Why Arsenal Fans Should be Pleased, not Uneasy, that Wenger is not Splashing Cash

By Joel Martin

With Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Tottenham all making several big additions to their squad this summer, many Arsenal supporters have been wondering when their club will get in on the action. Arsenal have bought in Eduardo, Sagna, Fabianski, and Nordtveit, but they have brought in much more money than they have spent with the sales of Henry, Ljungberg, Aliadiere, Reyes, and Muamba. Many fans think the losses of Henry and Ljungberg, in particular, will lead to the Gunners dropping out of the top four and out of the Champions League, and I’m not quite sure why they are so convinced.

First of all, Ljungberg had no impact for Arsenal last year. He has been over the hill for a few years and he wasn’t even worth the 3 million pounds West Ham spent on him. The West Ham Freddie Ljungberg is nowhere near the Ljungberg of old, and I really think he’ll get phased out of the Hammers’ squad by the end of the year. The loss of Ljungberg opens the door for young wingers with potential, such as Walcott, Eboue, and even Kieran Gibbs or Fran Merida to make an impact for the first team if given the chance. Losing Ljungberg is a good thing.

Selling Henry to Barcelona this summer was a bad move—it was a year too late. Wenger should have sold him last year, when Barcelona was willing to pay twice as much. Henry was a great striker, and Gooners worldwide would have been outraged, but he only played for half the season last year, and due to a few nagging injuries, he was not very effective in the few games he did play. Keeping Henry around for last season probably cost Arsenal 16 million pounds. Was he worth it? No.

Henry is a legend. He may well be the best player to ever put on an Arsenal shirt. But he was not a good captain. When Patrick Viera left to Juventus, Henry was really the only choice to replace him. Wenger had to give the armband to Henry just to keep from insulting him. No matter how talented a striker is, history shows they simply do not make good captains. No team led by a striker as captain has won the Premiership in the last 10 years. Now, with Gallas as captain, Arsenal have a captain who can see the entire field and lead like a general. Henry could not do this simply because of the position he was playing. His loss may very well help the squad by giving them a chance to be led by one of the most experienced and competitive defenders in the Premier League.

People forget Arsenal finished tied with Liverpool on points last season, losing out on goal differential. The Gunners were playing with reserve strikers (both of which were terrible and are now gone) for most of the second half of the season, and couldn’t get the goals they needed to break their tie with Liverpool, but they easily dominated most of the games they played, controlling possession and creating many chances. If Eduardo, Bendtner, and a healthy Robin van Persie can finish just half of the chances Baptista and Aliadiere scorned last season, Arsenal should have no problem racking up a large sum of points.

At the beginning of last season, Manchester United sold their most experienced and most prolific goal-scorer to a Spanish giant. People wondered where they would get the goals needed to challenge Chelsea, who had spent tons of money on several big-name transfers and were looking to win their third consecutive championship. Almost everyone wrote United off before the season started. Sound familiar?