I was thinking, Torres is rubbish at Chslea and Jose wants new strikers. Torres terrorised Arsenal defences while at Liverpool, and he would be better than Giroud in most Arsenal fan eyes. Could be cheap, around £10m?
I still think Suarez will be off this summer, maybe not to Arsenal but to Real Madrid. Torres could end up back at Liverpool ....
I think we should be going for Mandzukic this summer. He's probably on his way out at Bayern now Lewandowski is coming in and he would be a big improvement on Giroud, whilst still offering us a similar style of play. I'd also like to see us bring in somebody like Lars Bender in the middle too. Flamini has been great this season, but we need to be building for the future and he's top quality. I think we're badly missing Ramsey and Walcott at the moment too.
Manzukic is quality no doubt but for me If we signed him it would pretty much end Girouds time at the club. The players are FAR too simular, only Mandzukic is a little slicker and technically skilled. I would prefer a Jackson Martinez, Edison Cavani, Suarez. Basically a striker who can beat defenders with a bit of skill or pace. We lack the kind of forward who can win us a game on his own. But I agree we are also missing Walcott. We need that pace to stretch defences and make space for the creative players.
Torres is a good shout in that he can provide something different and if he could rekindle the ability he showed at liverpool he would be amazing. but would maureen really sell to us?
I'm praying we dont bring in a second rate forward like Remy, Ba, Michu, Ntep. We need TOP quality. I cant think of a team who has won the league without a World Class centreforward.
The thing that I dont understand about Torres is he seems to have lost all that explosiveness he had at Liverpool or Athletico. I dont know if its down to bad coaching, change in diet etc.. because when you think about it between the ages of 27-29 he should be at his athletic 'peak'. Some players do peak early and some late this is mainly down to genetics but it does strike me odd the Chelsea should have had Torres during his best years but instead he has been a shadow of his former self.
I think its mainly tactics. at Liverpool he was the main man alongside Gerrard and they built their team to supply him. at Chelsea there are a lot of good players and he has to fit into their system. plus he's low on confidence. don't know if we could turn his form around but could work out for both parties.
Just to clear up something, Torres only ever showed that for for 2 seasons in his whole career. Not before joining Liverpool and not after leaving has he come close to that kind of form. I doubt he'll ever be even close to being that good again. Liverpool will not be signing Torres and hopefully we will not be losing Suarez in the summer either, mind you the same things were being said about Jan and he's still here, it's getting a bit like all those end of the world predictions now, always getting pushed back to a new date. Torres would be a bad move by Arsenal, really bad
Torres has only scored 20+ league goals once in his career & that was 6 years ago...... He's not scored 20 league goals in the last 4 seasons combined...... A husk of the player he was in his prime (Benitez ruined him, by playing him half fit all the time ) So, he's an ideal Arsenal signing, get him in Arsene.
Still he was very different. At Athletico he was explosive. Used to score great goals and mainly played as a number 10. At Liverpool he hit top form, moved into the number 9 role but also looked physically much quicker and sharper than he does now. At Chelsea he hardly ever beats defenders like he used to. I dont think its just a mental thing. For me he looks physically weaker.
You might not want that though. One thing Wenger is GREAT at is getting forwards to play to their potential (Henry, Bergkamp, Anelka, RVP.. hell he even got Adebayor to score 30 goals in a Season!)
For every Henry, there's been a Bendtner or a Jeffers mate. In any case, Torres is a busted flush, Jesus couldn't get 20+ league goals a season out of him.
So whats that.. a one in two World Class striker return seems a pretty good ratio to me. Particuraly when you consider all these players where under £12 Million each. But No Not really ..both Jeffers and Bendtner were both exceptional as teenagers so the risk was worth taking. Also Bendter was a free signing and Jeffers was £6 Million. Both of whome have better goal to games ratios than the £50 Million Fernando Torres. The guy could go down as the worst signing by ANY club in history if you think of money vs on pitch return. But I still think Wenger would've done far better with him.
Tobes: Lets just compare with Chelsea for example shall we. Fernando Torres £50Million Andrey Schevchenko £30.8 million Claudio Pizzaro - Bosman (2 goals in 28 for Chelsea) Salomon Kalou - £10 Million Hernan Crespo - £16.8 million Gael Kakuta - Actually couldnt sell this kid in January. Been loaned out again. (for 4 almost years now) Mateja Kesman - £5.3m Adrien Mutu - £22.5 Million Didier Drogba - well Moureen had to get one right. Still at £24 Million he was hardly cheap. Nicholas Anelka - maybe the best example here. Signed to Chelsea for £15 Million sold for around £10 Million to Shanghai Shenhua Arsene signed him for £1 Million and sold him for £23m 59 goals in 190 for Chelsea or 23 goals in 65 for Arsenal. So In terms of performance and value Arsenal got more out of him. This is just Cf's since 2004 without even looking at the youth academy and I'm sure there are several 'bargains' i've missed out.
Look the bottom line is Wenger can waste a squad spot and definitely more than 10m on a player that hasn't performed in over 4 years who may or may not perform, form says the latter, OR he can go out in the summer and buy a quality striker for big bucks who can find the onion sack regularly.
I, for one, would be very upset if we signed Torres at the end of the season. He was once a fantastic player and he may well be again but it's a big gamble. I think recently we've gone down that route far too often. Mostly that was due to paying off the stadium debt which restricted our spending but now we're told we're on top of that and making record money I'd like to see us make a signing from the top shelf for once (...not that top shelf you perverts).
