Wake Me Up When Something Happens
May 20th, 2007 by 'holic
Well that was a dull weekend. Dull, is that the word? Yes, dull it was. The Cup Final was dull. The Sunday papers, often the saviour of the journalistic week, were dull. My roast chicken was, well frankly, dull!
Regurgitated Gallas quotes, Henry to Barcelona, Freddie’s off, but wait. One story worth reading was news of Adebayor’s new contract. He’s earned it, having come a long way since his first stumbling steps in an Arsenal shirt. I do hope he continues to be out of step with the Togolese FA. It would be a shame to lose him for six weeks next season when the African Cup of Nations gets underway.
I suppose I was hoping to read positive news of imminent signings, because that’s all we have to look forward to in the summer. Everything you read from official sources tells you not to expect too much, and yet there was one season in particular when Wenger did busy himself for the coming season.
Those who say he doesn’t like to spend money should think back to the summer of 1997. Admittedly he had just spent his first few months in the Highbury hot-seat and had obviously decided he needed a raft of new talent to play the way he intended. During that glorious summer the new boys arrived. Marc Overmars, Emmanuel Petit, Giles Grimandi, Christopher Wreh, and Alex Manninger would all play significant parts in the ‘Double’ that was to be secured in the coming season.
Louis Boa Morte and Matthew Upson were destined not to flourish at Arsenal but would make their mark elsewhere in the Premiership. Only one of the signings didn’t quite work out. Whatever happened to Alberto Mendez?
The point is That Le Professeur was quick to address the obvious shortcomings he had seen in his side in the previous campaign, and without spending a fortune he transformed the squad. With so much talk of a number of departures from the Grove this could well be the summer that Wenger break his habit of only adding one or two new faces.
Almunia, Poom, Flamini, Aliadiere, and the painful combination of Reyes and Baptista, are all likely departures. Senderos and Ljungberg are strongly mentioned as possibles. Then of course the unlikely candidates, headed by Henry and Gallas, but to whom the name of Djourou has been added this weekend courtesy of Birmingham City, the Barcelona of the second city. Memo to Steve Bruce, if we make players available we will let you know. We don’t expect to read your wish list in a rag.
It is not beyond the realms of possibility that we will be losing half a dozen from a squad that was exposed this season. Bendtner is back, and Fabianski is on his way. Is it too much to hope that the balance is redressed by the capture of three or four experienced heads? Probably. That won’t stop me checking NewsNow every half an hour during the next couple of months though. What else is there to do?