Transfer balls: Arsenal spend big, buy the Leicester model and wait
Arsenal are having a tough time. Yeah, really. The BBC says Arsenal are “braced” for complaints from fans after “warning them not to expect expensive summer signings.”
That would be the Arsenal who this summer signed Switzerland midfielder Granit Xhaka from Borussia Monchengladbach for £35m (source: BBC)? It would be. That sounds like an expensive signing. It isn’t. As Alan Smith writes in the Guardian, £30m is the “norm” for a decent player.
The Times has more on why the BBC says Arsenal are expecting their fans to complain. Ivan Gazidis, the Arsenal chief executive, says not-big-spending Leicester are the model.
Gazidis said that Arsenal should be inspired by Leicester even after he recruited Ben Wrigglesworth, who was head of technical scouting at the champions. “Leicester identified players from the French second division, so maybe there’s talent that we’ve been overlooking,” Gazidis told ESPN.
“They did their talent identification [well], they had great unity within the group, as well as quality. It wasn’t built on money. It was built on the great fitness work they did. It was built on all of these other elements. I think that’s going to be a continuing trend within the Premier League.”
Or as the Mail says, also today:
Arsene Wenger insists he is ready to spend BIG
Says Wenger: “It’s not over. Today we are in July, and the transfer market finishes on the 31st of August. We know as well that a lot happens many times in the last week.”
The media really have no idea who Arsenal will buy.
Posted: 23rd, July 2016 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
