But would we have got Ba the minute Chelsea declared an interest and promised him double what we could pay? With players' agents whispering in their ears, even a declared preference for a particular club doesn't mean much if they can get more somewhere else.
Double what Arsenal can pay? Rumours are he's on between 80 & 100k. That's easily within Arsenal's range. He was affordable for Arsenal. He's gone to Chelsea because they have a striker shortage & he knows he'll play. Would he have gone to Arsenal? We'll never know.
Suker - I don't disagree with your comments, my point was more that failure to make CL qualification could regress the club further and as fans everyone should consider what the clubs best interests are. The fact we've qualified and not used that as a springboard to winning only highlights other issues within the club IMO (financial position, poor signings etc)
This shows Wenger is the problem now. Ivan has said the money is there, it's all up to Arsene what he does with it. And Arsene (as usual) is doing **** all.
I've said it loads of times before and i'll say it agin and again. CL qualification aka 4th place is very very important. The financial gain and lure of CL football allows us to keep above the likes of spurs/everton etc at the moment. If the latest news from the board about us entering a period where we can compete on top player wages is true then we need to be in a position where we still have CL football or we won't be able to get those top players. Our financial model is set up around getting CL qualification and every year out of it will hold us back further. Its all well and good saying it isn't a trophy and your not proud of it (personally i am proud of the fact we hold the record for consecutive seasons into the competition and out of the group stage) but you can't ignore it's importance. I would love us to win a trophy, i really would. My disappointment in all 3 of our finals since our last trophy was aweful. I was hungover watching the birmingham game and went back to sleep for the rest of the day! But top 4 is the bare minimum. 5th or lower and a trophy (unless its the CL) is not good enough. 4th+ with no trophy is not good enough unless we are challenging or progressing (which we have been every season except last season). 4th+ with a trophy is ideal and where we should have been at a couple of times in this trophyless period but the players have let themslves down (our close league run in, league cup final etc). I hate all thsi anger towards the fact we obtain CL qualification every year. It's a good thing and as long as we stay at europes top table while benefiting from our new financial deals we will start to see the club really moving forwards. Look at Liverpool and hwo they have dealt with dropping from the top 4!
Ba had already spoken to Chelsea before the window opened. Pardew knew he was going there and so did the world, his brother and his wife. So it's a bit silly to try and use it as a reason to slate our lack of activity. Also as treat says, it's only 6th jan.
This is not the first time Wenger says something along these lines. Wenger said last summer: "Some fans want me to spend 50 ml on a player". Gazidis said that as well. It looks like a deliberate spin of an answer. A polite way to tell us to f*** off.
Kyle makes a fair point IMO, plenty of deals are getting done already, Ba and Sturridge have been sold and already made their debuts, it does seem to be a trend with Arsenal that our business in confirmed late in windows, there were/are 7 fixtures in January and if new face(s) don't arrive until the last day that's a massive chunk of the season lost. Suggests to me that our business (in) will be minimal and not marquee as many have hoped....
I'd say it's a good reason to slate our lack of activity. If Chelsea spoke with Ba before the window opened what was stopping Wenger speaking with one of his targets (if he even has any) and lining up a deal early on?
Why? Wenger knew before the window that Arsenal needed a DM. Why didn't he make preparations for one prior to the window? Not bringing in a striker is acceptable, as Theo likely wouldn't sign, but a DM is fairly unforgiveable at this stage.
I don't think any fan should hold out for 'marquee' signings in January and the Ba and Sturridge deals both involve Chelsea strikers, one in - one out. We have been active already, moving both Chamakh and Djourou on, so we're clearing the ground for signings. Can't ask much more than that at this stage in my opinion.
Like I just said, Wenger has been clearing the decks, so he's obviously looking at bringing some players in. Fantastic if he could sign a top DM in the first week of the window, but not entirely realistic. Give it until the end of the window at least to make a judgement.
I don't get why it's not realistic? Why can't they have the deal done and dusted and just know they need to clear the deadwood first? So it's literally, Chamakh & Djourou sign contracts elsewhere, new guy comes in. I genuinely don't see that as being unrealistic. Same as having a backup in case Theo goes, or RvP left, or when Fabregas went, or Nasri...Arsenal always seem to be one step behind rather than making contingency plans.
Piskie - we've been trying to offload the deadwood for a couple of years now, as they enter the back end of their contracts the players are more inclined to take deals. As for making way for players coming in I'm not so sure, we have players out on loan who will be part of the clubs future who will come back at some point, I'm not therefore expecting too many 'ins' this window, one maybe but not much else., anyone expecting a flood of top talent joining this January I think is setting themselves up for disappointment...
I think Arsenal's approach will always be to clear some space before bringing more players in. We've been asking Wenger to clear out the deadwood for ages, and he's doing it and talking about adding more players, I don't know what else we should be expecting him to do at this stage of the transfer window ?
You'd think it was January 29th the way some are reacting. It's the 6th ffs. I don't expect signings until around the 13th
I mentioned earlier that we had 7 fixtures in January, if a player comes in right at the end of the window he will have missed a big part of our season, also should we be looking at any player from another prem lge club he will most probably now be cup-tied (FA Cup) whereas swift movement in early Jan could have got him on board before cup weekend, and given this is our only realistic chance of success this season this could be a difference maker...
