I was 'wrong' not to buy - Wenger
Arsene Wenger today admitted he was “wrong” not to bring in some more experienced players this season – but declared Arsenal’s future was in safe hands.
The Gunners go into tomorrow’s FA Cup quarter-final tie at Bolton chasing the final trophy available to them from the current campaign after their disappointing midweek Champions League exit to Bayern Munich, and hopes of a successful defence of their Barclays Premiership title now all but over.
The Arsenal manager had some money to spend, both in the summer and during the January transfer window, but elected instead to stick with the backbone of the team which swept all before them during the last campaign and went on a record unbeaten run of 49 Premier League matches.
However, following the end of that amazing sequence back in October at Old Trafford, the Gunners have since failed to match those high standards.
Their lead at the top of the Premiership table has been clawed back and eventually overtaken by both champions elect Chelsea and Manchester United, while their hopes of European glory have once again failed to come to fruition.
And while Wenger accepted responsibility for not strengthening his squad when he had the chance, the Frenchman maintains he could never have predicted the loss of key defender Sol Campbell to injury or how Brazilian midfielder Edu would eventually commit himself to the Highbury cause, only to then also be sidelined.
And Wenger insisted the emergence of such talent of Philippe Senderos, Cesc Fabregas and Quincy Owusu Abeyie will have made this campaign worthwhile, regardless of whether or not it finishes barren.
“You can only now say I was wrong,” reflected the Arsenal manager.
“The facts are there, that we lost the championship and didn’t win the European Cup – we cannot say we were right.”
However, Wenger insisted: “But it was very difficult to predict that Sol Campbell would be out until [towards] the end of the season, because I didn’t think of that, and that Edu would not be available. I could have thought that, but if Edu had gone, I would have bought somebody.”
And the Arsenal manager said: “I feel the positive part of our season is that we have found some good young players who have come through this season and can be important for us in the next years.
“That they lack a bit of experience at the top, top level games is true, but it is a positive side of our season.
“Now we have to be faithful to what we have created.
“We prepared with young players because we knew that financially in the years ahead, maybe we won’t have the same potential as other teams and that we could compensate by preparing these young players – and we have to keep doing that.”
Wenger continued: “We were short this year, but it is difficult to predict who would be injured or not.
“We played against Portsmouth with five players under 21 and won comfortably - not many teams in Europe can do that.
“These players have qualities – you saw that with Senderos and Fabregas on Wednesday night.
“We are under pressure, but it is down to us not to be stupid by just buying names and destroy what we have created.”
Wenger did sign Emmanuel Eboue during January, with the Ivory Coast defender set to be on the bench tomorrow after he was ineligible for the Champions League.
And with Brazilian midfielder Gilberto now on the road to recovery after missing out since September when fracturing his vertebrae, Wenger believes his squad could soon look “a little bit more experienced as a unit” and revealed: “If we need to bring one or two players in at the end of the season, then we can do that.”
While the Arsenal manager maintained his club were still an attractive proposition for top players despite their faltering form this season, Wenger accepted the Gunners’ spending power – which is hoped will be significantly increased when they move to their new 60,000-seater Emirates Stadium in August 2006 – is not in the same bracket as their top Premiership rivals.
He reflected: “It is harder, yes because in the market, Chelsea are super powerful.
“It is harder as well because all of the clubs are well organised in their scouting system now. Everywhere you go, you have all the English clubs and it is much more difficult.
“But we still have a lot of players who want to join us because we have a special attraction to big players.
“I think it will be feasible to find what we need.”
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