Tottenham are selling Kyle Walker, will it be a one off or will they follow Arsenal’s route?
In his two decades at Arsenal, manager Arsene Wenger has essentially had four different teams.
First came the side he inherited, the 1997-98 double winners, before he created the Invincibles who dominantly won the 2003/04 Premier League.
The post-Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira era saw one of the most talented groups of players the club have ever had – before this fourth iteration led by Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez.
It is the third group, featuring the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Robin van Persie, Aleksandr Hleb, and Andrei Arshavin, which played some of the most attractive football in Premier League memory – but they will be remembered as a team which won nothing.
League challenges faltered, and they lost two League Cup finals, before the team slowly began to break up.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger
At first it was just a couple of players, with Hleb and Mathieu Flamini departing. So what, perhaps. But the cast was set. Arsenal were reinforced as a club unable to hold onto their regulars.
The next year Emmanuel Adebayor was sold to Manchester City for a big fee, before two years later Fabregas and Nasri walked out.
12 months later top scorer Van Persie was gone, and Arsenal were left facing a full scale rebuild, with Arsene Wenger’s vision over.
Across North London, Tottenham have just agreed to sell one of the top stars of their super talented young side, Kyle Walker.
The right-back is heading to Manchester City, and Tottenham now have a crucial play to make over the next few years.
They have to show that the decision to sell Walker was just a one off, and no other offers will be entertained.
England’s Kyle Walker in action
At Arsenal, they sold players they deemed expendable, while eroding the depth and quality of the group.
Eventually they fell short time after time again, and the vultures swooped to prise away their top stars.
Tottenham might always be able to keep Harry Kane, but Christian Eriksen, Eric Dier and even Dele Alli could become top targets for major European clubs in future seasons, especially if Tottenham can’t add trophies.
The Arsenal side built by Wenger between 2006 and 2013 had one thing in common with this current Tottenham team, they were doing so while paying off the construction of a brand new stadium, meaning it is not so easy to reinvest the money from sales into big bids of their own.
Tottenham’s big challenge is to start winning trophies, or the rest could begin to unravel. Off the pitch, chairman Daniel Levy must not repeat Arsenal’s mistake and let another star go next summer.
The Walker sale must be a one off if Tottenham are serious about sustaining their current course to success.
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