When the recent arrival of Tomas Rosicky, I realised that the genius that is our manager has a clear bias towards attacking talent. This might be obvious to some of you, but to put it another Wenger has never spent big money on a defensive player.
When he finds the right man le Boss has not been afraid to splash the cash, examples(in pounds):
Reyes 17m
Wiltord 11m
Henry 10m
Hleb 10m
Adebayor 7m
Pires 7m
Rosicky 7m
Walcott up to 12m
Wenger has though never paid anywhere near these amounts for a defender/defensive midfielder.
Of our current backline Sol and Cole were both free, although Sol agreed massive wages.
Toure, originally a midfielder cost next to nothing as did Senderos, Clichy, Djourou, Eboue and Flamini.
As far as I know the most Wenger paid for a defender is the 5m paid to Lille for fan favourite Pascal Cygan. Vieira cost only 4m. Gilberto about 4.5m.
So Wenger makes sure that we can attack and score goals and and the defense seems to be an afterthought. Although in the light of a record 10 Champions league clean sheets this is a bit unfair!
This summer however I hope that Wenger breaks this habit and buys a proven, top quality defensive midfiedler, who will not come cheap.
Real Madrid and Man Utd are well known to also be looking for this type of player so we will probably have to spend a lot more than 4m to land any that are available.
Possible options include Ivory Coast midfielders Didier Zokora, who I’m guessing would cost about 8m and the AA flavour of the month, Yaya Toure. Argentinian Mascherano seems a good player but does lack an imposing physique.
Personally I think Wenger should try to buy Mahamadou Diarra from Lyon again. Yes he will cost about 20m which will make him one of our most expensive buys but he is currently the best in the world in his position that is available.
He is a proven world class star and at only 24 will solve our holding midfield problem for may years to come.
Wenger will probably not go for him though so I am not holding my breath but I think we definitely need reinforcements in this area.
With Walcott, Lupoli, Bendter and even Aliadiere all pushing for first team action next season I dont think we need another attacker, especially now that we bought a goalscorer like Rosicky.
Lupoli, should get a game or ten, as he has been phenomenal in the reserves.
Defense is pretty much soughted, with Sol back to good form although if he does leave we will need to buy a replacemnt as I feel the youngsters like Connelly and Djourou are not quite ready. Highly-rated Ryan Garry seems to be over his injury trouble so should also provide cover at centre-back.
From previous experience, though Wenger will buy 2 more strikers and another few players who no one has ever heard of.
20 Responses to “Zidanes and Pavons”
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May 29th, 2006 at 10:31 am
Diarra is the best in the world now?
Maybe when he plays in a league that is top level, he can attain such lofty status, but the French League is hardly the best…
We would NEVER pay 20 Million for him. Not a chance. He might be proven for Lyon, but he hasn’t done it in England Spain Italy or Germany… which are all ahead of French league…
Not saying he’s not good… just that the “best in the world” tag gets thrown around like loose change.
Your points are valid. Wenger likes to attack and will go for those players he believes fits our mold. (his mold)…
I agree that this will likely continue. I don’t see him splashing big cash on a defender. They all have to be part of the defensive system, as you can’t just slot them in and have them be immediately comfortable.
May 29th, 2006 at 10:51 am
Diarra is not the best in the world. And certainly not worth that kind of money. We were linked to him after Viera left and Wenger never moved for him even though he was interested in us.
Reason why attackers cost more more is because on the whole, they cost more money than defenders. They dazzle and score goals that make fans go wild. Their value goes up tremendously.
Take aside Ramos and Rio, how many centre backs cost you the price of Zidane and Figo? Maldini is in that class and he wasn’t even valued close to that price.
I believe Wenger thinks that our reserves can hold the backline. However, I hope he buys one more central defender that is strong solid and focus.
I heard recently that the Gunners have told Sol that he can find a new club. This piece of news is newer than the Fenerbache one.
Maybe someone could suggest a CB that we could buy and of course an all important DM too.
I’ll take Curtis and J. Masch.
May 29th, 2006 at 11:43 am
I think we paid only around 2 mil for Cygan, less than 1 mil for Vieira, and 5 mil for Pires.
Anyway the exact figure we’ll never know, with all those extra terms and conditions. But i get ur point. I think AW’s spending policy has been brilliant, the best in the Premiership without a doubt.
As for the potential midfield targets u mentioned here, we all heard of their names, many said they are good, few of us actually saw them play (or only a few games). How good they really are we’ll never know.
I agree with Stag, just because they played well in the French league doesn’t necessary mean they will make an impact in the Premiership. Remember Cygan was actually French league’s player of the year the season before he arrived at Highbury. Wiltrod was the top striker in French league, while everybody hailed Cisse as the next Henry…. To some extend, Michael Essien, arrived Chelsea with a big reputation, didn’t exactly lit the world up did he?
At the end of the day, i believe whoever AW decides to buy should be a better choice than the one we suggested. He may not know everything, but he had his scout watch the players more throughfully, no matter what it’s better than us who only heard of the players from the papers, or just watched them for a few games.
May 29th, 2006 at 11:47 am
I had posted the same figures when there was the huge debate on Wenger and there were articles for and against him (the prosecution and the defence).
Wenger has always been a fan of attacking football. Defence is almost an after thought for him. He was lucky to inherit the famous back five. He did prolong their careers, so he didn’t have to worry on that front for a long time.
Then he rebuilt it to some extent with Lehmann, Sol, Toure, Cole and Lauren. This was based mostly on Sol being a free transfer. By the way, Wenger’s most expensive defensive signing was Lauren for 6m.
I really don’t see him splashing cash on defenders. He will continue to rely on players like Toure, Senderos, Cole, Djourou, Gilbert, etc. Players who come through the youth system or players who come for cheap.
May 29th, 2006 at 11:57 am
Owen Hargreaves would be perfect to play the holding role. A nice passive defensive midfielder midfielder who does not shirk anything and in the gilberto mould. Nobody should judge him on the shambles that is the english national team.
I think both Fabregas and Rosicky would enjoy playng next to a passive holding player who just keeps it simple and doesn’t hog the midfield (Vieira).
In an ideal world Diarra would be perfect but Hargreaves is more realistic. He is a good talker and I like intelligent people in the Arsenal team, not dimwits like Reyes.
May 29th, 2006 at 3:38 pm
I wouldn’t mind Hargreaves I think he would fit in well into our team. It would also get the press of our ass for not having any English players.
May 29th, 2006 at 6:44 pm
i really liked the way malouda played against mexico the other day, he’d be a good choice for us, i don’t know how expensive he’d be, but i think we should start watching reyes’ performances really close, now that we know henry is staying and they really never seem to be on the same page, also i read here before that lauren should be tried as a dm he might be a little small for the job but he does not lack bite and passes really good which is a must in this team, he is also an experienced player although not in that position. Maybe wenger is waiting until after the world cup to see how some of his “big signing” targets perform and he will probably splash the cash there, i really hope that is the case, i think torres might have a good world cup and that could be a possibility, i also expect wenger to be hoping ljungberg has a good world cup, toure looked exhausted towards the end of the season and now he has to take on crespo and company, henry faces senderos, we also start the season early for the champions league playoffs, don’t we?i think a deeper squad with more experienced players would benefit us a lot, especially when next season is coming to an end we are going to need to rotate the squad a lot and important games are going to come our way, i mean, i expect us to go far next season in tournaments like the FA cup, champions league (hell yeah why not?, as long as we play senderos a lot more than we play campbell), plus we also need to concentrate in our consistency in the EPL, who is to say we will maintain the excellent home record that we had at highbury now that we are moving to a bigger pitch, we might not feel at home yet and that could prove to be a **AYE CARUMBA**(censored) when chasing after an improved chelsea, or an ever improving pool, ma u id pretty good this season too though , so you know we need to step up, hope lehmann doesn’t do another wigan and keeps his good form. I think Wenger should have his scouters look for some good keepers and we should be getting one by the start of next season, i like the one from the russian national team, does he play for CSKA?, and how old is he?
May 29th, 2006 at 7:04 pm
And Lauren was midfielder before moving to Arsenal. So Wenger paid 6 mil. for midfielder, not for defender.
May 29th, 2006 at 7:11 pm
I think the media makes it a point that he’s a Canadian and not a born and bred Englishman. But I’m proud that he’s a Canadian playing on England. He’s still Canadian through and through! Hockey Grit on Arsenal - I’d be into that! Hargreaves is from Calgary but if I were good enough to play for England or Canada in football what team would I choose?
May 29th, 2006 at 7:13 pm
Igor Akinfeev, 19 years old. I don’t know if he is that good, but in the world of Football Manager he is the best goalkeeper around, actually 2nd best, behind Buffon.
Lauren a little small for DM?
Well, how tall and powerfull is Makelele?
And Mascherano is around 1.70m.
Maybe the smaller players are the best for defensive midfielders
May 29th, 2006 at 9:58 pm
I like the fact Hargreaves is a Canadian to! Of course he’s intelligent he’s a Canadian! Our education system doesn’t cost 30+ grand a year, like some of the Ivy League Universities south of the 49th. You can get your basic BA for that, here in this frozen 4 hectares of snow as Voltaire described it. Like take off eh, Owen’s a hoser eh.
How do you know Reyes intelligence, do you speak fluent Spanish? Truth is, for us football nuts all that matters is that he think the game and have the skills to accomplish his thoughts. My only fault with him is he doesn’t score enough. If he sucked on his mothers breast every night he came home, I wouldn’t give a (rhymes with tit); and he could do that even as a member of Mensa.
I like the player Diarra! His name makes me chuckle though, as I think back on the last game of the season and all the drama with Trots Sp*rs.
I can’t see the professor spending that kinda of cash though so it’s a pipe dream.
May 29th, 2006 at 10:15 pm
I like the player Diarra! His name makes me chuckle though, as I think back on the last game of the season and all the drama with Trots Sp*rs.
I can’t see the professor spending that kinda of cash though - so it’s a pipe dream.
We need someone to score other than Henry. It can come from anyone on the squad, someone has to make up the 10 +- odd goals Pires gave them a season.
I thought in the later half of the season they looked solid in the back with Diaby. Yes if all that could be was, Mahamadou would great on the squad. I hope Diaby gets well soon, man that must suck - I still can’t forgive the Sunderland ponce that tackled him. What’s his name - see that just about sums it up! I got a name for him Wadda Dick.
May 29th, 2006 at 11:45 pm
pssssssssssst…
keep this quiet….
but ummmm…
“he” is coming back to the Arsenal.
May 30th, 2006 at 1:51 am
True, but Wenger always had Lauren in mind for a right back. So that’s the most he has spent on a defender for Arsenal.
Is 10m for Henry money spent on a winger or striker?
May 30th, 2006 at 5:44 am
I meant ‘the best that is available’. I agree that the ‘best in the worlds’ could probably fill 5 teams but what I meant was that Diarra is the best that is available in the world right now.
Lyon will sell him if they get the right price and I am pretty sure he will come to us.
Makelele, Ballack, Essien, Gattuso, Emerson, Edmilson and any other player you want to fit in this holding midfielder category is simply not available as their clubs wont sell or they wont come.
I dont see our blue neighbours selling us Makelele or Essien or Ballack, Emerson wanting to haggle over a one year extension every season or Edmilson leaving Barca.
Most of the above will also not eligible as they are too old.
We all know Wenger likes them young.
At 24 I think Diarra is the best option although I will admit to only seeing Zokora and Yaya Toure at the African nations Cup and on those performances, Zokora really impressed, a real general in the midfield.
Against Milan in the quarter-finals, Diarra was massive and that was against Pirlo, Seedorf and Gattuso.
May 30th, 2006 at 5:50 am
I meant ‘the best that is available’. I agree that the ‘best in the worlds’ could probably fill 5 teams but what I meant was that Diarra is the best that is available in the world right now.
Lyon will sell him if they get the right price and I am pretty sure he will come to us.
Makelele, Ballack, Essien, Gattuso, Emerson, Edmilson and any other player you want to fit in this holding midfielder category is simply not available as their clubs wont sell or they wont come.
I dont see our blue neighbours selling us Makelele or Essien or Ballack, Emerson wanting to haggle over a one year extension every season or Edmilson leaving Barca.
Most of the above will also not eligible as they are too old.
We all know Wenger likes them young.
At 24 I think Diarra is the best option although I will admit to only seeing Zokora and Yaya Toure at the African nations Cup and on those performances, Zokora really impressed, a real general in the midfield.
Against Milan in the quarter-finals, Diarra was massive and that was against Pirlo, Seedorf and Gattuso.
May 30th, 2006 at 6:34 am
I also really like Martin Demichelis from Bayern Munich. He played against us last season and I was impressed.
And he is still relatively young at 25.
Assuming he lives to next season, he is another good option. Not sure if Munich will sell though.
May 30th, 2006 at 6:51 am
I don’t know. Ask Wenger.
May 30th, 2006 at 8:13 am
Dan Smith. I’ll never forget him. I had to pronouce his name five times to the sniper I hired as our cell connection was poor.
Stag - I guess he wants to join a team that can win the Champion’s League again?
Nothing personal about it for me, but a)he’s not good enough anymore, and b) our midfield has taken a somewhat different direction.
May 30th, 2006 at 8:29 am
Wenger brings in second stringers only when there are no first teamers available or if it is the Carling cup. Case in point is Cesc who came in for Vieira when Vieira was out for a good part 2 seasons ago. Another example is Sendoros for Campbell last season. Lupoli and Bendtler will not get a chance unless Henry, RvP and Adebayor are not available. Same for Eboue who played bcos Lauren was injured. Walcott like Reyes will get their games bcos they costed the club lots of money - it will be financially wasteful not to play them. So don’t be surprised to see Arsenal losing players like Lupoli, Bendtler and other second stringers for lack of first team football. Squad rotation is the way to go if Arsenal wants to be successful contending for multiple trophies.