So Mesut Özil is a Gunner, he’s a Gunner and
I get to see his debut tomorrow against Sunderland. I CANNOT WAIT.
I’ve eagerly
awaited some Arsenal debuts but this is certainly right up, straight in at
number two, behind you know who – Dennis Bergkamp.
I’ve kept a rather
low profile this week but I was quite surprised to hear that we were unveiling
Özil on Thursday, in fact I was a bit taken aback. Rarely do we do press
conferences for new superstar signings but then again, rarely do we sign such
calibre of players. It was totally refreshing to see and to hear. Here are some
snippets
“I want to
continue to develop here and I’m proud to be part of this team.”
“I’ve only
heard positive things and this is very familiar club and young players develop
here and I want to continue improving myself and I’m really happy to be here
under such a great manager”
“That (Arsene Wenger’s
influence) was the most important (factor in signing) for us, I decided to come
to Arsenal and I have the trust.”
You really have to
consider the negative cloud that has surrounded the club in recent years due to
the regression of the side. However, every word was refreshing. It was about
trust for Özil and that is certainly something Wenger has an abundance of,
sometimes too much with some players. It feels like a weight has been lifted
off Wenger’s shoulder and as Özil departs the press conference Wenger casually
leans back and drapes his arm across the seat previously taken by our new
German. Confident and relaxed body language from a manager that has been under
some serious pressure of late.
Wenger have an
update on the injuries and Tomas Rosicky is out, so naturally he was asked
about Özil starting “I haven’t decided yet but there’s a possibility he
will start.”
Given the Czech’s
absence, I would be staggered to see Özil sitting on the bench. We are short of
player in attack and his position is clearly going to be ACM, with Santi Cazorla
on the left.
Wenger then stated something I found very intriguing. The question was asked
about spending so much on one player and he said “No, not at all. There
are two things that are completely different. One I fight for the club to spend
the money they have made, not artificially earned. Once we have earned that
money, I am happy to spend it.”
So is Arsène talking about Champions League money, Puma deals, increased TV
revenue? Or was that a dig at Chelsea, Manchester City etc? It seems like those
that believed we wouldn’t spend until CL was earned may have had a very good
point.
Wenger continued to be open as he went on to talk about his targets (for the
club):
“When I signed
a long contract, I knew we had to go through some years when we would have
restricted financial potential and the target was to qualify for the champions
league during this period and we are now in a stronger position.”
So, more
confirmation that we have severely been restricted for a good few years and as
a result the board changed his targets, which in a sense is fair but it has
also allowed this side’s standards to slip but hopefully we are now turning the
corner and results should continue to improve.
The fact is Wenger
is now expected to deliver results and get us closer to the top of table. The
contract speculation will follow him around for months and if I’m honest I
don’t think he deserves a new deal as we stand today. Yes we’ve signed a world
class player and he played a part but some fans seem to think only he could
sign Özil. What if, say, Jurgen Klopp was our manager, do you think he could
tempt Özil to Arsenal, I think he could. So that signing, which on its own
merits is colossal but it wasn’t all singing and dancing during the window and
every manager should be judged on one thing and one thing alone – Results.
We have plenty of
games upcoming and we need to continue on this mini-run that we are on. If we
get to January and we are in a healthy position, then consider the deal.
There’s no need for rash decisions and it’ll also be that Wenger isn’t as safe
as he thinks.
So the Özil
pictures and hype is no more, tomorrow we all get to see him play in the famous
yellow/blue away kit and let’s hope he gets off to a flyer and in doing so
inject new life into a club
YELLLLLOWWWWWWWS.
Michael Jeffares
I’m a 30 something year old Gateshead lad but thankfully my Dad is a cockney and he put me on the right path in life, taking me to my first Highbury game at the tender age of six.
Despite my obvious geographical disadvantage I am a season ticket holder and I attend quite a few away days as well.
I like to express my opinion which resulted in me starting a blog. I’m delighted to be part of the WTTGT team and you can read ’The Michael Jeffares Column’ every Friday without fail.
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