Arsenal Transfer Rumours And General Chat

Attractive Nun

Gallas would only move if he was to be played at centre back, and Arsenal's defensive priority - in the long term - should be the left back position, assuming Cole leaves. I know Senderos is injured atm, but him and Touré are good enough to comprise Arsenal's central defense for years to come - you should really just be signing a replacement centre back and a long-term left winger imho.

AnCapaillMor

Gallas made it clear last night on french tv, he's not interested in england or spain; a pity.

Coles included in the champs league squad, does'nt mean he'll play but it will force the blue ones to move.

Nalz

It would have made the premiership far more interesting

Gallas at Arsenal, strengthen the defence big time

Liverpool with a massive, strong and sturdy squad

Man Utd with Carrick, and another possible two signings (senna and ???)

Chelsea releasing Crespo (down to 2 decent strikers), loosing Gallas and hoping Ballack and Shevy settle and link up quickly

I still think Arsenal need to purchase more, especially in the back line. It just seems to be without a backbone...

Gangsta

AnCapaillMor wrote:

Gallas made it clear last night on french tv, he's not interested in england or spain; a pity.

Coles included in the champs league squad, does'nt mean he'll play but it will force the blue ones to move.

where else? Italy? Why?

Roddy23

Looks like Arsenal have nabbed another young starlet. Fran Merida has supposedly joined.
Cant find any other news on this though.

my 1000th post.

Pepe LeFrits

Roddy23 wrote:

Looks like Arsenal have nabbed another young starlet. Fran Merida has supposedly joined.
Cant find any other news on this though.

my 1000th post.

Read up! Nacer Barazite was also signed.

Looks like there is going to be some serious movement over the next few days.

gosplan

OK, so great game this evening, really pleased with it.

Anyway, the speculation today. I realise that a lot will be just speculation and never any more but I can't deny it sounds good.

Firstly I'm not sure if I believe Gallas will go. Chelsea can afford to leave him rot and despite Mourhino saying he'd never keep an unhappy player I think he'd rather do that then give him to Arsenal, plus Gallas stated his deisre for Spain or France I think.

anyway IF the summer managed to be:

Out: Campbell, Pires, Cole, Reyes(as said prev here, no proba with reyes but he's not happy, sometimes it just doesn't happen)

In: Rosicky, Gallas, Ribery

Balance: plus 15-20 million or so, assuming that one reyes = one ribery and Chelsea get milked for Cole.

I seriously think that that situation could be one of the best transfer seasons by Wenger, even with his standards.

Get rid of two unhappy and two 'maybe not over the hill but approaching it' players, replace with excellent young players and make a killing.

Obviously there's been other signings as well but I'm mainly talking about those that you'd expect to go straight to the first team or thereabouts.

That would be some off season.

eirebhoy

Kinda going off topic here but I was reading about Ribery today an it makes me more confident that McGeady can go on to become a star. Ribery spent 3 seasons in the 3rd division in France with 3 different club before a move to Metz and then Galatasaray and then Marseille where he only really made his name. I believe McGeady can be at least as good as Ribery in 3 years time. Not a chance of getting £13m for him though.

evad_lhorg

funny thing about reyes is he keeps trying to tell Real Madrid to sign him. who does he think he is? Pele or somethin? I dont think he is good enough to play there at all. talk about up his own ass

PHB

Madrid have never stated an interest, but I don't think he'd be putting himself out there unless he thought there was a chance.

Royale with Cheese

PHB wrote:

Madrid have never stated an interest, but I don't think he'd be putting himself out there unless he thought there was a chance.

There was at least one presedential candidate who stated he was one of their main targets, I have no idea if the guy who ended up winning was after him at all.

wardie

Players can now just use the media to force a transfer thur. You can be sure his agent or someone close t Reyes has talked to madrid already.

If he wants to go then get rid but make sure they get a decent amount for him.

Not sure about Ribery though ? Is he really that good ?

Laguna

I thought Ribery was a tidy enough midfielder, well, from what I saw of him playing for France in the World Cup, I don't feel he'd enhance the Arsenal midfield to be frank. I think what Arsenal need is a goalkeeper and a decent right back, I also feel they should have snapped up Andy Johnson from Crystal Palace as he would have been, in my opinion, the perfect foil for Henry.. oh well, I guess we'll just have to make do with the 'talents' of Adebayor instead..

Attractive Nun

I assume you mean a decent left back? Eboue and Lauren=wealth of riches at right back, and Touré can play there. I think Arsenal's squad is looking pretty good at the moment, and that's coming from a United fan. Llungberg, Gilberto, Fabregas, Hleb and Rosicky are 5 quality midfielders, and there seem to be some promising talents emerging, Diaby in particular. Up front, I really like Van Persie and obviously Henry, and Reyes is a fine backup if he stays. Adebayor is fairly crap but again, there's a few talents emerging there too (well, Theo).

The only place I see a long-term problem is Lehmann, but that needn't be this summer's concern. Clichy will be a great left back, Touré and Senderos will be a great central defense and Eboue will be a great right back. I think you'll lack the strength in depth to achieve much this season (especially if Reyes leaves), but I reckon this team will be as good as the double-winning team before Henry begins to decline.

Vokes

Was well impressed with Abedayor the other night and on other occasions ive seen him. He could well become important for Arsenal when trying to break down tough, stubborn defences.

AnCapaillMor

He's an extra option too, he's good in the air, which is something always thought we lacked up forward under wenger.

PHB

Arsenal are weak in defense at the start of the season with the injuries they have, I'm still shocked Wenger hasn't brought in some replacements, maybe he's waiting to see what happens with Cole.

Pepe LeFrits

The only position where I think Arsenal are seriously lacking is in goal, Almunia is not a good enough back-up to Lehmann. Other areas can look a little light but there are very promising youngsters coming through all over the place who may make the step up. The question is it worth bringing in established quality in the hope that they will lift Arsenal up to a level to challenge Chelsea when it will likely stifle the younger players at the club? We’ve been making quite a few transfer coups with young stars over the past few years and I think part of the reason they are coming to Arsenal in the first place is because they think they’ll get the chance to play here (Fabregas, Senderos, Walcott, Vela, Merida etc). Long term I think (and hope) that the growing pains the team is having recently will pay off.

Pepe LeFrits

Attractive Nun wrote:

I assume you mean a decent left back? Eboue and Lauren=wealth of riches at right back, and Touré can play there.

No, I think he means RB, at least I recall having an argument with someone who felt Arsenal were weak at RB, and considering he thinks Arsenal should have signed Andy Johnson, this is probably him...

Lauren is not a great RB but he is underrated and a consistent performer, Eboue is a little naive sometimes but is outstanding going forward, Kerrea Gilbert is a very good all-rounder (at loan at Cardiff at the mo), and then there's Hoyte and Toure who you mentioned that can play there. So frankly, I think the position is OK. Sure, Arsenal could try and throw money at a 'World Class' RB to improve the team, but you could say that about most of the 11 positions in the Arsenal team :rolleyes:

gosplan

sorry guys, off transfer talk for a min but a question.

What's Arsenals starting defence for people taking into account the injury to Senderos and Clichy and impending departure of Cole?

Pepe, I saw on the predictins page you have high hopes for Dijourou. Do you think he'll start ahead of Cygan??

I'd go

Eboue/Toure/Cygan/Flamini but not sure what Wenger will do. I wouldn't be worried about including Dijourou though as he's good and his inexperience will be aountered by the fact that we're gonna score an awful lot of goals this year.

gosplan

gosplan wrote:

Pepe, I saw on the predictins page you have high hopes for Dijourou. Do you think he'll start ahead of Cygan??

Pepes high hopes would be justified. Djourou is very, very fast and as described on arsenal.com has a fantastic ability to read the game. i would definately start him anyway.

wardie

I agree,

It will be Toure and Djourou to start with. If Djourou plays well then it will be interesting to see if Senderos comes straight back in ??

Who will start left full though ? Flamini ? Hoyte ? I would think Flamini until Glichy comes back, he will hardly want to stay there rather than midfield.

Pepe LeFrits

Numerous reports this morning that the Cole deal is dead because David Dein refuses to budge from his £25m valuation. I’m pleased I must say. Will Abramovich really let the whole deal collapse over (if reports are correct) £1m? It’s spare change to him. I’m not sure what alternatives Chelsea have, with Lyon apparently wanting £21m for Eric Abidal.

There’s also numerous reports that Reyes is very close to his move to Real, with Baptista coming the opposite direction a strong possibility. I think that would be a good deal for both clubs at this stage. If he does go I’ll be very sad to see Jose leave, he’s a wonderfully talented player and a nice guy and I hope he’ll fulfil his promise wherever he goes. It’ll be interesting to see if Baptista comes the opposite direction. Swap deals rarely ever happen, but this might be a rare case as it might suit both parties. If he is signed it’ll leave a strike force of Henry, Van Persie, Adebayor and Baptista, (with Aliadiere, Lupoli, Walcott and Bendtner as backup) which would be as good if not better than any in the league. He could play in an attacking midfield role also, which could be very useful away from home where Arsenal seriously struggled to score goals last season.

jank

As i said before Im not too bothered about Reyes leaving. I remember that when he signed I was over the moon. The highlight of that season for me was Reyes scoring 2 goals in the space of a few minutes against chelsea...

Unfortunatly his heart was never there.. He showed some glimpses of his talent here and there but he was never going to do it in england. Too tough for him
He still cant speak english FFS!
So good luck to him and with baptisita maybe coming the other way then this may be a very good move for Arsenal.
There is plenty of talent in the club at the moment. A bit of muscle and steel is needed.

gandalf

Jaysus I'd be delighted if Arsenal get Baptista if the Reyes transfer goes through, exactly what is needed in Midfield and should suit both players.

AnCapaillMor

jank wrote:

Unfortunatly his heart was never there.. He showed some glimpses of his talent here and there but he was never going to do it in england. Too tough for him
He still cant speak english FFS!
So good luck to him and with baptisita maybe coming the other way then this may be a very good move for Arsenal.
There is plenty of talent in the club at the moment. A bit of muscle and steel is needed.

remember reading before we signed him that he was'nt the brightest lad and would have severe problems learning english. Even heard his accent was so bad that spanish players had trouble understanding. Sad to see him go, and i'll gurantee he'll be a hit in spain.

As for transfers we'd want to get our asses in gear. Yayas gone to moaco.

Attractive Nun

Baptista would be a great signing, although for some reason I don't see it happening. Maybe Gilberto can be of assistance.

Pepe LeFrits

Nick Bendtner scored on his international debut last night as Denmark beat Poland 2-0. At 18 he's the youngest player to play for Denmark since Laudrup in '87. If he turns out to be anything like as good I'll be very pleased! His star is certainly getting brighter.

MBC

Yeah he looks to be very good, scored a good goal for Birmingham on his debut, and played the full 90mins againist Stoke, things are looking really bright for this kid.

jank

Im getting worried now.

All our Rivals have strengthened their teams apart from Arsenal.
Jesus Wenger a little transfer activity would not be so bad would it!