Country: England
Player:Saliba
OK let’s see.Emery inherited the contract situation. And in fairness once Raul etc came on board how many new deals did we actually announce. Everyone from Elneny to Nelson signed new deals.
Whether it was Wenger and Gazidis, Wenger or Gazidis under both their watch we allowed assets to run their contracts down. Nasri, Clichy, Sagna, RVP, Cazorla, Mertesacker, Wilshere I could go on and on. It was chronic mis management to allow that to occur. The new guys have come in and improved the position overall. They've spoken about how it has impacted us and how ideally you get a player with 2 years left you either get a new deal or sell.
So that's not a criticism of Emery or the new staff. What we've seen is an improvement in terms of getting people nailed down. But all they've done is fire fight on that regard due to the legacy issues they inherited.
I'm not concerned about loaning players. It's not ideal but at least it's a degree of honesty and transparency that wasn't there before. People use to say Wenger provided cover for the board to penny pitch. Clearly Emery isn't doing that.
There are plenty of improvements in a short period. But getting through the legacy that's been left over will take time.
If I’m right and the problem has been with the owner, and in particular, funding not matching the aspirations of fans, then Emery, who seems to be a good manager, will do no better than Wenger . . top 4 mostly and some cups, maybe FA or a Europa. Or possibly worse.
If the problem lay with Wenger as most fans seemed to think at one time, then Emery should not be held back by Kroenke, and should be at the races soon, latter stages of Champions League and be challenging for the league title.
It’s quite simple really.