It is that time of year again where football fans all around Europe become anxious and excited about whom their club will sign in the summer transfer window. Arsenal fans have already been gifted a magnificent present, following the signing of Petr Cech from fierce rivals Chelsea. However, I want to discuss whether Petr Cech is enough for Arsenal to challenge for the Premier league title with real intent, and if not, what positions Arsenal should strengthen in to reach that position.
After two weeks of patience and doubt amongst fans, Arsenal finally announced the signing of Petr Cech for a believed fee of £10.9m. This is a massive signing for Arsenal and possibly a turning point, as this is the first world class keeper between the sticks since the reign of Jens Lehmann. Poor goalkeeping has cost Arsenal dearly in recent years; most notably Szczesny’s horror show at the St Mary’s last season during the festive period where Arsenal suffered a 2-0 loss to Southampton. Mistakes like these cost Arsenal a few points last season and possibly even 2nd place. According to John Terry, Cech will save you 12-15 points a season. If this statement is true then Arsenal with Cech last season would have mounted a serious title challenge and could have potentially won the league, (as they finished 12 points short of Chelsea who won the league respectively). So, we may conclude that the signing of Cech is all that Arsenal needs to mount a serious title challenge next season.
However, with other title contenders strengthening their squad with multiple signings, it is worrying that Arsenal may be left behind. As rivals are only getting stronger, we are almost at the same level. Many of Arsenal’s potential targets have already been snapped up this summer or have signed a new contract with their current club. Signing players early in the transfer window is crucial for a positive start to the season; the players will have more time to settle in before the frantic start to the new campaign. Liverpool have already made six signings this transfer window. This will only help them as they have filled the positions where they think they were weak. They have also signed their main targets. The champions Chelsea already have a strong squad and will only need to buy a player for a couple positions. Manchester United and Manchester City clearly have their eyes on a few players who are their main targets, whereas for Arsenal, we are unsure if they are looking at any more players to potentially sign this window. There is talk of William Carvalho joining Arsenal, but I find this very unlikely as Wenger wouldn’t want to negotiate with Carvalho’s “super” agent Jorge Mendez. However, wouldn’t want to pay such a hefty fee of £25m for a youngster who is unproven. Other players who have been linked with Arsenal seem very unrealistic and have been reported by unreliable sources.
I feel that it is vital for Arsenal to make a couple more signings this summer to become champions come next may. One position in particular that is needed is the striker position. Giroud and Welbeck will not lead you to a Premier league title. If you compare our strikers to our rivals strikers’ then you will agree with me that a world class striker is needed. Other strikers are on another level to ours and they are the crucial difference in securing the Premier League title. Some may argue that Giroud is progressing as each season goes. However, at the moment he is not at the world class level that we so dearly need. Which world class strikers are available and are affordable you may ask? There aren’t many…arguably none at all. For me the only striker that is out there is Karim Benzema. Every transfer window we seem to be linked with him, but with no serious intent. I think Wenger should go in all guns blazing to make that signing (Not only for Benzema’s prolific goal scoring but also for positive morale amongst the fans). He would completely transform our squad and could even allow us to be serious contenders in the Champions League. Even though I don’t believe Wenger will, I hope he surprises me by signing at least one other player in this summer’s transfer window. Although Cech is a magnificent signing and I am sure he will do wonders for Arsenal next season, I am just not convinced that his arrival will be enough for Arsenal to be crowned Premier League champions.
