Should Arsenal Spend Just Because They Can?

As our four games so far in the season seems to indicate, there is no denying we are in need of an upgrade in the striker department. For all of the abilities and flaws of our current roster, the reality is that we need someone better there as first choice. I'm also quite sure you guys are aware that the elite strikers like Benzema, Lewandowski, Aguero, Suarez or Cavani (debatable?) are in clubs who are in no need to sell and have no intention in selling their prized assets.

But what I also feel is that several of the strikers who have moved this summer (or may still move) like Immobile, Bacca, Mandzukic, Jackson, Icardi, Kruse,  Berahino or *insert name here* may not necessarily be the massive upgrade we are looking for. I'm not saying Giroud, Theo or Welbeck are better than every one of them (some or several of them may be better)... All I am saying is, are any of these players going to give us the massive upgrade that we need? I don't think so. Let me elaborate as to why I think so.

1) Giroud is not world class, far from it. But he is someone who gives us a steady 15-20 goals a season along with 10 assists. The same can be said of Theo who regularly hit double figures in terms of goals when he was fit. Most strikers in the list I mentioned above won't necessarily provide us a significant improvement over those numbers. Heck, some of them don't even provide those numbers even in their current teams. Is the chance of a marginal increase in our current rosters' numbers worth forking out £30million over? Not necessarily.

2) The problem with buying not-necessarily-better strikers on an inflated fee is that once it turns out that they don't improve our squad, they become a headache to get rid off. That is because they will be on long-term contracts and on typical Premier League wages that most clubs in Europe can't and won't match. Do we want another Bendtner or Chamakh situation where we have difficulty in selling them? Haven't we seen how City struggled to get rid of Dzeko and Jovetic, or how Tottenham are still struggling to get Adebayor off their books?

3). Some of those named above may have score prolifically in smaller clubs. I am sure you don't need me to tell you that a guy scoring tons of goals in a smaller club does not necessarily mean he will do better in a big team. In a smaller team, he will be the main goal source, their talisman, the big fish in a small pond. But in a big team, he is not the only goal source, he will be required to score, to provide, to make way at times and curb his ego. That does not always happen. Podolski scored bucketloads at Koln, he flopped at Bayern and Arsenal. Immobile killed it at Torino, but failed at Dortmund. The jury is still out on Benteke but there is a good chance he may not recreate his Aston Villa form because unlike Villa, all the passes won't go to his head or his feet. Keep that in mind the next time you see someone scoring bucketloads for a small team.

4). Our annual transfer budget is £60m to £80m, which is dwarfed when you compare that with what the Oil Money clubs or Barca/Real?Bayern can afford to spend. So when we make a big-money signing it has to be for the right player. We can't experiment with costly players in the way Chelsea or City do (buy costly Schurrle. donesn't work out? buy costly Cuadrado. doesn't work out? buy costly Pedro). I am not trying to ridicule their approach. I am just saying that's something we can't manage because our transfer kitty is not never-ending, and a costly transfer mistake may have a negative impact on the next window. We're better off biding our time and spending on the right player, than make costly mistakes. Cheap experiments (like Sanogo) are not that big a problem because it doesn't hurt our wallets. Costly mistakes do.

5). Some might say "Why not take a risk, and trust him?"... What would you say is better? Trusting on a player from another league, who is not necessarily better than what we have, who may or may not click in this league? Or trusting someone like Welbeck, who is a good talent but lacking an ingredient or two to be the finished product to come good? Remember, we made an investment of £16 million on him (who in a way is a relatively costly experiment), and he knows the Premier League inside out. Aren't we better off trusting our current options than an unknown Italian or German striker who we know will not be a major upgrade on our current options?

Make no mistake, we are an ambitious club, we want to buy the best players, which is precisely why we are not wasting our hard-earned cash on players who we know are certain to not be significant upgrades on our current options. Believe in what we have, and also believe that when a world class player who will strengthen us becomes available, our club will do it's very best to add him to our squad.

Peace Out
- Roh The Goon