Tag Archives: She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

10 things Arsenal could buy for £200million

Leave a reply
  1. Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale & Sergio Aguero

Whilst Lord Harris said that we could not buy the ‘Worlds Best’ Arsenal could actually afford the combined transfer feee of Cristiano Ronalo, Gareth Bale and Sergio Aguero. Now if only we could afford their wages…

  1. Liverpool

Well, not quite Liverpool, but in the last 2 seasons, they have spent £184,300,000 on players. Add in Mamadou Sakho, signed in 2013, and that is the £200,000,000 spent.  16 players signed, including 5 new strikers

  1. Ajax

The Dutch club are worth £183m according to Forbes. Adding the Dutch clubs 4 Champions League’s to Arsenal honours board is well worth the money. With the remaining £17m, Arsenal could build a replica of Amsterdam’s famous De Wallen district

  1. 2 x Eurofighter Typhoon

At an estimated cost of £100m each, Arsenal could buy two Eurofighter Typhoon’s, the aircraft used by the RAF. The club could make money back by hiring them out to fans to display their banner of choice over the stadium.

  1. Greece

With Greece set to go bankrupt, Arsenal should offer the EU £200m to buy the country. Surely a country of 11 million people has a decent defensive midfielder somewhere.

  1. Two private Islands + Private Yatch

Arsenal could buy Rangyai Island in Thailand (£100m) & Pumpkin Key in Florida (£7m) and have enough left to buy the £80m the Northern Star Luxury Superyacht  to travel between the two.

  1. Lewis Hamilton as team coach driver for 6 years

Hamilton has recently signed a £100m 3 year deal with Mercedes. I am sure he would much prefer to driver the Arsenal coach for 6 years. Much safer.

  1. The AA

“The fourth emergency service” have recently announced a £200m share placing. Arsenal could buy all of these shares. We like 4th place.

  1. 200 pairs of diamond encrusted Beats by Dr. Dre headphones

Diamonds? Check. Headphones? Check. A footballers two favourite accessories. At £1m each, Arsenal could give the next 200 signings a pair of Graff Diamonds Beats headphones. They are studded with 114 carats of diamonds.

  1. Arsene Wenger – A 25 year contract

Arsenal could tie up Arsene Wenger for the next 25 years, which is how long the £200m would last based on his current £8m a year salary. Imagine the outrage.

Keenos

Wojciech Szczesny a target for Premier League rivals?

2 Replies

It seems now, after months of speculation, the Wojciech Szczesny could have played his last game for the club.

Back in January, after the smoking incident against Southampton, Arsenal legend John Jenson said on Danish TV that Szczesny’s Arsenal career was pretty much over. At the time, many scoffed, questioning how the former Danish International would know such information. Zero Premier League appearances and a Petr Cech later, it appears his Arsenal career is over.

At the time of signing Petr Cech, it was expected that David Ospina would be the goal keeper who makes way. With Sczcesny given the opportunity to be understudy for the form Chelsea keeper and be given time to develop and learn from an experienced senior player – something which he has never had in his career.

But it now seems that it will be Sczcesny who is moved on, rather than Ospina. According to current reports, his likely destination at the moment is Italy, Roma to be exact. A loan deal with an option to buy. However, there is a very good chance he could end up at one of Arsenal’s Premier League rivals. Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United or Chelsea. Here me out.

There is only one reason Arsenal have not already dumped Sczcesny. He is home grown.

We have seen this summer how important having enough home grown players in your squad is. Manchester City have spent an extortionate amount on Raheem Sterling. They have also reportedly given Fabian Delph a £100,000-per-week deal.

You then have Chelsea. Set to offer £30m to Everton for John Stones. A lot of money for someone who has only started 38 Premier League games. It will be a transfer which will exceed the £29.1m Manchester United paid for Rio Ferdinand, who at the time had 171 Premier League appearances and been part of a Leeds side that had recently made the Champions League semi-finals. And he had 28 England caps.

There are many other examples of the ‘home grown’ levy. Luke Shaw to Manchester United, Calum Chambers, Theo Walcott & Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to Arsenal. Andy Carroll to Liverpool. The wage being paid to Milner. English players, especially young talented ones, are expensive.

When you think that Arsenal signed Per Mertesacker for under £10m, a centre back who at the time had 70+ German caps, and then signed Calum Chambers for nearly twice as much, a played who was not even a Southampton regular, it really opens your eyes up.

The issue obviously stems from a lack of decent home grown talent. The top clubs are not developing their own players, and those clubs further down the chain are not developing too many more. Just look at England’s poor showing at the recent Euro U21 tournament. With both the Premier League and Champions League quota on home grown players, it creates a massive demand for top home grown talent, but without the supply.

So what does all of this mean for Wojciech Szczesny?

Despite being Polish, Szczesny is considered as home grown, having joined Arsenal at 16 – the home grown rules dictate that a player must have been at a club for 3 years before he was 21. This means he is a valuable asset and worth a lot more than he would were he not home grown.

Added to him being home grown, he is still a decent goal keeper. Easily good enough to be 2nd choice at any of the top Premier League sides. At just 24, he could still become a first choice, but at worse, he has a decade ahead of him.

With Manchester City and Chelsea desperate for home grown players, Liverpool after a back up keeper for Mignolet, and Manchester United looking for a De Gea replacement, Szczesny would have plenty of potential suitors on the UK market. And with his home grown status, his value rockets.

The reports are that Roma will have a £3.5m first choice on him. This would be a silly move for Arsenal. In the current market, were Szczesny’s value is increased, Arsenal could receive a fee closer to £20m.

If Arsenal were to sell him to Roma, it would not surprise me if within 2/3 years he is back in the UK, with Roma making a big profit on him. Home grown is that valued.

If Arsenal are looking to move Szczesny on, selling him to a Premier League rival will be the best deal for the club.

Keenos

 

Is Olivier Giroud worth £130k a week?

8 Replies

Last night is was announced that Olivier Giroud was on the verge of signing a new contract with Arsenal, paying him an astonishing £130,000 a week. The first thought is “Wow! That’s a lot of money” and it is.

But is he worth it?

In football, players are a stupid amount. They are all on too much money. But that is life. When TV revenue is as high as it is, and the TV companies are paying for those footballers on the pitch, the money will always flow down to those footballers. Every time a new TV is signed, agents up and down the country knock on the managers door of their clients and demand a bit of a slice of that pie. And more often than not they get it.

You only have to look at James Milner. He is on £150k a week. Raheem Sterling has just signed for Manchester City for £200k a week. When Manchester City signed Adebayor, they paid him £170k a week. Nasri £185k.

At Manchester United, Wayne Rooney earns a reportedly £275k a week. He has scored 49 goals in the last 3 years. Olivier Giroud has scored 58 goals in the same period. The previously mentioned Adebayor also got 58 goals in his 3 full seasons at the club.

Many Arsenal fans want the club to sign Karim Benzema. He gets paid around £240k a week. Olivier Giroud keeps him out of the French national side.

The money footballers get paid grossly high. Rather than compare Giroud’s £130k a week to that of the normal man (or soldiers wages) it should be compared to his contemporaries. You do that, and you realise that £130k a week is probably right for someone of his talent. A first choice international striker, playing for a top European side, scoring consistently.

It is not just footballers that have crazy salaries though. Lewis Hamilton is paid £32m a year (£615k per week) to drive a car round in circles. Top cricketers in the Indian Premier League can earn over £1m for just 6 weeks work – £166k a week. And then we have America, where NBA, NFL and baseball stars can earn into the hundreds of millions throughout their career.

Sport has become such a commercial vehicle, TV companies and sponsors are willing to pay billions to be associated with it, and these billions end up in the players pocket.

So is Giroud worth £130k a week? In the inflated, bloated, cash rich would of football, you would have to say that is his par salary.

I agree, it is sickening.

Keenos