Hello again. I hope you’re well as we race towards the promised land that is the weekend.
There’s quite a lot of Arsenal transfer speculation floating around today – and that seems as good a place as any to kick things off. Two names in particular are getting a bit of exposure and those are Fiorentina’s Brazilian midfielder Felipe Melo and Bordeaux’s Moroccan striker Marouane Chamakh.
Senderos for Melo
According to a couple of sources Arsenal are very keen on Melo – a defensive midfielder with a reputation for being a bit of a tough nut – and that there is the potential to use Philippe Senderos as leverage to lure the Brazilian away from Fiorentina. It all sounds very primitive at this stage but if his reputation is anything to go by then he certainly appears to fit the bill for the type of player we need.
There’s a fairly good chance that Melo will start for Brazil in their Confederations Cup game against USA tonight, so anyone interested should check that out. He started in their 4-3 win over Egypt but to be completely honest I hardly noticed.
Chamakh who?
The other name thrown around recently is that of Marouane Chamakh. According to respected French journalist Philippe Auclair Chamakh is close to signing for Arsenal but I really think we need to be patient on this one. My gut feeling is that it’s a little unlikely even if Emmanuel Adebayor does make way given the fact that he would be ineligible for an extended period at the start of 2010 due to African Cup of Nations commitments.
On the other hand, as a relative unknown playing in France he appears to be a typical Arsenal signing and if Auclair’s previous reliability then there might be a chance. Nothing more than that though, at this stage.
Eboue too good for Roma
Emmanuel Eboue recently claimed that he might leave Arsenal due to a lack of playing time. However, comments made by his agent overnight suggest that he’ll be staying put despite interest from Roma and Fiorentina (again!). In his own words he said:
“The player likes the way Arsenal plays. I honestly think that Fiorentina and Roma aren’t at Eboué’s level. The two clubs are not among the top ones in Italy, that’s the reality of it. But if any of the Milan clubs or Juventus come after him, that could change things. Inter have never contacted us but if they should call us we would be in Italy without any problems. But no one has called me.”
Not at his level? It sounds like Eboue’s agent has about the same intelligence as he does. It’s as a big and obvious a “come and get me” plea as I’ve ever seen by a footballer’s agent and it would be hilarious if it wasn’t so pathetic.
There’s a simple reason that the “big” Italian clubs haven’t called and that’s because he’s a bit of a lemon. After the year he’s had you’d think Eboue would be jumping at the chance to sign a new contract but unfortunately he and his agent don’t seem to see it that way.
Personally I’d like to see him stay because he’s a decent player and an excellent second-choice right-back and if he did leave then the manager would certainly have to replace him. Also, let’s be honest, he’s a bit of a character and that’s always good fun.
Cesc out for Spain
I mentioned earlier that Felipe Melo is in action for Brazil tonight as they attempt to qualify for the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup. Meanwhile, Cesc Fabregas’ Spain have made quite easy progress to the same stage, albeit with the Arsenal captain missing in action in the 1-0 win over Iraq last night.
Cesc missed out after injurying his leg in pre-match training after a nasty kick by – surprise, surprise – Xabi Alonso. Apparently our little Spaniard was pretty pissed off about the incident at the time, but he calmed down later and refused to attach any blame to the man he considers a good friend. After this and the knee-injury incident last season Alonso is certainly pushing the boundaries and it might be a case of “three strikes and you’re out”.
Fabregas should be back for the semi-final where Spain are likely to play Brazil or Italy. It will be interesting to see how he goes against hard-man and potential future teammate Melo if that match-up eventuates.
Walcott, Gibbs in action
On the other half of the globe, Theo Walcott and Kieran Gibbs are set to start for England in their U21 Championship game against Spain. Apparently the English team were fairly drab in only beating Finland 2-1 in the first game, so it will be interesting to see how the Arsenal boys go against higher quality opposition. Judging by the season just passed, I’m sure they’ll do fine.
And that’s really that in quite a long post. If you want to watch any of the Confederations Cup or U21 Championship games online tonight then be sure to check out the MyP2P website because it’s quite simply the best going around.
Anyway, enough from me. I’ll speak to you tomorrow.
Have your say on all things Arsenal by leaving a comment.
If we sign the Verminator (Vermaelen) and Melo we could play a Christmas tree formation (4-3-2-1).
———–Almunia—————
Sagna–Gallas–Verminator–Clichy
—-Rosicky—Melo—-Cesc——-
——-Arshavin—RVP————
————-Adebayor————
@ YON – True, although I don’t think a 4-3-2-1 would work for us. By the by, you don’t think you might be getting ahead of things?
Eboue is in fact a decent player. The guy gets a lot of stick from us fans but how walcott gets away with it is still beyond me. Maybe coz hes english.
I hope Eboue stays.He’s a good utility player.Surely RVP won’t be sold to united.Give us at least one big signing to get excited about. Please Mr. Wenger.
@ airhead – It’s cause of his attitude. That’s the only reason. Anyway, I don’t hate Eboue, it’s just that his agent’s being a bit of a loser.
Ask my opinion loan Theo, not good enough to make Arsenal first team.
no disrespect just truth
Break our wage structure and bring Eto and 1 other DM sell Ade
At the moment we seem to be linked with every player in Europe, however nothing seems to be moving along transfer wise. However I thought Gallas was supposed to be a target for a couple of French clubs at a price of 4million? When these players actually sign I will believe, until then I can only hope we do sign a couple of decent players, so that we can in fact challenge for something next season.
@ Judith – It’s been a while since you’ve commented. Good to hear from you again.
Apparently the Vermaelen situation is pretty much sorted, just waiting on personal terms and a medical, but as you say all the rest is hearsay.
if we dont spend big this season we might as well be yet another struggling club, it will be so disheartning
@ MYWAY – What do you mean by “spend big”? I think we’ll be right in it with two or three shrewd signings. I don’t think we need to spend too much at all to improve our squad in the necessary areas.
@ MYWAY – I think we’d all like Arsenal to be able to “spend big”, and compete for the very best players. Alas, we simply aren’t in the same finacial bracket as Man U, Chelsea, Real, Barca etc. We have a limited budget of about £20-odd million, plus whatever we raise by selling players. We have to have a strict wage structure, which is why we’re looking at players like Vermaelen etc. We need to trust the manager to bring in players who become part of a winning team, rather than high profile individuals that we simply can’t afford. How many people had taken much notice of Eduardo before he came to Arsenal? It can be done, we just need to hope AW invests in the areas that need strengthening, unlike last summer, when we had to start the season without a recognised DM.
What does everyone think of the fixture list that was published yeaterday?
we hope it will be completed soon
@ Fatboy – I realised I didn’t really comment on the fixtures. To be frank, I’m one of those ‘it doesn’t really matter what order the fixtures come in’ type of people. We’re never going to tell who is available and having to play the other big four clubs in a row could just as equally turn out to be good or bad.
Good stuff, as always SF. :o)
Agree completely on the Eboue thing. Every team needs “role players”…guys that add strength to the squad without being in the starting XI. Once Eboue realizes it’s his lot to be a role player, and that he IS valuable to the club, he’ll be very happy. But his agent is whispering sweet nothings in his ear and most definitely trying to engineer a move away from Arsenal.
I think, if Eboue were to move, he would come to regret it over time. He’ll not find a better situation than what he has at the Emirates unless he goes down in team quality by a significant factor. Someplace on the order of a Hull or Newcastle will get him starting XI every match, but is that really what he wants? Even if it’s in Italy?
My prediction for the first 6 games:
Everton v Arsenal – Draw
Arsenal v Bolton – Win
Arsenal v Portsmouth – Win
Man Utd v Arsenal -Draw
Man City v Arsenal – Win
Arsenal v Wigan – Win
@ SF – interesting comments mate. I’m glad we’ve got Man U quite early on, as they have been slower at the start of the season in recent years. Our run-in doesan’t look too bad either.
Looking at the fixtures, its obvious that we have to hit the ground running. We cant afford to have a dismal start to the season like we had last term and hence i hope whatever signings we make , is made before the last day of the transfer window.
And i really hope Ade leaves because he is a money grabber and will get back to his old self once he has a good season.
………..almunia………
sagna…toure..thomas….clichy
..nasri……..melo……fabregas..
RVP…………arshavin
chamackh
pench…rosicky
walcot
eduardo
gallas
song
The run-in looks great, but it just depends how things pan out. We’re no more likely to win the league this year based on the fixtures, we’ll win it if we’re the best team!
@SF– well said mate. At the end of the day its down to how good the team is and not how “friendly” the fixture is. Afterall all the teams play 38 matches.
—-Almunia
Sagna-Gallas-Vermy-Clichy
———-Melo
——Cesc—-Arsha
RVP——EDS——-Nasri
Thats a pretty good team for next season.
@ Airhead – Cheers.
I hope Eboue stays. He is versatile and he’s useful when injuries strike. We will need squad players like him if we are going to win the EPL.
Money be damned! Sure here in Ireland we have so much we are throwing it at the banks to waste it…However wasting big big money on equally big ego players is , for Arsenal , a no-no. We want team players ones who will not come in and do a Ballack/Shevchenko on it and litterally pick and choose the games they want to play in. Lets hold our current squad and get in the usual types – TH, PV – ones who are brimful of talent and are unknowns
I think we still need Eboue in the team. Pls
“To Whom It May Concern”
————————
Kindly inform the authority to review Arsenal wage structure and bring big players into the team. Players like: David Villa, Samuel Eto etc and forget about hoping that some players will come back from injury. Look at what happened to Rosicky….he did not play throughout the seasson while the coach was hoping he will come back.
Enough is Enough….we want to win silverware in this team.
Its high time that Wenger bought a striker with a killer instinct. Look at what liverpool spent on torres its paying off. Some one tell wenger that cheap is expensive.Yes its true that he is an efficient manager but how much does it cost to win nothing in cosecutive seasons? if half of the chances ade missed were conveted to goals we would be champions!
i think melo is a good defensive midfielder,if wenger can sign him it will be a good welcome for the team along side fabrigas.
Just watching Brazil vs USA and felipe Melo just scored a goal with a cracking header. I think we need him in our squad. Guess what? He looks like Denilson.
—-Almunia
Sagna-Toure-Vermy-Clichy
——— -Melo–cesc
——Nasri—- Arsha
Bendtner—rvp
Melo scored for brazil against USA.
I would love to see arsene wenger sign feliep melo he is very agressive,and solid defensive midfilder he can play along side cesc fabregas he will be a good signing and he should also get rid of seyi emmanuel adebayor and make a shock move for morocco starlet chamak i think the team will be good to challange for tittle race next season.
Please Wenger, kindly help uns make sure you get Melo for us, because i think thats our problem now. Thank for getting Vermaelen more grease to ur elbow.
our team for next season will hopefully be.
1.almunia
2.sagna
3.toure
4.vermaelen
5.clichy
6.nasri
7.melo
8.fabregas
9.arshavin
10.rvp
11.adebayor
akinfeev
sagna gallas toure clichy
felipe melo
fabergas arshavin
walcott adebayor van persie
subs alumunia vermaelen nasri eduardo vela rosicky diaby
————alumunia———–
—sagna–toure–gallas–clichy
———-felipe melo———-
——-fabergas—-arshavin—-
–walcott—-adebayor—-RvP–