Goodbye Alex Hleb

Alexander Hleb yesterday, after a long running saga, officially signed for Barcelona.

Hleb’s a decent player who enjoyed his best season so far with the club last season. He may have lacked the confidence to find the net as much as we would have liked him to but he finally came good last season all the same.

What annoys me is the patience we had to show while Hleb adapted to the club. His first two seasons were frustratingly full of inconsistent performances as he struggled to find his groove. He finally comes good and as soon as he does is looking for the exit door. That’s why there will be no good luck from me.

While a good player Hleb’s also one of those players that can be replaced easily enough. The reported twelve million is a pleasing figure given that there were rumors not so long ago he would seek to leave for zilch via the webster clause. With that amount I am confident an adequate replacement can be found (it could of course be Nasri but I’m hoping Nasri is cover on the wings rather than a direct Hleb replacement.)

Of Hleb’s going Wenger had the following to say, ‘We must firstly thank Alex for his contribution towards Arsenal Football Club during his time with us. Alex played a significant role in the three seasons he was with the Club. We are comfortable with our decision to let him go and we are all looking forward to continuing our preparations for the new season ahead.” Everyone at Arsenal Football Club wishes Alex the best of luck’

I too am comfortable with the decision to let him go, now let’s hope he doesn’t get struck by the Arsenal curse on his way out of the door.

Hello Samir Nasri

Finally. I knew it was on the cards but while Arsenal.com were yet to announce it as a done deal there remained an ounce of doubt in my mind. Well the deal is now a done one, as of July 11th and Samir Nasri is an Arsenal player officially.

Whether he is a replacement for the soon to be departing Alex Hleb or merely the extra quality on the wing that was needed last season, is still in doubt, with I rooting for the latter and hoping that an extra winger is bought in once Hleb’s move to Barcelona becomes final. Some of you may complain it’s just another young player bought into the mix but Nasri isn’t just any young player, he’s already gotten a plentiful of experience under his belt and comes very highly rated.

Hleb looks all ready to be out on his way, to Barcelona for a fee of fifteen million. That’s good business in my eyes, the sort of fee I wanted for Hleb and it beats him leaving for zilch thanks to the Webster clause which some predicted a while ago.

Adebayor looks a whole lot further to the exit but his leaving remains a possibility with Roque Santa Cruz, a proven scorer in the Premier League his touted replacement. There’s talk of players coming the other way (Eto’o & Gourcuff) and an ambiguous quote from Ade’s agent that Arsenal have slashed their asking price. I would rather he stayed but he’s far from irreplacable.

Rumors seem to be picking up that we are set to hijack Liverpool’s swoop for Aston Villa’s Gareth Barry. Martin O’Neill, one of my favorite Premier League managers, has claimed Pat Rice gave them a phone to see how the deal was going and confirmed Arsenal may show an interest. He’s a good player and one I’d like to see replace Flamini but we will have to pay a touch over the odds, as you strangely have to for English players in this day and age.

The lapse in updating is owed to some computer troubles I’m experiencing on my home computer, which I should, fingers crossed, be able to get fixed on my return.

Amaury Who?

Amaury Bischoff up until recently played his football at German side Werder Bremen. The twenty one year old midfielder has a history of injuries and has made just one appearence for Bremen’s first team. With his contract expired he has since left the club and claims a move to Arsenal is imminent.

This appears to bother a lot of people. What people ignore is that it’s a win win situation. Bischoff sounds like a decent enough talent so why not take a chance on him if he is available on a free? If reports are to be believed a one year contract is on offer and so if Bischoff doesn’t cut the mustard in a season I expect that will largely be spent in the reserves, no harm will have been done. Wenger will probably extend his contract and if he isn’t good enough further down the line he will be shipped out and we will make back the money we shelled out to him in wages through a transfer. No harm done.

He’s not a replacement for Mathieu Flamini and I’m not about to question Arsene Wenger’s eye for a talent. He doens’t always get it right, granted but I’m sure I recall cries of discontent at the arrival of Kolo Toure, a similarly unknown player at the time.

Wenger may see Bischoff, a midfielder or right sided winger, as someone who can play in a different position, as he often does. Whatever the reason for his signing, it’s pretty much risk free and so I’m surprised at the reactions of some who have the taken the opportunity to rant at Wenger for making a move for yet another kid.

In my absence Adebayor is said to have said something about wanting a higher wage. He can’t seriously want 120 grand though, not after one very impressive season. He deserves a pay rise, sure, but Thierry Henry wasn’t on that much and he’s a way away from proving himself to be at the same level. Barcelona or Milan wouldn’t seriously consider paying the greedy bastard that much would they?

Nasri looks ever closer to signing. I’m not really frustrated that it has yet to be announced officially, I’m patient and am sure it will be done sooner or later. Marseille have signed Ben Arfa who has taken Nasri’s number and now the replacement has been signed, I would assume that inches the Nasri deal inches closer to completion. The Marseille chairman says it will still take a few days to iron out the finer details.

Earlier today there was a story linking Nicklas Bendtner with a move away to Italy. That was quashed fairly sharpish though by the Dane’s father.

Spain and Villarreal’s almost thirty two year old defensive midfielder Senna has been linked with a move to Arsenal, to replace the void left by the departed Flamini. It’s not very concrete, with one Pascal Cygan claiming he has heard we are in for him and that Arsenal rarely make mistakes. Funny you should say that Pascal as you must have been one of the exceptions.

What else? Eduardo looks to be on the mend. I’m doubtful he will be rushed and the recovery process will still be a long one. I would imagine he’ll be playing football in the reserves for a fair while upon his return to a football pitch in order to regain match sharpness.

And Theo Walcott has been handed the number 14, which of course was Henry’s number before he made the switch to Barcelona. Well done Theo!

I returned from my outing to Vienna Monday, of which Sunday was obviously the highlight. It turned out we wasn’t in a box but the seats were great and it was a good game, fortunately. The atmosphere throughout the day was brilliant and my only grievance was that England wasn’t a participant, which didn’t stop them from stealing some of our songs for the prematch shenanigans.