As the transfer window slammed shut, the majority of eyes were on the transfer movements of Arsenal, and how Gunners were to recover from their recent troubles.
The discussion on everyone’s lips was how the Gunners were to fill the massive gaps left by the departures of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri to Barcelona and Manchester City respectively. While the sale of Gael Clichy, also to Manchester city, had left a hole in a defensive line that conceded 8 goals to Manchester United on the weekend.
I for one, was surprised by the acquisitions the club has made, surprised of the pleasant variety.
Arsenal swooped quickly for Korean forward Park Chu-Young from Monaco, German defender Per Mertesacker from Werder Bremen, Brazilian left back Andre Santos from Fenerbahce, and experienced Premier League players Mikael Arteta from Everton and journeyman Yossi Benayoun from Chelsea.
Arsene Wenger has picked players who are very tactically astute, as well as experienced. While Arteta and Benayoun are well known in Britain, having plied their trade in the Premier league for a number of years, the capture of German International defender Per Mertesacker is a giant leap for bulking up the Gunners defence.
Mertesacker is of course well known for his great sense of positioning and anticipation of the game; he also features a great disciplinary record, one of the best in the Bundesliga.
Mertesacker said: “I had a great time at SV Werder Bremen and I’m grateful to the club.
“Moving to London enables me to fulfil a dream and a further step in my career.
“The Premier League has always represented a great challenge for me.”
Manager Arsene Wenger told his club’s official website, www.arsenal.com: “We are delighted to welcome Per Mertesacker to the club.
“He is a German international with vast experience and strength and is good on the floor and in the air.
“I believe he will be well-suited to the Premier League and a tremendous asset to the team.”
The man dubbed “The defence pole” in his native Germany; he was first capped for Die Mannschaft at the tender age of 20. Having been capped more than 70 times for Germany, he is widely regarded as one of the best defenders in the world.
Arsenal are now superior to face any club addition of (arteta).so lost gooners fan come and feel happy,we are one family
At first glance it has been a bit of a bad summer for them as they’ve lost two of their best players and replaced them with inferior talent.
However, they’d be a lot worse off without the signings they did make, with the best being Mertesacker. At 6ft 6, you can’t help but think they’ve finally got in someone that’ll help prevent teams from bullying their defence.
Tipping them for a 5th-place finish still.
I’m sick and tired of ppl saying Arsenal haven’t won anything for 6 seasons. Gary Neville went on 5 live & moaned that he didn’t win a medal playing for England & now he’s retired, he thinks what was the point of playing for England? Well, that being in mind, England haven’t won anything since 1966, so should we all stop supporting England, especially after we were thrashed 4-1 by Germany in the World Cup? I think the Arsenal critics can go & f*ck off & keep 2 supporting Germany, Spain & Man Utd. We’re just licking our wounds, but we’ll be backing fighting as always. Arsenal till death & Wilshire to become England’s next David Beckham.
why are some arsenal fans think they are in a candy store, mertesacker lacks pace, last season he was injured with a ripped achillies, fast pace players will turn him over like he does not exist, santos, can not even make it into the brazil squad because of his inept display against paruguay where he was turned over and over by a qucik paced attacker, arteta never been the same since his serious injury 2 years ago, the korean striker sorry what can he offer that bentdner could not,and the chelsea reject always injured, and if he was so good why was he not in the chelsea team, these purchases smell of deperation wenger kroenke and gazidis live in cukoo land, believe players should be on minimum wage, we lost three world class players and bought inferior ones to replace them, it shows kroenke is not interested in success, we will not finish 5th we will be fighting relegation, that is obvious by our performances to date the writing has been on the wall for some time, but wenger and the board have refused to acknowledge it, claiming we have quality in the team if we did it be evident by perfomances and all we have to say is man utd, wenger kroenke and gazidis and board need to go we need usamonov and dein running this club becuase they will have arsenal interest at heart what we have now is a board interested in lining their own pockets it is called greed
With the signings and possible additions in January of a $30 million mid fielder and another $10 million defender,ARSENAL will challenge effectively
for throphies. We ofcourse need also LADY LUCK. Ron Aborowa