Its been another emotional summer at the Emirates Stadium. They’ve brought in a few good players, a sign of intent that they were willing to rebuild after recent high-profile departure of Cesc Fabregas. They then followed the good business up with the extremely bitter transfer of their captain and reigning Footballer of the Year, Robin Van Persie, to Manchester United. Van Persie was holding out on signing a new deal and seemingly only wanted a move to Old Trafford. Arsenal did well to get £20 million from the 19 times English Champions, but losing their best player to one of their bitterest rivals was a bitter pill to swallow. The saga was drawn out for so long, the Arsenal faithful must have half expected it, not that it softened the blow. But the midweek transfer of Alex Song to Barcelona for £15 million could possibly be the final straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back for the Gunners.
Alex Song was a lynchpin for the Arsenal midfield last season. He had two years remaining on his current contract, which makes the move even more puzzling for the North London club. The Cameroon international made over 200 appearances for the Gunners, including 34 league appearances last season, and had been with the club since 2005. Arsene Wenger stated that he was happy with his midfield options of Jack Wilshere, Abou Diaby and Tomas Rosicky, with Nuri Sahin coming in on a season long loan from Real Madrid. But what kind of message does selling another of the club’s top stars send to their fans?
Arsenal rallied around a poor start to last season to finish third in the Premier League. Despite the fact they lost Van Persie and Song, they added Olivier Giroud, Lucas Podolski and Santi Cazorla to the side. It seems like every time they take two steps forward, they take another three back. There have been concerns around the wage structure at the Emirates stopping Arsenal from being a contender for the Premier League, and Wengers strict transfer policy rarely seeing Arsenal go in for any big name players around Europe. This has led to Arsenal being in one of the best financial situations in the league, but at what cost? No trophies in the past 7 years seems to speak for itself, unless you are Arsene Wenger.
Obviously, there is still time for Arsenal to bring players in during this transfer window. The lame duck start at home to Sunderland on Saturday might persuade Mr Wenger to loosen the purse strings a little, but I doubt it.
It seems if Arsenal are to bring some silverware to their new home they will have to rely on their current squad and a momentous collapse from the likes of the two Manchester clubs and Chelsea. All fingers point towards another drought-like season with the best the Gunners can hope for is Champions League and finishing higher than Spurs, and even that’s going to be a tough ask for the former giants of the English game.