Big Signings Don't Guarantee Success

I didn't really think Henry would leave, however now he's gone, will we buy a replacement? Who?

Tevez is Wenger type signing as he is versatile, he could play wide left, right or though the middle. However surely we won't buy Tevez at £20m +, Eto'o again would be big money and Martins strikes me as a bit volatile and possibly not technically good enough to play the way we do.

Possibly Anelka if the price is right (under £10m), that would be a sensible buy in my opinion as he would be good value for money and we know he can do the business in a side that plays our style of football.

Is it totally inconceivable that Reyes will return now that Henry has gone?

One thing that is for sure is that we will not be doing a Spurs and spending mega money to try and break into the top 4. If we spend big (ala Leeds) then we could be in big trouble financially if we don't make the Champions League because of the payments for the new stadium.

I wonder what the financial implications are for Spurs if they don't make the CL? How can they afford the £40m+ they have spent on Berbatov, Bent, Bale, Zokora in the last year or so?

One thing is for sure, this could be a very important season for the club in terms of the ling term future. However, the stats below prove that we are unlikely to break to bank in order to find an Henry replacement, interesting though they are;

NET TRANSFER SPENDING

2004-05

Chelsea:---------£91.0m

Man. Utd:-------£26.0m

Liverpool:-------£15.0m

Arsenal:----------£0.8m profit


2005-06

Chelsea:------£35.0m

Liverpool:-----£18.0m

Man. Utd:-----£14.0m

Arsenal:--------£10.0m


2006-07

Chelsea:------£39.0m

Liverpool:----£13.0m

Man. Utd:-----£4.0m

Arsenal:-------£4.0m profit


Total over last 3 seasons

Chelsea:-------£165.0m----(£55.0m per season)

Man. Utd:-------£44.0m----(£14.7m per season)+ £50m this season.

Liverpool:--------£33.0m----(£11.0m per season)

Arsenal:------------£5.2m------(£1.7m per season)- £16m this season.


So over the last 3 seasons our net transfer spending has been 16% of
Liverpool's, 12% of Manchester United's and 3% of Chelsea's. I'd be
interested to see the figures for earlier seasons too, as well as how our
spending compares with the rest of the teams in the Premiership - I wouldn't
be surprised if we're not even in the top 10 spenders.

So I'm not sure I will be holding my breath for big name signings however I think the decision to get rid of Henry could be a good one and allow the younger players such as RVP, Cesc, Clichy and Walcott to come from out of the shadows and prove they are good enough to take the extra responsibility.