Carl Jenkinson or Karil Jenkinpää as he's known in Finland
If Carl Jenkinson is the a harbinger of transfers Arsene is going to make then expect no big name signings or at most the one. All that talk about Karim Benzema and Gary Cahill might just be that.
Phil Jones signed with Man Utd for £16m and Jordan Henderson valued at £20m is now a Liverpool man. Ashley Young is to follow from Villa to Old Trafford for a similar price. You're looking at clubs who have signaled their serious intent to rebuild their squad in the immediate term and are putting money in these purchases.
Jenkinson is who Arsenal turned to when it became obvious they could not match Blackburn's demands for Jones.
He's a classic Wenger signing at 19 years. Initially appeared for England's youth squads but later opted for Finland in the senior categories with eligibility gained from his Finnish mother.
His usual position for the Addicks was right back with an odd appearance or two at centre back with his 6' 1" frame which makes him more valuable to Arsenal. Deja vu - a promising young player for the future. We can hope to see more of him or he could become another Havard Nordtviet.
Whatever the reason, the club supporters having screamed from the rafters for big name players to transform a side from also rans will not be heartened. Personally, the Jenkinson trade (no knocks on him) was probably timed to tamp down on the grumbling. There may be less inclination to move in the market right now because the Samir Nasri negotiations are taking up the oxygen.
The Cesc Fabregas saga is also kicking into ominous overdrive. Wenger's energies are devoted trying to keep the duo at the Emirates. With a self sustaining model funds for transfers and increased wages come from a pre-existing pool/ player sales and not borrowed money. If one guesses correctly, the priorities then are in this order:
1) Keep Nasri and Fabregas 2) Get the best deal from a possible Fabregas/Nasri departure 3) Sell players like Denilson, Bendtner, Clichy, Rosicky, and Eboue 4) From that generated money make one or two reasonably big name signings and some smaller ones. I could well be absolutely off base but we're looking at the latter half of the transfer mayhem before Wenger delves into his kitty to fist out serious cash. He very well maybe interested in Gervinho, Eden Hazard, Gary Cahill, Christopher Samba, Benzema, Falcao, and a million other players but he's equally adamant about deficit reduction and adhering to those financial fair play rules. He's actually a Tea Party dream candidate.
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