You'll recall me writing a couple of weeks ago about Arsenal's
interest in defensive midfielder Maxime Gonalons.
Not exact matches
In an interview with the Hull Daily Mail, the 20 - year - old
defensive midfielder explained how he jumped at the chance to join the Gunners as a teenager when he learned of their
interest.
«Fantastic achievement this fantastic achievement that» Yes to a point you may be right, but we are now (apparently) out of the financial retraint period and according to Chips Keswick last summer we had # 100» 000000 to spend, unyet what is fantastic is that Wenger was not too
interested in buying the World class
defensive midfielder we desperately needed
in the summer, nor has he addressed the
defensive shortfalls, during the summer transfer he was
in Italy on the day we bought Welbeck, and during the most recent transfer window he spend three out of the four weeks messing around buying some apparent wonderkid who we wont see on the pitch for around 18 months.
The north London side could well do with a strong tackling
midfield presence with neither Mikel Arteta or Mathieu Flamini consistently impressing
in either a holding or out and out
defensive midfield roles and having taken a shine to Wanyama during his time at Celtic Wenger is now ready to re-ignite his
interest in the 23 year old.
However, the inclusion of Kamara
in particular is an
interesting one as it gives an indication of what Arsene Wenger is planning to do
in regards to his lack of
defensive midfielders at the moment.
Talking of people being critical of AR I was
interested listening to Keown last night on MOTD2 where he almost seemed reluctant to praise FC but was very keen to highlight AR's role (and SC's)
in the improved Arsenal
defensive set - up
in midfield.
Are you really naive enough to believe that Wenger would bring anyone into this current locker room that is going to be given a strong voice... have you not been watching, listening or reading about our club for years... Lehman is a blind Wenger follower, which is the only reason he was even considered... just for a second think of all the strong personalities that have played for this club that have never been seriously considered even though they have expressed legitimate
interest in participating
in the coaching process... even worse, think of all the former greats who aren't even allowed on the same pitch as Wenger because they have offered their advice and / or criticism to the infallible one... I dare you to find a manager that has distanced himself from his former players as much as this man... it's the very reason why only one player I can think of has ever returned to play for Wenger and that was Flamini, which was hilarious considering we were desperately looking for a top quality
defensive midfielder but Wenger could somehow find no one better than Flamini
in the whole wide world... let's face it this club was simply trying to appease it's disgruntled fans by declaring that Wenger would no longer be given Ca rte Blanche when it came to the backroom staff so they probably asked him to give them a list of those who he would allow
in the locker room... on that list he wrote Lehman, Pires and Bergkamp, likely because the first two are the only former players who haven't publicly questioned his horrible decision - making and the last one because he won't get
in an airplane
Highly - rated
defensive midfielder Giannelli Imbula was said to be attracting
interest from the West London outfit as a potential partner for Nemanja Matic
in the engine room for the reigning champions of England [via Metro Sport], however the Blues lost out to Portuguese giants FC Porto for the 22 - year - old's signature [via Sky Sports].
I'm not certain how it would play out but it would have been
interesting to see Perez playing
in a front 3 with Sanchez and Lacazette, with Perez on the right, but
in order to do that we would need a true
defensive midfielder so that we could still have Ozil
in the middle, playing behind the front 3, and Sead and Ox / Bellerin taking turns making wide side runs... unfortunately Wenger has made sure that could never happen because it would require buying the proper back 3 to handle this situation and he would have to bench his beloved Walcott and Ramsey on a regular basis... like I said before, I'm very concerned that Wenger will play Lacazette out wide on the left with Giroud
in the middle, which means Sead will likely be
in the back 3 and Ox will be played
in the left wing - back position, which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever... God, I hope I'm wrong
The Board is only
interested in money not trophies they figure they have enough
in the cabinet, Ridiculous wenger is only
interested in his legacy, he wants to say he did it his way and he won the EPL and the CL, but this is where his legacy is distorted, his teams that he creates for the last couple years has played with HANDICAPs, several deficiencies compared compared to precious teams he created, the main failings is the frail
midfielders he has taken a loving to, while
in previous years if he had frail players
in the
midfield, he also had man mountains who could do the
defensive work
in the middle of the park.
Time for some brutal honesty... this team, as it stands, is
in no better position to compete next season than they were 12 months ago, minus the fact that some fans have been easily snowed by the acquisition of Lacazette, the free transfer LB and the release of Sanogo... if you look at the facts carefully you will see a team that still has far more questions than answers... to better show what I mean by this statement I will briefly discuss the current state of affairs on a position - by - position basis...
in goal we have 4 potential candidates, but
in reality we have only 1 option with any real future and somehow he's the only one we have actively tried to get rid of for years because he and his father were a little too involved on social media and he got caught smoking (funny how people still defend Wiltshire under the same and far worse circumstances)... you would think we would want to keep any goaltender that Juventus had
interest in, as they seem to have a pretty good history when it comes to that position... as far as the defenders on our current roster there are only a few individuals whom have the skill and / or youth worthy of our time and / or investment, as such we should get rid of anyone who doesn't meet those simple requirements, which means we should get rid of DeBouchy, Gibbs, Gabriel, Mertz and loan out Chambers to see if last seasons foray with Middlesborough was an anomaly or a prediction of things to come... some fans have lamented wildly about the return of Mertz to the starting lineup due to his FA Cup performance but these sort of pie
in the sky meanderings are indicative of what's wrong with this club and it's wishy - washy fan - base...
in addition to these moves the club should aggressively pursue the acquisition of dominant and mobile CB to stabilize an all too fragile
defensive group that has self - destructed on numerous occasions over the past 5 seasons... moving forward and building on our need to re-establish our once dominant presence throughout the middle of the park we need to target a CDM then do whatever it takes to get that player into the fold without any of the usual nickel and diming we have become famous for (this kind of ruthless haggling has cost us numerous special players and certainly can't help make the player
in question feel good about the way their future potential employer feels about them)...
in order for us to become dominant again we need to be strong up the middle again from Goalkeeper to CB to DM to ACM to striker, like we did
in our most glorious years before and during Wenger's reign... with this
in mind, if we want Ozil to be that dominant attacking
midfielder we can't keep leaving him exposed to constant ridicule about his lack of
defensive prowess and provide him with the proper players
in the final third... he was never a good
defensive player
in Real or with the German National squad and they certainly didn't suffer as a result of his presence on the pitch... as for the rest of the
midfield the blame falls squarely
in the hands of Wenger and Gazidis, the fact that Ramsey, Ox, Sanchez and even Ozil were allowed to regularly start when none of the aforementioned had more than a year left under contract is criminal for a club of this size and financial might... the fact that we could find money for Walcott and Xhaka, who weren't even guaranteed starters, means that our whole business model needs a complete overhaul... for me it's time to get rid of some serious deadweight, even if it means selling them below what you believe their market value is just to simply right this ship and change the stagnant culture that currently exists... this means saying goodbye to Wiltshire, Elneny, Carzola, Walcott and Ramsey... everyone, minus Elneny, have spent just as much time on the training table as on the field of play, which would be manageable if they weren't so inconsistent from a performance standpoint (excluding Carzola, who is like the recent version of Rosicky — too bad, both will be deeply missed)...
in their places we need to bring
in some proven performers with no history of injuries... up front, although I do like the possibilities that a player like Lacazette presents, the fact that we had to wait so many years to acquire some true quality at the striker position falls once again squarely at the feet of Wenger... this issue highlights the ultimate scam being perpetrated by this club since the arrival of Kroenke: pretend your a small market club when it comes to making purchases but milk your fans like a big market club when it comes to ticket prices and merchandising... I believe the reason why Wenger hasn't pursued someone of Henry's quality, minus a fairly inexpensive RVP, was that he knew that they would demand players of a similar ilk to be brought on board and that wasn't possible when the business model was that of a «selling» club... does it really make sense that we could only make a cheeky bid for Suarez, or that we couldn't get Higuain over the line when he was being offered up for half the price he eventually went to Juve for, or that we've only paid any
interest to strikers who were clearly not going to press their current teams to let them go to Arsenal like Benzema or Cavani... just part of the facade that finally came crashing down when Sanchez finally called their bluff... the fact remains that no one wants to win more than Sanchez, including Wenger, and although I don't agree with everything that he has done off the field, I would much rather have Alexis front and center than a manager who has clearly bought into the Kroenke model
in large part due to the fact that his enormous ego suggests that only he could accomplish great things without breaking the bank... unfortunately that isn't possible anymore as the game has changed quite dramatically
in the last 15 years, which has left a largely complacent and complicit Wenger on the outside looking
in... so don't blame those players who demanded more and were left wanting... don't blame those fans who have tried desperately to raise awareness for several years when cracks began to appear... place the blame at the feet of those who were well aware all along of the potential pitfalls of just such a plan but continued to follow it even when it was no longer a financial necessity, like it ever really was...
The Kenya international has also been touted with a permanent return to former side Parma, although the
defensive midfielder is rumoured to be
interested in a move to England.
Daniel Perez, agent for
defensive midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia has reaffirmed the fact that his client has no
interest in returning to Inter Milan and wants his transfer to Valencia to become permanent.
Arsenal are still
interested in signing one of the Bundesliga's top
defensive midfielders this summer, despite strong
interest from rivals Manchester United.
Arsenal have maintained a consistent
interest in Krychowiak over the past 18 months and Wenger is looking to bring
in another
defensive midfielder to rival Francis Coquelin.
Arsenal's delve
in the upcoming transfer window seems to be taking a rather surprising fashion as there are reports that the Gunners retain their
interest to land Monaco
defensive midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia.
Age: 30 Nationality: French Position:
Defensive Midfield / Right Back Squad Number: 20 Height: 5ft 10
Interesting Fact: Flamini scored Arsenal's last ever goal
in red and white at Highbury, rifling home a half - volley
in the 7 - 0 victory over Everton
in 2005.
But following a host of names hinted at replacing the
defensive midfield duo, Joao Santos has spoken out to confirm the rumours of the clubs
interest in his client.
The merseysiders are
interested in signing Chilean
defensive midfield star Gary Medel after they were impressed by his brilliant performances at the Copa America.
The comments he made a few weeks ago where he intimated his contentment with his
defensive options and the reported
interest in Gareth Barry and Xabi Alonso do suggest that it will be a
midfielder rather than a centre - back that he is after.
Even Liverpool are
interested in the 25 - year - old
defensive midfielder, who has a release clause of $ 59million
in his contract (Daily Star).
Now, according to the latest update provided by Le10Sport, the Gunners seem serious about finally signing the 22 - year - old
defensive midfielder in the summer and have confirmed their
interest.
Internazionale and Juventus
in the Serie A were also
interested in the 23 - year - old
defensive midfielder.
In the back you're left with Skriniar and Miranda but whats
interesting is that one of the
defensive midfielders almost completely drops into a center back role.
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is not
interested in signing AS Monaco
midfielder Fabinho as there is another target which the Portuguese manager thinks is attainable, Tottenham Hotspur
defensive midfielder Eric Dier.
However, the report from the Daily Mail has claimed that the Gunners boss Arsene Wenger is
interested and ready to make a # 20million bid for the
defensive midfielder in January.