Arsenal have been reasonably active in this summer's transfer window, but rather than appeasing the fans who increasingly cry out for reinforcements, Arsène Wenger has been selling off assets. With the departure confirmed yesterday of Kolo Touré to Manchester City for £15million, Arsenal have brought in roughly £40million worth of revenue. At least in terms of finance- Arsenal are on the rise again!
The moving on of Touré is quite an ambiguous transfer, he is still respected and valued by the majority of Arsenal fans, and I feel that he was still good enough to remain at the Emirates. Despite any personal differences between Touré and Gallas, they had forged an impressive central defensive partnership recently. The Ivory Coast international was also the last regular player left at the club from the 2003-04 'Invincibles' title-winning team. As a result his passing on to Manchester City comes as a sentimental water-shed for Arsenal and it's fans. In one respect it may be a good thing, because Arsenal now need to focus on future conquests rather than past glories.
Arsenal are endlessly reminded about how it has been just over four years since their last genuine trophy ware. Whilst this is true, the intervening seasons since the 2005 FA Cup victory have not been a case of being the also-runs. In 2006 the club were ten minutes away from being the first London team to win the Champions League, only the inspired intervention of Henrik Larsson snatched away the trophy for Barcelona. As well as that there has been the loss in the 2007 League Cup final to Chelsea, on that occasion Theo Walcott scored his first Arsenal goal before the young team ran out of puff.
The 2007-08 season appeared to be a new changing of the guard, Arsenal were ominously impressive throughout the first two-thirds of the season and led the Premiership in February. Unfortunately the team again failed to last the course and faded from the challenge, although they still only lost three league games all season and finished just four points behind the champions Manchester United. Last campaign saw Arsenal's roles reversed, the title challenge realistically faded before the New Year, but the club reached the semi-finals in both the FA Cup and Champions League. More disappointment then followed and Wenger began to face real dissidents amongst the fans for the first time.
For my part those Arsenal fans that have been quick to criticise Wenger are suffering from very short memory banks and a lack of real knowledge. Wenger is one of the clubs most successful managers in Arsenal's history. Better on the whole than George Graham- despite him triumphing in Europe (Cup Winners Cup 1994) and Wenger's Arsenal having 'only' lost the Uefa and Champions League finals. The 'Professor' only slightly lags behind Herbert Chapman in the standings, who secured a hat-trick of league titles in the 1930's.
Where some of the current nervous hostility surrounding Arsenal has come from, is stemmed in the apparent lack of willing to spend funds by the manager. Wenger is not adverse to the idea of spending significant money though, he has twice broken the club's transfer record when enticing first José Antonio Reyes and then last season Andrei Arshavin.
The frustration from Arsenal fans has ironically been emphasised by the signing of Arshavin, because the Russian turned out to be a near instant success on the field it has fuelled the feeling that Arsenal must spend similar funds to realistically compete again. This is true to only a certain extent, Wenger has proven in the past with the likes of Nicolas Anelka and Thierry Henry that he can pluck up players and mould them into being the world's best, capable of winning trophies for the Gunners.
As far as things stand, Wenger has outlaid £10million from his transfer kitty this summer, and that was on Thomas Vermaelen from Ajax. The Belgian defender is young and skilful with international pedigree, and should be a fine signing and even more significant since Kolo Touré will be plying his trade at the monolithic Manchester City. Still, I do support the long-standing notion that Arsenal must invest in a combative central midfielder. Someone along the lines of say Gilberto Silva or Mathieu Flamini perhaps!
Joking aside, this area does remain Arsène Wenger's one major Achilles heal from his tenure at Arsenal. It is difficult to understand how we let such effective players leave the club, and how two years later the debate is still raging over there not being sufficient replacements. I am a fan of Abou Diaby and Alexander Song, but they are yet to fully learn their trade. The mystery for now is why Wenger seems reluctant to splash out on a central midfielder like he did for Arshavin, where the proof has been in the pudding.
The answer might be that he is instead looking for a stop-gap which can help the club along until Diaby and Song are absolutely ready to step up, and hence avoid spending money for the sake of it. If the latest wild rumours are to believed then Arsenal may be on the verge of welcoming back their one time captain and legend Patrick Viera. The French international may be 33 years old, and he may not have had the most convincing stay in Serie A, but the idea may not be that ludicrous. If Wenger could rekindle just some of the old magic from Viera, then the player could bolster the team for a season or two until the proper reinforcements have been groomed.
As for up front, the old adage that 'Wenger knows' may be as true as ever. Arsenal still have the potentially superb combination of Eduardo and Robin van Persie; with Walcott and Arshavin waiting in/on the wings- things really aren't that bad at all. Nicklas Bendtner may still be as unpopular as a certain Emmanuel Adebayor was, but he does at least appear to try for that extra yard. Couple this with the fact that the forgotten Czech genius Tomáš Rosický is back after 18 months injured, and the case for Arsenal's attacking options isn't bad by comparison at all.
My hope for Arsenal is that Wenger is tempted to dip his hand into his transfer kitty at least once in the next two-three weeks. He shouldn't have to do it to appease the fans, but he should do it to appease himself. Whichever way it is dressed up, if Arsenal continue to sell their established players and then pocket the money, it sends out a signal to the other major clubs that the Gunners can be bullied in the transfer market.
Who he should therefore buy is up for endless debate, but I am a fan of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. The Dutchman may well be pushed out of Real Madrid, who have after all been spending like bank chairman! The striker is the type of player that would adapt well to Arsenal's playing style, and more importantly he has an impressive strike-rate, something that Arsenal have been lacking since Thierry Henry left.
Whatever happens between now and the beginning of the season, there is sure to be endless speculation and some critics who will write-off Arsenal's chances and Wenger's philosophy in building a young team. I believe that the Arsenal trophy drought will be brought to an end though, most likely in one of the cups but I wouldn't entirely underestimate them in the Premiership either. For now Wenger still knows, but this season looks likely to define the rest of his legacy one way or another...