Arsenal Transfer Rumours And General Chat

Mr Alan

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Perhaps a swap deal for Harry Kewell could be arranged?

Done and Done.

gosplan

What do we think of Joaquain?

I'd be worried about the fact that he's gone so flat at Valencia but they'd had big problems this year with Koeman.

He can play wing and side back too if I'm not mistaken. Is he only a right winger though?

Although Valencia paid €25million for him a couple of years ago and he is 26 so that would count against him.

Pepe LeFrits

Nigs. I’d rather we signed Valencia (the player, not the club!).

Evil_Clown

Well if we can get £2 million for Pascal Cygan from Villareal
Then maybe by using the same logic we can do a swap deal with valencia
How about Senderos and Eboue for Villa and Joe Quinn
Deal :pac:

tred

leninbenjamin wrote: »

so Flamini gone, looks like Hleb is out the door too... jaysus this team is in danger of breaking up before they get off the ground. that means at least 2 good signings are needed for the midfield, along with at least another CB and that's before they can even address the wings... Wenger's gonna have his work cut out to keep them competitive on his supposed shoestring budget...

could ye see him selling one of Van Persie or Rosicky to generate cash?

Cant see that happen. VAN p, wont be sold.
Diaby has a chance now to step up to the mark and replace Flamini. That was what he was bought for. This time last year, if u heard Arsenal were offering Flamini 50K a week for 5 years, u would have though that wenger was crazy. People need to remember over the period he was with arsenal, he had one average season at right back..and a great season this year, as his future was on the line. We nearly sold him to brum for 2 million in August. Can he perform as well for Ac milan. Time will tell. based on most players that leave us. I doubt it! In fairness wenger offered him a good contract at the end for his endevours.
I think Hleb is replaceable. Great skill, opens up space but cant score for crap. I wouldnt be too concerned as an Arsenal fan. If we had better luck on the injury front, we werent that far off at all.
Goalkeeping front, did Almunia do that bad?. so do we need to invest there.
Backup at centre back is crucial and at right back, man Sagna was such a loss when he got injured. what a signing.

gosplan

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Nigs

????

Pepe LeFrits

gosplan wrote: »

????

No.

yahoo_moe

My girlfriend assured me some time ago that the "nigs" thing comes from "not in goals" but yeah, it basically means "no way".

As for the departures, I'm surprised that people are more cut up about Flamini leaving than the possibility of Hleb leaving. Especially if people consider Diaby a replacement for Flamini (ie he can't be considered a replacement for Hleb, to whom I think he's more similar).

Think back to games when we were without Hleb and Fabregas this season and remember how poor we were. Much like Fabregas (bar an above-average run early on this season), Hleb isn't a goalscorer - but they're both vital to the current team's style where possession, movement and the ability to pick the right pass quickly are all-important.

Flamini is not a top-notch positional DM in the Makelele/Mascherano/Gilberto mould - he's an athlete with an incredible engine who can still put himself round the pitch after 80 minutes of hard work. That makes him far more replaceable (and not necessarily with the exact same type of player) than Hleb for me, especially given that all his replacement will really have to do a lot of the time is win ball and play it 5 yards to Cesc (rather than Hleb's replacement, who'll have to develop and bed in the way it took Hleb two years to do).

OPENROAD

Good to see

http://www.arsenal.com/article.asp?thisNav=News&article=491041&lid=NewsHeadline&Title=Arsenal+tops+the+National+Fans%27+Survey

keano_afc

OPENROAD wrote: »

Good to see

http://www.arsenal.com/article.asp?thisNav=News&article=491041&lid=NewsHeadline&Title=Arsenal+tops+the+National+Fans%27+Survey

Is there a cash prize with that by any chance??:D

Pepe LeFrits

Arsenal 2007/2008 Fan Survey

Thinking about Premier League home matches, which of the following is the most important element about going to a game?

Seeing the game live – 49%
The quality of the football – 44%
The passion of the crowd – 4% HAHA

L'prof

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Arsenal 2007/2008 Fan Survey

Thinking about Premier League home matches, which of the following is the most important element about going to a game?

Seeing the game live – 49%
The quality of the football – 44%
The passion of the crowd – 4% HAHA

Surely the 3 should be more evenly split...not for us though I guess :rolleyes:

Pepe LeFrits

One interesting answer that Arsene Wenger gave in the light of later gossip was that he is seeking a defensive player and a creative player in this summer’s transfer activity. He also semi-joked a couple of times that Ken Friar will be a very busy man before next season gets under way. Of course positionally, the manager’s not going to be more specific about his targets, but over refreshments after the manager had departed came a bit more of the jigsaw.

One of the shareholders present is quite close to one of the first team squad. No names mentioned as I wouldn’t want to compromise the source of the info, but apparently Alex Hleb will indeed be leaving the club this summer.

Wenger talked about wanting to keep this group of players together, but with two years left on Hleb’s deal, the club would presumably have sounded him out about an extension if they wanted to keep him in the long term. His response – or lack of it – may force Arsenal to sell now when they can still get a decent amount of money for a player that did not come cheap. And it would explain why Arsene is on the lookout for a creative midfielder!

From onlinegooner.

Galvasean

OPENROAD wrote: »

Good to see

http://www.arsenal.com/article.asp?thisNav=News&article=491041&lid=NewsHeadline&Title=Arsenal+tops+the+National+Fans%27+Survey

I'll testify to that!

gosplan

"I am at the right team at the right moment playing some good football and scoring goals so of course I am happy," he declared.

"The most important thing is playing for the fans, and having the opportunity to play with so many great players at the club.

"As a footballer you want to make history and leave your name at a club.

"I hope I can do that at this club because I love the club."

Adebayor, though, maintains he would have sacrificed his own personal landmark this season for Arsenal to have secured the title.

"If somebody said to me 'you will only score 10 goals this season but you will win the league', of course I would go for that no matter how many goals I end up with," he said.

Adebayor, however, is confident this young Arsenal side have the determination needed to become champions.

"The secret is to believe in yourself, no matter what happens or what others say, you must believe in yourself and also work hard," he said.

"If you do that, you will be successful in life."

Man, I love Adebayor. From his interviews and anything he's said, he gives the impression of a guy who constantly has his head bowed mumbling something like 'work harder, improve, work harder, improve', and then every so often he lifts his head up and says how much he enjoys being at Arsenal.

Another big season please Ade - the defence will catch up with you!!!

yahoo_moe

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

From onlinegooner.

sh!te (if true) - I'd be really disappoitned to lose Hleb.

AnCapaillMor

Surprised with Inter, we've always had a good relationship with them, but then again i think that was more with Dein. There was also talk of inter not trying to invoke the webster agreement where hleb can buy out his contract. The funny thing about hleb and the flamster was if it was last year noone would really give a toss, flamini had the champs league run at left back and the chelsea\united goals last year but was anonymous otherwise, hleb played some of the worst games i ever witnessed. 2 totally different players this year.

OPENROAD

Peter Hill Wood..... seems money has always been available?

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11670_3532202,00.html

Fuzzy_Dunlop

Clichy with yet another great interview. Man why can't they all just be like him. Such a legend

leninbenjamin

playa3 wrote: »

Clichy with yet another great interview. Man why can't they all just be like him. Such a legend

can you quote? the Sun's website breaks my browser.

Royale with Cheese

GAEL CLICHY has urged his Arsenal team-mates to stick together and achieve the greatness he believes is around the corner.

The French international left-back is convinced Arsene Wenger’s young team has the ability to dominate English football again despite falling just short this season.

But he knows the Gunners cannot afford another year without a trophy if they are going to fend off the vultures hovering over the Emirates Stadium.

Mathieu Flamini has already signed for AC Milan, Inter Milan are sniffing around Alex Hleb and Real Madrid are up to their old tricks in their efforts to prise Cesc Fabregas from Arsenal’s grip.

Yet Clichy warns that the grass is not always as green as it might seem on the other side of the Channel.

He said: “No one can ever say they are leaving to win trophies because you don’t know what you are going to find when you join another team.

“Thierry Henry left us because maybe he wanted to win La Liga or the Champions League with Barcelona.

"But that is not how it worked out.

“With the squad we have at Arsenal I am sure we are going to do something great very soon.

“I don’t want to say we have to be patient because we have been waiting for three years now and we definitely need to win trophies to keep our players happy.

“All I am saying is that if everyone at Arsenal sticks together we can achieve so much.

“For me, England is the best place in the world to be a footballer and, if I could stay here forever, I would.

“I love the people, the stadiums, the pitches, the atmosphere, the fans . . . everything.

“Really, England is fantastic.

“So good luck to anyone who leaves. But, first, make sure you are going for the right reasons.”

Clichy became the youngest player ever to win a Premier League medal as part of Arsenal’s Invincibles in 2004, aged 18.

But he then missed the 2005 FA Cup final victory over Manchester United and is disappointed to be finishing another campaign empty-handed.

He said: “For seven months we led the table by playing fantastic, creative football with a great spirit and real character.

“But I cannot say that Arsenal are the best team because we haven’t won anything and people only remember the teams with the trophies.

“It is a big shame and maybe it would have been different if we had not suffered all those injuries at the same time.

“But we can only blame ourselves because it was in our hands and we let it go.

“For the past two years we finished more than 20 points behind the champions.

“This time the gap is only four points, maybe even less after the final game on Sunday.

“But we are not playing to be closer to the top teams. We just want to be winning trophies — the Premier League, the Champions League, whatever. And we haven’t done that.

“So once again we have failed and that’s the most important thing — because we didn’t get anything.

“But, as we say in France, any experience which does not kill you can only make you stronger.

“And I am sure that next season will be better.”

Clichy, who cost just £250,000 when he signed from Cannes in 2003, remains totally committed to Arsenal’s cause and places his implicit trust in boss Wenger to lead the club back to the top.

He added: “I am sure this squad is good enough to win the league — absolutely certain.

“When I first broke into the team we had so many experienced players.

“Now look at us. Cesc is still only 21, Robin van Persie, Emmanuel Adebayor and Emmanuel Eboue are 24, I am 22, Theo Walcott is just 19. William Gallas is the only player over 30.

“The future is so bright. We have already shown this season that we are a good team.

“I am sure the success we want is not far away. Four years ago I won the title and it was a great feeling.

"I just want this team to experience that same emotion.”

Clichy is still waiting to hear if he will be included in Raymond Domenech’s French squad for this summer’s European Championships.

But he has already been declared the best left-back in the Premier League by Wenger and was recently voted into the PFA’s team of the season by his fellow professionals.

He admitted: “I am proud of what I have achieved because I have progressed a lot this season.

“I have worked really hard to be the best player I can be for Arsenal.

“This was my first season as first-choice left-back and I think I have played more games than anyone at the club this season.

“Because I had been injured for two years there were doubts whether I could play regularly and cope with the pace of the Premier League, the Champions League, the FA Cup and the Carling Cup.

“But I think I have shown the boss that I am strong enough to deal with it all.

“There is no big secret. I live for football. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I eat properly and I don’t go out in the evenings.

“When you work hard and make sacrifices you get your rewards.”

And Clichy is certain he is about to reap the benefits of all that dedication very soon.

He really is a big legend.

Pepe LeFrits

Thank god Cashley ****ed off to Chelsea, eh?

gosplan

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Thank god Cashley ****ed off to Chelsea, eh?

Yeah in fairness, what we got for the little turd was Gallas plus approx the cost of Sagna - and we have Clichy.

Wenger the genius!

cson

I wonder what he's worth in terms of goals saved each year. He must make at least 5/6 goalline clearences each year. Himself or Cesc should be captain. Toure is a bit hot headed me thinks although he hasn't been doing his 50 yard sprints to the ref each time theres a foul.

For a chnage I agree with Arséne. I absolutely detest real Madrid and Im glad somebody has come out and said it. Maybe Blatter might intervene.....oh wait lets not be silly, its Real doing it, not an English team so its fine.

ARSENE WENGER is considering reporting Real Madrid to FIFA for tapping up Cesc Fabregas.

Real president Ramon Calderon has declared his interest in the Spanish midfielder, which Wenger slammed as ‘disrespectful’ behaviour.

Calderon said: “My policy is not to create a confrontation with other teams but Cesc is No 1 in his position. I would like to have him.”

Furious Wenger had earlier warned Calderon: “I don’t want to sit there and hear Madrid come out and say they want this player and Barcelona come out and say they want that one.

“I never come out and say that I want a player from Real Madrid or Barcelona because of respect to these clubs.

“If I want a player from them I call them,

“I know who to call and ask if they’re selling him.

“All the rest I find that it’s like ‘We walk all over everybody else and we don’t care about anybody’.

“It’s unacceptable. But nothing will ever be done.

“The rule when a player is under contract is that you first contact the club to see if a player is available.

“We’re not stupid enough to believe it really happens like that but I think you have to be decent enough not to come out in newspaper because it’s unsettling as well.

“That they contact agents behind our back, we understand.

“But that they come in a newspaper I find disrespectful.”

Calderon had told reporters: “If Cesc wants a change we will be there to negotiate.

“Cesc is a player that all managers and technical directors like and ours do too.

“But it has to be a decision that comes from him. It has to be the player to understand a cycle has ended and he wants a change.

“If that’s the case we’ll be ready to negotiate with his team.”

Calderon’s words will infuriate Wenger, who has hinted he is ready to sue Inter Milan for tapping up midfielder Alexander Hleb.

The Belarus midfielder’s future is also uncertain following the very public overtures of Inter, who have already met his representatives.

Reporting Real to FIFA is an option Wenger is certainly prepared to take.

It is not the first time Madrid have caused outrage with their blatant disregard for FIFA rules.

They tapped up David Beckham after ex-president Florentino Perez invited him to the Bernabeu.

Perez also approached Arsenal’s Patrick Vieira and held a private meeting him but the French international’s move fell through.

Real have constantly shown a desire to sign Manchester United ace Cristiano Ronaldo.

The winger came close to joining them two years ago after his World Cup spat with Wayne Rooney.

Barcelona have also tried to lure Arsenal’s players on numerous occasions.

They nabbed Thierry Henry for £16million last summer.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...cle1132842.ece

Evil_Clown

I have been reading the old gossip columns and various Arsenal related websites and now it seems that bayern are after Bendtner
Why oh Why oh Why Do us Arsenal fans have to go through this sh!t at the end of every season. A whole batch of our players are consistently linked with other clubs I don't think this happens with Liverpool or Man u or Chelsea but always with Arsenal. How many summers was Vieira leaving for until Arsene decided to let him go. Also how many seasons was Henry leaving for before Arsene decided to let him go. Wenger himself has also been leaving a few times.
So far this season we have Adebayor, Hleb (which there may actually be truth behind, shock horror), Cesc (for the 3rd year in a row) and now Bendtner. It seems as if players have to do what Clichy did and suggest there undying love for the club before the papers will not link them with moves away.
I know its mostly thrash talk from the Sun, Star etc but why is it always loads of Arsenal players (who mostly end up staying ) that are linked away
Please pick on someone else red tops ....

Pepe LeFrits

The only reason the Bendtner to Bayern link has come out is because his dad has said that Bendtner isn't interested in leaving Arsenal.

Honestly, I don’t understand how some gooners get so stressed by all the summer BS.

Evil_Clown

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Honestly, I don’t understand how some gooners get so stressed by all the summer BS.

Don't worry Pepe i'm not on the edge of a bridge or anything, it just annoys me cos the papers were all about Arsenal throwing away the title etc for the last while and now comes the mass exodus from the Emirates, I guess they feel Arsenal are not a big enough club to hold on to their players

leninbenjamin

seemingly most Arsenal players are on less at Arsenal than they would earn at other clubs, Wenger has long had a rigid wage structure. I'd say a lot of the rumours are actually started by agents of Arsenal players trying to get a bigger cut for themselves without care for what the players want. I think personally Hleb to Inter is probably a perfect example of this, his agent sounds a rogue at times. sort out the deal first then convince the player. such is football.

Pepe LeFrits

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Thank god Cashley ****ed off to Chelsea, eh?

Absolutely, if he hadnt then THIS GEM would never have been made, so thank god indeed!!

Galvasean

The whole paper talk about Cesc leving reminds me of the Henry thing. For years they said it was a done deal, yet it was consistently wrong. Then when he eventually leaves, they jump up "I told ya so!" Great journalism. :rolleyes:

Helix

arsenal set to make a barry bid in the summer according to various reports

ive been calling this one for a long time and i think hed be perfect for you

as a villa fan id also rather see him go to a side who play good football, rather than liverpool if he wants to follow his champions league dreams

Pepe LeFrits

Helix wrote: »

arsenal set to make a barry bid in the summer according to various reports

ive been calling this one for a long time and i think hed be perfect for you

as a villa fan id also rather see him go to a side who play good football, rather than liverpool if he wants to follow his champions league dreams

I remain skeptical, although I think he'd be a very good signing. Bit pricey mind you, but I suppose there'd be no waiting for him to adapt to the league/country that comes with foreign signings.

leninbenjamin

Helix wrote: »

arsenal set to make a barry bid in the summer according to various reports

very interesting. It would certainly be a better move for Barry you'd imagine, and he'd be more than able to do a job at the Gunner's. if comes to a bidding war between Pool and Arsenal though, i think Pool will outbid them, so i'm not sure i'd ever see it happening.

Mr Alan

Links to reports?

Helix

leninbenjamin wrote: »

very interesting. It would certainly be a better move for Barry you'd imagine, and he'd be more than able to do a job at the Gunner's. if comes to a bidding war between Pool and Arsenal though, i think Pool will outbid them, so i'm not sure i'd ever see it happening.

i dunno, i dont think pool have money tbh

mr alan, its in the print media this morning, check the irish indo if you have access to it

arsenal were always gonna be in for him

leninbenjamin

Mr Alan wrote: »

Links to reports?

here you go.

edit:

Helix wrote: »

i dunno, i dont think pool have money tbh

neither do Arsenal i fear.

whatever Wenger has will be spread thin, he now needs to replace Flamini and Hleb, possibly even Gilberto, has his eyes on another fullback and he still needs to address the shortage on the wings as well as getting another CB. his squad is too small to really sell players to generate cash, so at least 3 players are needed, I personally think 5. He has a budget of around 25-30 mil, depending on how you believe. Barry would constitute a massive chunk of that were he to even match Pool's much publicised 10mil bid.

Helix

pools bid wasnt even 10m tho, it was some cash plus some players

leninbenjamin

Helix wrote: »

pools bid wasnt even 10m tho, it was some cash plus some players

true, but 10mil is the very least needed to prise him away it seems from O'Neill's talk. maybe i'm being pessimistic, but i think Villa would rather hang on to him for another year if they don't receive a bid in the low teens.

hmmm... it just occurred to me. Barry has only two? years left on his contract? would he possibly threaten to buy it out under these new fangled rules?

gosplan

For football reasons surely wouldn't Barry go to Arsenal?

I'm not going to start a debate on rotation or anything but at Liverpool you've Masch, Gerrard, Lucas and Alonso.

He'll go straight in to the Arsenal first team and if he plays well, he'll stay there.

Galvasean

Barry would be an awesome signing! Don't expect him for under £15million though.

Galvasean

Also, we can't feel victimised by the media for having our players linked to other clubs. Its always happening to Liverpool too. Remember the Gerrard to Chelski fiasco? This season half the team has been reported to be leaving, not to mention the manager.


News:

Rosicky to miss European Championship:
http://www.arsenal.com/article.asp?thisNav=News&article=491279&lid=NewsHeadline&Title=Wenger+confirms+Rosicky+to+miss+Euro+2008

OPENROAD

Arsene has already said that he has identified the players he wants.
Did not give much away but said he wanted a defensive minded player and a creative player.
He really seems to rate Song very very highly to the extent that he said he will be a great Arsenal player, he is unlikely to play a season as a midfielder though.
It is not certain that Flamini will be relaced.
Got the impression Almunia will be no.1 again next season.
Arsenal will only spend within their natural resources ie match day/tv/sponsorship money.
Aim is to have Rosicky ready for start of next season.
Eduardo will recover medically but worried about mental side cause you don't know until player comes back.

Full interview from shareholders meeting well worth a watch, it will be repeated on Arsenal tv 18:45 on Monday and Thursday 20:15.

gosplan

We've signed Ben Afra - have we???

read on arseblog this morning. I'd be all for that.

Galvasean

gosplan wrote: »

We've signed Ben Afra - have we???

read on arseblog this morning. I'd be all for that.

I hope so. He'd fit the bill should Hleb leaves, which is looking increasingly likely.

So for replacements how would everyone feel about?

Flamini ---> Barry

Hleb

---

> Ben Arfa

gosplan

That'd be quite good actually but I remain skeptical about Barry. 'Reports' of Arsenal trying to sign someone are hardly ever true.

The only reason I'd give the Ben Afra thing a bit of credit is because they said it was a done deal - I'm hopeful that it's just taking the news a while to filter out as it's the weekend.

here's a link

http://www.arsepod.co.uk/wordpress1/

keano_afc

I'd be delighted if we've signed Ben Arfa. Barry I'm not so excited about. Is he all that good? Also, can you see Wenger paying the £10m Villa are asking?

Pacifico

Hopefully ben arfa is a good as he is in Football Manager

Bounty Hunter

keano_afc wrote: »

Also, can you see Wenger paying the £10m Villa are asking?

were not asking for 10m we are saying that Liverpools 10mil (not that they actually offered 10m straight) is nowhere near what it would take to sign him. So if you cant see Wenger paying 10m then I cant see Arsenal signing G.Barry

Barry is wildly overrated in my opinion. To say we'd be willing to offer him more then flamini in a week is quite frankly mind boggling and daft. sure he's good but not Arsenal standard.
Ben Arfa would be a well worthwhile investment though.

Personally i think wenger should do a ferguson and abrubtly get rid of hleb if he continues to s*it talk about moving. that way we can get on with pre season preparations without the annual media crap surrounding the club. We waited 2 years for him to have a good game. he has had a decent season and suddenly he's bigger then Arsenal. I can understand flamini's frustrations in a way as he did drop him for a few finals however Flamini he did have form when it came to this sort of thing as he done it to marseille 4 years ago after uefa cup final.

Alot of talk about an australian full back Mark Milligan joining us on a free.