A quick Saturday round-up for you.
And that’s about it. More tomorrow.
But seriously, it’s quiet. There’s Stan Kroenke’s share purchase which brings his stake in the club from 28.3% to 28.58%
Perhaps this is a reaction to Jabba’s recent statement about how he’s keeping his beady eye on things afer the club rejected his oh-so-generous rights issue offer. Who knows? It just means the American is now the largest shareholder by another little bit. I expect a bit more share movement over the next few months as the lines that are drawn become much clearer.
Two of the younger players at the club are convinced the lads will learn from last season and make things better in the one ahead. Theo Walcott says:
It was a good learning curve for us all, but next year it is all about the trophies. Hopefully we have had the years of experience now and can bring something back for the fans.
While Aaron Ramsey says we need more focus against the so-called smaller teams in the league:
I think we have proved that we can beat the top teams and the title contenders. Now we need to pick up more points against the bottom half of the table. That’s the main lesson we have learned from last season. It is frustrating to lose against teams further down the table when you have beaten the big sides.
I think there’s a balance to be found but I’m not sure one win against United and one win against Chelsea proves that much beyond we can pull a performance out of the hat when we click.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Ramsey this season. If we do buy that mythical central-midfielder we’re all hoping he’s going to be the player who’s first on the team sheet beside Cesc. Then you’ve got Denilson, Diaby and Song and then Ramsey.
I hope he rises to the challenge and kicks on but it wouldn’t be that much of a surprise if we loaned him out so he can get a solid year of playing under his belt.
Real Madrid have said they don’t want to sign Cesc. So that’s that then, no doubt. No more Cesc to Madrid stories this summer. Interesingly, in a very slow Saturday so there’s not much else to talk about kind of a way, a poll on the El Mundo site shows that when asked if they’d prefer to sign Cesc or Franck Ribery, 78% of Barcelona fans chose the bloke who wouldn’t look out of place cast in cement and attached the side of a cathederal.
The Daily Mail outdid itself yesterday with possibly the most ludicrous piece of fiction of the summer so far. They claimed that Barcelona were willing to offer us Alexander Hleb + some cash for Cesc. I mean, seriously. They might as well offer us a great big bowl of vomit with a spoon made from hardened goat’s jism. I can’t honestly think of a more stupid transfer story this summer.
The Mirror links Sylvester with a move to Bordeaux. It’d make sense on every level. We have six centre-halves in the squad at the moment, that’s too many. Sylvester has, in the most diplomatic way possible, failed to convince anybody that the £700,000 we paid Manchester United last summer was worth it and I don’t know that there’d be too many tears shed over his departure.
And on that cheery note I shall bid you good day and talk to you again tomorrow.
