Guillem Laporta
Reports in a Spanish magazine El Mundo Deportivo indicate that the 14 year old is set to train with Arsenal.
The son of former FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta is a right back. He has moved to London with his mother and has apparently agreed to train with Arsenal.
Arseblog News reports that no money has changed hands in this deal and that Guillem will not be playing for Arsenal – he is merely training with the club due to the change in his location. Anyway, that’s how it stands at the moment. If he impresses I’m sure Arsenal will do its level best to sign him.
The irony of this deal is that Laporta is the one who is known for his attempts (and successes) at taking some of Arsenal’s best players and bringing them to Barcelona. Examples include Henry, Hleb and Fabregas.
Laporta was heavily involved in bringing glory back to the Catalan club. Several league titles and two Champions Leagues were won with him as president of the club, along with a few other cups. Before Laporta became president, Barca went through a rough patch of several seasons without a trophy (sound familiar?) and the coming and going of a few managers (not so familiar).
Ricky Alvarez
It’s that name again. The man who almost signed for Arsenal in the summer is linked with us yet again.
He ended up signing for Inter Milan, but has only made one start for them so far this season in a defeat to rivals AC.
Inter are even worse off than Arsenal at the moment. They sit in the relegation zone in Serie A with just one point from three matches. If I were Ricky, I’d be wondering about two things. Firstly, why has he signed for a club that has gone from claiming the Quintuple to relegation candidates? And secondly, why is the other club that was heavily interested in him experiencing its worst start to the season in 58 years? Either he’s just unlucky or he’s rubbish at football.
Anyway, rumours are surfacing that Arsenal are looking to get him on loan in January. You do have to wonder why – he is an attacking midfielder who also plays on the wing. Do we need another one of those players? We have Rosicky, Arteta, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gervinho, Arshavin and plenty of others who can do very well in that kind of position.
Wenger is said to still be a fan of Alvarez, but I don’t see this deal happening.
Mateo Kovacic
Dinamo Zagreb starlet Kovacic has said he has no intention of leaving his club anytime soon. Arsenal supposedly made a bid for him last year, but the 17 year old has made it clear he doesn’t fancy leaving Croatia yet.
“There are many talks, every footballer is dreaming of playing for one of the best clubs in the world but I’m not really bothered what is going on in press.
“There are many rumours, but I’m happy to stay at Dinamo.
“I’m still young and I still have to learn before I will be ready to move on.
“It is nice to see your name linked with clubs such as Juventus and Manchester United, but I’m quite calm. My time will come sooner or later.”
I don’t know much about this guy, but he is already a played several times in the Zagreb side and has even captained them. He’s made 16 appearances for the first team and plays as an attacking midfielder. A likely purchase for Wenger – probably. But according to Mateo’s statement, he won’t be moving anywhere right now.