It’s all rather exciting isn’t it!?
The World Cup hasn’t even finished and Arsenal already look like they have tied up two new players in Mathieu Debuchy (pretty much) and Alexis Sanchez. Sanchez in particular, being one to get excited about.
There is certainly a sense that times are changing at the club. Each of the past 3 or 4 summers have been “THE” summer with regards to seeing the financial benefits of the new stadium starting to come to fruition, but none of them have delivered. The signing of Mesut Ozil on deadline day last year may have been cause for celebration, but it merely covered up the atrocious transfer activity (or lack of), up until that point.
Even now, with everyone from Wenger to Sanchez’s hairdresser, more or less confirming that the Chilean World Cup star will be playing at The Emirates next year, some fans are refusing to get excited until its on .com! Remember Higuain!?
The question is though, IF these 2 signings are confirmed along with a new defensive midfielder (Sami Khedira being the latest name to be mentioned) and perhaps another striker (Remy?), does this mean that Wenger has finally given in to the financial reality of the modern game and accepted that to be successful, you have to spend money. Or, is this really THE summer when the move to The Emirates starts to pay off, literally.
For several years we have been told by the board time and time again that the money was there to spend if Wenger wanted to. For years this money stayed in the bank, leading many fans to become critical of Wenger, believing he was on a personal mission to prove success can be achieved without necessarily spending money. That he would rather fail his way, than succeed in a manner which did not satisfy his own personal goals.
An alternative theory would be that Wenger in fact adopted this frugal perception to deflect the attention away from the board. He would play the bad guy until the transition period caused by the stadium move was finished, knowing that one day he would have the financial muscle to compete with the best in England and Europe. Knowing that one day he would be able to buy players of the calibre of Ozil and Sanchez.
Perhaps the most likely catalyst for what will hopefully be an unprecedented Arsenal transfer window, is a combination of both the money finally being available to actually spend, and the manager wanting to spend it. Maybe the board were telling the truth when they said the money was there, but just because you or I have a nice pile of cash sitting in the bank, it does not mean we will go out and spend it all. Maybe we save it for a rainy day, maybe Wenger saved it for the possible monsoon that might have ensued had the club missed out on Champions League football? Maybe Wenger feels that now the new commercial deals are in place, he can finally go out and enjoy the extra financial power gained from the stadium which his vision and early success enabled the club to build?
I don’t know which, if any, of these theories is accurate. I’m just relieved that the shackles appear to be finally off and hope that with a successful summer, along with the memorable cup win in May, the fog of negativity that has surrounded and suffocated the club in recent years, can finally begin to lift.