One “Deal close” arriving, one “deal close” to leave, one midfielder to sign this week

By Sir Hardly Anyone

Thus we have the big headlines of the week.  According to those in the know, or if you prefer those with nothing better to do but sit around and make it all up, we will have, in the next couple of days two in, one out.

It is, you must admit, hard to keep up because this is in addition to the 18 Arsenal players tipped to leave the club this summer and 76 to arrive in the great Transfer Fairy Story, that I reported on the last Great Transfer Index update on 7 July.

And while there is a bit of selling news going on, no one is picking up on the fact that Arsenal have to do a lot of selling in order to get their squad number down to the regulation 25.

So who is the latest to go?

1: Isaac Hayden is going to Newcastle.   This has been reported on Sky Sprout and they seem fairly certain.  That’s one down.

But coming in…

2: Neven Subotic has left training ready to depart Borussia Dortmund and head for Arsenal after a £12 million deal was accepted, although by the time you read this if it was quoted in pounds it would be £13m the way the currency is going, and it won’t help the fact that we have too many players.

Subotic has made over 250 appearances for BD since joining in 2008 but only managed 11 in all competitions last year.  He’s a centre back and Football365 has him marked down as available for just £4m (sorry, £5m, the pound has slipped again).

3: Oh but hold that.  We’ve actually done a deal for Jeison Fabián Murillo Cerón, a Colombian who plays for Internazionale as a central defender.  A price has been mentioned.

4:  Arsenal want Paris Saint-Germain defender Marquinhos (22), according to the Brazilian star’s brother Luan.  And you know how these brothers gossip.   Marquinhos joined PSG for €31.4m from AS Roma, and played 29 times.  He can play central defence or right back.

But moving away from Arsenal for a mo, how about this

5:  England and Tottenham to do total merger.

With Tottenham having made up around half the awful England team against Iceland the FA have decided that they know exactly what is wrong with England.  There are simply not enough Tottenham voices around.  So they have decided to bring in Harry Redknapp and Gary Lineker to help FA and to appoint Klinsmann as manager.  That should finally sort it all out.

Except The Football Association are seeking talks with Arsene Wenger to establish whether he is interested in managing England, (write Matt Law, Jason Burt & Sam Wallace in some paper or other).  So I wonder why it takes three writers to write 19 words.  I mean, this piece will probably be 1000 words  [more like 1325, Tony] and I can do it all by myself.

And moving on…

As revealed by Telegraph Sport on Monday, FA technical director Dan Ashworth is arranging talks with candidates to succeed Roy Hodgson and Wenger is top of the list of managers the governing body want to speak to.

Mr W says he is staying put until the end of his contract at Arsenal.

6: Chelsea are going to sign Messi  (Daily Express).

OK enough of that…

7:  According to the Daily Express, Arsenal are preparing to “battle with” Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur for the signing of Jonas Hector from German club Koln in order to have an alternative Nacho Monreal.  Hector is 26 is the right back in the German team.  The cost is said to be £17m.

Express Sport understands Klopp has been monitoring the availability of Germany international Hector but they reckon the Liverpool fans think he is not good enough for the perennial achievers of the number 8 position in the league table.

8: Ricardo Rodriguez is reported by Sky Sports to be a target for Arsenal, having returned from Euro 2016, where he played for Switzerland. He has played 150 games for Wolfsburg and will cost £20m, even though we have lots of full backs and actually need to sell players.

But Rodriguez is a full back who scores goals from set pieces so maybe we could do the American thing of bringing him on as a sub for corners and then taking him off again.

9:  The Evening Standard says Alvaro Morata is being chased around by Arsenal.  The price is £57m.  Chelsea want him too.  But wait, look at this

Alvaro Morata prepared to snub Chelsea in favour of Arsenal move.  

and again

Arsenal planning to hijack Chelsea’s Morata move

Well I never.  The price went up over night because of the fall…. well you know that.

The Mirror report that Arsenal are willing to open negotiations with a hefty £65million offer,[told you so] although “whether the club can come to terms with Morata’s sky-high contract demands remain to be seen.”  (The Mirror missed the fact that Arsenal’s wages bill has gone up more than any other club in the last three years – see yesterday’s article).

10: Djibril Sidibe – another defender.  L’Equipe says that Arsenal are close to a €15 million for the French central defender Djibril Sidibe. who plays for Lille, and is just 23-year-old but already in his fourth season.  He plays left and right back and defensive midfield.

11: Newcastle midfielder Moussa Sissoko ‘loves the idea’ of signing for Arsenal this summer, according to Spanish newspaper, Marca.

But

It is unclear whether Arsene Wenger will make a move for the Frenchman.

This is getting silly.

12:  Now here’s one you will enjoy.  Make sure you read it all up to the last paragraph.

Zenit forward Aleksandr Kokorin, who has been regularly linked with Arsenal over the past year, has been demoted to the club’s reserves after an incident in a Monte Carlo bar following Russia’s exit from Euro 2016 last month.   A statement on Zenit’s website read: “Unfortunately, some Russian players can find themselves in these scandalous situations due to a lack of common sense and culture norms in their behaviour in public places.

“We have conducted our own investigation into this episode and it has given the entirety of Russian football damage to its reputation. Therefore the club have decided to move Aleksandr Kokorin to Zenit-2 and impose on him a substantial monetary fine.”

He will now be playing for Zenit-2 for the foreseeable future.

It is unclear whether this may free the player up to make a move to the North London at this stage.

(That piece won the Gibberish of the Week award at Untold).

13:  Draxler!!! ESPN and TalkSPORT have claimed that Arsenal have made a £43m. Although Draxler joined Wolfsburg last year on a five-year deal, reports have suggested that the German club would find it difficult to turn down such a high bid.Wenger has been a long-term admirer of Draxler and was linked with the 22-year-old last summer before he switched from Schalke to Wolfsburg for £26m.
14: Alexis!!!   In old news, “Fans will be concerned though by the claims that Alexis Sanchez is looking for a move away from the Emirates. According to Italian publication Calcio Mercato, the Chilean wants a return to Italy and his agent Fernando Felicevich has told the club of the 27-year-old’s desire to leave.This follows reports that Juventus have lodged a £25.7m bid for the forward in an effort to bring him to Turin.   Arsenal are holding out for £34m mark, [make that £35m after the pound sank further last night.  That is all from the Daily Express.

15:  Lacazette!!!!!!!!!   Arsenal continue to be linked with Lyon ace Alexandre Lacazette after the Sun reported that Wenger had “held talks” with the striker.

And from The Independent

It’s the same old story with Alexandre Lacazette too. Lyon are continuing to demand £42m for their star man, the Mail claim, and while inquiries have been made it seems Wenger does not rate the forward that highly.

So the Indy quotes the Mail about a player that Arsenal don’t really want.  That sums it all up (as they say).

Untold Arsenal has published five books on Arsenal – all are available as paperback and three are now available on Kindle.  The books are

  • The Arsenal Yankee by Danny Karbassiyoon with a foreword by Arsene Wenger.
  • Arsenal: the long sleep 1953 – 1970; a view from the terrace.  By John Sowman with an introduction by Bob Wilson.
  • Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football.  By Tony Attwood, Andy Kelly and Mark Andrews.
  • Making the Arsenal: a novel by Tony Attwood.
  • The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal by Mark Andrews.

You can find details of all five on our new Arsenal Books page

7 Replies to “One “Deal close” arriving, one “deal close” to leave, one midfielder to sign this week”

  1. Morris, an 82 year-old man, went to the doctor to get a physical.

    A few days later the doctor saw Morris walking down the street! with a gorgeous young woman on his arm.

    A couple of days later the doctor spoke to Morris and said, “You’re really doing great, aren’t you?”

    Morris replied, “Just doing what you said, Doc: ‘Get a hot mamma and be cheerful.'”

    The doctor said, “I didn’t say that. I said, ‘You’ve got a heart murmur. Be careful.’

  2. As you say the reporting in the window about transfers is laughable.

    All I care is that we bring in a few quality players in to strengthen the squad in certain areas to give everyone a lift.

    On another note I’m concerned about our Kos. How willhe deal with that loss emotionally ? Hope he’s not too knocked back by it.

    With the niggling injuries he had last season I was conerned that his knee was heavily strapped yesterday. Hope it’s not too serious.

  3. @ colario July 11, 2016 at 9:16 am – Nice one , Charles .
    But am surprised by the three Dislikes you got – must be from Morris’ kin , I think !

  4. ” Exercise , quitting smoking , cutting down on alcohol ,being less negative and laughter certainly may add some years to your life ; but remember , only your old age will be extended , not your youth !”
    – Swami Anonymous .

  5. Everyone of tony’s followers.Take a look at his blog on Man City.At last you have been found out.Not only have you double standards on copy and pasting others stories from other sites but for years you have censored this site to allow only followers who are prepared to kiss your arse and follow some of your brainwashed theory’s!!!,

  6. OK lee…..lets get some specifics (I know that means you will disappear rather than provide facts)about this mysterious cut and paste story of Tony’s.

    1)It doesn’t exist!
    2)We don’t follow Tony but rather UA,
    3)You spew your Le Grovel aaa excrement on UA, hoping some of it will stick….sorry but it didn’t!
    5) The only ass you can kiss here is mine, since it is obvious you are very experienced in that area….and you can’t be brainwashed since you need a brain in the first place, but you are clearly missing that essential component.
    4)By the way, most people learned to capitalize proper names in key stage 1. Others is possessive therefore should be written as other’s. Theory’s is the plural of theory and is therefore written theories, not in the possessive form….so you’ve been found out for the scumbag-douchebag,semi-literate aaa idiot you really are!

    Other than that, have a nice day!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *