He's scored 13 goals in his last 38 league games. Using your criteria of 1 goal every 2 games he is not a very good striker. Where are people getting this £20m figure from anyway? There is no way he will be sold that cheaply.
IMO if there is a chance for Lewandowski throw the entire transfer kitty in for him. Dortmund don't want to sell him to Bayern so they'd gladly arrange a deal with a foreign club.
He had a dip in form last season, which can be down to a number of factors, especially when dealing with Madrid, at a club like Arsenal he can once again reach his maximum potential. Benzema in the previous 2 seasons before the last proved his world class top quality, so he can afford a dip in form, as they say, form is temporary, class is permanent. Also when it comes to Europe, so far he has a better record of 1 goal in every 2! His record in Europe is currently up there with the best, so as I said, he would come in very handy for us in the UCL.
I'm not convinced about Benzema. I think the PL is a much harder league for strikers and I wonder if he'd handle the step up. From what I've seen of him he can go missing too often in games and look disinterested. What we need is a player who is hungry to get involved at every opportunity and wants to dictate the play, somebody like Suarez. At the moment I would say that Benzema would't be an upgrade on Giroud.
For £20m he is a bargain and would be rejuvenated under Wenger. I have no doubt that he would out-perform Giroud. At the moment Giroud is going through a very good patch of form, but when we talk of ability, then Benzema takes it by a significant margin. Benzema has the ability to produce that one bit of special skill that world class talent can produce. Wenger's been after him for quite some time as he sees him as a top talent that he can make the most of. We haven't seen the best of him under Real or France, under Wenger, he will shine bright.
Benzema at his best is considerably better than Giroud. He's a very explosive forward, strong quick and a sharp finisher. He's only just 25 and has 172 Top Flight goals (France and Spain) [video=youtube;_N0HwVG9Q9g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N0HwVG9Q9g[/video] He is however moody and inconsistant. Wengers biggest strength has always been his ability to get players confident and playing to their ability. That's the main reason I think Benzema would be a great signing. Wenger would get the best out of him. Besides we need more than 1 quality striker if we want to win trophies. For me he would give us a good balance. Giroud is a target man with good hold up play while Benzema is more of a mobile striker who can go past defenders or score from distance.
Spot on. Benzema is a complete striker and has all the attributes to succeed in the Prem. Giroud is doing a fab job but we really need another quality CF.
Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen, 27, says he would consider leaving the Gunners in January to improve his chances of playing at the World Cup for Belgium. Worrying to hear this and is too good to let go in my opinion. He's been going through a poor patch but is still class. With the cup games coming up he should feature a lot more for us.
Agree, I think at his best he's our best Centreback. He can be a liability though with hus rampaging runs forward. Far too good to let go. Hopefully Wenger will give him more games.
I can understand both where he is coming from and where you are coming from. This is going to happen a lot more with a surfeit of class players. I wouldn't want to see him go, but I wouldn't want to hold him back either. Uncle Arsene is going to have to call on his mighty man-management skills a lot more in the future
For me he's been under-utilised. He is a talented and dynamic player that can play in more than one position. I always thought he could play in midfield too as a sort of DM and his headering and especially shooting ability is top notch for a defensive player. Unfortunately, we are now well stocked in that midfield department. Agreed on the man-management, i think Arsene will have to do some persuading to keep him with us.
I often thought Wenger might be tempted to use him as a DM but he's never tried it. With Flamini in the team, he's not likely to get a look in either. I hope he stays because when he's on form he's one of the best CBs in the league and he'd be a big loss. I think he should stay and fight for his place. Mert / Kos aren't going to stay fit for every game this season and he could quite easily play his way back into contention.
Yeah, The issue is we no longer play with a Gilberto/Makelele type. Even the Arteta's/ Flamini's have liscence to get forward. Vermalen would be great in the holding role but it's a position we dont really use anymore.
You got back into sanity with this one. C'mon a 27yo career CB repositioning himself into a midfielder; name one player that has successfully done that. I think he needs to cool his jets a little. He hasn't been fit for that long.
