Arsenal manager confirms some summer transfers took longer than expected
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has admitted that some of the club’s transfer dealings over the summer had taken a lot longer than was originally expected but that he is confident the club have made the right decisions.
Arsenal became unstuck in the early part of the summer transfer window with certain players unhappy and looking to move on. With former Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas and playmaker Samir Nasri both wanting to move on it was a case of waiting for the right price from Barcelona and Manchester City respectively.
Whilst the signing of Gervinho from Lille was swift, Arsenal were forced to leave things late with the sales of their unhappy stars and the majority of transfer dealings were completed within the last 48 hours of the window.
“It was all change in the summer and some of that was for unwanted reasons, we lost some players that we didn’t want to lose, also we had some players that hadn’t played for a while, so we thought it was important to renew the whole squad, and that’s what we did.”
Wenger admits it was a challenge to bring in the right sort of players with so little time left on the transfer clock but claims he knew that the final 48 hours would be pivotal, having experienced the pressure before.
“It was a challenge, and believe me it demanded massive work, day and night. But overall I’m confident. I believe there was some anxiety around the Club and the team, but I always felt in our situation that a lot would happen in the last 48 hours, because I’ve experienced that before. And that’s what did happen.”
The Arsenal manager firmly believes the right decision were made in regard to their eleventh hour transfer deals including Everton’s Arteta, Sandro from Turkish side Fenerbahce and Germany international Per Mertesacker who was purchased from Werder Bremen.
“So let’s show that we have made the right decisions, I’m confident that we have, but only the results will tell.”
Wenger also claims that the club were always going to add depth to the squad regardless of whether they made the Champions League group stages or not adding:
“A lot of it was planned beforehand, it just took a lot longer than expected, it was nothing to do with the Champions League, because we would still have wanted to go for the league even if we weren’t in the Champions League. If we were in the Europa League, we would still have wanted a strong squad. We are not the only ones who decide how long it takes to complete a transfer.”
