Originally Posted by
Tipsychubbs
I'm not fully into the board talk either. They have their share of the blame of course, they are happy with what wenger is doing and they don't seem to be interested in what's going on pitch wise but purely in the financial, but who is it that keeps paying exorbitant high salaries to young players who haven't achieved anything yet, or squad players that are clearly not good enough? Salaries so high that we can't even shift these players when we want to offload them, we have to loan them out instead, Vela, Bendtner, Denilson etc.
We have the 3rd or 4th highest wage bill in the league, that does not show a lack of money, that is Wenger's policy!
He wanted to nurture and develop youth to facilitate the stadium move, paying relatively high salaries (for their wage and status) to young players to keep them here, from being snatched off and tempted elsewhere. He's gone too far with it and it shows. You were right when you said so much money on many young player contracts but not much left for some world class talents.
While we're not Man City, we're also not Everton either, there is surely money that can be spent judiciously, otherwise those salaries would be much lower. Wenger is utilizing the resources this way and choosing not to invest in more quality, the players who are actually worth the high wages. I'm not talking big splurges and team overhauls. 2-3 top quality players here and there now and again would boost the team. And I mean top quality, not project players or wildcards. He goes on about 'super super quality', but doesn't back it up.
For example, a top quality player like Mata (versatile left wing forward/attacking midfielder/support striker) was available in the summer and wanted to come to England, would have been a perfect Nasri/Cesc replacement, we were apparently interested, then let him go to Chelsea and get Benayoun on loan instead! Decent experienced squad player, but come on, for the Cesc and Nasri money is thats just silly. If we were waiting for the Cesc/Nasri situations to play out before wanting to sign, then that is poor management when it was obvious they would we going. If wages were an issue, then how much could we have free'd up for him instead of making a practice of paying the high wages to the players who were not worth it, comign back to bite us. That is poor utilization of resources, not a lack of resources.
The last super quality signing we had was Arshavin, and we had the money to bring him in, and managed to pay his wages too (apparently one of the highest at the club). But at the time he was a player that was worth it, and his boost helped us get 4th. [Its personally gone wrong in his case, playing out of his best position, maybe a lack of desire, but that's another issue]
With the 55 odd million from Cesc and Nasri, even with CL revenue, high ticket prices etc. most of the money has disappeared. Ok so we panic bought in the last hours of the window, but not 'super super quality'. This has been happening for a while, remember selling Adebayor for 25 million, Toure as well, and we thought we had money in the bank to spend? Most of it disappeared. We didn't use it to buy top quality replacements, but instead of players that are of the quality to hit the ground running, more project players that would probably need a season before getting into their stride, as well as the numerous young player contracts of course.
This is Wenger's doing, he is the economist here, he loves being frugal, and agrees with the board. Remember what he said at the end of this latest transfer window? 'Lots of clubs are being cautious, there is very little movement, see I was right, you need to be wary of economics and financial fair play'. It seems that Fabregas and Nasri money doesn't need to be spent on high level replacements, but into the bank to please the board. He loves it, and wants to do things his way, lets not kid ourselves that the board are putting “extreme” restrictions on him.
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