Archive for the ‘Transfers’ Category

Today, both the player and the selling club announced that Lukas Podolski has been sold to the Arsenal. For the first time in many many many many years, we have acted early, focused on planning before the end of the season and targeted a player of stature, to add to the team.

Personally, I am absolutely delighted with the signing – he’s proven at various different levels, internationally and at club level, that he has the class that we need at the Arsenal. He’s quick, mobile, ambitious and could really compliment the team.

The player spoke about the move to Arsenal:

 ”The move to Arsenal provides a great opportunity for me to gain experience in international competitions at a top European club. I have made this decision not against FC Cologne but for this great opportunity and the good of my own individual development. This was not an easy decision for me at all, as Cologne, our fans and the city are something special for me. I will always carry FC Cologne in my heart. We need to pool our strengths now and have to be fully focused on our survival in the Bundesliga.”

And I think the player is very excited about playing in the Premiership and playing for a team like Arsenal. I think he’s a perfect fit into our squad and the big question now is how / where he will play – can he play along side Robin Van Persie? What does that means for the formation?

He often plays at a lone striker, and his finishing is Van Persie esque…

But to play along side Van Persie would require a reversion back to 4-4-2 or require either Podolski or Van Persie to play on the wings, which I don’t think either will do with any decent effect. Perhaps the early buy indicates a change of formation, as it will take a lot of pre-season to do this.

Next season’s line up with all our players and Podolski, could be:

Szcznesy

Sagna – Koscielny – Vermaelen – Gibbs

Wilshere – Song

Walcott – Van Persie – Gervinho

Podolski

Could it work? Is it too attacking? Rooney currently plays that role behind Wellbeck, with Nani, Valencia etc on the wings, so why not? Arteta, Ramsey, Rosicky, Diaby, Frimpong offering strength in depth. Benayoun surely won’t be around next season.

Now that Podolski is in the bag where else can we or should we strengthen?

12:49: Bolton Sign Ryo Myaichi (on loan)

Bolton have completed the signing of Arsenal winger Ryo Myaichi, who will spend the rest of the season at the Reebok Stadium.
Wanderers boss Owen Coyle has fought off competition from Fulham to land the talented 18-year-old winger who will get a chance to shine in the Premier League between now and the end of the campaign. Arsene Wenger was impressed with the development that Jack Wilshere made during his time at Bolton and the Gunners chief will be hoping that Myaichi will make similar progress.

It’s an interesting one – if the below noise about Arshavin is true, then that will be two wingers out of the club – but I suppose the way to look at it is that Oxlade is ready for the first team and so replaces Arshavin. Henry is available until Gervinho returns, so again, we will have options. From a footballing point of view, a few months with Bolton playing regularly will go a long way in the progression of Ryo as a player, and if Jack Wilshere is anything to go by then we will see a better and adapted Ryo next year.

12:37: Russian, Anzhi Makhachkala, in talks with Arsenal over possible purchase of Andrei Arshavin

Anzhi Makhachkala officials are in London and are aiming to pull off some sensational business for the wealthy Russian side on transfer deadline day. It is believed that the Dagestan giants want Arsenal’s Russian schemer Andrei Arshavin.

Probably something that every Gooner wants, although he is a lot of experience leaving (if he leaves), and that’s the only thing to worry about. Oxlade & Gervinho are ahead of the player in the pecking order and his use within the team has diminished. Anzhi Makhachkala can afford his wages, which has notably been an obstruction with players leaving. Let’s see if they’ll give us cash for him too.

11:32: Gazidis defends the Arsenal spending policy

“We’re in three competitions this year. Manchester City would love to be in three competitions. They’re not. So money is not everything in this game. I don’t disagree that it’s important. But we do things based on a value system. We’re about creating star players, not about buying them. We’re about what happens in a team, between players, not individual superstars. And that’s an inspiration to people around the world. We can’t afford to compete with oil money and we can’t afford to compete with super-wealthy individuals from Russia. But the more important thing about our model is that it’s sustainable. Our business model means we can continue to do what we’re doing forever. We’re proud of the way we do things and we’re proud of the results that we’re able to produce from that.”

Something we’ve heard again and again from Ivan G – not exactly what we want to hear – to be honest, I don’t think Manchester City are jealous of us. In reality they have a better team and are challenging for the title and the Europa cup. They’ve never won a title. For us, we used to win titles and now we’re not – on top of that, they signed one of best players from last season in Samir Nasri. I think Arsene, Ivan and a lot of fans are actually quite jealous of the players, the team and money City had. Weird from Gazidis if you ask me!

09:53: Arsenal sign Thomas Eisfeld for an estimated £600,000

Arsenal today completed the £600,000 signing of Thomas Eisfeld from Borussia Dortmund. Standard Sport understands the 19-year-old has signed a four-year contract with the Gunners after undergoing a rigorous medical at the club’s London Colney training ground yesterday. Arsenal’s medical staff wanted to ensure the attacking midfielder had no lasting damage from anterior cruciate ligament damage suffered in 2009.

Eisfeld is a youngster, he has just turned 19. He’s not had much first team experience for Dortmund and the club are obviously happy to see him go, negotiating a relatively low price. They don’t rate him, but Arsene does. We don’t know much about the player, except that he used to be highly rated before a cruciate ligament injury. Dortmund think he won’t recover – sounds like a similar story to Aaron Ramsey – but obviously Arsene and the rest of the team think he will – I don’t think he’ll feature anywhere near our first team this season, but if Arsene is right, he will certainly be an interesting signing for the future.

Previous news:

• Rhys Murphy has joined Preston North End on loan until the end if the season
• Luke Freeman has joined Stevenage for an undisclosed fee
• Chuks Aneke has extended his loan spell with Stevenage until March

This page was last updated at 13:15 on Tuesday the 31st January 2012

It’s been a long summer. We’ve seen some players leave whom we didn’t want to see go, and we’ve seen some players leave that we did want to leave. We’ve seen a handful of players come in through the last couple of weeks, but in the last 2 days, we’ve signed 5 big players, 3 first teamers and have finally added a little depth to our squad too.

After the huge defeat against United, with missing players and injuries galore, it showed quite obviously how thread bare our squad was – the back four against United, Jenkinson, Djourou, Koscielny and Traore will be replaced with Sagna, Mertersacker, Vermaelen, Santos… In fact our new first XI and bench could well be:

Szcznesy

Sagna – Mertersacker – Vermaelen – Santos

Song – Wilshere

Walcott – Arteta – Gervinho

Van Persie

With a bench of 7 from the following Fabianski, Jenkinson, Djourou, Koscielny, Gibbs, Coquelin, Frimpong, Diaby, Ramsey, Benayoun, Oxlade, Ryo Miyachi, Chamakh, Park, Rosicky, Arshavin

Suddenly from going from a very weak squad, the signing of 5 players has completely changed our squad.

Most Arsenal fans have a sense of relief and a renewed sense of faith in the squad. Arteta, although not a Cesc, is the closest thing in the Premiership to him and a proven quality player. The fee is believed to be in the region of about £8m – £10m, and considering the impact of the player and need for such a player in our squad, it’s a very good signing and something I am very pleased about. Arsene has had to act after the sales of Cesc & Nasri and also after the mega-rich clubs have bought their players and the deal for Arteta is very good in the circumstances.

If you look at the eleven above, that’s competitive and if you look at the players outside of it, there is some strength in depth… for each position, we have two players…

In fact, let’s take a look at our second XI / options for each position:

Fabianski

Jenkinson – Djourou / Miquel – Koscielny – Gibbs

Rosicky / Ramsey – Frimpong / Coquelin

Oxlade/Arshavin – Diaby – Benayoun/Ryo

Chamakh / Park

Not a bad bunch, hey? What are your thoughts on the transfers? Are we good enough to compete? Are we good enough for a title tilt? Has Arsene done the right thing? The right players? Are you excited?

Over to the comments, but I am definitely very excited now!

Less than 36 hours left in the transfer window and it’s official… Sky, Twitter, Facebook and all blogs are going into over-drive… but this is a good kind of overdrive. It’s the kind of overdrive that we want… Arsenal are signings players…

Andre Santos, £6.2m

Yes, finally, a left back… considering Arsene’s excuse of letting Clichy go because he wanted Gibbs to have a chance… I suppose you have to say one thing to the media and do another, or perhaps Gibbs’ recent injury and the sale of Traore mean that it’s out of need rather than desire – or perhaps it was always intended… Santos looks like a proper player, someone who likes to play the game. He’s got a bag full of tricks (and more), and certainly falls into the mould of a typical Brazilian…

I couldn’t see any defending in that last video, but at least the boy looks like he offers a lot going forward. As Fenerbache aren’t in the Champions League, I believe he is eligible for the competition too, and at £6.2m, he looks like a very good acquisition… although only time will tell.

Per Mertesacker, £8m

News coming in from Sky Sports News is that the tall German defender is having a medical at Arsenal right now… A lot of fans would prefer we opted for the Englighness of Gary Cahill – but one thing to be aware of with Mertesacker is that he’s got 75 appearances for his country and is captain of Weder Bremen – a leader… and that’s exactly what we need.

Mertesacker and Vermaelen will be the obvious partnership with Koscielny third choice – but with the number of games we have and the amazing injury problems we’ll always have, I’m sure Koscielny will still play a vital role in our defence. The great form of Johan Djourou last season has completely disintegrated now and that means that he’s now fourth choice – but in all honesty, when you look at England vs Switzerland a couple of months ago and the games he’s played this season, that does make sense…

There is possibility that Samba or Cahill may also come in, but at this moment in time, perhaps the boss just wants to keep as many options open as possible – let’s hope

Park Chu-Young, £3m

The Monaco number 10 was on his way to Lille to replace Gervinho, until we swooped in… Although you should never judge a book by it’s cover, one does presume that a £3m transfer in this day and age won’t give you much in return…

Although Robin Van Persie did cost £3.5m and he’s not bad… But then again, why would Monaco sell so low if he was any good?

The signings are required, for sure, whether or not, they are adequate for us to compete will remain to be seen…

If indeed these three players come in and we can add one or two in midfield, we should have a decent squad… 34 hours to go…