Arsene Wenger Has Not Bought Even One single Player.. So What Is He Doing?

Wenger has let 17 players leave this summer. He has brought in only one (and he was free). Now the club only have 11 fit senior stars ahead of their opening game. So, just what IS he doing?

Arsene Wenger's lack of summer spending looks like it's going to come back and bite him, with Arsenal teetering on the brink of a crisis.
For the season opener against Aston Villa on Saturday the Gunners are barely going to be able to get a first XI together and will have to rely on a string of outcasts, misfits and youngsters to make up their bench.
In the close season, 17 players left and only one came in - and even he is injured.

 

Failed: Arsene Wenger has brought in only one player and released 17 this summer

 

Misfit: Inactivity in the market will leave Arsenal relying on the likes of Nicklas Bendtner this weekend

ARSENAL'S CURRENT FIRST TEAM SQUAD

Goalkeepers: Szczesny, Fabianski.
Defenders: Mertesacker, Koscielny, Jenkinson, Gibbs, Vermaelen (inj), Monreal (inj), Sagna (inj).
Midfielders: Rosicky, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wilshere, Ramsey (precaution), Cazorla (travelled from Ecuador), Arteta (inj), Diaby (inj), Frimpong*, Miyaichi (inj).
Forwards: Podolski, Giroud, Walcott, Sanogo (inj), Park*, Bendtner*.
*have had minimal first-team involvement over the past season

With a crisis of playing staff brewing, there are currently question marks over 10 of the 24 players who are listed under the first-team squad on Arsenal's website.
Three of those are rather liberally placed in the first-team bracket.
Bacary Sagna hobbled off for France midweek, Thomas Vermaelen, Abou Diaby and Nacho Monreal are all long-term injury concerns, Mikel Arteta is also out while Santi Cazorla this week travelled to and from Ecuador to play with Spain. Aaron Ramsey also pulled out of the Wales squad as a precaution.

New boy Yaya Sanogo, still just 20, could also miss the start of the season with a hamstring injury - he withdrew from the France Under 21 squad this week.

THE GUNNERS' GREAT SUMMER EXODUS ...

PLAYERS OUT: Andrey Arshavin (released), Denilson (Sao Paulo, free), Sebastien Squillaci (released), Martin Angha (Nuremberg, undisclosed), Craig Eastmond (Colchester, free), Conor Henderson (released), Jernade Meade (Swansea, free), Sanchez Watt (Colchester, free), Johan Djourou (Hamburg, loan), Vito Mannone (Sunderland £2m), Andre Santos (Flamengo, free), Francis Coquelin (Freiburg, loan), Joel Campbell (Olympiacos, loan), Chuks Aneke (Crewe, loan), Marouane Chamakh (Crystal Palace, free), Ignasi Miquel (Leicester, season-long loan), Gervinho (Roma, £8m).
PLAYER IN: Yaya Sanogo (Auxerre, free).

 

New boy: Yaya Sanogo is Wenger's only signing of the summer - and even he is injured

 

Well travelled: Santi Cazorla did a 10,000-mile round trip to play with Spain in Ecuador

That takes us to the next three members of Arsenal's 'first team' - Emmanuel Frimpong, Park Chu-young and Nicklas Bendtner.
This trio of misfits and unwanted hangers-on can hardly count themselves as bona fide first-teamers.
Frimpong made just two starts in a loan spell at Fulham. Park Chu-Young played 21 matches and scored three goals in a Celta Vigo side that finished a single point above relegation to the Segunda Division.
And then there's Bendtner. The Great Dane (in his own mind) has been on loan for the last two seasons and has been actively hawked to every team in the world this summer.
That he is still on the books at the Emirates is testament to the wage structure employed at Arsenal - no one is willing to match the wages he is paid in north London.

 

 

Concern: Thomas Vermaelen is one of a number of players with long-term injury troubles

Departed Gunners include the much-maligned Marouane Chamakh, Gervinho, Andre Santos, Andrey Arshavin and Sebastien Squillaci.
Vito Mannone has also left for Sunderland, while Johan Djourou is on loan to Hamburg.
The above names aren't elite players that will wina league title but all are useful as reserves and all, bar Mannone, have extensive experience at international level.
If you are getting rid of players wholesale, perhaps there should be a plan to bring in adequate replacements - or, perish the thought, better players.

 

Ready to step in? Arsenal's youngsters, including the highly-rated Chuba Akpom have conceded 12 goals to Colchester and Luton in the last two matches

There is always the argument that younger players can be promoted to plug the holes.
But have you seen their latest results? An Arsenal Under 21 side were smashed 5-1 by League One Colchester United on Wednesday night. The match before that Luton Town beat them 7-0 and there was also a 4-4 draw with Leyton Orient.
These are Arsenal sides including highly-rated youngsters Chuba Akpom, Thomas Eisfeld and Gedion Zelalem - who may only be 16 but was a part of the seniors pre-season tour.

Wenger has been linked with many players this summer. Talk of Luis Suarez, Luiz Gustavo, Cesc Fabregas, Wayne Rooney, Bernard, Gonzalo Higuain, Adil Rami, Julio Cesar and Ashley Williams has all got some fans excited.

 

 

 

Missing out: Arsenal have been linked with a number of leading names, but none have arrived

But the reality is that rather than buying multi-million pound international talent, Wenger's only signing of the summer is a 20-year-old unknown from the second tier of French football.
The frustration for Arsenal fans is clear. They appear just two or three signings away from a genuine title challenge but due to Wenger's inactivity, they know appear on the brink of a serious problem at the start of the season.
Just down the road, fierce rivals Tottenham took their summer spending beyond £60million with the purchase of Etienne Capoue, Nacer Chadli, Roberto Soldado and Paulinho.
Last season there was just a single point gap between the two sides - even if Spurs lose star man Gareth Bale, they have made significant improvement that should be a real worry.
The Arsenal manager has promised there will be more signings, but will they be good enough or come quick enough?
'We are active,' Wenger told Arsenal Player. 'We are in a situation like Manchester United, like Chelsea, where everybody expects signings and at the moment not a lot has happened.
'There are 18 days to go, so that is a long time in the transfer market and we will be active.
'I cannot certify what the number [of players coming in will be], but we will be active until the end, that is for sure.'
Wenger needs to move fast or he will be faced with a ninth trophyless season. And that may be when the Arsenal fans and board finally, rightly, lose patience.

 

Getting stronger: Arch rivals Spurs have invested more than £60m to close the gap