I've gotta feeling Cazorla is a while off; M'Vila available for 11.8mil!

Afternoon Arsenal fans,

All has quietened down following what has been a frenetic week. Transfer rumours have been at a high, especially true transfer rumours, which are a rarity these days. Cazorla was supposed to sign today according to Spanish media, although I doubt he will. I have a feeling this is going to be long and drawn out, unless Malaga don't pay their debts in which case they will face the consequences. The fact that they are in the process of selling the club doesn't really help the process. Who are we negotiating with? Who makes the decision of his sale? All very complicated indeed and add to that the tendency we have of complicating relatively straight forward deals and I say that this is far from done. What I am sure of is that we are interested, have submitted a bid and are waiting for Malaga's decision. Whether they are playing hardball I don't know. Now that we are so close, it also feels as if we are so far away. I can tell you one thing, every Arsenal fan on the planet will be disappointed if this falls through. Not because there is no other alternatives - there are - but because of what happened with Mata last year and our lack of ruthlessness in completing deals will remain.

Yann M'Vila is now a favourite to sign for Zenit St Peterburg after our interest has gone completely cold. I heard that Rennes are willing to sell from 15 million EUROS. That's roughly 11.8 million pounds. We must have found out something about him which really repulses Arsene. Or maybe Laurent Blanc advised Arsene against his signing because of whatever happened in the Euros. Wenger did say last season that this was the most united squad he had ever had, I guess he doesn't want to ruin it with that type of player. Hence the sale of Nicklas Bendtner. Maybe if we fail in our Sahin approach, we will switch our attentions to the Rennes enforcer.

Serge Gnabry has signed professional terms with the club. What a prospect this boy is. He signed from Stuttgart last summer and has really made a huge impression on the staff. He will definitely play some part in the Carling Cup this year.

Other than that, and the fact that Juve have offered RvP silly money, there isn't much else.

'Till Tomorrow

Arsenal working on 3 more signings; Squillaci: goodbye and good riddance!

Evening all,

Nothing new has developed today regarding Santi Cazorla and Nuri Sahin. The only real piece of reliable information I have is that Arsenal are working on 2 other signings (excluding Cazorla) but including Sahin. We are therefore looking to sign 3 more players. My bet would be that those players are the obvious aforementioned pair and a youngster by the name of M'Bay Niang. We have been here before with Niang, we made of a bid of up to 6mil but they rejected it. We have now gone back in and asked Caen to name their price, which is likely to be around 8mil. A bit excessive on a player so young but if Arsene and his team are sure of his potential then I have no qualms about his signing. Him and Afobe seem similar type players, both tall, powerful and quick so it does seem strange that we are going for him. Its usually Arsene's way to build superstars from what he has at the club. Maybe Niang can have the same impact that Oxlade-Chamberlain had in his first season, but that remains to be seen.

Local newspapers in Malaga did report that the deal would be confirmed today, but SkySports interpreted that differently. They reported that Cazorla and his agent confirmed that they want to leave today. Who to believe?

Arsene spoke to the Daily Mail earlier today and said that Park, Squillaci and Bendtner will leave the club. He seems to be sure of it so I won't question his reliability. After all, he is closest to the club. I am relieved that Squillaci and Park are leaving. I feel for Park, not because he kind of ruined his career - he knew what he was getting in coming to Arsenal - but because he never got his chance. And when he did he scored a blinder against Bolton. I would rather have Bendtner than Chamakh but he doesn't want to be here.

Arsene has said that Wilshere will only be on the playing field by October, which I can understand. I don't know why everyone is so shocked by the news. He has been out for over a year, hasn't even been properly running on grass yet, hasn't kicked a ball. So yeah, I think 3 months to be match fit is reasonable.

Other than that there is nothing much going on.

All crossed for the Cazorla and Sahin deals. Two world class players there, the summer we have all been waiting for, besides the Van Persie ordeal.

'Till Tomorrow

Sahin more likely than Cazorla at this point; Why is Squillaci still an Arsenal player?

Morning all,

Very quiet on the news front today, although we can expect to see Arsenal in action again versus Kitchee in Hong Kong. I expect to see a few changes from the side that started the game against Man City and hopefully we can see a strong line up mixed with a few youngsters, like Chuks Aneke and Benik Afobe. What baffles me about our pre-season is the fact that half our squad are not on it, and will not get enough match time before the season kicks off. The only scheduled game after today is on August 11 against Cologne but Arsene did say he wants to organize another one in place of the Nigeria game. We have some important players not with the squad. Lukas Podolski, Olivier Giroud, Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny, Aaron Ramsey to go along with the injured players like Jack Wilshere, Tomas Rosicky and Bacary Sagna. All quality players and I can see the potential of a fully fit squad to choose from, its so frustrating that it never happens.

I have it from a reliable source that Arsenal will sign at least 2 player before the end of the window. The 2 players most closely linked at the moment are Nuri Sahin and Santi Cazorla. Nobody truly knows whats going on at Malaga, it seems quite confusing. There are people saying that they will sell Cazorla for 18mil because it will clear all of their debts, there are people saying that the club is up for sale. This seems like it will drag on for quite some time yet. The loan deal for Sahin on the other hand is not so complicated.  Madrid are willing to let him go but the problem is he is unsure of the temporary move. He either wants to stay at Madrid or get a loan move to Arsenal with view to a permanent move. But Madrid don't want to lose him permanently.

I am concerned about our selling business so far. We have only sold Vela permanently and the likes of Bendtner, Park, Arshavin, Squillaci still remain at the club. I don't mind if Bendtner stays, at least he can provide decent back up and has a bit of a pedigree in the EPL but the others need to go. There isn't long until the season begins and the selling needs to happen fast.

That's about it for today, no actual news to report.

My prediction for today:
Arsenal 3-0 Kitchee

'Till Tomorrow

Steve Bould - there is still work to be done; Sahin the latest to be strongly linked

(This article was supposed to be posted tomorrow, but time does not allow for this so I am posting it today)

Arsenal were beaten 2-0 by Manchester City in yesterday's friendly match. The game resembled the Carling Cup match played between the 2 sides last season, where Arsenal were largely dominant but couldn't find the end product. Man City played on the counter attack and both of their goals came within 3 minutes of each other at the end of half time. The goals were a cause of lackluster defending from the full backs and lack of concentration from the midfield. We looked vulnerable whenever they came forward with numbers. Yaya Toure was their best player by a long shot and their goalkeeper also had a fantastic game.

From our point of view Alex Song wasn't the best defensively yesterday. I really don't think he wants to be or can be a proper defensive midfielder. He loves to get forward and whenever he gets the ball he is looking for a decisive pass. I think he was our most penetrative passer yesterday and always looked to make things happen. We need a midfielder dedicated to sitting in front of the back four to protect them from the counter attacks and Song is not that type of player. We cannot make definitive decisions from a pre-season friendly but from what I saw yesterday, Arsene hasn't instructed him to do anything differently to last season. Mikel Arteta was uncharacteristically sloppy with his passing yesterday. Nothing to worry about though, just a lack of sharpness and fitness which comes with playing matches. Abou Diaby was decent as well. He really is like a new signing when fit and a valuable asset to the midfield. With more match fitness he will be really dangerous. Gervinho played through the centre as a lone forward and didn't do to badly. He made some intelligent runs and his link up play with Walcott was good. A player like Giroud was needed as a target man yesterday, balls were played into the centre but often there was nobody there or the City defenders were to strong for the likes of Chamakh or even on one occasion Santos. It was a positive performance going forward. The defense still needs work, but that will come when the likes of Koscielny and Mertesacker are involved.

Just before kick off yesterday the Spanish press were reporting that Nuri Sahin was going to come to Arsenal on a loan deal. They then changed their story to 'probably coming to a Premier League club'. Jose Mourinho confirmed that it was best for him to leave and twitter was exploding with excitement. Sahin was out for the most of last season with injury after his 10mil move from Dortmund. With Madrid likely to land Modric, he is unneeded at the Bernebeu. Arsene Wenger was asked about the rumour and he said that the report was wrong and that we hadn't signed anyone. That doesn't mean we won't sign him, the deal clearly isn't done yet. But with names such as Cazorla and Sahin all strongly linked, Van Persie's statement that we lack ambition is certainly looking more confusing. Arsene also said that there have been no offers for Robin yet, which has come as a surprise. I wonder how he feels about that. He must have thought that he was hot property and he would have a plethora of offers on the table. Turns out that only 3 teams are interested and only one of those teams maybe cough up the 20mil+ we want for him.

Other than that, there isn't anything else too exciting. I really hope we get these players in as soon as possible. If we can't get Cazorla, we should already have a back-up plan. Sahin's loan deal makes sense. It will allow Wilshere to get introduced slowly and it won't kill the career of Coquelin.

'Till Tomorrow

Arsenal vs Man City preview; Cazorla move looking less likely

Morning All.

We kick off the China leg of our tour against Manchester City at the Bird's Nest stadium later today. Unfortunately our new signings still won't be in action, and we won't see them live until the game against Cologne on August 11, however there will be a game played behind closed doors before then. The result today won't matter, but I expect to see a better performance this time around. Against Malaysia we were quite poor in terms of defensive and attacking shape. I hope these things have been worked on, particularly the gap we have between the midfielders and defenders. Either we need to play a higher line or we need to hold 2 midfielders back as cover. Of course these things won't be perfect at this time of the year, and the main focus will be fitness and physical conditioning. Man City have become something of an arch enemy in recent times, not because of their history or lack of it, but because they have a habit of picking off our best players every year.

To be honest, none of those players have really shined when they have left. Kolo Toure, Adebayor, Viera, Clichy, Nasri etc... haven't really set the league on fire since leaving. I believe Arsene knows exactly when to sell players, early enough to get a good price but late enough so they have already been past their prime. The obvious exceptions were Nasri, Clichy and Fabregas. And even then you cannot say Nasri or Clichy are worth all the hassle. I can only really recall Fabregas as being a  vital departure. I do however believe that we should have kept some of the more experienced players such as Henry, Toure and Campbell. Not because they would have performed to a high level, but they would have been able to pass on some of their experiences and know how to the younger generation who Arsene has focused all his attention on the past 6 or 7 years. We have changed our style in the transfer market recently, acquiring players of experience and mixing that up with some youth signings as well.  The fact that we are willing to break our transfer record with a 15.6mil bid for a 27 year old is testament to that change.

Back to the City preview, I would like to see the best possible team take the field in the first half.
Szczesny, Jenkinson, Djourou, Vermaelan, Gibbs, Song, Arteta, Diaby, Walcott, Afobe, Chamberlain.

I was impressed with Yennaris at right back against Malaysia but I think Jenkinson deserves his chance. I believe Djourou is one of our best centre backs when he gets a run of games. He is a confidence player. Remember 2 seasons ago, he and Koscielny were as solid a partnership as we have had in recent times. Diaby needs to get some confidence going and we need to test his ability to play a few games in a row without getting injured. He is a great player when fit. Even though Wenger will probably opt with Chamakh, I would like to see what Afobe can do. He is strong and mobile and Sagna once said that he reminded him of Drogba.

I believe Man City will have the likes of Tevez and Aguero in their line up so it will be a tough game. I wasn't far off with my Malaysia prediction, the outcome of this game will be 2-2 with Abou Diaby opening the scoring for us and Walcott getting our second.

In other news today:

The Santi Cazorla move is looking less likely after Malaga's coach Manuel Pellegrini said that they will not sell for 15.6mil. I can only see us going to about 17mil tops. It remains to be seen what their owner will do regarding their debts. I am still holding thumbs for this one.

According to a reliable source, Arsene Wenger has asked Coquelin to be our new defensive midfielder instead of funding a move for Yann M'Vila. Its risky given his lack of experience but he is only 1 year younger than M'Vila and they both have similar styles of play. It makes sense to promote him.

Other than that not much is going one today. Hopefully we'll get more as the day goes on.

Enjoy the game later.

'Till Tomorrow

If we sign Cazorla, Robin Van Persie should think twice.

I woke up this morning to the news that Oscar had signed for Chelsea in a fee reported to be worth around 25mil.  They have now signed 2 quality players in Hazard and Oscar. They have also signed Marin, who I believe is average at best. They have spent 65mil on attacking midfielders so far this summer. If they win the league next season, will they have bought success or earned it? Is it really fair to see a club spend ridiculous and, in my opinion, over inflated fees for players who have zero experience in the EPL? No it is not. That is why I would like to see FFP implemented. Not because I am an Arsenal supporter, but because I am a football supporter. I love the game when its competitive. If you make 65mil, you can spend it the way you want to. Its simply irrational to use money which is being supplied by one person alone. Who do you think is making the transfer decisions at Chelsea? Sure Abramovich gets ideas from the manager, but its his money and he'll do what he wants with it. And when he gets tired of Chelsea, or loses his money in some corruption scandal, what will be of Chelsea Football Club? Who's going to pay those astronomic wages? Whats going to stop them from having to sell their best players?

This brings my mind to Malaga, a team who was injected with capital last season and spent money as if it was going out of fashion. They have outstanding debts and wages which their owner is unwilling to pay and their best players are now thinking of leaving the club. The reason I bring this up is our interest in one of those players, Santi Cazorla. If Malaga do not pay those debts by 31 July, they face being relegated. Whether their owner will choose to pay or not remains to be seen, but he is cutting it close. Is he tired of his little plaything? Has he lost his money? That is why it is so important to be run sensibly. 

According to the media, Arteta talked up his colleague yesterday in the China press conference. Arsene later agreed that Cazorla is a top player. The quotes were originally on Arsenal's website only to be taken out moments later. Its strange that Arsene would speak openly about a player unless he is sure they are going to sign. Maybe it was a slip of the tongue? I am crossing thumbs for this deal, but a message of warning: Don't get excited until its official. Last year we saw a similar situation with Juan Mata. 

What I am sure of is that we will sign at least another 2 players. A midfielder and a replacement for Robin. I just wonder, will the signing of Cazorla influence Robin's decision? It should. He cited a lack of ambition for the reason he was leaving, but clearly that is not the case. 

That's it for today.

'Till Tomorrow

Diaby impresses; Cazorla coming to Arsenal?

Afternoon,

Arsenal kicked off their Asia Tour with a late come from behind victory against a determined Malaysia XI side. The game was meant to raise match sharpness and fitness levels and we cannot determine too much from a footballing point of view. There were a few positive points though, in particular Abou Diaby. He made a few great striding runs, spreaded some nice passes and never got injured. He has a great presence when he is on the field and comparisons are inevitably made with Patrick Viera such is their similar build, however I think Diaby is more of an attacking player. He has an eye for goal and the ability to split a defense apart with his vision. He is strong and is capable of bombarding his way through if necessary. The obvious downside is his fragility when it comes to injuries, but we cannot keep pointing that out. We have to wipe the sleight clean and if he does get injured again, I really do think its the end of the road for him.

In the end we got the job done, with Eisfeld briefly impressing. He's got a swiftness about him that makes you think about Mata, Gotze, Silva and co. He thinks quickly and doesn't waste time on the ball and his attacking positioning is great. I heard that he was a bigger prospect then Gotze when at Dortmund but a serious injury hampered his development and he fell behind a bit. His talent is obvious though.

Some snippets of news today,

Wenger has confirmed his interest in Cazorla just a day after claiming he didn't know who he was. I'm not sure how far off the deal is but I think its just a matter of agreeing a fee with Malaga. Obviously this is the make or break point of the transfer. If Arsenal so much as sniff a rich opponent in the deal we'll pull out and if Malaga over-value him we will pull out. A positive is that Malaga have a deadline approaching as to when they have to pay their debts, so this might prompt them into a swift agreement. I really hope this goes through, not only because it will genuinely raise the quality of the squad, but because it will give the whole club a massive lift amid the Van Persie saga. If we sign him and Van Persie maintains his view that we lack ambition, I will seriously doubt his intelligence.

Today Wenger has confirmed that we will bring in more players. Wonderful news, and hopefully that means we've found a few buyers for our deadwood.

That's about it for today.

"Till Tomorrow

Arsenal vs Malaysia XI: Some football at last!; Laurent Koscielny - The model professional

Afternoon and welcome to the day of the first proper 90 minutes of Arsenal football. I have been craving this day, more because I thought we would get to see the new signings which obviously isn't going to happen. Arsene will say though that Abou Diaby is 'like a new signing' but I just don't get that same excited feeling. Perhaps its the inevitable that he will be injured for half or all of the season which eradicates that excitement. I hope that its not the case this year. 

We kick off against Malaysia XI and the likes of Gervinho, Arteta, Vermaelan and Santos are expected to feature. I am happy to see Diaby in there. If he can have a Van Persie season he can be as influential as Yaya Toure was for Man City last season. I know its more hope than expectation. We should not draw any conclusions from the game today, its merely a kick about in aim of getting our sharpness on track and our fitness levels up. I would be surprised to see a quick tempo game. I am lucky enough to be seeing it Live on television so I will give you the impressions tomorrow.

Santi Cazorla stories are heating up and I know that we are interested. We almost signed him last summer until Malaga got invloved. I don't think he would play as a winger, he would be more of an attacking midfielder for us. I fully expect Theo and Song to sign extensions, they are not in a position to make demands nor is any player. Van Persie has reportedly agreed wages with Juve and the sooner he goes the better. Out of the Prem and out of our lives. I am disappointed that he thinks Juve is a step up to us and that winning a corrupt Serie A is seen as a meaningful title. Anyway, what will be will be and he will be gone. 

Laurent Koscielny has signed a new deal. What a man. There was no press releases, no dramas, no agents speaking out. It was a good old sign on the dotted line deal. So few of those these days. He is our best defender and one of the first names on the team sheet. With Vermaelan handed the captaincy, I hope he steps up his game. No more galavanting forward when we are winning 1-0 with 90mins played. 

There's the usual player interviews happening, and you can catch them on various news sites. Including the one where Chamakh says he hopes he can stay at Arsenal if Van Persie leaves. Hopefully Arsene will see common sense. I like the fact that next season we can at least have two options for the striking role. Podolski and Giroud are both solid performers. 

'Till Tomorrow

Match prediction:

2-0 to the Arsenal

Wenger deciphered : Cazorla to sign and M'Vila talks in action

It amazes me how people still take every word that Arsene Wenger says completely seriously. We take the words 'Fabregas and Nasri will be playing for Arsenal next season' as a bluff in order to raise their price tags and yet when Arsene Wenger says that he is not interested in Yann M'Vila, everyone thinks that he is telling the truth. Let me give you the full quote.

When asked about our interest in Yann M'Vila, Arsene said:

"No, we wait on Diaby and Wilshere. When you look we have Alex Song, Aaron Ramsey, Francis Coquelin, Wilshere, Mikel Arteta and Diaby. In defensive midfielders and box-to-box players we are not short if they are all coming back."

Now, I may not be a negotiator or even a very good reader of people but if someone asked me what the quote implies I would tell them:

He is trying to get Rennes to cut their price. If they see that we don't really need M'Vila, we just want him as a unnecessary signing, they will have to lower their price to get rid of him. It doesn't mean that they will lower their asking price, but it means that we have a better negotiating position than before. When you look at the players Arsene named, only Song has proved his fitness. Arteta is known to be quite injury prone (although he was remarkably consistent last term), as is Ramsey, Wilshere and Diaby. Coquelin has hardly any top level experience, he has not proven himself. Don't think that Arsene doesn't already know all this, he does. I would say that the quotes actually prove our interest in M'Vila. 

Santi Cazorla is definitely going to sign for us, as when Wenger was asked about him he gave that famous wry grin and said 'I don't know this guy'. You sly dog Mr Wenger!

(He did the same thing when asked about Podolski, Giroud and Arteta.)

That's about it today. Its our first pre-season game in Asia tomorrow and I'm looking forward to seeing Diaby in action. I have a feeling that this is his season. 

'Till Tomorrow

Bendtner and Squillaci on their way out; Thoughts on Wenger's Interview

Arsene Wenger has given his first full interview to Arsenal.com since last season and there are a few interesting bits. It feels like an eternity since the last bit of factual information was given and even then we cannot be sure that Arsene isn't bluffing. Anyway, here are the more important parts of his interview:

"We have been in the Champions League for 15 years now and I believe that shows that our model works," he said. But, on the other hand we are very ambitious, we want as well to win trophies.

“It's not enough just to be in the Champions League and we are focused on that of course. We work very hard to make the team stronger.” 

The fact that we have been so consistent for a decade and a half justifies Arsenal's philosophy, but we must remember that for at least 5-7 years after Arsene took over, he had inherited one of the best defensive units in Premier League history. In the last 7 seasons, the undoubted problem has been the lack of silverware. While qualifying for the Champions League is vital, winning trophies should still be the aim. In the first 7 seasons, we had leaders (and stacks of them) and we had the winning mentality that is so important. For the last 7 seasons, we have lacked exactly those things. The likes of Henry, Viera, Campbell, Petit, Adams and others had all gone in a relatively small space of time. It was a transition from the Invincibles to Arsene's new youth policy. The policy was and is still not a bad one, in fact it is an admirable one. The problem with ours has been the lack of know how and experience to help and guide the younger players. Last season we saw a bit of a change from Arsene. He bought in the youth of Chamberlain, Miyaichi, Campbell and Jenkinson but also bought in the more experienced players in Benayoun, Santos, Gervinho, Arteta and Mertesacker. 
This season we have brought in the super experienced Podolski to go with the relatively experienced Giroud. Lessons look to have been learned on that front.

"It's important to respect that so before we get players in we have to get some players out. That has not happened yet, the market is very quiet. 

"I cannot tell you anything concrete about the situation [regarding those who might leave] because if they are not finding clubs they will stay here and be players of the squad. At the moment I cannot give you any concrete or clear indication."

That sounds less encouraging. I find it hard to believe that someone who is aiming to challenge for the Champions League and the League is willing to keep players such as Chamakh, Park and Squillaci if they do not find clubs. I would sooner release them from their contracts and pay them the difference. I know that may not be the solution but keeping them would impact the squad in 2 ways.
1: they stay and reduce the quality of the squad.
2: they take up room in the squad and therefore prevent signings which will help strengthen the squad.


Its positive that Arsene realises that the squad isn't complete and that it will still take 2-3 players to be able to compete. Names such as Santi Cazorla, Fernando Llorente etc.. have been linked but more on that later.
Its interesting that Bendtner and Squillaci have been left out of the squad to face Asia. This indicates that they are not in Arsene's plans going into next season and are free to find a club. Robin Van Persie has been left behind as he lacks fitness, as has Mertesacker, Podolski, Giroud, Koscielny. Sagna, Wilshere, Rosicky, Diaby are all injured or in rehab and most surprisingly of all, Diaby is 'fit and raring to go'.


There are a lot of rumours involving Arsenal this morning:


Nicklas Bendtner is being targeted by AC Milan and Galatasaray. He is valued at 7.5mil which is a bit over the top, but I'll be happy if we get that for him. 
Robin Van Persie wanted to go on the Asia tour but Arsene denied him the opportunity. Weird story which contrasts all the midweek EXCLUSIVES. Its also quite encouraging from Arsene. Its better to have him out of the way and as far as possible from the rest of our players and to prepare for next season without him.
Caen want more than 6mil for M'Baye Niang, the 17 year old whiz-kid from France. I don't mind spending some money on him, we have already bought 2 experienced strikers. He wouldn't affect the squad size either. 
According to an ESPN source, we are interested in signing Ganso. We need an attacking midfielder as Jack Wilshere will be out until September or October, and probably won't be match fit until November.
We are also interested in Santi Cazorla according to the Mirror. Quality player and available for 15mil, would be an excellent addition.


That's about it this morning.


'Till Tomorrow

Contracts mean nothing. Just ask AC Milan and Tottenham.

Contracts are something of a false sense of security in football nowadays. A contract is supposed to be a legal document, which most often ties a player down to the club until its expiry. More often then not, a newly signed contract is a deterrence to interested clubs. It raises the price of said player and also ensures improved terms. Yet these documents are of decreasing influence as agents and advisers get involved.

Thiago Silva is a prime example of how little a contract actually means. He was on the verge of a move to newly rich PSG when Berlusconi stepped in and convinced him to sign a new 5 year deal with AC Milan. Fans rejoiced at the excellent news, only to be shocked and disappointed a few weeks later by the harsh reality that is football and more specifically the new money in football.  Silva completed a lucrative move to Paris and Milan's other key player Ibrahimovic soon followed him out the door. Two of their most important players had left because of Milan's need to cut costs and PSG's extravagant bank account.

Now lets put this contract situation in Arsenal terms. In recent times Nasri left with a year left on his contract. This year Robin Van Persie and Theo Walcott both are in the same situation. Our captain has chosen to leave because of his acclaimed 'burning desire to win trophies' when really he just wants more money.
In my view, Arsenal were right not to award him a new contract before the start of last season. He had not proved anything and his injury record was something to be ashamed of. He then shocked everyone by starting 37 of Arsenal's 38 league games and almost single handedly guided us into 3rd place. During the course of the season, we tried to discuss new terms, but he said wanted to see where we finished. But he had already made up his mind. He was going to leave for bigger and supposedly better things.

The point is that he would've demanded to leave whether he had 4 years remaining on his contract or 1 year remaining. That is what we call player power. The only difference between the 2 situations is the fee, which would obviously be larger with the longer contract. You cannot make a player want to play for your club. Modric was an example last year. He had over 3 years remaining when he was offered the chance to leave and he tried his hardest to make that happen. He was forcing his way out and only defiance from Levy was enough to keep him. He is now on his way to Madrid. If a player does not want to be at your club, he is going to leave, sooner or later.

We should realise that the Van Persie situation is not all Arsenal's fault. If he had signed a new contract last year and then been out injured for half the season, fans would be angry at the board for it. We took a gamble and it payed off. He had his great season and now it is his choice. You may say that more ambition is required to make our best players stay, but wasn't the early signings of Giroud and Podolski good enough? Van Persie is leaving because of the same policy which made him the player he is today. We can never allow a player to dictate club policies and we can never allow a player to think he is bigger than the club. Just because a signing doesn't cost over 15mil doesn't mean it isn't a good signing.

Van Persie is leaving. I say good riddance. We are better off without him. He obviously doesn't love the club and has no respect for any of us fans, so why should we have any for him. Arsenal will carry on living long after he's gone, its clubs like Man City that won't be.

Robin Van Persie: you WILL be forgotten.

Robin Van Persie is making the headlines again today, after it was revealed that he is refusing to go on the Asia tour. He wants to force a move out of the club, with Man City, Man Utd and Juventus all said to have made bids. He is turning down the opportunity to earn a reported 150k a week and a massive 5mil signing on bonus. Now I know that is not as much as he is being offered elsewhere and I am not going to disillusion myself and say that I thought he would be more loyal to the club.

But is he moving for the money or for the trophies? Lets disregard that whole statement he released on his website last month. We cannot trust its validity, we can conclude that it was released to force his way out and to make fans feel sympathetic towards him and angry at the club.

He has 3 offers:
1. Manchester City
2. Manchester United
3.Juventus

Manchester City won the Premier League last season on goal difference, despite the gulf in squad size and quality to that of Manchester United's. They have little history and the titles they win are not based on morals, philosophy or dedication but rather on the unlimited supply of oil-money available.
Manchester United did not win any trophies last season, yet have a relatively large squad, are the most popular football team in the world and have a massive history. They are in massive debt and have spent big money on players, but not nearly to the extent of their neighbours.
Juventus went unbeaten in Serie A last season and came out as eventual victors after a tight race with AC Milan. Now that Milan have sold their two best players, one would think that leaves Juve with the favourites tag going into next season. They are a well known and historic football team, housing names such as Del Piero and Gianluigi Buffon among other greats.

If Van Persie was chasing the trophies, an obvious choice would be Manchester United. Not only are they most well known for their abilities on that front, they also have one of the best managers in world football and are always competitive at the top.
If Van Persie was chasing money, he would join Manchester City. One may argue that they are well placed to challenge at the very top of the Premiership and the Champions League next season, yet have showed flaws such as squad disgruntlement and a lack of unity. They have no history and have little to no experience in the Champions League.
If Van Persie wants guaranteed trophies and bag loads of money, Juventus would be the obvious choice. They are willing to pay him 300k a week and are in a very healthy position going into the start of next season. They are a stable club on the rise.

I am seriously disappointed that Van Persie is so unsettled that he refuses to go on the Asia tour. It shows selfishness and arrogance which we are better off without. We are better off with players who know their place and are willing to fight for the team.

I don't care whether he goes or not, where he goes or doesn't, I only care about what we do about it. If we get 20mil for him, I expect us to buy a replacement. To sell him and not buy a replacement would be ludicrous and would start something of a riot. We are sick of selling our captains. We are sick of selling our best players. We are sick of being also-rans. We can run the club as self-sufficiently as we like, but we have to make full use of the money available.

We haven't done much this summer. We have bought 2 players, but what since then? Sold Carlos Vela. That's it. Where's the other signings we desperately need? Why is it taking so long to get rid of players? It seems the club are slipping back into last summer. We are not in crisis. We are well placed going into next season, with a solid core. But we need to finish off the squad ASAP. The clock is ticking. We have less than a month left. There is still hope, yet the longer we let this drag on, the lower confidence goes. We desperately need confidence.

Come on Arsenal!

'Till Tomorrow

Can journalism get any worse?; Will we see Carlos again?

Afternoon,

Sir Alex Ferguson has told his friends that Robin is going to Man Utd this summer in the region of 20mil - according to the Mirror. Really? Journalism has dropped to such a low level, its ridiculous. I can understand a journalist releasing a made up article which speculates on the future of a player, but to go ahead and say that one of the greatest managers of all time is going to tell his friends about a transfer which hasn't even nearly been completed is pathetic. This is what Arsenal fans are going to be subjected to unless the club gives us a definitive answer.

We say goodbye to a little Mexican maestro in Carlos Vela. I think its only fair that he goes and plays regular football and I thank him for his service to the club. His trademark chip will be missed. A classy act he was. He leaves for 3mil with add-ons and we get a 50% sell on fee. And interestingly we also have an anytime buy-back option. That just shows you how highly the club regard the player. Hopefully this sale will spark a mass of sales in terms of the deadwood. Squillaci and Chamakh would be at the top of my personal list but because Bendtner is so hell bent on going, I think we'll keep Chamakh. There hasn't been much interest in him.

We leave for the Asia tour soon and we are no closer to finding resolutions to the Walcott and Robin sagas. I am quite disappointed by the clubs inability to be decisive and more ruthless. If they don't like the terms we're offering then give the to the highest bidder.
Robin only deserves about 40k more than he is on at the moment, given the fact he is an injury worry. If he could guarantee fitness for the season I would be more inclined to give him more.
Walcott only deserves 80k a week - 20k rise from his 60k a week wage - until such point where he proves he is consistent and produces more often. I don't think he is worrying about money as much as he is worrying about where he is going to play next season. He really wants that central role and I think that Arsene hasn't decided on that yet.

That's about that for today.

'Till Tomorrow

M'Baye Niang not a necessity; Rivals step it up a gear; M'Vila to Inter?

Afternoon all,

We kicked off the day with Sky Sports News reporting that Caen had accepted our bid for M'Baye Niang. He has been on  a trial with us and has seemingly impressed the staff. Other suitors include Man City and Spurs, and their sudden interest in the player sparked us into action.
It was later confirmed that we had made a bid, but it was not accepted and they want more money. I really couldn't care whether we sign him or not. We have so many good, young striking prospects that it doesn't make sense to splash out on another one.

We have received a 'string' of offers for Robin Van Persie according to the Mirror. None of them have been close to our 25mil valuation. Apparently Robin and Wenger will sit down for more talks about his future in the coming days. Whether those talks will be about a new contract or just purely to clarify his position, I don't know. What I really need is a straight answer and I think Arsenal needs a straight answer. It wouldn't make sense to sell him in my opinion. We won't use his sale money for a replacement anyway, Arsenal never buy ready made replacements. We should play hard ball. He stays whether he likes it or not. You might be worried about what his attitude will be like, what his performances will be like or how we would lose out on the potential cash injection. In my view he cannot afford to sulk, remember that he is playing for the last big contract of his career. As I said, we won't be buying a replacement if we sold him so keeping him would make more sense. On 80k a week he isn't exactly draining our resources. Whatever we choose to do, we had better do it fast.

With the likes of Chelsea spending like they have an unlimited supply of money (along with Hazard and Marin, they have bid 25mil for Oscar and another 26mil for Willian) and Man Utd not wasting their time either (they had a bid of 29mil turned down for Lucas Moura), we have to step up our game. Sign up our existing players and buy players we still need, not mentioning the fact we need to offload at least another 3/4 players. I saw that an Italian newspaper had reported that Inter have agreed a 14mil deal with Rennes for M'Vila. Bargain.

Nothing else happening today..

'Till Tomorrow

You Have To Look Happy Robin!; 9mil Brazilian Bid?; Rennes President Bluffing?

Afternoon all,


Arsenal.com have released pictures of the training session yesterday and featured prominently is Robin Van Persie. There are a couple of individual photos of him smiling and another couple of him talking to other players. It is as though nothing ever happened. But that's Arsenal for you, when a player of importance releases a damning statement about the club he supposedly loves, don't be firm with him. Don't put him in his place. Just act as though nothing ever happened and move on, only for the player to eventually be sold. 


According to The Times, Arsene Wenger has made a 9mil bid for Paulinho of Corinthians. I'm not going to pretend I know anything about him and I'm not going to waste my time looking at YouTube clips. All I know is that he is a midfielder and has a pretty stupid name. Don't take this too seriously though, I don't think Wenger particularly likes Brazilian players that haven't had experience in Europe. 


Rennes president Saint-Sernin has insisted that there has been no official offers for Yann M'Vila. I'm not sure I believe him, I think we have made a bid and I think that he is trying to invite more offers. He was banking on a good Euro tournament to drive up the interest and price, but that hasn't worked out for him. I still quite fancy M'Vila and think he'd be a shrewd piece of business, but there hasn't been any fresh speculation which either means the deal has fallen through or is being tied up, whichever way you want to look at it.


Finally, in some unrelated Arsenal news, Newcastle are close to wrapping up a move for Debuchy of Lille. Great business on their part and a player who could have been a great hep next season for us with Sagna out injured. 


That's about it for today. There are some rumours that Ignasi Miquel is being lined up by Barca after being bought from them a few years ago. I don't know what the point is in them selling any of their players. They just buy them back after a few seasons elsewhere for a huge price. 


'Till Tomorrow

The Theo Walcott Dilemma

Good Evening Gooners,

A busy day today compared too the whole of last week. Main topic for discussion is Theo Walcott and his contract situation at the club. With Robin taking most of the headlines, people have forgotten that another key cog in the Arsenal first team is on the ropes.

Theo Walcott. We have heard his name so many times within the same sentence as the word 'inconsistent' and 'lack of a final product'. Yet he provides something only few players can. Speed. Genuine, mind boggling speed to be exact. Now I know many Arsenal fans wouldn't mind if he left, but I cannot claim to be one of those fans. He may be one of our more frustrating players, and when he is bad he really is terrible. But lets be rational people, he is 22 years old and supporters' expectations have been raised beyond belief. That is why I do not let myself get too hyped about Chamberlain. Last season was Theo's most consistent and potent yet, and he can only get better.

There is something about players like Theo that we cannot get elsewhere. He scares defenders. Opposition managers make plans to negate his threat. He is one of the main reasons we dominate games as heavily as we do. His potential speed makes defenders drop deep, which lets our players have more room in front to pass the ball. While that makes it more difficult to break through, it allows us as much time as we want to pick a pass. That is why I feel we need a creative talent in our midfield. Someone special, but that's another post for another time.

If Theo is allowed to leave, it would be a pathetic summer once again for the club. 2 regular first team players out the door is not acceptable, and would simply cause concern inside the dressing room about the direction of the club. Even if you don't feel Theo is as good as he could be, he is still a key part of our team and losing him cannot be beneficial to us in any way.

Of course I don't think he deserves a pay rise. And I think its quite cheeky of him to think that he can hold the club ransom. He is not a 100k a week player, especially when you take into account the way we pay players. I don't even think Robin is on 100k a week. He first needs to provide firm proof that he can be the player that he promised to be when we spent 10mil+.

Other news today;

Henri Lansbury has said that he is looking forward to breaking into the first team. I think he deserves his chance. Lets see how he fares in our other pre-season fixtures.
Carl Jenkinson has hailed the arrivals of 'world class' talent in Podolski and Giroud.
And Alex Chambo gives an interview to the Arsenal website. Exciting stuff.

I cannot take much longer without live football. Lets hope we get some proper news regarding Robin and Theo, I am tired of the speculation.

'Till Tomorrow.

Arsenal - Champions; More RvP Headlines; Laurent to Barca?

Good Morning All,

A day to remember yesterday as Arsenal won the Marcus Liebherr Memorial Cup. Not a bad start to pre-season, and a great chance to look at some of the fringe players of last year. I didn't get to watch the game, but was kept updated by a live Twitter feed. It seems the standout performers were Henri Lansbury and Johan Djourou. Apparently Marouane Chamakh worked hard off the ball but wasn't much good on it. Other than that, all I can give you is the YouTube links, which show Lansbury's goal here and Gervinho's goal here.

There are a lot of Robin Van Persie headlines this morning. I am getting agitated; I have no clue why Arsenal and Ivan Gazidis aren't forcing him back to get his situation sorted. Why is the club so quiet about him? The least they could do is clarify our position. Are we still negotiating? Are we definitely selling him? Are we definitely keeping him? There is so much confusion and anxiety surrounding the subject and Arsenal are just letting it get worse.

The Sunday Mirror is reporting that we are going to take him on our pre-season tour of Asia if nobody makes a bid during the week. This already looks like the Nasri saga last year. I can just see it now. We are going to take him to Asia, let him play all our games there, then we are going to bring him back to England and still we won't know for sure whats going to happen. And then, to top it off, we are going to play him in our first game against Sunderland and sell him 24 hours later to the only bidders, Man City. And you know why we will eventually sell him? Because unless he signs a new contract, we are not going to let him leave on a free next year and lose on the potential 25mil available from his sale. And we are going to leave his sale to the last minute so we can get the maximum value. There will be no proper replacement either. How could we replace one of the best strikers in world football only days before the transfer window ends?
In the next few weeks, we will see whether Arsenal have truly learnt their lesson from last year. They haven't convinced me yet.

The other Robin headline is in The Daily Mail, and states that Man City and United will fight it out for his signature. Make of that what you will, but if Arsenal do sell him to one of our rivals, all hope is lost for next season. The only thing that does is strengthen them further and weaken us. They were both already 19 points better than us, it would take a miracle to catch them next season.

Of course, we cannot rely on these tabloids to give us accurate information. I may seem negative, but I am merely being realistic. Sometimes the realistic view is negative. I mean, how can selling your captain and best player to your rivals be positive or even acceptable?

In other - Arsenal are in Crisis - news:

Barcelona are interested in our best defender Sebastian Squillaci  Laurent Koscielny. Last I read we were offering him a new deal until 2017, which indicates that they are interested and we are trying to tie him up. But lets be clear people, contracts count for nothing these days. Thiago Silva signed a new contract at Milan only a few weeks ago, and yesterday his sale to PSG was announced. What is football coming to?
I doubt we would sell him, and I don't think he would want to leave. He is reaching his prime, and improving every year. He has only given us one good season and I'm sure is looking forward to next season. I rate that transfer a 4/10.


That's about it this morning, for the next few months, the posts will be later than usual. 


Click on the headline to enter the actual post, where at the bottom you can comment.


'Till Tomorrow

Quiet Times; Ganso Linked; Pre-season Game

Sorry for the late post, been a hectic day.

A quick round up then..

Santos playmaker Ganso has been linked with a move to the Arsenal today. He is a creative, flair player - typical Brazilian. He has 8 caps for the National Team and is regarded very highly by coaches around the world. He has been linked to Milan, Real Madrid, Chelsea and Tottenham in the past, but having undergone a torrid spell of injuries and bad form, interest has cooled. Therefore, we have raced to the front of the queue for his signature. He is valued at around 20mil but could go for less due to the aforementioned injuries/form loss. 

We have really missed a trademark creative midfielder since Cesc left. This is why players such as Alex Song have had to step up their creative game lately, and Robin Van Persie also providing moments of genius.  I would think that we play with a lot of width, with two pacy wingers whipping crosses into the box. But once in a while, that tactic doesn't work and more moments of genius are needed. This is where that creative talent comes in and where Song was so effective last year. Sure he slacked off a bit defensively, but you cannot fault his effort to fill Cesc's shoes. 

Today is Arsenal's first pre-season game/s against the Saints and Anderlecht. A few seniors will be involved as well as last season's loanees and some younger players. I would like to think Chamakh will put in a blinder so he can find a buyer. I wonder if Anderlecht's Lucas Biglia will be closely watched by Arsene, he seems a classy player. 

Other than the consistent rumours that Robin will do a 'Rooney'- style u-turn, there isn't much happening today.

'Till Tomorrow

NEVER believe Twitter; The Curious Case of Yann M'Vila

Hi All,

All is quiet regarding Arsenal this morning. Its been like this all week, its driving me crazy. As usual there are rumours floating around Twitter that we are 'likely' to sign a Spanish International, and that we agreed a deal with Rennes and M'Vila but have pulled out at the last minute due to his attitude.

Both of these rumours are rubbish. Especially the M'Vila one. Why would we pull out of a deal we have been after for 2 years simply because he has a bad attitude? The boy is 21 years old and maybe a bit immature but, like Balotelli, he has bag loads of talent and with age will come responsibility and his mentality will change. Mark my words, in 3-4 years time he will be one the best defensive midfielders in the world. Arsene has signed temperamental players before and turned them into model players, anyone remember that brat from Feyenoord? I am not saying that we are going to sign him, I just maintain that we should do anything in our power to complete a deal.

How does the potential signing of M'Vila impact the future of Alex Song? Well, there are several options. Alex Song should not be overlooked by Arsene, and I am certain he won't. I have always been of the opinion that his best position is centre back. He has tactical nous, he is a great tackler and decent in the air. He is also extremely comfortable with the ball. The problem for Song is his concentration, and if that problem will be too hard to overcome, he will obviously not be able to play in that position. Also, we always have some sort of injury in our midfield and Song has the ability to cover his usual central defensive role and Arteta's box-to-box role. Just because we are looking to beef up the squad, it doesn't mean that existing players will be sold.

I don't think we necessarily need a central defensive midfielder. I think that Song is great in that position, with Coquelin a more than reliable back up. I am more up to the idea of signing a creative midfielder. None of Ramsey, Wilshere or Rosicky are reliable at the moment due to injuries or lack of form.

So, no other news this morning. I cannot believe that the management have been so quiet regarding Van Persie. The fans could really use some closure, if nothing else.

(Remember I said in my last few posts how I was sure that Giroud was signed as Robin's replacement? According to Gilles Grimandi, I was spot on. I am now officially ITK!)

Wish there was more news..

'Till Tomorrow

Boring Boring Arsenal Away Kit; Up To 5 Players Needed; Up To 10 Players Not Needed

Good Morning All,

At around midnight last night the new Arsenal away kit was released. I'm not sure what to make of it. I quite like it, its original and daring. Personally I think its alright to go all out on the away kit. My view is as follows:
Traditional Home Kit
Fun, Unique Away Kit
And that is what Arsenal have gone with for the next two years, which I have no problem with at all.
You can see most of the players modelling the kits here. Notably, Van Persie doesn't feature, but Theo does. Make of that what you will.

This summer is starting to feel a bit familiar. Besides for the two early signings, which most top clubs have already made, there is not much happening in the world of Arsenal. Our best player is angling for  a move away, which is still not resolved. We were all told that Ivan Gazidis is not on holiday, apparently Robin still is though, which is rather hypocritical considering what he wrote in his update.

I don't understand why Arsenal aren't forcing him back to sort this out. There hasn't been a word about this saga since Arsenal's statement, which didn't do much to settle the tension. Gilles Grimandi did say this yesterday, which still doesn't answer any questions besides for one. Olivier Giroud was brought as a replacement. Maybe not from a footballing point of view but froma negotiations standpoint. Now we won't be held ransom by clubs who know we need to replace Robin.

Besides from the players we have loaned out, I am also disappointed that we haven't sold any deadwood yet. We cannot afford to have Chamakh and Squillaci here next season. There are about 10 players we need to get rid of. They are not good enough. There is still so much to do and it feels as if nothing is being done, though I'm sure they are working hard behind the scenes. Time will tell.

We have a month before the season starts, and we had better done all our business by then. Another midfielder or two, a defender and possibly a replacement for Robin and Walcott if they leave are still needed. That's possibly 5 players that need to be identified and bought.

In other news, Zenit now want Arshavin again. He is one of the players I wouldn't mind keeping. If you get him in the right physical condition and mindset, we have one of the best players in the league. Problem is that if he isn't in the right mental and physical condition, he is one of the worst.

That's about it this morning. There's some stories about us using any Robin cash to fund a move for Sneijder, which is complete and utter rubbish. Never ever ever ever ever EVER gonna happen. There are better chances of Van Persie signing a new 4 year deal.

Again, I expect news to pick up throughout the day..

'Till Tomorrow

Always About Van Persie; Squillaci is 'Extraordinary'

Morning all,

Some interesting rumours about today,  first of which is concerning our very own Robin Van Persie. Personally, I'm sick of all the attention this guy is getting. Story after story after story is about Robin Van Persie. And unfortunately I'm a culprit of this vicious cycle as well.

Anyway, rumour has it that he could do a 'Wayne Rooney' and sign a new contract, just a week after the controversial, disrespectful and hurtful statement he released. I think we should all take this lightly though. I would love him to stay, it would give everyone surrounding the club a massive boost. We saw how important he was last year, and not just on the field but off it as well. But if he stays, it must be because he wants to, not because there's pressure on him to do it, not because nobody is willing to match the asking price, he must genuinely want to fight for the Arsenal cause. He said he wants to bring us back to our glory days, well now is his chance.

Only he will know why he released that statement last week. It was a complete disaster as far as he is concerned. Not only did he burn his bridges when it comes to Arsenal, he left himself in a no-man's land. I suppose he can come up with an excuse, blaming his agent or a hacker. But if he does stay - a huge if - he must be stripped of the captaincy. He has DEFINITELY burnt that bridge.

The Daily Mail is running this EXCLUSIVE story. So EXCLUSIVE in fact, that nobody else has even thought of it.
'Arsene Wenger Wants Speedy Van Persie Resolution'
Well I'll be damned. Genius. Absolute Genius. I would have thought that Arsenal want to drag it out until the last day of August. I mean, that's how we always do it isn't it? More incredible journalism from the most informative of tabloids.

It turns out that Fiorentina did not table an offer for Marouane Chamakh, contrary to quotes from Arsene Wenger which stated that they did. Why would Arsene lie to us? Maybe he got a prank call from someone claiming to be the Fiorentina president? So confusing. Always knew that actual money for Chamakh is too good to be true.

Other news:

Djourou will fight for his place after confirming he won't be leaving Arsenal. He is a good defender when he gets a run of games under his belt. He's a confidence player, the more he plays the better he gets. And we won't find a much better 4th choice so this is pleasing news.


More heartbreaking news for Arsenal fans.. Sebastian Squillaci is out of reach for Bastia, but their president thinks he is 'an extraordinary player'. pffff. Which player is he thinking about?
Anyway, we will either have to sell him or release him because we cannot be paying 50k a week for someone as poor as he is. Sort it out Arsene!

That's about it this morning, I'm confident there will be more news as the day progresses.

'Till Tomorrow

AST survey results; 'Self-Sustainabilty'; Arsenal not good enough for unknown Tunisian

Morning Everyone,

Quiet this morning in terms of Arsenal related transfer news, but I expect it to pick up as the day goes by..

Last night the results of the Arsenal Supporters Trust survey were released, you may be surprised or not so much with the percentages.To tell you the truth, its as I expected for basically all of the questions. The link will take you to an AST website page, but you will have to look near the bottom of the page for the download link for the actual results.

To summarize the important parts for you:

- 82% of respondents thought that Red and White - Alisher Usmanov's company - deserve their place on the board.

- 75% are not happy with Silent Stan's vision for the club.

- 60% of the respondents are happy with the 'self-sustainability' model, 40% want outside benefactors/investors to pump in their own money.

- 83% want new appointments to the board, fresh faces to drive the club forward.

- 72% want David Dein back working at the club.

- Not so good on the footballing side, with only 1.5% highly satisfied with performances, while 20% were satisfied and a combined 78.5% slightly satisfied or unsatisfied.

- Despite these troubling results, Arsene Wenger is popular man with 77% in favour of his continuance at the club.

- 89% of respondents ranked Wenger and staff as being good at introducing, or rather continuing the entertaining, attractive football being played.

Its all good and well that Arsenal want to be self sustainable. I, as a fan, get a good feeling when I think that we don't have to rely on one figure to pump money into the club. When that one figure gets bored, or dies, or loses that money, how will the club continue to survive? I mean look at Man City. They've been buying top notch or average players for ridiculous prices for years now. Samir Nasri wasn't a top player, yet because we knew they had unlimited cash to spend we charged them 10mil more than he was worth. And they didn't look twice, they just snapped him up because they know that money is no object. They've spent well over 500mil on players and wages, and that's why they've won the Premier League. They didn't earn it, they didn't deserve it, they just payed more than anyone else for it. And they couldn't even cleanly beat as average a Man Utd squad as there has ever been to it. That shows you that it is not about the players you have. Sure, you do have to have some level of quality on the pitch, but as long as you have that winning mentality, that desire and passion to win, you'll always be in the running for the top prizes.

I'm not saying that Arsenal are run properly. We can call ourselves self sustainable but that doesn't really count for anything unless FFP does kick in, which I doubt it will. There is too much corruption and money for the big boys to get knocked down. There needs to be changes to the way we are run as a football club. We need to get fresh faces on the board. We need to get direction, and that direction has to be from the top. We need to fix the way we hand out high wages to below par players. We need to use all the money available in order to bring top notch players in. When Fabregas and Nasri were sold last summer, unless Arsene wasn't given all of their sale money to reinvest, we could have bought in quality replacements.

We need to be more ruthless. We cannot keep having faith in players who are consistently injured. Abou Diaby for instance. Why is he still at the club earning 50k a week for doing nothing? Even when that injured player you had faith in returns and gives you a world class season, he's just going to leave for bigger money (sound familiar?), because that's what talks nowadays.

Maybe I'm wrong and FFP will save the day, and we will become the model club for all others to follow, but I very much doubt it.

In other news, Laurent Koscielny is reportedly being handed a new 3 year contract, to add to the existing one which ends in 2 years, which will carry him through till 2017. That's more like it, at least we are acting now and not next year.

Nothing else worth going into today, there were a few bits from David Dein about Robin Van Persie and PSG are not after him. Also, some player called Msakni turned us down, we cannot even attract an unknown from Tunisia.

'Till Tomorrow

The ins and outs this summer; Chamakh plus cash for Jovetic?

Sincere apologies for the late post, there are problems with the wireless connections.


Good morning and welcome to the beginning of the start of the beginning of the season. Players are welcomed back for pre-season training, only 5 days before the first pre-season tournament against Anderlecht and Southampton. Of course, there will be no players there who took part in the Euros and there will be no players there who are going to take part in the Olympics. There will however be Andre Santos, who appears to have no idea that Yossi won't be there as nobody informed him that he was only loaned from Chelsea and not bought. He tweeted that he will see him at training today. You can't blame him for that mishap such was the rush to get signings completed on August 31 2011. 

There are reports on Twitter that say Stefan Jovetic's agent is in London for meetings with Arsenal. The source of these reports is Coriella Dello Sports. However skeptical I may be about these rumours, I always get that childish excitement which ends up getting crushed when Arsenal sign the unknown alternative from Ligue 2. And that Alternative is reportedly already being lined up as M'baye Niang of Caen has been invited for a trial. The 17 year old striker made 17 appearances for the French side, scoring 2 goals as Caen got demoted to the second division.The little sprinkle of hope in the Jovetic story is that Fiorentina have made an offer for flop striker Chamakh of around 4mil. Could there be a Chamakh plus cash deal happening here? Jovetic is reportedly valued at around 22mil, so 17mil + Chamakh wouldn't be totally off the mark. 

In other news, Jan Vertonghen completed his move to the undesirable side of North London as Ajax agreed a deal with Sp*rs. If I am to put my hate for Tottenham aside for the next few seconds, I would say that they have done some good business so far. Sigurdsson and Vertonghen are solid, if not spectacular, additions. Obviously Arsenal have done just as well if not better so far, and with both the clubs' star men in Modric and Van Persie about to leave, there is still much to do yet... Okay, I hate them again. 

All this transfer talk inspired me to do a little exercise where I predict what happens at Arsenal this summer in terms of ins and outs. Since we have started the summer so well with the signings of Podolski and Giroud, it seems stupid to let Robin Van Persie ruin it. Anyway, my plans are as follows:


Take into account the fact that we have already spent half of our budget on Podolski and Giroud.

The 'to do' list for Arsene:

A - bolstering our midfield.

B - buying a goalkeeper.
C - possibly finding a utility defender.
D - possibly replacing Robin ( I said yesterday that Giroud was likely his replacement )

Selling/Loaning:

Now lets see who is most likely to leave this summer and their approximate sale prices.

A. The 'deadwood' list is rather long:

1. Sebastian Squillaci (free)

2. Marouane Chamakh (3mil)
3. Park Chu Young (1mil)
4. Nicklas Bendtner (5-6mil)
5. Denilson (out on loan)
6. Carlos Vela (2mil)
7. Andrei Arshavin (5mil)
8. Lukasz Fabianski (2mil)

B. The young players who are not yet ready for the first team squad:

1. Joel Campbell (loan, Real Betis)

2. Ryo Miyaichi (loan, not yet decided)

C. The players who we loaned from other clubs last year, but have now returned to their parent clubs:

1. Yossi Benayoun

D. The first team players who want to leave:

1. Robin Van Persie (20-25mil)

Now I determine whether players above will most likely leave permanently or on loan (chances are above 80%):

Sebastian Squillaci (permanent), Marouane Chamakh (permanent), Nicklas Bendtner (permanent), Denilson (loan), Carlos Vela(permanent), Joel Campbell (loan), Yossi Benayoun (permanent), Robin Van Persie (permanent), Park Chu Young (loan), Arshavin (permanent), Fabianski (permanent)

That leaves Arsenal with a grand total of 30mil from player transfer fees alone, excluding wages. I have only taken into account 15mil of Robin's transfer.

Buying/Promoting:

We have a budget of 55mil (25mil +30mil).

Attack (Wingers, Strikers)

Every year Arsenal decide on Reserve/Youth players who are good enough to be included in the first team.

This year we have Benik Afobe who I think is ready to play a part. Therefore I conclude that Chamakh is replaced by Afobe. Podolski is replacing Park. Giroud, as I mentioned yesterday, is replacing Robin. 

AFOBE > CHAMAKH


PODOLSKI > PARK


GIROUD > VAN PERSIE

This to go with Gervinho, Walcott, Chamberlain, Ryo


Therefore our attacking options are:


Strikers:
Giroud, Podolski, Afobe
Wingers:
Walcott, Gervinho, Chamberlain, Podolski

Midfield (Central Defensive, Box to Box, Central Attacking)

This is an area of debate among most Arsenal fans. The problem with our midfield is not our lack of depth, it is that this is the area where most of our injuries occur. 

We only have three midfielders who were most consistently available, and therefore made the starting 11 for most games: Alex Song, Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsey. Alex Song is not a typical Defensive Midfielder, he is simply our most defensive midfielder, and therefore I moved him into the box to box category. Therefore, we need a proper defensive midfielder and Yann M'Vila has been the candidate most heavily linked with a move. As that is the case, I will say he will move to us in a 15mil deal. 

Central Defensive: 

Emmanuel Frimpong (long term casualty)
Francis Coquelin (injury prone)
-- Yann M'Vila
Box to Box:
Mikel Arteta (fit)
Alex Song (fit)
Abou Diaby (injury prone)
Central Attacking
Tomas Rosicky (injury prone)
Aaron Ramsey (fit)
Jack Wilshere (long term casualty)

 As you can see, most of our midfielder are either injury prone or have been long term absentees and therefore will take a while to be properly match fit. 

If possible, I would buy another attacking midfielder but I will only do so if we have the funds available at the end. 

Defense (centre backs, full backs and goalkeeper):

The greatest cause for concern among Arsenal fans. We have great individual centre backs. Koscielny, Mertesacker, Vermaelan, Djourou are all very good players. When put together though, something doesn't quite work. Whether it was the injury problems last year remains to be seen, but I think that this is an area which needs to be worked on in training. 

Right Backs:
Bacary Sagna
Carl Jenkinson
Centre Backs:
Laurent Koscielny
Thomas Vermaelan
Per Mertesacker
Johan Djourou
-- Abdennour
Left Backs:
Kieran Gibbs
Andre Santos
Goalkeeper:
Szczesny
Mannone
Martinez
--Craig Gordon

In my opinion, we definitely need another Centre Back and Right Back With Carl Jenkinson too naive to play regularly and Bacary Sagna suffering 2 broken legs, we need reinforcement. Therefore, in order to cut costs, we should buy a defender which can play centre back as well as right back - Ivanovic-esque. I cannot think of any except Abdennour of Toulouse who was named in the Ligue 1 team of the year, we could probably snap him up at around 10mil. 

Fabianski is going to leave, so we need an experienced back up keeper to keep Szczesny on his toes. 

Craig Gordon is my choice on a free. Longer term options include Hugo Lloris, who is a waste of valuable money as well as Butland, but Martinez is around the same age and there are high hopes for him at Arsenal.

So we had 55mil to spend, and we've spent 15-17mil on M'Vila. That leaves us with 28-30mil. Minus the Abdennour's fee - around 10mil - and we got 18mil to spend. Perhaps on an attacking midfielder? I also feel we should be signing a striker who is comfortable playing just off the more physical Giroud. This is where Jovetic would be a great signing.  
That was a long one today. I guess I got a bit carried away. I know that a lot of what you have just read will turn out to be off the mark, but I gave it as good as I got. We should not think that Wenger doesn't know who's available and what Arsenal need. He is after all a professor, Le Professeur if you will.

'Till tomorrow