Thursday, June 23, 2011

Where are the Transfers?

End of last season, there were big words coming from the Arsenal directors, and manager Arsene Wenger, that there going to very active in the transfer market. But it all seems like ending up in rumors.
   First there was Ricardo Alvarez, a young midfielder from Velez Sarsfield, seemed like the first signing of the season, but the news just died down. It seems he had some problems with his work permit. But then t was revealed that he has an italian passport. This lanky, tall midfielder is a strong tactician with good dribbling abilities and a decent strike rate. The asking price for this lad is a bit high though about 12 million euros. He might probably end up in the bench and be used as an impact substitute. So questions are to asked, whether its actually worth to pay so much for a first team substitute. Reports suggest that talks are still on to secure a contract with the gunners.
 
The tale of defenders
Arsenal' performances last season highlighted the weakness of their defense. With Vermaelen sidelined almost the entire season with injury, Koscielny and Djourou took over the mantle of defense, but they were good only in patches, same was with Squillaci. As the statistics showed, they lost many of the matches because of a poor defense. There was huge cry by the fans and reporters to strengthen our defense. Then surfaced the reports of Christopher Samba from Blackburn and Gary Cahill from Bolton as the front runners to resurrect the Arsenal defense.
Christopher Samba transfer was almost so good to be true, with the player agent confirming receiving and offer from Arsenal, but it seems to have hit a roadblock, with blackburn saying offer wasn't concrete. And the recent comments by Blackburn manager Steve Kean, seems they wont settle for a lesser amount. He said
   We don’t have to sell him(samba). He (samba)signed a five-year contract in the last window. He’s one of the players we would like keep.
Stories like this seriously make a dent on our goal to strengthen the defense. The Story has been similar with the transfer of Gary Cahill. The Bolton boss Owen Coyle has also made it clear that it will take a massive offer to prise Gary Cahill away from the Reebok, and Wenger is not exactly famous for paying over the odds, no matter how much he needs someone in the Arsenal team. Coyle said
 “There’s been a lot of interest – and you don’t have to be a genius to work out some of the top clubs in this country have been interested – but nothing concrete yet.
“It would take a lot of money. It is up to those clubs to put something firm to the chairman."
With both clubs playing hardball with Arsenal, the onus shifts to wenger, whether he'l go all out and spend for these top class defenders. At the end of the day both deals are hanging because of the price tag. It was a similar story last summer, when arsenal almost were sure of getting the services of Mark Schwarzer from fulham, but they couldn't agree to a contract at the penultimate moment of transfer season.
With Arsenal sulking and pondering over the thought of buying these two defenders, teams like Tottenham are sitting quietly like a vulture to hijack the arsenal move at the right moment.
Another news is the departure of left back Gael Clichy, which seems almost certain. Roma have offered £7m - £2m more than Liverpool and, according to The Sun, are prepared to pay the 25-year-old full-back £30m over five years. But France international Clichy would prefer a move to Anfield. Kenny Daglish, the liverpool manager seems to be desperate to bring Clichy to Anfield.


The never dying Fabregas story 
Every year, its the same story in the transfer market. Barcelona who never shy to make attempts to lure Cesc Fabregas to Spain, are not ashamed this season either. But this season, they have been a little subdued in their attempts to sign fabregas. Some reports suggest Barcelona are ready to give an exchange offer with Thiago plus surplus cash for securing Fabregas transfer. But as always the mystery remains.
After the whole Nasri saga, it seems like Arsenal board have reached a consensus with Samir Nasri, on his contract agreement and wages.
The midfielders who were linked to join Arsenal were the veteran Scott Parker from West Ham, Joey Barton from Newcastle (don't know why?), Adel Taarabt from QPR, again these are just rumors.

 The Strike Force
One Striker who has been consistently linked with Arsenal is Lille striker Gervinho. The Ivory Coast forward seems to have agreed personal terms this week and is ready to sign permanently for Arsenal on a four-year contract. The Times had reported Lille want £14m for the player, and Arsenal have agreed to pay £10.6m. Hopefully they can reach a consensus by the end of this week.
Another young English striker Peter Odemwingie has also been linked to Arsenal, after his father reported in the media that hes interested in joining the club. But contradictory reports have arose from the Birmingham Mail. West Brom technical director Dan Ashworth said
“Our aim is to retain our core players and try to strengthen our squad around them. I want to make it clear that Peter Odemwingie is not for sale and remains a key member of our squad.”
Eden hazard is another player linked to Arsenal. While Niklas Bendtner almost seems certain to leave arsenal. 

The Success tales
Among all the rumors, 19 year old defender Carl Jenkinson signed with Arsenal in an undisclosed fee from Charlton Athletic. Though his signing din't make us Arsenal fans scream with joy, but something is better than nothing. 

With the coming 2 weeks, there will be more clarity about who gets to wear the Arsenal shirt. Come on Wenger, get those transfers done. 



   

4 comments:

  1. The international window hasn't opened yet. So the only players we can sign before July 1st are Parker and Samba.
    Wait mate, its still early in the transfer market!

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  2. yea i agree.. but samba n cahill are quality buys.. these players shud be in our pockets, before the spuds make any attempt to steal our players..

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  3. But why would a player join Spuds? Unless he wants to team up with him jungle mates(Bale)

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  4. @shubham.. some things r difficult to explain..

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