Adieu for Ade???
Adieu for Ade?
Good morning and good Monday Gooners. We’re going to start today off in a lsight state of disbelief as no more than three media sources (and none of them are the Sun or Goal.com) are reporting that serious talks have now begun between Man City and Arsenal for a £20 million transfer of everyone’s favourite striker Emmanuel Adebayor.
If you remember early this summer, Arsene basically said if Ade doesn’t want to stay – don’t let the door hit him in the ass on the way out. To me its evident from the benching the last two games of the season and Arsene’s comments this summer that Ade is no longer an option AW wants to count on.
A great 2007/2008 season saw the Togolese striker play amazingly (maybe even above his potential) and led to an increase wage after threats to leave for AC Milan. Well, 2008/2009 great things were expected from him and as we all know his performance was lackluster. He was hurt for a short time, his shots were more off target than on. And he continued to insinuate that he would leave if tempted.
Considering the arrival of Arshavin, the reemergence of Eduardo (hopefully, fingers crossed) and an opportunity for Vela, Ade seems to be the odd man out. This is not to diminish his size in the box- he is tall and does head the bell very well, probably the best on the squad. And there are some times when he looks absolutely brilliant. But more times than not he seemed to hold on the ball too long, took shots he had no business taking and just seemed to mostly play uninspired football.
And maybe all us punters have Arsene wrong (as of late) and he does see how bad Ade is and how much he seems to be a nuisance andlacks the skill to be wearing the red and white. Or maybe there are things going on in the locker room and on the training pitch that has just led AW believe he could live without the striker.
It remains to be seen. But £20 million can go a long way to shoring up some needs we really haven’t answered this summer. Defencive midfield anyone? It seems we are going to miss out on Melo. Juventus seem set to announce the signing of the Fiorentina midfielder this week which still leaves us holding the bag in that dance and still leaves us without a holding midfielder. So if Ade is sold (and maybe the funds are why we are considering it) I would hopefully expect to see a big purchase come out if it.
But Citeh? Does AW think Ade is that bad that sending him to a EPL foe doesn’t matter? Somone will need to explain that to me.
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So Ade’s is officially gone now. I think Man City are doing a good service to the rest of the league, in that they are showing who the greedy money grabbing players are.
I couldn’t agree more. Everyone of them though is parroting the line that it wasn’t about the money and about what Citeh could achieve.
I don’t think anyone has bothered to look, but the back four that they had was mnore woeful than ours (and they were healthy) haven’t changed. Also consider that they haven’t signed any defencive minded players and it really looks like they will be great up front but could get scored on often.
As for Ade – good riddance. Now let’s just hope that AW signs someone of value.
This feels like one of those teams that’s going to have plenty of high-priced talent, and zero chemistry. Be cool watching these guys pouting and back-stabbing by December.
The MIrror is reporting this morning that the move to Citeh has been completed but Ade is holding out for a a £2 million loyalty payout from Arsenal since he didn’t put in a transfer request.
I’d take this with a grain of salt. The Times is reporting that Ade may be holding out to see if Chelsea come calling.
I think it is clearly evident that Ade is hesitant to go to that other team in Manchester. Especially, since there will be no European football. Why is this important? Because the only place Ade has shown improvement over the previous years in goal scoring is in the UCL – 5 goals last year, 3 the year before and 0 the first year.
Mmm. My user name isn’t showing up either, but it says I’m logged in.
Ah, there we go.
Its pretty weird for everyone’s first post it usually does that. Dunno why. LDE and I are working on it.
MP…A cordial, inviting site administrator? What’s your game, man? ;-)
Give me time. I am sure somewhere I will be less cordial.
Testing, testing.
Is Ade gone yet?
Testing.
We can only hope. But I don’t think so. I don’t hear London laughing at Manchester yet.
thumbs up for the new layout!
Deja Vu:
4 weeks until the start of our season, does anyone else have the same sinking feeling we aren’t
signing a DM? Or will next week shed new light for midfield targets?
that was my comment above, although my user name is not showing up.
— sachin
I haven’t figured why that does that sachin.
is everyone here now? :)
might as well get to the matter at hand. Adebyebyeor. I have to say I was not too keen on him leaving even if he frustrated me often. I would have preferred to have him stay and not automatically start every game but brought on for some games as a sub. But if he didn’t want to stay, then its pointless keeping him and paying his huge wages, which as it turned out were unfairly increased last summer. And now, given the circus that is developing with Ade, its getting worse. It seems far too many times over the last few years, Arsenal have been put through this “I am staying..I am going…staying..going” with a few players. When will it all stop?
If Ade does go to City, I can see him scoring against Arsenal and then running towards the City fans and kissing the badge on his shirt.
And if somehow, he stays at Arsenal, I expect Wenger to bench him and put Eduardo, Van Persie, Bendtner and even Vela ahead.
Although, I would have preferred that someone was brought in before Ade left.
DaAdmin/MacMac: I believe that once you get nested comments in here , you’ll get even more guys in. The new WordPress plugin does say it does that.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-thread-comment/
I can help setting this thing up/helping with the tech parts if need be. Let me know offline if I can.
Bickering won’t commence until AW drops the ball on our next transfer target or when we unexpectedly have a back four of Senderos, Clichy, Silvestre and Eboue with Bendtner attacking.
Silvestre is an easy whipping boy. He’s gone one way or the other. I can’t possibly see why he is still here.
I’ve got a post on Chamakh up on who he is and what he is.
Right now, he seems undecided about whether or not to leave Bourdeaux – and you also have to question his mind a little when he called Sunderland a big club. Just saying.
Eboue and Silvestre can disappear – but I’m on the other side of the fence for Senderos, Clichy, and Bendtner!
Clichy just needs work on his crossing. Senderos: football smart; anticipates well; tactical understanding – he can sometimes be exploited by quicker players – but show me any defender that is insulated from a good attacker?
The main spin on Bendtner is he has no 1st touch – I disagree. Nick reads the game as well as anyone on the club! Moves so well without the ball to exploit the opponent – has a good workrate – can make pinpoint short and long passes.
A DM to partner with Cesc – #1 priority.
Hooray – the breakaway rival forum is underway. But it’s all far too civilised. Look at us – NOT bickering.
I nominate Silvestre as whipping boy for the day. Unload old Modigliani face ASAP, I say. He was a stopgap buy that only cost us vital goals with his Cygan-style steadiness at the back.
What’s the deal with Chamakh. I’m so out the loop.
ARSENE WENGER has been told top striker target Marouane Chamakh will cost £7million PLUS defender Mikael Silvestre.
The Arsenal boss offered that sum to Bordeaux but the French club rejected the bid — unless former Manchester United star Silvestre is also part of the deal.
I’m sure key pads will heat up once the transfer window closes and matches start.
Why all this talk on strikers? If the sale for Ade goes through, I see Arsene stashing some of the loot for future. We need a DM to partner with Cesc.
summer boredom – closing the Ade Chapter
This week sure has flown by – so much salacious discussion about Mr. 50%.
Next week should be consumed with how Arsene will spend wisely! MIDFIELD
4. All of the above
Well, its seems my announcement of Ade’s immenent departure was misguided (damn). It now looks like the deal has been delayed at the players request and it could be over one of the following reasons:
1. Citeh balked at his wage demands and now he is being offered to ManUre
2. Ade is keenly aware of public perception about him and doesn’t want to be viewed as a money grubber especially considering Arsenal’s high profile in Africa
3. Ade doesn’t really want to go to Citeh and is hoping that Milan will come to his resscue and give him the deal he really wants.
So it looks like Ade has been granted his work permit for Man City and has also passed his medical.
This will now be the third striker Citeh have signed with Roque Santa Cruz and Carlos Tevez already on the depth charts.
All that remains is an official announcement as well as for us to learn what Arsene intends to do with the £25 million – striker replacement or defensive midfielder.
Anxious for Ade’s sale to be over with, so we can move on to substantive speculation.
$64 question is where is Arsene’s priority for the team, replacement striker or bolstering the midfield?
Long time reader…first time poster lol…I have been reading arsenal america for years! but never really bothered posting but figured since atleast SOME of us are changing sites I might as well join in the discussion as well
In regards to Adebyaor I have to say he does seem to be a real hinderance in the teams flow and his constant offsides are just ridiculous. That is not to say he is not a great player and would suit the majority of teams in EPL but for a team like arsenal with players like Arshavin..RVP..Eduardo..Rosicky that can show such intelligience in their movements and passes we really need someone that can make that critical pass
Looking back a couple of seasons there were a number of times I saw Hleb and Rosicky make intelligent movements only to pass to adebayor who just held up the ball and did not make the critical pass!
Last season seemed a bit more obvious as his motivation waned with decreased service from midfield. I think he can be successful wherever he goes because he will have renewed enthusiasm and will again be the work horse he was for us a couple of seasons ago.
No real news as of 7AM EST. Though as I have looked over the pubs this morning it seems that everyone agrees that Ade’s departure isn’t a “good-bye” so much as a “good riddance.”
Others are questions whether or not Citeh are understanding how bad this guy was in the locker room last year.
Finally Ade is not really keen on the Citeh move, having a preference for Italy. However interest from Milan has waned and Ade knows he is not in Arsene’s plans so he may have no other choice than to sign at Man City.
By the way should Ade sign with City and his goal total remain the same as last year (10) than the citizens will have paid £2.5 million for each goal.
UPDATE TO STORY:
Ade has a work permit hearing tomorrow in Manchester to see if he can work there. Additionally, Mark Hughes has confirmed talks with the want-away striker.
It’s only a matter of time.
LDE, we’ll see. As Joshuad always says, time will tell ;)
I am intrigued by what I read about this Chamakah character. Ade had many physical gifts, but little technique and intelligence. From what it sounds like, Chamakah has the physical tools to hold the ball up when playing alone up front. But he can also get other players involved, which is all the more important with midfielders that get in behind such as Arshavin and Walcott, something Adebayor clearly couldn’t do. I have read that Chamakah couldn’t put the ball in the ocean if he was standing on the beach. But that was the case for Ade as well most of the time.
Live –
Come on a season of peace. Where is the fun in that?
I agree on the Gallas/Toure/Senderos affair. Let’s get that sorted out sooner rather than later.
Regardless of how Vermaelean works out I still think we need a solid holding midfielder who can support Cesc. We need Cesc supporting up front and then somoene who can hold the ball in the middle.
That being said, I do like the attack nature of our midfield. Arshavin, Walcott, Cesc, Rosicky/Nasri and then our strikers – Eduardo, Vela, Bendtner (still not a fan) and maybe Chamakah
Thanks for the headsup MacMac. Hope this isn’t going to be limited to Us/Uk/ in time. Else I’ll have to start an Arsenal India ;)
I think we’ll be just fine if we sell Ade. Ade was always going to be a short term replacement for Titi. He has his strengths , is unplayable at times and has a lot of pace and power. He also apparently has a terrible attitude , irritatingly jogged back a lot and kept giggling while screwing up. RVP, Dudu, Arshavin, Bendtner, Vela, Rosicky(maybe) and Theo are more than enough to play upfront. Bendtner is more than enough for the Plan B. Not as a lead striker all the time maybe..but good enough for say 15 games a season. Handle RVP’s workload properly, play Dudu and Vela more in the tight defending games, play NB at Stoke and Sunderland and like..we’ll be just fine.
I’d like Gallas/Toure/Senderos’s future sorted out though. That’s still a concern area for me. Who’s going? Who’s not? If all of them stay then we don’t need another CB.
If Vermalean is the business and is going to be first choice we might.. just might not need a DM either. It’ll be great if we get one, but I think last year’s midfield rotated around..specially with Arshavin and Rosicky playing more will be good enough.
Lastly I see Mazza has joined in as well. Here’s wishing to a season full of peace and total agreement on a new clean slate where we agree all the time Mazza ;). What say?
Don’t you guys believe that heading is not our achilles heal? Eduardo, RvP, Arshavin, Vela, Bendtner, Nasri, Rosicky are more than capable of providing our fire power.
Attitude has its rewards, I believe Ade’s departure will facilitate our Manager’s choice(s) to bolster our mid-field.
Eduardo can do the header part pretty well. He’s actually more of a threat aerially than Ade. Scored for Croatia against England, scored in Ajax pre-season, and in general is not afraid to just stay in the box and keep it simple.
Noone that I can think of. We do need some height. Chamkah may fit that bill – though admittedly I don’t know much about him.
This means Bendtner will as many games as he wants. Who else have we got that can score headed goals from corners and crosses?