Matthias Ginter | She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

The key news coming out of the Arsenal Supporters Trust March meeting was the common consensus of both the AST, financial experts, and Telegraph Journalist Jeremy Wilson was that Arsenal were going to have a transfer budget of around £100 million this summer.

With this £100 million covering transfer fee’s, wages & agent fees, it is not simply a case of us being able to go out and make 2 Mesut Ozil type transfers. Everything must be considered. So how best would I spend the £100 million?

Julian Draxler

I love this guy. I first spoke about his potential way back in October add my opinion on him has not changed. Arsenal (and Ozil’s) troubles this season has come from lack of runners. With Theo Walcott being are only main pace threat on a regular basis. With a reported £37 million release clause, he would be our big summer signing. We would likely double his £50,000 per week wages he is currently on with Schalke, giving him a 5 year, £100,000 a week deal. By the time you add in bonuses and signing on fee, you would be looking at him costing, in his 1st year, around £45 million. Imagine him on the left, Walcott on the right, suddenly Ozil would be spoilt for choice!

Total cost: £45,000,000

Loic Remy

With the big money going on Julian Draxler, I am of the belief that we buy a ‘lesser’ striker. The fact is, there is a dearth of top strikers currently available in European football. When I say the figure of £35 million banded about for Diego Costa, or £25 million for Mandžukić, it signify’s that when it come’s to strikers, it is a sellers market.

Diego Costa has had one good season – he had never scored more than 10 league goals this season. As for Mandžukić, we would be buying an Olivier Giroud clone. The same age, similar playing style It would not improve us.

Whilst Loic Remy might not be the big name many Arsenal fan’s crave, he actually represents good value and would be the right signing. 19 Premier League in 37 games playing for QPR and Newcastle shows he is Premier League quality. Had he scored them over a season, rather than January to January, he would be one of the top Premier League top goal scorers. As it is, this season he is 4th on the list, 1 ahead of Giroud, 2 ahead of Rooney and Van Persie, and 3 ahead of Lukaku. When you consider the personal problems he has had this season, that is a very good return.

His style of play would also suit Arsenal. With his pace and directness, he would provide us with a different option to Giroud and they would compliment each other well over a league campaign. Currently valued on tranfermarkt at £10.5 million, he would provide a lot better value than Costa or Mandžukić. Currently on £75,000 a week, which is more than Giroud, we would probably offer him similar to that, so as to not upset the apple cart, but supplement it with a large signing on fee to boast his wages

Total cost: £18,00,000

Matthias Ginter

Another player I have been a fan of for a while. Matthias Ginter should be a target not matter what happens with Thomas Vermaelen. At 20 years old, he has the potential to become a top player for years to come. Whilst it would be too soon for him to pub pressure on either Mertesacker or Koscielny, give it 12 months and he could easily be pushing both of them for a 1st team spot.

He also provides a second advantage in that he has played defensive midfield on an occasion for Freiburg. Whilst defensive midfield requires a long term solution, Ginter could provide Flamini and Arteta with short term cover. Big money needs to be spent here, but there probably is not enough in the pot this summer to solve the problem completely. He is likely to cost around £10,000,000 plus wages.

Total cost: £13,000,000

Bacary Sagna

Why is a player already at the club on this list? I hear you ask…Simple. He wants a £6 million signing on fee to remain at the club. Whilst some might feel he is being greedy, it is what he would get if he were to go to Galatasaray, Monaco or PSG. It is his going rate. We should just pay it, secure his services for the next 3 years, and know we have got a top right back who also covers at centre back,

Were we to let Sagna go on a free transfer, it would cost the club a lot more than £6 million in replacing him at right back. We would then need to buy a second player to be 4th choice centre back. £6 million for a player of his experience, ability and versatility is a relative snip. Arsene Wenger should view it as a ‘new transfer’ and use part of the £100 million to finance the deal.

Another 3 years of Sagna will give the club enough time to judge whether either Jenkinson or Bellerin are good enough to be long term replacements, against, savind us a lot of money.

Total cost: £6,000,000

A new goal keeper

Fabianski is likely to leave us at the end of the season. His performances in the FA Cup prove that he is good enough to be a 1st choice Premier League goal keeper next year. Unfortunately we can not offer him that. With it being highly unlikely that Viviano will remain at the club, the scouting network will need to find a goal keeper who is a) good enough for Arsenal and b) happy to sit on the bench. Not an easy task. It is likely we will pluck a goal keeper out of some foreign league who we have never heard of. To go a bit Football Manger here, I would look at Alphonse Areola, currently on loan at Ligue 2 RC Lens, it is unlikely he will ever break into the PSG first team, so would be gettable. This is just a single name off the top of my head though. I would be disappointed if we spent any more than a total of £5,000,000 on transfer fee and wages.

Total cost: £5,000,000

Agent Fee’s

The scum of football. Money paid by clubs to agents to assist in securing a player. It is basically money being taken out of the game by greedy men who often tie young players from poor back ground into long term deals which ensures they make millions from moving the player around Europe like a commodity. It is an unfortunate cost in football. Arsenal have averaged between £5-6 million on agents fee’s each year for the last 3 years. It is unlikely this will change too much.

Total cost: £6,000,000

Total Summer Spend: £93,000,000

Keenos

Follow @KeenosAFC

Spurs

When it comes to Spurs v Arsenal, the performance is not of importance, it is all about the result. And what a result it was. 1-0 to The Arsenal. Boring Boring Arsenal. We have not won in the league at the Lane since 2007, so yesterday was sweet. For those moaning about the performance, shame on you. My guess is those moaning this morning were not at the game. They were sitting on their sofa watching on a laptop. They are the type of fan who probably think a game against Chelsea is a bigger, more important game than one against Spurs.

What I remember of yesterday is a blur. An early goal (only realised this morning it was after just 2 minutes!) was then followed by a disciplined performance. It is testament to the way we played that, even with Spurs having 59% of the possession, and the score just 1-0, I felt comfortable. At no point did it seem like Spurs were dominating play and threatening us. Spurs had no real chances, and Szczesny made just 2 saves.

The victory was a double bonus. We moved closer to Chelsea after their defeat to Aston Villa, and are now 9 points ahead of Spurs, pretty much ensuring we are top 4 again. Are we back in the title race? A victory on Saturday will ensure that.

Chelsea

And onto the next one. Getting the victory against Spurs was a good 3 points. That then needs to be backed up with a victory against Chelsea.

Chelsea play tomorrow at home to Galatasary. Any advantage some might think this gives Arsenal is negligible. They are at home, and will still have 3 days to prepare for Saturday. Arsenal’s biggest advantage could be a mental one.

Whilst we had a great result against Spurs, Chelsea lost away to Aston Villa. Football is all about momentum. Defeat for us v Spurs would have meant we were going into Chelsea risking a 3 straight defeat. Instead, they are the ones now fearful of back to back defeats. If we remain as disciplined as we did against Spurs, a positive result in our grasp. With them missing Willian, Ramires and possible Mourinho, I see no reason why we can not cut the gap to just 1 point.

Olivier Giroud

Olivier Giroud has come in for a lot of stick this season. From his disappearing acts in big games, his tendency to play dead when he perceives himself to be fouled and his off the field shagging. A lot of the criticism Olivier Giroud he does deserve. He is not good enough to be Arsenal’s first choice striker. He was always signed to be back up. Firstly to Robin Van Persie – before he left – then this season to Luis Suarez. An impact sub. And as he showed against Everton, he would be very good in this role.

But also a lot of criticism is undeserved. It was recently highlighted that, with 12 goals in the league this season, his record is fairly similar to that of Didier Drogba, who only twice scored more in a campaign than 12 league goals. It does make you consider, is Olivier Giroud really that poor a player? Or on the other hand, was Drogba vastly overrated.

One big difference between the two is their big game performances. Whilst he could be fairly average at times, Drogba was a big game player. Scoring in 4 FA Cup final’s, 3 League Cup finals & a Champions League final. Giroud is a very important player to Arsenal, and if reports of his wife demanding a move back to France are true, I hope he files for divorce.

Liverpool

The response to Liverpool’s victory against Manchester United once more highlights the media bias against Arsenal. Throughout the season, pundits, journalists and ‘experts’ have lined up to write off Arsenal’s title chances. It showed a complete lack of respect. However, when it comes to media-friendly Liverpool, they are talked about as title contenders by the exact some people writing off Arsenal.

If you had not looked at the league table recently, you would think be the pundits reactions that Arsenal were double figure points off top, and just as far away from Liverpool. The truth however is vastly different. Liverpool and Arsenal are both on 62 points. They are level. And if Arsenal beat Chelsea on Saturday, we will be just 1 point off top, with a game in hand.

Are Liverpool title contenders? Yes. But so are Arsenal.

Matthias Ginter

I usually do not often comment on transfer speculation, especially in March, however, I honestly hope that Arsenal’s pursuit of Matthias Ginter is not only true, but fruitful.

With Thomas Vermaelen likely to leave in the summer, we would do well to recruit the 20 year old German. At such a young age, he would likely be more than happy to sit on our bench for a couple of seasons whilst he progresses. With his potential, he would be a long term option at centre back. I hope we sign him.

Keenos

Follow @KeenosAFC