Arsenal FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

gibson

Got this from another site, looks like its only a matter of days before Koscielny signs

According to french papers Koscielny didn't travel with the rest of the squad to their training camp in Crozon. He's expected to fly to London tonight and meet with Arsenal's representatives tomorrow. The transfer fee is thought to be around ¬10 million. Rumour has it that Lorient have agreed on a fee around ¬2.5 million for his replacement too, which apparently will be Bruno Ecuele-Manga from Angers in Ligue 2. The deal will become official as soon as Koscielny's been unveiled as an Arsenal player.Confirmation of his absence from the training camp in Crozon is up on Lorient's official website now too: http://www.fclweb.fr/flash/?id=5851 It says that Koscielny has stayed behind to discuss the terms of his departure with the club. The transfer won't be finalized prior to July 1st though, which is the day the french transfer window officially opens. So Thursday it is then

_Bella_

It would be amazing if we signed Ozil but he will probably go to Bayern.

OPENROAD

leninbenjamin wrote: »

Sky Sports reporting that Jay Simpson will be on the way out this Summer. He only has a year left on his contract and is angling for first team football.


URL="http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11670_6235416,00.html"]link to full story[/URL

I always like to believe that if a player is good enough they will play, but have to say I will be gutted if we lose Simpson, do people feel he has been given a decent shot at making it with us compared to other players?

L'prof

OPENROAD wrote: »

I always like to believe that if a player is good enough they will play, but have to say I will be gutted if we lose Simpson, do people feel he has been given a decent shot at making it with us compared to other players?

Maybe not, but I don't think there's as much potential there as with players ahead of him to be honest!

gibson

Think he got a bit of a shot in the Carling Cup didnt he? Didnt he score a hatrick last season or the season before? Suppose the problem was Wenger played all his young players so we got beaten early enough

OPENROAD

gibson wrote: »

Think he got a bit of a shot in the Carling Cup didnt he? Didnt he score a hatrick last season or the season before? Suppose the problem was Wenger played all his young players so we got beaten early enough

Yes but in the first team,even if it was sub appearances,can't see how he would have done any worse.

gibson

ha very true theo, vela and eduardo didnt exactly set the world on fire

OPENROAD

Can't wait until the world cup is over, get down to the transfer business, hopefully we will be very busy, wonder if the Cesc situation will be solved in the nxt two weeks.

L'prof

OPENROAD wrote: »

Can't wait until the world cup is over, get down to the transfer business, hopefully we will be very busy, wonder if the Cesc situation will be solved in the nxt two weeks.

We were told that would happen before the World Cup. We signed Chamakh...lubly jubly!

gibson

Something might happen Thursday 1st July since transfer windows officially open. hopefully it'll be sooner than later

only realised this thread was opened by a spurs fan

yahoo_moe

OPENROAD wrote: »

have to say I will be gutted if we lose Simpson

He did well in his Carling Cup appearances but at 21 already, I don't think he'll make the first team at Arsenal. His loan spells haven't shown the kind of progress he needed to show imo, particularly at QPR last year - good start but poor second half of the season.

Bendtner's season on loan at Birmingham was what showed that he should be able to make the step up but I don't think Simpson's shown that. Bearing in mind the abuse that Bendtner still cops in a lot of quarters (at 23, and a far more complete player technically and footballistically, to use Wenger's term), I can't see how Simpson would have time to make the step up. Bendtner's also a very young player for Simpson to know for a fact is ahead of him in the pecking order.

yahoo_moe

gibson wrote: »

only realised this thread was opened by a spurs fan

Well there'll be a new one for the new season soon... and this time we have an Arsenal mod

Not that it's TRO's fault how this season turned out - the thread itself was excellent.

leninbenjamin

Koscielny has been given permission to talk to Arsenal. Which means the transfer should go ahead pretty soon, possibly by the end of the week.

URL="http://younggunsblog.co.uk/2010/06/koscielny-given-permission-for-arsenal-talks/"]source: young guns[/URL

Frisbee

Good stuff, two more signings now and we're away on a hack.

Quazzie

I'm worried that although there has been plenty of rumours regarding goalkeepers, there hasn't been anything official on it yet. If Wenger sticks with the two clowns we have it'll be another trophyless season at the Grove.

greendom

Quazzie wrote: »

I'm worried that although there has been plenty of rumours regarding goalkeepers, there hasn't been anything official on it yet. If Wenger sticks with the two clowns we have it'll be another trophyless season at the Grove.

Aren't we getting Schwarzer - not confirmed I know, but it looks like a pretty safe bet?

Quazzie

greendom wrote: »

Aren't we getting Schwarzer - not confirmed I know, but it looks like a pretty safe bet?

I've disregarded that as rumours, because the usual train of a transfer is.
Redtop rag - Players t,u,v,w,x,y,& z are all going to Arsenal.
Solid source - Arsenal are linked with player x & y
Club source - Arsenal are in negotiations for player x
Arsenal.com - Arsenal have completed the signing of player y

So far we've only breached the second phase of that, and although I'm not 100% convinced that Schwarzer is the answer, but he'll certainly be better than what we have.

Frisbee

Schwarzer would be a bit meh for me, certainly better than what we have and a solid enough goalkeeper to have at the back, but all it will be doing is solving the problem for a year or two, I'd rather see us splurge on someone who is 29/30 and will make that position his own for then next 6/7 years.

gosplan

Frisbee wrote: »

Schwarzer would be a bit meh for me, certainly better than what we have and a solid enough goalkeeper to have at the back, but all it will be doing is solving the problem for a year or two, I'd rather see us splurge on someone who is 29/30 and will make that position his own for then next 6/7 years.

I agree.

We can't leave it to chance with goalies though. If Wenger can't identify a better target or is unsure of landing them, then it's better to sign Schwarzer than risk going into next year with those two.

It's a signing that's clearly six months too late though.

AnCapaillMor

I hope Koscielny is not another cygan, hoping schwarzer is another Lehman.

Galvasean

Makes me wonder if Schwarzer is a stop gap because Wenger is waiting on someone elses contract to expire next year.

leninbenjamin

Galvasean wrote: »

Makes me wonder if Schwarzer is a stop gap because Wenger is waiting on someone elses contract to expire next year.

More likely he's waiting for one of Fabianski or Scezcesney to mature.

gibson

Quazzie wrote: »

I've disregarded that as rumours, because the usual train of a transfer is.
Redtop rag - Players t,u,v,w,x,y,& z are all going to Arsenal.
Solid source - Arsenal are linked with player x & y
Club source - Arsenal are in negotiations for player x
Arsenal.com - Arsenal have completed the signing of player y

So far we've only breached the second phase of that, and although I'm not 100% convinced that Schwarzer is the answer, but he'll certainly be better than what we have.

Peter Hill Wood admitted we had an official bid rejected by Fulham already so they've definitely gone to the next step at least once. anyones guess if they go in again i suppose

Interesting to see Tottenham possibly signing Kjaer. Id hate to see him be a success and Koscielny a flop

Frisbee

I would have liked to see us sign Kjaer but the fact that he was already pretty highly rated before the summer and now he's had a pretty decent WC means his price tage has gone up to levels Wenger won't touch.

gosplan

Frisbee wrote: »

I would have liked to see us sign Kjaer but the fact that he was already pretty highly rated before the summer and now he's had a pretty decent WC means his price tage has gone up to levels Wenger won't touch.

Yeah, still think there's pretty big questions about his defending though. Think he might have a great reputation cause he looks so awesome going forward.

**Sigh** If only we could de-age Sol Campbell and make him 28 again.

leninbenjamin

Some quotes from Balotelli on the Arsenal rumours:

"I dont know if i will stay at Inter, we will see.

"Arsenal? I am happy that I am liked by Arsenal. I don't know if there has been contact, you have to ask my agent."

his agent followed up with

"I don't think Balotelli is on the market, but I don't know if Inter want to let him play."

So, as we all suspected, it seems very unlikely that anything will happen on this front.

_Bella_

From BBC:

Arsenal are ready to make a move for unwanted Manchester City midfielders Nigel de Jong and Shaun Wright-Phillips this summer.

Galvasean

De Jong is unwanted?

Frisbee

I'd look upon that as BS, however

De Jong - Yes

SWP - No

To play De Jong we'd have to drop Song though which would be pointless...

_Bella_

I don't think its true we have absoloutely no need for SWP and De Jong is not necessary compared to the central defence role. Though I would love to sign ozil

Galvasean

Maybe they want De Jong as DM and Song as CB? What am I saying? The article is clearly BS.

yahoo_moe

Seriously though, leaving the age thing aside, is Schwarzer even that much better than Almunia?

For one thing, Almunia will have had a summer off to get himself back in gear - everyone knows last season was a big dip for him and that he was fairly solid before then.

But more importantly, Schwarzer's no Given (stand-out player in a poor side) - he's got a superbly well-organised defence in front of him, including midfielders, just as Sorensen does at Stoke. But what has either of them really done to look so great?

I'd love a better 'keeper - but I'm not sure Schwarzer is really it. If that's the best we can find, surely another CB would be a better bet?

AnCapaillMor

A 4-2-3-1 with dejong would certainly improve our defensive record.

SDTimeout

I agree, another solid CB so they won't leave Almunia as exposed next season.

I don't mind starting next season with Almunia in nets, as long as he has good people infront of him.

gibson

SDTimeout wrote: »

I agree, another solid CB so they won't leave Almunia as exposed next season.

I don't mind starting next season with Almunia in nets, as long as he has good people infront of him.

You could say that about any keeper though I would be very underwhelmed if we started with clown in goal

DB10

If Almunia starts next season in goals, it is very likely the majority of fans would want Wenger out of the club.

This is last chance saloon for Wenger, out of contract next summer, plenty of fans already want him gone.

Buying an okay keeper like Schwarzer is one thing, keeping the same problem players as last season is really the last straw.

SDTimeout

Any fans who want Wenger out of the club are very stupid imo.

Alot of our goals are defensive faults, off the top of my head drog's two against us last season were from two ashley cole balls in that could have been averted.

I'm not saying Al does not make a few clangers, he's a superb shot stopper. Maybe if confidence wouldn't be so shot from leaking in defensive goals and he could be more commanding and confident in his area.

It wasn't to long ago several media outlets in England were calling for him to be the Number 1 of the national team.

UnknownSpecies

SDTimeout wrote: »

Any fans who want Wenger out of the club are very stupid imo.

Alot of our goals are defensive faults, off the top of my head drog's two against us last season were from two ashley cole balls in that could have been averted.

I'm not saying Al does not make a few clangers, he's a superb shot stopper. Maybe if confidence wouldn't be so shot from leaking in defensive goals and he could be more commanding and confident in his area.

It wasn't to long ago several media outlets in England were calling for him to be the Number 1 of the national team.

Disagree with you here, he makes loads of individual errors, looks shaky under the highball aswell!

Hope we get a new keeper, but i dont think schwarzer is the answer, we need someone who will be around for a good five years, we need another Lehmann!

gosplan

SDTimeout wrote: »

Any fans who want Wenger out of the club are very stupid imo.

Alot of our goals are defensive faults, off the top of my head drog's two against us last season were from two ashley cole balls in that could have been averted.

I'm not saying Al does not make a few clangers, he's a superb shot stopper. Maybe if confidence wouldn't be so shot from leaking in defensive goals and he could be more commanding and confident in his area.

It wasn't to long ago several media outlets in England were calling for him to be the Number 1 of the national team.

Yeah, hard to think that's the same Al as now. He removed Jens from the team and kept him out, that's no mean feat.

Sadly though his drop in form has continued and he just can't be considered a safe pair of hands in the least.

gibson

SDTimeout wrote: »

Any fans who want Wenger out of the club are very stupid imo.

Alot of our goals are defensive faults, off the top of my head drog's two against us last season were from two ashley cole balls in that could have been averted.

I'm not saying Al does not make a few clangers, he's a superb shot stopper. Maybe if confidence wouldn't be so shot from leaking in defensive goals and he could be more commanding and confident in his area.

It wasn't to long ago several media outlets in England were calling for him to be the Number 1 of the national team.

some might argue that the ones that still have full faith in wenger have blind faith and no matter what he does he cant be wrong. i think thats complete rubbish, hes not bigger than Arsenal Football Club and while I wouldnt like to see him go he cant keep living on past glories....you may say a lot of our goals are defensive faults but these are the same defensive faults that havent been dealt with for the last 5 years and have only got worse.

I agree with DB10 if he starts next season with Almunia there will be a lot of questions asked, even more if he doesnt get the adequate amount of defenders. With Wenger theres always the fear that he'll make do with what he has. It wouldnt surprise me in the slightest if we went into next season with our central defenders as Vermaelen, Koscielny, Djourou, Silvestre then a choice between Nordveit or Bartley

SDTimeout

Let us not forget the general ethos of the team last year to a point ( RVP's injury ) was score more goals than the other team. We dropped two against blackburn but i think we put 6 past them ?. Goals pergame dropped dramatically when RVP got injured. I'd imagine they spent alot of time in pre season working to play that way and it was very unlikely that eduardo would drop in form and both RVP and Bendtner would be out at same time.

gibson

Not sure Id agree that was the general ethos I think the defense just played so bad for most of the season, whether that be because of players or formation, that we had no choice and generally had to try outscore the opposition.

i dont think just because we played 4-3-3 our mind frame was score more than them doesnt matter how many we let in

DB10

SDTimeout wrote: »

Any fans who want Wenger out of the club are very stupid imo.

Alot of our goals are defensive faults, off the top of my head drog's two against us last season were from two ashley cole balls in that could have been averted.

I'm not saying Al does not make a few clangers, he's a superb shot stopper. Maybe if confidence wouldn't be so shot from leaking in defensive goals and he could be more commanding and confident in his area.

It wasn't to long ago several media outlets in England were calling for him to be the Number 1 of the national team.

Looking England didn't get him isn't it? The reason that came up was because Almunia was desperate to play international football but he knew he was around the 10th best keeper in Spain. And that is no exaggerration.

He is barely in the top ten Spanish keepers. I'm sorry but that is not good enough for a supposed big club.

Wenger has proved time and again he can't spot a decent keeper. Bar Lehmann he has never bought one.

Almunia is not a superb shot stopper and the defense is not making him look bad.

A poor defense can make average keepers look good not bad, because they have more chance to show off. Are you honestly telling me our defense is the whole problem not the keeper?

A defense including Vermaelen, in the team of the league, Sagna and Clichy and even Gallas who played well last year.

All those players are not rubbish, they got not help from an absolute rubbish goalkeeper.

Quite frankly I am sick and tired of watching absolute crap and average players like Almunia continually starting for us and I am in the majority.

By this stage he is a complete laughing stock.

gibson

DB10 wrote: »

Quite frankly I am sick and tired of watching absolute crap and average players like Almunia continually starting for us and I am in the majority.

By this stage he is a complete laughing stock.

Youre dead right and you're definitely not alone in thinking that. I just hope some of these are replaced for next season. When we had to play Almunia, Fabianski, Silvestre, Denilson, Diaby, Eduardo, Rosicky sometimes even all together in the same match (bar fabianski obviously!) that tells you something. All these players should be squad players at very best if not off loaded. I do not want to see these players as starting players for Arsenal again on a regular basis.

Diaby and Denilson always seem to raise debate but I just feel neither are Arsenal quality. Played in defensive midfield is even more of a joke when all they do is look at a player strolling pass them :mad:

_Bella_

If only we could get Eduardo...

gibson

hes looked pretty impressive alright!

tony1kenobi

Completely off topic folks,but I got the (alleged)new home shirt from bornprosper.com yesterday...I thought it was a bit of a dud but my mate reckons it's genuine,with the new nike "dryfit" branding and the like. Nice shirt anyway......just so ya know.

Paleface

_Bella_ wrote: »

If only we could get Eduardo...

Was just gonna suggest the same myself. He looks reliable!

conno16

ac milan back in for bendtner
arsenal will prob take the cash this time round

Paleface

conno16 wrote: »

ac milan back in for bendtner
arsenal will prob take the cash this time round

Source?