Gervinho Signs with Arsenal

What happens when the African Nations Cup comes around ? Gervinho and Chamakh both off, and RvP too (injured, not playing of course).

testing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Yessssssss.
It is a nice signing, I am not an expert, but I d say we needed a guy like this. Of course I dont expect one Etoo or similar coming. I was expecting him or Falcao (only that big bucks were already in, and I dont know Falcaos age).
Good signing for an RvP back up, and why not, for when you have to put all the meat in the BBQ and go for it, alongside.
Now, I hope for e couple of defensive players.

Does anyone know if Sairax reads this blog anymore?  I see she still Tweets a bit.  I was hoping she'd come back and comment sometimes, like the Martin has.  Maybe the dropoff in quality was too much for her to handle.  :-\

Between the Canadian Women's Team implosion at the World Cup and Nasri wanting to leave, Sairax may be off the sport altogether these days...

Well if you ever communicate with her anymore, please let her know we'd love to see her in the comments section again.  It would be just like old times.  Sorta.  But not exactly.

I think she's avoiding the Arsenal madness this summer. And with good reason.

But she's running the risk of me getting my feelings hurt.

I hope this signing doesn't mean we are giving up on Chamakh. Granted, I'm a Bordeaux fan so I'm a bit biased but the guy can score and provides plenty of assists. He had a difficult first season acclimating but I think he will really shine if given the chance this season. Further, I think Gervinho will go through the same troubles this season as Chamakh. EPL is just a much more physical league with no winter break.

There is a continual theme that emerges from those people who like to call
themselves Arsenal supporters but who criticise virtually everything the club
does, and it goes something like this:

The club is being run as a money machine, not as a football club for football
supporters.

One element in the argument to support this is that the club takes its time
in securing transfers.  Players who are leaving are not sold quickly enough,
other players who Arsenal are reported to want (probably in the past by the News
of the World – although thankfully that source is no longer with us) are not
signed quickly enough.

Delay is then seen as a sign of incompetence.

I can only assume the people who say this have never been involved in serious
business discussions over anything much.  But if you have ever bought, sold or
rented business property, if you have ever tried to negotiate a financial
settlement around a divorce, if you have ever had to deal with a business that
won’t pay you the money they owe, or  if you have ever been bought or sold a
company, you’ll know, no matter how straightforward it all should be, in the end
it all takes time.

People jostle for position, people play games.  People who are really naff
negotiators think they can solve problems by shouting a lot or making outrageous
demands which are never going to be realised, and announce that they are
non-negotiable (and then send a fax or email asking why you haven’t
replied).

In the real world it doesn’t work like that.  Yes people can get worked up,
but generally speaking it is more like poker than children in the playground. 
You send a fax, the other side waits.  They ask a question, and you have to
spend time trying to work out why lies behind it, what strategy will follow from
your answer, and so on.

That’s how it goes generally, but I really do think we have an extra problem
with the market at the moment.   With PSG being taken over by the Arabs, we now
have 3 firms to whom money is no object, and as a result, every time there is a
possible sale of a player the clubs looking to do the deal are also looking to
see if PSG, Chelsea or Man C want to  move for the player.

Those three know just how much emotional power they have, so they keep
slipping out noises to their friends in the media, about maybe they are wanting
this or that player, knowing full well that they don’t but also knowing that
such an approach screws up deals for their rivals.

Everyone knows this is going on, but no one can stop it, because no one
really knows what the financial big three are up to – and they are certainly not
going to tell.

To make matters worse there is the special case of Man U, where Ferguson is
just daring the owners to stop him buying anyone or come to that everyone.  We
all know that Man U is making huge losses all the time, and have no entry back
into the Financial Fair Play regs (unless their lawyers have come up with
something and are just waiting to spring it).

So Man U play their own game.  They think FFP will buckle and Ferguson
believes that the owners won’t dare stop him buying.  Hence his policy of
rushing out and paying top price for certain players even before the transfer
window opens, and then suggesting he can still buy anyone else he wants.

One day the Glazer empire will fall, one day Sir F Word will retire, one day
it will all end in tears – but until then, he just buys.

And yet it is not just Manchester U that causes the problem.  Consider
Barca.  Just 13 months ago they failed to pay their players, and now they are
saying that they are making cut backs by telling staff only to photocopy in
black and white.  Consider Real Mad, who spend money as if they had the ability
to print it…  which is quite an interesting thought given their reputed
connections to the top echelons of Spanish society.

Who knows what is going on in clubs like that?  Are Barca bankrupt?  It
certainly looks like it.  So how can they offer £30m or whatever it is for a
player that they let go for a spot of compensation money?  The further one
looks, the more insane the situation appears – and that makes it even harder to
negotiate for anyone.

(Actually there is one more oddity in all this, which occurs when you have a
player like Modric reportedly telling Tottenham that he is confused about his
own future.  I rather liked that.)

Where does that leave the normal clubs like Arsenal?  Arsenal don’t have a
country or its oil wealth to back them, so they aim to make a profit and use
that on salaries, transfers, youth development, stadium development etc.  In the
transfer window that means

a) keeping as quiet as possible about a deal for as long as possible.  It
doesn’t always work, because the other club involved, and the player’s agent,
are both likely to alert the financial big three as to the deal, to try and jack
the price up.  But Arsenal can only try.

b) buying players not on the radar of every other buying club, rather than
pitching for the big name deal

c) doing nothing to dissuade bloggers and journalists when they print wholly
fallacious stories about Arsenal buying X or Y.   Why should the club do that? 
After all, if all attention is on Arsenal buying X when the club is actually
trying to conduct private negotiations about buying Z, so much the better.

Unfortunately because the under 10s don’t get this, they then blame Mr Wenger
and the club management for being incompetent by not buying players that Arsenal
were never trying to buy in the first place.  Equally, because against all the
evidence these same under 10s also believe the rumours in the press, they get
worked up about things that are never going to happen.

So it is that a difficult market (with maybe 50 or so big clubs worldwide
jostling for the services of a few) is made impossible by the advent of the
three financial superpowers.    And then made more difficult by the oddity of
the Man U / Barca / Real Mad situation.
 

You had me until "send a fax". Are clubs still sending faxes? Maybe that's why negotiations take so long. 

Drogba is well known as a late bloomer tho. You can compare his records with Messi's or Huntelaar's, and Gervinho would  look a lot worse.

Still a good signing, regardless, especially at 10 mil. Better player than Young or Downing IMO.

I think the comparison was given to Drogba and Eto'o because they are all Africans, and therefore more likely to be subject to similar up bringings, whereas Messi and Huntelaar's would be different by some degree.

Something to think about--worst case scenario, Fab and Nasri both leave--442 or 4231

        Szczeny/Fabianski
Sagna, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Gibbs
        Song, Wilshere
           van Persie
Walcott, Chamakh, Gervinho

A lot of question marks, but I love the theory.

If Fab and Nasri both stay, I can see one of them on the bench and the first team in a 433 with Song, Wilshere, and Fab or Nasri in the midfield with a front three with van Persie in Chamakh's place, when healthy.

It's going to be a massive season for so many players that can prove that they can make a difference.

why not Arshavin in playmaker role?

big LOL at this post. it was worth the wait darren :)

Ha, thanks. I had to change a bunch of it because it had become outdated.

So you liked the photoshopped massive forehead?

That's photoshopped ?!

Uh, yes.  Just a bit. 

Rodallega has been saying hes "closer to Arsenal than Villareal" (Colombia is actually putting some pretty decent games in the Copa America by the way, as Messi´s Argentina struggles in order to advance the group stages) Anybody heard any thing about this?

Would be interesting to see how Wenger fits Rodallega into the system.  Would have to do some thinking about it, how he would fare playing alongside RvP.

Another consideration is, say he comes, and RvP is injured...how does he do with Chamakh?

Can he play lone-striker?

Yes, I read it.  I didn't see fit to blog about it yesterday.  Maybe I'll blog on it tomorrow though, if I think it's got some legs to it.

Hooray!  A positive signing from Arsenal.

Unfortunately, I clicked to the blog with the intention of pasting some negative news that I copied.  Sorry all but I feel obliged to follow-through.

"The plan for left-back is that we have Kieran Gibbs, Armand Traore and Thomas Vermaelen can play there too. So we have what we need," said Wenger - who admitted that new signing Carl Jenkinson will be involved with the first team."Jenkinson is an interesting buy. We bought him from Charlton and hopefully he will push Sagna," he said.

Didn't tell me anything I didn't know. So, please, chill out; save your judgment until the season actually starts.

Btw Darren mixed up Jordan Henderson's name with our Conor Henderson's there.

I'm going to judge away over here, because I've seen Gibbs and Traore play at left back. We're going to have problems there this season if that is our plan. 

Alright, alright--you want positive, I'll give you positive.

With the signing of Gervinho, I feel a lot more optimistic about Arsenal.  The last big signing Arsenal had was Arshavin--that was two and a half years ago, during a winter window.  Recent summer windows have felt very so-so, with bigger exits than incoming transfers.  Gervinho, though I've seen little of him, looks like a beast that enjoys his game.  I think he can be a beast.

Still, respectfully, this is my team to bitch about too!!  I suppose Gibbs could stay healthy for awhile and burst onto the scene, just as Clichy did in the very next season following Ashley Cole's exit.  Or he could be injured for most of the season, or he could stay healthy, but play like a second-stringer.  Comments like these from Wenger sound awfully status-quo--don't even get me started on his bit on Jenkinson.

I promise to write more about positives in the future.

So I did... so I did.. Thanks.

I covered the Gibbs portion of that to some extent in my last blog.  But yeah, none of that is too promising, now is it?

Must've missed that!  Will check it out

He's nothing more than a gamble at this point, I hope he turns into a stud for us but not sure if he really addresses any of our current needs!?  He is not a pure striker/goalscorer and he certainly is not going to to much to stiffen up our defense (although I hope with his height he can chip in defending set pieces).  Just another relatively cheap signing that AW hopes will turn to gold and make him look like a genius. 
Although I will say, those chip finishes in the highlight reel give me some hope for the guy.  Anyone that calm on the ball definitely has potential. 

Scoring 15 goals in Ligue 1 is like scoring 58 in the Premier League. 59 if you round up. Ligue 1 is the lowest scoring of the big European leagues, as the Martin points out.

I think he can be a beast.  I see him, in England, as a finessed version version of Theo Walcott, or he could turn out to behave on the field like a Gabi Agbonlahor-type player (09-10, not 10-11).  He most definitely has pace, long legs, and he can run at defenders with the ball at his feet.  Not sure if I see him as the type that will score from set-pieces, but if our creative midfield can play at its most-creative, I see him running behind defenses.  Looks like a good finisher.

In my fantasy world, even, he could be a good complement for Marouane Chamakh, in particular.

I don't know. 15 goals and 10 assists in the French Ligue (which is extremely low-scoring), I would say puts up somewhere above "nothing more than a gamble"

The comparison between leagues doesn't work, use Nasri as an example.  He scored 6 goals in his last season with Marseille. Which, by your guys thinking, means he should be scoring exponentially more now that he is playing the Prem, but he isn't is he?  He has scored 7/5/15 in all competitions his first three seasons with the team. 
Or if thats not enough, use Chamakh as an example.  16 goals in all competitions in his last season in France w/ Bordeaux, compared with I think 10 or 11 with Arsenal this past season. It's not a fair barometer of what to expect from a player.  Maybe they score less goals in French Ligue because the players aren't quite at the same level of talent?
Don't get me wrong, I hope the guy is a solid performer for us but I kinda just see him as another semi-bargain purchase that AW hopes turns to gold....

I think overall there is a talent disparity between France and England, certainly. But a lot of it's down to coaching and mindset, and the teams down there just don't attack as much as teams in England. Which is saying something when you think of how many teams in England play very negative football.

I don't necessarily know that the Nasri and Chamakh comparisons are fair, either. Nasri basically scored the same number of goals after coming over to Arsenal that he did in France, despite being moved out of his natural attacking midfielder position. And like I said, he still pretty much maintained his numbers from France until last season, when he did much better. I would say if Gervinho gives us 15 goals and 10 assists in the league next year he will be an absolute bargain.

And don't forget that Chamakh scored a lot of goals between August and December last season, and after that was pretty much relegated to the bench, so you are basically bashing him for not scoring as many goals last season as he did the season before, even though he started about half as many games.

It's a very inexact thing to try to predict how someone will adapt to a new league. But your initial comment made it sound as if Gervinho was some sort of long-shot prospect. He is not. He is a guy who was one of the best attacking players in France last season who put up very good numbers, and has shown himself capable of passing and scoring and should fit well into Arsenal's system. He is an experienced international. And even if he's not the huge huge superstar people want, I don't see how anyone can view him as anything other than a valuable contributor. Look at it this way -- if we can keep Cesc and Nasri, and Gervinho just gets Rosicky's matches/minutes, wouldn't that be a monumental improvement?

Why am I writing here and you are not any longer?
Oh yea, you went on to bigger and better things.

Well, I dunno why he can't just write once a week, on Mondays, but it would be here and not at his site.  These things perplex me. 

Kind of exactly my point....we don't know where AW is going to play Gervinho or how much?  He could be put in a position that he is not comfortable with like Nasri was or Vela could be given minutes over him much like Bendtner was over Chamakh later in the season (for some reason). "The guy was one of the best attacking players in France last season", just like Chamakh was the year before.....
Believe me, I have not forgotten how badly mismanaged Chamakh was last season by Wenger.  "Hey great job scoring all those goals for us, now go sit on the bench". 
Maybe gamble was the wrong word, unproven in the EPL for sure though.  I hope he's a stud though.   

You can say this for anyone who comes in from outside the EPL though. It's a very weak argument.

Not everyone.  Most managers bring in players (from other leagues) and play them where they are comfortable and are supposed to be played!!!  Just thinkg about how many CM's we have on the squad right now!!!
All I'm saying about Gervinho is that I do not see him as a game changer type of player, good but not great.  Very typical Arsenal signing of late....

Benzema scored 20 goals with 7 assists in his best season, which is only slightly better than Gervinho.

Why IS the French Ligue so low scoring? Has anyone wondered?
And why is the Spanish Liga so high scoring?

I'm really looking forward as to where will he play. Wing forward instead of Nasri, with RvP and Walcott up front, is something Wenger should look into. That would be a really pacy front three !

That sounds pretty good.  Throw in Mata too, and we'll really have something.  Then it can be Mata and Walcott or Arshavin, plus Gervinho up top when RvP is injured.  Lots of decent options. 

The Mata transfer seems to be out, but I totally agree on the position.  Keep either Fabregas or Nasri--the longer this goes on, the more likely both will stay--and we can put one of them in their preferred position.

Yep -- Valencia now saying unequivocally that Mata is "not for sale."

If they can sell David Villa, they can sell Juan Mata.  I think they're just driving a hard bargain.  If we come in with at least £20 million, I think he'll be an Arsenal player.  The problem is, I don't think we'll do that.  Ugh.

Thing is, last summer Valencia was in the financial toilet, and they offloaded Villa and Silva--their best players by miles.  I was happily surprised to see them go on to have another very good season.  The cash infusion largely was not spent on other transfers, and the headlines this year were not what they were the previous season, so I have to think their financial house is back in order and I can't imagine they will sell a third massively important player in a second summer.

They still owe many, many millions. Something like 400m euros. 

I was watching this show called Pimp my Ride a couple of days ago, and one of the mechanics, who was in a team responsible for renovating a teenage girl's car, attached a sort of small device that plays pre-recorded sounds that "are designed to improve the driver's self esteem during a particularly tough morning drive to or from work, for example." The device plays things like "lookin' good, sugar cake!" and "damn, I think you're an angel!" in a James Earl Jones' voice. You might think this is stupid. It is. You might think this has nothing to do with Arsenal. It doesn't. Although it might.

See, an idea came to my mind. What if we attach one of these devices in Chamakh's car? The guy would be full of self confidence, and will be banging in goals day in, day out. Here's another idea; Wenger plays this during every goddamn team talk. It might be the "secret ingredient" that most Arsenal fans have been dreaming of.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we might have just struck gold.

Hmm... seems that Bendtner already had that device in his car, and you see how well it worked out for him.

Bendtner was born with a hyper inflated ego, so the device only made matters terminally worse for both him and the club. Chamakh seems to be a bit more .. timid, which is why a device like such would greatly help :D

Do we know if he can cross the ball?

This he is good at but at his current club they dont encourage it.

neither do Arsenal...