Another season of unsettling news out of the Emirates. Flamini gone to Inter, Ade and Hleb’s future looking murky; Rosicky and Eduardo with major injury concerns. In short our attack is stretched very, very thin and needs an infusion in double quick time in order to remain competitive.
It appears that we are linked to either Andrei Arshavin or Klaas Jan Huntelaar, even maybe both for a reported combined price tag of £38m.
But this is to be seen in context of Wenger’s bizarre statement: “The strategy of the club is to sell every year and to buy less expensive players.”
Wenger says that this will be the strategy for the next 17 years to pay off the debt on the stadium. This cost cutting strategy will generate a £24m surplus annually. Yes, Arsenal is officially in the business of leveraging players.
In effect too, buying players now is contingent on maintaining the £24m margin. Which means that Arshavin and Huntelaar don’t come under the category of ‘less expensive players’ . And I agree with Arseblog, Wenger’s pronouncement makes no sense if Arsenal wants to retain a bargaining advantage. In fact, with this there will be very few “less expensive players” left on the market with clubs cognizant of Wenger’s plan. It all seems quite fishy.