The truth hurts. I know it is cliché  but like most clichés it is most often true. I don’t like to admit that I often make absolute statements. Doesn’t really hurt too much admitting that, but when caught doing it in real life I realize that I am a product of my mother, who is Queen of the Absolute statements, and well, it doesn’t feel good.

And then there is Wenger. Oh what to do. He has now come out and admitted the following: “At the moment I must tell you we are not close to signing anybody.” 

Oh that stings.

Then: “Of course we want to do as many top players as we can. But we also have to focus on the players we have and develop them.”

Hmm… ok, right…

And finally: “We still have a strong squad but we are there on the market to try to strengthen our team. With or without additions we can be title challengers next season.”

Uh oh. Wait. Is that some positioning? Is the writing on the wall already? I don’t like this. I don’t like this one bit…

Wenger also admits that they are trying but it’s not just them and it’s hard to get in touch with people right now and we want quality and not just names and yadda yadda yadda. Sorry friend, that dog just don’t hunt and we are not that stupid (well… we are loyal supporters though).

First, no one else seems to have this “problem” of getting in touch with clubs to buy players. Matter of fact, Napoli just did the unthinkable if that is true by signing Higuain. Chelsea seems to not have this problem. Barca seems to not have this problem. Norwich (?!) seems to not have this problem (they landed Hooper ya’ll). And (WTF!!!) Sp*rs seem to not have this problem. Which leads me to my second issue…

WTF is really going on. We have $. A big, new, beautiful stadium. Quality players returning. Great training facilities. Loyal fans. Global fan base. London. Champions League. Stable and likable coaching… this list could go on and on. I am flabbergasted at this point. I really think it is truly a failure to communicate or know how to work the transfer market. Maybe the politics involved with purchasing players has become so complicated, so political that we don’t know how work it anymore. Which leads me to my third thought…

We need someone to handle the transfer market. Wenger can put in his request and then our dealmaker can swing in and present him with viable options and costs. With football continuing to grown and leagues getting better and better (and wanting to keep their talent), I wonder if leading with “English football is premier” is the best approach. La Liga is proving to be more than the two giants. The Bundesliga is becoming a serious force. As much as one can hate on Serie A it still has the dough to pull in quality players (not to mention incredible food and I hear the women there are… well… I’m married now but I ain’t blind friends).

I just can’t figure out what is going on and slogging dollars to our league competition is probably not the most cost-effective approach to improving our team while trying to get ahead of our competition. And I’m sorry, while I think our team can challenge for some silverware this year we do not have the depth to challenge across all fronts. We are an injury or two away from being in serious trouble (meaning scrapping our way to a trophy-less season and a hopeful 4th place finish… again).

No Mr. Wenger, you can sign players. You can add quality and names. You can spend money. And you must to do more than claim our rightful 4th place trophy… again.

You have to enjoy when the tabloids, better known as the English papers, are constantly talking about your team and potential signings/connections with big time players. But when things start to go silent and then your only link is the potential overpaying for a “biter” you have to start to get worried a bit, right?

And then the unthinkable happens (not really, just par for the course) and Wenger himself laments, “… [W]e are not close to signing anybody”. W. T. F.

I think we have truly lost our touch in the market. How is it seemingly possible that with a 100mil plus budget we are not even CLOSE to signing anybody? I wish I had an answer here. Plenty of other teams seem capable of signing players. Plenty of other teams seem capable of spending money. Are we trying to buy players with funny money? Did we decide to invest in bitcoin and try to use that? How is it remotely possible that we are this far off?!

Ok, I am going to go down a dark road here but I am starting to wonder a bit if this could be true. Is Wenger a bit of a snooty French market player? Does he treat other clubs with stereotypical “I’m better than you” attitude? I can’t figure out what is going on. Rumors now have us only linked with Suarez (please tell me this head-case can’t be our only play) and losing out on just about everyone we thought we could snag (Fellaini, Higuain, Ceasar, Jovetic, Rooney, etc.).

Don’t get me wrong, I like our current squad. I like hanging 7 goals on southeast Asia players. I think Poldi and Giroud will provide better return this year and our team will produce better results with the chemistry they built last year. But we have to have more depth if we are going to compete in more than one cup next year. If we truly have aspirations of finishing higher than 4th (do we? scary thought), we have to have top quality players AND depth. We all know this. Management knows this. Players know this. What happens when the team gets excited about all these potential signings and then August rolls around with a big fat ZERO in that department? No bueno amigos.

At this point, as a fan, I don’t want to get shoved into that corner where I just want ANY signing. It is a more than a bit frustrating to have us finally go into a summer with no big losses, plenty of money to spend and yet we have nothing to show for it. Arsenal fans deserve more. Arsenal players deserve more.

Another week passed, still no signing announcement. And now things are getting ridiculous. Rumors have the Gonzalo deal falling apart and that is driving us toward the absolute unthinkable in my mind: spending a ridiculous amount of money for a guy known more for his biting antics than his football exploits. Yes, Suarez. Things really are getting out of hand this year. Unlike in years past where we generally aren’t linked to big boy signings, this year sees us linked to nothing more than New York Yankee like spending of years past. I trust Wenger is not apt to sign for the sake of signing; hell, he never has before. And so that is what makes this summer so frustrating and yet hopeful. We have the money. We have the ability to draw top tier talent (right?!). So why are we linked to a big expensive head-case (Rooney) and another big expensive head-case who acts out like a 5 year old (Suarez)? Has something happened to the water supply in Emirates?

I just don’t get it at this point, especially given the signings and their price tags thus far. A number of players have been dealt across multiple leagues that causes me to keep scratching my head and asking: Shit, if he was available and at that price why the hell didn’t we go out and get him?! So, let’s take a look and where some signings have taken their talents…

Mario Gotze: Sold to their own rivals for a fee of 37mil (Euro). You know that bumped up the price. I mean, if we are already in the 30mil range for Gonzalo, could we have had a chance at nabbing Mario instead? Granted, we probably would have to work incredibly hard to sell him on playing Emirates football and give him crazy wages but we should compete for a guy of his quality.

Andre Schurrle: Sold to Chealsea for a fee of 22mil. Kind of a bargain to me in terms of talent going forward. Not a bad first signing for The Dramatic One and evidence they are here to challenge. Something we might want to think of doing…

Paulinho: Sp*rs poached this little dandy and I had hoped it would come with the news that Bale was out the door. They actually went out and spent 20mil more than Arsenal have… thus far. Let’s hope this is the only time they can beat us to something…

Jesus Navas: 20mil. A guy like this could really add the depth we need to challenge for a title. The big boys with all their toys are here to stay and they are spending again. At least it wasn’t one of our players they poached this time.

Erik Pieters: 3.6mil. Now he went to Stoke which means he could be more about knocking teeth out rather than actually playing defense but it’s not like we couldn’t use some of that from time to time, especially since Jack tends to get treated like a red-headed step-child (trust me, I’m a ginger and know what that is truly like).

David Villa: 5.1mil. That’s it. I can’t believe that is all they paid. Given our shitty depth at striker I can’t believe we couldn’t even go after him for a fee that low. Seriously. You mean you wouldn’t want a guy of his quality acting as your starter for cup games and what not? Just crazy. I know I have a special place in my heart for this guy but he was a full fledged integral piece until he broke his leg. Heck, that alone means we should have signed him, right?!

Mario Gomez: 15.5mil. This one REALLY hurts. That is all it costs?! For a striker of his quality? Naw, were not interested in proven players of his sort… I can’t believe that Wenger would pass on this. It really makes me wonder if we have become absolutely clueless in the whole transfer business. You can’t tell me he itched to go play in Serie A…

Carlos Tevez: 9mil. Really? Geez… we don’t want to take a flyer on a guy who already knows how to score in the Premier League? It’s not like we already don’t know what it’s like to have a head-case (Bendtner). I would much rather have Tevez at 9mil than Suarez at 30mil or more. At least Tevez would be cheaper… and fall down less…

All this brings me to the conclusion that we don’t know what we are doing anymore in the wake of today’s transfer business. At least, not lately. We had our hands tied for so long that we seem to be better at selling than buying and the landscape we find ourselves in now is a bit different. Honestly, don’t you wonder if there are just teams out there that refuse to deal with Wenger? Or that they are put-off by his approach? When is the last time that we bought from another big club? Please don’t say Arshavin and Zenit…

So much excitement here lads! We finally broke the bank and landed our striking option right out of the gate…

Ah yes. The jokes have made their rounds via this thing called the world wide web and Wenger has done what Wenger does best: landed a young, unproven, French, injury prone striker on a free transfer… Oh the joy.

Ok, all jokes aside this isn’t all bad. He is young, certainly has talent, didn’t cost us a thing and actually adds depth to our squad in a department we lack. You can’t exactly be mad about that. Now if this ends up being our striking option for the year to come? Ha! What am I thinking, not possible, right? Right? RIGHT!?

I don’t want to get my hopes too high on this kid but he does have that flair we certainly lack around goal. Plus, he wants to play and prove himself before a man he certainly heaps praise on in the presses. That can’t be too bad and is more than we have had in the recent past… ‘cough’ Chamakh ‘cough’…

BUT, we all know we must have bigger and better things than a lad set to prove himself in our Cap One games and what not… That being said, we need the whole damn team to prove itself in tournaments that can actually acquire us some hardware!

And yet, here we are with our single little signing thus far. Word is still out that we are ahead of the game with Gonzalo. Then there is the bit about Rooney. Ha! But a rather recent development in the press is the rumor regarding Lars Bender (one of my first FIFA signings for my own team actually) and their rejection of our alleged bid. Not going to lie here, I like Lars and he adds that defensive prowess we need BUT I really like the poofy haired Everton boy and given his proven success would rather have his services if given the choice (not to mention his hair).

But I digress, we have neither player at this point (wait we got 1 signing though!). And so there is no actual juicy news to chew on with our other “targets”. Others are making moves, spending money, signing players, improving their damn team. Meanwhile, Sp*rs actually look set to add what could be considered quality players. Truthfully, I will have a hard time accepting David Villa at that club if it actually happens (one of my favorite players outside the BPL, the guy just has a lethal foot).

Oh well. I wish there was more. I wish we had something to actually talk about but I have defended Wenger enough already and at this point I just want to see his “plan” come together.

On a lighter note, we celebrate the independence of the United States of America this week. Perhaps we shoulda kept some ties across the pond. You know, for “soccer’s” sake…

Happy 4th of July everyone… Well, except for you proper English lads… Sorry about that. History and all…

Cheers.