Arsenal set to miss out on Felipe Melo: is Arsene Wenger too cautious in the transfer market?

Ollie Irish

9th, July 2009

27 Comments

PA-7460590.jpg
Felipe Melo, who looked very good at the heart of Brazil’s midfield in the recent Confed Cup, is off to Juventus, not north London. He has agreed a deal in principle to move to Juve for around £17.5m (Fiorentina, Melo’s current club, also get winger Marco Marchionni as part of the deal, though Marchionni appears to be reluctant to make the move from Turin to Florence).
So the deal is not done, yet, but it seems more than likely to happen, which must leave many Gooners thinking, ‘Why is Arsene Wenger not prepared to spend money on a player he could use?’
Wenger seems determined not to spend more than his own valuation on wanted players, and it’s claimed he only values Melo at around £14-15m. While this is admirable and ethical, it’s also unrealistic and counterproductive. I’ve written before that Melo would be a good addition to Arsenal’s squad, in which case Wenger should be prepared to pay over the odds.
Still, this particular transfer saga is not over yet, so Wenger may yet pull a rabbit from his hat.
Do you think Wenger should be doing more to sign players like Melo?

Posted in Arsenal, Serie A, Transfers & Rumours

Share this article: Email

27 Comments

  1. Adam says:

    I think felipe melo is just what we need & agree that arsene wenger should be doing eveything he can to sign him, if we do miss out then again it proves that one way or another we cannot compete in the transfer market, his addition along with a top class keeper and another central defender i think would turn us into title contenders again, otherwise it could be another one of those seasons again!

  2. matt says:

    Melo had an agreement with Juventus all along. Fiorentina just used us to up their offer. I think Melo struck the agreement months back. January I think.

  3. mr b says:

    all of this is pissing me off. we get it every season and we wonder why we never win anything. Priciples need to change in order to catch up with the likes of Man U, Chelski and Liverpool. I swear we’ll end up 5th or 6th next year then the board will be like how did we mange to lose plyers like Fabregas, Arshavin and RVP. just stop messing around and pay for the guy, make the fans happy. sometimes you have to take risks, we do every year by renewing our season tickets.

  4. Arsene must sign at least two players it is good that he signed a central defender but we still need that holding midfilder somebody like Yaya Toure. Arsene needs to have exprience plus youth and how much longer can we wait for the youth to step up to the plate 2005 last cup FA Cup against Manchester United we need to be finishing higher than fourth spot ok two semi finals was good but we won none of them we pay a lot of money to watch great football but great football does not win games goals do

  5. Daniel says:

    to be honest, i was more angry to see this morning that athletico madrid had signed sergio asenjo from vallodolid. he is a top class young keeper and they only paid 5 million euros for him, which is nothing, and he is as good if not better than almunia already, but hes only 19!
    big chance there that we missed out on. but i also think melo is the real deal. and we should be trying much harder to sign him…

  6. Russell says:

    @ Adam, What are you on about top class keeper? Almunia is a class keeper and can’t be blamed for us not winning things and if wasn’t for him then we’d have finished lower in the table. Half the season he was on his own because we had no defence (even though they were on the field) Same problem happened with Arshavin but we got him finally, Wenger can’t take his time bartering all the time and should pay what they are valued at or close enough. We need A strong defensive mid and 2 or 3 defenders as that’s the area we always struggle in because of injuries etc and we’ve nobody great to stand in

  7. jabberwocky says:

    Honestly, it frustrates me how dense some people can be.
    Who says arsenal were ever in for Melo in the first place? Not one quote has come out from anyone at the club saying we were interested. The papers know we need a central midfielder, Fiorentina wanted to push the price up, so both combined say we are in for him, getting fans hopes up and when it doesn’t happen everyone thinks we missed out. Also, along with Cana, who actually has watched these players on a regular basis? One 5 minute youtube video and everyone suddenly knows the player we all need, better than wenger and his scouting network.
    Also, I very much doubt we arent in for players of the £15-£20m mark because it is against wengers ideals, I think it probably has something to do with the fact that WE HAVE NO MONEY!!! Honestly, we’ve got a very limited amount of funds, which is where this whole bloody youth policy came from, and like it or hate it, we have to put up with it until stadiums debts are paid off. Wenger has to budget and I think we’ve only got around £5m left after vermaelen, so he’s not going to blow it on a youtube sensation

  8. Daniel says:

    to be honest, i was more angry to see this morning that athletico madrid had signed sergio asenjo from vallodolid. he is a top class young keeper and they only paid 5 million euros for him, which is nothing, and he is as good if not better than almunia already, but hes only 19!
    big chance there that we missed out on. but i also think melo is the real deal. and we should be trying much harder to sign him…

  9. Pie says:

    Well said Jabberwocky….if Wenger does sign in the transfer window, it will be under the radars of all the media hype and more likely to be £5-10mill player. The media sucks and creates unnecessary fictional hype just for paper sales.
    I have faith in Wenger and his scouting team, he knows what he is doing. I am sure he will bring in a defensive midfielder and a striker if Adebayor leaves.

  10. Ronald says:

    Infact Wenger has got 25 million left and more if we sell anybody but with that he needs at least 2 players so he won’t blow most of it on 1 and he doesn’t want anybody to leave the club so he has to find good players that are waiting to break out in world class players so he can save a lot of money just like he did with vieira, henry etc but he’s got to be sure they’ll do it this season. Everyone thinks we got NO MONEY but we have and yeah it might not be the same as all the other big clubs but we started with 35 mil and that’s more than enough to get some quality players in. Wenger doesn’t go for big names and never has done, Biggest name he’s signed is Arshavin. Henry, pires etc weren’t big names when he got them

  11. Arsenal fan says:

    I’m afarid AW with his own valaution of players could get stuck.If there are no more additions due to AW and Arsenal continue to underachieve,all gooner fans will know who is responsible for this stated of affairs.Yes I know it was a great achivement for the Arsenal kids to get to sf and most clubs will be pleased with such feats.
    But all fans wants winners not nearly men. if some more kids with potenyail are recruited despite the forebodings then I’m afraid it will be another season of transiton. goodness knows when the end of transiton ends and Arsenal become trophy winners.

  12. The Truth says:

    Melo is overrated. From what i saw of him in the confed cup, 15million is too much to pay for him let alone 20. Thats majorly inflated. He wasn’t any better than what we have already. Really, the problem here is, Wenger shouldnt have let Flamini go. We’ve got Song and Diaby should be made to play DM, i think we need a tall centre back like Serdar Tasci. We need some more white players with a bit of brain and agression.

  13. Russell says:

    We need english or english style no nonsense centre backs, If in doubt put it out instead of ” i’m great and i’m going to play my way out of trouble by dancing about on the egde on my 18 yard box” type players. I think we need senderos back because that bloke is not scared to put a challenge in even if it means him getting hurt and that’s what we missed last season, yes he makes mistakes but not as many as half the clowns we used last season. keep eboue just as right back cover and nothing else, we got gibbs as cover for clichy but we haven’t got any decent cover for the middle. I think AW should put Toure back to his original Position (centre mid) and that way he hasn’t got to buy anyone for that position

  14. jabberwocky says:

    Ronald, how do you know how much money Wenger has to spend? Not being antagonistic just curious

  15. Ronald says:

    Ivan Gazidis said it somewhere because everyone was saying we had 10 mil and he said it’s 35 mil + any player sales. They want to keep team together that’s why they bumped it up so we didn’t have to sell players to bring new in. Also we’ve turned down 60 mil from usmanov for players

  16. Darryl says:

    Get Matiudi from bordeux,i no he is young but if we can get him for the £2.5m reported then i would take him, especially under our current financial circumstances. We never had the money forMelo and i would rather keep eboue and senderos then swap them + £5mil.
    Then go and get a experienced RB to cover sagna for when eboue goes on ACN duty for a similar price. Maybe Gary Neville, we already tooka man utd reject so why not another?? haha (only joking by the way).

  17. Stan man says:

    I dont think that Wenger shoudl buy him just coz u said he should. He is 1 player, yes I agree we need that type of player but you have to have faith in Wenger.. only he knows what he has to work with & I believe him a btter judge than you!

  18. Toni says:

    Darryl Blaise Matuidi plays for St Etienne, and i would be really surprised if the club let him for 2.5, as he is definitly impressive.
    I do think Wenger needs some experienced player.
    There are a lot of defensive midfields in the market, creative players like Fabregas are harder to find.

  19. Darryl says:

    Toni, i agree that i cant see them letting him go for that little,but according to The Mirror it only £2.5mil, but then again never believe what you read in the paper. It would be a steal at that price do.
    Ye i agree an experienced player is needed.
    That italian guy Giovincio, is a good creative player he really shone for italy this summer in the u21s, could he replace fabregas if he did leave? £40 mil is alot of money. But i do hope he doesnt leave

  20. Russell says:

    If everybody stays fit this coming season then we’ve got one hell of a squad especially with a few additions, Midfield is packed with great players and so is the front line. Going to be hard to pick the midfield and forwards if we get another midfield player in. we got Rosicky,Nasri,Cesc,Arshavin,Theo,Song,Denilson,Diaby,Wilshere,Ramsey and any new signings. forwards we got Eduardo,RVP,Adebeyor,Bendtner,Simpson Can use Theo and Arshavin too. Going to have lots of quality on the bench and you can guarantee they all stay fit and moan they aren’t all starting and ask for a move away

  21. darryl says:

    oh ye and i meant St Etienne ooops

  22. Russell says:

    I wouldn’t be worried if cesc left and i think he will do a Ronaldo, stay this season and go next because he’s flirting with RM and Barca and he should be stripped of club captain. We went 20 games unbeaten last season without cesc in the team because of injury and that was with a weak squad too because of other injuries. Wilshere would step up to the mark just like cesc did when he was 16, Cesc would be a squad player in Barca anyway and get splinters in his ass just like hleb did. 40mil is far too good to turn down when he is replaceable whereas Utd sold Ronaldo got mega money but don’t think they’ll replace him and it’ll cost them a lot of goals this season

  23. oscar says:

    this wenger guy never makes up his mind fast enough. Melo is clearly a very good player who should have been signed even before his club gave him a new contract. The manager should have parted with cash, Senderos, Ebuoe,& Bendtner.

  24. ChrisGoone says:

    Sorry but i dont think Wenger cares what you think HIS team needs mate, stick to championship manager. Considering Melo has only came about in the last year he should be quite cray and cheap.
    Its a shame there are so many fools who hear a big name, or a player has a few good performances and people jump on the bandwagon. You think Wenger really cares who everyone is talkng about… maybe he is looking for a player that will fit into his system better. Did you think of that before you wrote this crappy piece?

  25. machine goooner funk says:

    i totally agree about kolo. i think he’d make a great defensive mid, he just needs to regain some pace he’s seemed to ahve lost since he got malaria last year, anf it would solve a lot of problems. we should keep senderos if for nothing else than as cover. start two out of vermaelen, gallas, and djorou with sagna (best right back in england) and clichy with gibbs pushing him, and we should keep eboue as cover b/c he is a good rb he just needs to eliminate the brain farts that pop up on the pitch occassionally. also people forget how fucking awesome song played the second half last year next to cesc and even before cesc got back from injury. we just need to focus making sure eduardo gets/remains healthy, sorting out ade (either he returns to his 07/08 form or we sell him), get rosicky healthy, continued improvement of nasri, walcott (who’s gonna take the leap this year), denilson (although it seems cesc doesn’t like playing with him), ramsey, wilshire, hopefully diaby can play the whole season the way he plays for stretches when he does look like the next viera and not like when he plays lost and is a turnover machine, maybe our nordic youngster breaks into the first team also. lets all just take a breath and chill with all the dooming. rvp is coming off his most healthy season and really is class and will only get better. we also need to make sure those catalan cunts don’t take our captain away from us. also we need to move arshavin to his natural position behind the striker/s (he was a revelation on the left imagine what’d he’d do playing his natural position. i unlike most gooners right now really like our squad and believe this is the year the waiting pays off, the potential mixed with the experience we do have coalesce and we truly excell adn challenge for the crown this season. as much as many hate on bendtner he had a good second half and he’s only gonna be 22 we’re in a good position stop getting caught up with what the other clubs are doing, we’re the arsenal we do things our way and play the most beautiful football in the world aside from barcelona.

  26. machine goooner funk says:

    as well, we should look into getting mahmadou diarra from real. they want to offload him and if we wait until august the price will definitely go down into our range b/c he’s coming off an injury and madrid will be desperate to get rid of him and when healthy he’s a class defensive mid. he’s a good passer so he should fit in with our style of play and he isn’t afraid to go hard for 50/50 balls. he would be a shrewd siging if we were to pull it off

  27. machine goooner funk says:

    as well, we should look into getting mahmadou diarra from real. they want to offload him and if we wait until august the price will definitely go down into our range b/c he’s coming off an injury and madrid will be desperate to get rid of him and when healthy he’s a class defensive mid. he’s a good passer so he should fit in with our style of play and he isn’t afraid to go hard for 50/50 balls. he would be a shrewd siging if we were to pull it off

Leave a Reply to Daniel