Good morning and welcome to a new week in the summerlull. Just one week to go until pre-season starts for most of the lads. Then we’re just counting down days till we get some football again.
We’ll start this morning with Felipe Melo. He’s been heavily linked with us since the transfer window opened and former Arsenal man Gilberto Silva, who has been away on Pointless Cup duty with him, has given him positive reports about the club. He says:
We heard rumours and he asked me. I said it’s a fantastic club and if he’s interested he should go without thinking.
Splendid. Good man, Gilberto. I know there might have been a bit of a worry about what he might say given how his Arsenal career finished. The captaincy thing, the being on the bench thing, but he’s always been a proper gent, Gilberto, and he’s confident Melo is just what we need, saying:
I’m sure if they got him it would be a good signing. I have told him Arsenal is a great club and I am sure next season they will improve. He is exactly what they need – a powerful player with quality.
I am sure he has a lot more to grow as well. He is a young player, strong, powerful and has a good quality in his pass.
It all sounds very promising, doesn’t it? Having someone like Gilberto give him a good thumbs-up about the club will certainly help and he definitely fits the bill in terms of the kind of midfielder we’re looking for. Strong, physical, combative even. Let’s hope all the pieces of this one come together.
The other main news this morning surrounds a right issue proposed by Alisher Usmanov, supposedly to raise transfer funds for Arsene Wenger. That’s the way the Telegraph are reporting it and it comes on the back of a similar Mail article a few weeks ago (remember the one with the big, smiling Jabba?)
However, the positive spin put on it in the article above is countered by The Guardian who say the current board will prove resistant to any such move. And rightly so. It’s another attempt by Fat & Orange to curry favour with fans and frankly I’d be deeply suspicious of anything Usmanov had to say about anything, and with regards to our football club I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.
And I couldn’t throw him very far, because he’s a big, fat, ugly cunt. Hey, it’s Monday morning, if you want subtle come back later in the week. In response to this proposal the AST (Arsenal Supporter’s Trust), say:
The AST will not support any rights issue that would change the ownership structure at the club or reduce the number of shares owned by small shareholders and supporters.
Theo Walcott will be playing for England’s U21s in the U21 European Championship Final against Germany later on today. He’s likely to start up front due to injuries and suspensions so it’s a chance for him to show his stuff in his favoured position. He’s had a pretty quiet tournament, hopefully he can shine in the final, alongside Kieran Gibbs whose progress in the last few months has been exceptional.
Not much else going on this morning, bar reports that Samuel Eto’o is set to earn £200,000 a week if he signs for Man City. I know we complain about the kind of money players earn but that is just ridiculous. Of course he’d be mad not to take it but City paying him that kind of salary, as well as a transfer fee of £30m to Barcelona when he could leave there next summer on a free, is lunacy. They did something similar in January, didn’t they? They bought de Jong (I think) for £16m when he was free in the summer.
There really is something to be said for clubs only being allowed to spend the money they earn and salaries like the one being offered to Eto’o will bring about more calls for a cap in the wages players. It’s something I’ve thought unworkable in the past but when you see stuff like that you have to think it’s worth some consideration.
It also makes you wonder how much money they offered Kolo Toure to get a player so loyal and dedicated to Arsenal for so many years to slap in a transfer request in January.
Anyway, let them away with their gold-plated chequebook and platinum pen. There’s nothing we can do about it. Only smash them on the pitch next season.
Till tomorrow.
