Summer transfer joy and happiness

[Marc Overmars]

I’ve been saying for a while I don’t think we will have the spending power this summer. We’ve spent a lot by our standards in recent years. Ozil, Auba and Laca are all on bumper contracts too, the sort of wages that could rival what the Manchester clubs pay.

People often said they’d rather Wenger wasn’t given another penny to spend because a lot of his signings since we became able to spend big have been more misses than hits. That was tounge in cheek but I think we are seeing the fallout from that now.

We will have to be clever with who we sign. We have made the most important signing already though - Emery. If his coaching can elevate the game of certain players and ensure we become more of well oiled team then that’s good enough for me.

[Mac76]

It sounds like fellaini won't happen, i just think it's embarrassing that it was even talked about

Some people simply aren't Arsenal playees and he's one of them, he's a cheating dirty f****r who i wouldn't want anywhere near this club

[Özim]

I don't get it, all the other clubs seem to have money, West Ham are saying they're going to spend a record amount, Man U ready to spend big again, Liverpool etc will spend and yet we're scratching around for free transfers and ageing players.

I know we signed Auba in January but 40 million of that was money left over from player sales in the summer, Wenger seems to have left us in a terrible state.

[Cripps]

I don't mind Lichtsteiner as he's purely backup to Bellerin and it makes sense.

I didn't mind Auba either because he's obviously world class. And Mkhi was a good deal as we managed to get a good player out of what was a bad situation (Alexis would have gone for nothing in a few months).

I'm not happy with Sokratis though I can at least admit I can see what Sven's logic there is (we need experience at the back). But I'd be appalled with Fellani or Nzonzi for that matter ........ eventually we have to start thinking about the age profile of the squad and not stocking the squad up with too many 29/30 year olds, who'll be hard to shift and have no resale value.

As said above Fabinho would have been perfect though it's a sign of how appealing & efficient Liverpool are these days that they were swiftly able to wrap that up. Someone of the profile of Torreira would be a good buy instead though.

Lichtsteiner + Sokratis will cost a combined £15m, so £7.5m each. In this day and age it's absolutely nothing. It's 1998 prices. Lichtsteiner has probably come in on a 1 year contract, max 2, he's on a free and this'll be his last contract before he retires so there's no risk. Let's not forget our most experienced player Mertesacker has just retired and Koscielny is *so we're lacking experience in the squad. Both of the signings provide that.

Fact is we are in a much weaker position than what we were 2 years ago and this is exactly what we meant when we said every extra season Wenger stays it's causing more structural decline that will take longer to offset. We have pretty much swapped positions with Liverpool in terms of status + how attractive the clubs are, they can sign any talent in Europe right now whereas we need to work our way back up before we sign the Fabinho's of the world. And in order to do that management have clearly decided we're going down the route of experienced, solid pros which I'm fine with. How many times have we been ripped by the media and other fans for lacking mental resilience and choking when the going gets tough? SASIE are finally addressing it.

[Cripps]

It sounds like fellaini won't happen, i just think it's embarrassing that it was even talked about

Some people simply aren't Arsenal playees and he's one of them, he's a cheating dirty f****r who i wouldn't want anywhere near this club

The media got their clicks and you fools fell for it

[Letters]

I don't get it, all the other clubs seem to have money, West Ham are saying they're going to spend a record amount, Man U ready to spend big again, Liverpool etc will spend and yet we're scratching around for free transfers and ageing players.

I know we signed Auba in January but 40 million of that was money left over from player sales in the summer, Wenger seems to have left us in a terrible state.

He did waste a load of money, but he was always criticised for being frugal and being too concerned about balancing the books so even if he has left the squad in a terrible state (not something I entirely accept) then financially we should be fine. Since 2014 our net spend has actually been pretty high but nowhere near as high as City or Utd:

https://www.independent.ie/sport/soc...-36861511.html

While both those clubs have more money than us it's a massive gap in terms of net spend, we can surely afford to push the boat out a little bit. Our wage bill is high but, again, not as high as the Manchester clubs

https://www.totalsportek.com/money/e...-club-by-club/

I'm struggling to believe we don't have enough for one or two big signings. If it pushes us back into the top 4, which it might, we'd make back the money anyway.

[Özim]

He did waste a load of money, but he was always criticised for being frugal and being too concerned about balancing the books so even if he has left the squad in a terrible state (not something I entirely accept) then financially we should be fine. Since 2014 our net spend has actually been pretty high but nowhere near as high as City or Utd:

https://www.independent.ie/sport/soc...-36861511.html

While both those clubs have more money than us it's a massive gap in terms of net spend, we can surely afford to push the boat out a little bit. Our wage bill is high but, again, not as high as the Manchester clubs

https://www.totalsportek.com/money/e...-club-by-club/

I'm struggling to believe we don't have enough for one or two big signings. If it pushes us back into the top 4, which it might, we'd make back the money anyway.

He was too frugal no doubt about it, but when he did go out and spend it was pretty clear he spent the money on the wrong players, you won't find too many people whol would have spent big money on the likes of Xhaka and Mustafi.

I'd like to believe that too, but if you look at all the players we're allegedly after, they pretty much all seem to be, loan deals, free transfers, players in and around 30 years of age and relatively low cost transfers. We should be selling some of these guys as well, quite a few of these players aren't up to it, right now we don't seem to be trying to shift anybody out.

People keep mentioning Chambers and Holding but I've not seen much to suggest either will be any good, morever they were signed by Wenger and we pretty much know he wasn't able to build a team able to defend well entirely off his own back, so what is there to suggest these two players are actually any good, I'd personally ditch them and start again.

[Özim]

I’ve been saying for a while I don’t think we will have the spending power this summer. We’ve spent a lot by our standards in recent years. Ozil, Auba and Laca are all on bumper contracts too, the sort of wages that could rival what the Manchester clubs pay.

People often said they’d rather Wenger wasn’t given another penny to spend because a lot of his signings since we became able to spend big have been more misses than hits. That was tounge in cheek but I think we are seeing the fallout from that now.

We will have to be clever with who we sign. We have made the most important signing already though - Emery. If his coaching can elevate the game of certain players and ensure we become more of well oiled team then that’s good enough for me.

Any manager that comes in doesn't work with the players he inherits, he builds the team in his image, it's pretty clear a number of these players just aren't good enough. As for money, prior to signing Auba, we were well up transfer money wise from last summer and despite increases in wages we also removed Sanchez, Gabriel, Mertersacker, Ox, Walcott, Giroud, Coquelin, Gibbs, Debuchy so it probably balances out.

[Bumble]

Any manager that comes in doesn't work with the players he inherits, he builds the team in his image, it's pretty clear a number of these players just aren't good enough. As for money, prior to signing Auba, we were well up transfer money wise from last summer and despite increases in wages we also removed Sanchez, Gabriel, Mertersacker, Ox, Walcott, Giroud, Coquelin, Gibbs, Debuchy so it probably balances out.

that's just wrong. a manager does work with players he inherits. they aren't all league one players you know. he has to work with the players already here and it is a slow change to mould the side. but spending big on 10 players isn't going to make us any more successful next season. the team will need to bed in and get used to playing with each other. it is a team game after all. plus what is the real point of spending a massive wad of cash when in reality it will be a miracle in the next couple of years if we finish in the top 3.

[selassie]

He did waste a load of money, but he was always criticised for being frugal and being too concerned about balancing the books so even if he has left the squad in a terrible state (not something I entirely accept) then financially we should be fine. Since 2014 our net spend has actually been pretty high but nowhere near as high as City or Utd:

https://www.independent.ie/sport/soc...-36861511.html

While both those clubs have more money than us it's a massive gap in terms of net spend, we can surely afford to push the boat out a little bit. Our wage bill is high but, again, not as high as the Manchester clubs

https://www.totalsportek.com/money/e...-club-by-club/

I'm struggling to believe we don't have enough for one or two big signings. If it pushes us back into the top 4, which it might, we'd make back the money anyway.

I think the issue is around wages, if you factor in that Ozil is on 330K per week, both Mkhi and Auba on near to 200k per week, Lacazette on 150k per week, then you have to factor in that Ramsey is in negotiations for a new deal and wants close to 200k per week too.

Assuming Ramsey signs his contract, that's 5 players on wages over or near to 200k per week. If we make big signings...especially semi-established players....then they will demand big wages comparable to what our best players are on, do we really have the budget to sanction 2 more players on near to 200k per week...probably not?

This is the issue we face right now unless we shift one or two of the big earners on, that is going to be difficult in itself considering the wages they are on.

We probably do have the funds to make a few big-ish signings but I don't think we have the budget for their wages. We either need to buy experienced which is what we are doing, or go for absolute top quality young players with the promise of immediate first team football and wage increases dependent on performance.

Buying experienced is a risk, but I assume we are doing this on the premise of a quick return to CL. A return to CL will give us a bit more leverage to attract top quality young talent and semi-established players without the need to pay them over the top wages.

The bottom line is we are the least attractive option of any of the top 6 in England, two seasons outside of CL is damaging and we are seeing that right now.

Edited to add: Another issue we face is getting rid of the duds assuming that's the plan. Mustafi and Xhaka are both on over 100k per week so I have heard, we'll be lucky to get back half of the transfer fee we paid for either player and what club outside of PL is going to pay them their wages? Wenger has left us in a right mess.