Exclusive: Bad news on top Arsenal target… | Yossi, Santos, Götze & Cahill on radar

by & filed under Uncategorized.

I’m not going to procrastinate over the United game, I appreciate most of you are suicidal already. I’ll just say one thing… how disappointing is it that I can’t even gloat about the misery going on at White Hart Lane? Very…

Transfer Pipeline…

Yossi Benayoun according to my source is someone we’re definitely interested in. I’m not sure why there was such an outcry about his purchase yesterday. I think he’s well worth a punt. He’s hard-working, Premiership experienced, good with both feet, a great finisher and creative. He’s also 31 years old and obviously, he’s French African, so perfect for Wenger.

I’ve said on numerous occasions he’s Alex Hleb with end product.

The problem here isn’t quality, it’s his injury record and the question marks around an older player returning from an achilles problem.

Yossi Stats…

09-10: 31 games / 8 Goals / 6 Assists

08-09: 24 games / 9 goals / 6 Assists

07-08: 26 games / 10 goals / 5 Assists

Rumours surfaced last night that we were in for Chelsea’s Alex. For me, this is just a ploy to pile the pressure on Bolton. He’s a good player but he’s so injury prone it wouldn’t be worth the risk for such a key position. Cahill is the right age and he’s an improvement on Koscielny. He’d be a great buy. We must be careful though, Spurs are lurking.

News surfaced last night that we were in for Götze of Dortmund. A superb talent, some say the best the German football has to offer, but a non-starter for me. Most top clubs don’t sell to their competitors two days before the window closes because generally you can’t find top class replacements.

The player we were hunting down was Yann M’Vila. Things were looking good and we definitely had the player interested, though I’ve been informed this morning the deal is off as Rennes want £30million and we’re only prepared to go as high as £22million. A bit of a gutter and the reason I didn’t give a name initially. He’s a terrier of a defensive midfielder with the ability to play box to box. He’d be the perfect player to solidify our weak central midfield.

Keep an eye on his name though. French clubs are desperate for cash, that one might be reignited last-minute.

Andre Santos looks like our new left back. He’s a Brazil international, comes with a glowing reference from Sports Illustrated’s Gabrielle Marcotti and has pedigree. The perfect signing. He comes from a match fixing team, but a winning match fixing team! Who cares though, that’s a top deal under the radar.

In other great news, it looks like Chamakh could be on his way out to PSG. The highlight of his Arsenal career would be making any sort of profit on him. Traore left for a fee, that’s a win. He’s not cut out for the big games, if I was to guess, I’d say he’ll bomb at QPR as well.

Looking at our transfer model, it seems we’re shipping out the lazy and replacing them with hard workers which is something we need. How they’ll settle is a worry, but be honest, anything is better than 8-2 players.

Ticket refund…

I had a short conversation on 5 Live yesterday at 1850. I was asked to talk about the refund, here’s what I would have said it I’d been given a bit longer.

Firstly, we didn’t ask for the refund. So it wasn’t demanded. It was a gesture. It’s always nice when you’ve been wronged to be offered before you have to ask. It shows the club take results like that seriously and they’re taking accountability.

United at the weekend was the worst result since 1886. That was no regular defeat. That was a disgrace even at Sunday League level. People are worried it’ll set a dangerous precedent. I say it would set the perfect precedent. Away games should ALWAYS be refunded when we lose by such a humiliating margin.

Buying a ticket is a two-way commitment. We part with our cash and support. The manager puts out team capable of winning and the players work hard and fight like their lives depended on it.

Our supporters kept their part of the bargain, they were world-class, an inspiration to all football fans. They reminded me of the string quartet on the Titanic… The point is, those are the type of fans we should be encouraging. A well deserved gesture. Simple fact is, no amount of free tickets will remove that foul taste… but a free ticket to another game goes someway to helping.

Finally, the stats around the refund…

The average ticket price was about £46. Our allocation was 3000. The total cost of the refund was about £138k. That’s roughly what Arsene Wenger is paid per week.

I’m not drawing any logical conclusions as to where that money should come from. Nor would I point out our weekly wage bill is almost 17 times the refund cost.

Right, plenty for you chew through this morning. Sorry the mystery player looks a dead duck… but like I say with all transfer deals, until they’re done, anything can happen!

There are plenty of twists and turns yet… Wenger has a career, season and a legacy to save! Come on Arsene, show us you know!

P.S. 100,000 of you visited the site on match day this weekend. That might not be a lot for other sites, but my god, that’s feels like something special to Geoff and I. Thanks for continuing to drop by this summer and thanks for telling your friends to drop by as well, you’ve all helped to make the summer so much more bearable with your top comments and banter!

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1,615 Responses to “Exclusive: Bad news on top Arsenal target… | Yossi, Santos, Götze & Cahill on radar”

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  1. SongtheGreat

    Mayank..well at least Kroenke would be pleased if Choo was brought in..great business…didnt know you where a fan mate..

  2. Mayank

    David,Bacary is saying Cesc and Nasri had all but left the club. And we hadn’t qualified for Europe. Which is why player wouldn’t want to come to us.

    I have a feeling the reason so many manes are in the press is simply a PR decision to make it evident to other players that we’re serious about competing. I’d still be very surprised by 3 signings by tomorrow.

  3. SongtheGreat

    yo socretes…ohh..well prob sorted now then ..in my opinion Song is world class mate..you differ, thats ok..but we can agree Song needs to stay focused..

  4. Mayank

    STG, of Jimmy Choo? Nah! But I Expect our merchandise to have an equivalent brand value in the far east after buying Leo Miyachi, and Chu.

  5. CedarBayDave

    It sounds like Stan told Arsene to offer on anyone and everyone available. If we started this last January, we would have won the league, at least one of the domestic cups and been a favorite this year to do it again.

  6. Mayank

    Lurch, if you asked me before the match whether the result would have any bearing on our purchases I’d have said no. But the way the match played out it was in my mind that at least 5 our of the 11 would not be trusted by Wenger at least for this season.

    It was an option between 6th and buying.

  7. kev

    is it true park is only with us for two and a half years and then hes off to the military? pure waste of money if thats true

  8. Mayank

    What the fuck will we do with Bale, we’ve got even worse headers of the ball than Peter PettyCrouch. Wouldn’t mind him but AM is top priority. Unless we’re changing our system.

  9. Lurch LeRouge

    Mayank,

    there had to be a reason he sent us out in that formation. I’m convinced he wanted us battered.

  10. Mayank

    Are you joking Lurch, the players on the field were literally the only players we had available. You could’ve put them in any formation and we would’ve got whooped at least 3-1. The game was unimaginably open. We should’ve got at least 4 goals.

    Also, has anyone seen so many top corner finishes in a week let alone a match. Eiither crazy luck or crazy quality by Man U.

  11. Nick the Greek Gooner from Ealing

    Please someone tell me we have a creative midfielder on the cards? Not keen on Park being given the No 9 shirt, that indicates he is high up the pecking order.

  12. Mayank

    JackWilshere Jack Wilshere
    On the last day of the transfer window I have decided that I would like to move..from the physio room back on the Emirates pitch please

    Haha! Little twerp is fucking with us. Can’t wait for him to come back!

  13. wardo

    tbh Mayank i hope he is but i would rather take the chance.

    why? cause cham and bendtnerwillnever take arsenal fwd. cham is shit.bend ok butnot world class

  14. gambon

    I think one thing that everyone has forgotten amongst all this transfer mayhem is that Cesc still isnt replaced, nor Nasri.

    We are seriously missing creativity still, even if the defence looks stronger.

  15. Mayank

    Yeah I remember for one of the goals (Nani’s?), half of our back four decided to step up and the other half decided to stay back. I’d have burst out laughing if I wasn’t crying so hard.

  16. Lurch LeRouge

    Gambon,

    could you subscribe to the theory that any world class creative players would’nt show interest in signing for us until the defense is shored up?

  17. Pedro

    A&N, you said I had an imaginary source. That’s pretty much saying I’m a cunt and a racist.

    The Evening Standard have repeated my story pretty much point for point this evening, back page.

    I’m not fabricator…

    That is all.

  18. incesc

    obviously they werent gonna spend ofr whatever reason and fan power or kroenke stepping in or wenger smoking crack has changed something.

    dont think theres a cesc replacement available and wenger will wait till xmas???

    just a guess.

  19. Pedro

    Gambon… I have nothing to indicate this will be happen, but I think we’ll make some sort of splash tomorrow on creative.

    We’re in serious trouble if we don’t. Jack and Rambo aren’t up to it… Rosicky and Arsh aren’t interested. Could be a frustrating season.

  20. Mayank

    Gambon, no-one has forgotten that. Gerv is supposed to be Nasri’s replacement and I’m hoping like crazy we get someone for Cesc. Gotze, Dempsey, Benyoun anyone!

    I’ve always said unless we’re changing formation AM is by far the biggest priority.

  21. goonerDNA is Dench

    Kaplock, I seriously doubt we’ll start playing a 4-4-2, young being given number 9 probably has no significance…well I hope so anyway

  22. G STAR

    Arsenal to make shock move for Gareth Bale following fallout with Harry Redknap and persuasion from Welsh team mate Aaron Ramsey.

  23. SUGA3

    Lurch,

    I can do with Asians, they have great work ethic and their tournies are not played bi-annually at some ungodly times of the year…

    jetlag may be an issue tho…

  24. SongtheGreat

    gambon…no doubt we’re still bent over and buttf*cked by the hollywood whore mate..
    one could argue that Mertesacker is top class..meh..other than that we really havent gotten any top class players have we ?..om not conviced..seems we’re being tricked into believing we’re a big club..sad …spend some feckin money..
    fuk ping back…not the kind of signing one would expect eh

  25. Pedro

    Big Dave, do you think Cahill is dead? I have my suspicions we still might get him.

    We need a DM. Song is off next summer, Frimpong is far too young.

  26. Arse&Nose©

    Pedro, I never used those slurs against you.
    For the umpteenth time I was joking!

    Chill out, make a cuppa :P

  27. ritesh

    @ Suga

    He’ll take the ball and he will score, and then he’ll eat your Labrador,
    ——————–
    Actually they torture the dog before killing it!!!

  28. seduwill

    Question…had we finished 3rd and been gaurenteed Champs League do you think we’d be in this position now?

    I think not – we could’ve bought confidently knowing Fab and Nas were off and we really wouldn’t be in this mess now.

  29. wardo

    Gambon,

    you’ve been bang on all day.

    i haven’t forgotten at all. if we get LB and CB today, we still need another CB (cahill – pls wenger just fcuking pay the money), 2 x MF and a striker…..

    at least he seems to be doing something……n the sales tell me he is looking to replace buts itsa bit too late……hopefully 3 tomo and a good few in jan trans window

  30. frenchie

    jack the lad lets us all know what new signings can do for morale:

    @jackwilshere: On the last day of the transfer window I have decided that I would like to move..from the physio room back on the Emirates pitch please!#AFC

  31. OPG

    No bids for Gotze they say he’s not for sale.
    Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke on Arsenal/Goetze: “There was and is no offer, we categorically won’t sell.” via @honigstein

  32. Samir

    NO Gotze!

    Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke on Arsenal/Goetze: “There was and is no offer, we categorically won’t sell.” via @honigstein

  33. BacaryisGod

    David,

    You misread my post, you daft bugger. I said who would want to join a team that isn’t guaranteed a Champions League spot and has just SOLD Cesc and Nasri.

  34. G STAR

    Speculation: Reports in Spain suggest Granada are in talks with Arsenal over the loan signing of Marouane Chamakh.

  35. Fraps

    Speculation: Reports in Spain suggest Granada are in talks with Arsenal over the loan signing of Marouane Chamakh.

  36. Lurch LeRouge

    No problems with any of that Suga, although flight times are usually faster to Asia.

    In Africa you usually have to fly to a major hub, sit in shanty airport scratching yer nuts for 3 hours and catch 25 yr old jalopy near to your final destination, then a cesna to your mud hut village.

  37. gambon

    Possible Playmakers

    - Gourcuff
    - Sneijder
    - Dzagoev
    - Kaka
    - Goetze
    - Kagawa
    - Honda
    - Hamsik
    - MarvellousMarvinHaggler

  38. Nick the Greek Gooner from Ealing

    Pedro, your posts are the nuts!! Now please tell me we have a creative monster coming in and don’t say Yossi, I hang on every rimour Pam says!!!

  39. Big Dave

    Pedro,

    Getting mixed signals on him, some say it is off others say not so.

    Did hear we went cold on the deal tho

  40. Gooby

    gambon

    - Gourcuff is shit at the moment i wouldn’t take any risk signing him
    - Sneijder 250k/w
    - Dzagoev good player, don’t know much about him though
    - Kaka he’s not moving
    - Goetze ditto
    - Kagawa had a great first season, not sure he’d move
    - Honda maybe
    - Hamsik if we pay up
    - MarvellousMarvinHaggler would be cup tied if i remember well

  41. Mayank

    Goucuff, not sure if can do it here
    Sneijder, 200k you’re having a laugh
    Dzagoev, another Russian?
    Kaka, yes please, fitness concerns though
    Gotze, dead in the water
    Kagwa, isn’t he a winger/striker
    Honda, not creative enough
    Hamsik, wouldn’t mind,will he step up
    Marvin Martin, tentative yes but unlikely.

  42. Big Dave

    Don’t care what Park looks like, as long as he puts the ball in Man u, scum other scum and other scum nets will be over the moon

  43. SongtheGreat

    Suga..haben sie keine angst es wird gut gehen..heil !
    we’re Americanos now you know..or as Kennedy ut it..ich bin ein Berliner..and wenger’s favourite line..ich habe keine geld..

  44. Yandi

    http://www.skysports.com/story/0,,11670_7139349,00.html

    Fuck Yeah! Just glad the club’s doing something for once. Wouldn’t have been my pick, but better than what we have nonetheless…

    If we got M’villa, Cahill and a creative player, I’d say we might get into the top 4…and grab one of the FA or Carling Cups.

  45. Lordbergkamp

    Great interview with the new signing – he’s already planning to start a computer chip factory on the half-way line and a sweat shop producing moody nikes in each goal – class.

  46. Mayank

    A&N, are you kidding that is the most ambitious look I’ve seen from any player.

    So Per and Santos in the bag? M’Vila and an AM tomorrow please. Benayoun will do for me atm.

  47. OPG

    Skysports.com understands we’re slower than everyone else on Twitter.
    Is M’Vila our Marquee signing? If there is no one else apart from maybe another CB we are still short a extra creative outlet, either a winger or CAM.

  48. SongtheGreat

    wenger…we have been very very active in this transfer window..and remember big money doesnt always mean top class..
    we have now concluded our business..Kroenke *the hollywood whore*Gazidis *the deceptor* and the Board are very happy..
    ffs rock on Gooners..tunr the other chin and lets get robbed some more ;

  49. OPG

    Granada is one of the teams that got promoted to La Liga, they were on Sky Sports last weekend.

    gunnerblog gilbertosilver
    Benayoun confirms on Twitter that he will fly to London in the morning to meet w/ CFC & finalise a move to one of the interested parties.

    Hopefully not us..

  50. BacaryisGod

    Wardo:

    “if we get LB and CB today, we still need another CB (cahill – pls wenger just fcuking pay the money), 2 x MF and a striker…..”

    Wardo, this simply won’t happen. Let’s get realistic.

    We now go at least 2 deep in every position except attacking midfielder, where we need a top quality addition. After his Man U performance, not sure that Jenkinson can ably back-up Bacary(is God) but other than that you have Chezzer-Fab, Sagna-Jenk, Santos-Gibbs, Verm-Kos, Mertesacker-Djourou, Song-Frimpong, Wilshere-Diaby, Ramsey-Rosicky, Gervinho-Arsh, RVP-Park, Walcott-Chamberlain (with a few other back-ups on hand like Ryo and Cham, if he stays).

    The questions are clear.

    1) Djourou as a #4 CB? Not against the better sides, please.

    2) Jenkinson as Sagna back-up? Not yet based on Sunday.

    3) Ramsey as main creative option? No. If Jack can play further forward, great. If not, we need a premium quality attacking midfielder. If Jack moves forward, M’Vila is the obvious target to plug that gap.

    My guess is that Arsene is going to stick with Djourou as #4 and pray that 2 of his Top 3 are available in the big games.

    He will stick with Jenkinson, although only Kos could credibly fill in for Sagna if Jenkinson can’t handle pressure games. My hope is that Udinese away was more an indication of Jenkinson than Man United, where he had zero protection and no Verm or Sagna.

    This leaves central midfield. Arsene has one big, big buy tomorrow and I think he’ll put the boat out for M’Vila with a 26 million + add-ons. It’s a statement of intent and I can see Jack thriving just behind Gervinho, RVP and Theo and protected by M’Vila, Song or Frimpong.

    One great signing tomorrow will be fine tomorrow, and then we can look forward to a fresh start.

  51. SUGA3

    StG,

    aber hatt’ ich keine angst die ganzes sommer, als habe ich gesagt, dass ich wird meine opinion geben um 01/09 ;)

    would go loco otherwise…

  52. Nick the Greek Gooner from Ealing

    We need Coatze are these rumour true that we have bid 40 mill. It’s come up as a mewsflash on some German channel and there fans have posted it on YouTube?

  53. Frank

    Hopefully we are going after M’Vila and i hope we get him. It would give us a very strong midfield, and we will be much stronger in defense as a team.

    Sagna, Mertesacker/Kos, Vermaelen, Santos
    Song, M’Vila
    Wilshire
    Walcott/Park, van Persie, Gervinho

    We could do well with that team.

  54. SongtheGreat

    Suga..mein freund ;es wird besser gehen…we’re on a rocket headed for troph…ehh..lalala land ;…
    lets bring in goebbels…far better than gazidis..and heey im waitin for that opinion..:

  55. kapslock

    Clarkey101 Tom Clarke
    Arsene Wenger is in France. This could mean a number of things.
    1 minute ago
    in reply to ↑

    @JamieDalton82 Jamie Dalton
    @Clarkey101 He’s shagging his bit on the side.

    haha, probably true…

  56. ikon

    its like the 20 people working on transfer have been given the right to bid at sight. really funny and the epic story is that we bid 35 million Gareth Bale… rofl. one of the 20 must be lazy to not want to look beyond north london

  57. Yandi

    OPG says:

    August 30, 2011 at 20:57

    Granada is one of the teams that got promoted to La Liga, they were on Sky Sports last weekend.
    ————————————————————-
    You sure they’re not a Formula One team?

  58. SongtheGreat

    yeah Suga history repeats itself mate..and your spot on..The Arsenal have become quite a regime….i could make alot of comparisons..but better not..;but like Churchill’s famous speech; we shall shag on the beaches ,we shall shag in the air,we shall shag on the battlefields and we will never surrender…lets hope Usmanov will be Our Churchill eh ?

  59. BacaryisGod

    I am still a little in awe of how Arsene has just taken a blowtorch to the squad. It’s almost as if losing Cesc and Nasri and his dignity at Old Trafford has liberated him to a ‘what the fuck’ mode, and I like it a lot.

  60. BillikenGooner

    Dempsey = good for squad, effort, ‘get in your face-ness’, actually shooting from outside the box.

    Dempsey = bad if the ‘answer’ to any of our big needs.

  61. AA

    Get that crazy Texan Dempsey. He is wild and will add some toughness to the midfield. He is box to box though mostly. We still need the maestro creater in the midfield!

    Dempsey would be a good addition I feel overall.

  62. kapslock

    Dempsey? Come on guys. All this talk about Dempsey and Benayoun is ridiculous. Don’t get me wrong I’d be happy with them as squad players and nothing more but to begin to think of someone like Dempsey as a first team starter is horrible. I don’t care if he has Premiership experience he’s not ‘super, super’ quality. We’ve got the money so just break our fucking transfer record Wenger and sign someone big. All signings so far have been a bit meh. Glad he is signing though.

  63. Arse&Nose©

    Dempsey is definitely on the radar, he ticks a lot of boxes including big box to attract N.American interest to the club. KSE want Arsenal to be Americas favourite English club, and what better way than to sign one of their own to get fans tuned in.

  64. Othello

    Fingers crossed for Goetze!

    With Goetze we ‘ll go for the title ffs, I hope wenger ‘ll give even more than 40m!

  65. Othello

    Arse&Nose© says:
    August 30, 2011 at 21:27
    btw my source is Anne the AFC executive toilet cleaner

    ANNE knows!
    ——————–

    HAHAHAHAHA! damn!

  66. gambon

    Just heard Mertesacker & Santos bumped into each other in the corridor at Colney, literally.

    They both now have long term injuries.

  67. OPG

    Spurs have not signed cahill yet its only speculation atm.
    But anyway where are the midfielders?
    Rumours about Chamakh leaving on loan and Bendtner still has options but still hasn’t found a club..

  68. Jerry

    Bentner & Chamakh gone with only Young coming in, that’s putting a lot of faith in the fitness of RVP I think. Even if he does use Walcott up front, which is unlikely, that still leaves us short on numbers with 4 competitions to play. Could there be a much needed class striker on the cards?

  69. ikon

    as for the league table for now, i dont think 1 point from these three games is all that bad. Only i would have liked us to get at least a point from the pool game. If and if only we get a proper creative midfielder now with another proper defender, then i think we are good to go. Goetze, Hamsik are the two choices i think as of now.

    Collateral damage to all this would be Ramsey’s Arsenal career is as good as over.

  70. kc

    Arsenal already have as many or more fans in the States as any English club. I see Arsenal kits almost everyday in Dallas, Texas. Dempsey is from Texas by the way.

  71. SongtheGreat

    Jerry mate..
    i have a suspicion that wenger will drop RvP down like Bergkamp and play Theo on the shoulder of the defenence..

  72. TELARSE

    Rohan says:
    August 30, 2011 at 20:17

    Are we getting jesus?

    ==================================================

    Gotta be a joke about our crap crosses!

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