Melo Re-Signs with Fiorentina; Arsenal releases 8, signs 4
By: Martin | June 30th, 2009Well, the big news this morning is that Felipe Melo has re-signed with Fiorentina. While this doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t still consider coming to Arsenal, especially since there is reportedly some sort of out clause in the contract, I think it certainly makes it much less likely. Phooey–he seems like a really good fit, and I don’t want to have to start looking elsewhere and I don’t want to have important transfer business dragging on into August, where any player won’t be able to participate in pre-season training with the rest of the club.
The club also announced today that it is releasing 8 players. The list of players is:
Amaury Bischoff
James Dunne
Rui Fonte
Abu Ogogo
Paul Rodgers
Rene Steer
Vincent van den Berg
Anton Blackwood
The two main players of note on that list are Amaury Bischoff, who made 4 substitute appearances for the first-team last season, and Rui Fonte, the Portuguese Under-21 who was at least at one point a hot prospect for the club. Frankly, I never saw that much in Bischoff to begin with, and always found his signing to be puzzling–he had only made one first-team appearance for Werder Bremen in his three seasons there. His attitude didn’t seem to help, either, as it seemed like he felt entitled to a role in the first team at the Emirates even though neither his record nor his play merited such a role. As for Fonte, I guess the bottom line is that he didn’t have a future at the club. Sure, he’s young, but he’s only a year younger than Bendtner and roughly the same age as Vela, both of whom have shown much more than he has. I think both club and player saw the writing on the wall and decided to part amicably. Early rumors have him returning to his native Portugal. Regardless, I wish all 8 players nothing but success in the rest of their careers, and best of luck to them all.
In happier news, the club also offered professional contracts to 4 members of last year’s FA Youth Cup winning side. They are:
James Shea (keeper)
Luke Ayling (center back)
Cedric Evina (left back)
Craig Eastmond (right back)
Don’t know much about any of them, but it’s always nice to see some young kids join the set-up. I imagine they’ll all get fairly regular chances to prove themselves in the Reserves next season, and a few of them might even see some Carling Cup action. Best of luck to all four of them as well.
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Comments | Add your comment
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I’ve got a question, so now after melo signed an extension with his, is there a good chance that arsenal might get him? and is the extension with the buy out clause just way of putting a price on the player, so that they dont get less than there asking price or what?
Posted from
United States
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I don’t think we really know until we actually know what the out clause actually says, but I think that no matter what this makes our chances worse. It’s either him committing his future to Fiorentina long-term, or at the very least putting some language into the contract protecting the club. It could be something along the lines of “the club agrees to accept any bids in excess of 20 million Euros for Melo” or something along those lines, or it may be something along the lines of “the club agrees to accept any bids in excess of 20 million Euros submitted DURING THE SUMMER 2011 TRANSFER WINDOW for Melo.” We just don’t know. But the bottom line is that any clauses almost certainly put limitations on the circumstances under which the club will have to accept bids for Melo, which is bad for any clubs bidding on the player.
Posted from
United States -
Lorik Cana anyone? Well, he’s the captain of Marseille and apparently, we are interested in buying him.
Posted from
United States -
Lorik Cana? Lorik Cana is considering Arsenal? NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
He needs to stay at Marseille!
But if you get him, consider yourself lucky. I adore Lorik Cana. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL_bZAdOKhk
Posted from
United States -
Thank you very much Laurie.
>This Lorik Cana is some sort of a battler. He doesn’t hesitate to muscle out his opponent and charge. It wouldn’t be surprising if he gets red carded very often too… However, his strong physic and aggressiveness must have lead him to be captain of the squad.
>I don’t know if he’s very good. However, what is for sure, he’s certainly the type of player that Arsenal need. According to goal.com, Arsenal are only interested. They might consider to bring him aboard because they recently lost their chances to buy Felipe Melo.
>Lorik Cana has 26 or 27 years old which is perfect to bring experience to the squad. Furthermore, he has already played in the champions league (I guessed so…). He would be an immediate challenger to Fabregas because he seems to have a lot of leadership. Hence, he would jeopardize Fabregas’s captaincy.
Posted from
United States -
Bischoff was born in and has a dad from Alsace, the same region where Wenger was born and raised. That’s why Wenger brought him in, I think; to give a young player from his own neighbourhood a chance. I can’t think of another reason why he brought Bischoff in.
Posted from
Netherlands
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