Arsenal are still in the dark over the futures of Reserve duo Fran Mérida and Gilles Sunu. The pair are out of contract in the summer but talks over new deals have broken down. They are now free to agree a pre-contracts with a club of their choice.
Powerful French striker Sunu has been linked with a move to Bordeaux in many of the English newspapers this morning. Those suggestions are a little wide of the mark, but Gilles has turned down a new Arsenal deal. He is seeking reassurances over his future, with a loan move away from the club is being held up by his contractual issue. Arsène Wenger is determined to tie him down to an improved deal before allowing him to leave.
Spanish play-maker Fran Mérida is also in a similar situation. He had initally agreed improved, fresh terms, but the signing of the contract has been held up by alternate offers from Atlético Madrid and Sevilla. Fran has been used sparingly in the first-team the year, yet he did feature and score against Bolton, along with several FA Cup and Carling Cup appearances.
Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis is set to meet with both players for show down talks in the coming days in a bid to finally agree the deals, yet the possibility still remains strong that they could leave on free transfers. Arsenal would be in line to receive compensation for both, however.
Still not convinced that Fran Merida will make it here because he looks so one paced, as for Giles Sunu he has allways looked better out wide on the right, than he has ever done up front.
He hasn’t played that much. Still is Merida worth the bucks? I mean does it make sense to resign him? I don’t know. What are hsi stats? I love the look of your blog. Congrates on getting your new diggs. http://defutebol.net
Great new-look site J =]
I hope both stay but I don’t think they could make a breakthrough, although it’s definite Sunu has a better chance than Merida.
Anyway, Shea’s signed a new professional contract http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/james-shea-signs-new-arsenal-contract
Can anyone tell me who that keeper is to his left in the pic?
Cheers Tony!
That keeper is Charlie Mann. He asked to leave when we signed Sean McDermott. He moved to Crystal Palace where he’s done really well. He was named on the first-team bench for a Championship game last week.
I’m still far from convinced by Shea.
i really like merida and will be dissappointed if he goes, he’s a far better played than someone like denilson in my opinion
Interesting. I think they’re really different, I think it’s just a case of attitude in Denilson’s case rather than talent.
Fuck em let them go
Hi J,
Interesting change of mind by Merida to stall on signing his contract. I’m a fan of both players and I’d like them to stay at the club but I feel like we have enough talent coming through in those areas.
How do you rate Barazite and Merida side-by-side, J? Also, who do you see as our “next” ‘keeper to climb the ranks? Almunia has obviously been a bit of a calamity and Fabianski likes to take naps during matches. Mannone has shown some promise but I haven’t seen much from him. How are Szczesny and Shea?
Cheers!
(Loving the new look!)
I can see a lot of talent in merida although he havnt been given enough first team action. But watching him play 4 spanish under 17’s and 19’s team, he is a real gem who av got set piece ability and a long sight in terms of pass accuracy. He can be a cpt.fabregas’ successor wen eva the latter is hanging his gunner’s boots. As 4 sunu, i dont knw much abt him. Pls mr.wenger, do everything possible to retain fran ‘cos if he goes, he goes wit his abilities….i will be glad to see him stay…
I feel like Merida and Fabregas are too close in age for Merida to be his successor. Of course I am assuming he will stay at the club… Why wouldn’t he!? :-)
Sunu is a great prospect, no doubt but Merida is almost ready and I reckon he’s going to be a very good player. Wouldn’t want him to go. The question is do we need him. We have Ramsey on the bench at the moment. We need him if Cesc goes I guess but I don’t want to even consider that eventuality. I would keep him as he can be very useful esp. with our injury record and he can only grow in value.
Neat look!
Exactly, it’s all about fitting him in. We have Ramsey, Wilshere and Eastmond getting a bit of playing time in the midfield so it’ll be interesting to see how Wenger manages Merida’s playing time.
Would be sad 2 see Merida go cuz i think he can become a first team regular in the coming 3 yrs or at least a more than average squad player… Don’t know 2 much about Sunu though, but he looks very powerful indeed!
love the new-look site btw, the best layout i’ve seen in any arsenal blog
Very tidy, neat structured look on your site, love it! Very nice!
…and I see you have done a lot of good work with new information sections as well. Look forward to reading all of this when I get the time.
a combination of big money offerred merida by atletico plus lower tax rates in spain will probably see him leave, which is a pity……..
jamie, you have always been negative about james shea but he looks better than either mannone or szczesney did at the corresponding age.
brady’s initial concern with shea was with his size and physical growth potential not with his ability which has been self-evident since hale end days.
as for sean mcdermott, if we have to pay up to 6 million us dollars to ik vag for his services then he has a lot to do to justify the fee……..firstly to get beyond the competion from dunn who cost us zip and is sharing duties with him.
Shea is a year younger than Szczesny, so I think those claims are a bit off the mark.
and this time last year szczesney had both arms in plaster after clowning around in the gym -not exactly professional. behaviour……..claims are based on actually watching these kids play in the youth team and reserves and not relying on clips from you tube…..
I miss the fact that you used to write on the front page how many comments have been written in a blog post. It used to say it beside the date.
Also, them italics font ain’t the best. really hard to read since some letters look weird.
Certainly this will make alot of arsenal fans happy. They will not have to watch yet two youngsters break through. Inexperienced, not tough enough for PL, not going to win us any silver the first seasons…
Even if they have potential. it seems like many arsenal fans are so “bored ” of potential but want the real deal. so im sure people like le grove will love this…
Sorry i cant help being sarcastic when it comes to the great community of arsenal fans…
Please include # comments next to each blog
Please include the # of comments next to each blog.
Fran will sign a new contract but i think that Sunu will leave as he has never settled in England.Nassim Ben Khalifa’s agent i hear has been in talks with Arsenal over the last few days so losing Sunu and gaining Ben Khalifa would be a bonus deal.
i hear Ben Khalifa has signed for Wolfsburg..two days ago, i reckon.. check it out
what??? Sunu is gonna leave? If we lose Sunu i’m gonna be sad but atleast we have other talents coming through. Bourdoux is a good side with a good manager and you can’t blame him for leaving. Hopefully he won’t leave and become a great player for us.
Now don’t get me wrong, i’m a huge believer in what Arsene is doing, bringing quality talent in from not just home but overseas again. But do we not risk losing some potentially great players by the lack of first team opportunities? Carling Cup and FA Cup asides, it must be hugely frustrating to sit on the sidelines and see other clubs fielding young lads off the bench (Chelsea and Utd, even Liverpool have played kids in the Prem). Merida should have had a lot more gametime, i mean, he’s been on the bench before, we’ve needed an attacking option, and Eboue comes on. That would do my head in. The problem i see is that too may young lads are hyped up. The ones who are quality don’t play. The one’s that are ‘the future’ are loaned out, i mean i would take Jay Simpson back from QPR at the moment, and Chesney from Brentford, and that’s not on the back of the Porto game, i just think they should be given a crack.
AW should have more faith in the youth, the quality is there but he needs to gamble, as a few supposed first-teamers are really struggling of late and i think given the chance the likes of Ramsey would shine.
This is rubbish.
Would love them both to stay
Would love them both to stay.
Really hope they do.
J, if you were to write a starting 11 and 7 more subs that should definately stay longer, who would you choose?
so will he be staying?
http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/football/Rams-Gunners-agree-loan-deal-French-starlet/article-1847951-detail/article.html?
could you change the font?
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Maybe, just maybe, Sunu could be part of a swap deal with Chamakh? I know Chamakh’s out of contract this summer but Bordeaux are really reluctant to let him leave, so maybe providing a teenage back up could pull it through. Maybe.
He’s a free transfer. No transfer fee or swapping of players is required.
i too really love jay simpson he is a verry good striker and will be better than the rest if given more game time he has the physical presence that we need in a striker merida is agood player we should put a attractive offer on the table for him and dont even think we can replace fabregas with the young talent he is one of the gratest players in the world we dont have any young huge def mids comming through our ranks wished if jet was a def mid
Instead of trying the likes of Szczsny and Merida, AW persists with players like Almunia, Fabianski and Denilson. These are players who don’t have the qualities to make it at the top. Well, Szczesny is 19 but a great keeper so age should not be the barrier for his growth. Both Valdes and Casillas were playing at age 19.
COngrats with the new blog look, love it…..
Isn’t this going to be a common problem? When you have so many talented youngsters in your system, you are bound to lose quite a few talented players because there are only so many positions on the pitch and the bench.
Sadly, we are going to see a few of these youngsters go on to become a new Messi or Ronaldo with another team. Nothing can be done about that, because we can’t predict the future or what they will play like 5 or 10 years down the road.
I know this is off-topic, but instead of worrying about the fate of our supposedly talented youngsters, who may or may not turn out to be Arsenal grade, I’m more concerned about the lack of quality in our senior side. What I mean by quality is not latent talent, which we do have in abundance, but mental fortitude.
Cheers.
It is nice to definitely turn up a site where the blogger is sophisticated.
I am definitely bookmarking this blog and sharing it with my acquaintances.
Hello. Fantastic job, if I wasn’t so busy with my school work I read your full site. Thanks!
Is the game on live in the US this weekend, does anyone know?
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