Keith Lamb of Middlesborough said:
“We have agreed a fee with Arsenal and we have now been given permission to speak to Justin which we will be doing in the next 24-48 hours.”
In other news, Arsene has talked earlier today about the size of the squad and the strength in depth. It’s obvious when we field Aaron Ramsey, our new 17 year old signing, debuts in the Champions League on the first game of the season. It’s essential, after losing Gilberto, Flamini and Diarra that we add more depth into the defensive midfield position. We’ve got Ramsey and Bischoff added to the pool of central midfielders. Add to that Denilson and Diaby, both of whom have had form and injury issues and it looks like we’re one experienced central defensive midfielder short.
Today, Arsene has spoken on this position and let us know that there will be a player coming in:
“Will something be done ahead of the second leg? Certainly yes, but before Saturday, no. If you look at the number of players we had out (against Twente), you can say it was very positive for us.
“We did not have Abou Diaby, Cesc Fabregas, Tomas Rosicky, Nasri, Kolo Toure, Eduardo and Senderos while Alexandre Song is at the Olympics.
“We missed seven or eight players, so for me our squad looks big because the players who were here did well.”
Positive news, and we all knew, including the players, that we needed to get the player in. My head has been toiling around who this new player could be? I’m thinking, an established player, who can slot right in, at a reasonable price who’s relatively young (maybe 25ish) and isn’t one of Yaya Toure (Barcelona won’t sell), Barry (too expensive), Alonso (too slow)… who will this player be? Could it be Freddy Gaurin or has he just moved somewhere? Could it me the highly rated Banega, I hope so…
Put your thinking caps on… and let me know!]]>
