By Sir Hardly Anyone
Here’s the latest from the endless round of in, out, shake it all about, with some of the traditional made up stuff as well.
Players in
Lucas Moura da Silva
Arsenal are “leading the race” to sign Paris Saint-Germain attacker Lucas Moura according to UOL Esporte. He’s Brazilian and plays on the right wing. And there was I thinking we were trying to get rid of players! Amid other reports Arsenal are “deemed to be favourites” on this one.
Daniele Rugani;
He is a centre back with Juventus and the Italy national team and a “Report” claims Arsenal want him. Juventus (known to the English press as “the Italians” on the grounds that they are owned by the Agnelli family and not a Chinese company), are not keen to sell according to Hitc and the Express says that two bids have failed already.
He played 15 times in the league last season and scored two goals.
Virgil Van Dijk
101 says Southampton are refusing to agree a sale even though he wants out and has put in a transfer request. So maybe not a player coming in. Liverpool also want him.
Players out
Alex Oxlade Chamberlain
Vital Football says Chelsea have put in a £25m bid. Sky Sports says the chance of this happening is virtually zero. Elsewhere “Chelsea have apparently leapfrogged into the lead” on this one.
Danny Welbeck
Danny is apparently on his way to Everton – if they can’t have Giroud that is. This according to “Reports”. And despite the fact that Everton has already signed two strikers this summer (Wayne Rooney from Manchester United and Sandro Ramirez from Malaga. (That according to the Metro).
Gabriel
He’s off to Valencia for just £11m according to the Sun. We shall see.
Alexis
Despite all we have heard to the contrary the Independent says Paris Saint-Germain are still in the “race” to sign Alexis Sanchez this summer and believe test “the resolve” of Arsenal by putting forward the type of financial package that proves “too good to turn down.”
This deal allegedly means that PSG would pay £400,000 a week to the player and £80m to Arsenal and would then be so far out of the limits of FFP that they wouldn’t even have to hold an enquiry before banning PSG from the Champs League.
But on Alexis nothing is simple because at the same time we have the tale that “Sources close to the player say he is increasingly resigning himself to the idea of staying at Arsenal for another season.”
Elsewhere “Guardiola is understood to also be prepared to be patient, as he believes the forward would still be able to easily slot into his team from the summer of 2018.”
Now that last point is puzzling, because the Court for Arbitration in Sport has delayed making a decision on whether to ban Manchester City for two transfer windows over their handling of previous transfers following further tapping up claims. City are already banned from signing academy players.
Vélez Sarsfield of Argentina have claimed City acted unethically by approaching their player Garré when was still 15 and then broke transfer rules by signing the midfielder days after his 16th birthday.
In September last year, Fifa ruled that because Garré holds an Italian passport, he was free to join them after his 16th birthday but Vélez claim that Fifa rules only allow players under 18 to move between clubs in European countries.
Of course it is possible that there is a fundamental disconnect at Manchester City over what is happening with the CAS, or maybe (as with their belief that they could not be dealt with by Uefa over FFP) that they have done nothing wrong.
But either way the Telegraph is going down a different route saying “Arsenal have received a significant boost on the eve of the season with Paris Saint-Germain dropping their interest in Alexis Sanchez following the world record signing of Neymar.”
Perez
The story of Lucas Perez (not to be confused with Ayoze Perez) going to Newcastle is still meandering around the press.
Ex-man moving
Sun on Sunday: Everton boss Ronald Koeman is hoping to sign 31-year-old former Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen from Barcelona. He played nine games on loan with Roma last season.
Player neither in nor out.
Jack Wilshere
Mr Wenger said (allegedly) “That decision is not completely made. I want him to have a chance to play somewhere as well. We have to decide that a bit later. I wanted first him to come back, he is coming out of a fracture. It is the first week he is back in full training and we have to sit down together and see where we go from there.”
Sources “close to the player” say he is increasingly resigning himself to the idea of staying at Arsenal for another season.
Mohamed Elneny
Mo has said (or insisted according to the press) that “he is staying at Arsenal despite club accepting £10m bid from Leicester City.”
And that isn’t surprising given that he played a fair amount pre-season including the whole of the Community Shield match, and has shown an ability to play at centre back.
The media think that this is irrelevant because playing at Wembley only happened “in the absence of the injured Ramsey” but since they say that Arsenal get the most injuries that is an extraordinary statement.
And that is apparently about that.
On UntoldArsenalToday on Facebook
“I have to say that when thinking of Liverpool FC I tend to experience a sort of deep depression of my spirits….”
- Do we need stats? And what happens when a billionaire divorces his wife?
- Another match another win at Wembley. But still, it seems, lots to moan about.
- Do the BBC think football fans are all that stupid?
The Index of Indexes
Slightly off topic but can someone tell me the correct start to Arsenal’s season.
In my book our first game is home to Leicester City on Friday evening.
Reports this morning refer to Arsene Wenger’s press conference about the season’s “opener” away to Stoke City on Saturday. Which is correct?
The former Nicky – at least I hope so otherwise all my arrangements to travel with Ian to London and then meet up with Blacksheep and hopefully Andrew for a pre-kick off Untold get together in the pub prior to the match on friday are going to look a bit silly.
Now back on topic – from the web site “She wore…” on discussing transfers this summer when talking about transfer stories…
“It is almost as if they are making it up as they go along”
Leicester City on Friday.
Once again…if you want to be told, seek Untold! 😉
The media largely support individual teams, so a senior sports journalist will keep selling the virtues of one club, whilst getting the junior sports hacks to rubbish their competitors. This largely discredits them as journalists when added to the fact that they have never been involved in a football club, let alone manage one.
Two quotes from a well respected football editor, who moved from one broadsheet to another in the last five years:
“Chelsea are a model football club” & wait for it,
“Big Sam was always going to come back, he’s too good not to.”
I do think the mass media turn their guns on Arsenal because they are the one team that is a constant threat to their horns team’s dominance.
I am a Brighton-based Gooner, so I have a soft spot for Brighton and I want them to stay up. They actually play football, as opposed to Man IOUs special brand of stop the other side from playing.
So look at the headlines this week:
“Brighton are a force for good” which they probably are in football terms, but hold on, “Arsenal could finish 5th, but 6th is more likely.”
Let’s see what a serious football journalist should be saying:
“A manager who spends over £500m on players in two seasons, yet can’t win the league, should seek an alternative career.”
Or how about:
“If our referees were more competent and less biased, the champions of England might better represent us in the Champions League.”
Or the best one:
“What is the point of West Brom, Stoke, Birmingham & Sunderland being in the Premier League, when they just kick and hack the opposition until they surrender?”
Julianm
Strange article.
The football press speculate. That’s what they do. If every journalist had to base their articles on fact, about one article would get published a month which would be boring- for football fans as well as journalists. Newspapers would effectively have no sports sections as most of sports writing comprises of opinion, gossip and hypothesis.
Arsenal’s star player is entering the final year of his contract and there is no evidence that he will commit to an extension, as are a long list of other players. This will naturally intensify speculation and give football journalists plenty to write about.
This is the order of things.
Complaining about it and implying that there is some kind of sinister anti arsenal conspiracy that lies behind it all seems a strange reaction to me.
Shit. I’ve just wasted another minute of my life.
In his press conference of today and when the question was put to him, Le Prof did not refute the media report that claimed there was a bid of £25m by a rival PL London club to sign Oxlade Chamberlain from Arsenal this summer. But £25m? Going by the high cost of getting a top quality player signed in the transfer market this summer, I think £25m will be too an undervalued price to sign the OX. Maybe £40m will be a justifiable price to do this particular transfer business. And that reminds me, can Arsenal do a player exchange plus £10m part payment for Diego Costa with Chelsea, if it’s true that it’s Chelsea that want to poach the Ox away from us? But it’s all depend if Le Prof wants Costa at Arsenal and Costa too want to come to us. But why shouldn’t both parties like it and want it to happen? We need strengthening in our strikers department, don’t we? And Costa is desperate to leave Chelsea this summer, does he not? Or else Antonio Conte will make him to rot away without playing a game for Chelsea as long as he remain the Chelsea manager. And Costs clamour to go back to Atletico Madrid remain a gamble on the table. But his coming to Arsenal can become a guarantee. Now we have to face Leicester at the Ems this Friday and travel to Stoke later on without our playmaker talisman goal scorer Sanchez. Maybe we won’t also have him for our first big PL away match to Liverpool. I know Le Prof must have think all these options out in his mind. But let him think them over again for a possible action despite his having the two specialist strikers of Giroud and new recruit Lacazette already. Our journey in all completions next season could become a long journey for us before we win all the four competitions we will compete in. Therefore, we will need three top quality specialist strikers for cover and options. I am sure Le Prof knows thus.
I just don’t understand the difference in valuation between Walker and the Ox – if the figures doing rounds for him are to be trusted.
With today’s inflation, it sure cannot be that low ?
nicky, you could check arsenal.com as well…
I see that McNulty has done his usual pre-season predictions on the BBC web-site.
Bad luck to $iteh as he’s said they’ll be champions which means they won’t win it…
It’s impossible to make a rational prediction this early when the transfer window is still open and so many teams still haven’t covered their weaker positions, but some of his assumptions ate child-like in the extreme.
It does make me think the title ‘Chief Football Writer’ at the BBC holds is now ‘on-par’ with ‘Chairman of the Village Idiots Association’…
Chris, did Walker have less than 12 months on his contract remaining?
That does seem to have a major bearing on most player prices.
Andy, yep, forgot that one indeed…with all the BS around, seems I’ve had a blank… !
Well, we ought to keep him anyway and let him prove his worth. If he convinces on the field, paying him more will not be more expensive then a transfer
I can’t see The Ox leaving for money, look at his Arsenal YouTube videos and you can see he loves the Club. I think he will only leave if he doesn’t get much game time due to the World Cup starting next year, I don’t think money is the issue.
An EXCLUSIVE or maybe just fake news:
I had a conversation with an old university friend who I saw at a restaurant today, he notice I was wearing an Arsenal top, and he started saying, he is a football fan, that he know the Monaco FC president well due to busines dealings, he is an executive on the Board of a few banks, and his understanding is that Lemar will definitely join Arsenal, the two Clubs and player have agreed on price and terms but the issues stopping the transfer are that Monaco need to find a suitable replacement, they did asked to get The Ox on a season long loan as part of the deal, but AW refused. The other issue he said from his understanding was that Arsenal need to sell a few players in order to comply with Premier League salary increase rule, Arsenal need to recoup as much money as possible on player sales to offset the rise in salary expenses, at the moment they are having difficulties but Arsenal had assure Monaco it will be achieved. He seemed to be trustworthy. Anyway, let see if this get picked up on other media sites.