(Now) I Know What You Did (Since) Last Summer, Part III

Finishing up our “what did we miss out on?” series today:

FELIPE MELO Arsenal were probably linked with Felipe Melo this summer more than any other player. The biggest difference between Arsenal’s 2007-2008 season and our 2008-2009 season, which saw the club take a large step backwards, was the absence of Mathieu Flamini. He did a great job protecting our backline and winning possession, and freed up Cesc to roam a little bit and probe for weaknesses in the other side’s defense. It was only logical, then, that the area many people thought Arsenal should address was a defensive midfielder. Melo seemed a logical candidate–the young (26) Brazilian impressed at Fiorentina and for the Brazilian national team, but was ready to move on to a bigger stage. Arsenal were clearly interested, but apparently were unwilling to meet Fiorentina’s high asking price, and Juventus swooped in and scooped him up.

allesio from Juventus Offside:

Juventus pursued deep-lying playmaker Gaetano D’Agostino of Udinese for much of the summer. On paper, it looked perfect; he was a childhood Juventus fan, a playmaker that was sorely missed in midfield, and fairly young. Udinese played hardball, and rumors exploded one day that Juve had given up and focused on Felipe Melo. It was the opposite with him; Juventus does not have a history of signing Brazilians, his previous club, Fiorentina, has a very bitter rivalry with Juventus, and everyone wondered if we needed another defensive midfielder having signed Sissoko and Poulsen recently.

Felipe Melo, for the most part, has integrated brilliantly into the team. Typically, he sits just ahead of defense and breaks up play, though he has many qualities that defensive midfielders generally lack, ie- good shooting ability, some dribbling skills, and a decent passer of the ball. Sissoko generally runs around after the ball, but Melo is a great reader of the game instead. He has been generally top-notch, although he has a very dangerous and annoying habit of trying to dribble out of defense, which has punished Juventus several times. He has scored two excellent goals, to boot. Despite his occasional stupid plays, the fans have taken very warmly to him.

Was he worth the money? No, €24.5 million is quite excessive for a transfer in Italy (EPL market seems generally inflated), somewhere around €15-16 million would have been more appropriate, but he had just come off a successful Confederation’s Cup and that was the recission clause in his contract. That said, he has integrated very well into the team very quickly and is a constant in the Starting XI, picked ahead of Sissoko and Poulsen. If we can get him to stop mucking around the 18, I have no doubt he is going to be considered one of the best midfielders worldwide. I think he would have played very well at Arsenal and though I am a very casual viewer of the EPL, (at best) I think he would have added something significant to the team. The team, since Vieira’s departure, seems to me to be lacking grit and steel in midfield.

MAMADOU SAKHO Young? Check. Unknown? Check. French? Check. It’s unclear whether Arsenal were ever actually interested in Sakho, but if they weren’t, you can understand why the rumor started, since he seems like the archetype of an Arsene Wenger signing. Arsenal were rumored to be sniffing around the 19 year old French center half. He’s big, he’s talented, and he’s a leader–he is the youngest player to ever have captained a Ligue 1 side, having worn the armband for the first time at the age of 17. He’s represented France at numerous youth levels, and seems a good bet to play for the senior side someday soon. He also seems unlikely to stay at Paris St. Germain for too long if he continues to develop. But no deal ever materialized, and that native Parisian started the season with his hometown club.

Thomas from PSG Offside:

To put it quite plainly, 19 year old Mamadou Sakho has been far and away PSG’s most reliable defender this season. He has put in excellent performances against quality Ligue 1 attacks despite being played alongside the less than stellar and aging Sammy Traore. He was vital in shutting down the Lyon attack, arguably one of the best in Europe, in their 1-1 draw with PSG (replays showed that Bafe Gomis’s goal was quite clearly offside). He has played well despite coming down with swine flu in late November, which is a stunning feat in itself. He is a fan favorite at the Parc des Princes as a native Paresian, but he has also captained the side at times and has wonderful leadership abilities. I would love to see Sakho become a “franchize player” after coming through the youth ranks from an early age, but I fear that the attention from the giants of Europe may force a sale. I think hanging on to him for another two seasons is a feasible goal.

PATRICK VIEIRA We all know this name, of course. Paddy expressed unhappiness when he was dropped from the French national team. He felt it was because he wasn’t playing regularly enough at Inter, and wanted to move somewhere where he would be firmly entrenched in the first team. Sensing a prodigal son story, the media immediately began to speculate that Vieira would return to Arsenal, and it did seem like discussions took place. But my sense is that if they did speak, Wenger told him that if he did return, he would be used as a substitute/reserve, which, of course, wasn’t what he was looking for. So the deal didn’t go through. Thankfully, neither did the speculated move to Spurs.

The Arsenal legend and former captain has been playing for Mourinho at Inter Milan for the past couple seasons after his year at Juventus. He spent 9 seasons in North London, the last 3 as captain. He provided the thunder to Thierry Henry’s lightning at Highbury–he was one of the greatest holding midfielders in Premiership history, and provided toughness and grit in the midfield for Arsenal. Beyond that stuff, though, which he always gets credit for, he was a much better technical player than he gets credit for–at his best, he was flawless at always being one step ahead of his opponents mentally, and always seemed to anticipate how the play was going to develop before it happened. And his height and rangy build, combined with his technical ability, made him one of the best pure tacklers I’ve ever seen–you just could not get by him with the ball.

But enough about the player he was? What kind of player is he now? He’s still an important part of the first team at Milan, but is on the fringes of the first 11. He’s made 5 starts and 3 substitute appearances for the club in Serie A matches so far this season, and has also come on as a late sub in 2 of Inter’s Champions League matches. I haven’t seen Inter play all season, but according to Goal.com’s player ratings, which do generally run a bit harsh, Vieira has averaged just over 6 (6.06, to be exact) in his 8 appearances. That’s pretty much the very definition of mediocrity.

The bottom line is that Vieira is at the point in his career where the decline can be pretty steep, and it would seem like we’re seeing it. His international career is likely over, and if he wants to continue playing club football after this year, a move to a smaller team (possibly back in his native France) may be in order. If he’s been mediocre with Inter, it’s hard to see how he would have offered us anything more, so it’s probably just as well that the move never materialized.

But, obviously, that doesn’t take away from what Vieira accomplished with Arsenal. In a fan poll last year, he was ranked the 5th greatest gunner of all time. Three league titles and Four FA Cups in 9 years with the club. His last kick of the ball in an Arsenal shirt was the penalty which won the 2005 FA Cup. We haven’t won a trophy since, and it’s probably not a coincidence. His time has passed, but he’ll always have a place in North London.

Conclusion You know, I guess I wish we had brought some guys in, but frankly, I’m kind of glad we ended up not going out and getting a big, expensive name like Melo. He’s a good player, to be sure, but at this point I’d much rather have Alex Song at his age playing that role. And I don’t think we really needed someone like Chamakh, and I’m not sure how well he’d work within our system.

But what I would have really liked to see is just to go get a couple of guys for cover. It would have been great to get someone like Lorik Cana or Blaise Matuidi who could have provided cover for Song in the middle of the field and taken his place in January when he’s gone to the ACN. I also would have liked to see another center back in the fold to provide us cover. We’ve been incredibly fortunate this season in that we haven’t suffered any injuries to our starting center backs–Gallas and Vermaelen have started all our big games. Not to be a pessimist, but we can’t count on that continuing all season. And in case of injury, we’ve got Silvestre, who is terrible, and Senderos, who is unhappy to be at the club. It would have been great to get a guy like Sakho, who is young and promising and probably wouldn’t mind biding his time and learning under more experienced players for the time being. And then in a season or two he could step into the first team for Gallas.

But we didn’t. In terms of what we may be looking at in January, expect to hear Chamakh’s name come up a lot more. He’s out of contract at Bordeaux at the end of the season, so if he still wants to leave, Bordeaux will likely be willing to let him go for pretty cheap. Other than that, it’s not clear what Arsenal’s goals will be. Barring a complete collapse in November and December, Arsenal won’t go into January in a desperate situation like we did last year, where we needed an impact player to avoid finishing outside the top 4, and Arshavin fit that bill. But Arsene has never been afraid to bring in guys in January, so don’t be surprised if we see an out of leftfield transfer at some point.

And with that, the international break is, essentially, over. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed this–thanks to vespo for the idea. Sunderland preview coming tomorrow, and Saturday, we’ll have actual football to talk about.

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Category: Arsenal News, Transfer News and Player Movement, Transfers