With all the Nasri news going around yesterday, i found the Gabriel Obertan story a really interesting one. Not only because it was a refreshing change, but Obertan is one of my favourite young players around. It started over at World Of Arsenal who got wind of our interest from “Sources”, who claimed Steve Rowley had been speaking with him.
Last summer there were strong links around that we had an interest, but he was keen to stay in France and learn his trade before leaving. However after a little while i realised not only would Rowley’s contact be tapping up, but the details about him wrong. He is infact a winger not a striker, full of skills and pace, and was very impressive for the French Under 19s last week.
He had only recently admitted he wanted to stay in France, and then World Of Arsenal retracted the story later, but i was just amazed at how easy a story out of nothing, with no serious sources or anything it quickly spread all over the Internet.
The Hatem Ben Arfa story is expected to come to a close this week, as he joins French side PSG. We were strongly linked with him, but the sources were a blog on the News Of The World which like the Obertan news, had quickly spiraled out of control.
I said frequently i did not feel we were interested, as good a player as he is, Arfa is so similar to Carlos Vela and i do not see what he would give us that Vela would not.
Arsenal’s Under 19’s flew to Malaysia last summer for the Champions Youth Cup, and despite a difficult campaign, the training camp stood the squad in good stead ahead of the season. Although the Gunners will not be going again this year, the tournament is in doubt over a political dispute between the Malaysian Football Association, and the organisers.
Young Guns is going through a revamp in the next two weeks, some new sections will be added and we are going to get a domain or URL. So instead of .wordpess.com it will be just .com. All designed to make your use of the site even better, so keep an eye out for that.
Article By – J.Sanderson
Any news on the youth players to leave this season?
cant believe arsenal cant manage to sign 1 player.byee byee nasri
well done on getting a .com. try not to ruin it with too many ads though
Arfa is nothing like Vela, he has a much higher technical level and is an actual winger with speed and skill to burn. Vela is a instinctive box striker who lacks in departments needed to be successful out wide, Arfa would be a huge signing for us and if he joins PSG it would be another one that got away. I don’t believe for a minute he will join Paris as they need major rebuilding work and are not going to blow their budget on one inexperienced player, that squad is in dire straits and I would imagine big money luxury purchases wont be at the top of the list of priorities..
Nice!
i really hope that Nasri will play for us next season..
really great that such a great site like this will get a .com domain.. keep up the good work!
cool for the new design and the .com, can you try and fix the RSS feed though? When I open it in my reader, the text is white on a white background, and older articles are tacked on to the article I am reading! It’s pretty screwed up!
Are the youth teams competing in any tournaments instead of the Malaysia one?
I would like to cut myself from all football news until at least Euro starts. But I’m too addicted to reading this stuff that I can’t stop. I was travelin last week without a computer and it was driving me crazy. I couldn’t focus because perhaps we had signed Nasri and I had not known about it.
Are the youth teams playing in any other tournaments instead of the Malaysian one?
First post here and love this site, Good luck with the .com and dont worry about the adverts, gotta pay the costs somehow.
First of all when you talk about us not going for ben arfa think about what he himself has said and what wenger has done. he said ben arfa interests him and aulas the chairman stated that we were in talks with him about a sale. get your facts right!
Wenger was interested, he also said he was interested in Rooney, the papers were claiming we had signed him.
So you get your facts right.
Hopfully i will keep the ads to a bare minumum.
J,S whats up with Nasri why didnt singned him today
Wenger power in PSG getting them to sign players he wants at arsenal but has no room for like ben afra and thuram
nasri will probaly sign for us anyway
JS… Any news on Nasri, other than what Wenger said?
And regularly would you say Randall and Barazite will feature next season?
Great site – Keep up the good work!
Wenger wants Vela as a striker. Sure he can play out wide left IF needed. I really do not understand what the flying fuck he would go to PSG for? Are they even in Europe? Gotta say, I aint buying any of the Wenger to PSG tosh, BUT if Wenger has advised PSG, knows they are after him and effin LETS THEM! Then that for me is almost a derelection of duty!
I am pretty sure Nasri will sign, but come on man! We couldn’t half do with the Ben Arfa fella.
Mate congrats on the .com and i will definatley be a follower!
I can’t help but feel a depressed that we still haven’t signed Nasri but i still think that he will sign. I for one won’t be too upset if we don’t get a massive signing because we do have players here that have real quality already and are unproven in the Prem just like Nasri would be! I think we will be pushing next season whether we get Nasri or not!
your a bit dumb with the rooney suggestion. if ben arfa does sign for psg next ill come over so u can give me a slap on the face u git. u dont know anything u just make up weird suggestions and dont have any sources
Who the fuck are you Arsenali to make a comment like that? your views have been shot down so you make a verbal assult shows what type of person you are.
Look at my work, and the things i have achieved, what have you done apart from make pathetic comments on peoples blogs, grow up
arsenali, I agree with you, there is no chance in the world that Ben Arfa is going to PSG, but you are wrong about Aulas saying he’s in talks with Arsenal over a possible move.
Do you have a link???? If so, paste it and you’ll earn more crediblity.
Otherwise, get YOUR facts right.
We dont need Ben Afra, dont get me wrong id LIKE ben afra and hes a brilliant player but you cant have every great player in the world at one club. Nasri is the kind of player we need and hes not perfect but he could do a good job for us and can only get better (and lets face it most players do get better while with us).
If we get Ben Afra, great, if we get Nasri, great, if we get both, brilliant, if we get none of them, well lets just concerntrate on who we do get. Basically ive got myself all worked up over this Nasri buisness, and whats the point. Its the same every season, we’re liked with every young talent under the sun, especially if their french, how many do we ever sign? Not many.
Let Wenger get on with it, and if he signs someone lets keep the faith even if we’ve never/hardly ever heard of them, because look at Eduardo, Toure, Adebayor, Rosicky, christ most of our squad, how many of them had you heard of before they joined us? Even if you had heard of them, did u desperatley want them to join our club? Probably not at the time but im bet your glad they did. Wenger should bring in talent this summer, but when and who we cant say and therefore we shouldent bother speculating. Ill be pissed if we dont cuz we need it, but i have faith that Wenger knows we need signings, and he’ll make them, so lets just wait until he does.
Dont get me wrong, i realise speculation wont ever stop, and i enjoy it, but you cant get emotionally attached to the idea of a player joining us before its happened because it probably wont and we’ll all just end up getting pissed off and becoming blind to what is actually happening at the club. So speculate away but if you want my advise, keep a level head, and keep a safe distance from the speculation, dont get too attached to the ida of something happening that probably wont.
There is a link Chris if you actually looked.
http://www.arsenalinsider.co.uk/backpage-roundup/back-page-round-up-arsenal-lose-ben-arfa-to-psg/
who give their sources as French radio
http://www.rtl.fr/fiche/127486/football-indiscretion-rtl-ben-arfa-proche-du-psg-pas-coupet.html
PSG have not got the finances to sign a player for 20million euros unless they sell all of their good young players.Also why wpold Ben Arfa go to a club that was one game away from relegation 2 weeks ago? To me none of this adds up,the only club that Aulas wants to sell Ben Arfa to is Arsenal cos he knows he can get at least £16million as that is the fee that we have already tabled and it was turned down.
You really need to get a word limit put in on this because i swear im writing more and more now, ive gotta be kept in check for my own good. I meen christ what is that? the prologue to a book? No1’s guna bloody read it anyway so i duno why i bother. I hate loving football sometimes :(
“PSG have not got the finances to sign a player for 20million euros unless they sell all of their good young players.Also why wpold Ben Arfa go to a club that was one game away from relegation 2 weeks ago?”
Yea i agree with you there, PSG need to rebuild and they are doing so but i dont see how their guna sign any big names. They’ve gotta be looking to pinch the best talent from lower divisions and the lesser scouted leagues in europe. Ben Afra probably wont be joining us but i cant see why hed go to PSG. They dont have the money and he wouldent want to go to them anyway unless he has real faith that their guan be a much better side next season and wants to be a part of that, but theres no evidance thats going to be the case from my perpective.
Hi J.S. I love this site. Keep on ! Hope we sign some soon, and I hope Nordtveit makes it.. BR from a hot Norway today.
Jamie, it’s just speculation, I saw the article on AI but dismissed as bollocks. RTL are just speculating on a move, no quotes from Ben Arfa either.
why is every1 getting so worked about be arfa he doesn’t even get in the lyon side so to say he is a brilliant player is clearly wide of the mark! im sure he could go on to have a great career but he is not good enough yet so if he comes i would be happy but if he didnt it wouldnt bother me as i cant see him having a big impact in his 1st season
great site you do know your stuff, i think signing the likes of nasri ben arfa etc would be great they are arene’s typ of players tech good and would fit in but we are in dire need of a c/b who can attack the ball also a top g/k would go amiss. keep up the good work we get more out of you than you would ever get from the afc site
Because all youngsters get hyped up when really all they are is just prospects, just what this blog is about.
J please lets chat on the yahoo messenger it is very important ..as I am having some internet connection problem which is making it hard for me to check my emails ..you have my id pm me anytime
Johny Maverick;
We dont need ben Arfa?
Did you see any Arsenal games last season? If so, Im sure you would have noticed the fact that we had Diaby playing wide left and the effin useless Eboue wide right. We were crying out for a wide player last close season and it never happened. The fact that Wenger some how thought he could get more than half a season (if that) out of Rosicky and no decent cover, was the difference between finishing 3rd (which was a massive improvement) and winning the title, for me.
Now tell me we don’t need Ben Arfa (or a player of similar ilk)
Hmm.. wenger linked with PSG, grimandi linked with PSG, ben arfa – arsenal target linked with PSG. This looks quite fishy…
NAAHH…
None are going to happen and I laughed when i even saw the idea of him going to PSG in their current state – he could do ALOT better… lyk us :D
I SAY WE SIGN QUARESMA!!! HE REPORTEDLY HAS PUT LIVERPOOL ON ALERT AFTER ADMITTING THAT HE WANTS TO LEAVE PORTO!! WE SHOULD SIGN HIM!! BRILLIANT PLAYER!!
“Now tell me we don’t need Ben Arfa (or a player of similar ilk)”
Traore is a great wide player, Gibbs did ok out on the left, Simpson played as a left sided winger all last season while at Millwall, Walcott can play down the right. We dont need Ben Afra, he’d be a good edition but not its an essential one. A winger would be a good edition but if anythign i think we need someone who can play down the right, there again we can always play Walcott there and he needs the games if hes to firfill his experiance and Eboue is decent cover even if hes not the kind of player you’d want as a constant starter.
forfill*
“I SAY WE SIGN QUARESMA!!! HE REPORTEDLY HAS PUT LIVERPOOL ON ALERT AFTER ADMITTING THAT HE WANTS TO LEAVE PORTO!! WE SHOULD SIGN HIM!! BRILLIANT PLAYER!!”
Hes a great player on his day but he suffers from inconsistancy at times doesnt look bothered when playign against small sides (i live in portugal and watch him alot so i know what im talking about). He wouldent be a bad signing for any club but Porto wont be bullied into letting players go for nothing anymore and they value Quaresma at around 25mil pounds. I duno if hes worth that much or if we would be willing to pay/coudl pay that much.
I give up!±
Effin Eboue is decent cover? For who? The tea lady when she’s ill? You have got to be joking if you think he is even good enough to be 3rd choice cone during training sessions.
And you think ben Arfa aint needed coz we have Gibbs and Traore???
Whats the point in trying to discuss this shit if you are happy with even younger, even more untried players? Traore and Gibbs can play CC games sure, maybe even start on the bench coz of the new rule…
Why are people getting so het up about Ben Arfa or any other striker. Everyone’s getting impatient with Arsene but no-one’s listened to what he said. If anyone would actually listen to the guy he said we want a creative player and a defender who’s hopefully got premiership experience.
He also said the Nasri deal is almost finalised but he didn’t want to interfere with his progression in the Euros. So it was never going to happen before this week.
Surely the only interesting point left to debate is who the premiership defender will be.
It wouldn’t surpise me if Ben arfa does stay on at Lyon or sign fo another team in france.You can tell thou that he’s not wanted at Lyon so It wouldn’t surpised if he was sold to Psg on a cheap
I think we need a Versatile Defender and Midfielder. The type of players that can play central or wide. Ive really come round to the idea of Thuram now as i believe the cefencive player needs to be experianced as well as good and versatile, something that he is. The midfielder needs to beable to play as a winger or through the middle, a bit like Hleb or Rosicky but preferably a mixture of the two, someone with real quality, great passing ability but with an eye for goal aswell. Nasri is to an extent but he suffers out wide a bit, Quaresma is but i duno if he’d be consistant enough and he’d want big money where ever he goes. Ben Arfa is but again, like Nasri he isnt really versatile enough and i wonder about him sometimes, he doesnt always look like he has the end product (but that might just be me).
1) There was no links or quotes or anything to Obertan, yet that was run.
2) Yes mate, i am downloading Yahoo Now, check your mails.
3) Maverik, i 100% agree on Quaresma, and on who you think we should sign, Brilliant comments its a pleasure to have you here.
Traore looks more than ready to me when i watch him for the first team. As a defender he still looked like he lacked a bit but as a winger hes looking quality and those players will remain untried if we dont try them. What if we haddnt tried Fabregas? Ben Arfa would be just as untried if Lyon has never tried him, every player has to start with beign tried and theres no reason that Traore and maybe even Gibbs cant be relied on (although Gibbs probably still needs some training up physically ill give you that).
Not relevant at all, I was passing on info saying he was linked, you’re saying HE WILL join PSG.
“Maverik, i 100% agree on Quaresma, and on who you think we should sign, Brilliant comments its a pleasure to have you here.”
Thanks ;)
Im guna shut it now though cuz ive written enough and im boadering on ranting now. Ive gotta pack aswell cuz im off to London tomorrow (from Lisbon btw). Sadly i dont think ill get to see any football cuz of Euro 2008 and every1 else will have their squads off on Holiday but ill probably visit the Emirates. Im looking forward to the Euro though and im putting my money on the Dutch (although their back four are starting to worry me after seeing a couple of friendlies). By best m8 is Dutch though so i have very little choice :(
No one has yet mentioned the really obvious player that AW is probabley looking at! Joao Moutinho!Its so obvious its scarey.
Ben Arfa is a winger, wondrinfree.
Jmav;
How many times as Traore played as a winger? For the 1st team? Wenger said he wanted a creative midfielder, whether thats a winger or a central midfielder or a central midfielder that he effin insists on trying to convert into a winger I dunno? BUT he said he was after one BEFORE Hleb decided he didnt like the Ice creams in london. So, thats Nasri AND another creative player, not to mention the defender and we havent even started on the flamini replacement!
I like Traore, but we cannot go into a new season hoping he’s gonna be the effin answer. That is CRACKERS fella. We fell short this season coz the back up just wasnt good enough, to think we suddenly have that back up WITHOUT actually strengthening the squad, is just not logical.
I think people are forgetting that Vela joined us. He is just like a new signing and definately much better then Ben Arfa. And also, doctors finally believe that Rosicky is going to be relatively injury free. The situation with him is totally different than usual. Now the doctors have actually found what they think is the source of all his problems, rather than just fixing the symptoms.
It is amazing how pessimistic some people are after we were one game away from the title (if we had kept on to the lead on OT, we had won the title). Last season we only signed Fabianski before July. Then in July, we signed Eduardo and Sagna, and eventually Diarra. You have to say that all of last summer’s signings were really smart. Diarra is in the French squad, Sagna was amazing, Eduardo is everybody’s favorite and Fabianski looks pretty good for the future. Nobody expected them at all, maybe Diarra but I think most people were surprised with him as well.
Now we have signed Coquelin (for the future, just like Fabianski). By July, I know we will have signed at least 2 players. We might get Yaya for Hleb, although I doubt it cause Wenger has rejected him before. We will most likely get Nasri, and we will probably get a defender. Our squad will be stronger next season. We lose 2 players but gain Vela and I think 2-3 more.
What is the deal with Dos Santos signing for Spuds though? I was hoping to get him in the Hleb deal. But when we play against the Spuds, that will be the first time in England that 2 Mexican Internationals play against each other. I have to admit that Spuds are frightening me now. They keep on spending like crazy but now they are actually buying something else then shite players like Mr. Bent.
“I doubt it cause Wenger has rejected him before.”
I thought Wenger tried to sign him but the the work permit application was turned down and Yaya decided he wasnt prepared to wait at Beveren for a Belgian Passport cuz there were other big european clubs interested such as Barca.
I was most suprised by Diarra to be honest, as i didnt see why we needed him. I still think Diaby and Densilson will become better players than him (although he was and is a good player). I agree with you though, Vela is a bigger arrival than people seem to think it is, we have a good squad, a squad that is gaining experiance, yougn players coming through from the reserves and the academy and if Wenger signs a couple of players for teh right positions we will have a massive chance next season.
“No one has yet mentioned the really obvious player that AW is probabley looking at! Joao Moutinho!Its so obvious its scarey.”
Eh, good player but as a semi Benfica fan (due to living in portugal i had to pick a side), i cant stand him. Hes not as amazing as people make out but he is good and consistant and versatile, so i can see the logic behind that one. Whether Wenger is internested in him though its impossible to say, hes probably looked at him but there again, hes probably looked at lots of players.
“Traore, but we cannot go into a new season hoping he’s gonna be the effin answer.”
Sorry mate but it just sounds like the same thing everyone was saying about Clichy when Cole left and look at Clichy now. I know Traore is younger but attacking players can be younger than defencive before they are started as regulars. He has played as a midfielder for the first team twice from what i can remember, and got one assist in doing so. He isnt perfect (yet), and he isnt the definitive answer to all our problems (which are alot less than people seem to be making out), but no one players is. He is however a cracking young player, who can be relied on, will only get better and in my opinion shouldent be dismissed as back-up for Rosicky. Dont forget Vela can play there aswell, just cuz Wenger sees him as a striker doesnt meen hes dissmissed him as a winger completely. He says he sees Walcott as a striker aswell but i doubt he’ll play up front even half as much as on the wing next season.
Wow, arsenali you are way out of your league. JS has provided nothing but quality and the way you attacked him was uncalled for. YoungGuns is gaining more and more of a reputation for being a solid feed of news. Keep up the good work JS
On the footballing side, I also do not think we need Ben Arfa if (and only if) we use Vela as a winger. Wenger said recently that he sees Vela as an eduardo type, but does he mean next season or in the future. I think using Vela as cover for Rosicky will be his part next season with Nasri, Walcott and Eboue on the right.
Oh and JS, arsenali does have a blog.
http://www.arsenali.co.uk/home/
not much of a read, but that’s just my opinion
Do not even try and compare Clichy’s development to traore, please!
Look, I have to salute your optimism, but we needed a winger/wide player last season, so we need one now. Traore has played 1 or 2 1st team games as a winger….great! I aint asking for mega stars, just quality additions to the squad that are ready to go….now, yeah, just like Sagna infact.
And who on earth has forgotten about vela???
“Look, I have to salute your optimism, but we needed a winger/wide player last season, so we need one now. Traore has played 1 or 2 1st team games as a winger….great! I aint asking for mega stars, just quality additions to the squad that are ready to go….now, yeah, just like Sagna infact.
And who on earth has forgotten about vela???”
Fair enough and i can see your point mate, i jut think Ben Arfa is way over priced and not versatile enough. I agree that a signing is needed in the midfield and preferanbly id like someone that can play accross the midfield (as ive already said) cuz its such a shame when Fabregas has to play out right or Denilson out left.
Nasri fits the bill to an extent but needs work if hes guna be played predominantly as a winger. I dont think we need a replacement for Flamini, Denilson or Diaby can take that role, they make it very different from how Flamini made it but thats not nessesarily a bad thing. Basically Wenger knwos we need to sign some players, the players we have have said we need to sign some players, so we need to keep faith that we will sign some players and that who ever we miss out on this summer, the players we get, like Sagna and like Eduardo last summer will be the right players. Its still very early days yet.
Nasri – no chance cos of arsene’s tight-arseness shud of got it done long before now, all comes down to money and arsene dosent like to use it, that was ok when we had none but now we do and he still wont use it, completely peaves me off trying to save any wee amount of money like ebeneezer scrooge!! If we dont but 3 GOOD players that we NEED 1 defender 2 midfielders were done for no chance cos you can be sure all the rest will be even better than last year and we will be taken over by spurs!! Did I really say that? Yse I did and it will happen if we dont strengthen the squad with quality not gap fillers. Be aware it could happen spuds ahead of us.
Wenger was interested, he also said he was interested in Rooney, the papers were claiming we had signed him.
So you get your facts right.
Hopfully i will keep the ads to a bare minumum.
J.Sanderson said this on June 2, 2008 at 3:22 pm
We bid for Rooney when he was at Everton J. Just no team was putting up as much moolah as 30mill utd. I think our bid was supposedly 12m.
eboube is right back cover was one of top right backs before if you didnt know that you must be short a few brain cells
“eboue is right back cover was one of top right backs before if you didnt know that you must be short a few brain cells”
Very true, and taking into consideration that he can cover the right wing position aswell hes still an important player for the club. Perhaps not a starter over Walcott or Sagna, but definatly valuable in his ability to cover for either.
Sick to death of all the pessimistic people on the net. They are more frustrating than this whole transfer saga! Like I’ve been reading some people say “Oh we not gonna win NOTHING FOR ANOTHER 3 YEARS!” “WE ARE CLOWNS AND WILL NEVER BE SEEN AS A BIG CLUB!” and crap like that! Way to go mates…such great supporters! It was clarified today the situation about wages was NOT about Nasri! It was a general question and NOT about him. You want to know my opinion…I still believe we are going to sign him and Wenger will sign at least 3 more quality players,whether we know them or not will be another story,but did we know Sagna or Eduardo?? I sure didn’t! I don’t give a damn if they are names recognized by people worldwide as long as they are still quality hard working players who are willing to fight for the cause…I’m all for that! I just advise some people take a break from reading all the crap media writes,one of these days you will seriously drive yourself INSANE!! Just take it easy. NOBODY here knows what’s going on behind the scenes,but I’m just honestly sick to death of all the “Gonners” (not Gooners) acting like the whole world has ended! Injuries is what killed us off,even to our back ups! Not only the first team players! I feel very confident we will still get Nasri..but hery even if we don’t (tho I’ll be pissed) I know we will still sign QUALITY PLAYERS! I would like to know what all these grouches will say when (because I do believe) we reveal Nasri and other signings. “Oh we knew it all along! In Wenger we trust! We love yooouuu!!” So just relax,try enjoy the Euros,go flirt with some females,have a little fun and stop stressing yourselves over all the transfer rumours!
J.Sanderson, what’s the latest with Hleb and dont worry with some of the fools on the blog(Arsenali). Nice to see Theo live in Trinidad. Closest i ever came to the great Arsenal F.C.
“TH said this on June 3, 2008 at 12:54 am ”
I agree with evrything he said, but i drunk so i have an excuse, not to say i wont agree in thr monging that is.
it said on lyon’s website that psg are interested in ben afra and lyon would prefere to deal with them