Half of you will say “he’s just protecting the team” the other half will say “he’s saying that we have someone in mind but not who you think” and the third half will say “F(!&@&% WENGER, BUY SOMEONE.” Even though our club is somehow able to manage a 150% fan base, Arsenal fans will still not be satisfied.
Arsene Wenger moved quickly to dispel any transfer rumors today by categorically ruling that all of the transfer rumors he has read are all wrong.
We are at the moment not on the transfer market. What is important is that we focus on the challenge we have in front of us and finish well in our final three games. I read some transfer rumors in the newspapers and they are all wrong. All of them. So you do not even need to ask me one name – they are all wrong.
Buffon + Melo for van Persie? Wrong.
Sagna to Juventus? Wrongarino!
Jack Rodwell to come in and be the center half/holding midfielder of my dreams? Keep dreaming.
That one I made up yesterday about Arsenal being in for Samir Handanovic? HandaNOWAY!
Rene Adler? Uhhh… ReNOT Adler.
The other one I’ve been making up about Mario Balotelli coming to Arsenal? Balotellit to someone else, Wenger’s not hearing it.
Marouane Chamakh? I don’t thi… wait a minute?
All of them are wrong, Arsene?
Arsenal News 24/7
3 Halves?
In all seriousness though. If the rumours about Van persie for Buffon and Melo were true, do you think it would be a good deal?
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:28 am
@Shard, I think Buffon would be great, and there’s no other way we would get him. What’s he rated, $45 million? And he’s not past it. He’s younger than Almunia (!), and probably 4 years younger than Lehman during his 2006 run of 10 clean sheets in the Champions League. He’s good for another 6 years, at least. 9-times Serie A ‘keeper of the year, Pele calls him one of the top 125 players ever, etc., etc. I also think Melo would be a great pickup, allowing Song to slip into CB cover if we need him. His performances for Brazil belie how bad he is supposed to have been for Juventus this year.
BUT, the hardest thing in football is putting the ball into the back of the net. Even with a good ‘keeper, we’re going to give up some goals, given that we play a high line w/ marauding full backs. And that means we need to score. Van Persie: 7 goals and 7 assists in the first 10 Premiere League games this year. Fantastic return 6 months later against the Spuds. He’s truly in his prime and one of the best in the world. I’m not sure I’d trade him for anyone. (Torres? Too brittle. Drogba? Too c*nty. Ibra? Too one dimensional? E’too? Too much of a headcase. Messi? OK, I’d trade him for Messi…)
Whatever it is, Arsenal need reinforcements in defence,midfield and attack.
If nothing is done, Arsenal will become a mid table team .Just imagine the worl’s third richest club descending into such depths.
I don’t know, I guess you could not count Chamakh as a rumour, since even Wenger said that they are very interested in bringing him, or something like that, Chamakh also mentioned about coming to Arsenal, even Nasri had a statement a couple a days ago, so for me, that surpasses regular tabloid gossip and I guess Wenger doesn’t consider it a rumour.
As far as others go, even though some of it is true, I don’t believe Wenger would go into details about who is he considering or not, which ones are made up, and which ones have a pint of truth behind them. And, besides that, so far, the things we heard are, in my opinion, pretty far-fetched. Buffon and Melo for Van Persie? I doubt it. Sagna to Juventus? This must be true, since we are overflown with right backs. Balotelli for me would be such an untypical signing, and besides, I don’t know why, but I seriously dislike him.
So, until some credible story appears…who cares if they are true?
I think Mario Batalli has a better chance at playing for Arsenal than Mario Balotelli. Batalli would be better anyway; he could fatten up our scrawny 19-year olds.
What we’re going to be able to do after this upcoming summer is look back and see that the media were wrong 99.9% of the time. We’ll sign Chamakh, we’ll buy a goalie that isn’t named Lloris or Akinfeev or Buffon or Hart, we’ll buy a central MF/CB that no one’s talking about right now. I have a feeling, though, that Arsene will make one big purchase this offseason involving a fee of at least 20MM. Not sure who, not sure what position. Just a feeling.
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:46 am
As for Rodwell, let the hyping begin. Young, British, handsome like the dude from Prison Break (according to me wife). Let Fat Fergie pay 25MM for him.
April 23rd, 2010 at 11:27 am
@ArseChicago, Great Reference
Here we go again – Christmas wish list every Gooner asks for;
We need a goalkeeper, at least ONE centreback to replace Gallas, Silvestre and Senderos and a midfielder as asking Song to play a whole season is a big much. Hazard as well? Is that too much to ask for……?
Vermaelen has been great, almost made a whole season!
The Chamakh rumour seems to be true, at least we will have ONE player!
If we do not buy anyone else, then the way lady luck treats us with injuries we are going to be stuffed…….like a Christmas turkey.
I REALLY hope Arsene buys and does not give us the players returning from injury is a new signing talk….
arsene for once tink bout the fans we need more quality no more denilson almunia sylvestre and sorry to say it eduardo aswell.
Meh, we dont need signings, we need less injuries. Hire some voodoo magician for our medical staff.
April 23rd, 2010 at 9:16 am
@Yan, maybe the voodoo magicians can help with our injuries, but I think that not even Merlin, Gandalf and Yoda combined can fix our goalkeepers lack of confidence and lack of quality. And to hope for lack of injures for our hobbit squad that is competing in a league of Ogres, is nice and all, but sadly, completely not possible.
April 23rd, 2010 at 9:24 am
@Teampossible, quality! i laughed out loud at work when i just read your comment. have to agree with you
April 23rd, 2010 at 9:29 am
@Yan, All the horse placenta in the world couldn’t heal our team.
April 23rd, 2010 at 9:32 am
@XTG, In the words of Marcus Hahnemann’s favorite Metallica song: Sad but True.
April 23rd, 2010 at 10:13 am
@Teampossible, LMAO. Lets bring yoda for GK! I remember that Almunia was into that positive thinking stuff last season. There you have a clear example of its results, if you were entertaining the idea of trying it.
April 23rd, 2010 at 10:17 am
@Yan, Some Dr Phil? Deepak? I mean for our goalies.
April 23rd, 2010 at 11:29 am
@Yan, “Let in goals, he will”
drogba would definitely pass for one of the uruk-hai from lord of the rings the two towers. we have shrek and donkey up front for man united. torres looks like dorothy from wizard of oz?
and then we have frodo, sam, merri and pippin across the midfield.
April 23rd, 2010 at 9:50 am
@TonyM, I would personally cast Tevez as a miniature Uruk Hai on speed and steroids, and Arshavin is definitely one happy hobbit. Torres would probably star as that Pointy-eared Orlando Bloom dude, given their golden locks and virgin looks.
April 23rd, 2010 at 10:08 am
@Teampossible,
van nistelrooy – seabiscuit
ribery – freddie krueger
carlos tevez – Gimli
The guy who thinks we’re going to slide to mid-table? Get a grip. Even if we do absolutely nothing in the transfer market this off-season, except the absolute necessity of either resigning Gallas & Campbell or finding replacements for them, we are still going to be, for the most part, one year older, one year stronger, one year better. The team is fine going into next year even without a single change. It’s not like we have a slew of players that are pushing mid-30′s and are about to tip over onto the downside of their careers – the bulk of our team is the good side of 30, most the good side of 25 for Christ’s sake…
I don’t think Chamakh is a rumor any more, just not officially confirmed out of respect for the fact that neither teams’ seasons are officially over. So, at a minimum we are getting one new quality guy up top.
It’s all good. Wenger has shown a lot of public disgust during games when Almunia/Fabianski has done something bone-headed. He’ll get a replacement. Remember, it was confirmed that a deal for Sorensen was almost done in January.
April 23rd, 2010 at 10:57 am
@Marko, I don’t believe that we will slide to mid-table as well, but I guess so did all the Liverpool supporters last year when they finished second. One XaviAlonsoless year later, and they are scratching their heads as to what just happened. I am not saying this will happen to us, but to be honest, without Fabregas, we are a completely different team. With Djorou as our next season’s starting CB alongside Vermaelen, and some young kid from the academy as back up, Van Persie injured again this time while drying his hair, and to me, this is not completely implausible.
Of course, I am not saying this will happen, this is a worst case scenario and probably completely unrealistic, but I just hate to be too optimistic.
April 23rd, 2010 at 5:53 pm
@Marko, The key factor is retaining players. Which Benitez underestimated. Wenger is not Benitez, he’s 100 million time smarter. Liverpool losing Alonso would be like us losing probably Song, and having to restart that search for a DM.
http://www.football365.com/mailbox/story/0,17033,8744_6111469,00.html
This is for those who are in need of some humor. I’ve been watching Atletico Madrid this season and Reyes in particular. Reyes has been ok. His current level of play will not make you forget what Arshavin can do nor will he lift you out of your seat like Arshavin will do. Now if only Reyes had scored 4 goals against Pool then we could start a dialog about whose better
Tomorrow could be our 3rd loss in a row. More than anything else we need Song to try and staunch the bleeding. “Fumbles” will be good for 1 maybe 2 goals for Man City. Sylvestre will be tortured by Tevez and could give up another 2 goals. Thus we will need to score at least 5 if we have a hope of winning. Chances of that are slim and none.
April 23rd, 2010 at 5:54 pm
@ctpa, expect a draw then. Bendtner is bound to score and RvP is good for 2. Campbell can get a sneaky header, Citeh are just as bad at defending set pieces as us.