Quick blog today as I have construction folks coming to the house for, well, for construction purposes and I have to get some prep work done before they get here.
A brief insight into how the 7amkickoff blog works goes like this: I read the newspapers, see big stories, and little stories, then I try to make sure no one else is covering a topic and write a blog based on my opinion. On the rare day when there’s not much going on, I can’t think of a neat article, or I’m still researching a topic, I’ll do lazy links and silly one-liners.
Occasionally, there’s a big story which demands coverage and I am forced to comment and as you all know a big story broke today. L’Equipe are reporting that Arsenal have made a £4m bid for Ligue 2 Lorient’s Laurent Koscielny despite the fact that the official dot com has already basically nixed any deal by publishing a “transfer linked” story on the player.
This is quite a quandary as you can see! On the one hand, L’Equipe is extremely reliable. If they say Arsenal made a bid, then chances are very good that Arsenal have made a bid. On the other hand, the dot com can’t very well go around officially tapping up players by publishing “transfer linked” stories about players that Arsenal are actually interested in, that’s the kind of thing that a grubby club like Barcelona would do.
So, what to believe?
I believe that Arsenal made a bid for Koscielny and Lorient made a counter off that Arsenal thought too pricey and they dropped their interest in the player and subsequently published the “transfer linked” story to officially show disinterest in the player.
Think about it for a second, every player that Arsenal have been linked to (except one or two, who I will get to in a second) has been published in the “transfer linked” section right around the same time that some kind of official story from the player’s current club is released that shows Arsenal have no interest. Bolton’s boss said today that they have made an approach to keep Jack Wilshere for another year and added in that no one has made an approach for Gary Cahill. Oh hey, look, Cahill’s also been “transfer linked.” Scwarzer, Taylor, Mbia, Jagielka, Arteta, Buffon, Toure, and Wright-Phillips all round out the players which Arsenal have “transfer linked.”
Notably absent from the list is the defender that we have been almost constantly linked to: Pape Diakhate. If the “transfer linked” article isn’t basically an official denial then why are all the others listed and not Diakhate? Optimistic observers will also note that Joe Hart has not been “transfer listed” yet. So, hey, maybe something is going on there!
It’s as least as strong a speculation as most of the best English papers.
That’s about all that’s going on today, right?
What? Oh the John Cross article about Cesc quitting because of Peter Hill-Wood’s comments? I read it, and as I was reading it, my first thought was John was being used by Cesc’s agent and David Dein’s son to foment disarray among board members. So, I checked Arseblog and he pretty much said the same thing though much better than I would have put it. So, if you want to know what I think, read his column.
Come on, Cesc is a big boy, he knows that Peter Hill-Wood often makes stupid statements. He also knows that PHW was speaking the truth and that if he transfers to Barca this year, he will be trading time with Xavi and won’t get an automatic starting spot. It’s hardly a controversial statement. Maybe a bit injudicious, but hardly controversial. Methinks he doth protest too much.
The other big story is that UEFA passed their phony baloney “anti-financial-doping” rule which should be a big story except I suspect that it will just force teams like Chelsea, Liverpool, and Man U to do more creative accounting. Never underestimate the ability of a corporation to “cook the books” when something important like the Champions League payday is on the line. More on that later.
Until tomorrow, I gotta get ready for this construction crew!
Arsenal News 24/7
Yoann Gourcuff also hasn’t been “transfer linked”. I don’t really know if we would go for him, but with his experience and symbiotic relationship on the pitch with Chamakh, there are certainly worse options out there should we choose to add to the attacking midfield (whether or not Cesc leaves).
As for Diakhate – well, Bacary Sagna certainly thinks highly of him. He’s not the hulking CB we all hope for, but if he’s got any Vermaelen in him (size & tenacity wise), then who can argue?
May 28th, 2010 at 8:42 am
Gourcoff only if Cesc goes – mainly because he won’t be cheap (20-25 million maybe?). Nasri would slide into the middle, and Gourcoff move out to the right flank. But I still would bet the house that we won’t see him in an Arsenal shirt ever.
May 29th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Some perspective.
There will be:
I CB
I GK
and don’t expect big names.
That’s the beauty of Arsene – surprise.
Expect the unexpected.
Youth will bloom and strength will come from within.
Players must match the mould and fit the philosphy.
Intelligence, culture, athleticism and pace with speed of thought.
That cuts down the options but maintains the integrity of the team.
nice article , informative . i would like real madrid cast offs in arsenal squad specially Benzema and van der vaart .
May 28th, 2010 at 8:40 am
Would love VDV too
I must admit that a similar thought had occured to me about players appearing / not appearing in the dot.com pages “transfer linked” !!! Hart Diakhate VDV ( VanPersie’s mate ) and Gourcuff ( Chamakh’s mate ) would be pretty good if Cesc goes and probably all paid for by the fee ? Would also like another CB and cover for Song bu tthen Christmas is some way off yet.
May 28th, 2010 at 8:48 am
i think that we donot have a good finisher since Henry and Adebayor , so i think we must go for Benzema if he will be available …. and yeah we need alot of depth at defence ,.
I don’t think Lionel Messi has been transfer-linked on Pravda either?
Fingers crossed!
Not sure about this Diakhate link. He’s 6ft tall & apparently whilst a very strong player he’s also very weak in the air, which is already our downfall. I just wonder if Wenger is considering him as competition for Song, as opposed to buying him as a CB. You also have to be somewhat concerned by the fact that he’s suffered a couple of long injuries & that neither Kiev or the French team he was on loan at are interested in keeping him.
May 28th, 2010 at 9:14 am
@GMR, I thought Sagna said that Diakhate was a threat on set pieces. Doesnt that contradict the claim that he is weak in the air??
May 28th, 2010 at 9:22 am
@Akash,
I’m not pretending to have seen the player, I’m just going on what some expert said who’s seen him play quite a few times. To be honest though Tim Cahill is excellent at set pieces, he isn’t much cop at defending though, maybe Diakhate is the same.
May 28th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
@GMR,
maybe he is good at taking free kicks, thus doesn’t need to be good in the air.. hahaha
May 29th, 2010 at 5:16 am
@Akash,
Toure was a threat on set pieces, still terrible in the air defensively.
Diakhate is a left-footed CB. I like what I know of him, but isn’t he then surplus, since we have Vermaelen already as a left-footed CB? For me the starting two CB’s next season will be Vermaelen and Djourou. And I had always assumed that we’d be able to convince Campbell to stick around to spell Djourou as the right CB, but at 10 million, isn’t Diakhate an expensive back-up to Tommy V? Am I missing something – maybe Diakhate is comfortable on the right side and this isn’t an issue?
If Campbell goes, then we’ll have to elevate Kyle Bartley or Havard Nordveidt – it’s time they get a shot, especially Nordveidt. Or, do we listen to AW and his musings earlier in the year when he thought that Song’s best position would still be CB and not midfield.
May 28th, 2010 at 9:10 am
@Brahmabull, I’m curious to see how Nordveidt has developed!!
May 28th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
@Akash, He started the season well. But trailed off towards the end. Mostly because the team around him was weak and he was played in a rather unfamiliar position (DM).
I love your theory of Arsenal’s version of the “non-denial denial,” which, for those unfamiliar with All the President’s Men, derives from that era. It really has to be final, though, right?
On to Cesc. The only Arsenal board or ex-board member who seems to operate in Barca terms seems to be David Dein, so I would look at this story as proof that Dein has been cooperating with Barca.
If there is any truth to the story, the problem no doubt is that Wood’s quote got garbled in translation into English from whatever truncated mumble the upper crust use to communicate. Works for Arshavin.
GIVE ME M’BIA PLEASE.
HE IS LIKE SONG, CAN PLAY AS MD OR CB. THAT WOULD GIVE US MANY OPTIONS WHEN WHOEVER HAS A BROKEN LEG.
May 28th, 2010 at 9:11 am
@Babar, And when both head off to the ACN, then what??
May 28th, 2010 at 9:18 am
@Akash,
Couldn’t agree more. There’s going to be an ACN in both 2012 & 2013. Having too many africans won’t be a problem for next season but will be after that.
May 28th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
@GMR,
STILL BETTER THAN PLAYERS WIGTH BROKEN LEGS
May 28th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
@Babar, Not really. Because you see if a player has a broken leg they can’t play. If a player is at ACN they can’t play. Soooo. M’Bia is like a player with a broken leg every second year.
we need someone to provide cover for TV5…but I’d prefer Upson to this Diakhate. Upson is surely available for not very much. We need a big man to partner TV5 too. I don’t think Djorou and Campbell will be enough.
I’d love VDV from Madrid. Wenger did mention something about sifting through Madrid’s garbage.
May 28th, 2010 at 9:12 am
@gunner17, I think Djourou is very under rated. He is big, strong, skilled on the ball and most importantly cool/calm when on the ball. Besides a year’s rest should have done him good.
May 28th, 2010 at 10:15 am
I don’t think Van de Vaart is leaving Real. Remember, Snjeider was Mourinho’s best player this past year at Inter. He knows he can’t pry Snjeider out of Milan, but RVDV is a very very similar player. Don’t be shocked to see Mourinho keep him.
Mourinho will be dumping injury prone and lazy players. Everyone else will stay and get their chance with him. He has no loyalties to anyone there already.
May 28th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
@Brahmabull, Yep. Excellent point. Jose looks for players with the work-rate and winning drive. He isn’t adverse to having flair players, but that’s a secondary concern for him. Expect players like Benzema to be offloaded.
I wonder what Wenger makes of David Dein’s son conspiring to destabilise his best player at a critical period in the team’s development. The Dein family really are a bunch of treacherous calculating duplicitous backstabbing money-grabbers. Dein should be on Arsenal’s side. Better to have them work for you than against you.
Laurent Koscielny more likely, arsenal scout him when he at Tours in Liege 2, you can search more information on lorient fans forum
http://www.fclweb.fr/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4032
May 28th, 2010 at 9:16 am
@abc, Chrome for some reason wont translate the french to english. Care to do the translation?!? Thanks.
May 28th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
@Akash, Here you go my friend, Google Translated the forum thread.
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fclweb.fr%2Fforum%2Fviewtopic.php%3Fid%3D4032&sl=fr&tl=en
When he was in the L2 with Tours, it was believed that he was monitored at least 4 times by Arsenal.
I don’t buy this dotcom theory. First, reporting what the papers are writing is hardly tapping up, it’s not like the article on the dotcom goes “Hey Cahill! we offer you 50k/week, deal y/n? respond asap.” Second, with the insane number of players that are reported in the papers, if they were going to mention all of them there’d be no room for anything else on the site.
May 28th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
@b, I feel that they link the major one’s that they are 100% not interested in.
We need good back up players in every position if we where to challenge for the EPL and CL..look at Inter…they won league and CL because they had back up players who could step up when regulars where injured..
May 28th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
@Nil New Jersey US, Uh…. massive oversimplification there mate. They won because Jose got them playing a very effective way, not conceding many and hitting on the counters. They are comfortable off the ball and press and harry the opposition. They work hard. If anything they won due to tactics not as you suggest “squad size”. If there is anything we should take from Inter is the work-rate and pressing off the ball.
May 29th, 2010 at 11:01 am
@Nil New Jersey US, To be honest, Inter started winning when Mourinhos rotation ended. They played with very much the same team week in and week out after he winter break.
It’d be hard to see Arsene being thrilled with these transfer linked stories regarding players he really wants, but time will tell. Really, though, it is entirely stupid the dotcom is doing this anyway. Care to talk about Cesc at all?
As for transfers, if ultimately Arsene buys 2 or 3 more guys for 5MM a piece, I can’t say I’m going to be terribly excited, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt given his past record of plucking gems at a discount. But not as much benefit of that doubt as I might have given him a few years ago. We can make some nice little buys here and there, but at least on paper this team needs to make a headline grabbing purchase of someone. If S&*#s land someone like Dzeko and we’re buying Diakhate this offseason, how should we feel about that?
May 28th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
@ArseChicago, Good because Sp*rs always fail in the transfer market. I’d bet 100 bucks Dzeko would flop at Spurs after costing them 25-30 million and then the road to bankruptcy under Redknapp will have started.
Different player all together but Id like to see Hazard!! I think he has infinitivly more potential than Fab.
I just checked on Justarsenal.com and they’re reporting that Rodallega of Wigan is quoted as saying that Arsenal’s made an offer for him.
May 28th, 2010 at 10:20 am
Why would we? I think that’s just agent/player trying to churn the water and create some interest. Wigan have said they would sell Rodallega, no problem, but maybe there haven’t been that many offers for him.
He’s OK, but not better than Chamakh or Bendtner. I see both those boys getting 15+ this year, with RVP in 20+ goal territory if he stays healthy.
May 28th, 2010 at 10:28 am
I’m all for getting another striker, particularly if Eduardo goes out on loan and Vela keeps forgetting his passport. Sad to say, but you can pretty much bank on RvP missing 10-15 matches every year with injuries. Certainly bit us this year and what I don’t want to see is another season where we have Bendtner as a lone striker.
May 28th, 2010 at 11:23 am
Yeah… I don’t see us keeping Vela or Eduardo. If Lyon is truly interested in Eduardo, I take their money. And Vela, I’m sorry, but I don’t see him helping us for a long while, unless you can convert him into a left-flank player. He just doesn’t seem to have EPL written on him.
That still doesn’t mean I want another striker eating our transfer funds. We have Lansbury, Watt, Emmanuel-Thomas. If we have to dip deep into our roster when injuries come, go to the youth. How come it works for ManUre to go to Welbeck and the Italian kid when Rooney/Berbatov/Owen are all hurt?
Plus – Eduardo and Vela eat up two “foreigner” spots on our roster according to the new rules. All the more reason to sell them off.
May 28th, 2010 at 6:23 pm
@Brahmabull,
I think we have enough home-grown players in the squad to comply with the rules.
No need to be English to be “home-grown” , you know ..
May 28th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
@ArseChicago, I’d like Bendy to be lone striker again next season. He hit 9 in 11 start back after injury. Even RVP didn’t come back from injury that strongly. Stop underestimating Bendy mate.
can’t see rodallega coming in unless we’re sticking with the 4-3-3…he plays down the left of attack i believe…wenger doesn’t want to play arshavin there…so it could happen…
May 28th, 2010 at 10:23 am
Arshavin has to start, and I wish I could feel better about him on the wing, but it seems like he and Clichy don’t get on. Guessing someone like Rodallega would come in as a sub and do or try to do what we all expected Eduardo to do.
We should get Gourcuff regardless of if Cesc stays or goes, he’s amazing, you can count on one hand the amount of players who have better technical ability in world football and there isnt anyone in england who couldve scored the goal he did against PSG a couple of years back.
Anyway, I wouldnt mind Diakhate but we need another centre back too, I personally would like us to get Naldo and Cristian Zapata, who we’ve been linked with last summer but not really this summer yet. A defensive midfielder would be good also. Yaya Toure would be perfect but he doesnt want to come to us cos we’re abit crap atm haha, maybe Veloso or Moussa Sissoko or Matuidi.
May 28th, 2010 at 11:18 am
Naldo would be perfect. At 6′ 6″ he is excellent in the air but also very good on the ground. He is very similar to his Brazilian teammate Lucio whom I thought we would have gotten last year.
May 28th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
@Caribkid69, and I have no idea why we didn’t. we should’ve gotten two CBs last year. Lucio would have been our answer to Drogba. I love the Verminator but he wont be able to stop a physical guy like Drogba. I will seriously have to go slap someone’s mom if we dont get a big, physical defender in to compliment Verminator’s technical abilities and more importantly, to slap Drogba around for the little b*tch that he is.
lol @ the guy who said we haven’t had a good finisher since Henry and ADEBAYOR…..
Robin van Persie is a terrible finisher ain’t he? sigh
And my god people, stop suggesting strikers, we have FIVE in the first team squad already.
We need one defender (right footed, so that rules out the guy from Kiev) a keeper and maybe cover for song, but Arsene did say 1-2 more after Chamakh, so a keeper and defender it will be.
Get real people, this is real life, not football manager.
May 28th, 2010 at 11:26 am
Well, what happened in real life this season? Van Persie was hurt for a substantial amount of time, Eduardo couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, and Arsene Wenger forgot Vela was alive. Vela probably wants to leave (if he can keep his passport in sight) and Eduardo will probably go on loan seeing as Arsene never let him off the bench the last month of the season.
May 28th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
@ArseChicago, Vela should go. He lacks real winning fire. He should head off to somewhere like Valladolid, where it’s more his level and he can wow the Spaniards with his chips…. =)
May 28th, 2010 at 6:24 pm
@Joe,
Lol.. nice comment.. he really likes chipping, doesn’t he?
It’s funny you should put this article up Tim, because I was thinking pretty much the exact same thing.
I’m definitely hoping we sign Hart, but that does look unlikely, Man City would have to be bonkos (Philbinism) to let him go with Given injured.
That said, I wouldn’t mind Schwarzer either, or Green.
On a related note, HOLY MOLEY, I knew Szczesny was good, but not THIS good:
May 28th, 2010 at 11:27 am
I saw a short documentary on him some months back and he was very impressive. During the interview he was very polished, assured and mature. Could potentially be one of the best in the world if we can keep him.
May 28th, 2010 at 11:49 am
@Caribkid69,
Agreed, he looks great. I’d feel more confident with him between the sticks next season, though I’d rather have Hart, Schwarzer or Green to give him time to develop a bit more.
Lorient are in ligue 1. Do your research
.
If Sol, Senderos, Silvestre and Gallas all leave, we need at least two CB’s, and better still: three. Hangland: For £10-12m? Expensive and too old for resale? Upson: Prodigal son for an affordable price? Cahill: Perfect, but affordable despite high price since he’s young enough to be here for a long time. So who is the last one? Nordtveit? Two norwegians, two englishmen, a swiss and belgian? Yup, can live with that…
)
Up front: Vela and – sorry to say – Dudu must move on. Vela should use the big upcoming event to get him self a £40.000 a week contract in Spain. For €12m he is all yours, Barca. Together with the £16m they owe us for Henry and Hlebster, and a £6-8m for Dudu, we’re pretty close to a Dzeko or a Benzema. Sounds ok to me… ;o)
Wenger will only intervene to maintain the structure of the team we have and simply look for essential cover.
Back four needs 1 CB assuming Jourou is back.
GK essential but he won’t buy the right one … again.
Cesc will go Ramsey will need a season to recover to replace him so we’ll make do.
Forwards will stay as they are now we have Chamhakh.
Expect to see youth brought forward and injured players return.
players to bloom – Coquelin Gibbs Eastmond.
The stars will come from within or not at all.
Thats what Fab found out, too. So he figured out better leave now, cos waiting for a title somewhere into the future wasn’t what he dreamt of…
according to this site we have agree the term with hangeland just the transfer fee left
http://legendaire.wordpress.com/
May 28th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
@lordgunner, He says all that is left is agreeing on the fee!! Err.. Isn’t that the main thing?!?
Consider me on the same boat with you as well for the England vs. USA game. I mean I’ve supported the USA for years since I was little, but I like England as well. Just the prestige and honor that comes with wearing an England shirt is so unprecedented so to speak. The entire nation could hate you for messing something up or you could be a hero for doing something great in an England shirt. We just don’t get that in America. Sadly, the two had to meet this time around. Of course any American who knows nothing about soccer will say “oh we’ll beat them again like in 1950,” to be honest that is not realistically possible not with all the injuries we’ve had. So yeah I’m just hoping for a cracking match between the two, preferably a draw to make things even more interesting.
I also like how you mentioned that we’d have no one else to support when the USA gets knocked out even if we were die hard USA fans.
Other than that, I’ll be supporting Holland as well as they deserve to win the World Cup at least once after having made the finals a couple of times in the 70′s and 80′s and failing. I mean they play wonderful attacking football.
May 28th, 2010 at 6:47 pm
@sirstig, Whoops, this is the wrong blog post haha.
You should also note the fact that even Hangeland hasn’t been transfer linked yet. And lot of sources are saying that he has agreed terms with us.
http://legendaire.wordpress.com/2010/05/29/hangeland-had-agreed-terms-to-join-arsenal/
The guys working the websites know anything about our transfer dealings until they are done/almost done, it’s only the people involved in it who do, that’s how the club has always worked.
The transfer speculation section states that it’s just gossip copied from newspapers. It’s not tapping up, not one bit.
What they post on that section has little relevance to what the manager/ceo etc. does with regards to our transfers.
@Akash
sorry late to respond,I suggest you to use google translate to translate the page.
you are all Living in fantasy land.
we will recruit one or two outside.
GK CB
then it’s from our own .
we produce players we don’t buy.
Be patient.
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