What can I say about the last few months for Arsenal?
Many influential players in the last Arsenal season have said their adieus, with speculation of more possibly saying their goodbyes not fully confirmed.
With Alexandr, Mathieu, Jens and Gilberto out the door and on to pastures new, and with other players possibly leaving also, Wenger had to bring in new players to fill the quickly widening gap in the Arsenal squad.
With 70 millions pounds to spend in the January transfer window, Wenger opted out of bringing players in, placing his faith in his current squad.
Come summer time however, players punched out their transfer cards, and Wenger needed new players to fill the voids. And he's done a spectacular job at that.
The main signing that had the press flocking to get the gossip was Samir Nasri, a 21 year old French international from Marseille, who was voted the French Ligue 1's Youth Player of the Year for 2007, ahead of Karim Benzema. He also won Marseille's Player of the Year award from the fans in the same year.
He is a fantastic prospect, with a lot of potential, and at 21, he still has many years to find his full stride. And as an attacking midfielder who plays on the right, he is a brilliant replacement for Hleb, who is sorely missed.
Alongside the signing of Nasri, another interesting signing was of the Welsh youngster Aaron Ramsey, for five million pounds from Cardiff.
As a promising central midfielder, he should find himself being a regular in no time, as two of our central midfielders are now elsewhere in the football world.
Plus, at the young age of 17, he has many years to reach his full potential.
Making 22 appearances for Cardiff in the 2007-2008 season, he was snapped up by Wenger during the summer to join the host of youngsters at Arsenal already. A definite prospect for the future, he has vowed to fight for a first team place. Good luck to him.
With these two joining the ranks, Wenger went out and brought in a few more players to add to the roster, one of whom is an interesting signing, to say the least.
Carlos Vela, the 19 year old Mexican striker, was snapped up by Wenger in 2005 for a fee of 2.5 million pounds, but due to not being able to attain a work permit, and other regulations, he was unable to play for Arsenal, and was loaned to Celta Vigo fairly quickly. Wenger recently described him as being similar to Eduardo.
After playing for a few Spanish clubs, Vela was finally granted a work permit on the 22nd May of this year, enabling him to play for Arsenal. Wenger must see potential in him, and as an U-17, U-20 and an international Mexican player, he has the experience.
But with van Persie, Bendtner, Adebayor and Walcott, you have to wonder where he'll fit in the squad. He's already played this season, scoring against Sevilla in the Amsterdam Cup. Hopefully this is the first of many goals for Vela.
This brings us to the last of the four signings so far—Amaury Bischoff.
Wenger said that his signing was a "gamble on talent," because of Bischoff's injury record. But at 21, he has many years left to prove himself.
As a Portuguese U-21 international, he has some experience. But he only played one game for the first team of his former club, Werder Bremen.
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