Arsenal’s diverse scouting network has seen the Gunners lead the way in finding the right players for the club at all levels. Now, master of the network, Steve Rowley, has instructed one of his most trusted scouts to be re-deployed. The Balkans – and in particular Bosnia – is the new destination for the long serving Bobby Bennet, with the rise of striker Edin Džeko leading the head of scouting to believe it may be a future talent hot spot.
Scandinavia based Bennet has been Rowley’s key man over recent years, with missions in Croatia, Switzerland and Norway all leading to the successful acquisition of players. He has been making checks on the Under 17 squads of a selection of Balkans based countries will the view to keeping tabs on the most exciting prospects at that level. Speaking to Bosnian TV in the week, Bennet revealed more about his trip and the method’s Arsenal use to sign players.
“How many times do we scout players? in case of Cesc Fabregas, one or two games. But the majority of players, it’s two, three matches, then Mr Rowley follows them for two or three matches. It’s a long process. We try to discover what kind of personality the players have, whether it corresponds to our club’s ethic. It’s not all about football. It can be a long process, but if a player is good, we see this more or less immediately. Maybe it’s just me, but I like to know a player’s history.”
The Gunners first-team coach Boro Primorac is a native Bosnian and is still extremely respected within his home land. Bobby spoke of how the influence of working under Primorac is a big plus, while also talking about Džeko’s links with Arsenal.
“Boro is very important to Arsenal, he works very closely with the manager. To be at Arsenal for so many years, there is no doubt that he is a great coach.”
“Edin is a very good player. We all like him (at Arsenal), but there is much talk about big money, and we will not compete with large sums. He is a fantastic player, but too expensive for Arsenal.”
With the signing of Swiss-Bosnian Sead Hajrovic and the chase for Miralem Pjanić two seasons ago, it seems all but certain that Bennet’s influence should lead to Arsène Wenger chasing more Balkan’s based talents in the future.
break the fucking bank and buy dzeko for 35 mill!!! I hate this cheap policy if we have cash to splash!! Big players cost much simple as that.
Chamak for free is better than spending 35 million on Dzeko anyday and he was great last season but this season he has done OK.
Dzeko has one great season and every club in Europe supposedly wants what about Graffite he wont cost even half that transfer fees Dzeko will cost and he’s costing the same amount of goals.
why do people keep saying Chamakh is free????? he’s getting a £12m signing on fee. do these peopl have no comprehension of football transfers
why would he get £12 mio signing on fee? just because the Daily Mail said so in relation to their story of chamakh going to ‘pool?
He will get a signing on fee, but I doubt that figure very much…
I hapen to know another free signing which will be announced before the world cup this summer, he’s told me his signing on fee and he was told that Chamakh is on a similar deal. i could be full of shit but there you go.
we were only going to pay 8 million in the summer transfer window then why would we pay him 12 million.
I think you have to get your facts right.
HE might get a 1 million max and I dont see why he will get that too
@ embryo
is he signing with arsenal?
@ embryo: From which player do you speak of? I heard Hazard is on the way to us which would be awesome!!
I can’t see us signing Hazard at all
He will be too expensive and how is he different from Nasri or Arshavin.
We have to many players like him and we have also signed Silva now.
I think Wenger has signed all the lightweights he was going to sign for the next decade now he will focus on players we had before. Strong, tall players with good technique.
Most, but not all signing fees are paid in stage payments, it effectively gets around the wage structure that exist at Arsenal. all transfered players get a fee based on their cost. a free transfer enables clubs to offer a much better wage deal. trust me it’s £12m for Chamakh over his contract period.
can’t say who the free is in the summer, but i had dinner with him last weekend.
so he will get 12 million over 4 years then that’s understandable
and emryo the player you had dinner is he signing with us or some other team and can you u tell what position he plays in
so embryo you are from UK? I think you mean Joe Cole? Would be an awesome signing was always a big fan of him and knew Chelski is the wrong club for him!!!
Apart from wide-players & attacking midfielders from Balkan area, they all tend to tall, strong players & technically sound.
I am tired of explaining the situation which you would think it would be farely obvious. I think J should just permenetly post Arsene Wengers plan so impatient “fans” will understand. Short version cuz I am tired of saying it….WE HAVE A STADIUM TO PAY OFF AND THE FASTER WE DO IT THEN THE LESS INTEREST WE WILL HAVE TO PAY ON IT. THIS IS WHY WE CASH IN ON PLAYERS AND BUY YOUNG TALENT WHICH IN 2 TO 5 YEARS WILL FORM A DOMINATE TEAM AND WE WILL BE DEBT FREE AND MAKING LOADS OF MONEY.
Did someone just say dont sign Hazard……please no more commenting for you. He is a combination of Messi and Ronaldo and has the talent to be in there category. He is the best wing prospect in the world. He did pretty well verse Liverpool. Last but not least, he said he wants to play for Arsenal. I have been saying this for 2 years now…..he is the only player I definetly want us to sign and I got a feeling we will sign him.
Are you Harry Redknapp in disguise??? “Break the bank” what a washer!!!
Chamak is a decent player but not in the same class as what dzecko is. His signiture will be competed by some of the biggest names in European football.
While Chamak who is on a free (all be it with a big signing fee) is wanted by by teams such as Arsenal, Spurs and Sunderland.
I think its time we started to compete for big signiings as our team and club are as well respected as the likes of AC Milan and Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea.
Ok,
Let’s spend 35 mill (+) on Dzeko. That’s trasnfer fee only for Wolfsburg. Then let’s add 4 million for his first year in wages, and 2 million for signing on fees and other miscellaneous crap.
so we’ve spent 41 million on Dzeko. Now we have 9 million left to find an experienced DM, a new CB, and maybe a GK. Plus we can’t give any improved contracts now to Diaby and Song because we have nothing left.
How about instead, we don’t listen to idiots like you who base everything on Football Manager, and let the manager actually get some good players in that we need to cover some positions for next season, yeah?
@AndyE
I am sure we will sign Chamak next season and If Gallas stays then we will sign a young defender and not someone like Hangeland or Cetin
if not then we have to sign two CB’s one young and and one first team player.
We wont sign someone for GK position and same goes for Attacking position.
In the midifeld if we keep Norvedit then we wont sign anyone in midfield either and midfielders like Wilshere, Lansbury, JET might get a run in the first team.
So forget about us signing hazard, villa and Dzeko we wont sign anyone like that
it is joke to say he is to expensive for the 3. richest football club in the world!!! We need to change a bit. We did it with Arshavin now we need another world class players like Dzeko or Villa!!!
Yes but dzeko would cost 2-3 times as much as arshavin
I wont mind spending the money on Villa but not Dzeko.
Villa has been prolific and consistent for years, Dzeko has done good one season, he’s been ordinary this season.
we’re not the third richest club we were the third most profitable club last year, you have to take into account our debt due to the cost of the emirates
No I think he’s right we are the third richest club in the world
I think it was Forbes who said that so it must be true
I agree to spend 35 mill on Villa instead of Dzeko but I am sure if he wants to leave which he will do in summer Wolfsburg will sell him for 25 mill or less. Anyway Villa is my dream but he is already 28 years old so probably to old for us!!
Drogba is 32 and he’s still a terror to us
I was always a fan of Villa and I dont mind his age at all!!! Hope Wenger didnt tell us nonsense in january window. He said Villa wasnt available but he chcked him out!! Probably Cesc persuaded him to get Villa, too!!!
You have fallen for the City mechanism, turnover doesnt make us the 3rd richest club in the world, profit after tax does and that isnt too high because of interest repayment. Dont forget that big fees also tend to mean very high wages so that must be taken into consideration.
you cant say we dont have big money to spend. Gazidis recently said we have enough to spend if Wenger finds the right players!!!
Yes obviously the right players mean players who fit within the budget.
Are you so bloody minded that you think Gazidis was suggesting we have a bottomless pit?
Greater priorities for next season is dealling with potential departure of Gallas, potential availablity of Djorou, and needing some backup defenders after Silvestre and Senderos leave. We probably also could do with some cover in midfield.
Wasting huge sums on “name strikers” when we have RVP, Arshavin, Bendtner, Edu et. all and when we score so many goals from all around the park is just ridiculous
Arsenal already have a world class forward: his name is Robin VanPersie. There are maybe 10 strikers in the world I’d play over RVP and Dzeko ain’t one of them. More pressing, as others have said, is getting another CB or two (depending on who stays and who goes), a better GK and keeping the current squad together.
arsenal4ever, Arsenal just don’t operate like that. Live with it.
Question, Jamie – I would have imagined Boro Primorac would be Arsenal’s go-to-guy for that region of the world, surely?
@Arsenal4ever: Sure, and we’ll be the next Liverpool like that. Pfft.
we got enough to afford a player of 35 mill!! But I know wenger wont do that!!
Our players are becoming world class player I dont see any reason to change this policy but we do need to keep hold of them starting with Merida and Fabregas
J – absolutely no offence intended but the phrase “Balkans based countries” had me in hysterics with visions of countries upping and moving for various reasons. Mind you it’s probably just me!
Why did we not get Pjanic?
When we went to look for him his country was on a cruise in The Adriatic.
(sorry!)
Is Dzeko really worth 35M? I think he’s worth half that, tops.
We’re wise not to overpay.
Whatever we paid for him I dont think we’d be disappointed with his performances on the pitch.
I dont expect he would much better than chamakh however, who we supposedly have signed already for free. Chamakh probably has better workrate, first touch, and might be stronger as well. The only difference in dzekos favour i think is his strike rate, but there’s no guarantee that would translate the same into the premier league.
So I agree, why take the chance paying 35m for a player when we can get one for free who will probably be just as good or maybe even better?
I think if you have the money to spend 35 million for Dzeko then you can buy Villa for the same amount of money and he will be score double the amount of goals every season.
Does anyone know how many countries we have a scouting network in ?
I am sure we have scouts in France, Brazil and now the Balkans (Bosnia) but do we have scouts in countries like Argentina, Portugal, Spain, Netherlands and Especially African Countries since the next generation of players are coming from Africa
I think YG had a post earlier about an interview with Steve Rowley which said we had 18 scouts world wide. I was a bit disappointed by the interview since a club like Liverpool have around 70 scouts worldwide and we only have 12 in UK and 6-8 scouts world wide.
Here’s what he said in the interview
” I have 12 scouts based in the UK, and aside from that we have a worldwide network. We have recently developed the Americas. We have our former left-back Danny Karbassiyoon in America, and he covers Mexico too.Then we have Sandro Orlandelli who looks after the scouting in Brazil, Argentina and the rest of South America, along with Pablo Budner and Everton Gushiken. Bobby Bennett does all of Scandanavia, where he has been doing a great job for seven years. We have Francis Cagigao who does Spain and Portugal while Gilles Grimandi does France and Switzerland. Jurgen Kost covers Germany, Czech Republic, places like that. Then we have Tony Banfield in Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. Finally we have Peter Clarke, another of our former players, who is based in Holland.”
How does one scout cover the entire America and Mexico and same for Sandro Orlandelli who has to cover the entire South America.
If we had more scouts in South America then we might get a lot more talented Brazilians in our side although he did a great job with Wellington SIlva.
It’s more complicated than 12. Then there are the ‘contacts’ that work off the books. That’s my guess anyway. It probably branches out from there.
Obviously each scout has their own contacts.
Better for to go for quality, not quantity. Liverpool may have 70 scouts world wide, but their scouting system hasn’t given them anything
Just look at the Totenham they have 3 Croatian players that are a key players. African yeah mayby but i still think that Dzeko is the right man in Arsenal
Well we dont need pay that much when we’ve got good young player coming through the rank.
Andrew – each scout has his own network that alerts him to players. It’s the way it works and I think the difference between the figures you quote is probably just different clubs counting in different ways.
yeah and if Liverfool has 70 scouts they arent that good like ours, lol!!!
YG I am digging in the past here but last year we made enquires about a lot of talented young players any idea if we will sign any of them
1. Veljko Batrović – 15 year old striker who had a trial with us and was said to be the next big thing in football
http://younggunsblog.co.uk/2009/07/batrovic-almost-certain-to-sign-for-arsenal/
2. Kabiru Akinsola – 18 year old forward
3. Máté Tóth – 17 year old Hungarian defender
4. Jimmy Kamghain – Under’s 17 French Striker from PSG
each scout has a network of scouts who inform him of players.
Wven then I think our scouting is pretty limited to France, we need to invest more in Africa, south america and eastern europe since Africa and Eastern Europe will be give us better opportunity to sign unknown players cheaply and without the danger of worrying about big european clubs
And teams in south American will always produce talent so to get the the next Ronaldinho or Messi we need to have a huge scouting base in South America.
even*
Any one who pays £35m for Dzeko or Villa are mugs. Villa, because he wont be at his peak for no more than three years (if that) and would probably end up leaving on a free and Dzeko because he simply isn’t worth it. For what’s it’s worth, Dzeko will be a bigger success in England as well. He’ll go to either Milan, Man City or Chelsea in the summer probably.
One thing Arsenal do when buying new players is look at a sell-on price. If the player is bought quite young, then that means he can then be sold for a profit years later. Just an example of this is Nasri. We bought him for about £12-£13m and could one day end up selling him to some mugs like Real Madrid for double that amount or probably more. He is nowhere near the finished article and he will be one of the best attacking midfielders around someday.
We don’t need a striker (especially if Chamakh is on the way) but if we did buy one, it would make more sense to splash the cash on someone like Nilmar.
I have seen Nilmar play and I prefer Chamak at least he’s better suited for the English game not the greatest of finishers but with the amount of chances we create and Chamak knack for getting in the right places I can see him being a very good striker.
Villa is worth 35 Million if Kaka is worth 56 million and certainly if Ibra is worth 40 mil + ETO
what Villa will give you week in and week out is goals. He’s a poacher and a world class poacher a lot like Raul but an even better finisher.
bullshit!!! Nasri is probably a gunner4life. Our current squad will play a long time together. Even Cesc will get a new 5 year contract worth around 120000 p week. Wenger tried to build “his” team for a few years now. All players have longterm contracts and we dont need to sell any of them if we dont want to.
1. We are not the third richest club! We were 5th highest in the table titled ‘Turnover’ for season 2008/09. This figure did not include certain items such as sum funds raised by player sales etc. Turnover is not profit!
2. Hazard is a fantastic player, still only 19, much the same mould as AR or JW. There is a story of a ‘personal telephone call’ from AW, which maybe true, however Hazard has a contract with lille until 2013/14. That will mean a bigger price tag and with Real also interested that large price tag will be paid…….
yours
Dragooner
We are the most profitable football club in the World I think by some distance. Definately no club in England comes close to us, Real obviously run at a loss while Barca have built up large debts over the last few years too. Doubt there is any competition from Italy now so I think Bayern would be our main rivals for that mantle.
This year there will be a huge warchest for Wenger to spend if he so chooses as the property side of the business is now debt free and each further sale is just generating a surplus for the club. Would estimate by the end of this season our net debt will be down to around 150m, maybe a little less. Less than half of what it was 12 months previously, if that doesn’t give Arsene room to play nothing will.
Watt has signed a loan deal with Leeds Untied until the rest of the season
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11670_6053656,00.html
YG I am surprised you missed it.
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nice article, when do you think arsenal will scout asian players and bring them here?
i suppose the goal is to get scouts with knowledge of the whole world before wenger retires.
o yea, what ever happened to Veljko Batrovic? (i know hes serbian, but still youth player)
Asian Players dont really suit well to the english game
tell that to Chung-Yong Lee of bolton and Park Ji-Sung of united wouldnt mind either of them on our squad …
2 players in the entire EPL kind of proves my point.
that just proves that there’s not enough scouting in those areas thats all it prove’s, the talent is there is just a matter of finding it …
what’s the difference between scouting fàbregas 1-2 games and the others 2-3 games? it is just a matter of MAYBE 1 single game extra :S
and didn’t they say they had beenscouting vermaelen eg for a looong time and the same with some others we have brought in?
scouting someone who going to cost us 20 milllion for the next 4 years and someone who will cost 1-2 mil max is a bit different.
Yo can take a gamble on youth players but not first team players
the thing is. if villa comes to a club and help them win gold in CL or PL…then the 35-50 mils will be worth it. the money he will give the club in form of souvenir sells and income from the title wins will make up for a lot of the transfer sum.
Umm, no
That’s the road to Leeds ruin.
Only one team can win, and buying the most expensive player guarentees NOTHING.
SCOUTS:
1ST TEAM NEEDS FOR NEXT SEASON= RIGHT BACK/CENTER BACK WHO ARE SOME NAMES ON AFC RADAR?
http://www.doncasterroversfc.co.uk/page/News/0,,10329~2004996,00.html?
JET extended his loan spell until the end of season!!! Also now he looks like a “real” man, lol!!!
he’s looking so odd in the picutre but JET has slotted right into the ROvers team and has become an instant crowd favourite.
He wasn’t played in the last game which they lost and now the fan think if the manager wants to win game then just play him week in and week out which obviously will be too much for him.
Just saw highlights from Partizan – Vojvodina (2-1) game and I was impressed by Nemanja Tomic.Kid assisted two times and played preety well.Look in Serbia first!!!
http://www.leedsunited.com/news/20100325/united-sign-gunners-youngster_2247585_2005329
I used Nasri as an example. I’m simply stating that Arsenal look at players that they can sell at a later date for a profit if they have to. That’s all i’ll say to you.
David Villa is quality Andrew, but i can guarantee he won’t be as successful in England as he is in Spain where players have a lot more freedom to express their qualities and managers don’t set their teams out half as well organised (which could be mistaken for defensive) as they do over here in England. Nilmar has blistering pace and an eye for goal. I can see him being a success over here, especially as he’s still in his mid-twenties I agree with you on Chamakh though. He is suited to Arsenal’s game. He could turn out to be a brilliant signing..
ah ok now I got you!!! Yes in profits Arsene is undoubtly the best!!!
Dont agree with you about VIlla!!! HE already have shown at international level how good he is!!!
Scandonavia is a good place to look for centerbacks. Lots of good ones are coming from there.
so how do you explain silva having a magical goal ratio in the spanish team as well? all his life, no matter where he has played…the guy has scored goals en masse
David Villa dosen’t just score goals in spain but also internationally.
Look at his goal scoring record in CL, Europa league and internationally.
Players like Villa are going to score, you really can’t stop them and with the chances we create then I can see him getting the golden boot.
But that said I can’t see us buying him at all for two reason his wage bill and the competition for his signature.
I imagine we probably have got scouts in Africa, didn’t we pick up Kolo Toure from the Ivory Coast leagues for something like £350k??
I’d offer about 17 or 18 million pounds for Dzeko (in other words what he’s worth) and if they turn that down then thats fine. He’s a player who had one good season and Wolfsburg thought that since they won the Bundesliga they were a big team and didn’t have to sell. Once they don’t qualify for Europe they make come to their senses and sell him for a reasonable price, and even if he isn’t sold or goes to Milan of someplace it’s not a big deal. Bendtner’s coming along fine and as long as Chamakh is signed Arsenal’s fine in the forward department. The next area (unless Nordveit is ready, which I don’t think he will be for a season or two) is center back, where Simon Kjaer would be a good option if we can beat Man City to him. Only one of Gallas/Campbell will be retained and even if they’re both retained we could do with a young central defender to groom to eventually form a dominant partnership with Vermaelen. Then Arsene Wenger can indulge himself and buy Hazard as our one extremely exciting signing who could become a superstar.
1. dzeko is having a nice season right now as well, 2nd in scoring
2. a player is not worth what one thinks he is worth but rather what people are willing to pay for him. Ergo, Dzeko is worth at least 30 mills.
We have football academies in Africa, and a lot of scouting goes on from there. African players have terrific physique, great tecnical skills, but very often pretty poor tactical abilities. In addition to this, all talents with skills beyond what’s common for their age (and there are LOTS of them, even if you can’t really trust all those low age-claims in Africa. I’ve heard that Kolo T is perhaps three years older than stated. Perhaps Wenger knows…but Mancini don’t?) have their own agents, often sucking 90% of the blood from the deals done, and phoning scouting nettworks 24/7.
I don’t think we wil get Hazard. I don’t meen to always disagree with you Shane, but i got the exact oposite feeling that you do. I just don’t feel that it is in the cards, so to speak. I think real or maybe even United might get him?? I mean someone already said that now he has signed a new contract, his price will be driven upwards into the 20 million pound range. Unless….If we pay off our stadium debts, and if we REALLY NEED him, because of a lack of talent coming through the academy, or because someone leaves or gets injured, or that he is ACTUALLY BETTER than anytone else we find, then I can see us getting him. Someone already said…DON’T FORGET ABOUT WELLINGTON SILVA!!!!:D He is a bit different player compaired to Hazard but still, he can be world class I think. Hazard might be a bit more of a pure winger than Silva?? Not sure. If we get him it would be awesome, but if we don’t we will still find other players and other world class ones at that. I have confidence. I know it is disappointing when we miss out on players like Messi and Ronaldo. We’ve seen them both win things with their respective teams, but we will get players of that calibur as well!! Who wouldn’t want to play for Arsenal?? Talent these days is developing at a much quicker rate than ever before, and there will be so many players in the future who we can get. I think the signing of Wellington silva has set a precedent!! Hopefully he will be a great player for us.
Btw: The Chamakh story’s giving me the same feeling as the Hleb story in the past. Knew neither of them very vell, so I checked them up. And found players with great skills, but mediocre goalscoring records. And that was just what we got from Hleb: Great skills, but few goals. And – even though I might be very wrong on this one – that’s what I think we’ll get from Chamakh.
Sometimes i wonder how old you guys are and how much economican sense you got.
” we should surly buy a 35M player”. “35M is not alot, we can afford it”. “”Why wont wenger spend 35M on 28 year old Villa? is he stopid or something?”
Well i guess modern economics are hard to understand if you are 21 and has never done any calculations in your life. It is probably hard to understand how you have to maintain a healty balance sheet as a buisness to. It is deffinelty hard to understand how Arsenal has to care about that stupid loan the have from building a stadium. A club like arsenal could surly afford to go into more debts. Just look at United they win everything and has 700m debts..
Sometimes arsenal fans and their stupidity makes be embarrased.. like gunner4life.. How old are you? Either you have so rich parents you do not unerstand money, you are so young you have never studies economics, you are one of those people that refinance your credidcard debt every year by going to a new company and borrowing more money…..
For people that dont understand economics and how it works in football, play Ultimate team on Fifa10. You will learn what happens when you dont run a club right.
Back to the Hazard thing, I just got a feeling this one will happen. I think Wenger will be willing to deal for the sure thing knowing that he price will only go up like Ronaldos did.
If we want I am sure we can get Hazard for 10 -12 million but really is he worth it.
Is he better than Arshavin, Nasri and Silva if not then why buy him for something like 12 million.
I would be happy if Wenger calls up someone defender like Hangeland, Cetin etc
God shane,
We don’t need anymore people thinking video games mimic football reality
Sometimes i wonder how old you are? before you attempt to teach other members about ecomomics or shuld i say economins has you have spelt it, please firstly learn how to spell and also use the english language then we may take you a little more seriously.
and with your grasp on economics i guess I am happy you are not in charge of arsenal fc
Hopefully you are right with this feeling. I watched Barca yesterday and again they were a bit off!!:D Have to watch out for Pedro though!! He can pass with the best of them, which surprised me a bit. Got 2 assists I think, and his passing technique is very good. he could play forward or midfield like Iniesta with a bit more pace. We can take them. As long as we do well agains Birmingham City and don’t play scared like we did against United in the home fixture!!
I think we will put Sagna as RB and Eboue as RM to stop Pedro or Henry
and same for Messi it will be Clcihy and Arshavin
and I am sure we will play 4-1-4-1 to stop them front counter attacking.
For me the expensive v cheap is a no brainer. The fact remains that whereas excelent football players are everywhere in this world, some come with high prize tags while others with similar quality or potential come much cheaper, some even on bosmans ( eg joe cole if he decides to leave). Why rush to break the bank therefore if you can have cheaper options and save your club millions. Surely players like cesc, varmaelen, must always be reminders that expensive is not always best. Just look how expensively assembled the current real madrid squad is this year, yet how humbled they were by lyon.
I don’t get all this hype about Wellington Silva!
There are, like 2 tiny clips of him on youtube doing pretty average things.
People are talking about him like he’s the next Messi.
Ease up on your expectations people!
i think you need to look on youtube again bud theres far more then two clips and hes already broken through to the first team, and on his debut scored and set one up the hype is justified ….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abqT4TEXASI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FjKo3hEi7U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlklitNrzjk
If you needed a reminder .
Dude I have watched him in full games….he is the real deal. A year ago he scored 4 in 1 half for our u16s. Trust me…he is the real deal.
i’m sick of Arsenal fans complaining about Wenger’s transfer policy. Arsenal is not Chelsea, not Madrid, and certainly not Man City. The likes of Man Utd, Chelsea, and Liverpool have huge debts, that are constantly increasing. Although Arsenal has debts too, theyre not nearly as severe as the others, and its constantly decreasing. All thanks to Wenger and front office who recognize that a football club is more than just money. Its a culture, a creature in itself that needs to be treated with care, and handled properly. I love Arsenal and i’d rather wait for success than risk losing its stability (and possible future: Portsmouth) by spending recklessly. Besides last i checked we’re still one of the most desirable clubs in the world, Whats wrong with that
I agree but Chelsea have no debt now Roman wiped it all and same for City they are almost debt free.
Liverpool and United are in debt because of their owners who used loans to buy the club
I am happy with what we are doing with in transfer market and financially but the most important thing for our club is to hold on too our young and important first team players because we have created this kind of team before and then lost it all because we couldn’t hold on to players like Flamini, Helb, Henry.
If we want success in the future then its paramount to hold on to our first team players.
RIght now that includes Fabregas, Merida and Gallas. If we lose them then we have to build again.
It’s a bit of a stretch to claim that Chelsea are debt free.
When Abramovich decides to leave, you don’t think he’ll be callling in all the soft loans he gave to the clubs?
It’s ridiculous.
Word
Gunner17, who does Wellington look similar to here at Arsenal??? That’s right…no one. Most of us are really excited that we are getting a winger who looks capable of scoring goals and creating magic with his dribbling skills. We don’t currently have a player like this. This is why we are excited. I don’t expect him to be the next Messi or Ronaldo. I certainly hope that he can put his own stamp on the league and the history of Arsenal though. I don’t think that is unreasonable.
I think the man you are referring to, that we don’t have, is Arshavin. He suits that description very well.
He is very different then Arshavin. Arshavin is more of a passer and a very direct player that doesnt exactly bust out the tricks. Welington will be pure excitement. Tricks and goals.
if someone doesn’t break his leg then I amsure he will light up EPL in 2-3 years.
Sanders
1. Veljko Batrović
2. Kabiru Akinsola
3. Máté Tóth
4. Jimmy Kamghain
5. Martín Luis Galván
DID WE SIGN ANY OF THEM
Reply
Just checked up on an of these players
The only players that is left from the list (who have not signed pro contracts or moved to another club is –
Veljko Batrović – he’s suppose to be the next messi and every big clubs including madrid and ac milan wants him so any idea if we are close to signing him.
YG did we also make a million dollar offer for a 15 year old keeper
Arsenal thwarted in £1m bid for 15-year-old Stuttgart keeper Odesseas Vlachidimos
here’s the link
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1260725/Arsenal-thwarted-1m-bid-15-year-old-Stuttgart-keeper-Odesseas-Vlachidimos.html
he’s 15 and already 6 foot 3 inches and I would love to have him here at arsenal
by the time he reaches 18 I am sure he will be 6’6 – 6’8
OKAAAAY someone please enlighten me how you think we are getting HAZARD for 10-12 million?, when every major club in the world wants him, and he has 4 years left on his contract!! yes that is right lads! Lyon will let him go to us for 10-12 million dream on idiots…
and for someone to say dzecko isnt having a good season? HA! you know bugger all, he turned 24 last week and his scoring record is 48goals in 86games for wolfsburg thats more than half!! and more goals than Van Persie has EVER scored for us! Van Persie has scored 46goals in 126games so look at the figures before you start saying he isnt worth the price, if adebayor was worth 25million he is obviously worth 30million and to say we dont have the money is insulting, the whole point of a new stadium was to be able to compete with the clubs for big named signings…pathetic
Lyon?
How much did we get Nasri for I forget and he was a bigger hit than Hazard.
He played for bigger club as well.
Lyon? Last time I checked he scored against Liverpool in the Europa Cup for LILLE about 2 weeks ago. Surely he can’t change clubs now. And you really can’t compare Dzeko’s and van Persie’s scoring records. The most important thing here is that they are playing in completely different leagues, with the English league arguably much better than the German league. Until Dzeko has proven to be able to score such amount of goals in a better league he is not worth 30 million. On the other hand Adebayor has shown that he could score goals in the English league, and he is transferring directly from league rivals hence the high price tag. Should he move to, say, Spain he would cost less than 25 million.
And Arsenal still have debts from building the stadium that needs to be taken care of first. Building a new stadium is a long-term solution, not a short term one.
RVP is scoring in PL! You can’t compare only the goal ratio man. PL is a higher level of play than Bundesliga is. Look up RVP goals and assist this season. Its amazing and he will miss half of the season. Shevchenko was a big big flop for chelsea but he was awesome in Italy. No one is worth 30 millions! And yes we built a big stadium to increase our income but that doesn’t mean we will be rich right away. We still have debts and those needs to be paid.
LOL…I love whn people start a rant about other peoples comment like they know it all and in that rant they state some miinformation…lol. Hazard plays for Lyon now. LOL.
Anyways…..10-12 million pounds is maybe alittle under the price but it will be some where around there. Yes he signed a new contract but you have to realise contracts have clauses and things like that so it isnt as simple as you might think.
@ shane
wow amazingly stupid comment. Hazard is in Lille now!!
^ ^ ^ what a wanker!!!! look how many goals eduardo scored before he came to arsenal
just because your scoring in one league dont mean your gonna score in another
your basing your argument on buying a player by how many goals he has scored in a completly different lame league, your smart!!
Arsenal will not sign Dzeko for 2 reasons:- 1) Arsenal never ever spend that kind of money on a player and 2) He simply isn’t worth the kind of money people are talking about – one season wonder, as were Wolfsburg!
Wish people would get real on potential signings. Just look at the past evidence. We develop or at a pinch spend 12-16 mil on a top player. And to be honest would we have it any other way?? Who wants to end up in the kind of financial mess thats happening to other clubs?
i think realistically arsene is just getting ready for wen players like arshavin, gallas, fabregas, rosicky, silvestre,campbell r out in 3 years max. wat arsene does is bring like 4 players around the same age in the team eg. song, fabregas, djourou, bendtner, mannone, ders all 22/23 and the same is happening wid da nxt gen so if wenger buys a defender i seriously dnt c him buyin a young one cus of bartley, etc. most prob buy one to be in the first team for 2-3 years till bartley can step up i think dats y we were after hangeland. n i dnt c him buying a dm or cm at all cus of the obvious ramsey, denilson, lansbury, coquelin, etc. i think if anything hell buy hazard for Lm where arshavin plays as a possible replacement cus arshavin is now 28 goin 29 in may.
United, Chelsea drew against Birmingham at home. Only 2 teams this season have gone their and won so I think we need to put in a very very good shift to win.
But I think it might end in a draw still fingers crossed and hopefully we can get through this hurdle.
jom how can i say that about RVP? look im not slating RVP im just saying for the ammount of games he has played he maybe hasnt scored as much as he should of for a first choice striker, i mean hes been with us 6years and henry was here 8years and scored 5times more than him!
and yes everyone knows there is stadium debt! but at the rate we are putting it down spending big on a player wouldnt be a bag thing, do you know david beckham payed for himself when he went to madrid in shirt sales alone?! so YES bring a big name in wenger and make arshavin & fabregas happy
you obviously have no idea of what you are talking about.
So Henry scored many goals and thats why rvp should scored as much? Thats stupid. PL is a much harder leauge today than it used to be. Today it is 6-7 really really good teams. When Henry was here it was Arsenal and United most of the time. RVP have been injured alot so you need to take that in account too. imagine rvp being healty all the time. What an amazing player he would have been. The fact is that RVP is one of the worlds best striker and you are not happy about it.
yeah sorry LILLE******
not LYON bloody french clubs
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/gilles-sunu-signs-new-contract
Sorry but the arsenal reserves dont have that star playing coming through.
Nicklas bendtner is the only player i have seen whos made an impact in every single reserve game and youth game.
I watch the reserve and youth teams there is just isnt a stand out player ok aprt from jack wilshere and bendtner i cant think of anyone else.
I’m not sure of the source, but itseems AW may have actually gone out and contacted Hazard and made an invitation to join Arsenal. If that’s true, it will be interesting to see what happens. In itself it should tell you something about the guy’s talent/potential.
Up to now, I think Hazard has shown very clearly that he will only move where and when he wants to. I don’t think he will be rushed or easily swayed.
To the people that suggest we buy any number of massively expensive players…please wake up and use your brains. It’s not Arsenal/AW policy to acquire players like this. We have made investments in many fantastic youth players that need to be given the opportunity to develop, not be blocked and hindered by ‘instant’ signings.
Remember also that in the big scheme of things, people here basically know nothing. Only AW and his close circle really know who the targets are and the reasons for or against them. A bunch of bloggers can generally offer some ill-informed speculation – but please don’t act like you are any serious authority that has all the answers.
I will just touch on a few topics that have been up here….
First EDIN DZEKO…..OK for one I agree that 30 million is way to much for most player and we will not pay that much. Moving on tho..(Mutley) for you to call him a 1 season wonder and overrated and say he will be a flop, just showing the ignorant that alot of premier league fans have towards the rest of the world. Have you ever actually watched him play? He is already one of the top 10 strikers in the world. Top 10 out and out strikers are these….Ibrahimovic, Torres, Drogba, Rooney, Higuain, Villa, Dzeko, Eto’o, Aguero, and van Persie. Probally for got someone. You have to actually watch these players to judge.
2nd thing is SAM…..You make some silly comments on here. Nasri was bigger (talent) than Eden Hazard is…..you are out of your mind. Yes Nasri was a big talent but Eden Hazard is in that category close to what Messi what at 17,18. Other comment by you, “We couldnt hold on to our players”…..We only sell players that can be replaced or that are out of there prime. How could you use Henry as an example…we kept him all the way through his prime even tho we could have gotten a whole lot of money of him. Flamini was a free agent…not much we could do and Song is proving a very good replacement. Hleb….if we didnt sell Hleb then out doubt we would have Arshavin in our team right now.
There are a couple of things limiting the amounts that Arsenal will pay for players that some of you are not taking into consideration:
1.) Everyone knows that Arsenal has to pay off its stadium debt. What some don’t seem to understand is that it’s to the club’s advantage to pay the debt off as quickly as possible. Why? Because interest rates are currently about as low as they are ever going to get. If the debt gets paid quickly, the club won’t have to pay more in interest when interest rates rise, as they will in the near future (and already are), when the loans roll over as they do periodically. While that means paying more on the debt now, it will save a considerable amount later. The fact that the Arsenal board made a large pay-down on the stadium debt this year is evidence that this is what they are trying to do.
2.) Arsenal has greatly expanded its marketing efforts, particularly in Asia, in this past year. This should produce additional revenue streams in the future, but, with ManU, Barca, RM, etc. already well established in some of these areas, the resources and investment needed to compete with those clubs’ more established efforts is not inconsiderable at this stage. Those resources and the investment will pay off in the long-run, but, at this point, are costing money. Why spend that money on marketing instead of players? Because if Arsenal doesn’t start marketing itself more aggressively, it will fall further and further behind those other big clubs in marketing revenue as time goes on–making it less able to compete for players with each passing year. Why spend that money now? Because it is cheaper to start a venture during an economic downturn than when costs are at their peak when the world economy is perking along.
3.) Arsenal has spent a lot of money before and during this season extending the contracts of many of its young players. If you counted it up, much of the money from the sale of Toure and Ade or more was doled out to the dozen or more new contracts the club gave to its younger players (as well as for Vermaelen). The club didn’t buy one big superstar, but invested a number of players that it feels are on the brink of stars, some of whom (RvP, Song, Ramsey, Diaby, Bendtner) have shown that they are on the verge of becoming or already have become name players. Not only has this made these players happy, it has helped to contribute to the closeness in the lockerroom that has helped keep the team in contention this season and served to make most, if not all, of those players feel a greater committment to the club. This investment not only can pay off on the pitch, but make it more likely that most of these players will want to stay with the club longer and fetch a bigger transfer fee for the club when they leave.
4.) Arsene Wenger has stated more than once that it isn’t so much the transfer fees for a player that are an obstacle to obtaining a big name star, but the weekly wages that these players command. If you have to pay 30 million to obtain an established star and then pay 100,000 a week to keep him happy, you end up spending a lot of money for one player at one position. OK, let’s say that the club would be willing to do that. If that player gets injured or is only able to play 2/3 of your games, you have a substantial amount of your annual budget tied up in that one player and have to have another player who can step in for him who can’t cost you very much. Additionally, if you are paying that star 100,000 a week, there are going to be other players on your team that are going to want their pay adjusted to reflect their relative value. Your other stars are going to want 100,000 a week or more as well. Your solid starters are going to want their pay to rise as well. The next thing you know your whole wage structure either ends up being destroyed or coming in over-budget or you end up with players grousing about their contracts. Jealousy isn’t good for team chemistry. If the club has an owner with deep pockets who is willing to give the club whatever it takes to keep everyone happy, problems can be avoided for awhile–until the owner decides not to keep dipping into his pocket (see Chelsea and Joe Cole), but Arsenal doesn’t have that kind of owner. Arsenal has been able to invest in a new stadium and expand its marketing because the board has given AW a budget and AW has been willing to build a team that has a wage structure that fits within that budget. While Wenger hasn’t and probably won’t spend or pay a lot for established stars until the club reaches a point where its debt reduction and new revenue streams allow for a bigger budget and wage structure, the fact that AW has kept the club competitive using this strategy will position the club to keep those stars that it develops (who want to stay) and spend more in the transfer market in the future. It will also leave the club in a better position to deal with the UEFA rules about teams spending only what they bring in that will be going into effect in the near future. Indeed, Arsenal may be in a very good position to “pick up the scraps” when some European clubs have to jettison some of their star players in order to comply with these rules.
So, keep these things in mind when you are thinking about whether you want Arsenal to go out and spend a lot of money for a big name star.
Sometimes it is better to do whatever you can to keep the young player that you already have who is about to blossom into a star than it is to buy a player who has been a star with some other team who is only going to come to your club to get “a big payday”, especially if it’s going to be his last chance to get a “big payday”.
I already stated the first reason on the topic.
On the whole extending contracts thing…every club does that so that is not the reason.
On the marketing thing….once again every team does that. Best marketing strategy is to either buy big name players (real madrid), buy a player from that region (Park from Man Utd), preseason tour ( which we dont do) or play entertaining football (which we do).
The only reason we dont spend more (which we will never overspend like alot of clubs do), is the stadium debt.
i will take dzeko all day ahead of villa.
why??? not only has he got age on his side, but the kid’s workrate as i witnessed for myself in the euro’s was shocking to me.. i am sure he’s become aware of the fact that most defences in europe will target him and he’s made it apoint of pulling them away and hence the current form of grafite…
i am even excited by the thought of an arsenal forward three of arshavin, chamack, rvp..
so imagine the havoc we can course in the prem with arshavin,dzeko,rvp???
i am allowed to dream rite???
Dzeko is a top drawer player i watch the bundesliga nearly every week. He is two times the player berbatov is that also went for 30 million. Im not saying he is worth because no player apart from messi and ronaldo and fabregas are worth that kind of money. The boy has everthing he would be a star in the premier league.
Dzeko, Eden Hazard are all quality players but do we really need them. That’s what I want to know
Dzeko – IF Arsenal have signed a pre contract agreement with Chamak then there’s no need for Dzeko. Some people might think Dzeko is a better player but since we are getting Chamak there’s not need to get another ST
Hazard – Hazard is quality even though I dont think he’s worth 20 million but he has Arshavin and Nasri in front of him so how much playing time will he get if we sign him.
Here’s something new
“Avid Arsenal fan and professional singer Andy Abrahams has revealed on UK commercial radio station talkSPORT this morning that he heard the ’sad news’ of a player set to leave the club in the summer whilst performing at Theo Walcott’s 21st birthday party last week.
Abraham was quizzed on whether he picked up any gossip at Walcott’s lavish bash, and the passionate fan confirmed he had some bad vibes from his meeting with the players. He described the news as ‘very sad for the summer’ while also admitting it wasn’t 100% but very probable that it will be announced come the end of the campaign.
Presenter Mark Saggers tried to quiz Abraham further, but he refused to give out anymore details of what he had picked up, but completed the interview all but confirming it was a player leaving that would be the ’sad news’.
Captain Cesc Fabregas and former skipper William Gallas have been constantly linked with moves away this term.”
If I was to speculate then I think it will be Arshavin. Arshavin hasn’t looked the same player since last year, he doesn’t look happy when he plays and he has made some rather other odd comments this years about arsenal. This was also to explain why Wenger will try and Bring in HAZARD as a replacement for Arshavin
I still don’t think Hazard will be bought for something like 20 million more around 10-13 million.
Sam….Hazard would play a whole lot next year. People seem to think we only need 11 players….you need a full squad. Yes Hazard is a player we need. We only have one winger 3 wingers that take players on with pace and skill and only 1 is a true top notch winger that you need to play the 4-3-3.
On the Dzeko thing…he is 10 times the player chamahk is.
On the Berbatov thing….Berbatov could be one heck of a player but he just isnt fitting in at Man Utd. He was not worth 30 million but when you are a club the size of man utd you have to overspend sometimes to stay a massive club rather then let man city push them out of the way.
On only 3 players being worth 30 pounds. You said Messi, Ronaldo and Fabregas….add Ibrahimovic, Essein and Iniesta. And the funny thing is now that you made that comment…in 4 years there will be atleast 3 more added to that list in Wilshere, Ramsey, and Hazard. Wouldnt it be nice if all 3 played for our club.
O ya…as for Arshavin not being good this year…blah blah blah. He has had and injured right foot for a lot of the year and has been played as a center striker for alot of the year. Also dont hate on the man for answering questions honestly. He never lies and always tells it how he feels. You cant hate the man in a time where most people act fake.
I would like to see AW sign Lukaku, Rodwell , & Pastore these players are skillfull and also physically imposing.
Yah ok….Rodwell alone will cost 25 million. If we were going to sign Pastore, i think we would have signed him in the summer for his former argentine side.
Nordtveit starts for Nuremberg today.
Guys I’m juust throwing this out there so don’t go crazy, but if Wenger isn’t going for Vieira in the summer to sign him as backup, what do you think the chances are that we could get Makelele. Apperantly, PSG is in turmoil and maybe he would want to move?? He could really help the youngsters like Frimpong, Coquelin and Eastmond, and he could spell Song if he gets injured or suspended. I know he is older than Vieira, and I don’t know how he has played in the last 2 seasons, but even his verbal instructions could benefit the young players. I’m not saying I really want this to happen, or that it will. We already have Campbell, Gallas and Silvestre. But at least one of these players will be gone right?? I don’t know it might be a low cost solution. JUST SPECULATION I KNOW, but it would be kinda cool wouldn’t it??? lol
Honestly I dont mind older players signing on frees as back ups. We didnt sign Viera for 2 reasons, his wages are rediculous and he wanted to play alot. I think young players benifit alot from older players. I believe one reason that Walcotts developement has slowed, is because we let go of Thierry Henry who was the perfect mentor for Walcott considering Walcott is the young version of Henry.
Yeah that’s true Shane. But I doubt we will sign anyone like that in the summer. It could happen but it will be unexpected for me. Kind of like Campbell was. Although I wondered if Wenger might sign him after he started training with us lol. As for henry, I wish he had stayed too, but he wanted to leave, and you can’t keep players who don’t want to stay lol.
Honestly I felt it was time for him to go. But it is a catch 22 because as a Arsenal fan I would love to have our legend see out his career at our club, but the type of player he is and his personality just would not have worked as he lost his pace and starting place. There is a reason we sold him.
LIKE I KEEP SAYING WHY LET CRAPPY PLAYERS HOLD DOWN A GOOD TEAM. ALMUNIA PROVES MY POINT AGAIN. ANYONE WANT TO ARGUE AGAINST THAT NOW. BYE BYE TITLE BECAUSE OF ONE CRAPPY PLAYER.
of course!! and bye bye champions league. with such a keeper barca will batter us!!!
Couldn’t agree more…
anyone still dare to defend Almunia?
He is a decent GK alright, but he is not good enough for us.. Well, unless our team is only looking for a champions league spot.
Untill we manage to find a good replacement for average player like Denilson, Bendtner & Almunia, especially (Almunia off course), I don’t think we will ever gonna win the PL or CL title… We can only hope for FA & Carling.
One more thing, can anyone please smash the big & solid rock inside Wenger’s head!!!! Sometimes, that guy is so f*#kin stubborn!
Calm down now name dropping. Bendtner is obviously a huge talent and no way should we get rid of him ….anyways.
This is what I keep saying and everyone condems me for it…..guys like Almunia, Sylvestre, Watt, Randall, and yes even Eastmond are all decent players, but just not good enough for a club that is trying to compete with Man Utd and Chelsea. Denilson is a good back up but he we definetly need another “quality centerback and def. mid cuz Denilson simply does not make very many tackles in there. To be honest, even tho we have been winning (against bad teams) we havent been playing good. Exception being fc porto game. Fabregas has been really poor for him being our best player. The only 3 that have been playing good are Song, Nasri and Diaby. Last but not least, Wilshere should have stayed and been playing. We barely created any real chances.
Well I dont know about u Shawn, but I just didn’t see anything special in Bendtner. . He doesn’ impressed me much. Trust me, Bendtner is average. Just wait for another 3 or 4 years, u’ll know what I’m talking about.
How do you know if Eastmond is not good enough. And calm down guys holly shit. Calm down. I had a feeling that we might not be able to hold the lead. I had a feeling the last couple of games that we could hold the lead and we did. But this game I had a different feeling. We will beat Barca. Diaby was a maestro today. If we start Nasri and Arshavin, we’ll be fine. Guys come on!!! I knew I shouldn’t have come on here after the result. Everyone takes a shit. I mean I’m sure by now you guys feel better right??? I do. Really it isn’t a big deal. I had a lump in my throat, but I saw it coming and I’m fine now. Almunia made some good saves and he didn’t deserve that. It was very unlucky. He isn’t good enough, but he didn’t deserve that. Pick up guys and start again. Wednesday isn’t far off and we will see something special I think. I think we can win. We will win this leg at least. We have to take the game to them. If we do we will win. Vermaelen is back as well. THAT was why I didn’t think we could hold the lead!!! Darn, I’m not so smart now:S hahaha
And hey Barca’s keeper ain’t hot shit anyways!!:D See??? Ok he might be better than Almunia, but he isn’t ‘THE BEST” Right???. I hope you guys can see where i’m coming from with my optimisim. I really feel we can control this next game!!!!! Ok I bombed out last year with my feeling against United in the Semi’s, but I still feel this way!!! Barca isn’t tearing the cover off the earth with their play either. We are more than capable of beating them.
Milo…for one Eastmond is an average player. To be that holding mid, you have to be a very powerful dominant player. Eastmond is more Denilson then Song. As for the Barca game…Campbell was having issues with there jeromes pace. What happens when Messi is running at him? Also I am not over reacting at all…I have been saying the same thing for ever and year after year we let 1 or 2 crappy players bring us down.. Senderous verse liverpool, Sylvestre last year and Almunia this year.
Shane for one, Eastmond is a much better passer than Denilson, from what I’ve seen. There is a lot more forward drive to his gae. He will get stronger as he ages. It will take tons of hard work, but it can bone. My brother went from 120 pounds to 160 in like a snap. Under a year. Just. I didn’t see that much wrong with Campbells performance. Jerome didn’t have too many chances. Almunia isn’t good enough, but he was unlucky. He lost sight of the ball though and came too far off his line, and there is no excuse for that. I think that’s what he did. You’d know better cuz you were a keeper right?? Anyway I still think we’ll beat Barca. It’s just my opinion, but I think we will.
Eastmond has drive? He is purely a sitting player and has shown no signs of this drive you speak of. Also wasnt Denilson our leading passer percentagewise last year?
No, he cn pass towards the forwards ,uch better than Denilson. Yes he sits in front of the defence, but so does Song, who is superb. If he fills out, he can be as good as Song is. He’s over 6 ft., so he should be able to gain a few kgs. At least logic would persuade me to think this way. Anyway, how do you think we will do against Barca??? Xavi is back by the way. And we’ll get to Eastmond if and when he makes the first team. He isn’t there now and he didn’t play a second against Birmingham City, so there is no point in bashing him yet. Almunia (if you must) is fine haha. Denilson wasn’t great today, but he wasn’t terrible. The only thing I wish he did was tackle more. I never see him on the ground going for a 50/50 ball. That might be because he is still injured though. Who knows??
if your on the ground your out of the game? professional football is less about tackling more about interceptions, waiting for opponents to give the ball away … denilson is by no means my favourite player but id much rather he stayed on his feet denying opponents time and space than overcommitted to tackles enabling opponents to run freely at our centre backs – especially campbell
As good as Song….wow. Anyways I have said this many of times, if it is an open game, we will get killed cuz Messi will blow by Campbell all day long. This time I hope I am wrong and u know me, i hate to be wrong.
Well why can’t he be as good as Song if he gains weight?? I’ve seen him tackle, and defend. It could happen. As I said before, I really like what I saw from what little I have seen of him. All he has to do is keep building on that and he will make an impact. Well, for us to play well, it has to be an open game. But Diaby is as good as Toure and so is Song. And they can both attack right?? Fabregas cancels out Xavi and Arshavin or Nasri can matchup with Iniesta. The only problem is Messi. I would play Sagna and Clichy and tell them to forget about attacking. Send SOng a bit further up, but don’t send the fullbacks. And don’t forget, we have Vermaelen back. How bout Song and Vermaelen in defence?? HUH??? THAT COULD WORK!!! I’m fine with Campbell too though. And without Song in midfield, Toure or Keita or Busquets might bully us a little. Song in defence again could work though. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it happen either. You know who called it haha.
All things sound good. One thing is, no way we should put Song in defence. We will get dominated in the midfield because Denilson doesnt make very many tackles. OK here is the break down cuz we play the same formation. Centerbacks, I pick barca simply because Gallas isnt playing. Widebacks I would choose Alves over Sagna cuz Sagna cant cross but I would choose Clichy over either Maxwell or Abidal. Centermidfield (Iniesta injured) I would choose Arsenal. Only issue with our midfield is we loose the ball to easy sometimes which leads to a counterattack. Strikers….Ibrahimovic over Bendtner. Nasri verse Pedro…me personally, i would choose Nasri but that one can be argued. Here is the difference tho. We have yes, a very good player in Arshavin who also happens to be my favorite player alongside Ibrahimovic, but they have the Worlds Best player who is on fire right now. I hope we win but 180 minutes is a long time to try to contain Messi with a back up 35 year old centerback.
About Barca game… Don’t get me wrong here, I support Arsenal with all my heart. But still, from an objective point of view, I don’t think anyone would expect us to win vs Barca. Be honest will ya, Barca is way better than us. We can only hope for lady luck to help us win vs Barca. I mean, the best team doesn’t always win a football match, sometimes the lucky one win the match.
About Almunia, with all do respect, I do appreciate all the contribution he gave for us in the past couple of years (except his blunders off course). But seriously, having watched how Van der Sar performed vs Bolton last night makes me wonder how many additional points our team would have at the moment if we have a solid GK between the sticks. We could even win that Champions League final vs Barca don’t u think?!! I know football is a collective game, but sometimes one player can make the difference between wining & loosing. So please AW, get rid off all those average players from our starting eleven. Make them as our 1st team back ups, nothing more..
If we want to compete for next season PL title, we should at least add 3 more players:
1. One solid reliable GK to replace Almunia (I know we have Szczesny, but he is not ready yet);
2. One solid CB to fill in the whole next to TV as a result of our aging back line; &
3. One non injury-prone striker who is lethal in front of goal (Basically as a cover for RVP, but if we can find someone who is better than him, I don’t mind if the new guy replace him in the starting line up).
arsenal should play eboue left back, to stop messi cutting in off the wing. Eboue has been in my opinion, arsenal’s best player in the last two months and has shown a great attacking influence
Hey guys, (Shane in particular hahaha) I just saw a rumour that said we were interested in signing Jerome Boateng!!!:)D lol. You’ve mentioned him before and I’ve seen him play a few times myself and I really, really liked what I saw!!!:D And as for Barca, I think we’ll beat them. We can beat them at their own game. We are the only team that can.
What is funny about that? I dont get it. …He is a fantastic centerback/right back. What is your point?
Anyways…..I just read on skysports that Fabregas made comments about staying and these sounded the most convincing I have heard which makes me able to except the Birmingham draw a little better knowing that Fab is for sure going to be here when everything comes together.
heeeey! erm what is going on with the loanee reports? i’m going spare here !
I wan’t laughing at you, I’m just pumped that they’re maybe looking at a player you’d mentioned a few times a while back. Nothing more to it really
O ok lol…you confused me. Thanks for recognition. Yah I would be excited if we signed him. Really a quality player.
edin dzeko is very good player, he is much better than villa or chamak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr61rhYu0e4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx6fasdmrOM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1uck8UC9pU
watch this video and see edin dzeko
we in bosnia like arsenal and arsenal have fan her in bosnia
Why do people keep saying Edin Dzeko had only one good season? Last I checked, he was the top goalscorer last season with 22 goals and 10 assists. In 08/09, he was the 2nd top goalscorer with 26 goals and 10 assists, while winning the league with Wolfsburg. That’s 2 really great seasons.. if you don’t count this season where he has 10 goals in 17 matches and the 07/08 season where he was considered in the Bundesliga starting 11 for the season but fell short. He was only 20/21 yrs old then. Where was Drogba from 20-24 yrs of age.. obviously nowhere near to what Dzeko has accomplished so far. Some of you obviously have no idea what you’re talking about. And you know, it’s literally impossible to score a lot of goals for a team like Wolfsburg, but Dzeko somehow finds a way to squeeze enough goals to be in the top 3 goalscorers of the season for 3 seasons straight. A German commentator once mentioned that it’s a “miracle” that Dzeko has scored 10 goals so far in 17 matches considering the extremely poor delivery for the forwards up front and low amount of chances. Truth is, if Dzeko played for Arsenal, Real Madrid, Bayern, etc., he would score more than a goal a game. Just look at Mario Gomez… the guy is poor as a player can be, but he scores goals left and right. Sometimes you need to play for a great team to have a chance to show what you’re all about.