Arsene Wenger and his club Arsenal have not won any silverware for years now and the pressure would clearly be on him to ensure that they get back to their winning ways. That probably explains the reason why Wenger seems so dead serious about not wanting to lose two of Arsenal’s champion players in Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri.
Despite all the rumours about Fabregas having been persuaded by Barcelona to join them and the fact that Nasri was looking to depart from the club as well, Wenger seemed upbeat about the chances of both the players staying back.
He said, “Will Nasri be at the club this season, I say yes. Will he sign a new contract, I hope yes but I’m not the only one to decide that.” Speaking about Fabregas, he also added, “I think Cesc loves the club and hopefully we will manage [to keep him]. The story with Barcelona has gone on for years now and we have to close that. We have to focus on the new season - hopefully with Cesc Fabregas.”
However, the time may just be running out for Wenger. For a manager not known to dole out cheques to players during the transfer season, he has almost been coaxed into trying to get in more quality players by none other than Robin van Persie. According to van Persie, Wenger needed to look to loosen the strings a tad in order to remain in touch with the top four clubs in the competition. Van Persie minced no words when he said that there was no other way than to get in a few signings for the next season.
Van Persie said, “You need investment to keep up. When you look around, you see Manchester City are buying loads of good players, Liverpool are doing it now and Manchester United have been doing it for years.” He also added that quality players cost clubs good money and that Arsenal shouldn’t fall behind in spending that kind of cash.
Not that Wenger does not agree with his star player. He has already signed up on Ivory Coast striker Gervinho, and in recent times, has allowed some more to cash to flow outwards. At the same time, Wenger is trying his level best to hold back Fabregas and Nasri, something of a risk in the case of the latter given that he is in the last year of his contract.
Manchester United manager Alex Fergusson, who was in talks with Nasri confirmed that he wasn’t coming to the club. Fergusson said, “I don’t think he is coming to United. That is all I can tell you. I think he has agreed to go somewhere else.” However, he also said that he would be surprised if Wenger held his player back given the risk associated with the decision.
An interesting few days ahead of us leading up to the start of the EPL 2011-12 season.