For the first summer in a long time involving Arsenal Football Club, fans can sit back and soak up the Sun (or lack of it) and enjoy Arsenal making strong statements of intent in the form of large sponsorship deals, players committing their future to the club and hopefully make the kind of transfers that Arsenal and Arsene Wenger have not made.
The transfer saga so far has mainly included Gonzalo Higuain. Following news in Madrid that Real are to appoint Carlo Ancellotti as their new manager a sense of optimism almost hit fever pitch as Arsenal fans had been lead to believe that this appointment would signal the sanctioning of Higuain to Arsenal. As of yet this has not materialized yet but if this does come to pass as all sources seem to be pointing to it will signal the biggest act of ambition showed by my London club since they swooped for Dennis Bergkamp from Inter Milan in 1995. Higuain like Bergkamp would be arriving at London during his mid 20's and with a couple of years before he reaches his "peak" it shows there is still time for him to improve and become wiser. With a great work ethic and a deadly eye for goal he would definitely bring quality and something that is drastically lacking from Arsenal in recent years. Genuine competition.
At times last year the goal scoring pressure fell on the shoulders of Giroud as the lone striker. While Giroud had a positive first season adjusting to a new league it was impossible to expect him to solely replace the goals of RVP. So thankfully the likes of Walcott/Podolski/Cazorla all stepped up and helped the void with all 3 scoring over 10 goals each. But with Higuain in it gives Arsenal the ability to say to the others, are you not cutting it upfront? Fine, someone else is coming in. It will mean to each player who wants to play upfront you need to perform instantly or our record signing will be pushing you out of the team.
The signing will also galvanize a negative section of the crowd, who to their credit are paying crazy figures of money to watch their Arsenal play each week and are entitled to wonder where their money is going. Hopefully a signing of this stature proves Arsenal aren't just happy with replacing big names with equal or lesser names as has been the case over the last 3-4 years. A satisfied and happy crowd will definitely help us transform a couple of draws into wins throughout a season.
So is Higuain the final solution? Far from it. There are still 1 or 2 positions up for grabs in the Arsenal first team and would 2-3 genuine proven players brought in we could finally have the squad that could last the length of a season while competing on all fronts. No longer viewing this competition as irrelevant and needing to rest players for that important champions league match. One of these positions is one of the holding midfielder positions. If the papers are to believed Fellaini is the next target. I am a big advocate of the massive Belgian, not only does he offer us a huge physical threat that we have been lacking but it gives our midfield a nice fluid balance. A midfield of Arteta, Ramsey, Wilshere/Cazorla can't expect to dominate the midfield at all times during the game with just passing and possession, sometimes you need someone to win the headers, hold off their opposite man and with the Belgian in the heart of midfield he definitely brings that option. Also his versatility gives us options to push him forward in times of desperation.
Another position is the goalkeeper one. While Szczesny has come under massive criticism from fans and the media I feel this is very unfair on the young Polish keeper. At 23 years old he is a keeper with a bright future and potential to be one of the best in Europe but the Premier League is unforgiven to a keeper but while I don't agree with him being dropped during the season, when Wenger has previously persisted with other keepers (almunia and fabianski) for longer spells after a number of costly errors, it clearly worked wonders for him as it offered him competition and competition, as I have said before is something we lack. When Fabianski came in he did a stellar job but with a year left on his contract it would be great to add a genuine older header to help provide Wojciech with this competition and also someone he can learn from. Julio Cesar appears to be on our radar and at 33 years old he offers 2-3 years of competition, but signing the Brazilian would incur a big transfer fee and potentially extravagant wages that I don't think we should shell out on a stop gap keeper. Personally I would prefer to see a Brad Friedel/Mark Schwarzer/David James type to come in fill in for 10-12 games maximum while at the same time showing professionalism and a wise old head for Szczesny to learn from.
Finally we move onto the CB position. This position shouldn't be in question, since the superb duo of Koscielny & Mertesacker were undoubtedly the main reason we secured Champions League football for this season. They offered a good double act. Kos could mark the striker tight and drop off to win it up higher then Mertesacker could sweep up with ease. However if Mertesacker was left one on one against a quicker striker Kos' fantastic recovery speed meant he could get him out of danger. It is no surprise they didn't lose a single game together when they played, their styles compliment each other well. But again where is the competition? If our big German got injured only Vermaelen could fill in, but how will he react from going from our captain to being a second choice defender? Only time will tell. What would happen if Kos got himself a suspension in the time another defender was out? We would have no cover without dipping into our reserves. A premiership defender who is familiar with the league's physicality, pace and style is necessary if we are to compete. The talk is Ashley Williams is also being targeted. While he ticks all the boxes of what we need, 10 million for a player with 2 years top flight experience is definitely a bit of a bargain and he would understand our philosophy of playing the ball out of defense when needed having being coached under rodgers & laudraup. But would he happy to go from being Swansea captain to fighting for his place? The attraction of champions league football would likely sway his opinion and at 28 years old it is definitely coming to his peak and would want to ply his trade at the highest level.
Could three signings + Higuain transform our season? Definitely. Proven quality players with top flight experience are a must though. If Wenger chooses to sign 20 year olds from Ligue 1 they will need to have proven themselves for a number of years on the spin ala a Hazard but if Wenger really wants to be ambitious. Only Premiership players or "Super Quality" will do. This is the first summer since our 2006/7 season when I was delighted with our activity. We signed Rosicky, Gallas, Baptista and I finally thought it was to be our great year, while only Rosicky and Gallas were modest successes there is a definitely feeling that this could be the start of a new era for Arsenal Football Club.
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