Just three months after signing for Chinese Super League side, Shanghai Shenhua, Didier Drogba is already being touted as making a return to the Premier League, with Arsenal a clear destination according to the Betfair Premier League website.
Yet Arsenal boss, Arsene Wenger, has swiftly come out and rejected any idea of a move for the veteran striker, a good decision according to many Gooners.
Arsenal do not need Drogba in order to succeed this season. It seemed obvious three weeks ago that Wenger’s side needed some firepower after consecutive 0-0 draws at the start of the season.
However, their convincing 2-0 victory over Liverpool has changed all this, and many critics now realise Arsenal’s attacking unit is very clinical when it works.
Wenger has spent all summer fine-tuning his forward line and his decision to bring in three new strikers early on in the transfer window was applauded by many fans frustrated after years of last-ditch panic buys.
Arsenal now have a settled squad, with experienced head, Lukas Podolski, and Spanish starlet, Santi Cazorla, driving the team forward.
The one thing they do not need right now is a stroppy Drogba returning to the Premier League with his ego still bloated from last May’s Champions League exploits with Chelsea.
In just 12 weeks, Drogba has already fallen out with Shanghai’s owners and looks destined to return to a more comfortable European league. The striker famed last season for kicking and screaming his way to success would not fit in to Wenger’s smooth, flowing mechanism that is now finally finding its rhythm.
Wenger does right to reject all suggestion of Drogba coming to the Emirates and instead focus on what could be a very successful season for Arsenal.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Sagna questions Gunners' transfer policy
Arsenal full-back Bacary Sagna has openly questioned Arsenal’s transfer policy and simultaneously put his future into doubt.
The Gunners have regularly sold off their best players in recent season, with boss Arsene Wenger then choosing to replace them with cheaper, younger players.
Gael Clichy, Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri were the notable sales last summer while Robin van Persie and Alex Song have left this season.
The club continues to make a healthy profit as they battle to pay off the cost of their new Emirates stadium, but that has had a negative affect on their live scores, with the club now heading into an eighth season without a major trophy.
That has understandably got the fans restless, given it is only eight years since they won the league without losing a game, with the latest odds suggesting that wait will almost certainly go on.
The players, also, are concerned with the club’s transfer policy, which they see as negative and self-defeating.
“I expected Robin's departure," Sagna told French newspaper L'Equipe. "But Alex, that was a surprise. He's 24 and had three years on his contract.
"When you see your two best players from last season leave, you ask yourself questions.
"In May, I watched Manchester City's parade on television. I watched Samir and Gael lift the trophy. It makes you want that.”
The 29-year-old is currently recovering from a broken leg suffered in May, his second such injury in three seasons.
The former Auxerre man, who has made more than 200 appearances for the club, has a contract until the end of the 2013/14 season.
However, when asked whether anyone from the club had spoken to him about a possible extension, Sagna was clear in his answer: "No, nobody."
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