"1 or 2 Signings...." Who would be the second?

[atmosphere]

As Wenger said in an interview this week, we are interested in one or two more players. Obviously we all agree that one of those will be a central midfield player of a defensive/holding persuasion.

I'm trying to think who else/what kind of player we would need other than that though.

What do you think?

Another CB or DM?

Or some other position entirely?

Personally I'd like to see a proper winger who could play on either flank but I'm not sure who'd fit the bill that we could afford or who is available.

We've signed Tommy V, let's assume we sign a decent DM and there are no 1st team departures. What ONE player should we go for next (be realistic)?

 

[RocktheCasbah]

Centre mid.

I think Song and Cesc is ok, but it's not going to win any titles. A really good signing in that area can tip the blance for us, making a good team a great one and, in my opinion at least, is the only area that is a real problem.

I really don't see the need for anymore wide players, bearing in mind the fact we have Arshavin, Nasri, Walcott and Rosicky who have all played wide for us. Not to mention Vela and Wilshere (not that I consider Vela a winger, he clearly isn't).

 

[Lazaq]

I agree with you that a versatile winger would be great for us. It would let us play Walcott up top and with Rosicky hopefully back in the squad, we'd be set for next season. However, it feels very far off from reality. All I hope for is that we sign a proper DM, where Cana or Melo seem like decent enough targets. By then, we'd already have spent £25 million or the like, and that's more than I could've hoped for. Without a third signing, we could still play this for first choice:

• Sagna - Touré - Gallas - Clichy
  Cana / Melo / Someone else?
  Fabregas - Nasri
  Walcott - Adebayor - Arshavin

And this as backup (provided we don't loose anyone):

• Eboué - Djorou - Vermaelen - Gibbs
  Song
  Denilson - Diaby
  Van persie - Bendtner - Eduardo

So who should we buy, if we can muster the bills? I've really only seen him in the Euro's last year, but I think CSKA's Zhirkov would be a good name for us, if we suddenly find ourselves up to our asses in cash. The same goes for Wesley Sneijder, if Real wan'ts him out. There are some younger, unproven ones as well but I think we should spend ALL our money on grown-ups this year. All of it, Arsène! Back away from that 14-year old!!

 

[KY]

so..uh...is this another wish list thread?

 

[Klaus Daimler]

KY: More of a speculative thread, I think.

I think we'll sign a DM and, dependent on who's leaving and who's staying (I'm counting on a couple of fringe players like Silvestre and Senderos to depart), probably one younger prospect in the age bracket somewhere around 19-22. A promising rightback isn't unrealistic. Adams did say that we were scouting an italian defender, for example. He also said that Vermaelen was too short and not good enough though so who knows? But if true I think that player might be Inter's Davide Santon. Wenger is an admirer of him, apparently, and he's a fantastic talent. He's on about the same level as Gibbs is currently. Plus, he's only eighteen so he's in no hurry to break into the starting eleven yet. I'm thinking he might be involved in a player+cash swap deal.

 

[atmosphere]

Sorry, I think I haven't made myself clear in my first post.

Assume that we're getting 2 more players.

Assume 1 is a DM.

Who should we buy as the second player? i.e. what areas do we address next?

And no it's not wish list because I'm talking about realistic targets who are available.

 

[Hunta]

I think if we do sign two new player's then the next signing will be Felipe Melo the brazilian centre midfielder..and i think we will only sign a third new player this summer if a key player was to leave for example Emmanuel Adebayor.

I think the Felipe Melo transfer will happen with comments from his agent and Marcotti(?) on Talksport supposedly saying a deal is in place. I think it will only happen after Brazil are eleminated or win the Confedirations cup though.

If we were to sign just one more player (Melo) and nobody was to leave then i would be more then happy going into next season with this squad.

 

[atmosphere]

So who should we buy, if we can muster the bills? I've really only seen him in the Euro's last year, but I think CSKA's Zhirkov would be a good name for us, if we suddenly find ourselves up to our asses in cash. The same goes for Wesley Sneijder, if Real wan'ts him out. There are some younger, unproven ones as well but I think we should spend ALL our money on grown-ups this year. All of it, Arsène! Back away from that 14-year old!!

I think our left side is sorted for the foreseeable future so I don't really think we need Zhirkov, although from what I've seen of him he looks good.

I guess when I said a winger that could play either side, in my head I'd like one to predominantly play on the right as I think that flank is a bit weak. It would allow Theo to play up front a bit more and if the player was a bit better at tracking back it'd offer more cover than Theo does. I guess Sneijder could do that job.

 

[atmosphere]

KY: More of a speculative thread, I think.

I think we'll sign a DM and, dependent on who's leaving and who's staying (I'm counting on a couple of fringe players like Silvestre and Senderos to depart), probably one younger prospect in the age bracket somewhere around 19-22. A promising rightback isn't unrealistic. Adams did say that we were scouting an italian defender, for example. He also said that Vermaelen was too short and not good enough though so who knows? But if true I think that player might be Inter's Davide Santon. Wenger is an admirer of him, apparently, and he's a fantastic talent. He's on about the same level as Gibbs is currently. Plus, he's only eighteen so he's in no hurry to break into the starting eleven yet. I'm thinking he might be involved in a player+cash swap deal.

So in this scenario, would we be offloading Eboue as well and Santon would be the back up RB? I've gotta be honest with you, I haven't seen anything of this kid. What's he like?

 

[atmosphere]

I think if we do sign two new player's then the next signing will be Felipe Melo the brazilian centre midfielder..and i think we will only sign a third new player this summer if a key player was to leave for example Emmanuel Adebayor.

Wenger said no players out and one, maybe 2 in though. Which got me wondering who this "extra" player might be, considering our second signing is bound to be Melo or someone similar.

 

[Hunta]

I think if we do sign two new player's then the next signing will be Felipe Melo the brazilian centre midfielder..and i think we will only sign a third new player this summer if a key player was to leave for example Emmanuel Adebayor.

Wenger said no players out and one, maybe 2 in though. Which got me wondering who this "extra" player might be, considering our second signing is bound to be Melo or someone similar.

What Arsène says and what Arsène does are two different things. On a serious note though i would expect the new signing to be as you say either Felipe Melo or another midfielder...and then maybe another defender or wide player i would guess. So maybe:

Player's in: Thomas Vermaelen, Felipe Melo, Another player?.

Not forgetting the return's of the player's loaned out last season, although maybe Arsène will get rid of some of those (Barazite, Pedro) and use that cash for other buisness??

 

[Lazaq]

I think our left side is sorted for the foreseeable future so I don't really think we need Zhirkov, although from what I've seen of him he looks good.

I guess when I said a winger that could play either side, in my head I'd like one to predominantly play on the right as I think that flank is a bit weak. It would allow Theo to play up front a bit more and if the player was a bit better at tracking back it'd offer more cover than Theo does. I guess Sneijder could do that job.

Arshavin could fill that role - and has done very well playing there - but hasn't he specifically said he'd prefer playing as a striker? Should he accept playing left flank regularly, then we should absolutely go for a right winger and I think that Sneijder is a good option, all things considered. Real will need to offload and hopefully he wouldn't be too expensive. Other than that, I can't really think of anyone who'd fit the bill as a proven, avaible winger with a reasonable price tag ...

 

[Klaus Daimler]

So in this scenario, would we be offloading Eboue as well and Santon would be the back up RB? I've gotta be honest with you, I haven't seen anything of this kid. What's he like?

I count Eboue as a midfielder first-hand so I'm not sure there's much need to offload him. But yeah, I'd like for Santon to fight it out with Eboue and try to establish himself as the backup choice at rightback. He'd have the Carling cup and probably a couple of FA Cup games to begin with.

Santon has been likened to Maldini a lot in Italy. He's technical, quick and level-headed. Fairly tall too (6 ft 2 I think). He had Ronaldo in his pocket for the first leg in the CL game between Inter and United. He's struggled a bit during the last third of the season though when slotting in for an injured Maicon, but that's what you'd expect from an eighteen year old who's suddenly being thrown into regular first team action.

 

[Muharraqawi]

Don't know about this but shouldn't we try to sign Vieira?

Apparently he could move to PSG and I really think that we should go for him and I don't think that he'll turn us down if Wenger came knocking at his door, he would give us the experience and he will also offer us a phyisical appearance we need in our midfield and even if he's too injury prone we can use him to develop the likes of Diaby and Song or even Denilson.

Only obstacle could be his wage demands but I'm sure we can deal with that.

 

[ibby]

Vieira isn't very good now. Song and Denilson are better than him.

 

[True Gooner]

I can't believe Wenger would sign two more players - a new DM would be incredible, anything more would be insane and perhaps unnecessary?

Obviously in an ideal world I'd like a new GK and/or one more CB but I don't think those players are easy to come by nor are they particularly cheap.

He's probably looking at some 17 year old prodigy from China as our 3rd signing :angel

 

[progman07]

I can't believe Wenger would sign two more players - a new DM would be incredible, anything more would be insane and perhaps unnecessary?

Obviously in an ideal world I'd like a new GK and/or one more CB but I don't think those players are easy to come by nor are they particularly cheap.

He's probably looking at some 17 year old prodigy from China as our 3rd signing :angel

For a team, that has billions of injuries, and always ****s up because of its weak squad, it's never unnecessary. Last season we missed Gallas too much. Before, we missed Rosicky and RvP too much...

I wouldn't mind at all if we got in ANY good squad player, who can do the job well, when needed.

 

[True Gooner]

The thing is:

We've got 4 great strikers (Ade/Eduardo/RvP/Nick)

4 solid wingers (Arshavin/Nasri/Walcott/Rosicky)

4 solid midfielders (Cesc/New DM/Denilson/Song)

4 great fullbacks (Clichy/Sagna/Eboue/Gibbs)

4 decent Cbs (Gallas/Toure/Vermalean/Djourou)

2 good goalkeepers (Almunia/Fabianksi)

And I haven't even counted Diaby, Wilshere, Ramsey, Vela, Senderos, Traore and *shudder* Silvestre

Obviously it's easy to say that an injury crisis would harm us, but there's no way in predicting where we'll be hit next.
Nor will we be able to sign 'quality back up' easily because that is, in someways, a contradiction in terms.

And also, the likes of Ramsey, Wilshere and Vela will be a lot more prepared next season.

 

[atmosphere]

I count Eboue as a midfielder first-hand so I'm not sure there's much need to offload him. But yeah, I'd like for Santon to fight it out with Eboue and try to establish himself as the backup choice at rightback. He'd have the Carling cup and probably a couple of FA Cup games to begin with.

See I guess this my worry. If our RM options are basically Theo and Eboue then I think that's our next weakest position (after CB and DM of course).

With a good winger at RM and/or Theo there and Eboue as back up RB I think our team would be close to perfect (provided our acquisitions at CB and DM do the job), or at least would have a good first teamer and back up option for each position.

Would you say Santon is better than Hoyte (or at least a better prospect) then, seeing as Hoyte is the RB we have that's the same age?

 

[Thommybhoy]

I think Melo will be no1 and no2 will depend on who will leave Kolo and/or Ade, so striker or CB.