Transfer Season

Do to events beyond my control, I will be taking a hiatus from blogging until the begining of August

Kieran Gibbs Signs A Long Term Contract With Arsenal. Next is van Persie?

Concerning Arsenal

Another piece of Arsenal's future secured...

Contract extensions seem to be the theme of the week. This time it’s Kieran Gibbs, who has impressed since making the step up from the reserves, during Gael Clichy’s injury. Arsene Wenger said:

“Kieran made such a great impact last season and the progress he made throughout the year was fantastic. Kieran is an intelligent player with huge quality and he proved last season with his performances that he has great potential. We’re delighted that Kieran has committed his future to Arsenal and we’re all excited to watch his future development at the Club.”

Lets hope we end the week with RvP signing an extension. Then hopefully Gazdis and Wenger can focus entirely on improving the squad ahead of pre-season (that means buying a DM of course). According to “The Independent,” this has already been completed and he will be at the club until 2014. If this is true, then that’s great news, but with no conformation from the club, i’m a tad skeptical.

Next to sign an extension?

More speculation, this time it’s “The Sun,” who say we are planning on signing Eden Hazard from Lille in France. He said:

“If I joined Inter or Barcelona and could play football there then that would be very good, but Real and Arsenal are really great and play at a very high technical level.”

“Real Madrid and Arsenal are the clubs I dreamed of joining as a child.

He is young and talented, but with his other preferred destination being Real Madrid, we might get priced out. Not to mention that other areas need strengthening and take priority. One more winger is always welcome though…

Finally we have some quotes from Arsene Wenger regarding his interest in signing a striker. He Said:

“There is one who interested me but he (Karim Benzema) left for Madrid.”
 
“I did not make an approach because I would never have thought that Lyon would sell this year.”

Too bad, but he was so far out of our price range that an “approach” wouldn’t have done us any good.

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Jack Wilshere Extends His Arsenal Contract…

Concerning Arsenal

Future of Arsenal and England...

Today’s top story, similar to yesterday’s, involves a youth prospect signing a new “long-term” contract. This time instead of Aaron Ramsey, we have another young Arsenal midfielder, Jack Wilshere. Jack impressed last season, even scoring in the Carling Cup. Wenger was impressed enough to offer him a new improved contract, months after he first signed professional terms. Arsène Wenger said:

“It’s such great news that Jack has signed a new long-term contract. Jack made great progress last season, playing at Under-18s, Reserves and First Team level and we all witnessed what a great young talent he is. At still 17 years of age, the potential is huge for Jack and we’re all delighted that he has committed his long-term future to Arsenal Football Club.”

This is great news, as Wilshere is in my opinion, one of the brightest prospects at the club. It  would not surprise me if it was Wilshere who became the succesor to Cesc, who seems destined for Barcelona sooner rather than later. Barcelona’s president recently said:

“Cesc Fabregas has the Barcelona DNA in his body and we know that he wants to play for this club.

“At the moment he is the leader at Arsenal and a very important player for them. But Cesc is wanted by me, by the coach Pep Guardiola, and by the sport director Txiki Begiristain.

“We are concentrating all of our efforts on it, but at the same time we have a lot of respect for Arsenal. We have positive relations with Arsenal so it will not be an easy topic to talk to them about.”

Really? You think it wouldn’t be easy to talk about? like what do you say: “Hey Mr. Wenger, we would like to sign your 21 year old captain, who you hand picked from our academy, and nurtured into one of the best talents in world football, name your price.”

I don’t see Cesc leaving this summer, but if we could get a “Galacticos” offer for him, then it would have to be considered. Last season proved we could play without him, so we need to think about the future. (sounds funny saying that at Arsenal) Don’t get me wrong, I’m Cesc’s biggest fan, but the club comes before any player.

And finally, fan favourite, Amaruy Bischoff has explained his reasons for leaving the club so soon:

“[Wenger] could not guarantee me playing time next season. So we decided together that it was best that I did not extend [the contract],”

It can be agreed that if Amaury was the only first team player to leave the Emirates this summer, we wouldn’t exactly be any worse off…

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Ramsey, Gallas, and More Transfer Talk…

Concerning Arsenal

 

Happy Canada Day!!!

His Arsenal Future Looks Bright...

 

In celebration of this, I’ll start today with something concrete, something that actually happened: Aaron Ramsey has signed a new “long term” deal with the gunners. He can expect to take part in the Carling Cup next year, as well as the occasional appearance in the League and the Cup competitions. It would not surprise me at all if he was loaned out after the Carling Cup is finished. Possibly to a Championship club, or a lower half Premier League team.

Next is William Gallas, who has pledged himself to the Gunners, or at least for one more season:

Staying for one more season...

“I am at Arsenal, my contract is still valid for a year, so I am an Arsenal player,”

 ”We have not talked about renewing the contract, but I am relaxed and looking forward to next season with Arsenal.”

Gallas is a useful player to have, and if he left it would hurt Arsenal. Assuming he is on form, we can only expect him to be around for a few more years. That’s why Arsene has been looking for possible replacements, with Tasci, and now more recently Naldo, as possible replacements. Naldo, who is currently playing at Werder Bremen is 26 years old and 6ft 5.  His Coach at Bremen recently said:

“Naldo is a great athlete and could do well at the right club, unfortunately he doesn’t fit the direction we’re planning to move in any longer.

“We expect to move him for somewhere in the region of €10 million, and English side Arsenal is as of now the most likely destination.”

This move could pave the way for Senderos’ departure with Hertha Berlin now interested, as well as others.

Lastly, Birmingham City are linked with a move to Loan LB Armand Traore, who spent all of last season on loan at Portsmouth.

Benzema? Ribery? What Next, Messi to Arsenal?

 Concerning Arsenal

It’s time for your daily dose of transfer speculation. Today’s menu includes such interesting stories as “Arsenal in for Cana” and “Villa after Arsenal’s Senderos“. These come as a bit of a relief, after we were bombarded with horribly ill thought out articles linking us with Karim Benzema and Franck Ribery. The best of them all was of course the “Arshavin set to leave Gunners for Barcelona” story, which made me tear up.

A possible Arsenal target...

The first story is the product of Felipe Melo signing a extended contract with Fiorentina. It’s disappointing news for gunners fans, but realistically he was always out of our price range. Cana is much more likely from a financial viewpoint.  He offers similar skills as Melo and is probably more defensively minded. So far only Hamburg from Germany have made a bid for him, and here are some reasonably new quotes from him:

“The door remains open for a departure, even with three years remaining on my contract.”

“I will talk with my family and my representatives. It will then depend on what I want to do.

“Of the possible destinations in the future, England and Germany are the two leagues that attract me the most.”

If we signed Cana it would be a near perfect summer, assuming everyone else stayed. He could be the “missing link” in Arsenal’s midfield puzzle.

Senderos could be on his way out of North London...

Onto Senderos, who is likely going to be one of two defensive departures this summer, along with Sylvester.  I feel that he would be a loss to the club, and selling him to a possible top four contender is not good business in my opinion. If he must be sold, Italy or France would be better destinations. With rumours of signing Serdar Tasci growing, it is almost a sure bet that Senderos will be playing for a new club before the start of the season.

In other news, Arsenal have unveiled their new third kit for next season. It’s white and it looks delightfully average. At least you won’t see much of it…

There has been some serious changes in the reserves today. Eight players have been released and four have been given professional contracts.

The following players have been released:

• Amaury Bischoff
• Rui Fonte
• Anton Blackwood
• James Dunne
• Abu Ogogo
• Paul Rodgers
• Rene Steer
• Vincent van den Berg

The following players were given professional contracts:

• James Shea
• Luke Ayling
• Craig Eastmond
• Cedric Evina

The eight players released were all expected to leave this summer. No surprises there. The four players given professional contracts come as a bit of a surprise, but are definitely well deserving of their contracts. This is after being apart of the FA Youth Cup and Academy League winning under - 18 team.

Thats all for today. Thanks for Reading!!

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