NICK FEINBERG: ARSENAL GO CHEAP WITH TRANSFERS

Liverpool aren’t messing about, five new players through the door including Jeremie Frimpong, Florian Wirtz and Milos Kerkez and there is speculation that they may sign one or two more!

City are on the rebuild as are Manchester United, while Chelsea continue their pursuit of quality youngsters…

It does feel a bit dead in north London at the moment but with two months until the transfer window shuts, there is no doubt that plenty more movement will take place!

Anyway, back to the Club World Cup and there has been some interesting debate regarding the amount of fixtures players are expected to compete in during a 12-month period.

Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said: “I get why they’re frustrated – but players and their agents have played a part in this.

“By constantly demanding higher wages, they’ve pushed clubs to chase bigger revenues. And where does that money come from? More matches.”

While that (immediately) sounds like a good point, it could be argued that club bosses/ investors are the greedy business people and that has nothing to do with the players. Also, he doesn’t mention the glutenous Fifa machine that continuously seeks bigger revenues.

On the flip side, it must be mentioned that if you look back to the late 1990s, early 2000s, there were more games. That has all been reduced.

However for me, wherever the “blame” lies, surely footballers (coaches and staff), like any other professionals, need a break.

After a tough season, players should have a few weeks off to recharge. With the pre-season friendlies starting even earlier, there is such a minimal period for this to happen and the advent of the new Club World Cup has really stuck the spotlight on the subject (even though it is once every four years).

As mentioned, looks like the knockout stages are producing better games.

Before I sign off, I have to chat about the absolute farce that was the postponing of the last four minutes of the Chelsea v Benfica game for a few hours while the ludicrous lightning risk rules were enforced.

For f***s sake it looked like an overcast day and there was lightning 10km away from the stadium. This meant the game was held up for a couple of hours. Pathetic.

As for the officiating let’s just say, the ref’s grandfather probably played for Benfica before the family bought the club.

HELLO my good football people, I trust you’re keeping dry and warm! It’s been an interesting off season so far with this weird Fifa Club World Cup in the background, interfering with the usual transfer comings and goings.

As I’ve mentioned many times, I’m a big fan of the UK’s talkSPORT. It’s a great radio station and the biggest of its type in the world.

It always gets the top interviews and is hosted largely by middle-aged men (mostly ex-pros) who speak my language (not from a football playing perspective), but the banter is great!

Anyway, enough of promoting them... one of the presenters is former Aston Villa player Gabriel Agbonlahor. He says it like it is. He is not the brightest spark in the box, but I really like him and he does come out with some good ones.

Last week, he said: “Manchester City and Liverpool are shopping at Waitrose, while Arsenal are at Asda.”

Basically comparing Wooworths to Shoprite! It’s so true and Arsenal fans are getting upset! Like the acquisition of Christian Norgaard to replace Thomas Partey!

They snapped up the Dane from Brentford for £10 million! I mean, that’s 24 months wages for many players in the Premier League, it’s peanuts in the modern market, but does that mean it is bad business?

On the contrary, I can’t stand the fact that “big-name” players get sold for £70m, £80m or £100m. Norgaard is 31, but I think he has been excellent at Brentford and is a solid addition to the squad.

Those social media football “fans” forget the likes of N’Golo Kanté (Leicester City) £4.5m, Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City) £400 000, Gabriel Martinelli (Arsenal) £6m from Ituano, Andy Robertson (Liverpool) £8m from Hull City, to name just a few... Sometimes players get the opportunity at a bigger club and step up.

Saying all that, it does feel like the Gunners are lagging behind a bit, given the type of business that is being done around them.