The quiet before the storm

Joey Barton attacks Freddie Ljungberg

Euro 2008 is over, Cesc is celebrating in Spain, and all the scouts and managers and players are all going home and ringing up their agents, brothers, and friends in order to get the transfer window ball truly rolling.  Regardless that the boss has put to bed the notion that Arsenal are signing anyone, I expect that over the next two weeks we should see several signings for Arsenal.  Will it be Senna?  Roque Santa Cruz?  Arshavin?  The blog comment favorite David Villa?  Maybe. Nope.  Definitely not. And a blind man could see that he’s overrated.

I’d love to see Wenger break his mould and sign Marcos Senna but given Wenger’s signing history, the fact that Senna is 31, and the fact that the story is merely speculation by former Arsenal defender Pascal Cygan I have my doubts.  That said, Senna was my player of the tournament and he’s the only player in Euro 2008 who is ready to come straight into the rigors of the Premier League.

Meanwhile, back in England, Joey Barton — the world’s most charismatic man — has admitted to a charge of beating the crap out of his teammate. The British legal system responded to this guilty plea by releasing him from prison.  Setting Barton free makes sense: here’s a man who routinely attacks people, who isn’t above viciously attacking a teammate, who gets drunk and attacks women, will stub a cigar out in a teammates eye at a Christmas party, moons fans when they boo him, and has reportedly attacked young fans collecting signatures.  That’s the guy you set free.

As you all know, I think Joey Barton is the poster child of what’s wrong with English Football.  Well, ok, I put Paul Ince’s appointment as manager of Blackburn even though he’s not qualified as part of the problem as well.  I guess Englishmen don’t need to have their degree to manage a team, they just need to have played for Manchester United.

And finally, just to leave you on a high note, it looks like Tottenham is courting former Arsenal player (and current Arsenal hater) David Bentley.  Signing for Tottenham would certainly put to rest any notion that Bentley is a player of any quality.

And that’s it.  Not much going on today.  We should see some news stories later this afternoon I suspect and I’ll update the blog if something serious happens.

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