Two weeks ago, current Malaga boss, Manuel Pellegrini stated:

“To sell him for 20m euros would be to give him away – I do not believe the club would do that.”

But two weeks later, for a reported fee of £12.5m, the Spanish midfielder has now [virtually] joined the Arsenal 2012 revolution as Arsene bids to change our fortunes and turn our nearly side into a side that can challenge for the title. Just imagine the following line up:

Giroud

Podolski – Cazorla – Walcott

Arteta – Song

Gibbs – Vermaelen – Koscielny – Sagna

Szcznesy

With a compliment of other players to add to the first XI… Wilshere, Gervinho, Oxlade, Diaby, Coquelin, Frimpong, Rosicky and more… Buying three first team players of high quality with the ability to go straight into the team is something we rarely do. This time we have and it means business.

The announcement was made today and Arsene has spoken very highly of the player:

“Santi Cazorla is a great signing for us. He is a player with good experience at both club and international level, who will add significant quality to our squad. He is a versatile, attacking midfield player who can play comfortably on either side of the pitch or centrally. He has good pace, is technically gifted and will be a huge asset to Arsenal Football Club. We are delighted that he is joining us.”

The player himself saying:

“I’m so happy to be joining Arsenal. This is a club with great players, a fantastic stadium and huge support. The Club has one of the best managers in football and their style of play is recognised and admired all over the world. I’m so excited to be joining one of the greatest teams in Europe and also in the Premier League. I will do my best to help Arsenal challenge for trophies and make all the supporters happy.”

It’s amazing to see him join, to see Giroud and Podolski also join and it’s a clear sign of ambition and intent. The squad is very strong now and if we can just get rid of the players who we don’t want and get in a quality defensive signing, then our odds for the title will be slashed without a doubt!

The question is…

Where will he play? How will all our new signings fit it? Great to be talking about this…!

The wait is over for today’s blog that is!

I originally had started writing about Cazorla, and how he’d integrate into our team, but of course, despite the various reports in media and newspapers, there has been no official confirmation that he has signed. As a result, I have parked that blog – to be reignited when he (if he) does sign. For the moment, it’s time to look at other aspects of Arsenal, starting with RvP…

Robin Van Persie

The saga continues… No resolution for his place in the team, but at least we’re busy spending money despite it. With the new signings, it makes his departure more manageable, but the question is, where will he go? Juventus have been linked, and Man U and Man City have also expressed interest… but Mancini said this morning:

“Van Persie? No, I don’t think he will come here.”

And do they even need him? I don’t think they do and it means that he may not have anywhere to go.

Ibrahim Afellay

Afellay wants to leave Barcelona, simple as that… and he is Van Persie’s mate. Maybe the signing of Afellay may mean that Van Persie stays… who knows…

“Afellay could go out on loan for a year,” his representative Rob Jansen told Italian reporters over the weekend. “Yes, that is a possibility.”

But would we want him on loan? I doubt it.

Andrei Arshavin

Ambitious QPR are looking to sign our diminutive Russian and it’s interesting how the story comes out now that we’re heavy linked with Cazorla. Zenit didn’t really want to pay the fee or wages when it came down to it, so will QPR’s interest mean that a little tug of war starts for the Russian. I would say his days are numbered and even more so if we buy Cazorla… so QPR or Zenit, he’s yours!

Santi Cazorla

Hey hey hey… what’s all this Santi talk? Remember, we’ve got to carry on waiting until he’s announced and when (if) he is, it’ll be time to talk big time… But just to let you know, Maresca and Baptista did let the cat out of the bag…

Maresca saying:

“[Pellegrini] is fundamental for us, just as Cazorla and Rondon were fundamental and who have been sold,”

And Baptista’s tweet:

“I’d like to send a greeting to my two companions who were, Santi Cazorla and a big hug Salomon Rondon will miss you,”

Hmmm, interesting…

Change In Tactics?

A lot of people say that Arsene has changed tact. He’s stopped buying youth and is now buying older players – well, project youth hasn’t failed, it’s been complimented by experience. We have a great crops of youngsters and will continue to do so. However, now, we also have some cash and with cash, we can buy players that we need. Jenkinson has been talking about a subtle change in tactics.

“We like to keep the ball moving and create goals in different ways but crossing is a strength that I like to use when I can. The manager knows crossing is one of my strengths and he has asked me to get as many balls into the box as I can. But, at the same time, he has told me not to cross for the sake of it. It is an asset of my game and one I like to use. The more minutes I play, the more comfortable I am to push on,”

Very interesting and something we need to do – especially if we have more than one forward in the box and especially with the likes of Giroud, Podolski and Chamakh…

Fingers crossed we will hear an announcement soon… and then you can read my real blog!

The Summer of 2007 saw Thierry Henry leave Arsenal in a protracted affair. The Summer starts with hope, but fades into reality. We’ve had ground-hog day every year since, with last season being extremely painful with the departures of Nasri & Cesc and last minute shopping. The latest and to the minute signing, Arteta, proving the most important of them all.

Most of us thought that this Summer would be different – and in honesty, we did get onto a great start with the signings of Podolski and Giroud… but then the momentum halted and we’re now into the new season with a few headaches to iron out. We’ve had the bold declaration from Van Persie that he wants to leave – but he’s still around and still down at training. Theo Walcott has failed to renew his contract and he’s back tomorrow – another unknown issue – will he be sold, will he be kept? Who knows?

Chamakh, Bendtner, Park and Squillaci are still picking up £10m a year between them, and despite global interest in one or some of them, none of them are off the books yet. The season ended in May, it’s now July… how long does it really take to sell someone? We all know that these players are all pretty rubbish and therefore, no-one actually wants to buy them.

Can you imagine any manager in their right mind? Oh, that Chamakh – the one who plays for Arsenal, he looks like a great buy – he’ll knock them in for fun, and only £60k a week? Oh that Park, he’s great, he’s the new Ronaldo, sign him up! Oh that Squillaci, he’s exactly what we need to sure up our leaky defence.

Now, where we are, we really really really need to get things sorted – it would be awesome to have these issues resolved, all the players and all the other players in and we were starting the season with the full squad that we were going to use throughout the season. But instead we have a mismash of people who some will leave and some will come (we hope)… it’s just an average Arsenal summer…

New signing Podolski spoke about the forthcoming season:

I’m looking at a different championship in England now and I hope we’ll be competing towards the top of the table. I don’t know if it will be enough for the title but I want to have a successful season.  I’m raring to go and get started on July 21^st and I hope I will have four great and successful years in London.

Now, although there are some positives to be taken out of the quote – quite a worrying sign is that he’s not sure if we can challenge for the title. I don’t know how much of that is Arsene or the team, but I want all the team – the team full of Internationals, to believe that they are good enough to challenge for the title. If you believe you will finish fourth, then you will finished 7th – 3rd… but if you believe you can win the title, then you will challenge. I really hope we get a winning mentality back at the Arsenal, it hurts me to hear players talk about not winning the title before the season has even started…

Hmmm… But… here is something to cheer you up…

Did you see all 18 New York Red Bull fans celebrate?

Til tomorrow…

The title of this blog will definitely be used by tabloids when the man himself scores a brace or is man of the match…

Today, Oliver Giroud has been officially unveiled as an Arsenal player.

As a recap… The main man has been signed from Montpellier for £12.8m. He helped his former team win the French Championship last season and he has a very good reputation in the game. He scored 33 goals in 71 appearances last year for the French champions and according to media reports, rejected contracts and offers from 2 other Premiership teams, believed to be Chelsea and QPR and additionally two clubs from Germany. He has signed a long term contract believed to be 5 years.

What Does The Manager Have To Say?

Arsene has been talking about Giroud in the press, his first comment last week confirming the deal was 90% done. He did feel very confident about the player and the deal, and I believe Giroud is being brought in as a first choice member of the team. Arsene spoke this morning and had this to say:

“Olivier has a very good physical presence and is exceptional in the air, with a great work ethic. We are excited about Olivier joining us and he will add an additional dimension to our attacking options next season. He has proved that he is capable of performing at the top level with club and country, and we saw what a big influence he was in Montpellier’s championship-winning side last season. We all look forward to Olivier joining us and seeing him play in an Arsenal shirt.”

Giroud’s influence was just headers and / or plan B, but a more complete player who has pace, aerial ability and a trick or two.

What Does The Player Have To Say?

There has been no secret that Giroud has wanted to join Arsenal. He has stated before that he believed Arsenal was the perfect fit for him.

“I have always admired Arsenal with its great history and reputation, and I now hope to achieve great things here. I am very proud to be a Gunner and I will give my best for all the Arsenal fans. It is a huge satisfaction to join this great club and it has been a dream since I was young to play in the Premier League. I was attracted by the philosophy of football and Arsene Wenger’s ‘touch’ at this club. I am delighted to be here at Arsenal and to be part of one of the great teams in English football.”

Exciting words from the Frenchman – we’ll all be closely judging him in pre-season to see how he will fair…

What Does His National Manager Have To Say?

Laurent Blanc believes that there are two quality French strikers at his disposal. Benezma at Real Madrid and Giroud. Before the Euro’s he spoke about pairing the both of them, but in the end he opted

“Benzema and Giroud can play together. They are two interesting players but they are complementary – I’m convinced of that. “

x

What Shirt We He Wear?

Giroud has been given the number nine shirt – this was worn by Park last season. With Park still on the books, there is now a lot of speculation that the shirt number change means that Park could be on his way out of the club after just one season.

How Will He Fit In?

Giroud is a striker, not a winger. He has to play as the main striker on the pitch. I don’t think he will be deployed on the wing, as it will be a complete waste of his talent. As we’re playing 4-3-3 nowadays, you’d think he’d line up as the central striker in a three main attack.

If Walcott & Van Persie do go, I can only presume that we’ll see this line up:

Gervinho – Giroud – Podolski

If they both stay, then the options are incredible:

Walcott / Ox – Giroud / Van Persie – Gervinho / Podolski

And of course, in a 4-4-2, we’d see him fit in alongside a striker…

With Giroud and Podolski both signed, I am a little worried that Theo and Robin could be off – neither having signed a contract and both entering the final phases of their contract. If we could keep them both and add them to the pool of players, then the six players mentioned above are mouthwatering in terms of options, combinations. It’s interesting to see us do our business so early on in the summer, heck, it’s not even July. We’ll see where we sit in August of course, but keep it up Gazidis / Wenger!

One Last Interesting Fact

Did you know that Giroud and Koscielny played alongside each other in 2010 whilst both at Tours FC?

Adios for now… Mr Tottz is back in the groove tomorrow…

Morning fellow Gooners,

In case you were wondering, it is going to be a long summer. A very long summer. There is going to be a lot of stories, a lot of opinions and a lot of rubbish. Where sometimes, as a blogger, you have to step away from all the nonsense; at other times, you cannot help but add your own opinion to what you feel is relevant and important.

Robin Van Persie: The Saga

Two interesting stories from two Brazilians to kick off with. Andre Santos came out on Brazilian TV and said that he “can understand why Robin wants to leave after 8 years” – this is based on the fact the two of them talk and text daily. I wrote a piece a while back called, “Why Robin Is Going To Be Sold“. And if you read that then you’ll see why the recent comments from Santos don’t really surprise me.

The problem is that this whole thing is turning into a saga. For us, we need to  to ensure it gets sorted as soon as possible. If Robin is going to sign, then he has to sign now. If he’s not, then Arsenal have to sell him ASAP and then buy, buy and buy. There is some noise that Giroud is on his way to the Emirates, and with Podolski already signed, perhaps if the transfer goes through, then Robin’s departure could be announced.

Ivan did speak about a possible announcement:

“Robin sat down with us at the end of the season and we had a good discussion. What we agreed at that meeting was that we would keep all the discussions we had over the summer to ourselves and make announcements when it is the right time. We have to respect the fact we have agreed to keep that among ourselves. Robin is clearly focused on the Euros at the moment and we wish him well, and at the right time we will make the right announcements.”

What on earth this means is completely your guess! If it was a good discussion that means he has signed a new contract – or he is just stringing us on – put it this way, it sounds fishy! If he has agreed a new contract, why delay the announcement? If he has decided to move on, then why delay the announcement… unless there is an agreement to stay until next summer and then leave on a free? The thing is… your guess is as good as mine.

Getting The Deadwood Out

It does seem like it’s all change this summer. Those players who we thought we tried to get rid off last summer – although, I think we may have wanted to loan them out to see if they became the players we wanted them to be – could very well be off. Denilson, Bendtner and Vela have all been in the press letting the world know that they have deals on the cards.

Denilson has said that he could be signing for Sao Paulo permanently.

“There is the possibility of maybe signing a four or five-year contract. My lawyer talked to Arsenal and they asked to wait to see what happens in the Brazilian Cup before talking again. Anything could happen. Sao Paulo are doing their best to keep me, but I prefer to focus on my work and think about that later. There are two options – a permanent contract or extend the loan deal. I have already done my part by showing my intention of remaining here [at Sao Paulo].”

Bendtner has also revealed that he has been in contact with several clubs, so fingers crossed.

The Defensive Midfielder

Arsene Wenger said a very interesting comment on TV last night:

“Our defensive midfielders at Arsenal are attacking midfielders.”

If Arsene believes this, then surely, it’s as clear as mud that we need to sign a defensive midfielder. We’ve been linked with M’Vila, but I think the asking price and wages have been too much for us, and more recently Anderlecht’s midfield warrior, Biligia, stated we were in contention for his signature:

“Real Madrid and Arsenal have both been in contact. I am still under contract with Anderlecht until 2015 but they know that I plan to leave.  If a club offers the right price, Anderlecht will let me go.”

We’ll see where that takes us, a good player in the DM position will be a welcome addition, that’s for sure.

The Q&A – Tonight…

The Q&A is tonight and there will be a whole host of twitterers attending – namely WOA writer JAT – who has returned from a year in the US, especially for tonight, and will be covering tonight’s events LIVE. Ivan has spoken ahead of tonight and has said this:

“My message to our fans is that we are doing everything in our power to make sure that Arsenal can challenge for trophies next year. That is what this summer is about and that is what we are focused on. We have a good team, we have a good young core of players and we need everybody involved to have belief so that we can push forward into next year and make a run at the Premier League trophy and for the Champions League. We believe we can do that.

With Ivan, you just don’t know if there is anything to what he says. He said we’d sign last summer, and in January and than the RvP situation wouldn’t get to this stage. He’s basically lied to us non stop in a very media friendly way. So take what he says with a pinch of salt. Deep fried salt, that is…

Tottz will be back with his poll results tomorrow… and JAT will be back later in the week with his take on the Q&A…

Til then, adios!

There are three major events that are happening this summer.

1. Euro 2012
2. The Olympics
3. Arsenal’s Transfer Activity

It’s an extra-ordinary off season for all of us who live in England as it’s going to be back to back, millions of people will join us post the Euros as London becomes the venue for the Olympics. I managed to get tickets, so I am one of the lucky few… although the Gods seem to like to stunt my variation of sports – I’ve got Wembley, semi-final of the football!

Now, the most important thing this summer is surely how Arsene and his scouting and negotiating team can improve the team. Improve is just one word, but it has a wider connotation than just signing people.

We’ve got to do some spring cleaning. And whilst it’s fun to think of all the lavish new signings we want, it’s important to shift the dead wood. If Arsene can get Denilson, Vela, Bendtner, Chamakh, Park, Squillaci, Fabianski and Djourou off our books, we’ll get some money in, we’ll get them off our wage bill and we’ll be able to re-invest.

For every Denilson and Vela we shift, it will free up wages for a M’Vila; if we shift Squillaci, Park and Chamakh, that’s a new shiny striker in the squad. This summer, Arsene really should have come up with some sort of incentive to get the fans involved. Any fan who manages to successfully get rid of any of the aforementioned players gets a season for life!

I’ve held off writing a blog for the last couple of days, so that Tottz’s WOA Questionnaire could get some airtime… and it’s proved an interesting debate for many. I’ve been added a few replies on to the article too, but still have a lot of questions to answer. If you’ve not done so yet, it’s worth a read and both Tottz and myself would be very interested in the answers.

I’ve been debating the transfer requirements with quite a few top Gooners in the last couple of the weeks, and I have one question for you?

If the squad remained as is, and you could strengthen only one position, which position would that be?

When asked, it made me think, what major difference would one player in one position make to the whole squad. It was a tough one, as there are some areas that are in obvious need of strengthening, and some other areas which we will need to strength for general squad numbers too. But identifying the exact one position that overwhelms others is a very good question.

With Almunia already departed and Fabianski hoping to leave, we will be short in the goal keeping department and for that reason, I do expect Arsene to buy someone. However, the question is more about the first team.

My initial reaction was “we need a defensive midfielder”, a top one – and I think that the general consensus. Song goes forward and leaves Arteta to cover the back four, but without Arteta in the team, no-one mops up, which as we saw at the end of the season, leaves a gaping hole. But, next season, if all goes well, we’ll have Wilshere back, Arteta back and both Frimpong and Coquelin as defensive midfielders. Add Song, Rosicky, Diaby and Ramsey, who out of this group could make way for the likes of M’Vila?

But, shouldn’t we be looking to having a “proper” central midfielder like M’Vila or the like of such a player in the middle of the park – a Tiote – someone who sits in front of the back four, and shouldn’t we loan out younger players like Ramsey and Frimpong until they’re actually ready for the first team?

After that little ramble, the thought process went to the back four – Saga, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs – do we need to replace any of them? Well, we have conceded a lot of goals, that’s for sure. Kos has been excellent this season, and Vermaelen doesn’t need any discussion. Sagna is one of the best right backs in the league and Gibbs has been very impressive.

Wingers? Gervinho, Walcott & Oxlade are three players who will only get better next season, but Walcott was clearly over-used and had no competition for his place in the team. Gervinho had an on / off season and Oxlade, well, is the junior. Another winger would be an excellent addition.

Strikers? We play one striker, and the question above assumes that Van Persie will be with us (despite my thoughts to the contrary) and Podolski has joined. So two top forwards – it sounds very interesting.

So back to the question….

If the squad remained as is, and you could strengthen only one position, which position would that be?

I’ll leave that question with you…