The Arsenal Week In Review
Yes, it is a slow summer but that doesn’t mean it is not without its excitement as the first full week without any kind of football from Europe comes to an end. For Arsenal this first week of real peace and quiet was anything but, as there was a lot of noise from players and other organizations who wish to do business with the club.
Cesc Fabregas
What would any summer be without a healthy dose of rumours circulating around our Captain, Cesc Fabregas the wayward catalan. It was slow in getting started this summer, but it has finally caught some steam as the Spanish (pro-Barca) press are reporting that Arsenal have given persmission for Barca to negotiate with Cesc. One paper even went so far as to say that come Monday (13 June ) he would be in Barca. Well, that may be but he will only be a visitor to the region and not there to meet with the club. Seriously if you are having a crap day, just read these papers. It is certain that they will lighten your day up with well needed humour.
Additionally, the usual cast of characters, Villa, Puyol, Pique, Iniesta, Cubby, Mickey (the last two are an obscure Mickey Mouse Club reference) and the rest of the Barca DNA squad have all come out and said how wonderful it would be for Cesc to join them at Barca. This time however, they are throwing in the disclaimer that it is really out of their hands and up to the clubs. Looks like someone spoke to the lads on proper tapping up etiquette before this all broke out. How nice they now actually have manners.
This week also saw Cesc’s potential suitors announce how much they have for transfers this summer and that is £45 million. Sorry Barca but that is £5 million short of where we need to be in terms of even discussing his sale. Sure, he has injuries and sure he has a sub-par season. But you want him. He supposedly has your DNA. If you want him that bad, then you’ll do what is needed to get him.
I think that’s a point I’d like to touch on with the Cesc case for now. If a club as big and supposedly powerful as Barca truly wanted Cesc, it strikes me that they would get him. With the new money from the Qatar Foundation lining their pockets – you’d think they’d just do the right thing and pay the price that is being asked for a player they want so badly.
We’ll have plenty more to discuss on Cesc, this is only the opening salvo. As a matter of fact I have special Cesc coming up in the next week with a guest piece from the folks over at TotalBarca – the best Barca blog out there. To get our coverage right we will kick off with the other side’s perspective on the story.
Moving right along.
Samir Na$ri
Ah Samir. I never thought the Cesc to Barca sweepstakes could be overshadowed, but this week they were with stories that Manchester United were mulling up £10 million offer for Nasri as a replacement for the retiring Paul Scholes. While there is no confirmation of this offer there is confirmation that Nasri and the club are at an impasse over his contract. Word is that the club offered £90k per week but the former Marseille product wants £110,000 – in other words pay him what Cesc gets.
Let’s ignore for a moment that Nasri has a long way to go before he can be considered in the same vain as Fabregas, I think you have to pay him what he wants. Sure, the 23 year old says its not about money. And I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you. But the reality is that if Samir can continue to build on the foundation he put in place this season there will hopefully be an explosion of talent coming from the lad. Plus if Cesc really does piss off to Barcelona you have a ready made replacement – to some extent. (Still think he has a long way to go to be considered in the same vain).
I’m also poo-pooing the notion that it’s about who Wenger brings in during the transfer window – which was a reason that was given for his delay in signing the new contract. When the first thing that is mentioned is you wanted more money than the club wanted to give you – let’s be real its about one thing, the money – not the transfers. Coming out later and saying its about the transfers is misleading.
And the money aspect of it was is making fans upset. I think they see the talent but they expect more return than just 1 half of a good season. They want more than that and then there is no issue. The openly courting of an Arsenal rival is another matter. It led one man on twitter to tweet to Nasri that he was a c**t. To which Nasri replied, he would take him on. Well not exactly in that nice of language. It was also followed up from a tweet on Nasri’s official account that said, don’t believe everything you read in the newspapers. Which now leads everyone to be thinking – um what is going on?
Frankly I don’t think much. I think ultimately the club pay him close to what he wants with performance bonuses built in. That way its a something for something deal. That being said, like the Cesc saga this one looks like it is not going anywhere any time soon.
The Battle for Britain – Player style
Looks like young English talent are all the rage this summer. Arsenal, Liverpool and United all announced deals for young promising English players. Okay, technically Arsenal’s Carl Jekinson has split his international duty with Finland and England. But the story here is that big clubs are adding youth and its English. Sure Arsenal also added Bellerin and Toral from Barca (Toral holds an English passport) but English clearly is all the rage – especially at King Kenny’s fiefdom where is trying to corner the market on it. Ah the glory days of the league returned – allbeit in one team.
It also was reported that even though Blackburn’s Phil Jones signed for United – Arsenal were right in there to the end. Blackburn accepted a £16 million bid from Arsenal only to have him accept the deal United offered the player. Arsenal are said to have nipped United to the signing of Southampton’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. The 17-year old winger has ventured off to his holidays with the deal said to be announced on July 1 when players can actually sign with the clubs. The deal is reported to have been around £12 million. For those keeping track – that is £28 million that Arsenal would’ve tied up into young English talent had Jones signed with Arsenal.
Interesting note on the Jones deal – not all is a done deal with United. The press today were running a story that Blackburn were very skeptical of how United knew about Jones’ buyout clause in his contract. Blackburn is also looking into how a deal could’ve been this quick with Fergie away on holidays (have Blackburn’s owners heard of the cell phone). Anyway the deal is on hold and it now looks like Blackburn will ask for more money from United to close the deal.
Enough of that – let’s take a look at our newest signing – Carl Jenkinson. Jenkinson has been playing with Charlton since he was 9. He’s made appearance for both England and Finland in their youth set ups and was Captain of Charlton’s Youth FA Cup side. A right footer he tend to play RB and CB, though occasionaly he can play the left. If there is a negative to his play he isn’t dominant in the air which would make him better suited ot be just a RB – especially if he ever gets to the EPL.
Overall – well there was this on YoungGunsBlog.co.uk
“He’s a good all round player, comfortable on the ball, looks to run with it, intelligent, tall, hard working and versatile. That’s not to say he’s proven even at League One level yet, he’s not even started 10 games for us. I’m sure if he keeps working at his game he’ll improve in all areas, get stronger, read the game better, make better decisions. He also takes a good set piece.” – Scott from CAFCYouth in his recent interview with Jamie Sanderson.
Obviously he hasn’t played alot of games for Charlton’s first team, but he has a lot of promise which a lot of these youth players are. I got to be honest – base don the talent being assembled by Arsenal, the youth squad and reserves may be more interesting to watch the senior squad (unless they pull their head out of their asses.)
The one thing I like about Jenkinson so far – is his sense of occassion. Immediately after his signing he said he had always been a gooner and the player he hopes to emualte is Tony Adams. In his interview on the Mirror he had this to say:
“My dad brought me up as an Arsenal fan and I have been going since I was young. I even went to a few games last season. It is all a bit surreal, but it is a brilliant feeling to be here and I am really excited by it,” Jenkinson told Arsenal Player.
“I was always a big fan of Tony Adams and I am reading his book at the moment. He was always someone I looked at as a great player and a great leader.
“He is a player I can learn a lot from and I will be looking to follow in his footsteps.”
Wenger’s track record of allowing young talent a taste of first-team action was another reason Jenkinson did not hesitate to join Arsenal.
“It is up to me to prove myself, but I know if I can, I will be given a chance,” he said.
“I owe Charlton a lot, with the way they have developed me as a player.
“I have still got a lot to learn, and now I am at the best place to do that.
“The plan now is for me to go away with the first team in pre-season and I am looking forward to it.
“It is up to me to prove myself, to stake my claim to be a first-team player and that I can be fighting to bring success next season.”
ED NOTE: All information relating to Carl Jenkinson came from YoungGunsBlog.co.uk – if there is anything related to the reserves and youth set up – Jamie has it there.
Tony Adams – no Fan of Wengers.
By all indications Arsenal legend Tony Adams does not seem to be a fan of Arsenal’s current manager Arsene Wenger. He went so far as to say that his favourite was George Graham who was better defencively and had better coaching ability. Basically he said Wenger was nothing more than a good physiologist and psychologist. Furthermore he couldn’t see himself as Arsenal’s number 2 though he wouldn’t rule out a return to the club one day – obviously as manager. Now, obviously I am may be stirring things up because Tony did say that Wenger was a lovely man, and was well liked and respected by all his former players.
How much for that player in the window?
Who cares when it looks like Arsenal could very well be one of the active leaders in transfers this summer. Now before I go further this all speculation but in this week’s Express Matt Law has said Wenger has lodged his interest in more than £60 million worth of talent. Now Matt Law is writer I like. He would be the equivalent of a good beat writer for your local newspaper in the US. He gets it wrong sometimes, but I do find that next to John Cross over at the Mirror he is the best source of truthful Arsenal information.
So while I caveate this as speculation – Matt’s speculation is better than most. In the article Law goes on to say that there Wenger does not want to be left behind in the transfer wars this summer. In the article it says that Wenger has made plays for Chris Samba, and Gary Cahill from Blackburn. He has also enquired about Eden Hazard and Gervinho. Wenger likely will not get all of these targets and he may have to adjust to new targets but this is a marked approach then previous seasons.
Now here is why I think there is a lot of truth to this speculation – we can confirm that Wenger this week alone tried to spend £28 million on talent (Oxlade-Chamberlain and Jones). The fact that he is buying youth talent is not new – the fact he is paying big for that talent – is. This is why I think the money is going to be spent – because he has already shown a willingness to do so.
It remains to be seen what will come of all of this. I think just adding either Cahill or Samba makes this squad better. Samba is a good CB for the EPL. Djourou and Koscileny could work for the CL but they are getting beaten up in the EPL – most times. Cahill is that proven leader and voice this team needs. I am not a fan of Gervinho but if we were to get Hazard all I’d want is a good cover for Song in the midfield and I’d be one happy camper. Oh, there’s the whole firesale thing of dead weight I’d want too.
The final word
The week closed out on the rumour that Liverpool made a cheeky offer of £5 million for Gael Clichy who is at his own contract impasse with the club – in that they don’t plan to give him a new one. Clichy is a goner. That much is certain. As much should’ve been evidenced when Wenger was talking about his priorities on who was keeping and Clichy didn’t come up (just Fabregas and Nasri).
Finally, yesterday in the press were supposed quotes from Robin Van Persie that showed me two things – he is slowly becoming the leader of this team and he is not going to be a fan of any English players outside of Arsenal.
First his growing leadershuip role. He is by far been the most outspoken and truthful player that has been out there. Even saying this (surely going to hurt some people’s feelings but so true)
“Every year it always goes wrong in an identical way and that is frustrating,” said Van Persie. “When you look at results in the last years, then Arsenal shouldn’t be talking about winning the league because too many times things have gone wrong.
The fluff and ra-ra is what you get from the manager – the truth is what you get from the team’s leaders. And frankly there has never been a more truthful statement than what RvP said above. I really like this guy and I like his commitment to the club. To me – this is our Captain.
Why he won’t be the fan of English players? Read this from the Express:
“The really top players aren’t fooled by riches or fame because they are fully focused with their football,” he said .
“It isn’t easy. Sometimes a certain amount of nonchalance can creep in and everywhere in the world you see it goes wrong when players start playing casually.
“I was in New York not so long ago and saw Thierry Henry playing. When you see him chasing and playing with so much desire it’s fantastic. Thierry is still hungry to win. He is a true lover of the game and I also have that in me. I hope I can keep playing as long as him.
“Look at players like Ruud van Nistelrooy, Clarence Seedorf, Edwin van der Sar and Dennis Bergkamp. They managed to keep on playing for so long because they lived like true professionals.
“They all have children and that brought with it other priorities. For me, it’s very important to be having breakfast every morning with my two children and that wouldn’t be possible if you were hanging about in a disco all night.
“When I see some of my English colleagues who are out till three in the morning, then I can only conclude that they are invariably finished at 33.
“I have made the choice to be doing what I love the most, playing football. I’ll finally stop when my game looks so bad or when my wife says, ‘Robin, you’re putting me to shame’.”
No offence to the English – but he is right. Players who get it – get it and devote themselves to it. They understand what it takes to be at that over level (no I am not saying RvP is at that other level – yet) but it speaks to talented players who get the riches of life and waste it all on partying, etc and only will be remembered as just talented players. That’s not saying that the stars are tea-totalers but their committment to the sport is greater than any other thing in their life and they just do it.
Och well, that’s our round up for this week. We’re going to keep this feature running in the summer and likely into the new season as a way to recap all our action on and off the pitch.
Until our next piece. . . Stay Goonerish!!!
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