When Will Arsenal Fans Get The New Players They Want And Need.

Good morning from sunny Dublin yet again. I'm in work this morning, but from Wednesday I have another week and a half off, as I try to catch up on all the holidays I'm owed from the last couple of years. Yesterday's blog post was very late after my overindulgence on the weekend, but I will try to make up for it over the next few days.

The Arsenal news is thin on the ground again today as the World Cup comes to a climax, but the players who have gone home, or never made it to the World Cup continue their summer holidays. With preseason training starting very soon, hopefully Arsenal can tie up a couple of signings to make the fans a little happier and replace the players who have left the club. The boss said that we conceded too many goals last season and so far he has done nothing in the transfer market to rectify that problem, but surely it's only a matter of time.

As I have said before, I was very impressed with Braga and Portugal goalkeeper Eduardo at the World Cup and in my opinion he would be better than either Almunia or Fabianski for the Arsenal team. There are reports today that he has been offered to us by his club and at a very modest €4 million, although Genoa is apparently the favourites to sign him at the moment.

The rumours persist that Schwarzer will be joining us from Fulham and with their manager moving to Fulham, I'm sure that any new manager will want to bring in his own players— so there is a possibility that we will be able to buy him. If I had a choice between the two of them, I would prefer Eduardo, but I have a funny feeling that it will be Schwarzer that we sign.

Another player we are again linked with is Mertesacker of Werder Bremen and Germany who has been having a good World Cup with his country. I have to say I have been impressed by both him and Friderich at the centre of the German defence and either of them would be a good addition to our squad in my opinion. With Koscielny still not confirmed as an Arsenal player, but surely on the way it would cover for the loss of Gallas, Silvestre and possibly Campbell with Djourou also added to the mix as he returns from missing all of last season with an injury.

The semi-finals of the World Cup start tomorrow night, with the Netherlands taking on Uruguay and hopefully RVP will be fit to play and help his country to win a place in the final for the first time since 1978. Having won their last 13 World Cup games in a row, the Dutch have to be clear favourites.

With Spain not having won the competition either, I suppose it would be better for football if they made the final too, but I just find it impossible to support them because of the continual comments from their Barcelona contingent about Cesc's future. I honestly think that they can win against Germany if they play Cesc from the start, but I doubt if that will happen. That's it for today, but hopefully we will have some concrete news on transfers very soon.

Here's a look at a few goals from Tony Woodcock in his Arsenal days. I'm sure with a name like his he must have considered a career as a porn star but he chose football instead.

See You Tomorrow.