Morning all, very quick one for you this morning as it’s Sunday and Dennis said that on Sunday a man should rest, or something.
The big story is that Petr Cech has chosen his squad number ahead of his Arsenal debut next week in Singapore. He’ll wear 33 because:
https://twitter.com/PetrCech/status/619944959706333184/photo/1
So there you go. By August 9th that he’ll be wearing a number that’s completely out of date, and let’s not even mention his birthday next May. A truly shocking lack of foresight there on behalf of player and club. Still, it’s given me a chance to do the number thing because Szczesny wears 1, Ospina wears 13 so 1+1 = 2, and 2 3s (literally) are 33. It’s important to note that I can combine the numbers in any way I like to make it work, before anyone gets pedantic about maths and that.
Meanwhile, the Mirror report that West Brom want to sign Serge Gnabry on loan for the season. I’m not sure how much veracity there is to the report, but from the player’s perspective it’s exactly what he’d be looking for: a Premier League club and the chance to play regular football. It’s easy to forget how regularly he was beginning to feature in the team until he picked up what turned out to be a pretty serious knee injury and one with which he suffered another set-back last year.
There’s clearly a lot of promise there as a player, and 18 months ago he was good enough to force himself into the manager’s thinking. Of course, a lot has change in that time in terms of our team and the quality required to get in it, so to expect him to come back from so long out and start to make inroads again is a bit fanciful. Luckily, he’s got time on his hands (or feet), and he’s only just about to turn 20 so a good season away on loan, playing often, is just what he needs – and what the club need to see how he progresses.
Finally for today, if you’re a believer that what footballers do on social media can provide hints to their future, then this article from Sport Witness about Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette is right up your alley. Apparently he favourited a Tweet which provides a link to a story which says that Arsene Wenger is very interested in him and that a move could happen.
In this digital era I think this is proof positive that everything’s been agreed between the two clubs, personal terms have been sorted out, his role in the team worked out, and I, for one, would like to be the very first to welcome our new number 9 to the club. Shit, I should do it in an Instagram post style thing, right?
What a great way to start a Sunday. Now for a picnic by the river, a nice bottle of Asti Spumante and Heartbeat marathon on the TV later.
Have fun.
