Top of the morning to y’all
Rumours seeped in over the weekend
that Arsenal will be making an official bid for £13million rated Olivier Giroud
this week and that really got me thinking about our whole transfer activities
for this summer, I kept wondering where we really needed reinforcements, which
players in the world would fill those places and what it would take to get
them. Like every gunner out there, I put into consideration the likely players
to be sold and players that could be brought in to replace them while putting
into consideration our budget and wage structure. Several names came up on my
list and I really mean viable, buyable players that would fit in into our
system and adapt quickly with our playing style and philosophy. But for some
reason, that wasn’t enough, I felt the net was cast out too wide. I thought if
it was possible to sign a player that would significantly increase the odds that
we would win a trophy next season (maybe if we got Ronaldo or Messi). Like I said
I was looking to signable players and those two are not. So I thought of one
player that would make the instant impact, the needed change to really push for
a trophy (baring injuries). I thought of a player where if I was given the
chance to sign within our wage bill and structure I would and that would make a
difference. I came up with Eden Hazard
There are so many reasons why
Hazard is perfect for Arsenal and the more I thought about it, the more
convinced I felt that he is the player that can significantly increase our odds
of winning a trophy next season. First of all, he is young and despite his
immense talent, he still has his best years ahead of him and if those years are
spent in Arsenal colours could be very glorious for the club.
Eden Hazard is one of the most
sought after players in Europe and one that's one of the major reasons why we
need to get him. To show to our rivals that we can also compete in the transfer
market for the best players in the world. It’s a psychological victory of some
sort. Beating the likes of United, City and Chelsea to the signing of a player
of Hazard’s quality is a kind of statement of our intent not to play second
fiddle to them in the coming season.
As for the player himself, he is
an exceptional talent. Very pacy, good with both feet, creative, very
impressive passing ability and can score goals. He can also play on both sides
of the striker or just off the main striker which he prefers in a 4 4 1 1
formation. Last season, he scored 7
Ligue 1 goals and assisted 10 while at the close of this season, he had scored
20 and assisted a further 15 in 38 appearances. This is a significant
improvement and at 21, he has won the Ligue 1 young player of the year twice
and is the youngest ever player to be awarded the Ligue 1 player of the year. Such
is the calibre of players that we should aim to bring to our club. Zinedine
Zidane said about him
“Eden is technically gifted and very fast. He will be a major star in the future. I would take him to Real Madrid with my eyes closed."
Another important quality about
him is that he rarely gets injured. For the past four seasons, he has missed
only 9 Ligue 1 games which is an astounding stat for and player in any league
in the world.
As regards transfers, Hazard has
expressed his desire to play in England and according to reports in the French media,
his wage demands are not as astronomical as previously thought and would be
open to wage of between £110,000 to £130,000 which Arsenal can easily match. His
club are ready to let him go and would do business with a reasonable offer in
the region of £25million and we can supplement a less expensive bid with one of
the deadwood in our team, say Denilson or Vela or Squillaci though I suspect
that Lille might want to get all the money that they can on him but still with Wenger’s
negotiating prowess, am sure he can do a deal IF he wants to and that is a
different kettle of fish altogether.
I would love to see him in play
for us and am sure most gunners would. He has been criticised recently for not
knowing where he wants to play and constantly changing his mind but he actually
is a very loyal player. Top clubs like Real Madrid have been scouting him since
he broke into the Lille first team four years ago and if he is as un-loyal as
the social networks have painted him to be in recent weeks, he would have
engineered a move away from his current employers ever since.
These are my thoughts on the
matter and I will also like to know what you all think. If you had the chance
to sign one player for Arsenal this summer, who would it be and why. please
drop your comments in the comments box or on my twitter page on http://www.twitter.com/nigeriangunners
and I will be glad to read and reply.
Till Wednesday, God bless the
Arsenal Iree o
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