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Wenger Opens Up On Transfers: “New Signings Unlikely Before Emirates Cup”

By on July 27, 2013

Arsene Wenger has opened up for the first time this summer about his ambitions in the transfer market and it’s a good news/bad news situation. The good news is the boss has admitted he wants to bring new signings in; the bad news is it looks like we’re going to have to wait a little longer before we see them.

We’ve been linked with a whole host of top names in recent weeks, none more so than Luis Suarez, and it was in response to a question regarding his interest in the Uruguayan that Wenger admitted he’s ready to do quick deals, but reminded everyone it doesn’t only depend on him and warned that any new signing is unlikely before next weekends Emirates Cup.

Clearly, this is not ideal. The season kicks off in three weeks and if nobody is signed by next weekend, we’ll be down to two weeks. The earlier we can get new players in the more time they’ll have to adapt and get used to their new surroundings, so we’re playing a dangerous game in leaving it late again. Fingers crossed once we get the first signing done, the rest will quickly follow.

For those of you who were on Twitter late last night, you would probably have seen a quote going around where Wenger said we’d still be title challengers with or without new additions. Understandably there was a huge backlash to this comment with many taking it as an early hint to expect little activity before the window closes.

However, I think it’s clear the boss has ambitious plans this summer (he’s bid £40 for a player!) and we’re just going to have to be patient. Big money deals don’t happen overnight. Here’s what Wenger told the Mirror.

“We are ready to do quick deals but all the transfers do not depend only on us, but we are prepared to wait. It looks unlikely before the Emirates Cup (next weekend).

“We still have a strong squad but we are there on the market to try to strengthen our team. With or without additions we can be title challengers next season.”

Wenger was also asked for his response to Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers’ comment when he said Suarez would be making a mistake joining Arsenal as we’re not a bigger club than Liverpool. In true Arsene style he deflected the question back to his counterpart but reiterated that he’s not close to signing the striker and hinted that talks have been difficult while they’ve been away on pre-season tour in the Far East. He continued:

“He [Rodgers] must explain that. I don’t know. We are not close to signing Suarez or anybody else so there’s no reason why I should talk about it.

“There is nothing to say. I have been away now for two or the weeks and it’s hard to see how things are advanced because everyone is on tour at the moment and it’s very difficult to get in touch with people.

The boss also claimed that increased competition from wealthy clubs in France (he didn’t name any names but we know he was talking about PSG and Monaco) has name life more difficult when it comes to buying players, and once again says he’s looking for ‘talent’ not a ‘name’.

Many Gooners, myself included, feel the club desperately needs another defender and a defensive midfielder but we may be left disappointed on that front as Wenger hinted that he may not strengthen those two positions; saying that there’s already a lot of competition in midfield and that Bacary Sagna has settled in very well at centre-back.

“I believe that every club competes on a very high level. What has changed recently is that in Europe some countries like France suddenly have bought some very very talented players who two or three years ago would all have come to England. It makes the chase for talent very difficult.

“What we want is not as name but as good player. The name is less important. What is more important is the quality of the player. At the moment I must tell you we are not close to signing anybody.

“We try to do the job and we will try to do it well. But that is in front of us. We have worked a lot but nothing has been concluded with anybody.

“Of course we want to do as many top players as we can. But we also have to focus on the players we have and develop them. We have plenty of candidates in midfield now and there is a big fight there. Bacary Sagna settles in well at centre-back with Thomas Vermaelen out.” Wenger told the Mirror.

Hmmm. If we don’t sign a ‘proper’ defensive midfielder this summer, I think we can forget about challenging for the title. It was a major weakness in our team last season. Sure, Mikel Arteta was excellent when we had the ball, but when without it, particularly when we were hit on the counter attack, the defence was left badly exposed. We need a powerful midfield terrier who can protect the back four, and a utility defender who can play in a variety of positions wouldn’t go a miss either.

The clock is ticking Arsene, let’s hope you know what you’re doing….

Check out more Arsenal Transfer News

What do you make of Wenger’s comments? Do you think he’ll end up spending big or will we be left disappointed once again?

30 Comments

  1. atid

    July 27, 2013 at 11:30 am

    I totally agree with you in fact I would say we need a world class addition in each of the 5 departments GK, defence, holding midfield, attacking midfield, and striker. For me its so easy cesar fellaini fabregas suarez. For a world class defender I would go for gustavo I know technically he is a DM but he plays all across the back 4 as well including both full backs. I know that is going to set us back around £105m but that is the position we have put ourselves by not replacing over the last few years.

    • Rob25

      July 27, 2013 at 11:46 am

      Atid you hit the nail on the head! We need to strengthen in all 5 departments because of our previous transfer policy. To be honest it appears to be Groundhog day again, if Wengers recent statement “The current squad can challenge for the title” is anything to go by? How can a man who has worked over 30 years in football actually say that? I haven’t worked a day, but lets see who is right at the end of next season?

  2. Afc

    July 27, 2013 at 11:40 am

    What a joke he would rather play bacary cb then buy a new cb after watching him play a few friendlies against some small teams this man has not changed. Why not just pay the extra 10 mil and get Suarez for 50 mil if he wants quick deals? I’m sure if he did that he would shut the doubters up. Apparently afc have money to spend but yet afc have not spent a penny so far on top of it we are selling gervinho wouldn’t that make our team even weaker than last season? On top of that verm is already injured what happens if kozzer or per gets injured we’re in trouble. Does this man really want to win silverware?

    • rohan

      July 27, 2013 at 12:09 pm

      Actually Sagna was played at centre back against sunderland last season and put in a MOTM performance in that position. D’you even watch arsenal?

      • Rob25

        July 27, 2013 at 3:06 pm

        Sunderland?? the premiers lowest scoring side at the time! Lets see him play there in the CL then we can judge? You maybe right, but surely that means we then need a new RB in that case?

  3. Loreng

    July 27, 2013 at 11:41 am

    Stop kidding us useless wenger fans are tired of u.we’ll soon leave u wth ua club.nonsense!

  4. goonernick

    July 27, 2013 at 11:56 am

    Can’t believe Wenger’s comments “There is nothing to say. I have been away now for two or the weeks and it’s hard to see how things are advanced because everyone is on tour at the moment and it’s very difficult to get in touch with people.” What does he think a mobile phone is for!!

    How many years have we seen issues defensively – still he doesn’t see it.

    Great if we can get Suarez, but not convinced he will. I’ll believe it when I see it!!

  5. willy obis

    July 27, 2013 at 11:59 am

    very nice one

  6. Ademola Oriyomi

    July 27, 2013 at 12:21 pm

    Am sick & tired of dis our coach I guess we’re going to another trophless season again

  7. bigseg

    July 27, 2013 at 12:27 pm

    May be we fans should stop wacthing arsenal matches or we protest with banners or we throw objects @ Wenger or we distrup the Emirate cup competitions or we attact Arsene wenger or we shoot him IF HE FAIL TO BUY B4 EMIRATE CUP. Wenger pls watch Your movement around bcos i will shoot u and wait bcos we are not happy. Gazzidi watchout!

  8. bigseg

    July 27, 2013 at 12:34 pm

    GUYS wake up, we cannot fold our Alms. This man has not change. Asene wenger has a VILLAGE. Sence. Stingy Fellow

  9. Makro

    July 27, 2013 at 1:01 pm

    Arsene will buy am very sure of dat, but he won’t buy any of †ђε listed names. Wot I do is stay calm αϞ∂ wait till d last nite of transfer, then he will buy like 3 players where u will see d good, bad αϞ∂ ugly, dats arsene for u. @ †ђε end of d day total money sent won’t be up to †ђε 40m u all think he i̶̲̥̅̊ƨ going to send on suarez lol.

  10. abangi jo

    July 27, 2013 at 1:05 pm

    wenger sh’d stop playing on our mind,we luv de club bt wenger is de problem please we r tired ov stupid policy of tell’g pipo that u hve money bt no singings ever u want free players example de likes of slivister, squeillice, yaya sanogo plis we want big names in

  11. Gooner of the day

    July 27, 2013 at 1:26 pm

    Great article telling fellow gooners the truth. Well the truth from another angle in my opinion is that we will be signing sweet F.A. this window because I do not trust Wenger in the transfer market. Especially when he comes out with the usual “must develop what we have” boring! boring! boring! and “nowhere near to a signing” yawn! yawn! yawn! that man certainly knows how to give us Gooners sleepless nights and fills us with confidence. Regarding the Suarez proposed signing that won’t happen because I read a superb article on this site this week saying that the Suarez transfer is all a ploy by Wenger and co to make us fans think that they’ve been trying but knowing that Liverpool would never sell at the price we offered Strange as I had been thinking the same thing myself. I hope the manager proves me wrong on all counts I really hope that he does I mean that, but if I am right it’s gotta be no new contract and bye bye Mr Wenger as we don’t want another 8 years of misery.

  12. Philo Lutaaya

    July 27, 2013 at 1:53 pm

    Wenger are we Competing for only the Premier League or we’re Competing for the Champions league to, sure can we compete with Bayern Munich,PSG,Barcelona, RealMadrid en Juventus. Dear Gooners iam sick en tired of foolerly these Guys r just fooling us, You loose Higuain en yo nt so sure dat yu wil sign Suarez, yu are talking of France what about Juventus and Napoli ar’nt yu going to compete with them. Arsenal Management stop fooling us were are tired Wenger of yo games dat there is no talent were yu had seventy million pounds given to yu even before the end of the season y dn’t yu buy prayers if n’t yu go back en develop talents in Grampus.

  13. Destiny denniz

    July 27, 2013 at 1:54 pm

    We are not afta names we are after quality, says d prof nw i ask 4 how many monthz does it takes 2fine quality, nw dat we all av heard t frm d horses mouth t dere4 means dat all d speculations n rumous must nt b believed, top7 s a posibility if ntin s done

  14. linda Calvert

    July 27, 2013 at 1:58 pm

    It wil be the same old story again from wenger saying we tried to sign some players but we could not find the quality that we were looking for. I bet he will be glad when the transfer window closes. It will be the same bullshit coming from him saying well we did try to sign players. Looks like its back to bargain basement crap again. I think this man is seriously deluded if he thinks he can compete for the title with this bunch of players. Time for him and the board to be ousted.

  15. Edwin

    July 27, 2013 at 2:23 pm

    Same old arsenal, am sick and tired of Le Prof his statement has simply said it all- £70m war-chest has been in our armoury for over 5 seasons, Wenger please use this cash now. Sign! Sign! Sign!

  16. coker

    July 27, 2013 at 3:03 pm

    Enough of this nonsense, wenger why telling us story, go ahead an pay suarez money, u are satisfy with top 4 but fans want trophy. U can sell @ higher price but u cant buy is that a good philosophy

  17. Alchemist

    July 27, 2013 at 3:54 pm

    Wenger is a foolish man. He discover talents thru his network of scouts & allow other coaches to buy d players such as Jovetic, Wanyama, Bernard, etc. Arsenal needs 4 world class talents, ie a striker, DM, CD & a Goalkeeper. Wenger & Gazidis shld spend d £70M war chest or face fans revolt. Imagine a Coach dat has gone 8 trophyless seasons saying nonsense in every tranrfer mkt due 2 lack of ambition.

  18. ADESHINA

    July 27, 2013 at 4:08 pm

    pls mr wenger as for me. i am tired of all these rumour every day every month and every year. were are in so much in love with this club but way things are goin without win trophy every year. as for me personal i am not happy with it. if u know that you want to sign player sign on time dont make us a fool. pls can u add 10 to suares money so that you will not miss this oppotunity again thanks

  19. Jorails Proud

    July 27, 2013 at 4:17 pm

    GUSTAVO/FELLAINI, CESEAR,SUAREZ N ASHLEY WILLIAMS would wind us the league and chalenge strongly for CL.Fabregas spends season at nou camp and next summer he tops our transfer LIST.Saying all these bcoz am a gunner and wish the best for arsenal but WENGER does things for HIMSELF and BOARD

  20. Jorails Proud

    July 27, 2013 at 4:26 pm

    Wenger or board to blame, we tired of seeing UTD,CITY N CHELSEA FANS jump n shout in happiness while for us WENGER roars “of course we came so close n showed great spirit,ended the season on the high,hopefully next season”……i hate this words next season

  21. davidrusa

    July 27, 2013 at 5:41 pm

    I believe Wenger is one man who will not be drawn into discussion about his potential targets. Hence I believe the evasive answers were meant to thwart the curiosity of the journalists. Once he said he was not anywhere near signing anyone what else would anyone ask him in that regard? To that extent Wenger achieved his objectives without letting the cat out of the bag. It is also very mature of Wenger not to be drawn into an exchange with Brendan Rogers as it is uncalled for. Now back to the issue of signings I sincerely believe that we shall sign new players because we have lost a number of deadwood who need to be replaced with better players. Why doesn’t Wenger assure fans about this? I believe part of the reason is that he is not obliged to do that. On the issue of signing players early I think this issue presupposes that there are no players in Arsenal while in fact all we need are about 2 or 3 players to compete favourably with the other big boys; hence whether we sign players early or late it will not affect the beginning of the season.

  22. sid

    July 27, 2013 at 11:15 pm

    Don’t you get it Arsene is playing mind games with the bindippers, he isn’t talking to the fans.
    how long have you supported Arsenal?

  23. Olarewaju

    July 28, 2013 at 12:51 am

    Arsene is completely Crazy.. Am fed up of hearing the same old story, I hope he sign 2 or 3 players before the transfer Close

  24. oneboy

    July 28, 2013 at 8:11 am

    wenga has said it all “we need talent not name in arsenal” wenga (le professor) is just already made name not talent anymore, so he should resign his days a over.

  25. Tony N

    July 29, 2013 at 2:47 pm

    This man (Wenger) will not stop breaking peoples heart.

  26. Ibrahim jusufu alie

    July 29, 2013 at 3:54 pm

    Mr wenger we the fans across the world wants to be happy just like the clubs fans around the are happy please do some thing for us as the oldest coach in premire leauge for now.

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    October 20, 2014 at 12:00 am

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