Arsene Wenger: Master of the Delaying Game.

It’s getting to the end of June and so far the only signing our dear Arsene has made is that of the relatively unknown Carl Jenkinson. The young man is definitely not one ripe enough for first team action, he was brought in to be an understudy to the superb Sagna at right back, a position I always thought needed back up as Eboue has lost that defensive quality he once had in excess.  Apart from Eboue, Arsenal does not have a first team back up at right back.

When other teams are going in for targets and closing deals, Arsene leaves us to keep checking sports sites and reading back pages of newspapers to feed on the continuous rumors surrounding Arsenal transfer targets.

Arsene Wenger does this every season and him more than anyone else knows that the fans have had enough of his transfer policy crap. Just when the season ended, we started hearing talk about Wenger wanting to go in for Benzema. Since then Arsenal has been linked with over a dozen players but we are yet to see any real move or signing. Downing, Scot Parker, Defoe, Harzard, Larsson, Cahill, Samba, Dann, Odewingie, Barton, Matuidi, Adel Tarrabt and a host of other pros.

I left out Gervinho from that list because his own deal is “almost” done. I don’t know what is delaying the closing of the deal and the announcement of the signing, the dude wants to come, Arsenal want to buy, Lille wants to sell and a fee has been agreed and personal terms discussed, so what is happening? I won’t be surprised if Arsene is the one delaying this deal because of his tendency to always want to get the best deal.

Wenger of all people should know that he has a lot of businesses to transact this summer and time wasting should not be an option. You cannot even afford to delay in times like this when money super powers Man City, Real Madrid and Man Utd are lurking hoping that you falter and “tadaa” they have the player you courted for months. The moment you identify your target, you should already have an acceptable price in mind (not Arsene’s type of pricing though) and if you put in a bid and the selling club rejects it for not meeting their price, the normal thing should be returning to the discussion table, reach a compromise and take your man (like my Nigerian friends say “No long thing”).

Wenger has also been in the market for central defenders and has been strongly linked with Blackburn’s Samba and Bolton’s Cahill. At a point, there was news that he would likely swoop for both players. I found that hard to believe because knowing Wenger, he won’t throw that much cash out. The point I’m trying to make here is the fact that this news has just been there since the season ended and up till now there’s no concrete move for either of the players. Arsene knows that he needs at least a central defender to pair Thomas Vermaleen next season but he still acts like he has the world at his feet and in his usual manner, he is delaying making a signing. Even Manchester United who don’t need drastic changes at central defense beat Arsenal to the signature of the highly rated Phil Jones.

Wenger is not only delaying in makings signings but he is also delaying in holding contract talks with Samir Nasri. He should know by now if they can reach an agreement or not and not push talks to later in the summer where not many clubs would be willing to spend and Arsenal would risk losing Nasri for free next summer. I’m a big Nasri fan and I would love to see him in an Arsenal shirt next season and years to come but if he is trying to prove difficult it is better he leaves and not cause any problems for the club. (No player is bigger than any club). Nasri has improved greatly but has not shown enough consistency to ask for a pay parity with club captain Cesc Fabregas. Whatever the club management decide, they have to swing into action on time and stop delaying.

I hope this attitude doesn’t cause us another trophyless season next year. Arsene should by now have made at least 3 key signings. As regular readers of this blog would have noticed, I’m a big Wenger fan and I still trust his judgments (not every time….like now)  but I would end like always, “In Arsene we trust” but errrrrrm ultimately “In God we trust.”