Sagna Arrives, Hoyte on the Way Out?

Hello all, another rainy day here in Florida. Hope it's a good day for all of you.

First off, Bakari Sagna was officially signed yesterday. The fee was around 6 million pounds. He stated that Arsene Wenger was a big reason that he signed with Arsenal.

'Arsene Wenger is a major reason why I have signed for Arsenal. 'He is an excellent manager with a fantastic record and I am really looking forward to working with him.'

Sagna creates more competition at the full back spots, as he can play both. He was called into the French squad for the first time but has not yet received his first cap. He looks a good player and I am looking forward to seeing him play. Hopefully he will get to play against Barnet this Saturday, although I am not sure if he is in the squad yet.

'We have youth and the fact that no-one really rates us means that maybe we can surprise people,' he added. 'The young players want to prove what they can do and I want to prove what I can do. And all of this together will help us have a good season, I hope.'

That's a good thought from him. Many people (read what Drogba said a week ago), think that we won't be able to compete this year without Henry. I don't know if Drogba knows this, but we drew with Chelsea when they badly needed a win last year...and we didn't have Henry then either. I think teams really will underestimate the squad and that will work to our advantage.

We may also get to see Eduardo Da Silva for the first time this Saturday. He looks set to debut and let's hope that he adapts to our game quickly. I think he will.

Reports say that now Manchester City has made a 6 million pound offer for Freddie Ljungberg. This is good news because that creates competition with him for Fiorentina and may drive the price of him up. 6 million is already more than I expected to get for him and we could make a good bit off of him. He's definitely on the down-side of his career so 6 million for him would be a great deal.

There are rumors today that Reading could be making a bid soon for Justin Hoyte. I think Justin is a quality player and hope we don't sell him. He is only 21 I think and has a good future ahead of him. He made some good performances last year and I think he is a better defender than Eboue. If they do come in for him it probably wouldn't be a large fee so I hope we hold onto him. More to come on that.

Arsenal target Ryan Babel has agreed a 11.5 million pound switch to Liverpool. This is fairly disappointing to me because I liked Babel, but that price is way too high for him at this stage in his career. He is an Arsenal fan but for that much money he really had to move to the scousers. Liverpool does seem to be adding quite a bit to their squad and will be a formidable team next year I would imagine.

I have also heard that Arsenal are looking to sell William Gallas and Sevilla and Real Madrid are interested. If he is sold then Curtis Davies could be targeted as a replacement.

Nery Castillo has recently been linked with Arsenal as well. He plays for Olimpiacos in Greece and also for the Mexican National Team and is currently away on duty for the Copa America. He is rated at around 6.5 million pounds and can play forward or in the midfield. He is only 23 and looks to be a good player, so we'll see what happens.

That's about your news for the day. Cheers mates.