The Double-edged Blade of Arsenal's Transfer Policy

During the last several years, competitiveness in the transfer market has risen significantly to eventually become what is today: ruthless and uncompromising.

Prices of the already proven players have risen to a level that only the richest football clubs can afford.

Teams like Real Madrid, Manchester United, Milan, Barcelona, and Manchester City have been battling it out among themselves for the best players on the market.

For teams like Arsenal, it is more difficult. They have never been reckless in the transfer market.They have never been a team to buy to most expensive players. Arsenal has had to play it smart.

With the difficult economic conditions and also a huge debt to repay, there is only one thing left for Arsenal; to sift through the remaining crumbs in order to find the needed quality.

But there is one thing that Arsenal has as an advantage over the rest of the teams; Arsene Wenger.

The board of Arsenal knows that.

They know that he will do his job, and squeeze all the juice out of the transfer budget that is presented to him.

So far, he has not disappointed them. Wenger has successfully made deals for less money than what the quality of the player that is bought requires to be paid. A bargain, some would call it. He has even succeeded in making profit in the market.

But there is one thing that Wenger does that can backfire on him and the club, and it has backfired more than once.

It is the fact that he is waiting too much. Waiting for the pressure to build up on the other team. Waiting for the price of the wanted player to drop.

It’s a good tactic. We have seen it work more than once.

But it has a flip side.

Two to three summer transfer windows with only one, maximum two, bought players prove that. Eventually, the much needed players are not bought because sometimes Wenger waits too much, and misses the deal.

Some would say that he trusts the players he already has on the team, but the truth is most of them are young and simply cannot solve another problem Arsenal regularly faces.

Experienced players always seem to leave the club for greener pastures.

Being too cautious in the transfer market saves you money, yes, but if the deal doesn’t materialize, it could cost the team points during the season.

What I mean by saying this is sometimes waiting too much is not the right choice. Eventually, the player that is targeted either goes somewhere else or becomes too expensive and out of reach.

Nobody can blame Arsene Wenger for using this tactic though. With the limited resources at his disposal, he has been doing a great job. But the question is could he have done even better?

For a finale, here are the questions that really bother me.

Will we see another player joining Arsenal until the end of this transfer window?

Better: Will we see two players? Are the gaps going to be filled at last or will we watch another painfully similar season?

Only Arsenal’s directors know. The truth is it could go either way.