it's time to play transfer speculation 1,2,3!

Ok, here’s the deal. There is nothing actually going on. No real news. No transfers. No matches. No injuries. No recoveries. No Christmas party rape fiascoes. Nothing.

Well, Arsenal launched Arsenal TV yesterday. And during the launch Arsene revealed that Anelka cried and blubbered and begged Wenger to take him back this summer after Arsenal sold Henry. But, Wenger steadfastly refused saying “you made your bed now lie in it and try not to pick up any fleas from Ashley Cole.”

In the same press conference, Wenger revealed that Arsenal’s youth team are 80% English and that soon we will see Englishmen in the first team.

We are competing financially with Manchester United and Chelsea for the best English players, but our academy has a lot. If you look at our Under 14s, our Under 16s and Under 17s we have the best young English players in the country. Our youth team is 80 per cent English.
The good thing about signing English players is that there is less uncertainty. If you buy a player from Spain, you don’t know if he will like the weather or the food, or whether he will want to go back to Spain.

Thank god Cesc likes the food and the weather and keeps refusing rumors that he wants to go back to Spain. Ahem.Anyway, I guess it’s good to see that Wenger is raising up English talent but honestly, I don’t really care about the English national team. First because I support France in these tournaments and second because it’s not Arsenal’s job to make English footballers better. It’s Arsenal’s job to put together the best team in the world so that they can compete against clubs like Man U and Barcelona (who collectively field, what, two Englishmen?) And more to the point, there are 19 other teams in the Premiership, 24 clubs at the Coca Cola Championship level, and 24 more clubs at League One level; what are THEY doing to bring English players up? Why aren’t their coaches singled out for not creating the kind of talent that can play at that top top level? Wait, it’s because Arsenal are a convenient scapegoat.

But it is good that they are bringing up English talent because Englishmen are at a premium. So, it’s great from a business sense. Keep one or two for the squad so that the nationalists can buy their jerseys and sell the rest at 2-3X what they are actually worth. Oh, and also, they don’t complain about the food and the weather (until they take their first trip to Mallorca).

The only other transfer news is a strong rumor that Diarra may be going to Pompey. I trust Arseblogger when he says that he has an inside source and that’s why I’m reporting it here.

Now, I have to get back to my Paella. NOM NOM NOM yummy Paella.

Related articles