The Heart of the Mata

afternoon folks. hope this Friday greets you well.

So after what seems like the longest summer transfer window since last year, the pace is picking up, certainly for the Arsenal. Previously Arsenal had made more money from sales than they had spent on new blood. That could be about to change if reports are to be believed.

Juan Manuel Mata, personally as a gooner is a player I could rave about for hours. I have been a keen follower of Valencia for a number of years, and since Mata's move from the Real Madrid academy in 2007, he has force his way into the first team for Los Che, developing into a dynamic, technically gifted winger, with pace to burn. Naturally a left winger, he is adept at cutting in from the wing and delivering into the box. If Arsenal could complete this deal, touted to be for £17.5m rising to 20m, it would represent an excellent piece of business and go some way to perking up cheesed off gunners fans. 

Lets compare him to another winger, Stuart Downing, moving from Villa to Liverpool for £20m. Downing is 4 years older, not a fully successful international, and garnered a higher fee. A case of inflated market prices for a lesser player?

   

 

The other piece of business being rumoured heavily is the attempted acquisition of Everton's gritty centre back Phil Jagielka. Arsene Wenger is a big admirer of the Yorkshireman and has been for quite a few months now.  Jagielka 28, is seen as the perfect partner for Thomas Vermaelen in defence. The point has to be raised however, that is Wenger looking at the right candidate?

His other targets have been Gary Cahill of Bolton, 25 and Christopher Samba, 24. Both would add a real steel to the heart of the gunners defence, not to mention the real threat from set pieces. Cahill is younger, but it appears that his circumstances are more complicaated. Bolton boss Owen Coyle would be loathed to lose Cahill, but having now signed Tyrone Mears from Burnley, the replacement is in place.

I think to see it (or try) from Wenger's viewpoint, Jagielka is an England international and with a move to a bigger club, he will certainly be in the mix in the future. But Jagielka fits the mold of a classic Wenger defender, quick, able to pass and quite adventurous going forward, which would be a worry. However the added element he would bring would be his versatility; he can play as centre back, yes, but also left back and holding midfielder, which Arsenal are screaming out for. The fee being bandied about is £15m, but Everton are holding out for closer to 18m.

we shall see what transpires...

 

Transfer Round Up Part 2

some very curious and very interesting moves are now being made across europe here is the best of them...


Jeremy Toulalan: Lyon to Malaga (10m euros)

solid defensive mid. always thought hed be great in that role at Arsenal behind Cesc. Malaga now with a financial backing are looking like a very tidy side with Duda, Van Nistelrooy, Demichelis and most recently the dutchman Joris Mathijsen. Very interested to see how theyll do this season..

Demba Ba:  West Ham to Newcastle (free)

Bojan Krkic: Barcelona to AS Roma (£10.5m)
Gabriele Heinze: Marseilles to AS Roma (free)

two very intriguing moves. The Bojan one has been mooted for several months now because of the arrival to Roma as manager, Jose Enrique, who managed Barcelona B, who has guided Bojan through much of his stagnated career at the Camp Nou for the last two years. Heinzes move to Italy is surprising as he a very physical player. with Riise moving to Fulham, the Bosman move is still a very good bit of business for the italians...

Ashley Young: Aston Villa to Man Utd (£18m) 

now take a look at this picture. It doesnt look right. In fact the more I think about Ashley move, the more i think it ill fits. United have Nani, Valencia, Giggs and Park who can play in wing roles so Im not exactly sure where he fits. Right wing obviously, perhaps behind Rooney, but there is going to be an awful lot of expectation on his shoulders. And I could be wrong, but I dont think its goin to go that well.. Time will tell...

Joaquin: Valencia to Malaga (4m euros)

and the Andulusian revolution continues....

David de Gea: Atletico to Man Utd 

Connor Wickham: Ipswich Town to Sunderland (£9m)

Dimitri Payet: St. Etienne to Lille

prolific goalscoring replacement for Gervinho

Gael Clichy: Arsenal to Man City:

Well what to say about this. Im personally sad to see him go as he has served us well. Lately however his form has been poor and for my money is is one of the poorest crossers in the top flight, in spite of his electric pace. Add that to the fact he cant defend, particularly because of his poor choices when under pressure then really he is not that big a loss. Manchester City have a plethora of full backs and I cant see clichy playing first choice left back all the time, with Richards, Zabaleta, Kolarov, Bridge and Boyata competing.

Good luck Gael, and may you cost Citeh 10 pts this season.....

Fabio Coentrao: Benfica to Real Madrid (30m euros, with Garay going the other way)

Madrid's financial clout seems not to be subsiding with Mourinho adding pacy Portuguese left back Fabio Coentrao to his purchases of Sahin and Altintop. You have to say, certainly on paper, that Madrid look very tasty and seem to be strong in all areas, except now perhaps the goalkeeper, in Casillas who towards the end of the last season wasnt having a great deal of fun...can they now challenge Barcelona....?

Alexis Sanchez: Udinese to Barcelona: (£35m)

this would appear to be Barcelona's riposte, (aside from Cesc negotiations). Sanchez has been on my radar for about 4 years now/ He is a very quick, skillful right winger who has been quietly plying his trade in Serie A, since moving from Cobreloa in his homeland of Chile in 2006. He is frequently the foil for Antonio Di Natale in his crosses before. I would imagine his arrival at Barca would signal his swapping of roles with Leo Messi, with the diminuitive Argentine pushing further infield, but equally, Sanchez has pace to burn and will be extremely mobile. Barcelona's attack is now, if possible even more scintillating....

Roger Johnson: Birmingham to Wolves: (7m)

excellent defender will get goals..

Gokhan Inler: Udinese to Napoli: (13m euros)

one I admit I have missed. Tough swiss midfielder, frequently linked to Arsenal. Napoli's midfield now consists of  Hamsik, Inler, Gargano and Maggio. Aswell as Lavezzi and Cavani further up. Napoli in my view will be a serious threat to Inter's aspirations of a third successive Scudetto.

Joan Capdevila: Villarreal to Benfica: (free)
Arturo Vidal: Bayer Leverkusen to Juventus (11.25m euros)


TBC

Harry Blaaddyyyy Redknapp

whilst trawling the blogs and forums I found this gem which is one of my very favourite clips....involving a certain manager at a certain training ground trying to conduct an interview..

Brilliant.

Ransoms, Kidnappings and Other Nonsense 2....

afternoon. apologies for the late post but I seemed to contract an inner ear infection, that accompanied with a nasty stomach virus, bed rid me for a week and more, during which time I could barely walk due to fatigue and imbalance issues. so as you can imagine, staring at a computer screen for any length of time was always going to be problematic. As le prof would say, I was 'short'....

To matters....

Fabregate rolls on, as expected. It now appears we are very serious in wanting to negotiate with Barcelona. 40m being the price tag. Sadly Barca seem to think we are going to back down. 27m remains the derisory sum offered up by the spanish champions, which is still over 10m short of anyway near a suitable sum for the future captain of the national side....

Further to this topic, now that Barca have concluded the deal for Alexis Sanchez in a deal worth 37m euros added to the fact president Sandro Rosell stating that the Sanchez deal was the priority, real questions should be asked of Barca' s commitment to the deal, if so the fact they have further unsettled Arsenal's talismanic captain is scandalous. It seems pretty certain the Spaniards wont pay 40m quid for Fabregas.


In other developments, in comments akin to those made by a friend of  mine about Arsenal Football Club being in the slave industry, regarding their treat of Fabregas, !  The mayor of Arenys de Mar, the town where Cesc grew up has claimed Arsenal are kidnapping their hometown son...

"The situation that Cesc Fábregas finds himself in at Arsenal is akin to a "kidnapping" and the London club should allow him to return to Barcelona," 

the Catalan mayor, Estanislau Fors i Garcia, goes on to say:

"We want him to come right away, he is experiencing a kidnapping," 

"If the English are so honourable they should behave properly," he added. "He [the Arsenal coach Arsène Wenger] has to stop clowning around because it's disorienting for all of us."

he is of course conveniently forgetting it is Barcelona who are doing most of the unsettling. Cesc is happy at Arsenal, or so he states and has been there for 8 years. So unless he thinks Madeleine McCann is involved, of course he is right.

idiot.

Fabregate.....see what I did there?

afternoon people. So much and yet so very little has occured over the past 10 days. So I will begin.





since 2008, our esteemed captain fantastic has been linked - almost every week - with a move back to his boyhood club Barcelona. On every occasion, members of Barca's backroom staff, players or hierarchy, are quoted as saying 'Cesc had Barca DNA' or 'He belongs to Barcelona'

well, no, not really. does he?...he certainly doesnt belong to you...

repeat offenders include President Sandro Rosell, Barcelona's very own captain Carlos Puyol and Xavi. amongs others...

Everytime they have flirted with him, even attempted to force him into wearing a Barca shirt during their World Cup win.

In reply, each time the Arsenal board politely told them to screw off. Not just because ALL of their offers were derisory, but that Cesc was the heart of Arsenal Football Club. Though apparently because he was theirs to begin with they'll be able to get a 'discount' on him.



.....excuse me. I just had to stop typing as I was laughing so hard.

Barcelona are treating Arsenal like the girl you fancy but just wont go out with you, no matter how hard or many times you try.

Rosell:   'Heres another derisory offer. Can we have Cesc now?'

Arsenal: 'No'

few weeks later:

Rosell:   'Heres another slightly better (but still disgraceful) offer. Can we have him now?'

Arsenal:  'No. and Fuck off'

so the trend keeps on over weeks and months, nee years. Finally they get so sick of it, they decide to cave and allow it to happen. Which in this case, now looks very likely.

But NOT certain.

Normally I would be against his sale, but this time I think its right for him to go. He has served us fantastically, but last season, two things spring to mind. I think there has to be questions asked over his injury problems, particularly his groin and thigh issues which cropped up long term twice last season.

The other point would be that his heart appears to be elsewhere. he certainly - on the face of it - doesnt appear to be busting a gut as he would a few years ago. indicative of man with thoughts elsewhere.

Of all our players Cesc is not far short of irreplacable. But. a Cesc who wants to play for another team, is. The only logical conclusion is for Arsenal and Francesc Fabregas - after a fantastic yet unsuccessful period - to part ways.

And ive got to say it will be hard for me to do. But by no means impossible....

ok my rage is getting the better of me right now...ill do my best to compose myself....