Archive for June 29th, 2009

Felipe Melo reminds me of Yaya Toure

Add comment June 29th, 2009

The Confederations Cup has its detractors, but some of the football it’s produced over the past couple of weeks has been exhilarating. After Spain triumphed over South Africa in an enthralling third-place playoff (a contradiction in terms, perhaps?), Brazil came back from two goals down at half-time to triumph 3-2 over the USA in the final.

Whilst it’s clear both that European nations don’t hold the competition in great esteem and that Brazilians are a particularly emotional sort of folk, the tears of the Seleccao players are the end seemed indicative of how highly they value this prize.

I was impressed with Brazil. In Julio Cesar they have their best goalkeeper for generations, and the spine they have ahead of that – Lucio, Gilberto Silva, Kaka, and Fabiano is both physically imposing and, as you’d expect, technically adept.

All Arsenal eyes were on Felipe Melo, the Fiorentina midfielder linked with a switch to Arsenal. Melo is an interesting player. Unlike Flamini, he’s not a scurrier – he has a big, loping stride. Another reason he appears less mobile is his massive physical frame – Melo is six feet tall, the same height as former Gunner Julio Baptista, and has a similarly broad, muscular build. He is strong in one-on-ones, good in the air, and has a powerful shot from distance. The one concern would be his close-control in tight situations.

All considered, I would be very happy if we were able to prize him away from Italy. He reminds me in style of Yaya Toure, and is young enough that he could certainly still improve. Former Arsenal man and international team-mate Gilberto Silva says a move would make sense:

“We heard rumours and he asked me. I said it’s a fantastic club and if he’s interested he should go without thinking. He is exactly what they need – a powerful player with quality.”

Nice one, Gilberto. Silva himself was, by the way, outstanding last night. The commentator mentioned that it was his sixtieth-odd game of the season, and yet his 32-year old legs were carrying him the length of the pitch throughout. Letting a player go for £1m and then seeing him remain a mainstay in the Brazilian side really doesn’t look too clever.

Elsewhere, AC Milan have set Wolfsburg a deadline of Thursday to sit down at the negotiating table and discuss Edin Dzeko, or they will turn to other targets – namely Brazil’s Fabiano, and our very own Emmanuel Adebayor.

Dzeko seems fairly resigned to staying, so hopefully we may be the recipients of a bid for Adebayor in the next few days.

Finally today, good luck to Theo Walcott and Kieran Gibbs in the European U21 Final.  Theo will be playing in his preferred position as a striker, so let’s see what he can rustle up.


Search Gunnerblog

Get your Gunnerblog t-shirts now!

get regular updates from GS with twitter

Top Gunn

Cesc Fabregas
The man in form.

    Retro Arsenal T-Shirts from
RetroFootballTShirts.co.uk - Bringing Back The Good Old Days!:
www.retrofootballtshirts.co.uk: Click Here!

Latest Posts

Sponsored Links

Calendar

June 2009
M T W T F S S
« May   Jul »
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930  

Posts by Month


Most Recent Posts

Posts by Category

Syndication

Powered By

eXTReMe Tracker