Trophy drought: Arsenal's FA Cup victory in 2005 is the only silverware of Van Persie's Gunners career

There are some divisions forming at Arsenal over the recruitment of players and Wenger is increasingly ignoring the advice of his scouting department to take them.

Olivier Giroud has long been on Arsenal’s radar, but the France striker is not even a regular in Laurent Blanc’s international team.

He played just 32 minutes during the Euros, largely ignored by Blanc as he steered his way out of the group before they were soundly beaten by Spain in the semi-final.

Giroud’s eye-catching goals for Montpellier in their title-winning season brought him to the attention of European football’s top clubs and there will be a demand for him to make an instant impression at the Emirates.

Lukas Podolski will be under similar pressure, arriving from Cologne after the Euros with the brief to solve Arsenal’s left-sided problem.

Wenger has never lacked self-belief in the transfer market, promising Vieira that the changes would improve the team after winning the title in 2004.

He brought in Manuel Almunia, Mathieu Flamini in the summer, along with Emmanuel Eboue in January 2005 as he prepared for the next phase of Arsenal’s development.

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