Been busy the last few days. Anyway, transfers...
Before everything else, I just have to say that I cannot believe Wenger has not brought in a defender. I honestly thought a striker was not necessary. We have Podolski, Sanogo, Walcott, Campbell and Alexis. I would have been fine seeing any one of them go through the middle because without Giroud's injury when else were they going to get their chance? That's what they're there for. But a defender was an absolute must when you look at the squad! We have Debuchy for RB, Mert and Koscielny for CB and Gibbs and Monreal for LB. And 19 yr old Chambers as a utility man. That's it. Holy fuck balls what if Koscielny is sent off and Mert snaps his achilles. I distinctly remember this happening last season. How the fuck can Wenger not buy a CB?? It would make sense if there is a young exciting defender waiting to step up but after years of grooming Miquel and flirting with the first team, it has just been decided that he is not good enough and he has been sold to Norwich... So we literally have no one else. The RB spot might be OK cos we have Bellerin but our only two backups to the whole fucking defence is Chambers and Bellerin... I thought Wenger couldn't surprise me any more but the man just keeps on delivering time and again.
Welbeck. When we got linked with him a couple of weeks ago I thought yeah that sounds eerily like the sort of thing that floats Wenger's boat. Like latinoheat said, he's welcome to the squad but he's not going to improve it. Like Giroud, he is a decent mid table striker and I'm sure he'll get 15-20 goals playing regularly. Giroud is a 20 goal striker at Arsenal, Chamakh got 11 goals in half a season when RVP was injured. Bendtner comes up with 10 goals even with just bench appearances. But a top striker like RVP and Henry bangs in 30+ and 40+. What I hope is that he will bring us back to the level we were at with Giroud and that means we can compete, but I can't hope for any more. Is Real Madrid, or Bayern or Barcelona, or even Chelsea, City or Liverpool going to be looking at Arsenal and thinking oh shit they have Welbeck... He is a Man Utd man through and through, he's been there since he was in nappies, they have enough excuses to keep him around so for them to sell him shows they clearly don't think he's good enough.
On the bright side, if anyone can improve a mediocre player to a cold blooded goal machine, it's Wenger - in my eyes the best striker coach in the world. Henry never dreamed he'd be a striker, Van Persie wasn't even any good and was cast out by Feyenoord. Walcott has no brain and he is already halfway there. The easiest way to sum this up is: if any Arsenal fans are excited by this signing, it's because of what Welbeck could potentially be, not what he is now.
edit: sorry for the Arse rant, I'll rant about other transfers when I think of them