In under a month, Arsenal embark on one of the most vital August’s under Wenger’s reign. Some may argue it is the most important August under Wenger.

The arrivals of Carl Jenkinson and Gervinho mean that we have added a couple of new faces to the squad, this isn’t where the question marks are hanging though – they are hanging over the heads of Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Nicklas Bendtner and Manuel Almunia. Increasingly so, questions are being asked about the manager and his lack of purchases so far this summer.

I find it slightly worrying that yet again we are not offering what players are worth in the market. Sometimes situations can be used to an advantage in negotiations, what Arsenal don’t realise is that clubs know there are a few quid in the coffers, they also know other clubs may willingly pay more for one of their players than Arsenal will.

We have no muscle in the transfer market, we can try to sell our footballing philosophy but apart from that what really can we offer? The best in wages? No. Silverware? No. A chance to play with the very best players? With questions over Nasri and Cesc, that has to be a no as well.

Basically, Arsenal will probably have to pay an extra million or two to get to the point where the club finds it very hard to refuse the first offer on the table – this isn’t the time to be playing games in the transfer market, offering amounts that are in some cases not only insulting to the club but also the player in question. There is a huge difference between Arsenal’s strategy and the incessant crap coming from northern Spain, but there is one common denominator: cash.

In my book Arsenal need to sell Samir Nasri. Losing an asset worth in excess of £20m will not only mean he can’t be replaced but it would also have a massive impact on the transfer budget for this and the following summers for quite some time.

Of course, any improvements made to the squad will be a mixture of youth and new players brought in – Carl Jenkinson has looked a pretty shrewd purchase by Arsene so far in pre-season however, judging a players true defensive ability in at this stage is nigh on impossible. Ryo Miyaichi has also looked to be as good as the substantial hype suggests, there are still massive doubts over the possibility of ‘Ryodinho’ getting his work-permit this year but he has attributes that Arsenal fans have craved for a long time.

The defence is the main area of concern as it seems to be before the start of every season now. Deals for Phil Jones and Gary Cahill have gone wrong at various times – Arsenal matched the asking price for Jones but were turned down in favour of United, and they haven’t met the asking price of Gary Cahill (who would be happy to join) with Bolton looking for a substantial sum. Negotiations for Chris Samba have ground to a halt but it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see Arsenal go back to Blackburn in the weeks to come to see if they can bring Samba in.

The only thing seemingly on Arsenal’s side right now is time. Time, however, will run out pretty quickly. Clubs know Arsenal need to buy, they can hold us to ransom, take advantage of the fact Gooners are crying out for more signings.

Over to you, Arsene.