Wenger insisted he could spend £30m on a striker if he wanted to, but he did not need to.
After another parsimonious summer Arsène Wenger yesterday insisted he could spend £30m on a striker if he wanted to, but he did not need to. Wenger has spent a net £3.2m pre-season, most of it on Samir Nasri who should be fit to make his debut against West Bromwich Albion this lunchtime. He admitted he is likely to buy again, but the probable target is a midfielder, and it will not break the club's £11m transfer record set when Sylvain Wiltord joined from Bordeaux in 2000.
"I would spend £30m on one player," Wenger said, "but I have the quality. I have [Robin] Van Persie, [Emmanuel] Adebayor, [Nicklas] Bendtner – who I have been patiently building up to be at the level I want him to be. I have Carlos Vela, Eduardo Da Silva."
Wenger partially contradicted himself when he said: "I am able to make signings at very high prices but you have to have the cohesion in the way you buy. Man United is in the bracket of £20m-£30m, Chelsea is in the unlimited bracket. We have to be in our bracket, we have to be very shrewd. When we bought Adebayor, who was thinking Adebayor was a great player? We bought him at the time at €4.5m(£3.5m). It is not just the price of the player, it is about how good he becomes.
"I have the money available to buy the players but we go into the competition with the target of balancing the budget, which I think every manager should do. Three or four years ago we embarked on a different policy. We have opted for stability with young players who have the spirit of our game, the spirit of our club. I believe we can show we are more united, that should be one of the advantages we have.
"The quality of a manager is spotting players when they are not necessarily stars. Big signings reassure [fans], but good performances are better."
Nasri should replace Emmanuel Eboué on the flank but with Cesc Fabregas and Abou Diaby injured Wenger is likely to retain the midfield pairing of Aaron Ramsey and Denilson.
Albion will, said manager Tony Mowbray, seek victory. "You have to have a belief that you can win. Otherwise, why bother turning up?"
Arsenal are without a trophy since lifting the 2005 FA Cup but Wenger said: "Every season is the season you have to win something."
I agree, but now arsenal needs a superstar.
Man U- ronaldo,rooney.
Liverpool; Gerrard, torres
Chelsea- terry, lampard
Arsenal- Fabregas only, dont tell me adebayor is a superstar :/ he sucks to the core
arsene is the most level headed manager in bpl today. rafa is next.
but you need a crazy dick to be successful there, like an alex or a scolari.
pleez, rafa, go crazy!!!
i dont think rafa is level headed. he make more fail signing than success.
the only succes i think he made is torres.
he doesnt give chance to youngster to nature their game. he want instant success to save his job and ass.
In my view, Arsene Wenger is one of the best managers in the world, I'm a Man Utd fan by the way, its just thats he's kinda stubborn. Time and time again its been proven to him that he won't win anything with the kids he's got. I mean, its 2 teenagers in his central midfield against west brom, and they both have little or no EPL experience. I predict another season of rebuilding in Wenger's words. To the rest of us, it simply means he is'nt gonna win anything
I am glad taore might be going out
nw if only we can sell the lousy diaby, dennilson and eboue as well and replace them
traore going? i only know hyote is going to boro.
ppl come and go, what the point of keeping your best player ronaldo if he doesnt want to stay. moreover the issue is not about money, he want to leave.
arsenal need a penetrative winger who can score.
i miss pires, overmars,lunjberg who can run at players and score.
we just dont have that players at arsenal.
i hope nasir is.
he is doing way too much "save face" work for the Arsenal board.. just hope he is being paid well enough to do them..
what to do, aw have to stick to his policy of giving chance to youngster, otherwise, youngster wont join arsenal too. look at walcott and ramsey who choose arsenal instead of chelsea and man utd.
moreover arsenal cannot outbid real, barca, man utd, chelsea, spurs, liverpool. so i agree with AW, the only way out is to attract good youngster the way to go in the long run.
this 2 manager, wenger and rafa..
they need to change the way management is done..
this is not spain/france
this 2 manager, wenger and rafa..
they need to change the way management is done..
this is not spain/france
not sure what u mean bro. care to elaborate what need to be change?
Originally posted by reyes:not sure what u mean bro. care to elaborate what need to be change?
buy ready-to-go players