In a rather disturbing session Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said he was about gathering a complete trophy-tasty team. The Gunners have lost Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Alex Song and Robin van Persie in two years. And Wenger says if they had not left, silverware would have been in sight. He had the following to say…
“I was close to building a team that would have had more than enough quality to win trophies,” Wenger said. “Fabregas, Adebayor, Van Persie and Nasri playing together would have been very successful, but we lost them all in a short period.
“It’s has been so frustrating to see a young player come to Arsenal, make their Premier League debut with us, prove themselves to be top players and then go somewhere else. My judgement on them was proved to be right, but another team is getting the benefit.
“The problem has been that there has been nothing we could have done to stop this. I don’t want to go back over the reasons why we have been forced to sell these players, but it has been taken out of our control and it is hard to accept.”
“It feels like we have had to start all over again after so many top quality players left us, and we are building a new team using a fresh mentality, with a core of British players who should have more association with a local club,” Wenger said.
“We have Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey, Carl Jenkinson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain coming through now and they can all grow up having an affinity for Arsenal. Maybe then they will stay here longer if they are tempted to move.
“Look at what happened with Fabregas. He was grateful for what we did to him and developed a real love for Arsenal, but he could not resist Barcelona when they came for him as it was his club. This is what happens when you have a foreign player: at some point, he will always want to move on.”
