Do New Signings Negate Robin Loss?

1 Reply

Santi Cazorla’s arrival at Arsenal has sparked further discussion over the future of Robin van Persie, with many in the betting world claiming the north London club can now do without their star striker this season. Cazorla is manager Arsené Wenger’s third summer signing, with strikers Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud already new acquisitions at the Emirates.

While many have claimed Wenger is spending big money to match RVP’s trophy aspirations and keep him at the club, the pundits on Betfair are now suggesting the boss is building a new squad without van Persie in mind. Wenger has learned from mistakes made last summer, and is dipping into the transfer market relatively early by his standards.

A year ago, both Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri were on the verge of being sold for well over two months. Both players eventually moved on dangerously close to the summer transfer deadline, leaving Wenger to desperately scrabble around for midfield replacements. Although Mikel Arteta has done a commendable job in the centre of Arsenal’s midfield, he is by no means an adequate replacement for the pair who departed.

Arsenal suffered at the start of last season from squad disharmony and weakness in depth, which aided their 8-2 defeat to Manchester United, just three games in to last season. Wenger, having learned from this, has made his moves early this summer. His trio of new stars look set to run riot in the Premier League this season and, with Podolski capable of playing in the centre of a three-man attack, RVP’s place is now somewhat tenable.

Of course, Arsenal will still hold out for the right price for their Dutch superstar, but losing van Persie should by no means be the end of their title ambitions this season or in years to come.

Despite the rumblings of the rumour mill, Betfair claims that RVP, Luka Modric, and Andy Carroll are not close to exiting their respective clubs.

Will Arsenal star stay or go for 22 million?

15 Replies

We thought that the trail had gone dead. We thought that it was over. We thought that we could relax for a while. But Manchester City had other ideas. There has been a lot of speculation surrounding Samir Nasri this summer, but it looked as though he was set to stay, if only for another year. It looks as though Manchester City are attempting a final bid for our Frenchman. Reports suggest that a figure of around £22 million will be offered for Nasri.

This is actually quite surprising news. Other reports last week had suggested that Samir has said that he will stay at Arsenal for another year. After already securing the signature of Gael Clichy, there is the very real possibility that Manchester City could be fielding a total of 4 past Arsenal players. With Adebayor’s future uncertain, and the likes of Toure and Clichy currently at the club, Manchester City is looking more and more like the Arsenal of old. It is quite confusing as to why we do sell a lot of our players to City. They are, now, a title rival. Having finished above us last season, I am hard pressed for reasons why Wenger wants to let our star players leave and join City! We have almost become a feeder club for the FA Cup winners of 2011.

I suspect that such a deal will not go to fruition. Whether the reports are credible or not, it seems unlikely now that Samir will leave the club this year. Unfortunately, it looks likely that he will leave on a free transfer next season. So the question becomes; do we want to take a hit financially and keep Samir for a year, or do we cash in on him and spend the money on someone else? I do realise that I am making a rather large assumption in my question. Even if we are to sell Nasri, this does not necessitate the spending of his transfer fee. Knowing Wenger, we will probably buy a starlet who shows potential. So perhaps keeping Nasri, and for once taking a hit financially, is not such a bad idea.

Another Arsenal player wants out…

21 Replies

This morning’s Daily Star suggests that, should we lose Samir Nasri, Cesc Fabregas and Gaël Clichy as expected, Robin van Persie will hand in a transfer request to Arsène Wenger.

Apparently our Dutch ace is extremely worried that Wenger is selling our big-name players and emerging talents without bringing in sufficient world-class replacements, and even spoke to some of his Holland teammates about considering moving to a club which could offer him more trophies.

Photo by Ronnie Macdonald on Flickr

In my opinion, the Daily Star is just creating speculation because news is slow and they need something to print. There is very little chance of Robin leaving this summer, especially as he is most probably lined up to replace Fabregas as captain next season. Not once has RvP ever indicated that he has even the slightest desire to leave the club. He has finally overcome his injury problems and remains fully committed to the club; anything that you read can be immediately dismissed.

The Daily Star is well known for being one of the most reliable newspapers. Apparently, their main story tomorrow is that Lionel Messi is considering moving clubs because he is unhappy at the of a lack of trophies at Barcelona, with Crawley Town set to offer 50p for the Argentinian superstar. It is also thought that Christiano Ronaldo is considering retiring from football.

Transfer Talk: Tuesday 28th June

7 Replies

Transfer news from Arsenal has been relatively slow over the last few days. It seems that we are just being linked with the same players (Gervinho, Alvarez, etc…) over and over again, but nothing has yet been confirmed. Everything remains pure speculation as we near the opening day of the transfer window. Apparently Friday 1st July will be a big day for the club, although I am yet to be convinced. There is, however, one player I would like to talk about this morning:

Arturo Vidal

According to reports in Bild (a German newspaper), Arsene Wenger has identified Bayer Leverkusen’s Arturo Vidal as a potential replacement for Cesc Fabregas/Samir Nasri. Vidal (a Chilean international) has a contract which keeps him at the club until 2012, but it is thought that an offer in the region of €15 million (£13.3m) would be enough to tempt Leverkusen to let him leave.

Vidal has also been linked with Bayern Munich, but (in the same way that Arsène Wenger refuses to sell Samir Nasri to another Premier League club) Leverkusen are refusing to let him move to another Bundesliga side. Despite reports that Napoli are interested, AC Milan remain the only club to have made an official bid. However, their offer of €10m (£8.8m) was quickly rejected.

As a result of the increasing speculation, and the bid from Milan, Bayer Leverkusen sporting director Rudi Voller told the Rheinische Post that the club would only sell Vidal for the right price:

“To agree a deal for Arturo Vidal we would expect to receive an extraordinary bid. We have not received a suitable offer as yet. There is nothing like that on the table.

“Taking that into account, we expect Arturo Vidal to remain at the club for the upcoming season.”

Vidal made 35 appearances for Bayern last season, scoring 11 goals and making 12 assists. 10 league goals made him the club’s top goalscorer as they came 2nd in the Bundesliga, ahead of Bayern Munich (who were Champions League finalists 2 years ago). These stats are pretty impressive, but there seem to be other midfielders that we are much closer to signing and, in my opinion, this one looks like a long-shot.

Likeliness rating: 1.5/5

Arsenal bid £18 million for Spain U21 midfielder

8 Replies

According to The Times, Arsène Wenger has made a club record £18 million bid for Valencia midfielder Juan Mata, who has just returned from the U21 World Cup. Our current club record is Andrey Arahvin (who cost around £15 million). It is thought that Mata had wanted to wait until his international duties were over to discuss his future at Valencia. “Los Che” are in a terrible financial position and are currently looking to try and clear their huge debts.

Despite the £34 million sale of David Villa to Barcelona last summer, Valencia will need to sell a few more of their key players over the coming months. Mata has also been linked with a move to Liverpool, although comments that he made a few days ago suggest that the most likely destination will be the Emirates.

“I don’t know if I’ll be sold, it depends on the economic situation of the club, which right now isn’t so good. In the summer we have to raise a lot of money, and there is a possibility that they may have to sell players. I admire Arsenal and the philosophy that the young players have.”

From what I have heard/seen, Mata (who has scored 46 goals in 172 games for Valencia) has all the qualities that Wenger normally looks for in a young attacking player. He normally plays on the left wing, but can also be used as part of a front two (just off the striker) and is known for being a highly intelligent midfielder with great pace and attacking flair – i.e his arrival would soften the blow of losing Samir Nasri and/or Cesc Fabregas.

Mata is a player that I would genuinely be excited about seeing at the club. He possesses good goalscoring ability and, like most Arsenal players, loves to make runs at the opponents defence. His age is also a key factor. At 23, the same age as Cesc, he has plenty of experience playing in La Liga but also has not yet reached the peak of his career. The question is whether we believe that Wenger is ready to spend big this summer and make sure that we secure the players that we need.

Should the Spaniard make the move to the Emirates, I would like to see Wenger play him on the wing and move Theo into the middle. The two can swap around mid-match if necessary, but Theo always seems to be more threatening when he is playing in the centre.

Wenger to move for Belgian star

15 Replies

According to reports in the News of the World, Arsène Wenger looks set to step-up his interest in Everton midfielder Marouane Fellaini. Wenger is probably in need of a new central midfielder if one of Cesc Fabregas or Samir Nasri were to leave (not forgetting that we are also set to sell Denilson), and will be looking for a player with at least a few years of Premier League experience. We simply don’t have time to wait for a player from another European league to adjust to the physical demands of English football.

Speaking to 7sur7, Fellaini made it clear that he does not plan on staying at Everton for the rest of his career and is tempted by a move to bigger clubs that plays European football:

“One thing is certain, I want to play in a team that wins trophies and play in the Champions League. Everton is a team of sub-top [not of a high enough standard].”

Fellaini has become well known for his large hair, with many Everton fans regularly sporting afro wigs (photo from nicksarebi on Flickr)

Despite being sidelined since February with an ankle injury, Fellaini has been linked yet again with a move to a top European club. The 23-year-old had been linked with moves to Manchester United, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich before he joined Everton from Standard Liege for £15 milion in 2008, and has become one of the most important members in the Everton squad.

Fellaini, a Belgian international, is believed to be valued at around £25 million, but it would seem that Everton are reluctant to let him leave. Only 3 days ago it was reported that David Moyes had offered him the option of a contract extension, as he only has 2 years remaining on his current deal. The club have since said that they are confident that he will sign a new contract.

The only issue is that Fellaini does seem to pick up a lot of injuries which keep him out for extended periods. Do we really need another talented player to sit on the sidelines? If he can shake-off his injury problems then, in my opinion, Fellaini would be a decent signing for Arsenal. At 6″4′ he provides a physical presence – something that we are lacking in midfield – and plays strong attacking football.

Cesc not leaving Arsenal

17 Replies

Only a few days after Sandro Rosell made claims that the value of Cesc Fabregas has gone down over the past year, the Barcelona president insisted that the club will not offer more than 40 million euros to acquire his services.

According to Rosell, Fabregas is worth less than he was at this point last summer because of injuries that slightly hampered his season. However, I would like to point out that Cesc only played one game fewer in the 2010/11 season compared to 2009/10. It is also worth noting that although he did not score as many goals, he still provided an astounding 17 assists last season; he currently sits 3rd in the all-time Premier League assists table.

“If last summer we offered 40m euros (£35.1m) for Cesc, since then there has been wear and tear, now he’s worth less. I don’t know what will happen, but in the case that we were interested, we won’t go mad and pay over the top.

“I don’t think he will got to another Spanish club. Cesc is of Barca, and if I were the president of another club I wouldn’t sign a player who holds dear the colours of another team.”

Fabregas has made 303 appearances since he joined the club in 2003 (photo from Ronnie Macdonald on Flickr)

Speaking to the media yesterday, Rosell confirmed that if Arsenal reject the bid (of less than €40m) then Fabregas will not be moving back to his childhood club:

“Guardiola knows the values of players and Cesc’s is less than €40m (£35.4m). Barcelona will offer less and if they [Arsenal] don’t accept, then he won’t come. Pep knows the club is not well-off in terms of money.”

In my opinion, this is the final confirmation needed to convince me that Fabregas is staying at Arsenal for next season. There are 6 reasons which make me more than confident that Cesc won’t leave Arsenal this summer:

It would seem that everybody, except for Barcelona, know that 40 million euros for Cesc Fabregas is ridiculous. Rosell’s valuation is well below what I would deem acceptable for arguably the best midfielder in the Premier League.
If what Rosell said is right, Cesc won’t sign for another Spanish club (ruling out Real Madrid).
Arsène Wenger has already said that he refuses to sell Cesc to another Premier League club.
A.C Milan (the other major European club linked with Fabregas) have already revealed that they cannot afford him.
Only last week, Fabregas made it clear that he is happy at Arsenal, and that the final decision regarding his move lies solely with Arsène Wenger.
Wenger cannot afford to lose both Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri.

We should be more worried about Samir Nasri leaving the club. Nasri has been the focus of much media attention over the last few weeks and is hardly making it easy on himself with strange and ambiguous comments. The good news is that as far as I am concerned, Cesc Fabregas is and will remain an Arsenal player.

Transfer Update: No break over Nasri’s contract

Fabregas coy on Arsenal future

2 Replies

In an effort to reduce speculation on his future, Cesc Fabregas has made it clear that he is happy playing at Arsenal. Fabregas is constantly being linked with a summer transfer back to his childhood club Barcelona as an eventual replacement for 31 year old Xavi, but reiterated that no decision has been made about a move away from North London. Any decision on his future will be made by Arsène Wenger.

News within the last few days suggests that it is increasingly likely that Fabregas will remain at the club for at least another season. It would seem that Arsène Wenger’s biggest battle will now be keeping hold of contract-rebel Samir Nasri. One thing is for sure – we cannot afford to lose both of our talented midfielders if Wenger wishes to build on this season.

“I am an Arsenal player. I have been very happy for eight years and I am very happy.

“There have been no decisions. It doesn’t always depend on the player and at the moment I don’t know anything.

“You can never say never in this life as so many things happen that you can never predict. But I am very happy where I am. Anything else would be speculation that is untrue.

“He [Wenger] is the boss, the one who makes the decisions – you should ask him.”

Cesc had previously vented his frustration at the lack of silverware at Arsenal, but acknowledged that the club has bright times ahead. His only major honour with Arsenal so far was the FA Cup in 2005.

“A player who is not frustrated at not winning titles is either lying to himself or lacks ambition.

“But there is a good team and a good manager and one of the most faithful fanbases in Europe. With those I believe we can make progress and one day win an important trophy.”

The key word here is “we”. Maybe I am reading too much into this, but I believe that choice of words is extremely important. The fact that Cesc uses the word “we” suggests that he still considers himself part of the club, and believes that he will still be there when the team wins their next major trophy.

I honestly don’t think that Cesc is going to move to Barcelona, but I am worried about losing Samir Nasri. Keeping Fabregas will soften the blow if Nasri were to leave. Then again, every week the status of Cesc’s transfer seems to change and there are only a handful of people who know exactly what is going on.

Transfer Talk: Tuesday 14th June

3 Replies

Arsenal have been linked with two of Saint-Étienne’s most talented players, who are both rumoured to be considering their options having drawn interest from many of Europe’s top clubs.

Emmanuel Rivière

Saint-Étienne striker Emmanuel Riviere has welcomed suggestions that he has attracted the interest of Arsène Wenger. Riviere, dubbed the “new Thierry Henry”, has been linked with a move to the Premier League by both Goal.com and the Daily Mail, who believe that Arsenal and Liverpool are the clubs most likely to attain his services.

“I am flattered to be linked with the clubs mentioned. I am a young player, so to be linked with Arsenal is fantastic for me.

“If Arsene Wenger is interested in you it means you have potential to be a very good player. People compare me to Thierry Henry, and that is a big compliment. If I can achieve half of his career I will be happy.”

On 22nd July 2010, Rivière signed a three-year contract extension with Saint-Étienne (despite interest from Toulouse and Hoffenheim) which should keep him at the club until June 2014. Then again, we all know that contracts seem to be worth very little. If Riviere wants out then the chances are that he will be able to negotiate a move away from the club. However, with Arsenal now close to landing Ivory Coast star Gervinho, this transfer looks extremely unlikely.

Likeliness rating: 1/5

Blaise Matuidi

Saint-Étienne president Roland Romeyer has reiterated that midfielder Blaise Matuidi will only be leaving the club for the right price. It is thought that Matuidi, 24, would welcome a move to England and the ability to play European football. The Daily Mail have reported that Arsenal are the most likely suitors as Matuidi desires to play for a club which has qualified for the Champions League.

Speaking to The Progress, Romeyer said:

“The right fee is €15million (£13.2m). We will not discuss anything lower.”

Romeyer was also quick to criticise Paris Saint Germain, another club interested in the midfielder, who are thought to have approached Matuidi himself without first clearing it with his club.

“The rule is that you contact the club to which he belongs before the player himself. Paris does things backwards.”

If Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri leave in the summer then Arsène Wenger will need to find a replacement who is proven at the highest level. However, I really don’t feel that Matuidi is that player. If anything, Wenger needs to buy a player who has Premier League experience. France is currently ranked 5th in the list of UEFA coefficients, and I don’t believe that Matuidi has the strength and presence to play in the most physically demanding league in the world.

Likeliness rating: 2/5

STRAIGHT TALKING GOONERS

Tag Archives: Samir Nasri

Do New Signings Negate Robin Loss?

Will Arsenal star stay or go for 22 million?

Another Arsenal player wants out…

Transfer Talk: Tuesday 28th June

Arturo Vidal

Arsenal bid £18 million for Spain U21 midfielder

Wenger to move for Belgian star

Cesc not leaving Arsenal

Only a few days after Sandro Rosell made claims that the value of Cesc Fabregas has gone down over the past year, the Barcelona president insisted that the club will not offer more than 40 million euros to acquire his services.

In my opinion, this is the final confirmation needed to convince me that Fabregas is staying at Arsenal for next season. There are 6 reasons which make me more than confident that Cesc won’t leave Arsenal this summer:

Transfer Update: No break over Nasri’s contract

Fabregas coy on Arsenal future

Transfer Talk: Tuesday 14th June

Emmanuel Rivière

Blaise Matuidi

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Arturo Vidal

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Only a few days after Sandro Rosell made claims that the value of Cesc Fabregas has gone down over the past year, the Barcelona president insisted that the club will not offer more than 40 million euros to acquire his services.

In my opinion, this is the final confirmation needed to convince me that Fabregas is staying at Arsenal for next season. There are 6 reasons which make me more than confident that Cesc won’t leave Arsenal this summer:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Emmanuel Rivière

Blaise Matuidi

Related posts: