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The Asia Tour Preview

Posted by :devday On : July 21, 2012
10

Category: Arsenal

So, boys & girls, ladies & gentleman, pre-season is fully underway and rocking & rolling… we’ve had a few low profile friendlies but next week sees our Asia Tour. It’s a chance for Arsenal as a club to appeal to the masses as we try and get our name, club and squad recognized globally. It’s not something we did back in the day, it’s not the Arsenal way, but we’ve modernized and have realized that if you can beat them, then join them. The moral high ground of “milking” Asia versus the reality that we are a global brand and it’s time for us to go global is the conundrum that may fans and many members of the Arsenal set up have been weighing up…

For those of you who don’t know what that picture is – it’s a picture of (new captain?) Thomas Vermaelen dressed up as a Chinese Warrior… don’t you love the Gimmicks… okay, back to the Asia Tour and the full squad that has traveled is…

  • Vito Mannone
  • Ignasi Miquel
  • Chuks Aneke
  • Thomas Eisfeld
  • Marouane Chamakh
  • Ryo Miyaichi
  • Craig Eastmond
  • Nico Yennaris
  • Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
  • Francis Coquelin
  • Kieran Gibbs
  • Alex Song
  • Lukasz Fabianski
  • Carl Jenkinson
  • Theo Walcott
  • Wojciech Szczesny
  • Johan Djourou
  • Benik Afobe
  • Thomas Vermaelen
  • Abou Diaby
  • Andre Santos
  • Gervinho
  • Mikel Arteta
  • Kyle Bartley

Yes, you’ll notice a few absentees… who are they and why are they not travelling…

Injuries:

  • Sagna (1 month away)
  • Rosicky (2 months away)
  • Frimpong (2.5 months away)
  • Wilshere (3 months away)

Potentially being sold:

  • Bendtner
  • Squillaci
  • Van Persie
  • Park
  • Arshavin

Vela has already joined Socieded, and it looks like some of our fringe strikers could also be out of the door soon too. As well as our “best player” in Van Persie. We’ll see where he ends up, it may be City, it may be Untied, but we all hope it’s neither and it ends up being Milan or Juventus… In terms of who joins and who leaves, Arsene summed up the problem…

“We are still looking to add one or two players but it depends also on how many go out because we have to respect the squad number. It’s important to respect that so before we get players in we have to get some players out. That has not happened yet, the market is very quiet.

Basically, what he is trying to say is that the longer we keep players like Bendtner, Squillaci, Arshavin and Park, the bigger the squad is and the higher the wage budget is… i.e. we sell them, and we can then re-invest in other players. I though Chamakh was in that group, but I think Arsene is okay with the idea of him staying and potentially contribute to the group. He’s on the Asia tour, so that must mean something.

I mentioned the injured players above and you may have seen that Jack Wilshere is out of action for another 3 months… and the reason I say that, is because of Arsene’s statement below…

“It is impossible to set a concrete deadline at the moment. But it is all OK. He is as quick as we expected him to be. His ankle is good and his knee is good. There is no set-back. It difficult to say ‘it will be this week in September or October’ when he is back in training. He has been out for a year and I don’t want to put any pressure on him.”

A little bit worrying and it means we will start the season without Jack. With Diaby’s return, we do have additional resources in the middle of the park, but Diaby is a very injury prone, so after one game, he could be broken again… Arteta & Song can marshall the midfield, but outside of them, Coquelin, Ramsey, Diaby or the ageing Rosicky can’t be trusted to be the “main player” or key player for the team. We need Jack, and without him, we should have an alternative “key player” – with him, I’d love to see the strength in depth…

With the Asia Tour underway, we’re going to see a new Arsenal… throw in Podolski and Giroud and we’ll be talking business… more tomorrow…

devday

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  • ArseFan101

    Is the Asia Tour on TV?

  • Berth

    Good stuff Dev. Strength in depth desperately needed

  • Nick

    Neither Giroud not Podolski is on that list. They need to be in the squad ASAP to start developing a team chemistry. No doubt Park and Ryo will be given lots of playing time to help the Arsenal brand.

    We need players gone but their inflated wages at Arsenal are the major stumbling block. I see RVP and AA23 moving on and that’s it.

  • Mike

    The lastest interview by Wenger almost made me phsically sick. ‘Arsenal policy works’ he said. How? By selling our best players every year? By replacing them with inferior players? This self sustainable model is well and good but at some point we have to invest in quality or we’ll be just another business enterprise and worse we’ll also be left behind on the footballing front. There is no doubt he is 100% behind the board’s self financing nonsense going by his latest statement. He does not have one hand tied behind his back nor has someone put a gun against his head. He is simply stubbornly against the idea of buying a world class player as it’s an insult to his coaching ability and possibly against his principle too. I’m sure the profit sharing clause in his contract has got nothing to do with this ‘profit first’ policy. After all he’s a man of integrity or so L’m told. All this moaning by Wenger reminds me of a child in a playground who got his toy snatched away and sand kick in the face yet would not do anything because it’s against his principle. The board and Wenger are a greedy bunch of cowards.

  • himmat

    WOWWWEEEE the Asia tour begins and how many of the first team are present to join this circus? The clown that is wenger has ruled out a move for M’vila becuase Diaby is back HAHAHAH did you hear that Man city – MAn Utd – DIABY is back – i can imagine they will be quaking in their boots. With wilshire not due back till 2020 wenger has officially lost the plot and should be sacked immediately

  • Patrick

    Same Wenger who is supposed to be a genius manager offered long term and OTT contracts to players who can be called mediocre at best, i.e Denilson, Bendtner, Squillaci etc.. He also bought utter rubbish such as Park. There are too many dead-woods who are getting paid stupidly high wages therefore Wenger can’t pay for star players. Mind you the greedy captain does not deserve the ridiculously high wage that he demands. Sell him to Citeh or Manur so he can be loaned out to Spuds in a season ot two.

  • Bonathan

    not signing m’villa because we have wilshire and diaby back. well, wilshire could now be out till october so perhaps this may change. the worrying thing is that he still pins his hopes on diaby! i mean, what is with that?

    one, he’s always gonna be a crock, and
    two, is he really that good anyway. because he hasn’t done enough to convince me. inconsistant, one footed and can’t tackle, scared to mix tackle and get tackled in fact. these aren’t great qualities for a CM.

    ‘he’s the first name on france’s team sheet when fit’, wow, really?? maybe yann m’villa isn’t such a good idea!!

  • Patrick

    I think its inevitable that RVP is going to leave and its really a shame, but i agree with one of Wengers policies and that is if a player is no longer happy at the club then its best to let him go. I don’t beleive in all the rubbish RVP stated in his statement. The club is very ambitious and we can see that by the signings Arsenal have already made and i feel that with at least 2 more, Arsenal will look very strong next year. I just hope this RVP situation is sorted because its getting very boring. However we will really see if Arsenal have moved forward if they don’t manage to sell RVP to any of the Manchester clubs.

  • Berth

    Players already talking about Bould. Not long now for us to see if he is that good

  • Patrick

    Ok. Spoke to the milkman again this morning and his mate who walks his dog over and beside The Arsenal training ground has advised the following that he’s heard from people at the ground.

    M’Vila deal stalled when Arsenal would only pay £17m, Rennes wanted £24m, left as that . Rennes apparantly have now come back and accepted this and the finer details of the deal are being completed.

    Walcott’s new contract has almost been completed and will be signed soon.

    Cazorla fee agreed and the final bits of the contract are being sorted out now.

    Afellay deal could still be on the cards , negotiations ongoing.

    Chamakh wants to stay and prove himself, he feels he didn’t get a look in last season with the formation and form RVP was in.

    Remember I am passing this information onto you from the milkman via his mate .