Arsenal Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Paparazzo

£20m for adebayor, looks like bad business from Arsenal, they'll never replace him for that.


http://www.goal.com/en/news/9/england/2009/07/13/1379805/breaking-news-manchester-city-in-talks-with-arsenal-for-emmanuel-

Evil_Clown

Paparazzo wrote: »

£20m for adebayor, looks like bad business from Arsenal, they'll never replace him for that.


http://www.goal.com/en/news/9/england/2009/07/13/1379805/breaking-news-manchester-city-in-talks-with-arsenal-for-emmanuel-

This is the guy that is being touted as a possible replacement should Ade leave.
If it happens and there are alot of ifs I expect Wenger to have around 10mil left to spend on a DM. Hope it happens myself. With RSC and Tevez at City where will they play Ade ??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marouane_Chamakh

DenMan

I see he is known for his aerial ability, link-up play, workrate and works tirelessly for the team. God I like him already.

Mac Masters

Paparazzo wrote: »

£20m for adebayor, looks like bad business from Arsenal, they'll never replace him for that.


http://www.goal.com/en/news/9/england/2009/07/13/1379805/breaking-news-manchester-city-in-talks-with-arsenal-for-emmanuel-

It depends really, we could use it to "maybe" go for Edin Dzeko. I loved watching that guy last season for Wolfsburg on Setanta! He was class but it's looking more and more unlikely everyday that we'll get him! It seems like he wants to stay.

Chamakh would be a good signing but he was a vital part of them winning the french league so they're not going to want let him go and most of the big teams in europe were linked with him and Yoann Gourcuff at the start of the window and now they've stopped so I'm not sure what the story is with them!

I heard an interesting rumour though somewhere about us being linked with Wesley Sneijder but I doubt it, with our transfer policy we'll never cough up the cash! I don't know if their's any truth to it but it sounds interesting.

DB10

Chamakh would be a poor signing IMO. He would just be a squad player and is not good enough from what I've seen.

The main reason I'm against selling Adebayor is because no doubt we will buy a worse replacement.

thorbarry

DB10 wrote: »

The main reason I'm against selling Adebayor is because no doubt we will buy a worse replacement.

why would you think that? it might be good to have someone that looks like he actually wants to play for the team

gosplan

DB10 wrote: »

We are royally ****ed if this happens. Selling our best striker to a rival team is just idiotic.

Good thing it's Adebayor then and not RVP or Arshavin.

Galvasean

Kroenke inncreases stake at the club:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8144069.stm

I have a feeling either him or Usmanov is going to finally buy the club this year.

Leprechaun77

I reckon he will buy a young striker with good potential if Ade leaves. This will allow Arshavin to move to his preferred position behind the striker (RVP). This might allow Wenger to chase a good left winger, which would be somewhat easier than finding a new striker, as any decent goalscorer will cost a fortune at the moment.

Royale with Cheese

Leprechaun77 wrote: »

I reckon he will buy a young striker with good potential if Ade leaves. This will allow Arshavin to move to his preferred position behind the striker (RVP). This might allow Wenger to chase a good left winger, which would be somewhat easier than finding a new striker, as any decent goalscorer will cost a fortune at the moment.

He won't be buying any wingers even if Arshavin moves up front. He'll have Nasri and Walcott starting on either wing, and Rosicky to finally come back in. After that I'd say he'll promote a youth teamer. Arshavin could still play on the wing if required.

Fuzzy_Dunlop

I'd be happy enough for Ade to go if we use the money for a quality DM and/or winger. When you look at it, we have a **** load of strikers and our best formation(ie with Arshavin in the hole) only really uses one centre forward. Plus last year Ade really looked like he wasn't arsed, even in the big games.

TheNorthBank

Adebayor will be absolutely no loss whatsoever. I'd be more worried if he stayed tbh, and it was starting to look that way too, so I was delighted to hear the Man City link this evening. What good is a lazy player who doesn't want to be at the club? He played out of his skin for a season to engineer a big money contract and as soon as he got it if went back to being the lazy sh*te he always was.
Is the Melo thing completely dead in the water? He hasn't signed for Juve yet has he? If the sale of Ade goes ahead quickly we might be able to up our bid for Melo. (and possibly throw in Diaby as a sweetener). I mean a DM is absolutely essential this season. I don't think we need to replace him up front at all, in Bendtner we already have a big tall guy to get in amongst them if needed, I'm not a fan of his but he's there none the less. And don't forget there's RvP, Eduardo, Vela, Arshavin and Theo that can all play up front. If Rosiscky and Nasri chip in with a one or two goals as well we'll be more than equiped in attacking options. A DM is a Must! I genuinely feel that we're only that one signing away from a title winning team.

GuanYin

Arsenals problem isn't one player, it is the weakness of their squad. I think they would need a DM and either a second understudy or a big step up from Song or one of the others... and maybe another central defender.

TheNorthBank

GuanYin wrote: »

Arsenals problem isn't one player, it is the weakness of their squad. I think they would need a DM and either a second understudy or a big step up from Song or one of the others... and maybe another central defender.

I understand your concern but I think squad wise at the moment we're in pretty good shape. I know we could lose some players before the start of the season but if we keep everyone, apart from Ade, we'll be ok. For example at LB there's Clichy and Gibbs, RB is Sagna and Eboue, middle then is Gallas, Toure, Vermaelan and Senderos. We already have a huge number of quality midfielders (including the best in the world) and a few very average one's too (eboue, song, diaby etc...). Add to that a quality DM and lets not forget the young lads coming through also (Ramsey, Wiltshire etc) and then all our strikers I mentioned in the previous post. I really do think its taken a few years, and we're not totally there yet, we need that DM badly but I think we're finally getting a very strong squad together that can genuinely challenge this season.

Wreck

Interesting blog here from the BBC's business editor.

Robert Peston wrote:

Has Arsenal borrowed too much?

Robert Peston | 00:00 AM, Tuesday, 14 July 2009

I've obtained a copy of the financial analysis of Arsenal that was made by the investment bank Lazard Brothers in support of Alisher Usmanov's proposal that the club should raise up to £150m in a rights issue.

It's a chunky 35-page document. But its conclusion can be summed up very simply: Arsenal has too much debt to pose a serious challenge to Europe's biggest clubs; or to use the jargon, it is over-leveraged, too thinly capitalised.

This is a verdict that has been rejected by Arsenal's board, which has been advised by NM Rothschild.

The North London club's directors argue that paying down debt would have only a marginal impact on the availability of financial resources.

Of course, as an Arsenal-supporting BBC journalist, I couldn't possible take sides in this dispute between the Uzbekistani plutocrat and Arsenal's directors.

But some of you will be interested in Usmanov's point of view.

Here are a few bullet points from the Lazard document:

1) It believes that Arsenal's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) will fall from between £55m-60m in 2009 to £35-40m in 2010. The most striking contributor to this squeeze that it cites is a 12-14% increase in costs to £179m "as a result of players being compensated for tax changes and a number of step-ups in wages for individual players".

2) It predicts that cash flow will fall by more than that because of some pre-payments on assorted deals that were taken in 2007.

3) It says that Arsenal's fans are already paying 40% more than the average for the big four English clubs for match tickets and 24% more for season tickets - implying there's little scope to increase gate revenues, especially in a recession.

4) It calculates Arsenal's gross average annual spend on new players as £18m, compared with £37m for the big four; and the net annual spend, including sales, as precisely zero, compared with a £20.2m big four average

5) Perhaps most germanely of all, it fears that redevelopment of Arsenal's former Highbury stadium into luxury apartments may not turn out to be profitable - and that refinancing £140m of property-related debt over the next couple of years will be neither cheap or easy.

So Usmanov - the second-biggest shareholder in Arsenal with a 25 per cent stake - suggests that investors stump up a maximum of £150m via a rights issue of new shares.

This would provide additional funds for Arsene Wenger to augment the playing squad, and/or pay off some of the property debt, and/or pay down a substantial portion of the £242m of separate debt incurred to fund the development of the new Emirates stadium.

As I say, Arsenal's board has said no to all this, following detailed scrutiny by bankers from Rothschild - which included those bankers sounding out the most important individual at the club, Arsene Wenger.

The advice to the board from Rothschild was;

a) paying down the Emirates-related debt would save a maximum of £5m a year;

b) there are better ways to rehabilitate the Highbury redevelopment, including a putative cunning plan under negotiation right now - and even if the worst came to the worst, there should be no direct financial contagion to the club, since the providers of the property loans have no recourse to the footballing assets;

c) perhaps most controversially, the chaps from Rothschild don't believe Arsene Wenger is seriously constrained by lack of finance in his ability to develop the playing squad - and, more importantly, they don't believe that he feels fettered (if you see what I mean).

All of which would be described by some as a courageous blocking tackle: turning down equity finance during a sharp recession, and while the worst conditions in living memory for property developers prevail, well that's quite ballsy.

All this looks to me like Usmanov is making a pretty serious power grab and is trying to create the impression of a financial crisis at the club in order to stir things up. I think its really interesting that the consultants from Rothschild canvassed Wenger to see what his thoughts were, again emphasising just how important he is to the future of the club.

Wreck

Adebayor to City is looking more and more likely.

BBC SPORT
Man City hold talks over Adebayor

Manchester City are in negotiations to sign Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor, BBC Sport understands.

The Togo international, 25, is believed to be on sale for about £25m after three-and-a-half seasons at Arsenal.

Adebayor, who scored 16 times for the Gunners last season, has also been linked to AC Milan and Chelsea.

City are intent on building a new-look attack and are on the verge of signing Carlos Tevez, while they have already captured Roque Santa Cruz this summer.

The Eastlands club are eager to break into the Premier League's top four this coming season and have shown their determination with their close-season spending.

Midfielder Gareth Barry was bought from Aston Villa, and from under the noses of last season's Premier League runners-up Liverpool, for £12m and City paid Blackburn about £18m for Paraguay international forward Santa Cruz.

City are expected to complete a deal for Tevez on Tuesday - the Argentine will join for free after his contract with Premier League champions Manchester United expired.

And if Adebayor also makes the switch to Eastlands, City will have captured players from three of the top six clubs in the top flight last season.

Additionally, there is growing speculation that Chelsea and England captain John Terry could be persuaded to follow suit.

In Adebayor, City would be buying a player who has scored 62 goals in 142 appearances for Arsenal since he joined from Monaco for £7m.

He hit 30 goals in the 2007/08 season but struggled with injuries in the last campaign and also incurred the wrath of some Arsenal fans who felt the striker lacked commitment.

With the influx of big-name players at Eastlands comes a new challenge for manager Mark Hughes, according to former Manchester City player Dennis Tueart.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live: "The big challenge for managers now is to manage extremely wealthy young men, who do not need to work beyond their football careers.

"How does that affect their psyche and professionalism? These are things that the manager has got to sort out."

Link

Souless

Wreck wrote: »

Adebayor to City is looking more and more likely.


Link

I know it's been said time and time again but if we do manage to get the 20-25 million being talked about then lets just hope we can pick up a really good dm for it and sooner rather than later.

conno16

crouch has been mentioned by wenger in the past
not so sure about that, but he is skillful

keano_afc

conno16 wrote: »

crouch has been mentioned by wenger in the past
not so sure about that, but he is skillful

No thanks. As many have said we're well stocked up front to cope without Adebayor. A good DM and a centre half need to be bought if we do get £20-£25 million.

thorbarry

yea, for that money, i would love to see an experienced DM come in

conno16

who might this good DM be??

Xavi6

Just got word from a very reliable ITK that Adebayor has agreed terms and has done a medical. Any word from your end?

Royale with Cheese

No, but enjoy. I think it's a good deal for both parties.

Actually make that all 3 parties. Adebayor gets what he wants too.

thorbarry

conno16 wrote: »

who might this good DM be??

Im not saying these guys, but someone like them... a gattuso type player, we all know ya ya toure has been mentioned over and over again... essian is great... we need a good strong player in their mould, someone to just get in there and make a tackle, break up play... i have no idea who? i trust Wenger hopefully has somebody in mind

Evil_Clown

With the sale of Ade almost finalised, it's looking more and more likely to me that Wenger will bring in Chamakh as a replacement and use the leftover money for an experienced DM.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/football/article-23719188-details/Arsene+Wenger+steps+up+chase+for+Marouane+Chamakh+as+Emmanuel+Adebayor+nears+exit/article.do

thorbarry

Evil_Clown wrote: »

it's looking more and more likely to me that Wenger will bring in Chamakh as a replacement

anybody seen this guy play? have any info, other than the stuff i can get on wiki and the like?

Mac Masters

conno16 wrote: »

who might this good DM be??

Well I heard a rumour that when we lost out on Melo to Juventus that we looked towards D'Agostino off Udinese, but I haven't heard off anything else about it! Real now want him so..... (Groan)


We're also looking at Inler off Udinese. Personally I think we should go for one of the Sporting boys, either Veloso or Moutinho, preferably Moutinho from what I've seen and Everton have been after him for ages!

thorbarry

according to the Guardian the deal is almost done

Manchester City are on the verge of completing a deal to sign Emmanuel Adebayor from Arsenal, the Guardian understands. The two clubs have agreed a fee, believed to be closer to Arsenal's asking price of £25m than City's original offer of £20m, and the striker is in Manchester discussing terms on a five-year contract worth between £150,000-170,000 a week.

Adebayor, who would become the ninth striker on City's books, was identified as a realistic target last week, leading the club to end their interest in Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o. Talks with the Togolese have moved rapidly over the last few days, and though the striker was initially keen on a move to Serie A, it is believed the scale of the salary persuaded him to move north.

City hope the 25-year-old will now be able to take some part in their pre-season tour to South Africa, with Mark Hughes's squad due to fly out tomorrow. Carlos Tevez will be on board after the club confirmed his arrival on a five-year contract.

"Carlos is an international player of the highest class who possesses all the attributes that will help drive this club forward," Mark Hughes, the City manager, said. "He is not only outstanding technically but he is a reliable goalscorer and someone who will contribute fully to the team ethic. He gives us another exciting, attacking dimension. I cannot wait to welcome him to City."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jul/14/emmanuel-adebayor-manchester-city-five-years

Galvasean

So, anybody fancy a £10million bid for Huntelaar? With teh arrival of Ronaldo, Kaka and Benzema he's probably not the happiest bunny in Madrid.

Roaster

Galvasean wrote: »

So, anybody fancy a £10million bid for Huntelaar? With teh arrival of Ronaldo, Kaka and Benzema he's probably not the happiest bunny in Madrid.

I'd love to take a punt on Huntelaar as I reckon his next club will see his full potential (ala Bergkamp after Inter).

The only thing is Stuggart bid €19m over the weekend, so we'd have to at least match that.

eirebhoy

conno16 wrote: »

who might this good DM be??

If they get a top midfielder in I'm gonna back Arsenal for the league. If they could just keep van Persie fit.

Royale with Cheese

SSN saying Man City have applied for a work permit for Adebayor. This one will be done and dusted very soon.

Leprechaun77

Roaster wrote: »

I'd love to take a punt on Huntelaar as I reckon his next club will see his full potential (ala Bergkamp after Inter).

The only thing is Stuggart bid €19m over the weekend, so we'd have to at least match that.

I think Huntelaar would be a great signing, but I feel his transfer fee would be far too rich for us. A recent article has mentioned that his previous club, Ajax, will be due a €7m fee from Real in the event that the player is sold. If this is true, this will inflate the players fee a fair bit.

http://www.sport.co.uk/news/Football/23299/Dutchman%E2%80%99s_future_linked_to_Real_Madrid%E2%80%99s_clause_with_Ajax_.aspx

yahoo_moe

Mac Masters wrote: »

Personally I think we should go for one of the Sporting boys, either Veloso or Moutinho, preferably Moutinho from what I've seen and Everton have been after him for ages!

Isn't Moutinho an attacking midfielder though? Everton were after him before they bought Fellaini, who certainly isn't a DM.

As for Veloso, the constant speculation has come to nothing so I can only assume that Wenger doesn't really rate him (along with Benitez, Ferguson, Ranieri, etc.) - I seem to recall he lost his place in the Sporting team last year too so I'm not sure he's all people crack him up to be.

I'd be surprised if we signed a DM now - there was obviously an interest in Melo but I don't see where someone who's guaranteed to be significantly better than Song is going to come from.

OPENROAD

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

No, but enjoy. I think it's a good deal for both parties.

Actually make that all 3 parties. Adebayor gets what he wants too.

Good deal for Arsenal, Adebayor, not sure about City though.

Pepe LeFrits

Good riddance to Adebayor. Use the money to buy a DM and I'll be happy enough with the team.

Royale with Cheese

OPENROAD wrote: »

Good deal for Arsenal, Adebayor, not sure about City though.

He'll be improving their squad, money is no object to them so as long as he's improving their squad it's a good deal for City.

They tried to get people like Kaka and Eto'o but they're not able to attract players of that calibre just yet, so people like Tevez and Adebayor are very good signings for them.

PHB

Poor move from Adebayor, no reason he couldn't have went to a top class club. Moving for money.

It'll be hilarious if they sign him though, Tevez or Santa Cruz will get dropped

flahavaj

PHB wrote: »

Poor move from Adebayor, no reason he couldn't have went to a top class club. Moving for money.

It'll be hilarious if they sign him though, Tevez or Santa Cruz will get dropped

Can't wait for Tevez to start moaning when he's not playing every game again next year. If they get Adebayor, there'll be even more competition for places than at United last year and with City not in Europe and less likely to advance in cup competitions, even less games to play in as well. Good enough for him.:pac:

Galvasean

Roaster wrote: »

I'd love to take a punt on Huntelaar as I reckon his next club will see his full potential (ala Bergkamp after Inter).

The only thing is Stuggart bid €19m over the weekend, so we'd have to at least match that.

Well €19 million is what, £15million? So if we get £25 for Adebayor we could still have £10million (plus whatever pennies Wenger stole from the Trócaire box) for a DM. It might be possible.

As for Adebayor leaving. i'm pleased with the deal. Last season he looked more like an £8million striker TBH. As for strenghtening rivals, City were gonna get someone, Id rather it be Adebayor than someone like Eto'o or Benzema.

paul150

Galvasean wrote: »

Last season he looked more like an £8million striker TBH.

Agreed the only reason he scored as many the previous season was the quality of service he got, doubt he will get as much at city. Hope wenger buys a known striker but knowing his past record it will be a total unknown. Hopefully he plays arshavin up front next season

Galvasean

paul150 wrote: »

Agreed the only reason he scored as many the previous season was the quality of service he got, doubt he will get as much at city.

I dunno, Ireland, Robinho, Tevez and Barry all around him...

paul150

Galvasean wrote: »

I dunno, Ireland, Robinho, Tevez and Barry all around him...

when you put it like that i suppose so. hes only after money anyway so he would be happy to sit on the bench and pick up his paycheck than actually contribute to the team imo.

flahavaj

paul150 wrote: »

when you put it like that i suppose so. hes only after money anyway so he would be happy to sit on the bench and pick up his paycheck than actually contribute to the team imo.

They all are, put Barry and Tevez in the same boat.

Galvasean

paul150 wrote: »

when you put it like that i suppose so. hes only after money anyway so he would be happy to sit on the bench and pick up his paycheck than actually contribute to the team imo.

Oh yeah, clearly after the money. Arsenal will play European football next season. Adebayor won't.

thorbarry

Galvasean wrote: »

As for strenghtening rivals, City were gonna get someone, Id rather it be Adebayor than someone like Eto'o or Benzema.

ha totally agree with that. Eto is a far better striker that ade is, hey maybe we could buy him with the money thatd be nice

Frisbee

Was never Ade's biggest fan at all but not too happy with him leaving.

We now need to use that money well and bring in one top class player, we certainly could have got more for him aswell.

Leprechaun77

Whilst I think it is the right decision to get rid of Adebayor, there's no point in thinking that we have got a great deal in getting €25m (ish) for him. From a supporters point of view, this deal is only good if the funds are used on buying a proper replacement.

Boggles

Should be 30-35 for him to be honest.

For all his problems he is still one of the top strikers in the league.

On the plus side he was bought for 7, so nearly quadrouple the money. Not too shabby.

thorbarry

yea, well hopefully they will use the money to bring in someone, i really cant see why Wenger wouldnt