Eyebrows rose and fell like a Mexican wave among those watching Arsene
Wenger declare – 24 hours after conceding the opposite – that he was
not
expecting either Cesc Fabregas or Samir Nasri to leave Arsenal.
A negotiating position it may have been, but it added to the
growing feeling that the Gunners' manager had become football’s answer
to King Canute – a man desperately trying to stop the inevitable.
It
also fuelled the growing feeling that the Frenchman is cracking under
the combined pressure of trying to hold on to his stars, keeping
disgruntled fans on side and maintaining the players’ belief in his
vision.
Nonetheless, he decreed he would not allow his side to use the club’s
chaotic summer as an excuse for failing to impress against Newcastle in
their season opener.
“It does not stop any of our players from making a good pass once you are on the pitch," said Wenger.
“When
you are on the pitch, you play to win. I have seen much more difficult
circumstances – people who lost their parents and are playing the next
day and being the best man on the pitch.
"You cannot say you are a top player and yet be disturbed because there is a transfer market happening. It’s a joke.”
Many
Arsenal fans do not share the ‘joke’, with many of the issues facing
the club at the end of last season still unresolved with the Premier
League about to return.
Despite the world and his wife being well
aware that Fabregas has no intention of staying, Wenger admitted he has
not yet considered who would be Arsenal's new captain.
And despite the demand for a highly-rated, experienced replacement for the Spaniard, Wenger
ruled out
the signing of Valencia winger Juan Mata.
He said: “We will not do [a deal for] Juan Mata. I don’t have to give a reason, we will not do it.”
Although
fans are clamouring for a new centre-half, Wenger hinted the closest
they may get is the return to fitness of Thomas Vermaelen.
“We
will
have a new centre-back by the end of the transfer window - because Vermaelen only played five games last year," he said.
“To buy just for the sake of buying, you won’t find me there. If
I’m convinced the player has the qualities, I will always do it if he’s
better than the players we have.
“We have specialised people to
work everywhere. Everybody looks for centre-backs in the whole world.
People with unlimited resources look for a centre-back.
"We are not in a supermarket where you go to a shelf and you ask 'Where are the centre-backs or the strikers?'”
Supporters waiting for more experience to be added elsewhere in the side are unlikely to be pleased.
“We
have two markets: one is internal and one is external,” said Wenger.
“Internal is the young players that we have - players who are inside the
club are very important.
“Externally, if I’m convinced a player
brings some extra qualities to the squad, we will always buy him - maybe
even overpay a little bit.
“But to pay three or four times the price, you must really be convinced that this is the player you need.
"At the moment, we have not found that player.”
