According to a report on Football London, Stan Kroenke has gone Supermarket Sweep crazy and increased our paltry transfer budget from £50m to a now-just-abysmal £70m. This would buy you a Kyle Walker or three Dele Alli’s.
They claim that new Manager Unai Emery has the amazing warchest to spend as he pleases and the 46 year-old is currently working on his rather short shopping list. If it’s true you’d have to wonder why it’s not even more when we signed the ‘Visit Rwanda’ shirt sleeve deal this week.
It’s thought that during last week’s handover between Emery and Arsene Wenger, the Frenchman told the Spaniard that the defence was in dire need of a refresh and should be priority (though you would assume Stevie Wonder could see that from where’s he’s sat).
Laurent Koscielny will be lucky to play again this year after his ankle finally gave way during the last few weeks of the season, and with Bellerin and Mustafi bang out of form, the new man has his work cut out, this is before the inevitable injuries during the World Cup to our troops in Russia.
Freiburg’s Caglar Soyuncu and Borussia Dortmund’s Sokratis Papastathopoulos are said to be high on the priority list, and a move for West Brom’s Johnny Evans still seems to be hanging around and just won’t go away.
Stan Kroenke actually spoke about the acquisition of our new Manager like he knew who he was, saying:
“He’s a proven winner. We’re confident that he is the right person for the job and that he will work to deliver the triumphs our fans, staff and everyone who cares about Arsenal want…”
“Several things stood out during his interview and the entire process; his football knowledge, energy, determination and love of the game. His familiarity with our club and our players, the Premier League and the game in Europe were all very impressive. ‘He shares our vision to move forward, to build on the platform created by Arsene Wenger and help this club enjoy greater success…”
The fact that Petr Cech has nabbed the number one shirt doesn’t bode well for any new blood in that department, so let’s hope he can find some of his Chelsea form, and doesn’t continue as he left off last season.
Good luck to Emery, he certainly has his work cut out to turn our loveable bunch of slackers into world beaters, and the defence is a good place to start.