theHotHead wrote:On an entirely different topic, I watched the Man City/Liverpool game last night, 2 top teams going at it, it was a pleasure to watch. But what stood out the most for me was when Liverpool decided to turn up the heat on City, they were incredible. I have heard so many times on this forum that Arsenal can't compete, Arsenal can't buy big name players, Arsenal can't do this and that and also that Emery's hands are tied. Thats absolute bollox if you ask me ! Look at the starting 11 for Liverpool:
Alisson - €62.5m
Alexander Arnold - Free
Lovren - €25.3m
Van Dijk - €78.8m
Robertson - €9m
Wijnaldum - €27.5m
Henderson - €18m
Milner - Free
Salah - €42m
Firmino - €41m
Mane - €41.2m
Team Total - €345.3m
Now look at Arsenal's starting lineup vs Fulham:
Leno - €25m
Mustafi - €41m
Sokratis - €16m
Koscielny - €12.5m
Maitland Niles - Free
Guendouzi - €8m
Xhaka - €45m
Kolasinac - Free
Iwobi - Free
Aubameyang - €63.7m
Lacazette - €53m
Team Total - €264.2m
Now consider that is Liverpool's full strength team and ours doesn't include Ozil (€47m) and Torreira (€30m), our team would cost €333.2 (removing Iwobi and Guendouzi) thats a €12m difference !!! So why are they so much better than us ? Individually they have 4 stand out players to me, their keeper, CB and 2 strikers. Inc Torreira and Ozil we have 4 stand out players too(with Laca and Auba). Well stating the obvious, Emery has been with us for 5 or so months. Other differences, they play much better as a team, Klopp has got them playing either to their strengths or playing tactics/formations that suit the players. It would be remiss of me to not add a third option, that their players adapted to Klopp's changes well.
I see no reason why Arsenal cannot do the same with the players that we have. To get to their level will take some time but I do not buy the "we cannot compete" argument, we should be seeing steady improvement and a focus on team improvement which absolutely must start with our atrocious defending as a team.
Good post, I largely agree.
What I would say is Liverpool's transfer policy is quite similar to ours in the sense that they rely on player sales, commercial deals and match day income to fund any players coming in. Their owners haven't actually invested any money into the club for transfers.
They received £207m from Coutinho and Suarez sales and have reinvested that money wisely in strengthening their goalkeeper, defence and midfield. All of which were problem positions for them.
Arsenal don't receive that sort of money for their players because our negotiating team haven't been that good or we've let too many players run their contracts down to their final year. Which means they can either bend us over a barrel when it comes to wanting a lucrative contract or other clubs will come in for them and offer them a big signing-on fee.
Liverpool received £19m for Dominic Solanke from Bournemouth. They bought him for £3m. He has 1 goal in 28 appearances for them.
Man City are selling youth prospect Brahim Diaz to Real Madrid for £22m. He has made 5 appearances this season and has 6 months left on his contract.
It puts us to shame that other clubs can command these sorts of fees for unproven players.
But I'm not making excuses here - the reality is, when we have spent money, on too many occasions, we haven't spent it right at all.
Xhaka - £35m
Mustafi - £35m
Cech - £10m
Elneny - £7.4m
Perez - £18m
Kolasinac - free but on £140k p/w (5 year deal which means he will cost us £36m over his contract length).
Mkhitaryan - free but on £140k p/w (3.5 year deal which means he is technically costing us £22m over his entire contract length).
If we accumulate all of that, including the free transfers and the wages they get paid over the entirety of their contract lengths, that is potentially ~£163.4m spent on all of those players.
Think about that. £163.4m. On players that most of the Arsenal fanbase do not rate or think won’t take us to the next level.
And on top of that, we have ageing players on long-term contracts and high wages that will be difficult to shift.
So overall, the mismanagement and mishandling of transfers and players from the previous regime is why we're in a situation where we cannot compete with the likes of City or Liverpool.