Fantasy Arsene Wenger
What better way to start this blog than to swap shoes with M. Arsene Wenger for a day?
Just returned from sponsorship duties at Euro 2008, he's come back to the office to check out a few things before getting a weekend of rest ahead of the new season.
He's already lost his ball-winning midfielder to AC Milan, his mercurial winger looks set to be on his way to Spain or Germany and the last week has been dominated by stories of the leading goalscorer and his agent claiming he wants to leave/doesn't want to leave/wants Arsenal to show how much they want him/insert own point of view here.
So what is M. Wenger to do, knowing that the natives are getting restless after three trophyless seasons, losing his Managing Director which leaves the board conspicuously short of 'fixers', house prices are going down, threatening the repayment of the Emirates Stadium loan and cash is in short supply. Oh, and even the Arsenal Ladies have been hit by a double defection to Chelsea. What is it with Arsenal and contracts??
It sounds like just another year as a Gooner, doesn't it? Disillusionment, star players going, and the club punching above its weight before finally succumbing to a lack of strength in depth and winning praise for it's magical football but not for trophies won.
But it doesn't have to be that way.
So I've swapped shoes with M Wenger today and made a list of what I'm going to do.
Friday, July 4 2008
SELL
Adebayor for £32m to Barcelona, with a sell-on clause if possible.
Hleb for £11m to Barcelona.
Emmanuel Eboue to Villareal (or anyone who will have him) for £4m.
Philippe Senderos to Werder Bremen for £3m (ok, this really is stretching it!).
Total: £50m
BUY
Samir Nasri from Maseille for £12m
Amaury Bischoff from Werder Bremen for free
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar from Ajax for £19m
Vincent Kompany from SV Hamburg for £10m
Total: £41m
I reckon, with Theo Walcott starting to show his form last season, Carlos Vela coming back, Nicklas Bentdner a year more experienced and RVP hopefully staying fit for more than half the season, things could be very interesting.
If only M. Wenger would sign a decent goalkeeper. Then again, there's only so much one can dream.
David Alexander
Reader Comments (1)
I know that Senderos can be erratic, but he saved Arsenal's skin on a number of occasions last year and he's also the tallest defender we have, so selling him would be a mistake, although I agree that a new centre back is needed. A club the size of Arsenal should be easily able to increase the size of its first team squad, rather than selling one player to bring another one in.