Written by Mean Lean on Thursday, 09 June 2011 11:03

Arsenal completed their first signing of the season yesterday after one of the worst kept secrets was announced on dot com.

Young full back Carl Jenkinson put pen to paper on a long term contract which saw the 19 year old make the jump from League one to the Premier League. He has shone in the Charlton side after being presented a chance in the team due to several injuries at full back. From what I have heard about him, he is very good on the ball, calm and tidy in possession. He can also play at both full back positions and center back which is just the versatility we need at Arsenal.

At 6ft 1ins I wonder how mobile and dynamic he is to be able to get up and down and support our attacks but that is something for another time. He is a promising player who will need to develop and show his quality. He certainly hasn't been bought to come straight into the side immediately. What's more, he is a Gooner which is just great.

Later on in the day Manchester United had agreed a 16.5m fee with Blackburn Rovers for the services of Phil Jones who is also 19 years of age. Apparently we also had a fee agreed with Blackburn but the player chose Manchester United ahead of Arsenal. Fair enough I suppose. He is already oop'norf and has a chance to play for the current champions.

Cue Twitter fury!

Many Arsenal fans were incensed that we had bought a young, cheap player whilst Manchester United were 'showing intent' by splashing the cash.

I just do not understand what any of that actually means. I do not know why a) more expensive means better and b) what showing intent means? I thought teams were just trying to build strong sides instead of showing intent.

For a start I am quite surprised that we actually bid as much as that for a player still learning his trade but why would Phil Jones be the answer to all our problems?

The calls have been to purchase a tall, experienced central defender to compliment our other defenders. Well Jones is 5ft11 and is only 19 so does not meet either criteria. I really would not be surprised if we had actually signed the fella to find the same Arsenal fans complaining that we have wasted a large chunk of our budget on yet 'more kids'

As Wenger Boy pointed out on Twitter yesterday.

BREAKING NEWS: Arsenal sign/do not sign
experienced/young
goalkeeper/defender/midfielder/striker.
Arsenal fans outraged.

I received a tweet telling me that Manchester United were showing ambition by spending big money. A price of a player is down to the selling club and what the buying club are willing to pay. It is not always linked to talent, quality or ability. I point you in the direction of Jordan Henderson for example. Liverpool are going back to throwing money around like it is out of fashion and Sunderland are selling an English player who usually carry around an inflated price tag so now Henderson is now a £20 million player.

If he was from Norway and playing for a mid-table club he would have joined Liverpool for £3.5 million. Exactly the same talent and player but different circumstance. I wish more people would separate quality with price. I am surprised that this mix up still exists when Gooners are watching the likes of Cesc and Van Persie every week, or given their injury records over the years every three weeks. Cesc was signed for £500,000 compensation whilst you could have bought 12.7 Robin Van Persie's for the same amount as Liverpool paid for Andy Carroll. Not quite sure what you would do with a 0.7 Van Persie, he would probably still have more class than Carroll. How about 18 Van Persie's for the price of Fernando Torres?

You could field a whole team of Van Persie's and still have enough to replace the injured ones. It would be quite an interesting team.

School classroom question to you: Who would win, team of Van Persie's or a team of Cesc Fabregas'? In fact which player x 11 would be the best in our squad?
Answers on the back of a postcard, or you could indeed leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Which brings me onto the Cesc Fabregas story. *yawn* Something to do with Barcelona agreeing personal terms or something and it is now down to the clubs to agree a price yet apparently Barca only have £8.50 left in their piggy bank. Bless them.

Perhaps Barcelona should sell some of their players and then get back to us when they are ready to do business, if not then Cesc should remain an Arsenal player for next season.

When average Englishmen are moving for £20m then you just cannot sell one of the best midfielders in world football for less than his value. That is just ridiculous and disrespectful.

Going back to the center of defence, according to the Mirror sport, we are in talks with Gary Cahill and Chris Samba. Hmmmm, not sure how much I believe that one. We certainly won't be buying two new center backs. Perhaps we are in talks with several defenders before making what is it? Oh yeah, 'a swoop' for one of them. Them, may not actually be the players that the reporters are suggesting.

The Samir Nasri situation continues to be a situation, one that does not appear any closer to being resolved. Apparently he wants more than £110k per week and the club are unwilling to do so. I have been confident that Nasri would stay for sometime but I must admit, that confidence is starting to waver somewhat.

Whilst I agree that we should not break our pay structure for a player who is yet to produce a whole season of top quality, I cannot just shrug my shoulders and say be off with you.

I really think that Nasri will become a really special player in a few years time and I just bloody hope it is with us. We have lost the likes of Flamini, Hleb, Adebayor, Anelka and Ashley Cole in the past. Players that left before we wanted them to but I think Nasri will be the one we could really regret if he was to depart.

Whatever happens with Samir Nasri, we have to remember that no individual player is bigger than the club. The wage structure is important. We already pay top wages and breaking our structure for every player who demands an increase would lead us down the wrong path.

Ok, that is just about that for today.

Back again tomorrow.

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Comments (11)

• 09-Jun-2011 12:12 | | BKingsmill  - Player x 11
  

  People will easily say 11 Wilshere's will work, but it wont, he wont be able to score and just keep passing it to each other (still wil be fantastic viewing) - I think 11 Vermaelens would do the trick. We know he can shoot, tackle, string, he'd be immense!

• 09-Jun-2011 12:50 | | Wenger Boy
  

  Excellent post ML.
  
  I think we could regret Nasri leaving but only if we don't replace. And if he is willing to disrespect the club over wages how can we be sure he won't disrespect it in another more harmful way further down the line?
  
  I personally would have 11 Van Ps over 11 Fabs. I think Van P has this extra 5%-10% commitment that would make him a better defender, plus his passing is exemplary and his goalscoring...well...enough said. I also know for a fact he enjoys playing in goal which gives him a significant edge. Even if he was beaten by a penalty from his six year old son.

• 09-Jun-2011 13:16 | | alf15
  

  Give 11 Eboues anyday! haha. But coming back to your comments on price of english players vs foreigners. Barca (a spanish team) want to buy our best player (a spanish player), we should take the stance of the English clubs and hike the price up for Fab seen as he is Spanish and a spainish club wants to buy him! If Henderson is £20m! Then Fab is easily £60-70m!! And if Barca dnt like it, then can go p*ss off.
  
  Good post by the way!

• 09-Jun-2011 13:19 | | Omglol
  

  As you said, Nasri never give us good year, only half, in 3 years he is here. And he want same wage like someone who is close to 8 years here and he is irreplaceable. But ok if he managed to win the wage war, the problem is he bring dirty game for not denying MU transfer. Thats over the line and after that dont think he will ever be my fav player. But its good that we bid so much but we didnt won(its to much for him) it say lot about Wenger will to fix things.

• 09-Jun-2011 13:49 | | goonerbegood  - NOT EVEN MOVING IN MY SEAT.
  

  ys we have signed a player,and am sure the manager expects us to be happy. am not moving in my seat yet until i see proper players.
  players whom are ready to go,not we have to wait another 4 yrs for them to develop by which time ,they will want to leave for barcelona or madrid claiming they have dna.
  
  welcome jenkins ,pls bare with me ,am just a fan whom has been let down by the manager.

• 09-Jun-2011 21:54 | | dkgooner  - Injuries
  

  I see one of our frequent cripples - RVP - survived a horrific "tackle" in a friendly, while another - Gibbs - is out of the U21 tournament because of yet another ankle/foot injury.
  I sometimes wonder whether a squad of 25 will be enough for us, with players like the above 2, Cesc (hamstrings twanging), Djourou (knee), Diaby (what hasn't he injured?), and others constantly being sidelined for long periods. Maybe AW should not be looking so much for tall players, but robust players.

• 09-Jun-2011 23:29 | | richie
  

  Buy Iron man maybe? Never mind 25 we'll need bullet proof players to pass a single season without being undermaned through injuries.

• 10-Jun-2011 01:48 | | Man United Killer  - Richie..the million dollar question
  

  The point is not whether we will get injuries or not but the million dollar question is if our backup can hold up and do the job.

• 10-Jun-2011 03:19 | | richie
  

  That depends after all we are only supposed to name a 25man squad.
  Remember we ended up with 3 injured GK's and some idiots criticised the manager for not having stronger subs. Imagine having a top class 4th choice keeper, Can anyone name a good 4th choice GK that comes from any prem club? Yet another example of unfair criticism.

• 10-Jun-2011 14:31 | | Anonymous
  

  All these players making noise about leaving should go. Afterall they are the ones playing the games and not giving 100%. some of them are not supposed to be playing for Arsenal. AW should sign a decent CB, and GK keep one of FAb or Nasri.. get rid of Denilson, diaby, Rosicky, vela, clichy, squilacci, and sign a striker who can actually score goal... Arsenal makes me cry and i fight people almost everyday for telling the truth abt my club... i just want us to win EPL or CL.. its soooo sad. my 9yr old boy wont eat if we lose it just want to make me kill someone. AW please do something

• 11-Jun-2011 11:12 | | CHGooner
  

  Ah the 'overpriced English player' line. Overpriced in what sense? As I've said before the price of a player is linked to a number of things not necessarily just 'ability' which is a fairly subjective matter in itself in most cases (there are obvious exceptions such as Messi of course!). The fact is that Ferguson has always paid more for British/Irish players than players of similar 'ability' from abroad (veron being an exception). He does this for a very valid reason. They are worth more to him. Why? They help to continue the Man Utd spirit and togetherness, they are less likely to want to move elsewhere and they don't have adaptation issues. He buys from abroad as well though, recent signings like Nani and Hernandez show that he is alive to good players from anywhere in the World, but he brings them into a balanced squad with a health core of 'home' players to help them adapt and understand the culture of the league and club. Balance. They have it, we don't. They win trophies, we don't. Sadly I think it is too late for us (under Wenger at least). Given the choice the top talent from these shores seem to prefer any of the other top clubs over Arsenal. Mediocre French players however see us as the pinnacle! Wonder why?

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