Soon the news will confirm that Adebayor is a Manchester City player, the fee rumoured to be between 22 and 25 million pounds, a salary estimated £150 thousand pounds a week. I have been no supporter of Adebayor, as people who regular read this blog will appreciate. I really don’t care what happens to him, I cannot wish ill fortune on him, but it would be hypocritical to wish him well. I do believe that he has been one of the factors that has prevented success coming to our club. So let’s move on…
What Manchester City and Real Madrid have done is to tilt the playing field in our
favour. Liverpool must also be beneficiaries if they can hold onto Alonso and Mascherano and Torres. Arsenal have the squad to retake the number one spot, but Arsene Wenger must be bold and use the transfer funds to the best of his ability. No more of the Bischoff or Silvestre type signings, lets get some real quality into the spine of this team. Quality is not necessarily based on reputation either. Put a quality finisher in a mediocre team and he will not shine, give that player quality service and expect a hatful of goals.
Arsenal have had clinical finishers in the past. We have to accept that we were spoilt in having the great Thierry Henry. The replacement striker must be a player who is willing to play with pride and desire. He must also be a hard worker and willing to put in that effort when playing the bread and butter unattractive fixtures. We can all recall how Adebayor became lazy and not motivated in his last season for the club, with some of his misses in crucial games hurting us badly. The most important quality of the replacement striker will be his composure in front of goal. The ability to convert half chances into goals.
The next most important quality buy for Arsenal must be in the position of defensive central midfielder, some of the transfer fee for Adebayor will enable us to make that buy. This will be the key signing to next season’s success. I also see much criticism of Chamakh of Bordeaux and of other strikers linked with the club. I now accept that there is now utterly no point in spending £25million on a striker who is unproven in world terms. Why? The transfer market has become hyper inflated because of the Ronaldo and Kaka deals. This is why we must trust Arsene Wenger more than before. This squad will make many chances in front of goal, and with the right new signing we have the continuity of a squad that will make the next step up.
There are indeed exciting times ahead, and Arsenal now need to be able to dispatch the teams from mid table downwards with relative ease for it is those results that will decide the title. No more draws, no more respect, let’s destroy the opposition and restore the fear of The Arsenal! To do so, we must be able to score regularly and often. This is why I believe that the loss of Adebayor will actually strengthen our team. If we can acquire a potent finisher in front of goal, then the likes of Arshavin and Fabregas will do the rest.
A final word on Niklas Bendtner, I have seen nothing to suggest that he should be elevated to number two striker as he misses more than Adebayor! My view is that he needs to get his head down and develop more composure in front of goal before I am prepared to put my faith in him. I will trust Arsene Wenger to make the right decisions and I urge fans to support this team loudly. We need to do our part. Let’s try and improve the atmosphere at home games to begin with.