Three signings that would benefit Arsenal this summer

Three signings that will benefit Arsenal this summer

The world of transfer rumours is a cruel mistress. With people stirring stories endlessly and effectively guessing what will happen based on tenuous information. It’s hard to tell who is in your league and who is out of it, too use a cliché. But as time goes on and rumours are banded about, people can maybe get some idea of who their club may purchase and sell. As an Arsenal fan, it seems like gooners are suckers for a good a transfer rumour. They normally stem from a seemingly fictitious person who claims to be ‘ITK’, either that or they are just from The Daily Mirror. Anyway, I’m not here to ramble on about transfer rumours (which I pretty much have just done). I’m intending to suggest three signings that will make Arsenal a force to be reckoned with over the course of next season. Therefore I will be totally unrealistic and pretend that I can see the future when suggesting these possible summer purchases. Enjoy –

Yann M’Villa – This suggestion may seem an obvious one, but if your club have supposedly made contact with a player who is twenty-one and has already been capped for France eighteen times. I can only think to myself-  “sign him up before those bastards at the bridge get a sniff of him”. People who watch him play on a regular basis often say that his playing style is similar to Gilberto Silva. They also say that he boasts great positional sense, plus is very robust when challenging for the ball. As much as I’m a fan of Alex Song I also find him very frustrating. Without Mikel Arteta in the side we often find ourselves exposed to counter-attacks due to the lack of defensive cover in place. Song used to offer this when was deployed in a more defensive role, mostly during the previous two seasons before the last. But in the 11/12 season he seemed to enjoy a more attacking role in which he provided many of RVP’s goals. I don’t know why the ‘Song chipped through ball’ doesn’t get as much recognition as ‘The Cruyff turn’ per say (sarcasm). But one thing we needed the most when Arteta was out was someone who just needed to sit there and hold the fort, someone who cover the fullbacks and someone who would just the put the fire out before the flames. Marcel Desailly spoke to the French press not so long ago, and said that M’Villa had the potential to be better than Patrick Vieira. If that’s the case, I would be chomping at the bit to sign him. And I don’t think anyone would say no to him either.

Yossi Benayoun – If I could wish for a footballer at Arsenal. It would be Lionel Messi, and although he isn’t Messi (there’s still time). Yossi possess all the mental attributes of what a true professional should aspire to posses. I’m talking about spirit, determination, motivation, and all of those relatively similar. I would even go as far as to say that he should be a role model for most young footballers who want to reach a certain level of professionalism. Although he doesn’t bring a box of tricks, he brings a cool head that knows the game well and can cope in the big fixtures. Two perfect examples would be Spurs and Man City at home, from what I seem to remember he never stopped running and kept his head down for the full duration. And for me, that’s all I can really ask of an Arsenal player. He continued to exemplify an impressive work ethic even when he came on as a substitute, and was just one of those players that you looked at and uttered. ‘You’ve put a shift in mate, well done’. So next time we dream of this 20 million pound signing that may well be the piece in the jigsaw (which I’ve just done in the 2^nd paragraph of this piece), why don’t we go for someone who we know will work hard, and is simply just a good team player. I would be very happy if we signed Yossi again on a permanent deal.  However the notion of him being a permanent member of the Arsenal squad remains to be a mystery.

Shinji Kagawa – A player who has been catching many people’s eye this season and  a star of the recent double winning Dortmund side who continues to impress football fans all over Europe. I would put the suggestion of Kagawa down to the midfield we currently have, and the clean cut fact that it doesn’t produce enough goals. If you told me Arteta and Wilshere were going to play 38 games next season I would be delighted. However as good as they both are, I struggle to see where the goal threat comes from. Obviously I’m not looking for ever player in the starting eleven to grab over five goals a season. I just feel that many games last season could have been closed out by grabbing extra goals to put the game beyond the opponents reach. And that we miss that extra goal threat which Fabregas and Bergkamp possessed, of whom both played in similar positions and the one which Kagawa would be deployed in if we captured his signature. But it’s not just the goal threat we would be getting from Kagawa, it would be a touch of additional creativity as well. In my opinion signing Kagawa would be a shrewd purchase and could maybe be a win-win situation in effect.  It’s these sorts of signings that Arsene used to be able to pull off, around maybe the twelve or thirteen million pound-marks. We have already seen him fork out for Podolski which may lead us on to think that he is being extra intentional with his buys this season. If Kagawa could be added to our ‘IN list’ this summer, I would certainly not hold back my already increasing excitement for next season. Even if we were to sell RVP, which I don’t think will happen anyway.

WS