Carlos Vela is off to Primera Liga club Osasuna on a year long loan. Due to work permit issues in England, He spent the last year on loan at Salamanca.
Good luck Carlos .. Hope to see u perform some magic at the Emirates stadium in near future.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Transfer News : Carlos Vela
Ecclestone to bid for Arsenal ?!
Yeah .. you read it right ! Bernie Ecclestone, the F1 boss is planning a bid to take over Arsenal. Amongst the reports of Stan Kroenke bidding for Arsenal, this was completely out of nowhere. The 76-year-old said:
"If somebody offers me something I think is good value, I will have a go. I'm interested in anything if it's cheap enough."
He has been friends with David Dein and wasn't really impressed by the way he was shown his way out of the club:
"I obviously talked to David (Dein) when they chucked him out, which I thought was a bit unnecessary."
Now I don't really know if he's a Gooner and how serios is he in bidding for Arsenal but one thing's for sure, Arsenal won't be a "cheap" proposition. More like a 600M pound takeover. Also, it is unknown whether Stan Kroenke would be in league with him for a takeover bid and will he be welcomed by the board of directors. There could be questions about his commitment, as he had tried to buy Chavski after all !
Bernie Ecclestone is to have a fortune valued in the region of £ 3 Billion. Will he succeed in getting control of Arsenal ??? One thing that's in his favor is that he's English ! The board, going by their statements, shouldn't have problems in dealing with an Englishman as such.
The bottomline is, one way or another, Arsenal is probably going to be sold soon enough .. the question is, who will come up with a good valuation of the club and put in a solid bid, that is ok with the Arsenal board. Also, one way or another, DD is going to find his way back to the club for sure !! I wouldn't really mind a takeover as long as it is well financed and well managed. I am not a fan of a Glazer type of a takeover with massive borrowing against the club. But given a choice, I would prefer Kroenke to Ecclestone, going by the way they do business.
What do ya say then, will he or won't he be successful in buying the last big English team which is yet to be on the selling block ?!
Friday, July 20, 2007
Stan Kroenke taking over Arsenal ???!!!!
Various news sites suggest that Stan Kroenke is mounting a 650 million bid to take over Arsenal. Don't really see this happening. I thought he wanted to sit down and talk to the likes of Hill-Wood, Edelman, Fiszman, et al. Highly unlikely. Let's wait n watch. What do you think of this situation ?
Thursday, July 19, 2007
2007 - 08 New Kit Photographs (Third kit)
Finally the Red Currant & Obsidian kit's up for pre-order on arsenal.com's online store. Here are some photographs of the kit:
Although it kinda resembles the kit of a shite club, I kinda like the kit.. Do you ???
Some more kids signed ... apparently
Sky Sports reports that we've struck deals for a couple of south american talents: Argentine Angel Di Maria,aged 19, and Brazilian Pedro Silva, aged 17. Both are to be sent to Salamanca on loan to overcome the work permit issue.
Angel Di Maria a.k.a. "The Little Angel" is a left winger and currently in the Argentine U20 world cup squad. Pedro is a attacking midfielder/forward and on the Brazilian U17 squad. Apparently Pedro has already had a trial with Arsenal and is being offered a deal after impressing the coaching staff.
Now, I've heard a bit about Di Maria across quite some discussion boards and he's a highly rated winger, who can break in the squad as soon as a year. Pedro Silva is more of a youth setup prospect.
If there's any truth in the report, good luck to the future young gunners. I'm especially looking forward to see Di Maria play at Emirates soon enough.
Here's a bit more on both of them:
Pedro Silva
Angel Di Maria. Video
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Daily round up at Arsenal
Good mornin to all the yanks .. good afternoon to all the brits ..On this lazy Wednesday morning, I'm trying to get my thoughts together .. trying to comprehend whats going on at our beloved Arsenal through my half-shut eyes.. Seems I might be lagging on the news front but here's whats going on since the time I crashed off last night:
Cesc has expressed his desire to don the Arsenal Captain armband sometime in the future and hopes that Wenger remains at the club to do the honors. While speaking to Marca, Cesc says:
"Everybody loves that kind of responsibility [captaincy]. It is something that I have always wanted since a youngster and that wouldn't be a problem at all for me to be this club's captain. Thierry has been really important for this club for the last eight years, but we have to move on. The actual team is full of world-class players. We shouldn't have problems if everybody is at 100 per cent of their form. The future will be nice. We have very good players whose major part is less than 20 years of age. We have to show that we aren't only young but also winners. "
"We hope he will stay because I think that the club wouldn't have the same philosophy of game without him. Of course he would be a big loss for the club. He is the one that made us come here to have an opportunity (to play). But we shouldn't be preoccupied by that, it is his future and he can make a decision on his own. "We are Arsenal, one of the most important teams in Europe. We have to fight for the title because we wouldn't be Arsenal if we weren't that ambitious."
Love the last couple of lines he said ... That's the spirit m8 ... Mr. Gallas should learn something from guys like Cesc and Tommy on the art of Interviewing.
The cynical old geezer, Myles Palmer, now backtracks from his claim and says that Freddie Ljunberg was indeed on the flight to Austria with the rest of the squad. So much for reliability which seems to be dwindling a bit day by day .. On the other hand, he's come up with a nice little bio about Stan Kroenke .. not a bad read, certainly worth a dekko ..
I reckon Ian Wright is probably on the same bandwagon as Myles .. only losing it at a faster rate .. The legend that he is, has decided that he will "proudly" cheer the Sp*ds if his son signs on for them.
"If my son wants to play for Spurs, I will support him playing for Spurs. If it means small-minded Arsenal fans saying I will not be popular at the Emirates then they are idiots. I am now a football pundit, I am a Londoner and I support all London teams."
What a load of bollocks .. Isn't it supposed to be "Once a gooner, always a gooner and I shall hate the sp*ds for eternity" ? Sp8ds of all ??!! Oh c'mon Wrighty .. I thought you were better than that ..
Either Arsene Wenger seems a bit too media friendly these days or the folks at Arsenal.com have decided to roll out stories everyday lately. This time it's Wenger discussing on why he signed Sagna & Eduardo and were they his 'super,super' signings:
“Yes, I said at the end of the season I would not necessarily buy unless I found a super player,” he said. “But at that time, in my mind, Thierry was staying. Then the Thierry situation was raised when I had him on the phone in the holidays. I could not go into the new season without a striker. When he was staying I was buying one super class player. The problem became different when Thierry left. Then I had to buy a striker.
“Also I came to the idea to buy a full back who can play right or left because we will lose Emmanuel Eboue and Kolo Toure during the African Nations Cup, as well as Emmanuel Adebayor.”
And here's a look at our current squad training in Austria. It's certainly nice to see Denilson back in action after getting knocked during the friendly against Barnet and our new signings Bacary & Eduardo. Though, I would love to see Bak getting a new hairdo.
On the transfer front, Yoan Gouffran claims a deal is being set into place that would see him becoming an Arsenal player and then being loaned back to Caen.
"Maybe Arsene Wenger is trying to obtain more information about me. If something is about to happen, that would be great. For the moment, we are talking with the club's directors and I am discussing with my family. Yes, something could happen on the basis of a loan deal."
And finally, Our European kit has been revealed. 
I couldn't believe it when i had seen one on sale on ebay. But since then, a couple of spottings of Gilberto & Theo showing them off did help me believe it. But its awfully similar to a certain team where our certain hero landed up to pursue his certain dreams.
Over n Out .. Until next time ..
I think it's time i try writing up a post on our formation the coming season.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
What's happening at Arsenal today...
Arsene Wenger on not having a replacement for DD lined up as yet:
"I wanted to do it before the end of the season when I started buying and selling," he said. "But then I thought that now is the worst time because I have no time to tell someone how I want to do things.
"I did not want to unsettle the team before the end of the transfer market. So at the moment I work with Ken Friar and it is working well for us."
Elsewhere, Arsene Wenger has insisted that comparisons between Eduardo and Henry are pointless. It just happened that Wenger decided to sign a striker to replace Henry. Wenger offering an explanation:
“Eduardo is a completely different player,” said the Frenchman after the 2-0 over Barnet at the weekend. “He is less individual.
“Thierry Henry could take ball in the middle of park and score a goal that no one else in the world could score. Eduardo is more of a mobile guy around the box with a nose for a goal. He is more a team player but he does not have the individual potential that Thierry had to score from anywhere.”
The Daily Mail says that Arsene Wenger is planning to recall Carlos Vela, who's on loan at Salamanca. This is ofcourse subject to work permit issues but I don't think it would be a problem for an "exceptional talent" to get the permit.
Meanwhile, Vela ended up on the losing side in the quarterfinals of the World Under20 Cup when holders Argentina beat Mexico 1-0. Vela was pretty impressive in attack and even rattled the post around half an hour into the game. But Maximiliano Moralez grabbed the winner for Argentina on the stroke of half-time with a drive which deflected in off Julio Cesar Dominguez.
It is understood that Bacary Sagna and Eduardo Da Silva will make their much awaited debuts against Genglerbirligi. Both are set for a 20 minute substitute role later in the second half. Fabregas, Gallas, Rosicky and Lehmann could also get some action. Meanwhile, Wenger insisted that he's happy to keep Freddie Ljunberg at the club. Reports suggested that Freddie is giving the preaseason tour of Austria a miss.
Still waiting for some good news on Wenger's contract extension. The cynical Myles Palmer from ANR predicts a three year contract. Lets wait n watch.....
And Last but not the least, I came across the news that Dennis Bergkamp's father passed away recently. He was battling against cancer when we saw him kick the first ball at the Emirates stadium at the Dennis Bergkamp Testimonial. May his soul rest in peace.
A Good Gag comes to an end ....
Ahh truly a piece of Fiction !!
Apparently some folks decided to pull a fast one and came up with the idea of the Rodrigo Palacio transfer. The entire gag was well conceived and it worked out for them as well with agencies like BBC, Daily Mail, Telegraph all ran the news ... And it wasn't even April 1.. Bloody buggers ;)
A heist well done indeed ...
more at http://bocajnews.blogspot.com/
Adios Amigos
Monday, July 16, 2007
Rodrigo Palacio : Update Part Deux
Folks over at the Boca Juniors Messageboard are speculating that the deal is player + cash deal with Palacio coming in this direction and Alexandre Song + Cash in the other direction. Apparently, members from the Boca Juniors' medical squad are flying along with Palacio to London to conduct a medical on Song.
Seems like absolute bollocks but nevertheless, i hardly saw Song fitting into our setup with Diaby, Denilson and Randall ahead of him in the pecking order.
Cheers
Freddie Ljunberg not on the flight to Austria
Myles Palmer, at Arsenal News Review, reports that Freddie Ljunberg was not with the squad which took off to Austria. This only means that he's on the move. This comes as a bit of a surprise since Wenger, after the Barnet friendly, had indicated that he wants Freddie to stay and play the next season. Although cynical most of the times, Myles is pretty reliable with such stuff. So the day has finally arrived. With his best years way past him, and a couple of injury plagued seasons meant that he wasn't a regular in the team. This should free up quite some cash (Transfer money + Big Wage bill).
Freddie : Arsenal's longest serving player on the current squad, thank you for all those great years and the great goals. The goals against the wretched Mancs shall not be forgotten. Good luck with your future.
News Flash: Wenger discusses New Deal
According to various news sources, Peter Hill-Wood has confirmed that Arsene Wenger is in talks over a new deal and that a deal is expected to be finalized soon. Hill-Wood sounded confident on signing Wenger to a new deal:
"I very much hope he will (sign). It's very important," he told the club's website.
"He's done a marvellous job for the last 10 years or so. He looks pretty fit to me and I think he enjoys himself still.
"He's got a good job and I'm hoping he'll stay with us.
"We had a fairly lengthy conversation recently and that went very well.
"Hopefully, in the not too distant future we'll have something positive to say about it. I'm confident he'll stay."
Regarding the summer transfer activities, he had the following views:
"I believe we've never been in a better position," said Hill-Wood, chairman of the club since 1982. "I think the team is absolutely first class.
"We had some very good results last year against the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea, the sides we didn't overhaul in the league but played pretty well against when we faced them.
"It's a young side still but they're a year older now so they're going to be that much better.If you tune in to the media, you would believe that it's been a difficult summer but I think people have not really looked behind what's happened.
"I'm very relaxed. I think we've got a very good squad and we've added a few players, most of them not names people have heard of before.
"But that's very much Arsene Wenger's style. People hadn't really heard of Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira or Cesc Fabregas before they arrived."
Regarding the club's finances and whether the club's progress was being hampered by the financial burden:
"It's actually the reverse," he insisted. "Relocating to the Emirates has increased the income of the club.
"The stadium has not held Arsenal back at all in terms of bringing in players.
"It's actually given us the opportunity to compete with the biggest clubs in the world.
"If we had stayed at Highbury that would have limited our resources and over the long term affected our ability to financially compete with the top sides."
Some good news at last !!! Just hope Wenger signs a long term deal as soon as possible. Judging by his statements recently, its all very likely !!!!
And there's light at the end of the tunnel after all !
Rodrigo Palacio : Update
Just went to the boca juniors blog and it says that Palacio is flying to london tomorrow ....
"Boca fans are so desperate not to lose Rodrigo that they have been on radio and television telling the club not to sell for any price.Some fans have threaten to boycott home games if Rogrigo is sold.
But a large number of Boca fans will be seeing the player off tomorrow when he gets his flight to London."
Is this for real ?? Arseonline reports Palacio is having a medical with us on Tuesday !!!
Twiddling my thumbs and waiting to see what happens....
Rodrigo Palacio : Destination Arsenal ???
Seems everyone's reporting that we have tabled a bid for Boca Juniors Forward Rodrigo Palacio in the region of £ 15 million pounds. Palacio has scored 39 goals in 79 appearances for Boca Juniors and played in 4 internationals as a substitute. Now, this player's an unknown quantity in Europe and he's not an established international as yet. Apparently Barcelona had a bid of around £ 13 million pounds not too long ago. But now with the capture of Henry, Barcelona could well be cooling their interest in him.
Now, is he a real target for Wenger ?
Judging from this youtube video, he looks quite similar to our very own Eduardo but with a right foot. I don't really see Wenger pursuing a striker in the same mould as Eduardo. Also the fact that his rights are owned by three clubs: Boca Juniors as well as his former clubs, Huracan & Banfield. Arsene Wenger wouldn't want to get his hands into a complicated affair as this. Besides, after the Barnet game, Wenger said that he feels that the squad is fine now and he doesn't see any more signings unless absolutely necessary. So for now, I would rather take this rumor with a pinch of salt and just wait n watch.
More about this player on Wikipedia.
What do you say ??
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Arsenal Transfer News
Ins:
Lukasz Fabianski (£ 2 million, Legia Warsawa)
Eduardo Da Silva (£ 7.5 million, Dinamo Zagreb)
Havard Nordtveit (£ 2 million, F.K. Haugesand)
Bacary Sagna (£ 6 million, Auxerre)
Outs
Thierry Henry (£ 16.1 million, Barcelona)
Jeremie Aliadiere(£ 2 million, Middlesborough)
Fabrice Muamba (£ 3 million, Birmingham City)
Mart Poom (Free, Watford)
Arturo Lupoli (Free, Fiorentina)
Joe O'Cearuill (Loan, Brighton & Hove Albion)
Carlos Vela (Loan, Salamanca)
Matthew Connolly (Loan, Colchester)
Rumoured Ins:
Rodrigo Palacio (£ 15 million, Boca Juniors)
Obafemi Martins (£ 13 million, Newcastle United)
Jan Klaas Huntelaar (£ 10 million, Ajax Amsterdam)
Craig Gordon (£ 4 million, Hearts)
Yoan Gouffran (£ 2 million, Caen)
Rumoured Outs:
Jose Antonio Reyes (£ 7-10 million, Real Madrid)
Freddie Ljunberg (£ 6 million, Fiorentina)
Justin Hoyte (£ 2 million, Reading)
Armand Traore (Loan, Birmingham City)
Highlights: Preseason: Arsenal 2 - 0 Barnet
Finally and Finally !! We are back in action. Caught the game on ATVonline yesterday. Not a bad game to begin the season with. Wenger fielded quite a strong team for the first friendly before the season starts. Adebayor scored the first goal while Nacer Barazite knocked in an excellent goal from outside the penalty box. Great goal from the kid. Got the first look at Nordveidt. Seems a bit undersized but played quite decent for his first game at the club. Theo Walcott was all over the place and I reckon he will play a major role in the forthcoming season. Van Persie was back in action after losing out on most of the last season. A bit rusty but some good shots. Adebayor seems to have improved on a bit from last season although he missed a bloody good sitter by a whisker. Van Persie headed one on to the post where as a good cracking drive from Traore was saved by the goalkeeper. Mark Randall had a good game as well with some good crosses. So did the Flamster who's decided to stay back and fight for a place in the squad. Fabianski had one bad moment. His handling looks good and is quick to get rid off the ball. Got into an arguement with a Barnet player over a bad challenge. Seems more in the Lehmann mode after all :). Overall a decent workout, minus the injury to Denilson. Luckily, he's alright and should be back in a day or two... Thats it for now.. More after our next friendly against Genclerbirligi Ankara on Wednesday...
Hail Bergkamp, The God of North London ...
Greetings from DesiGooner
Heyya Fellas ...
M a Gooner (well been a fan since over 11 years!) from India but now staying over at the other side of the pond i.e. U S of A ... I just wanted to pen my thoughts about my favorite club, Arsenal F.C. and what better way to rant than writing a blog. Its nothing new. One of the million of them out there ... But one with my views .. My take on happenings at Arsenal. Not just my views, but analysis of certain other views as well as catching up with highlights of the games being played by our beloved club. Certainly there is the matter of transfers at hand and all the gossip and buzz surrounding who's going and who's coming in. That shall be addressed as well. Well Enough of this boring "intro" and upto some real work. Keep commenting. Cheerios...
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