Towards the tail-end of last season’s EPL, The18 suggested that Arsene Wenger should splash the cash if he wanted Arsenal to be genuine title contenders in 2014/15. Whilst it’s all well and good having a long-term ethos, these days you need proven winners at the peak of their game if you seriously want to challenge the behemoths of Manchester and West London. Plucking young Frenchmen from obscurity and raising them the Arsenal way might be noble, but 17-year old Serge from the back streets of Poitiers won’t win you a championship.
Proven winners don’t come cheaply, though, which has long been Arsenal’s problem. Yes, Wenger signed Mezut Ozil at great expense last summer, but that was the most he’d spent on a single player since the turn of the millennium, and by some distance (£43m for Ozil vs. £13m for Sylvain Wiltord back in 2000). Fortunately for Arsenal fans, it appears Wenger is loosening the purse strings once again.
In the last few hours Alexis Sanchez – the shining light in a Chile side full of brightness – has been unveIled as an Arsenal player, signing for the North Londoners on a four-year contract rumoured to be worth around £130,000 a week. Roughly £30 million is thought to be now sitting in Barcelona's bank account.
Alexis Sanchez will be playing for Arsena next season (Photo: @PresidentOzil | Twitter)
Sanchez racked up 19 goals and 10 assists in 34 league appearances for Barca last season, and the prospect of the 25-year old flyer linking up with the more muscular Olivier Giroud – not to mention Ozil, Wilshere, Ramsey and Cazorla – should be one to set Arsenal hearts all a-flutter.
And there’s more: deals are also thought to be close for right-back Mathieu Debuchy, who was a regular presence in France’s run to the World Cup quarter finals, and striker Loic Remy, who scored 14 goals in 26 EPL appearances last season while on loan at Newcastle.
Could Arsenal be in store for a Premier League championship? (Photo: @GoalUSA | Twitter)
Gunners rejoice! Wenger’s found the Emirates credit card and he knows how to use it. In total, Sanchez, Debuchy and Remy are expected to cost in excess of £50m. More importantly, they’re proven players in the upper echelons of the game, at or approaching their most productive years. If Wenger can now add a little midfield grit to balance the attacking talents at his disposal – a Sami Khedira, say – Arsenal should be well set for a successful Premier League campaign.
