Arsene Wenger has confirmed that he expects a number of players to join and leave the club within the next week. Deadline day is next Friday night, but Wenger remains confident that he can bolster the squad in the latter stages of the transfer window. It is always extremely busy at this time in the season.
Earlier in the week Wenger said that the club are in for a new midfielder and a defender. The midfielder should be a replacement for Alex Song, although I think that we will sign more of a creative player than a defensive midfielder (enter Nuri Sahin). The Sahin transfer has been particularly drawn out because it is not just your normal loan deal but a loan with the option to buy. Arsenal and Real Madrid have thus far been unable to agree on a fee.
Defensively I think that we need a new right-back because Carl Jenkinson is not strong enough cover for the times when we do not have Bacary Sagna. I have nothing against Jenko and I am sure that he will grow to become a good player in a few seasons, but we need somebody who is good right now, not in a few years time.
Wenger is adamant that he has learnt his lessons from last years shocking opening to the season. I am sure that we do have a number of players in the pipeline, rather than rushing around on deadline day like headless chickens like we did last summer. At the moment we have a strong squad, but we need more.
In terms of players leaving the club, Andrey Arshavin is nearing a move to Zenit, but it remains to be seen where Nicklas Bendtner will end up. For somebody who thinks that he is best striker in the world, he sure is having trouble finding a new club.
“Some things can still happen.
“I don’t want make a promise that I cannot keep. It does not only depend on me. But there still could be some action on the transfer market – ins and outs.”
“We are working [in the market]. We’ll see what we can do.
“The transfer market is open for two months and yet for one month and three weeks it is nearly closed. It wakes up completely in the last week and then every minute becomes important. Everybody has played for time for seven or eight weeks and now suddenly everyone is in a hurry. And that is when the most intense activity happens.
“We knew we had to buy [at this point] last season. We had lost Wilshere and Gibbs. We had just beaten Udinese in the Champions League but had just lost to Manchester United. This season is completely different. We have a good, stable, focused squad. We just have to show how good we are in the season.
“We have Diaby and Oxlade-Chamberlain back now while Rosicky and Wilshere are coming back. They are all international-stature players. I focus highly on that. If we get these players back in good shape then we have a very, very strong squad.”