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Who Should Arsenal Buy With The Fabregas Money?

It has surprised me that Arsene Wenger has left it until 2 weeks before the end of the Transfer Window to finally let Fabregas leave to join Barcelona, but now that Arsenal’s former captain has completed his move to the Spanish, European and World club champions who should Arsenal bring in to strengthen their squad and continue to compete with the best in the Premier League? The Gunners would not go far wrong by taking a leaf out of Liverpool’s book by investing in English talent. For far too many years Arsenal have lacked the backbone and fight that is needed to challenge week in, week out in the Premier League – The John Terry or Wayne Rooney type of player which are admittedly few and far between. Wenger’s excuse in the past for shopping abroad was the overvaluation of British players and the relative bargains that could be found in the financially weaker European leagues. But with a reported £30million coming in from the sale of Fabregas and possibly a similar amount coming in from Samir Nasri’s potential move to Manchester City, now would be the chance for Wenger to put up the cash to bring in one or two domestic-based players. Of course, a replacement for Fabregas needs to be brought in. In my opinion the one man that would fill that void perfectly is Scott Parker. Last season’s Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year is not quite the departed Spaniard’s equal when it comes to passing, but his commitment, aggression and leadership would be exactly what is needed in the Arsenal midfield. At 30 years old, Wenger would have to change his position on contract lengths for older players, but his experience would be invaluable to the team. The positive effect he’d have on the all round game of fellow midfielders Wilshere, Ramsey and Song would be significant. And with most interest in the player from rival clubs waning in recent weeks, Wenger could probably get the England international for £6m-£8m.

 

After replacing Fabregas, the next order of business would be to recruit a replacement for Nasri as his transfer to Manchester City looks more and more likely. The best outcome for Wenger from the Nasri transfer would be to get a player plus cash deal. More specifically, the arrival of Nasri for City would leave young winger Adam Johnson pushed further down the pecking order and Wenger could use this to his advantage. Although impressive when given the chance, and now a regular member of the full England National squad, Johnson has failed to make a big impression on Roberto Mancini surrounded by the glittering array of superstars at Eastlands. Despite this, Manchester City probably currently value the Englishman at just over double the £7m price they reportedly paid for him back in January 2010 so if Nasri is valued at £30million then a £15million plus player would be the best outcome for Wenger.

 

Apart from a midfielder and a creative offensive player, the only other area that Arsenal need to address is in their defensive unit. A few names have been bandied about but one name stands head and shoulders above the other candidate at the moment; Bolton and England Defender Gary Cahill. The 25-year old stopper is reportedly rated at £20million and probably rightly so in today’s market. But Wenger has little option but to meet that valuation if he wants to get a consistent and reliable defender. Too many times Wenger has had his hands burned by trying to get unproven young Centre Backs into the club rather than spend justified cash (Senderos, Djourou, Koscielny to name a few) when players of Vidic (£7million), Agger (£6million) and Hangeland’s quality (£2.5million) come to England under the radar of Arsenal’s impressive global scouting network. The problem is that these players don’t naturally fit into Arsenal’s beautiful game as they are not ball-playing defenders, but as Cahill’s goal at Loftus Road proved, he is more than capable in that part of the game too.

 

The last piece of the jigsaw for the Gunners this season would be to reinvest some of the capital gained from the sales of their current stars in a world class Goalkeeper. I have always said, nobody ever wins anything without a world class keeper. Chelsea have Cech, Manchester United had Edwin Van der Sar for so many successful seasons and the last time Arsenal had a world class keeper was the controversial but undoubtedly talented Jens Lehmann. Whatever criticisms people have of the extrovert German, Arsenal won the league and went unbeaten for the duration of the season in his first year. He also won UEFA Goalkeeper of the Year in the season Arsenal made it to the Champions League Final despite being sent off in the Final. Since his departure, Wenger has used 5 different stoppers (including Lehmann’s cameo reappearance) all with fairly poor results. A top Goalkeeper can save a team up to 10 points a season and if Arsenal had that quality last season they would’ve finished only two points behind Manchester United. At this moment in time, however, it is difficult to say which Goalkeeper would fit that mould for the Gunners. If you would have asked me at the start of the summer, I would have said, hands down, that Shay Given was the man to bring in. In fairness, Wenger should have brought Given in three or four seasons ago, but as he showed in his debut for new club Aston Villa, the Irishman is still up there with the best in the league and at a reported £3.5million, he may prove to be the bargain of the summer. The only other Goalkeeper that might be available is 26 year old Bayer Leverkusen and Germany keeper, Rene Adler. Linked with Manchester United last year as a possible replacement for Van der Sar and valued at around £20million at the time, Adler is entering the last year of his contract at the German club and could be lured away for a modest £15million. Adler is an established International having made 10 appearances for Germany since 2008, but unfortunately finds himself living in the shadow of FC Bayern’s Manuel Neuer in the National Team set-up. But Germany have a strong reputation in producing excellent Goalkeepers and Adler could be the perfect solution to fill the void between the posts at the Emirates Stadium long-term.

 

Do you agree with us, or do you have your own ideas on who Arsenal should target in order to regain their position as a force in the Premier League and avoid their dangerous slide out of the Champions League places for this season? Or do you think Wenger is still a master of his trade and doesn’t need to bring in any reinforcements, and that Gunners fans should trust him to get the best out of his young group of players? Let us know…