Biggus wrote:
General Mirth wrote:
No one called for Sanchez either because he was out of our reach. Two brilliant transfers, regardless of the state of the remaining squad.
Would you also be as delighted if he spent the 75m on one special player GM?
Say Christiano Ronaldo?
I'm not saying that he should've in fact I dislike massive ego's, Bergkamp didn't have one but Henry got away with it because he was Henry.
The good thing about having Ozil and Sanchez in the team is it reminds others to keep their ego's in check.
But my point is that there were alternatives to how the money was spent, but spent it was so now there are no more excuses- We want results!
Firstly:
Biggus, for 75m I definitely expect us to be a better team and I expect Sanchez and Ozil to be amongst the best players in the league. I don't think we were wrong to go in for either of them.
Secondly:
Ozil - we lacked a number 10, regardless of the players we have. Ramsey isn't a number 10, Wilshere isn't either. Chamberlain is work in progress. Rosicky and Cazorla are decent but not spectacular. Hell, even Fabregas was not naturally suited to playing off a striker! Even Ozil at 50% makes our attacking play much more measured and fluid, just through superior pass selection and movement. He was a good buy for the team, even if he's not individually at the level we expect.
Yes, he's an opportunistic signing - there's no other way to sign a player of that quality from Madrid. And a fantastic one at that, looking at the interviews around the time. Arsenal positioned themselves in Ozil's ear as soon as he looked like he was above to move.
Sanchez - again, for all the young players we have, I think you massively understate Sanchez's profile and ability. He's just all around great footballer. I know you're scared he'll be another tippy-tappy merchant, but he's not. Probably holds on to the balll too much and enjoys running at players, we've not had a player like him in years. And he can play anywhere around the front four.
Thirdly:
Prior to Ozil, we spent more in defensive positions on the likes of Koscileny, Mertesacker, Monreal, Vermaelen etc than in any other position. We've spent a lot of time and money trying to get our defence up to scratch. And this summer we've spent around 30m again on defenders. And likely to spend a bit more before the window closes. Our back four has not looked this good in years - so I think it's extremely unfair to say that the defence is being neglected.
Fourthly:
I'm curious why an outlay of around 75m translates to results for you? It's still not that impressive. Chelsea spent nearly 200m in two seasons, and they have a higher base than us to begin with.
We need to spend close to that amount if we want to be favourites. And tbh, that's what a new striker and defensive midfielder (of the profile we're looking at) will cost us. From a personal point of view, a striker would have always been a priority because they're match winners but I still think the likes of Ozil and Sanchez would be required in the construction of a title winning team.
