Yesterday was a curious day, nothing of any consequence happened at all. It’s rare we go through a day without a single story on Arseblog News but if there’s nothing there then there’s nothing there, and so it was.
The closest we came was Sky Sports ‘understanding’ that Santi Cazorla would fly in to London for a medical. And we all understand what understanding stuff means. It’s kind of like when people say “I’m told” or “I hear” as they give you some information that’s already in the public domain. Perhaps there’s more to it than educated guesswork but the natural sequence of events when everything has been agreed between two clubs is that the player in question travels to the new club to undergo a medical.
He would not cycle to the UK, nor take a ferry from San Sebastian, and the chances are he’s not an inventor in his spare time who has mastered the art of molecular transportation so he can Star Trek his way to the UK. He’s pretty much going to fly, isn’t he? On a plane, not like Icarus. That’s not to say he won’t arrive this week, he might well do, but nobody’s really sticking their neck out here.
The situation might well be more complicated now that Malaga have fired their sporting director as they seek new ownership. It looks as if the situation there is getting more and more difficult and while their need for money might expedite the sale of Cazorla it might also cause delays. No doubt we’ll hear more about as someone understands he’s on his way to the airport.
Meanwhile, the latest regarding Nuri Sahin is that he’ll stay at Real Madrid until they sign Luca Modric from Sp*rs, that’s according to AS. Mourinho, though, is making it clear he’s got to go. It seems that during their training camp in the US, Sahin was played at left back, and even when our old friend with the Water Sheringham head, Diarra, went off during a training game, Mourinho played Alex in midfield ahead of Sahin.
The sticking point of the deal appears to be the fact there’s no option to buy at the end of it. Whether that’s something we’re insisting on, the player wants as part of the deal, or Madrid are unwilling to consider remains unclear. Either way, the Spanish press describe the situation as ‘bitter’ but Real will not let him leave just in case they can’t do the deal for Modric. So we have a potential Arsenal transfer dependent on Sp*rs. Ewww, that’s a bit icky but sure we have to try new things of a summer.
Elsewhere, Robin van Persie’s link with Juventus has cooled because their coach, Antonio Conte, is facing a ban over match fixing allegations when he was in charge of Siena. One of Kees Voss’s assistants apparently said on Twitter that it wasn’t the best advert to go to Turin, which leaves just United and City as interested parties (unless Juve’s financial offer proves irresistable). All the while van Persie continues to train at London Colney, under the watchful eye of Germans, and the situation lingers on.
But is it telling that neither of the Manchester clubs have, at least publicly, come back with better offers for van Persie? I said when he released his statement that I felt he and his agent might well have misjudged things, both in terms of the goodwill of Arsenal fans shielding him from the fallout such a statement might produce, as well as the interest in him from elsewhere. Yes, it’s his final chance at a big move and a big contract but despite a wonderful run of form are clubs looking at everything that came beforehand? The injuries, the seasons where he played less than 50% of the games, the fact that paying a 29 year old at his peak £200,000 a week is one thing, but giving him a four or five year deal so you’re paying a 33 year old that kind of money is something else entirely.
So will it take a climb-down to secure his future? Maybe he’ll have to accept less money than he thought, take a shorter deal or maybe he’ll have to do the unthinkable and backtrack to the extent where staying at Arsenal isn’t the nightmare scenario he painted in his statement. I know that he never said he wanted to leave, not explicitly, but let’s not get revisionist here. The tone and content made it quite clear what his intentions were. As time goes on it’ll be interesting to see how much he sticks to his guns. It’s a shame we have no game this weekend, there’s always a chance to hear from the manager about how things are progressing in general, but hopefully we’ll get some kind of update.
Contract news now and youngster Nico Yennaris has been given a new deal by the club. Although primarily a central midfielder he’s made most impact in the first team at right full and I wonder if that’s where his future lies. Midfield at Arsenal is a very crowded place, set to become even more so, and it’s hard to see how he could make a breakthrough in that position. Full back, however, might well give him the chance. Although Carl Jenkinson is the de facto back-up to Bacary Sagna, it’d do us no harm to have some competition for that spot.
Yennaris looks more like a full back physically, you get the feeling he’d be muscled out of things in the centre of the park, so I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the manager move him the way he’s done with countless players. Lauren, for example, came to the club as a central-midfielder and was moved to right back, while both Ashley Cole and Kieran Gibbs came through the youth system as attackers before their transformation into left backs. Anyway, good luck to Yennaris, he seems a down to earth lad, and let’s hope he continues to make progress.
Right, I’m told there’s bacon in the fridge and I hear there’s more coffee so it’s time for breakfast. Till tomorrow.
