Oh gosh, is it that late already?
By Walter Broeckx
Some things in life will always come back. Like the seasons. We know summer will come. The only thing is that we don’t know when it will come in our part of the world.
And I think that for both England and Belgium the same can be said. After all we are only divided by a few miles of sea and the distance between London and Brussels isn’t that much. And we know that on both sides of the channel the summer will come. It might be a short one, but it will come.
We know that there will be a new year next year. We can set our clocks on that. We know there will be a night after a day and then again followed by another night and another day. All things that are the same for all people all over the world in fact.
And then for those who like football they can be sure of the transfer season time. We know that in January we suffer from it and again in the summer season when there is a transfer window in July and August. I wrote “suffer” because mostly for Arsenal fans it is a period of suffering.
Even when you don’t want to know about who we are about to buy, sell, snub, or for whom we are being snubbed, in for, out for, interested in, no longer interested in, stepped in for, stepped out for, … you cannot really escape it. Open the internet and type in the word “Arsenal” and you will be linked with a few billion possible hits. And probably 98% of them are about transfers. It is very hard to escape from, almost impossible.
And as I write for Untold I do have to keep up a bit and so I am forced to have a look around at how things stand. One of the reasons I hate the transfer windows. I love to read any article about Arsenal usually during the season. Even blatant anti-Arsenal articles are something I digest and then write about of course to give my opinion on the subject. But in this time of the year… it is all so utter predictable and rubbish.
So I now know that we have entered the next phase in the summer transfer window. The “player X flies in to London to undergo a medical at Arsenal-time”.
As I write this Alexis Sanches is on his way to London. Well that is what the reports say. The same reports that last year said that Higuain was flying in to London but got completely mixed up at the airport in Madrid and flew to Naples last summer instead of London.
We can forgive him that as he is from Argentina and geography lessons in Argentinian schools is more focussed on the geography in South America than about Europe and so he completely got in the wrong direction. Sánchez being Chilean might also bring in some problems when it comes to finding his way…
So as sure as the leaves will fall off the trees in the autumn, we are now entering the ‘flying in to London’ time of the transfer window. Making people all excited and going to airports to see if it really is true. And then someone will post a picture of said player on an airport and this is not difficult to do as those players are constantly in airports as they have to fly across he whole world and Europe to go where they are supposed to go.
And then the medical part. Let me tell you a secret. There is dead body in the Arsenal doctors’ cabinet. Yes there is. Well that is if we should believe the people who claim to know such things. Like reporters. There must be. As this summer it is I think 3 years ago that Yann M’Vila came to do his medical at Arsenal. And he still hasn’t passed his medical. So there was something wrong and he got a terrible contagious disease and is kept in quarantine for all those years or else he must be dead by now.
Or kept as a hostage? Or kept imprisoned? But if Arsenal didn’t give him enough food and water during the summer break he surely must be dead by now. Let us hope they can get his body out of the way before Alexis Sanchez comes to do his medical. And if reports can be believed about the fly-in he should be doing the medical immediately after.
When I saw this coming up once again in the media and on every bit of social media, I knew what time it was. That time again. The time that they want to get people completely excited and then when it didn’t work they will blame Wenger for dithering, or Dick for being too slow and Ivan for being too stingy. Because the deal was there but we blew it. The only evidence for “that deal” was “the reports” of course but let that not get in the way of calling names to anyone in the club we don’t like.
So is Alexis Alejandro Sánchez on his way to London? Well I don’t know and I don’t say I don’t care but I’m not going to believe it like that because one person says so and the rest jump in and repeat it again and again.
What I do know is that my boss came over to me. He has his local team in Belgium but he also is a Barcelona supporter who goes over a few times a year like I go to Arsenal. And he told me that his favourite player is going to Arsenal. And his favourite player is Alexis Alejandro Sánchez. He felt a bit sad about it. Said what a terrific player he is and what a good job we have done.
So you see for him it is a done deal. Most in Barcelona think it is a done deal. Maybe the only problem is finding the right plane with the right destination and when that is done finding a doctor who can do the medical in a reasonable amount of time. We don’t want a repeat of M’Vila.
Anyway despite the whole social media telling me it is done I will do what I usually do: wait for arsenal.com to give me some news. Because remember: as long as it hasn’t been on arsenal.com, there is nothing certain.
PS: can someone tell me how you produce the á from Sánchez in a text. I had some suggestions already but they don’t work so I have to do it with some copy/pasting of his name for the moment.
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Alt + 0225 = á
Speaking of flying, if Gonzalo Higuain had flown to London so many times last summer to do his medical, he would have made every flight attendant in the world look like Dennis Bergkamp flying-wise.
Walter.
I know what you mean
Another well known English saying for you is: “there’s many a slip twixt the cup and the lip”, meaning right at the last second it could still go tits up.
Simply type ‘Alt’ on the right hand side of the keyboard and the letter ‘a’. Good post by the way, always an interesting read.
Yes, cannot get too excited yet……but have a feeling we are in for a good summer Sanchez, or no Sanchez!
I liked the Post, Walter, and it reflects my own experience with these stupid transfer stories.
The reason that some blogs engage in this sort of things is to register ‘hits’ and for this they are paid an advertising ‘fee’, so there is a reason for their irritating repetition of nonsense.
If you have a PC there is an option in Word that gives you a list of foreign language letters.
Alternatively, if you have a MacBook Pro, or similar, you simply hold down the ‘fn’ key and the letter that you are looking for a foreign version of, so if I wanted ‘a’ I could get a list like this;
— à á â ä æ and so on. — Is that what you męant? 🙂
á ok alt+0225 it is 🙂 Thanks Josif. Or should I say : thánks 😉
Wālter
Your decision not to believe any Arsenal transfer news until it is announced on the AFC website is both sensible and of course it saves you from the disappointment of 99% of the transfer stories being — well rübbîsh! 🙂
My final comment, Walter, is that your Post headline is frequently associated with admonishments relating to transfer and related stories;
1. 5 reasons Arsenal must / must not buy ……
2. Arsenal – must – buy this player ..etc, etc.
Not that yours is! 🙂
Wise words, Walter.
Pay no attention to any transfer talk at all until it appears on the Arsenal web site.
But some people enjoy following the transfer gossip too much to take your advice. Me, I’ve got better things to do.
Sanchez would be a good addition to an already good squad; but I will not be getting too excited until an official announcement is made.
But a nice write up Walter.
haha great post. Honestly, the transfer rumors are often 95% off the mark, but I can’t resist them. I keep telling myself “Even though Higuain didn’t end up with Arsenal, the rumors were partially true because they DID attempt to sign him.” I guess that’s my poor attempt to rationalize reading DM/Metro/Telegraph articles on Sanchez/Khedira/Bender/Balotelli/Aurier
Must admit I’m one of those that allowed themselves to get too excited about this. Thanks for the reminder, nothing is done until it’s on arsenal.com. And even medicals can be failed (though highly unlikely looking at the performances Alexis was putting in Brazil). Sanchez and Campbell would be a nice South-Central American combo, to give a few defences something to think about.
For reference, Windows user can use this to get things like á:
http://symbolcodes.tlt.psu.edu/accents/codealt.html
And by the way, the shortcut Ctrl+Alt+a also works for me.
Pat, we don’t enjoy reading the gossip articles. We read them with tense desperation. We love Arsenal. We want the best for them. We want success for them and because of these reasons we grasp at any straw. The one gigantic drawback we have is our dire lack of truthful information coming from Wenger himself. Why does he feel that, when asked a direct question, he has to give that enigmatic smile and then sidestep it? We don’t get paid millions by Arsenal…..We pay money to them. Why should they keep us in the dark?
Walter,
I hope you are watching with your usual one eye.
Germany is rocking!! Still first half and it is 5 -0 against Brazil already.
Ozil already a provider but I say: Common Ozil, we need a goal from you too.
Waaaaaaay off point, I know. So sorry.
One can understand the reluctance of Arsenal FC to release any details of players they are interested in signing, for fear of alerting all and sundry.
While “sugar daddies” exist there is no way Arsenal can compete with the wages in the clubs they own and the obscene bids they can make, in order to attract new blood.
However,the gradual implementation of the FFP Regs should soon provide a level playing field.
Sorry for linking this pathetic piece of so called journalism but how can someone say there is no agenda against Arsenal? Seriously what is it that we have done to them that they hate us so much? Utter disgrace http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/worldcup2014/article-2685192/Mesut-Ozil-barely-registers-important-kick-Germany-destroy-hosts-Brazil-7-1-World-Cup-semi-final.html
No player is signed before it is announced on Arsenals website. No need to get your undies in a twist before that 😛
So stay calm and enjoy the fact that three Arsenal players are in the WC final 🙂
Just seen it Mahdain, the campaign against arsenal and our players has begun. The anti arsenal are probably shitting themselves if rumours of signings have any truth in them
Not sure how you can have a go at any player on the winning team . Ozil played well.
Never heard of this journalist before, if that’s all he can do, hope we don’t again….but then again, this is written for the Daily Heil ….a paper with quite an unpleasant history.
But sadly, as big a dick head as this guy is, we will read worse from ex arsenal players, especially thick easily influenced after a fast buck ex arsenal players
@Mandy and yet that utter clueless prick Ashton said Ozil was the one stealing a living? Irony at its best. The daily chief Martin Samuel couldnt help himself taking shots at both Mertesacker and Ozil in his match “report” which has since disappeared but someone got a screenshot of it on twitter. I really hope that this will be the year Arsenal puts an end to this gobshite. Ban all the rags from the stadium indefinitely starting with Daily fail and the sun
Yes, Martin Samuel has history with Arsenal. Next season they will have two main agendas, a Van Gaal wankfest and the undermining of anything or anybody to do with Arsenal.
Think Arsenal have, and continue to rattle those with an agenda. Some of these journalists have suffered a few pay cuts as they have to compete with other forms of media, so some of them have taken the Yankee dollar from agents and bookies, and we all know such people have an agenda,,and their agenda is not the well being of arsenal for some reason.
Pundits receive money from the same people, some of them , including ex arsenal players have been ambassadors for bookies. Eg Lee Dixon betfair…and I think also bet365.
Sorry for the conspiracy rants, but the only way I can explain how our players can be singled out in one of the most dramatic results in World Cup history. If ozil and per were so bad, with that squad, they would be nowhere near the team. But looks to me like these guys will come back to arsenal with WC winners medals, and if so, the ultimate fuck off to parasitic hacks and pundits
Have any of these idiot journalists had a pop at Poldi yet?
Mahdain, looks like the Daily Fail has removed the article, realizing the BS that it was! And Walter the transfer rumors have progressed to saying that Mr. Wenger is quoted as saying that Sanchez will be signed as early as tomorrow (Talksprout)! http://talksport.com/football/exclusive-sanchezs-arsenal-switch-almost-done-reveals-wenger-140708100658
Unbelievable, reading that link Mahdain. Ozil’s stats were one assist, created two chances, 87% pass completion,his team have just made history and the daily wail choose to write an article about how poor he is supposed to have been. How about talk about how poor Luiz was, despite costing £50m? This is shocking. So far at this WC the commentators have avoided saying anything positive about any Arsenal players. Don’t know what to call this behaviour by the English media, but it’s very worrying.
Chelski & Totty folk playing for Brazil…
Was this Brazil Shame?
I don’t think so. I think there is a wakeup call for Arsenal in here. Sorry, this isn’t short.
All players are becoming more skillful (well, except maybe in England and Canada). 🙂 If we have two highly skilled teams facing off, it seems that in the past the most likely result was 0-0. In the 20-teens, it seems that the ability to score goals when two apparently equal teams capable of scoring goals meet, the outcome can be that one side never switches on, and a rout results. And Arsenal has seen that a few times in the last couple of years.
Arsenal is not a bad team, Brazil is not a bad team. One commenter said that all of the Brazil team should quit playing (and that was before the game had ended). No, these kinds of comments are driven by what the media wants. Your team loses, it is not a tragedy. If they lose badly, it still isn’t a tragedy. It is just what happened on the day. As the game is currently structured, a loss by 1 goal is no different than a loss by 20 goals. Unlike Rugby, you don’t get bonus points for scoring above a certain level, or levels.
If I was looking at a team, I would want players to wear a heart monitoring strap (or some equivalent technology) all the time. Yes, people get excited, being able to see how easily they get their heart rate up might be interesting. But more of what I am interested in, is how low their heart rate gets while sleeping. There will be some base level of heart rate which is a function of fitness and heart structure. It is not fair to say that all elite football athletes should have a resting heart rate less than X beats per minute. But each player will have a “base” level. And if their resting heart rate is elevated above the base, on any given day, the amount of elevation is probably due to how much stress is in their life. And stress is everything, not just training. Being a new father is probably stressful, being a new mother IS stressful. Tax season is often stressful.
If I had 50 athletes on the team, I would want 50 urinals. All connected to the lab, none to drain. 100% urinanlysis. I would like to try this for visiting teams, but it would be easy to screw this spying up. But all players should only urinate in their urinals. Not urinating where you are supposed to, should draw fines. This has nothing to do with newspaper photoshoots, where they catch a player urinating at the field. It happens.
Once a week or so, I would like to collect “gas” from players. Diabetes alters a person’s exhaust gas, there are other things which do as well.
I believe Brickfields is a MD, he might have other things on a wishlist. That is just my ideas as someone who occasionally researches sports medicine.
The difference between Brazil losing big here, and Arsenal losing big in the past, is the media. The media is “shocked” that Brazil lost so badly here. The media HOPES that Arsenal lose badly. Consequently, both events see different coverage.
But, both are fine teams with highly skilled players. How results are interpreted is entirely due to AGENDA.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jul/08/germany-brazil-world-cup-semi-final-match-report?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2
Ib this link the Guradian states that Ozil did enough to silence his critics and Luiz reverted to type in a give the oppo a chance performance.
For once, I actually agree with you Walter. I don’t believe any transfer rumour until the player is officially signed up. Every summer there is saturated coverage in the media about players on the move – most of it unfounded – and I find it utterly tedious. The trouble is, plenty of fans of all clubs lap it up and many of them turn into transfer muppets, creaming their pants at every little bit of info.
As for Sanchez, I know it’s not really anything to do with me but if you do sign him it won’t go down too well with the Liverpool fans – I couldn’t help but laugh at the post below from one Liverpool fan regarding him supposedly choosing Arsenal over them. Personally, I think he’s under-estimating Arsenal hugely and deluding himself a little with regards to his own team. True, they had a great season last year but so did Arsenal for the most part:
“Sanogo, Özil, Flamini, Podolski, Giroud, Cazorla, Monreal.
If a player like Alexis Sanchez genuinely fancies following in those hallowed footsteps, then good luck to him. Frightening lack of ambition.
If a guy genuinely doesn’t look at youngsters like Coutinho, Sturridge, Hendo, Sterling etc excelling in the best attacking side in the league and think ‘I fancy a bit of that’ then good luck to him wherever he ends up. With all respect he’d be going from a guaranteed title challenge to a guaranteed fight for fourth at best. Just doesn’t seem all that ambitious. It’s not exactly a club going places.”
so liverpool had one good season and its headlines,how many poor seasons have they had?
merseyside has played with the same starting eleven since their uprising lets see how they fair during the long haul…GTID
Walter
A couple of other top Arsenal blogs have picked up your M’Vila joke and carried it forward. Where you lead others follow.
And yes, the Mail have taken down the Ozil slur
It’s a shame being an idiot isn’t against the law, or they’d soon be erecting a wall around Merseyside and saying everyone is doing five years at least.
Not surprising that they’ve taken down that slur against ozil, you just had to read the comments section; there was such unanimity from different fans that this was bullying and was totally unacceptable.
Im over tthe Ozil criticism bandwagon. Around the pitch he has that languid david gower/mark waugh elegance, that makes it seem he’s not really motoring. Its easy to come up with a by line, such as “Oil carries ball safely out of left back” or Oil switches wings and drives into the box” much more positive and insightful, just not to the greater negative agenda.
rant over. 🙂
Al
Having said that, in their match ratings they (The Mail) gave him a respectable 6.5 (the lowest of the Germans), so they must think he’s at least half decent.
Is it possible that the Mail article was actually written by Arsenal hater in chief Adrian Durham using a nom de plume? It had his signature written all over it and he does write for the Mail online.
Compare and contrast the daily fail article to this one from the independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/worldcup/brazil-vs-germany-world-cup-2014-in-defence-of-mesut-ozil–the-arsenal-midfielder-works-magic-in-the-shadows-9592794.html
guess they need to find a new angle to hit Arsenal with – no trophy drought, it seems no transfer frugality, no selling club…..mind you, having a go at an international who is possibly about to be a world cup winner just smacks of the desperate.
Think arseblog is correct this morning – just deprive these articles of the oxygen of publicity
Arsenal and our players are looking in fine shape, some clearly dont want to live with this reality
apparently the Daily Heil have pulled this article. dont want to give them any more hits so will not be checking, but if so, smacks of a pre written agenda article that the editor got slightly wrong when publishing. always said that paper’s staff was full of Spuds
I saw the Daily Wail headline & did not open it – I refuse to give them hits or buy the paper. If they ever treat Arsenal fans with respect I may review that situation, but they have a lot of work to do to restore their reputation.
I thought Ozil was excellent last night, apart from the shot just off target.
There is no disgrace in losing a football match – no one likes to lose, but it does happen.
What can disgrace a team is the manner in which they play. Last night Brazil were a disgrace, the serial diving was appalling, some tackles and attempted tackles had injury written all over them, Luiz should have been red carded twice for deliberate elbowing.
Brazil have enjoyed an unfair benign bias from the refs throughout the tournament, that and their behaviour is the real disgrace.
Just wasted a precious 5 minutes of my life writing to the daily wail registering my displeasure at their attack on Ozil. May not make a difference(apart from I won’t read anything they print any longer), but had to let them know.
Bjt
Agree, Brazil were an utter disgrace last night. You rightly point out Luiz should have been red carded for two elbows on separate incidents. He also took a wild swing at Muller with his boot which I feel could’ve caused some serious damage had he connected. I also counted 5 dives by 5 different players. I honestly believe you would be hard pressed to find anyone genuinely feeling sorry for this Brazil team this morning, apart from the Brazilians themselves of course.
I fear that if we sign Sanchez he will be a sitting duck for media bullets should he get off to anything less than a fantastic start to his Arsenal career. They will gleefully rip into him and Wenger as soon as he has the slightest semblance of a poor game.
Whoever Arsene buys will have a tough season with the media. All the flashy and superstars the English media like to s**k c**k failed miserably in the World Cup. Instead of wasting time telling others how football is all about, they should rather be doing something to improve their own lawn back home. The amount of power they have, they should be more responsible than this. Disappointing
The most funny rumor today
Tottenham trying to bid for Julian Draxler at 17 million.
If Arsenal go in with over 20 million bid and failed, what can a 17 bid do? Is Tottenham something seductive to both the player and the selling club? 🙂
Either its made up by the paper or they are idiots.