Arsenal are in talks with Sevilla over defender Sébastien Squillaci, according to respected French news outlet Canal+. If the transfer goes through, defender Håvard Nordtveit will be made available for loan.
Squillaci was left out of the Sevilla squad for tonight’s Champions League clash with Sporting Braga amid firm reports in France that Arsenal are planning to snap up the experienced Frenchman. Arsène Wenger had told Nordtveit earlier in the summer he wouldn’t be part of the first-team, but with defensive recruitment’s failing to come to fruition, he had allowed the 19-year-old to stay with the first-team.
However, if the Gunners can wrap up a deal for Squillaci, Wenger will listen to loan offers for the prospect.
More to follow.
J, didnt you say Wenger was looking for a british CB? Do you rate Squillaci? Of course Kos is a starter and he is a better backup like Shitvestre was but I would love to see Hangeland or Cahill!!
Why do some people still blab on about Hangeland and Cahill?? Hangeland wont come here, especially with that moron Hughes at Fulham, and Wenger wont buy Cahill because of the simple fact that for some reason the idiots in the EPL seem to think that English players are worth 80% more than they actually are and ask for rediculous prices for them, when there are probably 345346 foreign players at a quarter of the price and 4 times better.
Jamie, this is Randy of course and just want to say you’re top draw mate.
From Armand Traore’s report to this, you’ve shown you’re always the first!
Absolutely right about Hangeland. We should have moved for him as soon as Roy left for the mugmashers. Cahill is too expensive. The thing I like about the Frenchman is that he is 29. He has been thru the wars. Plus he isn’t being brought in as a starter but rather as reinforcement. Hangeland would be my first choice as he is huge and athletic.
squillaci? is he any good? i know he plays for sevilla and is 30, has 20 caps for france, 6ft 1, hmmm…
But we need at least 5 available CB not 4…
We have
Djourou
Vermalean
Koscieny
Nordvedt
don’t worry mate your not the only one that thinks he wont be loaned out… we would be bloody stupid to loan him out with our injury record.
and Song in emergency’s
the 5th is song
But if the 5th is song then we’re in trouble because we only have ONE established DM in the first team squad. Song is our most important player when he plays DM because he lets the players ahead of him play a bit more; him playing CB should be in emergencies only. Nordtveit should stay
that would be a real shame for Nordveit, im a big fan. i think he’s spent long enough on loan to try for a first team chance.
This guy is awfull!
Really hope we dont get him
Thanks for the update J
Btw, do u know what reservations Arsene has over Harvard. He seems ok to have as back up to me
And he is rubbish because? Or are we just to accept that gem of an insight?
squillaci will make a great back up.He is not flashy and he is an old fashion CB ,rarelly make error,hard worker and never moanwhen he is sub.At lyon he was always the back up of somebody at the start of the season but always win his place in the first eleven after few match.
How you know he is awful? U check Youtube or the football manager rangking?
The only reservations Arsene has is IMO that he is very young.. Nortdveit said in an interview that the boss talked to him abt playing as a backup to Sagna i.e. RB this season and apparently Havard has no probs with that.. I don’t know abt Squallci though.. is he good? I’ve seen Emir Spahich when I followed Rosgosstrakh (Rus League) and he is a very hard tackling and a bit “bad” CB.. he is not afraid to get in anyone’s face.. I was hoping we’d get him.. Stoke would regret tackling us with him in the squad..
surely he could keep nordy around for cup games and in case we get a big injury crisis at the back, i could easily see djourou being a crock all season..
He stays as a RB.. backup to Sagna..
Starting to really get sick of these french purchases!
Yeah Philip,
These French purchases like
Henry
Pires
Petit
Vieira
Clichy
Sagna
Nasri
etc etc
Have been so bloody annoying. If only we followed Martin O’Neil’s British policy we might be in the same position as the Villa. Drat!
Mean Lean – Dont get me wrong, i apprieciate these players but i’d like to mix it up about instead of having several players from the same nation, thats not even ours
Congrats Philip, your an idiot. Cherish your accomplishment.
Phillip, stop crying. I am American and my favorite team is based in england and is mostly french. My favorite manager is french and my favorite player is Russian. As a American, by peoples typical standards, i am not suppose to like any of those. Why don’t people move past their petty hatred of other countries citizens.
Do us a favour and fuck off back to England, eh Philip?
you have not follow arsenal recently you could have seen a great generation of english….yes english player are coming from the academy.So the so call mix of English will not coming from the spending of million buying them but producing them…with added Arsenal DNA :D
Id really like to sign David Bentley for £30 million.
Think this will be the big test for Nordtveit. He will have to show he’s getting better, or else he will become another “talent”.
why are you getting sick of french purchases? do u think english players are better? if so which ones? cahill is rubbish hence none of the other big teams have gone in for him. fans like u are wankers who know fuk all about football. i wish plastic jonnycumlatelies would fuk off and support other clubs that buy 50 players a season.
Ur right thenry in a way…we blab n blab n blab about tranfers but end of it all we must be able to stand proud behind our cannon even if we fall again this season. Man City is on it’s way to an early Halloween. Chelsea will burn it’s self out. Uncle Woy at Kops will grow a longer nose. If we must beat anyone , it must be the red nosed horse owner ! In AW I trust. Gunners r original n different, only true gunners will know the different. Ok.Ok..OK !! emotions aside… we really need to consider 2 more CB n yes a GK.
i’ve been impressed whenever i’ve seen havard play, he’s not especially powerful or imposing or whatever, but he looks like a natural defender, the same way that vermaelen does in a way.
i hope wenger hasn’t given up on him like he seems to have done with barazite?
i personally would like to see him just stay with us, come in for the cups and provide cover and rotation for the first team. the number of injuries and suspensions we get mean that 4 central defenders is still not enough to cover all eventualities.
i really don’t get wenger sometimes, he seems to take massive risks with the number of players he goes into the season with. not having enough bodies for each position is really amateurish.
I don’t mean this in the wrong way but isn’t it better to have abit of balance in the dressing room?having so many french players or french speaking isn’t ideal.i have never rated him but who knows?
Maybe Wenger feels Havard playing a full season in the Championship will push him on more that be getting the odd game at Arsenal this season.
I have never heard of this french guy so dont have a opinion.
J is Havard contract is up at the end of this season????… I’m thinking he might decide to jump ship as he hasnt been given many chances as yet?
Great site as always
he needs 2 go loan to a prem club, so we can monitor him closely
let harvard stay and fight for his place!!! He can play the cup games!!!
Are we now a french team? Anytime he claims there is no player of quality available he means French player or a French speaking African. The man is so ethnocentric, that’s why he’s complaining about the new rules because he can’t develop more French players for the French national team.
come on…use your brain. How many English player suit our style of play? We did going after a few, like cole and jagielka, but failed due to unrealistic asking price/wages. We got Vermalean for 10m, EPL best 11 last season, and Jagielka price tag is what? 18m? and he is no way close to Vermalean’s quality. If you know how to do business, you will stay away from English player, sad to say. The best way to get English is via our academy, end of story.
To answer some questions;
I’ve not been drawn into the centre back thing. So never said we’d go for an English or anything else centre back.
Nordtveit’s deal is up at the end of the season, but you might have seen our article a few weeks ago, that he’s in talks over a new deal.
J, sorry I thought you have said something about CB on twitter. Tough I was wrong I think! Great work mate!!
Does this mean that traore is going to be sold too benfica? At the minute we have 26 players in first team squad and wenger said he would loan out one of the younger goalkeepers and almunia sounds like he is on is way out ! SO this leaves plenty of space for schwarzer and squillaci
we have 22 registered. A new gk will see Almunia out so no change, a new cb will mean 23. so there is still space in our squad for when the youngsters get over the age of 21.
squillaci is a good player, and experienced and shouts at other players. good signing!!
It’s pretty hard to understand fans these days what the hell they want. I hear them screaming all day long to get experienced CB cover and if it is true that Squillaci is coming (rock solid defender in Monaco and Lyon success) than you have much more than cover. But now from nowhere people start to moan for the fate of Nordtveit. No surprise that people starts to view Arsenal fans as chronic moaners. At the end of the day if Squillaci is coming no harm for youngster he is still 19 and we all know that he needs few years more to get necessary experience for top level game in the spot which mostly requires experience.
thanx mate. spot on.
And honestly before the preseason started a majority of fans thought Bartley was ahead of him anyways so to complain that he might go on loan to get games and be ready to do a job for us the second half of the season is crazy. This may end up being a very great idea.
Amen. The constent complaining gets pretty annoying. A quality experienced yet not over the hill defender was what we needed. People forget how difficult it is to be a young centerback much less in the prem. I could see it now. We have a couple injuries and Nordveit gets thrown in. He makes a couple mistakes or gets abused by Drogba and Arsenal fans will be yelling he sucks and all that. Defenders need to be aloud the time to mature.
what a terrible signing this could be. ok as 5th choice yeah fine. but if he gets near a starting berth im going to have to kill someone
squillaci is way past his best – and even then he sucked
For sure that Nordtveit will do “a Merida” and join another club on a free transfer…
Yeh, but it won’t be free. A player under 24 moving after the end of their contract their new club has to pay a training fee. Usually around 2mil.
yes, it is not free which is why wenger is never in a hurry on young players that could go either way. We still get a fee so no need to make a rash decsision.
I just found out hisa french
i don`t want to sound negative, but man , frenchies,..why does wenger not atleast try another nation, it must be boring working with french
why do you care where the players are from?
can tell your sixteen
Quality > origin
quality is not greater than origin. Quality has nothing to do with origin. You should discriminate against a person just because where he is from. Sign the best players we can and that it. I do like when we bring through a few young local boys because that is always a good story but just signing english players because they are english is simply stupid.
Wasn’t nordtveit playing RB a lot in preseason? I didnt expect to see him playing much in the 1st team this year ,anyway particularly as a CB. I thought we would keep him around mainly to play in the carling cup either at CB or RB. And he would be an emergency CB for the PL at best. Dont mean to sound harsh, I really think he can be a great player, but he is totally unproven at PL level.
My impression of squillaci has always been that hes a good, solid player, He has tonnes of experience at all levels, and at 30 I seriously doubt he could be past his best. The fact that he’s 30 means that he wont be standing in nordveit’s way for years and years as well. Makes good sense to me.
Wenger went for 15 CB’s and he’s going to buy the one that’s the cheapest and you all keep saying he’s not a cheapskate. Isn’t Jagielka worth 15 million pounds, isn’t Cahill worth 15 mil, for god’s sake, Cahill can play for us for 10 years and you’re telling me 15 mil is too much.
“Isn’t Jagielka worth 15 million pounds, isn’t Cahill worth 15 mil?”
Answer – No.
They’re not worth half that.
Are you serious or is it a bit of humor I just don’t get?
Question is also, are either actually available for £15M? Where did you pluck that figure from?
Don’t criticise the manager based on newspaper/website reports and/or your overactive imagination. Idiot.
IDO Cahill and jagielka worth 15M: not a chance, but their club want like 25M and 18M for them.
Shall we be realistic about this for a moment ? We need someone happy to sit on the bench as 4th choice centre half – we’re not going to get a glamour signing here are we ? Squillaci is an experienced international player who should be able to slot in and do a job when needed for a couple of years. He sounds a whole lot more like what we need than Spahic and at the moment I’d take him. All the talk about Cahill and Hangeland is just guff – way too expensive (even if they were available) and they’d want first team football. This (plus Schwarzer) is the kind of signing we can expect in the next week and it does the job.
spot on.
I’d love to keep Nordtveit in the squad to give more depth and options. Not too sure about Squillaci though. There has also been rumors about Mathijsen whom I think is better.
Cahill is not good enough, I’m tired of hearing about him, he’s not that good. Squillaci is experienced, not the best defender, but will do a good job if we need him to. Good signing it seems.
Also, so what if he is french. I don’t care, as long as he plays well. It may not be coincidence that he’s french, but he probably represents the best deal.
Agreed. Cahill is strong in the air and that’s about it – he lacks pace, intelligence and technique. He’s a big lumpy defender and none of the top clubs have ever shown any interest in him for a reason.
Cahill 15 million??? You sir, are a moron. Cahill is worth 10-11 tops and that’s being generous. OVER-rated as all English center backs are. Dawson, another English CB played AWESOME against Young Boys last night, I say we bid 18 million for him.
Squilacci has been a staple of Sevilla’s defense for the past 2 seasons. Before that he was the starting CB at Lyon (alongside Cris) with which he won 2 Ligue 1 championships. Before that he was the starting CB at Monaco with which he registered some impressive Continental experience, participating in their incredible Champions League final run in 2004, during which run he scored a vital goal at the Santiago Bernabeu, then proceeded to eliminate Chelsea in the semis (bonus points for that mate!). He also has 20 some internationl caps i believe.
So he definitely checks the experience box and is reknown for his aerial game and grittiness. At Sevilla, he’s used to defending some of the best pleyers in the world.
I give it 2 thumbs up… if there’s any truth to it.
Are you his agent? That’s some endorsement. I really hope we get him now!
We all know that 90 percent of the people on here did not watch any sevilla games last year. Lets face it, people just love to complain.
Please who is Romero in the squad for the platinum tournament?
Young Argentinan goalkeeper!
I have to come in on this matter….
I have no problem where a player is from, but has the world cup just proved that the mentality of french footballers is poor.
Players like Diaby, Clichy and Nasri, have wonderful individual attributes but when it comes to the crunch and have to perform in the big games the game just passes them by……
French Mentality- Poor
Please no more french players.
What you mean the poor french mentality that won then the 98 world cup and the following Euro? Muppet
yeas since england have won the WC france have won every competion ,at every age level (some more than once) with in WC 2 finAl 1 win ,2 european cup,olympic gold,and lot of youth competition.England have not come near in term of success in international tournrment.
But yeah they are pretty poor…..next.
Yeah… ’cause Nasri was at the World Cup and everything. Domenench was a fantastic coach, too – it was all the players fault. It’s not like French players have ever captained the Arsenal to an unbeaten season, or anything.
is your brain french fried?
LOL….yah and England performed amazing in the group of death (LOL) before getting hammered by Germany and don’t bring up the lampard goal that was disallowed because I will bring up the fact that Englands only ever world cup championship came of a goal that should not have counted verse Germany.
Also if you watched the world cup, Diaby actually played good.
O yah and our caption and our leading goal scorer from the season where we happened to be the first team to go undefeated in the league in over 100 years happened to be french.
Yah, you are right….french players are mentally poor. (lol)
i get the feeling that everyone is afraid to do any business this window…nobody’s selling, nobody’s buying…must be quite annoying out there for wenger…can’t blame him for taking what he can get…
With the young talent we have coming through, it would be very unfair if Arsene had signed Cahill or someone who could “play for us for ten years”. What do you say to Kyle Bartley, Ignasi Miquel and Harvard Nordveit? I think Arsene is opting for quality experience that will not hinder what we have in the academy and reserves. Squillaci would be good, he is solid and provides the experience our young players need and is close enough to the end to be eased out easily is the younger guys make the breakthrough. Win win as far as I’m concerned. We have quality in the kids we have. They aren’t ready yet but they are quality and Arsene knows that we need something extra but not something that will stunt their growth.
Valid point Kep, but he just reminds me of a Sylvestre
Arsene will definitely go for a experience player around the 28 – 30 age range. It makes sense. As kep said, you cant have all those talents in the youth and then sign someone who will block there path.
We should definitely keep Howie as i have a feeling arsene is counting on Johan as the other defender whichl there’s little chance of him even staying fit
I totally agree – Harvard is 19? He’ll surely be loaned out to beef up & get some further experience – buying a 30yr old, if indeed we do makes perfect sense as does buying Swarzer. Arsene has harped on long enough about all the great talent we have coming through so he’s hardly going to buy players who will inhibit that. The balancing act will be combining results & trophies now that we seem to actually have some money to spend which clearly we didn’t before.
How so called fans can moan is beyond me, who else is spending for christ sake? Barca haven’t got a penny, even the ‘special one’ looks like he might have to coach a team to victory without spending lavishly although they obviously did last year big time!! Other than Man City who else in England – Milner for £24m FFS!!
Sorry we have got off the reserve track here but wanted to add my thoughts. A great site Jay, appreciate your input & time informing us of all the great players we have to look forward to.
Phillip- Sylvestre was like a 7th string man utd player while Squillacci is a starter at sevilla and only 30. There is a big difference.
Also it’s very unfair to brand a whole nation of footballers as having poor mentality. There are French players with weak mentality, there are English players like that too and Brazilian and German. Mentality is an individual thing, not a national trend.
Indeed!
gareth knight, the same could be said of the English based on the world cup – and would you say the same of Henry, Pires, Vieira, Petit etc? Your comment is racist stereotyping couched in civilized ‘reasonable’ language. Doesn’t make it right though.
WHY DO U PEOPLE NAG ABOUT BUYING PLAYERS FROM OTHER COUNTRY. DIDNT WENGER TRY BIDDING FOR PER METERSACKER, DIDNT HE TRY BIDDING FOR TASCI, DIDNT HE TRY BIDDING FOR OTHERS. THIS IS WHAT IS AVAILABLE AND WE ALL KNOW WE NEED IT. NORDVIET NO BAD FEELINGS BUT AT 19 IS STILL TOO YOUNG FOR A CENTRE BACK. SQUILLACI HAS BEEN IN THE GAME A LONG TIME IF WE CAN SNAP HIM UP AS A BACKUP IT WILL HELP NORDTVEIT CAN STILL STAY IN CASE OF INJURIES. THATS FOOT BALL FOR YOU TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT. AND I LOVE THIS SITE YOU GAVE THE NEWS ON KOS AND NOW THIS. YOU DONT JUST TALK. BIG UP J SANDERSON
squillaci sounds like a ok signing..nothing over the top but i have seen him play and he seems like a good player..but again we could have gotten a bettr player but arsene is very thorough with his transfers so i think its not that bad a move..as for nordtveit..i think a loan to the championship could be a great move for him and for us
looks like leeds want lansbury
Nordtveit is very slight, will have to bulk up alot to play CB. I think thats why he played RB and DM for Nurnberg and not CB. Maybe Arsene considers Bartley the better prospect?
How much are we reportedly paying for Squillaci?
Jagielka worth £15million!!! I’ve heard it all now. lol truly shocking statement.
For people wanting english player………….
You have to understand that every english player is over priced. There are some good ones and ones i would want to join Arsenal but any english player good enough for Arsenal would come with a ridiculous price. English players that would be good signings for Arsenal – Jack Rodwell, Ashley Young, James Milner…..How much would those cost? Answer…..a whole lot. So that leaves midlevel English player. Do you want us to pay 15 million pounds for a Aston Villa or Tottenham level player? It simply doesn’t make sence.
i think this is a strange move personally. nprdveit is more advanced than bartley and miquel who are the next closest batch of centre halves and Wenger has already stated that 5 cbs can be needed over the course of the season and we are seriously lacking bodies in that area and miquel etc cannot.
why promote him to the first team if he’s not ready to be used?
I don’t believe Nordtveit will be loaned out, it just doesn’t add up. He’s already had three loan spells, he played a big part in pre-season, he was promoted into the first-team squad, and Bartley has been sent on a season-long loan.
@ Wrenny – totally agree. Id be shocked if he went on loan as well. I dont think wenger would be afraid to use nordtveit in an injury crisis, particularly if sagna or eboue gets injured for a while. Im a little unhappy to hear that he only has a year left on his contract. I hope he signs an extension. I think arsenal takes too many risks with some players. Couldnt we have tied down flamini and maybe even merida a little sooner after they’d shown their quality, rather than run the risk of having to let them go for free.
Ok, if Jag and Cahill aren’t worth 15 mil, just look at our expenses on player’s wages and then on the trophy cabinet for the last 5 years. I mean we spent millions on wages for players who moved on without winning us anything. 15 mil is not so much comparing to what Adebayor, Hleb, Flamini, Rosicky and many more took without winning anything in the process.
Me..what? I don’t get your point. Cahill and Jagielka have wages. Also like those to are so amazing that they would have made us champions. Neither of those 2 are better than Toure, Gallas or Vermaelen. We haven’t won in the last 5 years because we are competing with teams that have no budgets to work with and we are developing further as a club but that includes taking on the loans to pay for the new stadium. You guys act like it is easy to win a title now. Tell me a guy who could do what wenger has done under his budget….
Philip, your spot on, way too many of one nationality in the dressing room and its not like they are delivering trophies is it, or for that matter showing promise of delivering them
can someone remind me how they done in the world cup, or for that matter how did they qualify
I guess we definitely shouldn’t buy any English players then. We should also never have a team full of English players either
I don’t know too much about Squillaci, but there was one defender that we could have gotten for nothing in the summer. I have seen this guy play a lot over the years and I have been impressed. What do you guys think of Mario Yepes?? I thought he would have been a good signing. Oh well. Wenger knows what he is doing so I”m not gonna question his judgement on this. i just hope he keeps the best prospects that we have at centre back around the first team. As for those of you who are against the French Signings, Squillaci wasn’t involved in the world cup team at all anyways. And neither was Nasri for that matter. I just hope that this man can really play!!:D I don’t care where he is from.
He’s a youngster.. Yepes :D couldn’t survive 5 minutes in the PL
yepes is slower than my gran mother (she is 90 ;) ) yes solid CB but he is pass his best and is well at home with the other relic at Ac Milan retirement home
Jagielka worth £15 million???!!! I’ve heard it all now. LOL what a truly shocking statement.
He is dirt cheap so he fits the wenger idea of a great player.To suggest he is icing on the cake is probably taking it a bit to far but he is far,far better then fish head but then again that is not saying much a traffic cone have more talent then Silvestre.
what does move for squillaci got to do with nordtvei?
he’s just been promoted to first team, obviously he’s gonna be a squad player for few years till he establish himself as arsenal cb. and he wont be loaned out as we are already having injuries.
Nordtveit’s deal is up at the end of the season. If Wenger sends him out on loan then how likely is it that Harvard will sign that new deal. Harvard is certainly a great talent and I think Wenger should give him a run in the first team. Else I fear h might run down his contract like Merida did and leave in the summer for first team football.
our deffece plays deep so we must have FAST deffenders ..Toure, Vermaelen, best example is Torres-Koscielny duel . hangeland and cahill are too slow for us.
English players are too expensive..when you pass them ball they act as if you pass them a brick. no comfort with ball.
French and Dutch players are the best.. they are not too expensive, good professionals, excellent technical ability, LOYAL…
Spanish players are just like french.. except loyal… they always want to go to real,barca…
we can say that spanish experiment failed at arsenal.
to be fair mate english players playing abroad would rush at the chance 2 play for the big four e.g. Hargreaves
Tell Fabregas that you tosser.
^Ha :D
do you really believe wenger will pay 8 millions for a 30 years old defender?
djourou and nordtveit will be backup for koscielny and song can play in defense. if things get tough, le stubborn will draft in ignasi miquel.
i will believe it when he already signed, knowing wenger he’s not signing anyone till january window.
btw, shay given is included in man city squad for europa cup……….
Yeah, even though AW has said repeatedly that we need and are in the market for defenders…
Guys like sam don’t pay attention to what Wenger says, Anon. They’re too busy listening to the wisdom of talksport….
I rate Squillaci high. You guys don’t know much about this bloke but he’s been one of the most underrated French centre-backs in the past a couple of years. He gives 100% to his team and his country. I just got back from France from my exchange program and people there talked about him being a decent and reliable defender for their country compared to those other French centre-backs who haven’t been impressing. Squillaci might do just fine at Arsenal.
Squillaci, great signing (Y)
I would say 95% of the people on here have no concept what so ever about how a football club should be ran. They really fail to understand how a self sufficient club should be ran. There is no club in the world other then maybe Bayern Munich that is ran as well as ours. Wenger has a whole lot to do with that. I am a fan of this club because it is ran how a football club should be ran. If you have no clue what I am talking about then I can direct to the club you really should be supporting.
1) If you are looking for a club with a Multibillionaire owner that can by players like they are in a fantasy league then I will point you in the direction of Manchester City and Chelsea.
2) If you prefer a club that is in hundreds of millions of dollars in debt yet continues to spend money like it is nothing with disregard to society and football, then I would like to direct you to Real Madrid and Barcelona.
3) If you would like to support a club who’s owners bought the club by putting the club in debt yet they still seem to be allowed to buy players then I would like to direct you Manchester united and liverpool.
4) If you would like to support a club that has shown what happens when you don’t live with in their means then you can go support Leeds or Portsmouth.
5) Last but not least, if you would like to support a well ran club that respects the game and works within their own means by building a competitive squad and building the clubs stature through other means rather than just praying a super rich guy comes in saves us. If that is the club you are looking for than welcome to ARSENAL.
Your choice but stop complaining if you are supporting the wrong club.
and this is what i will call a true Arsenal fan, understand what we are and what we do.
Run. Not ran.
Sorry, can’t help it, I’m an old fart and a pedant, I feel like I just got poked in the eye six times with Alex Ferguson’s bum-itching finger.
Carry on.
Excellent! ARSENAL will get what it deserves and these moaners will realise in regret!
Well said Shane!
There are quite a few alternatives to moaning and complaining year after year, simply support another team.
To all of the doomers, I would recommend supporting Real Madrid or Barca. They play in a two team League so you have a great chance for some metal cups every year. Since that is what willmake you happy.
Told everyone back in June that Nordveit was being promoted to the first team squad and he has. A Norwegian fella i work with is one of his best pals and yes he may have a loan spell, but is still considered a 1st team squad member now. Wenger rates him highly and particularly likes his versatality, but its been a long time since a 20 year old made it as a CH at AFC and with others being favoured in HN’s other positions there will be little point him going back to playing reserve football.
Philippe Auclair was on Talksport this evening and he said Squillaci will partner TV5 with Koscielny as 3rd choice.
Squillaci really does fit the profile perfectly. Good old fashion centre half? Check. Experienced head who works hard to keep players minds in check? Yup. Up for completing for a place but won’t moan if he’s on the bench? He did so at Lyon and showed he wanted to play by proving he was better than whoever was in front of him, knocking Cris and Boumsong out of the team at different times. Within our budget, will fit in and wants to play for us? Ding ding ding.
He was terrific at Lyon but I hear he has lost his way a bit at Sevilla. His age should not put him too much in the way of a Nordtveit or Bartley – he can spend 3 years here teaching them, readying them for our first team – centre halves do take longer to develop usually.
Hes a good player but i just feel we need a taller centre half.
Hes 6ft 1 i just feel we could do with a taller, experienced centre half just to solve our set piece problem.
I wouldnt be unhappy if we signed him i feel we lack height in the team and another 6ft 4 player could really help us out.
There are taller defenders out there for sure, but I don’t see 6’1″ as being small for a defender.
Many of the best defenders in the are all around 6’2″ – Terry, Vidic, Rio, Ivanovic, Alex.
That seems to be the ‘sweet spot’ between height and mobility. Defenders who are taller than that, their pace and agility tend to become compromised.
in the EPL*
Not to have a go at you personally, but what is this obsession amongst gooners about enormous CBs? It’s ridiculous. It’s got to the stage where the only way for Wenger to get some of these people off his back is for him to hire a gorilla from Regent’s Park Zoo and put him in an Arsenal shirt.
“Koscielny’s too small. Koscielny needs to go to the gym. Koscielny’s only 6ft 3, we need a seven-footer.”
Koscielny can PLAY. Koscielny can read the game. Koscielny has calmness and concentration. Koscielny has strength and pace. Over 15 minutes Koscielny made Torres look average.
Let’s not moan about this Squillachi bloke before we’ve even see him play. As others have said, he sounds like a good buy, if it happens.
Havard Nordtveit i hope he stays i really like the kid. I think it was a mistake leting him go to the bundesliga. He should have went to the championship and learn how to deal with proper physical strikers and playing at a high pace because technically and tactically hes there its just his physical appeareance he needs to improve on
John- Did you watch Nordveit play at all last year? His issue was tactically. He did not no how to read the game very well from his defensive mid position. He was always late. This should improve with age and experience. On his physical attributes. He is not a grown man yet.
always you complain
whats ur problem, always u say we need players and when AW buy players u complain, when we get good french defender better then staying with 3 defenders, cuz iam sure any move for english defender will not happen and most of the teams asking for very high prices, so dont be idiot
nordvelt is only nineteen,plenty too learn yet,a good one for the future,what we should be doing now is raiding ajax for vertonghen and steckelenberg,two solid players,real players who walk into the first team,these guys take us too the holy grail,and keeps the rest off our guys honest.
i’m pretty sure Squillaci will jump ahead of Djourou if he comes to The Arsenal. All the Boss can talk about now — and rightfully so — are “fighters.” Chamakh is a fighter, Kos is a fighter, AW said Frimpong and Wilshire are fighters, etc. The Boss is focused on attitude now, which makes me happy because the past couple seasons our boys have collapsed in some pretty big moments. And I’m not convinced Djourou, in addition to having injury problems, brings more steel to the game compared to Squillaci. LK6 and TV5 are steel. Squillaci is steel as well. I’d be happy with TV5, LK6, Squillaci, Djourou, Nordveit, in that order.
That’s something I’ve noticed as well, Wenger recognised a mental weakness in his young squad and has worked to add players with that fighter mentality. Kos and Chamakh this season, TV and Sol last season, and the two youngsters Frimpong and WIlshere who have mental strength beyond their years. A bit more ‘macho’ attitude in the squad will rub off on some of the younger players who might be a bit too nice and too soft. I don’t know much about Squillaci but I would hope that he will also add more of that mentality.
And I agree with your hierarchy, my feeling is that Squillaci will slot into third place ahead of Djourou, but won’t be a first-team regular when Kos and TV are fit.
Here is how i see the centerback situation. Depending on who is fit, Song can be the 3rd or 4th choice centerback and Diaby or Denilson rotate to the holding mid role. We have so much depth in the center of the field that we can cope as long as Koscielny is not as injury prone as Gallas. I think a good 30 year old centerback would be fine for the squad as long as they are good. I don’t want to see us sign Manchester utds 7th choice centerback again. (sylvestre) I really wish Wenger had sided with Toure and he stayed last year but we can’t change the past. We need more guys to spend 8 or 9 years here and end their career here so that they can help the younger players come along. Arsenal players talked all the time about how when the were young players, they use to look up to the Bergkamps, Henry’s and Keowns and that drove them on to be succesfull. I personally think that is a huge reason why Walcott’s developement has slowed. If he was able to work with Henry, how much further do you think he would be along?
an excellent and not-often-made point
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wrenny!
i will give you 100 quids if le stubborn signs any defender, you will be lucky to see mark schwarzer in arsenal shirt. i wish arsene could sign a top defender like mertesacker or sacko but i wont have false hope. i surely know he wouldnt pay over the odds. he will prefer to stick to what he has and hope djourou or nordtveit will shine.
I look forward to seeing that money.
Wrenny is now 100 quid richer. if Sam actually is a man, that is
if we win the next 3 games fans will forget about transfer market and arsene knows how to play with us. by the time we get beaten by chelsea the will already be closed then we wouldnt talk about new signings till january.
i am not being pessimistic but this is how wenger works and i am not going to jump with joy until i really see a new defender and a keeper.
Wenger has said it himself – “we are short at the back, we will bring in at least one more.” No ifs, buts, or maybes. And he’s said this many times in the last few weeks.
In past summers he has said things like “if we find the right player…”, ambiguous remarks that showed he didn’t have strong intentions to buy. That is very different from what he’s been saying this season.
according to a lot website a GK is on his way (shwarzy or given witch ever you believe),squillaci was taken out of Sevilla game last night so the rumour look like real to me,so as witness (and every reader here) i look forward too you send money to wrenny and you get more miserable than ever before :)
just to entertain the media wrenny!
you should know by now that he doesn’t sign more than 2 players in one window.
well unless mertesacker becomes available on the cheap, otherwise forget it.
as far as wenger is concerned, the market is closed and arsenal already signed 2 players.
So you believe he’s told the fans a blatant lie, repeatedly, in order to entertain the media?? I don’t even know what to say to that, it’s just the most bizarre, idiotic theory I’ve heard in a long time.
“he doesn’t sign more than 2 players in one window”
Really? Wow, you really need to look back through Wenger’s Arsenal tenure.
moan , moan , moan and moan .Change history to make an argument really make you look like an idiot.A GK is on this way (this week or at the start of next week) and another CB will be signed in the next few day as the club look first to sign first the goalkeeper
You are quite possibly the thickets twat on the net, and there are some right thickos around
i feel sorry for you if you believe wenger is an sincere guy. he’s not even a football coach anymore he’s a businessman.
if he’s honest to fan he will step down coz goalkeeper’s not our only weakness.
arsenal fc is starting a 5th without a goalscorer how are we going to win anything. we have not won anything since henri left the club. why is the gobby russian still wearing arsenal shirt and he played 90 minutes against liverpool, amazing! the guy doesnt want to play for us and arsene doesnt care. arsenal needs a strong frontman to win things again, fact!
again, you think he doesnt know almunia and fabianski are rubbish? he did drop lehmann after few bad games why can’t he do it with these 2 clown?
You’re a spud sam and very worried spud at that too.
sam — you should know by now he doesn’t re-sign players once they’ve left…er, oh wait. shit…
AW will do what it takes to win, and that means improving the defense: a new GK and a new CB. and i wouldnt be shocked, in this year’s market, if he didn’t pull out an additional deadline-day surprise.
yeah yeah yeah!
mark schwarzer is now our saviour, still we wont win anything.
too many small strikers and they go missing in big games.
chamakh is not a prolific goalscorer, third place again this season if we lucky
Because We Get Sébastien Squillaci Dosent Mean We Shud Loan Nordtveit Rembre Wat Apnd Last Season We Lost Vermaelen, Gallas, Djorou n Had 2 Use Campbell n Silvestre, So It Wont Hurt 2 Keep Him n Use Him 4 Carling Cup n FA CUP.
The Future Is Bright For Arsenal We Cud Probably Win The League This Year Without Loosing A Single Match(The New Invicibles)
1st Team:
————— Almunia ——————
Sagna — Koscielny — Vermaelen — Clichy —
——————— Song ——————————
——————————– Nasri ——————-
———— Fabregas ———————————
V.Persie ———————————– Arshavin/Rosicky
——————— Chamakh ————————
2nd Team:
———– Fabianski/Mannone/Szchney ——————
Eboue — Nordtveit — Djourou — Gibbs/Traore —
——————— Frimpong ——————————
——————————– Diaby/Denilson ——————-
———— Wilshere/Ramsey ———————————
Walcot ———————————– Vela
——————— Bendtner ————————
3rd Team:
James.Shea
Eastmond – Bartley – Miquel – Botelho(Cruise)
Henderson(Randall) – Coquelin – Lansbury
J.E.Thomas(S.Watt) – Simpson(Sunu) – W.Silva(Barazite)
dude! we won the league with henri, wiltord, pires and lyungberg terrorising opposition defenders.
last sunday we needed a lucky goal to draw against 10 men how embarrassing is that?
liverpool defenders could have gone for cup of tea still arsenal wouldnt score.
nice line-up you put up there but i still dont them beating chelsea, man utd, stoke. our new number 14 still has problem with the final ball, arshavin gets bored on the pitch, van persy wouldnt play 4 games in a row, bendtner is crap. not sure vela and chamakh will shine we should wait and see.
Yeah, we never got lucky goals before.
Did you even watch Arsenal during the time of Henry, Pires, and Ljunberg?
Ypu’re a clueless twat sam, stick to followin the spuds
Frankly I wouldn’t be bothered who comes in as CB or what nationality he is. As long as he does everytime a good job holding the back and helps Arsenal win, I would be very happy about it! And are we going to get finally a No:1 GK soon?
Buy shawcross,gud in tacklin n breakin legs
Where kind of source did you use to get this news? I checked canalplus.fr and there’s nothing with regards to it?
Well, I haven’t seen Squillaci play much so I guess I’ll just have to trust Wenger on this one. Hope it’s not another Silvestre.
About the fact that he’s French, I don’t have any problem with it at all. But sometimes I feel that Wenger trusts French players more than anyone else. He’s willing to take a 10 mill punt on Koscielny, but wouldn’t cough up 12 mill for Mertesacker.
He tends to trust them much more than players from elsewhere, that I think we all must admit. And ideally, I would like more of a mix of nationalities than a large group from one country. However, like we all know, quality > nationality.
WOW
J this 25 man rules means that our squad will be filled with youngsters who will play in the FA Cup and cup game and odd PL game
I can see us keeping
Nortvedit
Firmpong
Wilshere
JET
all in the first team not playing them week in and week out but they will be utilized for the cup games and odd PL game
add that to the high number of reserve games they should be kept pretty occupied even if we sign Sébastien Squillaci we will still keep Nortvedit in the team in my view
J
are the reports of Lansbury going on a season long loan to leeds true?
and is Simpson about to be sold to hull?
Anyone that mentions Hangeland or Cahill automatically tells me that they know nothing beyond transfer rumors and FIFA manager games. These players have NO pace, and would get absolutely burned by strikers considering the high defensive line we play. Senderos was caught out regularly post-2006, but played well before because we were still sitting back and counter-attacking as a defense. Hangeland and Cahill are not the type of we are looking for. In addition, if you’ve observed Arsenal centerbacks lately, almost all of them have a degree of technical skill that the above two don’t have. Gallas and Toure used to be strikers, Koscielny and Vermaelen can both be used as outside defenders. We have a system, and we only buy players for that particular system. I can see Squillaci as a signing because Sevilla have a similar playing style, but I’m not going to say anything else until its up on the Arsenal site.
squillaci will be signed in hours according to le quipe and they are usually right when it comes to french players transfers
so our CB’s are sorted now the attention should turn to goalkeeper and then the PL
Spot on about hangeland, while I fail to see why anyone would even want Cahil? He is average at best.
WHAT BULL SHIT HANGERLAND IS FAR BETTER AND SUPERIOR THAN Squillaci.
terry hangeland is slow as hell and would get done every game. You dont see the differences in formation and set ups of Fulham cpmpared to us. They are very different.
i saw nordtveit in preseason and i liked him but why does anyone keep saying he is a centre back? in preseason he played right back mostly and in the midfield for a few minutes.
from my understanding last year on loan he played mostly as a defensive midfielder.
so why everyone says he is a CB when we never saw him playing as a CB?
there is still need for him if squillaci comes, djourou hasn’t played last year and probably he will get a lot of small injuries this year (lk rosicky or dudu), kos will get a few knocks in his 1st year .
hey J,
great job by d way….just wanted to know. Been hearing rumors ’bout Montolivo, do u have any info on that cos that kind of a signing would be awesome.
not a fan of squillaci whem he’s played for france
As i said yesterday, Lansbury is linked with leeds.. nottingham forest also want him and this is his preferred option.. so a loan to forest is on the cards..
Cahill and Jagielka are overrated twats. From what I’ve seen, they are nowhere near as smart as Koscielny or Vermaelen and rely heavily on physical attributes. The fact that they are English doesn’t mean that they are better than foreigners. AW buys foreign players because they are better than the players in England and cost half the price. Wanting to buy a player simply because he is English is nonsense and that is not the Arsenal way. I’m sure our team would be filled with Englishmen if they possessed the skill, but frankly only a few English players would get into the Arsenal first team with their lack of technical skills. Only Glen Johnson, Joe Cole, and maybe Adam Johnson would be able to challenge for a spot at Arsenal.
I can’t see Nordtveit going anywhere, he’s had three loans and is perfect for fifth choice centre back.
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Hi, great to see all the news about our youngsters in the club, love the blog you have!
I work with Håvard Nordtveit’s uncle, and talked to him 2 days ago. Håvard had been told that he might be loaned out to Everton, but most likely in January, maybe earlier if we got more signings before the transfer window closes. It was up to him what he wanted to do, but I understood it was in Håvard’s interest to gain more experience on loan for a PL club, than to play for the reserves for Arsenal.
Nothing was certain about the Everton deal tho, but there was talks going on with them.
Does anyone know where to watch today’s reserve match live online? Awesome lineup for the young gunners!!! Thanks I have ATVO which might be text only?
I have never seen Squillaci play and I know nothing about him
but if we sign him then he will be good maybe not great but a good defender who can do a job for us so I am not worried about who we get as long as we get someone
Spanish club Sevilla have confirmed that Arsenal have lodfged an offer for French stopper Sebastien Squillaci. French football correspondent Philipe Auclair has also told talkSPORT that Arsenal are on the verge of signing the Sevilla defender with Fulham’s Mark Schwarzer set to follow and complete Arsene Wenger’s summer spending.
Reports this morning suggested Arsenal were considering a bid for the 30-year-old defender who was a mainstay for Lyon and Monaco, before moving to Spain. However Auclair has confirmed that the Gunners are in talks with Sevilla over a reported £6 million move to the Emirates, while the Spanish club have confirmed that talks are taking place on their official website.
Sevilla President Jose Maris del Nido and director Ramon Gonzalez have called an emergency meeting to discuss the transfer. Gonzalez said:
“We must analyse everything very well because it would be necessary to add another player for the team and now the market is drawing to a close,”
Mark Schwarzer is expected to complete a £2.5 million transfer to the club once Fulham manager Mark Hughes has identified a replacement for the 37-year-old Australian.
Philipe Auclair told talkSPORT: “It isn’t done yet but it filtered through this afternoon that Sebastien Squillaci would be joining Arsenal.
“It seems to be a very, very solid story indeed, even though nothing has been done. We are still at the negotiation phase. That would be almost the final piece in the jigsaw, just a keeper to come and then the recruitment of Arsenal would be over for the summer.
“He played for Lyon, but he’s been more of a regular for Sevilla where he’s been excellent. He’s had a couple of injury problems but on the other hand he was also a regular in that team. He was one of the key members of that team and has 20 caps for France.
“He’s an experienced player which is what Wenger would want for somebody to partner Thomas Vermaelen because Laurent Koscielny would be the number three [defender] at the club.”
don’t say that stupid people like sam will disappear or change name as usual.Wenger never say the truth according to them.So we are not got to sign him and the GK, probably the vile communist party propaganda in charge of our dear club who are preparing retirement under the sun taking money directly from the coffer of the club. We are dooooooooooooooooooom i say :D
Thats great news ,i say.
yeah wenger haters die away as soon as we sign someone but as soon as we lose a game there they are
Just saw the most stupid article in my entire life
Schwarzer = Vela + 2 million
that’s vela sold not loaned. And this from the geniuses at goal
copy and paste andrew?
Also, auclair has said nothing about Schwarzer on talksport. You always comment on this website i have noticed and while its obvious you are a deidcated Arsenal fan, you dont seem to know anything about what is actually happening at Arsenal yet you speak with the air of someone who does.
We are getting Schwarzer next week and Squllaci will not arrive till 24th August. Other people have sources.
Sounds good, hopefully these two signings will happen and we can have a good go at winning the league. I dont think we will let nordtviet go on loan and if we did it wouldnt be for too long coz we do get alot of injurys and he can also play in different positions in the team.
I saw that goal.com article..lol. Worst article I have ever seen. What annoys me is that people can not see talent even if a player does amazing things right in front of their eyes. If we are excited about any striker, it should be Carlos Vela. I also find it hilarious that all these people keeping hyping up Javier Hernandez when Carlos Vela is twice the player that guy is.
Arsenal defender Armand Traore is on the verge of joining Portuguese champions Benfica, according to his agent.
The 20-year-old left-sided player is thought to be in Lisbon to complete a medical ahead of a move thought to be worth almost €4million (£3.2m).
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger snapped up Traore from Monaco when he was a youngster, and the Frenchman has made 31 first-team appearances and since been on loan to Portsmouth.
However, with Gael Clichy and Kieran Gibbs ahead of him in the pecking order at the Emirates for a left-back berth, he has decided that his future lies elsewhere.
Traore’s agent Richard des Voeux believes Benfica is the best option, where he is expected to sign a four-year deal.
Sensitive
Des Voeux told A Bola newspaper: “A number of European clubs were interested in Armand but the Benfica option is more important in many aspects.
“The interest is real and we are at a sensitive stage (of negotiations). Armand is aware of contacts between Benfica and Arsenal.
“Benfica are a wonderful club that would interest any player. Obviously, Armand is very interested and excited about the possibility of coming to play at Benfica.
“Nothing is finalised, but things can be decided very soon.”
J this is from sky news but they dont say anything about addons or sell on fees can you do some digging and find out what’s happening
Squillaci would be an ideal addition to the squad, the experienced centre-back we need to complement Vermaelen, Koscielny and Djourou. He got to the Champions League final with Monaco and has had many successful years as a regular at Lyon and Sevilla as well as international experience. He only turned 30 last week so has a few years left in him yet! If we can get him for around £8 million I think thats fair. We have Song as emergency cover so I think it would be good for Nordtveit to go out on loan again but I would prefer him to get some experience at an English side rather than going abroad again. Hopefully Bartley will have a good season with Sheffield Utd and come back stronger next year.
its more like 6 than 8 million
and schwarzer just got injured so the move might be off
he has some kind of back problem
Andrew how sure you are he as an injury? John Cross said MS deal at advanced stage!! Hope Given will come in!!
he has a back problem and couldnt train on tuesday
http://www.fulhamchronicle.co.uk/london-sport/fulham-fc/2010/08/19/mark-schwarzer-s-arsenal-move-hangs-in-the-balance-82029-27096501/
he probably didn’t train tuesday because he was on his 7th medical with arsenal. :P
shutup Andrew, your jus quoting off newsnow stories.
yeah you want me to go to schwarzer and ask him in person?
i see there is some very stupid arsenal fan…..how could u blame wenger to france-centric when is actually bringin’ up the next generation on english players…jet,lansbury,afobo,aneke,wilshere,walcott etc……..he two english teenager on his first team (frimpong and wizzi) what can i do more?
hangeland is shit!! cahill overrated……..i’m down with squillaci is a very good CB.
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Which German football team do you fancy to win the 2010 German Bundesliga ??