If Arsenal do sign a forward in this transfer window, it won’t be Demba Ba. The Senegalese striker is instead on the way to Chelsea, who have moved early in the transfer window to secure Ba by meeting the £7m release clause in his contract.
I made little secret of the fact that Ba was my preferred choice to solve Arsenal’s striker problems – I was banging on about it as early as October. He struck me as an affordable, athletic goalscorer – exactly what we need to help Olivier Giroud during his period of adaptation.
However, as soon as Chelsea became interested it became unlikely. On Wednesday I received a piece of information which went some way towards explaining Arsenal’s unwillingness to get involved in the transfer: there are five agents involved in the deal, each demanding a fee of £1m. If Chelsea meet their demands, that almost doubles the cost of the signing, and means Ba’s representatives will take home as much from the deal as Newcastle themselves (£2m of the £7m buyout goes straight in to Ba’s pocket). Add that to Ba’s £80,000 p/week pay-packet and suddenly the gamble on his Swiss cheese cartilage seems a lot more expensive.
Adrián López seems much more like an Arsene Wenger signing. I can’t vouch for the veracity of the links with the Spanish forward, but he has all the attributes Arsene tends to look for: he’s young, quick, technically capable and extremely versatile. He could play in any of the front three positions, which would give Wenger plenty of options and effectively replace Gervinho – during his African Nations exile and hopefully beyond. Some reports have dubbed him “the next David Villa”, but after a difficult season this time round Arsenal fans could be forgiven for hoping for the real thing instead.
Room will have to be made in the squad, and one of the players who has been deemed dispensable is Johan Djourou. The Swiss defender is already in talks with a Ligue 1 club about a permanent move, and when you add that to declared interest from Hannover the signs suggest he could end January anywhere but North London.
I have to say I’m sorry to see him go. I think he’s far better than public perception would have you believe. Don’t forget, it was a back-line of Djourou and Koscielny that played in our 2-1 victory over Barcelona at the Emirates. At that time, almost two years ago, he looked like an Arsenal first-teamer for years to come. Since then, however, he’s failed to get a run of games together, and it saddens me that the last memory many Gooners will have of him is of a few halting performances playing out-of-position at full-back.
Should Djourou go, I don’t necessarily expect Arsenal to sign a replacement. Ignasi Miquel is 20 now and extremely well thought of. This could be his opportunity to become part of the first team squad, especially with the news that Sebastien Squillaci could also be off – although I’d be staggered if he could find a club prepared to match his Arsenal wages.
Finally, you may have read yesterday that Theo Walcott was due to spend the afternoon in talks with Arsenal over a new contract. Well, I wouldn’t expect an announcement any time soon: my information is that no such talks took place. I’m sure there’ll be contact between Arsenal and Theo this month, but that summit has not taken place yet.
Look at that. The window is only a few days already and we’re already up to our neck in transfer chat. It could be a long month. I can only guarantee you that all information I give you is in good faith, and absolutely authentic. Follow me on Twitter @gunnerblog for transfer tidbits and window wailings. It’s rarely fun.
top gun… wenger out
And van Persie said the title-winning mentality at United and the unique spirit within Ferguson’s squad had brought out the best in him following his £24million summer move from Arsenal.
“I feel that I’m surrounded by champions,” said van Persie. “They know how to win and that makes it really easy for me.
Have you forgotten what happened to Leeds and Portsmouth?
Sir Arsene knows what he’s doing – he gets bargain basement players and makes them World Class – then sells them to United or City. Makes big profits for shareholders and bonus for his wages….Now that’s what I’m talking about!! How else do we pay for state of the art stadium?
Maybe you want to have Stadium like Spurs? 35,000 max and poles holding up the stands?
You watch soon how Gervinho and Chamakh will be made into World Class players and then sold to Barcelona or City for £25-30m. Long live the king….Long live Sir Arsene.
Wenger is a disgrace, he should be spending big money like Liverpool’s Mr Rodger’s neighbourhood. Now that’s a project in the making. 3 seasons out of Champions League but hey, they are spending silly which shows ambition.
Only need to sell Chamakh for 2m to make a profit. Trouble is can you?:D
hehehe…as I recall until two seasons prior, RVP was considered an injury proned maverick (with much to prove)
if you keep them long enough, anything can happen.
So much for repaying the faith (and patience) gooners have shown him over earlier seasons where his form would be described as patchy at best.
yeah thats what pussies do when they dont have the character , personality and fight in them to lead the team that stood by them and made them. they opt for teams were others will make the job of winning titles easier for them
textbook coward this dutch disgrace…hehe he signed for the team that raped him 8-2 with much of the responsibility being his for missing the penalty to make it 1-1
Dad, tell them about how Sir Arsene will make Chamakh and Djourou World Class players.
These peasants don’t believe me.
Theo for nani over at OT? why not? Another bargain for UTD. And I dont mean Nani to us, I just mean Theo to them. Or Citeh. As long as we make some money for Arsene’s bonus.
Not to mention another MU reject to us…remember one Silvestre.:D
Considering we are player sale dependent because our commercial revenue has not caught up sufficiently and we are not debt financed, I would say it crucial for us to be clever about developing and selling.
Its in recent seasons where the margin may have taken into a bit too much bias to income generation.
That said, apart from Song, I don’t think Wenger has had much choice with regard some of the other departures…unless of course you think money grows on trees.
word on the street is that arsene has bid £500,000 for lopez. good old arsene alwsys trying to get us a good deal.
That’s the general idea with regard haggling, start low. OTOH, you can adopt the Liverpool approach to bargain price (cite one Andy Carroll along with several other luminaries)
My source tells me that your source is from a ketchup bottle
Yo dawg, we heard you like source so we put source on your source so you can source while you source.
lopez is fast, oh dear you really know your stuff. hahah
Faster than Giroud.
i think there are too many risks wit h demba ba. good not to b
uy. especially when we couldve resined rvp for the same cost, gollum.g
RVP’s salary will be at least double that of Ba, and his purchase price was @24m, before resin application to conceal greys.;)
If AW didn’t get klaas one would have expected Ba or llorente to come in. Lopez is going is another Giroud that will need time to settle except if Villa is equally coming in now. In that care Lopez takes any of the wings and villa take central role. Three other players that should equally come in are Holtbly, Turan and M’villa. But AW will always wait untill they signed by other clubs then he goes for some average players. He should please stop playing with fans emotions. Agreed, we are not managers but we know quality when it is displayed. How on earth can he explain the soton game, was that really an arsenal team?
You have to be realistic.
We are not in a position to compete with certain clubs in a bidding war.
Mata is often mentioned as a player AW should have gone for @22m. But if we went in for him knowing Chelsea’s interest, it would have been an exercise in futility as Chelsea would tolerate the price rising to 32m where we would be unable to follow.
We cannot put all our eggs in one basket granted the new revenue streams. There are far too many holes to have to cover which will be affected by such a spurious (and frankly retarded) tactic.
Remember, we have not been shy of spending with 55m shelled out two seasons ago and 39m last summer.
How on earth do you explain Chelsea versus QPR?
Didn’t they spend a fair sum?;)
And don’t forget we have just resigned Carl “Fucking” Jenkinson….
The guys got more mentool stwength than all you peasants put together.
Gordon Fucking Ramsey rumoured to give us a kick up the backside (or young Aaron at least);)
**BREAKING NEWS **
** WENGER GETS VILLA **
Arsene Wenger has just put pen to paper and bought a new Villa in the South of France. The Villa which hosts 8 bedrooms, a gym and both outdoor and indoor swimming pools. Arsene said: “The Villa has tremendous character and spiwit, it sometimes lacks a littol in the final fird but will be a good place to make mid stops from Champions League away games so that I can commit adultery with mistress Sonja”
Arsene Knows Best
That’s French Class you British peasants.
Nah you got it wrong, it’s a close to 30 year old Villa, he’s only leasing it. Saves some dosh there. Get it right.;)
“last memory many Gooners will have of him is of a few halting performances playing out-of-position at full-back.”
And there is Wengers special talent; playing players out of position, look at the current mediocre squad (which has had an investment of £97 MILLION over the past 2 seasons) and the number of players that he forces out of their preferred and most productive position.
Time to go Wenger…
Rather if your memory was less foggy, We had a CBack issue that season due to injuries.
Djourou stepped in and performed reasonably well for a spell until he picked up and injury. Did not come back quite as focused. Also had to play in unfamiliar position.
IIRC, when we drew 4-4 with the wee club in the NE, it was due to us going down to 10 men courtesy of Barton sending Diaby off and Djourou picking up an injury (Enter one Sebastien Squillaci). Perfect storm.
GS: ” I can only guarantee you that all information I give you is in good faith, and absolutely authentic.”
Yes, straight from Football Manager 2013 on Xbox
…there are no guarantees on xbox .;)
even u bro. I won’t trust u again. U’re not realistic. U support wenger even when he’s wrong as if u have what u take from him
son of cockhunter seems a reasonable fellow, he knows his Xbox apparently.
yeah! its time AW up n left.lets stop wish listing,we can get the best players,sorry,had the best players n still won nothing! the RVP comment of winning mentality really hit home.it clearly shows how AW lacks ambition,drive,character n is just minting his pension money,no excuses nothing like the board is to blame,AW is the problem n he treats the club like a dog under his leash,he is the problem n shouldn’t be given the satisfaction of seeing off his contract.its even worse seeing RVP destroy teams because the mugget sold him to our rival,sorry,WBA n Stoke are now our rivals,he sold him in the league,n as much as i hate Man Utd,RVP is winning them the league this season.it really pricks in the arse like half his name seeing RVP playing for Utd.
Rather a self fulfilling prophecy …RVP.
Other than Song, I’m not sure I can entirely fault Wenger’s actions.
Nasri wanted to leave, Fabregas had a defective DNA strand, Adebayor was turned by money, RVP was partially right about our motivation (see Song) but that pay check toward the end of his career offered by MU was a sizeable motivation.
BLASPHEMY!
Not too many clubs can build SoTA stadium and still win the 4th place trophy every year.
If we did it your way, we’d still be watching Bruce Rioch and eating pie and mash and one trophy in every 10-15 years.
And they say we r too quick to forget the glory he brought us. Guess what? It wasn’t with a f*ckn side with the lyks of Ramsey Gervinio etc in the first team
Gervinho is a better player than many give him credit for. His finishing is awkward but he makes an impact with incisive runs.
Ramsey is still very young. Considering Walcott did not come good till last season (23), I would suggest your memory is rather poor.
Some players mature faster than others. I hope Ramsey’s around in the years to come: he works harder than just about anyone in the squad, and there’s still time for him to rediscover his touch.
Gervinho, I fear, is a lost cause.
Ba : He had half a good season. Not a bad bargain had he been 7m, still OK at 12m but entry of Chelsea into the fray would suggest we won’t be able to compete as they have better tolerance for a bidding war.
Djourou : Agreed, not as bad a player as many imagine. Miquel likely to graduate into the first team. Maybe a bid for MBiwa (if still available) in the summer. He could fill in at RB (if/when Sagna leaves) or cover as CBack. Ditto Vermaelen @LB unless we find a permanent solution for Santos.
Adrian Lopez : Decent option. Personally think we need someone quick. Leandro Damiao would cost double at very least but he combines speed with good technical ability without compromise to aerial presence. On the negative, he may not adapt as quickly (although Lopez may carry similar risk)
When you analyze it, if we are looking for a player who is affordable and under 25 that carries speed with penalty box know how, it’s a very very short list.
And when you couple with the fact that Wenger needs to get rid of 3 unwanted strikers (Bendtner, Chamakh, Park), you can see why he is hesitant not to take on just anyone.
Walcott : Think the gaffer is privately close to agreeable to the asking price of Walcott and co., hence the decision to drag proceedings into the season rather than sell last summer. If no super offer comes in this month, he will likely ave to bite the bullet rather than risk the loss of a player who although not convincing to me in the central role, has been banging them in.
Some noise about MVila again, could be press generated or maybe some truth as the blokes not happy at Rennes.
Asking price 12m
Personally prefer someone with a bit more height like Capoue (against Fellaini threat)but MVila will do as at the moment, Arteta is overplayed.
Think we’ll likely see at best 30m spent (one 10-12m player and one 15-18m)
Likely a striker and a holding/pivot mid.
That is if Theo signs.
We still need a wide player with technical nuance but it can wait till summer with Theo onboard, along for fullback requirements on both flanks.
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Wenger out
it is also possible we won’t see anybody as wenger is so slow at doing deals it is a shame but that is the position at arsenal as nothing really makes sense anymore .As we have seen the inexperienced Ramsey on as sub when we need the killer through ball dilivered with the experienced rosicky sitting there , playing players out of position all the time ….just very odd but much simpler to digest if you are a ten year old
We’re lucky to have Wenger and I’ll be gutted when he goes. The sense of entitlement that bubbles effervescent from the childish mouths of the ‘Wenger out’ crowd is embarrassing to Gooners everywhere. I almost wish you could have your wish for a season and see what happens. The man continues to work miracles way beyond the club purse. The rest of the premiership would like nothing more than a Wengerless Arsenal and would kill for such a manager at their clubs.
Exactly, he is a miracle worker. We have the best squad of players EVER!
You peasants don’t appreciate a quality French wine. All you know is cocaine and alcoholic players of George Graham. Gervinho will be £30m rated soon – he has to be Anyone’s name tat ends with “inho” has to be.
what miracles would they be exactly? Finishing fourth on the fourth largest budget? Which BTW does not include the money that goes into the academy that provides many of his players. Not miraculous… thats just average.
Or would it be not winning anything at all… not a single thing for 7 years on that budget whilst having complete control of every aspect of the club?
Or perhaps its miraculious coughing up 4 goal leads, conceding riduclous goals, going 90 minutes without a single shot on target, getting beaten by blackpool, then spanking newcastle then drawing with SOT….thats not miraculous. Thats farcical.
That may all be true….
But there’s a reason that Sir Arsene gets paid mega-bucks: Every year without fail, 4th place trophy. And all they do is give him £7.5m a year and a bust. He deserves £20m and a statue of liberty style statue of himself outside The Emirates, then everyone could revere in his glory.
What would you rather have 16 FA Cups? or 16 4th place trophies. You silly Englanders you don’t know anything.
Anyway I’m off to put some shrimp on the barbie and watch a replay of our great comeback against Southampton.
Shaun don’t worry matey
As soon as wenger’s gone – whether we go downhill or not..we will see more sensible ..less pathetic decision being made
can’t wait til the fucking pussie steps down!! only a matter of time!
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“Well, I wouldn’t expect an announcement any time soon: my information is that no such talks took place”
Maybe the Walcott contract is done and they announce prior o Chelsea game as a PR move and give them an edge.
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Listen you peasants, you will take what Sir Arsene the master will give you.
All you want is for him to spend millions & millions and buy a “Messi” type player.
He has already shown you his prowess in the transfer market by deciding on Giroud over Demba Ba for twice the money….the man’s a fucking genius. You see, he spends big when he has to.
And if he wants to bring in some no-name from French Ligue 2, then you will say “Merci”, you fucking Englander peasants.
You see Sir Arsene knows best, he always knows best.
Sir Arsene spots talent where you peasants could never dream of. You think because GS and the rest of you play Football Manager on xbox, that you know more than Sir Arsene LOL
And that Keown should shut his big mouth telling Sir Arsene what to do, who the hell does he think he is?
Keown says that Arsenal haven’t won anything since FA Cup in 2005….ummmm….drrrrr ….then what is all the 4th place trophies we have won for the last 8 years dummy Keown.
…Another clueless Englander who thinks he knows better than Sir Arsene.
I’d like to see that ’4th place trohy’ next time I go to the Emirates. You ever been to the Emirates Son of C13?
No, me and my dad have never been to an Arsenal game in our lives. But we’ve been loyal supporters since George Graham’s days. We have a program on TV showing highlights similar to your “March of the Day” ours is called “Match of the G’day” and we always watch it, well whenever neighbours is not on anyway.
And fyi here is a pic of all the trophies we have won since 2005:
http://www.talksport.co.uk/magazine/virals/121026/picture-arsenals-trophy-cabinet-redesigned-include-new-fourth-place-trop-183898
While any combination of Diaby-Wilshere-Arteta-Cazorla-Rosicky would be effective, we always have at least 2 or 3 of them injured. We need another top class midfielder, it is no secret the Spaniards have been grinded to death this year. Luckily for us, Holtby was signed by the Chumpsurs. From what I saw of Holtby, he was not much better than the options we have available.
I read that we might sign Jonas Olsson. Signing a 29-year old from West Brom could be a disaster for 3 mil.
Only way out of this hole is Sneijder+Adrian, which is not very likely to happen
Luckily for us Holtby was signed by Spurs?
Is that because he’s Germany’s U21 Captain? and they get him for nothing?
Or maybe it’s because he would rather join them than us?
This is just a way for you being a Wenger appologist….
“He’s no good, we didn’t want him anyway”
Like we didn’t want Vertonghen either
I wonder how many future players we’re not going to want?
That means nothing. The much maligned Carlos Vela was top-scorer to help Mexico win the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship and people wanted to get rid of him for years.
Vertonghen was a big miss, as were many others but I think old Arsene can still get better deals than Holtby. If we get Villa and Adrian it would be a huge improvement over Chamakh and Bendtner.
We should buy players like torres and get a manager like rafael benitez that way we could loose to QPR at the bottom of the table… so say all the spurs trolls on this blog that want Wenger out!
Howdy Pa, those damn limeys don’t know what they’re talking about.
They want to sack the best soccer manager we have ever had.
They should go and support Spurs, so far this transfer window, they have pulled one over on Fergie by signing Fryers on the cheap and they have just got the German U21 captain on a free…..go there if thats the kind of thing you’re after.
We do things properly at Arsenal, sell our best player and the best striker in the league to our rivals United. Then after we beg them for Nani and get laughed at.
Damn Spurs trolls
Errr Pa, we should be careful talking about Chelsea losing to QPR.
Don’t forget we lost to Bradford who are 55 places and 2 leagues lower than QPR
And btw Pa, it’s “lose” not “loose”
What the fuck you talking about you stupid cunt
i am am australian