Arsenal have now started the short run of pre-season games in preparation for the tough start to a crucial Premier League season in which the pressure on Arsene Wenger and the players to mount a serious title challenge is greater than ever after blowing what appeared to be a golden chance last time around and with the gap since our last successful campaign now more than 12 years.
So it was hardly a surprise to hear the Frenchman quizzed on the summer’s transfer activity, or lack of it in many fans’ eyes. As reported by the Evening Standard the boss defended himself and pointed out that the £34 million we paid for Granit Xhaka is still the biggest single signing of any Premier League club so far in this window.
While that may be true and even though the Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis suggested that the squad was already strong enough to compete, Wenger knows that a lot more is expected from him in the transfer market this summer and so he was quick to distance himself from Gazidis’ comments and tell the fans to expect more big money signings, although he did temper this positivity by suggesting that it might not happen until close to the end of the window.
Wenger said, “I am sure that [Gazidis] didn’t want to dampen the expectations on that front. We are very active.
“If we find the right candidates then we will spend the big money.
“We have already spent big. Until now, nobody has spent more on a transfer than we have in this country.
“Even if [Paul] Pogba might fly from Italy to England today, I don’t know… Overall we have made a big investment already but we are active.
“I wouldn’t like to come out on names because if you don’t get them afterwards, people ask why.
“We are active, very active every day and it’s not over. [On Friday] we are on July 22 and the transfer market finishes on August 31.
“You know that a lot happens in the last week, so it’s a long time to go, but we are active and we are working.”
Have these comments from the manager calmed you down Arsenal fans? Do you believe that he and his back room staff are feverishly putting transfer plans together? How many more players or big money transfers do you expect to see?
Bob.