Jamie Carragher made his debut on Monday Night Football last night and it is fair to say he tore into our transfer policy and if I am being honest, he hit the nail on the head perfectly.
As we revealed yesterday, there is interest in Paul Pogba and we have made a 'derisory' bid for Newcastle’s Yohan Cabaye. The latter was the cause of Carragher’s rant.
Talking about Arsenal’s hugely disappointing home defeat to Aston Villa, the topic moved onto transfers and the former Liverpool defender left nothing behind.
Panic buys
He said: “If Cabaye was that important to Arsenal I think they’d have bought him by now. It feels to me like a panic.
“If Arsene Wenger was that impressed and wanted Cabaye that much, why not buy him two months ago? What are you waiting for?
“It feels like a couple of years ago when they brought Mikel Arteta, Per Mertesacker and Santos in late. Santos has been a disaster for them and Mertesacker is not for me, though Arteta’s done ok.
“When you start panicking with transfers towards the end you obviously don’t get what you want.”
Never thought I would but I agree with Jamie
I can’t help but agree with him. Why are we all of a sudden going for Cabaye, when our main target has been a forward all summer. In addition to this, is Cabaye the midfielder we need? No we need a defensive midfielder.
He is too similar a player to Arteta and we need a real enforcer type in our core to shore up that midfield. I hate to say it but our rivals new signing Capoue could have been that and he cost less than £10 million.
Carragher is right about panic buying late in the transfer window. You get players you don’t want. Look at them, they signed Clint Dempsey last season when they didn’t want him and he’s already been sold.
Then you have Chelsea two years ago. They signed Raul Meireles when they didn’t want or need him.
£10 million is embarrassing
I don’t want us doing that and referring back to the bid for Cabaye, £10 million? He was being linked with Manchester United for around £15-20 million only last month.
His valuation hasn’t dropped that much. When we are spending so much money on season tickets, the least you can expect is for us to actual make a respectable bid.
This something Carragher mentions as well.
Us, the fans, are the only ones spending!
He said: “I look at Arsene Wenger and what was the bid for Cabaye? £10 million? Are they going to sell for that?
“I think if Arsene Wenger has a valuation in his head he won’t go above it. He’ll never overspend.
“I look at Arsenal sometimes and think there’s only one section of people at the club who are overspending – the supporters!
“They’ve got the highest season ticket prices in the league but the club won’t overspend on a player. I just don’t get it.”
Now this summer I have had total faith in Wenger. I truly believed we would be spending big, I was disappointed about Higuain but gave him the benefit of the doubt and then this business with Suarez occurred.
He is a top quality forward and one we needed but Le Professor refuses to pay even a little more than you should. At first I thought that extra £1 bid was funny but on reflection that is embarrassing.
Bidding for Cabaye isn’t the main issue here, it is Arsene’s refusal to spend money and make us title contenders when there has been so much change and speculation around all our rivals that we should be taking advantage. But instead, we now look even further behind than we did last season.
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