Arsenal travel to Ninian park on Sunday for an early FA cup match but all that anyone really cares about is the Andrei Arshavin signing saga. Well, that’s not true some of us care about that, the FA Cup match, and Arsenal signing someone better than Alex Song to anchor the midfield but if you read the papers all we care about is the Arshavin deal.
Well, let’s put it to bed: according to Zenit, Arsenal have increased their offer and the deal will be done on Sunday. Never mind that Peter Hill-Wood said just yesterday that Arsenal made their last offer, Zenit is claiming that Arsenal have increased their bid!
I’m pretty certain that what we’re seeing here is a Zenit club that are basically rank amateurs when it comes to negotiations. Their very public attempts to increase interest from people outside the negotiating room was distasteful and unethical. But worse, they now look like a bunch of clowns as they change their tune every two days. One day it’s “we want £20m, Arsenal are being too cheap, no deal” and the next day they are saying “Arsenal have offered us a good deal we should conclude this in 2 days.”
I say screw this story, there’s too many known unknowns and even some unknown unknowns to report anything as fact. If Arshavin signs anything I’ll report it, if not, f*ck it. I’ve got to put this story down before I lose my mind. I mean, if you thought I was vitriolic against Zenit before for their overt racism and hiring discrimination I am now at the point where I just want to strangle the whole lot of them.
And if you want to go absolutely bat shit insane, all you have to do is listen to Wenger say all the things I said he’d say yesterday.
I am very happy with the squad I have and will only add someone who can give us something special. For the rest I have good players and believe strongly in them. Should we not get what we want, we will accept it as well because I believe we are strong enough with what we have.
I really wish he would have mentioned the fact that they are a young team here but he didn’t, instead he said that Arsenal aren’t really buying anyone because…
At the moment I am more focused on doing well with the players we have than being frenetic about the transfer market. I am convinced there is enough quality inside here to achieve that target.
Wait for it…
We are not close to signing anybody else, but what I see in training is a very determined team of top quality.
Wait for it…
Also the players coming back, like Fabregas and Walcott, there is a little chance that Rosicky will play again before the end of the season, so we have plenty of players coming back who are like new signings.
They are like new signings! If by “new signing” you mean “players who are currently under contract but who have been out for up to a year due to freak injuries and would be coming back into the team but won’t actually be signing anything nor are they new.”
Sometimes I want to strangle Wenger too. I’m in a strangling mood today I guess.
You should also know that Arsenal supposedly have rejected offers for Bendtner and Eboue. Now, before you get too excited, both of these stories come from the players’ respective agents. Moreover, both agents are claiming that the respective clubs contacted the agents and made an offer for the player. Unfortunately, for me, that all adds up to this being the biggest hot air story of all hot air stories.
Anyway, Arsenal have Cardiff on Sunday in the FA Cup, which is something real, something that we all know is going to happen and not some agent’s fantasy. The actual kickoff is 5am and the match is only available on Setanta or one of the P2P sites, which as you all know means a trip to the pub to watch the game!
Doyle’s (listed in my blogroll) is showing the match on a delay because they don’t want to get up at 5am (I don’t blame them) and that’s where I’ll be on Sunday, 7am-ish.
A match will be a welcome respite from the fantasy world of transfer windows, what with all the candy colored Kaka’s and champagne Arshavins.
HOPE WE BUY HIM
At least I now know how to spell Andrei. Still don’t know how to pronounce it though. Andre? Andreyee?
It’s a shame if it doesn’t happen but zenit are zenit and have been at this game since the summer. Very little can be taken seriously in these ‘negotiations’. Wenger’s and phw language indicate that we will not re-bid, that much is probably reliable, i believe they’re sick of dealing with such a club, as are we all. There remains the possibility of another club sniffing around but no other clubs have put in a bid that we know of, this is strange, it’s as if zenit are managed by a gaggle of stuttering alcoholics who don’t know what they are going to do from one day to the next. Recently i read wenger has no other targets beyond Arhsavin? Wow, all i can say is i hope that’s not the case.
im losing my cool my wenger. sign some fuckin players. r squad is not good enough we have won fuck all in almost 4 years. we need some decent fuckin players. please wenger dont be a cheapy and buy 3 or 4 new players. if u dont we will win fuck all for another 4 years.
Tim, et al, in the above post please replace ‘stuttering’ with ‘shameless’ – more appropriate and better description i should think.
The squad is very thin, and there is still one half of the season left to play. The current lineup has no chance in the long run against the likes of ManU, Chelsea, Liverpool, and even Villa or Everton. Especially if we really care about all 3 of the competitions we are still in. To say the opposite as Wenger does is OK, as long as it is part of our play for negotiations, etc. I just hope he actually doesn’t believe what he is saying. It would be beyond stupid.
Patience guys. Wenger is looking LONG TERM – as in BEYOND THIS YEAR. Something comes to mind from an interview Wenger gave at the summer. He said “Do I bring in experience now and kill the career of one of the kids?” Right now we have 6 kids loaned out; 2 of whom are starting matches for other premier league teams (Traore, Simpson) and 2 others making significant contributions to a championship team (Bazarite, Hoyte). They weren’t ready this year but I would imagine that they will be next year. Bringing in a bunch of players this year would doom them to being surplus requirements. In addition, we have a very young bench who are all coming along very nicely (Vela, Wilshire, Ramsey, Bendtner). We have spent a great deal of time and resources finding and nuturing these kids. They need time to grow and time on the field to learn. The cost of that will be some inconsistency over the next year or two.
I have friends who are die hard United and Chelsea fans who, despite their dislike of our team, all agree that it won’t be long before this team is unbeatable. Maybe it’s the years I spent coaching youth soccer but I’ve enjoyed watching them learn and grow. I would have to disagree with Alex. We do have a chance to win every competition that we are in. We beat ManUre and Chelsea as well as forced Villa to come from 2 goals down to nick a point from us. Yes the inconsistency can be infuriating but the flashes of talent that you see are equally exhilirating.
Despite conventional wisdom, I still believe Wenger knows that he is doing. Things will work themselves out. We may not end the year with silverware but we will challenge for everything unti the end.
Alex – we’ve had this debate several times on this blog. I don’t disagree with your longer term arguments. The point is that ‘short term’ (i.e. this season, maybe part of next season) we are screwed. Imagine if we miss the CL. Bringing in 1 or 2 experienced players will not hurt any young player’s career. That is non-sense. If anything, it will provide leadership, mentoring, and help with some results to take off some pressure. We don’t need to throw away this season.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say we’re screwed. Middlesborough is screwed (17th place and their best players begging to leave). I will agree that we aren’t exactly where I would like to be. I (just like you) would like to be eagerly anticipating the next game to see Arsenal destroy the next opponent – whoever they may be. Instead, I (just like you) anxiously await the next game wondering which Arsenal team will show up to play. That being said, we are still in 5th place and only 6 points off the leaders. A couple of good weeks for us and couple of off weeks for the leaders and who knows what could happen?
Nobody is unbeatable this season. Villa have done well but their depth will be tested over the next month. Carew and Bouma are training again but will not hit top form for a month or two. Laursen is out for 2 months and Young will miss the next 3 games. They’ve been extremely lucky the last few games and that will not last forever. Liverpool has been dropping points lately and I think will continue to do so – they have not been terribly convincing this year. Neither has Chelsea or United.
I’m not really even trying to say that we don’t need an experienced player or two. I would love to see Veloso or Cana in Red and White. I also think that if it works out that we can’t find someone suitable, it will not be the end of our season. More than anything I’m just trying to let the manager manage and to support him and the team. I see it as sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because they are a young team, I think they are more likely to believe what they read in the papers. If all they read is that they aren’t good enough, they will most likely never be good enough.
The correct answer is that both Alex’s are right. There is a good chance that without reinforcements Arsenal will finish in 5th place. Wenger knows that, that’s why he’s trying to buy Arshavin. But it’s also correct that we are looking at the long term at this club and spending within our limits. When Wenger says that we’re at our limit with the offer, then we’re at our limit. With the debt that the club has acquired to build the new stadium and the current market, there’s no place in the world that’s going to loan us money — if they wanted to borrow it in the first place — so we have to spend what we have.
Yes, losing the CL spot is a real threat and I guarantee that Wenger is planing for that. I’d bet he thinks the UEFA Cup would be a great thing to win for these kids.
@Timothy
Have to disagree with you on a few points here Timothy.
1) Even with our stadium debt, we have over 90 mill in cash reserves and just last week it was shown that our credit rating is the best of any major sporting club in the world. In other words, we are one of the few teams who would have no problem with borrowing money. This is because our receipts far outweigh our structured, fixed rate, debt payment and monthly operational allocations.
2) We can’t afford to lose the 30-40 mill we have been making off the CL year in year out. If we reach the same stage of the CL this year as as we did last year, we stand to earn 45-50 mill. While the EUFA cup may be nice it doesn’t pay a 1/4 of receipts which the CL does.
Where did you get this figure about £90m in cash reserves?
Also, their debt to value ratio is one of the highest in the world. Where are you getting these amazing facts?
@timothy
1. Cash reserves are shown in their last annual statement and semi-annual statement for 08-09
2. Forbes had article last week on Arsenal valued as 7th highest value sporting club and also had article on highest credit ratings.
I’m sure if you Google it you will find the info as I didn’t save the links.