Transfer round-up: Gervinho, Samba, Chamberlain and more
586 comments June 14th, 2011
Arsenal Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis last night met with the Arsenal Supporters Trust to discuss the state of play at the club. Fair play to Arsenal – they’ve made the entirety of the film available for free on the official website (Part One, Part Two)*.
Unsurprisingly, Ivan had to address the lac of success on the pitch and the possibility of transfer activity this summer. He said:
“During this close season we’re going to see some turnover of players – some new signings coming in, and some of our existing squad going out – I suspect as Arsene said it’ll be a busy close season.”
It seems, at this stage, as if he’s telling the truth.
In the past seven days we’ve seen an almost unprecedented amount of transfer stories around the club, suggesting there are players climbing both in and out of our draughty transfer window.
On the ‘In’ side, the most noise is coming from the speculation surrounding Lille’s Ivorian winger, Gervinho. The latest is that his club have admitted that they’re in discussions with Arsenal about a potential transfer.
Gervinho looks to me like a player of real ability. Beware the Youtube clip, of course, but he’s clearly got plenty of pace and skill. He’s also very versatile and able to play effectively from both flanks. Sort of like a consistent Salomon Kalou.
Those who’ve had a close eye on Ligue 1 this season will tell you he’s outperformed the much-hyped Eden Hazard. It’s clear he’s a genuine target for Arsene – perhaps as a replacement for Samir Nasri, whose contract talks continue to stall.
“But we don’t need an attacker!”, I hear you cry from the sidelines. Well, let’s agree to disagree. To my mind, Gervinho could well be a better option that an erratic Theo Walcott and enigmatic Arshavin. To top that, two players who regularly play in the wide attacking roles, Samir Nasri and Nicklas Bendtner, could both be leaving imminently.
That said, there are plenty of rumours about potential centre-back signings. After we narrowly missed out on Phil Jones, the latest names in the frame are the familiar pair of Gary Cahill and Christopher Samba. There are also a few whispers about Birmingham’s Scott Dann, but I’m a little skeptical about those – the player would rather move to Liverpool, too.
Cahill’s contract expires in a year but Bolton are reportedly quoting £17m. Let me tell you, at that price it simply won’t happen. Paying that sort of fee for a 19-year old Jones is a very different situation.
I’d like to go on record and say that I think Samba would be a very sensible signing. We might struggle to prize the club captain away from a Blackburn side who’ve already lost Jones, but the giant Congolese is someone I’d be very happy to see arrive.
Let’s not forget we already have some very able central defenders: Vermaelen, Djourou, Koscielny etc. What we need is someone who can come in and play a tactical role when it’s required against sides like Stoke. Being able to field the monstrous Samba would give a big psychological lift to the defenders around him. A lot has been said about he isn’t a great footballer, but then neither was Sol Campbell.
Reports are also suggesting we may have tied up a £12m deal for Southampton’s teenage winger Alex Oxlade Chamberlain. This wouldn’t be a huge surprise – we tried to do the deal in January, only to be scuppered by the club’s desire to hold on to one of their star performers. Whilst other clubs are doubtless circling, the player and his family seem to have their hearts set on a move to Arsenal. It seems that it’ll just be a matter of time.
Plenty to get your teeth in to there. And we haven’t even mentioned Cesc…
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* : For highlights of the Gazidis Q&A, go here.
