Arsenal’s pursuit of Vélez Sársfield midfielder Ricardo Álvarez intensified last night, when Richard Law met with club officials in Montevideo to discuss a possible transfer.
Law, a trilingual American, is part of Ivan Gazidis’ ‘executive team’. He is in charge of negotiating player contracts and also works as a consultant for Steve Rowley’s scouting network. He arrived in Argentina two days ago, amid speculation a deal was done for Álvarez.
Last night, a three man team, including president Fernando Raffaini, met with Law to hold tentative talks over the exciting 23-year-old. However, Raffaini reaffirmed his previous stance on Álvarez, telling the media shortly after that no deal has been agreed, and that it would take a fee in excess of €12 million Euro’s to tempt Vélez to sell.
Ricardo’s future has been subject to much speculation in recent days, with Fox Soccer wrongly reporting that a free transfer to Arsenal was already done. Vélez laughed that off, as their player has three years left on his current contract, and is rated as one of the best players in the league.
Despite the initial talks being fruitless, Law remains in Montevideo. No bid has been lodged, and it remains doubtful that any of the interested parties would match the asking price.
Arsenal have an eye for Argentine talents, having been in talks to sign Javier Mascherano and Ángel di María before they sealed moves to Europe.
pointless,he might aswell go home then.
Is he what we really need at the moment or should we not try for tested and matured players?
Bullshit. If a player’s good and has got talent, who the fuck cares? This is a player at the top of his game, who’s at the perfect age at 23, and who could be an excellent addition to the team. Remember, Squillaci was also a “tried and tested” player (as was Baptista etc.) so your argument weighs thin, extremely thin.
The worry with him is that he hasn’t played much for a 23 year old. Sounds like another signing with potential rather than an estblished one.
That doesn’t matter. He’s played enough games and is already one of the highest rated talents in Argentina. I’d rather see a player “with potential” (rather than some “established” fatass) make it at Arsenal and succeed with the team – that is the ARSENAL way.
I think it could be a brilliant move, a little unknown for most of us, but wenger rarely gets it wrong.
He must be decent, as it seems a few top european clubs want him.
My mate who supports chelsea thinks Sturrige will leave, i think the guy would be a perfect 3rd striker with RVP and chamak. Comming off the bench. Just dont think chelsea would sell to us.
I’d rather we sign the more pressing needs first….you know. Get Falcao maybe, or Hazard. And sign the central defender(s) we need.
Then we go for more squad players and such like Alverez.
Just my opinion. Signing him first and possibly missing out on some higher quality players would be a shame.
Although, I guess we can attempt to sign multiple players at once…but I’d rather send Law to negotiate with someone else.
Falcao or Hazard? Are you kidding? Do you think those 2 will be less than 15 million pounds?
“Then we go for more squad players and such like Alverez”
I know you’re just expressing your opinion, but why do you assume that alvarez would be just a squad player. Videos show he is very talented, and he helped his side win their championship this year. I don’t know whether he would be considered a squad player either to be honest, but I think it’s wrong to assume he’s not good enough to quickly become a useful and important player.
Maybe I was wrong there actually. I thought he had helped them win a title…
I never said that Falcao or Hazard would be under 15 mill…neither of them will be actually, thanks for pointing out of obvious.
@ Davi
I really do think he will be a squad player, at least for this season and the next if he signs. Saying we add him to the team we had this year. There is no way he is displacing any of Nasri, Walcott, Wilshere, or Fabregas from the attacking roles they play in the starting XI. And even if some of them leave, Wenger will have lots of cash to buy a bigger name to replace them. Therefore he will be a sub, and I could even see Wenger putting Arshavin on before him too. He is unproven in the EPL, and played in Argentina, which is definitely a step below the standards required in England. I am not denying he has talent, there just much more proven targets out there. When you here Arsenal linked with names like Benzema, Falcao, Hazard, etc, you know they are all much more experienced players in more challenging leagues. And all I am saying is I would rather see Arsenal sign those players that are going to make the big difference as early as possibly before someone else might get them, while we were trying to sign a guy most people haven’t heard of until now…
had a feeling when i saw we had bought him for free was too good to be true. looks good player, whats the chances of us getting him? still rather him than rosicky etc but if hes going to be 12m maybe better putting money towards a quality cb or striker…. or maybe we’ll get all 3?….or im just dreaming
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeSIgyfG1sc
why did they meet in Montevideo when the team from Buenos Aires
We could go and get Hazard or Benzema, but because of clubs like real madrid, barca, man city, chelsea and man city and even Man united, we will have to pay over the odds.
We have to look at these types of players as we just cant afford the established ones. It is a hard job wenger does, we may b able to get one big player but not all the top targets
Would love to see him join Arsenal. Because we don’t sign too many players for the first team its always quite exciting when we actually have firm interest in a player, and judging by alvarez’s videos he looks like a player that can add that extra dimension of attack to our team.
I have to admit i like this guy. Could add that forward dynamism we miss in attack, nice height, pass, dribbling, and shoots, nice. He’s either coming to replace Cesc (starter) or for Diaby (squad).
same old arsenal, always looking for cheap deals till the last minute. its gonna be a long summer.
personally i dont care if we sign him but its time arsenal fc realise that selling clubs are not stupid. in fact, this is a good propaganda for velez and someone else will come up with a better offer.
i have a feeling we will lose out on benzema as well.i hope we really get him but arsene the bargainhunter has his own last cheap deals in mind.just playing smokescreen with these ones with laughable offers.
Yeah Sam, that’s probably the way things go by when we are talking ’bout Mr. Wenger
I didn`t know him before. He`s wonderful. He`s got the finest touch i`ve seen since Rivaldo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOYCKI3q7mA
As much as you can tell from YT videos (ie: not that much) he looks a very tidy player. Bit of the awesome Javier Pastore about him. Was very keen on a free transfer, not so much for 12m Euros.
12 million euro’s is nothing really? considering we paid nearly that much for francis jeffers back in the day i reckon its a solid buy . . especially with the prices floating around on english players
@ Wayne Quinn
He is injury prone. Looks class but lets get a player that is not injury prone and can help us win something. I can’t believe Vermaelen was out the whole season. we need players that can compete for a starting spot right away. The young players needs to fight for a place.
yeah some players are injury prone but some are not, thomas vermaelan is not injury prone but yet he was out for the whole season pretty much, injuries happen. RvP lasted the whole of the second half of the season which for him is a long time, worth the risk
“is rated as one of the best players in the league.” — is this really true? I’ve heard some say that he is one of the best, yet others (such as an ESPN South America reporter) claim that he isn’t one of the best and just recently started games regularly :S
I am more happy about botelho!
He’s exactly the type of player we need hungry players who want to play and don’t care about money!
Botelho will bring us pace, creativity in wide areas. He’s also 6ft 3. Alvarez will probably come in to replace a rosicky, a nasri etc
Some comments on here are funny. Just because you don’t know him does not mean he is not good. I bet none of you would have wanted Pastore a few years ago, now if we were linked with him everyone would be going crazy. Personally this is one of the reasons I love Arsenal. I enjoy when we sign a guy because it is not always the same boring moves where people blow 25 million on over rated players. Think about it, how many people were hoping that we sign Vermaelen? Not many but now would you trade him for Cahill or one of those guys? As long as Wenger is actually adding to the squad then I trust his judgement.
Very true. Unfortunately some people will always look down on players that don’t have a ‘name’. Before even looking at Alvarez and seeing how he plays they will automatically assume he cannot be as good as better known, more expensive alternatives. The likes of Sagna, Eduardo, Vermaelen and others were dismissed by some before they had even kicked a ball for not being famous enough.
hes better than pastore technically and has pace(the most important thing 4 a pl forward)though his injury record is worrying. by technically i mean hes a dribbler and pastore is a passer.
Wrong mate, just watched him play and he is a passer. He does a lot of give and goes. He doesn’t really take people on with one v one skill moves. He did a lot of fake crosses though.
By the way, people forget that most big name players come from obscurity first. Not to many Messi’s just happen to come through the best club in the world. Ronaldo came from Sporting, Sneijder from Ajax, Bale from Southampton, Higuain from River Plate, Hulk played some where in Japan, etc. All of these players if we could go back in time, I am sure we would want to sign them when they were cheaper so why are people so against this move.
I agree with everything you have just said but i must pull you up on something. Please don’t mention the name Bale among those other players. I don’t know how the media have reacted to Bale over there in the States but i swear, i’m sick to my stomach over what they’ve done with him over here in England this past season. Now all i see is his name being bandied about like he is some world class talent. Today’s papers are claiming that the Spuds are willing to sell Modric for £25m (which may be BS) but they have put a £50m price tag on Bale to fend off interest from Europe’s leading clubs. I think that’s hilarious, personally. Bale’s a good player but nothing special at all! There’s been at LEAST 30 players in the PL this past season who have performed better than him, on a consistent basis, yet he won the player of the year for playing well against Inter at home and showing up for the last 10 mins against them at the San Siro when they had literally stopped playing. In fact, if you all cast your minds back to THAT game, Inter were leading very comfortably at HT, Gomes had already been dismissed, and Inter literally used the second half as a ‘keep ball’ training session. Then Bale runs in a straight line, displaying his greatest attributes, pace and running power, and bangs in a hat-trick! Lo and behold – it’s the second coming of Christ himself! Fucking ridiculous if you ask me. I wonder which top club will be stupid enough to pay at least HALF of that fee for Bale.
I’ve watched his last few games, and I can’t think of a better signing for ~10m. It looks like Eden Hazard (~20m) wants to enjoy one more season at Lille, esp. with the opening of their new stadium.
Hope we can push through a move, his pace and skill would add another dimension to our squad, be it as a starter or off the bench. Since Arshavin has lost some of his pace and confidence, we don’t really have anyone who will dribble at players at speed. He brings something different to what we have and would offer us more options in attack.
get your d*ck out, slap on the negotiating table, and do the deal already! jeez! this is why we are a laughing stock. we’re still haggling over pennies for players we want.
ivan. just spend the extra couple mil. i’m one of the fans paying for it, and i’m ok with it. go on.
Yah it is that simple. What do you think this is….FM2011?
Shane,River Plate, Ajax or Sporting are in no way small, obscure clubs.
Hate when people write something like this. You clearly know what I mean so not even going to get in an argument over this.
Nobody on here has seen him play. Anyone got an Argentinian friend?
Shit…
Bring in Chellini,Falcao and Parker and a LB.
Get rid of Cesc, Nasri and Clichy.
Nobody else needed.
what lose r best creative players and not buy another 1 LMAO
I really hope we sign him he look quite a decent player and with the quality he has, he can offer a new dimesion to the team and we can sell some of the underperforming player to make way for him also i still hope nasri stay but i just have the believe he will stay because i think either nasri or fabregas will leave and i will prefer to sell fabregas, i know barcelona will come calling in the summer which will be the right time to cash in because let us be realitic fabregas will leave one day even if he did not leave in the summer but i hope i am prove wrong and both of them stay.
i follow the south american cup, copa libertadores, every year..i was watching this kid play last nite, hearing rumors about arsenal buying him, so i watch him closely, he has class indeed…i was skeptical, bodywise it was like watching RvP on the left wing..all the danger came through him, great control of the ball, clean accurate passing, and pacey..hes a bit skinny, would need muscle for the premier, he was taking on Peñarol FC, maybe the toughest team in south america, at some point i realized that his team only played through him, all the dander came from his side, though they lost, 1 to 0 i was quite impressed by the bloke..hope he wont be a flop like riquelme though..
Santos is the best team in South America mate. Neymar is killing everyone and they are going to make it to the finals and that is with Ganso out injured. Must admit I am getting frustrated a Cerro Perteno for not playing Juan Itturbe. Neymar vs Itturbe would have been spectacular. Hopefully he plays the second leg.
I must admit, I just don’t get the Alvarez signing unless Nasri is going or we are about to spend a bunch of money this summer. We are already really strong in the position he plays. We still need a proper winger that can create, link up , get assists and most importantly get goals and run at players with pace and skill. The other thing we really really need is another defensive mid because we can’t expect Song to play every game. I just don’t get how another player that we already have about 6 of is going to be the piece that pushes us forward.
Jamie, Montevideo is in Uruguay and Velez are based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. No wonder we’re struggling to sign him, Dick Law’s probably found some other Ricky Alvarez in the Uruguayan league and is negotiating for the wrong player ;)
Velez player Penarol in Uruguay so maybe that is why they are meeting there.
Besides, Montevideo is just on the other side of the Plate from Buenos Aires. You could practically urinate in Argentina from Uruguay there. They are geographically closer than London and Southampton.
I have watched some youtube videos about Alvarez, and I am really impressed by his skills, strong, and visible. He is a good one to replace for Nasri’s departure.
Why is everyone in such a hurry to see the back of Nasri? He was player of the month 3 times last year. He and his agent are wrangling for money right now, but how does that make him different from anyone else? He will get a large pay-raise and then he will carry on doing the business for us. He isn’t going anywhere. Cesc might be a different story, but I doubt it, as Barca cannot afford him.
I don’t think any real fan “wants to see the back of Nasri”, I think we’re just worried that he might be sold as the club won’t risk losing him on a Bosman in 12 months time.
Heard Roma and Inter have now joined the race to sign him which means the asking price will sky rocket :(
I just watched the Penarol game. Alvarez is not really a winger, he plays similar to our 1,2 give and go passing style. He is fairly calm on the ball but at the same time lacked ideas to get past players for the most part. He did pal mostly on the left wing which he looks more like a guy that likes to cut in so that had something to do with it. He also was very lazy off the ball. He walked around a lot. I can’t really comment on he shooting because he didn’t really get in to many shooting positions. He is tall but looks to have the strength of Robinho. To be honest, he looks like a player that with better players around him he will be class but it is to hard to tell from that game. He definitely plays our style though but don’t expect him to be an Eden Hazard or anything like that.
I take it 2 people did not watch the game lol.
kevin gaimero 15m, brede hangeland 10m and shay given 4m max experience class cheap oooh a boy can dream
I am an English Gooner who lived in London for many years and held a season ticket. Because of the work I do I now live in Argentina. I watch a lot of the football here and have seen Alvarez a lot. I rate him very highly. He is a late developer partly because of injury. He is a box to box dribbler with deceiving pace and gives a lot of passes that are important In the game. He is very similar to Pires although he is left footed. He is 6’3 and is unlikely to take time to settle as he is a battler(you have to be in this league) and he has pace. In all honesty I have caught about 40 Arsenal game this season and Alverez would have not been out of place in any of them. He would oust Arshavin, Bendtner and Rosicky from that team. I think Narsi and Walcott will again be first choice but look how many games Arshavin got last year. Point of order River, Sporting and Ajax are massive clubs, read the history books and lastly please stop referring to the Premier League as the EPL. It’s just the Premier League, stop being American.
Really? Why are so many “fans” still writing off Wenger for his signings as being “unestablished”? Are they unaware that the transfer window hasn’t even opened yet, and that European players are either yet to complete their league campaigns or are currently on their end of season breaks? The only transfers likely to go through at the moment are for players who’s contracts are soon to expire, or are based outside of Europe, so it would be literally impossible to bring in the experience most people are calling for. No decent agent (something of an oxymoron) would allow a contracted player to complete a deal now as they can get a better deal waiting for the summer and using the competition of other clubs. Wenger has said that he will be making signings this season, just give him a chance.
so we were linked to, yaya toure, ronaldo, ronaldinho, mascherano, angel di maria yet we didnt go for them…… I guess we do have alex song, nasri, theo walcott and fabregas instead.
yes we DID go for them. Yaya Toure, Ronaldinho and Di Maria could not get the work permit necessary to come to England at the time and so joined other clubs. Not all players are willing to sign for a club knowing they’ll have to spend up to three years playing on loan away from that club, waiting and hoping for a permit or until they can apply for EU citizenship.
Ronaldo came to Arsenal and met with Wenger but chose Man Utd instead of us. That’s what happens when you have to compete for a player – some you win, some you lose. Ronaldo, Cech, Berbatov and others turned Arsenal down for other teams, but Cesc, Nasri, Arshavin, Ramsey, Walcott turned other teams down to join Arsenal.
Excuse me lads but wasnt he supposed to be on a free ????
If Nasri would like to stay at Arsenal, he signs the new contract which I told Arsenal has increased his salary fairly already. However, he just waits… Don’t repeat Flamini’s situation. I love to see Nasri’s stay, but we have 50-50 now. We need the talented Alvarez anyway. He can plays anywhere in midfield, so signing him will not contradict to Nasri’s staying. We would have Cesc, Nasri, Song, Wilshere, and Alvarez in midfield with Van Persie in attack, then Vermaelen, Djourou, Sagna, and Barnes in defence, we will be champion again.
@ Ryan, I cant quite understand your point of Alverez becoming just a squad player at Arsenal and the issue of him coming from a lower league. What you need to understand is that nobody knows Chicharito as at last season, withing a year he is been spoken off in glowing terms. Finally in which league did he (Chicharito) play before coming to man utd and do u know him before the w/cup? Were he comes from does not matter so long as he delivers.
I know, I already typed this but I put it in the wrong spot….
I must admit, I just don’t get the Alvarez signing unless Nasri is going or we are about to spend a bunch of money this summer. We are already really strong in the position he plays. We still need a proper winger that can create, link up , get assists and most importantly get goals and run at players with pace and skill. The other thing we really really need is another defensive mid because we can’t expect Song to play every game. I just don’t get how another player that we already have about 6 of is going to be the piece that pushes us forward.
Once, again please respond if you give a thumbs down.
Which part am I wrong on? The part that we have a ton of quality central attack minded midfielder? The part where I think we need another defensive mid because Song can’t play every game? The part where we need a direct winger with pace and skill that can put defenders on the back foot and provide spark in dull games? The part where you can’t rely on RVP to play a complete season so you need another good striker? Which of those is wrong?
By the way, I never said Alverez was not good in that.
I didn’t give a thumbs down so can’t speak for the people who did, but I think they might be disagreeing with the part where you’ve said you aren’t sure why we are signing Alvarez.
You’re assuming that Wenger would use him in the same position that he’s currently playing in Argentina, but Alvarez seems a pretty versatile player with a skill set that could suit quite a few positions. Maybe Wenger sees him as a winger, maybe as an attacking midfielder, maybe something else. It’s quite difficult to pin Alvarez down, he doesn’t appear to have one set position. I’ve read that he usually plays behind as an attacking midfielder, but from his youtube footage he appears a lot in wide positions. I watched a bit of a Velez game a few days ago where he came on as a sub for the last 15 minutes and played very deep. Aidan mentions him playing on the left wing. It’s difficult to suss out where he might play if he came to us.
That should read “usually plays behind a front-three as an attacking midfielder”.
There doesn’t seem to be any agreement over what his true position is, or if even has one yet.
You need to consider:
(i) if we sign a quality striker to replace B52 – will we change our formation to a 4-4-1-1, which Man U and Liverpool often play to good effect nowadays. If we change formations we already have plenty of CM’s, and Frimpong is likely to join the first team next season.
(ii) Alvarez is good on the wing (mainly left) or as an AM. Currently our wing options are Theo, Nasri, AA23 and Rosicky. Rosicky sadly looks past it and AA23 blows hot and cold. We are not overly strong on the wings, esp. if Theo and/or Nasri get injured. We often play 3 games in a week.
Wrenny…. I gave report of what he is up top. I watched the recent Velez game and the one verse Independiente. He is naturally a CM/CAM very similar to the position we are stacked at. Yes, knowing Wenger he will probably head out to winger but he is not really good at taking players one v one or any of that. It is just when you look out what we are laking, he is not it. We have an abundance of him. I will except it if we sign him and be grateful if we add more quality, it just doesn’t make sense if then we don’t improve the couple positions that actually need it.
@Aj7….. First off there is no way to predict what formation Wenger will choose for next season. As for wingers, that is exactly my point. We have not 1 player that runs at opponents with pace and skill constantly. Walcott is best when running in behind defenders but not really at taking them 1 v 1. Arshavin is past his prime. Nasri is the only on that can do this consistently. It was so bad out there that Bendtner kept coming on as a winger. Alvarez is not a winger.
Shane – have you watched his previous matches? I have, and I can state with high confidence that he is more than capable of playing as a top-class left winger. He reminds me of Robert Pires in many ways, who could also play left wing or attacking central midfield. Most of his movements for Velez come from the left flank.
You got a “thumbs down” from me because you’re just another stereotypical, moaning “fan” who wants to criticise Wenger just for the sake of it.
he looks class.
I’m an Arsenal and River Plate fan, part Argentine, lived there for a while and still very much interested in the league (and of course the national side).
A couple of things about the league, and about Alvarez, for whatever it may be worth:
Watching Arsenal, even on an off day, followed by a great game–by local standards–of any team in the Argentine top flight reveals the gulf between the two immediately. While South American football can be quite eye-catching, and players can be very technically gifted, physically, they are nowhere near even Championship-level games. You can’t compare game preparation, tactics, positioning, etc.
Out of all the teams in Argentina (and it pains me to say it, being a River fan) Velez is probably the closest to Arsenal in style at the moment. They’re intelligent, keep the ball, pass around, try to break defenses and look to take the game instead of sit back. That was evident in the away leg of their Copa Libertadores quarter final in Peru. Against a team that had quite a reputation at home, and taking a 3-goal advantage from the first game, they still did not change their game, went for the win and got it. They lost the first leg of the Semis in Uruguay 1:0 but can still advance (and according to who you ask, they are favorites to do so.) With just a couple of games left in the league, they’re leading by 3pts.
Ricky is versatile and has a very good touch on the ball. He is pacy, he can play behind an attacking front line or out on the wing (I personally rate him higher in the former role, or playing similarly to Cesc.) He’s not much of a scorer, so far, but when he does score, you remember the goal.
He started out at Caballito Jr.’s kids team, before finding himself in Boca Juniors’ talented youth where he didn’t really fit in, as they weren’t willing to wait for his physical growth and development (a-la Messi) and ended up in Velez.
About a week after his debut against Independiente in 2008 he damaged his left knee and was sidelined for some time. When he did return, he suffered a setback. He only broke into the first team about a year ago, and even that was as a result of Velez’s prioritizing the Libertadores over the league. Since then, though, he definitely established himself as a starter.
He says of himself that he likes being cursed at and having opposition players take out their frustration on him (kicking him out of rancor were his words) because it makes him want the ball even harder.
I like the player and his fighting attitude (and ego), and wouldn’t mind seeing him in Arsenal’s red, but I’m curious how much of the interest in him now is a result of the media hype around him in Argentina. He was called “Boy Wonder” after the Quarter Final return leg, describing his “talent and audacity” as what “feeds” the belief in Velez as a Cup candidate. Another article about him said that he’s just the “multi-purpose magic” Europe needs, describing him as having a “crack” future which is slang for awesome, really.
And by the way, he already plays like an Arsenal player in that he sometimes forgets that he can shoot and keeps looking for that one extra pass that would lead to a perfect goal. ;)
Quick correction: Quarter Final was in Paraguay, not Peru. Sorry for the mistake.
While it is great that we are after new players, I’d rather we keep the older ones that we already have first!! If the ultimate goal is to play as well as and beat Barcelona, then we have to keep the core of our team together for as long as possible. That includes keeping Vermaelen, Robin Van Persie, Nasri, Wilshere and maybe even Ramsey together for as long as it takes!! I know Wilshere and Ramsey will not leave, but Nasri?? Different story. I haven’t mentioned Fabregas here because if he plays like he did this past year he is as good as gone. I still hold out hope that he will stay and return to the player he was in the past though!! If we can keep him, the more, the merrier!!!
With Arshavin likley to leave (based on reports)and Vela not yet there and likely to leave. We will need couple of left sided players. One of them could be Botelho. Lack of experience in a serious league doesn’t matter as he is likely to play a bit part role. However the second player has to be some one with experience(in a good league) and ability as a winger. This lad sound like a work in progress rather than ready fit.
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This guy looks alot like a vanpersie type to me (left foot, elegant, tall, injury prone ect.)I think wenger might turn him into a striker also seeming that he plays as a second striker.
thanks for the report J. Velez is known to be VERY stringent when it comes to selling their talents. If I remember correctly Zarate was from Velez and was sold for 20million
we better sign him…two or three years back i found a website linking Arsenal with angel di maria and radamel falcao….we couldnt cut a deal and look wat happened….two world class players just gone under our nose…..both cost in excess of 30mil….and now we are tabling a bid for radamel falcao for 30mil…..history shouldnt repeat……..
I think its set on that Vela and Rosicky are both going to leave this summer so if Alvarez is effective out wide then it makes sense.
What is the work permit situation with the guy as well?
He holds an Italian passport, we’d get him without trouble.
aah this is long. this is my first ever comment and i hadnt realised that you need to fill in all the details such as email, website etc. but yeh i heard that he has an italian passport through his family, not sure which side so i assume that will be sorted. also on transfers out, the only players i want to see leave are almunia, squillaci, denilson, rosicky and arshavin. i think they all deserve to be sold for one reason or another but the only reason i include rosicky is because i think he deserves to be more than just a squad player especially at his age. btw i didnt include diaby as some of you would as i think with a good run of games he will be as efficient as he is for france! arsenal for the treble 11/12 as long as the core players remain! :)
Hopefully we can sign him he’s tricky has good touch and he is tall we would be stupid not to sign this guy i believe in wenger he will sign more players this summer its very rare you hear wenger saying he is looking to strenghtin all positions you dont hear him say that very often.
he’s prob saying that more for to pacify certain players than for us fans.
I wish we dont sign him. I have watched him play alot and yeah hes quite a decent player but for £12m it would be a bad transfer. Especially as he would be a fringe player.
£12m for such a unproven player is rediculous. If we sign him what do we do with Arshavin?
Stay well clear Wenger.
If anybody is interested in watching Alvarez, Velez are playing tonight – 10.10pm UK time.
livefootballstream.net should have you covered.
thx, just a little note on the game so far. Ricky looks to being playing more central today against Tigres, but that doesn’t mean he is not effective on the wing – the Velez coach seems to tinker with the formation quite a bit from game to game.
I think he would be a great addition to our current squad. There’s no doubt about that. I think it’s also a good thing that he can play on several places. Some people have to stop moaning about Wenger’s transferpolicy. Surely on the attacking compartiment he often makes mistakes. It’s gonna be an active summer.
Alvarez just scored an amazing goal! We need more players like him who aren’t afraid of having a pop from outside the box. It is me or is watching Arsenal pass their way to the by-lines and crossing to no-one getting a bit too predictable? I know they are the best team in the world, but look at Barca, yes they do use the by-lines, but only to make space and pass within the box. Arsenal need to do that to win anything imo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RooKIXMVvE&feature=youtu.be&t=37s
Tim Vickery – BBC South American football correspondent, really knows his stuff – said:
“I like him. Lanky left footed midfielder with some class about him. No express pace for a wide role, but can tuck in and shoots well. He has had some injury problems, though.”
Shane>
I don’t know about the others, but I disagree with you because I think the one thing that really cost us this season was that the squad was short of one creative attacking player. Generally we didn’t drop points because our defence was weak, but because we didn’t score enough goals. Fabregas and Nasri need to be rested more, because they were clearly knackered in the second half of the season.
did scoring cause the draw with newscastle, best defence in open play and worst at set plays says it all
this guy seems as much of a prospect as Hazard, 23 years old is a good age, definitely got talent too.
Need to sell: Almunia, Squilacy, Eboue, Denilson, Diaby, Rosicky, Bendtner.
They want go, let them go: Clichy, Vela, Arshavin.
They want go, but need to keep them stay: Nasri, Fabregas.
Need to buy (at least 2 English players): Cahill, Barnes, Hazard, Alvarez, a defensive midfielder, an un-name striker.
Loaness return: Lansbury, Myo, Bartley.
Barnes? I would think John Barnes is a bit too old don’t you think and don’t get me started on Giles, you mean Baines don’t you, the Everton left full back. And by Myo you mean Ryo Miyaichi.