July 28th, 2011
After the reports in the Spanish press yesterday, the English media have inevitably picked up on the stories about Valencia’s attacking midfielder, Juan Mata. The Mirror even claim that Mata’s representatives flew in to London to discuss the move yesterday. I suspect there’s a bit of guess-work involved: The Mirror seem to be constantly reporting that people are “flying in” from Barcelona or Valencia without any actual evidence. Nevertheless, it seems that there is some truth in reports of our interest.
It’s easy to see why. The 23-year old Mata has been described as a “superstar in waiting”, and is clearly a very talented player available at an unusually reasonable price. But above and beyond all that, he would be a signing of sufficient calibre to pacify the fans after the departure of an even bigger star.
I can’t foresee a scenario in which Arsenal line up with Mata, Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas next season. My excitement about potentially signing the Spaniard is tempered by the knowledge that it’s most likely to be as a replacement for his compatriot and our captain.
Last week any Arsenal commentator worth his salt was saying that this was the week in which the Cesc Fabregas situation had to be sorted. Well, here we are, rapidly approaching the end of said week, and both Arsenal and Barcelona have been eerily quiet about the whole thing. The player probably feels increasingly awkward about the current state of play – training apart from his team-mates, he’s in a no-man’s land until the situation is resolved. Whilst he won’t play at this weekend’s Emirates Cup, he will for the first time be asked to be present and part of our preparations. It’s a situation he would have rather avoided.
Unfortunately, however, he’s dependent on movement from Barcelona, who are acting remarkably sluggishly over the whole thing. Perhaps it’s because they have young Thiago Alcantara as an alternative option. The Spanish U-21 International wore the Barca number 4 shirt earmarked for Fabregas last night, and demonstrated his talent with a couple of great goals.
Arsenal were reported to have given Barca a notional deadline of the end of July to sign Fabregas. I sincerely doubt we’re in a position to do that – they have us over a barrel somewhat, due to the player’s desire to leave – but that date is now just four days away. We’re approaching crunch time. Perhaps our interest in Mata is the surest sign yet that this saga is approaching its conclusion.
In other transfer news, from behind the paywall The Times report we’re set to increase our bid for Phil Jagielka to £13m.
That sort of bid would begin to approach a more realistic valuation, and one at which Everton might feel under pressure to cash in.
Just a couple of days until the Emirates Cup, and then just a couple of weeks until the season begins. So many balls up in the air, and as fans we can do nothing but wait for them to fall.
July 27th, 2011
You know the season is well on the way when Arsenal start picking up injuries. A squad which is already braced for several departures in the next month has been hit by a couple of injury blows.
The first bad news is that of a cruciate ligament problem for 19-year old Conor Henderson. The Irish midfielder was filling in at left-back against Cologne when he twisted his knee in the final seconds. Arsenal.com say he’ll miss “a minimum of six months” – the player himself has already written the season off on his official Twitter account. It’s a shame as the very fact he was in Germany was indicative of how highly Arsene rates him. Hopefully he can follow the lead of Emmanuel Frimpong, who suffered a similar injury only to fight back in to first-team contention a year later.
Theo Walcott also returned home early from the German training camp with an ankle problem. Arsene said:
“It is an ankle injury that comes and goes. We need some more investigation because sometimes he’s completely free of it and sometimes it affects him. But we had to send him back because he couldn’t practise any more.”
Whilst it doesn’t sound like a serious problem, any recurring injury is a bit of a worry, and without wanting to panic anyone it sounds like the sort of thing that might require surgery to resolve. However, I’m sure Arsene will want Theo fit at the start of the season, so any major treatment will doubtless be put off now.
If Theo does miss the opening games, Arsene could be reliant on Russian forward Andrey Arshavin, who has targeted 15 goals for next season. Although the player has been heavily linked with Galatasaray, I can’t see him being allowed to depart at a time when the futures of fellow playmakers Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri are in so much doubt. Arshavin has looked sharped in pre-season and could be an important senior member of the squad in 2011/12.
Another player heavily linked with Galatasaray was Ivorian full-back Emmanuel Eboue. However, the latest news from the Turkish media suggest his move may be off after Arsenal raised their valuation of the player to £7m. That seems an improbably high price, so at this stage it could just be media tittle-tattle.
One man who is definitely loping towards the door is Nicklas Bendtner, whose Dad suggests he is inundated with offers. Personally, I don’t care he goes so long as we get a decent fee – one that is reinvested in the squad.
Reinvested, perhaps, in one Juan Mata. Valencia and Spain’s attacking midfielder has been consistently linked with Arsenal throughout the summer, and with the Cesc Fabregas saga coming to a head, Madrid-based daily Marca have suggested we’ve gone as far as to meet the buyout clause in his contract.
Mata would certainly meet a lot of the criteria for replacing either Cesc or Nasri, but for now let’s take these stories with a pinch of salt. So many times in the past we’ve questioned the authenticity or motives of Marca when printing stories about our players – this very morning they also ran a story suggesting Cesc is on “strike”, which simply isn’t true.
Finally, raise your mug of tea because Gunnerblog is seven years old today. Thanks to all who have read, through its many incarnations. Lets hope we can make this year the best of all. Any maybe have a trophy too.
