January Transfer Window - Who should Arsene Wenger sign?
January 3rd 2012 17:50
As the new year rang in a few days ago, two thoughts crossed my mind. One was "How crap is New Years Eve?. What is all the fuss about?" and secondly, "The transfer window is now open, will Arsene do anything?
Of course, there is already one deal almost completed, only insurance has prevented Thierry Henry's return to Arsenal from being official. Once that is sorted, the club's record goalscorer will return to Arsenal for 2 months, whilst his MLS team, the New York Red Bulls, are having their offseason.
Arsenal also need to strengthen at the full back position, due to injuries to many players, including Bacary Sagna, Carl Jenkinson, Andre Santos and Kieran Gibbs. Rumours have suggested that Manchester City's Wayne Bridge could be a man that could fill the gap on a loan deal. I don't see Bridge coming for 2 reasons. These are that despite the fact that Manchester City think it's fine to sign a player from us every summer, I believe that if other offers came in for Bridge, City would be far happier selling / loaning him to a smaller club than Arsenal. The more obvious reason not to sign Bridge is that he hasn't played football in a very long time. The guy probably couldn't even get a game in City's reserve team, let alone Arsenal's first team. So by the time Bridge was fit enough to play for the first team, unless our players have further setbacks, he would not be needed. Plus you have to take into consideration that Bridge did go out on loan last season, and that was to West Ham. West Ham got relegated, and when Arsenal played West Ham last January, Bridge was definitely one of West Ham's weak links.
Another name to be linked in recent times with a loan move to the Emirates is Taye Taiwo. I must admit, I don't follow foreign football a lot, I generally stick to what I know, and that is the English Premier League. Taiwo currently plays for AC Milan, and from what I gather, he has spent most of his time in Milan on the subs bench. He was often linked to Arsenal back in his Marseille days, and Wenger will know a lot about him from his days playing in France. So this would be a much less surprising move than signing Bridge, and it's a possibility. Taiwo won't be heading to the African Cup of Nations with Nigeria as they didn't qualify for it.
With Wenger having signed Henry to cover the absence of both Marouane Chamakh and Gervinho, who will depart for the African Cup of Nations later this month, Arsenal fans also asked for a long term addition to their strike force, with Park Chu Young, Chamakh and Gervinho misfiring up front, and what can only be described as an over reliance on Robin Van Persie to both stay fit and score goals. Henry's arrival may help for 2 months or so, but I don't think it's realistic for any Arsenal fans to believe Henry can do what he was capable of doing about a decade ago. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see a strike force of Henry and Van Persie banging in goals for fun, but it's unfair on Thierry to believe the 34 year old him will have the pace and goalscoring ability that he once had.
Cologne's Lukas Podolski was strongly linked to Arsenal, and a deal looked possible when rumours of a falling out between him and personnel within the German club reached the newspapers. Yesterday Podolski claimed he wasn't prepared to risk his place in Germany's Euro 2012 squad in favour of a move to Arsenal, so put the deal on ice until at least the summer transfer window.
I would have personally loved to have seen a player of Podolski's goalscoring ability to come in, because Arsenal really do need another striker that can score goals regularly. Without Van Persie, Arsenal would be fighting relegation. With Van Persie, they're in the hunt for another year of Champions League football. If Van Persie gets injured, and that is very possible with his injury record, I can't see where goals are coming from in this team. Also, with a defence that you can never rely on to keep clean sheets, and one that gets injuries as often as Arsenal's do, if you haven't got more than one player up front to rely on, it's a very dangerous game to play by Wenger.
We shall see what Arsene does. I'd like to see at least a left back come in defensively, you cannot rely on Gibbs to stay fit, Andre Santos is injured too, and even when he's fit his defensive capabilities are questionable. Vermaelen is also injured, when he plays left back you feel comfortable, but that's because he is a very reliable player and our best defender. I say that without taking anything away from the fantastic season that Laurent Koscielny is having.
I think a left back on loan and the deal that brings Henry back will probably be the only business Arsene does coming into the club, but you never know, he may surprise us like he did on the summer deadline day with the additions of Arteta, Mertesacker, Benayoun, Andre Santos and Park Chu Young.
Leaving Arsenal in January?
There are 4 players I would happily never see in an Arsenal shirt ever again. I will start with one that we can all agree with, which is Manuel Almunia. Almunia was never good enough to be Arsenal's first choice goalkeeper. And the fact I have seen his name on the bench in recent games due to Mannone and Fabianski's injuries, quite honestly scares the crap out of me. I hope that Szczesny never ever gets injured. I think that the injuries to both Fabianski and Mannone are what will keep Almunia here until the summer at least.
The second man on my out list would be Sebastian Squillaci. The French defender came on against Fulham when Arsenal were 1-0 up. The defender came on with 9 minutes left, and within those 9 minutes Arsenal managed to concede twice. I'm not saying Squillaci was solely to blame for the loss, that would be stupid. But the Frenchman has been a poor signing by Wenger, he is certainly in the Pascal Cygan and Igor Stepanovs mould. He also played a part in Fulham's winner, with his 'assist' to Bobby Zamora who gratefully fired in the winner. You have to say that Johan Djourou's sending off didn't help, but it doesn't hide the fact that Squillaci simply isn't good enough to wear the red and white.
Thirdly, an out of form Moroccan is on my list. The man I am talking about is of course, Marouane Chamakh. What happened to him exactly?. When he joined Arsenal I was delighted. I'd seen plenty of Chamakh in the Champions League with Bordeaux, and I was certain he would be a success. From August - December 2010 he was doing everything right, and scoring goals a lot. When Robin Van Persie came back from an injury, it meant Chamakh was used less often and more of a substitute in the team. It appears that since then, Chamakh has lost all of his confidence. Wenger has given him opportunities to prove he still has it, and despite the fact that he does try (unlike the next person on my list), try as he might, he never looks like scoring. So for that reason, I would have to consider selling Chamakh whilst he still has any worth in the transfer market.
Last but not least is another player that I also had high hopes for, but after his first 6 months in England, rather like Chamakh, his Arsenal career has been on a downward spiral ever since. I'm talking of course about Andrei Arshavin. The little Russian started his Arsenal career in brilliant fashion, playing a major role in Arsenal's 4th place finish in the 2008/09 season. In particular, his 4 goals against Liverpool at Anfield in a spectacular 4-4 draw that season, stands out. Another goal at Anfield the following season, this time in a 2-1 win for Arsenal, endeared him to the Arsenal faithful even further. In honesty, since the 2010/11 season started, Arshavin has been very lazy. He doesn't look interested, and in fact the only thing I think that interests him nowadays is his pay cheque. Arshavin has had his moments in Arsenal colours, the two memorable trips to Anfield and his winner against Barcelona at the Emirates last February are great examples of those, but other than the 'moments' he doesn't do a lot. Even coming off of the bench, he just isn't very effective anymore. Russian clubs have a lot of money, and Arshavin will have one eye on his place in Russia's Euro 2012 squad. Zenit might come in with an offer for Arshavin that Wenger simply can't refuse, I say this because they haven't hidden their interest in taking back their former star. If Arsene received anything near what we paid for him, he would be laughing all the way to the bank.
Of course, there is already one deal almost completed, only insurance has prevented Thierry Henry's return to Arsenal from being official. Once that is sorted, the club's record goalscorer will return to Arsenal for 2 months, whilst his MLS team, the New York Red Bulls, are having their offseason.
Henry: Coming Home
Arsenal also need to strengthen at the full back position, due to injuries to many players, including Bacary Sagna, Carl Jenkinson, Andre Santos and Kieran Gibbs. Rumours have suggested that Manchester City's Wayne Bridge could be a man that could fill the gap on a loan deal. I don't see Bridge coming for 2 reasons. These are that despite the fact that Manchester City think it's fine to sign a player from us every summer, I believe that if other offers came in for Bridge, City would be far happier selling / loaning him to a smaller club than Arsenal. The more obvious reason not to sign Bridge is that he hasn't played football in a very long time. The guy probably couldn't even get a game in City's reserve team, let alone Arsenal's first team. So by the time Bridge was fit enough to play for the first team, unless our players have further setbacks, he would not be needed. Plus you have to take into consideration that Bridge did go out on loan last season, and that was to West Ham. West Ham got relegated, and when Arsenal played West Ham last January, Bridge was definitely one of West Ham's weak links.
Wayne Bridge: - No Thanks!
Another name to be linked in recent times with a loan move to the Emirates is Taye Taiwo. I must admit, I don't follow foreign football a lot, I generally stick to what I know, and that is the English Premier League. Taiwo currently plays for AC Milan, and from what I gather, he has spent most of his time in Milan on the subs bench. He was often linked to Arsenal back in his Marseille days, and Wenger will know a lot about him from his days playing in France. So this would be a much less surprising move than signing Bridge, and it's a possibility. Taiwo won't be heading to the African Cup of Nations with Nigeria as they didn't qualify for it.
With Wenger having signed Henry to cover the absence of both Marouane Chamakh and Gervinho, who will depart for the African Cup of Nations later this month, Arsenal fans also asked for a long term addition to their strike force, with Park Chu Young, Chamakh and Gervinho misfiring up front, and what can only be described as an over reliance on Robin Van Persie to both stay fit and score goals. Henry's arrival may help for 2 months or so, but I don't think it's realistic for any Arsenal fans to believe Henry can do what he was capable of doing about a decade ago. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see a strike force of Henry and Van Persie banging in goals for fun, but it's unfair on Thierry to believe the 34 year old him will have the pace and goalscoring ability that he once had.
Cologne's Lukas Podolski was strongly linked to Arsenal, and a deal looked possible when rumours of a falling out between him and personnel within the German club reached the newspapers. Yesterday Podolski claimed he wasn't prepared to risk his place in Germany's Euro 2012 squad in favour of a move to Arsenal, so put the deal on ice until at least the summer transfer window.
I would have personally loved to have seen a player of Podolski's goalscoring ability to come in, because Arsenal really do need another striker that can score goals regularly. Without Van Persie, Arsenal would be fighting relegation. With Van Persie, they're in the hunt for another year of Champions League football. If Van Persie gets injured, and that is very possible with his injury record, I can't see where goals are coming from in this team. Also, with a defence that you can never rely on to keep clean sheets, and one that gets injuries as often as Arsenal's do, if you haven't got more than one player up front to rely on, it's a very dangerous game to play by Wenger.
We shall see what Arsene does. I'd like to see at least a left back come in defensively, you cannot rely on Gibbs to stay fit, Andre Santos is injured too, and even when he's fit his defensive capabilities are questionable. Vermaelen is also injured, when he plays left back you feel comfortable, but that's because he is a very reliable player and our best defender. I say that without taking anything away from the fantastic season that Laurent Koscielny is having.
I think a left back on loan and the deal that brings Henry back will probably be the only business Arsene does coming into the club, but you never know, he may surprise us like he did on the summer deadline day with the additions of Arteta, Mertesacker, Benayoun, Andre Santos and Park Chu Young.
Leaving Arsenal in January?
There are 4 players I would happily never see in an Arsenal shirt ever again. I will start with one that we can all agree with, which is Manuel Almunia. Almunia was never good enough to be Arsenal's first choice goalkeeper. And the fact I have seen his name on the bench in recent games due to Mannone and Fabianski's injuries, quite honestly scares the crap out of me. I hope that Szczesny never ever gets injured. I think that the injuries to both Fabianski and Mannone are what will keep Almunia here until the summer at least.
The second man on my out list would be Sebastian Squillaci. The French defender came on against Fulham when Arsenal were 1-0 up. The defender came on with 9 minutes left, and within those 9 minutes Arsenal managed to concede twice. I'm not saying Squillaci was solely to blame for the loss, that would be stupid. But the Frenchman has been a poor signing by Wenger, he is certainly in the Pascal Cygan and Igor Stepanovs mould. He also played a part in Fulham's winner, with his 'assist' to Bobby Zamora who gratefully fired in the winner. You have to say that Johan Djourou's sending off didn't help, but it doesn't hide the fact that Squillaci simply isn't good enough to wear the red and white.
Squillaci: Awful
Thirdly, an out of form Moroccan is on my list. The man I am talking about is of course, Marouane Chamakh. What happened to him exactly?. When he joined Arsenal I was delighted. I'd seen plenty of Chamakh in the Champions League with Bordeaux, and I was certain he would be a success. From August - December 2010 he was doing everything right, and scoring goals a lot. When Robin Van Persie came back from an injury, it meant Chamakh was used less often and more of a substitute in the team. It appears that since then, Chamakh has lost all of his confidence. Wenger has given him opportunities to prove he still has it, and despite the fact that he does try (unlike the next person on my list), try as he might, he never looks like scoring. So for that reason, I would have to consider selling Chamakh whilst he still has any worth in the transfer market.
Last but not least is another player that I also had high hopes for, but after his first 6 months in England, rather like Chamakh, his Arsenal career has been on a downward spiral ever since. I'm talking of course about Andrei Arshavin. The little Russian started his Arsenal career in brilliant fashion, playing a major role in Arsenal's 4th place finish in the 2008/09 season. In particular, his 4 goals against Liverpool at Anfield in a spectacular 4-4 draw that season, stands out. Another goal at Anfield the following season, this time in a 2-1 win for Arsenal, endeared him to the Arsenal faithful even further. In honesty, since the 2010/11 season started, Arshavin has been very lazy. He doesn't look interested, and in fact the only thing I think that interests him nowadays is his pay cheque. Arshavin has had his moments in Arsenal colours, the two memorable trips to Anfield and his winner against Barcelona at the Emirates last February are great examples of those, but other than the 'moments' he doesn't do a lot. Even coming off of the bench, he just isn't very effective anymore. Russian clubs have a lot of money, and Arshavin will have one eye on his place in Russia's Euro 2012 squad. Zenit might come in with an offer for Arshavin that Wenger simply can't refuse, I say this because they haven't hidden their interest in taking back their former star. If Arsene received anything near what we paid for him, he would be laughing all the way to the bank.
Arshavin: - Lazy
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