Linked to Icardi, Morata and lacazette over the last week and then today linked to Bony... Bony would be very underwhelming, he has some strong attributes but isn't going to be the clinical player we need. I really hope we are working on something better. A CB and a CF are seriously needed and an extra wide player would be nice... Can't help but think we will only get one of those, probably the CB, even though wenger tried for Vardy and has since said he was still after a striker. We've won a couple of trophies and then finished runners up in the league. We have a base to build something good and Xhaka was a step in the right direction but we need more or I think we will fall short of the big prize again. Our transfer windows are so frustrating.
Was that an erroneous zero after the 3? Think many buying clubs are waiting until the end of the window when selling clubs will be desperate to move players they no longer want (Bony, Nasri and Schweinsteiger for example) and so the price will drop. Having said that, prime targets like Icardi will maintain their asking price.
I'd say for prime targets (the ones we actually need, rather than the Bony's and Jonny Evans' of the world) will do the opposite and their price will increase the closer to the close of the window as buying clubs get desperate, while selling clubs will be less likely to want to lose their star players without having enough time to find adequate replacements. This window in particular has been a clusterfuck in a long line of disappointments.
I wonder once the dust settles how many players we enquired for but bulked at the asking price. On one hand a settled fully fit side could do quite well in a league full of new managers. But on the other we need quality in depth and are always a few injuries away from a disaster.
Our management seem extremely cautious in the transfer market, considering we have a great deal in cash reserves. Are they expecting some sort of financial meltdown to happen again and are keeping all that money in the bank for a rainy day? Makes you think...
1. There is NO way we have a 'great deal' in cash reserves. Now I've read estimates ranging from 200m to 40m which goes to show the fans/AST have no idea, Gazidis says we cant compete financially which makes me wonder why we even moved to the Emirates. 2. I think the most likely explanation is somewhere in the middle. The money available is less than most fans think but there is also a degree of frugality being employed by the Club. In someways the fact Arsenal are soo sensible helps keep the Club safe in a time when large scale business can go under in a matter of months.. but its boring as **** for the fans and ultimately football is about entertainment.
I get the feeling we moved to the Emirates as we had to, as we had a much smaller fan base than teams like Liverpool and Man Utd and it was felt it was the only way we could increase our fan base, match day income, and corporate income to compete. But that was before the sugar daddy madness changed the whole landscape of football and teams like Chelsea and Man C blew everyone else out of the water and increased transfer fees ridiculously. Now you have TV money doing the same again. IMO the reason we haven't got this money is because we aren't being successful and so aren't being as big a brand globally. A kindof Catch-22, if we spent a bit more we would have (or at least had a better chance of) won more silverwear, giving us more shirt sales, sponsorship deals, global fans ect, which would have given us more money to compete at the top. Instead we've always been almost but not quite there. We aren't a Man U - one of the biggest brands and riches clubs in the world, that be away from the top table of football for years and still spend ridiculous amounts on transfers and then break the transfer record. Or a sugar daddy funded club. But the more we stagnate the worse it'll get! And the more chance we'll drop away from the top table and could keep dropping. We need real investment to at least have a real go at winning the league!
I imagine the size of a club's fanbase is quite flexible, particularly for those at the top. For example, Real's and Barca's would have increased in the past 10 years given the players and their success, whereas as Manchester United's may have shrunk in the past 5 years due to a relative lack of success and a lack of a marquee player until now. Further down the scale, I suspect that Leeds United's support has haemorrhaged in recent years due to their fall from grace, and maybe fans in that part of the world have been attracted by what is on offer at the Etihad Stadium, a 54,000 average home attendance does suggest some have jumped on the City bandwagon.
Given the insane tv monies and sponsorship deals going about recently these "vast" cash reserves we have will have less and less impact. Assuming, laughably, that we were to ever spend.
With one of top 10 revenues in the world I think we have enough money to be able to buy more players than we ever have in the last few transfer windows.
Of course we have the money, we have loads of it. Have a look at the current top 10 richest football clubs in the world (forbes). Arsenal is 5th at an estimated value of $2bn with a revenue of $524m. We are worth so much despite just winning a couple of FA cups, top 4 finishes in the league and regularly crashing out of the CL in the early stages. We are a highly profitable business that can very much hang with the big boys.
Not sure why we didn't buy Ashley Williams, guarantee he's better than whoever we end up with on deadline day
Thats a bit of a ****ty bid to be honest, for the season he just had. Arsene trying to play it cheap again.
In other news they've bid 50p for Messi and a fully stamped Nando's loyalty card for Ronaldo. You can't say he's not trying.
Like I said, your club has more money to spare than any other in the PL bar United. People keep looking for excuses. And Gazidis saying you cannot compete is a joke. Maybe not against United or Real in a straight up bidding war, but anyone else? You can more than compete, if your manager had a mind to, but he doesn't.
