Arsene Wenger was in full voice today and he spoke a lot about a lot and Gazidis chipped in too with some early words this morning on Sky Sports News… Let’s start off with Arsene, who commented on the arrival of Gervinho…
“Gervinho is a player that can play in a number of positions up front. He can play on the right, on the left and through the middle. He has qualities that I find very important, like his movement off the ball. He has the qualities we like technically. He is good one against one, he is strong and was the best provider in the French league with assists and he scored 15 goals. I think he is a very good addition to the squad.”
When were linked with Gervinho (and more recently with Joel Campbell), a little debate kicked off to whether we’d abandon or 4-5-1, I mean 4-3-3 formation in favour of a more orthodox 4-4-2… but if pre-season is anything to go by and if the statement about Gervinho is coupled with it, then it looks like our formation will remain the same this season. If Bendtner does move to Everton on loan or Dortmund for £10m – I would prefer the former if he could then come back and be a super striker… then this leaves the plethora of strikers as such – Chamakh, Van Persie, Vela, Gervinho and Joel Campbell (if he does sign)… so we would probably see Vela and Gervinho play on either side of Van Persie… but then again, where does that leave Arshavin, Nasri and Walcott…? There will be lots of time to think about formations later, so let’s not worry about them right now…
Gervinho, always wanted a move to Arsenal and this is his dream move – he spoke about signing for Arsenal and said:
“It’s a great feeling to be an Arsenal player. I’m very happy. I’ve always dreamed to play for this Club. I’ve achieved this dream now and I am so happy. It’s one of the most beautiful days of my life. I’m very happy to have the chance to work with Arsène Wenger. I came here because I believe that he can improve my game and help me reach another level, but the most important thing for me is that I bring a lot to the team for whom I’m playing.”
I’m very excited to see Gervinho in action – he seems to have something about him, a trick or two and a bit of pace too.
At the end of last season, I personally had a few areas that needed to be addressed – I short-listed a few players whom I thought had underperformed and through myself and all the regular readers, we had come up with a list of all the people we thought let us down and / or weren’t good enough to wear the shirt and / or should leave or be replaced…
A little refresher of that list:
- Almunia
- Clichy
- Squillaci
- Eboue
- Denilson
- Diaby
- Bendtner
And in one way or another, it seems like these issues are being resolved… as we all know, both Almunia and Bendtner are in talks with clubs – the former may be on his way to Athletico Madrid and the latter may be on his way to a German team or Everton… we’ve also seen Clichy depart to join Man City and confirmed today that Denilson is returning to Sao Paulo (albeit on loan)…
On Denilson, he spoke about how much he will miss the team – perhaps a year on loan will change him as a player and he’ll come back a better one? Let’s hope so!
“I move away with sadness because I have so many friends at Arsenal and everyone has always been so supportive towards me. I want to say thank you to the Club, and of course, also a big thank you to all the Arsenal fans who are very special. I’m now focused on doing well in Brazil next season, but will always be looking out for the Arsenal results. It is a great Club with many great players, a good team spirit and a top-class manager. I wish you well for next season.”
Eboue has been marginalised by the arrival of Carl Jenkinson and has also been linked with a move away from the club – we’ll see what happens with that and that addresses a lot of the issues with the hit list…
Leaving only Squillaci and Diaby… For Squillaci, we have Kyle Bartley, who could replace him in the line up. Bartley was on loan at Rangers last season and did okay… he spoke on his position:
“I hope to know by the early part of this week what Arsene Wenger’s feelings are. I don’t want to be fifth or sixth choice at Arsenal. I’d rather be playing more regularly and Rangers would be perfect.”
In summary, the list is as follows:
- Almunia – most likely to be sold, not replaced
- Clichy – sold, not replaced, but Gibbs is now first choice
- Squillaci – could be sold, Bartley / Miquel replacements and perhaps an additional centre backs
- Eboue – marginalised by the arrival of Jenkinson, could be sold…
- Denilson – on loan to Sao Paulo
- Diaby – will never be sold, one of Arsene’s favourite player and will remain… surely he has to improve the season?
- Bendtner – replaced by Gervinho…
I am also expectant of another centre back arrival, as I believe everyone is – with Denilson leaving the squad, I doubt he will be replaced, as we’ve got Ramsey, Diaby and Frimpong – but I do think we need another signing in central midfield – Song is excellent, but if he is injured, it leaves us a little light in the DM area…
Ivan Gazidis was on Sky Sports News this morning and he basically speaks on song, exactly what Arsene says, which is probably a good thing, but at a time when we’re looking for any little bit of transfer news, we’re not getting any new “juice” – he all but confirmed Arsene’s stance of keeping Cesc and Nasri for next season. The question that has been asked several times this transfer window – would you spend £20m + wages and sign Juan Mata for one year if you were Arsene? Hell no! So, why are we doing it with Nasri, which is effectively what we are doing…
We’ve still got a 6 weeks until the transfer window closes, so I’ll bite my tongue for now… onwards and upwards to Cologne now, for our next pre-season friendly…
