Are Arsenal turning into a feeder club for European giants?
by stresster on July 29th, 2008
| 328 words |
Thierry Henry, Alexander Hleb and Mathieu Flamini have left Arsenal in the past couple of seasons, while you get the impression (!) that Emmanuel Adebayor is not the most loyal player in the Gunners squad at the moment. It’s clear that while all of the above were either unknown or fairly mediocre before arriving at Highbury / Ashburton Grove, they walked out of the club with their reputation as a quality footballer significantly bolstered.
Is this going to be the continuing trend at the North London club, who will clearly have to fight every summer to retain the services of Cesc Fabregas, Robin Van Persie and whoever else rises to prominence under the watchful eye of Arsene Wenger? Although Ian Wright generally comes out with a load of piddle in his Sun column, he does make a valid point about Arsenal gradually becoming a stepping stone for players to progress their careers before moving on.
I am constantly asking myself if Arsenal are now seen as just a stepping stone for wannabe great players and no longer the place where world-class stars are happy to see out their careers.
Meanwhile, the Gunners seem unable to hang on to even squad players, with Mathieu Flamini switching to AC Milan and Alex Hleb going to Barcelona.
If any Arsenal fan told me they expected the club to finish in the top four this season, I reckon they would be optimistic rather than realistic.
They would be talking with their heart and not their head.
Is Arsene Wenger the victim of his own success at Arsenal? Is Wright wrong to believe that the Gunners will be struggling to stay in the top four next season? While he may be jumping the gun to suggest that it might happen next term, others such as David Dein have pointed to the fact that the French manager can’t continue to perform miracles forever, and that eventually their restrictive wage structure will force them to go backwards.
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Tagged Under: alexander hleb, Arsenal FC, arsene wenger, barcelona, thierry henry
Steve - July 29th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Henry, Pires and Vieira gave Arsenal their best years.
Flamini, Hleb and Adebayor didnt/wont but are no way NEAR the former three’s level.
Flam/Hleb/Ade have cashed in after one decent season where we didnt win anything. They are dispensible. Cesc, who is staying, isnt.
Also, ask any sane Real/Barca/Juve fan if they ever saw the best of Henry, Vieira, Overmars, Petit, Anelka etc etc.
Feeder club? What with us signing Cesc and Merida, it looks as though Barca are OUR feeder club. They are more like a pension home
Prope - July 29th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
i disagree.. wenger has also got a reputation of letting people go at the right time.. henry although a legend at arsenal has not lit Barcelona up by any means, how many times can we say that of arsenal players after they leave?
i personally think its because arsenal play so uniquely in world football that players find it hard to adapt after they leave.
Haribo - July 29th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
what does Ian wrong back up his assertion with ? Nothing because he is as thick as pigshit
David - July 29th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
I’m afraid that Ian Wright is correct in his statement about us being a feeder club. Both the Board and Wenger’s ambition has turned from success on the pitch to success in the WALLET!!!! Wenger is a very clever man and he is more than aware of the need to compete in the market when paying his player’s salaries and that the need for a quality bench is required to win such an arduous champioship like the premiership. He is also aware that he is under no pressure from the Board to win silverware, just to get into the Champions league and finish 4th in the league is enough to keep the fans coming and the gravy train going. Unfortunately, other clubs below us are catching up and investing in their teams, which unfortunately jeopardises our qualification for Europe. Perhaps it would take failure to qualify for CL this year to wake up the club to realise that mediocrity and setting up a breeding ground for top talent for the top clubs in Europe is a dangerous game to play. After all, they are raping their own fans to fill their pockets to the detriment of the clubs success and future development. It breaks my heart to say all this but truthfully, they are treating the fans with complete arrogance and contempt to attempt to lie to us every year about how well the club are doing financially, then saying that they need to raise 24 million every year from the sale of our top plays to fund the debt. Wenger and the board, there is one message for you: Stop lieing to the fans that you rape every week, and give them back their club and the success they fund.!!!
dan - July 30th, 2008 at 12:06 am
things change. the era of adams, wrighty, bergkamp, petit, overmars, vieira, etc., etc., our illustrious former players, is over. we have perhaps one true world star player in cesc. name your reason, find your excuse, point a finger but it remains, the club have a bigger venue, but the team has regressed, fact.
Bob_Bobson - July 30th, 2008 at 1:21 am
typical knee-jerk reaction
would he rather we buy his son to sit on the bench?
admittedly losing Hleb & Flamini wasn’t ideal but there i still so much talent there thast we can hardly be called a “feeder club”
Joe Ryan - July 30th, 2008 at 3:05 am
Hleb - ineffective player, not a loss.
Flamini - solid pro, good player, a loss but not irreplaceable.
Gilberto - career winding down, was good player in his day.
Kishor - July 30th, 2008 at 3:11 am
i guess Flamini is the biggest loss, coz henry arsenal hav coped without Henry so ther isnothin to prove n i feel hlewb is not irreplacable…
Arsenal will surely be challenging for the title this season n this does sound realistic rether than optimistic.
Kent - July 30th, 2008 at 5:51 am
No, they’re SMART. Exactly why do they have to enter into the free agent market (read: overpriced) to be successful?
Hleb? Totally overrated, thank you Barcelona for the cash.
Henry? Past his prime, thank you Barcelona for the cash.
There are just enough clubs out there to purchase spent talent at a premium. Why is it Arsenal’s fault that so many are so dumb?
It’s not exactly like they sucked last year is it? Top five in England and almost to the finals of the Champions League. How exactly is that not successful?
JPF - July 30th, 2008 at 10:03 am
It amazes me how many Arsenal ‘fans’ now claim that Hleb is over-rated, when, over the course of last season, the self same people were proclaiming the sun shone out of his arse, smacks of bitterness that does…..
Gareth - July 30th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Yes Arsene sells players but it is important to note that he has NEVER sold a player becuase he HAS to. He only sells when he WANTS to. This has yet to be mentioned.
Wenger is the best ‘manager’ in the English Premier League. Notice I say MANAGER and not COACH. He can get the best out of unheard of/mediocre players and then cash in at exactly the right moment. This is not being a selling club - this is business like. Why spend millions on a player that has seen his best days (otherwise he wouldn’t be worth tens of millions right?) when your footballing eye goes beyond that. Managers who go for ‘established players’ must be very short sighted. Also, if you pay a rediculous amount for a player - do you understand how much pressure that puts on them to be good? Wenger likes to avoid this.
Also, there is this bizaar mis-conception that because we dont pay over the odds people think we CANT afford it. Thats strange considering the Arsenal board (including Danny Fitzman - largest shareholder) has insisted Wenger can have what he wants.
In fact if you read the Delloite and Touch report (who investigate PL clubs finances) you will notice that Arsenal are the only club that operates at a profit. Man U and Liverpool were up there but the new owners (selling to Yanks oh dear) cost them dearly as they took out loans under the clubs names to pay for them……
Now, Arsenal do sell players, but he never sells and leaves a ‘hole’ in the team; thus proving that he sells when he wants to (he would never sell without a replacement in mind). They said we would never replace Alan Smith then along comes Ian Wright. They said we would never replace Ian Wright, then along comes Henry. They said we would never replace Merson, then along comes Petit. They said we would never replace Petit, then along comes Viera. They said we would never replace Viera, then along comes Cesc…….I could go on.
From the list below I’m sure you would agree Arsenal saw the best days and, importantly, we profited on all of them.
Bought / Sold
Anelka: FREE / £20m (unbelievable)
Overmars: £5.5m / £25m
Petit: £3m / £7m
Viera: £3.5m / £13.7m
Henry: £10.5m / £16m
Hope you enjoyed the read.
sydney - July 30th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
i really don’t thnk arnsenal are turning into a feeder club because they are only trying to make up new stars just like they made others.
The Chosen one - July 30th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Seems someones been reading some of my posts here lol, its now proving my point that gooners are a selling club.
a bit tired so wont chat much but make a few points, Does wenger really sell when he wants to or is it players who decided to stay or go. Anelka wanted to go so wenger had to sell, cleb or clegg, Edu and the other midfielder you guys lost on a free transfer due to the imcompentant nature of the board, oops and of course flamini.I heard it was henry who wanted to go to barcelona and btw has his form really dipped or is the system of play and not the free role that was given to him effecting his play?I think its more the fact hes always played at his best in a 4-4-2 and not 4-3-3 Lets put it this way if he chose anfield hed still be scoring goals.Barca aint getting the best out of him.
The point about the gooners system of play being unique yes I agree however if you can play in the gooners system then is will be easier to adapt to any other simplified version of play as a midfield player.
The point is wenger has said it, the great i has said it, Ian right my friend has said it and yet we are still debating it!!! Is it the pride of the gooners at stake? The realism where they stand in the big equation of football.t he humilation of accepting that when bigger clubs come their players will turn not accepting minimum wage at the club.
The question of gooners being a feeder team I find boring however the question of Gooners being a team that can attract young merceneries who need that 3 year publicity as well as good developement, knowing they could get their chance for 1st team football quicker….. now that I find interesting.
Ashley cole was right, he might be playing worse but hes got a better chance of winning something.
One last thing.All managers on the world stage at the top want to be winners.Dont u think wenger is so envious of sir taggot ,jose and sir rafa.
if 30 mil more would of gareteed him the title he would of spent it. His stupidness at not strengthening the team in the january window is one hell regret for a long time to come. Remember woodgate was available 10 mil and sanderos wouldnt of been seen crying , there were also other plasyers in other positions good available for the same price.
The gooners lost the title , man shite didnt win it and people may say hinsight is a good thing but common sense i say is a necessity!!!
Ok so ive annoyed you gooners again but hey it hurts when you hear me tell the truth only an idiot will feel you guys have more money than you actually have and that you guys are not a feeder club.
On a good note congrats on keeping fabregas hes a believer, give him 3 years tops and hell realise hes fighting a lost cause on his own.
Barry? see u in anfield m8 .
cris b - July 31st, 2008 at 10:48 am
yh we are turnin into a feeder club n it crap!!! we need to ask so much of these bigger clubs that we become the richest then we can just nick the youngsters for pennies and be billionaires and win everything without havin to spend all the cash!!!
gunner - September 25th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
to cris b: we r like the 3rd richest club in the world in terms of turn-over.
the board r jus organsing and managing the club, eventually we will be the best team in the world wen we have no debts, thts why wenger doesnt go mad spending millions on players, wen he can produce equal quality… the man is a genius,
9torres - September 25th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
David, don’t say the club is ‘raping’ the fans, it clearly isn’t! Fans make the choice to go and see the games, and if they continue to turn up they can clearly afford it. A tenner in for the carling cup match is the sort of thing that other big clubs should be looking at and is something i respect arsenal a lot for doing.