Howdy, a quick look at the Saturday stories for you.
The main one is that goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski has signed a new long term deal with the club. Arsene Wenger said:
I rate Lukasz highly and I am very pleased that he has committed his future to the Club. I believe he is a top competitor, he’s intelligent and reads the game very well and has all the ingredients to be successful in his position.
Now, after the tail end of last season I don’t suppose the news that Fabianski has signed a new deal is going to have anyone jumping up and down with joy. He was poor in the semi-final against Chelsea and provided some other rather flappy and unconvincing moments.
However, he’s our number 2 goalkeeper, he’s only 24 which is extremely young in the life of a goalkeeper so there’s plenty of time for him to get better, and I really don’t see the point of getting in any way stressed about this. I think, and I’ll include myself in this, that we have a tendency to write off players too soon. Also having to go out and buy a different number 2 would take money away from where we really need to spend it so I’m happy enough to see if Fabianski can improve.
Plus we recently signed a half-Norwegian, half-Irish goalkeeper (who is very young, I know) called Sean McDermott (he’s even got his own street named after him here in Dublin). They’re all just keeping the shirt warm for him, I’m telling you.
Elsewhere we’ve been linked again with PSG’s Mamadou Sakho. He’s only 19 but there’s a bit of a buzz about him. His agent is quoted as saying:
He will be moving clubs this summer. Arsenal are interested, but the club are too cheap at the moment. A transfer will happen soon. He wants to play football in England and Arsenal are a good club. They want him the most. Bayern Munich are a top European club, so I think it will be Bayern or Arsenal.
Us, ‘too cheap’? That’s a new one on me. I know that what an agent says and what’s actually happening are very often at odds but this isn’t the first time we’ve been linked with this player. He wouldn’t necessarily bring a great deal of experience to the party, less than 40 league games from what I can gather, but he’d definitely bring a mohawky toughness and nobody can argue that’s something we’ve been missing.
You’d also like to think that Wenger’s contacts at PSG would give us the edge over Bayern if we really were interested in the player.
Jack Wilshere talks about how Theo Walcott has been helping him out as he makes his way towards the first team and speaks highly of the young English talent at the club.
The Mirror speculates that Philippe Senderos will come back to the club and fight for his Arsenal future but unless they’ve actually spoken to Senderos, which I sincerely doubt, it’s just speculative copy. Much as I’d like to see him back I think his future probably lies elsewhere.
Dennis Bergkamp believes Arsenal need to spend this summer, saying:
It’s wise to get some new players in for the team’s sake. It’s always a good feeling when you get four or five new players in the dressing room.
He talks about Yaya Toure as a possible purchase but we’ve been down that road often enough so there’s no comment from me on that. Interesting that he said four of five players. It could be that many when you consider the possible departures – Gallas, Adebayor, Sylvester (please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please), so as they say ‘Dennis knows’.
It is Dennis that knows, right? Yeah, thought so.
Right so, busy day. Got some cold pizza to eat for breakfast. Bring it on. More tomorrow.
