Arsenal legend Thierry Henry believes that Arsenal can give a fight to Chelsea for the Premier League title next season but only if they strengthen further.
Arsene Wenger started the transfer window brightly by acquiring the services of Petr Cech from Chelsea. But, after that, there is a big lull at the Emirates Stadium while the competitors have started making their own buys. Manchester United have had a very busy time so far with the signings of Memphis Depay, Morgan Schneiderlin, Matteo Darmian and Bastian Schweinsteiger. Liverpool added many more players to their squad including Nathaniel Clyne and Firminho.
Henry believes that the next season title race is going to be far closer than what it was last season. Chelsea will try with all might to defend the tile while he believes that the strike power of Sergio ‘Kun’ Aguero could be the difference for Manchester City. His favorite opponents United will be trying to get closer to the top and Henry believes that they will be a threat.
More importantly Henry believes that Arsenal has the mentality and top-quality players to go all the way for the title but he thinks that we still need to invest. He said on SkySports: “That team, I think, has great mentality, top-quality players and match-winners. I still think they need four players to get closer to Chelsea,”
“I compare it to my generation. I knew, for example, when I first arrived at Arsenal that if I was not performing after an hour, Dennis Bergkamp was on the bench sometimes or Kanu or Sylvain Wiltord or Davor Suker. Whoever it was, I knew I had an hour to perform.”
Goal understands the Gunners are prepared to be patient in their pursuit of Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema with Wenger refusing to rule out a move, and Henry feels another forward is important.
“Olivier Giroud alone there as a natural-born striker, it is difficult, because they say when he does not score, it is very difficult,” he added.
“Hopefully Theo Walcott could be the answer. You have a guy who you did not think was going to play as a striker, although he has been the talk of the town for a little while, him playing as a striker.
“You know some people still question Arsene Wenger, but I still think that Arsene has the right attitude and fire; the fire in his belly to try to make sure that team can win another title.”
It is not difficult to see why Henry spoke about reinforcements. Currently we have only Olivier Giroud as the natural striker leaving the injury-prone Danny Welbeck and probably Theo Walcott as the back-up. Any side that wants to win a title will be well served by a 25-goal scoring forward. Arsenal is no exception.
Arsenal are blessed with an array of attacking midfielders but they could be well served by a defensive pass master. Wenger was looking at Schneiderlin for a long time but passed the opportunity to sign him this season. William Carvalho was another name that was mentioned quite often but he is injured now. The Gunners could also look at recruiting another central defender to add cover and experience. Several names were mentioned but apparently no concrete efforts were made to sign any of them.
Henry’s Arsenal side had a number of world-class players at all positions. It must be hurting him to see Arsenal go these many years without a Premier League title. It is a cliché at Arsenal to say that the side will challenge for title this year. But, Wenger will want to make sure that he can add another title to his resume.
Sridhar