jayramfootball wrote:
The strategy the club has adopted may not work, the youth project as it is being referred to. I don't see why that is an issue. Nothing is guaranteed to work. We have splashed a fortune on 'big signings' in the past and that has not worked either.
Ozil
Auba
Lacazette
Xhaka
Mustafi
That's close to 250 million on 5 players plus 10's of millions more in wages.
It didn't stop the rot.
That is not the fault of the players individually, rather they had no chance of making a difference in a club that was rotting - and had been for some time - when those players joined.
The strategy the club has adopted is really the only one that could work, save for spending a billion in one season and completely changing the squad with ready-made stars that could deliver in the PL. Even if we had the money, the chances of being able to assemble such a cast list was and is impossible.
Saka is an integral part of the bet the club has made - and it is a bet.
If we fail then it is likely Saka and others will be snapped up by other clubs.
That's just the way it is.
What the club are doing now is a decade too late, unfortunately, but it is what it is. A last throw of the dice. If this doesn't work, save for a financial meltdown in the PL, our title-challenging (and probably top 4 days) are over for a very long time, probably permanently.
Jay, spending on big players wasnt the problem, identifying the problem was straight forward.
Wenger didn't commit. Its that simple. He bought Ozil, that was a massive lift to the club, the next season we bought Sanchez, another huge lift to the club. Now we are buying the best players, now we are moving in the right direction. But Wenger didn't commit. Look at the squad players that got enough game time to affect performances: Shezza, Debuchy, Gibbs, Merts, Kos, Arteta, Wilshere, Ozil, Giroud, Ospina, Oxo, Ramsey, Sanchez, Monreal, Cazorla, Flamini, Chambers, Welbeck, Coquelin, Bellerin.
Does that squad strike you as a squad that will challenge for top the title ?? It doesn't to me, not even close. Lets look at the 2015-16 squad: Merts, Gab Paulista, Kos, Ozil, Giroud, Walcott, Oxo, Ramsey, Sanchez, Monreal, Cazorla, Flamini, Bellerin, Joel Campbell, Chech, Coquelin, Elneny, Iwobi.
I mean, comne on, that squad is worse ! Lets look at the next squad: Gibbs, Gab Paulista, Kos, Sanchez, Ramsey, Ozil, Giroud, Walcott, Oxo, Holding, Iwobi, Monreal, Mustafi, Welbeck, Bellerin, Xhaka, Coquelin, Elneny. Jeepers freekin creepers man, each year the squad was worse than the previous squad ! I'm not even going to bother do Wenger's final season.
There is no way you can call adding 2 marquee signings to a squad that was bereft of quality in the first place - and then what little quality it had being reduced further still - proof that big signings don't work !!!