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by JOSH BEDNASH During an ‘It’s Up For Grabs Now’ podcast a number of weeks ago, Alan Davies and the lads came to the conclusion that throughout the course of the season, the goalkeeping infantry at Arsenal had cost us nigh on 12 points. Somewhat inevitably, the retention of these points would have resulted in us winning the league by, yes you guessed it, a single point. In light of this rather hypothetical but nonetheless entirely valid claim, it pains me down to the core that as of yet, we are armed with no more than inane transfer speculation to fight our goalkeeping crisis with. I find it quite staggering that, with the close-season (apologies for the Americanisation) nearly two weeks old, we are still left looking at either Almunia, Fabianski or Mannone with whom to stick between the posts for next season.
Presumably Arsene Wenger would have recognised our goalkeeping crisis roughly two months ago, just after Almunia had lost us two points at St. Andrews and quite a while since Fabianski had behaved like anything but a goalkeeper at the Estadio do Dragao. Therefore it leaves me scratching my head that he is yet to sign a goalkeeper. Yes yes I know it’s very early to begin making such rash judgements, but when you way up the other factors which will come into play this summer with regards to any transfer activity, it’s never too early.
Firstly, like any other summer, a new player will need a number of weeks to gel with his teammates, and this is particularly relevant for a number one goalkeeper who will act virtually as a captain and general on the pitch. Secondly, there’s the small matter of the World Cup this summer, which not only separates the team for a month, but will also, as Wenger continues to mention, result in price-tags being raised and money being frittered away, of which Arsene isn’t the greatest fan. And thirdly, it’s not really as if there’s a shortage of potential transfer targets out there at the moment, and frankly, anyone is better than tweedle-Lukasz and tweedle-Manuel.
There are a number of possible reasons for this current lack of goalkeeper related transfer activity. One of them, and the one I fear only slightly less than Cesc leaving, is the prospect of Wenger continuing to show faith in Almunia or Fabianksi into next season, of which arguably the latter is more likely. My reason for this is Wenger clearly likes Fabianski, consistently claiming that he will come good, he is a great shot-stopper, or something equally inappropriate. Whether he is as much of a fan of Almunia is debatable, but the way in which he continues to praise Fabianski in his weekly post-match e-mail verges on fandom, immature and potentially satirical fandom for that matter, an example being when he praised Fabianski for being ‘mentally strong’ and responding well during the Man City game, in which he had literally one thing to do.
Another possible reason could lie in Wojciech Szczęsny, who Wenger has claimed will ‘certainly be number one’ one day. Whether that day arises in mid-August next season has yet to be seen, although I find this highly unlikely, leading me to believe it will be either Almunia, Fabianksi or ‘Other’ standing in between the posts next season. The prospect of ‘Other’ is far more appealing than the other two options, yet it is far from certain as to who this character will be.
The names being thrown around so far have been predominantly Joe Hart, Gigi Buffon and Hugo Lloris, although there have been a few allusions to Robert Green, who for me is one of the most overrated footballers in Europe. Yet the first three candidates would all be brilliant. Joe Hart has had a fantastic season, and hearing him interviewed recently he sounds far too hungry and eager to sit on the bench at Eastlands throughout next season. He therefore seems a viable possibility, convincing me to believe that if Arsene went for it, equipped with around £8m-10 million, we would be sure to get him. As for Buffon, he is still an exceptional goalkeeper, however he is Juventus through and through and even if he did decided to leave would demand extortionate wages.
Although he would probably cost a similar amount to Joe Hart, he is 32 and has a meddling agent who recently expressed that he will not be going to the Premier League. As for Lloris well, he is French, a quality keeper and not too pricey, but unfortunately has recently insisted that ‘a transfer is simply not an option for me right now’, so that puts pay to that then. One wild card may be Shakhtar Donetsk’s Andriy Pyatov, who would cost much less than the other three, but personally I really can’t look beyond David James.
Seeing as Arsene Wenger’s over- 40 policy is probably even more stringent than his over-30 policy I really can’t see this one happening but seriously, why not? James is a brilliant keeper- he’s England’s number one for heaven’s sake, and the fact that he has begun applying for managerial positions that he doesn’t have a hope in hell of getting suggests that he hasn’t yet received any appetizing offers from Premiership clubs.
He wouldn’t cost anything, wouldn’t demand ridiculous amounts of money and is a born leader. James never stops shouting at his defenders, even when they’re playing superbly, and he may be just the character we need to solve a plethora of perpetual problems within our squad. Albeit I will admit his arrival is even less likely than Jimmy Bullard replacing Cesc…
Nevertheless, whoever Wenger decides to go for, it is fundamental that a new acquisition wears the number one shirt next season because another display of his deluded stubbornness in keeping faith with our current crop would leave him highly culpable for the inevitable failings that would arise.
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