Paris Saint-Germain are closing in on a deal for Arsenal trialist and long-term target Veljko Batrović. The exciting Montenegrin shone during a trial fixture against Tottenham but the Gunners have stalled on closing a deal, opening the door for the French outfit.
Batrović is seen as Montenegro’s leading light at youth level where he has scored over 300 goals in three seasons for club side FK Bubamara. Veljko has been training with Arsenal for a number of months and after being handed a chance to impress during an Under 15 friendly, and he took it. Two assists in a 2-2 draw earned plaudits from all. He won Man of the Match, earning the traditional £10 prize.
Arsène Wenger has been keeping tabs of the diminutive forward during training and he has commented on his technique, speed, sense of play and scoring ability. Scouts from all of Europe have been intent on signing Batrović with Olympiakos officials already labelling him ‘the miracle child’. He remains at London Colney but proud father and former professional player Zoran Batrović is holding negotiations with PSG who are desperate to wrap up a deal.
“We talked with people from Paris and Veljko is very interested in a move to the capital of France.”
The pair were present at Arsenal’s Champions League clash with Barcelona at the Emirates Stadium and although a future playing in the red and white could happen, Veljko told the local media his big dream would be to wear the Blaugrana colours.
“Ronaldinho is my idol and my favorite club is Barcelona. I dream that one day I will playing with Messi in a Catalan jersey. This is my big desire.”
Negotiations are on going but a transfer either way should be concluded shortly.
If hes so good why hasnt wneger wrapped up a deal for him?
Probably because he is not sure about the kid.
Wenger has kept an eye on him that’s why he’s been training with us for so long and I think if he really wants to sign him then he will.
if he wants to play one day for barca let him go!!!! We need players who really wants to stay and play for the Arsenal!!!
young players follow where world class played in their prime and that’s not suprise.
Players want to play amongst the best and right now Barca have the best players
Zak Ansah is a Manchester United fan and probably dreams about playing for them one day, so are we supposed to kick him out of Arsenal because of this?.
he’s not a united fan
he said we look like a one man team but he was 14-15 at the time so he will grow up
Anyone?
What do you think Djourou? I really like this lad and I think with Vermaelen playing alongside him he can really form a solid patnership but what do you think of him? Do you think he’s good enough to start week in and week out?
Also I did some research about who is available to us next season for the CB position I Know newspapers are talking about us signing Hanglenad but Hangleand and Subotic have just signed new long term contracts so they wont come cheap and I doubt Wenger will pay over the odds for either of them.
Bonnuci and Boateng are the players who’s contract expire in 2012 and they are sure to leave their small clubs for big european ones(no disrespect to Hamburg) . These players are more likely the ones Wenger will go for and I think any one of them will be a great addition to our squad. I would although go for Bonucci (can play with both right and left feet and very good technically)
I think with Djourou fit and Vermaelen. Gallas, Sol and Bonnuci or Boateng in our squad I think we should be all set for next year in defense and hopefully with the sale of Fabianski and buying of someone like Loris, Aginfeev, Neur or Alder we should be all set for next season and ready to take one Barca in CL final and produce match of the century.
I think wenger was going to start the season with djourou in defence instead of vermalen and gradually introduce thomas to the PL, but djourous injury meant he never got his big chance.
Imo he can be a great defender or midfielder, but he has to shake his injury problems.
To be honest i dont really care. i dont want a player who dreams od playin for barcelona. ID rather we bring one of our own through
Johan Djourou for me is one of the best young defenders around.
Leornardo Bonucci is he any good? They say hes 6ft 3 but he looks shorter. He does look like a clone of chillieni but right footed
oh you havent see Bonucci have you.
Bari have two aweome defenders Rochinna and Bonucci. They are both very good technically and they set to continue of Italy producing the best defenders
Bonucci is very good technically and can play with both feet. I would prefer Rochinna though but Inter have already stole him
Same old slow arsenal. No wonder we missed out on messi and ronaldo. Why blame the kid for wanting to play amongst the best? That is his dream, he hasn’t sign with arsenal so why should he pledge his allegiance to arsenal. …. on another note, it’s to hard to find the typing box. Either change the back ground color or make the text box white…. just my suggestion
messi wasnt never in our thoughts at a age of 12 year I think!!!
he was signed by his coach for a trial straigth to Barca they didn’t call him
they didnt even know him and after seeing his qualities they paid for a medical condition he had and he’s been their ever since and with Ronaldo.
We were very close to signing him but he just slipped out of our grasp
oh james why did you tell me that? :-( In my PES Messi is playing at the Arsenal :-)!!!
I’ve always preferred that Wenger would go after Adil Rami of Lille. He was linked with Arsenal about a year ago. Been watching a lot of Lille matches all season due to the links to Hazard (with Gervinho, Rami, and Cabaye also being linked previously as well). I think Rami is Arsenal quality. He’s been called up several times for the French national squad, though he hasn’t gotten a cap yet. I see him as being built like Alex of Chelsea and plays a bit like him too, though with more passion. Quite big (190 cm & 90 kg) though very mobile. Comfortable with the ball at his feet, dribbling forward from the back like most Arsenal CB’s seem to. With his size, he’s a target at set-pieces and has scored some goals. Even more like Alex, he has very powerful right leg they once in a while use for long-range free kicks, scoring one this year. He’s 24, but started professional football late (at ~20) so he should have more potential than you’d normally see from a player his age. Also, since he plays for Lille, and not somewhere like Lyon, a transfer fee likely wouldn’t be unreasonably high.
Yh i like adil rami as well hes a very physical player with alot of agression and hes a very passionate player.
maybe he could work on his positional sense but he would be a perfect match with vermaelen
I like what I have seen from Djourou. I feel he can have an impact next year, like Song had this year. I really believe that if he is healthy, he can have that big an impact. BUT he has to be healthy enough to be at full pace. Pace is so important for centre backs nowadays. Some people are cold on Djourou, others like him a lot. I like him. I’ve seen both Bonucci and Ranocchia a few times and I really like them both. As someone has said as well, I like Ranocchia a bit better but Inter has him already, so Bonucci would be nice. BUT Boateng is excellent as well. I’ve seen him 4 or 5 times as well, and I’ve really been impressed. As Batrovic, if he is a die-hard barca fan, I would stear clear of him. No disrespect to what sounds like his undeniable talent, but chances are he’ll just use us as a feeder club and then try to go to Barca. We are not a feeder club. If he is such a big fan of Barca, then he should sign for them and try to impress their scouts. I’m sure he can.
look if we can learn anything from the ronaldo situation then that is that there’s nothing wrong with signing people who want their destination to be real or Barca.
We make huge amounts of money when we sell them to these clubs and they can help us in our title till their move to their new club.
i think djourou is a superb young defender i hope he can play a big part next season.
supposedly we missed out on messi and ronaldo once they had trialed with us so hopefully we don’t stuff up this one aswell
messi had even a trial with us!!! Fuck!!! What was Wenger thinking not to sign him’?? I really hope Wellington is that “special talent” and can be an arsenal legend!!!
messi didnt have a trial with us he went straigth from barca
Ronaldo we did miss out on but it was not due to lack of trying
he prefered united over us
ah I know why we didnt get messi!! there were fucking work permit issues!! thx to the fucking FA and the government!!!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-492013/Arsenal-admit-Messi-interest.html
here an early article!!! Sad Sad!!!
According to that article Messi was already with Barca at that time and must be around 16/17 years old (thats when Cesc joined Arsenal), so even if he had got the work permit I highly doubt Barca would have let him go and even if they did I doubt Messi would have wanted to cheat the club who paid for his medical bills when no club in the world were willing to ;)
guys seriously. this isn’t football manager where you come across a bulgarian star that no1 has heard of and snap him up.
Arsenal know about EVERY very good and talented player from age about 16/17 and up from all over the world and so do most other European clubs. Getting players is so competitive and to miss out to Barcelona and Manchester United in Messi and Ronaldo shows that.
it depends on how quickly a scout learns about a new talent and if a scout from Barca or United get their first then theirs nothing you can do.
The article which you quoted is from the 5th of January. What’s the current situation?
Yh jerome boateng looks good as well. But we need a centre back who will be durable and fit into the premiership straight away.
Hey, how are we doing in that Italian tournament that we entered?? It’s funny how Fulham and Liverpool are the only English teams left in Europe haha. No disrespect to Fulham that is. I love the look of their park!!! (I’ve never been) and I Iike Roy Hodgson:D lol
I think we will sign Hangeland!!
he will be too expenisve since he just signed a new contract with Fullham and I doubt Wenger will even think of buying him.
I forgot to tell you about our one sure CB who is almost sure to come to us in the summer
Stefan Savic.
James
Djourou when he was playing for reserve was being courted by every top club in europe but we were able to hold onto him and were finally able to make him sign a new 6 year contract second biggest after Fabregas.
That shows how highly wenger rates him and his impressive form meant Sendros had to go on loan just to get some playing time.
JOhan is so good on the ball that he can play anywhere on the park even as a striker. He’s a good tackler, agrresive, tall, well built but he does need to improve his positioning and he will do that in years to come.
He is by no ways a finished products but who in our young team really is ?
I have always said a tall strong dfender with Vermaelen and you get one of the best CB patnership on the planet.
There are rumours that Roma have offered gallas a 3 year deal and he is set to leave us in the summer
We all know wenger wants 5 CBs each year – Djourou, Vermaelen, Sol, Stefan Savic (19yr old for around 1-2 million) and ?
This missing person can be Boateng, Bonnuci, Servet Setin or even Angelo Ogbonna.
It wont be Hangeland or Subotic since they have just signed new long term contracts.
Djourou when he was playing for reserve was being courted by every top club in europe but we were able to hold onto him and were finally able to make him sign a new 6 year contract second biggest after Fabregas.
That shows how highly wenger rates him and his impressive form meant Sendros had to go on loan just to get some playing time.
JOhan is so good on the ball that he can play anywhere on the park even as a striker. He’s a good tackler, agrresive, tall, well built but he does need to improve his positioning and he will do that in years to come.
He is by no ways a finished products but who in our young team really is ?
I have always said a tall strong dfender with Vermaelen and you get one of the best CB patnership on the planet.
There are rumours that Roma have offered gallas a 3 year deal and he is set to leave us in the summer
We all know wenger wants 5 CBs each year – Djourou, Vermaelen, Sol, Stefan Savic (19yr old for around 1-2 million) and ?
This missing person can be Boateng, Bonnuci, Servet Setin or even Angelo Ogbonna.
It wont be Hangeland or Subotic since they have just signed new long term contracts.
how much do football boots help in protecting from injury. THere has seem to be a whole lot more injuries in the last five years than before. In pre-season for hearts of midlothian, two of their players had heel njuries caused by their football boots. 10 years ago i remember owning a pair of football boots which were incredably robust and strong. Nowadays the football boots do not seem as strong.
that’s a very good point.
these days nike and addidas are the sponsors and tell players to showcase their best boots.
As a young boy who likes to play football a lot, I can tell you with assurance that these days boots are about style, colour and what professionals are actually wearing them, these days they aren’t really “boots”.
The headline is about a young foward and most the posts discuss Arsenal needing a new CB – looks like the fans have seen the issue, and I am sure Arsene has, lets just hope he does something about it!
One may assume Campbell, Gallas, Silvestre, and Senderous will all depart in the summer, leaving us with TV, Djourou who is yet to establish himself and has been out for so long, and 3 youth defenders who are yet to gain any Premiership experience.
Personally I would rather not bother renewing any contracts, even Gallas, though he has had some good games, he’s had some bad ones to, I think he is bad for the team moral, expensive in wages, while looking more suspect to injury as time goes by! Song has improved drastically in DCM, so lets not mess his career up by changing his position, and the youth players such as Ayling, Bartley and Nordvet are best off as backup and league cup matches for next season. Therefore we must sign an established CB, who cares if they are 27/28, we have the youth, we need someone for now – someone who can help command a defence. If Chamak is coming for £0 then surely we can spend £8-10m on a CB?
Chamak will sign for free so that solves our attacking crisis
Our midfield has too many young options so maybe adding an old wise head wont be a bad option maybe bring back VIeira.
Defense is where we really have to focus on Thomas Vermaelen has been awesome, Djourou will be a good addition, If Norvedit is not ready then keep Sol on temporary basis for another year, Stefan Savic looks like he will also sign and that leaves us with needing one more player someone tall, strong and in their prime.
So our 5 Cbs next summer should be – Vermaelen, Djourou, Sol/Norvedit, Stefan, ?
I dont see Wenger signing any defender just using Nordveit when he returns fom loan and maybe promote either Bartley, Miquel, or Boateng. Does anyone feel Wenger should give Vela a go in the first team and maybe give Merida, Barazite, Coquelin and Eastmond a bit of playing time.
I think Wenger will sign defenders and he will spend more than he has in the last 4-5 years.
World cups always throws up some class players
This is what I called delibrate targeting
‘‘Since August 2002, Arsenal has suffered 138 more injuries than Chelsea to first team squad members. In the same period, Arsenal has suffered 86 more injuries than Manchester United.’
2009/10 AFC 79; MUFC 55; CFC 52
2008/09 AFC 74; MUFC 62; CFC 46
2007/08 AFC 60; MUFC 53; CFC 42
Djourou would be perfect to partner TV if he wasn’t so injury-prone. If Gallas does end up going then Wenger will definitely buy a CB with pace as we play a high line. It will definitely not be Hangeland.
Djourou “could “be not would be. the perfect match for TV .We don’t even know which state he will come back.Look at Eduardo,he may never comeback to anything like his best but maybe he could. ;)
And gunner guru,Gallas have been our best CB this year.And TV has also some bad game too let sell him.ho wait all our player have some goo and bad game ,let sell them all .Gallas has experience and since taken his captain armband ,he is been amazing most of time.He is the leader of our defence too
.I hope Wenger keep SOL too has back up with Player /coach deal..Bartley may be promoted and hopefully one more CB will be bought too..Nordtveit will be our back up DM i think rather than CB..
Also i would prefer money spend on pacy wide players,we seriously lack of pure pace (Theo don’t have the technic to play on the wing),Arshavin had been our most disappointed player this year,and nasri is not comfortable on the left side (he is better on more central position)
…wouldn’t it be amazing to be a celebrity like that. So much fame and probably plenty of money, too!
DJOUROU is not injury prone he just had surgery to cure a bad knee he will be fine when he comes back…yes I will like Wenger to replace senderos and silvestre with some good young defenders like vermaelen. I like what I hear about those two defenders at AS Bari…we can get one of them. But I hope wenger get big center backs like sol who can handle most strikers forcing them to stay outside the box.. or thinking twice…keep sol and gallas if possible as it will offer some experience in the dressing room and title challenge and we also need a strong midfielder who can battle someone like Diaby but a bit more rough and winger I would like Eden Hazard(I think Wenger called him already)/Moussa Dembele ( https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2557/news/2010/04/02/1860829/moussa-dembele-would-fit-in-perfectly-at-arsenal-az-alkmaar )…
And definitely a better goal keeper…Nuer or Lloris cuz Almunia he tries but he is just not getting where he wants to be and we need someone who is of good quality no disrespect to Almunia.
Wenger should get his head out the clouds and give vela some playing time…he treats him so bad. When asked about him in press conferences there is always an awkward answer and look about wenger saying something is not right…I rate Eduardo but I will give him only one more season to prove that he is worth keeping if not vela should come in.
Well what would you know about Velas position in Arsenal. Nothing!
Also the kid could not find his passport when the club went to Barcelona. That says more than enough about Vela. If someone payed me 5k a week i would bloody well be ready for whenever they called on me. So should Vela. If he is not he maybe should play for a less prominent club where things like that does not matter so much….
has stefan savic signed then or not cause i am kinda confused??
i think djourou should play next to vermaelen next season but needs to put on alot of muscle then our defence is sorted then just choose schezny to play as number 1 then we are sorted
as far as i remembered, stefan savic was not necessarily a shoe-in to be signed. i think i remember something about him making a high profile mistake in the match he played for us in reserves? and that he is not necessarily the quickest of players. not that those two things mean he shouldn’t be signed, i’m just not sure he is as sure to be signed as some make him out to be.
i would, however, love to have some sizable, young center backs in the squad, if only to sit on the bench and learn for a season or two, so that they can be bred into the first team. it would be fantastic to have Bartley, Ayling, Nordveit, and this Savic to be implemented, i am just not sure they all will!
We already have zak Ansah so let him go.Id rather dis ipswich young striker forgotten is name(WICHAM)
We already have zak Ansah so let him go.Id rather go 4 dis ipswich young striker forgotten is name(WICHAM)
Great blog design, just found it in bing.
We could have signed Ronaldo but Wenger was messing around with the transfer fee whereas united came in made a proper offer after one game and bang the rest is history and is it just me but i think djourou is rubbish hes shown me nothing i dont want him to be the back up defender next season maybe 5th choice but if we cant find an english defender better than djourou the arsenal scouts need to have a word with themselves