Arsenal Transfer Rumours And General Chat

tred

Mossy Monk wrote:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/sunderland/6235101.stm

i am annoyed at this. the guy can score goals

Maybe but playing for Falkirk and Sunderland is not the same as playing for Arsenal, wenger requires a different type of player for the fluid contintental style they play. I admire wenger for not holding back Stokes, he could easily have held him back incase anyone else would get use out of him, but he wouldnt, he wants him to do very well. He said the same about Steve Sidwell he said that he might some day bring him back, but at the time, he hadnt room for him. If Stokes does do well, he could always come back for Arsenal again.

Pepe LeFrits

Lauren is in talks with West Ham according to SSN.

Mossy Monk

has Wenger lined up a replacement i wonder

jank

Hoyte and Eboue:(

AnCapaillMor

Ralphs gone to Pompey, i'll miss the crazy b*st*rd.

Mossy Monk

good move for him. hope he does well there

jank

I dont know about that. Eboue and Hoyte are far from the finished article IMO.

AnCapaillMor

Woohoo, long time since we've done the double on united, they've handed us our asses the past few years. Eboue 2 great crosses however, if he was on an other team he'd be a much hated player. his theatrics are disgraceful.

gandalf

Bugger Van Persie has broken one of his metatarsals !!

Last Updated: Sunday, 21 January 2007, 19:41 GMT

Van Persie breaks metatarsal bone

Arsenal striker Robin van Persie has broken the fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot, the club have announced.

He sustained the "partial fracture" scoring the equaliser in the Gunners' 2-1 win over Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium.

Van Persie had an X-ray immediately after the game which confirmed the full extent of his injury.

It is likely the Dutchman, who had come on as a second-half substitute, will be out of action for at least six weeks.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/6285363.stm

AnCapaillMor

Heard it was the 5th, the little one, which apparently is the best to break.

walrusgumble

its sad to see lauren go, (eboue will be great in time, just needs to focus more on defending as he is as good as attacking)lauren is definitely imo the best right back since lee dixon (all though he pretty much replaced him,but as dependable as lee and a good peno tacker)who has he gone to?

is freddie definitley gone? who to if confirmed?

i know its earlier with regard to thomas roisky and helb (although here i season) does anyone think they are up to it? both have often being subbed during games. i mean as good as theo is, wenger is hardly gonna put much pressure on him.

to be fair with anto soke he has been in theyouth team and reserves for while, i wouldnt doubt wenger's judgement. from an irish perspective i hope he shines at sunderland.

Royale with Cheese

Yeah another winger would be useful in the squad. Hleb is ok, has his good moments but has never been outstanding and his passing can be wayward at times. Rosicky hasn't quite lived up to his reputation yet. I definitely think he's the better of the two though.

Signing another winger, say Ribery, would be good for the team as Hleb and Rosicky are actually centre mids, ala Fabregas. So then the three wingers (sorry Freddie, you're finished) can be rotated and Hleb or Rosicky can slot in for Cesc when he needs to be rested or is injured/banned. An out and out winger would bring something different to the team, also somebody who can score goals would be nice. The goals from midfield have almost completely dried up since Bobby left and Ljungberg got rubbish. How many goals per season were those two worth back in their prime? Rosicky yet to score in the league, although has been very unlucky not to have more goals. Hleb has about 2 or 3 I think, not exactly the 15-20 goals per season midfielders that Pires was.

AnCapaillMor

Hlebs fantastic on the ball, no fancy stuff like ronaldo the problem is when the ball leaves his feet, although thats vastly improved over the past few years.

Pepe LeFrits

I 'heart' Hleb. More important player to us than Rosicky for me, though Rosicky is still settling in.

Bad news about Robin, he seems to pick up an injury every time he gets a run of form going. Good opportunity for Baptista and maybe Aliadiere to stake a claim for a first team place. There are too many strikers at the club so those two especially will have to do something in the next few months if they are to avoid a summer cull methinks. It'll be interesting to see what happens anyway; Bendtner seems to be Wenger's plans and the stories emanating from Spain suggest that Carlos Vela is sh1t-hot (a cross between Ronaldo and Messi if reports are to be believed).

Pepe LeFrits

Another batch of kids being linked recently.

Apparently 15 year old French striker Gilles Sunu has been signed and will join the club when he turns 16 later in the year. It also appears that the France U18 captain, midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin is close to a move.

Lastly Arsenal are also being heavily linked to a £1.5m move for 17 year old Czech CB Ondrej Mazuch. He's supposed to be similar to Djourou; ie tall, quick and good on the ball.

Also I'm hearing things about Reyes having trouble with Capello in Spain, so he could be on his way back to Arsenal in the summer. Temporarily until he is flogged to another Spanish team, presumeably.

AnCapaillMor

reyes bust ankle ligaments in training. song to charlton on loan.

Pepe LeFrits

http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=445055&CPID=14&clid=3&lid=&title=Gordon+not+aware+of+interest&channel=&

Anyone seen much of Gordon? eirebhoy? He seems destined for the exit at Hearts and Arsenal certainly need another keeper to come in soon.

eirebhoy

He pulls off some amazing saves but he's also prone to the odd blunder against Celtic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2K61gs_Gv0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vZhMDerJ8A

In fairness though I can't think of any other big mistakes he has made. The media voted him player of the season last year which says a lot. He's a top class shot stopper. He's good in every department tbh.

AnCapaillMor

Aye for a keeper to get a best player award, he has to be something special. Arsenal have been tracking him for a while.

Pepe LeFrits

Thierry Henry will be allowed to leave Arsenal in the summer, with Real Madrid or Barcelona likely to pay £25m for his signature. (Sunday Express, Daily Star)

Heard about this last night. I wouldn't be against it at that price to be honest, as Henry's value and contribution to the team are likely to drop quite considerably over the next year or two. I think he has gotten a bit too big for the club and is having a slightly suffocating effect on some of the younger players. His dance with Adebayor is particularly painful to watch. It'd be interesting to see if he did go, if Wenger signed a replacement or went with those already there. Bendtner and Vela will be back in the summer so there'll be plenty of strikers about, if not experienced ones. I wouldn't be surprised if Henry goes anyway, I don't think Wenger is as close to him as he used to be and Wenger has shown in the past that he has no problems ruthlessly shipping off his experienced stars.

Sheikh Mohammed will make a £450m takeover move for Arsenal after his Dubai International Capital group pulled out of negotiations for Liverpool this week. (The People)

Oh god, please don't let takeover talk start for Arsenal now, the club is doing perfectly fine as it is thank you very much...

Royale with Cheese

There's a ready made replacement for Henry in Robin Van Persie. Henry is criticised for not being predatory enough, but Van Persie is even less so. However he is incredibly skillful and has shown this season he's perfectly capable of getting goals.

Having said that I don't want Henry to leave. I don't care if his career is about to start winding down. He's not even 30 yet, and look how useful Bergkamp was even as a bit part player past his mid 30's.

Pepe LeFrits

I'm not sold on Van Persie yet to be honest. He is a very good player no question, but I'm not sure he'll ever get close to an Henry or Ian Wright which is what we need to compete for the title.

Some papers saying Torres wants to join us and not United in the summer, but I'm not convinced by him either.

One striker definately joining is Gilles Sunu.

We have agreed on everything," Chareauroux chairman Patrick Totignon told eurosport.com. "It is nearly signed.

"Gilles Sunu will sign with Arsenal in February or March.

"And he will leave next July - not before.

"Everything is alright. We have agreed with Arsenal to officially announce his signing in March."

Obviously any labelling of the player as ‘the new Henry’ is premature, but Totignon added: "He plays as an out-and-out striker like Thierry Henry, but he also can play in midfield.

"Gilles is lightning quick and he has great technical skills. But the key is that he is very intelligent, older than his years."

Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger has made a habit of signing teenagers from around Europe and turning them into Premiership stars.

The reserves definately need some new players, they're getting absolutely hammered now that the class of 06 has been loaned out/sold. They are mostly aged just 16, mind you.

Oh, and the Mirror (groan) says we are keeping an eye on the Woodgate situation. Highly unlikely, but one can dream! Him and Gallas/Toure would be the best CB pairing in the premiership.

Vokes

Was at the Emirates for the first time last night. I was well impressed. Fantastic stadium

Shame about the Brazil performance

Pepe LeFrits

Arsenal have handed a professional contract to promising midfielder Mark Randall.

The 17-year-old has been rewarded by the North London club after breaking into the first team reckoning in the past six months.

Randall made seven reserve appearances as a schoolboy last season, but has seen his stock rise this term and has been a regular in Arsene Wenger's Carling Cup squads.

The Milton Keynes-born midfielder appeared as a substitute in the third round win over West Brom, and also featured for 20 minutes in the subsequent defeat of Everton.

The young Englishman will now be hoping to increase his first team input in the coming years after winning a full-time contract with The Gunners.

Pleased with this, I rate him highly. I'd be surprised if he doesn't end up playing regularly for at least a top 10 premiership side. Strikes me as being a bit like Carrick or Pirlo, only perhaps a little more attack minded. It seems he's ahead of Fran Merida in the pecking order, which suggests the management rate him highly too.

AnCapaillMor

We were bloody poxed yesterday. They were so lucky the entire team should've bought a euromillions ticket each. As for the foreign buyers feck off, because then we would'nt be able to bitch about them, united and the pool with their foriegn money.

gosplan

Stop the presses!!!

Eto unhappy with life at Barca and making noises about Arsenal!!!

On F365 if you haven't seen it already.

I'd even take that as a straight swap for Henry. Eto was the player of the year for me last year. Scored loads of stunning goals.....and loads of basic ones. Ronaldhino just got the award cause he's Brazillian and appears on nike ads.

He's a remarkable forward. I don't think anyone else quite has the same combination of skill, pace, passing, finishing and heading that he has.

On an aside, didn't Arsenal sell Bendtner

Pepe LeFrits

gosplan wrote:

Stop the presses!!!

Eto unhappy with life at Barca and making noises about Arsenal!!!

On F365 if you haven't seen it already.

Non-story, complete garbage from 365. A few days ago Eto'o talked about how he would have liked to have played under Wenger, then when the story about problems in Barca broke, F365 spun it to make it out that Eto'o was talking about joining Arsenal after the controversy.

I'd even take that as a straight swap for Henry. Eto was the player of the year for me last year. Scored loads of stunning goals.....and loads of basic ones. Ronaldhino just got the award cause he's Brazillian and appears on nike ads.

He's a remarkable forward. I don't think anyone else quite has the same combination of skill, pace, passing, finishing and heading that he has.

I'd take him too, as he's younger than Henry and wouldn't have the stature that Henry has at the club.

On an aside, didn't Arsenal sell Bendtner

Nope. Seems he did an interview with the Danish version of FHM where he basically went on about how he loves partying, getting drunk etc and how he wants to play for Real Madrid or AC Milan. Didn't even mention Arsenal once apparently. He seems to have gone a bit stale already at Birmingham so I wouldn't be surprised to see his career go down the toilet. Looks like another Anelka in the making.

Pepe LeFrits

LMAO, anyone listen to this week's podcast yet? arseblogger rings up Wigan FC.

*do do*
*do do*
*do do*
"Good morning, Kerry speaking. Helloooo?"
"Is that Wigan Football?"
"Yeah."
"Eh... Can I............ speak............to........ Chris........... Kirk.......land?.......... please?"
"One second." *click*

tiheheheheh

Irish Gunner

Well after watching the Blackburn game Kates Cottage it was pretty awful Ok Friedel made 2 good saves at the end but reminded me of the Porto game

No urgency until the last 10 minutes

The next game for me is the Fulham at home

So who is going to be in Kates Cottage to watch us v the Chavs ?

Mossy Monk

Theo Walcott needs to spend some time in the reserves. he was been woeful now for the last few games. gives the ball away too easily

Raskolnikov

Wenger ought to just field a reserves team for the FA Cup and concentrate on League and Champions Leauge.

jank

The league is gone so he should concentrate on the cups from now on.

wardie

jank wrote:

The league is gone so he should concentrate on the cups from now on.

Getting 3rd or 4th in the league is a lot more important than either the carling or FA cup.

jank

True but they are looking good at either at those spots now so more effort should be made in the cups.

Pepe LeFrits

Interestng statistics compiled by Goodplaya, considering Wenger's latest beef with the FA.

The first number is the number of fouls commited, the second is the number of yellows, and the third is the number of fouls per yellow.

Arsenal 240 44 5.45
Newcastle 346 56 6.17
Blackburn 382 61 6.26
Bolton 382 59 6.47
West Ham 382 59 6.47
Wigan 352 52 6.76
Sheffield United 329 47 7
Charlton 318 44 7.22
Chelsea 312 43 7.25
Middelesbrough 365 49 7.44
Man United 307 40 7.67
Fulham 367 47 7.80
Spurs 320 39 8.20
Everton 402 48 8.37
Manchester City 381 40 9.52
Portsmouth 366 37 9.89
Reading 296 29 10.2
Villa 362 33 10.96
Watford 397 36 11.02
Liverpool 327 29 11.27

event

ah, but that doesnt tell the whole story

perhaps arsenals challenges are harder, perhaps they warrant more red cards, ye know?

i just wouldnt go on them details

BobbyD10

I would have thought those statistics are fairly conclusive and back up everything Wenger has mentioned in his press conferences.

Statistics dont lie do they...

Galvasean

Anyone care to cast a prediction for the return leg against PSV? Although there is no doubt Arsenal have enough quality in their team to make a comeback I really don't see them keeping a clean sheet in this one. That means they'll almost certainly need to score 3 to progress.

Also read a rumour on BBC teletext that Arsenal are trying to sign Samuel Eto'o's younger brother (18) who is also a striker. Sounds like pure speculation to me.

cson

Disastrous couple of weeks there. Tonight justs tops it all.

A little bit of soul searching needed IMO. Wenger has the raw materials of a very good side but there is no bite a la Paddy Vieira (when we had him), and personally I think Henry is having too much of an influence on the team. If Barca offered Eto'o for him.....I'd grab their hands off and get the hell out of dodge! The team is just lacking the cutting edge and drive that would see an accomplished team finish off PSV on a night like tonight. Huge potential for trophies..... will it be filled remains to be seen.

Pepe LeFrits

Disturbing rumours going round that Wenger is going to pay £8m+ for Baptista in the summer, and that Arsenal are going to emulate Spurs, Real, Bolton and Leeds in wearing a white (away) kit next season. Eurgh.

More encouraging is that Wenger has suggested he'll buy one or two 'super, super players' in the summer if they are available. Whatever that means. Hopefully they are less Baptista and more of the Van Der Vaart, Diego, Daniel Carvalho, Elano variety.

Pepe LeFrits

"He will come back and challenge for a first team place next season,” said Wenger. “I've spoken to him about that. He is 18, strong and has a big future. He knows we want him back and he's happy about that.

"There is a lot of competition, a lot of good young players but if they are good enough then they will come through.

“We have Bendtner. Fabrice Muamba might stay one more year at Birmingham. Seb Larsson and Anthony Stokes have signed permanently while Lupoli has gone to Fiorentina because he was free. But Kerrea Gilbert might come back and Alex Song will.

“It is not a problem of too many young players but it is a problem to get them in, find the right mixture and still be efficient in the team.”

Funny, when they signed a few years ago, who would have thought Bendtner would beat off Anthony Stokes and Arturo Lupoli to gain a place in the first team squad. The stories about his attitude aren't encouraging, but his talent is apparent.

Gilbert won't be back unless Eboue assaults a referee or something before the end of the season. No surprise about Song, he has developed into A player.

I wonder what the story with Carlos Vela is, with Baptista seemingly staying, there's going to be a striker overload at the club next season. He can play left-wing mind you.

Pepe LeFrits

Pepe LeFrits wrote:

Disturbing rumours going round that Wenger is going to pay £8m+ for Baptista in the summer, and that Arsenal are going to emulate Spurs, Real, Bolton and Leeds in wearing a white (away) kit next season. Eurgh.

More encouraging is that Wenger has suggested he'll buy one or two 'super, super players' in the summer if they are available. Whatever that means. Hopefully they are less Baptista and more of the Van Der Vaart, Diego, Daniel Carvalho, Elano variety.

I have to say id prefer Baptista staying then that Reyes coming back. hes a complete waster. Arsenals away shirt by religion should always be Yellow shirt with royal blue (or at least navy) shorts and yellow socks. White is just not us and is only something we'd wear as a training top. Its an ugly spurs colour.

Pepe LeFrits

Not the best, but not the worst either. Inverted home strip. If that turns out to be real, I won't be too unhappy. Would rather a yellow and blue away though.

~Rebel~

huh, that would be kinda weird. Isnt the point of an away strip to have different colours to your home one so they dont get confused with the oppositions home colours? I know its not much red, but would it be allowed against Liverpool, Man U, Boro, Charlton etc? Even if the players could tell the difference (which they mightn't be able to at a glance), the further away tv camera's mightmake it hard enough to follow

cson

I liked the blue one of a few years back (I think it was the last blue away kit we had). I don't like the current one, its very garish.

Didn't some fans have a thing about the blue one because we never won anything the seasons we had it? Well thats gone out the fecking window anyway.

jank

Why of why would Wenger want to keep Baptista?
An that jersey is horrible

Royale with Cheese

jank wrote:

Why of why would Wenger want to keep Baptista?
An that jersey is horrible

I second those motions. I don't even know if Baptista would be worth signing on a free.

leninbenjamin

Royale with Cheese wrote:

I second those motions. I don't even know if Baptista would be worth signing on a free.

doubt it. I think Reyes actually did more for the team, Baptista works a lot harder but has nothing else really to his game that i can see, at least Reyes could pull off something decent now and again and set up a few goals. He'd be a waste of money.

KdjaCL

Get Baptista back to the form he was in with Sevilla and 8 million is peanuts. If Wenger can do that theres a 20 goals a season player.


kdjac

cson

Didn't Wenger want to sign him as a Paddy Vieira replacement or something of the sort when he first tried to buy him?

Anyway bar 4 goals against the pool (2 of which were gifted to him) he has done nothing of note (maybe a poxy goal against reading).

I've harped on a bit for the need to sign a destroyer of a midfield player but tbh I can't actually think of one (Aside from bringing Vieira back?)

Theres just a dearth of that type of midfielder around.