Arsenal Transfer Rumours And General Chat

Galvasean

Rumour (BBC teletext page 338) that we want to sign central defender Vincent Kompany from HSV. Another case of I hope he's as good as he is in Football Manager. Although reports suggest a £16million price tag which may be hefty for us.

PDN

Galvasean wrote: »

Rumour (BBC teletext page 338) that we want to sign central defender Vincent Kompany from HSV. Another case of I hope he's as good as he is in Football Manager. Although reports suggest a £16million price tag which may be hefty for us.

Give them 15,900,000 + Senderos & Eboue. That should be the equivalent of 16million.

PDN

PDN wrote: »

Give them 15,900,000 + Senderos & Eboue. That should be the equivalent of 16million.

Kompany is meant to be quality.Him and Micah Richards and Vidic are perhaps the 3 best young centre backs in europe. i think he'd be worth a gamble. Time for arsenal to start living a little and splash out a bit. Somehow i doubt hamburg would even look at either senderos or eboue thats the shocking truth. even derby county wouldnt gamble on senderos.

Rumour on NOTW that the 'Dunny Monster' could be on his way to the emirates. personally i think dunne would be a terrific signing. wealth of experience, guts, honesty, bravery, sheer determination. everything an Arsenal centre back should have. if its really £1m as quoted then wow! what a steal that would be.


some amount of names been touted around. as AW said more want to join arsenal then leave it.

Galvasean

I read that rumour about Dunne. Is it something to do with him buying out his contract? Seems awfully cheap.

Also read us being linked with Yaya Toure and an attacking midfielder called Camacho or something similar. Honestly, I think the papers have begun silly season en masse, plucking names from the air.


News Just In
Wenger plans to ban the summer!!! :O

http://www.arsenal.com/matchreport.asp?thisNav=fixtures&fxid=323054

Galvasean

Another goal for the wonderkid.

AnCapaillMor

We've been linked with yaya for years, for fecksake he even did a preseason with us and we still did'nt buy him.


BTw anyone get the new Arseblog URL since it went under oleole.com, fecking redirect is screwed. Nevermind tis working now.

yahoo_moe

Galvasean wrote: »

Another goal for the wonderkid.

Theo's impressed me a lot this year, more and more so in the last month or two when he's looked more consistent. If he can bring that form to next season, it'll be like having a new player (with maybe Vela fulfilling the role Walcott did early on this season).

AnCapaillMor

Theo's really picked up his game, but he can be a hell of alot better, his positional sense is pretty bad and his decision making is'nt the best. Once he get these down, he'll be lethal.

Ben Arfa said he was having discussions with Arsenal.

yahoo_moe

Actually I think his decision-making is what's marked out his better performances recently. But I totally agree about his positioning (it's also why I agree that he'll work better up top over time).

As for Ben Arfa, it worries me that I know I've seen him play for Lyon (albeit only occasionally) but have never really noticed the sheer brilliance that everyone seems to assume... anyone seen him enough to have a proper opinion on him?

gosplan

yahoo_moe wrote: »

As for Ben Arfa, it worries me that I know I've seen him play for Lyon (albeit only occasionally) but have never really noticed the sheer brilliance that everyone seems to assume... anyone seen him enough to have a proper opinion on him?

I think that the players who produce that brilliance in that position at his age are basically Ronaldo and Messi. He's a tricky player but very direct in his play. probably loses the ball a bit too much for my liking but has all the attributes to be brilliant.

for me he'd be like the wingers equivalent of Man U's Anderson. Undoubted physical attributes, good on the ball, young, and worth 10 -15 million. Not the finished product but all the signs point to him being a very good one.

OPENROAD

Apparently Arsene wants to have his signings wrapped up within three weeks.

keano_afc

OPENROAD wrote: »

Apparently Arsene wants to have his signings wrapped up within three weeks.

Yeah saw that on the website. Interestingly he says one of them will be acclimatised to the English game. Krancjar maybe?

OPENROAD

keano_afc wrote: »

Yeah saw that on the website. Interestingly he says one of them will be acclimatised to the English game. Krancjar maybe?

Have been trying to work that one out, speculation would suggest Krancjaar but we will have to wait and see.

Sqaull20

Wenger is a huge fan of Micah Richards, he loves his athletes and that boy can jump...

Interest in Dunne is a smokescreen for Richards imo, Dunne is a good player, but not a typical Wenger signing.

OPENROAD

Sqaull20 wrote: »

Wenger is a huge fan of Micah Richards, he loves his athletes and that boy can jump...

Interest in Dunne is a smokescreen for Richards imo, Dunne is a good player, but not a typical Wenger signing.

Don't think their has been interest in Dunne, while a good cb don't think he is an Arsenal player, Richards would be too much for us.

OPENROAD

OPENROAD wrote: »

Don't think their has been interest in Dunne, while a good cb don't think he is an Arsenal player, Richards would be too much for us.

guys i think its either one of them 2. I suppose you could say Vela and Merida returning are like 2 new signings aswell. very impressed with randall yesterday. very determined looking lad

OPENROAD

Where has all this Dunne/Richards link come from? Have not seen it mentioned reported anywhere apart from this board.

OPENROAD

OPENROAD wrote: »

Where has all this Dunne/Richards link come from? Have not seen it mentioned reported anywhere apart from this board.

NOTW reported about richard dunne yesterday. prob just tabloid bull but wenger said today on arsenal.com he was interested in an experienced player who was familiar with the english game. im harbouring a guess that its dunne as wenger also stated previously he wants a defensive player. i think ben arfa and one of dunne/richards will be arsenal's two signings this summer.

Evil_Clown

A meeting was held between Arsenal Supporters trust and MD Ken Friar yesterday, here is a good link for info on the meeting
http://www.arsenalinsider.co.uk/arsenal-news/exclusive-a-signing-is-imminent-as-ast-meet-ken-friar-who-reveals-that-share-dividends-have-been-discussed/

He does not give an exact transfer budget but does say that he was on the phone to Wenger finalising an imminent transfer

I reckon it's Ben Arfa, what do you guys think

OPENROAD

A heads up for anyone with Arsenal tv, tonight at 20:00 a q&a session with Arsene Wenger well worth a watch.

OPENROAD

What is the opinion on the whole Hleb thing, I know as supporters we don't know the full story but it is really starting to annoy be, I reckon we try and get as much as we can for him and sell him, he is only going to leave on a free when his contract is up.

leninbenjamin

OPENROAD wrote: »

What is the opinion on the whole Hleb thing, I know as supporters we don't know the full story but it is really starting to annoy be, I reckon we try and get as much as we can for him and sell him, he is only going to leave on a free when his contract is up.

may not have a choice, he can buy it out for something like £4million apparently, although i've read that clubs would rather arrange a transfer fee instead of that scenario, a sort of gentleman's agreement to prevent a sudden surge in poachings. i'd prefer they hold onto him if they can. he may not have had much in terms of end product but he's been instrumental in how Arsenal have performed this season, manys an attack has been the start of Hleb. at least until they can readily replace him, which i'm not entirely convinced they can do this season.

OPENROAD

leninbenjamin wrote: »

may not have a choice, he can buy it out for something like £4million apparently, although i've read that clubs would rather arrange a transfer fee instead of that scenario, a sort of gentleman's agreement to prevent a sudden surge in poachings. i'd prefer they hold onto him if they can. he may not have had much in terms of end product but he's been instrumental in how Arsenal have performed this season, manys an attack has been the start of Hleb. at least until they can readily replace him, which i'm not entirely convinced they can do this season.

I am not sure it is that simple re buying out his contract as it seems, his agent has also come out and said he won't be doing this.

leninbenjamin

OPENROAD wrote: »

I am not sure it is that simple re buying out his contract as it seems, his agent has also come out and said he won't be doing this.

aye, i'd probably agree with this. contracts are a messy affair to begin with, but when the media get involved... meh... it's all empty speculation. I'd guess, if he has the ability to do this he'll simply use it as an ultimatum to force Arsenal to lower their asking price or something. i'd hazard if he actually went through with it the major clubs might be reluctant to take him on, for fear of 'reprisal.'

OPENROAD

Something in the way Arsene answered this question re the buy out clause suggested to me he knows something re the difficulty Hleb might have if he was to go about it this way, just got the impression he knew something we didn't, we will have to wait and see, makes for n interesting few weeks anyway.

gosplan

OPENROAD wrote: »

Something in the way Arsene answered this question re the buy out clause suggested to me he knows something re the difficulty Hleb might have if he was to go about it this way, just got the impression he knew something we didn't, we will have to wait and see, makes for n interesting few weeks anyway.

I always got the impression that it was quite a technical legal matter. I don't think it's a matter of just giving Arsenal the money for Hleb, it would take time to put together and mightn't be concluded by pre-season.

OPENROAD

Interesting article....


http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/kroenke-may-come-on-board-as-arsenal-close-in-on-ben-arfa-827572.html

IrishMike

£11m for Ben Afra?
Would be the best value signing of the summer if Arsenal got him for that.
Cant see it myself.
Lyon are penny pinching bastards who will hold out for every last cent.
Would have thought he was worth £18-£20 to be honest.
Brilliant business if Arsenal get him for that price

Peyton Manning

Id agree that right now, getting Lyon to part with Ben Arfa for £11m would be a great deal, just remains to be seen how he would perform. Out of interest, how much did Chelsea fork over for Malouda?

IrishMike

Think it was around £13m.
Considering Ben Afra is younger and far more skillful i cant see how his fee will be less.

Pepe LeFrits

Anything close to £20m for Ben Arfa would be ridiculous.

He is younger than Malouda, but Malouda is far more polished than Ben Arfa. Chelsea also overpaid for Malouda, as usual.

Ben Arfa doesn't get on with golden boy Benzema and at the moment he can't get into the Lyon starting XI.

£11 to £13m would be more than a fair price.

IrishMike

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Anything close to £20m for Ben Arfa would be ridiculous.

He is younger than Malouda, but Malouda is far more polished than Ben Arfa. Chelsea also overpaid for Malouda, as usual.

Ben Arfa doesn't get on with golden boy Benzema and at the moment he can't get into the Lyon starting XI.

£11 to £13m would be more than a fair price.

Babel cost Liverpool £12m
Ben Afra is a better player and far more polished that Babel.
He is also more skillful and has a reputation at 20 which Malouda certaintly didnt have.
To say £11m is a fair price is irrelevant, its Lyon you are dealing with.
They dont do fair and they dont do compromise.
Getting Ben Afra for that price would be akin to robbery at gunpoint.
Hope it happens though as Aulas (Lyon President) is a gimp

Evil_Clown

As per usual with alot of these transfers it will prob be around £11 - £13 mil with extra payments for winning league, going far in champions league etc
I'd say

Pepe LeFrits

IrishMike wrote: »

Babel cost Liverpool £12m
Ben Afra is a better player and far more polished that Babel.

I don’t agree. I thought Babel’s fee was steep but then he was 20, a key player for Ajax and had played a lot of games for the Netherlands. By comparison, Ben Arfa isn’t a Lyon first teamer, he is 21, and he has only a handful of caps with the France team.

To say £11m is a fair price is irrelevant, its Lyon you are dealing with.
They dont do fair and they dont do compromise.
Getting Ben Afra for that price would be akin to robbery at gunpoint.

The difference with the usual Lyon transfers is that they aren’t desperate to hold onto Ben Arfa.

cson

Seemingly interested in Yaya Toure according to Sky Sports. Can't see it happening tbh, he's one of Barca's better players and they'd be loathe to let him go. Ben Arfa has also confirmed he's talked with Arsenal (SS again).

I think Arsene has more or less confirmed himself that we will be buying an experienced CB, but who that will be is puzzling me. Richie Dunne would be an obvious one, but he's not a typical Arsene purchase.

OPENROAD

cson wrote: »

Seemingly interested in Yaya Toure according to Sky Sports. Can't see it happening tbh, he's one of Barca's better players and they'd be loathe to let him go. Ben Arfa has also confirmed he's talked with Arsenal (SS again).

I think Arsene has more or less confirmed himself that we will be buying an experienced CB, but who that will be is puzzling me. Richie Dunne would be an obvious one, but he's not a typical Arsene purchase.

Would love Toure but can't see it.

As you say Dunne would not be a typical Arsenal purchase and while a good cb, personally don't rate him.

cson

Dunne is a good man to get stuck in, and he wouldn't have to adjust to the Premiership or any of that ****e, he'd be a good signing for us. but it won't happen because he's 29 and we just don't sign anyone >25 these days. In fact even >20 sometimes!

Bounty Hunter

I thought Arsenal would sign Yaya a few years back before Barca did but cant see it happening now. Doubt he will leave the Nou camp for atleast a few years but will always be linked to Arsenal while Kolo plays there.

Pepe LeFrits

Not keen on Yaya personally. He isn't mobile enough and isn't really a defensive midfield player (even though that's where Barca play him).

Kid Nothing

Carlos Vela has his passport in the bag apparently, great news....hopefully he can play a Walcott role to good effect next season.

Pepe LeFrits

Arsenal have firmed up their desire to bring Carlos Vela into the first-team squad next season by applying for a work permit.

The 19-year-old striker is currently on loan at Spanish side Osasuna but Arsène Wenger has consistently suggested he would bring the Mexican into the fold at the end of the summer. Speaking ahead of the last weekend, the manager revealed the Club were taking the necessary steps to make that happen.

"We have applied for a work permit for him now," said Wenger. "And he will be involved with the first-team next season.

"He has played the whole season at Osasuna on the left wing and he had to work hard there. But for me it is not his position he is a central striker, an Eduardo type."

Not that I'm not pleased and excited to have Carlos finally arriving, but I hope this isn't the attacking midfield signing Wenger was talking about.

Mr Alan

note the comment from Maloudas agent here in relation to Arsene Wenger, pretty sure that Ben Aarfa is represented by the same people, so looks like ye may have him in the bag....

http://sport.setanta.com/en/Sport/News/Football/2008/05/15/Prem-Maloudas-agent-exclusive-on-Liverpool/

Pepe LeFrits

Mr Alan wrote: »

note the comment from Maloudas agent here in relation to Arsene Wenger, pretty sure that Ben Aarfa is represented by the same people, so looks like ye may have him in the bag....

http://sport.setanta.com/en/Sport/News/Football/2008/05/15/Prem-Maloudas-agent-exclusive-on-Liverpool/

Source on him representing Ben Arfa?

http://www.transfermarkt.de/de/berater/194/flavierphilip/uebersicht/beraterdetails.html

Achile Emana looks like the only likely one from that list, anyway.

Evil_Clown

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Not that I'm not pleased and excited to have Carlos finally arriving, but I hope this isn't the attacking midfield signing Wenger was talking about.

I don't think he is tbh.
It looks to me as if AW may play vela through the middle on occasion so that I think completley rules out him signing a striker
Think AW will sign 2/3 players, attacking midfielder prob Ben Arfa and a defender I'm not even goin to try and guess who, and possibly a replacement for flamini but some of the blogs i've been reading seem to think that AW may not sign a replacement for the Flamster which would be a mistake imo
Neith Diaby, denilson or Song are ready for that role yet and Gilberto while a good back up does not have the mobility for the positio week in , week out

Pepe LeFrits

Personally I won't be too bothered if Wenger doesn't sign a replacement for Flamini. Gilberto has been playing a lot better recently, I think the reasons for his awful form in the first half of the season were largely mental (although he has also lost some of his physical edge too). Wenger treated him poorly, he thought he would be captain after a superb 06/07 season and instead he looked to be on the way out. Once it became apparent that he could still have a future at Arsenal with Flamini dithering on the contract offer, he got the morale boost he needed to regain his form.

Also, I rate Denilson very highly. I feel he is very close to establishing himself as a top quality midfielder, he just needs games. People say he doesn’t offer the same qualities that Flamini does but I disagree. His work-rate and aggression are underrated; he has captained Brazil at most youth levels, is naturally very vocal and he loves to tackle. At the same time, he is technically excellent and is a great passer. Wenger likened him to a cross between Rosicky and Gilberto when he arrived but he’s always struck me as being more like a cross between Edu and Roy Keane. He isn’t ready to play an entire season at a title-winning level but that should be what Gilberto is for.

Evil_Clown

I hope you are right about Denilson I just haven't seen enough of him in Top class matches to be fully convinced yet, at least with Flamini you had the champions league run be it at left back but he still gave some excellent displays so you knew he was capable
But in Arsene we Trust so if he does not buy another DM then one of Diaby/Denilson/Song (or dare I say it maybe even Kolo Toure if we sign another centre half), will have to step up and be counted

jank

I dont know.
Not getting another CM to partner Cesc would be a big mistake IMO.
We are desperately short in that area of the field.

Gilberto doesnt have enough about him IMO.
Diaby flaters to deceive.
Denilson doesnt seem to do much to be honest. He is talented but what is his job on the pitch?
We cannot over rely on Cesc week in week out. He needs to be rested.

Pepe LeFrits

Cesc being rested and the DM position are two separate issues. For the attacking role Wenger has Fabregas, Diaby, Rosicky, Denilson (at a push) and possibly Merida or Randall to choose from. I think that is enough quality to rest Cesc occasionally against the weaker sides, but Wenger seems reluctant to do so. In the defensive role he currently has Gilberto, Denilson, Song and Djourou. Personally I think that getting a wide attacking midfielder and a centre-back is a higher priority as those are decent options.

Pepe LeFrits

From Arsenal.com

"I believe he is a remarkable player and I was one of the very, very few who believed in Alexandre Song," said Wenger.

"I can show you articles in newspapers which said that [he] was the worst buy I have made but you will see in one or two years that he will be a great player for Arsenal."

Song's late-season surge has prompted speculation that he could replace Mathieu Flamini in the centre of midfield following the Frenchman's decision to join AC Milan. Song is comfortable in the engine room - he shone in that role while on loan at Charlton last season - but Wenger has other plans for the Cameroon international.

"Trust me, if I make a decision it is because I know all the characteristics of the player whether they are physical or mental characteristics," he said.

"When I put a player somewhere, I know why I do. If I play Song at centre back it is because I believe he will be a great centre back for Arsenal Football Club.

"In Song's case, he can play in central midfield. But can he play 60 games there? I am not convinced."

jank

In the defensive role he currently has Gilberto, Denilson, Song and Djourou

Hmmm that list doesnt strike me with much confidence.