Transfers, transfers everywhere.
6 days left of the transfer window and apart from Dzeko's move to Cash Cows City the premiership has been relatively quiet. One thing we're not short of though is rumours.
Arsene Wenger has a reputation for being tight with his money. Now when I say 'tight' what I mean is careful, calculated and clever. if you argue that fact then just take time to think of our starting line-up against Wigan: Fabianski, Sagna, Kos, Djourou, Clichy, Song, Cesc, Wilshere, Walcott, Nasri and RVP. It's a strong side that would scare many teams in Europe - those players were all signed by Arsene Wenger and cost Arsenal football club a grand total of £46.9 million and that's including £15.8m for Nasri .That's the same as Carrick and half a Hargreaves for Man Utd, a Zhirkov, Ivanovic and Ramires for Chelsea (not even mentioning Schevchenko - £30m), a Milner and Lescott for City or even a Defoe, Bentley and Modric for the spuds, my point is Arsene Wenger has only been able to work with the funds he's been given and more to the point he's done a bloody good job, building a strong squad that can compete in multiple competitions, just look at the facts, we're 2 points off top spot in the league and still going strong in three cup competitions and already a possible 90 minutes of football away from a trip to Wembley.
January is traditionally a quite month overall for transfers and we are always made to believe that no-one big will move during this period but again, if you look through our history then we've had some great players join in the mid season window. Walcott, Ramsey and more recently Arshavin all joined in January so it just proves that you can't be too surprised about our transfer activities, whatever they may be.
Getting to more recent events, in particular this January window. Arsene Wenger's only public target area has been a centre back. We have been linked with many a player this year including Cahill, Jagielka, Campbell (again!!) even Jonathan Woodgate (I'm still laughing a bit over that one) but it seems we've had no real progress on signing a fifth centre back and after seeing the players already at the club secure their fourth consecutive clean sheet in the league Wenger has started to manage expectations in his most recent newsletter saying:
"Defensively we look more and more stable even though we were questioned a lot on that front. Maybe the fact that reporters ask me in every press conference 'do I buy a defender?' has kept our defenders on their toes!
I am open-minded on the idea of buying another defender and if the right opportunity turns up we will take it. We are not desperate, we have Vermaelen who can still play a big part in the end of the season and we have Squillaci who comes back maybe next Sunday. Song can play at the back too."
I'm also very happy at the lack of talk from pundits and fans alike calling for a Goalkeeper to be brought in during the window. This is credit to Fabianski and Szczesny who have been almost faultless when they've been called on. That being said, reports have been surfacing that Wenger is looking up north at Rangers keeper Allan McGregor. The stopper has apparently been described as one of Europe's best keepers but I've never heard of him before and considering that Craig Gordon plays ahead of him for Scotland I have to wonder who's making these claims. I think the Scot remains a player I'll research more if the rumours become little stronger, I don't think our boys should be too worried just yet.
Talk is also getting stronger around the transfer of Eden Hazard with Wenger again confirming his interest. Hazard has been a long term target for Wenger but with plenty of time left on his contract he won't be cheap so don't expect any movement at the moment but we may see a bit more activity in the summer.
However, one transfer that is looking ever more likely is that of Southampton youngster Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. He is being hyped up in the media at present but I haven't personally seen a lot of him so I won't join in, that being said, one bit of footage I have seen was also being watched by representatives of a lot of top teams in the stands including Man Utd, Man City and Liverpool so there must be something about the kid.
Chamberlain's father has described Arsenal as the ideal solution for his son's progress and Wenger has admitted he's in talks with Southampton and a man as careful in the media as Wenger is he must be fairly confident of something happening. All that being said, until the young lad's mug appears on Arsenal.com I won't believe a word.
On the other side of transfer news Carlos Vela is still looking for a club to play with for the rest of the season, Bolton have been front runners for a long time and Wenger would like him to stay in the Premier league but recent reports are suggesting that he may be heading back to Spain to play with Valencia. Personally I hope he stays in England, he'll gain much more playing here than in Spain.
As I said before, 6 days left of the window and as Arsenal fans we all know we will have to wait right until the last second to know how much business Wenger will complete so for now lets all concentrate on the game tonight, if you're at Ashburton Grove, sing your heart out and keep singing all the way to Wembley!!
Till next time,
Goonerfish.
By the way, all credit for transfer stats goes to www.transferleague.co.uk if you want more detail, check them out.
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