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.

The Ernest Happel Awaits

On Sunday I will be in attendance at the Euro 2008 final due to take place in the Ernest Happel stadium. Germany, having beaten Turkey 3-2 and Spain, having beaten Russia 3-0, will both meet in the final and I’ll be rooting for the Spaniards.

It’s not just that I don’t like Germany (damn Nazi’s!) They would have to do an awful lot Sunday to convince me they deserve to win, having looked rather weak throughout the tournament so far and certainly second best in their loss to Croatia who I actually fancied to make it to the final before they lost out to the Turks cruely on penalties. Spain on the other hand have been the more entertaining of the two and they do of course have Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas in their ranks.

To Arsenal now and the Adebayor stories continue to pick up steam. Wenger reckons it was the Milan game where the world’s top clubs (I say top, but I consider Arsenal to be better than both Barcelona and Milan, certainly the latter whom failed to even qualify for the Champion’s League this season) started to take notice of the wealth of talent Arsenal possessed. He’s probably right. Some bloke says that Ade has a 70-80% chance of joining Milan. He also says Arsenal are looking at signing Peter Crouch though so maybe he’s just bonkers.

Somewhere it was mentioned that Adebayor is demanding 120K a week. I think that’s nonsense myself but if it wasn’t and I was Le Boss I would probably laugh and tell him not to be such a greedy fucking cunt. 120K after one very good season? Barca and Milan will not offer him that, surely not. There are rumors abound that Arsenal don’t pay top dollar wages but we do, a player has to earn it first though. While Adebayor may have deserved a rise, anything above the 60K bracket for me is pushing it. But, like I say, probably nonsense.

Papers today linking us with a move for Miguel Veloso of Sporting CP, basically Manchester United’s feeder club. We do I would say need a defensive midfielder to replace the departed Flamini and Velosos is very highly rated.

Oh and Marseille signed Hatem Ben Arfa I think the other day which would seem to pave the way for Samir Nasri’s arrival at Arsenal. Happy days!

Off tomorrow to Vienna so don’t expect any updates until my return Monday. I hear the weather’s fantastic out there.

Nasri done deal?

Yes, I would think so. The major hold up was the small matter of the Euro 2008 but now that France are out, eevrything should be cleared up rather sharpish. The player himself yesterday confirmed that he had signed a four year contract with the club on his website though Marseille and his agent later went on to rebuff such claims. Arseblogger understands that everything is pretty much near to completition but for whatever reason, there’s hold up on Marseille’s end, who perhaps want to get a replacement in before the deal is announced good and proper. If further confirmation was needed pictures of Nasri appeared last night on the Arsenal website if you did a little digging. These though were later removed.

My take is it is as good as done, like 99% done if not more and that it was done a long time ago otherwise Wenger would not have opened my mouth. All we are waiting on is official confirmation from Arsenal or Marseille.

Russia pulled off the shock of the tournament to date when they beat Holland 3-1, albeit taking until extra time to do so. This wasn’t a lucky victory either, Holland were not at their best but Russia certainly were. They should have had the game done and dusted long before Van Nistelrooy managed a late equalizer for Holland. Some are tipping them to go all the way but I don’t think so. Their defense is shaky and they aren’t ruthless enough in the finishing department. Well played to Guus Hiddink who got one over on fellow countryman Marco Van Basten (who will be taking the reigns at Ajax next season) and has continued an excellent managerial record at international level.

They face Spain next, the same Spain who beat Russia in the group stages by a 4-1 margin. This time round Russia have Arshavin though, the revelation of the tournament that everyone has been talking about. He was banned for the opening two group games. What a year for Russian football. First Zenit St Petersburg win the UEFA Cup, giving favorites Bayern Munich a hammering en route and then Russia reach the semi final of Euro 2008. Arshavin was integral to both achievements.

International tournaments are not the best judge of a player. People can get carried away when in fact the quality levels often vary. Arshavin though isn’t an unknown quality and was raved about for the duration of Zenit’s UEFA Cup run. Wenger knew about him and if he wanted him he would have signed him before Euro 2008, like Nasri. If Hleb leaves though he may be an option. The Euro wont neccessarily have raised his price tag because he apparently has a minimum release clause in the region of ten million. Arsenal target? Possibly, but only in the event of Hleb’s departure.

The other semi final is Germany V Turkey. Turkey are missing several first team players, including star Nihat to injury. I will be very surprised if they beat Germany, shocked even, certainly a lot more than when Russia beat Holland.

My gut feeling is that it will be a Spain V Germany final. Russia and Turkey have done well to get so far but I think their tournament is over.

Speaking of the Euro 2008 final, guess who will be in attendance at the Ernest Happel when it all kicks off? That’s right, me. I wont be in any normal seat either, no, I’m in a box. I’m jetting out to Vienna Friday and will be spending my stay in a luxury five star hotel before returning Monday.

There was some interest in Gael Clichy from Italy. He responded though by signing a new contract. Well played Clichy, who is fast becoming a fan’s favorite.

Fabregas says he’s going nowhere, again. Surprisingly actually transfer speculation concerning him has been a little unexpectedly light. He commits his future to the club anyway, which is great.

Arsenal Will Not Sell Adebayor For Money Nor Gold

I edited yesterday’s post to report that Ashley Cole was named Arsenal’s all time 25th greatest player. Arseblogger summed it up perfectly when he said:

Frankly anyone who voted for him should be locked in a room with an angry dragon who has cancer teeth and can breathe fiery AIDS at them. Cuntley Cunt is the biggest cunt ever to play for Arsenal football club. What he did before being a cunt is irrelevant.

Hear hear.

In Switzerland Portugal have become the latest national outfit to find themselves knocked out of the competition and on their way home. There will be no sympathy from me. The game was a good one. I switched on a bit late and was surprised to see Germany winning 2-0 so early on. Portugal pulled one back before some terrible defending or suspect goalkeeping rather allowed Michael Ballack to header in Germany’s third. Portugal pulled back another very late on to make it an exciting last few minutes and I for one was hoping they would pull it off just to make things that bit more interesting and have the game go onto extra time.

Former gunner Fabrice Muamba was sold to Bolton from relegated Birmingham for a fee believed to be in the region of £5.5M. We get a percentage of that, albeit one and a half million is not much in football these days. Not much for most clubs that is. For Arsenal that’s four Gael Clichy’s, three Kolo Toure’s and an infinite number of Fabregas’s. Not bad what you can do with 30% of Fabrice Muamba’s transfer fee.

Tomas Rosicky looks set to miss the start of the new season. I expected to see him back far earlier and didn’t realize the injury to be as serious as it actually was. Apparently though he’s had an op and the problem should be sorted. I do recall the Czech physio I think saying Rosicky had an irregularity in his muscles or something that could be rectified in order to sort out his injury woes once and for all but if that happened he would be out for some time. Maybe that’s what the op was.

Samir ‘Zidane’ Nasri looks likely to fill in in Rosicky’s absence. Reports are that he underwent a medical today or will otherwise do so tomorrow. More thoughts on Nasri though when his mug pops up on the Arsenal website to say it’s all official.

Talk that we are after Raul Albiol, who can play either in a defensive midfield role or as center back. We have been linked with him for a while now, a young and highly rated player who plies his trade at Valencia, whom of course didn’t enjoy the best of seasons in the La Liga. His agent says we haven’t made an offer however.

Barcelona reckon they are in negotiations for Hleb but have other targets in mind if we do not wish to sell him. If a player wants to jump ship you let him do so but not for pittance. Barca reportedly offered a cheeky eight million, less than we paid Stuttgart for his services three summers ago. What do I think about that? I think they can fuck off. Seriously though, there is a real possibility that we could keep onto Hleb which would not be the worst thing in the world.

Hleb isn’t the only player Barca are interested in. They also have a fondness for Adebayor, who they are lining up to replace Samuel Eto’o. I don’t want us to sell him, no not even if it means we could buy David Villa. I’ll explain in more detail tomorrow. But yeah, Barcelona are said to have bid twenty four million. Nope. Arsene Wenger does not seem to be at all interested in selling Adebayor. AC Milan also say it is Adebayor or no one. Good luck with no one.

Arsenal are not a selling club and have never been under Wenger’s reign. We let players go when we want them to, Flamini and Anelka maybe the exceptions but look how the latter turned out. Arsenal will not suddenly turn into a selling club this summer.

Wenger told Milan he will not be selling Adebayor for money nor gold.

Russian star Andrei Arshavin has been linked as a possible replacement for Hleb if he does go. Wenger said he likes Arshavin but no. He may though be a possibility should Hleb leave (my take, not Wenger’s.) I do not believe that Nasri is a replacement for Hleb, more that he is the cover for the flanks that we so desperately needed and a player of such potential that Wenger could just not turn the opportunity to sign him down.

Some talk that Samuel Eto’o was spotted at Arsenal toady in the a friend of a friend who had no reason to lie saw him vein. I’ve seen so many of them this summer it’s funny. Don’t let yourself be duped. Unless I’m wrong and there really is some sort of Eto’o for Adebayor swap going down, which would be unlikely.

Silly season is without a doubt in full flow.

Euro 2008 Gets Underway

Despite the non inclusion of England, I found myself fairly excited about the summer’s international tournament which I can go into as a neutral. I was left dissapointed after a series of dull fixtures reminded me just how dull international football can be. And then came the Dutch.

Pre tournament Holland were not among the favorites – not up there with the Italians, the Spanish and the French because, despite some attacking firepower, they boast a lackluster defense. Yesterday they put on the best showing of the tournament so far. Holland are great to watch, which was what I was thinking before they even opened the scoring against World Cup winners Italy. Their passing was great, the technique of the players far better than any other European national outfit. Holland won me over immediately, albeit supporting a team with Ruud Van Big Nose in it is a hard task.

Throw in Arjen Robben at a later date and a sharper Robin Van Persie, who made a late cameo appearence and you have a very serious candidate for winners of the tournament.

Jens Lehmann aims parting shot at Gunners? Not quite. Being substitute annoyed him, he claims, but of course it did. Let’s just the ignore the part of his comments where he says “Arsenal will remain a beautiful experience in my life. Both on a sporting and personal level, I reached the top there,” which I think is a good note to leave on.

Arsenal have a new home kit and though not revolutionary, I like.

Alex Song, now more of a central defender, has signed a long term contract with the club. The player, who has been the subject of criticism in the past, proved at the end of last season that he had something to offer, when given the chance to play in the team ahead of Philippe Senderos in the last few games of the season. Premiership new boys West Brow are said to be interested in bringing him in on loan, which is something I wouldn’t rule out. Wenger looks likely to sign a new center back this summer and that means someone out of Senderos, Song and Djourou is likely to be on their way, whether that be on a tempoary or permanent basis. A season’s experience of regular football at center back could do Song a world of good.

Bayern are said to have joined the hunt for Alexiander Hleb cue talk that we might enter the race for Ribery in a swap deal of some kind, though we would surely have to offer some money in addition to Hleb. The whole swap thing’s just a theory though and unlikely to happen.

Patrick Vieira could be returning to the Premier League as part of the Arsenal retirement home at Portsmouth, which would be cool but he’s nowhere near as good a player as he used to be, which is probably why new boss Mourinho would let him leave Inter.

Finally, Gary Lewin has decided to become England physio on a full time basis. Best of luck to him though I would imagine this means that we will now finish below Tottenham in the Premier League next season. Shit!

Edit: That Welsh kid, Aaron Ramsey of Cardiff City, is said to have noted Arsenal as his preferred destination. I haven’t seen much of him myself. He is 17 and broke into Cardiff City’s first team last season, resulting in a late cameo appearence in the FA Cup final against Portsmouth. I’m fairly happy about this given that Man Utd had prematurely announced their bid had been accepted and were obviosly confident about getting their man. The stumbling block could be that Arsenal don’t want to loan Ramsey to Cardiff for next season while Man Utd are prepared to do that.

Nasri to sign after Euro 2008

I myself thought it was a done deal but it turns out it is not quite as done as I though. Originally Wenger claimed that if this transfer will happen then it will do so before Euro 2008. He’s since back pedaled on that statement and has told a French radio station that he hopes to sign Nasri after Euro 2008.

I am sure Wenger would have liked to have gotten the deal done and dusted before Euro 2008 kicked off. Doesn’t look like that is going to happen however. The good news is that I recall talk that Nasri had a minimum release clause in his contract and it is a very reasonable figure, the amount we are reported to have already offered. If that is the case Nasri’s price will not rise despite the impending European Championship. The bad news is that competition for his signature could increase should he enjoy a good tournament and as a result of that we may end up having to offer more to get our man.

My guess, based on Wenger’s comments that it is more complicated to sign a player from the French league because the wage differences are not as big as they used to be would indicate Nasri is holding out for more money, or at least waiting to see if any better financial offers come his way post tournament.

Disappointing but not the end of the world. Though it looks less likely, we could well still sign him – it is just that we may have to wait a little longer.

Little to say

I would apologize for the lack of regular updating since this blog was born but can you blame me? There’s not an awful lot to report bar several rumors that I doubt will happen. There was a rumor doing the rounds the other day that Manchester United were planning a ten million swoop for Thierry Henry. I laughed out loud at that one. It’s not just that Thierry, a Gooner who’s not stopped talking about us since he left, would not want to join one of our fiercest rivals. It’s that Manchester United wouldn’t want him either. He still has something to offer, sure but he is but a shadow of his former self.

The Nasri affair is the most solid one as Le Boss has actually spoken about it but there’s nothing more to say on that quite yet. He has yet to sign, at least officially. Expect to hear something in the next seven days however as Wenger wants this done and dusted before Euro 2008 has the chance to come along and inflate Nasri’s transfer fee.

Not wanting to go over each transfer rumor in detail, here they are – Aaron Ramsey, Sotiris Ninis, Wayne Hannessy, Dani Guiza and Yaya Toure. Least likely to happen are Hannessy and Guiza. Hannessy because I believe we will hang onto Manual Almunia, a keeper who I rate fairly highly despite a common belief that he is not good enough for us and I also believe we will not replace him with a young unpremiership tested £8M valued talent. Getting a new keeper’s not a priority at the moment. Guiza because we have enough strikers, though his scoring record in the La Liga is impressive, more so when you take into account that his team finished seventh and he is not their spot kick taker. The others I am not sure about though Yaya Toure looks a good bet. The question is do Barca want to sell and if so will they let him go for a reasonable figure?

Kudos to Emmanuel Adebayor and Cesc Fabregas for this and this. Less kudos to Alex Hleb for his comments about us not winning anything. I know we haven’t in a while but this season we came the closest we have come in a long time. We are on the brink of greatness. Now would be the wrong time to jump ship. If Hleb left and it looks likely I would be seriously pissed off because we have been very patient with him. He had two seasons of inconsistent performances and while this season he has not remedied his lack of an eye for goal, he has gotten a lot better and I was very pleased with him. Wenger had faith in him when I was calling for his head at the end of last season. If he wants to leave that would really annoy me, much more than Flamini’s departure or Diarra’s.

Robin Van Persie has the right attitude as well. He doesn’t want to leave England ‘for a less physical league like Spain’ and believes that ‘collectively we can become something very special,’ which we can. He claims he is discussing a new contract. Now of course his career has been blighted by injury in recent seasons but he remains one of our best players. Owed to the injury troubles I doubt that he will net himself a high hike in wages just yet but I will be pleased to tie him down to a longer contract. I only hope he will find himself injured less in future and we can dismiss the past few seasons as a dose of serious bad luck.

I’m sure by now you have heard of Sepp Blatter’s ’six plus five’ proposal. I disagree with it for numerous reasons and not just because I’m an Arsenal fan, with many believing we would be worst hit by this. People ignore the fact that we actually have a very good youth system that has churned out many players of a Premiership standard, more of which we would retain in the future should this rule come into force. Fortunately European Law should stop this from ever becoming more than a proposal. It will not help England or other nations for that matter. In the case of England I think we just have to admit we are shit and not ignore the root of the problem, which is the way in which we develop our youngsters.

In more good news Eduardo reckons he will be back in training come late July or early August. Even if that is the case, while good news, the recovery process will not stop there. He will need to regain match fitness in reserve outings and be slowly introduced back into the game. He will not be rushed, I expect. He’s got the whole psychological aspect to overcome as well. I would be surprised if we saw him introduced into the first team again this year but signs are that an earlier comeback than expected could well be the case.

Nasri on his way?

I am very confident that Samir Nasri will sign for Arsenal. Wenger himself has spoken about the transfer, something he rarely does. He has said that if it happens it will happen before Euro 2008 kicks off. To many Arsene commenting on a potential signing is viewed as strange. There are thoughts that he has done so so as to demonstrate the ambition of Arsenal to his players. That may be. I would argue that this is one of those rare occasions a Wenger signing has been discovered before it is official. Usually, his signings come out of the blue and unexpected so the media wouldn’t ask about the players Wenger was actually intending to sign.

It looks done and dusted because I wouldn’t expect Wenger to say anything at all unless that was the case. He would not risk having other clubs hijack the deal. I imagine it will all be made official very soon. I could be wrong but I strongly reckon I am not.

Nasri is a player with bags of talent who will excite the fans. We seldom sign big names. Nasri may be young but he is a big name. I agree with Wenger that signing a big player is more important than signing a big name but I have to admit I am quite excited to be on the brink of signing such a well known talent.

Does this pave the way for Hleb’s departure? I believe that irrespective of Nasri’s impending arrival, we needed to strengthen the flanks (that I imagine is where Nasri will be deployed) so not neccessarily. It does look increasingly likely however that Hleb will leave. Given the injury troubles of Tomas Rosicky I was of the hope that we would sign someone of adequate ability who could cover on the wings anyway.

In other news it’s goodbye to Avram Grant, who enjoyed a near successful stint at Stamford Bridge. To come so close on three counts and not get past the finishing post once is nothing to write home about. Therefore I fully understand why Grant was given the boot. However he has done a very reasonable job in his time at the club, steadying the ship and all. Fair play to him as he has surprised the critics but I do not think it unfair that he has been shown the door. You have to be ruthless at the top level and Grant was not good enough.