Cesc Out, Sol Down, Philippe Up in the Air

By: Martin | August 25th, 2009

A little bit of news round-up from the early part of this week. First off, Cesc has been ruled out for tomorrow’s clash with Celtic. But this doesn’t really tell us anything. Wenger has said that it might have just been a slight tweak, in which case he could be ready to play against Manchester United on Saturday; or it could have been a pull, in which case he could be out for 3 weeks. It’s still unclear. I will say that we’ve got to take the long view here–as much as we need Cesc to play against United, if he’s still injured at all, I think Wenger should sit him, because that would also give us solid ground to hold Cesc out of the international break the following two weeks, and make sure he’s healthy and rested for the group stages and some very important league fixtures in September. I will of course keep you posted.

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…