da stake casino： On summer deadline day 2014, Arsenal Football Club found themselves a new hero. Not £16million signing Danny Welbeck, but the anonymous character whom, either by fortune, fate or design, kept Arsene Wenger out of north London for the final day of the transfer window.
da bet7： The former Manchester United forward is by no means the greatest signing in Arsenal’s history. That may seem rather presumptuous, but compared to their £11million swoop for Thierry Henry, £2.7million signing Robin van Persie or £3.5million former skipper Patrick Vieira, clearly there have been better pound-for-pound acquisitions over the years.
He is, however, the signing Arsenal desperately needed as they approached the end of the summer window. With Olivier Giroud picking up an injury against Everton that will see him sidelined until at least the turn of 2015, the Gunners’ attack would have been left without a vocal point for the next six months. One can easily envisage the role being passed between Alexis Sanchez, Lukas Podolski, Theo Walcott and Yaya Sanogo, none providing the potency, physical presence or hold-up play required. That would have ended Arsenal’s planned Premier League title charge before it had even started.
Likewise, £16million is a sensational price for an established England international. Welbeck boasts ten goals and 28 appearances for the Three Lions, yet Luke Shaw on three caps and Adam Lallana on nine, joined Manchester United and Liverpool respectively this summer for a combined £55million. In fact, Arsenal paid the same for Welbeck as they did Calum Chambers, an Englishmen – albeit laced with enormous potential – who had made just 25 competitive league appearances in his entire career before moving to the Emirates.
Not bad for a 23 year-old who has proved himself useful in every attacking role, possesses a physique as godly as Cristiano Ronaldo’s, a work-rate as intense as Roy Keane’s and has already experienced the top level of the game with the national team and Manchester United. Inconsistencies exist within Welbeck’s game, but his potential is equally evident.
Rather surprisingly however, Wenger has since revealed that the England forward wouldn’t be an Arsenal player right now if he was in London on deadline day – fortuitously, some bright spark had organised for the Frenchman to referee the ‘Match for Peace’ charity event in Rome, an idea spawned from the mind (or channelled to him directly by God, depending upon your personal beliefs) of the impeccably popular Pope Francis.
Wenger wanted a loan deal instead; arguably a more sensible option, but all-the-more an incredibly unrealistic one, considering United will expect to challenge for the same league spots as Arsenal this season and van Gaal’s pejorative opinions on Welbeck are unlikely to be any different in a year’s time.
In short, if the Gunners gaffer had been in London to insist upon a temporary switch as per his wishes, the nightmare of a striker-less Arsenal for the next half-season, or at least an Arsenal dependant on wide-men to play up front, would now be a reality. Forget the Premier League title – even the chances of retaining fourth spot for the third season in a row and preserving Wenger’s impeccable record of Champions League qualification would have taken a significant hit.
The Arsenal manager clearly has faith in his players to overcome any obstacle, often wearing that loyalty like a badge of honour. But this is just one instance in a dangerous pattern that continually limits Arsenal’s potential as a top European side, that pattern being Arsene Wenger’s idealistic, unrealistic and thoughtless approach in the transfer market.
The Gunners spent over £80million this summer, making it by far the most lucrative transfer window in the club’s history, and the need for an alternative to Olivier Giroud at the spearhead of the attack has existed for some time. One could even argue it’s existed since the France international moved to the Emirates in summer 2012, considering he was never likely to singlehandedly parallel the 37 goals scored by Robin van Persie the season previous.
Since then, Wenger’s failed to capitalise on opportunities to sign Loic Remy, Gonzalo Higuain, Mario Mandzukic, Mario Balotelli, Stevan Jovetic and Radamel Falcao to name a few. Yet the brief moment transfers are out of his control, a striker turns up in North London; none of the £80million spent in the summer was reserved for an out-and-out front-man, and it took other sections of the club, acting without Wenger, to find a pragmatic solution to Grioud’s injury.
This isn’t even the first instance this summer of Wenger overlooking drastic flaws in his squad – Arsenal needed a holding midfielder and extra bodies in defence too, and now, after just six games into the new season, they’ve already been forced to maximise their defensive depth. Youngster Hector Bellerin could resultantly be forced to start against Borussia Dortmund tonight, making a Champions League debut in only the tenth competitive fixture of his career. Having faith in your players is all well and good, but that faith is futile when it’s spent on overcoming perpetual, self-inflicted injury crises, rather than challenging for silverware.
But fear not Arsenal fans for the solution is clear, and provided unto you by God himself – just get rid of Arsene Wenger on deadline day every September and August, and you might actually start signing the players you need.
[ffcvideo file=”TopFiveVideosoftheWeek” type=”mp4″]
[ad_pod id=’ricco’ align=’center’]