You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling - Summer Transfer Thread

Dream bigger? How about Lloris? Sadly, I think we're likely to bring in one more CB (cheap) and possibly a GK (old and cheap).

 

I hate to sat this but I am becoming more negative as we near the start of the season. I see no changes in the team that warrant a more optimistic view of this year than what we saw at the end of last year.

Up front: Chamakh is a nice addition. Either he'll be an upgrade to Bendy or he'll force Bendy to become the player some thought him prepared to be. RvP looked great to start last year but assuming that last year's injury will be the last one for a while might be overly optimistic. AA needs to rebound from a ho-hum season and Eduardo looks set to return, whether as pre or post-injury Eduardo remains to be seen. Vela seems likely to be on the perifery. Nothing at the WC showed him to be a player ready to shine.

Midfield: No additional depth for Song and no conculsive resolution to the Cesc drama indicates a midfield no better and possibly much worse than last year's version. Is Wilshire ready to make the big move to the starting rotation or is his bound for another loan spell? If Cesc leaves only a superstar signing will prevent a massive downgrade in midfield talent. Will he leave soon enough for such a replacement signing to be an option? If he stays is the midfield really still just a good midfield with no depth at key central positions and is that the decription of a championship side's midfield?

Defense: Djourou returns. How good will he be? Will new boy Kosc be an upgrade to Gallas? If not, can the 2010-2011 version possibly be better than the 2009-2010 version?

Keeper: Was horrible, is horrible. Do champions put their faith in an untested (at the highest level) young keeper? If not, do champions put their faith in two keepers who failed last time around? If the answer to both is "no", how does Wenger sell fans on the seriousness of the challenge when those are all the options there are?


Am I being too pessimistic or is there really no reason to see this year's side upgraded? Is the only justification for an improvement to assume oft injured players magically avoid getting hurt and young players miraculously come good? Is this squad suddenly deep enough to avoid discussions of prioritization of League over Cups and Champions League over Domestic and unwinnable games at the powerhouse ground of Stoke that should just be tossed away?

I know that Wenger signing more than 2 or 3 players is unrealistic. But I am starting to think that so too is thinking this squad is so improved that the issues of last year are no more and we are back to being as competitive as we were 5 years ago.

 

i dont think you are being pessimistic. that seems realistic.

it is just about the same team that wasnt that close last year.
a solid FA cup run is a realistic goal for a trophy.
the league, no chance.

 

Gotta spread the rep, but agree wholeheartedly. I'm not sure that we can expect our new CB to make a big step-up to the Prem, but hopefully he will be a revelation*. For roughly the same money, I'd have rather had Kjaer, who also has the benefit of being younger.

The Prem has devolved into a big 2, an almost 4, and everybody else. I can see only City as a team that can break the duopoly anytime soon.



* - not to be confused with RevelationX

 

If we decide that we can't afford Schwarzer at 3 or 4 million pounds, then we really are in trouble and not anywhere close to winning much of anything.

I could go out and put together a pretty good girls youth soccer team for about $2500, and obviously it costs more to assemble a team as the levels escalate, but if Arsenal have any aspirations about being one of the 15-20 best teams in the world and/or a realistic contender for the Premiership, then the bar of 3 million pounds seems very, very low to me. Our goalkeeping was so clearly deficient last year with our keepers losing their confidence and making errors that my 13 year olds would make, and we cannot upgrade that position for a couple of million pounds, well that says everything about the competitiveness that I'll expect to see this year.

I'm not a huge Schwarzer fan (I did enjoy his years at Boro) and I think he's solid at best, but I'll take solid in a heartbeat. It's nice that Liverpool has imploded out of the Top 4, but with Man City's billions and Spurs finishing strongly, we are yet again, one Cesc injury away from seriously being in trouble. And that would be true if we had a decent keeper. I shudder to think what our prospects look like if we have to start with Almunia.

 

are the rumors of Arsenal not wanting to bid 4 million for Schwarzer due to value of the player or not being able to afford him?


their is a difference

 

I imagine we can afford him, but I hope we don't want him at the price.

 

well, pretty much all of us knew we needed a minimum of 2 cb's, a dm, a stronger striker, with probably a keeper and a cesc replacement if necessary.
we have got 1 cb and 1 striker so far and pre-season has begun, though still 2 months remaining of the transfer window.
really, how hard is it to sign a decent dm and a decent cb? i might even live with our keepers if he did that.

 

I am bothered by the fact that a 4 million pound player is deemed the solution to our ills. Not exactly the move characteristic of a team of ambition.

Signing a keeper who looked good at the World Cup (Eduardo) or an established keeper (Lloris) is a sign of ambition. Signing a 37 year-old for 4 million is a sign of ambivalence.

Why we don't sign him is less my concern than that we intended to in the first place.

 

And while I am being bitchy, when did it start to take as long to sign a player as it does to gestate a baby? It seems like we can't chew gum and walk at the same time so we work one deal at a time and the damned clock runs out on us.

If we need 3 or 4 players, can't we work on deals for 2 of them at a time?

Sorry, I think watching the parade of talent at the World Cup made me aware of how many players are out there who could address our needs and yet we'll go begging again this year for want of less than half a dozen good (not great) signings.

I know 6 signings sounds like a lot but you take the total signings over the past few seasons, compare it to the prior years under Wenger, it seems like a big year is needed to put us back on average (if not in quantity than certainly quality).

 

lulz@Schwarzer. There's improvement, and there is "championship level". We're making an improvement but Schwarzer won't win you any games. Or are we assuming that he would've avoided the school yard errors made by the two worst goalies amongst trophy contenders and that would've garnered us silverware?

Last season was great, but imvho it was more due to contenders coming back to the pack instead of our improvement.

Aside from Cesc, who is on our team that worries opposing managers? We must change that. If we don't sure we'll remain top 4 but capturing trophies in any of the major competitions will be very challenging.

 

Its comments like this that make me stop in amazement that we accomplish as much as we do. We're always in the top four, and in the hunt for Cup trophies, but honestly with far less talent. Our most feared player is a guy who comes off the bench for his national team?

 

the Eduardo to Genoa move was done well before the world cup apparently... Lloris would cost around 20-30 million, and agree or not, Wenger seems to think Sczezney is the future... honestly, their are not that many available top keepers out there... mostly because their are not that many top keepers out right now

in saying that, Schwarzer is better than we have but that is not saying much

I keep saying this... RVP keeps getting injured, and Arshavin is too inconsistent...

our attack is way too predictable... Theo scares people, but Theo scares himself a lot too

 

Arshavin = when he's in the mood

RvP = lulz, I'm Dutch and please, let's stop. If/when he can stay healthy.

 

FWIW cesc is better than iniesta, and on par with Xavi. He's far more direct than them and I prefer that.

 

Yep. lulz@theo scares himself. We need a Hazerd, Balotelli, DiMaria type, someone who puts defenders on their heels and isn't one dimensional. Someone to team with Cesc.

 

not exactly the sort of news that we want, but news none the less.

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896...tottenham-hotspur-battle-over-8m-ipswich-town

It's between us and Tottenham? Lets see what kind of brains this boy has.

 

I doubt he'll leave us for less than 10m. (Personal opinion/hope)

Roy Keane seems to have based his team around him, which is a lot of pressure for a kid. Amazing talent, I think this will be his last season with Ipswich though. Come back in January guys, please?

 

6 signings isn't so much when you consider that we should also be selling some of our players. We essentially let 3 CBs go this summer and, so far, have bought one (although I'm sure that Djourou will seem like a new player...sigh). We brought in a striker about 6 months late on a free, and haven't addressed our biggest problem from last year - the lack of a quality keeper.

At the current rate, we will be in a dogfight for a CL place next season. If we lose Cesc, we're looking at Europa League.

 

hell, at this point i'd take that khune dude from south africa. he looked good in the first game against mexico. (didn't see the game where he got sent off, though.)

 

I'm surprised you haven't been in for a 10-15 million Khedira, seems like he would be a prime acquisition for Wenger to mold.