From Matt Emerson : January window/Zidane
Myles,
Happy New Year – hope the pilates wasn’t too bad: my first run round the park with the dog after Christmas was horrible.
My view on Arsene’s transfer policy is somewhat at odds with yours. I think he uses the two windows in different ways.
The mass clear-outs in the Summers of ’13 & ’14 obviously coincided with an increased ability to pay for long-term targets who cost top dollar – e.g. Sanchez & Ozil.
Cech was a bargain and it’s clear he used Ospina as a year-long solution, as he was pretty sure Cech was coming.
These players never move in January – they’re Champions League -tied & are normally too important to their clubs to lose.
So Summer ’16 will probably see another big player come in.
My money would be on a striker – Giroud will be 30 this year and Arsene will have done his job for Les Blues. God knows who though…
He uses January to fill positions of weakness.
He gives his squad a chance between August & December, then decides what he needs for both the rest of the season and beyond. His last three signings have been Monreal [Andre Santos had done the shirt swap with van Persie the previous November, plus he was crap], Gabriel [three centre backs including Chambers – he ended up playing Monreal there for a while] and now Elneny [central midfield].
What does this mean for the current squad? I suspect it’s curtains for Flamini, Arteta & Rosicky with the jury out on Wilshere & Oxlade-Chamberlain, although he’ll not give up on them this year. Wenger will then look to give Reine-Adelaide & Bielik [another January signing, albeit one who’d only just turned seventeen] a chance.
As for Zidane?
The players at top clubs now only seem to respect those who’ve won things or have been there as a player themselves.
I’m not sure Sacchi would be given a chance at Milan these days. And Madrid is a hornet’s nest – at least Zidane knows what he’s letting himself in for.
Myles says
Thanks, Matt, for a perceptive analysis.
You don’t mention a Walcott exit, so I assume you rate him.
These days I couldn’t go for a run in the park with your dog, even if he’s a dachshund. My walk in our park used to take 30 minutes but on Sunday it took 40. Although it was a slightly different and more uphill route.
My abs are on fire after yesterday’s class, and my thigh muscles feel like blocks of wood.
If you do pilates, never stop for three weeks.