POSSIBLE SUMMER SHAKE UP?

Last summer was confirmation from Arsene Wenger that he has given up with his youth experiment as we lost a number of youngsters that were meant to be part of the next generation of the club. It turned out that a lot of them were not good enough and we instead decided to bring in players who were older and ready. Players like Santi, Podolski, Ozil, Flamini and Giroud. I know many of you have opinions of some of those players, some good and some bad, but it’s a fact that they are all older and proven unlike a lot of the youngsters we have been bringing in for many seasons.

Below is a graphic of players who left last season, have a look at some of the names and you will remember them being with us from a young age for many seasons when many of them were not good enough but we kept them on and on and on. Finally they have left and we can start afresh.

Are we going to another shake up this summer?

We have players who are rumoured to be leaving or not wanting to renew their contracts but instead of them being youngsters they are international players, people like Sagna, Podolski and Vermaelen. I think the fans opinions are split down the middle on Podolski, he is a top guy and clearly a great character but a lot of fans are unsure about his worth to the squad. For me he is a proven International player and to have him in the squad has to be a positive. Top sides always have top players ready to come in and do a job for the team when needed. Its basic knowledge that you wont get world class players coming in to sit on the bench, this is where players like LP help.

Vermaelen is the same, he is a top defender and captain of the club, for us to be a top top side we need these players in our squad. Its just about whether he wants to stay at the club and be part of the squad, as for now I cant see the partnership of Kos and Per being split up for anything but an injury or suspension. If that was to ever happen what a player TV is to bring in and replace them.

Sagna is our number 1 right back and needs to be offered a huge contract to stay. They guy is a warrior and will fight for our cause until he drops. I was at Sunderland away last season, I think when we went down to 10 men, and had to protect a lead, Sagna went into centre back and was simply superb. I want players like that at my club. Yes he has had bouts of bad form and I was one of the ones criticising that period but always knew he would come back to perform well again. Its down to the club to retain them so we can improve on the qualities that we have and not have to replace them all the time.

The players we should be looking to offload are people like Bendtner, Djourou and Park, these players who sap our wage bill away and are robbing a living from us. Get rid of them and use the money on players we need and can use. The only other player to be linked with a move away is our back up keeper Fabianski. I think it would be a great shame to loose him but the fact is that he is good enough to be a number 1 goalkeeper somewhere else, just like Vito Mannone has proved at Sunderland. We will need to recruit another goalkeeper as relying on the youngsters to be the back up is not ideal I don’t think.

I can see another small shake up happening this summer, we still have a few of the youngsters knocking around and as above some of the first team need to leave ASAP. I think we are clearly looking for players, a striker as everyone knows is a must and I can see business being done earlier because of the world cup. I think we will have targets in mind now and maybe even some deals drawn up ready to be completed when the time is right. If players like Sagna, Poldolski or Verm leave we need to replace them with like minded experienced players to keep the quality throughout the squad.

Overall we have a good team, a good squad and but for a few improvements will continue to be a good side. We need to concentrate on keeping this set of players together over anything and improve in key areas.

Cheers for reading

Norby

Follow @mattwigley