Arsenal’s second largest shareholder Alisher Usmanov has been very quiet about the club in the last year or two, but now with the Gunners languishing in 8th place in the Premier League he has spoken out and urged Arsene Wenger to spend money on reinforcing the squad.
“My opinion – and I tell it openly – we need to strengthen every position to play on the level of such teams in (the) U.K. as Chelsea and Manchester City, in Europe like Real (Madrid), Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, (Bayern Munich) and other clubs,” he told CNBC.
In a thinly-veiled jibe at Arsene Wenger he criticized his seeming inability to learn from the same mistakes occuring over and over. “Arsenal is a dream that sometimes becomes a mirage and sometimes a pain as every dream,” Usmanov continued.
“The potential of the team is there, but there is no critical evaluation of mistakes and they need to need to acknowledge them. Because no genius can retain the same level of genius if they do not acknowledge mistakes. It’s only when you admit your mistakes that you can get rid of them.”
When specifically asked about Wenger he was even more specific. “He is one of the greatest coaches, not just of European, but of world football. But we have a Russian proverb which goes: “Even an old lady can have a roof falling on her,”
“Everybody makes mistakes. He can make mistakes and I know as you age it is more difficult, more challenging to accept one’s mistakes,”
Usmanov has previously stated that he would like to invest more money in the club to help them compete with other cash rich rivals, but when asked this time he simply said: “Does Wenger have money or not? There is officially money in the club,”
I am glad Usmanov has started to take an interest in Arsenal yet again, but I doubt very much that Kroenke will be looking to sell up – unless revenues start to fall i guess…..