Don’t Call Us, We’ll Kalou
By: Martin | August 4th, 2009Well, the hot rumor of the day is that Arsenal has made a bid to Chelsea for Solomon Kalou. Apparently Arsenal are offering £6 million, while Chelsea are holding out for £8 million.
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.
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