There are always two sides to every story and it’s the same with Arsenal’s current situation.
A scrappy 2-1 win over Crystal Palace with a late Aaron Ramsey winner, a late 2-2 draw with Everton and a hard fought, nerve wrangling 1-0 win against Besiktas over two legs to confirm our place in the Champions League for the 17th season running.
One person might compliment Arsenal’s commitment and resoluteness in the past few weeks by grinding out results when they weren’t in the best of form. While someone else might bash into the Gunners because of wasted opportunities and lament Arsene Wenger into not spending money in necessary positions.
So far, the way I see it is, Arsenal have no doubt spent money but they’ve only spent money on positions in which players have departed the club. A like for like swap is a better way to put it. Mathieu Debuchy in for Bacary Sagna. David Ospina in for Lukasz Fabianski. Calum Chambers in for Thomas Vermaelen and Alexis Sanchez in for Nicklas Bendtner.
Now obviously some of the players Arsene has brought in are upgrades in their respective positions (aka Alexis for Nicky B) but the point is he hasn’t addressed the club’s previous issues. Issues such as we haven’t had a natural, powerhouse holding midfielder since Patrick Vieira. Issues that go back to replacing a world class striker such as Robin van Persie with another world class striker.
One more day left till the transfer window shuts and Arsene has to pull out all the stops if we are to contend for the title. Talks have been making the rounds on a number of players such as Adrien Rabiot, William Carvalho and Radamel Falcao. Two players are a must before we even have a thought about contending for the title this year.
I would be content with the addition of William Carvalho. A robust defensive midfielder who can also do a job at centre back if need be. In terms of strikers, I don’t see Arsene pulling anything off so late in the window. With Remy off to Chelsea and Cerci presumably off to Atletico Madrid, I don’t see Wenger breaking the bank for, in his words, a ‘top top striker’.
Ever since the scenes of deadline day 2011, I believe Arsene can work his magic in euphoric ways. But again looking at the other side of the story, we only have to go back a few months to the January transfer window of 2014 where our only transfer was an injured midfielder.
A lot of scenarios are possible for Arsenal. With Wenger stating that they ‘are very active’ in the market, let’s hope for another showdown in which Arsene is holding the pocket aces in his hand.
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