Arsenal football club under Arsene Wenger have been a top 4 side in the Premier League throughout his entire tenure. From 1997-2005, he’s led the Gunners to 3 league titles, 4 FA Cup and Community Shield victories respectively. However, since 2005 they have not won anything and that begs the question, are Arsenal still a top side? The short answer would be yes, but where they sit now among Europe’s upper echelon has changed.
When Arsene Wenger led Arsenal to all of those titles, he did it with a predominantly veteran side built on solid defense, dynamic attack and a sprinkle of youth. Since the departure of Thierry Henry to Barcelona marked the end of the old guard at Arsenal, Wenger has undertaken a youth movement that is not only yet to yield results but in the last year looks to be regressing. Arsenal are among the most naturally talented sides in Europe with a core of players who’s maximum potential is are nowhere close to being reached. This all sounds fantastic and with Wenger’s shrewd eye for young talent, you would think the club is on the right path. Well its true they are on the right path…almost.
Arsenal have become a selling club, it is fitting that the club be under the guidance of a French manager because they have essentially become the British version of Lyon. A predominantly young side with enough quality to challenge domestically and in Europe but cannot quite reach the top because of an inability to hold onto and attract Europe’s elite players.
There is one major difference however between Arsenal and Lyon, that difference is Arsenal possess the ability to immediately change their circumstances. Arsene Wenger’s fiscally responsible management approach should be applauded for the most part. He is a football purest, he believes in playing the beautiful game the right way, developing young talent, not overspending on player transfers and not paying exuberant player salaries. The problem is that his refusal to acquiesce to the modern economics of the game has seen Arsenal continually lose its top players to big clubs willing to pay them on par with Europe’s elite. This approach was all well and good when he yielded a side of polished veterans with the ability to win immediately, but when you have an extremely young team who are not yet ready to win, players will leave for big money and the promise of trophies. The best example of this is Cesc Fabregas having left this past week for Barcelona and already having won a trophy after only playing for 15 minutes on his debut. Names such as Diarra, Flamini, Hleb, Adebayor and soon to be Nasri have all left or in Nasri’s case will soon leave the club just as they are ascending to the level of top class players.
In his time as Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger most expensive transfer has been a £14, 520,000 move for Andrey Arshavin. In terms of world football’s economic climate that is just unacceptable for a club looking to win trophies. For Arsenal to turn their fortunes around in the near future, Wenger needs to first make use of that large blank cheque that the club has made available to him and sign 3 or 4 fully developed world class players in their prime, and second re-sign his young stars to contracts with salaries on par with the rest of Europe so they don’t leave for more lucrative pastures. Wenger need look no further than Barcelona for the blueprint. Barcelona now have a senior squad where 50% of the roster are homegrown players straight out of La Masia, and with the signing of Cesc Fabregas can now field a world class starting 11 comprised solely of homegrown players. Barcelona are smart enough to know that you have to pay your best the salaries that will keep them with the club, which they have systematically done with every youth system product. They have also shown the willingness to splash the cash when they think it be necessary. Arsenal have been called mini Barcelona, its time they started acting like it.
With the sale of Cesc Fabregas and the imminent departure of Samir Nasri, Wenger has eluded to the possibility that he may be willing to spent upwards of £30 million should the right player become available. It seems he may have no choice but to spend big now with the transfer market drawing to a close in a few weeks. Even the best managers, and Arsene Wenger is certainly one of them, run out of time after not winning for too long and his time may be up if he does not make a drastic change soon.
Arsenal have the manager, stadium, history, potential and most importantly the money to attract the best players. ‘The Professor’ has his finger on the trigger, now its time to pull it.
