There's support, and there's blind loyalty. You fall into the 2nd camp, hence my disregard for anything you say.
Itv quote Die Welt, who say this: I'll believe it once they get a quote or confirmation from one of the parties involved.
Wouldn't surprise me one bit if it was true though. I swear people wait for us to be linked to a player, and then sign them because we're still fannying around trying to get the top off the money jar.
Based on news from the end of July. Kicker also reported their interest a few days ago. Bild simply copied the text from Die Welt. Hmmm.
Fair enough, I'll put you back on ignore, so that I wont bother you with my opinion on what you write.
If it's true then how the Feck does Wolfsburg beat us to signing a player? Really? Only thing this points to is we were never in for him in the first place. This then leads me to think, who the Feck are we in for?
Worst summer I can remember for transfers in a long, long while. Absolutely shocking the way we have run business if we allow WoB to outbid us for a player and they aren't even in the CL. Beggars belief. Still holding onto a faint hope that we may find out more when he makes this "announcement" tomorrow.
It's been a weird one, by far the least successful in terms of names coming in that I can remember under Wenger, yet one that has began with this forced 'loadsamoney' braggadocio from Gazidis. It's hard to judge how hard they've worked on transfers - what info they had before the window opened, who they've chased, and how many man hours have went into it all - but Arsene will ultimately be judged on who (if anyone outside Sanogo) he brings in and how the season pans out as a result.
It's incredible that this was actually supposed to be our best summer in years, no key players leaving, and announcements that we have £70+ million to spend; every one knows that we are 2 or 3 stand out players away from competing, and add a couple extra and we are certain challengers, and yet there's been absolutely nothing (barring Sanogo). I honestly don't know what to make of it all, I've been so confident all summer that something will happen, so confident that we'll finally get to see something exciting. I just don't know whether to keep deluding myself and hoping that we do something of note or whether to perhaps stand back and re-evaluate, because the way things are going at the moment, it seems that Wenger is perfectly happy with the team. And if that is the case, then I think come the end of the season - performance depending - we may have to part ways with him. I absolutely hate to say it, but that's how it is. How someone with such great resources available can almost purposefully seem to sabotage the development of the club for no apparent reason at all is disgusting. We have a little under 3 weeks left and things can change very quickly, and I hope they do, but if they don't, it's going to be a very long and hard season, and I might unfortunately end up falling in line with those that don't want Wenger at the club any more.
The problem is that, with the nature of how much of this business works, we can't reliably judge whether or not Wenger has 'purposefully sabotage(d) the development of the club'. We're given scant information - usually found in a mire of bullshit - as to the goings on in the transfer window yet we all want to get it straight in our heads as to exactly why things have happened the way they have, which can't be done sufficiently. As I say, he'll be judged on how the team do next year as well as how he and his team does this month. Here's hoping that any shortcomings in the transfer market are well covered by the players already there.
I totally applaud the board and management team for the removal of the deadwood, but without quality, proven replacements our squad is a few injuries away from mid table. Lose Jack, Cazorla and Kos and we would be seriously up against it.
I think there are a few things here. 1. We need numbers. I'm not going to decide that Wenger is doing a bad job picking players because of my opinion of how good they are, until they play for us, but we do need more players. As much as we are hopeful about Gnabry etc. these guys are not ready. So, we need to make signings. I will reserve judgement on how good they are until I see them play, but I will be unhappy if we don't get enough players. 2. We need the team to gel and we don't want to destroy the team spirit and understanding we seem to have right now, or betray the loyalty of these players that pulled through against the odds last season. I would be pissed off if Wenger signed 5 players and they all started the first game. The players have to be integrated slowly and they will not be starters straight away. If you were hoping for an out with the old, in with the new, galacticos approach then I think you were being a little unrealistic. 3. I think our team are a lot closer to being excellent than we give them credit for, which makes improving them that much harder.
Wenger IMO is judged 3 times this season. Once has passed. When August arrived and he'd signed no-one significant, he failed the first test. The second test is at the end of the transfer window. The third test is at the end of the season. If he fails to sign players, but the team challenge for the title, I will forgive him, for he knows more than I. If he fails to sign players, and the team fall short of a prolonged title challenge, he should leave.
Just lose Arteta and top 4 isn't a remote possibility. Any combination of no-Arteta midfield is completely untested against decent sides. Actually it was, back in January which was the worst (or thereabouts) month of the season if I recall correctly. The guy isn't a DM for sure, but his influence is downplayed tremendously here. Even with the excellent season Kos had this guy will still be the most irreplaceable player in the team if we don't get a real DM and play a more conventional midfield.
Even the diehard Wengerites have to agree that this transfer window is going pretty badly. The team isn't good enough to challenge, that is a clear fact. Yes it's a good team but it won't win the league, that is clear to see. The squad itself is clearly too thin, this is what Wenger himself admitted. The board, including Wenger have officially come out and said we no longer have any financial constrains, in fact, everything is absolutely fabulous. For the first time in ages Wenger can now buy the players he wants. The big question is why hasn't he? In the early days, he never once stopped himself from buying quality, when the money was available. Maybe he's set in his ways now. Maybe he's so used to not spending now that he finds the prospect of spending large amounts of money repulsive? Or maybe he has no intention of signing another contract so that's why he isn't bothered about signing any players? Maybe he has a master plan and we'll end up with some amazing players. Who knows....
