ARSENE WENGER might believe Paul Pogba’s £100million valuation is “completely crazy” but the Arsenal boss knows he will soon have to join in the madness.
Wenger was branded “not ethical” by old enemy Jose Mourinho yesterday for daring to express an opinion on Juventus’ world record asking price for Pogba.
Yet the Gunners boss is not going to lose sleep over more barbs from his bitter enemy when he has far more urgent issues to address.
For despite last night’s Norwegian stroll, it is obvious that Wenger will have to break the bank before next week’s Premier League opener against Liverpool if he wants his team up to speed right from the start.
He is loath to meet Lyon’s £40million demands for striker Alexandre Lacazette, a player who cannot even get into a French squad currently relying on Olivier Giroud for goals.
Yet with Giroud not even back in training and Theo Walcott an increasingly reluctant striker, Arsenal do not have appear to have any option other than meet Lyon’s demands.
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It is a similar situation at centre-half, where they must fork out another £40million if they want Valencia’s Shkodran Mustafi to replace the injured Per Mertesacker.
At least they had Gabriel back in defence after his recent virus to baby-sit 18-year-old Krystian Bielik through this embarrassingly one-sided affair.
And Walcott, who only last week declared that he no longer wishes to play through the middle, finally scored his first goal of pre-season.
Walcott struck in the 53rd minute after Joel Campbell and Santi Cazorla had already put last night’s result beyond doubt.
Viking simply fell apart after making ten changes to their team at half-time and were annihilated by further goals from Campbell, Chuba Akpom, two from Alex Iwobi and an own-goal by Michael Haukas.
But Arsenal won’t find it quite so easy against Manchester City in Gothenburg tomorrow, when Alexis Sanchez and Aaron Ramsey are both expected to be given a run-out.
Arsenal’s next five matches:
(H) Liverpool – 14 Aug (Prem)
(A) Leicester – 20 Aug (Prem)
(A) Watford – 27 Aug (Prem)
(H) Southampton – 10 Sep (Prem)
(A) Hull – 17 Sept (Prem)
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