Archive for July, 2009
July 13th, 2009
Life is full of questions:
What is déjà vu?
Is there a God?
Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?
However, this past week one question has superseded all of the above to be on the lips of Arsenal fans everywhere:
Who is Blaise Matuidi?
With Fiorentina leaking news of our bid for Brazilian Felipe Melo, it’s clear Arsene is in the market for a holding midfielder. After our difficulties in that area last season, that news comes as a real relief: I had begun to be concerned that the form of Alex Song towards the end of the season would convince Le Boss that he didn’t need to enter the market for a midfielder.
However, the pursuit of Melo was doomed to fail: it seems both the player and his club used us as a pawn to crystallise interest from Juventus, and a huge fee of €21m will soon see Melo in The Old Lady’s lascivious clutches.
As soon as that deal was dead, stories resurfaced about Saint-Etienne midfielder Blaise Matuidi. We had been linked with Matuidi for much of last summer, and as late as deadline day I fancied a deal to go through. As it happened, a deal didn’t materialise as we spent the final day of the window locked in talks to try and secure the signature of Xabi Alonso.
If the Matuidi and Saint-Etienne’s president are to be believed, Arsene’s interest in the player is long-standing. Perhaps we oughtn’t be surprised: in many ways Matuidi is the archetypal Wenger signing.
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Matuidi is just 22 years of age, and won’t turn 23 until long into next season. He is of African descent (his parents are Angolan), and has spent his formative years in France’s Ligue 1 (first with Troyes, and latterly Saint-Etienne). In typical Gunnerblogian fashion, I have spent the weekend trawling several French forums and the impression I have gained of Matuidi is that what he lacks in height (he is just 5′ 9″) he makes up for in athleticism. His acceleration to loose balls is a noted strength, and his left-footed passing would provide a neat compliment to our existing options in central midfield.
Whilst Melo was certainly comparable to former Arsenal man Gilberto Silva, Matuidi appears to have far more in common with Lassana Diarra. Like Diarra before him, he is a France U-21 International and is soon expected to graduate to the senior set-up.
Recent reports in the English press have seen his price quoted at around £2.5m. I can tell you now that even though Matuidi has made his desire to leave very clear, those numbers are way wide of the mark. Most Saint-Etienne fans refuse to countenance a sale of the player L’Equipe voted their best last season for any less than €12m (about £10m). If Matuidi is to come to England, I’d venture that it won’t be for less than the £7m we paid Auxerre for Bacary Sagna.
Perhaps this week will bring more news. In the next few days I’ll be speaking to a Saint-Etienne to get a close-up view of Matuidi’s abilities. Unless, of course, he suddenly signs for Juventus, as is always liable to happen.
Till tomorrow, folks.
July 12th, 2009
Seeing as there’s not much Arsenal news about today, I thought I’d pick a bone that’s been lodged in my thoughts over the past few days: just what is in charge of signings at Chelsea?
Neither Roman Abramovich nor Carlo Ancelotti seem likely to have been particularly away of the merits of Daniel Sturridge and Ross Turnbull. The aquisition of Abramovich’s fellow Russion Yuri Zhirkov was more easily explained, but having ploughed time and resources into the appointment of a new manager, who was actually controlling Chelsea’s scatter-gun transfer policy?
Step forward Frank Arnesen, who has just been revealed as the Sporting Director operating behind Ancelotti. Whilst it’s a system that Italian will be used to working under, I’ve never seen it successfully applied in England. I’d like to think Arsenal will always be a club where the manager is entrusted with responsibility over who he brings into the club.
The weekend has not brought much news. Cesc Fabregas isn’t going to Real Madrid, Robin van Persie isn’t going anywhere, and Philippe Senderos and Armand Traore might go to Sunderland and Birmingham respectively. From Milan to Sunderland in the space of a few weeks? One would forgive Philippe being a little depressed by that.
Tomorrow, I will attempt to answer the question on every Arsenal fan’s lips:
Who is Blaise Matuidi?
July 10th, 2009
In November of this year, when defeat to plucky Burnley sees us ninth in the table and facing another trophless season, do not direct your ire at Arsene Wenger. Forgive William Gallas, in spite of him wearing an “I Heart AC Milan” shirt beneath his Arsenal attire as he prepares for a lucrative bosman move. Do not blame Emmanuel Adebayor – he was distracted to the point of disaster by the sensuous marking of Steven Caldwell: the Beyonce Knowles of defending.
Blame instead Marco Marchionni, whose u-turn decision to join Fiorentina will enable Felipe Melo to complete the exchange and join Juventus, leaving us without the midfield enforcer we cravenly desire.
There have since been rumours about Blaise Matuidi coming in, but nothing substantial. If Matuidi were to sign, Arsene Wenger’s transfer policy would be very transparent: both he and Thomas Vermaelen are very good on Football Manager.
Of course, we can sign all the midfielders we like but it won’t make us any stronger if we sell Cesc Fabregas. Whilst we’re of course determined to hold onto our captain, Barcelona have made it clear he is a target:
“Ribery was a player we were interested in at a logical price but Bayern don’t want to sell. If they are interested in selling, we are interested in buying but if not, then we will look to Fabregas. Compared to him there is no available alternative left in the market, so we will see what happens.”
With (possibly unsubstantiated) rumours that Franck Ribery could make switch to one of two clubs in the north-west of England, a Barcelona bid for Cesc is a genuine possibility. I find it hard to conceive of Fabregas leaving this summer, but were a bid of £40m or so to arrive on the doormat, who knows what could happen?
The situation isn’t helped by boardroom instability. Alisher Usmanov’s rights issue proposal was rightly dismissed, and Stan Kroenke has since increased his shareholding to 28.58%. It’s a minimal shift: the future of the club’s ownership still seems to hinge on the sale of Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith’s shares.
One man who won’t be joining Barcelona is Andrey Arshavin, who has dismissed the claims of his former agent Dennis Lachter and underlined his determination to remain in London:
“That is nothing more than a rumour. I’m an Arsenal player and the only thing I am thinking about is preparing for the new season.”
Good to hear.
Our opening day fixture with Everton will kick off ESPN’s coverage of the Premier League, and clashes against the likes of United, Spurs and Chelsea will also be screened live. If you just can’t wait that long, ArsenalTVOnline is the place to be for the best coverage of our pre-season preparations.
Right; that’s it for today. A demain.
July 8th, 2009
Let’s start with the good news: Robin van Persie has signed a new long-term deal with Arsenal. Van Persie says:
“My heart is with Arsenal and I just can’t picture myself in a different shirt. I just can’t see it now because I love this Club so much. If you look at the last five years, look at the steps I have made every season, if you look at the support the Boss and the whole Club gave me, the fans gave me, my team mates gave me – this is the right decision.”
One does get the impression that Robin is a player very much committed to the Arsenal cause. Hopefully his decision will be vindicated in the forthcoming years by a haul of trophies.
Felipe Melo, however, seems unlikely to be penning an Arsenal contract any time soon, with Sky Italia reporting that he is just hours away from a switch to Juventus. It’s a blow if it means we’ve missed out, but as I said a couple of days ago, there’s no way Arsene would pay his €25m release-clause, rendering any meetings fairly pointless.
I just hope there’s a back-up plan. Someone told me Sky Sports News were reporting that left-footed St. Etienne midfielder Blaise Matuidi was in London yesterday for talks, but I’ve yet to see that in print anywhere.
Most of the squad has returned to training this week, and you can see some pics of that here. It’s very heartening to see Tomas Rosicky training with the rest of the squad – one does tend to forget that he’s a) alive and b) a footballer. New boy Thomas Vermaelen also looks like a potential hardman, which is handy as that’s just the sort of chap we need more of.
Right. Time for brunch.
July 7th, 2009
The name comes from Middle English Tiwesday, from Old English Tiwes dæg, named after the Nordic god Tyr, who was the approximate equivalent of the Roman war god Mars, and Greek god Ares. Tyr was a God who most despised football news of any kind, and contrived to render Tiwesday almost entirely unbloggable.
It tells you something when the most newsworthy story revolves around Mark Randall, who has pricked the interest of Derby County. Despite Randall’s potential, it’s hard to see him making the grade at Arsenal without significant exposure elsewhere.
One man who knows all about being shunted out on loan is Philippe Senderos, who now finds himself linked with a £5.2m move to Bordeaux. The past few weeks have seen Senderos linked with a whole host of clubs, and at the moment it’s anyone’s guess where he’ll end up.
Tales now of two Brazilian midfielders: transfer target Felipe Melo is reportedly edging closer to a move to Juventus, whilst former stalwart Edu has returned to his native Brazil to join Corinthians, where he’ll be a team-mate of Ronaldo (full name: The Fat Ronaldo).
In an hour or so arseblog will publish an exclusive interview with the club’s new CEO, Ivan Gazidis. Credit to Gazidis: he’s one of the first people on the club’s payroll to acknowledge that an audience exists outside of the official site. Hopefully this is the start of more congenial relations between the club and the huge online community that surrounds it.
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Typical. You finish the blog and a couple of pieces of news appear instantaneously:
ps. Philippe Senderos’ future is becoming clearer – it certainly won’t be at AC Milan, who’ve just signed American centre-back Oguchi Onyewu instead.
pps. Agent Dennis Lachter has reportedly invited Barcelona to make an official bid for Andrey Arshavin. Dennis: a reminder for you.
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