First of all, a big thank you and well done to Kieran Delaney, the newest WOA writer. Between Kieran, Debs, JAT, Will and myself, there is quite a significant team of writers on board all who have one thing in common – their love for the game and their love for Arsenal. With only 5 weeks left in the transfer window closes, the squads are starting to shape themselves. Down at the Grove, we’ve got a goalkeeper and a defender to add to the squad – most likely the re-signing of Sol Campbell and the signing Mark Schwarzer. And pretty much that will be our quota of players.
There is a massive problem down at Man City, and it’s obviously going to be a problem for them – I think, when the count was made, they had 39 players on their books – after the signing of their left back. If Bolletelli signs, it would make it a round 40. Now, that means that there is a whopping 15 players available or somehow, if Man City manage to include a player here or there, at least 10 players… which got me thinking, who would like to have down at the Grove next season…?
In the goalkeeping department, last season, I really wanted Joe Hart and thought he would be available, but with Given’s injury, it looks like Hart will start the season as number one, so any sort of acquisition is not going to happen… which leads me to the defence, and with the exception of new recruit Jerome Boateng, the rest are distinctively average. One player who will be out is Wayne Bridge, destination likely to be Sunderland, Newcastle or Liverpool, the latter don’t actually have any left backs.
But there is one defender who happens to have some England caps under his belt and is a Gooner – yes you’ve guessed it, Micah Richards – who has fallen way down the pecking order – would be a decent shout as backup for Vermaelen / Djourou…
The defensive midfield position is an interesting one – Citeh have just signed Yaya Toure and put him on £220k a week – ludicrious, hey? And you can throw in Patrick Vieira, Gareth Barry, Michael Johnson, Stephen Ireland and Nigel De Jong… now don’t the last two look like two players who could be very useful in our squad… well, either player could slot in next to Song and Cesc in our three man field. I really do feel sorry for Stephen Ireland – he was immense a couple of years ago, but ever since Man City started buying anything that moves, he’s had less and less game time – I really think he has a lot of potential and could make it – if not down at Arsenal, down anywhere but Man City.
Onto the wings and strikers, an area which City have strengthened no end, there are just too many players and when you hear Mancini talk about signing two or three MORE strikers, then you can understand the mentality of the club. I would love a player like Robinho, as despite his attitude and pay packet, he is a seriously talented footballer. Apparently he is speaking to a few clubs in Germany over his next move – but before signed for Real Madrid, when we were heavily interested – if we did sign him, he would be surely talked about in the same breath as Messi…
But other than that, they do have a long list of distinctly average players in Adebayor, Santa Cruz, Bellamy, Jo, Benjani, Caicedo, Nimely – although the signing of David Silva is some quality – but what on earth are they going to do with 7, 8 or 9 strikers. Doesn’t Platini or Blatter have anything to say about this? Well, we’ll see what happens when they have to choose their 25…
So there we have it… in order of preference, if we could sign one player from Man City, it would be:
- Joe Hart
- Nigel De Jong (can play in both defence and midfield)
- Stephen Ireland
- Micah Richards
Who would be yours?
