Thoughts on the Transfer Silliness

By: jg | June 23rd, 2011

Well, Manchester United announced their purchase of a certain Ashley Young today- hopefully that’ll be enough to keep their grimy paws off Nasri. Chelsea, on the other hand, made a different sort of signing- but a much more ominous one in regards to the rest of the league. Andre Villas-Boas, the prodigious 33 year old and now ex Europa League winning manager of Porto, has joined the Blues and suddenly Chelsea look like favorites to win everything and anything in sight- even the Emirates Cup, and they’re not even participating in it! In addition, Liverpool, Spurs, and of course, Manchester City have already been linked to numerous targets.

But, where does that leave us? So far this summer, the most concrete rumors us Arsenal fans have read or heard regarding Arsenal transfers have been Lille’s Gervinho and Blackburn’s Christopher Samba. Both would bring their positive qualities that would improve the team, and are certainly better than some of the players we already have in their respective positions (Rosicky, Squillaci), but they’re not exactly the type of players that would set the league ablaze or instill fear in opposition sides. A player of that caliber would be, say, Porto’s Radamel Falcao. Unfortunately, he’s likely to follow his boss Villas-Boas to Chelsea, meaning that instead of us fantasizing about Falcao terrorizing opposition defenses, it’s much more likely he’ll be terrorizing us next season.

But…. why? Why are Arsenal always the least active of the ‘big clubs’ each year in the transfer market? The answer lies in how Arsene Wenger has been conducting his business ever since he became Arsenal’s manager. Looking at the gloriously high number of successful, trophy-winning transfers he’s made, the list reads off with players like Vieira, Petit, Pires, Henry, Overmars, the majority of these players are French. Thus is part has led to stuffy old English pundits to condescendingly call us a ‘French’ club. And perhaps those pundits have a point- 9 of our current first-team players have come from directly or have once played for a French club. But perhaps we are not so much of a ‘French’ club as much as we are a ‘Ligue 1′ club. Out of all the incoming transfers Arsenal have made in the last 5 years, the league contributing the most has been Ligue 1. And, when you think about it, it makes sense. Arsene Wenger, being French, will of course have deep connections in that region, but, more importantly, is the fact that the league’s reputation, coupled with the tough business regulations imposed by France in general, has lead to overall lower transfer fees for transfers conducted in France than in another top country. That could explain why Wenger has focused in on Gervinho. And not Ashley Young (too late). Or Alexis Sanchez. Or Juan Mata. That’s just the way Wenger is, and, as Ivan Gazidis’ comments in the annual AST meeting proved, Wenger can do whatever he wants in the club.

But.. it seems times are a’changing. Our dismal performances in the spring of last season seemed to at least spur Wenger to think in other directions, to break with the now formulaic approach of 1-3 mid-budget transfers in France, the Netherlands, Portugal, or some Eastern European country, along with the customary youth transfers. Our recent attention towards players like Samba, Cahill, Barton, and earlier Scott Parker, no matter the inflated price tag, seemed to imply that there was going to be a change in the club. A look toward experience, no-nonsense players that would get the job done and steer us towards a trophy.

Pardon me if I sound hypocritical, but I think that is a wrong approach. The likes of Samba, Barton, Parker, and even Ashley Young are not world beaters. They are at best very useful players who would provide quality competition for our current first-team players, but none of them would walk into the starting XI. Yet, their price-tags seem to imply such an ability. It’s an obvious fact that English-based players are worth much more than their foreign counterparts. And yet, Wenger has a very good track record with foreign transfers. With the exception of a few, newsworthy duds (Cygan, Reyes, Squillaci), the majority of Wenger’s signings have proven to be decent-to-great players who have adapted either relatively well (Koscielny) or supremely great (Henry, Toure, Vieira) to the English game. In short, Wenger is not a fool. He knows what he buys. In fact, the last transfer from an English club was Manchester United’s Mikael Silvestre, and we all know how that turned out. In addition, there are cheaper counterparts of players such as Samba or Parker of Defoe that would probably supply the same level of quality in their performances, and perhaps even better. Rennes’ Kader Mangane, for example, is an imposing center back in the mould of Samba. Or Jan Vertonghen, who has not been linked to us in recent weeks at all. How about Blaise Matuidi or Yann M’Vila at center midfield, for example? Or perhaps Moussa Sow up front. Some of the players I listed have European experience. Does Samba or Parker have European experience?

To be clearer, what I’m trying to say is that in the look for ‘change’ and break the spell of mediocrity that has plagued the club in the last 3 years, we’re looking in the wrong places. We’re looking for overpriced players that would probably not do much other than make sure our bench didn’t suck as much. If Wenger and the club were really serious in changing the atmosphere, they should be going after guys like Eto’o. Or Sneijder. Thiago Silva. Hell, why not Falcao? THAT would be change. Sure, they would be expensive, but 10 or 15 million more could be the difference between 3rd place and another disappointing finish to another mediocre season and a shiny new trophy to satiate an increasingly angry fanbase. Players who would come in and with true star quality and experience, would steer the club towards greatness. Sure, we might not have the financial clout of a certain other clubs in recruiting these players, but Wenger should at least try.

Maybe he’s banking on that. Maybe he knows in advance of the English-based players overhyped value, and can use that to break out of transfer talks for that reason and get another foreign based player. Sure, the new player might do a good job and not disappoint (as well as be bought on the cheap), but if Wenger and the club try to pass that off as change and we fail yet again next season, then it’s possible that Wenger might not even be able to make up for yet another stubborn display of transfer silliness.

Anyways, my apologies if this went too long, or if my ramblings were too out-of-touch. I’m just as confused and frustrated as everybody else here, and I’m trying to make sense of it. Who knows, maybe Wenger will try to change positively and bring us a genuinely good transfer. Who knows. Anyhow, have at it in the comments. Homey will post new material in the following days. Have a good Thursday!

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“Football is a game of 4 halves, that in the end, the Germans win”- Gary Lineker.

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Category: Rants, Transfer News and Player Movement, Transfers

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Tee_sui

Sorry for the caps but...

RUMOURS HAS IT THAT ARSENAL SIGNED RICARDO ALVAREZ.
Perry S.

Everyone should bookmark my comment, I'll pay each of you a dollar if I'm wrong. If we sign Samba, I GUARANTEE he will turn out in a big way.
brenton

We'll hold you to the intent of the statement, seeing as it is properly vague.

I like your optimism. I really, really hope we get stronger this summer.
Perry S.

In terms of one-sided gambling, keeping it vague is AOK.
Homey_Mills

It's been duly noted.
Perry S.

Here's to hoping I don't regret this...
Benjamin Dockter

I agree totally. There's no point in spending so much money for a player just because they're English or have played in the Prem League. There's a reason why the only English players in our team are one's that grew up in the club or were purchased when they were very young. It's just plain stupid spend so much on players who are worse than someone who costs 10 mil less from another league. Wenger should continue to buy like he has in the last few season, which is players 10-15 mil that can battle for a place in the first team until they get used to the Prem League and then push on for greatness (Nasri, Vermaelen, Arshavin, etc). The difference is that this year in addition to a couple of those players we also need at least one really great player (20-30 mil) who can make an instant impact and give us that extra bit we've been missing the last couple seasons (Falcao, Eto'o, Sneijder, etc.). Also, we need a defensive couch to sort that whole mess out.
SJGgumby

Working from home today and YES is playing Arsenal-Spurs from Oct. 2009 - they just scored two great goals in the span of a few seconds at the end of the first half - wonderful cross from Sagna for Van PErsie to tuck in, and then THAT goal by Cesc where he steals it near midfield from the restart, dribbles through 4 Spuds and rifles a shot home near post.

It may be stormy outside, but it just became a beautiful day for me.
KingBurns

There is one blatant reason why in the last 5 or 6 years our ability to get world beaters such as Pires or Henry has drmatically dipped. David Dean was the vice-chairman of Arsenal, he would fly out during the transfer window to numerous countrys to secure players and negotiate any player that Wenger wanted, ever since he was kicked out of the board it seems as if they have distanced themselves from helping Wenger in the market. Now I dont know if you have noticed but Ivan G dosent seem the sort to do the job and he was only recently brought in, he dosent seem to be helping Wenger like dean did and therefroe once again we could struggle to bring new faces in. In my opinion, even though we have had financial problems with the stadium, had Dean been vice-chairman at Arsenal during last season, in January we would have secured Samba, Chamberlin and maybe even the likes of Friedel or Buffon as Dean would have fought like a bulldog not only to allocate the funds but also to make sure they were wearing an Arsenal shirt. He is a massive loss to the club.
brenton

An interesting thought. You'd think, though, that Arsene would find an ally on the board or in the front office that would be the go-to guy.
DanKing9

I agree that most of the players we've been linked with would be backups (except Gervinho possibly) but here's the thing: most of the players we want gone and replaced are backups. The only first teamer I've heard people really want gone is Clichy. Everyone else isn't first choice in their position (Almunia, Denilson, Diaby, Rosicky, Eboue to name a few). Our first team is the team that beat Barca, beat Chelsea, made Man City play like they were a lower league team to have a chance against us, and beat Man U (minus 1 or 2 of the regulars). The backups were in when we got embarrassed by West Brom, Newcastle, and Birmingham in the CC final. So it makes sense that we are being linked with backups b/c those are the players we need to replace.
Ian

how about stop spending money on transfers and spend some money on medical facilities and physicians? stuff like that to prevent injuries? that way our back ups wont have to be depended on as much and perhaps would play better in a match that doesnt hold much at stake? also we would have to spend alot less filling in certain gaps because they wouldnt be used that much. just a thought but yeah i agree certain back ups need to be replaced cough*squilacci*cough
Perry S.

Good comment, fully agree. We are lacking depth, its apparent, and what we are looking to bring in (err replace) is depth.
Homey_Mills

I agree about 90% or so. I've said the same here before too. However, it was a bit disturbing when at the end of the season, we were basically healthy and still not getting results. We were let down by the likes of Nasri, Walcott, and even Cesc. It seemed for a while that only RvP was really playing like a star. So while we need to get better depth, and that's the main thing, I also think we need a little more star quality at certain spots.
DanKing9

That is true, but I think if we get backups that can perform better than our current crop it would ease the pressure on our starting XI and provide some competition for places so they step up their game. We could use the star quality in certain spots, but the players we would want we can't afford right now.
Homey_Mills

The hard part for me to know is whether there are star players out there who we CAN'T afford, or who we DON'T CHOOSE to afford. It seems more like the latter and not the former, which is quite vexing as a fan.
Perry S.

I agree with this assessment. At some point, we've got to spend more than we're accustomed to, in order to build an impactful team for the now, versus continuously trying to build it for the future. What we continue to see is that these players grow up and want to move elsewhere. Its time we get best of both worlds.
DanKing9

That is very true.
Lodudanielidris

Simply wenger doesn't have a choice and new nothing about an experince players,he took arsenal as his own club but his 40 days are soon comining and will leave arsenal up to now know experince new signing what a fool was wenger.
brenton

Just rejected a 27m pound offer for Cesc. Personally, I mean. I called Rosell up and said stuff your shit offer up your ass.
Tee_sui

Sucks that we couldn't get Varane.
Homey_Mills

Well supposedly we're back in the running for Ricardo Alvarez, so maybe that would break our tradition of not all that many players from South America.
brenton

Wasn't he supposed to be free?
Benjamin Dockter

According to people who didn't know anything about the situation.
Gigi_man

Great thoughts JG. I actually had not seen it that way.
But I would just love to see a signing of a relatively known player. Just for what it represents, and that would be Wenger telling us that he is indeed to change direction.
Maybe I am too anxious and would totally screw it if I was Wenger.
On the other hand, comparing the Sylvestre case imo is not really like the Samba one, Sylvestre was an aging guy who thought he had the EPL figured out, and the UCL even more. I hate him yes. :)
Well, lets just wait and see.
Keith

Same old, same old..... Wenger continues to do nothing when it comes to the use of the transfer windows to strengthen our team. Instead he sits in silence while Man U, Chelsea and now Liverpool and even Tottenham make notable additions to their teams while we, the long suffering fans can only look on in total frustration. Worse, our much despised ManU tell their supporters who they intend to acquire before the window opens and then busily go about signing named players to long term deals.  What a novel concept!

No one associated with Arsenal however, either players or the increasingly ignored fans, have any idea now as to what Wenger is planning to do or when it will happen this summer. All we know is when the season will start (mid August), when training camp will start (3 weeks) and the fact that it is now June 23 and NO ACTIONS OF ANY SIGNIFICANCE have occurred. NASRI still has not extended his contract. Non performers such as Almunia, Denilson et all are still members of the team and NO EXPERIENCED PLAYERS have been added...

The Board continues to dither providing little apparent direction or motivation to "the boss" to inject some sense of urgency and direction into his deliberations on the many issues that need immediate action.

We need "somebody to do something" ! ! !

IS ANYBODY LISTENING UP THERE ? ? ?
Martin

I know he left the club in a cloud of smoke and bad feelings, but I honestly never thought of Reyes as a dud. I always thought he was a really useful player, and if he had stayed at Arsenal, I think we'd regard him as a valuable contributor, a la Wiltord or someone like that.

Also, you should always, always include Francis Jeffers on any list of Wenger transfer duds. I'm half-convinced that is the reason he won't sign English players anymore.
matt

like theo and jack?
Perry S.

Let me know when Theo transforms himself from a one-trick pony.
Martin

I don't know, 13 goals and 11 assists is one pretty good trick.
Perry S.

Funny, when I bring up statistics about Arshavin, he gets called out like a red headed step-child. I guess my point about Theo is how predictable he is with the ball. I see him as great on the open field, but with any sort of opposition forcing him to make a play, we've likely lost possession. But I'll be fair and say, he showed vast improvement this past season, but he still needs to massively improve his dribbling skills.
Martin

That was sort of my point in citing stats. You are constantly telling us "stats don't lie" while defending Arshavin, so I didn't understand how you could do that and simultaneously dismiss Theo.

For the record (I misread the stats in my previous post), Theo actually had 13 goals and 9 assists in 25 starts and 13 substitute appearances (38 appearances in total).

Arshavin had 10 goals and 17 assists in 36 starts and 16 appearances (52 appearances in total).

So Theo was involved in 22 goals in 38 appearances, or .58 goals created per appearance.

Arshavin was involved in 27 goals in 52 appearances, or .52 goals created per appearance.

It just seems inconsistent for you to constantly defend Arshavin by saying that stats are definitive proof of how much he adds while being so dismissive of a player who, by your own metric and logic, objectively offers the team more last season.

I don't necessarily disagree with your take on Theo, and he is in his own way a very limited player. But I think Arshavin, who I came around on in a lot of ways in the spring, is also a player with a lot of limitations and flaws that we put up with because of what he does offer in other areas.
Perry S.

Fair enough, I'll be honest in saying I really didn't realize Theo's stats are what they show. So I'll say wrong on me to call him out, if he can put up those types of #s consistently, then I'll say he does his job. I've seen Arshavin do it for seasons now, I'm hoping I can see the same from Theo.
Homey_Mills

This is all without even mentioning a couple of other issues. One is that Theo is younger and still with a possible upside to improve. Two is that Theo seems to care a lot more and give an honest effort, even if he can be maddening at times too.
Homey_Mills

Theo is for me what Bendtner was for Martin. I'm still waiting and hoping for Theo to be a mega-star.
Colombian Gunner

I totally agree on Reyes, great player
JG

Dangit! I missed Jeffers. Although I was referring to foreign bought transfers, Jeffers is probably Wenger's worst buy at Arsenal (although Bischoff and Silvester give him a run for his money)
And about Reyes.. I wasn't following Arsenal when he played, but from what I hear he was brought in amidst great fanfare and promise. And for the first 1.25 seasons here, it showed. Then that Manchester United loss and.. it all kinda fell apart. Sad.
brenton

Reyes left because he didn't want to live in England, and has done fairly well for himself back in Spain. He's a regular starter for Atletico, after all. Not a dud at all.
Homey_Mills

Dangit... what would we have to do to get you back into our blogging rotation? With there already being 4 of us, the workload would be pretty minor compared with before. No burnouts. Just some occasional blogging fun and insight. You're still da man, although JG is also a ninja warrior with his knowledge of players and teams from all over.
OK, sorry for the begging... just got nostalgic all of the sudden.
blogmaterial

Sell darren buy Martin
Homey_Mills

Errr... that wasn't really where I was going with it at all. =)
Darren_V

I love you too.
brenton

We got him on a free, so it would be a good transfer.
Homey_Mills

JG,
I have a question for you about Gervinho. Let's just say for the sake of argument that the rumored sales price was in the 25 million range. Would we think differently about the very same player? I really have no idea. But I will say that my first thought is to generally trust that the pricing system makes sense, and to say that a 10-12 million player won't be super dynamic, the way that more expensive players would be. That's just an easy way to look at it from the perspective of someone who doesn't watch Ligue 1. But there are some out there who swear that Gervinho is the real deal. Let's hope so. And of course that our purchase actually happens.
JG

Well, for the sake of argument, if Gervinho cost 25 million but came from a club like Sunderland or Newcastle, then I'd be much less convinced of his talents. It's just that historically, despite being a top league, Ligue 1 and even the Bundesliga have not seen the level of price inflation we've seen in the EPL recently. So if Gervinho, coming from Lille, cost 25 million, then I'd be expecting a really really good player, similar to the level of Arshavin's talents (pre-mid career lethargy).