Arsenal must "step up" their transfer dealings this summer if they want to compete with Manchester United, according to major shareholder Alisher Usmanov.
Manager Arsene Wenger this week defended his policy of developing his own talents, rather than spending "magic money", in the wake of the Gunners' Champions League semi-final mauling at the hands of United.
But Usmanov, the Russia-based billionaire who owns 25% of the club's shares, believes Arsenal must spend lavishly this summer if they want to pose a greater challenge, saying; "At times it was a bit like men against boys. Does the club need to take a step up? Of course. To be first in the world, to be first in Europe, you must have a much stronger bench."
He added: "Look at United on Tuesday night. They had at least £100million in talent sitting on the bench."
Frustration is growing after four years without a trophy, with envious fans left to marvel at the array of established stars available to Sir Alex Ferguson.
The likes of Dimitar Berbatov, Carlos Tevez, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes were all left on the sidelines when Tuesday night's second leg kicked off at the Emirates Stadium.
Comment 1 - 17 of 17
arsenal need to sign a few players as there kids cannot go against teams like man utd, lfc, chelsea etc but if wenger dosent buy then no medals for another 10 years
the are the best team in english premier league man utd are english scumbags liverpool r good 2 chelsa r u @#$%
Arsenal should and must have to spend big money this summer on transfer and on the right players to have a fighting chance. Really it has been like men against boys. Then the boys need to learn shooting from 40 yards or less. This is all what Arsenal needs to do to get a hold on silverware next season.
Yes, about time we sold out c'mon Mr. Usmanov put ya foot down and demand more success, you are the major share holder do something = he's right we need to compete with the bigger clubs, if we dont then we win nothing again - Wenger needs to keep up with the times. If he moved to a different club do you think they'd put up with him not bringing in players? no, seems the Arsenal players get injured more times then any other players in the prem, could this be because they are all little boys? Arshavins on te sick list already and Rosicky will probably never play again he's been out for nearly 2 seasons.
we need result oriented coach for arsenal
please with all due respect ARSENE WENGER should be sacked.because we need result irrespective of he being one of the best coaches in the world.we need someone that can give us result not kids play
yeah right your manager's not English and your team is 99.9% not English so where r all the English players hiding at arsenal ??????
Without Rusky money the prem would be 3rd rate
Did anyone see what ex players charlie Nic and Paul Merson had to say it seems neither of them believe the board are telling the truth about the amount of transfer funds available.
I after thinking about things am inclined to agree the board are a bunch of liars toe rage the diamond dealer in the main
fk russians
Typical russian theif what the fred rikard does he know about football anyway the fat turd tell him to bike back to the ukraine or what ever piss pot he comes out of
maybe stan kronke and alshier usmanov should put there money in to pay off the stadium that way arsene wenger would have the freedom to bid for quality players and be able to offer the same wages as the likes of manchester united and chelsea. however this should not be to the detrimante of the young players as the can only learn from world class players
arsene wenger is the best bet for the future of arsenal football club however if we are to compete it maybe neccersary to spend a major amount of money on a holding midfield player and improve the defence as largley the players available have done a good job under the circumstances. i dont however belive that spending many millions of pounds on players will gurantee success. as for the board having one owner is not good as if the owner gets fed up will sell up and leave the club in the @#$%.
connor.95
Yes, it is English and it better stays that way. No room for soviet and yankee billionaires!!!
your havin a laugh a gooners fan sayin keep it English ha ha ha ha.
Alisher Usmanov,yeah ..go on,i supports you..arsene wenger stupid...wenger please understand what fans need.. there want a win not another year without trophy
Ditch the Uzbek scum!!! Keep it English!!!!! Gooners for life!!!!
Please login to post a comment
Not already a Yahoo! user ? Sign up to get a free Yahoo! Account