Would losing Wenger trophy REALLY help Arsenal?

As most have said this is the most stupid and irrelevant post on justarsenal in recent days, and does not deserve a response. However, at times not responding gives credence to rubbish. I will therefore respond nonetheless. The pundit’s remarks were premised on a number of very wrong assumptions and assessment of the situation.

First, he assumes that Arsenal can just spend money on players like Man City and Chelsea. We all know that until August 2013, Arsenal were selling players to fund new player purchases. In 2013/14 season the club spent 42 million pounds on one player, and in 2014/15 the club spent nearly 80 million pounds on players, 35 million of which on one player. In the 2014/15 season Man United spent 150 million pounds on players, nearly double what Arsenal spent. This shows us that at last Arsenal are able to spend huge on players without having to sell players to fund new acquisitions. However, in relative terms Arsenal still lags behind clubs like Man United, Chelsea, and Man City on spending power. Finishing outside top 4 will reduce further the club’s capacity to spend on players. This may put the club even below the likes of liverpool and Tottenham in terms of spending ability. In no time the club will be a mid table club.

The club has demonstrated that it is slowly building a team that will compete at the highest level with the likes of Man City and Chelsea. The current Chelsea team took fours years to build, while Man City was build for three years before they won the league. This was done with huge expenditures some of which did not yield intended results, such as the purchase of Mata, Torres, and David Luiz by Chelsea; and the purchase of Adebayor, Santa Cruiz, Ireland, etc by Man City. Those are experiments which Arsenal cannot afford, but from what we have seen so far the slow build up has not brought in flops. Ozil is quality and value for money, Alexis is exceptional, Ospina, Debuchy, and Chambers are proving their worth. In addition players brought in after the mass exodus of 2011 are not disappointing either, these are Olivier, Arteta, Per, Cazorla, and Nacho. You must note that the club has always been improving in terms of points tally ever since the mass exodus of 2011.

My prediction is that a big money defensive midfielder was slated for purchase in the summer of this year. However, the long term injury of Arteta could change the plan, which would rather be a huge disappointment because I do not see us getting the right player for the right money in the winter. All the names thrown around at this site are not world class, and will not represent a major improvement on what we have. If the club is to compete effectively next season we need to buy a defensive midfielder who is an upgrade of all those names you throw around, Matic included. On the same note I do not believe that Francis can play alone in that role. he needs someone with the mind and intelligence of Arteta, who will always stay deep when he goes about making tackles. It is for this reason that I do not mind Arsenal buying khedira for conversion into that Arteta role so as to play alongside Francis.

The pundit’s assessment of Arteta was completely wrong because ever since Arteta joined Arsenal the club has not finished worse off than in seasons when Cesc and company were the core of the team. Every time did not play his absence was being felt. It is only now with the inclusion of Francis that we are beginning to forget about Arteta. Admittedly Arteta is not world class just like many players in top clubs but he does his job effectively. The replacement of Arteta is in no way connected to the position in which Arsenal finishes so I do not understand how the pundit brought this issues in his argument. To be honest when Arteta was bought the objective was to stabilize the squad after the mass exodus not to win the league or any major trophy. At the time the club needed to sell to acquire new players, so it was nowhere near Man United, Man City, and Chelsea in terms of spending capacity. The presence of Arteta stabilized the squad, and we are seeing upward movement in terms of purchases so the pundit can go and hang.

As others pointed out, without CL football you have to spend big and promise huge wages to quality players before they join the club. Arsenal cannot afford that in all honest. We have seen how Man United have spend big on players that are either proving to be average or are not ready for the league, Falcao being the prime example. Any player who therefore agrees with the pundit must have his/her head examined.