You The Man-ager

[Its Up 4 Grabs Now]

I’m guessing there’s pretty much nobody left on here that doesn’t feel/know we desperately need to make some new signings in key areas & the sooner the better if things aren’t gonna get any worse.

But what I was wondering is just who we all think we could & should bring in in January. I’m talking only about players who might genuinely be available and would realistically be within whatever budget we all think Wenger’s working with.

Personally I’ve never been convinced that the transfer budget is quite as flush as we were led to believe over the summer (for a number of reasons) & I definitely don’t believe our lack of signings was quite as straight-forward as Wenger simply deciding we didn’t need any new blood.

Taking Fiszman’s £30m quote at face value (sort of) and factoring in that Arsenal’s budgets usually have to cover wages as well as transfer fees I’d say that would mean there was about £15m to spend in terms of transfer fees. I base that on a £15m player getting around a 4-year £70k p/week contract (=£14.56m).

Not sure how much would have been added to the transfer kitty since then so I’ll stick with the £30m until/unless someone more in the know can take a stab at how much more might have been added.

But if it's anything like the same £30m as in the summer I would argue that would only allow one top-quality signing in Jan unless we can get some real bargains! Personally with the £15m I’d go for Yaya Toure given he’s out of favour at Barca & may be more open to a move now, and cos a DM is our biggest priority in my opinion.

* So how much (realistically) do you think Wenger has in the kitty to spend in Jan?
* Is that all for transfer fees alone, or to cover wages as well?
* And most importantly who would you buy with that money?

[Deise Gooner]

Yaya Toure would be nice but might not be avaliable, should have just bought him when he was avaliable the year Barca got him

[Its Up 4 Grabs Now]

In hindsight yeah we should have got him before but that summer once Barca showed interest we probably didnt stand much chance. Maybe when we had him on trial before he went to Olympiakos we should have done the deal though.

I think there's a good chance he could be available in Jan. He hasnt been in the team that much under Guardiola (unless things have changed recently) & according to him Wenger did try to sign him in the summer but at the time he was a regular for Barca so wasnt interested.

Any thoughts on who you'd go for Ade and/or how much we really have available to spend?

[mrgnu1958]

To be truthful there aint that many players of quality around for anyone

[Its Up 4 Grabs Now]

Agreed ****, especially in Jan. And that's part of the reason I ask. We all know we need to buy asap and a lot of us are saying if Wenger doesnt buy (and buy big) in Jan then the writing's on the wall but I'm just curious as to who everybody thinks we can buy?

[badger]

it seems man city could be buying buffon, therefore joe hart could be a shout...?

and if they are going to buy crazy they could be willing to let other current players go like m richards?

if we could get those 2 it would be a dream, add a yaya toure type in midfield and id be happy

i also think we could get crouch at a reasonable price due to pompeys money problems, as someone who has watched a lot of him i reckon he would score a shed load of goals for us

i find it highly unlikely however we will bu these players due to cost.

vela, ramsey and whilshere need to be involved much more oftne too

as far as im concerned the following players can go, which could help to increase the budget as middle of the road prem sides would be willing to pay good money

almunia
eboue
gallas
song
denilson
rvp
bentner

its all wishful thinking though, cant see much changing

[augie]

First on my list would be shay given who I believe we could get for £5m.

In centre midfield there would be the usual candidates - yaya might be the big physical player that we badly need if he throws himself about but I'm not sure he would do that, alonso is a class player who presence might ensure cesc stays beyond next summer but is he strong enough defensively ? If money is tight then I would throw PV4's name into the hat and no I am not messing here either. I believe that at his age he wouldnt cost a lot, would be the powerful and commanding leader we need and his love of the club would ensure that every player stays on track. Yes it would be a short term fix and there probably are better options out there but imo we need someone who knows the english game, knows the Arsenal way and can hit the ground running in that all important position.

The centre half position might be a mite bit trickier - I still think that getting richard dunne at a reasonable price isnt outside the bounds of possibility especially if they spend big in jan and he is no longer 1st choice. However he wouldnt be my 1st choice but again we need to get a strong commanding player who is ready to hit the ground running. Marquez at barca might be an option again if he aint getting enough games

[SteveO 35]

I would like David Wheater from Middlesbrough and Mikel Arteta from Everton please......

Both desperately needed with years ahead of them and more importantly would both come and join us tomorrow if we came calling.....

[FOXYARSENAL]

i to would aim for shay given and should have done long ago,yaya toure for me aswell we need sbody with a bit of presence,altho paddy veira as u say augie wouldnt be a bad option either,all these sort of transfers should have been done at the start by wenger then we wouldnt be in this mess

[Its Up 4 Grabs Now]

First on my list would be shay given who I believe we could get for £5m.

I’m def in favour of Given if he’s available but would he really go for £5m? And isn’t he on £90k or so a week up there? If so then over a 4-year contract that comes to over £18.5m. Add on the £5m transfer fee and £23.5m of our alleged £30m is gone already.

I would throw PV4's name into the hat and no I am not messing here either. I believe that at his age he wouldnt cost a lot, would be the powerful and commanding leader we need and his love of the club would ensure that every player stays on track.

I don’t really watch all that much Italian football so I’ve no idea how up to the task he’d be or not but I’ve said before I really do think it would be good to bring him back in some sort of capacity.

Perhaps in a sort of player/coach-type role whereby we’d be bringing him in knowing he’s not gonna play every week but more so for his influence in the dressing room and ability to show these players what it should mean to wear the canon on your chest.

I think one of the problems in the past with some of our former players in coaching roles (ie Keown) is that too many of the youngsters don’t understand and respect just how much in awe of them they should be because they weren’t as internationally known/respected, and Wenger/Rice either didn’t or couldn’t make sure they did. Case in point being the alleged Senderos/Keown incident. With Vieira I think they’d automatically respect him.

But if he’s not gonna be playing week-in week-out we’d still need to bring in another CM & so Vieira’s wages would be cutting further into how much we could spend on that CM.

[King_Kolo]

I'd love to see PV4 back, probably wouldn't cost too much now either. If we could get him and Alonso, that could make all the difference, and could also see us retain Cesc's services for a few more years.

Also Boruc from Celtic, apparently we were interested last summer, I think he would be an excellent addition...

[g88ner]

Who knows...

Wenger's knowledge of players is vast, and his scouting network MUST surely know of a holding midfielder who can shield our defence better than our current lot!

Our defence is too exposed, and they're brittle enough as it is!

They need help from midfield!

[QuartzGooner]

With respect to all who rate Vieira, as I do, it would astound me if he returned.

He has spoken of how he appreciates the slower pace of the Italian game, and with his age I do not think he has any ambition to return to the premiership.

Three problem positions, these three at top of my list, reckon we might get any two from the three but not all three

GOALKEEPER:

I would like Wenger to go for
Shay Given

CENTRAL DEFENDER:

I would like Marquez from Barcelona but cannot see it happening.

Reckon we will get Julien Escude from Sevilla or Daniel Van Buyten from Bayern Munich.

DEFENSIVE CENTRAL MIDFIELDER

Not so sure Barcelona will readily sell Yaya Toure, who if in shape would be very reasonable especially in Europe.

I think we will end up buying Blaise Matuidi from St. Etienne.
Or even Alou Diarra from Bordeaux.

[xDAVEYx]

whatever happened to lorik cana? he's a monster with a pair, just what we need

[QuartzGooner]

whatever happened to lorik cana? he's a monster with a pair, just what we need

Possible, though maybe Wenger will be put off by his potential for red cards?