devday
3 signings in as many days… 1 for now, 2 for the future…
Posted on Wednesday Jan 13, 2010 by devday
30 WOA's
As the snow falls in London and around the UK – well, actually, around the world, we have made a trio of signings to the team and three signings that are what I would say are typical Wenger signings.
Sol Campbell
Free, from Notts County
Okay, so you’re probably thinking, why is this a typical Wenger signing, as Arsene has never re-signed anyone that has left the club under his management. But I’d say it is typical, because it represents good value for money. The thing with this signing is that it’s a bit of a no-brainer. Sol won’t be first choice. He will be waiting in reserve. If we want to rest Gallas for example, in the FA cup, a player like Sol can still do a decent job.
Sol had this to say:
“It’s not about the money, it’s about playing football, and the love of the game, and the sheer enjoyment at being back at Arsenal. Also we are talking about a six-month contract, if the technicalities are sorted out with the Premier League and other issues which Arsenal are currently dealing with, otherwise it is a straight forward six-month contract. I want to play, and I am happy to play in whatever capacity Arsene Wenger asks of me. I hope if all goes well, that I can sign for the club. I had to sign forms to enable me to play in the reserves, but the club are still working their way through the paperwork before I can sign the six-month contract. I am sure that will be sorted out soon, but I’ve heard nothing further.”
In addition, he added this about Arsene’s decision to bring him back:
“I don’t think Arsene Wenger has done this on a whim, he has watched me for the past three months, working hard, and he can see it’s worth it because he needs cover in all positions. I don’t imagine for one moment he plans to throw me straight back into the Premier League games, but he might need to if he has injuries, suspensions, and of course, it’s a long season with a lot of games, so he might need me for say a cup tie. No matter, whatever he wants to do, I am ready for it, I want to make a contribution and I believe I can do it.”
Whilst he also thinks he can bring something to the youngsters:
“There were some youngsters out there and it was good to be in a position to help them if I could. In truth I haven’t played a proper game for seven months, and you need to be prudent. If you play too long you can risk a muscle strain. Also, I am so glad the game beat the weather. Another 24 hours and it might have been snowed off, now that would have been a nightmare!”
Martin Keown has been in the press saying Sol could still make the World Cup squad if
“I need to stay fit, keep pushing and see what happens, but I have got to get going at Arsenal first. But the key to everything is that I am fresh. I feel fresh, and that is one of the things I noticed about myself even in that first half at West Ham, I felt fresh. Of course I’d love to play in the Premiership again, but I don’t know what the boss has in mind for me. First I have to get the deal signed and sealed and get back into it, I cannot jump ahead about a first team return, let along an England return! But I feel full of life, I’ve been training with the first team for six weeks, maybe it’s nearly two months now, and any club will get suspensions and injuries so my time might come. All I know is that I am ten times better off where I am now, than anywhere else.”
All sounds good doesn’t it – and it’s cover that we need in an area where we have lacked genuine cover. A few years back, Philippe Senderos ousted Sol Campbell from the starting line up which ultimately led to Sol’s departure – and in all honesty, it was before time. Now his arrival could mean that Senderos could be on his way. It’s a funny old game isn’t it!
Wellington Silva
£3.5m, from Fluminense
Wellington Silva has been dubbed the new Theo Walcott, who himself has been dubbed the new Thierry Henry, which kind of makes Wellington Silva the new new Thierry Henry. He is one of the most highly rated players within Brazil and had the likes of United, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Barcelona interested. Arsene brought him in on trial and he certainly looked the part. He’s now been signed – and £3.5m for a 16 year old represents a good amount for Fluminense, and a high amount for such a young an unknown talent. This is the same Arsene who didn’t want to spend £7m on Chamakh, a player with far more experience than the Brazilian. This whole signing really excites me, although we’ll have to wait until January 2011 before we see the player, as that’s when he will be 18.
Samuel Galindo (TBC)
Unknown fee, from unknown place
Unknown, but awesome nonetheless. I honestly don’t know too much about the player, but he is Bolivian and plays in a play-maker role. Gunner blog earlier today outlining the series of events that led to his signing:
The playmaker, who is captain of his country at both U-17 and U-20 level, was flown to England by Everton for a week’s trial, including a behind-closed-doors game. At the end of the week David Moyes was keen to do a deal, but no precise terms were offered. In the meantime, Galindo was offered a day’s trial at London Colney. Impressed by the six-foot-plus forward’s technique and physicality, Arsene said he would gladly have the boy back again, but couldn’t possibly make a decision on a transfer on the basis of just one training session. At this stage, Everton got wind of Arsenal’s interest, and were furious. They issued Galindo and his father, who had travelled with the boy to London, an ultimatum: return to the North-West and sign the deal on offer, or the deal was dead. Galindo showed incredibly maturity and confidence to ignore Everton’s threat and return for a second day’s training at Colney, in which he took part in a five-a-side game on the same team as the likes of Fabregas and Arshavin – and, by all accounts, didn’t look out of place. Aware of the pressure the boy was under from Everton, and impressed by his obvious talent, Arsene made his interest plain: a deal was on.
Sounds pretty awesome that the player would be in a 5 a side tournament with Cesc and Arshavin (ahem, has Cesc been injured?)… but to be confirmed. If the player has indeed signed (which I have heard from various sources is going to happen), then he may have a problem with obtaining a work permit. The Bolivian is currently 17 years old and not 18 until April – he hasn’t played for the first team yet and may not qualify as a “special talent”.
If he doesn’t, then I’d expect him to be loaned out to a Spanish club, like Celta or Salamanca, a la Carlos Vela in order for him to join in a year or two…
Here’s a sneak preview of some Bolivia play:
3 signings… one for now, one for next year and one for the year after… the future is looking bright down at the grove…
Tags: signings, sol campbell
great signings for the future but we still need a striker for this season!!
Very good prospect this young player looks. Looks strong and confident, has some awesome touches on the ball too. Bolivia made this boy for Arsenal!!
good and typical wenger signings but we need 2 for this season or at least a striker!
indeed, a 2nd or even a 3rd signing for this season would be awesome, but im loving the new south American mentalists in the pipeline!
Has Chamakh actually signed for liverpool yet? if so £25 mil is ridiculous
wow.. talking of liverpool.. they just lost 2-1 in the fa cup against reading!
not official yet, but looks like it (supposidly 12-15 mill up front and the rest after appearances etc)
I THOUGHT I WOULD NEVER SAY THIS BECAUSE ITS JUST HARSH AND I THOUGHT THEY WERE BETTER
BUT IT HAS TO BE SAID
LIVERPOOL ARE SHIT.
they never seemed to turn up, major probs at the kop!
Liverpool were terrible – to lose at HOME to lower league opposition in the ONLY competition you’re fighting for… Ouch!
you forgot to say arsefan101.. lower league opposition without a manager!
good luck campbell
well ive been going on an absolute sick one, because, hey are just not good enough,
Champions league (fall at the first hurdle) Goodnight Vienna
Carling cup (fall at the first hurdle) Goodnight Vienna
Fa Cup (fall out the first hurdle and get given another chance… fall again) Goodnight Vienna
top 4 spot Goodnight Vienna
Rafa Benitez Goodnight Vienna
Fernando Torres Goodnight Vienna
The class and quality they used to show Goodnight Vienna
Some papers said Arshavin is compelled to play even when his roght foot is not OK.Thats too bad.He is a waste of space as the central striker.He should be rested and let Eduardo or JET (u wont agree) play there.
yer arshavin has played for us with us with injuries and he has played for us out of position! its like fabregas palying on the wing or nasri in defensive mid! it can work but they are way less effective in those positions! hes dont very well considering how small his is the only way he can attack is to make darting runs throught the centre backs and its really hard to give him them perfect passes when fabregas is out! id rather him playing rather than JET taking his place! and anyway through a match him and eduardo constantly rotate the central position!
yet another youngster added which is nice…but we need someone for our 1st team this season…not our 1st team in 3 years time!!!
Any news on a striker for this season please ? cant wait to get one
I tought the boss said it was going to be quick depending on the outcome of bendtners results and bendner is about 2-3 wks away with another 2 or 3 wks to get back to form (if there is no relapse!!)
News is that we are still interested in Lucina Traore – but to be honest, with Eduardo, Vela around at the moment, and Bendtner back soon – I have doubts whether Arsene will spend.
The question is – if we did have Van Persie back, would we need a new striker as well? And what is the plan with Sanchez Watt and JET?
* And Simpson?
im not really sure what arsene has in mind and Im from the school of thought of not just spending money for the sake of it, but im not at all impressed with any of these guys.
I fully expected arsene to get a forward and of course there is still time and i hope he does buy. there is no way any I’d have faith in any of our current strikers to come off the bench and score for us. with someone like van nistelrooy available I think he could have a positive effect for us.
havent been too impressed with theo, starting to lose faith in him and now more looking towards wilshere
all in all my main point is that i hope we do get another CM/forward just for more bodies that we’ll surely need if were going to make a run in the fa cup/CL/PL
I agree with you con-man, these signings are good but not really very useful to our current campaign. Galindo hasn’t got a work permit yet so will be shipped off somewhere until that comes trough. Wellington Silva is only 16 so he will not feature any time soon.
According to reports Chamakh has not signed a pre-contract agreement for Liverpool and it is between us and Barca…but again he will not help our current campain!!
I think Dev is right. This is it for our Jan signings. Let us hope and pray B52 provides us the firepower required.
yeah I mean maybe were not going to have a 25 goal a season striker, maybe we don’t need one and if the goals are going to be shared around again, i got no problem with that.
I just think that having enough depth is important, i also feel we need a new keeper as well. Joe hart might be available, Almunia is good but sometimes his decision making is quite strange, now we have sol that kind of eases our defensive issues, but again sol is only going to be short term.
as for a midfielder, Vieria would of been again, just as another positive influence and someone to give song a rest for those fa cup games etc
and again as for a striker, still don’t know anything about Chamakh, so we’ll have to wait and see but as i said van nistelrooy would be good, he can score, is an out and out striker and can help us adjust our gameplan and give us a more physical presence up front. no idea wen B52 is going to be back but hes definately not going to be 100% right away
im really looking forward to these upcoming weeks. I
@CON-MAN: I agree with you regarding everything else, but I really do not want to see Van Nistelroy at Arsenal. You will agree with me that Wenger wouldnt sign him and Arsenal fans would not embrace the guy
Been thinking about Senderos lately. Are we treating the guy OK or He just really wants to leave? I have not heard an Arsenal player talk of wanting to leave like Senderos does lately? I wonder how his 8am-5pm looks like, what he does in training? if he trains at all? Does he pass by the dressing room after games? I know they are good pals with Fab. I wonder what he tells the Captain…….a lot of wondering…..I feel it for the boy
@Kuka!
The problem for Senderos is that he’s not first choice and he’s had his chances to the point where he made Campbell go crazy and leave – but he’s not agile enough for a club like us. Drogba and Torres are much more agile and can run rings around him. The problem we faced is that we’ve been unable to sell him for those reasons alone.
We’ve tried him out in different positions, but it’s not worked and in all honesty, I can see why Arsene doesn’t play him. With Gallas and Vermaelen doing well and Silvestre a more agile and versatile player, he’s fourth / fifth choice.
Senderos must have also questioned the boss’s decision making and that’s why he looks to fallen out of favour – I say this because he’s not played in games that we all thought he would.
Thanks Devday for the explanation. That does help a lot..
Loving the Sol signing!
As for getting a striker, we’d all love to have someone, and if Wenger does sign someone, it’ll be someone who fits 100% into Arsenal. It’s just that there are not that many around. If there is one available, Arsene will find him
But if we don’t get one, we’ll be alright. We’ve not had problems scoring goals, Theo’ll be back soon, Eduardo can only get better, and Nikky B’s back soon, yay!
Irrespective of what happens this month, we’ll be alright!
Just thinking aloud, didn’t we try senderos out in DM position during the pre-season? how did he look? I think he would be a good DM. He has height, average speed, and is good on the ball. The only problem i forsee is his tackling ability !!
^^^ not even, i have one image of senderos and thats when we were in the last season at highbury, we played chelsea at stamford bridge in august-maybe it was like our 3rd game of the season and drogba absolutely bullied him
senderos surprises me because he is big (about 6ft 2 plus??) and loads of clubs wanted him (juve, man utd, chelsea etc) but too me he never really looks comfortable. I would much rather have Djourou when he gets fit again