Archive for July, 2009
July 6th, 2009
So this weekend we learned that Arsenal are at least trying to buy a central midfielder, which is some comfort. Fiorentina confirmed that we’re the club who’ve come closest to matching the €25m (£21.5m) buyout clause in Felipe Melo’s contract. The latest news in the negotiations is that the Italian club have agreed to lower the price if Arsenal include Emmanuel Eboue in any deal.
An optimistic valuation of Eboue would see us still needing to find around £15m to make any sort of deal possible, and I can’t see Arsene forking out that kind of money plus a player that (rightly or wrongly) he considers a valuable squad member.
There’s no doubt Melo would be a good addition. These clips of his performance against Juventus (our supposed rivals for his signature) show his strength and range of passing. But is he a player worth breaking our club records to secure? I have my doubts, especially if there are cheaper alternatives available. With the player looking unlikely to force a move through, it seems Arsene will soon be perusing his list of potential targets for an alternative.Â
Martin Keown has given an interesting interview to Sport.co.uk, in which he talks about the potential of Swiss pair Johan Djourou and Philippe Senderos. Of Djourou he says:
“Johan is at the crossroads now. He has to start becoming a first team player. He’ll want that, he’s a big strong lad and more than capable with the attributes to make it. He just has to put a game together. Arsene has lots of confidence in him, but injuries have taken their toll recently. If he can iron out the niggly injuries, he’ll turn from a teenager into a man. His career is in his hands and he’ll be desperate to get in that side for pre-season.”
In one spell around Christmas, Djourou looked our most accomplished centre-back. This was in part due to the poor form of both Toure and Gallas, but it’s clear that the youngster has both the physique and the technical ability to be a top player.
There was a time when Philippe Senderos was spoken of in equally glowing terms, but now the inheritor of Tony Adams’s squad number finds himself unwanted by both Arsenal and the club where he spent last season on loan: AC Milan. Keown worked closely with Senderos during our Champions League run of 2005, and had this to say:
“If he has been able to learn from his loan move and if he is given another chance, he’s only going to be better. The thing with Philippe is he needs to learn the game. He’s a highly intelligent individual but at times he’s made elementary mistakes on the pitch. Football intelligence is a different experience to that off-field. What will be fascinating to see is whether he has improved those elements that he needed to.
The frustrating thing with him is that he has the raw materials to be an outstanding player. Too often though he was involved in bad mistakes. As a defender you don’t want to be around goals being conceded – he was. He may have got that out of his game, but if he’s not given the chance at Arsenal I still think he has a big career ahead of him.”
I think it may take Senderos a few more years to fully nail his role as a dominant centre-back, and I’m not convinced it’ll be at Arsenal, but I do think he has a good chance of making it big eventually. It might be worth inserting a buy-back clause into any deal that takes him out of North London this summer.
Right, I think that’s your lot for now. The majority of the players returned to pre-season training this morning, so I’d be surprised if there wasn’t some photos etc of that later today or tomorrow morning. When they’re available they’ll be posted here, alongside in-depth analysis of the squad’s training tops, body language and hair-styles. Till then.
July 4th, 2009
Translated via babelfish:
Chief technician of the Gunnerblog Gilbertosilver, in denying of the transfer rumours of the past several hours, which sees Emmanuel Eboue definitely at other clubs and reporting to potential meetings to finalise the transfer of the player, underlines the following:
“Fiorentina, having set the article of purchase for Felipe Melo at €25m, have propositioned a reduction in the amount set in trade for Emmanuel Eboue to be included in any deal.
The Violet Ones should therefore discern that we have of Eboue the value €50m.â€
OMGWTF?!?
July 4th, 2009
Every day you peel back the card to reveal that another player has agreed terms on a new deal. After Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere, yesterday it was Kieran Gibbs – and now speculation is rife that Robin van Persie is just an announcement away from being confirmed as an Arsenal player until 2014.
Arsenal will play Valencia in a pre-season friendly. Hopefully it’s one of those friendlies that you can include as part of a transfer fee on Football Manager, and we’ll be returning from it with David Villa, Silva, and Mata.
In this video Martin Keown talks about our summer transfer activity. It’s not very interesting, though. To be frank with you, I sort of blew my blogging load in that first paragraph with all that new deal talk. It’s good news about Robin: I had a sneaky suspicion he might have run his contract down. Speaking of moving on a Bosman, is Michael Owen the luckiest man in football right now? I bet he can’t believe it. I’m sort of still hoping that this is just an elaborate wind-up and soon Rio Ferdinand will appear with a camcorder yelling something about how Owen got “merked”.
Oh, there is some news about Marouane Chamakh, who is now being linked with a £12m switch to Sunderland. Steve Bruce is obviously sticking with his tried and tested policy of signing anyone Arsene a) sells or b) wants but doesn’t buy. SkySports have since run this:
10.11 Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc explained in Friday’s press conference that Marouane Chamakh could stay with the French champions if he has not left by 22nd July. The Moroccan has been linked with Arsenal and Sunderland.
But I’m not convinced that that “explains” anything at all, really.
Right-ho. Till tomorrow. I have to wear a suit later, in this heat. Pity me.
July 3rd, 2009
Yesterday I pondered who Manchester United might sign, what with Real Madrid hoovering up the world’s attacking talent. Then last night news broke that Michael Owen is just a medical away from joining United. Frankly, I’m speechless, but I suppose it must be nice for Owen that in after all these years he’s now likely to be a key factor in Liverpool regaining the league title.
United’s decision is in part prompted by Real Madrid’s swoop for Karim Benzema – a move which has also left our own Arsene Wenger out in the cold. Speaking to RMC about which French players he might wish to sign, Arsene said:
“There is one who interested me but he left for Madrid. I did not make of approach because I would never have thought that Lyon would sell this year.”
Le Boss also spoke out about some of the less certain futures of some squad members:
“Inter have not inquired about Gallas, just like Bordeaux has never asked for [Mikael] Silvestre. Adebayor? If he does not want to stay, he will leave but I think that he will be still at Arsenal this season.”
What he says about Adebayor is a tacit admission that he is not determined to keep him. He could easily say, “Adebayor is not for sale”. Instead, if he has somewhere to go, he is free to. Marouane Chamakh has been talked of as a potential replacement, and Arsene said nothing to dispell that when asked if the striker was a target:
“Yes, but only in the event of a departure.”
One to watch.
The Sun claim Barcelona are tapping up Cesc Fabregas in public, which may well be a contradiction in terms. President Joan Laporta says:
“As I’ve said many times, Cesc has Barcelona in his DNA and I think that one day he should play for Barca. We all like him very much — he’s always been in our thoughts.”
Cesc has made his position clear several times already this summer. I’m sure he’ll return to Barca eventually, but not just now.
Felipe Melo’s agent has confirmed what we already new: he is staying at Fiorentina until after the World Cup. I’m starting to have those age old worries that we won’t actually buy a central midfielder. There’s no substance to that, so don’t panic just yet…
One midfielder who will hope to play more games next season is Jack Wilshere, who follows Aaron Ramsey in signing a long-term contract with the club. Jack is a special talent, and a future star of this side. I can’t wait to watch his grow into a first-team player.
Arsenal are reportedly considering Alisher Usmanov’s proposal to underwrite a £100m rights issue. This, I can absolutely guarantee you, will not happen. The board will not agree to such a proposal, largely because of the credibility it would grant Usmanov. And when you read further down this article about UEFA’s determination to level football’s playing field, we may soon have even less need for the Uzbek.
I hope it’s a bit less hot in London today. Yesterday it felt like someone had replaced all my bones with heating elements.
July 2nd, 2009
I hate you, BT Broadband.
I hate you, and I hate your useless call centres.
There. All better now. And what’s more, I’m back online.
I needn’t have bothered, of course, as new scontinues to drip in irregularly like some kind of transfer-based water torture. The big story yesterday was that Real Madrid ensnared Karim Benzema in their Galactic Circus. It seems to me that the rest of Europe is waiting for Real and Man City to finish their ludicrous spending before picking up the pieces.
It leaves Manchester United in awkward position, though. They’ve lost Ronaldo and Tevez, and have already missed out on both Kaka and Benzema as potential replacements. Given that the same pattern is likely to repeat with Franck Ribery, one wonders just what scraps will be left for United come the end of August.
William Gallas has underlined his desire to see out the remaining year of his contract at Arsenal. Peversely when considering his previous transgressions, Gallas is probably more likely to stay at the club this summer than either Kolo Toure or Mikael Silvestre, linked with City and Bordeaux respectively.
There’s a story about giant Brazilian Naldo potentially arriving as a replacement should Toure depart – to be honest, I’d rather we kept our current crop of defenders and focused on that midfielder we desperately need.
Speaking of midfielders, Aaron Ramsey has signed a new contract with the club. I know it seems a little soon, but I think when he signed aged just 17 there was a limit on the length on contract he could put his name to, and the club have simply moved to extend that.
The start of pre-season training is tantalisingly close now…
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