Rooney, Fellaini and Maths

Alright, so we are nearly at the end of the week and while I’ve only had to work three days this week, I’m glad the weekend is here so I can get it my drink on like the Romans did! Probably not quite the Romans as getting smashed on red wine never ends well and I don’t think the Romans had bourbon or tequila.

As the week draws to a close there’s not much in the way of Higuain news. I’m not too worried, I think it’s definitely going to happen but I would prefer it to be sooner rather than later to avoid what happened last season and drag things out.

On the subject on additional signings I had a good chat with a friend about Cesar. Arsenal were linked with him before he went to QPR and now they’re relegated he would be one of the names you’d expect to leave. There have been a few whispers about us and him again but not too much in the way of us seriously looking for a keeper.

Cesar is an excellent shot stopper but has also sometimes raised questions about his decision making which ticks all the boxes in an Arsenal keeper. The problem I can see is where does he slot in? Szczesny had a dip but came back to form and has been our no. 1. If Cesar came in would that still be the case? Bring him in for Szcesny to learn from is an excellent idea as he’s been around a long time and been in the biggest of games that football has to offer. Having said that would he be happy with that? He could get into pretty much any first team on his credentials but could also demand quite a wage because of that. Whilst it’s important to have competition for places to raise people’s game we don’t want to be paying over the odds for someone that’s going to sit on the bench.

We’ve had this problem with the likes of Arshavin, Bendtner, Chamakh, Djourou, Park etc. Thankfully we seem to be off loading a few of those players on permanent deals and a few on loans. Which brings me nicely to a very talked about subject, Rooney. I’ve not really been a fan of the idea of him coming to Arsenal especially on £225k a week. However, if we could off load all of those players on decent wages that aren’t even on the bench then why not splash a bit on Rooney?

It’s been reported that Fabianski, Bendtner, Park, Chamakh, Denilson, Santos, Arshavin and Squillaci are on a combined £458k a week. Now if we could sell 5 of those then we wouldn’t really be spending any more on Rooney’s wages. Whichever side of the fence you sit on regarding Rooney’s links to Arsenal it’s pretty straight forward that he is better than all over them combined. That is what tips it for me. If we could do it that way I’d gladly stump up the reported £25m it would cost and bring him in. If you think it about it that way then we’d still be saving money on wages if we got rid of them all and added Fellaini to the squad on his reported £100k a week. Now Arshavin Squillaci and Denilson are already off that list with Bendtner and Djourou seemingly next. Park, Chamakh and Squillaci to follow? We can only hope.

There’s a lot of talk on some other less high profile players other than Cesar, Rooney and Fellaini which is best covered by LadyArse so check out her site via the link to get the updates on who else is being touted our way.

I doubt there will be a blog tomorrow due to the end of weeks festivities but we’ll see, maybe it will start off with an Arseblog created Boilk.

Until then.

Nearly but not quite

So I return from France with nothing much changed on a football front.  Not that I expected much different, but one can hope.

The Higuain deal looks pretty much all but singed. Real stalling, waiting for the new manager to come in. Why? I have no idea. Higuain has made it quite clear he wants to leave the club seem quite content with him leaving for a decent fee. Arsenal are willing to pay a decent fee and it’s smiles all round. Quite what Carlo Ancelotte is going to say/do I have no idea. Anyway reports are that at around 1100 this morning Ancelotte signed his contract so Higuain should be in an Arsenal shirt sooner rather than later.

The Higuain deal is pretty much the signing that has been a cert from the get go. Quite what else we have on the go is still a relative mystery. Talk of Fellaini and Ronney is hotting up again, although the rumours are contradicting each other. Some state that we are willing and able to match Rooney’s reported salary of £225k a week but can’t afford Fellaini for around £100k a week.

I’m not sure how much truth is in either of them. Fellaini following Arteta to Arsenal seems likely, it’s an obvious improvement in salary and champions league football but if it was me I wouldn’t be going as high as his reported release clause of £25m. Around the £15m would be a good deal and if it’s something he wants then we shouldn’t have to break the bank for him. Everton won’t want to let him go; he’s been one of their best players for a couple of seasons now. If we don’t go for him I can see one of the other top 5/6 getting him and him scoring against us. Then all the media will be about why didn’t Arsene sign him when he had the chance?

Rooney on the other hand I really can’t see happening. I know there’s been a lot reported about our new financial power that we can afford to pay players a bit more. Higuain being a prime example with his weekly wages being reported between £130k-£150k, and £225k is still a massive leap. To be honest T don’t think he’s worth it. He’s shown that he can cause issues on an off the field. Do we want to get ourselves in a position where we then need to offload him at a loss?

I would like to see us sign another striker maybe a youngster of about 18-20 just as a bit of back up. I still think Giroud has a place and something to offer he had a good first season where we were always going to be judgmental on him after who he was replacing. I think we can be thankful that we have Walcott, Podolski, Cazrola all who should be able to bag us at least 30 goals between them.

There’s still a little chatter about Wanyama who I would like to see us sign if we can get a good deal. I think he could be a good one for the future and again i wouldn’t want to miss out on him for a rival to snap him up. There’s some chatter about Djourou possibly getting a move to Germany which would be good if we could get that done as a permanent move. If I’m honest he’s probably the highest player up our pecking order to go this summer which is a great thing that we can hang on to who we need and hopefully shift on those no longer needed.

Until next time

Same old, Same old

Today brings little in the way of new news. On a personal note I'm off to France for the weekend so blogging will take a break for a few days. Unless I find myself in the PSG board room with a file left on the table labelled "Transfers".

There has been reports that personal terms have been agreed with Higuain wages of £130k a week has been widely spread and The Daily Mail reporting £150k a week. However, according to LadyArse on twitter one of Higuain's agents is denying any personal terms have been agreed. So were pretty much the same as we have been for weeks in terms of progress towards his capture.

There's a little bit of talk about Sagna staying with us. At the tail end of last season there was talk about him only having one year left on his contract and this wasn't met with the same alarm as perhaps Walcott's situation.

It can be widely agreed that this hasn't been Sagna's finest season with Arsenal. He's gone through two broken legs and come out the other side. If I'm honest I didn't quite understand why Jenkinson was dropped just because Sagna was fit again. I know Jenkinson is still a bit raw and not the finished article but I'm a big fan of his. He can only improve and get better if he's playing regularly.

Arseblog makes the valid point that if he left now we would get a couple of million for him probably from PSG who has been reported to be interested in him. However, if we did that we would have to replace him. That's not really where we want to be spending our money this summer. Whilst I like Jenkinson he's not the finished product and we need backup there. Sagna could be the back up for a season. If we went out to sign someone it would be ridiculous to sign a youngster considering that's what we have in Jenkinson and why sign an experienced player just to stunt Jenkinson for another season?

At this point I should point out that I do suffer slightly from getting too attached to some players in wanting them to do well at Arsenal. I want them to be better and that sometimes skews my judgement slightly.

There are a few little bits floating around that we've pulled out of the running for Ashley Williams as £10m was too high. Just as well as he would be at the bottom of the pile of the centre backs we have. Usmanov has stated that Rooney and Arsenal would be good for each other. There are some sublimely ridiculous reports that we were interested in Andy Carrol. The only way I can see this being true is if someone came up to Arsene saying "I bet you can't guess how much Andy Carrol is going for" and his reply is "How much is Andy Carrol going for?"

If you're still not content with hyping yourself up with rumours you may remember reading in my previous blog about me talking about Lewandowski. I found this on NewsNow about Podolski saying he would fit in well at Arsenal. Not that I think it will happen I just like the fact that me and Podolski are on the same wave length.

Have a good weekend everybody and wait for the reports from PSG.

Arsenal fixtures

Premier League fixtures

Arsenal v Aston Villa Sat 17 Aug
Fulham v Arsenal Sat 24 Aug
Arsenal v Tottenham Sat 31 Aug

September 2013
Sunderland v Arsenal Sat 14 Sep
Arsenal v Stoke Sat 21 Sep
Swansea v Arsenal Sat 28 Sep

October 2013

West Brom v Arsenal Sat 5 Oct
Arsenal v Norwich Sat 19 Oct
Crystal Palace v Arsenal Sat 26 Oct

November 2013

Arsenal v Liverpool Sat 2 Nov
Man Utd v Arsenal Sat 9 Nov
Arsenal v Southampton Sat 23 Nov 
Cardiff v Arsenal Sat 30 Nov

December 2013

Arsenal v Hull Tue 3 Dec 19:45
Arsenal v Everton Sat 7 Dec
Man City v Arsenal Sat 14 Dec
Arsenal v Chelsea Sat 21 Dec
West Ham v Arsenal Thu 26 Dec
Newcastle v Arsenal Sat 28 Dec

January 2014

Arsenal v Cardiff Wed 1 Jan
Aston Villa v Arsenal Sat 11 Jan
Arsenal v Fulham Sat 18 Jan
Southampton v Arsenal Tue 28 Jan 19:45
February 2014

Arsenal v Crystal Palace Sat 1 Feb
Liverpool v Arsenal Sat 8 Feb
Arsenal v Man Utd Tue 11 Feb 19:45
Arsenal v Sunderland Sat 22 Feb

March 2014

Stoke v Arsenal Sat 1 Mar
Arsenal v Swansea Sat 8 Mar
Tottenham v Arsenal Sat 15 Mar
Chelsea v Arsenal Sat 22 Mar
Arsenal v Man City Sat 29 Mar

April 2014

Everton v Arsenal Sat 5 Apr
Arsenal v West Ham Sat 12 Apr
Hull v Arsenal Sat 19 Apr
Arsenal v Newcastle Sat 26 Apr

May 2014

Arsenal v West Brom Sat 3 May
Norwich v Arsenal Sun 11 May

Provided by bbc sport

Dates may change from Saturdays to Sundays and depending on cup runs

Wry Smiles

So today brings about the same excitement in football news as the past few days. None.

There's still the same names spewing out the rumour mill so no change there. One that caught my eye was that Arsenal and Sp*rs might be in for Vydra. Not surprising after he's had a good season at Watford in the the championship. This is the kind of player we are usually linked with; someone that's still quite untested, young, a bit of a gamble. The fee has been reported at around £8m but Udinese are unwilling to sell. Not surprising.

One thing that brought around a wry smile is a thought mused by arseblog. If it's true that Arsenal are edging out the competition for Higuain by offering the fee in one lump sum, then this could be because Real Madrid have quite a serious eye on Bale. With his fee reported to be anything from £65m-£85m then you could see why they would need some cash instantly. If they were to approach Sp*rs I don't expect they will make it easy for anyone to poach their best player.

Now imagine that it was our upfront fee that gave Madrid the spending power to buy Bale. That's what brings the smile to my face.
I even had the thought in the shower, what if they were £5m short? Wenger could say something like "who you got for £5m?" If it was me i'd do it. I'm sure we could get someone decent out of it.

The fixtures for the new season will be released at 0900 tomorrow which should bring about some kind of excitement. Fergie's not around to moan about how hard it is on United so that will be a welcome change.

Another date for your diary is August 9th.The draw for the fourth qualifying round round will take place on and we only have some of the details right now. But here is what we know:

• Arsenal will enter in the fourth qualifying round, which is split into two sections: one for champions and one for non-champions. We will be in the non-champions section

• Arsenal will be seeded, meaning we cannot face any other seeded team

• Confirmed seeded teams: Arsenal, AC Milan and Schalke

• Should they progress through the third qualifying round, Zenit St Petersburg and Lyon will also be seeded

• Arsenal will face one of the five unseeded teams to make it through the third qualifying round

• Unseeded teams: PSV Eindhoven, Metalist Kharkiv, Fenerbahce, Real Sociedad, Pacos de Ferreira, PAOK Thessaloniki, FC Salzburg, FC Nordjaelland, Grasshoppers Zurich, Zulte Waregem.

If you are a bit older than me then you will remember Geoff Strong who sadly passed away. I'm too young to remember him but Goonerholic does a really nice article on him.

Silly Season Continues

Good morning all,

It’s Monday morning and the start of a brand new week. For some that will be met with groans of “5 days to go until the weekend”. For others that will be a welcome sight. Not sure who those people are but I’m sure there will be some somewhere.

For me without the league the weekends just aren’t the same. I’m a huge sports fan but my weekends feel slightly empty without the nervousness I’ve felt every weekend throughout last season.

There’s not been a lot of change in the way of silly season and who the club have been linked with. A little bit coming out that apparently the club are after Nani from united. I think this falls in the same category as the Rooney rumours. From the players point of view I can understand the links away from the club in order to get first team football, but being linked to Arsenal baffles me. We have so many wide players that they’re arguing to play as a striker and so many midfielders that were pushing them out wide to fit them all in. As we’ve seen with Cazrola.

This all smells a bit too much like an agent trying to tout his product. Link him with a club which has been widely reported to be busy in the market and maybe drum up a bit of competition and interest from others. No harm in that and not bothered by it until someone gets all irate about it taking it seriously.

There’s also a little more about Koscielny being linked with a mover to Barca with figures around the £9m mark. Again, don’t be tempted to read too much into this. Papers will quote that he has said he wants a move away to win trophies but again this is taking part of what he said and spinning it around out of context. He has come out saying he is happy with no desire to leave but as I’ve said before, that doesn’t sell articles. I can’t see us off loading what came to be our best defender last year, especially for less than we paid for him.

I mused a thought yesterday about how we are reported to be making a record breaking bid of £25m for Higiaun yet Lewandowski has been reported to be valued for the same amount but no links have been made with Arsenal. I’m sure there’s more to it than the value of a player and how much a club has to spend and I’m not naive enough to think there isn’t a whole world of points why he hasn’t been linked with Arsenal but he fits our profile quite well of what we’re looking for. With reports saying he will stay for another year and go to Bayern Munich on a free next summer sounds t me like United have cooled their interest and it’s not like they need another striker at the moment anyway. Maybe Szczesny might have a word with him on his stag do but I very much doubt it.

That’s it from me today. I'll just leave with over the weekend we had the news of a new chairman coming in and Peter Hill-Wood retiring for health reasons. A man that has done a great deal for the club, I wish him a happy and relaxing retirement. Ashburton Grove puts it the best that there is little known about the man coming in Sir Chips Kewsick, but let’s hope he’s not another Silent Stan.

The first blog

As this is my first ever blog I have no idea really how to start this so I'm just going to dive straight in.
I read a lot about Arsenal FC and through the news and other bloggers and as in every other walk of life I form my own opinion on what is written.

Some is entertaining, some is fact and a lot is speculation and utter drivel. Just take a quick browse of newsnow on any subject or team you follow and you'll see what I mean. From an Arsenal point of view this can be anything from Arsenal being linked with Rooney but also the press taking something a player/manager/owner says in public and twisting it to what they need to sell news papers. To which you can't blame them but surely it begs the question that surely you'd sell more papers if your stories were right?
I can't count the amount of articles I've read about players being linked to clubs and nothing happening or the player and agent coming out and saying its all a load of crap.

 This is the only profession that you could be so wrong and still keep your job. Imagine if a surgeon removed your kidney instead of an ingrown toe nail. you'd be pretty pissed off and the surgeon would probably lose their job, but not in the world of the press.

This brings me nicely to Arsenal's transfer business. As usual in the press the club has been linked with a variety of players in nearly all positions. This is nothing new but I think what is new is the calibre of those players. This isn't the first year that we have been linked with Jovetic but along side him there are quite strong links with Higuain. Before the links with Jovetic last year I'd never heard of him but I'd heard of Higuain. The same as when we signed Gervinho, I'd never heard of him until we were linked with him but I've heard of Fellaini. I know I should have considering he plays in the premier league but he's still a big name across Europe. We've also had links with Cesar, Fabregas, Michu, Rooney, Villa etc. all massive names across Europe with massive clubs after them along with Arsenal. Now I know a lot of these names will be pure speculation and bollocks like Rooney and Fabregas but my point (being made now) is that finally we are being linked with those big names instead of always looking in the bargain bin.

This comes at a time where the club has been speaking a lot about it finances with new deals coming in for the kit, the stadium, debt being paid off ahead of schedule and the club being able to off load some of the players that for the past couple of years have been nowhere near the first team. Which ever way you spin it the club has a bigger spending power this summer than it has for several years. We still don't have the spending power to match the wage demands that the likes of PSG, Man City, Chelsea and now Monaco, but is that necessarily a bad thing? The club has found it hard to shift players out on wages around the £60k/£70k mark, imagine if there on double or triple that. Look what happened with Tevez going AWOL. With those big clubs changing managers so frequently there will be frequent changes of players with each manager wanting to bring in his own and make a mark. Hopefully this could free up some bargains in the future but it's more likely to end up with players with real potential and talent going to waste.

Speaking of waste the club has at least cut loose on a few players such as Denilson and Arshavin but there's still a way to go with that. Chamakh, Santos, Bendtner, Squillaci, Djourou and Park are the main ones still to go. I wanted these gone so much last season but again the wages were probably in the way. Now at least we are getting there we just need to learn our lesson.

So with this starting off with no idea how to start it is finishing with the same premise. I'm just going to finish with while these changes in the quality of player we are being linked with is a welcome change, we need a change in transfer activity. Deals completed early for well known established players with our first team squad still there, come the start of the season.