Another Day, Another New Kit, Another Transfer Rumor

By: Martin | July 1st, 2009

Well, first off, the club has just announced its new third kit. Third kits are about as useful as a chocolate fire alarm. Honestly, I’m not sure I even remember us using our third kit at all last year.

At any rate, here it is:

Some people really hate it, but honestly, I’m pretty indifferent. Given that our archrivals are Tottenham, I generally am not in favor of us wearing white shirts, and I think it looks too much like our new away kits. But I just can’t bring myself to give much of a crap about a shirt we’ll probably only wear one or two times, tops. I’m more offended by the fact that instead of just having the players model the new shirts, they take pictures like this one of the best moments of our season and airbrush the bejesus out of them, when we all know damn good and well what jersey Arshavin was wearing when he scored that goal. Why don’t we leave this airbrushing and photoshopping to magazines trying to make Kirstie Alley look not-so-fat, and just show us what the new shirt looks like?

The transfer rumor de jour is that Arsenal are after Marseille midfielder Lorik Cana. He’s 6′1, will be 26 by the start of the season, and captained the French side last season, a season in which they finished 2nd in Ligue 1. He plays the holding midfielder role, which suits our needs very well. The bottom line is that I don’t know that I’ve ever seen him play, so won’t pretend to offer an opinion on him, but he’s a good age (experienced enough to step in and play, young enough to still have several good seasons ahead of him), good size, has played at the international, European, and top club level, and plays the role we are looking for. He’s also reportedly relatively affordable (£5-10 million).

I also have to say that I like it that he’s a club captain–it seems to me that this team is lacking the leadership we used to have in the late 90s and early 00s, when Tony Adams and Patrick Vieira ruled Highbury. I love Cesc, and think he’s going to grow into the role, but he’s awfully young to be a captain. Certain things need to be taken care of in the locker room–for example, if Diaby had put in one of his patented half-hearted performances when Adams was on the team, it’s hard for me to imagine he wouldn’t have heard about it in the locker room. The team has seemed very fractured lately, so it would be nice to add some guys with character and leadership potential. Now, being a captain doesn’t automatically mean you’re a good leader (see, e.g., Gallas, William), but it’s a good indication. We’ve already added Vermaelen, who captained Ajax at a young age, and if we were to add another player who had captained a premier European club, I think it may help the atmosphere around the club a lot. Here’s hoping.