A big signing would show an acceptance of the need to do things differently.

I'd rather we spent that £22m on other areas.

22m for Benzema? I just don´t rate the guy that highly so I´m with Capi on this one.

No point frittering away money on defenders if they won't get the coaching they need to form a cohesive unit. Unless another Sol Campbell falls into our lap, I don't see things changing at the back any time soon.

A striker is, by far, the biggest priority this summer, and Benzema is, by far, the best one we've been linked with.

By the way...

Per Twitter:

RMADRIDFC REAL MADRID ONLINE
Ya no es rumor, es formal ... Wegner (Arsenal) insiste en que quiere a Benzema .. El Arsenal pone sobre la mesa 25MM€ por el francés!

In English:

It is no longer a rumor, is formal ... Wenger (Arsenal) insists it wants to Benzema .. Arsenal put on the table 25MM € for the French!

Sadly, I don't think it's their official Twitter page.

Wenger's made no secret of how highly he rates Benzema. His attitude is a bit sketchy, but I've never doubted his ability. With the right mentality he'd be an undoubted smash hit here imo.

Caligula wrote:

That move alone would allow me to suppress my Wenger hate for a few months. We NEED that type of player to show our fans and players that we are serious, and to strike a little bit of fear into opponents' hearts.

At least for that short period of time before we Chamakhize/Arshavinize/Arsenalize 'im..

asajoseph wrote:

No point frittering away money on defenders if they won't get the coaching they need to form a cohesive unit. Unless another Sol Campbell falls into our lap, I don't see things changing at the back any time soon.

A striker is, by far, the biggest priority this summer, and Benzema is, by far, the best one we've been linked with.

He's the only one we have been linked with.

Are you seriously suggesting that we couldn't do with defensive reinforcement?

I'd say a good 80% (purely arbitrary) of our defensive improvement has to come from better organisation and coaching.

I don't think the same can be said of our attacking game.

Captain wrote:

Are you seriously suggesting that we couldn't do with defensive reinforcement?

No, just that unless we find another Sol Campbell on the cheap, signing any number of defensive players will make very little difference until Wenger works out how to organise them.

asajoseph wrote:
Captain wrote:

Are you seriously suggesting that we couldn't do with defensive reinforcement?

No, just that unless we find another Sol Campbell on the cheap, signing any number of defensive players will make very little difference until Wenger works out how to organise them.

I don't know, I reckon the right player could make some difference to our defensive organisation. It's just that right now we don't have that player with those organisational abilities in the team fixing it on the park. I'm not saying that's the solution, but it's just as much part of the problem as anything else.

For £22m in hand, I reckon you could find a pretty damn good defender. Sol Campbell level would imply "best in the world" which is perhaps out of reach, but you can get something very, very close.

Chiellini for 22m? Him over Benzema any day of the week IMO.

Only as long as Chiellini plays on the same 5 a side team as RvP during training.

Too inconsistent. He looks the part but doesn't really play like it.

Milan just signed Mexes on a free. We missed a trick there. They need money though. I'd take those £22 million and offer them to Milan for Thiago Silva if I wanted a Serie A defender.

Gotta agree with Klaus on Thiago Silva, he's an exceptional player. If we really want to sort the defence then someone that good is needed.

Gazza M wrote:

Wenger's made no secret of how highly he rates Benzema. His attitude is a bit sketchy, but I've never doubted his ability. With the right mentality he'd be an undoubted smash hit here imo.

and we know how great Wenger is at instilling the right mentality!

But he sure can use his feet. I like him a lot, but admittedly only from limited viewing. I hear good things though.