Now Arsène Wenger has all this money, what will he do with it?
Fans are clamouring for a big signing after the sale of Kolo Touré and Emmanuel Adebayor has put £39m into Arsenal's coffers
Arsène Wenger has never been a man to bow to the madding crowd. The Arsenal manager can even appear to take perverse pleasure in resisting the calls for him to splash the cash in the transfer market. He has long maintained that "quality is not linked to price" and, if there is not value to be had, he will shrug his shoulders and walk on by the window.
The calls got to him last season when he was heckled at the club's AGM for his transfer policy – in particular his faith in young players – and they are now threatening to reach new levels after the £14m departure of Kolo Touré to Manchester City. The sale of the defender supplemented that of the striker Emmanuel Adebayor, for £25m, also to City, and it served to underline the end of an era. Touré was the only regular member of Wenger's Invincibles of 2003-04 to have remained at the club.
"I think it is now essential that Arsène makes new signings," said Nigel Winterburn, the former Arsenal defender, who is not alone in sensing a mood of "nervousness" among the club's fans. "They need three players to bolster the squad; a centre-half, a strong central midfielder to complement Cesc Fábregas and possibly someone else up front."
Wenger has made one significant purchase this summer, the Belgium defender Thomas Vermaelen from Ajax for £10m, and another defender, Philippe Senderos, has returned from his season's loan at Milan. Senderos is determined to prove he can make the grade at Arsenal, although his future remains uncertain. Wenger has an interest in the Fulham centre-half Brede Hangeland but has been discouraged by the £12m price tag and is tracking the Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh. He also likes St Etienne's young midfielder Blaise Matuidi, and Ian Wright, the former Arsenal striker, claimed yesterday that Patrick Vieira could be poised for a sensational return to the club from Juventus. "I am hearing Vieira, pay-as-you-play, back at Arsenal," said Wright on his talkSPORT radio show.
Wenger could not close the gap to the champions, Manchester United, last season; indeed, it widened considerably in terms of the hard currency of Premier League points and Sir Alex Ferguson commented over the weekend that "the one who has the challenge this season is Arsène". Ferguson has taken to calling Wenger by his Christian name; a reflection of the softening of the rough edges to their relationship or tacit confirmation of the feeling that he no longer considers Arsenal a genuine threat? Ferguson has instead gone all nasty on Manchester City. "He [Wenger] doesn't have the money," Ferguson said "and how he uses the £25m from Adebayor will be very, very interesting." It is the million-dollar question or, more precisely now Touré has followed Adebayor out of the Emirates exit, the £39m question.
Wenger betrayed his frustration at the end of last season at the perception of him as a reluctant transfer-window shopper. "I do not accept people to think that I'm stupid enough that I have £100m at my disposal and I put it in the bank because I am scared to spend it," he said. Certainly Wenger has had to swell his transfer kitty in recent summers by off-loading a big name, as the club absorbs the overheads of its relocation from Highbury to the Emirates. It was Thierry Henry in 2007 and Alex Hleb in 2008.
There can be little doubt Wenger has money now, as it is difficult to reconcile the statements of various board members that there are funds available with what would effectively be their asking Wenger to contend with a near £30m loss on his budget. But back we come to how Wenger spends it. He has never hidden his distaste for the "vulgarity" of buying a player for upwards of £20m and he has described himself as a "prisoner of my policies" in terms of his promotion of youth. To him it makes no sense to develop a young player, only then to place the obstacle of a name signing in front of him.
The break-up of the Invincibles was notable for its haste, although of that fabled XI, only Henry and Ashley Cole, who moved to Barcelona and Chelsea respectively, can truly be said to have prospered. As Arsenal have slipped to the position of the Big Four's fourth club, with City now threatening that, Wenger has heard the accusation that his replacement players have not been up to scratch.
"I'm not sure Arsenal have the established stars," added Winterburn. "Who are the automatic starters? Almunia, Gallas, Fábregas, Arshavin and Van Persie. Maybe Theo Walcott as well, and then you are looking at players around that. In 2003-04, with the form of those players, the team picked itself."
Until Wenger signs Chamakh or another centre-forward, it is likely that Robin van Persie will be asked to lead the line, with Andrey Arshavin or possibly Tomas Rosicky roaming behind him. Rosicky has not played a competitive game for 18 months because of and, like Eduardo, he will resemble a new signing for Wenger, with the obvious proviso that he stays fit.
Wenger has been boosted by Van Persie's signing of a new five-year contract while the captain Fábregas' commitment to the cause was illustrated by his cutting short his summer holiday after playing for Spain at the Confederations Cup to join the Arsenal squad at their pre-season training camp in Austria.
Wenger passionately believes that his young team is moving in the right direction, that it will be stronger for the turbulent experiences of last season. "When these players are 23 or 24," he said, with a nod towards Fábregas, Walcott, Samir Nasri et al, "they will beat comfortably all the other teams, believe me."
The doubters will be reassured if and when Wenger can add further strength.
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