The Goon Blog

Bugger all else to talk about;

L’equippe have written that Alex Song’s representatives are meeting with Wenger next week to discuss a move to Manchester el hadj City, I doubt very much that Song would leave because A) He is at a Champions League club, B) He is getting regular games. The only reason he would leave is for more money and he doesn’t strike you as the kind of player that would leave the club that made him for a few more grand a week when he is probably already on a very healthy wage.

The reason this rumour is interesting is because we have a congested midfield roster, the problem isnt the amount of players we have in that position, its the experience and quality of them.

Denilson, Diaby and Song are adequate cover, throw Fabregas, Ramsey, Nasri and Rosicky into the equation and we have tons of central midfielders.

Its most likely that one of Diaby or Ramsey will leave on loan, if we get another midfielder I expect one of the midfield bunch to be making their way out the Emirates exit door permanently, but as I have said before, I’m not convinced we will buy another midfielder.

Im sure this will make its way out to the English rags in the next few days and I guess we will see what develops. That said, I think its total and utter rubbish. However, Ive heard noises that Arsenal are going to attempt to start talks with Udinese over Inler.

Its hard to decipher the reliable from the utter bullshit.

Theres also some more Usmanov shit stirring, ignore the fat ugly twat. Is it me or does it look like he has a tyre round his neck in the picture on that article?

Anyways, more tomorrow and hopefully more news with it. ’til then.

Evening chaps. If you didn’t know already, I will still be blogging every day but the posts will not always be up in the morning, it will vary throughout the day as there is not that much to talk about at the moment. Things will return to normal before the new season starts though.

Onto all news Arsenal and it seems we are slowly edging closer and closer to foreign ownership, the all important owner being American sports investor Stanley Kroenke, I have written about this before and about eight months ago broke a story about how the takeover is likely to be done this summer, with the demise of the financial markets there is a chance it could take slightly longer, though.

How would you take to foreign ownership? Yay? Nay? Leave a comment to let us know your thoughts.

Stan has been snapping up shares often, usually, the purchases do not make the news but as he is now our largest shareholder, even more-so than that Oligarch mangate troll.

Once he reaches the magic 30% mark it means that he has to make an offer for the club as a whole, he is very, very close to that mark now and things will just start to get a little more interesting. Hopefully, the media don’t latch on and start kicking up merry fucking hell.

Manuel Almunia has swerved somewhat away from his usual media handling technique…normally he doesn’t really tend to say much and its usually positive too. Now though, he has kept to the not saying very much bit but has decided to…lets say…not mince his words:

“It’s great to have a young team but youth doesn’t give you titles,”

Owch.

To go a step further players need to demand more of themselves, be more professional, braver in big games.

“We need the manager to work harder to get what we need, the club to make an extra effort to make us more competitive. We need more than youth.”

Well. That’s fairly blunt. You just stick to keeping the goals out Manuel because doing that may just help us go one step further this season.

Andrey Arshavin’s response to shitty journo articles about him moving to Barca is fairly blunt and clear as well, our Russian saying:

“That is nothing more than a rumour,”

Can’t get more to the point than that really can you?

I think we already know, we are not interested in Inler.

Wrapped the news up fairly concisely there I think. Feel free to add your thoughts on foreign ownership in the comments.

More tomorrow.

Quick update tonight,

There have been a few articles flying around in the rags about how Thomas Rosicky will probably be back around October time, the probability is that he will be back before then and will be playing some part in the Emirates Cup at the start of August.

Quotes of his have been used from an interview back in his native Czech Republic about two or three months ago, they were widely published on Arsenal blogs but the twats have only now just cottoned on.

Why the hell are the Melo transfer rumours still filling our newswires?

Cygan has spoken of an offer by Arsene Wenger made many years ago when he departed, he said that if Cygan ever needed help in a footballing sense the doors at Arsenal were always open. He is currently without a club. God help us. Silvestre last year, Cygan this year? Won’t happen though.

Matuidi has been sighted in London in the past few days, something must be happening and the transfer fee sounds right at around 2.5 million. This probably opens up the door for one of Abou Diaby or Aaron Ramsey to leave on loan. Maybe even both.

More tomorrow.

Evening,

it was announced on the official site today that van Persie has signed his new ‘long term’ contract, I think it makes him one of our longest serving players too. He clearly loves the club and has stated his commitment many, many times but until he has inked the deal there was always a little element of doubt around. He said:

“I’m so happy to have signed a new long term contract. I’ve been at the Club for five years now and there really is a great feeling here at Arsenal. We have a top class manager, a squad full of superb young players, a world class stadium and brilliant supporters. Arsenal Football Club has a very bright future and I want to be part of it.

“My heart is with Arsenal and I just can’t picture myself in a different shirt. I just can’t see it now because I love this Club so much. If you look at the last five years, look at the steps I have made every season, if you look at the support the Boss and the whole Club gave me, the fans gave me, my team mates gave me – this is the right decision.”

He joins the ever growing list of new contract signings and I expect a few more soon as well before the start of the new season. The club is clearly taking the stance that it has to protect what it has got before it looks at improving the squad, Vermaelen aside of course.

Wenger is a massive fan of van Persie and was happy to tie down one of his most experienced and talented players for a few more years yet:

“It’s fantastic news that Robin van Persie has committed his long term future to Arsenal Football Club, we’re all delighted. Robin is a hugely gifted player and has the talent and goalscoring ability to win matches at the very top level. We have already seen many times what Robin is capable of on a football pitch, but at only 25, there is still much more to come from him. Robin has the potential to become a true Arsenal great.”

He does have massive potential but there is still the conundrum as to where he plays best. He is not the type of player you want in a lone front role, he can play out wide as well as he does for Holland. I don’t have the foggiest idea where he plays best to be honest with you.

Onto Usmanov and I dont want to spend long talking about this disgusting, fat, ugly, son of a cunt.

The board have turned down the offer of financial help from him, despite the Man United supporter’s fears that we do not have sufficient funds to support Arsene. He said:

“Based on financial information that only they have, the board have informed us that they are confident they have adequate financial resources to support the manager to strengthen the squad, to weather the property downturn, to renegotiate the Highbury Square loan on good terms and to deal with the continuing difficult economic conditions.

“We do not share their view but are prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt for the moment.”

He paused for a cake and added:

“However, we will keep the situation under close review and remain committed on behalf of interested parties in the club to ensure that there are sufficient financial resources for the club to succeed at the highest level and win major honours such as the Premier League or UEFA Champions League, while operating within a self-sustaining financial model.”

Gazidis gave his reasons for turning down the offer from Usmanov:

“We can comfortably afford to meet the annual costs of this debt while at the same time generating surplus funds to invest in the club.

“With regard to players, the board decided not to issue permanent capital in the hopes of signing one or two players in an inflated transfer market.

“Instead, the focus continues to be on securing the services of talented young players we have on long-term contracts and making very selective acquisitions, only where a new signing will add real value to our already strong squad.”

Gazidis admitted as recently as yesterday that an owner such as Usmanov does not fit in with the history and traditions of the club:

The club has always been proud of its independence, not for its own sake but in order to preserve stability. Arsenal is not dependent on any particular owner so there can be changes at the ownership level without that having a dramatic effect on the fundamentals of the club.

Usmanov is not welcome at Arsenal as far as I am concerned. He has a shady past, responded to the truth of his history by getting heavies to take down various Arsenal blogs and threatened legal action.

He also supports Man United.

Alisher, give up now son, you don’t stand a fucking cat in hells chance of getting your fat sweaty paws on our football club.

That is all.

Till tomorrow.

Afternoon all, theres a fair bit around today: Arseblog’s exclusive Ivan Gazidis interview, The Fiorentina sporting director has spoken about Arsenal/Melo and a host of pre-season training pictures have been released, I will go through the pictures tomorrow.

First up, I have said on quite a few occasions that Melo is overpriced and frankly in my opinion over rated but the latest noises coming out of the Fiorentina camp sound like Arsene has not given up on him just yet.

Pantaleo Corvino had this to say:

“Arsenal have made us a proposal for Melo and Wenger wants to speak again with me. I haven’t one preclusion because I could also obtain an interesting part-ownership, so I don’t exclude anything,”

“There is not one club that has offered the amount established in the buyout clause and there aren’t any meetings scheduled.

I think the fact that Juventus have also not offered the full amount speaks volumes, but, you have to be wary that these Italians may just be playing games with us, throwing another hat into the ring to try and get the full price for Melo. I guess all will be revealed at some point but I have made my position on the matter perfectly clear.

Onto Ivan Gazidis’s Arseblog interview, and after first reading, I’m very happy the club’s future is partly in the hands of someone that really knows that they are doing, he fills me with confidence. Here are some of the best bits I thought:

“I think that perspective was useful in approaching the January transfer window with discipline as opposed to abandon.”

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Well I think the club has had a very clear and consistent philosophy since before even Stan Kroenke or Alisher Usmanov came into the picture – which is that the club is bigger than any single owner. The club has always been proud of its independence, not for its own sake but in order to preserve stability.

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So while we were disappointed at the end of the year this is a young team that’s going to improve year by year and with a few additions can be very competitive.

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It’s a long term relationship between club and fan. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – the club actually is the fans, so it would be extremely foolish of us to ignore the realities and not to listen to and be aware of the issues that are affecting our fanbase.

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I do believe that Arsenal represents some things that are quite special, particulary in the modern world of football. We need to preserve those whilst articulating them to a wider public.

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fundamentally we believe in the squad that Arsene has been developing. I certainly acknowledge this is a big year for us. And it’s a big year for those players. We talk about potential but at some point potential needs to deliver.

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At the end of the day it’s not enough for Arsenal to be just competing and reaching the top four.

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When he comes under pressure he [Wenger] doesn’t turn around and point fingers at players, he takes all of that on his own shoulders. We’re embarked on a journey that we believe will result in us having a truly world class team, winning trophies over the next five years of Arsenal’s history.

_

Gazidis gives me confidence in the future of the club, he seems an optimist but a realist too, he recognises that potential has to deliver and that the club is created by its fans and therefore, the club have to deliver, not just once or twice, but for a long, long time. Now and in the future. To read the entire interview hop over to Arseblog.

Id like to thank Arseblogger for allowing me to use parts of that interview and stress to you that if you wish to use ANY part of the interview, permission must be sought from Arseblogger. If you don’t do that, you are a cunt.

Brede Hangeland has rejected a contract at Fulham, a contract that would double his wages. This could open the door for us to make an effort to sign him but his price may be extortionately high (rumours are 15 mil asking price) and his suitability for our high defensive line can be questioned. He has since said this.

I also have a couple of words for Dennis Lachter.

FUCK OFF.

Right, I will leave it there for today.

More tomorrow.

Morning all,

sad to break this news to you but there is nothing going on at all today, perhaps later on there will be some pictures from the first day of pre-season training but the squad will still be short of a few players.

Last night Carlos Vela was carried off injured for Mexico and it looked a fairly nasty injury to his ankle/lower leg. He got caught by a pretty bad challenge and required a fair bit of treatment. Hopefully he is ok, if its anything that bad I would like him back at Colney ASAP so he can be readied for the pre-season games and fully fit for the start of the season. Hopefully the injury is not too bad but i’m sure we will know more about it, if it is serious, later on today.

There has been a fair bit of Felipe Melo stuff flying around these past few days but yesterday the man himself spoke:

‘I have a contract with Fiorentina in which it was written that should I have a good first season, the club would have the possibility to extend my contract automatically from five to six years.

“They utilised this clause and I am really happy.

“I owe Fiorentina a lot. I arrived and I immediately became a regular. I have never been on the bench.”

He is not going to join us, end of. He is ridiculously overpriced and we have Alex Song and Denilson who are, in my opinion, just as good. Next?

David O’Leary has been talking about how he would only return as a number two… to us or Man United. Thats in the Daily Mail.

The Sun, the stupid cunts, have come up with another concoction of total and utter shit about our captain.

He is staying.

Get the fuck over it.

Idiots.

Right thats it for another slow summers day. Have a good one. More tomorrow.

Afternoon, arsebandits.

Yesterday I wrote about the swap deal + cash rumours around Felipe Melo and Emmanuel Eboue, after thinking more about the deal I have found another way that the deal would just not be practical.

Eboue is our only right back cover, we have Gavin Hoyte but he has looked average at very best and when you are looking for a player to do a good job in the very biggest games, Gavin Hoyte wouldn’t fill you with confidence, would he?

Yes he is young but it would be a very notable weakness in the squad and Wenger would have to go out and buy another player to replace Eboue, whilst also using a massive portion of his transfer budget on a player unproven in the very best European leagues, a player that would take a season to adapt, and a player that is ridiculously overpriced from what I have seen.

It would undoubtably lead to more upheaval within the team, it wouldnt just be any old player leaving it would be the most popular one within the dressing room. But, there is no room for sentiment.

To be honest, I don’t really want Melo. His price is totally unreasonable and I don’t really like the idea of exchanging a player + cash, unless its Philippe Senderos.

You really do have to wonder…are there any decent defensive midfielders around at the moment that would actually move club? And even then, would it be a reasonable price?

There has been a bit more speculation around Balaise Matuidi, I don’t see him as a viable option either… Is he really better than Denilson and Alex Song?

I have admitted quite frequently in the past that I really rate Denilson, he has got another season under his belt and the stats do speak for themselves, he did perform very well last season. Yes, he had some bad games but who didn’t? Fabregas hardly set the world on fire did he?

There is a long time to go this summer and we will probably get linked with a new player almost every day, 99% of it will be total and utter bullshit.

If you have something to say regarding the Melo-Eboue situation feel free to air it here in the comments.

More tomorrow.