Arsenal Summer Transfers: Will They Learn From Past Mistakes?
If The Gunners have not learnt their lessons, this could be another frustrating summer for their fans, and even worse, an eighth consecutive season without silverware.
Transfer dramas plagued Arsenals previous pre-season prompting the clubs worst league start in 58 years. With that in mind, they seem keen to wrap up their business quickly this time. Last summer was extremely frustrating for Arsenal fans. While rivals Tottenham signed players of proven premiership pedigree; like Scott Parker and Brad Friedel; Arsenal were busy trying to stop the inevitable departures of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri. In the end Fabregas re-joined Barcelona, and Nasri dropped the Emirates for the Etihad with Gael Clichy having done so weeks prior. The promising trio of Alex-Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gervinho and Carl Jenkinson arrived at club, but these were very much players for the future. The departing players needed replacing as they formed the core of the team. Without them the Gunners were exposed, and this was clear during their 8-2 thumping against Manchester United at Old Trafford. This triggered manager Arsene Wenger into action. He signed Andre Santos, Mikel Arteta, Yossi Benayoun, Per Mertesacker and Chu-Young Park before the transfer deadline. This led to a recovery and Arsenal eventually finished third in the Premiership and qualified for the Champions League. The transformation didnt happen overnight with forward Theo Walcott acknowledging this. In an interview earlier this season he said Our new players needed time to gel, time to settle, they had to get used to the way the club is run. It was always going to take time. Walcotts comments point to a salient issue. Had Arsenal dealt with the futures of Fabregas and Nasri earlier, they would have had time to buy replacements, and settle them into Arsenals style of play before the season kicked off. It is for this reason that Arsenal must resolve the future of Robin van Persie soon. Initial signs suggest that they might have learnt their lesson. The Gunners management appears determined to avoid another summer of discontent. According to newspaper reports, crunch talks with the Dutchman are ongoing, with Arsenal ready to offer a three-year deal worth £130,000 a week, plus a £5million signing-on fee. Predicting whether van Persie will re-sign is difficult. If he chooses not to, Arsenal would most likely sell him rather than lose him for free next summer once his contract expires. Ideally Wenger would like to know before Euro 2012 to give him more time to find a successor. Cynics might claim hes accepted that his captain will leave, and may point to the signing of German Striker, Lukas Podolski, as evidence. Furthermore, Wenger will be looking to remove any dead weight from his squad. The likes of Sebastien Squillaci, Marouane Chamakh and new signing Park Chu Young did not featured much last term; while While Denilson, Niklas Bendtner, Carlos Vela and Andrei Arshavin are all set to return from loan spells. Determining their futures and signing reinforcements carry huge significance as Arsenal look to build a team capable of usurping Manchester City as league champions. However if Arsenal have not learnt their lessons, this could be another frustrating summer for their fans, and even worse, an eighth consecutive season without silverware.