Top Gunner is a Goner
After two seasons of chasing, rumours, offers rejected and fellow Spanish players coaxing him into the club, finally Barcelona have wrestled Cesc Fabregas from Wenger’s clutches. Another one of Arsenal’s young protégées – poached at a young age, nurtured and moulded into a growing superstar – has been sold on to a bigger club, in this case for a sum of around £35 million.
A huge profit yet again for the Gooners – think Overmars, Anelka, Henry – and a reward for the Premiership’s best salesman Arsene Wenger; a man who balances the books like no other in the transfer market. Forget wheeler-dealer ‘Arry Redknapp, Wenger is the numero uno when it comes to finding a bargain and polishing a diamond a few years down the line.
However, it will come as little consolation for Wenger that another of his prized assets has turned in a tidy sum of money after eight years of great service for his club. Wenger takes pride in having won honours and plaudits for his pretty brand of football, whilst rarely having to spend over the odds for big-name players, but it is a worrying trend that has seen his most talented players moving away for more “ambitious” clubs and one that may see the back of the stubborn Frenchman if they finish empty-handed again at the end of this season.
Wenger’s dream, like Sir Alex Ferguson has achieved, is to have a team of young superstars grow into a dominate force for years to come, but Wenger never replaced the experienced winners from his "Invincibles" team, to lead his current crop of youngsters to glory. Since the likes of Patrick Viera were deemed over-the-hill, the gifted, but inexperienced posse have not had enough senior leaders to drive them on to trophies.
Resolve and Ambition
Across the North London divide, the similarity in predicament is alarming, probably as much for Arsenal as it is for Tottenham. £35 million is also the fee that has been looming in the Luka Modric saga and has been adjudged as the magic number that may or may not see the Croatian maestro leave for pastures new and greener.
The good news for Spurs fans is that Daniel Levy appears to remain firmly behind his original position on the matter, which was that the club would not be selling any of their prized assets – essentially Modric, Bale and Van der Vaart – and that the sale of any of these players would be counteractive to the board’s vision for Spurs as a being a regular participator in Europe’s premier competition and a direct challenger for all major domestic honours in the near future.
Many football fans, Spurs or other, might scoff at such grand illusions (or delusions), but these are ambitions that Arsenal have come to expect in the Wenger era, but now are realising they can no longer take these for granted. In the past few seasons there has been the hint or threat of a “shift in power in North London”, a phrase that the Media and not just hopeful Spurs fans have coined – but as yet has not quite materialised.
The closest Spurs have got to claiming that the “shift of power” is imminent is in recent victories over the Gunners at the Lane, a League Cup victory in 2008 – during Arsenal’s barren silverware stretch – and a further advance in the Champions League last year, albeit by one round. However, the difference between the power shift being a dream or reality could hinge on the sale or retention of Luka Modric.
Statement of Intent
Things have certainly cooled off a bit on the transfer saga, after the initial furore when the little Croatian spoke openly in the Press of his desire to leave Spurs for Chelsea and of the alleged betrayal of a verbal agreement between himself and Daniel Levy regarding letting him wriggle out of a six-year contract renewal if a big suitor came in for him. Unlike Arsenal, who played at the weekend and left out their two want-away stars, Fabregas and Nasri, but due to the damage to the High Road in the London Riots, Spurs were unable to get their Premier League campaign underway – so we are yet to see whether it will be business as usual for Modric when
Tottenham get their season underway.
Despite Redknapp suggesting that Luka’s future is not certain with rumours circling that he, rather than Levy, would be prepared to let “the good lad” go if the price was right, as it would release the cash ‘Arry so dearly wants to fund his pursuit Lassana Diarra and at least one world-class striker, Levy though remains unmoved.
This should appease fans, who gave Modric a rapturous reception – despite his quotes in the newspapers – in Spurs’ final pre-season warm-up game against Athletico Bilbao. In contrast, as Nasri was omitted from the Arsenal squad for their Premier League opener, fans treated him to a chorus of displeased vocals.
Trim to Win
We Tottenham fans don’t see the need to sell last year’s fan-voted Spurs Player of the Year and star playmaker to fund a much-needed clinical striker, as we are all frustrated with seeing our bloated squad, packed with fringe players – think Bentley, Dos Santos, Palacios – who have no real future at the club, still preventing our expenditure. We are told that Levy has briefed Redknapp with the line “sell before you buy”, but the money is there if they can trim the benchwarmers, especially as there has been interest for them. It just seems Levy is playing the usual late-show transfer game to get the most value out of his players.
However, Robbie Keane has set the ball rolling with another “dream move”, this time to LA Galaxy for approximately £3 million, which was an important deal as he was in the top bracket of the Spurs wage bill despite only playing a handful of games since his return from Liverpool . Tottenham could certainly compile a stash of around £20-25 million from additional fringe player sales, not forgetting that we banked £5 million for offloading Jamie O’Hara to Wolves after his loan spells away from the Lane, but it is a dangerous game trying to eek the most money out of prospective buyers.
The conclusion is that we don’t need to sell Modric to fund the players we need to kick-on and get back into the Champions League. Modric certainly owes the club a bit more loyalty, with another season to try and get the club back in the Top Four before moving on to a bigger club, and we don’t have a chance of getting there if he goes this month. Arsenal have little chance of getting a replacement of equal quality or inspirational impact for Fabregas and Nasri – if he goes to City – even for the money they receive. And Spurs certainly don’t. We don’t have the time or the pulling power to get an adequate replacement for Modric, and splitting any potential transfer fee to get several players will mean just mean getting several players no better than what we have got.
Spurs fans have been assured that Modric missing the Europa League qualifier against Hearts is not a sign of an imminent transfer, but only time will tell in the remaining days of the transfer window whether he will stay or go, but for sure the answer will be pivotal for Spurs’ season.
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