Arsene Wenger had a lot
to say about transfers in his press conference. He has said that funds are
available to get quality players in, but the same cannot be said about the
availability of top quality players who can strengthen the current Arsenal
squad.
Arsene Wenger has been
under pressure from Arsenal fans to make signings and he has said that the will
and the funds are there, but the availability of players simply isn’t. When
reacting to this, Wenger said “It is difficult because everybody wants
to--there is more money in football, more clubs with big resources and less
players available. So, I would say the funds are there more than the players
who could strengthen your squad and that is a big problem because people know
that you have the resources and they want you to buy players from clubs who do
not need your resources and are not necessarily wanting to sell.”
READ ALSO: No Transfers Necessary For Wenger
Speaking further on the
issue, he said “Look, it is simple. It is like for any deal. You want to buy
something, you go to see the owner. If he doesn't want to sell, he doesn't want
to sell. You cannot buy. And in our job, it is exactly like that. When the
players are not free, you cannot buy them because it's the club who decides who
owns the contracts who decides and that's what is happening. And in Europe
today, you have maybe 15 clubs who have huge financial resources and don't need
money at all”.
When asked if that was
frustrating, he said “No, for me, no because I'm always more focused on
developing the team and the players we have and getting everybody on board
inside the club and develop the players as well than always thinking to buy.
I'm not against buying when it is really a plus for your team. If it's just to
buy a player at the level of players you have to make people happy, I am not
ready for that. If it's somebody who brings something you don't have in the
squad, of course you want to do it”.
When he was asked if
any of the players that rivals have signed would have strengthened the squad,
Wenger said “I don't know that. I cannot deny that, but what you want for any
player is there need to buy in this position? Is this player making your squad
stronger? And you have to say yes or no, and I think we have every position
strong players.”
Wenger was then asked
if him not signing players made his side look weaker, while other sides look
stronger, and he answered “Yes, but I was asked this question 2 years ago when
some clubs buy 10 players, how do you feel, you have no chance now. And what we
want is to focus on your own strengths and make sure that you develop your team
and the cohesion, the style of play that everybody knows are important
qualities. We live in a society that is hungry for news. And news is good, I
can understand that, but you have to be absolutely convinced that it
strengthens your team.”
Arsene Wenger has also said that though he takes
people’s opinions into consideration, he has the final say over who comes into
the Emirates and has said that if he had just listened to people, he wouldn’t
have signed certain players who have gone on to become legends of the Arsenal.
Wenger was fielded
several questions in his press conference, and one of them was if he agreed
with surveys that said Arsenal is the team that is in need of recruitment. In
response to this, Wenger said “Look, I listen to everybody, but my job is to
make decisions. To select and make decisions and even if I look everywhere and
listen to everybody, at the end of the day, I have to make the decisions. If I
just listen to people's opinion, many players we have signed here starting with
Viera, Anelka, Henry, would not ever have signed here. At the end of the day, I
have to make the decisions”.
I find the
comment of Arsenal needing more players questionable because when you look at
all the departments of the Arsenal squad, in my opinion, no additions are
needed.
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