Ade talks to Citeh, things should start happening soon

ade

T-minus 5 days until Arsenal play in the first pre-season friendly against Barnet and the squad is starting to take shape.

First, it was announced this morning that Adebayor is in talks with Man City to shore up their need for a big, languid, striker who occasionally scores eye-wateringly beautiful goals. The fee is reportedly £20m and could go some way toward buying a replacement and pulling in the last piece of the puzzle in midfield.

In a bit of a surprise move, last month Wenger publicly stated that the club are interested in £10m rated Bordeaux striker, Marouane Chamakh should Adebayor leave and so pretty much everyone expects that Chamakh would be the replacement.

I know a lot of folks will be happy to see the back of Adebayor, but I’m not one of them. He’s one of Arsenal’s best strikers and he adds a whole new dimension to the attack that we lacked for so long. I know, he was pitiful and lazy and off sides over 40 times last year. I also know that the list of grievances for some folks is long and varied.

I know.

But I was kind of hoping that Cesc and Wenger would sit him down and just shake his tree a bit, get him to snap out of these doldrums. But it looks like that never happened and now he may be off to Citeh.

I haven’t ever seen Chamakh play outside of the YouTube videos that show him missing a lot of goals but if he’s the type of guy who can hold the ball up, work hard, and get the occasional header, then he and Bendtner will be pushing each other for playing time. The other interesting fact about Chamakh is that he plays for the Moroccan national team, in spite of having the ability to play for France. What this means if he comes to Arsenal is that, yes, he will be playing in 2010 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. Which is a wash because Adebayor would have as well — well theoretically, if he didn’t get kicked out of the team again.

Either way, striker is not that critical a position for me. We’ve got Robin van Persie, Eduardo, Arshavin, Bendtner, Walcott, and Vela who can all play there. If the first two are healthy, I have no concerns — of course, that’s a pretty big IF, so it makes sense that Arsene is looking for one more.

In the midfield, reports have M’Bia signing for l’OM today, which takes him off our transfer targets list, but frees up Lorik Cana who has hinted that a move was in the works (with an unspecified club) as soon as the club that he captained signed a suitable replacement.

Hell, for Adebayor’s £20m (and his £80k/wk salary) we could get Chamakh (£10m), Cana (£6.5m), and Matuidi (£2.5m)! Unlike last year, I think it’s pretty clear that the fan’s, and player’s, agitation for some sort of serious experienced signing has reached the ears of Arsene and the board. I’d be shocked to the core if they sold Adebayor and sat on the money.

I’m also ruling out Felipe Melo today as reports have him undergoing a physical. I was always underwhelmed by the performances I watched, though I was impressed with his passing range, so the fee of £22m always seemed a bit steep. But as CaribKid pointed out in yesterday’s comments that’s what happens when you are a starter for Brazil.

With all of the above said, here’s the key thing to remember:

DON’T PANIC!

We have all of this month and all of August to go before the transfer window closes so it’s a bit premature to start panicking. Now, if Ade is sold and we still haven’t brought anyone in by the start of the season (August 15th away to Everton) well, then I might get a bit tetchy.

Gooner of the Year

We must get a different reader here than at the dot com, because our poll for Gooner of the Year, taken earlier this season, came up quite a bit different than theirs. It wasn’t even close, Arshavin won by a landslide in my poll.

Irregardless how we voted, congratulations are in order for Robin van Persie who scooped the Player of the Year award over at the dot com. He had a good season and remained relatively healthy for the whole year. Thank you sir, may we have another?

England’s Future #1

This will not surprise my regular readers, but for the new folks, prepare yourself for a hell of a shock: the Yank who writes about Arsenal thinks that if Almunia gets his British passport, AND he’s selected by England’s Italian coach, AND he’s got gigantic balls, then he should play for England.

I know the arguments, he’s not English because his mum and dad aren’t English. But frankly that’s an old way of looking at the world. Now days, people can change nationalities, that’s just the reality and I think we need to get over the old, biological, and in some ways xenophobic, way of looking at the world.  Fabrice Muamba is English, right?

That said, would I play for England if I was him?

NO FUCKING WAY.

Don’t get me wrong, since Almunia is eligible for an English passport I think he should get it, at the very least him having the ‘correct’ passport will shut up some of the 6+5 ers. But there is no way in hell you could get me to pull on that white shirt because the criticism I hear you all level at your best players, home town boys that you all supposedly love, would turn quickly to vitriol the first time he made a mistake.

The problem is, as a ‘foreigner’ he will never be good enough in many people’s eyes. Twitchy Redknapp had a rip at him this spring when he was just rumored to be thinking about trying out. The first time he doesn’t command his penalty box, the boo boys will come out and every media outlet from Penzance to Berwick upon Tweed will be calling for Calamity James’ reinstatement to the team.

I don’t know how the English national team players handle you guys as it is, but with everyone in England and potential teammates, like Ferdinand, saying that they don’t want him to do it, I’m just going to say that he shouldn’t do it. He’s not man enough to take all that on. No one is.  Just get your passport Manny and give up on your dream to play in any World Cup.

That said…

If that crazy mother fucker gets his passport and gets chosen for the England team, then I’ll be here, in America, rooting him on to glory. Why not?

He’s only 34

Former Arsenal striker, John Hartson, has brain cancer. He’s only 34 and just a few years out of the game for gods sake. I really do wish him and his family the best of luck and a speedy recovery.

0 comments

  1. Adebayor? I’m actually indifferent as to whether he stays or goes. Indifferent in the way he seemed most times last season. Some players handle success better than others, and he was not one of them. If he stays, he’ll clearly provide us goals. If he goes, we’ve got Bendtner for heading the ball into the net, and what we’d lose with Ade’s presence, we’d gain in creativity inside the box from Eduardo and Vela’s increased time.

    Without having seen any highlights or actual games of Chamakh’s, I have to say I don’t really feel we would need him as a replacement for Adebayor. If we’re going to spend any money on a striker, it should be an upgrade over everyone we have – a #1 striker along the lines of a Benzema, whom I really wished we could’ve had. I’d rather we make Arshavin happy and use some of the wage savings to give Comrade Arshavin a pay increase. I want him very happy and very committed to Arsenal.

    Guess we’ll wait and see what happens. Maybe this Man City talk will make AC Milan reconsider their interest in Ade at the moment, considering Fabiano is really all they have left.

  2. Firstly, I would like to say good luck to John Hartson.
    Secondly, I would rather Ade was sold. Ok he can get us vital goals and adds another dimension to our attack when the beautiful football don’t work, he can nod in a long ball (I’m no fan of the long ball, in my mind it should be a bookable offence) but any player who does not want to be at Arsenal, and doesn’t want to wear our shirt more than any other. Well then let him walk, get a good fee for him, (Being that it’s man city, we gotta get more cash, right?) And bring someone else in, not Tevez (even tho it would be possible) but maybe Huntelaar? Chamakh aint good enough, another player I would like to see us go for is Mesut Ozil, he’s a confused turk, wearing a german shirt (going back to your Almunia post) but he is undoubtedly, quality and he will get better. Also, Marcus Berg is an option if we are going to carry on with young signings. I’d like to see Berg signed ahead of any other striker, because he is young and can grow into one of the best.
    Some people wont agree but, that is the beauty of opinion.

  3. If Adebayor doesn’t want to play for us, then fine, he can leave. I only want him to stay if he’s motivated. If not, then I honestly don’t mind. I really wanted him to stay, but not if he’s going to turn in mediocre performances.

    If Ade does leave for the reported 20 million, I think Wenger will only bring a maximum of two players in, one in midfield and one up front, and the striker may not even be a concern, given our prowess in that area. I mean, we have Eduardo, Arshavin, and RVP in terms of experienced players, plus the incredibly talented Wally, Vela and Benny.

    Last thing, dude, seriously. Please please please change the ‘irregardless’. Hahahaha! It’s regardless. 😛

    1. @Josh,

      As a long time member of 7am we voted sometime ago that “irregardless” was a legitimate word and that Tim has the poetic license to use it whenever he so chooses (lol)

  4. Tim? Good idea? What on earth do you know about his pay other than Daily Mail news?

    I don’t want another bloody ball winner. Give me a new Henry, a Torres, a young Eto’o. Someone who is everything ‘bayor is not.

    1. @Donjon,

      Pretty much every player on the planet wants more pay. If you find one who claims he doesn’t, please eye him suspiciously.

  5. Last season I stepped up to the counter and took my ticket: joining those wishing Ade a future somewhere else. Josh and Gunner#1 summarize my reasons: poor motivation and frail club loyalty.

    RvP, Eduardo, Arshavin, Bendtner, Vela, Theo – do we need more strikers?

    Our obvious weakness is in midfield (partner with Cesc).

  6. Agree with Donjon. Put the money towards a big SPLASH. Is there not a striker out there that wants to be Arsenal’s Henry for the next 7 years? Or perhaps with Ade gone, we move Theo up to forward and bring in Ribery on the right wing? With 20MM pounds, some extra cash and a player, we can get Ribery.

    I don’t know, I think I’m just losing my mind at this point. Or I’m just getting into my fantasy football league mindset.

  7. Just beware, its sky who have started this story, not the most reliable source…but if they are right then fair play.

    1. @Gareth26GOONER, the thought crossed my mind that this is just City trying to get one of their real targets, hence the tongue in cheek “Adebayor is in talks with Man City to shore up their need for a big, languid, striker.”

      I probably should be more explicit in my distrust of the news.

  8. I agree. I think Man City’s using Ade as a tool to try and get Eto’o to reconsider his stance anyway.

  9. its a joke to sell ade to city for just 20mill thatthis respecting arsenal atop team in europe sell one of there main strikers for 20 mill i s a joke if city want ade 50 mill they are not it not city buying is the oil barrens the richest of the lot 20 is for ac milan 25 barca and realmadred and juventus city 50mill they are not even in europa ciy must pay or our board and wenger look like puppets and chamak next he will go as well if he gets a good season at arsenal we neen big players they cant get big players now we could that why they coud buy our players 50 mil

  10. I would have no problems with Ade going – I think I’ve stated this on numerous occasions. Whatever ability he has is overshadowed by the rather dark episode that has been the summer of 2008 with his Milan flirtations. Ever since his head swelled he’s been more of a distraction to the team than anything else. I’d be more than pleased to have his ego, and the plague he’s spreading, out of the squad so we can focus on our football. We won’t have anymore journos printing 500 artciles a day about Ade and/or his problems with the squad and Wenger doesn’t have to run PR every single moment of the day. 20-25M for Ade = 18M for Huntelaar and 7M for Cana if you ask me. I’m still of the opinion that Huntelaar is a much more clinical finisher than Chamakh. Mind you Chamakh works hard but does suffer from inconsistency but he did improve alot when a quality player like Gourcuff was in the Bordeaux squad. So maybe our top notch midfield can provide the right supply for him. I still believe there’s better strikers out there, but I don’t sign the cheques. If Chamakh must be the player to replace Ade then 10M Chamakh, 7M Cana, 3M Matuidi – there’s the 20M used up rather comfortably.

    As for Almunia playing for England? Why not? They need all the help they can get . When your starting national keeper is playing for a team that was damn near relegated then surely you have to question the need for some quality in that area. Almunia has the more top class experience that any of the other English-born candidates. Germany has embraced the gloablization of the world population and their winning U-21 was probably the most diverse in the competition.

    1. @WC, Huntelaar is actually more of a head case than Adebayor. He got a move to Real Madrid after agitating Ajax and immediately started engineering a move away from Real Madrid.

      I don’t want him and I’d be surprised if Arsene would either, since he likes “nice guys.”

      1. @Tim, I disagree with the way you paint his picture. He wanted to move to a bigger club than Ajax and Madrid were prepared to take him on ,which was really a good purchase. However, Madrid being the bollocks club they are bought even more strikers in the likes of Higuain and it eventually squeezed out Huntelaar. He was probably promised playing time, which is a fair assumption, but Madrid two-timed him and he’s simply unhappy with the lack of time he’s getting at the club. He wants to be able to play every week or at least more often so naturally he’s going to want to move. With CRonaldo, Kaka, Benzema and quite possibly Ribery coming in, Huntelaar knows he’s not going to get any playing time over marquee signings who sell jerseys. I don’t wrong him for wanting to engineer a move away from Madrid because if he stays it will be career suicide and he’ll disappear. He’s one of the best finishers today – no doubt the next Van Nistelrooy; if he gets into the right team.

        1. @WC, he told his team that he was going to quit them in 2007.

          http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11670_2757300,00.html

          Then he courted Real Madrid

          http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=545485&cc=5901

          And now, you’re right, of course he wants to leave Real Madrid, he knows he’s not as good as the other strike options that Real have so they won’t play him. With the world cup coming up he needs PT to book a spot on the Oranje.

          A guy who really, really wants it would look at Real Madrid as an opportunity, rather than a distraction from his career. He’s going to get a chance to play with Kaka and Ronaldo and a finisher of the quality that you describe would be indespensible on a team with that many set-up players.

          Sure, it would be hard work, and he’d probably have to do the little stuff that no one wants to do, but if he was really dedicated to the team, as he said he was, he’d gladly do it.

          Which pretty much sums up what everyone dislikes about Adebayor.

          Which is why I don’t want Huntelaar.

          Which is a moot point, because we have Eduardo, and if he’s healthy I think he’s better than Huntelaar because he can get his own shot, he sets others up, AND he’s an audacious, rapacious, and perspicacious finisher.

  11. Im not happy about Ade going. yes, he had a bad season but it happens to the best of us. In 2007/8 Ade was our best player and showed Henry like qualities. Some of the fans have been a bit harsh this season with a few of the players and need to get a grip on reality in that we havent got the money to compete with the likes of utd, chelsea and even liverpool. Keep this team together and make 1 or 2 more signings.

    1. Maybe the fans have been too harsh, but based on Wenger’s action of sitting Ade the last few games of this season, one could very well infer that Wenger himself was not at all pleased with the dynamic Ade was creating. And as supportive of his players as Arsene typically is, it was a pretty telling move. You could almost label it an indictment. So, yes, the fans gave up on Ade, but so did Arsene seemingly.

  12. I really hope that John Hartson gets some luck that will bring him a better recovery.

    Ade & Man Citeh? Not a very good mix. I can see a whole lot of personality clashes. Besides, if Ade goes, I prefer him out of EPL completely. And I don’t want him replaced with anyone who will have a disruptive influence. We’ve seen enough of that; thank you very much.

    I have no problems with Almunia representing any country that he wants. However, for his sanity, I will advise him not to represent England. They will slaughter him, regardless of how well he performs. Unfortunately, we have a very small minority who, in my opinion, are more racist than racism itself. God help Almunia (for some reason my friends and I like calling him “Aluminium” as a term of endearment) if England plays Spain and he make even a minor mistake. The whole country will slaughter him. No! Too much of a risk to take!!

    There will still be some more stirring before the transfer window closes. Let’s just watch with interest.

    Congrats to RVP for winning player of the season. Couldn’t really argue too much there.

  13. Let him go, let him go, let him go, goodbye Ade. For the team to function successfully everyone needs to give 100 to 110%. To give less lets down the team members, the club and the supporters! As a thought, for any club wanting a languid, gangly, loloping forward Kanu must be out there somewhere.

    All our thoughts and best wishes go out to John Hartson, and his family, with our prayers for successful treatment and a full recovery.

    Cana yes, Matuidi maybe, Chamakh/Huntelaar no, I still say Negredo is the guy we want, and he wont be off to Africa next year either. That would leave a few quid left over, for Riquelme, old but, a great playmaker, a good dead ball skills and a lot of experience.

    Viva!

  14. I just can’t see Ade wanting to go to City unless it’s just for the money. They already have his clone in Santa Cruz, another clone, Jo, on loan at Everton, Tevez coming into the fold and excellent backups in Benjani, Caicedo, Bojinov, Bellamy and Evans.

    He would really have to fight for a place and his emotional makeup is not ideal for that type of a situation. I am definitely not an Ade hater, but the abuse he has received from Arsenal fans makes it almost impossible for him to be effective in our colors any longer.

    Sell him to Europe where he cant come back to haunt us on a regular basis.

  15. So the latest from Sky is 22m and 170K/wk/5yrs. If I’m Adebayor, I sign up before the ink dries on the contract, the clock strikes midnight, Eto’o changes his mind, Miloscz (“…only wants to play in Holland”) gets signed or Mark Hughes gets a clue.

    When you look at our striker corp, Adebayor stands out for all the wrong reasons. By comparison, RVP has shown a growth and maturity that qualifies him to be the next ‘Mother Teresa’. Do we need to ‘like’ our players to support them? No. It doesn’t matter at all. They’ll never be my mother, father, sister or brother (“you say he’s just a friend”) but they dam well better try when they’re on the pitch and this Adebayor did not do on too many occasions. Sayonara.

    Chamakh does not thrill me. Marcus Berg is a project. We could jump Stuttgart’s move for for Huntelaar. That would get cause the eyebrow to rise.

    1. @ctpa, £170k/wk? For Adebayor?

      That’s got to be fake.

      Either that or they got a hold of Arseblog’s handout, I mean, according to the brochure, he’s wifi enabled!

      1. @Tim, I didn’t make that up. I dam near needed the Heimlach maneuver after choking on a wad of bubble gum when I read that.

  16. The unspecified club that Cana is negotiating with is Hamburg even though Everton are still interested so it looks like either Matuidi or Inler or both are what Wenger is looking at in terms of midfield options. Nice blog. It’s good to get an americans perspective on the mighty Arsenal.

  17. Off topic:
    For those who are following the board room saga at Arsenal (America) I posted some parting comments (and shots of course) that mysteriously failed to post. The internet ether will now get a chuckle at least.

    1. @ctpa, I’m out of the loop as far as that stuff, but I do appreciate you all coming here.

      The quality of all your comments make me proud to be both a Gooner AND and American!

  18. Well Tim I can’t respond to your comment on my post for whatever reason but I’m not one to give up an argument so easily.

    Case in point: Guti – he was a very good player for Madrid but in his time he had the likes of Ronaldo, Zidane, Figo – now you say Huntelaar should be delighted to play with some of the best players in the world. I say just ask Guti what that means and he’ll tell you that Madrid will put the best 11 men on the field who will sell shirts – that does not include Huntelaar unfortunately. He’s not the marquee player Benzema is so he’s fallen down the pecking order simply because of marketing. Guti could never get a look in Madrid’s starting 11 because Zidane makes the club money – sure Zidane is one of the greatest players but even when Zidane was dipping in form and moments when Guti was actually performing better, Zidane still trumps him because Perez’s Madrid is all about the glamour first and football second. I think Huntelaar is as good as Benzema and could be a 20 goal a seaons striker again if he found the right team but Madrid has become such a club concerned with commercialism that going there for footballing reasons is simply living on their history and not on their present. They have done jack all in the CL in the past half a decade and their defense is still one of the weakest of any top European club – Barca have much better balance than Madrid do right now and I’m not convinced Madrid is heading in the direction it needs to.

    1. @WC, there’s a three nesting limit to replies.

      Guti is better than Zidane and Zidane was only on the team to sell shirts?? You’re making my point, bro. Benzema is better than Huntelaar, he knows it, and I know it.

      It’s ok, Huntelaar will go to Spuds, coast, and prove me right.

      He’s a poacher, a coaster, and a guy who doesn’t want to work for it. We don’t need another Adebayor.

      Either way, fun debate but I have work to do.

  19. Man City could be a scary team if they only had….a defense. Dunne was absolutely atrocious last season and the LB had the ‘vacancy’ sign out. Hence John Terry wanting permission ‘just’ to talk w/ Man City. JT, that’s like asking your wife for permission to ‘talk’ w/ a prostitute. City needs a defender who can no longer jump, is coming back from back surgery and can’t recover as well on counters and will pay a king’s ransom/wk.

    Chamakh now says he’s had solid offers including one from Sunderland. I’m a snob when it comes to Arsenal. Any player who is prepared to consider offers from any team outside of the top 4 is not worthy of our consideration. Nothing against Sunderland as they are a “massive club” (Frazier’s father) but let’s be real here.

    @WC. I like Guti. Good game or bad you know he’s leaving it all on the field. Perez needs shirt sales to repay the banks.
    These days it’s a lot easier to sell people shirts than it is apartments :0

    We (Arsenal) are bringing in a commercial ‘guru’ named Fox from the US of A to spear head the world wide marketing effort I’ve crying out for Arsenal to do.

    AC Milan have proclaimed they will play 4-3-3 this season. With all the players they have who are Medicare eligible, that’s probably not a good idea. Barcelona’s triple continues to reverberate through the football world as Wenger already stated he wants to go 4-3-3 as well. As long as it’s not a Chelsea 4-3-3 bring it on.

  20. Ade isn’t going anywhere, thank goodness. More rubbish from the tabloids about Arsenal. And Melo isn’t coming either, and that’s the best news of the summer by far. Arsene knows exactly what he’s doing, we will be fine next year. I do enjoy reading all the comments of people that are just so inexplicably excited to have one of our 5 most talented players reported to leave, and for the signature of a THUG in Melo, who they’ve never seen play a game outside of the Confed Cup, and if they had seen him play in Serie A, would be wholly unimpressed. Hilarious.

  21. Wut up, Timmy? It’s been a long time since I’ve been on here but ArseAm has turned into a circus and I don’t have any friends (or enemies) anywhere else.

    Are you sure that Ade is talking to Citeh? If so, that means Arsenal have already agreed a fee. Personally, I think Ade’s failure to shine had more to do with poor service and having little support. When you know that Nasri is going to take five touches before he moves the ball and you know that Walcott, Sagna, and Clichy can’t pass, that makes it difficult to stay motivated. Who would you run for? It’s even more frustrating as a lone striker.

    I think if we put Arshavin behind Ade to do what Hleb did for the team in ’07-’08, then Adebayor won’t be so isolated and will actually get descent service. The thing is no defender in their right mind is going to give Arshavin a chance to pick a shot. That means Ade will be marked by 1 CB instead of two like he had all of last year. What central defender is good enough to stop Adebayor 1v1? Maybe Ferdinand with his A-game.

    Adebayor, Torres, Drogba, and Anelka have the pace, movement, and power to trouble any defense in the world. There simply aren’t many strikers capable of doing what those four can. We are fortunate to have one of those four and we should think long and hard before we not only give it up but give it to a title rival. I just think it would be better if we kept hold of him at least one more year.

    1. @joshuad, yes, Ade’s decline in goal scoring this past season can be related to the makeshift mid-field, never adjusting to the loss of Rosicky, Flamini, and Hleb. There is no question about Ade’s physical abilities and the problems he creates for defenses.

      Its off the pitch where Ade creates this chasm with Arsene.

      We all see Arsene as a man of great patience with his players, always giving them the benefit of the doubt and outwardly being optimistic for their development. This open expression of support is his way of saying, now it is up to you to prove ‘me’ right, show me on the pitch. (Ex. this past season the rebound of play from: Gallas, Bendtner, Eboue)

      Maybe Arsene now sees Ade as someone that is unsettling the chemistry in the locker room? Players like Diarra and Bentley have great talent, but they seemed to always create unnecessary friction.

      Joshuad, do you feel that Ade’s comments to the media have helped his case to remain with Arsenal or just add gasoline to the fire?

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