Arsene Wenger has promised a new signing for Arsenal within the next two weeks.
That new signing is expected to be a central midfielder with the Gunners being forced to play youngsters Denilson and Aaron Ramsey in that position against FC Twente on Wednesday night.
After the 2-0 win in Holland, Wenger said: "Will something be done ahead of the second leg? Certainly yes, but before Saturday, no."
But Wenger declared himself pleasantly surprised with the depth of his squad, who pulled off a victory despite having almost a full team missing.
"If you look at the number of players we had out, you can say it was very positive for us," he said. "We did not have Diaby, Fabregas, Rosicky, Nasri, Kolo Toure, Eduardo and Senderos while Song as at the Olympics.
"We missed seven or eight players out so for me our squad looks big because the players who were here did well."
Of the absentees, only Samir Nasri and Kolo Toure are believed to be in contention to make a return on Saturday when Arsenal face West Brom.
Your Comments
wengbeliever
"ComeontheROS, Most of those players were pretty duff, but out of that group Wreh got crucial goals in 97/98 and was signed for next to nothing. Luzhny was a solid defender for the club while he was there and cost just over £1m. I for one would take him back as he was a better player than Senderos and Hoyte. Reyes was only signed for £9.5m with loads of performance add-ons, hardly any of which were fulfilled. He was an instant hit and gave us a good 1.5 seasons. It was then that he started flirting with Madrid. The remainder of those players were signed for under 2m (except Jeffers) meaning that however bad they were, it didnt matter because they were cheapos!"
Topline
"christ we only lost 2 regular players ok gilberto was experienced but always gave the ball away in dogy situations god love him. Hleb(looks like the the ball is glued to his feet) was great with link up play with strikers but every time he had a shot it looked to me he had lead football boots!! we just need to bolster up midfield thats all Ramsey will be great even at 17 he will do a job for us theres also song who is turning out to be a good player diaby(jury still out on weather center midfield is his best position) denilson that portugse player with the double groin op (sounds like a gamble) but i bet he's good. Overmars was a gamble with a dodgy knee was excellent for us. We will be lightning quick this year goals from all over the pitch again never doubt what a great manager wenger is 4 points is all we lost by 4 flipping points last year played every team off the pitch near enough just didnt score enough times. wenger has publicly come out and said we need to get that killer instinct back we will create loads score loads and not be out of the top 3 all season....he knows what he's doing.....he managed the only side in prem league history to go unbeaten all season even fergie hasnt done that Liverpool chelsea and united will all have a close eye on how we do first couple of months...we will be racking up the points this season with a real air of confidence arrogance desire dont know how many true supporters are on here? when has wenger ever let you down eh?? yeah never so chins up and get behind the lads they will be trying the best and then some to bring back 1 or more trophys that they were robbed of last year....REDDDDDDDD ARMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYY"
ComeontheRos
"Yes blender he rarely buys duff players...........Wreh, Grondin, Diawara, Luzhny, Malz, Stepanovs, Danilevicius, Jeffers, Wright, Tavlaridis, Cygan, Senderos, Reyes alongwith shedloads of foetuses that never made it"
perrygroves
"very simply DOCNOC that midfield could not have coped vs. a decent team....what happens if Cesc is out for 2 months coupled with our usual back log.....can you actually remember any time in the last 2 years that we had our full strength team available for more the 3 consecutive games!? "
goon
"how exciting! i hope the transfer fairy will leave a centre back under the tree. I think we have a lot of midfielders and can play 5 in the middle and ade up on his own if we are shaky, plus i have faith in diaby. would love yaya though.i have nightmares that kolo and gallas get injured/suspended and we have to rely on senderos and djourou. micah richards to bail out of man city?"
Docnoc
"Toure would be a great signing, young and talented with a bit of experience already. We should have bought him when he was with Beveren. Perrygroves, Lessons have been learned and i don't think what happened last season will happen again. It doesn't mean you have to go out and spend 30 million plus on overpriced players. The lessons are learned by the players that go through the experience, and they will be better for it. It's not a case of lowering expectations, rather than of building a team that can dominate for long periods. I love watching the team build and it will make it a sweeter experience when victory comes. Wengbeliever, couldn't agree more about Eboue! I think someone forgot to tell him we were playing in yellow! "
EssexLad1985
"Ive been wanting Veloso all summer so id love to see us get him! Im glad Arsene has come out n said he is deffo gonna buy someone, i think we still need a top quality CB aswell tho"
natsteel
"colly22, it won't be Yaya because he played yesterday in Barca's qualifier so he'd be cup-tied for the Champions League and that doesn't help us. It looks like Inler or Veloso - most likely the former."
wengbeliever
"No rush on a new signing lookin at the fixture list for August we have no tough opposition facing us. He has plenty to spend now anyway, total income for qualifying for the CL is somethin like 20-25m, add to that the percentage of the Bentley transfer (about 6m) and Hoytes impending sale (3m) that means Wenger wont have trouble forking out about 10-15m on a player. Johnson is availble at £8m, Inler at £10m, Yaya Touré, Veloso or Moutinho could be negotiated down to 10-15m with add-ons. Alonso or Barry are overpriced and no matter how much wenger has to spend, he wont buy them. Dont rule out TWO players being signed to fill the void. Wenger could easily buy someone like Annan for under 5m and a high-profile version (any of the above). P.S. Ramsey looked assured in possession last nite, seemed like a player that had tons of CL experience, unlike Denilson and Eboué!"
blender
"I reckon that all the Gooners out there should have faith in Arsene - he very rarely buys duff players. If he needs somebody in the first team he'll get somebody good enough to be there. Sometimes his youth purchases don't always pay off, but they hardly cost the earth - his first-team players are invariably good. Hleb was considered crap to start with, but came (very) good in the end, Adebayor is good, Van Persie and Rosicky (when fit) are both quality, and if the French press are to be believed then Samir Nasri should be the bee's knees. I'm not an Arsenal fan, but I commend Arsene's approach to football and to running a football club. Have faith!"
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