Football Transfer Diary : iSporter Asif Khan believes Premier League Club Arsenal need to bring in another defender, striker and a goalkeeper if they are to seriously challenge for trophies in the 2009-10 season.
Arsene Wenger, by his standards, has done good business this summer. Marouane Chamakh finally joined the Gunners on a free transfer after more than a year of negotiations and speculations. Laurent Koscielny joined from Lorient for a reported fee of £8 million to beef up the defence. While Eduardo's departure to Shakhtar Donetsk was sad, it brought in £6 million. The Gunners boss once again proving is business prowess by effectively spending only £2 million in the market and snapping up two top notch players.
Arsenal needing to bring in a new Goalkeeper is probably the most widely accepted fact among the Gunner fans and now it seems that even the Boss has realised his folly in sticking with Almunia. Mark Schwarzer from Fulham isn't a long term, but a very good option. One of the safest pair of hands in the Premier League over the last few years. It's a shame why Wenger waited this long to make the move.
It's a well know fact that William Gallas and Mikael Silvestre are out for good, that leaves the defense with a fantastic Thomas Vermaelen along with tried and tested elements of Bacary Sagna and Gael Clichy as 3 reliable defenders. Johan Djourou is coming back from a long injury lay off and new signing Laurent is untested in the Premier League, Sol Campbell is still good but is looking for greener pastures for one last move. 5 recognised defenders are not enough for a top club aiming to win all competitions. Kieron Gibbs will join the ranks once he is back from his injury somewhere in the season but he has shown at times that he is not a finished product, not yet.
It pretty evident that Arsene needs to get at least another quality defender, even if he manages to convince Sol Campbell to stay put at the Emirates. If Sol does go then another addition needs to be made, something I am confident the Gunners boss will not sanction.
That brings me to the last important signing that needs to be made for a strong squad. Another world class striker! Van Persie is brilliant but we should always plan with the assumption that he will be injured for at least half the season, the lack of a top class striker was evident throughout the last season. For some reason, known only to Wenger, it seems he loves Nicklas Bendtner. While Bendtner has scored some vital goals last year, he isn't a dependable striker who will scored 20-30 odd goals year after year, at least he hasn't proven himself yet.
Agreed that we have Chamakh now, but we are talking about a Premier League race, Champions League, FA Cup and Carling Cup. Together they make up 50 odd matches a year, another quality striker will give the team a new confidence, a statement of intent to the rivals and sense of security to the fans. A belief that the boss wants to win the trophies and not just make money and keep it in the bank!
Most managers have minds that works with a simple equation.
Need a player + Have the Money = Buy a player
Need a player + Don't have the Money + Sell a Player = Buy a player
Wenger's mind works in much more complicated manner, it's hard to predict but I will give it a shot.
Need a player + Have the money = Wait... = Keep the money in the bank
Need a player + One more player + Have the money + Have players to sell = Wait... = Keep the money in the Bank
Badly need a player + Badly need another player + Fans complaining + Team losing = Buy a player for cheap OR Free transfer = Keep the money in the bank and tell your fans that you know what you are doing!
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