GUNNER GET SERIOUS

Tim O'Sullivan
Grassroots editorial column

Right then, the World Cup is a tediously distant memory and now the Premier League business begins.

The media have been rightly obsessed with Manchester City’s crazy spending and future transfer targets, along with Roy Hodgson’s arrival at Anfield, Javier Hernandez, West Ham bidding for Becks, plus more.

But one team that seem to be flying sneakily under the radar is Arsenal.

The Gunners finished third last season and people forget how close they were to being in the mix for the title on the final day. Arsene Wenger’s surprising faith in Lukasz Fabianski, a youthful lack of bottle and a series of key injuries ended their dream in 2009-10, but their lack of trophies and big-name signings in recent years have made them somewhat of a tabloid afterthought.

However, Arsenal could be the real story to focus on ahead of the new season.

Arsene Wenger’s contract ends at the end of the forthcoming season, Cesc Fabregas looks beyond desperate to leave within 12 months, Le Boss admits the club can’t go on much longer without a shiny trophy, and it’s been yet another summer of little big-time transfer activity.

Alex Song turned into a proper defensive midfielder last season, so it’s not as if Wenger needs or wants to pay £24 million and £220,000 a week wages for someone like Yaya Toure. His policy of paying under £1 million for someone like Song and turning him into one of the top ten defensive midfielders in world football is an art. It’s a true masterclass in realistic club management.

Having said that, Arsenal fans have always had a problem with Wenger not adding to those youthful bargains with experienced gold – and it’s a fair point. It’s not realistic in the real world, but adding players like Buffon, Chiellini and Melo to the team would probably make them the best team in the country. They need experienced players with Champions League and high-level international class.

Emirates loyalists were praying for a world-class centre-back to partner Vermaelen, but Wenger did what he does best by replacing the departing Gallas with an unknown in the form of Laurent Koscielny. Only time will tell how good the new recruit is, but not many successful teams in Europe have two centre-backs both under the age of 26.

Everton looked incredibly good at the tail end of the 2009-10 season, Man. City cannot be ignored, Tottenham could be distracted by Europe but they’ll still be dangerous, and Liverpool should improve under Hodgson. Assessing all that, it’s easy to understand why many Arsenal fans feel like this could be the first time Arsene Wenger’s fails to qualify for the Champions League.

But maybe they’ll surprise the cynics again, like they did in 2007-08 and 2009-10.

Either way, although it’s been loosely said in the past, this genuinely could be the make or break season for Arsene Wenger’s post-Invincibles poundsaver project.