Former Gunners heroes Ray Parlour and Nigel Winterburn have both had their say on Arsene Wenger and the job he has to do this summer.

The Arsenal manager is under immense pressure to spend more money on players in order to deliver trophies after a barren run of six seasons.

There have been suggestions that Wenger should make way for a new manager, but Parlour and Winterburn think he should stay, as long as he makes more of an effort to change things around in the close-season.

Parlour said: "In a way, when Arsene Wenger first came to the club the supporters got a bit spoiled as he continued the tradition of winning trophies.

"But you also have to look at what else he's brought to the club with a new training ground and the infrastructure for a new ground.

"The last six years haven't been great in terms of winning things so I think he'll need to reassess things and bring some new players in over the summer."

Winterburn added: "I think Arsene Wenger will change it in the summer and will bring in some new players.

"It's a massive season for Arsenal next year and a big summer ahead.

"I think he needs to bring some more players in and maybe let a few go. This is where the manager has to earn his money."

It is being reported this evening that the Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is still adamant that the Blackburn defender Christopher Samba is the right man to strengthen the Gunners’ defence from set-pieces next season, and has decided to increase his bid.

Wenger originally went for Samba in January but was turned down point blank, and the Congolese international ended up signing a new contract extension at Ewood Park, but Wenger hadn’t given up the chase.

It was reported last week that Arsenal had made an opening bid of £8m for Samba after he announced that he was keen on moving on to a bigger and better club (i.e. Arsenal) but both Blackburn and Arsenal knew that that wasn’t going to be accepted.

Now the Daily Star reports that Wenger has now increased his bid to £10m, which is more in line with the amount that Blackburn value him. There is no doubt that the Rovers will try and hold out for more, but Wenger prefers to get his buying out of the way quickly so he will probably give Blackburn a deadline for an answer or threaten to move on to another target….

Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere confessed the Carling Cup defeat against Birmingham City was a big blow for the Gunners.

Speaking to the the Official Matchday Programme, the 19-year old admitted that the Gunners knew that they were close to achieve something important especially after Robin van Persie restored parity before the interval.

But, a defensive mistake in the final part of the game saw Nigeria’s Obafemi Martins take full advantage of the situation to score and win the Cup for his team with Wilshere saying that a win in the Cup could have helped the Gunners push on and win the title.

Described by the midfielder as a “freak moment”, Arsenal lost the final after a fatal communication breakdown between defender Laurent Koscielny and goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny with the Gunners who unfortunately never managed to bounce back ending fourth in the Premier League.

On the League Cup Final, Wilshere said:

Quote:

I think the thing everyone talks about is the Carling Cup Final. We were 1-0 down and when we equalised it was more of a relief, because we knew we could create chances to get the winner. Obviously then there was a mistake from a couple of our players and that happens in football. We had to pick ourselves up, and we did have some good performances after that, like beating Man United. But I know people will say that had we beaten Birmingham we could have pushed on and hopefully won the league, and that tells you how small the margins are in football. It was a freak moment in the final and to be fair to both Laurent and Wojciech they have been brilliant all season apart from that. So we don’t blame anyone because we are a team. But had we won that game, then maybe …

Arsenal midfielder Abou Diaby confessed he understands why fans are disappointed after the Gunners ended a sixth season with no trophies.

Speaking to Arsenal TV Online, the Frenchman explained that football is like a religion in England adding that players feel the magic whenever they are in action, something that gives them the energy to push and want more.

Asked what it means to end yet another season with no trophies, the 25-year old admitted that it is hard, especially for the fans, used to win trophies under manager Arsene Wenger but now forced to see the players fail to bring a trophy to the Emirates.

According to reports, the midfielder will be one of the many players to be sold by Arsene Wenger but speaking about what it means to be a Gunner, Diaby concluded by saying that Arsenal is special, a place where one feels at home.

On Arsenal and the just-ended season, Diaby said:

Quote:

Here football is like a religion for people, that’s why they are so into football. When you play you can feel the love [from the crowd], you feel something and that gives you more energy to push yourself. It’s hard [not to win trophies], especially for the fans. They just want us to play well first but to win trophies at the end. Even when I walk on the street, the fans are really really disappointed when you lose games and not win trophies. They were used to win trophies every year, now we haven’t won any trophy for six years which is really hard for them [and] I understand why they can be sometimes a bit nervous, which is normal. Arsenal is really famous all over the world, even myself when I travel it’s unbelievable people love Arsenal. We know that when we play there’s not only our fans in England but in Africa, Middle East, everywhere in the world people supporting us so we have to be conscious of that. When you’re here you feel at home, you feel that you’re at your house, that makes [Arsenal] really special.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed that discussions with Samir Nasri over a new contract extension have slowed down due to a ‘little’ disagreement over the financial terms offered to the 23-year-old.

Nasri has just one year remaining on his Gunners contract and while talks have stalled recently, the possibility of a move to Old Trafford has been reported in the French media since last week.

Speaking with France legend Bixente Lizarazu for radio station RTL, Wenger said despite problems over the terms of Nasri’s new contract, he is still confident of sorting out a new deal.

Quote:

“We’ve got a little financial disagreement but I’ll try to make him [Nasri] sign a new contract. I’ll work on that this summer. What is certain is that we won’t be selling Nasri to Manchester United.”

Since joining from Marseille in 2008, Nasri had struggled to make his mark after suffering a spate of unfortunate injuries. However, this season he has established himself as one of the Premier League’s top stars being rewarded with a place in the PFA Team of the Year.

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