Written by Mean Lean on Thursday, 29 December 2011 13:42

Good afternoon,

I trust you are well and that the double serving of Christmas dinner has finally digested. As we wave goodbye to December 25th, we move ever closer to a new year and to football fans up and down the country, it means more than jotting down new years resolutions it means potential new transfers which to some is more exciting than the football itself which is a little weird in my ever so humble opinion.

Anyhoo, today seems to be the Thierry Henry day. Whispers have been circulating that we have offered a two month loan to Henry and he should be available for selection on Monday against Fulham. A number of news outlets have been running the story and while we have yet to hear anything official you would guess that it is the usual case of smoke and the fiery stuff.

To be honest I would be more surprised if he doesn't sign for us really but I have gone into all this before so there is no need to delve into it again. I will say that I do not understand the reluctance from some Gooners to have him back purely on the fact that he was better in the past. Nothing that he does or even doesn't do will change what he has done in the past. His performance and goals will remain in history and even if we only have 60% of what we had back in 2003, I would have preferred to have called upon those services against Wolves when we were struggling for a goal. Surely it is better to have him than not, right?

Now should the argument be about having Thierry Henry or player x then that is a different story altogether. Having Thierry Henry for two months and only Henry means that once the two months is over we could be back to having a striker who hasn't played a minute of Premier League football and a striker who has been out of form for a while now. Ideally we would have player x who can play wide and central, score goals, adapt from the off and who is young enough to improve without costing £50m. That along with Henry means that we have covered both Chamakh and Gervinho in January and February.

Arsene has taken some stick in some quarters for saying that we do not need a player like Yoann Gourcuff when we have the likes of Abou Diaby coming back from injury. What Arsene has not explained is that we have filled our quota of non home grown players. Desi Gunner explains this better than I could so I suggest you go and have a read... Ay! After you finish this blog of course, where are your manners?

So while we are all calling for Arsene to go and buy a left back, wide forward and creative midfielder, in reality it is not as straight forward as that.

We know that players like Sebastien Squillaci, Manuel Almunia and possibly a few others are no longer required and are replaceable we have to actually get those players out of the club and that does not just involve us. It involves another club, possible transfer fee's and wage demands. While we must shoulder much of the blame over our summer's activity it was also down to the buying clubs to stump up the money in a timeframe that suited us, it is not always just down to Arsenal FC.

So if Arsene wants to bring in Gourcuff, Henry, Podolski and a left back then there has to be plenty of players leaving the club before those additions can be erm.. added.

Abou Diaby's name is only used because like many before him he is a scapegoat in many minds but Jack Wilshere's name is conveniently ignored. While I would love some extra creative talent, we cannot forget how good Jack is and how good he will become. If we had space in our squad for a player like Gourcuff then perhaps Arsene may be interested but we do not and other areas are more pressing right now.

Lukas Podolski's name has been brought up a number of times this season and the likes of Matt Law from the Daily Express are convinced that Arsenal are keen despite Arsene denying any interest. To be honest I have never really rated him in the past but I haven't followed his career very closely. But he has scored goals this year and can play in both Gervinho's and Chamakh's position so it would make sense in that respect.

Per Mertesacker has been speaking about his German team mate and that has sparked more Podolski to Arsenal stories. It is the usual player linked to Arsenal, find Arsenal player to comment on player and then use that as a new story.

Given our squad situation I will be looking closely at what will happen to those who are already at the club rather than players at other clubs because not much can be done until players are shifted out. Having said that, Wayne Bridge is homegrown.

And with that I will leave you for today.

Back again tomorrow.

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Comments (13)

• 29-Dec-2011 14:16 | | Junior Richards
  

  Good blog! I totally agree with you when you said that some players must be shifted out... with the likes of Squillaci and Almunia. Henry coming back to Arsenal would be fantastic. Having a legend in the dressing room will only bring a positive vibe to the other players and lift their spirits. Arsenal need to sign at least two players in January - A left back and a striker. I don't know who those players might be, but in my prospective, those two areas are really what we need. Do you think Arsenal would have a chance of signing Florent Malouda from chelsea? Just a curious thought..... I think he'd fit into Arsenal very nicely.
  
  Cheers, Have a good one.

• 29-Dec-2011 14:21 | | TheTunisianGunner
  

  Wenger HAVE to offload Squillaci and Almunia in the next days in order to be able to buy. What people forget when speaking of bringing players is the wages. A player does not only cost the transfer fee. Giving huge wages is Arsenal's problem not transfer fees.
  Squillaci is a waste of 40k a week !! sell him to bring podolski and a descent left back on loan. Taiwo from Milan AC is very good opportunity. Also calling kyle Bartley from loan is also a solution to cover squillaci departure

• 29-Dec-2011 15:10 | | Vuja De
  

  First and foremost, we should remember the golden rule when it comes to Arsene and transfer windows, which is to pay attention to what he actually does, rather than to what he says.
  
  Secondly, with Gervino and Chamakh going off to the ACN, and RVP needing a breather at some stage, I'd like to see Park given some game time, so that we can see more of what he brings to the footballing table.
  
  Third, if we are going to sign another forward, then I tend to agree with this quote from Mean Lean, "ideally we would have player x who can play wide and central, scores goals, adapt from the off and who is young enough to improve without costing £50m."
  
  To my mind, there is such a player already plying his trade in the premier league who fits that description, one who can also play as an attacking midfielder, and who I believe is simply playing for the wrong club.
  
  That club will be reluctant to sell him, but I think it's only a matter of time before he moves onto a bigger club, one more suited to his talents. His name: Moussa Dembele, currently on Fulham's books.
  
  We were scouting him in 2008/2009 when he was playing in Holland, so Arsene knows about his potential and what he can bring to the team.
  It probably isn't going to happen, but one can dream.

• 29-Dec-2011 18:10 | | sam  - afobe,park and chamberlain
  

  maybe he kept all these players for the second half of the season.
  maybe thats why he decided to sign henri to help these players.
  i don't care who they sign i am just wondering why is wenger hanging on to chamakh and arshavin for too long. time he gives them on the pitch could have been given to park or chamberlain. arsenal fans want new striker because they have already written off park chu young. afobe and chamberlain are strong enough for the premiership.
  first,players who have failed have to leave this january if they don't we will keep suffering because arsene wenger considers them senior therefore he will pick them. do you know we can have almunia in goal if anything happens to sczeszny? yes almunia, he's still here.

• 30-Dec-2011 13:09 | | Colesy  - Henry's coming
  

  So it's confirmed (all bar the paperwork). Plus Wenger's stated that he'll not be bringing in any more players (unless others leave during this window). He must be confident that we have the squad (and players to return from injury) to see us through to the end of the season (and through the ACN).
  
  Wenger's confirmed the return of Henry is HIS idea and his alone. It will be interesting to see if it works. It will also be interesting to see a) how he accommodates Henry into the team, b) who his replaces in the main starting eleven, c) whether anyone's nose is put out of joint by this and finally d) whether there is a fall-out once Henry stint is over (will the team suffer any negative effects or if they will push on without him). Only time will tell if this is a marketing ploy or one which will genuinely help the team and their goals for the remainder of the season.

• 30-Dec-2011 13:42 | | richie  - Advised reading for the colesy's of this world
  

  Check the link to Desi Gunner as ML advises it illustrates another reason apart from the obvious finacial restraights we as a club face if and when signings are to be made. Its another "know your own club" lesson for those who don't think too far before demanding signings. Its another angle to look at for all those who try to simplify everything and blame the manager for things that are mostly out of his control.

• 30-Dec-2011 14:08 | | richie  - Good news for Gooners
  

  After reading both your article and the link, its hard to see past an Henry loan deal. Personally I expect the great Thierry to do well, but even if he only helps out, at this time its what we need, a bit of help. Unless and until we can off load and until signings that will genuinley strengthen become available at a price (that our season ticket sales wage link will support) loans is the only way "forward" (sorry about the pun)

• 30-Dec-2011 15:01 | | Colesy
  

  My only reply would be that Wenger and Wenger alone brought in all those players Desi Gunner has listed and talks about potentially offloading. I agree that Wenger didn't bring in the squad rules which Desi Gunner refers to but I thought he wholeheartedly supported the change??
  
  He choses the players in his squad. He selects the team and he bears some of the responsibility for team results (tactics etc) and this translates to season ticket sales/empty seats/falling merchandise sales etc - all of which in turn mean lower revenue. Made worse if the club do not qualify for next years CL.

• 30-Dec-2011 15:54 | | Tony  - No 14
  

  So what's Titi's shirt number going to be...? Walcott giving up the famous 14 or what?

• 30-Dec-2011 16:39 | | MeanLean
  

  But isn't this the case for every single manager around the world? You say it as if Arsene is the only manager to bring in players who for some reason have not continued to improve.
  
  You need to reassess your expectations if you expect every single one of Arsene's decisions to work out.
  
  Look at Bebe at Man U, Torres and Luiz of Chelsea, Adebayor Man City, Carroll of Liverpool. What you can say about Arsene is that Arsene rarely wastes money over the course of a whole summer if ever.

• 30-Dec-2011 16:39 | | MeanLean
  

  He will be number 12 or that is what we hear

• 31-Dec-2011 12:45 | | Colesy
  

  ML - you missed my point entirely. Richie was referring to work posted on another site and claiming that it's not as simple as blaming Wenger as most things are out of his control. I replied by stating that Wenger was responsible for signing all of the squad we have registered. He is also responsible for moving players on if he so desires. Perhaps if he had done so, he would have made room in the squad to sign other players who are hopefully good enough to benefit the team.
  
  I didn't say he was alone in making poor signings. The point I was making is that he fails to move on players when it's obvious to all around that they are not good enough to help AFC. The silver lining is of course that Wenger hasn't spent £35M or £50M on his flops!!

• 01-Jan-2012 02:28 | | richie  - Colesy's missed points
  

  More to the points he hasn't put us further into debt in fact his in box ballances with his out box very nicely. There is no other manager in the prem who has ballanced his buying and selling as well as Wenger. But I think you miss the point on purpose because it doesn't tie in with you stance. Wenger has to take a gamble on buying young players like Denilson hoping that with his coaching they will come up to scratch.
  
  Because we as a club can't afford to do what Chelski does and did, when we needed to replace a defensive midfielder Gilberto and took a punt on Denilson - Chelski needed a player who played in that position and bought the best in the World Claude Makelele, then wanted to replace him and bought Essian. The difference is Arsene buys Alex Song for pocket change and developes him into the new Essian.
  
  How does Wenger move on those players that don't make it before we buy new ones? Thats the question? Remember that was what happened in the summer, we sold before we could buy and were short of players. Arsene Wenger said he'd gladly let Nasri play out his contract otherwise we would be short in midfield, and the board in the shape of Kroenke over ruled him. Your asking for a clear out but without the cover its not possible. Lehman had to come out of retirement to help us out because of injury's. If we don't have cover you'd be the first to cry its Wengers fault because we don't have the depth in the squad, or there's too many kids.
  
  But when its pointed out to you that our season ticket sales won't cover big player contracts, you don't want to know. We are at capacity as far as season ticket sales are concerned, there's a waiting list. Empty seats are from the corporate bods. As an example I know a local Islington business that gets 2 free corporate season tickets, the owner is a Bloody Spud! I kid you not. Amazingly before the Spuds improved their play he used to attend the Emirates. Not every game but monthly, nowdays he gives the tickets to whichever business associates he's working with. Sometimes they go sometimes not.
  
  Most of us realise that Squillaci hasn't worked for us, but even he is better than having no defender at all. Try to remember the circumstances of Squilla's buy? Toure left because he couldn't stand Gallas. Sol had returned and was our best defender. Djourou was injuried. Suddenley Gallas was suspiciously non commital about a new contract, and Sol decided to marry a Girl from Gateshead and live in the North East. We lost all our defence inside a month.

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