By Dominic Fifield
Last updated: Tue Aug 20 10:19:36 BST 2013
This summer was supposed to mark a new era at Arsenal. The Londoners, the world was told, had benefited from “an escalation in financial firepower” and boasted ambition to match, a club with vast cash reserves capable of luring world-class talent to the Emirates stadium.
A few months on, and with the transfer deadline ticking ever closer, the close season has started to feel more like the start of a long goodbye.
Arsene Wenger has been a managerial great, a figure who has left an indelible mark on the Premier League and whose points of principle, certainly when it comes to clubs spending beyond their means, are admirable.
He could baulk at the billions invested by oligarchs and Sheikhs, questioning the financial models in place at rival clubs and the sustainability of the projects they promoted, and most independent observers would agree with his stance. His desire to polish rough diamonds into gems was also to be applauded.
And yet, in the wake of recent toils in failed pursuit of silverware and with the chief executive's aspirations laid bare in those interviews of early summer, Wenger suddenly feels outdated. A man whose ethics have become his downfall, restricting him and his club from competing at the level they crave.
Last week, on the eve of his side's horrendous 3-1 home defeat to Aston Villa, the Frenchman had insisted the failure to secure a Gonazlo Higuain or Luis Suarez, a Lars Bender or Luiz Gustavo, was not his fault.
“The perception I am resistant to spending is unfair,” he had said. “Why should I resist? I just defend the idea you spend the money you have and not the money you don't have.
"Today, we have more so we can spend more. I am excited by that prospect. ... We are ready to spend the money if we feel that the players make us a better team.”
But surely Higuain would have improved Arsenal's lineup? And would their midfield not feel more secure with a Gustavo in the ranks? Both those players moved in the end, for £32m and £17m to Napoli and Wolfsburg (11th in the Bundesliga last term) respectively.
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Wenger is limping into the final year of his contract with an air of panic all around"
Surely any of those four would have been a welcome addition to an Arsenal squad who travel to Istanbul on Tuesday for a critical, and awkward, Champions League qualifying tie against Fenerbahce severely depleted, lacking in depth and with confidence dented by Saturday's loss.
Spurs, of course, have Franco Baldini operating as a technical director these days, a key member of Fabio Capello's staff at Roma, Real Madrid and England, and whose input was so welcomed by Andre Villas-Boas in terms of recruitment this summer.
The clamour from Arsenal fans, and even former major shareholders, has been for someone of similar ilk – David Dein's name is hollered more than most – to assist and influence Wenger.
The Frenchman can seem too pernickety at times, too intent on perfection, where a Dein-figure might persuade him to take the odd risk for the greater good.
Quibbling over relatively minor fees when the board has insisted there is money to burn – “I have, of course, a big influence on that,” admitted the manager when asked if he had the final word on the size of offers made for players – would suggest the system of recruitment is dysfunctional at present.
Actually, the sight of Yaya Sanogo as the solitary summer signing to date is evidence enough of failure. Now bids are being lodged for the likes of Yohan Cabaye at Newcastle, but if the French midfielder had been a first-choice target then why was interest not declared earlier in the summer?
After all, the price on his head is hardly likely to drop as the deadline approaches. As it is, Wenger rather limps into the last year of his contract with an air of panic all around.
The last two weeks before 11pm on 2 September might bring a flurry of incoming deals but, unless a Suarez or Wayne Rooney is among them, the sense will always be that this was desperation setting in at the last.
The club's supporters' trust have already made it clear talk of the manager being offered a new deal at present is “inappropriate” unless “considerable improvement” is demonstrated in the market. Securing him to longer terms suddenly does not feel quite the coup it was.
A summer of anti-climax has been translated as a “continued lack of ambition”, and understandably so. Wenger has claimed three Premier League titles and four FA Cups in a little under 17 seasons in north London. At present, it is hard to see his stewardship extending beyond campaign No18.
http://sport.bt.com/sportfootball/football/is-this-the-start-of-wengers-long-goodbye-S11363826627348
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