FELIPE MELO Arsenal were probably linked with Felipe Melo this summer more than any other player. The biggest difference between Arsenal’s 2007-2008 season and our 2008-2009 season, which saw the club take a large step backwards, was the absence of Mathieu Flamini. He did a great job protecting our backline and winning possession, and freed up Cesc to roam a little bit and probe for weaknesses in the other side’s defense. It was only logical, then, that the area many people thought Arsenal should address was a defensive midfielder. Melo seemed a logical candidate–the young (26) Brazilian impressed at Fiorentina and for the Brazilian national team, but was ready to move on to a bigger stage. Arsenal were clearly interested, but apparently were unwilling to meet Fiorentina’s high asking price, and Juventus swooped in and scooped him up.

allesio from Juventus Offside:

Juventus pursued deep-lying playmaker Gaetano D’Agostino of Udinese for much of the summer. On paper, it looked perfect; he was a childhood Juventus fan, a playmaker that was sorely missed in midfield, and fairly young. Udinese played hardball, and rumors exploded one day that Juve had given up and focused on Felipe Melo. It was the opposite with him; Juventus does not have a history of signing Brazilians, his previous club, Fiorentina, has a very bitter rivalry with Juventus, and everyone wondered if we needed another defensive midfielder having signed Sissoko and Poulsen recently.

Felipe Melo, for the most part, has integrated brilliantly into the team. Typically, he sits just ahead of defense and breaks up play, though he has many qualities that defensive midfielders generally lack, ie- good shooting ability, some dribbling skills, and a decent passer of the ball. Sissoko generally runs around after the ball, but Melo is a great reader of the game instead. He has been generally top-notch, although he has a very dangerous and annoying habit of trying to dribble out of defense, which has punished Juventus several times. He has scored two excellent goals, to boot. Despite his occasional stupid plays, the fans have taken very warmly to him.

Was he worth the money? No, €24.5 million is quite excessive for a transfer in Italy (EPL market seems generally inflated), somewhere around €15-16 million would have been more appropriate, but he had just come off a successful Confederation’s Cup and that was the recission clause in his contract. That said, he has integrated very well into the team very quickly and is a constant in the Starting XI, picked ahead of Sissoko and Poulsen. If we can get him to stop mucking around the 18, I have no doubt he is going to be considered one of the best midfielders worldwide. I think he would have played very well at Arsenal and though I am a very casual viewer of the EPL, (at best) I think he would have added something significant to the team. The team, since Vieira’s departure, seems to me to be lacking grit and steel in midfield.

MAMADOU SAKHO Young? Check. Unknown? Check. French? Check. It’s unclear whether Arsenal were ever actually interested in Sakho, but if they weren’t, you can understand why the rumor started, since he seems like the archetype of an Arsene Wenger signing. Arsenal were rumored to be sniffing around the 19 year old French center half. He’s big, he’s talented, and he’s a leader–he is the youngest player to ever have captained a Ligue 1 side, having worn the armband for the first time at the age of 17. He’s represented France at numerous youth levels, and seems a good bet to play for the senior side someday soon. He also seems unlikely to stay at Paris St. Germain for too long if he continues to develop. But no deal ever materialized, and that native Parisian started the season with his hometown club.

Thomas from PSG Offside:

To put it quite plainly, 19 year old Mamadou Sakho has been far and away PSG’s most reliable defender this season. He has put in excellent performances against quality Ligue 1 attacks despite being played alongside the less than stellar and aging Sammy Traore. He was vital in shutting down the Lyon attack, arguably one of the best in Europe, in their 1-1 draw with PSG (replays showed that Bafe Gomis’s goal was quite clearly offside). He has played well despite coming down with swine flu in late November, which is a stunning feat in itself. He is a fan favorite at the Parc des Princes as a native Paresian, but he has also captained the side at times and has wonderful leadership abilities. I would love to see Sakho become a “franchize player” after coming through the youth ranks from an early age, but I fear that the attention from the giants of Europe may force a sale. I think hanging on to him for another two seasons is a feasible goal.

PATRICK VIEIRA We all know this name, of course. Paddy expressed unhappiness when he was dropped from the French national team. He felt it was because he wasn’t playing regularly enough at Inter, and wanted to move somewhere where he would be firmly entrenched in the first team. Sensing a prodigal son story, the media immediately began to speculate that Vieira would return to Arsenal, and it did seem like discussions took place. But my sense is that if they did speak, Wenger told him that if he did return, he would be used as a substitute/reserve, which, of course, wasn’t what he was looking for. So the deal didn’t go through. Thankfully, neither did the speculated move to Spurs.

The Arsenal legend and former captain has been playing for Mourinho at Inter Milan for the past couple seasons after his year at Juventus. He spent 9 seasons in North London, the last 3 as captain. He provided the thunder to Thierry Henry’s lightning at Highbury–he was one of the greatest holding midfielders in Premiership history, and provided toughness and grit in the midfield for Arsenal. Beyond that stuff, though, which he always gets credit for, he was a much better technical player than he gets credit for–at his best, he was flawless at always being one step ahead of his opponents mentally, and always seemed to anticipate how the play was going to develop before it happened. And his height and rangy build, combined with his technical ability, made him one of the best pure tacklers I’ve ever seen–you just could not get by him with the ball.

But enough about the player he was? What kind of player is he now? He’s still an important part of the first team at Milan, but is on the fringes of the first 11. He’s made 5 starts and 3 substitute appearances for the club in Serie A matches so far this season, and has also come on as a late sub in 2 of Inter’s Champions League matches. I haven’t seen Inter play all season, but according to Goal.com’s player ratings, which do generally run a bit harsh, Vieira has averaged just over 6 (6.06, to be exact) in his 8 appearances. That’s pretty much the very definition of mediocrity.

The bottom line is that Vieira is at the point in his career where the decline can be pretty steep, and it would seem like we’re seeing it. His international career is likely over, and if he wants to continue playing club football after this year, a move to a smaller team (possibly back in his native France) may be in order. If he’s been mediocre with Inter, it’s hard to see how he would have offered us anything more, so it’s probably just as well that the move never materialized.

But, obviously, that doesn’t take away from what Vieira accomplished with Arsenal. In a fan poll last year, he was ranked the 5th greatest gunner of all time. Three league titles and Four FA Cups in 9 years with the club. His last kick of the ball in an Arsenal shirt was the penalty which won the 2005 FA Cup. We haven’t won a trophy since, and it’s probably not a coincidence. His time has passed, but he’ll always have a place in North London.

Conclusion You know, I guess I wish we had brought some guys in, but frankly, I’m kind of glad we ended up not going out and getting a big, expensive name like Melo. He’s a good player, to be sure, but at this point I’d much rather have Alex Song at his age playing that role. And I don’t think we really needed someone like Chamakh, and I’m not sure how well he’d work within our system.

But what I would have really liked to see is just to go get a couple of guys for cover. It would have been great to get someone like Lorik Cana or Blaise Matuidi who could have provided cover for Song in the middle of the field and taken his place in January when he’s gone to the ACN. I also would have liked to see another center back in the fold to provide us cover. We’ve been incredibly fortunate this season in that we haven’t suffered any injuries to our starting center backs–Gallas and Vermaelen have started all our big games. Not to be a pessimist, but we can’t count on that continuing all season. And in case of injury, we’ve got Silvestre, who is terrible, and Senderos, who is unhappy to be at the club. It would have been great to get a guy like Sakho, who is young and promising and probably wouldn’t mind biding his time and learning under more experienced players for the time being. And then in a season or two he could step into the first team for Gallas.

But we didn’t. In terms of what we may be looking at in January, expect to hear Chamakh’s name come up a lot more. He’s out of contract at Bordeaux at the end of the season, so if he still wants to leave, Bordeaux will likely be willing to let him go for pretty cheap. Other than that, it’s not clear what Arsenal’s goals will be. Barring a complete collapse in November and December, Arsenal won’t go into January in a desperate situation like we did last year, where we needed an impact player to avoid finishing outside the top 4, and Arshavin fit that bill. But Arsene has never been afraid to bring in guys in January, so don’t be surprised if we see an out of leftfield transfer at some point.

And with that, the international break is, essentially, over. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed this–thanks to vespo for the idea. Sunderland preview coming tomorrow, and Saturday, we’ll have actual football to talk about.

EDIN DZEKO Arsenal were heavily linked with the 23 year-old Bosnian striker early in the transfer window. He was coming off of a wonderful season in the Bundesliga, in which he led Wolfsburg to a surprise championship and led the league in goals, with a phenomenal 26 strikes in 29 appearances. He was ready for the big time, and many questioned whether Wolfsburg could hold onto him. However, AC Milan was also sniffing, and Dzeko made his feelings pretty plain that he’d rather play for AC than Arsenal. In the end, though, Wolfsburg managed to hang onto him, and he’s started the season with the club again.

While he’s certainly played well, he hasn’t quite matched his amazing nearly 1 goal per game ratio from last season. He’s scored 8 goals in 17 games in all appearances, including a goal at Old Trafford in the Champions League. However, 5 of those goals came in a 4-match stretch from mid- to late September. Outside of that stretch, he’s been distinctly average in his return. He’s really thrived in internationals, though, scoring 9 goals in 8 World Cup qualifying games and almost singlehandedly carried Bosnia-Herzogovina into the two-leg playoff against Portugal for a spot in South Africa.

BREDE HANGELAND The big Norwegian center back scored the winning goal against us last season in his breakthrough campaign, and was widely being hailed as the best defender in the Premiership outside of the Big 4. With Kolo Toure leaving and Arsenal famously vulnerable at the back, especially from set pieces, and Hangeland already in London, he seemed like an ideal fit. And it did seem like there was some interest on the part of Arsenal, but if there was, Wenger was not willing to meet Roy Hodgson’s price for the 28 year-old.

timmyg from the Fulham Offside:

Brede Hangeland was Roy Hodgson’s first signing as Fulham manager. Although the transfer price was undisclosed, no amount of money could match the signing’s effect. It would turn out to be to a harbinger of the quality, successful football to come. You could win any argument with a Fulham fan that Roy built the club around our defense, particularly Hangeland.
Although this season Brede hasn’t appeared to be as astute as last year or the year before that — silly tackles, very out of position in a few games — his pairing with Aaron Hughes remains a huge catalyst toward Fulham’s success. So much so that Fulham are currently tied with Arsenal, City, and Brum for fourth-best defense; and last year actually had the fourth-best defense while maintaining four clean sheets in 8 games against the Big Four.
On set pieces he is probably our greatest threat despite only scoring one league goal (against Arsenal last season) and one in the Europa League against Roma earlier this month.

So yeah, Hangeland has been a huge success at the club and amongst the fans. Don’t know what else to say really.

KLAAS-JAN HUNTELAAR We were heavily linked with the Dutch fox in the box after he was made surplus when Real Madrid spent all summer blowing through money like Lindsay Lohan in a Tijuana drug store. The former Ajax assassin had actually put in a relatively decent goal-scoring rate at Real, but was going to be moved anyway. Everyone mooted Arsenal as a possible landing spot, as it was speculated he could replace Adebayor. But it seems like it was almost all media speculation, and AC Milan showed interest and ponied up € 15 million for him.

In 8 games this season for the Italian giants, Huntelaar has already scored countless goals. And by countless, I mean less than can be counted. As in 0. The big zippo. And he’s yet to play a full game, either coming on as an impact sub, or, more often, starting and coming before the 60th minute–I’m not sure if this is a reflection of his fitness or his level of play. In AC’s last 9 games, Huntelaar has been an unused substitute. Yeesh.

SALOMON KALOU Granted, this seemed to be a weird one, but Wenger confirmed that he had been interested in Kalou in the past, which renewed speculation that Wenger may dip in for the 24 year-old Chelsea striker.

Our good friend Jack from Chelsea Offside:

To paraphrase a Telegraph piece I read at the end of October: Many Chelsea fans reacted to the new three-year contract Salomon Kalou inked early in the season by asking whether the Ivory Coast striker was able to put pen to paper at the first attempt.

Hilarious. Yet a genuine concern.

This article, of course, was published shortly after Kalou had netted twice against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League. This performance, in particular, represented everything Chelsea supporters have come to love — and hate — about Kalou.

He bagged a brace, true. But Kalou also missed at least four fine opportunities and denied Lampard an early goal by loafing into an offside position. All these shambolics arrived before he finally found the back of the net.

So, in short, it’s been business as usual for Kalou this term. He’s scored four times in 13 appearances (8 starts). He’s provided some sharp displays, most quickly forgotten in wake of the horribly-predictable consecutive no-shows that follow.

Whether the man should be sold is up for interpretation. It’s difficult to find a player of his talent/potential willing to work from a reserve role — although Kalou typically responds to starts more so than substitute appearances. Selling to Arsenal would be a negative in any instance; selling outside the Premier League, now that probably wouldn’t hurt at all.

BLAISE MATUIDI This is the hardest one to write. Not because of any emotional attachment or wish that Arsenal had gotten Matuidi, but because St. Etienne Offside’s blogger didn’t respond to my email, and I couldn’t find any player ratings site that did Ligue 1 matches. So I’ll keep it short. The 22 year-old French holding midfielder seemed to meet a need for Arsenal, and was supposedly available at a relatively affordable price. Like Bassong, he, too, came out of the same academy that produced Thierry Henry, William Gallas, and Nicolas Anelka. He represented France at numerous youth levels and has become a mainstay in St. Etienne’s first choice eleven, representing the side in both Ligue 1 and the UEFA Cup.

Beyond that, I can’t tell you much–he’s played 11 matches (all starts) for struggling St. Etienne so far this season, although he had to miss St. Etienne’s 1-0 loss to Lyon on Halloween with an injury which kept him out of the next match as well.

Many thanks to Timmy, who has great taste in music, and the inimitable Jack, who was kind enough to contribute his thoughts on Kalou despite the fact that I lurk on his comments page and trash Chelsea at almost every opportunity. Part III to finish up this series tomorrow, and I’ll give my thoughts about which of these players I wish we had signed, and who we should maybe look at in the January window. Until then–hopefully no one else will get hurt today.

Well, that’s what we’re doing today. At vespo’s suggestion, we’re taking a look at the road not taken with all the rumored summer transfers. Arsenal was linked with approximately 5,000 different players this summer, of which we signed…well, let’s see here…we move the decimal place, carry the 3, and……um…..1. 1 player. Just Vermaelen. And he’s been great. But should we have gotten another player or two? Might we renew our interest in any of these guys in the January window?

I liked the idea of checking on the players we didn’t get, but I have to admit, I’m a bit helpless. As you guys know, outside of the Champions League, I don’t know much about the other European clubs. I used to try to catch Barca games almost every week, b/c of (a) Thierry Henry; (b) Barca’s attack; and (c) Ray Hudson, the greatest announcer in the world. But I don’t get GolTV at my apartment here in NYC, so I haven’t seen a league game from any league outside the Premiership all season.

So I needed to turn to outside help. Fortunately, one of the benefits of writing for The Offside is that it is a community of bloggers who follow their respective clubs/national teams. Many of my co-bloggers were kind enough to take time to give their assessments of our rumored transfer targets. I have given them credit where they did–with other players, I did my best to make an informed judgment about how well the player had played so far this season. I will break this down into 3 parts–Parts II & III to come soon. Without further ado…

EVER BANEGA: Arsenal were briefly linked with the 21 year-old Argentine Valencia midfielder, and given his age and relatively unknown status, it seemed like the kind of move Arsene Wenger likes to make, and thus somewhat believable. But it never materialized. Banega also answers the question–”What it would be like if Slater from ‘Dazed and Confused’ played top-level professional football?” (check it out–the resemblance is uncanny)

Javier from Valencia Offside:

What a difference 1 year makes. Ever Banega midfielder for Valencia CF lasted only half a season when he first arrived at Valencia. A net porn scandal (no joke) and late night partying very quickly saw him shuffled off on loan to Atletico Madrid where he also failed to make a good impression.

In the off season he was also quoted with desires not to return to the Valencia outfit but problems with work permits and low offers caused any transfer to fall through.

This season with the injury of Fernandes and Baraja, Ever Banega has been given the opportunity to play first team football. And what a show he has put on. He is not the same lad that messed up in previous seasons. Quick on the ball and flawless pin point passing made Ever Banega the #1 play maker for VCF. Already credited with 4 assists in 9 matches Ever Banega has a great future ahead of him has is begining to prove he was worth teh 18 million Valencia dropped from him.

Financial troubles at Valencia could however mean that Banega’s days at the club are numbered. Rumours of sales of Villa Silva are rampant and though the club is looking to hold on to their stars that could mean the exit of some quality players like Banega in the near future which would be a shame.

SEBASTIEN BASSONG The young (23) Cameroonian defender was pretty much the sole bright spot for Newcastle in their catastrophic 2008-2009 relegation season. He expressed a desire to stay in the Premiership, which, coupled with Newcastle’s financial troubles and the fact that he was their most desirable player, made it a foregone conclusion that he would be moving to a side still in the Premiership. Arsenal’s need for a physical defender, coupled with the fact that Bassong graduated from the same football academy which produced Thierry Henry, Nicolas Anelka, and William Gallas, made Arsenal seem a likely destination. However, the deal never materialized, and Bassong instead moved on to archrival Spurs for £8 million.

He has immediately become a mainstay for Spurs, making 13 starts already this season. He scored the winner against Liverpool on his debut, and has played well since then. It’s a bit tough for me to assess how good he’s actually been, I have to admit. The only Spurs game I’ve seen in its entirety is the North London derby, so I’ll have to rely on a secondary source. It’s far from scientific, I admit, but looking at Sky Sports’ player ratings in his 11 league appearances for the club, he’s received an average player rating of 6.81. That’s not spectacular, but is very good, especially for a 23 year-old in his first year at the club. From the look of things he could very well be a mainstay of Spurs’ backline for many years to come.

LORIK CANA Arsenal were heavily linked with the 26 year-old holding midfielder, who at the time was captain of Marseille in Ligue 1. Eventually we passed, and he was bought by Sunderland for £5 million at the end of July.

Stephen from Sunderland Offside:

Lorik Cana is one of those players two years ago under the celebrity management of Roy Keane who wouldn’t have been signed. Lorik isn’t Irish, or have an O at the start of his name, and here’s a shock–is someone who played for a top club (Marseille) and was tracked by some top clubs like Arsenal. That’s a huge step up for a club like Sunderland. You may ask what he means to the club. Well, he was named Captain straight away, so that says a lot. The other important thing is that when he’s either carded or suspended, the club plays like they did under Ricky Sbragia (whom I called a first team coach, not a manager). While it’s still early days at the Stadium of Light for him, you can bet that he’s going to be successful for the club. Will he be the greatest player to sign for the Black Cats? Probably not, since that’s Super Kevin Phillips.

Stephen also wrote up the Cana transfer here.

MAROUANE CHAMAKH I think it would have been funny if Arsenal had also been rumored to be interested in Paul Scholes, so stupid bloggers like me could have used “Ginger or Marouane?” headlines all summer. Ah, the possibilities. But I digress.

Arsene Wenger was plainly interested in Chamakh as a replacement for Adebayor–the big 25 year-old Moroccan fit the target man mold which no one except Bendtner at Arsenal fit. He would also, coincidentally, have battled Bendtner for the team title of “most ridiculous Euro-hair.” He provided 13 goals in 40 appearances (31 starts) for the Ligue 1 Champs in 2008-2009, and openly campaigned for Bordeaux to allow him to leave. Arsenal wanted him, and he wanted to be at Arsenal, but Wenger played hardball, attempting to use the leverage of the fact that Chamakh only had one year remaining on his contract to lowball Bordeaux into selling him cheap. It didn’t work, and he stayed at the French side.

Chamakh has kept up the good work this season, scoring 5 goals in 16 appearances in all competitions for the French side, although he’s cooled down considerably–he scored 3 in his first 2 matches, which means he’s only notched twice in his last 14, including a 10-match goalless drought.

He’s been unsuccessful at the international level, failing to score a single goal for Morocco as they failed to qualify for the World Cup.

Many, many sincere thanks to both Javier and Stephen for their time and insight–they both do a great job with their respective club’s pages and are well worth checking out.

Part II to come either tomorrow or Sunday. Hopefully Arsenal’s players will make it through tomorrow injury-free.

The reason for these inquiries is that both clubs allegedly signed young players who were under contract (or “precontract”) with another club at the time. Therefore, since another club owned the rights to the player, any club who wanted such a player must first come to an agreement with the player’s initial club.

The initial reaction, of course, is to revel in Chelsea’s misfortune. Chelsea is an aging team who is very dependent on spending money in the transfer market, so this ban stands to hurt them badly if it is not reduced. And it’s always fun to see Chelsea hurt. Ditto Manchester City.

But after some reflection, this could be an ominous sign of things to come for Arsenal. It’s not that I think we’ve committed any infractions, although the signing of Fran Merida from Barcelona was pretty similar to the incident for which Chelsea was punished. But generally speaking, the young players we have signed for free (Cesc, for example) have been players who are not under contract at a club. And the young players we have gone after who have been under contract at their clubs (like Theo or Aaron Ramsey), we have negotiated a deal with the club before bringing the players in. We seem to have followed the rules within the system, and I don’t see us getting in any trouble for our transfer policy.

Where this is a problem, though, is that Sepp Blatter has said that he would like to end all transfers involving players under the age of 18. Under his proposed system, every player under the age of 18 would train with their initial club until that point, and only then would they be able to switch clubs.

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that no club in the world is as dependent upon bringing in young players from other clubs as Arsenal is. It’s the cornerstone of Arsene Wenger’s transfer policy. So if this were to change, then, Arsenal would be substantially affected, and have to seriously re-think our way of doing things.

I’ll say at the outset that from an objective viewpoint, Blatter’s proposal is shortsighted and badly flawed. The idea is that local clubs should be able to hang onto the players they bring in until the players are substantially developed, instead of having their best starlets picked over by bigger clubs. The idea is not without a certain simplistic appeal.

Where it falls apart, however, is its implicit assumption that players will develop roughly the same no matter which club they are with. This is, obviously, completely and utterly idiotic. The big clubs have spent tens of millions of dollars on their training academies, and can boast world-class facilities and some of the finest coaches, trainers, and instructors in the world. Smaller clubs cannot. It only stands to reason that players will develop better and more quickly with better coaching, equipment, and medical care. Therefore, it is only logical to say that if you take a player from a smaller club in Africa at the age of 15, he would develop into a better player by the time he was 18 than he would if he was forced to stay in Africa.

Or think of it this way–if you have an academically gifted 15 year old from a very bad inner city area, should he stay at the dilapidated, overcrowded, high school, being taught by teachers more concerned with maintaining order than communicating ideas? Or should he be transferred to the magnet school across town, reserved for the best and brightest students, where he will be taught by the best teachers in the district, at a higher level, and surrounded by students of roughly his level of intelligence? Does anyone honestly think that the student wouldn’t be better off academically by the time he was 18 going to the magnet school than staying at his public school? Does anyone honestly think that learning about math is any different than learning about football in this respect? So one hugely negative result of Blatter’s proposal would be that, on the whole, many players would not receive the level of training they otherwise would have, and will not be able to realize their full potential.

Blatter’s proposal also completely misunderstands one of the most fundamental notions about football as opposed to other sports, which is that it is the ultimate team game. By this, I do not mean that each individual player must shoulder his burden equally–while this is true, it’s equally true of other sports. What I mean is that each player must buy into the team’s system more than probably any other sport. Most teams (well, most successful teams, anyway) have a distinct and particular strategy and approach to the game, and in order to succeed, all 11 players must fill their role within that system. In other words, a left-back for Arsenal has a very different job than a left-back for Chelsea or Stoke. If someone is a very good player for one club, he will not necessarily be a very good player for another club, because his new club may play completely differently and have completely different demans for a player in that position than his old club (see Shevchenko, Andrei).

There are two ways to have a team that plays well together. One is through scouting established players–you can identify the strengths and weaknesses of their skills and abilities, and determine whether the player can fulfill a particular role within your club’s system. By and large, this is what clubs like Chelsea and Real Madrid have done, to great success. The other way is to teach all of your young players in the academy to play that particular style, so that by the time they are ready to step up to the first-team, they have been playing the club’s style for years and are well-acquainted with its demands and goals.

What Arsenal does is combine the two–we find teenagers who have the potential to develop into world-class players and we teach them from a young age to play football “the Arsenal way.” After 3-4 years in the academy and reserves, they are typically prepared to have some role in the first team, and have thoroughly developed an understanding of the way Arsenal play and what their role in the system should be.

However, they younger you are, the easier it is to teach you new things. It’s much easier for a 15 or 16 year old to adapt to a new style of play than a 20 year old. If Arsenal is limited to bringing in players of over 18 or more, Wenger’s transfer policy is simply not going to work anywhere near as well as it has thus far. And I happen to believe that clubs like Arsenal, or Manchester United, or Barcelona, who train young players to play within a certain system and then use the players to implement that system on the club level once they are ready for the first-team should be rewarded, not punished, for doing this.

But in the end, my views on whether this proposal would be good or bad for the game are immaterial. What we can all definitely agree on is that it would certainly be bad for Arsenal. Arsenal’s advantage has long been the ability to identify, train, and develop young talent. This has been the main way Arsenal has been able to stay competitive with clubs who spend a lot more money on the transfer market than we do. This proposal would partially negate that competitive advantage, and make it that much more difficult for the Gunners to succeed.

To illustrate, the following Arsenal players were brought in before their 18th birthday:

Fabregas
Senderos
Vela
Walcott
Ramsey
Djourou
Clichy
Mannone
Gibbs
Traore
Merida
Bendtner

That’s 12 out of 29, or 41.4% first-team players. All of whom Arsenal would not have been able to sign (at the point when they signed for us, anyway) had Blatter’s proposed system been in place.

Such a system would be bad for the players, bad for the game, and most importantly, bad for Arsenal, so here’s hoping it never comes to pass. But it’s definitely something that bears watching.

Well, that’s it. The transfer window has come and gone, not with a bang but a whimper. No signings, no sales, no loans to report on the last day. For better or for worse, this is our squad until January.

To review, we sold or released three players over the summer–Amaury Bischoff, Kolo Toure, and Emmanuel Adebayor. Bischoff was clearly never going to feature in the squad, Toure wanted out and looked suddenly very old last season, and Adebayor was . . . well, he was Adebayor. We raised £40 million total from sales this summer.

We also sent four players out on loan–Henri Lansbury, Jay Simpson, Havard Nordveit, and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas. Promising players all, but none figured into our plans for this season, so this doesn’t hurt us in any competition except the Carling Cup.

In terms of players we brought in, our only purchase was Thomas Vermaelen, who looks a bargain so far at £10 million. This, despite media reports linking us with scores of players over the course of the summer, most notably Felipe Melo and Marouane Chamakh. Other than that, the only player we could claim as an “import” would be Phillipe Senderos, who returned from his year-long loan spell at AC Milan.

So we lost three players, got back two, and made a profit of £30 million on the transfer market. Now, I can’t think that Wenger doesn’t think the squad couldn’t use another player or two, but despite making a large profit, he made no move. I don’t want to beat this drum yet again, but I honestly believe that Arsenal’s finances are substantially worse than they’re claiming, and the board feel they need that profit to cover real estate losses or interest payments on the Emirates loans. The only other explanation is that Wenger really believes that the squad doesn’t need any more players, which would also be very concerning for different reasons.

Anyway, the loss of Adebayor doesn’t worry me–we’ve still got Robbie, Arshavin, Walcott, Eduardo, Bendtner, and Vela up front. Replacing Toure with Vermaelen was definitely an upgrade, and with Djourou and Senderos providing cover before Silvestre sees action, we’re not in terrible shape at the back (make no mistake, I think we could have used someone like Bassong for extra cover and to provide some pace, since Djourou and Senderos aren’t all that fleet of foot–I just think it could have been a lot worse if, say, Senderos had gone to Everton).

The middle of the field is the one area where I really would have liked to see one more quality player come in for cover. With Rosicky, Nasri, and Cesc all currently injured, we’re having to make do with Diaby, Denilson, and Song. Behind them, all we have are the talented but extremely raw teenagers, Ramsey and Wilshere. We’re an injury or two away from having a real mess on our hands, and don’t forget that Song will be out for virtually all of January at the African Cup of Nations. A guy like Felipe Melo really would have been a perfect fit, I have to say, and I think there will come a day when we’ll all really be pulling our hair out that we didn’t pony up the extra cash sign him when we had a decent chance.

Still, though, Arsenal is a good team, and an improving team, that I think can take us on a fun ride this season. They’ve proven this season that they’re going to be a force to be reckoned with, let’s hope that despite the lack of reinforcements, they turn that promise into silverware between now and May.

Back to the international break monotony, I’ll post if anything happens over the next couple of days.

There are also transfer rumors continuing to float around. We’re still linked with St. Etienne midfielder Blaise Matuidi, although Wenger seems to have shot that one down. I don’t know anything about Matuidi, but he’s young and cheap, and plays a position where we desperately need cover. It’s hard for me to see how splashing out a couple million pounds on a decent holding midfielder would be a bad move at this point.

Wenger has also said that there is “no news” on Philippe Senderos. I think most of us logically assumed that since the Jolean Lescott sale finally went through, Senderos would be brought in to fill that void, but it now looks like that may not necessarily be true. I’m a bigger fan of Senderos than most, but I really think he shouldn’t be sold unless a replacement is brought in. I’ll grant that he definitely should not start over Vermaelen, Gallas, or even Djourou, but he’ll provide valuable cover as a fourth-choice center back, and he keeps Silvestre further down the depth chart, which is a good thing. But I think the issue here is that Senderos isn’t happy with his role at the club and wants a chance to be a first-choice center-back somewhere. Which, frankly, is understandable–he’s in his prime and wants a chance to prove himself, and won’t get that chance at Arsenal.

In other news, Arsenal great Sol Campbell has agreed to a five-year deal with League Two side Notts County, which surprised Arsene Wenger. Sol won two league titles and three FA Cups in his years with the club, and was a stalwart of the backline. He also scored the goal that gave Arsenal a 1-0 lead in the Champions League final against Barcelona. He played for Portsmouth last season, and could have continued playing the Premiership, or at least a high level league elsewhere in Europe, but for whatever reason (and by “whatever reason,” I mean “money”) decided to ply his trade at the bottom level of English professional football. But it’s his career, and his legacy is secure, so best of luck to him.

Finally, young academy product striker Jay Simpson appears to be headed to Championship side QPR on a season-long loan. I’ve said in this space before that Simpson has the ability to be a decent Premiership striker, but I just don’t think he’s got what it takes to play for Arsenal. But this will be a good chance for him to get first-team football at a high level and show what kind of player he is. I also realize that I’ve probably let a couple loan announcements sneak through the cracks. In addition to Simpson, the following players are out on loan:

Henri Lansbury–Watford (England–Championship)(until the end of 2009)
Havard Nordtveit–Nurnberg (Germany–Bundesliga) (until end of season)
Pedro Botelho–Celta Vigo (Spain–Segunda Division) (until end of season)
Jay Emmanuel-Thomas–Blackpool (England–Championship) (until end of September, but probably longer)

Those are great opportunities for those players to prove themselves at a high level of football, and hopefully some of them will do well enough to convince Wenger that they’re “Arsenal-quality” footballers.

Preview of the second leg of the Celtic match up sometime tonight…

First, there are reports that Arsenal and Barcelona have agreed on a deal to sell Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona for a fee of €35 million. Supposedly if Arsenal don’t make the Champions League (i.e., if Celtic somehow knock us out next week), the transfer will go through before the end of August, but if we do, which in all likelihood we will, the transfer won’t go through until next summer. This is, obviously, quite alarming, and I’ll be pretty upset if it’s true. But I would say this—it was apparently initially reported by the Spanish media, which has all the credibility of a Magic 8-ball and often serves as a mouthpiece for the clubs themselves, planting rumors that are to the club’s advantage. At the moment, Barcelona fans are probably pretty nervous, given that archrival Real Madrid have done so much to improve this summer and Barca has only swapped Eto’o for Ibrahimovic. So Barca’s president Joan Laporta and manager Pep Guardiola are under pressure at the moment, and if they can convince the fans that they have made this blockbuster move for the future, it might give them a bit of respite. I’ve said it 20-30 times over the summer, and I’ll say it again—I just don’t really believe it. I don’t believe Cesc would bail on Arsenal, Wenger, the fans, and his teammates when the team is on the brink of achieving great things, and I don’t think he’s the kind of player who would agree to join another club and then play an entire season with his present club. It’ll be interesting to see if the club, the boss, and/or Cesc issue a denial about this today—in the past, denials have generally been forthcoming immediately after these types of reports, so if nothing comes out today, that might be a sign that there’s actually something to this.

PSV Eindhoven and Hungarian international winger Balazs Dzsudzsak (how do you pronounce THAT?) has claimed that Arsenal have made a formal bid for his services. With my usual caveat about not being a scout and never having seen him play, he’s young (22) and his goal-scoring record (11 goals in 32 league games for PSV last season; 3 goals in just 3 league games this season) is impressive for a winger. Vermaelen, our recent young Eredivisie import, hasn’t taken too much time to settle into the Premiership and has adapted well, so maybe Holland is a good place to look for undervalued talent. Dzsudzsak doesn’t really fill a big need for us—I won’t play that broken record about how we need a defender and a holding midfielder again because you’ve already heard it—but if Wenger believes he can play at this level and can get a good deal for him, I can’t see how it’s a bad thing.

Carlos Vela is recovering from an ankle injury picked up in the Mexico-United States game, apparently. It doesn’t appear to be that serious and he will hopefully be back in action soon. There are also reports, though, that Vela may be headed to Fulham on a season-long loan as part of a deal to bring Brede Hangeland to Arsenal. I have to say, I’m not wild about this idea. While my initial reaction was that Vela could use the first-team experience and it could be a good thing, after thinking about it I changed my mind. First of all, with Adebayor leaving and Wenger playing three men forward, Vela is going to get a fair share of first-team action this season, and I think we need him. After Vela, either Jay Simpson or Sanchez Watt are the next strikers on the depth chart, and both are substantially below Vela in terms of skill and quality. Furthermore, while “first-team action” is generally good, Fulham play such a different brand of football from Arsenal that I’m not sure it would help prepare him to play for Arsenal in the future—he wouldn’t be coming back for the ball or working an intricate passing game with his teammates, he’d be sprinting downfield every time Fulham got the ball trying to latch onto a long ball.

Vermaelen seems to be the toast of the town off of his two strong performances so far. In typical fashion, the media, which was telling us we would finish 5th before the season started, is now talking about how great we are. And Vermaelen has gone, in the span of a week, from an injury-plagued, unknown, untested youngster that Wenger was foolish to depend on, to “Arsenal’s Vidic”—one paper actually called him that. But he seems to be taking it in stride, giving a lot of credit to both Wenger and Gallas for helping him settle in. Hopefully he’ll keep a level head and keep working hard, because while he’s put in some solid performances so far, he’ll have to deal with Rooney, Berbatov, Owen, Adebayor, Robinho, Ireland, and Tevez within the next few weeks, and that’s a tougher test than he’s had to face so far in his young career. I think he’s going to be a very good one, but let’s see how he does against elite competition before crowning him a world-class defender. It is nice, though, to see him getting on so well with Gallas so far, it’s a stark contrast to the obviously strained relationship between Gallas and Kolo Toure.

Finally, Arsenal have invited John Hartson, who is presently recovering from surgery to remove a cancerous tumor, to be present at next week’s Arsenal-Celtic match. Since he played the bulk of his career for the two clubs, it made sense and would have made for a nice moment, but Hartson has apparently declined the invitation, saying he doesn’t yet feel well enough to travel and attend. Hartson does say that he’s feeling better, though, and that is strength is slowly coming back. Hang in there, Big John, we’re thinking about you.

Wenger has, however, agreed to send Fran Merida out on loan for the season to Levante. Levante plays in the Spanish Segunda Division. It would be better if he was able to play at a higher level, but he’ll still got some valuable seasoning in Spain. Frankly, I’m not sure he’s really Arsenal-quality anyway, so it may just serve as a year to develop his skills and showcase his game for a possible sale next summer. Regardless, he wasn’t going to get into our first-team, and this was probably the best thing for all parties involved.

I have to say, I’ve never been all that impressed with Kalou, but he’s still young, he grew up idolizing Thierry Henry, and he’s basically a spare part at this point with Chelsea. And I guess at this point Wenger’s track record on evaluating young attacking talent speaks for itself, so he deserves the benefit of the doubt. We’ll see if there’s anything to it.

Wenger also spoke out again on Chamakh. The club had recently set a valuation on Chamakh of over £12 million, and said Arsenal were lowballing them. Wenger then responded by lowballing them even further, saying of his interest in Chamakh:

In five months Chamakh will be free to talk to other clubs and Bordeaux will be in danger of not getting anything. It is over. It is terminated.

I doubt his interest is actually “terminated,” but this kind of hardball tactic can be pretty effective in this situation. Arsenal won’t meet Bordeaux’s valuation for the striker, and frankly don’t need him for the coming season; meanwhile, Chamakh is upset and has said he has no desire to come back to Bordeaux, and has said he won’t sign a new deal with the club because he wants to play in England. You’d have to think Bordeaux needs to get some money for him while they can.

This is basically the equivalent of going car shopping, talking to the salesman, and telling him his price is too high, and then, when he refuses to budge, walking off the lot and saying you’re willing to look elsewhere. 9 times out of 10, he’ll come running after you or give you a call the next day offering a lower price.

Meanwhile, the Senderos deal isn’t official, but there is clearly something going on. Apparently the official website of the Swiss Football Federation announced the deal yesterday, but it hasn’t been officially announced anywhere else. I think it’s almost a definite at this point, though.

I don’t really know what to think, to tell the truth. On the one hand, we need someone who does exactly what Paddy did for us. He’d be cheap and wouldn’t require a long-term contract. He’s familiar with Wenger, is beloved by the fans, and knows and respects the club and all that it stands for, having been one of our greatest captains. He’d bring leadership and a link to the most successful period in the club’s history.

On the other hand, though, he is 33. He’s not anywhere near the player or physical presence he once was, and has had trouble breaking into Mourinho’s Inter set up. He’s struggled with frequent injuries over the last couple of seasons. Honestly, if we got him, I’m not sure he displaces Alex Song as our starting defensive midfielder.

But, look, I’m a softie. I cry at the end of the movie “Cool Runnings.” We may not get that much out of him, but if you tell me there’s a chance Patrick Vieira is going to come back to the Emirates and proudly wear the red shirt again, sign me up.

We won the friendly against Hannover 96 1-0 yesterday (video here), with the win coming on an early goal by Cesc, who made his return to action. I didn’t really get to watch it, but I’m happy that Cesc decided to ditch his ridiculous faux-hawk haircut.