Arsenal summer transfer targets
For the first time in many summers the noises coming out of the Emirates Stadium are positive rather than negative and if you’re an Arsenal fan, like me, you’ve got to be pretty happy about that.
I’m not going to deny that I’m a huge Arsenal fan and it is the only sporting team that actually causes me to become upset when things happen to go wrong. But unlike Bill Simmons, ESPN's Sports Guy, I am not irrationally passionate - you just can’t be when you have one team to support and there’s not another team to fall back on.
If the Red Sox suck, like they do this year, Simmons can fall back on the Celtics or the Bruins and even the Patriots. But with one club, if you’re irrationally passionate what happens when your team fails to live up to expectations? I can’t really answer that but a good place to start would be the Newcastle or Portsmouth fans.
So, after listening to those noises coming out of the Emirates, I’ve decided that this summer is going to be a good one for Arsenal. Plus it’s a World Cup year - this summer couldn’t be better.
It’s going to be good because Arsène Wenger, for the first time in a long time, has admitted he needs to strengthen and add experience to the team – code for “we really struggled this year when Robin van Persie got injured and the corpse of Mikaël Silvestre was just not good enough to cover for William Gallas.”
In other words, Wenger’s youth policy nearly worked but it’s time to add the final pieces which will bring some silverware to Ashburton Grove.
Who are those final pieces? Well here are some possibilities for the Gunners.
Goalkeepers
Gianluigi Buffon
Okay, okay, I know I said possibilities for the Gunners, but it’s nice to dream and it could happen if Wenger is willing to realise that Manuel Almunia cost us a legitimate shot at the title. Buffon is the best keeper in the world and the only flaw he has is his frail back, which has been playing up this season. He commands the box, has great handling skills, can kick well, is fast off his line and makes saves other keepers can’t. But a price tag of over £20million surely rules Arsenal out of the race for his signing. But if he wants to leave Juve, and reportedly he does, England is his preferred destination and with Man City not in the Champions League, Arsenal fans can actually dream of Buffon in goal and not a buffoon.
Joe Hart
He did well at Manchester City when Sven-Göran Eriksson started playing him but lost his place when they signed Shay Given. Since joining Birmingham on loan he’s been one of the best ‘keepers in the Premier League. He has had a solid defence ahead of him but you can see he’s got the makings of a quality keeper. To be honest, anything has to be better than Almunia, who is slow off of his line, shocking at his near post, can’t catch any more and makes mistakes at crucial parts of the season.
My choice: Rene Adler
He’s Germany’s No.1, but won’t be going to the World Cup because of a rib injury which means his stock cannot rise with good performances in the tournament. He’s young, he’s tall and he’s already a quality ‘keeper. Just look at this performance against Russia for Germany. So to recap, the Bayern Leverkusen 'keeper is young, good and has experience playing for a big side - a perfect fit for Arsenal, and the price tag shouldn’t be too big.
Defence has been a huge problem for Arsenal this year, we all know that, we’ve watched Silvestre get destroyed by one too many average players. Is he the most unlikeable Arsenal player of all time? Possibly, I doubt there’s any Silvestre Arsenal shirts out there, if you have, what were you thinking?!?
In the last game of the season against Fulham, Wenger gave us a glimpse of what is to come next season, a Vermaelen and Djourou partnership – even though Vermaelen didn’t play against Fulham the fact that Djourou came on as a sub was a message to the fans that he’s going to be starting next year.
So it’s more than likely a star defender won’t come in but Wenger will need to buy someone.
Defenders
Gary Cahill
Missed a lot of the season due to a blood clot and so has missed out on a place in Fabio Capello’s provisional 30-man World Cup squad. If he was to leave Bolton he would go straight into the Arsenal starting XI, so the Djourou starting next year scenario goes out the window. But then again Wenger is not going to spend over £10 million on a player who won’t start. But while Cahill could form a good partnership with Vermaelen, there are question marks over whether he is good enough to compete at the top level.
Pape Diakhate
Plays for Dinamo Kiev and if you play in the Ukraine you’re going to be a tough player, exactly what we needed this season. He’s got enough height and pace to be a force in the Premier League and you know if the Arsenal scouts are looking at him, he definitely can bring something to the team. I wouldn’t mind him playing for Arsenal - anything is better than Silvestre, how Sir Alex must be laughing at us.
Philippe Mexes
He’s been at Roma for the last six years and it looks like his time is up with them. A whole host of clubs are after him including AC Milan. He’s a character and that’s exactly what Arsenal need. There’s no-one, with the exception of Eboue who look like they are great fun or can cause some mischief in the clubhouse when needed. He’s tough and gets sent off. You might think that’s a bad thing, but when was the last time an Arsenal player got sent off for something stupid? You need that sometimes in a team, don’t ask me why but you just do. Oh, and he’s not a bad defender as well.
Midfield for Arsenal isn’t exactly a problem except for the fact we can’t close teams down. Remember Barcelona? Play a high-line in a bid to put pressure on Xavi and the rest, but instead of pressing like you should do when playing a high-line, Diaby and Song decided to sit back and let Xavi and Messi run riot.
Diaby, for all the talent he has, has the lowest footballing IQ I have seen at Arsenal for a long long time and on occasions it’s just painful to watch. I’ll just point out the wrong pass he made away at Barcelona when we were on the break and could have made it 2-0. And when Denilson plays alongside him it doesn’t exactly fill anyone with confidence. We need a tough character, an Iron Man, but not Robert Downey Jr. And while Song has been one of the better players this year he’s small and doesn’t dominate. It’s clear we need help.
We need to sign strong, tall players who are not necessarily very technical, we have enough of those and if Wenger doesn’t sign a player like that the title is not coming to the Emirates.
Midfielders
Yaya Toure
Personally I can’t see any way Toure will be staying at the Camp Nou. He’s lost his place in the starting line-up to Sergio Busquets and Seydou Keita, and now he wants out. He’s the perfect player for Arsenal. A better, defensive and smarter version of Diaby who has won everything there is to win in Spain and, because he played in Barça’s passing system, will fit into our team like fat kid at a pie-eating contest. Would he want to come to North London after being spurned by Wenger before? And what has Kolo told him about Arsenal? Hopefully only good things because we need Yaya desperately.
Felipe Melo
If you have watched him this past year you might be thinking what’s he doing on this list? Well don’t fret because despite being one of the worst players in Serie A this year, his qualities as a football player still remain what they were when he was at Fiorentina. Add the fact that he’s playing for a disjointed team, one of the worst Juventus line-ups in recent history, even worse than the one that played in Serie B a few years back, and it’s easy to understand why he has failed this year. Signing Melo would be like having Gilberto Silva back in the team, and despite receiving heavy criticism from some Arsenal fans, we were a better team when Silva played for us.
There are only two players in the midfield list simply because we don’t need any more attacking midfielders nor can we afford the good ones like Franck Ribéry. Scoring goals when RVP was out obviously was a problem and that big tree, Nicklas Bendtner, clearly isn’t good enough to lead the line despite proclaiming he will be the world’s best player some day, keep dreaming Nicklas.
Eduardo is another player who isn’t good enough. He’s had enough sympathy, now it’s time to realise that the injury he suffered against Birmingham has changed his game and made him much slower. It’s sad to say, and see, but he would be better off playing for another team. Arsenal can’t afford to keep him around, he’s taking up a place on the bench and we are paying his wages, which could be better spent on role players who can actually contribute.
Strikers
Marouane Chamakh
Wenger wanted him last year but was unwilling to pay the £8million Bordeaux wanted for him, and for that reason we can welcome him in for free. Pace, power, the ability to head the ball and the ability to finish makes him exactly what we need, someone to force Bendtner out of the club.
Loic Remy
He’s young, he’s fast, he’s pretty tall and has scored 13 goals in 32 games in the league this season. He’s what Arsenal don’t have and if Wenger wants to add another striker to the team Remy will be a good addition even with the imminent arrival of Chamakh. The only problem is, Wenger now plays 4-3-3 and with Arshavin and Walcott on the wings and RVP up front, it means any striker coming into the team will be warming the bench until RVP inevitably gets injured.
Edin Dzeko
Not going to happen, can’t afford him and he’s not coming to Arsenal to warm the bench. A formation change would have to happen for Dzeko to come to Arsenal.
Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain , Karim Benzema
It’s nice to dream isn’t it?
Looking at the players mentioned above, if Arsenal bought Buffon, Toure, Chamakh and Mexes you would be absolutely ecstatic, but as we all know that’s never going to happen. More probable would be signing Adler, Toure and Chamakh and those would be some nice additions, but would they make us a title-winning team? I’m not so sure, add a defender and then -maybe - yes.
But there are a few scenarios I have come up with which could make Arsenal the favourites to win the title next year and personally I think they are plausible.
Scenario A
Sell Andrei Arshavin to Barcelona. Either sell him outright for £18million or swap him for Yaya Toure. If you swap him for Toure great, but then you have to spend a lot of money on wingers, and good wingers don’t come cheap. So here is what I think/want Arsenal to do. Sell Arshavin for the £18-20million and add another £10 million to sign David Silva from Valencia. Don’t agree? Well let me put it this way. Both players made 30 starts in their respective leagues, Arshavin had 10 goals and one assist and Silva had eight goals and seven assists, last time I checked Silva’s stats are better. Don’t forget Silva is only 24 which gives him better re-sale value and less likely to get injured. And the biggest advantage would be that Silva will try harder. Watch Arshavin and you will notice he loses the ball and doesn’t track back, he falls over when he gets tackled and he’s inconsistent. Watch Silva and you get none of this, he’s already better than the Russian and is only going to get better, we can’t say the same for Andrei, although his website is amusing.
Scenario B
If Barcelona are intent on signing Cesc Fàbregas then why not use him to get at least Toure in return? And if they want Fàbregas £50million should be the price. Or what I think is quite possible: £55million plus Toure for Fàbregas and Arshavin. Barça have already shown their willingness to engage in deals like this by sending Eto’o and £40million to Inter. It might not be popular with fans but this deal allows Arsenal to invest in quality talent but Wenger must be willing to invest. Let’s say there is £30million already to invest, another £55million brings that total amount to £85 million. Use Nasri in the middle and it allows you to spend a good amount of money on the positions we actually need. Let’s say £30million on Silva, £22million on Buffon, and £15million on a defender like Mexes, plus you already have Toure in the Fàbregas deal, so that’s four top-quality players brought into the team and you are still left over with some change from the £85million. Arsenal could only assemble a team like that if we sell Fàbregas and invest. We all know he’s going to leave at one point, probably next summer, so why not cash in and invest when there is good talent available on the market.
Scenario C
Juventus are reportedly interested in Bacary Sagna, so why not offer him up in a Buffon trade? It makes sense, we get Buffon for cheaper and can use Eboue at right-back if Wenger fails to find a replacement right back. Yes Sagna has been a mainstay in the side but having the best goalkeeper in the world would be better than having a Sagna, surely?
You might not agree with the proposals or even with the players on the list but for the first time in a long while this summer should be about buying for Arsenal and not selling.
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