Olivier Giroud says Arsenal need new arrivals as players begin to show their frustration at lack of signings
Olivier Giroud says Arsenal need new arrivals as players begin to show their frustration at lack of signings
"In my opinion, it's necessary for the club to recruit another striker,"
says Gunners frontman ahead of crucial Champions League qualifier
On his own: Olivier Giroud is leading the line for the Gunners
Clive Mason
Olivier Giroud last night made it clear that Arsenal's players are fed up at the lack of new signings.
Arsenal
boss Arsene Wenger goes into a make-or-break week with the club
teetering on the brink of disaster with the season not even four days
old.
Wenger flies out with his injury-hit squad
to Fenerbahce today knowing that their whole campaign depends on
getting through an incredibly difficult Champions League qualifier.
And they must do it with their preparations in tatters and on the
back of a morale-sapping defeat to Aston Villa which left them counting
the casualties and with the supporters' discontent ringing in their
ears.
The dressing room is also beginning to lose patience with Wenger's promise to spend big having seen their transfer business turn into something of a farce.
Arsenal
striker Giroud broke cover to voice his concerns and Mirror Sport
understands other players have been left bemused, unhappy and
questioning whether Wenger really wants to make big signings.
Giroud said: "In my opinion, it's necessary for the club to recruit
another striker. Obviously, I think about it a little bit. It may change
the play one day, especially if it's a high profile signing.
"It's
useless lamenting this though. I know what I have to do and what I'm
capable of. I'm focusing on me and my work. The coach is counting on me,
so I don't think too much."
It would be easy to expect Giroud to hope Wenger does not sign
another forward but the French centre forward currently has very little
in the way of competition or even a strike partner to play alongside. Penny for your thoughts, Arsene?
Clive Mason
Giroud will lead the attack in Istanbul because there are very few
other options. Arsenal appear to have been left behind by Wenger's
principles and valuations. Wenger has the money -
but seems unwilling to spend it.
It has left the fans frustrated and
voicing their opinions and defeat to Fenerbahce will plunge Arsenal into
a full scale crisis - and no Champions League football will mean they
will struggle even more to attract stellar signings.
Fans have had enough and the influential Arsenal Supporters' Trust
group have already called on the club to put contract negotiations with
Wenger firmly on hold.
It is understood that Arsenal have now put talks with
Wenger - who has one year left on his £7.5m-a-year contract - on the back burner until after the transfer window shut.
That is more about priorities than a U-turn on Wenger's future. But
if Arsenal mess up this
transfer window, crash out of the Champions League and make a dreadful
start because they have run out of players then it would surely be
impossible to rush into giving Wenger a new deal.
The more militant and outspoken Black Scarf Movement wrote an "enough
is enough" letter to
Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis on the back of Saturday's defeat to
Aston Villa which saw thousands of fans turn on Wenger and chant:
"Spend some f***ing money."
The Black Scarf Movement letter concludes: "Make no mistake, if there
is not significant improvement in our playing squad over the next
couple of weeks, the rapidly growing anger in the stands will become
difficult to overturn.
"There hasn't
been a poisonous atmosphere like this at Arsenal for over 30 years and
the Board has simply stood by, while things have gone from bad to worse.
I am sure you appreciate, this can no longer happen."
The
frustration for the board is that there is in excess of £70m to spend -
and yet they have the only manager in the Premier League who is
reluctant to buy players. Most beg their chairman for more funds while
Wenger tells his chief executive not to spend so much money. Crisis: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is one of several key players out injured
Getty
Wenger, like every manager should, has the final say on transfers
in every sense: targets, how much they should pay. But Wenger's
valuations appear
to be the biggest obstacle in getting deals done.
They fell short on
price for Gonzalo Higuain, Luis Suarez, did not want to meet Marouane
Fellaini's buy-out clause and now their £10m offer for Yohan Cabaye has
been rejected.
Furthermore, Wenger's indecision means his targets change depending on
which way the wind is blowing. One day he wants a new keeper. The next
he doesn't.
So much is written about Gazidis's failings or Arsenal's transfer
fixer Dick Law, but ultimately they line-up players - as they did Wayne
Rooney and Suarez - and then it is up to Wenger to give the deal the
green light. Mostly, he says no-go.
That
has been the story of Arsenal's summer. And after allowing 17 players -
fringe players, youngsters and reserves - go, it is not just the first
team which is suffering. The academy is short of players, too.
Wenger
could not have seen an injury crisis which would deprive him of Thomas
Vermaelen, Nacho Monreal, Mikel Arteta and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for
the Champions League qualifier.
But most clubs have enough players to
cover four injuries. Arsenal are struggling. They have not only failed to deliver quality in the transfer window.
Their lack of players highlights Wenger's stubbornness, raises
questions about his longevity at the Emirates and whether he has lost
his touch. Go out of the Champions League and most Arsenal fans would
say he has.
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