So,,,,,,Which players must we sign?

So according to the media and fans (both gunners and non), it seems like our squad is basically not good enough. our perfomances this season may prove that. but my point is, realisticaly, which players are out there who are not just good enough, but will make Arsenal into a CL challenger?

lets break it down, here is my take:

GK: apparently, we still need a good goalie, but i would not even exchange Chesny for Iker atm

LB: after Clichy's deparutre, we obviously need a replacement, especially judging by Gibbs' injury record, but lets be honest here, how many Left Backs will actually be an improvement on Gibbs that we can sign? none comes to mind. sure he has has injury problems, but so is 90% of our squad

CB..Unless we can sign Vidic, Pique, Chiellini or Pepe, i cant think of any CB who will come and change us from a 43 goals into a 25 goals conceded a season. and please dont mention any Bundesliga CB.

CM. apparently we need a replacement for Cesc, but again lets be honest here, who is there that can be an improvement on Jack, Ramsey or even Diaby? Gourcouf? i would rather Lansbury than him. so before people starts saying we need a replacement for Cesc, they should be more realistic because lets be honest, there is no player in the world that can do better than Jack and Ramsey ( even though he is dissapointing so far) for us.


Nasri's Replacement: We have Gervinho for that already. on the same topic, why did we buy that 18 year old kid for 15m when we could surely have added 10m to that and get a proven player (Mata) who is only 5 years older? anyway, unless we get Hazard i really dont think people should be telling us to find a replacement for Nasri when its obvious that the quality is not there.

Striker. again, unless we are thinking of benching RVP, which striker of top class quality out there would like to come to Arsenal and sit on the bench?


So imv, people need to stop going on as if we are about to be relegated. whether we make signings in the next 4 days or not, i will not be much bothered, but will however understand Wenger's decisions. As he said, he will only buy if the quality is there, and imv, there is not much available quality there.


Just my opinion anyway

I can see reason in your arguments, but the problem is, we are short on squad depth.. A couple of injuries and suspensions and see how our squad looks already!

Add the exodus we'll see at AFCoN.. And then we have a genuine problem.. Cause we sure as hell can't let our chances rest on the shoulder of 16yos in such a crucial season!

GK: We dont need one

LB: We surely need one but who is available???

CB: We have 4 already, adding one wont be bad as Squid is good for nothing (not counting Ignasi)

CM: We need a creative mid fielder!!!! Desperately!! Here's Why. I agree there are not many achievable targets which are better than Jack and Rambo!!! But do you know why jack is injured now????? Check how many games he played last season. Rambo have not provided one out of the world pass in the 3 games we have played this season! We need depth so that we can rotate without compromising the quality of our starting eleven.

Nasri Replacement: I dont think we need a direct replacement of Nasri, but a creative mid fielder is really needed

Striker: We need to rotate RVP too with a good striker to avoid injuries to RVP, Chamack has really gone downhill and atm is not making the cut for EPL let alone Arsenal. I would keep Bendtner here promising him 15 starts and total 25 appearances.

All in all
1st priority: Creative midfielder
2nd Priority: Left Back who can play CB if needed
3rd Priority: Striker

M vila, and decent non flamboyant type of LB, Arteta

does anyone else think it would have been nice to have a joey barton in our squad? instead of him moving for free to QPR

IMO we need more quality in 6 positions: CB, LB, ST, CAM, LW, and maybe DM given circumstances. However, this doesn't quite mean 6 more signings are necessary. I think we only need 3 for the immediate future.

If we can sign another good CB, we would have enough numbers in the centre of defence that we could probably afford to play Vermaelen at LB in emergency circumstances, and play Djourou at DM when Song and Frimpong are unavailable or away for the ACoN. Of course, Diaby, Eastmond, and Coquelin can all play as DMs too, but I'm not totally sure that trio can handle it due to injury problems (Diaby) and lack of 1st team experience (Eastmond and Coquelin). Overall, 1 signing = 3 positions adequately covered, for now at least.

With Carlos Vela gone on loan, Bendtner being sold, Chamakh going away for the ACoN, and RvP not always reliable on the injury front, another striker also looks to be necessary. Gervinho, Walcott and Arshavin could provide cover here, but frankly this is stretching the squad far too thin. In fairness, Wenger has now admitted he needs another striker.

Finally, we need at least one more creative midfielder to replace Cesc. If we can get 2 of them with one of them being able to play out wide (ex. Hazard) then I will be ecstatic, but we need at least one.

What would I personally do? I would try to sign a CB, at least one AM, and a striker. I would also seriously consider recalling Denilson to save myself a headache at DM, and if I couldn't sign a good striker in time I would also attempt to get Carlos Vela back. I would also scour the earth (aka Football Manager) for a good LB who is available, but I don't know how much luck I'd have