Liverpool
In
Kolo Toure (Manchester City) Free
Luis Alberto (Sevilla) Undisclosed
Iago Aspas (Celta Vigo) Undisclosed
Simon Mignolet (Sunderland) Undisclosed
Out
Danny Wilson (Heart of Midlothian) Free
Jonjo Shelvey (Swansea City) Undisclosed
Suso (Almeria) Loan
Pepe Reina (Napoli) Loan
Jay Spearing (Bolton Wanderers) Undisclosed
Stewart Downing (West Ham United) Undisclosed
Positives: As I am typing this so to speak Luis Suarez has now stated he is staying at the football club. A victory of sorts for Brendan Rogers and John W. Henry. I also Believe that fences can be mended pretty quickly between club and player and when he returns from domestic suspension in October he can be pivotal in Liverpool achieving champions league qualification. After the way the club and the fans have backed him over the various controversies over the past two seasons it is the least he can do in repaying the faith back towards them. Liverpool have bought well so far in the summer Toure is a solid defensive option Mignolet to replace Pepe Reina is also a sound boy and It will be interesting to see what Luis Alberto and Iago Aspas bring to the table especially Aspas who has an equally volatile playing habits as Suarez. The return of Lucas from Injury will also be a boost as well.
Negatives: Was going to say the Luis Suarez transfer saga but seems to be over now and Liverpool can concentrate on the start of the season. Toure as I have said above is a good signing but I still think they might be short defensively in the grander scheme of things. Luis Alberto is very young and Liverpool nearly payed 7 million pounds for him and I am sure he will get game time early on as I think Liverpool could struggle top score goals early on in the season until they wait for Suarez to come back.
Prediction: 6th
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Premiership Preview: Fulham
Fulham
Derek Boateng (FC Dnipro) Free
Fernando Amorebieta (Athletic Bilbao) Free
Maarten Stekelenburg (AS Roma) Undisclosed
Sascha Riether (Cologne) Undisclosed
Adel Taarabt (Queens Park Rangers) Loan
Out
Chris Baird Released
Simon Davies Released
Mahamadou Diarra Released
Mladen Petric Released
Mark Schwarzer (Chelsea) Free
Csaba Somogyi Released
Positives:
Martin Jol has made some decent business in the transfer window. Replacing Mark Schwarzer with Maarten Stekelenburg is a very good like for like replacement in the goalkeeping department. Abel Taarabt coming on loan from QPR could be a good signing if his attitude is spot on from the start and Giorgos Karagounis has now been resigned for another year after initially being released to add some steel in the midfield. Fulham also with the players that are already there are capable of scoring a lot of goals and some very pleasing on the eyes watch out for those goals of the month- season competitions I am sure they will be one or two from Fulham this season.
Negatives:
Fulham were leaky at home last season and still need some reinforcements at the back. Fulham also have problems in which players like Dimitar Berbatov, Brian Ruiz and now Abel Tarrabt have very little inkling of running back and helping the team defensively which makes it harder for the others when Fulham do not have the ball to keep the opposition out at the other end and their defence is not strong enough at times to cope with that hence the dodgy home form from last season. If they can get a top quality defender and defensive midfielder in before the window shuts they could go places but at the moment they could have a struggle on their hands this season.
Prediction: 13th
Derek Boateng (FC Dnipro) Free
Fernando Amorebieta (Athletic Bilbao) Free
Maarten Stekelenburg (AS Roma) Undisclosed
Sascha Riether (Cologne) Undisclosed
Adel Taarabt (Queens Park Rangers) Loan
Out
Chris Baird Released
Simon Davies Released
Mahamadou Diarra Released
Mladen Petric Released
Mark Schwarzer (Chelsea) Free
Csaba Somogyi Released
Positives:
Martin Jol has made some decent business in the transfer window. Replacing Mark Schwarzer with Maarten Stekelenburg is a very good like for like replacement in the goalkeeping department. Abel Taarabt coming on loan from QPR could be a good signing if his attitude is spot on from the start and Giorgos Karagounis has now been resigned for another year after initially being released to add some steel in the midfield. Fulham also with the players that are already there are capable of scoring a lot of goals and some very pleasing on the eyes watch out for those goals of the month- season competitions I am sure they will be one or two from Fulham this season.
Negatives:
Fulham were leaky at home last season and still need some reinforcements at the back. Fulham also have problems in which players like Dimitar Berbatov, Brian Ruiz and now Abel Tarrabt have very little inkling of running back and helping the team defensively which makes it harder for the others when Fulham do not have the ball to keep the opposition out at the other end and their defence is not strong enough at times to cope with that hence the dodgy home form from last season. If they can get a top quality defender and defensive midfielder in before the window shuts they could go places but at the moment they could have a struggle on their hands this season.
Prediction: 13th
Monday, August 12, 2013
Premiership Preview Part 5: Everton
Everton
In
Arouna Kone (Wigan Athletic) Undisclosed
Antolin Alcaraz (Wigan Athletic) Free
Joel Robles (Atletico Madrid) Undisclosed
Gerard Deulofeu (Barcelona) Loan
Out
Thomas Hitzlsperger Released
Jan Mucha Released
Jake Bidwell (Brentford) Undisclosed
Positives: Roberto Martinez will try and implement a more pleasing to the eye passing style which some supporters will appreciate who were getting drained by some of the football that was played under David Moyes. Everton needed a fresh start and Nice guy Martinez gets a chance at a higher level bigger club so to speak and a lot of neutrals would hope that he will be successful. Could be the year that Everton will become every one's second favourite second club like Wigan were under Martinez the last couple of seasons.
Negatives: There are question marks about whether Martinez can set up a team defensively, under Moyes the one thing Everton always were hard to beat and that will be a challenge for Martinez to try and keep that while implementing his style of play on the squad he currently has. Some Everton fans are sceptical as well but will give Martinez a chance since he did win the F.A. Cup with Wigan last season and that is one more trophy than David Moyes won in eleven years with Everton.
Keeping Leighton Baines and Marouane Fellaini is also a priority and if they do keep them Everton should be comfortably top half and a decent cup run as well. If they lose both and that can still be a possibility then it might be a struggle for them.
Prediction: 8th
In
Arouna Kone (Wigan Athletic) Undisclosed
Antolin Alcaraz (Wigan Athletic) Free
Joel Robles (Atletico Madrid) Undisclosed
Gerard Deulofeu (Barcelona) Loan
Out
Thomas Hitzlsperger Released
Jan Mucha Released
Jake Bidwell (Brentford) Undisclosed
Positives: Roberto Martinez will try and implement a more pleasing to the eye passing style which some supporters will appreciate who were getting drained by some of the football that was played under David Moyes. Everton needed a fresh start and Nice guy Martinez gets a chance at a higher level bigger club so to speak and a lot of neutrals would hope that he will be successful. Could be the year that Everton will become every one's second favourite second club like Wigan were under Martinez the last couple of seasons.
Negatives: There are question marks about whether Martinez can set up a team defensively, under Moyes the one thing Everton always were hard to beat and that will be a challenge for Martinez to try and keep that while implementing his style of play on the squad he currently has. Some Everton fans are sceptical as well but will give Martinez a chance since he did win the F.A. Cup with Wigan last season and that is one more trophy than David Moyes won in eleven years with Everton.
Keeping Leighton Baines and Marouane Fellaini is also a priority and if they do keep them Everton should be comfortably top half and a decent cup run as well. If they lose both and that can still be a possibility then it might be a struggle for them.
Prediction: 8th
Premiership preview Part 4: Chelsea
Chelsea
In
Andre Schurrle (Bayer Leverkusen) Undisclosed
Mario van Ginkel (Vitesse Arnhem) Undisclosed
Mark Schwarzer (Fulham) Free
Out
Yossi Benayoun Released
Florent Malouda (Trabzonspor) Free
Paulo Ferreira Released
Ross Turnbull (Doncaster Rovers) Free
Thibaut Courtois (Atletico Madrid) Loan
Marko Marin (Sevilla) Loan
Oriol Romeu (Valencia) Loan
Positives: The Jose Mourinho factor cannot be underestimated as he returns to Chelsea to try and reignite the club to their first premiership in quite some time and make them competitive in Europe as well. As ridiculous as the last comment sounds as they did win the Europa League last season they did get knocked out of the champions league group stage and that is not good enough for the Chelsea Hierarchy. Rafa Benitez as unpopular as the choice was did stabilise the club and guided the squad through the packed fixture list they had and got them the Europa League and Champions League qualification and gives the special one a platform to build on this season. It seems sins from the past are forgiven from Roman Abromivich and Chelsea with the squad that they have are contenders for both the league and Champions League this season.
Negatives: If Chelsea are to succeed they badly need a striker who can bang in 20 goals a season for them and spearhead Mourinho's preferred 4-3-3 formation. If it is Wayne Rooney then that would be massive for the club and have to be rated as favourites if he does arrive but if they don't get him they do still need to find an answer with Demba Ba and Fernando Torres not doing enough last season to warrant that position so it may fall to Roman Lukaku to fill the Drogba position so to speak and recreate the form he did last season in his loan spell with West Brom. It will be a tough ask for him if they don't get someone in the transfer window to help him out but it will be interesting to see how he does this season.
Has Mourinho still got it? Will he carry the scars that inflicted his Real Madrid reign. Certainly for the first time in his managerial reign it could be considered a failure considering what the expectations were like at Madrid. Chelsea fans will give him an easier ride considering what he did for them in the past but I wonder if that will change if Chelsea don't get off to the start they desire.
Predicted position:3rd without Rooney, 1st with him.
In
Andre Schurrle (Bayer Leverkusen) Undisclosed
Mario van Ginkel (Vitesse Arnhem) Undisclosed
Mark Schwarzer (Fulham) Free
Out
Yossi Benayoun Released
Florent Malouda (Trabzonspor) Free
Paulo Ferreira Released
Ross Turnbull (Doncaster Rovers) Free
Thibaut Courtois (Atletico Madrid) Loan
Marko Marin (Sevilla) Loan
Oriol Romeu (Valencia) Loan
Positives: The Jose Mourinho factor cannot be underestimated as he returns to Chelsea to try and reignite the club to their first premiership in quite some time and make them competitive in Europe as well. As ridiculous as the last comment sounds as they did win the Europa League last season they did get knocked out of the champions league group stage and that is not good enough for the Chelsea Hierarchy. Rafa Benitez as unpopular as the choice was did stabilise the club and guided the squad through the packed fixture list they had and got them the Europa League and Champions League qualification and gives the special one a platform to build on this season. It seems sins from the past are forgiven from Roman Abromivich and Chelsea with the squad that they have are contenders for both the league and Champions League this season.
Negatives: If Chelsea are to succeed they badly need a striker who can bang in 20 goals a season for them and spearhead Mourinho's preferred 4-3-3 formation. If it is Wayne Rooney then that would be massive for the club and have to be rated as favourites if he does arrive but if they don't get him they do still need to find an answer with Demba Ba and Fernando Torres not doing enough last season to warrant that position so it may fall to Roman Lukaku to fill the Drogba position so to speak and recreate the form he did last season in his loan spell with West Brom. It will be a tough ask for him if they don't get someone in the transfer window to help him out but it will be interesting to see how he does this season.
Has Mourinho still got it? Will he carry the scars that inflicted his Real Madrid reign. Certainly for the first time in his managerial reign it could be considered a failure considering what the expectations were like at Madrid. Chelsea fans will give him an easier ride considering what he did for them in the past but I wonder if that will change if Chelsea don't get off to the start they desire.
Predicted position:3rd without Rooney, 1st with him.
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Premiership preview Part 3- The promoted clubs
Crystal Palace, Cardiff and Hull.
Cardiff
In
Andreas Cornelius (Copenhagen) Undisclosed
John Brayford (Derby County) Undisclosed
Simon Moore (Brentford) Undisclosed
Steven Caulker (Tottenham Hotspur) Undisclosed
Out
Heidar Helguson Released
Stephen McPhail Released
Crystal Palace
In
Stephen Dobbie (Brighton & Hove Albion) Undisclosed
Dwight Gayle (Peterborough United) Undisclosed
Jerome Thomas (West Bromwich Albion) Free
Jose Campana (Sevilla) Undisclosed
Elliot Grandin (Unattached) Free
Out
Andre Moritz (Bolton Wanderers) Free
Alex Marrow (Blackburn Rovers) Undisclosed
Hull
In
George Boyd (Peterborough United) Free
Maynor Figueroa (Wigan Athletic) Free
Curtis Davies (Birmingham City) Undisclosed
Ahmed Elmohamady (Sunderland) Undisclosed
Allan McGregor (Besiktas) Undisclosed
Steve Harper (Newcastle United) Free
Danny Graham (Sunderland) Loan
Yannick Sagbo (Evian) Undisclosed
Out
Sonny Bradley (Portsmouth) Free
Danny East (Portsmouth) Free
Seyi Olofinjana Released
Jay Simpson Released
Andy Dawson (Scunthorpe United) Free
Mark Oxley (Oldham Athletic) Loan
Corry Evans (Blackburn Rovers) Undisclosed
Positives:Going to be an interesting time for the three promoted clubs as all off them have a chance to stay up. Cardiff seem to me at least to be the most likely to stay up as this team, most of it anyway would not have played in the Premiership before and therefore would not have a negative stigma about getting relegated or any fear about playing the big guns. Malky MacKay is a good young manager and with the support of the new owner Vincent Tan I think Cardiff with the talents of Craig Bellamy and Peter Wittingham in particular could score enough goals to stay up. It is great that Ian Holloway is back in the premiership and with their financial troubles over Palace will be well watch watching and Hull Tigers as they are now known which caused a stir amongst its supporters stumbled over the finishing line last year but it was a great achievement nonetheless and Steve Bruce has the experienced nous to lead Hull to safety this season.
Negatives: Cardiff have the best chance of the three to stay up. A good young team I do suspect they might take a few hidings but if they keep their home form up they can stay up. Holloway has moaned about signings falling through for Palace in recent weeks which indicates he does not believe his squad is strong enough to stay up in the premiership which I am sure does nit help his players either which he has currently. I think it will be similar to the campaign Holloway had with Blackpool great football but a lot of naivety as well when they are off the ball which will relegate them. Hulls big problem will be scoring they have tried to address that with the signing of Danny Graham on loan but after the season Graham had with Sunderland last season that is no sure bet. They will need one or two others up front but with limited resources that will be hard to do.
Predictions: Cardiff 17th, Palace 19th and Hull 20th.
Cardiff
In
Andreas Cornelius (Copenhagen) Undisclosed
John Brayford (Derby County) Undisclosed
Simon Moore (Brentford) Undisclosed
Steven Caulker (Tottenham Hotspur) Undisclosed
Out
Heidar Helguson Released
Stephen McPhail Released
Crystal Palace
In
Stephen Dobbie (Brighton & Hove Albion) Undisclosed
Dwight Gayle (Peterborough United) Undisclosed
Jerome Thomas (West Bromwich Albion) Free
Jose Campana (Sevilla) Undisclosed
Elliot Grandin (Unattached) Free
Out
Andre Moritz (Bolton Wanderers) Free
Alex Marrow (Blackburn Rovers) Undisclosed
Hull
In
George Boyd (Peterborough United) Free
Maynor Figueroa (Wigan Athletic) Free
Curtis Davies (Birmingham City) Undisclosed
Ahmed Elmohamady (Sunderland) Undisclosed
Allan McGregor (Besiktas) Undisclosed
Steve Harper (Newcastle United) Free
Danny Graham (Sunderland) Loan
Yannick Sagbo (Evian) Undisclosed
Out
Sonny Bradley (Portsmouth) Free
Danny East (Portsmouth) Free
Seyi Olofinjana Released
Jay Simpson Released
Andy Dawson (Scunthorpe United) Free
Mark Oxley (Oldham Athletic) Loan
Corry Evans (Blackburn Rovers) Undisclosed
Positives:Going to be an interesting time for the three promoted clubs as all off them have a chance to stay up. Cardiff seem to me at least to be the most likely to stay up as this team, most of it anyway would not have played in the Premiership before and therefore would not have a negative stigma about getting relegated or any fear about playing the big guns. Malky MacKay is a good young manager and with the support of the new owner Vincent Tan I think Cardiff with the talents of Craig Bellamy and Peter Wittingham in particular could score enough goals to stay up. It is great that Ian Holloway is back in the premiership and with their financial troubles over Palace will be well watch watching and Hull Tigers as they are now known which caused a stir amongst its supporters stumbled over the finishing line last year but it was a great achievement nonetheless and Steve Bruce has the experienced nous to lead Hull to safety this season.
Negatives: Cardiff have the best chance of the three to stay up. A good young team I do suspect they might take a few hidings but if they keep their home form up they can stay up. Holloway has moaned about signings falling through for Palace in recent weeks which indicates he does not believe his squad is strong enough to stay up in the premiership which I am sure does nit help his players either which he has currently. I think it will be similar to the campaign Holloway had with Blackpool great football but a lot of naivety as well when they are off the ball which will relegate them. Hulls big problem will be scoring they have tried to address that with the signing of Danny Graham on loan but after the season Graham had with Sunderland last season that is no sure bet. They will need one or two others up front but with limited resources that will be hard to do.
Predictions: Cardiff 17th, Palace 19th and Hull 20th.
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Premiership Preview Part 2 Aston Villa
Aston Villa
In
Aleksandar Tonev (Lech Poznan) Undisclosed
Jores Okore (FC Nordsjaelland) Undisclosed
Leandro Bacuna (FC Groningen) Undisclosed
Nicklas Helenius (Aalborg BK) Undisclosed
Antonio Luna (Sevilla) Undisclosed
Jed Steer (Norwich) Undisclosed
Out
Richard Dunne (Queens Park Rangers) Free
Jean II Makoun Released
Eric Lichaj (Nottingham Forest) Free
Andy Marshall Released
Brett Holman Released
Derrick Williams (Bristol City) Undisclosed
Positives: A stable summer and a few new faces even if they are fairly unknown to the casual fan at least this summer for Villa in the first time in aeons it has been a stable summer and Paul Lambert has the full backing of the Villa support as well which is also a positive.
The signing of a new contract for Christian Benteke. He contributed 49 percent of all of Villa's goals last season and after he handed in a transfer request at the summer he was persuaded to do a u-turn and sign a new four year contract instead and if the has a season like he had last Villa should be a comfortable mid-table team this season.
Negatives: Thin Squad and lack of experience in it. Any player that was along for the ride last season at Villa Park would have been battle hardened and better for that experience but I think Villa would still have been benifited of adding a two 25 plus players to their squad just to balance things out a little bit as I think this team can still be capable of producing horror shows like the 8-0 loss to Chelsea last season. It is good that the squad is young and the investment of youth is a good thing in any club but a bit of experience would not go astray either for Villa and they still have time to rectify that of course if they so wish before the window closes. Also they might struggle to win any of their first three games as they are Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea.
Predicted Position: 11th
In
Aleksandar Tonev (Lech Poznan) Undisclosed
Jores Okore (FC Nordsjaelland) Undisclosed
Leandro Bacuna (FC Groningen) Undisclosed
Nicklas Helenius (Aalborg BK) Undisclosed
Antonio Luna (Sevilla) Undisclosed
Jed Steer (Norwich) Undisclosed
Out
Richard Dunne (Queens Park Rangers) Free
Jean II Makoun Released
Eric Lichaj (Nottingham Forest) Free
Andy Marshall Released
Brett Holman Released
Derrick Williams (Bristol City) Undisclosed
Positives: A stable summer and a few new faces even if they are fairly unknown to the casual fan at least this summer for Villa in the first time in aeons it has been a stable summer and Paul Lambert has the full backing of the Villa support as well which is also a positive.
The signing of a new contract for Christian Benteke. He contributed 49 percent of all of Villa's goals last season and after he handed in a transfer request at the summer he was persuaded to do a u-turn and sign a new four year contract instead and if the has a season like he had last Villa should be a comfortable mid-table team this season.
Negatives: Thin Squad and lack of experience in it. Any player that was along for the ride last season at Villa Park would have been battle hardened and better for that experience but I think Villa would still have been benifited of adding a two 25 plus players to their squad just to balance things out a little bit as I think this team can still be capable of producing horror shows like the 8-0 loss to Chelsea last season. It is good that the squad is young and the investment of youth is a good thing in any club but a bit of experience would not go astray either for Villa and they still have time to rectify that of course if they so wish before the window closes. Also they might struggle to win any of their first three games as they are Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea.
Predicted Position: 11th
Premiership Preview Part 1 Arsenal
The Premiership is only over a week away and here is my predictions for the 20 teams to take part in the 2013/14 season.
Arsenal
In
Yaya Sanogo (Auxerre) Free
Out
Andrey Arshavin (Zenit St Petersberg) Free
Francis Coquelin (Freiburg) Loan
Denilson (Sao Paulo) Free
Johan Djourou (Hamburg) Loan
Craig Eastmond (Colchester United) Free
Kyle Ebecilio (Twente) Free
Vito Mannone (Sunderland) Undisclosed
Sebastien Squillaci Released
Sanchez Watt (Colchester United) Free
Jordan Wynter (Bristol City) Free
Jernade Meade (Swansea City) Free
Andre Santos (Flamengo) Undisclosed
Gervinho (Roma)
Positives: A lot of the fringe players are now gone and has released money for players who will demand bigger wage bills.
Jack Wilshere has had a full pre season for the first time since 2010 and this season is a key one for him as not only an important one for the club but also a World Cup for his country as well at the end of it. His fitness is a major issue for Arsenal if they are going to get back to the silverware hunt this season.
No one that you can say will be a first team regular has left the club this summer yet and no signs that anyone will be leaving either which at least has created a bit of stability in the first team.
Negatives: Wegner contract situation. After the transfer deadline closes on the 2nd of September thoughts will be immediately turn to the managers contract situation after it closes and there is no guarantee this time that the longest serving manager in the English Leagues is going to renew it this time. If there is a statement of intent as to what he is going to do early on in the season then at least everyone can get on with it but if he does not, it could create uncertainty within the playing staff and they might not perform to their best of their abilities.
The Suarez saga and the lack of transfer activity overall. Arsenal's Chief Executive Ivan Gatzidis just after the season end last season declared that Arsenal are now in a position to spend on big name players this summer to finally challenge the big guns this summer for the best talent and to challenge for major trophies once again. Nothing has happened since which has sent all Arsenal supporters supposedly into a state of panic and considering Arsenal's track record in previous seasons that has justified the panic in many ways. With the Higuain transfer falling through the cracks it looks as though Arsenal have put all the eggs in one basket to get Luis Suarez over to the Emirates. That has it's own baggage as Suarez has proven many times in his career already he has shown thuggish and also very selfish behavior as well and I am not sure if this is the type of player Arsenal should go for. If he is to come he will improve the squad tremendously without a doubt but can he be trusted to behave throughout a season I am not so sure about that. We will see how this story develops as the next month rolls on.
Arsenal also badly need a defender as Johan Djourou has gone and Thomas Vermalen is injured until at least April which means Arsenal will be only starting with two centre backs. Ashley Williams has been muted but nothing concrete has been stamped on that story. If Arsenal are to progress and close the sixteen point gap that there was last season then they need to spend the money thiat is available to them but they way they have gone about it makes me wonder if they will spend any of it at all.
Prediction:4th
Arsenal
In
Yaya Sanogo (Auxerre) Free
Out
Andrey Arshavin (Zenit St Petersberg) Free
Francis Coquelin (Freiburg) Loan
Denilson (Sao Paulo) Free
Johan Djourou (Hamburg) Loan
Craig Eastmond (Colchester United) Free
Kyle Ebecilio (Twente) Free
Vito Mannone (Sunderland) Undisclosed
Sebastien Squillaci Released
Sanchez Watt (Colchester United) Free
Jordan Wynter (Bristol City) Free
Jernade Meade (Swansea City) Free
Andre Santos (Flamengo) Undisclosed
Gervinho (Roma)
Positives: A lot of the fringe players are now gone and has released money for players who will demand bigger wage bills.
Jack Wilshere has had a full pre season for the first time since 2010 and this season is a key one for him as not only an important one for the club but also a World Cup for his country as well at the end of it. His fitness is a major issue for Arsenal if they are going to get back to the silverware hunt this season.
No one that you can say will be a first team regular has left the club this summer yet and no signs that anyone will be leaving either which at least has created a bit of stability in the first team.
Negatives: Wegner contract situation. After the transfer deadline closes on the 2nd of September thoughts will be immediately turn to the managers contract situation after it closes and there is no guarantee this time that the longest serving manager in the English Leagues is going to renew it this time. If there is a statement of intent as to what he is going to do early on in the season then at least everyone can get on with it but if he does not, it could create uncertainty within the playing staff and they might not perform to their best of their abilities.
The Suarez saga and the lack of transfer activity overall. Arsenal's Chief Executive Ivan Gatzidis just after the season end last season declared that Arsenal are now in a position to spend on big name players this summer to finally challenge the big guns this summer for the best talent and to challenge for major trophies once again. Nothing has happened since which has sent all Arsenal supporters supposedly into a state of panic and considering Arsenal's track record in previous seasons that has justified the panic in many ways. With the Higuain transfer falling through the cracks it looks as though Arsenal have put all the eggs in one basket to get Luis Suarez over to the Emirates. That has it's own baggage as Suarez has proven many times in his career already he has shown thuggish and also very selfish behavior as well and I am not sure if this is the type of player Arsenal should go for. If he is to come he will improve the squad tremendously without a doubt but can he be trusted to behave throughout a season I am not so sure about that. We will see how this story develops as the next month rolls on.
Arsenal also badly need a defender as Johan Djourou has gone and Thomas Vermalen is injured until at least April which means Arsenal will be only starting with two centre backs. Ashley Williams has been muted but nothing concrete has been stamped on that story. If Arsenal are to progress and close the sixteen point gap that there was last season then they need to spend the money thiat is available to them but they way they have gone about it makes me wonder if they will spend any of it at all.
Prediction:4th
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