Arsène Wenger:2007 said:I = Interviewer
W = Wenger
I : Finally, a lot of people looking forward to the summer, and a lot of talk linking you with David Villa. Certainly the player came out and talked about he was an admirer of Arsenal, Could there be any truth in that at all?
W : Well its a big complement, but at the moment no, we are just looking to keep the team we have together, and who we will buy is not decided yet.
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I : But do you have any players in mind already?
W : I have.
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I : Do you actually make a list?
W : (smirking), Yeah we have,but we keep up number one, number two, number three...in the areas we look for, and then you obviously go for the number one.
I : Because people always talk about a actual transfer list. So you can confirm there is an actual physical list there that you use?
W : Yes there is a physical list ( wenger continues smiling)
I : Has the last fortnight made you believe that you really do need to make changes?
W : Not really no, i believe at some stage you need to strengthen the team, but changing the team as in you remove some faces just to add some then no that is not the feeling i have. I feel this team has been absolutely tremendous and uh... we are inside the club at the moment, and we uh.. do not asses well what this team has performed. But believe me Arsenal in the last season.. we know and herd a lot that we have not won any trophies. But then again we have to take some distance, i mean what is better? To win the Carling cup, or to go into the champions league final in 2006 you know?....
And you do have to take a distance with all that, and i believe arsenal has made fantastic strides towards the Premier League first, it has been fantastic as well for the club, we have gained many fans, all over the world, and WE know it is not enough, we all want to do more. But i belive, NOT to recognise the merit of this team would be a professional mistake, ah I would not stand up for that. I feel this team is tremendous, they have a tremendous future, we may have to add a little bit of salt to that, but we uh.. have done the main job.
I : By salt do you mean experience. Because Arsenal have lots of young talented players but perhaps they need a little bit of experience?
A: Maybe, you know....Maybe maybe if one does turn up we will take the experience yes.
5 years on, the melody might have changed a bit but the song remains the same.Arsène Wenger:2008 said:Manager Arsène Wenger has said that the upcoming 2009/10 season will be decisive in determining his squad's progression from raw talent to trophy winners.
The Frenchman also said that he would not be looking to make that many signing on a squad he feels is capable of challenging for honours on all fronts.
Wenger said: "We will set out again with the same players. An anti-Real policy has been established.
"We are building a style over time, a little like Barça. We don’t particularly need reinforcements, that depends on the departures.
"We have a young team, average age 22/23, which is maturing even if it is still sometimes lacking as in semi-final of the Champions League this season.
"We lost all our midfield at the beginning of season with the departures of Hleb and Flamini then the long injury of Rosicky. We have rebuilt now.
"We were eliminated too early from the title race, which hurt, but we hardly lost after November."
Lord Dula said:Will be interesting to hear his post match comments.
We need reassuring
Aren't those 2 reasons enough cause for concern? There's a stall on Gallas' new contract, Arshavin possibly wanting to leave, Clichy, Sagna, Cesc, RVP, Eboue all linked with moves away, and while most of those of course won't happen, just 1-2 of those leaving will leave us with major problems. Looking at our recent transfer history just makes things look worse too.AliBabaBrewer said:I doubt we'll offload anyone.
When was the last time we sold someone for reasons other than the money coming in, or because they wanted out?
AliBabaBrewer said:I doubt we'll offload anyone.
When was the last time we sold someone for reasons other than the money coming in, or because they wanted out?
I thought they both wanted out because they weren't getting first team?Clrnc said:Gilberto, Cygan
qs said:AliBabaBrewer said:I doubt we'll offload anyone.
When was the last time we sold someone for reasons other than the money coming in, or because they wanted out?
What other reasons are there? You sell players to make money, thats the point.
Wenger might repeat his dire last-minute transfer bidding.flobaba said:I trust you Arsène.. To do some things right this summer.. But not to do enough. Again.