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Arsene Wenger to leave at the end of the season

No matter which way you look at this summer’s transfer window, it has been a disaster. To be the only club within the top 5 leagues in Europe to fail to buy an outfield player is nothing short of a disgrace.

A side that last season finished 12 points behind the Champions. A team that won just 4 out of 16 games against sides in the top 9. A side that clearly needed strengthening. That for the last 3 years has needed a new striker. For longer than that has needed a defensive midfielder.

And here we sit, on the 2^nd of September, with only a new goal keeper for company.

Monday night, I tweeted that if Arsenal do not sign anyone within the next 24 hours, and go on to fail to challenge for the Premier League title, then Arsene Wenger must go at the end of the season. He must fall on his sword.

We have the money in the bank to spend. Back in the late 00’s / early 2010’s, when we did not have bucket loads of cash to spend, I backed Arsene Wenger. He was doing the best job capable under the financial constraints put on him. However, over the last 3 years things have changed.

The disaster of 2013 was saved by the signing of Mesut Ozil, but it still did not mask the fact that we tried to sign Jovetic, Higuain & Suarez, and ended up with none.

A year later we spent a lot of money. The kind of money that we had available this summer as well. However, it was only a deadline day signing of Danny Welbeck that stopped us having Yaya Sanogo as 2^nd choice striker.

And now we come to 2015. It has been a shocker. And it is down to Wenger.

Now I do not expect Arsenal to win the title every year. That is ridiculous. No side has the “right” to win things. 13 league titles in over 125 years. We do not have a right to win the title. However, what I do expect is to compete for the title.

We have one of the highest turnovers in European football, and the highest ticket prices. These two together is why I expect to compete. And if we are not competing, we are doing everything we can to try to compete.

“Doing everything we can” means ensuring we have the best we can. The best training centre, the best academy, the best scouting system, the best medical team, and the best players. I am not asking for the best in the world. It is silly to expect us to be better than the Madrid’s, the Barca’s, and the Munich’s of this world. They are light years ahead of us. The move to the Emirates was supposed to put us a few steps closer to them. Also the Manchester City, PSG’s & Chelsea’s of this world with the money they have. But I expect us to be the best Arsenal that Arsenal can be. And we are not.

With £60+ million sitting in the bank available for transfer (it is not £200m, let’s be fair with the debate), we are clearly not doing everything we can to win or compete for the league title. Now I do not expect us to be like Manchester City and Manchester United, spending £100m on De Bruyne and Martial. That is just silly. However I do expect us to have spent sensibly.

The problem is, Wenger is clearly reluctant to spend. He has looked at the market and decided that there is no value. That players, in his eyes, are overpriced. But what he does not respect is the market has changed. It has moved.

Back in the late 90’s, you could go and buy Nicholas Anelka, Luis Boa Morte & Christopher Wreh for pennies and hope one makes it. Now you see players at similar stages in their career, Romelu Lukaku (when Chelsea signed him) and Anthony Martial, going for many millions. And prices have increased from youngsters upwards. Players are more expensive. And Wenger has to move his valuation up. He nerds to keep up.

Wenger and Arsenal clearly banked on FFP. It has failed. It feels like that as it has failed, Wenger has decided not to play anymore. He has picked up his ball. The only problem is he has not told anyone that he longer want’s to play. And at £8million a year, it is clear why.

If Wenger is not willing to play, not willing to spend big, he should go, and someone else who is willing to spend that money should come in.

Now it might not guarantee success, but at least it will be trying to succeed. At the moment we are not trying.

All we ask is to try to the best of our abilities, using all the resources we have to compete. And currently we are not.

Now as a side note, I do not think like some that Wenger should go now. It should be at the end of the season.

The rationale of this is simple, it is my belief that Wenger is still the best man to get this current squad into the top 4. He has built the squad, and done it before. Moving him on now, with the transfer window shut, would be too big of an upheaval and risk our top 4 place, creating an even bigger challenge for future managers.

By leaving Wenger in charge until the end of the season, it would ensure that a new manager comes in with money to spend, and Champions League football. Getting rid of Wenger now would be detrimental to the club over the next season.

Arsene Wenger has let us down this summer. Some will say not for the first time. If he fails to mount a challenge with the current squad, he must take the blame and fall on the sword. He must step aside and let someone else take over.

Keenos

Follow @KeenosAFC

10 Rule’s to help you become an Arsenal ITK

Five years ago 2 young Englishmen made their debut…have they progressed?

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Five years ago yesterday, two Arsenal youngster made their England debut.

It was 11^th August 2015. The opponents were Hungary in a friendly. First to come on was 20 year old Kieran Gibbs. A half time substitute for a former Arsenal left back. A young talented left back who had made his Arsenal debut 3 years earlier in a League Cup tie. Strong, quick and versatile – the youngster had played centre midfield, left wing and left back in his youth career for club and country – the youngster was a talent.

Alongside him that day was the future of English football. The next Paul Gascoigne. The man with the technique of a European and the heart of a Lion. Jack Wilshire was just 18 when he came on as an 83^rd minute substitute for Steven Gerrard. It was supposed to signify the beginning of the change of the old guard, with a 30 year old stalwart being replace by an 18 year old upstart.

England’s future was bright. England’s future was Arsenal.

Roll forward 5 years from that debut, and you have to now ask, have Gibbs and Wilshere progressed as expected?

Since their debut’s in 2010, there have been 47 England games. Friendly’s, qualifiers, international tournaments. Of those 47 internationals, Wilshere has played 27, Gibbs just 7. They are now 23 and 25 respectively.

The glimpse into the future of Kieran Gibbs was seen in the year before he made his England debut. Up till this point he had only made a few Arsenal appearances since his debut, providing cover for Gael Clichy. In 2009, with Clichy out injured, he was set for a run in the team. However, after just a handful of games, in November he broke his metatarsal. He failed to make an appearance for the rest of the season.

In 2010/11, he was again Gael Clichy’s deputy, but his big chance was to come a year later with Clichy being sold to Manchester City. His first season as Arsenal’s first choice left back led to him playing just 16 league games, as stomach injuries, a hernia and a handful of minor injuries restricted his play.

This was a sign of things to come. Roll on to today, he has yet to play over 30 league games in a season.

His stop start career led to Arsenal signing Nacho Monreal in January 2013. That season, he failed to play a game until 13^th April after Monreal’s arrival.

He looked to have finally made his break through over the next two year, however, further injuries and loss of form led to Monreal being reinstated as first choice left back mid way through 2014/15, where he has remained since and is now undisputed number 1 (or 3, or whatever number a left back wears these days).

Gibbs’ role at the club now seems to be reduced to back up left back / defensive substitution. A huge fall for a man who 5 years ago looked to be England’s future left back and a potential 100 cap man.

Jack Wilshere’s fall from grace is even more dramatic. It was nearly 7 years ago that Jack Wilshere became Arsenal’s youngest every player.

It is over 4 years since THAT performance in a 2-1 victory over Barcelona where, as a fresh faced 19 year old, he showed that he could already compete with some of the best central midfielders in the world.

That year he played against Barcelona, he played 35 games in the Premier League. In the four Premier League seasons after, he has managed just 63. Injury has ravaged his career. Paul Scholes said a year or so back that he had not progressed, that his career highlight was still the Barcelona performance. Scholes got a lot of hate from Arsenal fans, but he was correct.

His has been a career so far of false starts and promise. Every time it looks like he has gotten over his injury problems and is moving forward, becoming the star we know he could, he breaks down again. A good end to last season and solid pre season, it looked like this could be his year, but an unfortunate tackle by Gabriel has left him out for weeks once more.

And with Jack Wilshere week’s lead to month’s. No one would be surprised if we did not see Jack Wilshere in an Arsenal shirt until 2016. By which point he will be 24. Still young enough to have a good career, but you no longer someone who can be talked about as having potential. And it will be well over 5 years from that England debut in 2010.

Injury and bad luck have restricted both Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs’ development. Gibbs is 26 in September. His career is running out before it has every really begun. Wilshere has a bit more time on his hands, but that can quickly run out. The heavily criticised Abou Diaby was 24 when he played 40 games in all competitions for Arsenal. He played 45 games in the next 5 years, is now 29, and has finally left the club. Could Wilshere be the new Diaby?

Both need to sort themselves out. And if they can not, Arsenal need to be harsh and clinical and seriously look if they have a future at the club. This might seem over the top and reactionary, but remember Diaby. If you have moaned about him being a waste of wages, and both Gibbs and Wilshere spend most of this season out of the side, injured, they have to be in the same basket.

I hope I am wrong, I hope they get fit and stay fit as both are talented players. But neither ha sreally progressed since their England debuts 5 years ago.

Keenos

Follow @KeenosAFC