By Tony Attwood
Guessing which of the vast number of players Arsenal are now linked with is going to be impossible. Even the hype language employed by some of the more exciteable blogs is on the rise. We have had “Arsenal on Alert”. We have had “Arsenal on red alert”. Now we have “Arsenal on full alert”.
And what does that mean exactly? Basically, and to use the vernacular, bugger all. Indeed it gives the impression that most of the time the Arsenal transfer team are meandering around sipping sherry – which is of course the image that the Anti Arsenal Arsenal love to portray.
But still it looks like one possible candidate for fighting through the multi-level alert status is Gonzalo Higuaín. He’s obviously not going to leave Real Mad until they have got their new manager. Zidane? Ancelotti? Bart Simpson?So what do we know of him? He’s an Argentina international, and Juventus want him to. At least with Juventus there are as many incompetence stories as there are with Arsenal. Indeed it seems Juve have an AJJ to match our AAA. One of the most amusing and indeed well executed was that concerning the failure of Bendtner. When our Nic failed to make an impression it was said that he was hopelessly overweight, which raises the question, if that were so, how could the Juve transfer team not know in advance?It also suggests something of a gulf in ambition between Arsenal and Juve with them taking NB off our hands for a season and paying his salary.Higuaín himself has said (or so it is reported) that he wants to leave, having been with Real mad since joining from River Plate in January 2007.
Carlo Ancelotti, who as I said could be Real Mad’s president is still with Paris Saint-Germain and if he goes to Real Mad, PSG will be looking elsewhere for their new man, as I was noting yesterday. (Incidentally sorry about the lack of subsequent posts here – the broadband has gone in my village, and Orange are taking a little while to find a man with a screwdriver to sort it out).
The price for the player is talked about as being over £21m – which seems to be the going rate for a top 25-year-old.
So the merry go round could see Guus Hiddink going from Anzhi Makhachkala and Young André going to PSG – all following on from the rumours yesterday.
There is one bit of PR in the midst of all this. Arsenal trot off to Asia on 11 July – how nice to have one major signing tied up before that date.
- Football descends into total chaos; the circus is back in town
- Who do you think you are fooling Mr. Riley… fewer fouls given does not mean more goals
- Ref Rumours: It is a postcode lottery
- Refs report only 5.8% of all the errors they make in a match.
- Mike Riley gives us numbers, but the explanation makes uncomfortable reading
Tony,
You are beginning to disappoint me.
I thought you were going to entertain us throughout the dreaded close season with EPL catering reports, McGraw’s chats about cricket with DB10 and Walter’s essays on the history of the Belgian chocolate industry (this latter especially for my dear wife).
Please set us free from potential signings, at least until they appear before the cameras next to Arsene, wearing the inevitable Arsenal shirt.
‘Juventus want him to.’
Juventus want him too.
There you go.
Bart Simpson would be an ideal replacement for Bale and his father could succeed AVB. This would also help them improve their world wide marketing so not as daft a thought as some might think.
Would Totts be on “Alert”, “White Alert”, “Lillywhite Alert” or “Bird Balancing on a Football Alert” at this news?
The thing with Arsenal is that they do not know how to wheel and deal. By that I mean doing player exchanges to make up the shortage of cash, for players WE NEED! You do know that Juve are going to HAVE to sell a bunch of players to get Tevez don’t you? So we should be doing the same thing. Its a pity we don’t go for Alacantra, instead of having City pinch him. Sometimes I feel we are too slow to get the players that Wenger wants or need. I think we could be in for a long hard slog this coming season, with December being a month full of fixtures, with possible bad weather thrown in, leading to a fixture pileup
Bart Simpson could open some Dohs for the Spuds just like Joe Kinnear at the Toon!
We don’t need any players. We just need some aspects of our game coached better and some unbiased referees.
In my dreams????
With regards to Higuain, didn’t Gazidis state that any transfer deals of Arsenal’s are not subject to any managerial changes? Does anyone know what that actually means?
Would be one hell of an addition if we got him, if we don’t, it won’t matter.
So, Yaya Sanogo is in and has been promised playing time, if we believe statements attributed to the player himself.
Siral, thanks for gracing us with you expert knowledge and understanding of the transfer market….. (yes it’s sarcasm)
I’m actually crossing my fingers( and everything) that Higuain comes to Arsenal. I can potentially see us improving on last season’s points by a possible 10 points; then if we strengthen in the other areas, who knows may be we can lift the thing, for real, at long last. When i looked at the fixture list, the first 10 games are winnable, if we use our end of season blueprint. But we will see.
You could have thrown in ‘Arsenal braced for bids’. The media’s fascination with our team is nauseating; other teams are losing or bidding for players but you don’t hear about it that much as you’d if it concerned Arsenal. I bet everyone has heard about Sanogo by now, despite him being relatively unknown compared to players like Navas, Fernandinho, or who was that other boy Chelsea signed(cant even remember, hardly got a mention). Does anyone know if Ba will be at Chelsea next season or not? Doesn’t get talked about. Also Liverpool are about to take a £20m hit on Carroll but they would rather talk about the imaginary impending bids for Kos & Sagna. To be fair the only story that has been in the news a fair bit is about Suarez, but that’s simply because of what type of person he is and he is telling anyone who cares to listen how he wants out. Utd have a few unsettled players themselves but you hardly hear about it; Rooney only gets mentioned when his name is associated with Arsenal,but he’s put in a transfer request. Am sure if Bale played for Arsenal that was going to be front page news till the 31st of August. They are like vultures, these people in the media. Sickening.
Totally agree, AL. Makes me wanna holler. As consolation though I recall a saying in my mother-tongue which roughly translates into English that you get talked about a lot if you’re positively special.
“The media’s fascination with our team is nauseating; other teams are losing or bidding for players but you don’t hear about it that much as you’d if it concerned Arsenal.”
That’s simply not true. Obviously as AFC fans you concentrate on your team exclusively and/or far more than any other team and thereby feel as though your team in being covered (for better or worse) more, but looking outside the bubble, the media actually covers loads of incoming/outgoing transfer speculation for other teams including our rivals. It’s really not that difficult to find actually, check any football-related newspaper, website, blog, call-in programme etc etc and you’ll see loads of transfer speculation and supposed sagas not involving AFC. Also, believe it or not, feeling picked on by the media is not unique to AFC, or our fans at all…
Because of the supposed clubs involved in Barca/Bayern, obviously the Kos story is big.
And actually yes, BA (and Torres) possibly being surplus to requirements is talked about (of course Ba is not a very big name and likely isn’t being coveted by another big team, so coverage will be limited).
Chelsea is also enduring speculation in the media that two of their (the fans) favourite players may be moved on (Mata and Luiz)..that can’t be easy for their fans to hear..
Sanogo is not a big story being covered outside of AFC circles. Nor is any speculation surrounding Sagna.
Actually I just read today in F365 discussion about Liverpool taking, yes, than 20 M hit on Carroll, actually it was even qualified further that they paid him 6 million in wages so far on top of that…
Suarez is a huge story, not just for his attitude or whatever, but because he is one of the best footballers in the league/world and being allegedly linked to the biggest club in the world.
Bale speculation actually is and has been a big ongoing story, with Madrid bosses talking about how he is born to play for them and they wouldn’t have problems paying the high price, Zidane reportedly urging him to make public a desire to leave, Madrid players talking him up, AVB having to defend all of it etc etc..
there are so many other big sagas going around including Lewandowski, Cavani etc. being linked in English clubs..
Thiago is now a big story with links to United.. Speaking of united “unsettled” players Nani is being talked about leaving (yes including AFC as a possible destination)..
Rooney is not only being linked to AFC but PSG and others. .Not sure what other key players they really have classify as unsettled..
Look outside the bubble, there is nothing unique about the media’s transfer speculation as it relates to AFC. Be it big names, small names, big teams, small teams.
Also with regards to incoming transfer speculation the club itself has directly contributed to it with gazidis in particular having several quotes attributed to him regarding our increased and further projected increases in financial strength and ability to pay wages and fees higher than what was recently typical for us. ..obviously that’s going to cause some speculation. ..
A. Stewart
Just type into Google ‘transfer news’, without typing anything further. When I did it in the afternoon the Sanogo story was the first result on goal.com.I just did it again now and the first result is about Arsenal signing some dimtri from france, and further down is a story on Higuain. The only other team mentioned is Newcastle.
Try it and see;
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=transfer+news
@A.Stewart
Also, believe it or not, feeling picked on by the media is not unique to AFC, or our fans at all…
You obviously do not listen to Talksport where Arsenal are ‘picked on’ every day by a majority of the presenters. We even have our own slot ‘The Daily Arsenal’ where that prat A Durham insults AFC, Wenger, the players and often the fans in a quite appalling manner. It’s all very well you trying to be fair and reasonable but don’t ignore what is in front of your own eyes.
@A. Stewart (19 june@9:11pm)
Sorry for going off topic!
“Obviously as AFC fans YOU concentrate on YOUR team exclusively and/or far more than any other team and thereby feel as though YOUR team in being covered (for better or worse) more, but looking outside the bubble, the media actually covers loads of incoming/outgoing transfer speculation for other teams including OUR rivals.”
“Also, believe it or not, feeling picked on by the media is not unique to AFC, or OUR fans at all…”
What football team do you support?
“…as AFC fans YOU…”
“…on YOUR team…”
“…though YOUR team…”
?
“…including OUR rivals.”
“…OUR fans at all…”
?
I’ve seen u do this in other postings. Could i be reading it wrong?
@ AL – that link nearly spooked me – I thought that either my computer was possessed or my mouse had been infected with rabies ! Or just plain wanderlust !
( wan·der·lust[won-der-luhst] noun
a strong, innate desire to rove or travel about.)
I have been myself been ‘taken’ on quite a few wander-lust trips by those comely and saucy pop-ups !
you really have to teach me how to do that .I’ve a few ideas on how to send those AAA types on a viral filled trip !
At least I know some things about operating office equipment , unlike…..
A young executive was leaving the office late one evening when he found the CEO standing in front of a shredder with a piece of paper in his hand.
“Listen,” said the CEO, “this is a very sensitive and important document here, and my secretary has gone for the night. Can you make this thing work?”
“Certainly,” said the young executive. He turned the machine on, inserted the paper, and pressed the start button.
“Excellent, excellent!” said the CEO as his paper disappeared inside the machine. “I only need one copy.”
Looks like Higuain is a done deal, just needs the new Real Madrid manager to give the OK. I do hope Arsene Wenger got the approval of Stuart Robson, Piers Morgan and Adrian Durham before proceeding with this transfer.
@Gunz
June 20, 2013 at 12:54 am
I too have wondered about the way A Stewart address ‘our’ team as though from a detached perspective.