Arsenal Transfer Speculation

Good afternoon from an overcast Dublin on a bank holiday Monday. I've had to revert to using my PC for today's blog, as my eldest son borrowed my laptop last night and he hasn't brought it home yet. I had forgotten how slow a five-year-old PC could be and how spoiled I am by my precious laptop. After waiting for 15 minutes, I eventually have things operating at a speed that is at least somewhat acceptable.

Seeing as the weekend is over, the official club site has decided to run a story or two, but most of them are meaningless as usual. However, on the very curious "transfer linked" section, we are today linked with both Joe Cole and Laurent Koscielny and, if the theories are correct, that means that we won't be signing either player.

The theory is that any player that is listed on the "transfer linked" section is not an actual target of the club and therefore will not be joining us. The item names the papers that the rumours are in and the supposed reasons for the players wanting to join us as stated in those papers. If we were genuinely interested in those players, that would surely be akin to tapping up by Arsenal and I just can't see that happening.

I guess we won't know for sure until we either sign one of the many players mentioned at different times or the transfer window closes without us signing any of them. The real reason for the articles would seem to be to get as many hits as possible for the club site, and while that is understandable, it's also a very distasteful way to do it in my opinion.

There's plenty of talk today about players exiting Arsenal, but it's idle speculation really.

The Eboue to Roma rumour has surfaced again, as has the Clichy to Barcelona rumour, but I can't see Arsenal having an interest in selling either of them, and in our current strong financial position, no players will be leaving while they are under contract unless the club want to sell them. 

There is also a story linking Vela to Deportivo, but I think he will be staying put for at least one more season, as we haven't really had a chance to see what he can do in an Arsenal shirt yet. Even if he has a good World Cup, it would only encourage us to keep him rather than sell him as we don't need the money and it might just enable him to fulfill his potential at Arsenal.

If we are to sign Koscielny it would appear that Coquelin might be part of the deal, as the rumours are that he will head to them when we sign the centre back from L'Orient. If I remember correctly, Traore was also mentioned as part of that deal last week, so who knows what's happening or even if anything is happening.

Arshavin is in the media again today and he is denying any suggestions that he is unhappy at Arsenal. He says that he supported Barcelona as a child and he continues to support them in the Spanish championship. He says that he always liked Arsenal and, when he got an opportunity to join them, he happily agreed. He says he has never seen himself as a player of any other English club and he is a Gunner and satisfied with everything. All we need now is for him to turn things on for Arsenal on a consistent level and us fans will be satisfied with him too.

There are of course more stories about Cesc and Barcelona, but by now you will know my thoughts on all of this. According to some reports we have told them to double their offer, but I sincerely doubt that as Arsenal don't want and don't have to sell him.

One player who won't be going anywhere is RVP and he has reiterated his desire to stay at Arsenal and win some trophies playing football the way that Arsenal play. He spoke of his Dutch teammate van der Vaart, encouraging him to join him at Real Madrid, but he said that he prefers the stability of Arsenal as Real change players and managers so often. He does want silverware in his career, but he doesn't think that it will necessarily come from moving from one club to another. 

He is happy to stay at Arsenal and, in his eyes, the master is still Denis Bergkamp, who didn't win the Champions League, the World Cup, or the European championships, but it doesn't detract from how great a player he was. One very interesting thing was that van der Vaart told him that, if Arsenal don't sign van der Vaart, then Real would have to sign RVP.

Does that mean that Arsenal have shown an interest in van der Vaart? If so, I wouldn't be averse to signing him to play alongside Cesc, as he's a top-class player. The article did sound very similar to one I read a long time ago, but it's dated today so maybe my memory is playing tricks on me.

Finally for today, the World Cup starts in four days so hurry up and join my Fantasy World Cup competition before it's too late. At the moment there are 50 teams from 17 different countries and my aim is to try for 100 teams if possible. The link to join up is here and the code to join the league is 221858-52981.

Here's a look at how good the Verminator was last season.

See You Tomorrow.