It seems that every World Cup Wenger goes out and grabs one of the stars of the tournament. Does anyone remember a bloke called Thierry Henry? I believe he won the Golden Boot in '98. Then there was Andre Arshavin.... well, he didn't seem to blossom in London, but was great for Russia. Arsene Wenger heads out to do some punditry each World Cup, and it always seems to be beneficial to Arsenal.
We have just picked up a player who has not only applied his trade at some of the biggest clubs in the world (River Plate, Udinese and Barcelona) but a player who is just going into his best years.
Alexis Sanchez is 25 years old, the age at which Arsenal usually sell our players. A great sign that this club has turned a corner and is heading very much in the right direction. A great mix of youth and experience, with a nice batch of players brought up through our own youth system.
Arsenal & Arsene's work is far from done this transfer window, but you've got to agree this is a great start. Some say we're stacking the squad with attacking wingers when we need an out and out striker, but when you look at the way Arsenal play, it's those outside strikers that make such a big influence on this team. Giroud plays an important role in his Target Man role, and without risk of getting booed of stage, there is always Sanogo... We saw something of what the boss sees in him in the FA Cup Final in May, when the young French forwards ran his socks off and almost got a winner that afternoon. There's still a strong link with Loic Remy too, although I'm not personally convinced by him.
As planned, the new kit was released last night, and although it was readily acessible throughout the interwebbens, I thought it looked pretty sharp. Let's see if it can bring us a little bit more luck this year.
Let's ride this Sanchez wave for a few days - we have just signed a top class player and should all be excited. I believe this is the first time Arsenal have had a Chilean on the team? And he'll take the number 17 shirt when he walks out for Arsenal this season.
