As I speak Nasri is probably in the process of finalising his contract with what will soon be his new club. This summer has seen Arsenal depleted. Some departures have been welcomed by fans, i.e. Eboue and hopefully Bendtner and Almunia (fingers crossed Chamakh and Squillaci as well), but the majority have left a gaping hole on what was already a thread bare squad. The loss of Fabregas, Nasri and to an extent Clichy has seen us lose three first team regulars without any adequate replacements.
It has been blatantly obvious to even the most naïve of fans that Fabregas would be a Barcelona player this summer and that Nasri would not sign a new contract – would you if you could double your salary elsewhere. However, our manager and the hierarchy at Arsenal could not figure this out over the entire summer. Whilst I do find the behaviour of Nasri pathetic, I equally find the Arsenal manager and boards’ failure to recognise what is going on at the club a disgrace.
So far this summer we have bought one experienced player in Gervinho and once again put our funds in to buying three players with potential, Jenkinson (£1m), Oxlade-Chamberlain (£12m-£15m) and Joel Campbell (£1m). Which part of the abuse aimed at Arsene Wenger and the board did they not understand? When the fans were chanting spend some #@$%!&* money, they were not looking for players for the future. We have enough of those in abundance! We were asking for players with experience that could come in and make an immediate difference.
Thanks to the ignorant behaviour of our manager and board we now face a tricky situation wherein the club have or are in the process of selling their better players without identifying adequate replacements. We have money burning a hole in our managers pocket, yet there are no world-class players that we know of that want to join a ‘transitional’ club. Add to that we are already facing an injury crisis and if we don’t get our act together possible elimination from the Champions League. If ever there was a club in crisis, it is our beloved Arsenal.
Whilst you can attribute some blame on greedy, disloyal and homesick players, most of it rests with the manager and the board. Why has our transfer activity always been so painstakingly slow? Why do we always wait until the last day of the transfer window to penny pinch, when we could sign a player at the beginning of the window and integrate them in time for the new season? Why, now we have the funds, have we not spent when Champions League elimination next week may reduce our options significantly? Why don’t the board tell the truth and say that we cannot afford to spend even though we have sold players and are these funds being put on hold in view that we do not make the Champions League group stages this year?
I doubt these questions will ever be answered and I doubt the Arsenal fans will get the signings they are craving this season. As things stand, it is safe to say that Arsenal are well and truly in no man’s land and this season will be even more unbearable than we have recently become accustomed too.
Submitted by guest blogger Hazza
