. One thing is sure now that Benzema is not coming and if any one had doubt about Giroud then it is cleared today that we can’t win PL with him. Either Wenger has to buy someone like Cavani else play Sanchez as CF. Coq was impressive today so I don’t want to replace him but we need someone as his backup.
    Today Cech saved match for us. Those who were criticizing him should wait for few more games before calling him flop.
    one thing is sure, if current form cont for all teams then City will be PL champion. They have very strong team. Even if we buy striker their team will be still better than us. Having said that we don’t have to win all matches, draw at Etihad will be good result and win all other matches.
    I don’t have much hope now but still anything is possible

    1. Why blame OG when the team doesn’t score? Ozil and Santi with Coq had around 70% of our possession.No penetration a few shots from Santi that were sailed. They are the ones that hold the outcome of the game from an attacking standpoint when a team puts 10 behind the ball. Ramsey looks more direct than Santi so that would be my change. If a DM can also attack that could be a big tranfer for us. Or if a team is sitting behind the ball Ox should come on straight away for our DM.
      Still waiting for Theo and Alexis with OG to be our front line.

      1. Giroud missed few sitters and he clearly can’t penetrate into defense like today. We need someone like Aguero who can go into box with speed and atleast he has chance of getting foul. For me Giroud is not good enough.

        1. we blame giroud bc he’s 6 yards out; cazorla is further out.

          but i’m thinking this whole hold-up play isnt good for home games versus teams that park against us. we need a fast mobile CF for those games that doesnt plug up the CF space: sanchez/CF, ox/lw, walcott/rw. and ramsey as b2b when cazorla is off form.
          or walcott/CF, sanchez/lw, ox/rw.

          also: i’m waiting for coq to get injured/out-of-form/sent-off and then we’ll be in a heap of trouble. cant say its not coming. over to you wenger.

      2. Because he is the striker .
        When a striker who cannot create his own chances Squander the chances created for him , then there is a problem .
        Giroud : 48 goals in 100 matches
        1 goal in every 2.02 matches
        Most against small teams .
        it takes an aguero less than 1/2 the time to score the same amount of goals .
        You know what makes us shit ,
        Because we knew of all the good players like aguero, hazard , yaya schniederlin, Vidal etc but wenger and the board chose to buy duds.
        For the past few years , we have not even been able to get rid of the deadwood see keep buying.no one wants them or nobody is queuing to buy them from us .
        Simply put, we are not good enough

    2. I feel sorry for the players. It’s hRd to know if they’re meeting their full potential playing on an unbalanced team and possibly out of position. Too much talent being wasted. Get the right players and find balance. We possess well, but we need pace to get behind. Strengthen up top.

  3. Arsenal’s last 6 home games:
    Arsenal 0-0 Chelsea
    Arsenal 0-1 Swansea
    Arsenal 0-0 Sunderland
    Arsenal 4-1 West Brom
    Arsenal 0-2 West Ham
    Arsenal 0-0 Liverpool

    Not acceptable.

    1. Patent proof that despite popular hot-air fans like to spew on here, we DON’T score enough goals to be title challengers and we need to add firepower rather than focus on defence.

      Arsenal average goals scored the last 6 seasons = 73
      The eventual champions average the last 6 seasons = 89

      We play tippy tappy and celebrate the odd nice looking goal instead of celebrating many. Giroud and Theo are enough though right? Where’s the fans who were blowing smoke up Theo’s a*se a month ago… “Don’t need Benzema” OK THEN. We certainly need better than what we have. Absolute garbage.

      1. I still don’t really want us to splurge stupid money on Benzema. If a striker is unavailable and we’re going to take the approach of spending stupid money to try and make them available, I’d much rather we went after an actual top quality striker with that ‘strategy’. Benzema is better than what we have and I’ve never said otherwise, but he’s not world class. Iffer £60m for Lewandowski and I’d be happier than if we blew £50m on Benzema. Bayern don’t want to sell? Neither do Madrid. I also think Cavani is better than Benzema, and we could probably get him at lower cost.

        1. giroud doesnt work for home games bc teams park against us . OG then further congests that space bc he doesnt move around much . if he IS going to play home games for us, he should be told to wander out and make runs in. staying in one spot makes it too easy for 2 defenders to push him around . and it makes us too predictable because we’re all passing to him to pass it into the net from 6 yards.

        2. Always get a kick out of hearing people say things like that… Since when are world class players ‘available’? The whole idea is they’re world class and to get them you have to make the current owner an offer they can’t refuse in some way, shape, or form. Who has a world class player and says “nah let’s put him on the market”…

          Benzema IS world class, I can’t take that opinion seriously at all. 6 years as the main CF for Real Madrid and you think he’s a level below top drawer? He’s a consistent performer and would literally make the starting XI of almost any team in world football….where along the line is he NOT world class? Bizarre view.

          We aren’t getting him anyway so it’s a moot point. But he’s exactly the type of talent that would transform us. Too bad Real aren’t in their annual mood for giving away top talents., it’s pretty much left Arsene up that creek we’re all familiar with minus a couple of paddles.

          1. Benzema is not a world class striker cause he’s not a natural goal scorer and has had many droughts during the past seasons. The fans have gotten on his back numerous times over this.

            Cavani is the much better option

      2. To be fair Theo isn’t garbage, he’s easily a +15 goal-a-season winger as long as he stays on RW. But what we need is a +25 goal CENTRE FORWARD. A freaking NUMERO 9 !!

  4. In a sense Cavani would be a gamble. If you look at his stats with PSG the last two years, it’s nothing compared to his three years at Napoli. However, with Ozil, Cazorla, Alexis, I think he could be a monster for us.

    Higuain would be a big gamble. I would prefer Cavani too Higuain.

    Getting Reus, Greizmann or Draxler would also be a gamble as we would not get a dedicated CF.

    I think none of these DM would be a big gamble: Krychowiak, Bender, Carvalho, Wanayama. They are all good DM

    If I had £200 millon to spend, I would try to get:
    1. Cavani
    2. Greizmann or Reus or Gotze(Very Versatile), if I can’t get them then Draxler.
    3. Krychowiak or Bender
    4. Verane (after seeing Chambers today) or at least someone like Van Dijk

    However, at this stage we would be lucky to get one of them.

    So try to get CAVANI and KRYCHOWIAK. One excellent attacker and one Boss in front of defense
    That should sort the team out.

    1. Just to add, Cavani has still bagged 20 odd goals the last two seasons playing on the wing and second fiddle to Zlatan.

      The man is class!

    2. If I had £200 millon, I would chase Pedro too..He’s like cazorla, special player with a good price. With alexis on the flank and cavani as target man, I’am sure we can challenge Man-$hit & Chel$hit on the title race

  5. Today’s match showed How important Cech is. We head a weak centre of defense, Benteke should have scored and won the match, but Cech made super saves and got us that point.

    Cech better get MOTM
    Coquelin would be my second best

    1. Ramsey did score and should have won the match. Let’s not forget that, we were the only team to score a.perfectly good goal last night only for it to have been ruled out. But for a refereering error we would have taken all 3 points.

      Hopefully, though wenger will not look at that and instead look at the fact we have failed to score in 5 of our last 6 homes matches. The tactics at home are all wrong, the players buckle under pressure, panic from the outset in defence, the manager looks bereft of ideas eventually panic sets in up front as well when the players start to realise they aren’t going to score or win.

  6. Like I said at the very beginning of the window, as long as Wegner makes the right additions Arsenal would challenge for the title because there is a serious emphasis on having a good start. We spent weeks going on about our chances and weeks later we have not scored at the Emirates and haven’t put in a commanding performance to date. In my opinion the squad is not good enough but, the window is not closed and the season is very young, this is only my opinion on the matter.

    The main thing I do not understand, is WHY we waited so long and so late for players when the importance of a good start was known. Mind you there isn’t any denying the fact that there was a shortage of players that would genuinely improve the squad and buying for buying sake is pointless but why wate till this late, more importantly why not have a back up plan? Logically it must have been apparent Benzema wouldn’t have moved without a replacement so why box ourselves into a corner?

    Now this is just my opinion on the matter, the season is young and things could very well turn around as last season City and Chelsea were separated only alphabetically by January 1st so the fierce start of City doesn’t phase me. What I just don’t understand is why with the known importance of a good start did we not prepare accordingly.

    1. Yeah.
      It was a silly thing to do to wait this long .
      EPL starts whenbut starts so teams have to be ready.
      Sadly wenger still thinks he is an unknown coach and will surprise everyone…

  7. Let’s all be realistic here he may well have £200 million to spend but unfortunately he’s to arrogant to even bother to rectify our problems as he “believes” in this current squad.. it doesn’t take a genius to work out what we desperately need, a world class striker and a powerful CDM.. I know people will judge Gabriel and Chambers tonight but how often will Koscielny and BFG be out at the same time? Gabriel is a good back up IMO..
    Forget Benzema he is a fairytale signing and tbh it was never believe able from the start, I think Cavani would be a great ambitious target that maybe is possible? Hell offer us pace strength and he hassles defenders.. and looking back at Viera and Petit before to Coquelin and Cazorla now is embaressing, we need a powerful CM for sure.. and we lack leaders there’s not one player that went forward that can grab the game by the scuff of the neck! Let’s hope he gives us a signing that will get the team going and the fans! And why isn’t Ox starting…

  8. Reflecting back on the game why do we always want to walk the ball into the back of the net? For goodness sake “shoot the damn ball from outside the box”!

    1. Did you not see us sky or trickle about 7 or 8 shots in the game? Our shooting from outside the box is AWFUL. I am screaming at our players to hit the target when they are outside the box, let alone expecting them to score!

  9. I’d gamble on anther CAM. Wenger can always play him in another position. Also he should buy another RB to play CB, because versatility is important, right?

    Liverpool had 4 new 1st year players on pitch and left Emirates with a draw, meanwhile Arsenal’s “cohesion” was left weeping quietly in the corner.

    Hope Ox starts on RW or Wenger tells Ramsey to stay disciplined and stay wide.

  10. I will go for Cavaani. The seemingly only available striker which is the most needed right now. But we Arsenal fans slate our players too much. Imagine by just seeing the line up against Liverpool, Vast majority predicted that that we would lose. Losing 2 CBs against Liverpool was not enough to think that we would lose. May be it’s our attitude that make our team not do well at home but perform better at away where the pressure isn’t as much. Encourage our players mates. See you at weekend.

  11. God let it be cavani. Only striker I’d accept at this point we’ve missed way to many in the past 3 years its ridiculous. It’s one thing if a club doesnt want to sell or a player doesn’t want to come its another when you gamble time after time and miss.

  12. This is your doing Wenger, you old stubborn a22hole
    The tactical deficiencies of Arsenal are a joke, forget about horrible transfer windows, not playing the right players in the right spots, not bringing in subs fast enough to change the game, not seeing that Cazorla was not able to defend the Liverpool onslaught in the first half and at least switching him with Ramsey who can run and defend with the best of them. Cech saved Wenger today.
    So what if we bring someone in next week? What does that say about Wenger? Does it say that he is a great manager because he found a good player 4 weeks into the season?
    I don’t care what place we come in this year, I will bet any AKB that it is not going to be 1st place.

    1. 1000% agree with u @jimbeam if he doesn’t sign any player this transfer besides CECH signing i wanna hear all the akb supporters!!!

  13. I used to like this guy….but i’m tired of this old man!…Trust me with this situation we will fight for 4th position. Have you guys seen how ManCity playing the last 3 matches and compare it with us? you will see a big …big difference….I’m tired of watching Ramsey on the wings….why he does not play Theo or OX on that wing….what is wrong with this guy..i’m burning inside! and this chambers boy looks like another skilachi….needs to be loaned to another club so that he can gain experience…I missed the Henry time badly!

  14. 3 games into the season and the so called serious title charge is already over.
    There’s no point watching this season any further. Its all over. Time to scrap for UCL places again.
    We are caught in a vicious circle and we won’t get out of it till we have wenger for as our ‘manager’

  15. We need to start using our wide players. We won’t be able to score goals at home if the front 3 don’t have pace and no one runs in behind the defense. failed to score goals in 5 of our last 6 home games and wenger still doesn’t see the glaring obvious!!!! Ox was our most dangerous player and he played for just mins!!! But I have no doubt that he’ll be benched the next game as well.

  16. Cavani isn’t happy.
    I heard him saybit in Spanish and Spanish is my language.
    He is a monster.
    He is just not happy.
    Wenger has to go for him
    I seem to remember a striker that wasn’t happy at juve …..come one wengy!

  17. Did you see what COUTINHO was doing?And do you go ahead and blame Giroud if neither Carzola or Ozil are not doing that?
    Am sure we shall still struggle with a WC striker.

    1. Yes, me too. I reckon there will be a few people who might beat up on BFG’s ass just a shade less now. Losing your 2 established CBs is about as bad as it gets before a big game in terms of team stability.

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