By Sir Hardly Anyone
I am sure it has nothing to do with it, but the little series we’ve been running on the real transfer news (see the links at the end of this piece) – looking at the players Arsenal are actually likely to sell and therefore which replacements are needed – has coincided with a drop in the wild and whacky speculations of the press and their bloggettas.
But now suddenly there is a little upturn in the slurry, sorry flurry, of stories. As for example with FootballFanCast which runs the headline “Arsenal interested in signing £15.3m-rated prospect to rebuild attacking midfield.
I didn’t know our attacking midfield needed rebuilding given that we have Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey, with Reiss Nelson coming up from the ranks (and attacking midfield for the moment looking like his ultimate position), but The Daily Mail, the paper that makes Oswald Mosley look like a friendly neighbour, says “Arsenal are interested in signing Paris Saint-Germain youngster Goncalo Guedes, currently on loan at La Liga side Valencia.”
Guedes is 21 and has scored three and had five assists for Valencia this season – and we must admit they are doing well…
| Pos | Club | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
| 1 | Barcelona | 15 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 38 | 7 | 31 | 39 | |
| 2 | Valencia | 15 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 35 | 14 | 21 | 34 | |
| 3 | Atletico Madrid | 15 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 24 | 7 | 17 | 33 | |
| 4 | Real Madrid | 15 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 30 | 11 | 19 | 31 | |
| 5 | Sevilla | 15 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 19 | 19 | 0 | 28 | |
| 6 | Villareal | 15 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 22 | 20 | 2 | 21 |
Villareal, incidentally, if they go on like this will qualify for the Europa while being closer to relegation than to winning the title. But that’s the way it goes in Spain.
Guedes came from Benfica, from whence he moved to PSG and then on loan to Spain. He has five national caps. So does the Mail and their camp followers really think we will replace Ramsey and Wilshere with this player? Probably not, on the basis that their correspondents either don’t think, or assume that their readers don’t think, or both, but they then go on to suggest he could replace Alexis. I suspect not.
Just Arsenal News is also running the story. “Is this Arsenal target able to replace Alexis Sanchez?” they ask, running through the same stuff as above.
Here’s a taste… “Arsenal are being linked with a move to sign Goncalo Guedes from Paris Saint-Germain next summer, and are believed to be confident of striking a deal.
That leaves them free to run, “Overconfidence undermines Arsenal’s transfer strategy yet again” when he doesn’t sign.
On the leaving front, for the last two summers we have had every player in the Arsenal first team tipped to be leaving. And their failure so to do has obviously miffed the guys down the pub, because Ray Wilkins, who is neither unused to the occasional tipple, nor to visits to the magistrates courts thereafter for his attempts to endanger the lives of others, is reported by The Sport Review thus:
On a more positive note about Jack: “Arsenal Star Jack Wilshere Must Start Against West Ham” announces that bastion of literacy, the Match of the Day pundit and former Liverpool player Danny Murphy” who “was highly impressed with the injury-plagued star’s performance.”
Countering that, the bloggetta Red London runs “He should never play for Arsenal again’ – Fans are bashing this Arsenal star after Southampton” in an attack on Per Mertesacker, although their assault is lessened a little by the admission a few lines later, saying he was “shaky” in his performance “And that has seen several fans direct their frustration at the veteran defender…”
“Several fans!” Well I never.
ESPN’s American “soccer” show tells us exactly who was to blame for Arsenal not winning against Southampton. “Arsenal’s slow starts, lack of motivation down to Wenger” cries the headline. “I am not convinced that the vast majority of this Asenal dressing room play for Arsene Wenger” said one pundit. Exciting isn’t it?
“Juventus make Arsenal right-back Hector Bellerin their top transfer target” says the Daily Mirror, forgetting perhaps that Bellerin left us for every single club, during the summer.
And there is a very curious piece in the very curious FootballFanCast which tells us that “Arsenal fans beg Wenger to hand more starts to ‘underrated’ star,” and that if only Wenger did his job properly and dropped our leading scorer “we’d challenge for title”. Yes, they demand Giroud starts, and run this, even though some in the crowd at Southampton booed when Lacazette was taken off to make way for Olivier.
Incidentally New Straits Times in Malaysia have “Goal hero Giroud not for sale says Wenger” Wow. Someone actually not leaving. But maybe NST doesn’t know EVERYONE leaves Arsenal every year.
The 1st sentence of your paragraph 3 makes a complete and total nonsense of this entire series of articles. Its a fine jolly to lampoon the press for their stupid transfer stories, but to suggest that ramsey wilshere and nelson are somehow any kind of answer to replacing the likely departures of sanchez and ozil….well that kind of outlandish absurdity wouldnt be entertained by the National Enquirer, never mind the UK tabloid hacks.
Well Mr giant I suppose it depends on how you unravel the story. The piece starts with “Arsenal interested in signing £15.3m-rated prospect to rebuild attacking midfield,” and goes on to say that in some publications Goncalo Guedes, is seen as the man. But the media also suggest he might be a player to replace Alexis. If the player turns out to be a long term attacking midfielder then my argument is that we already are quite well stocked with them. If he turns out to be a winger (which is how Wikipedia describes him) then I can’t see him coming straight into the Arsenal side to replace Alexis. But until the media decide if he is a winger or an attacking midfielder it is a bit difficult to unravel where they think he will play, even if he did get transferred to us. As to whether it is possible in one sentence to make a nonsense of Sir Hardly’s series of articles, well that takes us onto another planet.
Funny you talked about villareal and the Spanish league.
You fail to realize that Arsenal are closer to the relegation zone than the top, and we are 5th and they 6th.
The draw for Europa League Round of 32 is about to begin in half an hour time.
Our possible opponents are:
AEK Athens (GRE), Astana (KAZ), Celtic (SCO), Dortmund (GER), FCSB (ROU), København (DEN), Ludogorets (BUL), Lyon (FRA), Marseille (FRA), Napoli (ITA), Nice (FRA), Östersund (SWE), Partizan (SRB), Real Sociedad (ESP), Spartak Moskva (RUS)
If we draw Dortmund, Arsene Wenger might face Peter Stöger for the second time in Europa League this season as Stöger was sacked by 1.FC Köln and appointed as a new manager at Dortmund after Peter Bosz was sacked.
I’d prefer the easier route to the final. Games will be played mid-February which is always a busy month for us in Premier League. Say, Ludogorets again.
Since Wenger’s arrival, we have played Celtic (two victories in CL qualifiers), Dortmund (2002-03 – a victory and a defeat, 2011-12 – a victory and a draw, 2013-14 – a victory and a defeat, 2014-15 – a victory and a defeat), Ludogorets (two victories last season), Lyon (2000-01 – a victory and a draw), Marseille (2011-12 – a victory and a draw, 2013-14 – two victories), Napoli (2013-14 – a victory and a defeat), Partizan (2010-11 – two victories) and Spartak Moscow (2000-01 – a defeat and a victory).
I might have dropped something, it’s all written on top of my head.
Josif, yes, I am watching the draw live on SuperSports 5.
So, it’s trip to Sweden for us. Could’ve been worse.
Not at all Stephan. Just can’t put it all in one article. The move from the model of the PL in which there is competition between a variety of clubs to win the league across to a German model is one I have oft commented upon, and indeed is the subject of the next article, the final touches to which I am just making. Telling me what I fail to realise seems to be a popular sport on Untold, but mostly doesn’t hit the mark.
.,,.PK vs Arsenal in the round of 32. That PK is the last letters of the name of the Swedish club Arsenal will play first at away.