Arsenal’s new recruits put the club in the driving seat by Richard B.
There is a certain amount of second guessing when it comes to analysing the transfer dealings of Arsenal. With the signings of Podolski and Giroud it looked like we had added great quality in depth to a side that struggled to be cohesive and find impact in the final third when needed last season. For all the talk about our leaky defence, I think that with the personnel we have it is more a case of work to be done on the training ground, paired with discipline on match day, than simply glossing over our lack of organisation last year and bolstering our ranks of defenders.
The announcement by van Persie that he wanted to leave raised the question in many minds about whether Giroud was ever intended to complement, as opposed to replace, our talismanic striker. Was the agreement over van Persie’s silence during the European Championships put in place purely to lure in talented players, and have them sign thinking that they would be joining, instead of replacing him? Whilst Giles Grimandi’s comments suggest they knew Robin’s departure was a possibility, it is by no means clear cut that the club had resigned to losing van Persie before Giroud was signed from Montpellier. The reality of the situation is that nobody knows. We can speculate and analyse to our heart’s content, but the truth is held by only a select few people, and it is not in their interests to let this particular cat out of the bag.
If we were to look ahead, thinking the worst, are we likely to see the departure of Theo this summer? After all, if Giroud could now effectively replace van Persie, was it the same plan for Podolski to provide cover in order for Theo’s departure to be less problematic? Whilst Podolski is more at home on the left of a front 3, or in fact playing through the middle, we shouldn’t forget that Gervinho came to us after being deployed on the right wing for Lille and was subsequently moved out to the left to allow Theo to maintain his position on the right flank.
To be blunt, I hope this isn’t the case. When Theo was sidelined towards the end of last season it became apparent that our depth in that area of the pitch is practically non-existent. Benayoun, who played his part brilliantly when called upon, is no longer at the club and unless a further player is brought in to accompany Podolski, Gervinho and Chamberlain, we are left absolutely bare when it comes to fielding a threatening front line, let alone possessing effective attacking options that can come off the bench. As frustrating as he can be for fans to watch, he is also a frustration to play against, and the one aspect of his game that does not change, irrespective of whether he is having a good day or a bad one, is that he has pace. Lots of pace. Whilst I agree that pace without other abilities is not enough, it is something opponents always have to be wary of and it fundamentally restricts how adventurous the opposition are prepared to be.
The one thing that is interesting in all of this that I haven’t seen much talk of (although in all fairness with the amount of chatter about Robin and Theo it would have been easy to miss) is that Arsenal actually spent before we sold. We didn’t generate funds by selling players and then look to reinvest, whilst keeping some back for debt repayment. We went into the transfer market and handed over £23 million pounds to other clubs for the services of their players. It is a shame that I see that as big news but quite frankly, at least when you compare that to recent times, it is.
If the members of the board are as concerned about lining their pockets as everyone says they are, then you can guarantee that they would have been first in line to oversee the distribution of any profit. So surely that means the debt repayments have been accounted for, the members of the board have just received their new coveted ivory backscratchers, and Arséne was then handed the remainder and told that he could actually have a transfer policy this year, instead of being told he would have to wait to see what money we had come in before he went and did anything silly, like strengthen the squad.
You can look at this in one of 2 ways. You can either think that they knew that RVP and potentially Walcott would be going and on that basis they would get replacements now, knowing they would recoup the money when our assets were sold, or on the other hand we had the money available and we actually spent it. The key difference could be as simple that, should we sell RVP or Walcott, their fees will be available to reinvest in the team without having to have a significant slice spent on things other than transferring the registration of players. Would we use the proceeds of their sales to try and replace them like for like, or would it be more likely that Arséne would turn the income from 2 player sales into 3 or 4 new recruits?
Only time will tell whether this is the summer that Arsenal were able to buck the trend and actually be pro-active or whether it was a false dawn. How this all plays out is in the hands of Robin, Theo and Arsenal, but I remain cautiously optimistic and hope that, whatever happens with regard to players moving on to pastures new, the club have put themselves in a position to make additional quality signings, and that the plan all along was to improve the options within the squad, instead of merely replacing those that had been tempted away.
by Richard B.
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