Arsène Wenger was pleased to hear David Villa compliment his team but he is not making a move for the Valencia striker.
This week the 26-year-old was quoted as saying Arsenal's attractive style of play made Emirates Stadium his preferred destination. The Spaniard is hot property at the moment with a healthy record of 51 goals in 95 games for his club and 13 in 30 for his country. Despite that, Wenger ruled out a move in the summer.
On the contrary, the Frenchman believes goalscoring has not been a problem for his side this term and his improving young strikers need room to grow.
"We are not in the transfer market for David Villa," said Wenger at his pre-match press conference. "He has said some very complimentary things about us which we take as a big honour. I rate him highly as a player but I will not make concrete investigations for anyone at the moment."
The manager went on: "I feel up front I need to give time to Walcott and Bendtner because they have made big improvement for me this season. Theo is coming on so I need to give them a chance or they will not come out."
In fact, the Arsenal manager argues goal-scoring is not where his side need strengthening. It is more the other end of the pitch that has been his concern.
"We were leading at Chelsea, Liverpool and Man United plus we were leading at home against Liverpool," he said. "So we can score goals. What we could not stop is conceding goals in big games.
"You know that nine times out of 10 the team that wins the big games is the team who scores first. But we lost these games after being in front. We suffered more as a team defensively rather than offensively."
Ambassidah said
01:38 04/19 2008
from dem past 23 him not goin waan dem, no villa rite here
mek mi wonder if micheal and him ah fren lol
***DK*** said
01:46 04/19 2008
hmmm...no old ppl dat are stars........we here at arsenal only want young unheard of proteges.....villa is out there alredy
Figs said
02:10 04/19 2008
Villa is a great baller. If arsenal no want him, fine with me.
ManU Me Seh!
bad4life71 said
02:12 04/19 2008
a pay young yute venga want on the side
jahrazor said
22:11 04/22 2008
Wenger is right, as much as I would love to see him, scoring is not our problem. We need quality players off the bench in defense and midfield. I mean Vela will be returning next season so he will have the likes of Ade, RVP (Until injuries hit), Da Silva (around January), Bendtner (He has his time, but I think we can do without him), not to mention that young kid Freeman and another 18 yr old french striker. Lets look at defence, the starting four is satisfactory, Clichy, Sagna, Gallas, Toure. But when we go to the bench with the exception of Troare, im cant place my confidence in Djourou, Senderous and Hoyte. Song however has potential. As for the midfield we need some players to help with the injuries, Rosisky is injury prone. I think we should go for Yobo, Mexes and instead of Villa pick his teamate Joiquin.
up2 said
11:31 04/23 2008
this is 1 star him fi buy nah lie
***DK*** said
11:33 04/23 2008
him cuda do wid some big names still..like 4 big name in each department...we need depth and reliable depth too..
jamaicabwoy said
11:34 04/23 2008
Alrite we will buy him den ...cuz we money large
up2 said
11:35 04/23 2008
rite now ade nuh goooood. a buck up mek him score 20..him dash weh hundred
we a go need a new central midfielda as flamini a cut an mi still nuh rae him al dat much. mayb we can start use rosicky of hleb in there
Arsène Wenger was pleased to hear David Villa compliment his team but he is not making a move for the Valencia striker.
This week the 26-year-old was quoted as saying Arsenal's attractive style of play made Emirates Stadium his preferred destination. The Spaniard is hot property at the moment with a healthy record of 51 goals in 95 games for his club and 13 in 30 for his country. Despite that, Wenger ruled out a move in the summer.
On the contrary, the Frenchman believes goalscoring has not been a problem for his side this term and his improving young strikers need room to grow.
"We are not in the transfer market for David Villa," said Wenger at his pre-match press conference. "He has said some very complimentary things about us which we take as a big honour. I rate him highly as a player but I will not make concrete investigations for anyone at the moment."
The manager went on: "I feel up front I need to give time to Walcott and Bendtner because they have made big improvement for me this season. Theo is coming on so I need to give them a chance or they will not come out."
In fact, the Arsenal manager argues goal-scoring is not where his side need strengthening. It is more the other end of the pitch that has been his concern.
"We were leading at Chelsea, Liverpool and Man United plus we were leading at home against Liverpool," he said. "So we can score goals. What we could not stop is conceding goals in big games.
"You know that nine times out of 10 the team that wins the big games is the team who scores first. But we lost these games after being in front. We suffered more as a team defensively rather than offensively."