By Sir ‘ard Lee Anyone
It is looking embarrassingly as if the journalists and bloggetta scribbers have shot their bolts, using up every viable rumour all in one burst and now leaving themselves with nothing to scribble about in terms of who is going where and when.
However help is at hand because starting tomorrow Friday, there are six under 21 matches being played in the Euros. These are the matches where out of a crowd of 3,000, 2000 are representatives of clubs seeing who they can sign while journalists and bloggetta writers take the team sheets, extract names at random, look up a couple of details on Wiki, and then link them (equally at random) with clubs.
On Friday it is Sweden v England and Poland v Slovakia, on Saturday we are offered Portugal v Serbia, and Spain v Macedonia, and then finally on Sunday it is Germany v Czech Rep, and Denmark v Italy. Expect a flurry of activity.
Meanwhile here is today’s flurry.
1: Chris Smalling
(The Sun go for Chris Smalling alone while the name of Phil Jones is added by Gambling Times.
Both, are said to be “out of favour” and Mr Wenger is said to have asked to be kept up to date on the issue. But the question is who did he ask? We are not told.
2: A. Striker.
According to Sky Bet, Arsenal have the best odds of any other club in England to complete a deal for a striker. Well, blow me down.
3. Mbappe is the one?
Maybe – if you believe the bookies the favourites Real Mad will get him, but Arsenal are second favourites. Mr Wenger recently said he attempted to convince the 18-year-old to move to north London last year.
4: Deal Off: Lacazette
The Alexandre Lacazette is either off because the Lyon president has stated that the striker can leave the club for PSG ‘without a problem’ or else is on because Giroud to Lyon is part of the deal and Giroud doesn’t want to go.
5: Jean-Michael Seri
He’s a playmaker with Nice and can be had for just €20m which is cheap considering his release clause puts the price at €40m. That suggests they want him to go. Which isn’t very nice of Nice.
6: Arsenal refusing to sell Alexis Sanchez to Manchester City or Chelsea
Which would be fairly logical since a) it would be bad PR and b) it would just give the club that bought him a lift. Bayern Munich his likeliest destination if he leaves, at least according to the Independent, but Bayern have lost interest according to most other papers that touch the story.
7: Spotted at the airport.
Now this is embarrassing. Mr Wenger, as we have reported for several days was spotted at airports around France. And yet at the same time the Lyon president has travelled to London for Alexandre Lacazette to Arsenal talks. This latter fact is in the Star who don’t seem to get the irony of the situation.
8: Bet Hedgings
I first thought on seeing this that Bet Hedgings was the name of a player we were about to sign, but no it seems to be a website. Sorry about that.
9: Hector Bellerin
Hector is allegedly set to hold talks with Arsene Wenger over a move to Barcelona when he returns from the UEFA European Under-21 Championships.
But…
Messi’s new Barcelona contract could price Catalans out of Bellerin deal
But then again…
reports in Spain allege Bellerin has agreed personal terms with Barcelona
However…
Arsenal are adamant there is no prospect of Bellerin leaving this summer
Besides which…
Bellerin is to speak with Wenger after u21 Championship.
I am sure it is all the player’s fault. It can’t possibly be the scribblers who got it wrong.
10: West Ham
They can’t play at home because the seats are in the way and can’t be moved, but isn’t stopping them wanting to buy Ospina, Gibbs, Theo and Giroud as Arsenal are torn apart by predatory clubs making the most of the Gunners’ indecision and bumbling. Or something like that.
11: Lets have a fight
“Arsene Wenger risks wrath of Arsenal fans as Gunners boss puts faith in Martinez over Szczesny”. Oh the wrath of the fans! We haven’t had that on offer for a little while, but of course one draw will bring out the anti-Wengerian banners.
Actually I was told that one particular newspaper was offering some minor inducements to anti-Wengerians to bring along their little placards and have a march around the ground so they can be photographed and filmed. It is after all cheaper than paying a proper reporter. But I expect that was all made up.
Anyway, Football London says that Arsenal will promote Martinez rather than bring Szczesny back. That is a possibility of course, but if it happens it will be because Szczesny wants regular first team experience, after his triumphant season in Italy last season.
12: Breaking the bank when the bank is broken
Arsenal and Tottenham are “reportedly” trying to sign Real Madrid’s Croatian midfielder Mateo Kovacic. According to Diario Gol, Arsenal are promising the player regular games. Huge amounts are involved, which probably knocks Tottenham out of the race, as they don’t have any money and are not allowed to borrow more, as part of the stadium building deal. And it is well known that Mr Wenger won’t spend anything.
Which leads to the next piece: are Arsenal really slower than everyone else in completing deals in the summer? We’ll take a look shortly.
Untold Social
If you are made redundant or are threatened with redundancy, you must read this first
Beware the phone caller who asks “Have you had a car accident that wasn’t your fault?”
Why you should pause before you pay that parking fine
In an interesting power shift, Fifa break their own rules and change the referee after UAE protests
Minor inducements? Coffee and a rugelach?
The Bellerin story has popped up again because Denis Suarez has been flapping his gums about Hector being ‘torn’. It’s the usual Barca scum tactic of unsettling a player because the parent club has the audacity to say no to them. A similar wheeze to Vidal back in May, talking up Sanchez coming to a ‘big club’, but seemingly Bayern have backed off which now makes Arturo look a tad silly. My guess is he’s feels a bit lonely in Munich and wants a kindred spirit to go to the pictures with on a Saturday night.
I am so disappointed that Bet Hedgings is not a player. Perhaps Untold could start a rumour to see how long before the media produce some false stats followed by visions of dear Bet at the airport. No doubt on his way to a medical near you soon.
On a serious note, why not Martinez as second keeper? In the performances I have seen it appears to be multiple failings of other team members that have lead to goals. In my opinion he has good command of the box in the air and looks a good shot stopper. I would be interested to see what people have to say about Szchezza.