So, Diego has been put forward to replace Hleb in the event he leaves, and frankly, he needs to, Diego would be a perfect replacement, he’s pacey, dribbles like Hleb but unlike Hleb he can finish and at 23 is four years younger.

Nasri has again been linked to partner Cesc and in the event of not getting Barry - my first choice, I would snap him up.

Cesc has said that David Villa would be the ideal signing, I would expect something to happen there, especially as Cesc is about to sign an extension, go get him Arsene, he said he wants to come. Who do we get rid of? good question, I would have him there to play the same role as Eduardo, same size and build and we still don’t know if Eduardo will return the same as he was when he left.

Vela will come back as a forward and not a winger so we will have a lot of forwards, but we’ll need them, it’s a long season and we want to compete on all fronts, so we’ll need them.

Matty the greedy ingrate has centre stage today and had this to say in the Sun.

‘If Arsenal had offered me a contract last summer I would still be their player now. Last July I told Arsenal I wanted to extend my contract so, of course, I would have signed if they had offered me a deal . . . but they didn’t. They said they wanted me to prove myself first’

More fool Arsenal, if they thought he was good enough for one more chance, he was good enough for a contract, you could see in August he was going to be awesome, he also said he left on the same money he joined on when he was 20, so that shows how useless the board were in negotiating that one.

Still he’s gone and we should move on, get some of the above in Arsene and we’ll soon forget them.

Now we know Vela won’t be a winger, Arfa must now be a shoe in, add him to the above list with a nasty center back and we’ll win the lot next year.

Get your cheque book out Arsenal! Have a good ‘un Grovers!

Good morning Grovers!

Just a quick news round up for you!

Carlos Vela is coming home! Arsene Wenger reckons he is an ‘Eduardo’ type player and that is where he sees him next year. So, no Villa, no Benzema and no Huntelaar… sorry to ruin you day!

This next Wenger quote could really knark you,

‘I think a huge player is better than a huge name,’

‘You have huge names who produce very little at the moment.’

I just can’t believe Wenger would sign Tom Huddlestone, the hugest player I could think of with Prem experience? Ok, he scored a good penalty for the under 21’s but he will always be a fat Spud to me…

Just kidding of course.

Arsene, we don’t want a big name signing for the sake of it… We do however want players who can produce immediately. Give us Arfa, give us Barry or give us another 3 Sagna’s… good players of a suitable age, doing it now. That is all we ask.

Talking of ‘now’ players, how many of you would be pleased with Samir Nasri? If you haven’t already, I strongly recommend you watch his you tube video… the guy is pure magic. His coach had this to say,

‘If there is a big offer for Samir, then of course he will leave.’

He 21 years old, skilful and he has an eye for goal - a very Wenger like signing, so let’s wait and see!

Ok, that is your lot!

We normally get the nut bags on at the weekends, this definitely has nothing to do with the fact school children gain access to the internet at weekends, so just a quick warning…

If you don’t have something sensible to say, don’t waste your energy typing it. It will just drop into the spam bin and it wont even get read.

If you are a first time poster, bear with me today, I will be in and out all day so it may take a while for your comment to get on!

Have a brilliant Saturday Grovers!

Ok we had a lot of debate a couple of days ago when discussing Le Chump, today is the turn of the player/staff member/inanimate object we all liked best, Le Groves first Le champ of the season.

We thought long and hard about this one and took all your comments on board, so here is the short list.

In no particular order.

Any excuse to bust this photo out again!

Eduardo - Eduardo was so unlucky to have had the break when he did, he was just beginning to establish himself and fate stepped in, but we all saw enough to want more and next season we have no doubt he’ll be back and in contention, Eduardo we really appreciate what you’ve done this season.

Gael Clichy - This kid has it all, he stepped out of Cashley’s shadow and made the left back slot his own, now he is arguably the best left back in football (and with us for an extra two years), he gives us so much down the left side it’s difficult to ignore this him, great improvement this year and unfortunate against the brummies, we were robbed and so were you.

Sagna - What can you say about someone that no-one had heard of? That he could be so good, well done the Grimster, great spot! This guy gets nominated for his awesome displays and the way he acted when his brother sadly died, both he and Gael made the premiership team of the season, so well done the full backs.

How Van Persie sees Lewin…

Gary Lewin - Gary gets on the list for his speed in saving Eduardo’s leg, if it wasn’t for his quick thinking Eduardo may have lost his leg, it was that serious, so well done Gary. Unfortunately you spoiled all that, the day you saved John Terry and his serpent like tongue, so for that you’ll have to wait another year, but noble effort and we are forever in your debt.

Cesc - Nothing can be said about this young man that hasn’t already been said, except maybe, ‘I love you’ there I said it, he’s over 16 so there’s no law against it! He is Mr Arsenal and next year should be captain, his marauding runs and tireless workrate are unmatched and when he scores, he goes nuts and we all adore him for that, but what really puts this guy forward for me was his loyalty when the boss was on the rack, he came straight out and said he loved the club, the fans and the manager, shame others didn’t take note.

Adebayor - I worried about this one because I didn’t want to see Ethan’s posts, but a nomination for scoring 30 goals is warranted, he’s still got a lot to prove though so this year is maybe too soon to get Le Champ, but well done all the same, now go and prove you love the Arsenal.

And the winner is?… I have to split it 3 ways Cesc, Sagna and Gael Clichy; all have been warriors and all are Arsenal through and through and we really love you for that.

Congratulations guys, have Peroni on Le Grove.

Arsene, make sure you give Cesc the armband next season and then it’s job done.

* Finally, don’t forget to sign up to our mailing list - it will help boost Wenger’s transfer fund!

I saw something horrific this morning, truly sad and I want you to take a minute to think about this.

Today, driving up the M1 a tragic accident occurred.

A truck overturned on the motorway shedding its load of about 20,000 beer cans, the driver was ok, but sadly… a majority of the beer cans perished at the scene of the motorway.

Think about that today. It really puts life into perspective.

Moving swiftly on.

According to rumour, Wenger will not be signing a Flamini replacement.

By my reckoning he has 3 choices.

Song:

Performed wonders at the ACN. He has improved hugely over the last season and despite being played at CB, he could be in-line for a promotion a little further up the pitch. Can he make the step up? Is he too lazy? Is he too prone to pulling a ‘Senderos’? Is he just not good enough?

Diaby:

Undoubtedly the most talented of the three. He can be Vieiraesque one minute, weaving his way around players and scoring screamers… but then he can remind us of why he spends most of his time on the bench with a misplaced two yard pass. He is also up there with the best on Le List.

Denilson:

What is he! Is he Cesc Mark II or is he Gilberto with bells and whistles? The Brazil under 19 captain certainly lacks the bulk to play the holding role, but will the summer see a transformation? Can he make his mark on the team… can he define his role for the team? He certainly showed promise in his first season, however last year due to injury and lack playing time he tailed off a bit… I call it ’secondseasonitis’.

Can any of these young pretenders stamp their authority on the first team next year? Can they push Arsenal on the extra 8 points he wants (Arsene did say 91 right?).

Only time will tell. I’d like to hear your opinion in the comments section!

Finally, if you were expecting Le Champ of the season today, I apologise… it will be here tomorrow. A good Friday finisher!

Also, spare a thought to the thousands of families who lost an 8 pack in todays tragic accident…

See you in the comments…

Ok, there were a few contenders for this and I even included a player from last season, so the finalists were…

Thierry’s reaction to being wedgied by Messi… again

Thierry Henry - Thierry gets on the list because he was still an Arsenal player at the end of last season and he gets nominated for his dreadful decision making. I warned him, if you go you won’t… take free kicks or corners anymore, you won’t be their best player, you won’t score as many goals, they won’t sing your name and you sure as hell won’t be a legend. You will however get jeered often and be a sub for long parts of the season. Thierry, you should have listened.

Judas would have blushed at flamini’s disloyalty

Matty Flamini - He was a tosser and a greedy narsissic delusional twat and will spend most of his time on the bench, he’ll get found out when he runs up blind alleys and continually gets booked. Without the telepathic young kids of Arsenal to make him look good he will fall quicker that the Pound against the Euro. Add that to fans favourite Gattuso, eagerly waiting in the wings, and the future doesn’t look so good.

Flaking on his contract?

Hleb - He makes the list for his discussions in Milan behind our back, he’s done an Ashley and frankly with no Ade like denials forthcoming, is finished with the fans. Another one made to look good by his team mates, lots of skill, no end product, swap him for Ya Ya or 10 Woodbines and a book of matches.

The ball looked a little like Almunia’s head…

Jens Lehmann - Made the list for his bad behaviour but saved himself with his emotional goodbye’s at the Grove against Everton.

Muppet…

Eboue - Another work in progress I’m afraid, his theatrics and uselessness put him right up there, him and his adopted dad seem to be the only two in the world that think he can play football. Do the right thing Emanuel and fall on your sword.

I hear the Championship is fun, mwhaha!

Taylor - Anyone can accidentally break someones leg on purpose…

‘Oops…I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to get caught.’

This inbred goes on the list becuase he didn’t actually say sorry.

…So after much thought and many deliberations there is only one winner… take it away Matty, never look back and I hope you have a shit time in Milan, you ungrateful, spoilt, greedy, disloyal whore.

I’m sure you all have your own contenders, but in the main, we’re happy with our choice, tomorrow we do Le Champ of the season.

Remember to sign up to our all singing, all dancing mailing list… It actually doubles your attractiveness… honestly, it doubles it!

See you in the comments section!

Arsene Wenger needs another striker as he admits Eduardo is 9 months away from being match fit, that’s the average age of an Arsenal prospect! That means he’ll be back next January, so I think we need to find someone.

The two to three week signing thing has to be related to the French league and because he added the 3 week bit, it has to be the French cup, which means it’s Ben Arfa, I haven’t seen much of him outside of youtube, but if he’s as good as he looks, he’ll be just what we need, a proper winger.

Vela is a forward as is Walcott so if Eduardo is out for 9 months, perhaps they will fill the strikers role, but either way we need a replacement, we can’t leave his slot vacant in the hope he comes back as sharp as a tack, because he might not.

There was a lot of talk about signing Richard Dunne yesterday, why, I don’t know? I know he’s a premiership player, but it’s Wenger’s style to sign a player that has barely reached puberty, and in Dunne’s case, he’s at the point where the boss doesn’t even extend contracts, so I can’t see that happening.

Richards is too short and will cost too much so I can’t see where this centre back is coming from if he’s from these shores, my guess is the Prem player will be Barry or Johnson in midfield and someone like Kompany or Mertesacker in the centre back role.

I can’t see him paying £10 million for YaYa especially since we could have had him for nothing, I could see a Hleb swap plus cash for YaYa and Henry though, interesting concept don’t you think, midfield sorted - Eduardo covered, for practically nothing, or is that fantasy?

I watched the highlights and Theo looked great, and Randall looks like he knows where the goal is, maybe all the kids will put on a bit of weight and surprise us this summer.

Jens hasn’t disappointed - with a farewell pop at the boss, saying only at Arsenal would his job be safe, I wonder if the AKB’s will be looking for his email address to berate him for daring to have a go at their leader?

Jens may have a point though! This young team is good, it has promise, but if it goes on too much longer, it won’t be a young team any more will it? That will defeat the argument, twisted logic I know, but logic all the same.

A final bit of news, Pedro has made it possible for you to receive Le-Grove by email, there is a widget in the sidebar or you can click the here to register - then you’re away! It will save you time and improve your relationship with your wife, girlfriend, boyfriend or husband, trust me, it really works!

Well another day of speculation so let’s make Arsene’s job a little easier, we know he reads Le-Grove, give him your ideas!

Mario Gomez, 22, plays for Stuttgart, is Germany’s player of the year, scores lots of goals and is being talked about to play for the Arsenal, YaYa Toure and Belgium defender Vincent Kompany have also been linked, add that to Barry, Veloso, Ben Arfa, Benzema, Diego, Mertesaker and two girls from the double winning Arsenal ladies team and we really have a mouth watering list to choose from.

Arsene says he will start today and have deals tied up within 3 weeks. I know we spent all weekend speculating on the why’s and the wherefore’s but to be honest all of them tick the boxes for me, though I can’t see him signing a striker, unless of course one goes, and if you count Hleb as a striker it’s a possibility.

What we desperately need is a world class centre back, a strong midfielder and a winger, if we sign those we should be okay, but we do need to bolster the squad.

The kids did great yesterday, yes I know it was Sunderland, but we only just beat them at the Grove and they must have fancied their chances against our third team, it was ‘the Sunderland’s’ that cost us the title, so the big question today is, are our kids ready to step up and make our squad bigger, rather than bringing in 5 new players.

Randall, Djourou and Theo were pretty good by all accounts yesterday, Theo I think will be like a new signing next term.

Gibbs and Vela will step up on the wings but are they ready? I’m not so sure, but I won’t say no, Wenger’s confident that’s for sure, one thing is apparent though, we can’t go another season without a pot, and he needs to have a squad that can realistically compete for all four trophies.

Other news is it looks like Milan won’t qualify for the Champions league, so ha, ha, ha, you greedy git Flamini, he won’t be meeting us in the Final next year.

I would like to ask Jenas how he expects Top4tottenham to finish above us when they finished 11th and 37 points behind us, and I think they over achieved as well. What a dipstick!

We will be doing player analysis over the next few weeks and Pedro is offering an email service for those of you who can’t get Le-Grove from your PC’s at work, or in me and Pedro’s case, Macs.

Any suggestions you have for making the time go by through the summer will be gratefully received, this is your blog as well as ours so we appreciate your input.

I took a bet yesterday from Wrighty7 that Theo would score 15 goals or more in the League and Carling cup, I think I’m onto a winner.

If we can sign a winger, a good solid midfielder and an animal at the back we can score a lot more than we did this season, and that was a lot.

It was a great debut season for Le Grove and we’ll be here all summer, so you won’t get bored at work anymore.

Have a great week, this could be an interesting few days.

His words not mine this time, Arsene has finally come out and said what we all wanted to hear, new players on the way and we should not be disappointed.

He also said that he would prefer them from the premier league but that would cost more, we know that and now speculation starts, your fault Arsene, not ours, a premier league player and maybe two from abroad, so who would they be?

The following are players that have been muted that we don’t want, or at least I don’t, you Grovers may have other ideas, I will list those we do and those we don’t want and you can pick the bones from that carcass.

Richard Dunne a workmanlike defender, but not big enough or imposing enough for me but at £1million would fit our budget. Nzogbia and Obefemi Martins - no comment and no thanks. Kranjcar, I’m not sure what he will add but with a great team could be a surprise, look at what happened with Flamini.

Those we do want are Ben Arfa - mobile tricky and can score, very probable, Robinho the same, but too much money, Pjanic is the right age for a Wenger signing and I would be happy with him. Villa or Benzema are break the bank signings and given our injury history would not go amiss, I’d have one of them.

Velosa, comfortable as a center back or a defensive midfielder, big and imposing, another I would have in a heartbeat.

Gareth Barry I would have as well, I think he would work a treat with Cesc, but I have a feeling that’s Diaby spot next term, wrong in my book, not because he isn’t good enough, but because he’s injury prone. Mertesacker I would look at as well as Kompany, Mexes and Lescott.

Finally forget Gerrard have a look at Ronaldinho, you don’t become a bad player overnight and he could be that John Barnes type player we’ve always needed and will hold the fort until young Jack Wilshere comes of age, as far as money is concerned, I’m sure he’ll take a cut, he’ll learn from his mates Ronaldo and Adriano.

I also think clubs are looking hard at what they pay players, yesterday Keegan was told Owen needs to cut his salary if he wants to stay, maybe a new trend at last?

I know the spelling is all over the place but everywhere you read their names, the spelling is different.

Yesterday we retracted an Ade story, we even apologised, Ade was in the morning papers and we reacted badly, that afternoon he denied it on Arsenal.com, a little late but at least he came out, which is more than Hleb did, we then used the next days post to apologise.

That brought the AKB’s out, well that and school holidays, I even got this piece of priceless advice from a boy named Sue, who has been on before to give me pearls of wisdom. This was it.

‘Don’t believe a word unless it’s on Arsenal.com or you hear it straight from the Professor’s mouth’

Well Sue if we did that life would be boring wouldn’t it? No need for blogs, fanzines, sport pages in newspapers or television, just Arsenal TV and Arsenal.com what a perfect world that would be for Arsenal incorporated.

If you truly believed that, why on earth were you reading Le Grove? I’m resting my case and we move on, but please any AKB’s out there, unless you have something we are remotely interested in, don’t come on our site, take the boy named Sue’s advice and go on Arsenal.com - you know it makes sense.

Last game today so expect a youth team out there, he won’t risk Flamini and upset his new team AC Milan, so I would think he’ll put Denilson in that spot, it would be nice to see Diaby have a go, but I’m guessing he’ll be injured again.

Randall’s another possibility, but he, like Song, for me are a way off, I would think Sunderland want to win this one so will be out there with their strongest line up, don’t forget what happened the last time we played them at the end of the season …Diaby got crunched.

I hope that we’ll end the season on a high and ManU win the double, boy I never thought I’d say that!

We’ve been asked whether or not we’ll be blogging during the summer, YES is the answer, I think we’ll do Monday to Friday and not the weekend, Pedro thinks we should do both, we could do every other day, I hate the weekend because all the arseholes come out of the woodwork and I have to police the site, and more often than not I’m at the game and can’t.

My fear is having enough to talk about, so, what the hell! you Grovers tell us what you want. We’ll play it by ear regardless, I think we have a good thing going here and it keeps us off the street, away from drugs and out of gangs, so it makes sense.

See you in the comments section and good luck today.

First things first, Ade if you’re reading this we apologise for ripping into you yesterday after we all read the Daily Mail back page.

We said, if it wasn’t true, go on Arsenal.com and say so, you did, a little late mind, but you did, so Arsenal, go sue the shit out of the Daily Mail, maybe the money we get would fund a player!

Shame Hleb hadn’t the same class as Adebayor, unless he does something soon I think he should be shoved in the stiffs for a season, greedy bastard, just like Flamini, shit for 3 years, 1 good season and he wants out.

The Sun says we’ve signed Ben Arfa for £16 million and we have been alerted over Richards as he ponders his future, well after yesterdays debacle, I’ll wait and see what Arsenal.com say about that.

Top four Tottenham joker Jenas says they can finish above Arsenal next season, they say that every season don’t they? they can’t even finish in the top ten yet they still tell the press they can finish above us, what a complete bunch of talentless wankers, enough time spent on them, that’s probably more than’s been said than all the blog sites in Tottenham this week, both of them!

There is a chance that someone can get Samir Nasri from LOM for £12 million, please let it be us, he is just what we need, Hleb like but with an end product, bring him in and sling Hleb out, or at least give him some competition.

Have Ben Arfa out wide and Ramos at center back and we’d do anyone, that would have me licking my lips, that’s for sure.

A word on 80’s muppet ‘SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER’S’ very own, Kevin Keegan, he tells the world that to break into the top 4 would take £150 million, whilst south coast’s ‘dodgy’ muppet backed him up, and he’s spent zillions himself, as well as benefiting hugely from our benevolence.

Funny that, I thought Newcastle had spent as much as the Mancs and the scousers over the Premiership years, Kev son, do your homework before you open your gob, you twat.

Same of course could be said of us over Ade (get the facts first) but as soon as we found out it was rubbish, we retracted, and that’s the way professions handle situations, know when you’ve made a huge mistake and do something about it, are you reading Arsenal???

Ade’s agent enjoying breakfast

So then, it is official. Hleb is leaving for Inter Milan,

‘He is leaving Arsenal even though they want to offer him a new long-term contract and better conditions. Only time will tell if leaving is the right decision, but there’s no way back now. Everything will be cleared up in the next two weeks.’

By official I mean that agents seem to dictate to Arsenal, not the other way round. Tut Tut. Those words coming from the same agent who said,

‘But Alex loves life at Arsenal. He feels he is at the best club in the world.’

‘He has the ideal manager, he loves his team-mates and loves London. Why would he want to leave?’

Clearly an agent of class. Not as classy as Adebayor’s agent who is believed to be demanding £80k a week or his client will be off. You know what? Fuck off to the both of you.

If both stories really are true, Wenger has no one to blame but himself. He created this monster and now it is up to him to kill it. He has a degree in Economics - clearly not one in people management. All these players that are leaving are his, he knew their characters when he signed them so he should not be surprised.

The issue I have is that Arsenal are one of the biggest clubs in the world, when a player turns to them and says,

‘I am off’

Arsenal/Arsene should tell them to fuck off. If they don’t like it, rot in the reserves for a season… then we’ll decide what to do with you.

We sign them for peanuts, so we’re not losing out are we?

Every time we let a disgruntled player leave, we make it more and more acceptable for the others to follow suit. At least back in the old days we’d get at least a few seasons of class out of our players before they started whinging. Diarra gave us 3 months, Flamini gave us one good season as did Hleb (Unproductive at that).

Now Adebayor; last season’s biggest joke… is apparently demanding £80k! I am furious!

People will say they are only demanding what they are worth… well, the flip side is that when we sign them we pay them more than any other club. That is how we get so many youngsters to join us and that is why our wage bill is so high. They already get paid well. Do people really believe after 1 season of promise, Ade is now worth £80k p/w?

Season after season we seem to have to deal with greedy bastard player leaving for the greener grass of another country/club. Cashley, Sol, Thierry, Diarra, PV04, Anelka, Petit, Overmars…

How many big name superstars have left Chelsea, Liverpool or ManU recently… on their terms?

Not as many as Arsenal, that is for sure.

Grow some balls Arsene, tell Ade he is staying and if he doesn’t like it - Vik Akers has a place in the women’s reserves for him.

That would send out a message to the Clichy’s and the Cesc’s of the world. You sign for Arsenal on our terms, and you leave on our terms. Simple.

Sorry to grumble on a Friday, but the season isn’t even out and we are suffering.