So it’s all gone quiet over at the Emirates offices. Typical Arsenal, or dare I say typical Wenger?!
At different stages in the last month, rumours have had Rooney, Fellaini, Higuain, and a touch of Nani as done deals for Arsenal, but today the silence is deafening.
It begs the question of who Wenger prefers to confound; media, clubs, or the long suffering Gooners who hang in every snippet of a rumour and eat them up on twitter with a ladle. More, please!
Or is Wenger simply balancing the books before confronting the new challenge of buying marquee players at the real market rate? It must feel new again to him. The unloading of Arshavin, Squillaci, Denilson, Park, Bendtner, Chamakh, and Santos, players not even fit for the bench of a legendary team like the Arsenal, could release over £400k a week into the club’s coffers without the squad missing a beat, and no loss at all to the Emirates.
Now as bad as those players are , surely the 7 of them must be worth 10m collectively. Add that to the so called “£70m war chest” we’ve been reminded about teasingly, and now we have £80m plus £20 m a year in wages to play with. Sounds like a dream.
Fantasy football again at the Emirates – could it be true? £25m Rooney, £22m Fellaini, £22m Higuain and £10m Williams – £79mll and I bet all 4 would not command more than £600k a week in wages, and boy what a core of players to build the rest of the team around. Ideally go for it and sign Begovic and Richards, hell, we have the money, as I believe Sanga to be on his way out (if not now then soon), and our goalkeepers to be way too in and out to breed confidence.
This type of fantasy is sometimes better than some of our darker ones we are so eager to conjure up, but why can’t this fantasy become a reality? It’s Economically viable, it certainly makes sense on the pitch, and if Wenger could just stop for one minute and try to please the fans instead of impressing our absentee landlord, then Arsenal could again be at least a force for Jose, Moyes, and Pellegrini to reckon with and would help to justify our season ticket prices and £5 hot dogs – that’s right, £5 for pigs’ hooves and snouts.
I cannot help being skeptical of Wenger’s intensions, as in the recent past his narcissistic belief that he knows best in the transfer market has failed to deliver and currently costs over £20m a year in wasted salaries (see the lads above). If I was one of the highest paid managers in the world, at some stage I would have to be aware that my current achievements simply do not stack up on my current return, unless my remit was to just make money off the pitch rather than winning trophies on it.
Following a season in which the two domestic trophies Arsenal could realistically expect to have competed for, were won by Wigan and Swansea, someone, somewhere, on a ranch in Colorado must be wondering if he’s the only cowboy .
Richie Rich
El Presidente
Don’t forget to follow our footy department – @R1chierichguner, @RoryHarbaugh , @TonyNYGooner and @JimPow77. Give the site a follow while you’re at it – @LastWordOnSports.
Feel free to discuss this and other footy related articles with thousands of fans at r/football.
Interested in writing for LastWordOnSports? Find more info at our “Join Our Team” page.
