It is now clear to us that Arteta is not 'Fabregas-lite'. His presence is brilliant as it allows Song to push further forward and this has given Song many assists this season, while both of them being good midfield anchors. However, with many players such as Rosicky and Arshavin looking like they'll be on their way out soon, I think we need someone in both of these positions. Our strength in depth needs to improve and a few signings need to be made soon because our second XI is considerably weaker than our first XI, and the other top teams have better cover than we do in key positions. I just wanted to know what everyone's view on this guy is, and would we be in with a realistic chance of getting him? He would be quite expensive - probably the same cost as Gotze and Hazard, but I believe he could offer us more.
I think Hamsik would be a good addition, but I'd really like to see us go for Gotze. I think he would offer us a similar role to Fabregas. I like Arteta, I think he's done brilliantly since he came to Arsenal, and he's created a good dynamic in MF, but he is not a long term solution to us losing Fabregas and Nasri
Basically when wilshere comes back arteta will be out of the team anyway, and although ramsey has been good for us this season, he is no fabregas, hazard is more of a wide player but if we could get any one of the three i would be happy, tbh i think we have a better chance of getting gotze but that might not happen till the summer, if we don't bring in a top player is january then i would be pretty worried because spurs are looking very good and chelsea can put a run together just like that, we can't just go and lose nasri and fabregas and bring in arteta as a replacement it doesn't work.
Hazard would be brilliant for you, Lille are valuing him at £30 million, dont know what sort of budget you have to work with though, how much of the Nasri/Fabregas money is available?
Well we had a decent transfer budget even before the sale of Fabregas, Clichy and Nasri. Wenger just does'nt like spending. Hazard would be absolutely perfect for us.
The board have consistently said that if Wenger wanted to spend £30m on one player, that they would sanction it. So there's no reason why not. I think the reason he hasn't before now is that either the player hasn't been available (wish lists are usually just that) or the player has been overvalued and some other mug has bought them for a vastly inflated price (Lescott £24m, Robinho £32m both linked with Arsenal and both bought at inflated prices by City) If we were going to spend £30m on one player, I'd rather it was Goetze than Hazard.
I think marvin martin would be a good addition, and would not cost the huge sums that we have been quoted for other players, he would be a typical wenger buy, relatively unknown and cheaper that the big names. I have not seen that much of him, but one of my friends who follows French football a lot tells me this guy is pure class and would be a huge hit at arsenal.
This just is'nt true. We have missed MANY of our transfer targets not because we could'nt afford them but because Wenger (and possibly the board) have ethical issues with big money moves in the transfer market. http://www.intozimbabwe.com/sport/s...e-do-not-need-big-money-signings-wenger-.html http://www.sport.co.uk/news/Football/41621/Arsene_will_never_spend_big_money_on_a_goalkeeper.aspx http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/stand...rsenal-boosted-by-record-pound-35m-profits.do http://edition.cnn.com/2011/SPORT/football/02/02/football.chelsea.uefa.wenger/index.html http://www.sport.co.uk/news/Football/41621/Arsene_will_never_spend_big_money_on_a_goalkeeper.aspx http://www.espnstar.com/football/news/detail/item672861/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...oney-signings-in-January-transfer-window.html http://www.adifferentleague.co.uk/p...20-years-chamakh-wants-revenge-team-news.html http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/...-huge-financial-crisis-imminent.html?ITO=1490 http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-big-spending-attitude-won-t-survive I could post thousands of articles with qoutes from Wenger stating his distaste for big money moves. we spent millions establishing the best scouting network in world football but these days we barely use it. With the likes of Chelsea, Man City, PSG, Real Madrid now spending mega money the transfer market has changed. Up and coming world stars now come with major price tags. It's adapt or fall behind. obviously we cant compete with some clubs but at the same time we have to accept the reality. top players no longer come cheap. Wenger needs to adjust his pseudo socialist attitude.
All the evidence is there yet we still have a massive number of fans that believe we dont spend big because we dont have the money. The reason we dont spend is the same reason we play the style of football we play. It purely comes down to Wenger's ideology.
I don't think he should adjust his attitude, in fact some of those links you've posted demonstrate why, as Wenger is talking about how the mega rich clubs will not be able to sustain their model for long. So he's got it right really It's not a black and white argument about : spend big = success, Spend less = fall behind. As a club, I think we've demonstrated that you can still compete without spending obscene amounts of cash. We're not talking about assembling a squad in the same manner as City where £25m per player is the norm, but having the ability to add a player of exceptional quality when needed. I would say that the reason we've missed out on some of our transfer targets is because they have eventually been sold for a price that doesn't represent value for money. Lescott for example, I think we were considering a bid around the region of £11m - he eventually went to City for £24m. We may well have been able to afford £24m if he was worth £24m, but he wasn't, hence we didn't get him. I neither think we should or could match this attitude towards spending, as we'd soon end up in financial trouble. It's a different matter if a £30m player becomes available who is worth that money. The board have said that they would sanction a move if Wenger thought it was worth it. But that said with the current climate, a player who is worth £30m may we be sold to one of the mega rich clubs for £45m
Goetze would be amazing but personally I think another striker/forward is more of a priority.(we have Wilshere coming back and Arteta has settled in better than we expected). saying that though having Goetze and Wilshere in one midfield would be awesome. Personally I think a top class acquisition would do the club the world of good by not only strengthening the team but also showing the likes of RVP, Sczezney, Wilshere etc..and the fans that the club means business and is ambitious. Higuaine, Cavani, Pato, Hazard, Reus & Podolski are all good options.
I don't rate Higuain or Cavani and I don't know if I still rate Podolski - Podolski of a few years back was hot property. My memories of Higuain are those of terribles misses and no technique for Real when he first started to get starts, just because he banged in a few goals last season my opinion hasn't changed. People just think Cavani is good because he has long hair ... so he must be good then. In fact me and my fam used to say "he goin miss" cos he would miss .. Higuain - He Goin - play on his name ??? Anyway lol.
You do realise we have Chamakh? right Higuain is just a natural goalscorer. He's one of those players (like Mario Gomez) who is extremely efficient and does'nt get the recognition he deserves. He has 12 goals in 22 games for Argentina and 81 goals in 142 starts for Real Madrid. That and he only just turned 24.
Based on the little I've seen of Cavani he's a very good player though I'm not sure how well he'd suit the physicality of the EPL. Higuain I feel would fit in brilliantly but I can't see him (or Cavani either for that matter) being willing to come and play second fiddle to RVP. Know fook all about Reus so can't comment but out of that list I think only Hazard and Podolski are likely signings in that they'd fit into our system. I think we have the money, I don't think we'll use it.
