This is the summer of not going.
Tevez hasn\’t gone.
Modric is going nowhere, insists Daniel Levy.
Spurs keep saying : Luka Modric will not be sold.
Wesley Sneijder is still at Inter.
Nasri hasn\’t gone.
Although he’s in agony, Fabregas hasn\’t gone.
OK, we know most deals are done in the last week of August, so we\’re in the middle of a big flat lull right now and that\’s why it feels like The Summer of Not Going.
What\’s the truth about Arsenal?
Mainly this : If you can’t buy before you sell, you\’ll always be behind the curve.
Wenger buys late and cheap. But sometimes he buys early and free. He waited 18 months to get Chamakh on a Bosman. But what has Chamakh done for Arsenal? Where was he when his team really needed a goal?
When Wenger buys one good player, like Vermaelen, he gives you a glimpse of how exciting Arsenal could be if he bought four good players.
Years ago Wenger pulled off an audacious power-grab. He seized control of the entire playing budget, wages & transfers, and from there created a youthful multi-national squad whose complexity is something only he can understand, thus making himself impossible to remove.
Unfortunately, his first team, while very athletic and exceptionally skilful,will never win a trophy because they lack fighting spirit, mental strength and inspiring leadership.
Realising how inevitable failure is, Fabregas and Nasri, his two best players, want out. And the fans are now booing pre-season friendlies. That\’s new. That\’s never happened before.
Everyone can see the problem.
If you can\’t buy before you sell, you’ll demoralise players and fans alike, and you’ll be behind the curve all season.
Arsenal is a solid business with huge assets, big TV money, many revenue streams, cash in the bank, and a manageable debt. It\’s good business practice to carry some debt.
Up till now, Arsenal have trained in Austria and hit the ground running and got a good start with quick-passing football that put plenty of points on the board through August-September-October.
Now they have three Premier League games in August and three in September and four in October.
That\’s 10 games.
I always say : Let\’s see what Arsenal do in their first 10 league games.
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