We've got that, but the not the kind of speculation we wanted.
Denilson and Bendtner went out to the press, all guns blazing and announced that they wanted to leave the club for sure. I can't say that I wasn't relieved. The only problem is that not many clubs want Denilson and not many clubs like Bendtner's wage demands. I mean, look at him.
Cesc's been strongly tipped for a move to Barcelona but they say they won't pay more than £35m. What the hell, Cesc's worth a lot to Arsenal and he's managed to be creative and efficient throughout his Arsenal career, despite last season's injuries. In the end, the club's valuation stands and if other clubs want to buy a player, they'll have to meet the selling demands. Sandro Rossell says he won't be 'held ransom' for Cesc. Prick. We've valued Cesc at above £40m and you have to say that it isn't complete crap. Last season he scored 9 goals and has 17 assists to his name in spite of starting a mere 35 games compared to Wilshere's 49. A recent study showed that Cesc has made 60 assists in the last 5 years and that's the most among any player in the top 5 leagues in Europe. He came to Arsenal with quality and he's still quality. He hasn't played a season after a good summer's rest in a while and this is the first free summer he's had in a bit. After this season, he's going to be busy each summer with the Euro 2012, the Confederations Cup 2013 and the World Cup 2014. It would be near impossible to keep him for 4 more years but what I'm saying is that this is probably going to be his most productive season for a while. It makes sense to tell the Catalans to stick it and then send Cesc on a homecoming for a good profit next year. Cesc is an absolute professional and I can see him giving his all even if he stays this season. I hope that Barca sign Alexis Sanchez quickly. That would make Cesc way too expensive for them, even at £35m.
On the other hand, we've got a creative influence trying to leave. A certain French upstart thinks that after churning out consistent performances for six months you become a club's best player. It's quite disgusting, really. He wants pay parity with Cesc but masks his reason for turning down the club's contract offers with the platitudinous '(Insert player name) would like to sign only after transfer market assurances are made.). Chelsea, Man City and United are looking to splash £20m on him. I dunno what Wenger has in mind but I'm sure that he would see it prudent to make a £7m profit on a disaffected player who very well could leave free on a Bosman after next season. One thing is for sure, we can't afford to lose both Cesc and Nasri.
Clichy' been heavily linked with Liverpool, Roma, Man City and newly-rich PSG. Liverpool and Roma were looking to pay around the £5-£7m region and PSG were ready to throw away £13m but he's set to join Man City for £7m. I loathe to lose another defender to Man City even though Clichy's been prone to concentration lapses. His worst lapses came against the 0-0 draw at home to Sunderland when, apart from Mignolet having the only good game of his life, Sessegnon passed Clichy as if he was Ryan Shawcross/fat primate.
Sticking to the topic of Frenchmen, an unnamed Turkish club had a £10m bid turned down by Arsenal. WHY? I suspect that Wenger would like to see how his squad pans out over the next month before foolishly selling players. Smart, in my opinion.
As for incoming transfers, the blogosphere's been rife with speculation, though not always great.
We've been heavily linked with Gervinho, who seems decent but the deal should have been completed weeks ago. It's taking forever but I assume that he's looking for a store near the Emirates that would supply enough polish for him to keep the shine on that oversized forhead of his.
We've been linked with Benzema and Eden Hazard, but with each of them valued at more than £20m, I don't see either happening. Plus, Mourinho hates Wenger and that makes a Benzema move even stupider.
We've been linked with John O'Shea. All I can say is that either Wenger has a massive brain tumor or people are really bad at making up semi-credible rumors.
We've been linked with a 23 South American who hasn't played much for his club and is prone to long-term injury. Do I want Ricky Alvarez? No.
A promising signing would be Ajax's Jan Vertonghen. He's played with Vermaelen before and would be great at left back.
British newspapers have us in with a large bid for Juan Mata which I could see Wenger agreeing to, but it now seems that the young Spaniard's happy at Valencia and won't want to move.
We're in for Gary 'Overvalued' Cahill and Chris 'Slow, Big Brute' Samba at £17m and £12m each. I'm not saying Cahill's bad, but he isn't worth that much of money. Also, the both of them know what it is to rise above the occasion in a relegation scrap and somehow squeeze through with all their vitals but it's not like that attitude will make up for our lack of mental strength. How will they know what it's like to enter the final third of the season with teams neck to neck and with slip-ups costing clubs dear? They won't. On that note, Vertonghen's young and knows what it's like to be at the top and win; that's invaluable.
We've signed a 19 year old defender from Charlton called Carl Jenkinson.
As you can see, nothing much has been decided in this transfer window, so far.
Pshhh.
No comments:
Post a Comment