TEAMtalk guest John Baines says Arsene Wenger's obsession with the future is costing Arsenal now, and pinpoints five potential Gunners targets.
The dust has only just settled on the first weekend of the new Premier League campaign and already we have a potentially unbeatable understatement of the season.
As Arsene Wenger mused over his selection problems ahead of Arsenal's pivotal Champions League qualifier against Udinese, the Frenchman admitted he was looking to, "bring in one or two players because we are a bit short."
The startling admission came at roughly the same time skipper Cesc Fabregas was finalising his protracted move to Barcelona, relieving the Gunners of their best player and further swelling the ever increasing club coffers.
The relative trajectories of the team and clubs literal fortunes climaxed in the first evidence of public dissidence against the Wenger regime from high up the ramparts of St. James' Park on Saturday evening.
"Spend some ******* money" came the cry from the visiting support, the chant tinged with anger and insistence. Football fans can often be partizan, pessimistic, defiant or delusional but they can rarely be fooled by what they can see happening to their club.
Seven years ago on Monday, the 2004 Arsenal invincibles began the defence of their title away at Everton. David Moyes men were swept aside 4-1 by a fluid torrent of trademark attacking movement. Seventeen-year-old Fabregas was the only relative novice in a side largely in it's pomp. In Messrs Cole, Silva, Ljungberg, Pires, Bergkamp and Henry, Wenger had a nucleus of players that was the envy of the Premier League.
With Fabregas now gone and Nasri going, arguably only Robin van Persie of the current crop could be afforded such a tag. The Arsenal decline is not only evident in their six year silverware solitude, but in the slim prospects of ending that any time soon, with rivals having caught up and passed the Gunners.
Financial prudence was always of paramount importance to the board as they oversaw the move to the Emirates Stadium. Wenger's virtues of pure football and youth development have undoubtedly given the club a stable footing for generations to come but such ideologies have contriubuted to the lack of tangible success since the ribbon was cut on Ashburton Grove.
As The Emirates was being constructed, the Arsenal team has been gradually de-constructed and never sufficiently replenished to the point they now languish badly behind their rivals. From the zenith of 2004, Wenger's disciples have gradually diminished in number. The 'In Arsene we trust' banner will still hang around the stadium but many are questioning the motif.
The longer Wenger clings to his utopian footballing dreamworld, the further Arsenal will fall behind the sides who have the intent to win trophies. The undeniable fact amongst all the incendries about fiscal responsibility and ensuring a long-term livelihood is that Arsenal simply do not match the ambition of other clubs in their will to win major honours, and this is the major grievance amongst the detractors.
To the ire of the aggitated Gunners who see their team slipping further from the pinnacle of English football, Wenger's decrying of the transfer market is falling on deaf ears.
Ahead of the Udinese game Wenger was further pressed on his reticence to reinvest in the team, and opined: "We are not frightened to spend money but we have to be convinced that the player is better than what we have."
Given the paucity of quality on show at Saturday's dire draw with Newcastle, those players should not be too hard to find.
However, the notion of quality for monetary quantity is another sticking point with Wenger constantly rebuffing aproaches for particular players based on the fee needed to procure them. Already this summer, advances for Gary Cahill, Phil Jagielka and Christopher Samba have been shelved as Wenger does not believe their price tags give value for money.
But in offering inflated fees as an excuse not to buy only opens him to further inquisitions. If a much needed proven Premier League centre-half is overpriced at £15m, how can an untried and untested Championship protege be worth the same? And if you are being quoted high, why embark on a one man mission to add some reality to the market? Cesc Fabregas for the price of Andy Carroll?
Of course Wenger does business with the long term in mind but those who focus too far into the future risk missing out on the present, and inadvertently, Wenger's neglecting of the present could hinder the club's future. How long will the likes of van Persie and Jack Wilshere hang about with scant chances of competing for top prizes.
The £100m he boasted of having a few years back has been largely unspent and the nigh-on £70m return he will receive for the sales of Gael Clichy, Fabregas and eventually Nasri will again leave the Gunners with a net transfer gain to the detriment of the playing side.
There is no doubt investment must be made in the playing staff. Bargains might be thin on the ground, but there are plenty of players out there who would immediately stregthen the Gunners:
Gary Cahill (Bolton £15m) - Cahill is the rough-tough english centre half that Arsenal have been missing since Sol Campbell passed his peak. Bolton's valuation may be a touch high but at 25 and with his best years ahead, Cahill could be the defensive lynchpin the side desperately requires.
Marcelo (Real Madrid £15m) - Real Madrid's left-back is likely to be usurped from his slot by the arrival of Fabio Coentrao and thus could be available as Real seek to recoup another massive summer outlay. Suspect defensively but dangerous going forward, the Brazilian would fit the template of the mobile full-backs which Wenger favours.
Scott Parker (West Ham £8m) - Parker's patrolling style would add more steel to the side and his presence would protect the back four whilst allowing others licence to get forward. Available and reasonably priced, Parker may not have much re-sale value but would represent a snip after a couple of years service. Not a Wenger footballer but would improve the side as a whole.
J
uan Mata (Valencia £30m) - Wenger's dithering cost the club the opportunity to get Mata for a knock-down £22m before a clause expired in his contract earlier this summer. The Spanish flanker's creativity would be needed to replace that lost by Fabregas and Nasri's departures, but Wenger will be loathe to spend the amount now required to prise Mata away from Valencia.
Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla £20m) - The Spanish striker would be the less arrogant, goalscoring version of Nicklas Bendtner - minus the pink boots. The former Real Madrid B player has scored 63 league goals in his last 143 La Liga games and is considered as one of the most complete strikers in Spain.
Who do you think Wenger should splash his cash on? Have your say using the story comment facility below.
