By Bogus Cheese, chief correspondent.
Now I am going to have to make a bit of a confession here. You see, I ought to have put one of those question mark things in the headline, but I forgot, and well, you know, then I fancied a pizza, and by the time I got back it had gone clean out of my mind. (Rather like most of my mind).
But stop screaming for a bit, and let me tell you what is going on. Or not. As the case may be.
Today, 12 October, attention moved to Mr Lukaku after one of our readers reported that there was word on the internet that we had signed him. I checked and two sites were showing a move from the standard position of the previous months which said that the KGB were signing him, and so was virtually everyone else.
We discussed it a little at the end of the article about Wenger’s philosophy on signing players, and when I jumped in to the debate at around 2.30 pm this was the situation…
Punter’s Hero (a web site) posted this at around 10am today
Reports claim that Anderlecht have finally agreed to seel highly rated teenager Romelu Lukaku to Arsenal.The 17 year old has been linked with a host of top clubs such as Chelsea, Real Madrid and Barcelona since breaking into the Anderlecht first team in 2009.
Lukaku has been hailed as the next Drogba as was even snapped at Stamford Bridge wearing a Chelsea shirt earlier this year.
It now seems Arsenal have signed the striker for a reporters £12.5m.
Other sites are starting to pick this up, and the Daily Mail has run something like this (which probably means he is going to Andorra). General summary of commentary is that he is going to Chelsea / Real Mad / Barca / Inter / AC / Arsenal.
Who knows. But if we do get him I shall go back, edit this post, and claim you read it here first. If we don’t I shall point out that I said it was very unlikely.
So, that’s how it was running at 2.30pm.
By 3.30pm Wikipedia had changed its story to show that he had signed for us.
At 4.30pm Wiki had changed again, but of course that might well be that someone has read this site, and then nipped onto Wiki and changed it. As of 1618 BST Wiki is showing this on the young man’s page
As of October 12th 2010, latest rumours suggest that a deal has been agreed for the player to join Arsenal F.C.[9] That link leads to http://www.caughtoffside.com/2010/10/11/arsenal-win-race-to-sign-12-5m-goal-machine but if you go there you will see that their headline about him going to Arsenal ends with a question mark.
By 6.30pm if you typed “Romelu Lukaku Arsenal” into Google everyone and his dog was up on the story, and it was spreading like a very angry heated thing (wildfire – geddit?)
The essence of all the reports is that everyone wanted him but we got him.
And so I decided to jump in with this little piece on the grounds that was the essence of today’s story: The Philosophy of Wenger: the approach to transfers. Young players choose Arsenal because of the work that has been done at every level in the club. Wenger, the coaching, the backup staff, the history of bringing players through…
It all fits, see? I write a piece, Wenger takes note, and next thing you know, we have the player.
So, what do we know about the young man?
Romelu Lukaku was born 13 May 1993 in Antwerp, Belgium, just down the road from our pal Walter Broeckx – who it will undoubtedly turn out has fixed this deal, or not, as the case may be. He (Romelu not Walter, although in fact Walter as well now I think of it) is Belgian, and until we hear the official word, plays for Anderlecht and Belgium. Indeed he started playing for Anderlecht at 16 and 11 days.
He scored on average on goal per game as a kiddie, and one story that is on every site that speaks about him is that one season he scored 206 goals in one season. Maybe.
He is the third youngest player to score in a UEFA competition at 16 years 218 days.
Now I am not one to approve of all these silly rumour type things, but wouldn’t it be amusing if the Sun, Star, Mirror, and the rest saw my headline here, didn’t bother to read anything else, and then ran the story.
The door to reality is situated just over your left shoulder.
Talking of players we’ve never heard of, there is a whole group of genuine Arsenal players who have just thrashed Chelsea in the Academy league:
Damian Martinez, Ben Glasgow, James Campbell, Jamie Edge, Martin Angha, Elton Monteiro, Jeffery Monakana, Kyle Ebecilio, Philip Roberts, Alban Bunjaku and Nigel Neita
I suddenly feel completely out of touch. Anyone know much about this new generation?
Whoops! Just seen Tony’s post on this. I guess I should check old posts first.
But I’d still be interested if anyone has any tips on future stars here.
I thought JET and Sunu would be the next drogballs. And that Bendtner would grow old in arsenal together with Walcott.
phew.. how wrong one can be eh?
I was so damn excited when i saw Wikipedia confirming that ‘He currently plays for Arsenal’. But then they changed it after an hour. 🙁
hope you are right….but i doubt it
he is going to stamford bridge or bernabeu normally
although it would be a wenger signing!
he is a verry good player! strong, technical and a powerfull shot/header…
sign him arsene!
Dnt get over excited peeps, until he wears an arsenal jersey then i believe he is our player. During d summer wiki ran the story of gourcuf that he currently plays 4 arsenal but nw?
why have your article saying we had signed him if we havent what a dick!
Amazing upcoming talent! Always admired him, maybe Walter can do a bit on him, seeing as he is Belgian and plays for Anderlecht.
This is rather a side note, but have you guys heard about the young Turkish striker Batuhan Karadeniz? I always felt that we wouldn’t need to sign him because already had Bendtner, Afobe, Freeman and Sunu who are all young and brimming with talent, but this guy has class!
We cant really compete for the exceptional talents with the best teams.We missed on Paul Pogba and Gael Kakuta so what makes you think we will buy Lukaku ? It is just so obvious that he is going to Chelsea.On the other side, we have somehow managed to sign brilliant players like Ramsey,Wellington da Silva and Serge Gnabry.The others are just hype.
Gooner92, I think that is just the point of Tony’s article. 😉
And just to let you know: in the Belgian press there is no word, nothing, nada, niets(Dutch), noppes (Antwerps tongue), niente, nichts, about Lukaku leaving Anderlecht today.
The best U18 player so far this season has probably been Josh Rees, he’s a very clever and mature midfielder much like Cesc and Ramsey. He didn’t start against Chelsea because Steve Bould is having to rotate his team around with the huge amount of players he has at his disposal.
The new Argentinian goalkeeper Damian Martinez has also looked excellent, and was the man of the match against Chelsea. There are others like Phil Roberts and Kyle Ebicilio (both also new guys signed in the summer) who are very highly-rated and have shown glimpses but are still settling in to the club.
haha, you can’t sign anybody right meow gooner92.
use your noodle!
I see these CaughtOffside headlines every day, and am totally amazed that EVERYBODY and their dog keeps reading them. They make up an average of three stories A DAY that have ABSOLUTELY no basis in fact, and people keep going back for more. Sighhhh..
I wish I could tell lies like that……
It would be nice if this gossip were truth but well have to wait and see what happens.
Anyone looking for young players infor should check out,
younggunsblog.co.uk
arsenalyouth.wordpress.com
both are excellent.
Just on youth system (young reserve side and under age teams) its amazing we have so many talents coming through. Together with are current young players, great financial shape Arsenal will win trophies again in the near future (hopefully it starts this season) and its all thanks to Wenger… he has been the best thing to happen to Arsenal period.
Pat, like this one you mean : http://justarsenal.com/joe-cole-signs-a-three-year-deal-with-arsenal/4168 ?
Just one of quite a few similar headlines on your site that stick out in my memory.
wenger paying 12.5 mil for 17year old seems a bit too much! but also if wenger pays 12.5 mil for a 17year old then it means he is reallly frealllly good!
Dark Prince…would you like me to change it back to “he plays for arsenal”
thats how wiki works
why do we even discuss transfers when the transfer window has been firmly shut
lets make it real, mr wenger
i am surprised that the name of jonathan mensah as not been talked about he was playing in the world cup only 19 and a centre back and played well,surely he deserves a look at.terry a ars fan for 60 yrs.
I’ve been watching reserve games for a while and our young talent is superb, been catching a few games using http://www.locatetv.com/person/arsenal/351006 which shows whenever Arsenal are on TV.
We have had quite a few move up into the first team already and the new ones look good as well. Still if Wenger is ready to spend this much on him if true, he must be worth it
For anyone who might be interested, here is a link to extended highlights of Arsenal U18s vs Chelsea U18s:
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjE0MDc4NDQ0.html
cheers wrenny.
When I read the articles wrote Lukaku joined arsenal I was really excited and I hope that this news is true. 12.5 mil for Lukaku seems acceptable price considering the ability he has. Compare to what we’ve paid for Walcott of around 12mil 4 years ago. 12.5 mil is a fair price and we should get him, otherwise we will beaten by chelsea, manu, madrid, etc., and we will regret it so much. Remember chris ronaldo, vidic, drogba, reina? we almost get them until we stuck with their price.
this site jumps in to conclusion why dont u wait until it is officially announced
I think the guy could be good and physically o.k, though i saw his photo but i do not know how he plays.Wenger to pay 12.5M for aplayer is not easy. So the guy may be class.
I know that such silly bits of attempted humour/irony are not quite to everyone’s taste, but at least one good thing came out of it all. It has wound up one or two Chelsea bloggers.
Just reading through all the comments, Ian’s first post is interesting, listing the players in the youth team – because in among them is Kyle Ebecilio.
Arsenal bought him from Feyenoord on 1 July when he was 17, and did it from under the noses of Chelsea. And they got him for under £1m.
That transfer is a fairly similar story – the only difference is that this one is still right up in the air. And it was written by Bogus Cheese.
I can confirm that it is an official signing. trust me, I’m in the know
Whilst this is a very exciting signing, am I alone in prefering this money had been spent on a couple of summer signings that could have seen us challenge for the league title again?
Mr. Wenger let this not slip off your hand,bcos lukaku according to his profile is a gen.
Hey Tony, what a picture you’ve got up there.
You look like quite a jolly chap!
Bexxy- Yes you are the only one
The world of transfer speculation is a fantasy world- its a world of internet hits – it is not rational and it is not based on a semblance of reality- for example- according to Bleacher Cesc is now going to Inter Milan. Really? What are they going to use for money?How many many times does a player have to say there is nothing in this? The internet is a place where you can make a statement publish it and millions read it- with no evidential standards required whatsoever. I hope Arsenal sign the player if Arsene Wenger wants him.
Tony,
Is it gossip, rumour, pseudofact or FACT?
A Drogba Neveaux would suit us well.
are u just readin sites and sayin the same shi*
lukaku looks like the real deal perfect 4 the prem pace and power lets hope so but hes not a hidden gem everybody wants him
this is our opportunity to get it right at the front, a young, strong, fast, agile, tall and aggressive and i think this is the answer to our striking question mr wenger please i am begging you in God’s name dont let go of this football guru
lets rather focus on developing the young strikers we have at our club rather than buy an unproven belgian striker for 12.5 mil…the players im talking about are: afobe, watt, freeman & sunu all are exciting talents waiting for their opportunity in the premier league and carling cup