End of the Weekend News Roundup

There are a dizzying number of rumors and reports out there to sort through at the moment, as well as some semi-news from the preseason tour in Asia. And while it’s somewhat tiresome to keep up with all the rumors, I’ll do my best to sort through some of the bigger news items of the last couple of days. I think it states in Article 6, Section G of the Blogger’s Manual that all competent bloggers must at least make an effort to sort through all the reports during the silly season.

It’s been amazing how many emotional ups and downs we’ve had this summer, all while almost nothing of actual substance has happened. The only official news has been that we bought some unknown guy for very little, and then sold Clichy. And judging from the poll results from a while back, fans weren’t too interested in keeping Clichy anyway. In fact, when the question was put to you, the readers, there were more votes for promoting Gibbs than keeping Clichy. There were also more votes for moving Vermaelen to left back and then buying a new CD. So overall, the only official news was that we lost a guy that most fans didn’t care to keep anyway.

Nevertheless, that hasn’t stopped us from going wildly up and down. We started the summer with guarded optimism that this would finally be the summer of spending. Wenger even promised us. We were going to change our ways and act like a big club for a change. Then we went a month and a half with nothing. And then it really took a turn for the worse when the reports were that we’d lose both Nasri and Cesc, on top of doing almost nothing in the way of purchases. Gunner fans were warned to stay away from tall buildings and sharp objects. Then things seemed to turn again recently, with some reports out there that we’re going to do whatever it takes to keep our top players, plus maybe add Mata and others. And that was while we were supposedly on the verge of signing Gervinho. Whew. I’m not sure where exactly we are today on the emotional roller coaster. But I’ll attempt to sort through the most important news and rumors as best I can. I’ll divide this into categories for good news, neutral news, and bad news. And since most people like their bad news first, I’ll start there.

Bad News:

1) Cesc’s reported price. There are reports out there that we’ve lowered our price on Cesc to £35, which is exactly what Andy Carroll sold for this year. Supposedly, Barca aren’t far from matching this price. Of course, this news flies in the face of recent comments by Wenger that he will fight to keep both Cesc and Nasri. (As an aside, can someone please explain to me why we have to “fight” to keep a player on our team when he’s already under contract for a few more years? It seems pretty simple to me – when another club calls, we just hang up. Duh. OK, rant over.) Anyway, I’m going to tentatively go with Wenger on this one, and stick with my earlier prediction that we’re not going to sell Cesc. I think that’s easier than believing a newspaper that’s earned the nickname “Daily Fail.”

2) Kieran Gibbs. This one is somewhat troubling. Wenger made recent statements that the sale of Clichy was largely aimed at giving Gibbs a chance to take over the LB spot. In addition to being injured often, Gibbs has never really shown that he can step right in and be an elite player at that position. Even if he proves himself to be competent, we would almost certainly have the worst of the starting left backs among the top four teams in England. Now, there’s still a good chance that all of that was just talk. Maybe he’s giving Gibbs an opportunity to prove himself in the preseason, and if it doesn’t go well, Wenger will buy a LB towards the end of the window. But if I had to guess who will be our starter against Newcastle on August 13, I would have to guess Gibbs. Yikes. Furthermore, if you want to be really pessimistic, you could imagine Wenger saying the same thing a couple more times this summer. “Well, we all really liked Cesc, but it’s because we think so highly of Ramsey and Wilshere that we let him go.” Ugh. Someone please tell me that won’t happen.

3) Stewart Downing. I really hope this one isn’t true. Reports are linking us with a bid for him at somewhere between £15-19 million. I’m sure this one is complete rubbish, probably aimed at pushing up his price or something. I would consider this the classic case of paying a huge premium for an English player with Premier League experience. But to compare him with Mata, he’s almost four years older. He scored 13 goals in all competitions over the last 3 years, compared with 37 for Mata in the same span. Now I know goals aren’t everything. However, I still get the sense that Villa under-achieved last year, despite expensive players like Downing, Bent, and Young. Overall, I feel quite sure there’s nothing to this. It’s not like Wenger to splash big money on English players (notwithstanding the woeful purchase of Francis Jeffers 10 years ago). Of course it must be said that Arsenal ought to be better off with Downing than without him, but if he’s “our first big summer purchase,” and he comes instead of someone better, then most Arsenal fans would rather do without.

Neutral News:

1) Team arrival in Malaysia. I’m assuming the team arrived safely and all that. I was hoping for some pictures or something, but they reportedly arrived on a chartered flight and never went through a public hallway or lobby. Of course, the whole purpose of the trip is supposed to be selling more shirts and making gobs of money, which we haven’t really been doing much of for the past several summers. So we’ll have to wait and see whether the club makes a tidy sum off the trip, and then if we actually spend that tidy sum on something the fans actually care about.

2) Gervinho. I’m not sure what’s the record in the Guinness Book for most protracted transfer, but I think we’re trying to set that mark with Gervinho. He reportedly ran into visa problems of some kind, and was unable to make the trip to Asia. And since all the important people are now half a world away, it probably makes more sense to announce his transfer after the team gets back to London. Which means we wait another week.

3) Nasri’s situation. I wasn’t sure what category to file this under. Of course there are reports that we’ve already agreed to a deal with Man City for what would be a pretty large amount. But yet he’s on the trip to Asia, which doesn’t really add up. Surely if that were an agreed deal, the team wouldn’t have taken him to Asia and given him playing time ahead of others who will actually be on the team this season. I think the Nasri drama is far from over, but most likely this week will give Wenger one last chance to try to convince Nasri to stay.

Good News:

1) Bendtner and Almunia sales look imminent. I hate to rejoice over the sale of Bendtner too much, since he’s really not a bad player. But he’s often asked to play out of position, and he doesn’t seem to want to stick around. And of course the hope is, for the gazillionth time, that if we actually got some money for him, we’d actually plow that back into the transfer market this summer. Now with Almunia, I really don’t have mixed feelings. If he goes, I’ll wish him well. But while I don’t have any personal distaste for the guy, I don’t think he’s Arsenal quality, I think he’s overpaid for a backup, and I’d rather have Mannone as our 3rd choice goalie if possible.

2) Per Mertesacker. These might be more unfounded rumors, but Mertesacker is back in the news. I’ll admit that I was much more excited about him last summer than I am this summer. And from what I’ve read, he and his team (Werder Bremen) didn’t have the best season. Bremen actually finished 13th out of 18 last season. However, we’re still talking about a 26-year-old who’s been capped 75 times for Germany. And supposedly, we’re bidding around £7 million for him. Hmm… £7 million or so for Mertesacker, or £10-12 million for Samba? Is that really even a question?

Well I think that’s all the important stuff to report for now. I’m posting this Sunday night, my time, even though Monday morning may have more interesting tidbits for us. But that’s why we have the comments section, right?

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For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. II Corinthians 4:18b

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Category: Arsenal News, Arsene Wenger, Cesc Fabregas, Manuel Almunia, Nicklas Bendtner, Pre-Season, Samir Nasri, Transfer News and Player Movement, Transfers