Arsenal Sign Coquelin... If you know who I'm talking about

Arsenal have signed their third player this season, another teen from French Third Division Laval. He's a guy called Francis Coquelin, and he impressed during a trial with Arsenal last season. He then move to North London for free as he did not sign a professional contract with them. So if you're confused, he came to Arsenal the same way Fabregas and Merida did.

“Arsenal have signed French midfield player Francis Coquelin on professional terms,”
“The 17-year-old has joined from SASP Stade Lavallois Mayeene MFC.”

I'm not totally unhappy with this new signing, but Arsene Wenger seems to be taking our club's future lightly. If you read this post you would know how I feel, and if you ask me, Arsenal should get a new defensive midfielder and some backup defenders right away. Signing a 17 year-old kid is not going to change the club's position; tbh if that lad didn't come to Arsenal I wouldn't know him. He may however make an impact few years later, but nobody will know what will happen few years later. I'm not convinced by this signing and I hope Arsene Wenger gets his facts right up in his head. 1 more month to the start of the season and all we got is one great signing in Samir Nasri; Ramsey and Coquelin are players for the future.

Do you agree with me? Is Coquelin a good signing? Is Arsene Wenger really wrong in not signing any other players at current? Tell me more, cheers from Dariano.

Worried, Worried, Worried...

This time I'm worried. About a month ago I could just say, "Don't worry, we still have time," but this time, we are just 1 month away to our first EPL fixture against West Brom. And Arsene Wenger has been selling Hleb, Gilberto, Flamini (free) and maybe Adebayor. We have only signed Ramsey, Nasri and Vela (return from loan). Pardon me if I missed out any players, but it still seems to me that we are not signing enough players. With Gilberto and Flamini gone, we are in desperate need of a replacement. Diaby and Djourou is not good enough, and although we are linked to several players, there are to me more players that are attackers than defenders that are linked to us. Examples include Andrea Arshavin, Arda Turan, Sebastien Giovinco and many more that I can't remember. Meanwhile for defensive midfielders we are linked to only quite a few: Raul Albiol, Marcos Senna and Torsten Frings. Obviously there are some more, but if you compare between the number of attackers linked to Arsenal and the number of holding midfielders linked to Arsenal, you would realise Arsene Wenger is sort of like signing attackers his current top priority. I'm really, really worried. We don't have any major evidence that an official bid have been made for any DM's, meanwhile we are constantly linked to Arshavin. Don't fool around Wenger, this is serious. Then where's the defenders we need as backups? A good striker, perhaps as a replacement for Ade? We have once been linked to David Villa, but now there's no news about him moving clubs. We have only got 1 month, and I'm afraid we don't have much time left to sign players. I'll be damned if Aaron Ramsey is going to be a first-team player next season- he is still young and Arsene would be wasting his creative talents if he plays him in a holding midfielder position. Please, ease my fears, and make some new signings soon.

Hleb and Gilberto Part Company with Arsenal

Just yesterday, I said that Hleb was in Barcelona for a medical. Now he's medical is complete, and his move to Barcelona is official. Finally, after months of speculation the smoke is clear. whether it will be a good or bad move only time will tell. Arsene Wenger even paid tribute to him, thanking him for his contributions for Arsenal while he was still at the club.

“We must firstly thank Alex for his contribution towards Arsenal Football Club during his time with us. Alex played a significant role in the three seasons he was with the club.
“We are comfortable with our decision to let him go and we are all looking forward to continuing our preparations for the new season ahead.
“Everyone at Arsenal Football Club wishes Alex the best of luck for the future”

No doubt, I wished that he stayed but it was not to be. Hopefully Nasri would make an even bigger impact than Hleb did, just like how Clichy took over Ashley Cole's role when he left.


Another man on the move is old veteran Gilberto Silva. He left for a cheap fee of only 1 million pounds, but for a 31 year-old it should be good money. His career at Arsenal began at 2002, who came from Atletico Madrid. He have had a great spell at North London, winning 2 FA cups and 1 league title. He had a disastrous last season, but I really feel Gilberto deserved a chance. He's a good backup, he may have had a miserable 1 season but he had fantastic 6 seasons at the club, and I truly believe like jsut how a superstar cannot be born in just one night, a legend cannot die out so quickly too. Anyway, let's just put the past behind us and wish Gilberto all the best. A cheerful guy and good captain, this man puts Adebayor and Hleb to shame. We miss you Gilberto, thanks for he memories...

Hleb in Spain for Medical? + Arsenal to Make Surprising Barry Bid?

It's been a really long time since I updated my blog, this time it's REALLY LONG. Sorry for the delay guys, I'm rather busy at the moment so pardon me. Anyway, here's one from me before I get to bed.


Got this news from Goal.com, they say that Hleb is currently flying (or flown)to Barcelona in Spain to complete his medical before joining Barca in a 12.5 million move, although it may increase by 2.5 million depending on his performances. Sometimes I get really sick listening to the same story time and again (I wonder how many times I've inserted Hleb's picture in my posts); rumours of Ade going to Milan, Hleb to Barca and Fabregas to wherever. It's like eating the same thing everyday, so preferably I want this Hleb transfer saga to settle and come to a conclusion soon. I'm not sure, but I feel it's really heartbreaking to see a "rather-good" player from Arsenal go for only 12.5 million. Please don't tell me it will rise; it will only rise when he plays well, and only by a mere 2.5 million, which means Arsene can't use that 2.5 straight away in this transfer window. I hope he leaves for more than that, compared to Adebayor's 30 million move to AC Milan, it's really peanuts and Hleb's not any of that.

Another interesting news I've heard is that Arsenal may be doing a surprising last-minute swoop for Aston Villa's skipper Gareth Barry, just when everybody thought Liverpool had his move tied-up. Good move, I would say. Great vision from Arsene to think of this move, even I myself did not think of Barry coming to Arsenal. He's a great player, and also one with great influence and experience. The perfect player for Arsenal: Experienced, at his peak, holding midfielder and for those who is a keen supporter of Sepp Blatter's 6+5 idea, he's English. Definitely the right man for the DM role in Arsenal's current first-team squad, the only thing is that he may be costly, and if I were Barry, I would rather go to Liverpool. Barry's good pal Gerrard is at The Kop, plus I'm sure Liverpool would give him more of a "home" feeling for him, having his English teammates to play with. At Arsenal the only person he mix well with is perhaps Walcott, and he's not established as a first-team player yet. So rather than venture into "the wilds" and go to a place full of foreigners, I'm sure he would want to go to a place where he have friends there. I'm not totally ruling out this move though, there's still a chance judging on Arsene's "magical charisma", which was most recently put use on Aaron Ramsey.

Is Barry a good player for Arsenal? Do you think Hleb's 12.5 million fee is too little? Tell me more. That's all for now, and thanks for reading.

Nasri Completes Move, FINALLY

No more bullshits. No more "in 10 days time". No more delays. Samir Nasri moves to Arsenal FC, plain and simple, for an undisclosed fee, although it is thought to be around 11.5 million pounds. A deal which I believe should have been completed weeks ago, he finally signs the contract and moves to Arsenal. Here's what I feel about the transfer of Nasri:

1) This boy should have done it long ago, even before the Euro's. Arsenal's reputation is enough to shut his mouth. Young and French, those 2 things alone should be enough to convince him to sign the contract.

2) Hleb's fate is sealed. When Nasri comes, we all know that Hleb will be going. There's no space in the first-team to fit both talented players, so like I said before rather than let him rot in the stands we must as well cash in the money.

3) What number will he get? My money's on number 8. Nobody got number 8 yet at Arsenal and that is rather strange, considering the popularity of that number. Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard are all good practitioners of the "number 8 wizardry", and if Nasri is as good as those 2, 11.5 will probably be a bargain.

Do you agree with me? Should this deal have been completed weeks ago? Is he really THAT good? Tell me more in the comments section. Cheers from Dariano.

Hleb Burning the Bridges?

Well before I start let me just introduce to you guys a site that I feel you may be interested in going, it's called Soccer Fan Base. It's basically a forum where you can discuss about football. Seeing that the site owner asked me to help recomemnd their site, I did some advertisement for them. Now back to where I stand: Arsenal.

I don't know where this Hleb saga is going to. Firstly he says he wants to stay at Arsenal. Then he says he wants to go to Barcelona or Inter Milan. Now, my fellow Gooners, he is publicly criticizing The Professor, Arsene Wenger, and Super-Fab, Fabregas. I don't know WTF he's thinking, but i feel he's trying to burn the bridges, a move first used millenniums ago, by Julius Caesar. You know you're leaving, your fate is sealed, so the only choice? Kamikaze.

His first complain is that he's not playing in his natural position, the center-midfielder. He's often deployed on the flanks last season, although he has often played as a "hole" behind the striker. Now here's what he said,

“My view of how I should be playing didn’t coincide with the manager’s,”

“I told him last season I wanted to leave and think he was quite upset about it. But ask him. It may turn out he’s happy to see me go.”

Total bullshit. In Arsene we trust, which Gunner doesn't know that? If he didn't trusted Arsene Wenger in the first place, he wouldn't have came to Arsenal. Trust Wenger, he transforms playmakers that plays in the center to ones that can actually play wide and still have the same level of creativity. If he doesn't like it, then don't play. Guess what? He did, he played on the flanks, and he played quite well, even though he played as a support striker at times. What he said contradicts what he showed. Think before you speak, Alex.

Secondly, he had something to say about Arsenal's golden-boy Francesc Fabregas. He further added on that the reason why he can't play in the center is because of the boy wonder of North London, Fabregas. He has dominated the playmaking role of Arsenal's center for seasons, and Hleb's aren't happy about it. Wait a minute, he's not done yet.

“When we get scoring opportunities, Fabregas is much more selfish than me,” said the ex-Stuttgart player, who has often been criticised for his minimal contribution on the score-sheet.

The quote above is still okay to me, although I'm a little pissed by it. But this quote is what really makes me fucked up:

“Given a chance to shoot, he always goes for it — unlike me."

This is nonsense. I don't know about Fabregas being selfish and shooting very often, but what I know is that when Fabregas shoots, he scores. I'm not saying it's a surefire type of thing, but going for goals from long distances (commentators call them "dynamite!" and "thunderbolt!") is not really a bad thing, it adds a level of excitement to football, and there's an okay percentage that he will score. He's our second top goal-scorer last season, behind Adebayor, and you could tell most of them were from long shots. How many goals did Hleb score? 4. Pathetic 4. Maybe he would have scored more if he "go for it when given a chance to shoot".

I'm glad that I feel we shouldn't keep Hleb any longer. Here's the latest news on his future at Arsenal:

“I don’t know where I’ll be next season but I’d prefer Barcelona. It is being negotiated and, hopefully, will be decided soon.”

Good riddance. Screw you for criticizing our "media-darling" and "Professor". We appreciate your contributions to the team last season, but we don't want players with bad attitude. And furthermore, Nasri should be coming (Gulp, I hope).

How do you feel? Was Hleb in a position to criticise Fabregas and Wenger? How do you feel about his comment to the media? Tell me more, cheers from Dariano.

Arshavin's Future Lies in Ade and Hleb's Hands

Well Andrei Arshavin has been one of Arsene Wenger's target during the summer transfer window. If I'm not wrong I haven't given my verdict on him despite all the media spculation. Now let the judging bein:



Andrei Arshavin. Honestly anybody out there who knew him 2 months ago? To be frank I didn;t know him and have not heard of his name till the Euro's began. He rose to fame by impressing with his national team (Russia) and catching all the club manager's attention. Arsenal, Chelsea, Barcelona are just some of the clubs interested in his services. Now my verdict: Arsene, don't sign this guy. Why? He's 27, probably not worth the money and superstars are not created overnight. No doubt about it, players who are 27 has just reached their peak, so they probably play their best. But in a few years time, let's say 3, he would be 30 and I don't think Arsene Wenger would keep him anymore. Added by the fact that there's much competition for his signature, he would not be cheap so paying over 10 million for a superstar only to play for you for 3 years is certainly not worth it. In fact, Zenit St. Petersburg (his current club) absurdly requested Leo Messi plus cash for him. If you ask me, I would rather get Messi XD. Another factor is that he's so popular now because of his performance during Euro08, and to be specific. He impressed during the match between Russia and Sweden and Russia and Holland. Like I said before, superstars are not amde overnight. Playing really well in 2 matches don't mean that player is good. I am afraid if he comes to Arsenal, he gets a really shit season and in the end lose profit in selling him. So to sum up my verdict, I wouldn't want him to come to Arsenal.

Next on the queue is that Arshavin has recently claimed that whether he comes to Arsenal will depend on whether Adebayor and Hleb goes. So to make sure it's not confusing for some of you, we are like trading Adebayor and Hleb with Arshavin. 3 words: Not worth it. Here's what his agent said:

“The push for Andrei Arshavin has only just got going.
“The clubs who are following him are only just warming their engines.
“Arshavin’s future depends on what happens with Hleb and Adebayor.”

So if Arsene Wenger stubbornly ignored my advice and continue his interest in Arshavin, he better buck up. Cause it won't be a small price tag.

Do you agree with me that Arsenal shouldn't sign Arshavin? And is it really worth it to let Ade and Hleb go just for him? Tell me in the comments section, cheers from Dariano :)