Arsenal Lead Transfer Race For A Thousand Players

Good morning.

According to Twitter this morning, Arsenal have lodged a bid for David Villa. The Barcelona striker would prefer a move to Arsenal, so he could be with his fellow Spaniards Mikel Arteta, Santi Cazorla and Nacho Monreal. Guillem Balague is quoted as saying on Talksport, that Villa has three offers: Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and an unidentified club in Spain, who I’d personally guess at being Atletico Madrid.

Neymar’s arrival at Barcelona means that Villa is not going to get many playing minutes next season and he will definitely move on. To who? Of those three clubs, Arsenal would be his most likely destination. At 31, is Villa a good signing? Absolutely; Villa comes complete with goal scoring pedigree of a high level, has a winner’s mentality and would bring a wealth of experience to any forward line. Of the three clubs mentioned however, it’s Tottenham who need Villa most. For me, they need three strikers this summer, not two. If I were Andre Villas Boas, I’d even get rid of Jermaine Defoe.

If I refresh the Twitter feed on my phone, (the Twitter app for iPhone is much better than the actual website) using the “Arsenal” search term, then I get a load more transfer stories come up. This time, Victor Wanyama crops up amongst all of the names. For the one millionth time of saying, “Victor Wanyama is not good enough for a top six in England.” Seriously, Wanyama is Everton or Newcastle quality, that Manchester United, Manchester City or Arsenal quality. That rumour can go to hell, I’m 95% confident that Arsene Wenger won’t pursue Wanyama.

My favourite rumours are the ones linking Arsenal with Ilkay Gundogan and Marco Reus in a £30 million swoop for the pair of them. You heard it here first, Arsenal are set to sign two of Germany’s premium talents for a pittance. Borussia Dortmund, who just finished as runners-up in the Champions League, are that hard up, that they have to sell two of their best players for a combined total of £30 million. The Mario Goetze situation where he left for Bayern Munich is different. If Jupp Heynckes wanted Goetze, then I’m confident he would have stayed with Dortmund. That changes however, when Pep Guardiola identifies Goetze as his top target and as Klopp said, “it is no secret that Mario is Guardiola’s favourite player.” For a young star, to be singled out personally by Guardiola, who managed Leo Messi so well, must mean a lot.

In the situation of Robert Lewandowski, it is unfortunate and a lesson for Dortmund in the art of contracts, but is now an inevitability that Lewandowski will leave this summer. Aside from those two, Dortmund don’t want or need to sell their best players. Especially not for £15 million each.

The most intriguing transfer rumour of all however, is Fabregas’ mooted return to the Premier League. Manchester United want him, that much has been clear for two weeks now, but would have to pay a very large sum to sign the Spaniard. His buy-out clause according to Twitter, ranges from £70 million to £135 million. Adriano, a Brazilian utility player for Barcelona, just renewed his contract with a £90 million buy-out clause. Fabregas, who is such a huge talent, is more likely to have a release clause nearing the £135 million mark.

If Barcelona want to sell Fabregas, which they are allegedly keen to do, then Manchester United will still need to offer a hefty chunk of money, as any sale that Barcelona make on Fabregas, sees them give a staggering 50% to Arsenal. On top of that, if Barcelona do negotiate so well that Manchester United bid, for example, £70 million, then Arsenal have a buy-back option before those negotiations begin, but at the laughable price of £20 million.

Arsenal have completely mugged Barcelona in the negotiations that took place over Fabregas. Imagine Cesc has a season where he scores 35 goals from midfield and assist another 20. Then imagine that Real Madrid or Monaco offer a whopping £90 million, which Barcelona accept. It would then mean that Arsenal would have to be consulted over his transfer and could land a £90 million player for as little as £20 million.

Would Arsenal actually sign Fabregas? Of course. Arsene Wenger loves him, he said as much when he was co-commentating for France v Spain the other month, “Cesc would always get in my side.” If he was offered the chance to sign him, then Wenger would fork out the money for Fabregas like a flash. Basically, the sooner Manchester United, or any other club, bids for Cesc Fabregas, the quicker he becomes an Arsenal player.

That’s all I have today! See you later.

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Posted on May 31, 2013 by Craig in Arsenal, England, Premiership Leave a comment

Suarez Doesn’t Deny Real Madrid / Stoke Confirm Mark Hughes

Good morning.

Contractually, I’m not obliged to speak about the England match last night, so I’m not going to. That match wants locking up in the Steve McLaren performance review cabinet in the deepest, darkest depths of the FA’s headquarters and hidden from all public knowledge forever. What a horrible match. I watched Germany v Ecuador after twenty minutes and that was much more fun. Hopefully, it was just an “end of season” match where the players want everything over and done with so they can go on holiday.

Anyway, moving on from that, Luis Suarez has, as newspaper dialect would dictate, “rocked Liverpool by demanding a transfer as Real Madrid begin to spend their £547 million war chest on the Uruguayan.” What Suarez actually said to Uruguayan radio is this: “It would be very difficult to say no to Real Madrid.” He then added that he is, “not prepared to continue suffering at the hands of the English journalists.”

For most football players in the world, Real Madrid are difficult to ignore. Suarez plays for Liverpool who don’t compete for things and is attracting interest from one of the biggest clubs in the world, which can guarantee him the chance to battle hard for trophies and Champions League football. Rather than play alongside Daniel Sturridge and Joe Allen, Suarez could play next to Karim Benzema and Sami Khedira. Real Madrid are better in every way than Liverpool. Therefore, it isn’t a surprise that Suarez would be interested in joining them.

What Suarez hasn’t said, is this: “I’m definitely leaving. I want out of Liverpool because they don’t challenge for trophies and Brendan Rodgers is so cheesy that it gives me chest pains.” All that Suarez has done, is state the bleedin’ obvious in saying that it would be difficult to say no to Real Madrid.

Meanwhile, Stoke fans will have woken up this morning wondering what sins they’ve committed in the past to warrant Mark Hughes as their new manager. The same Mark Hughes that left Fulham as they didn’t match his ambitions, is now rocking up at Stoke and is set to be confirmed at 11AM this morning.

When Peter Coates dumped Tony Pulis, I was delighted for Stoke. “Finally, they can move forward” is what I thought to myself. Instead, the Britannia Stadium will become much less difficult to visit, Stoke will get relegated and Mark Hughes will have got the sack long before then. What a regressive appointment.

That’s all from me today. See you tomorrow!

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Posted on May 30, 2013 by Craig in England, Liverpool, Premiership, Stoke City Leave a comment

Roberto Martinez To Join Everton / Liverpool Sign Kolo Toure

Good morning.

Roberto Martinez has been granted permission to leave Wigan Athletic and will now hold talks with Everton over their vacancy.

Wigan chairman, Dave Whelan, said: “Roberto wanted permission to move. so I’ve given that. He feels he’s not the man to lead us back into the Premier League. I’ve got to accept what he feels. He loves Wigan and the fans. We have to move on now and want applications for the job.”

As the supporter of another Premier League team my gut instinct is this: Everton are about to become a whole lot weaker. Away trips to Goodison Park are not going to be the same. Normally, Everton are a difficult obstacle to overcome at Goodison Park. The home support is right on top of the pitch, they’re loud and whoever they’re playing, Everton will always work to an exhausting degree. Roberto Martinez will not maintain that philosophy as he will bring in that he developed at Wigan.

Things that Roberto Martinez isn’t, is a master tactician, despite what most like to say about him. If Martinez was a good tactician, then Wigan wouldn’t continually be in a relegation fight and wouldn’t have been relegated this season. He does have good tactics in there somewhere, as he beat Manchester City in the FA Cup Final and took Wigan on a superb run at the end of the 2011-12 season to avoid relegation. With that said, the bad outweighs the good and I stand by my belief that Everton will be a bottom half club next season. Big players are going to leave, Moyes has gone and Martinez will struggle to pick up the momentum.

Liverpool Sign Kolo Toure

Kolo Toure to Liverpool is a good signing as far as Liverpool are concerned. If he joins Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal or Tottenham Hotspur, then it’s a very puzzling transfer, as he isn’t that good anymore. Kolo did have a very poor 2011-12 campaign, but for 2012-13, he has been very good when called upon by Roberto Mancini. Clearly though, he isn’t at Manchester City’s level and it’s no surprise he has been allowed to leave on a free transfer.

This is just a sign of where Liverpool are now. They sign Manchester City’s out of contract players and with the retirement of Jamie Carragher, are left with a quartet of: Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel, Kolo Toure and Sebastian Coates. That isn’t a selection of central defenders that even the most deluded members of RAWK would put their ultimate faith in.

I’m sorry if this article is losing its fluency, I’m actually reading “RAWK” as I write this and I’m completely distracted. Basically, Kolo Toure is a good signing for Liverpool if they want to finish in the top six, but if they want top four, then they’re a long way off.

That is really all I have time for. See you tomorrow!

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Posted on May 29, 2013 by Craig in England, Everton, Liverpool, Premiership Leave a comment

Crystal Palace Promoted / Watford Not So Lucky

Good morning.

My congratulations go to Crystal Palace on winning promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs. The fact that Palace finished 5th and Watford ended up in 3rd, yet didn’t get promotion, is still an issue that irks me considerably, but well done to Palace. On the day, Watford were outplayed and outfought, to the point where Marco Cassetti, who is no mug of a player, chopped down Wilfried Zaha to give away a penalty in the first half of extra-time. It was a poor challenge, but visibly born out of mental and physical fatigue.

In the Sky studios after the match, Iain Dowie raised the point that after the way that Watford actually reached the play-off final, it may have taken its toll mentally on them. I agree, but I’d like to add that they missed out on automatic promotion by the skin of their teeth on the last day of the Championship season. Coming so close to achieving something, but falling away right at the end, is very difficult to take and it showed in their play-off semi-final first leg against Leicester City at the Walkers Stadium.

From being at such a mental low, they suddenly felt euphoria again when they sealed progression to the final against Leicester in the most amazing circumstances. With seconds left in the match, Anthony Knockaert won a penalty for Leicester and a resulting goal would have put Leicester in the final. Knockaert stepped up, hit his effort straight at Manuel Almunia and Watford counter-attacked, scoring the winner through Troy Deeney.

After all of that, it’s a wonder that Watford had anything left to give yesterday. Not that they had too much; for the highest scorers in the Championship, they looked as blunt as a table spoon in attack and Fernando Forestieri had the Hornets’ best chance in the final seconds when he cut inside when position in the area, shot with the outside of his right foot and Joel Ward cleared off the line with his head.

I don’t like the play-offs, but full credit goes to the team that takes full advantage of the system. Crystal Palace took advantage and were worthy winners on the day.

For Ian Holloway, it’s a big pity that he won’t have Wilfried Zaha next season as he moves to Manchester United. After watching Zaha yesterday, I’m inclined to suggest that he plays one more season for Crystal Palace. Yesterday was the largest platform Zaha has ever played on and his decision making was consistently poor throughout the match. Bizarrely, Zaha won the man of the match award and I don’t think he was deserving of that. From first minute to last, he was just below average and he would benefit from a season in the Premier League with Crystal Palace, not Manchester United. After that, I feel he would be ready.

Selhurst Park will not be an easy ground to visit for any teams next season and I have a feeling that Crystal Palace will be okay next season. It won’t be comfortable, but I think they’ll survive. Just don’t ask me why I think that, as I don’t possess a scientific reason for it.

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Posted on May 28, 2013 by Craig in Championship, England Leave a comment

Arsenal Ladies Win FA Cup

Arsenal Ladies won a staggering 12th FA Cup Final yesterday, thumping Bristol Academy 3-0 in a match that could easily have finished up 6-0.

Under new manager, Shelley Kerr, Arsenal have endured a torrid start to their Women’s Super League season. A shocking 4-0 home defeat at the Emirates Stadium to Liverpool wounded them, as did a 1-1 draw away to Lincoln, with only a once-in-a-lifetime strike from Stephanie Houghton late on securing that point.

Arsenal had battered Bristol Academy in the quarter-finals of the Continental Cup last Sunday, emerging as 4-2 victors thanks to strikes from Ellen White, Jordon Nobbs, Danielle Carter and Kim Little. Arsenal Ladies are not used to losing and after a difficult week, that win could only have renewed their belief ahead of the FA Cup Final in Doncaster.

Stephanie Houghton gave Arsenal a surprise early lead. There’s no surprise about Arsenal scoring, nor is there of Houghton managing to register a goal, but there is considerable surprise when a left-back scores from a header on the right flank of the penalty area, because of a cross from the left-wing. Rachel Yankey’s delivery for Houghton was first-class and Siobhan Chamberlain, who was let down by her defenders not being able to get closer to Houghton, stood very little chance with her header.

Jordan Nobbs went on to hit the post in the first half as Arsenal dominated play, but there were a few fumbles from Arsenal goalkeeper, Emma Byrne, which suggested that the nerves were still lingering amongst Arsenal’s players.

Despite dominating, Arsenal failed to capitalise and score another. Perhaps a lack of confidence with their game at the moment?

In the second half, things couldn’t have gone any worse for Bristol. Lucy Staniforth suffered a terrible injury when both legs buckled when her studs got caught in the ground. Houghton, who had suffered a similar injury herself, instantly turned round so as not to remind herself and Staniforth’s screams were audible from the other end of the pitch. Thankfully, Staniforth later revealed via Twitter that her knee is okay and nothing serious appears to have happened.

As Bristol sought an equaliser, the game became increasingly stretched and Arsenal were beginning to counter effectively and find exploitable gaps. In the 72nd minute, Nobbs looped a delicious header over Chamberlain, who again had little chance with the effort after poor marking from her defenders yet again. Ellen White then added a third late on, capitalising on the rebound from another Chamberlain save.

As with the first and second goal, Chamberlain was left exposed by her defence who had gone to pieces at important moments in the game. For the last 20 minutes, they were nearly non-existent as Arsenal ploughed through time and time again on the counter-attack.

After the match, Chamberlain said: “We didn’t really turn up. We have been playing well in the league but here a lot of our players didn’t perform as well as they can. It is disappointing, because we had a lot more to give.”

For Shelley Kerr and her Arsenal side, this trophy should revitalise their confidence for their WSL season as they look to kick on from a winless start. Bristol on the other hand, will rue the fact they did not turn up when they had so much more to offer.

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Posted on May 27, 2013 by Craig in FA Cup, Ladies Football Leave a comment

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