In the midnight hour, fans cry, more, more, more
Arsene Wenger’s recent transfer activity suggests he moves very early in the summer market or ends up swooping in for very, very late pick ups (no innuendo there). There appears to be no middle, of the sort preferred by Liverpool, Chelsea, or Man Utd. He very rarely taps into the winter transfer market.
In 2012 he locked up the transfers of Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla, by June and August, respectively. Lukas Podolski was brought on board even earlier. In retrospect, a pre-emptive move because the rest of August proved nerve shredding with the departures of RVP and Song. Our best striker following his best season literally gone for a song. The previous season it was all angst, gloom and doom with only starlets for relief in Ox, Carl Jenkinson, and Joel Campbell as Fabregas finally left for Barca, officially ending the longest transfer saga in history. Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy also bade farewell for some oil money. Some wan smiles were managed with the midnight hour arrivals of Arteta, Mertesacker, Benayoun, Andre Santos, and Park Chu Young. The last two for comic relief.
Last year Mesut Oezil blindsided us at the very last minute. This year, Wenger managed a number of happy dances with his early business of getting Alexis Sanchez, Calum Chambers, Mathieu Debuchy, and David Ospina. Not to mention the arrival of Shad Forsythe, probably the last name in kinesiology, who lives to rectify muscle imbalances. So less injuries you would think? This is Arsenal, we don’t do things easy. Giroud’s gone for four months after a freak accident, and Walcott is still four weeks from a return. My feeling runs contrary to others who think Wenger is going in for a holding midfielder and possibly a centre back. That might happen but it also undercuts Mikael Arteta’s role and Wenger’s long term vision of Chambers either at the center or as holding midfielder. More likley, after Giroud, you have Sanchez, Campbell, and Yaya Sanogo, all potential marksman extraordinaire but they also have not a single league goal between the three.
In Wenger’s scheme, the only one who fits the bill is as a pure centre forward is Sanogo, and although he shows promise, he is extremely raw. Sanchez and Campbell play wide. There are suggestions Wenger might be fitting Sanchez at the center as witnessed in the Everton and Besiktas matches but the Chilean’s instincts are not quite right. He’s a bit too peripatetic for that role. Thierry Henry started the same way initially on the left drifting to the centre and it took a considerable amount of time for that transformation, but Henry in all fairness was backed up by an immaculate Bergkamp. What we have at present are a whole lot of questions up front. A proven goalscorer on loan would be my bet to make sure Arsenal lock in on their favoured fourth position and allow time for Wenger’s long term vision to materialize. Wenger does strategy very well but often finds dipping his toes into tactics a distasteful proposition.
Who that will be is a mystery but Radamel Falcao’s name came up and Wenger did seem receptive. He’s managed a big name or two last minute. Hopefully, that is the case and it would be very nice to get cover at the back too.