• Berth

  Arshavin!!!!! I hope so.

• AJ

  < ![CDATA[I'm not too sure, I think we will be able to land him, he definetly wants to move which is a plus, also his contract finishes next year and he can buy himself out next January, so Zenit will be more open to negotiation as they won't want to loose him for a fraction of what they would get from selling him now and as Mason has said Wenger has hinted at trying to bring in Arshavin, I think he will be here this January and I think we will definetly see one more player as well, most proberbly a defender though, I'm not too sure who he would go for in the DM position, maybe Veleso from Sporting? We've been linked with him on and off for a bit as have a number of other clubs.

  We must not forget the links with Krancjar as who knows with all those players leaving portsmouth he may decided to jump ship.

  Lets just hope we get the reinforcements we need and hope they revitalise the team? Who knows we may not get far this year (I hold out a hope for the FA Cup or the Champions league) but if we get the right people in now and next summer and no one major leaves, we will be a force to recon with next season.

  One last thing has anyone read anymore on the stuff about Alessandro Rosina from Torino? I don't know too much about him, would be interesting to know more.]]>

• devday

  I read a little about Rosina. Apparently we had a scout watch him which prompted the president to reject a link with us. He had a blinding season last season but not been too great this season.

• dantheman

  < ![CDATA[Some very very valid points from untioldarsenal:

  "In the end that is what is seems to come down to. Is Wenger, as I believe, not just a genius manager, but one who is able to adapt to changing circumstances BEFORE they happen, or is he exactly the opposite: a man so transfixed with his own vision that he can’t change.

  The negative case is the easier one to pitch: Arsenal had year after year ending up either first or second in the EPL - plus a selection of cup wins. Players could come and go, and yet the succcess rolled on. Wenger could kick out Ian Wright without even letting him touch the ball in a cup final, and yet still find better and better players. Anelka goes, in comes Henry - the never ending chain. Then, suddenly he lost it, and now we probably won’t get into Europe next season.

  The positive case is more subtle - and thus harder to pitch. Wenger’s most staggering invention (world-wide scouting) was copied widely, while billionaire owners came along able to by-pass the hard work because there were willing to spend anything on anyone, just to try and put a winning team together. After months of hard work Arsenal could discover player X, only to find someone else coming in at the last minute with an insane bid.

  Against such tactics Arsenal could not compete. Yes the brilliant players still came through, but they were harder to find, and had to be purloined at a younger and younger age. Even then, the late night prowlers from the KGB in Fulham, and more recently Sheik Yermoney’s men in Manchester, could always outbid anything Arsenal did.

  To counteract this Wenger came up with a new twist - building a youth team that incorporated the best players in the world at their age, signed in a way that other clubs couldn’t match. By giving these players an early chance in the team (he argued) he would then become known as the manager who gives youth its chance - making the players more likely to come to Arsenal than go anywhere else.

  The benefit of course is that we can attract these wonderful young players (Theo, Ramsey, to name but two). The downside is that they are still young, and so can make errors.

  But there is an upside which most followers of the negative approach don’t recognise. It is this: young players are generally much better at changing their style and approach than older players. Take someone like Cesc - playing alongside a Gilberto or Denilson he plays in one way. Playing alongside Flamini, he does it differently.

  Because fans generally like players who push forward and shoot, the Cesc next to Flamini is considered “good” while the most defensive Cesc next to Denilson is considered “negative” or “a restriction on his talent”. “He’s forced to play further back,” is the common complaint, forgetting that Denilson on the other hand is playing more forward than Flamini.

  But to me the argument in the end is about sustainability. The billionaire model (KGB Fulham, Sheik Yermoney Manchester, Aston “hold your head if you go down” Villa, West Iceland United), just like the “buy the club with its own money” approach that has been used at Manchester B and Liverpool I, cannot and will not be sustained. One instance: we still don’t know how Liverpool are going to refinance - and they have to do it this month, or the banks take over. West Ham are desparately looking for money and can’t find it anywhere.

  Arsenal have none of these problems and yet many supporters refuse to believe that the likes of Manchester and Liverpool could fall apart. Perhaps it is just us old farts who believe it, because we saw Manchester Bankrupt and the tiny totts in the second division, and can remember Liverpool and KGB Fulham as nothingness clubs.

  The uniqueness of Arsenal is that it keeps reforming itself and coming back for more. My father went to Highbury and watched one of the greatest teams in the world in the 1930s. I have done the same since Wenger arrived.

  Sustainability - which means at the moment the youth policy and waiting for success - means that Arsenal will be around, at the top, for the rest of my life. I doubt that this will be true of Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, West Ham United, Chelsea or Aston Villa."]]>

• dantheman

  We’ve got problems all over the pitch. Arshavin would solve some problems, but Senderos would create others.

• simba

  < ![CDATA[With this Arshavin transfer, every couple a days, a new part in this story develops. I wouldnt be surprised that if at the weekend, Arshavin announces he has a verbal agreement with Arsenal or something like that. Same thing happened with Nasri and he eventually signed for us. Well I do believe Arshavin will sign for us and I will be happy to see him play for us.

  Also Ghana Captain Stephen Appiah is on a trial at Tottenham which is something I am a bit jealous about, because he is a good player and Spuds could get him for free like we could have. I dont expect AW to buy any free agents.

  Would like to see the rumours about Shay Given actually happen but I fear he will move to Man City for £8 million as they are prepared to offer ridiculous wages (I mean Scott Parker on £100,00-a-week is just bizarre) and AW’s faith in Almunia will see us miss out on the highly talented irishman.

  My thoughts on the 2 player + cash bids that we are currently linked with. First the Toure + £6 million for Stephen Ireland, I would be sad to see Toure go and also I rate Toure higher than Ireland and I think it should be them giving us the money not the other way around. However if the deal could change so Richards comes to the Emirates,I would welcome the move although I would still be sad to see Kolo go.
  The second is Bendtner + £5 million for Matthew Upson, another shock move which I dont think will finalise. I would like to see Niklas go out on loan and I have a weird view on defenders and unlike most fans, I would feel slightly dissappointed to see Upson or Hangeland arrive. Mexes, Alex, Richards (as mentioned) and Milito will be the only defenders I will be happy with.]]>

• simba

  Theo Walcott is in negotiations with Arsenal Football Club over a new contract. Rather than leave the Emirates Stadium at the end of the season, the agent of the England international has hit back at claims the player is unhappy at the Gunners. Indeed, Colin Gordon confirmed the former Southampton youngster is in talks with Arsene Wenger¿s side about extending his time in North London. “We are negotiating with Arsenal and we are doing so very serenely,¿ said Gordon. “I think that we will not have any difficulty to renew the contract.” Goes to show you why you cant trust the tabliods who get quotes from Walcott representatives, which could in theroy be anyone who has helped him out on a daily bases so the local school teacher maybe.

• simba

  < ![CDATA[People go on about Arshavin being a late bloomer, and "if he is so good why hasn't he been picked up by someone else earlier?". But who can honestly say that Zidane was a household name until he was around 25 years old or so. OK i'm sure some people would have heard of him but was he really on any English football fans radar until he was playing for Juventus. (Even tho Arsenal very nearly signed him just before his transfer to Juve in a double swoop for him and Lizarazu from Bordeau.

  Dont get me wrong, i'm not comparing Zidane to Arshavin in terms of quality. In my opinion, Zidane along with Bergkamp are the two greatest footballers i have had the pleasure of watching. However whats to say Arshavin could not have a strong impact on our team and go on to become a great signing for us. He has undoubted class and ability. His touch and vision look fantastic. He has pace and skill to beat players. Lets face it, if he wasn't good Wenger would not want to sign him. I for one would be very happy seeing him run out at the Emirates.]]>

• mason

  please please please can some1 explain to me why as fans/ supporters there is so much negativity about the team and even more so Arsene right now. Now I don’t get to many games but does this mean i’m not watching the same games or i don’t have the same manager than what i call the ‘negs’ on here! Its not the end of the world, were not about to be relegated and we are in 5th spot, 3 points from a champions league place with 1/2 the season still to play. We’ve been here before when we pipped the yids to 4th spot, remember! I’ve read loads of these posts recently and am amazed at how negative so many are – raging about the attitude of players like Gallas and the commitment of Bentdner- it doesn’t take a genious to work out that if the fans aren’t behind the team, a young team at that, that negativity will spread, yes even to the players, after they can read too, they can hear the boos and more importantly football is a confidence game and right now if i were that way inclined if i was a player i might be reaching for my noose – come on the mightly gunners, wenger do your magic after all we’ve still got 21 whole days of the transfer window!!!

• Dan

  < ![CDATA[I think Wenger is right to look for another winger. We lack depth in that area even when they are all fit. I'd be pleased if this were to happen.

  Obviously more pressing is the CDM, because we don't just lack depth in that position, we lack anyone who can do the job properly at all. Is there any speculation for a CDM? I've not heard anything.]]>

• parsi

  I’m not sure where I stand on the possibility of signing arshavin – on one hand I do think he has shown enough to suggest that he can play but on the other hand has he shown enough to suggest that he can do it consistantly and can he stand up to the physical nature of this league ? I do feel that it is somewhat unfair of us to assume that he isnt good enough or is just a one season wonder cos we aint heard of him before this year – I mean lets be honest which of us are avid followers of the russian league plus of course we live in a media zone that thinks the sun rises and sets with the premier league so that can be misleading. What I will say is this….we need a few quality signings in jan (not 1 or 2 arsene ) and these signings would need to be able to bring proven quality, no small amount of physical toughness and of course some much needed experience. Now I also believe that, as a club, we need to make 1 really big signing to show all those that are writing our epitaph that we are not a club on the decline but a club that is on the way back. The club need to send out a message to the fans, sponsors and rival clubs that we are not going to sit idly by and give up all that we as a club have worked so hard for over the last few years and that we are ambitious, not just in talk but also in actions, to make this club the number 1 club in the world I believe that it is also important to show that ambition to all our players so that players like cesc can see genuine reasons to stay and players like diaby, bedtner, eboue(no point in mentioning song ) etc will see that we are no longer willing to indulge them when they are playing shit – from here on in it is up to the players to up their quality and performances to our level and not up to the club to drop their standards to those players levels so shape up or get out.

• buxton

  what makes arsenal arsenal? is it the players? is it the style of their play? or are you all just supporting a name? kolo has appeared in more than half the arsenal fixtures in the last 8 years. does that make him part of arsenal? does kolo make arsenal arsenal? or would bringing in a bunch of new players define the new arsenal? you guys need to grow up. you’re all nowhere near the level of management that wenger is at, nor the board of directors. to most of you, arsenal’s just a football club. but to others, it’s their business, their life. to the players, it’s for the passion. look at walcott. look at fabianski. so we’ll bring in upson, arshavin, veloso and alonso? then what happens? arsenal will be overcrowded with players that are first-team quality. the balance is almost there. we just need one, maximum two more signings. that’ll make the competition for first-team football fair. this isn’t master league. this isn’t football manager. it’s real life soccer.

• buxton

  for those that dont want him (ashravin) i ask one question, eboue diaby or denilson on the wing or a proven scoring international in arshavin

• Gooner Get Ya

  < ![CDATA[My opinion is changing on the approach of how we are running the club and agree with what dantheman is saying. I would much prefer to be in and around the top than over spend and end up like leeds or wimbledon which i see more and more clubs slipping into.

  I trust Wenger as a manager and although it is frustrating in the transfer window when we end up with no one and other smaller clubs like Sp*rs are parting with a heap of money but at least we should still be in the top flight in 10 years time.]]>

• Gooner Get Ya

  < ![CDATA[On the Arshavin deal if it takes place, it looks like he will be coming for 12m and has apparently been seen having a tour of our training facility but he was on £100,000 a week with Zenit which is the sticking point of him signing.

  I dont think I want him yet...what impact is he going to have this season? I would prefer a prem experienced player who could slot right in over him to be honest.]]>

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