Good morning, it looks as if the first defensive signing of the summer will be Laurent Koscielny. Yesterday we agreed to loan young Frenchling Francis Coquelin to Lorient for the season and you have to think that this has been done as part of the deal to take the Lorient player to the Grove.
The Lorient coach, Christian Gourcuff, told L’Equipe:
Laurent will leave. If Arsenal really want him, they will pay the right fee.
I wonder did we have a little word with Mr Gourcuff about his son while we were talking? Anyway, the player’s agent says it’s just a matter of agreeing a fee now:
I can confirm negotiations are ongoing between the clubs but I don’t know how close they are to finding a deal. Laurent has expressed his desire to move to Arsenal to FC Lorient and has expressed his view to Arsene Wenger. He wants to come and play for Arsenal, and it is up to the two clubs now.
I suspect there’s not a lot left to do. If Arsene has already spoken to the player then personal terms and everything else have been sorted. If we’ve agreed to give them Coquelin it’s hard to think it’s been done separately from the Koscielny deal. It’s now down to Ivan Gazidis and his people to complete the deal and to then change Koscielny’s name into something that actually sticks in my head so I don’t have to copy and paste it every fucking time. I suggest Murphy. Or Shatner.
There’s more transfer tittle-tattle as sport.co.uk suggests we’ll add to our motley crue by signing Rob Green and Joe Cole once the World Cup is over. As the England camp falls into disarray thanks to John Terry (the man who invented genetically modified foods), Joe Cole becomes a better player the more he doesn’t play. As for Green, he’s always seemed a bit error prone to me, which is probably why Arsene Wenger likes him.
Meanwhile The Mail says we’re looking at Russian left-back, Renat Yanbaev, ‘amid concerns about Gael Clichy’s future’. There’s interest from Barcelona, which we’ve heard about, but for one reason or another I think we might be a touch reluctant to deal with them. It’s interesting though, I think it might have been Andrei Arshavin who mentioned the possibility of Clichy leaving in an interview, so there’s definitely something going on. It’d be nice if he could stay and rediscover the form which saw him picked in the team of the year thingy a couple of seasons ago.
Young striker Luke Freeman could join Yeovil Town on loan.
And that’s about that for Arsenal news. At the World Cup we got our first glimpse of Cesc Fabregas and his manly beard. If I might just take a moment to wish plague and pestilence on ITV’s Peter Drury who introduced him as ‘Cesc Fabregas of Barcelona …’. What a twat. I hope one of those killer fish that swims up your piss swims up his piss and lays eggs in his brain and balls and he explodes at both ends with millions of little killer piss swimming fish. The cunt.
Spain won 2-0 and it sets up a very interesting game against Chile who overcame a Senderosless Switzerland 1-0. Earlier Portugal ensured the North Korean team will face a firing squad on their return as they won 7-0. Nice work, Ronaldo, you killer of men.
Today sees the final group games in groups A and B. This afternoon France, dogged by revolution (har har), take on South Africa while Mexico and Uruguay will play out the draw that will see them both qualify. And this evening Argentina play Greece and Nigeria take on South Korea.
I won’t get to see this evening’s games as I’m playing myself. Due to injuries, upcoming nuptials and old age we find ourselves with a serious striker shortage. This means I’m going to called into service up front, like some kind of Chris Whyte. Except white. I think I may take to the field in an evening suit, complete with dicky bow so, at the very least, people can say ‘He’s got a nice tux for a big man’.
Sorry. Till tomorrow.
