Well, if there’s anything to be said about our transfer business this summer it’s been efficient. Certainly when it comes to selling a player to Man City.
No sooner has their been confirmation of interest from the nouveau riche Mancarabs then the deal is practically done. So it was yesterday when Kolo Toure flew back from the Arsenal training camp, underwent a medical, signed a four year deal worth £100,000+ a week and the next moment it’s all official – on both clubs websites (City this time actually waited for the deal to be done between the clubs before announcing it).
There was talk of a row over a ‘severance payment’ but I think that was Sky trying to add more drama to a transfer which was business-like and professional. That didn’t suit them though so they make up some story about the player holding out for payment. It smacks of fiction when the deal is done so quickly after announcing it.
So, Kolo is gone and he goes with the best wishes of all Arsenal fans, I’m sure. He’s been a real legend for us, the last real link to the Invincibles and he’ll be missed. I don’t think there’s anyone connected with the club who would have a bad word to say about him. He’s an all-round good guy and while I don’t think we want to wish his club great success I hope he does well there and smashes Craig Bellamy’s spine in training one day.
Thanks for the memories, Kolo. 322 games, 14 goals, and lot of smiles. Good luck (except when you play against us). Oh, and give Adebayor a slap for us too. Cheers.
Moving on to on-field matters there was a game last which saw us beat Hanover 96 1-0. The goal came from Cesc Fabregas, making his first appearance of pre-season, a nice through ball from Robin van Persie and Cesc went around the keeper before sliding it home.
It was certainly a more competitive game than the ones against the part-timers and what have you, but that’s no bad thing. You need to step up the intensity a bit. What is interesting is the way we lined up. We started with a kind of 4-3-2-1 formation. Three central midfielders, two attackers wide and a central striker. Last night saw Bendnter and Arshavin in those wide positions with RVP up front.
When you look at the players coming back, Vela, Walcott, Eduardo, Rosicky, Nasri – there’s certainly a lot of scope for those roles to be interchangeable. The latter two could even play as part of the midfield three if necessary.
What is clear though is that if the boss is thinking of adopting this for the campaign ahead we still need one more player. If you take Cesc, Denilson, Diaby, Song and Ramsey as our central midfield options and you’re going to play three at any one time then we need more cover than that. Leaving aside the fact I believe we need more quality in there anyway, five midfielders for two positions is plenty, five for three is a bit short, in my opinion. Anyway, we’ll get a better look at the way we’re lining up during the Emirates Cup this weekend.
At the end of last night’s game it seems that Emmanuel Eboue went over to the Arsenal fans, threw in his boots/shirt etc and waved goodbye. He’s been linked very strongly with a move to Fiorentina and it does look as if something is happening. Now, regular readers will know I won’t shed too many tears at his departure but at the same time it does leave us a bit light in the right back department. There’s no obvious stand-in for Sagna if needed. Kolo’s gone, Alex Song was used there once and it did not go well, Djourou is a centre-half, so if the manager sells Eboue perhaps that’s an area he might need to spend some money in.
The big gossip this morning is the return of Patrick Vieira. Apparently Ian Wright said on his radio show that he heard we were going to offer him a ‘pay as you play’ deal. On one level it makes a kind of sense. You bring in a player who is not going to get in the way, long term, of players Wenger has great faith in. It adds experience and quality to the side.
On the other though how many times has Arsene ever gone back and signed someone he let go? Does Paddy even have the legs for the Premier League anymore? He’s spent a lot of time injured in the last two years, so I have to say I’d be more than surprised if he came back. That said, if you gave me the choice between Vieira and nobody at all then I would most certainly choose Vieira.
Former great Nigel Winterburn has his say on transfers in an interesting Guardian piece. He says:
I think it is now essential that Arsène makes new signing. They need three players to bolster the squad; a centre-half, a strong central midfielder to complement Cesc Fábregas and possibly someone else up front.
While we’re all hoping for one signing I think three is really expecting too much. We haven’t heard from AW after last night’s game and I’m assuming there’ll be some pre-Emirates Cup press stuff so hopefully we’ll get some more info in the next day or so.
What is interesting to note though is that very few clubs are buying players at the moment. United raked in £80m from Ronaldo, spent £20m on Valencia and that French bloke who looks like Sylvester’s son plus a cheapo deal for Michael Owen and that’s it. Liverpool bought a right back half funded by money they were owed by Portsmouth while Chelsea have signed Zhirkov and nobody else.
Look at who is spending money. Real Madrid, gone mad with the money. Man City, throwing cash around like they’re playing football monopoly, and Barcelona have paid Inter Milan the best part of €50m + Eto’o for a striker who isn’t nearly as good as the one they’ve let go. So there seems to be a kind of madness around the transfer market at the moment. We’re not buying, that’s for sure, but neither is anyone else. It’s odd.
Anyway, just thought that was worth mentioning. That’ll do for today. More tomorrow.
