A few years ago it was Squillaci,Gervinho, Chamakh and Sylvestre. Now it's Ozil, Sanchez and Cech. We are cleeeaaarly making progress.
I know he turned out to be a dud but when we bought Squillaci he was a French international who was playing for Seville who were competing in the Champions League
When Man Utd first signed Sylvestre he was a decent player,it's just that when we got got him he was well over the hill and down the slippery slope
And those players still managed to get 4th and consistently finish above Spur's best team in 2 decades.
Roberto Firmino: Liverpool sign Brazil striker in £29m deal Reported on BBC. I've never heard of him, is he any good or is it another overpriced, dubious Liverpool signing.
It seems like our "transfer targets" are going one by one. First Kondongbia and now Martinez goes to Athletico for 35m euros.
TBH I wasn't that convinced that Martinez, at 29 and 35m euros was what we needed, seemed quite expensive for someone who hadn't played in one of the top 4 leagues.
My thoughts exactly. For nearly £30m for a player who is almost 30 years old and never played in a top European league, it would have been a massive gamble. Glad we've steered clear of this one to be honest.
I agree with you guys but maybe i'm hoping we get a top CF and DM. It would be a shame if we didn't take advantage and strengthen this window.
I'd imagine we'll get a DM in some shape or form, whether that be back up to Coq (though whether Wenger thinks his Coq needs back up is another thing...) or whether it'll be an all singing, all dancing international/world class standard DM. But in regards to a striker, I'm not positive that we'll get one, we've got Sanchez as a shoe in for LW, who has surprised Wenger with how many goals he's scored this season, and is only going to get better, we've got Walcott RW who (if he stays fit) should score 20 goals next season, and Giroud's upward arc is impressive, and if he carries on improving could easily get 25 goals next season, and as well as his goals, he creates space and chances for the other players, while being the focal point of our attacking play. If you replace him with a lethal striker who just stands on the shoulder of the last defender then you'd need to change the way we play significantly, or just rely on that player to get most of the goals again.
I said at the end of the season/beginning of the window, I don't think we'll buy a striker. I'd be happy to be proved wrong, but I think Wenger will stick with Giroud up front, rotating with Walcott and Welbeck when needed and interchanging those players in the wing forward roles along with Sanchez and Ox. Not that I don't think we could do with a clinical striker to complement Giroud, but I just don't think we're going to do it. What we really need is a DM. It looks like we've signed a top GK and if we can get a DM of the same calibre then we have a squad capable of challenging for the title.
I agree, I would love a much better option than Welbeck to be challenging Giroud, but I can't see Wenger bringing in a striker and getting rid of one at the same time. (and considering he had Podolsi and Campbell, yet neither managed to get any games, even when Giroud was injured - I can't see him keeping his full complement of strikers and sign another).
But doesn't getting rid of Pod and Campbell free up some space for a striker? If it wasn't for Welbeck's great workrate, he would go the same route as Campbell. Oh and the fact he is English too.
I thought this was interesting, considering Liverpool, Chelsea and Man C have been scrabbling around for 'home grown' players this summer. Here's our squad from this years CL. http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2015/clubs/club=52280/ As I understand, players under 21 who have been at the club for 2 years don't need to be registered. Keepers Szczesny (HG) Ospina (replaced with Cech) Martinez (HG) (others under 21) Defenders Gibbs (HG) Monreal Bellerin (HG) Debuchy Chambers (HG) Merts Gabriel Kos (all others under 21, including Bellerin and Chambers) Midfielders Rosicky Arteta Wilshere (HG) Ozil Ramsey (HG) Santi Flamini (hopefully going) (HG) Diaby (gone) Coq (HG) Oxo (HG) Gnarby (HG) (all others including Gnarby under 21) Forwards Giroud Walcott (HG) Podolski (gone) Welbeck (HG) Campbell (Maybe go out on loan/transfer) Sanchez (all others including Akpom under 21) If you take out the players more than likely to go - Pod, Ospina, Diaby, and maybe Flamini and Campbell, then I think you can register a max of 25 players, but 8 need to be Home Grown in some shape or form (either Arsenal or a English/Welsh FA registered club). At the moment we have 12 HG players, not including Flamini and the under 21 players like Bellerin/Chambers, with 22 over age players registered, not including Flamini. So we have space for 2 more non-HG players in the side before needing to swap players/leave one or two out of the CL squad. It's a lot better position than some of our rivals find themselves in.
But they were gotten rid of last season because they couldn't get games with only Welbeck, Giroud (who was injured until Dec), Sanchez and Walcott (who was injured as well) in the squad. If your going to add a WC striker to the squad then surely it means no game time for one of Walcott or Welbeck, but I can't see Wenger selling either of them. Though I can see why Wenger originally only wanted Welbeck on loan, as that would have been a very clever signing, and would have allowed space in the squad for a great striker this summer if one was available.
