‘Arsenal sign Ajax stopper’, screamed the Sport.co.uk headline on NewsNow yesterday evening.
Taking a leaf from the book of the BBC and Sky Sports they claimed to ‘understand’ that we’d sign the Belgian (cheers all!) defender Thomas Vermaelen for £10m in the next 48 hours. Then to add extra credence to the story they threw in some quotes from Tony Adams about how he wasn’t tall enough. Yep, that really added believability to it.
Now, the thing is, Ajax are on a tour of Japan and Vermaelen is with them. And, you know, Sport.co.uk don’t necessarily have a great record in breaking news stories. I’ve mentioned them here on Arseblog before when they confidently brought us the news of Real Madrid’s Mahamadou Diarra’s impending arrival at Arsenal. The only problem was he was about two weeks into a six month spell on the sidelines with a serious knee injury.
So I would be most doubtful if Vermaelen has signed for Arsenal and if he already had I suspect a more reliable source would have that information. A more reliable source like … erm … The Sun, who appear to have picked up the story.
I remain dubious all the same.
Meanwhile the same paper says Milan are set to make a £15m bid for Emmanuel Adebayor this week. With Kaka on his way to Real Madrid and strong rumours that Ronaldinho is on his way back to Brazil they’re looking for a signing to placate the fans. I’m not quite sure that replacing Kaka with Adebayor will do much to quench their ire, mind you.
And if it is true then I suspect Arsenal would want a bit more than £15m. It’s not as if Milan don’t have the cash with the obscene amount of money on offer from Madrid. Squeeze them as far as we can, I say.
Speaking of Emmanuels, the Eboue variety has been speaking about his future and he says:
My future at Arsenal is not clear yet, I did not play a lot in the season and the World Cup is coming. There are many clubs interested in me, so let’s wait. Before the season’s start I will make a decision.
I don’t doubt there are many clubs interested in him but I think the final few months of the season are a good indication that his future lies elsewhere. He was a barely used substitute for much of it, as clear a sign as any that the boss didn’t really count on him. I know there are those who think he’s a handy utility player but for me he’s been one of the most frustrating players I’ve ever seen in an Arsenal shirt and I won’t be shedding any tears if he leaves. I might even have a party.
It’s summer, Newcastle have been relegated and guess what? Yes, we’ve been linked with Obafemi Martins, the Sebastian Frey of strikers. Even if Adebayor is sold I can’t see is going for him. If we do replace Adebayor I think it will be with a player who won’t be off to the ACN every couple of years and at 83 years of age Martins doesn’t quite fit the age profile of the team.
So there you go. A whole lot of not very much at all but it’s better than the alternative which is not much of loads of stuff. Yeah, it makes sense, kinda. If you think about it.
Till tomorrow.
