Good morning to you from Dingle, Country Kerry, currently the wettest place on earth. It is also full of people setting off to run a full or half marathon. I am not one of those people but Mrs Blogs, wrapped in a bin liner, is. She is setting off right now to run around Slea Head and I am in a coffee shop where there is coffee and a cinnamon roll and I think I’d rather be where I am than she is right now.
Where we’re staying down here is pretty much an Internet free zone. There is no phone coverage, even for basic phone stuff like texts or calls, data is a pipe dream. So, I’m just catching up on stuff now, but as it’s the Interlull and things are pretty quiet, there doesn’t appear to be much going on.
New signing Lucas Perez has been talking about his move to Arsenal in a specially held press conference to say his goodbyes to his home town club Deportivo la Coruña. It’s obviously a big chance for a player about to turn 28 and he was probably at an age where he thought it might never come. He certainly sounds excited though, saying:
It’s very exciting. To play with the best, to compete with the best. It makes me very happy. It’s a challenge, and if someone had told me at ten years old when I was playing in the streets of La Coruña, I would have thrown them off a bridge, I’d have said ‘you’re crazy’.
Maybe it’s just me but the image of 10 year old picking somebody up, marching off down the road to find the nearest bridge, then flinging them off it is very amusing to me. What a strong 10 year old he’d have to be, all the while ignoring their pleas for clemency.
“Lucas, I didn’t mean it. Please don’t. One day you will play for a big club and some of the best players.”
“No, I’m sorry. You are crazy. I must throw you off a bridge.”
Let’s hope that metaphorically he throws defenders off a bridge this season when he gets going. And by metaphorically I mean literally. And by defenders I mean John Terry, and by bridge I mean the Golden Gate.
I also like that he’s looking at how his sale might benefit Deportivo, saying:
It’s a source of price that Deportivo can rebuild with the money they got for me.
£17m might not go a long way in the Premier League these days, but the transfer market is different when the clubs aren’t filthy rich with dirty TV money, and they can probably add some decent talent their squad with that transfer fee. Especially as Arsenal are believed to have paid the full amount in one go, rather than in staged payments which is the norm these days.
Elsewhere Arsenal’s squad for the group stages of the Champions League has been submitted. There’s no room for Per Mertesacker or Danny Welbeck, both of whom have injuries that will keep them out until the new year, at which point the squad can be changed (if we make it through to the knock-out stages, of course).
Some have remarked that there’s no sign of Hector Bellerin or Alex Iwobi on the official list, but they are on the B-List. To clarify what that is:
A player may be registered on List B if he is born on, or after, 1 January 1995 and has been eligible to play for the club concerned for any uninterrupted period of two years since his 15th birthday (players aged 16 may be registered if they have been registered with the club for the previous two years). Clubs are entitled to register an unlimited number of players on List B during the season, but the list must be submitted by no later than 24:00CET the day before a match.
Clear as day, right? Anyway, it’s a good big squad we have at our disposal, you can make a number of good first XIs and some good alternatives. There are no glaring holes or pieces missing, now we just have to wait and see how the manager is going to put them all together. I’m not sure it’s something he quite knows himself at this point, and we may see a bit of trial and error over the next few weeks, but it really is a very good problem for him to have.
There is a game today of course, the Arsenal Legends taking on Milan Glorie, and if you haven’t already seen this from Alessandro Costacurta, it’ll warm up your Saturday morning.
All that’s left now is for me to direct you towards this week’s Arsecast if you haven’t already had a chance to listen. There’s discussion of the Jack Wilshere situation, the two new signings, and lots more. Have at it!
Download – Acast – iTunes – RSS
Right, I’m gonna stay out of the rain as long as possible. Till tomorrow.
