I'm bored and as usual its the same tired headlines for the same tired stories in the press. As usual Mr Wenger is taking ages to sign anyone. Don't get me wrong, I know negotiations can take a while .. but they always seem to take longer than normal when Arsenal are confirmed .. unless we are buying a 14 year old Barcelona youth player LOL. So to pass the time, lets see your estimates of the players Wenger may sell/should sell with valid justifications alongside: Bendtner - £12m. A little high you may think, but as strikers go he isn't bad and he is very young. If Darren Bent went for £24m and Andy Carroll for £30m I think thats not a bad price. Denilson - £6m. We can't expect a high return for a player who's main work is unsung, much like Darren fletcher at Man U. He keeps the ball moving and is very good at what he does. Unfortunately it's of little use at Arsenal because of the way we play, he is not especially good at attacking or defending. Eboue - £3m. A decent enough utility player but my gosh he makes you pull your hair out giving away stupid free kicks. Vela - £6m. When you consider how much Spurs paid for the highly rated (by them anyway lol) Dos Santos from Barcelona (£5m) I don't think £6m is too much to ask - especially when you consider he is a proven international and has premier league experience. Squilacci - Free. Please .. someone book a mini cab right now to take this clown away. Almunia - £3m. If anyone pays any more than that, frankly, they deserve all the ridicule they will receive for it. Maybe they'll take out a super injunction to hide the fee paid. Fabianski - £5m. We can't ask for any more than that, he'd do a job at another club, no doubt, certainly one not at the top of any league in Europe though. Diaby - £8m. A great dribbler and .. errrrrrr .. thats your lot. No end product, not defensive, another pointless Arsenal player. Clichy - £8m. why not, thats not a bad price for a decent enough full back. His continual mistakes and defensive inability allied with his lack of any meaningful crosses means he has become a bit of a liability. He Won't stay to be a 2nd choice full back so lets cash in. If I was being utterly ruthless I'd get rid of Walcott, Arshavin and Song too. Many of you would question this but, trust me, I know what I am talking about. Walcott hasn't improved (injuries or not) and he won't anyway - he doesn't have the brain as Waddle correctly concluded, Arshavin is far too hit n miss, for a team as inconsistent as we are we don't need the king of inconsistency playing for us and Song is technical pap and ridiculously slow. In fact I'd go as far to say as you could get any decent technical big semi pro baller, put him in the Arsenal midfield and he'd be at least as good as Song.
almunia is out of contract i believe so will leave on a free. Clichy 8m max Denilson 4-6m - wages are quite high so could be hard to shift for any kind of fee Squillaci 3m - realistically Bendtner 12m - widely reported fee Eboue 6m - still young, a fantastic attacking right-back. is much better than people give him credit for. just not quite as good as sagna Vela 6m - young, potential. fabianski & diaby i don't think will be sold. that gives 39m if they all go. i would also be surprised if eboue goes, he seems to love the club and i don't think he needs to be sold. subtracting him that's still 33m, enough to buy a decent striker on decent wages.
theo has just had his best ever season, at the age of just 22 years old. he's 5 years away from reaching his peak. he scored and assisted plenty of goals this season, and will only improve next year. he must be kept. competition for him on the right would be good, to keep him training hard, but getting rid of him is ridiculous. in addition, he's immensely marketable and brings in plenty of shirt sales & other income to the club. arshavin can create that magic, he just needs to get fit. that's all he's lacking right now. he seems to want to stay, and if he proves his fitness, he should do. song needs competition. he's improved vastly over the last few seasons but seems to have been found wanting a little this year.
Agree with all of this. However I still maintain that Walcott's best position would be as an out and out striker ahead of RVP. Competition for Song is an absolute must. We know Frimpong will be part of the 1st team but an experienced DM to push Song will provide great competition.
Ok I'll retract part of my Walcott statement. I actually think he would be a fantastic out and out striker, playing on the last shoulder, utilising the space behind the defenders. Even if they play a deep line,. he is quick enough and sharp enough to turn defenders leading to a shot on goal. I just wish Mr Wenger would stop playing players out of position, we bought him as a striker and thats how his brain thinks - he is no winger .. he can't cross.
Walcott would work great in a 4-4-2 playing off the last defender with someone like Chamakh to hold the ball up, flick it on to him etc. Playing on his own in a 4-3-3 in the central role I have my doubts. He doesn't have the strength or height to fend off defenders. He has pace, but against a low-lying back 4 I'm not sure that would work. Tactically i'd love to see Wenger surprise us with a 4-4-2 against teams that play a higher line and really put them under the hammer. Formation at present is too predictable. Wingers are a *BIG* area of Arsenal weakness - they have zero at present. Arshavin is a no10, Nasri fances himself as an attacking midfielder, Walcott is a striker. I understand that they're not wingers, they're actually forwards, as it's a 4-3-3, but they should still know how to cross a ball, get to the by-line etc, and at present only Theo seems to do this.
