Welcome Alex Chamberlain & Transfer movement heats up.

Morning Gooners,


What a day yesterday turned out to be.

There's only one place to start and that is the arrival of our newest Gunner Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Reports started late morning that AOC had arrived at London Colney for a medical ahead of a move. A transfer rumour that was floating about the whole of last summer, then again in January and has even been thrown about in hope a couple of times already this summer but the speed of the deal actually being completed took me by complete surprise. You only need to look at the deals for Nasri, Arshavin and even Gervinho to see how long the press circulates it before the player signs on the dotted line and we see an announcement on Arsenal.com but the deal today went from speculation of a medical to pictures online of AOC within a matter of hours. Maybe it was because other big clubs were sniffing so we knew if we stalled as normal then we'd lose out again but honestly, I don't care. We asked for signings and yesterday we got our third of the summer.

Oxlade Chamberlain made 41 appearances for Southampton last season in all competitions scoring 11 goals and creating another 9. He played on the right hand side as an attacking midfielder last season and is capable of playing that role on either side but in his first interview for Arsenal Player has confessed he prefers a central role (I swear I've heard that somewhere before). AOC's performances last year helped Southampton earn promotion to the Championship and earned him a place in the 2010/11 PFA League one team of the year. He signed of his Southampton career with his final goal for the Saints and hopefully we won't be waiting too long before we have to fit Alex's extended surname into a song to sing after his first Arsenal goal.

For a team that only a few years ago were criticised and accused for being the sole reason for the destruction of English football, we now have a potential world beating BRITISH midfield with Jack, AOC, Theo, Frimpong and Ramsey

Welcome to Arsenal Alex, you are most welcome.

Many expect Chamberlain's arrival to mark the beginning of  a busy week in the transfer market for Arsenal Football Club with players coming in and going out, we still don't know what our squad will look like by the time we travel to St James Park on Saturday evening. We are still actively seeking a central defender and the transfer of Joel Campbell seems to be almost completed, once he returns from the U20 championships we should soon see his face on the pages of Arsenal.com.

I mentioned before that the movement will be both in and out. Nicklas Bendtner has reportedly agreed terms with several unnamed clubs and is now just waiting for Arsenal to sanction a move. Bendtner must have agreed to a pay cut wherever it is he's going as no other club would be willing to match his current high wages but it seems that playing week in, week out is top of his agenda. I have always said, and indeed continue to say that Bendtner is a very good striker (not quite as good as he thinks he is but still very good) but his style has never matched Arsenal's. I maintain that if Bendtner joins a club that plays a strict 4-4-2 with an attacking flow to match his own qualities he will do very well and will become the 20-25 goal a season striker we all hoped he would prove to be in an Arsenal shirt.

When asked about his future Bendtner said:

“I would like to play at a place where you are happy and play every week, that is the most important thing for any football player and hopefully that will happen soon.”

However when he was asked if Stoke city was a possible destination he showed why we love him by simply laughing. He then added:

 “I can’t say anything about who I have been speaking to, but hopefully it will all get sorted out soon.”

I doubt Arsene will allow him to move on until a suitable replacement is secured especially as Chamakh can't find his form for love or money and in all honesty I will be sorry to see him go but he will not be first choice if Van Persie is fit so for his career, a move away is the only option.

Arsenal also expect a bid from Mancherster City of about £22m for Samir Nasri before the season starts and it's looking more likely that we will accept it. In all honesty, that amount of money for a player who in fairness has only had half a decent season in England is a good deal and will continue Citeh's habit of paying us well over the odds for players who go on to achieve nothing with them.

Nasri's departure will be unfortunate and again, he's a player I would like to see stay and develop at Arsenal but we have players that will replace him and Arsenal will carry on. Nasri's sale could well fund a move for a player such as Mata and I for one would much rather have a player that wants to be in an Arsenal shirt than a player who is looking forward to moving away next year.

That last thought links me nicely on to our 'captain' Cesc Fabregas. before I go back into this whole saga lets look at the facts.

1) Cesc wants to play for Barcelona.
2) Barcelona would like Cesc to play for them.
3) Barcelona do not need Cesc.
4) Arsenal do not need the money.
5)Barcelona will not pay the money

Unless Barcelona pull their finger out and show some real intent then Cesc Fabregas will be an Arsenal player next season. Until that happens or not for certain I will avoid the arguments of Cesc's continued captaincy of our beloved club but just for a second imagine this side lining up next season:
           
              Szczesny
Sagna - Kos - Vermaelen - Gibbs
                  Song
           Cesc - Wilshere
Walcott        -                Gervinho
                 RVP

Subs: Fabianski, Arshavin, Ramsey, AOC, Jenkinson/Djourou, Rosicky (with his newly found hunger), Chamakh

That is a team that is capable of winning trophies. If Cesc is part of our team next year his service to Walcott and especially Gervinho combined with RVP's link up play will be a sight that any team in Europe will fear. That team will also be a result of a very successful summer inn the transfer market. Add in to this equation another CB and another striker then we could even survive a couple of injuries as long as they are not TV5 type injuries that knock someone out for the entire season.

Of course, by the time this is published Barca could have announced that they will match our asking price and Cesc is on his way, in that case we just have to hope that Arsene will use any funds raised to bring in a suitable replacement and by that I mean a player that IS world class, not WILL be world class.

My final word is aimed at fans that read about Alex Chamberlain's signing yesterday and responded with moans and complaints that he wasn't a big enough name or he isn't world class or he's not a centre back.
Relax. Calm down and enjoy the fact that we have added another player to our squad that will add depth and ability to our club. We have signed someone, enjoy it. It all comes down to one fact, it doesn't matter who wears the shirt, I, you, we support Arsenal Football Club and will welcome anyone into our superb family with open arms.

On a personal note, anyone reading this in London or other effected areas please stay safe within this madness. It's times like these that football becomes insignificant within the greater picture. Take care of those close to you and hopefully this insanity will soon be over.

Till next time,
Goonerfish

Wenger - Transfer Guru, but what are his plans?

Morning Gooners,

Transfers, transfers everywhere.

6 days left of the transfer window and apart from Dzeko's move to Cash Cows City the premiership has been relatively quiet. One thing we're not short of though is rumours.


Arsene Wenger has a reputation for being tight with his money. Now when I say 'tight' what I mean is careful, calculated and clever. if you argue that fact then just take time to think of our starting line-up against Wigan: Fabianski, Sagna, Kos, Djourou, Clichy, Song, Cesc, Wilshere, Walcott, Nasri and RVP. It's a strong side that would scare many teams in Europe - those players were all signed by Arsene Wenger and cost Arsenal football club a grand total of £46.9 million and that's including £15.8m for Nasri .That's the same as Carrick and half a Hargreaves for Man Utd, a Zhirkov, Ivanovic and Ramires for Chelsea (not even mentioning Schevchenko - £30m), a Milner and Lescott for City or even a Defoe, Bentley and Modric for the spuds, my point is Arsene Wenger has only been able to work with the funds he's been given and more to the point he's done a bloody good job, building a strong squad that can compete in multiple competitions, just look at the facts, we're 2 points off top spot in the league and still going strong in three cup competitions and already a possible 90 minutes of football away from a trip to Wembley.

January is traditionally a quite month overall for transfers and we are always made to believe that no-one big will move during this period but again, if you look through our history then we've had some great players join in the mid season window. Walcott, Ramsey and more recently Arshavin all joined in January so it just proves that you can't be too surprised about our transfer activities, whatever they may be.

Getting to more recent events, in particular this January window. Arsene Wenger's only public target area has been a centre back. We have been linked with many a player this year including Cahill, Jagielka, Campbell (again!!) even Jonathan Woodgate (I'm still laughing a bit over that one) but it seems we've had no real progress on signing a fifth centre back and after seeing the players already at the club secure their fourth consecutive clean sheet in the league Wenger has started to manage expectations in his most recent newsletter saying:

"Defensively we look more and more stable even though we were questioned a lot on that front. Maybe the fact that reporters ask me in every press conference 'do I buy a defender?' has kept our defenders on their toes!

I am open-minded on the idea of buying another defender and if the right opportunity turns up we will take it. We are not desperate, we have Vermaelen who can still play a big part in the end of the season and we have Squillaci who comes back maybe next Sunday. Song can play at the back too."

I won't be overly disappointed if we fail to sign another CB because in all honesty I don't believe we have room for another one. TV5 is obviously everyone's first choice and Djourou and Koscielny are growing stronger every game and are fighting to be Vermaelen's partner and I don't see any point of spending millions of pounds on someone to come in for a short term answer. 


I'm also very happy at the lack of talk from pundits and fans alike calling for a Goalkeeper to be brought in during the window. This is credit to Fabianski and Szczesny who have been almost faultless when they've been called on. That being said, reports have been surfacing that Wenger is looking up north at Rangers keeper Allan McGregor. The stopper has apparently been described as one of Europe's best keepers but I've never heard of him before and considering that Craig Gordon plays ahead of him for Scotland I have to wonder who's making these claims. I think the Scot remains a player I'll research more if the rumours become little stronger, I don't think our boys should be too worried just yet.


Talk is also getting stronger around the transfer of Eden Hazard with Wenger again confirming his interest. Hazard has been a long term target for Wenger but with plenty of time left on his contract he won't be cheap so don't expect any movement at the moment but we may see a bit more activity in the summer.


However, one transfer that is looking ever more likely is that of Southampton youngster Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. He is being hyped up in the media at present but I haven't personally seen a lot of him so I won't join in, that being said, one bit of footage I have seen was also being watched by representatives of a lot of top teams in the stands including Man Utd, Man City and Liverpool so there must be something about the kid.


Chamberlain's father has described Arsenal as the ideal solution for his son's progress and Wenger has admitted he's in talks with Southampton and a man as careful in the media as Wenger is he must be fairly confident of something happening. All that being said, until the young lad's mug appears on Arsenal.com I won't believe a word.


On the other side of transfer news Carlos Vela is still looking for a club to play with for the rest of the season, Bolton have been front runners for a long time and Wenger would like him to stay in the Premier league but recent reports are suggesting that he may be heading back to Spain to play with Valencia. Personally I hope he stays in England, he'll gain much more playing here than in Spain.


As I said before, 6 days left of the window and as Arsenal fans we all know we will have to wait right until the last second to know how much business Wenger will complete so for now lets all concentrate on the game tonight, if you're at Ashburton Grove, sing your heart out and keep singing all the way to Wembley!!


Till next time,
Goonerfish.


By the way, all credit for transfer stats goes to www.transferleague.co.uk if you want more detail, check them out.

It's all about RVP & yet another clean sheet.

Morning Gooners,

Today is all about one man, the superb brilliance of a man that is Robin Van Persie. Our new number 10 finally seems to have put his injury hit start of the season behind him and is now on his way to proving that if he stays fit he has the ability to be one of the best strikers in the world.

RVP and the rest of the Arsenal players destroyed Wigan at Ashburton Grove yesterday. From the very first minute we attacked as a unit and 10 of the Wigan players couldn't cope with us, unfortunately the one player that seemed as though he was in line for a storming game was Ali Al Habsi, the Wigan keeper. Why is it that distinctly average keepers always, and I mean always seem to have their performance of the season against our front line?

Al Habsi however could only keep us out for so long and RVP's first hat-trick in an Arsenal shirt (even after his penalty miss) gained us the points and for those who didn't manage to see the game, I kid you not it could have been double figures!

Despite Van Persie's deserved headline grabbing from the game I feel the need to give a shout out to the back four. Today saw our fourth consecutive clean sheet in the league. Now for any Arsenal team from the past few years that stat is impressive but include the fact that we're missing our best centre back and have had our 3rd choice keeper between the sticks then it's unbelievable. Djourou in my opinion has come on leaps and bounds this year and is starting to show just how good his all round game is.

Wojciech Szczesny has come into the team of late and has proved he may be ready to take that step into the first team but on top of his solid performance I love this man on twitter, his summing up of the game was this: 

"Did any of you notice that I was acctually playing today? Great result and well done @Persie_Official!"

A very good point, very well made. It will be interesting to see who gets Wenger's vote when Fabianski is fit again. Both keepers have done very, very well when called upon and either will rightfully feel unlucky and hard done by if they lose out as neither has done anything worthy of losing their place.

The only other news (that isn't obvious BS) is the potential transfer of another Southampton youngster in the form of Alex Chamberlain. Some sources are claiming that the deal is as good as done which is the sort of statement that I will only believe when I read it on Arsenal.com but reports on this kid seem to be very promising and any potential move away from the south coast seems that it will be based on his opportunities to develop at the top level and if that is the criteria then I can think of no better place than Arsenal, he'd only have to look to a certain Theo Walcott to see how a player can develop under the careful eye of Arsene Wenger. But as I said, there has been no official confirmation of any bid, I'm not even sure if we've admitted we're looking at him so until Arsenal announce it, don't believe a word you read.

It's a happy time to be a Gooner and now we look forward to Tuesday as we look to book a trip to Wembley at the end of February.

Till next time,
Goonerfish.