Often it takes a young player some time to settle in at Arsenal. They need to get to know the way the club operates, its values, its traditions, the rivalries and such.
This does not seem to apply to Carlos Vela who wrote himself into the book of legendary Arsenal quotes without so much as kicking a ball for us yet. Speaking about the move of fellow Mexican Giovanna dos Santos to Sp*rs he said:
I hope things go well for him at Tottenham. He is a very good player and let’s hope he can then move on to a better team.
A truly magnificent soundbite worthy of any Arsenal veteran. I can’t agree with him entirely though. I hope dos Santos has a rotten time at Sp*rs and then moves to Wigan.
Transfer speculation is increasing daily. This morning’s goodies include another story saying that AC Milan have agreed terms with Emmanuel Adebayor. Apparently they met Adebayor’s agent yesterday and all that’s left now … come on … you know this one … yeah, they just have to agree a fee with Arsenal. Now, again it stinks of agent trying to wangle more money for his client but if Adebayor is as happy as he says he is at Arsenal why is his agent still tarting him around? I really fucking hate agents.
The Sun links us with Torsten Frings as a replacement for Mathieu Flamini. At 31 he doesn’t appear to be typical Wenger signing but he’s a quality player, we could do a lot worse.
I’m sure many of you watched Spain v Russia in Euro2008 drooling at the performance of Valencia’s David Villa. He’s on the market this summer and has said he’d love to play for Arsenal because of the kind of football we play. The hat-trick yesterday will have stuck a few quid onto his price tag but Cesc Fabregas is hoping that won’t discourage Arsene from making a bid, saying:
I would like to have him in my team because as you can see he can make the difference. He’s an amazing player. He has mobility, he scores goals … he plays well at the back of defenders, in front of them, he’s a tremendous player.
He certainly is quality and the idea of him dovetailing with Fabregas is making me a little wet. The headline on Marca this morning is ‘Villa makes us smile’. I think that could be true of any club in the world, not just his country. As for our chances of signing him, well, I’d say they’re fairly slim to be honest but stranger things have happened in football. I would love to see him at Arsenal. Congrats to Cesc as well who came off the bench and got his first international goal, with a header no less.
Robin van Persie says that Holland’s counter-attacking against Italy was ‘right out of the Arsenal handbook’. The Arsenal handbook would now see him pick up a nose strain and miss 4 months.
Arsenal interest in today’s games is with Philippe Senderos as Switzerland take on Turkey. We might see Johann Djourou at some stage too. After the Greek horror show yesterday watching a couple of Sunday league teams hack the ball around a muddy field would be a pleasure. Don’t forget you can follow the games on OleOle’s match centre (Czech Republic v Portugal – Switzerland v Turkey) which has chat, live blogging, minute by minute comms and more – not forgetting the Eurocast which should be available a little later this morning.
Gary Lewin talks about his ‘impossible’ decision to leave Arsenal and looks back on some of the memories of his time at the club. Interesting reading.
I haven’t mentioned Aaron Ramsey yet because while a lot of sites are calling it official and crowing over United fans it still remains unannounced from an Arsenal point of view. What is good though is that it seems the young man has passed the cunt test. And you have to wonder at United as well. Whereas we flew Ramsey and his family to Switzerland on a private jet to meet Arsene Wenger, United gave him a few hours being shown around Old Trafford by Gary Neville. Not much competition there, is there?
It seems the promise of first team football is what swung the deal but I haven’t seen anywhere enough of the boy to know if he’s ready for first team action for us next season. I suspect he’ll start on the fringe of things, Carling Cup, and such. It’ll be interesting to see the progress he makes. When he signs, of course.
Quotes from Alexander Hleb appear in this morning’s edition of El Mundo. He says:
I still haven’t signed anything. Not with Bayern, not with Barcelona. There’s a lot of specualtion about my future but now I just want to rest and decide my future club later.
You rest up there, poor dear. Take your time. You just let us know when it’s convenient for you. Good lad. Would you like a blanket? A cup of Horlicks? Shall I fetch your fucking slippers too?
So while I go make little Alex more comfortable I’ll leave you to it. More tomorrow.
