Are Arsenal Just Panic Buying For The Sake Of It?
Thankfully, I have been away for a week in sunny south Spain for the last six days and was fortunate to miss the shambles that was the 8-2 defeat at Old Trafford on Sunday. I did manage to avoid all of the football results and catch MOTD2 on Sunday evening and I was, quite frankly, unsurprised.
Arsenal have a threadbare squad, we all know that. Our best players don’t believe in Arsene and his methods anymore, we know that. And we also know that however optimistic I may have been during the start of the season, the best we can hoep for is 4th place this season.
Moving on though, and finding the silver-lining from the humiliating defeat against Manchester United, it seems that it has kicked Arsene and Arsenal’s arse into gear in the transfer market.
We have completed the transfer of Chu Young Park from Monaco, and are currently trying to obtain the signatures of Andre Santos from Fenerbahce and Per Mertesacker from Werder Bremen.
But don’t these signings reek of desperation?
No offence to Chu Young Park, but I’ve never heard of him before, and from what I’ve read his record isn’t great. Andre Santos you can put in the same category, and Mertesacker is known to be a solid but slow defender.
From the rumoured “war chest” that Arsenal have which is believed to be around £35 million, plus the £25 million for Nasri, £35 million for Fabregas and the rest from the sale of Eboue, then we should be a healthy position to buy more established, and more importantly, experienced Premier League footballers.
We all know about the desperate situation Everton are in, so why not try and get Jagielka and Baines? And the ridiculous saga with Bolton over Cahill is simply embarrassing.
The board keep on giving Arsene their support, but quite frankly they will continue to do so as long as the Arsenal manager continues to make them all a big profit, regardless of what happens on the pitch or how the Arsenal fans feel.
August 30th, 2011 at 9:19 pm
Who had heard of Petit ?
Who had heard of Fabregas ?
Who had heard of Edu or Hleb or Vermaelen ?
Sorry but I think you are stuck in putting a negative spin on everything. You are the sort of person that if we signed Messi would then be saying such things as
Can he play at Stoke on a cold November evening ?
August 30th, 2011 at 9:20 pm
Thats why, we need tp push to get teh silly sod out of the club. he is killing the club.
August 30th, 2011 at 9:20 pm
I don’t believe this is true because all the players that Arsenal are buying have been scouted for many months and are very high quality its just that Wenger is now being forced to purchase them because of recent results.
August 30th, 2011 at 9:22 pm
some people are never satisfied, it seems whatever Arsene does is wrong.
August 30th, 2011 at 9:23 pm
oh ffs I give up on Arsenal bloggers!
August 30th, 2011 at 9:24 pm
I agree with mteasdal you are just negative for negatives sake. I bet you were first to moan that we signed no one, now there is movement you moan again. Lets face it each of these players is a move in the right direction. Just compare them to who they replace and no contest…..Traore & Gibbs, Djourou & Koshie, Bendtner and Chammie, I rest my case!
Sick up for your team and stop ehining all the time!! Rubbish post!!
August 30th, 2011 at 9:24 pm
When there’s no signing, it wrong. Now there are new signings, still it’s wrong with you? Whats the matter with you dude?
August 30th, 2011 at 9:24 pm
Get your head out your ass and explore world football.
S Korea’s captain
70+ Capped German 6ft 6ins International
22 capped Brazilian left back
How fast was Adams?
According to fifa, Mertesacker is faster than John Terry
All class signings
August 30th, 2011 at 9:26 pm
Never heard of Chu or Santos? You, my friend are simply advertising your ignorance. Chu is the captain of S.Korea, and scored 12 of (a relegated) Monaco’s 38 goal total last season. He’s in his prime, speaks French and English. Santos is Brazil’s left back, has 22 caps to his name and Champs Lge experience with Fenerbache. Mertesacker has 75 caps to his name for Germany, is only 26 and captains Bremen. We’ve signed international and Champs Lge experience, talent and importantly, leaders. Sack was, for me, the best defender at the last World Cup. He might lack pace but he is such a good reader of the game that he never finds himself in a position where he’s chasing. Plus he’ll have pace surrounding him in Santos, Verminator and Sagna.
August 30th, 2011 at 9:26 pm
You should have stayed in Spain. “Supporters” like you are the main thing holding the club back. Wenger goes out and signs experienced players (two of them Captains of their national/club teams, one a world cup winner) and you still find a reason to complain. I’m sure Wenger is not done in the transfer market either, but my guess is that you’ll still whinge unless he signs a Sneijder or a Messi. Sometimes I think Spurs or Man U supporters have created fake Arsenal blogs just so they can take the piss. Are you one of them?
August 30th, 2011 at 9:27 pm
Marv Terry is a cunt and I’ve never seen a cunt run fast……well unless Peter Sutcliffe was after it!!!
August 30th, 2011 at 9:29 pm
@ JSP ROFL
Touche’ LOL
August 30th, 2011 at 9:30 pm
So why are Arsenal only getting these players in now?
Surely it would have made more sense to give these foreign players a chance to acclimatise to the country and more importantly their new team-mates?
Expecting them to perform for Arsenal after the season has already started is like expecting inexperienced youth players to go to Old Trafford against the Champions and get a result. Oh wait…
And any misinformed fan that thinks I support Spurs or Man Utd should really read my previous blog post “Arsenal fans need to respect Arsene’s project”.
August 30th, 2011 at 9:32 pm
Mertesacker is just what we need - a bloody big German sausage!
If only we could find Eduardo Mk2 to keep RVP company too that would set the blue touch paper for us.
August 30th, 2011 at 9:33 pm
Daduardo Wenger should play Theo central alongside Van Persie! Use his pace to real effect
August 30th, 2011 at 9:34 pm
Santos and Mertesacker are excellent buys. Established Internationals for Germany and Brazil, right age group with some leadership qualities.
Park is a ? but will provide heart and soul. If he is clinical he will score goals because he should get service.
Panic buys? Agree with you, but good buys none the less.
August 30th, 2011 at 9:35 pm
JSP, i am very supprised your Foul Mouth posting was allowed on here, you are a disgrace.
August 30th, 2011 at 9:35 pm
Oh, and “Arsenal” fans also “dismissed” what I wrote then in support of Wenger.
Seems like you can never win with some people.
August 30th, 2011 at 9:43 pm
you are dumbest person with dumbest blog and a fucking english cunt raciest,you are complaining now cuz wenger didn’t buy bunch of english over rated player whereas the ones we have haven’t even prove themselves apart from our beloved Jack!!!…Fuck out from our Club racist
August 30th, 2011 at 10:05 pm
All these signings can enhance the team, don’t kill them because they weren’t born in england. Sack is a better player than samba, cahill, jah and dam. We just need a DM and attacking midfielder now and i guarantee we are trophy contender in england this year.
August 30th, 2011 at 10:05 pm
nope hes not panic buying. hes doing what he should have done earlier but only in a short amount of time.
August 30th, 2011 at 10:05 pm
I think people like you should not be a gunner how much do u think Arsenal will buy this player if we have made this businesses two weeks ago knowing fully well that premiership moneybag and other clubs have turned Wenger to their chief scout at least we know of Alvarez, Arsene has been good so far in the market, saying you don’t know this players is like confirming you are still breast feeding. I wonder if you are Arsenal fan at all if yes then you are a disgruntled one.
August 30th, 2011 at 10:10 pm
Ifesinachi - Lol at your post.
I thought the world of Arsenal fandom was lost to the doom and gloomers, the comments from readers on here has given me some new found hope.
Park Chu Young is a random, he may be catain of south korea, but he was still an unknown, until he was linked with Arsenal, give the writer of the blog some slack.
His record at a relegation battling Monaco is better than our fabled top goal scorer of all time.
Per reminds me of the fruit, I like it.
August 30th, 2011 at 10:18 pm
Well,you asked for the response you got, you really did. Santos,Mertesacker and Park can only enhance our squad…if you doubt it let’s think Bendtner,Eboue and Denilson and on last Sunday’s performance add Djourou, Arshavin, Jenkinson and Rosicky….
August 30th, 2011 at 10:19 pm
For the players sake, give them a chance.
August 30th, 2011 at 10:21 pm
YOU ARE ALL TO YOUNG AND FOOLISH TO REALISE WHAT AGOOD MANAGER WE GOT. DO YOU HONESTLY THINK HE DID NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO REGARDING REPLACEMENT OF LOST PLAYERS. YOU SHOULD LOOK TO THE BOARD WHO SOLD SHARES AND SAID THEY WERE LIVING IN THE PAST. wENGER WOULD NEVER SAY ANYTHING WHILE IN CHARGE. YOU ARE ALL NEW MONEY FANS THATS WHY NAS SAID RIGHTLY SO POOR CROWD WHEN DO WE INTIMIDATE THE AWAY OPPOSITION. A STILL FAITHFUL SUPPORTER OF 50 YEARS BAZZAT
August 30th, 2011 at 10:22 pm
As a Monaco fan and a football journalist I will tell you now that park will score a ridiculous amount of goals for arsenal. He does what you don’t enough of….shoots on sight and is a class finisher. Ignore his goal tally for Monaco as we are a dismal team without a midfield. Good luck park, you WILL be a success.
August 30th, 2011 at 10:31 pm
Bazzat
A faithful supporter for 50 years.Did you think we would ever lose 8-2?The buck stops with Wenger
August 30th, 2011 at 10:35 pm
I cannot believe that someone will actually write this useless blog. His reasoning tells me that he is not an Arsenal fan or has a clue about Arsenal players.
Clichy, Nasri, Henry, Viera, Kolo, Sagna, Song, Valmaleen,Pires, Petit, Adebayor, RVB, A cole, Hleb, Flamini. All these ex and current players have one thing in common. They were average players before they come to Arsenal. As they say the rest was history. For the record Chu has a better record than adebayor in Monaco when Wenger bought him. He was on fire for Arsenal until greed took over. Chu, is a much better player than Adebayor.
Sack is better than all these over rated English players you mentioned including England current captain how does 100m in 40minutes. What else do you want. If all these English defender you mentioned are that Good how come other big clubs didn’t buy them.
We clamour for experience Wenger bought Santos with both CL and international experience and you still complain. Gibbs is for the future and with his injury record its no brainer.
Wenger has always wanted to buy a tall CB, its no secret. With Betner and Vela out and Chamack missing in action for along time another striker to assist RVP is a must.
Your blog is rubbish and i hope i have cleared few thing for.
August 30th, 2011 at 10:39 pm
You don’t know of Andre Santos’ and Per Mertesacker’s quality and you dare set up a bloody football blog? The former was linked to numerous big clubs a couple years ago, and when he signed for Fenerbahce everyone was shocked. The latter is quite simply a class act, I have been crying out for his signing above Cahill or that midget Jagielka. If he is as slow as you said he wouldn’t have amassed 75 odd caps for Germany. Are John Terry or Rio Ferdinand fast? No. Are they regarded as world class? Yes. As for Park, he scored 13 goals pretty much single-handedly in a very poor relegated Monaco side. Had he been at a side like Marseille or Lyon, with all the top midfielders they have, imagine how many he would have scored. Plus he was brought as just cover for RVP.
August 30th, 2011 at 10:44 pm
I’ll have to whisper it quietly given the responses you have had, but I totally agree wiith you.
We have sold our two best players, two world class operators for 60m. Now is the time ro re-invest with similar quality and I do not believe these signings are ’super quality’.
In my opinion Mertesacker is and always has been a carthorse. Jagielka and Cahill were clearly Wengers prime targets, but he’s gone for the cheaper option. Why? We have the money, buy your first target Arsene. Everton would have to sell and Bolton clearly want to given how Coyle as consistently advertised Cahill to suitors for the past year.
As for Santos, from what I have seen he is an exciting player who is great going forward and will provide us with more goals and assists than any of our last 10 full backs combined, but by all accounts defending is not his forte. Is that what we need right now. Leighton Baines has been a consistent performer for a good few years and provides a lot of assists and has EPL experience. Again at the right money Everton would have to sell. Again why are we not in for him? We have the money.
Park is clearly a back up stop gap signing on the cheap. It is an underwhelming signing and not an improvement on what we have. I’d rather Bendtner stay to be brutally honest.
The bottom line is we could have bought better players. I don’t care what any of you say, these guys were not Arsenes first choice signings. They do have an element of panic buy about them, but why we are taking the cheap option is just beyond me.
We have the money. It has to be asked why are we not spending it on Arsenes primary targets/better players?
Any one who disagrees really think about it hard and you will see that we can buy better.
August 30th, 2011 at 10:48 pm
It’s fans like this blogger that will be the death of
Arsenal. You talk about Chu Young Parks scoring record
not being great. Henrys scoring record was nit great
before coming to arsenal. Yes, I know he was a winger
but how many people in the uk knew him before he
came to arsenal? not many.
As for mertesacker, I can’t belive you say he is slow!
Was Adams fast, or was keown fast? I dont think so! but
They were great defenders.
Santos plays for brazil, and has done ok with them. He can
also play on the left wing, and he scores goals too.
As for the board, you know nothing. What is the point if
having all these millions to spend on top players,
when at the end of the day, we won’t pay their wages?
Do you think wenger is to blame for that too?
It’s fans like you that annoy the hell out if us real
fans. How long have you been supporting arsenal?
I bet you can’t even remember arsenal before wenger
was there!
You clearly don’t understand football very well, and you
clearly have no clue what goes on behind the scenes.
August 30th, 2011 at 10:53 pm
Woah, everyone calm down. He’s right to have an view on things. Thats what bloggers do, they write thier views.
As for the post, its not ‘panic’ buying, now if he went in with 20M bids for Jag Baines and Cahill, thats ‘panic’ buying. Arsene doesn’t do panic anything. Lets just hope he can secure a DM and move Jack foward or a CaM and keep Jack where he iss.
August 30th, 2011 at 11:02 pm
Cunliffe!
Are you completely ignorant! We can’t buy players in
the same class as fab and nasri because the board
will not change the wage structure. But all I see is
mist people, like you, saying the same old crap, and
even when people tell you, you just don’t listen!
Wenger is not in control of the wage structure! So,
having all that money to spend is pointless when we
will not be able to pay the wages for all these top
players you want!
Also, I would like to add that most of the players wenger
has bought in his 15 years at arsenal were unknowns, but
are now classed as arsenal legends. No other manager in the
world could have done what wenger has dine for arsenal with
limited money, and don’t forget that!
August 30th, 2011 at 11:10 pm
But Jay, are they the best we could have bought with the money we have?
If you say yes then you are the ignorant one.
August 30th, 2011 at 11:17 pm
Maybe they just decided to wait until all the big spenders were done, and then make their moves. We all know they can’t compete finacially against the big spenders of europe.
August 30th, 2011 at 11:25 pm
Did you read what I said! How many players has wenger bought that were unknown? How many of those unknowns turned into great players? There is a trend at the moment with some so called arsenal fans, and that is to bash wenger no matter what. They seem to forget that wenger is the best manager out there for buying unknowns and making them world class. But saying that, the three players he has bought are proven good players, and he will get the best out of them.
You don’t seem to understand that the only way to replace world class players, is to up our wage structure. But some fans seem to be more interested in bashing wenger (short memmories) than bashing the board, where the problems lie.
If wenger left, or was sacked, then that’s when the shit would seriously hit the fan! No top manager would want to come to arsenal with our wage structure, ESP if he has a desire to win.
August 30th, 2011 at 11:35 pm
It baffles me how ignorant this blogger and some of his followers are. Yes we sold two of our best players this summer beacuse, Cesc wants to go back home he even took a pay cut. You cannot do anything about it. Nasri went to City because they offered twice what we could afford and £40k more than Man U wanted to pay him weekly.
Now the big question, was Nasri and Cesc world class player when Wenger bought them? If Cesc and Nasri are in the market today can we afford them? The answer is no.
The thing about getting a world class player is that £30m signing is just the begining, average wage for the so called world class will be £120k a week which is another £33m in five yr contract plus agents fee. in effect £60m can only buy one world class player. Is this sustainable, absolutely not. Football has gone mad and i can’t wait for the mega collapse of this madness.
I cannot fault these buys, i think the blogger is angry because he didn’t buy English. Well, he tried but they are all over priced and over rated.
August 30th, 2011 at 11:39 pm
Nasir wasnot world class before Wenger sold him. He hasnot been to the world cup nor any major international comp so please dont class him as world class.
Park & Per are and Santo played for Brasil.
Mata is not different same boat with Man U Jones, Cleverly et al aint
So what are you arguing about.
Wenger did it on purpose made us get trash at OT so the board would spend and you all blame him when the last set of player were not committed or had heart.
This set do and they are figthing see how they played fighters did Nasir etc play like that last season ???
August 31st, 2011 at 12:02 am
Jay we will agree to disagree. Everyone’s entitled to an opinion, you have yours and I’m not going to criticise you for it.
Personally I am disappointed with who we have bought. I am allowed to be disappointed. The players he was in for ahead of Mertesacker would not have changed our wage structure. Im sorry, but it’s true. Per will be on 80k a week!
Sagna, Mertesacker, TV5, Santos or Sagna, Cahill/Jags, TV5, Baines - I know which back 4 I’d prefer, but that’s just my opinion. I’m allowed it.
August 31st, 2011 at 3:57 am
you cant b an arsenal supporter because ypu are full of negativity.cynics like you should stop supporting arsenal.manutd defeat has been a blessing in disguise.n if u havent about park chu ung or santos then i dun knw on vich planet u live dude.they call J.Y.PARK THE PRINCE OF MONACO.Andre Santos is far better than clichy and I think no need of saying nething about PER.And if dempsey and mvilla join us on wendensday tan no body gonna stop us.v ill b the title contenders.35 more games to go.b optimistic.have faith.believe in ua team n manager.IN ARSENE I TRUST.
August 31st, 2011 at 6:08 am
It is easy to be negative when things do not go right.
You know I do see AW being negative and I was impressed that RvP was honest about the teams performance on the day.
I think Mertesacker and Santos are good signings. Not sure about Park because the PL is a much more physical league that Ligue1.
But AW needs to spend big if he wants to show all fans across the globe that Arsenal is a team to be reckoned with and I would like to see M’Vila and Hazard come to the Emirates.
It may be a late in the day move by AW but we need a statement of intent because competing for fourth place is not something any Arsenal fan should be satisfied with.
Show us the money Arsene…. and do it quickly.
August 31st, 2011 at 9:51 am
I belive in Wenger, To change manager now would be a disaster. After all Wenger has done for the club he is the one who knows to get our gun going again.// Swede Gooner
August 31st, 2011 at 10:19 am
Wow, the response on here has been even more scathing than usual.
First of all, I’m not a racist. How anyone deduced that from my post is quite frankly, astounding.
Secondly, suggesting that making purchases on the day before the transfer window closes is panic buying is hardly such a difficult concept to grasp. It’s been clear over the summer that Arsenal have made concrete bids for Cahill and Jagielka, and failed miserably at getting them. They were obviously our first transfer targets.
The fact is we failed to get either of those two players so are now getting Mertesacker. Whether he ends up being crap for Arsenal or not is irrelevant. He is a panic buy to fill an area where we are badly struggling. In an ideal world, we would have brought in someone with experience of the Premier League and the country so they would need much less time to bed in, that was the point I was making.
And I don’t know what all the fuss about Chu Young Park is all about. Most Arsenal fans, if not all, would have heard about him from Wikipedia. He is simply a stop-gap signing and isn’t going to be a first choice player. Van Persie is clearly that, along with Gervinho and either Walcott or Arshavin. He is going on National Service in a couple of years so isn’t a long term solution, he’s there to replace Bendtner or Chamakh, when and if they leave.
Santos is a welcome addition, but it’s sad it’s taken Sagna to be injured for Arsene to finally realise we need a left back.
The area we are severely lacking though is midfield. Rosicky, Ramsey and Frimpong are not get ready to make the step up and to put all the pressure on Wilshere is unfair. An experienced midfielder would be a welcome addition if possible, but we’ll have to wait and see.
August 31st, 2011 at 10:49 am
Cunliffe
So, you have seen the three Players wenger has bought play? You know how good they are? If you say yes, then you are talking complete rubbish. How do you know
Mertesacker is not as good as cahil? Have you watched him play in Germany? I bet you have not.
I guess you think you have a better understanding at buying players than wenger, who happens to be one if the best managers in the world at doing that. Like I said before, most of the arsenal players wenger has bought have been unknowns. The types if players fans like you would moan about, but they turned into great players.
Unlike most of these moaners, I have been an arsenal fan for 35 years. I have seen the good times and the bad times. Yes, you have your opinion, but damn, um glad I’m nit like you when it comes to arsenal!