Arsene Wenger perhaps loves two habits, one of signing young stars and two, signing French internationals. Having completed the first signing of summer by luring young Yaya Sanogo from Auxerre, Arsenal are now very keen on bringing another French starlet to Emirates.
The player in discussion is Clement Grenier of Lyon. The midfielder played a pivotal role in helping his side qualify for the Champions league places for next season. However, Grenier may depart the Ligue 1 side to play in premier league for Gunners. The question remains, why are arsenal so interested in signing this French star?
Having got promoted to the first team, Grenier as a youngster took his time to develop. In his first three seasons with Lyon, he featured in 35 games for the club but never scored. The attacking midfielder has only been able to score his first goals for Lyon last season.
Last season, Grenier was very impressive as in 28 league appearances, he netted 7 times and provided 6 assists as well. Still young, being 22 years old, the versatile player will surely grow but do Arsenal really need him that bad?
Grenier normally plays on the right side of the midfield or as a central attacking midfielder playing behind the lone striker upfront. However, Arsenal already have their best player, Santi Cazorla shifting in that position. There is no way Grenier will be taking his place in the side.
Adding to that, the dynamic center midfielder, Jack Wilshere also turns into one brilliant attacking threat when given green signal to move forward. Therefore, what is the point of signing Clement, making him sit on the bench?
Understandable, that he will have to take his chances from the bench and given his age, he can grow and learn from the very best but Arsenal are actually interested in paying a decent sum for the French international. Lyon have rejected one bid rumored to be in the region of 6 million pounds but Arsenal may return with an improved bid.
Arsene Wenger talked about his desire to make Arsenal title contenders next season, then for that, signing world class proven talent is a must. He has been signing youngsters for far too long and ignoring proven stars has not really helped.
Grenier has the quality, but after disappointing years without silverware Arsenal need immediate impact and Perhaps these $$$ can be better invested to sign ready-made stars.
Follow Soccerisma on Twitter: Soccerisma
Why are Arsenal so Interested in Signing this French Star
(Visited 48 times, 1 visits today)
Premier League
La Liga
Bundesliga
Serie A
Ligue 1
UCL
AW has lost the desire for competitive success. What I don’t understand is why the directors of Arsenal will sit idly and watch the future of the club toyed about by the manager’s lack of ambition. Why does AW think that he can maintain a fourth place given the ambition of Spurs? If he wants to promote French league, he should resign and go to PSG who want him. But if he wants to remain as Arsenal’s manager, he had better start listen to the concerns and anxiety of the fans. The best way to make him and the board sit up is to carry placards to the training ground with emphatic message: Utilise the funds available to sign quality players or quit Arsenal now. Enough of the heartache of AW.
Grenier is a great player, dont write him off just yet..he can become better than nasri under wenger.
The Guy is already a star player! Didn’t you watch him play for Lyon last season? Even in France world cup qualifying matches? We need extra good players to sit on the bench and bring competition to the midfields we already have, and he is equal to the task. That’s solid squad depth. Wenger should sign him he is a raw talent.
Grenier??? He may b gud but I think Mathieu Valbuena is still better than him. Thus, Wenger shud go 4 Valbuena n nt Grenier (if it must b a French affair).
I think the Arsenal board are very shrewd in their decision to wait for extremely talented and reasonably priced players, because as experience has shown us the likes of Santos, Chamakh ,Park, Squillaci, Arshavin, who cost a fortune and others, paying a high price does not guarantee success The Arsenal board are trying to balance the books by creating income from sponsorship deals ie Puma, Emirates air, Citroen etc. The Champions league brings in approx 30 mil but qualification for this prestigeous event needs quality performance consistently from the players. Chelsea, Man City and Man Utd have all spent excessivly over the last few years, apart from Man Utd the sugar daddies of both Chelsea and Man City have spent money in order to{ buy their titles}.
It is high time AW is given conditions to sign good players or leave the club. He has toyed with the hearts of many fans for the past 7 to 8 years now this is the time to cover our shame.
Wenger knows what he needs and we must stop impossing players to him. All the players we as suppoters want if Asernal buys them and we are given this team to coach it we will never win a single match. Let us leave Mr Wenger to do his job and we support the project
Plz,som1 sud tel AW 2 resign n go 2 france n develope their football NOT in arsenal.We need xtablished stars dat can bring back our glory days.We r tired of developin youthful talents 4 other clubs 2 buy.Has nasri not tot dis self-centred wenger a lesson?We need fellaini/wanyanma/gustavo,rooney(coz of set-piece abilities n doggednes),ceaser n a no-nonsence defender dat is versatile.Up gooners!
mr wenger $hould buy d lykz of rooney,nt higuain,fellaini nt williams,luiz nt lescot…kwality playerz nt ova aged 1ce
A bid was rejected but he might still move to Arsenal