There is not much new news happening in the wonderful world of Arsenal at the moment. The transfer rumours are still quite quiet and in reality the only thing that anyone seems to be talking about is the Arshavin rumour, which I believe is still a long way away from being done and in fact, it may not be done.
The other rumour you may have heard or read about is the double whammy - Van Persie and Cesc to Barcelona for a whopping £45million. The story featured in The Daily Star this morning and you can't really seeing them sign Cesc whilst he's injured - totally fabricated in my opinion.
Which took the thought patterns to the current exchange rate and how this has effected the transfer market. People have been talking about £20m for a player like Arshavin, but in summer, when the exchange rate was 1.45 euro's to the pound, the £20m was about 28/29 million euros. Now we're hearing we pay be paying in the region of £10m for the player, but in euro's at the current rate of roughly 1 euro to the pound, that's approximately a third of the original price rather than half the original price.
So what does that mean for us? Well, if a player is worth 10 million euros, in summer, the player was worth £7 million pounds, but right now he is worth £10 million players. So actually - any player bought from Europe is automatically 30% more expensive this transfer window than last.
What does that means to foreign clubs - well, it means that any UK based player is automatically 30% cheaper. If Real Madrid offered £14m for Diarra, maybe Pompey wouldn't have sold, but they've offered £21m for Diarra, and Pompey have accepted. However, the money offered in euro's is actually the same. Interesting. So, yes, now really is the time for Real Madrid to try and buy Ronaldo...
Any deal we do with the likes of Zenit or other clubs for any players such as Arshavin will now be more expensive than if we did the same deal in summer. Arsene Wenger, of course, has a degree in economics, so he'll be more clued up than me on this, but if we do get Arshavin now for £20m, we really should wonder why we didn't buy him in summer when it would have been 30% cheaper and he'd be ready by now...
The player himself does want to move and has re-iterated his desire:
“I want to play at a good European club and I want to prove how good I am. I think it is a distant prospect that Zenit will ever be as big as the likes of Real Madrid or Juventus. It will take some time and Zenit must win many titles first. But recently the club have been progressing. The main thing is that the management should have willingness and players should be provided with opportunities.”
Okay, so we already knew that – yes we didn’t learn much from this. But hey, in Arshavin’s eyes, we’re not even a big club! And yes, he said the only club he wants to go to is Barcelona… anywho – it may be the difference between 4th, 5th or 6th…
On to other news and Ade still believes we can win the title. Despite his fumbling, despite his very poor form, despite his want to leave in summer and despite the inability for him to score the “simple” goals he was scoring last season, he’s still positive about winning the league:
“To try and come back and win the title, we know it is going to be very difficult, we know it is going to be tough. It is tough for us, it is tough for Liverpool, it is tough for Chelsea and it is tough for Manchester United.
“We are 10 points behind, so if we can win three or four games straight away we have a chance to come back. The most important thing is to keep on going. We have to keep our dreams alive and keep going. We will do everything to make it possible.”
“We have a chance there [in the champions league]. We have a very tough game against Roma but we believe that we can do something.”
And Ade also supported William Gallas and what he said earlier in the season.
“There is some truth in what he said. Someone had to say these things, to make each person face up to their responsibilities. If he had said nothing, where would we be today? Gallas has always been like that – he has experience, he has won titles, played in a World Cup final. He doesn’t throw these thoughts around lightly. He said something because it was necessary to do it. He is indispensable to the team. He is Arsenal’s rock – his behaviour since the armband was taken off him proves that.”
One thing that Ade has forgotten is that he was one of the players that Gallas was referring to. I think sometimes some of these things are better left behind closed doors, but maybe it’s a little hard to keep everything hidden…
Okie dokie… let me know your thoughts…
Til tomorrow…]]>
