The Beautiful Groan

I’ve tried for some time to ignore all the transfer rumours surrounding the club, but can do so no longer. There are three games left in the season, but there might as well not be, as every current Arsenal story concerns the uncertain futures of a few key players.

Before we start on those, however, let’s get one thing straight. Adebayor is not leaving, no matter what his incredibly unhelpful agent, Vincenzo Morabito, claims. I hate agents, I really do.

But there are two whose futures are in serious doubt. The first is of course Flamini, whose contract expires in a little over two months and who, according to Wenger, has to make his final decision by the end of April. So in a week, we should know. Something tells me May will arrive and we’ll all still be in the dark. We’ve been here before.

There is no doubt that the fans, Wenger and the rest of the players want Flamini to stay. Wenger also claims that Flamini himself wants to stay. The general consensus is that only wage demands are stopping the deal, but that in itself seems odd - a fair offer would be around the 50k mark, which is surely a massive hike on his current earnings. And with him established as a first teamer and knocking on the door of the French national team, it would seem a dangerous time to switch clubs.

There are so many examples of players moving on from Arsenal and seeing their careers fade, possibly the saddest being Henry, whose difficult season continues and will more than likely miss tomorrow night’s game with United. No matter how much his plight makes Wenger’s decision to sell last summer look spot on, it gives me no pleasure to see him suffer out in Spain.

While everyone wants Flamini to stay, Hleb divides opinion. Undoubtedly a wonderful footballer, he can also be the most frustrating player at the club at times (including Eboue) when his inch perfect passes stray off course. He is a player who plays with no margin for error, making either the perfect pass or giving the ball away.

For me, that isn’t the problem though - he sets up an adequate number of goals and you can tell his value to the team by how much he is missed when injured. The main issue with Hleb is his goalscoring, or lack of it. He netted on the first day of the season, and in the first couple of months seemed to have added the facet to his game. But no more have been added to his tally, and not because of bad luck or good saves, but because he steadfastly refuses to shoot. That is what is so frustrating about the man, his passing up of wonderful opportunities trying to be too clever.

As I said, he divides opinion. Arseblogger wrote a good piece on him this morning, essentially recognising his worth but also that if he was to leave, now might be the time to cash in, before his contract comes towards an end. I would worry if we got rid of him at the point, though. Although he doesn’t like playing on the wing, his ability to fill in there gives him a versatility that can be so important when your squad is as stretched as ours has been this season.

If we sold him, we’d need to sign two midfielders. I think we already need a winger, but his departure might require the arrival of a goalscoring support striker, someone who can play at the head of a five man midfield and provide a genuine goal threat. I would hold great concerns if Wenger sold Hleb and didn’t act to replace him adequately - I just don’t see who we have that could fill his roles, the permanently injured Rosicky aside.

The challenge is certainly to keep the squad together this summer - they are on the rise. Let’s hope they recognise that and stay.

Transfer talk never stops in the papers, where journalists seem to pick a random name from one basket and a random club from another, making a headline with a fanciful price tag to boot. But over the last couple of days it has gone past amusing to just plain ridiculous.

Yesterday Arsenal ‘were linked’ (which is paper talk for any transfer story that doesn’t involve quotes, facts or any basis in reality) with Egyptian keeper Essam El Hadary. While the African Cup of Nations showed us that he’s quite a talent, he is also 36 years old, roughly twice the age of Wenger’s typical signings. To make matters more insane, the Mail actually claim that Arsenal ‘will be offering 15m’.

All this led to the quote of the day, from his club director Adil Al-Qaeyi, who said:

“If such a bid is tabled, we will surely consider it.”

I bet you would. 15m for a 36 year old? What have these ‘journalists’ been smoking?

I thought it was a one off. But today, the Mail (yes, them again) claimed that we’ll be signing Lilliam Thuram in the summer, purely because he and Arsene Wenger have a good relationship. How old is Thuram? You’ve guessed it, 36.

The way I see it, journalists have a few options. They can:

a) Try to be factual, and write for the Guardian

b) Talk complete nonsense, and work for the Sun or the Mirror

c) Talk complete nonsense, but pretend to be respectable by working for the Telegraph, or

d) Shout about Johnny Foreigner and work for the Mail.

But I actually thought those who made up the ridiculous transfer rumours involving ‘a friend’ or ’a source close to the club’ considered that they’ve have to be at least partly realistic, so that the dumbest of fans would be taken in. I don’t even think a six year old would believe this tripe.

In other news, Barcelona want Wenger. Yeah, well, I want a big house in Barbados. We can all dream.

Finally, Cesc is negotiating a new contract. In more shoddy reporting, most media outlets are claiming that he will be extending his stay, even though the quotes just suggest he’s getting a pay rise.

Honestly, how do journalists get away with being so appalling?

Sometimes a week without a match is welcome for tired legs to recuperate. Sometimes the break allows players to refocus, especially after a busy Christmas break. But sometimes it just gets in the way of a reaction.

With so many players rested for the Birmingham draw since New Year’s Day, all these players want to do is get back out on the field and prove the doubters wrong, so it’s frustrating to be waiting a few more days. On the other hand, perhaps it’s my eternal optimism, but you get the impression that after a run of poor form, someone is going to get an absolute pasting at the hands of this Arsenal side, and with a leaky defence and an inability to hang on to decent starts, Fulham are ripe for the taking.

Fabregas and Hleb especially are due goals, but it’d be churlish to criticise either given their early season form. Adebayor still leaves some fans unconvinced despite his excellent goal return, I suppose that’s the curse of following Henry as the main man up front, particularly with Van Persie’s continual injury problems.

Elsewhere, after one of the smoothest settling in periods in Arsenal history, Bacary Sagna (fresh from being repeatedly called Willy Sagna by Sky’s moronic commentary team against Spurs, who confused him with an entirely different player) showed his maturity in an interview with Arsenal TV Online:

“Playing for Arsenal is fantastic. I try to do better game after game and I would like to thank everyone who has helped me adapt.”

“It is different for a forward because defenders are so hard on them, for me it was easier.”

“I have always had a fighting spirit and wanted to play for a great team. Now I am playing for Arsenal and want to show what I can do.”

And he is showing us exactly what he can do, with a series of consistently excellent performances this season. Nice work sir.

Diarra’s transfer to Portsmouth still appears to be going ahead, and if he’s happier being a major player in an average team rather than fighting for his place in a top one, then he isn’t ever going to make it at the top level. He’s already gone through two of the top four.

It just strikes me that, even by footballer’s standards, his vision is painfully myopic. He doesn’t want to put his international place at risk before the European Championships, but is instead willing to pull his club career apart. He’s 23, with perhaps five major international tournaments left. And how many Pompey games with the French coach see?

I think we all know Diarra’s making a big mistake, but if that’s his attitude, he’s probably best elsewhere.

With only FA Cup replays taking place this week, football itself takes a backseat to the January tradition of wild speculation over potential transfers. While most are well wide of the mark, one move that is getting closer by the hour is that of Lassana Diarra, poised to make the switch to Portsmouth.

With Diarra only arriving at the club a little over four months ago, and spending most of his time complaining about a perceived lack of first team action, not many fans will be sad to see him go, especially as it appears we’ll make a tidy profit on the 2m he cost from Chelsea.

The concern for many is not the gap that Diarra leaves behind, but the potential hole that Flamini carves in the midfield if he decides not to sign a new contract and moves on in the summer. With Diarra his obvious replacement, it would transform a position of strength into one looking dangerously short of options.

But Diarra just wants first team football (apparently without earning it). If Wenger thought Flamini might move on, he could easily dangle the carrot in front of Diarra that with Gilberto aging and possibly also leaving, he’d be given the chance to play on a regular basis. Flamini himself was promised less last season and was convinced to stay.

That Diarra is so intent on quitting the club suggests that no such offer has been made, that Wenger cannot assure him of any regular position in the side, which suggests that he is fully confident that Flamini will continue in his central berth next season and beyond. It would make little sense for him to move on now that he has established himself for the first time - he is in his element now and probably isn’t daft enough to think the grass is greener elsewhere.

Moreover, if Wenger was less than sure on Flamini’s future, I just don’t think he’d let Diarra go this soon.

Elsewhere, we’re apparently signing a whole host of young players, following the journalistic tradition of finding some supposedly talented kid playing in the depths of nowhere, and linking him with Arsenal.

The most likely is Luke Freeman, Gillingham’s 15 year old who came on in their recent FA Cup game, as talks have been confirmed between the two clubs, but elsewhere, we are linked with another young keeper, Fabricio, a Spanish youth international playing for Deportivo’s B team and Andre Ayew, Marseille’s Ghanian left winger, in a classic story which relies entirely on ‘a source close to the player’.

So we can rule that one out then.

The Mirror also report that we have completed the signing of Vyacheslav Dmitriev, a 17 year old Russian defender, who should arrive in the summer. Usually these are confirmed, so we will wait and see, especially with the Mirror not exactly being the most reliable source.

So that’s four signings in the pipeline today, who’ll be on the list tomorrow?

After four consecutive posts about England, it’s high time we got back to important matters around here.

The Premiership returns today, with Wigan coming to the Emirates still managerless, as Steve Bruce’s move has been delayed due to some financial wrangling. They’ll face a weakened Arsenal side, shorn of Fabregas, Flamini, Diaby and Hleb in midfield, while Gilberto has to be a doubt after returning from Brazil only last night.

The likelihood of the World Cup winner departing either in January or the summer seems to be on the rise, after his comments regarding a potential move to Juventus. While not demanding to leave, he knows that he is coming towards the end of his career at the highest level, and needs to be playing regularly.

“Juve officials must know that I don’t want to have a war with Arsenal. If they want me, they must talk with my club and get into serious negotiations.

“I feel disposed towards moving to Italy.”

There is no doubting that the big man is unhappy about his lack of first team action this season, especially after having such a fine campaign last year, but he is a model professional, I imagine he is going about this in the best possible way, by talking to Wenger in private and working hard and training.

If his chances remain so limited though, he will probably move on, but without complaining, and almost definitely not in January. His experience could be vital in the second half of the season, even more so if we are still fighting on a couple of fronts.

Van Persie is another for whom today’s match is too early, and with Champions League qualification already assured he won’t travel to Spain either.

Elsewhere, 20 year old Congo striker Tresor Mputu has impressed on his trial at the club, although Wenger himself has yet to see him in action. I say he’s 20, as the reports suggest as such, but as with many African imports, reports vary, with his Wikipedia entry, amongst others, claiming he’ll turn 22 in a fortnight.

Either way, he is older than Bendtner and Walcott, so would surely only be signed if he was likely to challenge for a first team position in the coming years, alongside these prospects. We’ll keep an eye on this over the coming days.

Fingers crossed for a good result this afternoon, and as I speak (type) Anelka’s just scored against United. It would make a change for Bolton not to do their usual rolling over trick whenever Ferguson and co come into town.

With just over six weeks to go before the January transfer window opens, Arsene Wenger has been in a typically secretive mood:

“I don’t think I will get anybody in but if I get one opportunity in one area then I will not neglect it.”

As usual, this will be interpreted in a number of ways. Does he mean there is one area in particular he would like to strengthen? Does he mean he may strengthen an area, but probably only one, and he hasn’t decided which yet?

Or, as is most likely, is he just not telling us anything?

In January 2006, Wenger said he ‘might’ buy one player. One became three with the spending bringing in Adebayor, Diaby and Walcott.

Last summer, he said he might buy one ’super player’, and then again, his actions did not match his words, simply tinkering with his squad to find a balance.

So not too much can be read into these statements. I suspect that purchases are not key on his mind right now, but if the right player came along for the right price, he’d move. Which means we can predict all we like, but his transfer dealings will remain secret until they are complete, as usual.

Jens Lehmann is being less deflective about his future plans, making it clear that if he isn’t seeing action by Christmas, he may have to move on:

“Given what the Germany coach says, I will have to see how things are in December.”

“I definitely want to play at Euro 2008. Playing there has always been my aim.”

And that’s exactly what I expect to happen. If he isn’t back in the side by Christmas, which looks unlikely given Almunia’s decent form, then he’ll be off in January. I have no doubt he’ll go in the summer regardless, perhaps even to retire, so he might as well leave and get some football while he can.

And the once proud keeper doesn’t even mind dropping down the leagues:

“The Bundesliga is always attractive and is an option, and maybe the German second division is too.”

Now, last I saw, the bottom half of the Bundesliga was pretty rubbish. I can only imagine the standard once you drop down a league, and I’m not sure that’s what Joachim Low had in mind.

It’s Reading away tonight, in a rare Monday night match, and plenty of players are well rested, nine days after their last match. It is unlikely to be as one-sided as the 4-0 drubbing dished out last season, and with Reading on a three game home winning streak, it won’t be as easy as some believe.

That said, a victory is important to regain the top spot, and with Chelsea dropping more points over the weekend the thoughts of a two horse race akin to a few years back start to return.

Until tomorrow.

A 3-0 win over the Turks last night was, by all accounts, an excellent workout for many of the players, with the most notable performers being Van Persie, Adebayor, Walcott and Denilson, the first three of which will certainly be expected to play prominent roles this season.

Not a lot was seen of Sagna, who played a half against a side not likely to trouble him too much, and da Silva, who played the last twenty and showed a few neat touches and a potential ability to provide assists as well as continue his well known scoring record.

Potentially more revealing was the news of the signings of two more South American starlets, Angel Di Maria and Pedro Silva (is the name Silva a South American equivalent of Smith or something - how many do we want?), as revealed by Salamanca, who the pair are apparently joining on loan in order to get their passports sorted, in much the same way as Carlos Vela, who is due to get his in January.

Pedro can play anywhere up the left channel, while Di Maria has been starring in the Under 20 World Championships for Argentina. The question this poses is - does Wenger buy starlets out of habit, or is he planning on extending his contract? If this were his last season with Arsenal he’d never be able to utilise these players, and while I imagine he wants to look after the club in the long term even if not here, I can’t help but think this is an indication that he sees his work as unfinished.

I’m sure many will be frustrated at the signing of more youths, but in reality this does not affect potential first team signings, all this youth policy guarantees is that every year there are players capable of making the step up to become first team regulars. Last season Clichy was the main demonstration of the success of this approach, while many more in the Carling Cup especially showed that if required, they could do the job. It is important to be able to improve the squad without buying - it provides a quicker growth of squad strength.

Some will succeed, some will go quietly, and some will leave moaning that they never got the chance. But the point is with enough raw talent in the youth squads, the long term future of the team is much more assured.

And how much more satisfying is it when you get a crisis in one position and you can bring in a starlet who turns out to be pretty darned good than do a Chelsea and cry that when you’ve lost two centre backs you’ve got no-one left despite spending sixteen trillion pounds and selling two of your centre halves in the summer?

Finally, Stan Kroenke gave his clearest indication yet that he wants to step up his takeover plans, with a representative saying he wants to meet the rest of the board as soon as possible. It’s time, I guess. I feel a certain inevitability about this, and I’m still extremely uncomfortable about it. We’ll see.

Have a good weekend.

One of the more public Arsenal signings was finally confirmed yesterday when Bacary Sagna (not Bakari, or Bakary, apparently) signed on the dotted line for a fee reported to be anywhere from 6m to 7.5m, which is quite a price for a position in which two players who have just signed long terms deal play.

A lot of eyes will be on the Barnet friendly tomorrow to see where the puzzle clicks together - will Eboue be pushed forward? Is he now a reserve? Is Hoyte now Clichy’s understudy at his weaker position of left back? Is he in fact completely out of favour? Or are there other plans for the dynamic new Frenchman?

It all makes for an interesting debate, but can you name another team in the Premiership with such a flexible defence? It seems most of them can play in multiple positions across the back, which is great for covering injuries although a settled back four will have to be established. If, as has been suggested, Sagna is more in the Lauren mould than Eboue, then he’d be most welcome, especially if he did something like this:

A winger is now the only essential signing, while any other additions would be simply to improve the quality of what is there already, which I can only assume is the rationale behind the Sagna deal.

To add to the feelgood, Cesc has again confirmed he is staying, although he also claims Real have been in talks with him, which as Arseblog points out, is completely illegal unless Arsenal gave them permission, which they plainly didn’t.

In other, aren’t you glad we have nothing to do with the Tevez nonsense?

You’ve got to love Arsene Wenger’s methods. Off on holiday, while all sorts of speculation goes on about which striker he’ll be signing, and then he comes back, and quick as a flash, he swoops.

Tevez? No. Martins? No. Anelka, then? No. Not Owen? No.

Eduardo da Silva.

It’s classic Wenger - while we all foolishly speculate about which big name he’ll bring in, he signs someone we weren’t expecting and many of us know little about.

And also, like many Wenger signings, you delve under the covers and realise that there might just be some serious substance to this one. Sure, the Croatian league isn’t exactly up there in competitive stakes, but scoring 34 goals in 32 games last season can’t be bad, surely?

At a higher level, he’s got 7 goals in 12 internationals, and having grown up in Brazil, might be as silky skilled at Julio Baptista. Oh.

He comes to London having already scored at the Emirates (in a Champions League qualifier for Zagreb), and past Paul Robinson (for Croatia). All good practice.

Here’s hoping Wenger’s pulled another rabbit out of the hat. Coming from the Croatian league, he’s unlikely to have cost more than 4 million.

Happy Monday. 

So the word on the blogs this morning is that Florent Malouda will be joining Arsenal in the next few days. No concrete quotes as yet, so don’t hold your breath, but I for one would be very happy if it were true. Approaching 27, he would be very experienced for a Wenger signing.

Elsewhere, the papers are still insisting Wenger will leave, because he’s got a year left and DD’s gone (where have we heard that before?), Henry’s off because the Spanish press never talk tosh, and Cesc is off because although he wants to go to Spain at some point, that wouldn’t make a good story, so the tabloids have to say it’s now. Plus he’s loyal to Wenger, and of course we all know he’s leaving.

*sigh*

In other news, the Mirror are claiming that Birmingham want Djourou on a season-long loan. Given that Toure will miss some of the season because of the African Nations Cup, I can’t imagine why someone on the brink of the first team would be allowed to be loaned out.

And that’s it for today.