We’re coming to the point of the year when transfer fever is beginning to take hold. Fortunately with the world Cup coming up this summer transfer speculation will not completely take over our entire lives. Everyone knows that we are agonizingly close to having a trophy winning squad, and for Arsenal in particular this transfer window represents a crucial juncture in the direction of the club.

Credit crunch, taxation, financial doping, and greed has increased player costs.

It is uncharacteristic of Wenger to show his hand in transfer dealings, but this time he has said plainly that he is going to make additions to the squad, most importantly he wants to do so before the World Cup.

The boss has already said that the striker position has already been filled. Which means there’s still the problem of a backup to Song, central defence and goalkeeping– I don’t think he will get a new keeper, but that’s another story.

Buying kind of player that can really add to the quality of the squad is’s not as simple as we think. Wenger to buy the right player at the right price. No sense blowing £40m on a big name that may or may not produce the goods, likewise shopping in the sales department may prove to be no bargain.

The problem is that, every club wants to make a killing when they sell. To make matters worse the current trend is to negotiate wages net of tax, which really adds to the clubs’ outgoings.

I get the feeling that because of Wenger’s record of getting amazing players for next to nothing, we have been spoiled to the point where we expect it to happen every summer. The fact is the scouting of other teams has been catching up, couple that with the spending power of the competition and you can see the difficulty Wenger and Arsenal faces.

One other mitigating factor is that the “real” cost of players has significantly increased over the past 5 years. The increased value of the Euro, the increase in Income tax, and the inflation created by “new money” means that the calibre of player that used to cost £30.6m in transfer and wages now costs a minimum of £50m. Ironically English players are now cheaper by comparison.

Factor in the socialist payment system which is in place at Arsenal, and the conclusion is that Arsenal may have no choice but to continue with the present policy of looking for rough gems while nurturing the youth. More of the same means players that others passed on (Sagna or Vermaelen), a free transfer (Chamakh?), maybe a player who might not have fulfilled their potential elsewhere (Henry, Vieira), someone to come up from the reserves (Eastmond, Bartely).

One thing is for certain, the players we get will not be any of those names you see on fans wishlists or in the back pages. We can only trust the judgment of Wenger and his team, to get the best possible player within the constrains placed on the club. They’ve done the job before, there is no doubt that they’ll do it again.