LMAO! Arsenal fans can expect some attacking fun as Arsene Wenger vows to play his Fab Four together
Get Arsenal FC updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Arsene Wenger will get all his attacking players into his new-look Arsenal line-up, because it is in his DNA.
Wenger completed a record £56million deal for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang this week, has also signed Henrikh Mkhitaryan, persuaded Mesut Ozil to put pen to paper on a new £350,000-a-week contract and has summer arrival Alexandre Lacazette.
It will be a mission to get them all into the starting XI — especially with the Gunners leaking goals at the back — but manager Wenger confessed he is desperate to do it.
He said: “That’s our DNA. We are an attacking team. The danger is when you are an attacking team that you don’t score and then of course you create your own problems.
(Image: Arsenal FC via Getty)
(Image: AMA/Getty)
“That’s the challenge I have. I will try to find a way to do it. We play so many games that everyone will get games. It’s always possible. Will I do it? Maybe. I don’t know. But I think it’s possible, yes. You need at least two top strikers in the Premier League, because if one is injured then you have a problem.
“Would I rather win 4-3? That is not the solution I like — I like the four, but I don’t like the three.
“We have to improve our defensive record, absolutely, and everybody has to contribute. That is why we have to work on that and find the balance. Without destroying our defensive power, we have to find the balance so we are better defensively.”
Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now
Wenger has also had to do his sums before signing Ozil to a new contract as Arsenal have gone into financial territory which even made the Gunners boss puff out his cheeks.
But, incredibly, Wenger insisted that re-signing Ozil to a new three year contract was cheap compared to trying to sign a replacement.
“When you let a player go you have to buy somebody of the same calibre and if you add the transfer needed and the wages will be similar. On top of that we have to pay a transfer,” said Wenger.
“So overall, I think Mesut for us was the cheapest option. On the other side all of our players are well paid. Very well paid. To feel sorry for them - I’m not sure that it’s the most objective assessment!
(Image: Mesut Ozil/Twitter)
(Image: Getty)
“As long as we are paying what we can afford, it is not a problem. I did try my whole life to pay the players good wages, so I am not against that. I am just against the fact that you live on credit.”
Wenger admitted that he feared at one stage the whole transfer merry-go-round would collapse like a pack of cards with Borussia Dortmund waiting on getting a replacement before they would let Aubameyang.
But Wenger insisted he would not give any reassurances to Lacazette even though he may find himself out of the team and has no concerns about the 28-year-old’s bad-boy image.
The France-born Gabon international is not guaranteed to start against Everton in Saturday's late game because he had a fever at the start of the week.
He has even given a medical certificate to a German court after missing a hearing about the terror attack on the Dortmund team bus, to avoid paying a £900 fine.
Wenger said: “I have to assess how he is physically and how well he feels.
“I don’t reassure people because I think we are in a competitive world. We have all chosen a job that is about competition and you have to fight for your place.
“You have to show them respect, and that you rate the players but as well they have to accept that we live in a competitive world.”