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Wenger: Suarez, Rooney & Higuain Are ‘Realistic Targets’
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has claimed that Wayne Rooney, Luis Suarez and Gonzalo Higuain are all realistic targets this summer with the club now in a financial position to compete for the world’s best talent.
The boss was in front of the world’s media on Friday afternoon in Indonesia as we prepare for our first pre-season game against an Indonesia All Star XI this Sunday and he was in bullish mood, insisting that after years of struggling to compete, the club now has the financial resources to go after the top talent.
Three players who fall into that category who have been strongly linked with a move to north London in recent weeks are Wayne Rooney, Luis Suarez and Gonzalo Higuain, with various reports claiming we’ve made offers for the strikers.
Predictably, Wenger was quizzed on his interest in the trio and he told the Mirror that while they are realistic targets, they are all under contract and it’s up to the selling club to decide if they are available for transfer.
“They are all realistic targets, quality-wise, but not all of them are available to join us.
“First of all, all those players are under contract and it is the club that decides their contract, they decide if they can go and after, if they go, if they can join us.
“We have better financial resources than the years before – resources we have created ourselves. That is massively important to us.
The boss then claimed the club are working hard behind the scenes and will try and get their business done before the start of the new season, but insists they are looking for quality, not quantity.
“We will see what we can do until the end of the transfer period, and certainly before the new season starts. That’s what we are working on at the moment.
“The fans, the players and everybody is reassured by big names, always, but what is important is that we don’t need numbers, we need quality.
“For years, we were out of the race for the top level transfers, but we are coming back now because we are in a better financial situation on that front and also because of Financial Fair Play.
“We want to bring in players and strengthen the squad. I expect that to happen. We are working very hard on it and I’m confident we will be able to do it.”
So some positive words from Wenger. I’d expect nothing less to be honest. Ivan Gazidis was equally open about the clubs ability to compete at the top end of the transfer market when he spoke back in April and the boss seems confident we’ll be able to bring in some world class talent before the season starts. Whether it comes to fruition is another question though.
We’ve heard all this ‘working hard behind the scenes’ before only to be told ‘we didn’t find what we were looking for’ or ‘our targets weren’t available’ when the window closes. So like many Gunners fans, I’ll reserve my judgement until September 2nd when the windows shut.
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Do you think we’ll end up buying big names? Or will we be left disappointed once again?
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