Wenger, Let’s Talk Cruyff

Wenger's insistence not to buy a real big name might be admirable, but eventually it is undermining his great philosophy

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Cruyff. Similar to Wenger but…

Arsene Wenger has compared himself to Cruyff.  “I totally agree with Cruyff — and I won’t change.” He said. “I could have left 10 times to join another club but I didn’t because I have worked with the same vision and philosophy at Arsenal for the last 16 years — and that won’t change. And, in a similar way, people like Cruyff don’t put all their energy in building football teams with young players just for the money.”

Well, let’s talk Cruyff.  He has laid foundations to the greatest team ever, which is based on homegrown stars. However, Cruyff won Barcelona’s first European Champions’ Trophy with Romario, Hristo Stoichkov and Ronald Koeman. He also bought players such as Michael Laudrup and Gheorghe Hagi. All proven superstars he insisted on buying.

Yes, Cruyff always supported growing your own stars but he also warned of the dangers of relying too heavily on unproven talent and he has always supported buying big stars, “special talents”.

Cruyff said: “I’ve always been a fan of the youth system. And later if you can add a special player like an Eto’o, Ronaldinho or Ibrahimovic, you have to buy.”

Cruyff knows something about buying big because even when he was a player, his great home-grown Ajax didn’t really took off until Yugoslav Velibor Vasović came on board. Yes, growing your own and playing stylish “memorable” football is part of Curyff’s philosophy, much like these elements are in Wenger’s philosophy. However, Cruyff’s philosophy is also about winning and that’s where the big stars come in.

Wenger has never really bought an Eto’o or a Ronaldinho or a Vasović. He didn’t even buy a Bergkamp.

These are players who are essential for football success. Wenger’s insistence not to buy a real big name might be admirable, but eventually it is undermining his great philosophy.

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One Comment

  1. k.a.m.310 added these pithy words on July 8, 2012 | Permalink

    I guess you dont know much about wenger then…Wenger has got the best scouting system.

    1.Chelsea or the manchester duo didnt recognize eden hazard…wenger knew about his talents from 2009 only when the guy was merely 18 or 19…he even said that he wanted to buy him then but hazard chose to stay at lille. now his prize rose to 35mn and wenger was not given the authority to spend that much.

    2.same is the case with christian eriksen…you see people talking about this guy now but wenger knew about him all along. but then again he wants to stay with his club right now…and when he would want to transfer to a major club wenger wont be able to match his club’s asking price coz then it would be too late.

    3.he almost had c.ronaldo signed for arsenal but he instead chose manU because they had a better offer prepared.

    4.wenger tried to sign chris smalling and phil jones but couldn’t afford to pay their fee which eventually manU did.

    and this is not all…he has been in contact with many major stars he couldn’t buy…yann m’vila is another case…
    and bergkamp was only one member of the invincibles dude…wenger created rest of the 10 players.
    if you listen to arsenal chief executive ivan gazidis and chairman peter hill-wood talking (let alone stan kroenke, he doesnt even ever talk about arsenal) they say they cant compete with the salaries and transfer fees that other clubs are paying…one simply wonders where the transfer fees from nasri and fabregas’ sale went.
    you can’t always blame arsene wenger man…he is a gentleman…he doesn’t blame others…he prefers to remain silent himself.
    people used to do blame him but now when so many stars are leavin arsenal people are starting to realize its not wenger who’s at fault after all…its the board that doesn’t care.
    in a recent interview hill-wood said “it’s not like arsenal is getting relegated”.
    You can imagine what can be the atmosphere in the whole team by this statement.

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