Wenger Glad To Be Rid of Hleb

And it doesn't sound like he gives a toss about him leaving either. Hleb was unveiled at Barcelona yesterday formally, and I'm happy to see him go. As I said yesterday I think Nasri, Walcott, Vela, and Rosicky (if healthy) are all better assets to have on the wing than the Hlebanator. Arsene thanked him for his service but didn't seem too upset:

'We must firstly thank Alex for his contribution towards Arsenal during his time with us. 'He 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 wishes Alex the best of luck for the future.'

Except for me. I wish him terrible look in the future and hope he never wins anything and his career ends when he's 29 because he loses the ability to kick a ball. Nah that's a little bit harsh but not too far off. Isn't it ironic that we won a trophy the year before Hleb arrived and haven't won anything in the three years that he's been here? Hmmm...he may have brought a non-trophy curse?

I think Arsene had this whole thing planned out really. When people originally came in for Hleb he said "No, no we'll never sell Alexander Hleb, he's a big player for us and won't be going anywhere." I think this was just to get as much money as possible for him, and what do you know, we've made a profit from when we bought him even though he's three years older! Great bit of business Arsene.

Arsene is very happy about the transfer.

So I want to go over what has happened thus far in the transfer window, in case you aren't keeping track. We've lost Hleb, Gilberto, and Flamini, all midfielders, and Jens Lehmann. We've brought in Nasri and Ramsey, who are also both midfielders. So why does everyone seem to think we are going through some sort of a crisis? It looks like Adebayor will be staying now, we replaced Hleb and Ramsey could be a big player for us in the future, and we still have some money to spend if Arsene wants to. He may be confident enough in Song, Diaby, or Denilson to not bring in a replacement at defensive midfielder. Nobody thought Flamini could do the job before last season, and look how well that turned out. Frankly I think most people thought Flamini was a bit shite before last season, now he's making loads of money at Milan. Arsene Wenger knows what his players can do. We'll find out in the upcoming preseason games, starting in two days with Barnet, which player he's going to try to fill in that role with.

I have to say though I'm sad about losing Gilberto. I'll miss that man. He was a good player for us for a long time and Arsenal.com have put together a great picture special that you should really check out. Good memories they are.

There really isn't that much else. I'll get something together tomorrow to preview the Arsenal vs Barnet match on Saturday. I'm really looking forward to it. Other than that let's talk on the forums or the comments, they are much appreciated. Cheers.

Xabi Alonso To Arsenal, Hleb Confirmed By Barca

Morning all, how's it going? I'm super so that's good. Let's get right down to it. Did you see AC Milan finally signed Ronaldinho? Imagine two years ago if Ronaldinho and Kaka were in the same squad. How unfair would that have been? Now that Ronny has fallen off a bit though it's not as daunting. Still should be fun to watch though. The signing does mean that AC Milan will have no more signings, which means no chance for Adebayor to go there. Sucks for him as Barca haven't got any money left either.

So on to Arsenal where we have a couple of interesting bits today. First off is Alexander Hleb who is in Barcelona right now and will have his medical at 7 pm. He should be unveiled by the club officially tomorrow, but they have confirmed it already on their website. Looks like the fee is going to be 12 million pounds, which is more than we paid for him even though he's now 3 years older so I'm quite happy about that, it more than pays for Samir Nasri's transfer and leaves us with more money to spend. On the move, Hleb said:

'It is a dream. I love this team. I will give my best. I have spoken with (Barcelona coach Pep) Guardiola and for me it is very important that he wants me, and I will give my best for the team and I want to win everything with Barca.'

So did you hear? Hleb's going to give his best. He didn't say it enough times in that statement so I read between the lines and figured it out. I'm so happy Barcelona are wasting their money on Hleb, because the more I think about it, the more I realize just how useless he is and how I'd much rather have Nasri and Walcott on the wings. It'd be really nice if we played them in the Champion's League too. We would undoubtedly win and then we could laugh and laugh at how he still won't be winning any trophies. Wanker.


In the search for a new defensive midfielder we've seen Arsenal linked with a ton of names, but now a new one has cropped up: Xabi Alonso. And why not? Liverpool don't want Alonso and they need money to get the guy they do want, Gareth Barry. Juventus were supposed to sign Alonso but they've pulled out and Liverpool are left badly needing to sell him if they are to make the signing they've wanted all summer, which could mean we could get him for a discounted price. He's quite a good player for one, and he plays with Cesc for Spain as well. I had never thought about him as a possibility until this report came out, but it seems to make sense to me. There haven't been any official bids yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if one comes in this week or next.

The first preseason friendly comes up this Saturday and Aaron Ramsey and Carlos Vela have been included in the squad. I can't wait to see how Vela looks myself, and I'm sure Ramsey will put on a good display. With any luck they'll get to play at least a full half of the game so we can all get a good look at them. Remember that Samir Nasri is joining up for training on the 21st which is why he isn't in the squad. Young prodigy Jack Wilshere is also in the squad and could be involved.

And that's all I've got. Gilberto looks to be on his way to Greece but that's all for the news. Can't wait until Saturday. Until then, join our fantasy Premiership League to win an Arsenal kit, talk on the forums or the comments, and get ready for the new season!

Hleb On The Way Out...Finally

Morning all, or afternoon depending where you are. Amazingly, I have been struck by illness yet again and so decided to sleep for a very long time indeed. So when I awoke, I was surprised to see that Alexander Hleb appears to have been sold. Now this has not been confirmed on Arsenal.com but Barcelona seem to feel like the deal is done and dusted.

Apparently the offer is 12.5 million pounds plus an additional 2.5 million in add ons if he meets the incentives. Setanta Sports says that Hleb will likely take a medical this weekend and sign during next week to make it official.

Honestly if/when he does go I'll be quite happy. That'll give us more money than we spent on him originally and we're getting a player in Samir Nasri that can score more goals and hopefully will do all the things that Hleb hasn't done, like pass and shoot. It's a good bit of business by Arsenal here, because the player clearly wanted to go, so getting back all that we paid for him is great work by the club. Is anyone really too sad to see Hleb go for 12 million? I don't know how you could be. 10 goals in 3 years is not good enough. We need wingers that can score at Arsenal a la Pires, Ljungburg, etc. Nasri can hopefully be that man.

As for Adebayor, we'll throw out one interesting bit if true...Arsenal News Review says the club have stopped printing Adebayor shirts. I have no information that will tell me if that's true or not but take it for what you will.

Kerrea Gilbert has joined Leicester City on loan for the whole upcoming season. I remember him playing in the first team a couple of years ago when we had loads of injuries but not much has been heard of him since. I guess the club still regards him as a good upcoming player though or I don't think they'd bother loaning him out, they would just release him.

Arsenal Analysis keeps us up to date on the Gilberto Silva transfer situation, and it looks like he may indeed leave the club this summer. The question is, where will he go? It looked like he may head to Greece but now Ajax appear to have entered the picture. I think it would be a big loss for us if we sold Gilberto this summer. I think this must mean that we have a holding midfielder lined up to come in or else Wenger is really convinced that Diaby or Denilson can do the job. Guess we'll wait and see.

Alright that's all I've got. Cesc Fabregas was named the Arsenal.com player of the season, not surprisingly. And if you didn't see the post yesterday we're having a Premier League Fantasy League competition. The winner will probably receive a home Arsenal shirt or something similar, so join now!

1: Go to http://premierfantasy.soccernet.com/

2: Click on Register and go through the registration and team selection process - it's totally free to play

3: Once you are on your team line-up page click on Mini League and type the following information in the Join A Mini League boxes:

League Name: ArseNole Premier League
Password: arsenal

Cheers folks!

Cesc Speaks About Hleb and Adebayor, Senna Linked

Morning all. Sorry I haven't been updating as recently as I'd like, I've just been really busy lately.

So Samir Nasri hasn't been officially signed yet, which makes my prediction from two days ago wrong. I'm positive he will sign though, but I am going to stop predicting when. I would assume it will be this week but every other time anyone has guessed it's turned out to be wrong so I'll just wait until it's officially announced. Marseille's president seems to agree with me.

Setanta Sports reports that Pascal Cygan has heard about Arsenal's interest in his team mate Marcos Senna of Villareal. I wouldn't understand that move at all. People say Gilberto is too old at 32 but Marcos Senna is 31. That's certainly not a typical Arsenal signing. He's a good player and all but how much do you shell out for a 31 year old? He was sensational in Euro 2008 but in my opinion he's too old and I can't imagine that Arsene is really interested in him.


In other BS stories, Adebayor's agent says that his client is not greedy. HA! You're having a laugh.

“Emmanuel is a man of heart, not of money. He is not greedy. He is a kid from the street, has sensibilities and is humble.

“If this was a money problem, then he would have asked to leave. I know that Arsenal’s political position is that they don’t pay high salaries.”

“It is important for Emmanuel that Arsenal show their motivation to keep him,” Courbis said. “Whatever they will decide, the decision will be taken with respect.”

Well if this isn't about money, then what were all those statements a few days ago about how he deserves to be compensated the same as Thierry Henry was at Arsenal? Why would he be interested in a move to Milan (who have pulled out of the race to sign him) who aren't even in the Champion's League next year? I think he's all about the money. He pretty much said that when he said he needed to start thinking about his retirement already. His agent is a twat.

Cesc spoke about Adebayor and Hleb and said he hopes to see them both when he arrives for preseason training. It's tempting for me to say, well since Cesc wants them both to stay I should want them to stay too, but I just can't. I think it would be awkward for them to come back at this point. When you make all the statements that Hleb and Ade's agents made you don't just walk back all happy into the locker room and everyone think the same about you. Players want to know that all the other players are just as committed to giving 100% as they are. You think Kolo Toure or Gilberto, who never complain about money, are going to be really happy with these two? They won't say anything about it because it's not their style but I can't see Kolo especially being thrilled with them. Kolo remember came to Arsenal in very much the same way as Ade. The both were born in Africa and ended up at Arsenal for fairly small transfer fees because they were not developed players. Arsene made them into what they are now. Kolo has been here since 2002 and not looked for a move, Ade has been here for 2 years and now he's ready to bail when people finally think he's a good player.

All I can say is if they do stay I hope it doesn't really upset the locker room chemistry, because that would be a far worse problem than not bringing in Samir Nasri on time or losing Mathieu Flamini.

Goonerholic's article is great today. I think the transfer season would still be a lot better without newsnow honestly. People just sitting there watching it all day, waiting for Nasri to sign, it's terrible.

That's all I've got today because I've got to go prepare for the second podcast which we should be doing today! So look forward to that, and remember that we have arrived in the month where we start the preseason, so we have something to look forward to! Cheers!

More on Adebayor and His Shenanigans

Morning all, probably going to be a quick one today but we'll see how it goes.

We'll start off with Vicenzo Morabito, who is Alexander Hleb's agent but apparently is representing Emmanuel Adebayor right now. He had quite an interesting quote today:

"Arsenal are looking for Adebayor's replacement. Until that search is over, the negotiations won't reach the final stage, but I am fairly optimistic. What are the chances of Adebayor coming to Milan? I'd say today we are between 70 and 80 per cent."

That's pretty messed up shite. You know what, after hearing this, I'm totally changing my original tune. I now think Adebayor is definitely leaving. Do I think it's all his doing? No I don't. I think his agent is a wanker who was offering his services to every big club in Europe and Milan and Barca took the bait. Milan came in with a bid that was just too good to turn down and Adebayor is caught between a rock and a hard place.

This isn't a Cuntley Cole situation or a Mathieu Flamini situation...this is more of a situation where the offer is just too good to turn down. If he does go I'll hold nothing against the big man. 28 million quid is enough money for Arsenal to bring in a replacement for him and more. You want David Villa? Well this is how you get him, by freeing up 28 million quid that you didn't have before.

Arsene Wenger addressed the transfer stories here and said that he isn't worried by it all.

"I don't know why I should be nervous. It's like when you take a penalty, if you are nervous it doesn't help. I will approach it with my usual calm. My biggest challenge is to make sure I have a competitive team next year no matter who it is."

And he's absolutely right. When does Arsene fail to put out a competitive team? Never, even though we have lost loads of big players throughout the years. Pires, Adams, Seaman, Cole, Bergkamp, Vieira, Henry, Campbell, etc. He knows what it takes to compete in this league and in the Champion's League, and he'll get it done again. Whether Ade and Hleb stay or go, we'll have a better team next year than we did last year.

Apparently there have been five bids put in for Andrei Arshavin. No idea if one of them is from Arsenal but the article does say all the current bids are either from France or England, even though he has said over and over that he really wants to play for Barcelona. I could definitely see him playing in the Arsenal system because he seems just that type of player but I think he's really got his heart set on Barca.

Good news about Tomas Rosicky. He walked for the first time without support yesterday. He said he's flying to London in a few days to get on a rehabilitation program before hopefully starting full training in July. Can't wait to see the man back in action.

Thierry Henry is visiting Disney World this weekend in Orlando, which happens to be only two hours from my house. I might go ahead and make the drive down there because they say people will get a chance to meet him. Worth a two hour drive to meet Thierry? I think yes.

Russia versus Spain today in the Euros. I guess everyone left in the Euro 2008 competition will be rooting for Spain because nobody has a Germany-Russia final. I think it should be a good game, but I'm going 3-2 to Spain. I think Villa will get a brace and Xavi will score one.

That's all I've got today, I'm going to get a burrito because I'm starving. Have a good one, join the forums, leave a comment about what you want on the next podcasts, and enjoy the Euros!

Ade, Do You Want To Stay Or Not?

Morning all. I'm excited about the Euros today. Should be some good matches, especially the Netherlands-France game. France was woeful last game but I think they'll step it up against the Dutch. I find myself hoping Romania beats Italy in the first game, which is starting as I write this. I've never been a fan of Italy and it's always fun to go for the underdog. So it should be a good day of matches. On to Arsenal though.

I suppose the main story has to be Emmanuel Adebayor, which I have mostly ignored until now because I haven't heard any concrete information about it. Today, however, there are reports that Adebayor has asked his agent to facilitate a move to AC Milan.

Now this is another one that confuses me, as Adebayor has already made not one, but two solid statements where he said that he loved being at Arsenal and would be here next season. All the reports I've read say that the price for Adebayor is 32 million quid, which I can't imagine anyone paying for him. If the offer was for that much, I would say we should take it of course. I like Adebayor and wouldn't want the team to lose him, but that is too much money to turn down. We could make a run at David Villa for the kind of money, or maybe even Benzema.

Is Ade just trying to get a bigger contract at Arsenal? I think he definitely deserves a better deal after the work he did last year, largely by himself. However, I don't think this is the way to go about it. If he really just wants a move to Milan, I wish he would come out and say it instead of acting like he wants to stay at Arsenal. He may actually want to stay at Arsenal though and these reports might all be false. It does seem like there are too many rumors to have no basis in fact at all though.

Del Piero almost just scored for Italy. Probably should have hit the back of the net.

The other Arsenal drama going on revolves of course around Alexander Hleb. Bayern Munich's chairman has stated that he's pretty sure Hleb will move to Barcelona or Bayern.

“If Bayern and Barcelona meet in the semi-finals of the Champions League next season, it is likely that he [Hleb] will be playing.”

As I've said I don't care if Hleb goes, and I'd really rather he did go. Cesc Fabregas wants Hleb to stay though. In an interview after the Spain-Russia game, he said he think Hleb is an incredible player and that he hopes they get to play many more games together. He also talks about playing for Spain and what his first goal meant to him.

Wow, Romania just had a great chance but that's why Buffon is one of the best keepers in the world.

Arsenal.com have finally confirmed the signing of Aaron Ramsey, complete with his picture in the red and white. Nice to see and I'm looking forward to seeing him in the pre-season. They had a good clip of him on Arsenal TV Online that I watched and it had some clips of him playing for Cardiff. He looks a nice player, good on the ball that can score goals and make a good pass. Of course a lot of the clips were against Reserves or in the Championship but he's so young that hopefully he'll get a lot better with age and experience in the Arsenal system. He spoke about his move, saying:

“I’m so happy to have signed for Arsenal. I am joining one of the biggest clubs in the world and can’t wait to meet my new team mates. I recently met with Arsène Wenger and he was a big factor in my decision to join Arsenal. He talked to me for a long time about the Club and the plans for the future, which really excites me. Arsenal is a Club which always gives young players an opportunity at the highest level of the game and I am going to work my hardest to be part of future successes here.

Supposed Arsenal target Yaya Toure is not for sale, says Barcelona. What should happen here is we say, "If you want Hleb, you give us Yaya. If you won't then we'll ship him off to those German cunts." That will solve the problem. Then we have our holding midfielder we need and we lose a player that doesn't want to be here. Everyone wins.

Romania is really on top their game right now. Italy look nervous and have no cutting edge whatsoever. C'mon you Romanians!

That's all I've got for you today. Hope you enjoy the matches today. Cheers

Nasri To Sign After the Euros

Now before you rip your hair out, kick your baby kitten, or jump off a bridge...this isn't that big of a deal. Arsene Wenger spoke about Nasri to the French press, where he is on holiday.

“Nasri, he interests me."

“I hope I will do it after the Euros.

“It is more complicated now because the wage differences [between the French and the English league] are not as big as they used to be."

Many sites are calling for Arsene Wenger to be sacked or someone else to do the transfers or to never let Nasri sign because of this delay but it really isn't a big deal at all. We all want a transfer in, so isn't it much easier to just sit and wait than to stress about it every day? What Arsene said in that comment is basically that Nasri MIGHT want a little more money than is on offer but clearly it hasn't put off Arsene because he still said he is hopeful of getting the deal done. And guess what, if it doesn't happen, we will still all live. Shocking I know. If he doesn't come, then we'll get somebody else in that Wenger thinks can be a great player for us.


Why is there all this not trusting him? Do people already forget that we got 83 points this season and were top of the league for 6 months of it? Wenger is doing his job I promise. The squad will have new players for next season and they'll be players who can do a great job for us. So don't spend every day waiting for news on Samir Nasri, who nobody even wanted before the stories came out. Just be patient and wait and let Wenger do his job.

Jens Lehmann has gotten a contract offer from Stuttgart. Good for him.

Arsene Wenger decided to join the Euro 2008 competition and gave us his prediction here.

Here's a new one, Arsenal being linked with Ronaldinho. Honestly, it's never going to happen, but it is probably just as likely as 90% of all the other transfer rumors that have been posted already this summer. I just can't ever see Wenger bringing in a 28 year old, especially one that has been injured, fat, and out of form like Ronny.

We have an update to the Hleb to Barcelona story. Barcelona's whipping boy newspaper, Sport, report that the "days are numbered" until Hleb signs with them. Sport will post anything to try and kiss up to Barcelona but in this case I hope it's true. Hleb has become one of my least favorite Arsenal players in the past few weeks and I hope he's gone.

Reports from Holland say the whole nation is waiting on the fitness of Robin van Persie. I wouldn't be that depressed honestly if he missed every game in the tournament. I know it at least gives me someone to cheer for if he plays but if he doesn't I'll actually get to watch him play at Arsenal, which is more important.

That's really all there is today. Try not to do anything drastic over the Nasri situation, you all have a lot to live for. Cheers

Eduardo Back Soon, Yaya Toure a Possibility?

Caught Offside has to post more bollocks per day than any other site. If there was a ratio, and somewhere a statistic for the ratio like, "Who posts the most made up shite per day?" I'm pretty sure Caught Offside would win. Yet continually they are the top Arsenal story on NewsNow.

Today however they actually post something that makes sense, and something a lot of us have been calling for, which is a swap deal with Alexander Hleb and Yaya Toure. Yaya is the ideal replacement for Flamini, already capable of playing in a similar style of play to ours at Barcelona, and Hleb is of course, a complete and utter cunt. I don't want Hleb back next season or any other season, so I'm hoping if he does piss off to Barcelona that we actually do get Toure in return. I would personally love to see the brothers Toure destroying Cristiano Ronaldo by kicking him repeatedly in the throat.


Arsene Wenger spoke about the transfer market, and how soon it will end as we know it. Due to the Webster ruling, players age 28 or older can buy out the last two years of their contracts and move clubs. Arsene spoke very accurately about what this could lead to, saying that soon people will say you should be able to do it at an even younger age and should be able to buy out more than two years. This would virtually eliminate transfer fees as you could just buy out the rest of a player's contract for much cheaper. More importantly even, for a club like ours, is you couldn't build a team over time. You'd pretty much just have to build for one season and maybe hope all of your players didn't leave. It's looking like it could be a bad situation if something is not done about it.

William Gallas talked about how he'd love to kick the shite out of the Italians at the Euros to get revenge for the World Cup 2006 final. Everyone remembers what happened then, Materazzi called Zidane's mother a whore or something and Zidane placed an incredible head butt right into his chest. France lost of course but it was good stuff to watch as a neutral.


There is great news regarding Eduardo Da Silva, who now looks set to come back as soon as August or September! There is a video here shot in Brazil that shows Eduardo walking, working out, and even kicking around a ball. He's really looking great and I can't believe the progress he appears to be making. It's got to be really good for his confidence as well that he has recovered so fast thus far when it looked like he'd be out until at least December. While he certainly shouldn't be rushed back, it is great that we could have him back sooner and that everything is on track and going well. Get well soon Eduardo!

Robin van Persie is set to begin talks on a new contract. Hopefully it has a clause that says if he misses half the season again he has to give back half of his wages. It's a shame RvP has to play in the Euros because I feel like if he just worked on fitness and getting some rest this summer he could come back a lot healthier. He's a great player but he's as bad as Rosicky when it comes to injuries. Keep your fingers crossed whenever he's playing this summer.

That's about all I have today. The entries are coming in for the Euro 2008 contest which is great, keep them coming. Remember all entries have to be in by the time we start matches on June 7th. Also, register for the forums and all that good stuff. And that's about it. Off to work now. Have a good one all, cheers!

Hleb Off To Spain, Euro 2008 contest.

Morning all. Nasri has again not been confirmed today in case you were wondering, but this is most likely due to the fact that he was playing for France last night. Awful hard to be in London when you're playing for France. Try it. Arsenal News Review says he played well. Le Grove said he didn't play all that well. I didn't watch it so take your pick of the reviews of his performance if you're that into it.

Nasri's agent did however confirm that the deal will be done in the coming days and it will be to Arsenal. Read this.

Biggest news we have today is about Alexander Hleb and if it is anything it's confusing. Apparently Hleb's agent met with Txiki Begiristain (nice name), the Barcelona director, yesterday in Germany. They reportedly reached a verbal agreement on the player's terms and now an agreement must be struck with Arsenal to complete the move.

At the same time, Real Madrid have declared their interest in Hleb, with coach Bernd Schuster saying this:

"Over the past two months we have had a plan and we know what we want, but now Hleb has been added. We did not know he could leave Arsenal but in recent days it has been more positive. We were surprised that he might leave there."

Remember also that Inter Milan was thought to be leading the race to sign him for ages until the Spanish gians got involved. Personally I couldn't give a shite where he goes to, I'm just ready for him to be off. This reminds me of the Jose Antonio Reyes story last year, where we didn't know where he was going to go we just knew we didn't want him back. It took weeks of him being linked with Real, Atletico, and Sevilla before the move finally went through. There are some people that may still want Hleb in the team, but I'd take 10 million quid for him right now in a heartbeat.


If you're looking for a laugh you can laugh at Mathieu Flamini, who was dropped from the France squad for Euro 2008. A lot of people probably feel sorry for him, but not me. I like ex Arsenal players this is true, but I only like ones who were great players here for years, like Pires, Henry, Vieira, etc, not money grubbers who leave after one good year. Flamini deserves all the hardship he gets in my book. If you disagree, please name your reason why.

Robin van Persie has said that Arsenal need to raise their wage limit to keep players happy and make them stay at Arsenal. Of course he wants the wage limit raised, he's a player and he wants more money. I like van Persie and all but he can talk about all this when he becomes club director, or at least stays healthy for a whole season.

As you probably all know, Cesc Fabregas' new agent is Darren Dein, David Dein's son. With Cesc getting ready to go into contract negotiations with Arsenal, the talk is that he's going to play some hardball with the club. Cesc is going to re-sign, trust me on this one. There is no need to worry that just because Dein is his agent he is going to go to Barcelona this summer. He'll probably get a deal about 100,000 quid a week. This story is meant to get all the Arsenal supporters nervous but don't worry about it.

And in other news Mad Jens made the final cut for the German squad for the Euros. Good job Jens.

That's about all I've got for the day. I'm pretty stoked for the Euro's so if you want to give me your prediction on the finals, give me the two teams that will play in the finals and the final score and I'll give the winner a free ArseNole stein mug and maybe some other stuff too. It's used to drink excesses of beer, like Yuengling. So post your prediction on the forums or the comments and I'll write em all down and the winner will get that. Or you can email your prediction to me at ArseNole[at]arsenole(dot)com. They have to be in before June 7th.

Nasri Confirmed, Hleb is a Cunt

Ok I have not been into following the Nasri story every single waking second like many sites seem to be but I have been keeping everyone someone updated so now I can officially confirm that Samir Nasri will sign for Arsenal in the coming week, most likely on Tuesday. Monday is a bank holiday in the UK and so it may happen then but most likely not.

Even Arsene Wenger said the signing was highly likely, and said it would happen before the Euros start on June 7th.

So that is one signing we have down, and he could definitely be classified as our "creative player" signing that Wenger said would happen this summer. However, we don't know if he is a replacement for Hleb, who appears to be on the way out, or if this is another player and Arsene will sign another to replace Hleb. Arsene has said on countless occasions that he does not plan on having Hleb leave because he has not received any transfer bids for him, and from what I hear that is still the case. As it has been said on the forums, I think Wenger's first choice for the creative player was Niko Kranjcar, but it looks like he is set to stay at Portsmouth, which probably led to Wenger going for Nasri, his second choice. I think there is still a possibility, but not a probability, that Wenger will look for another player to replace Hleb. If Hleb does go it will not be without receiving a transfer fee, and I think another signing would depend on how much we received for Hleb. If we make up a good bit of the 11.2 million pounds we paid for him, I think another signing could be likely. If it is less than that I would expect Wenger to keep his faith in Walcott and, sadly, Eboue.

On to Hleb, I have to say that he is a complete and utter cunt. He is leaving strictly for money, not because he can't settle in London. Madrid, Barcelona, and Milan are not small quiet towns. He is 27 and wants to get a huge payday before he is past his prime. Granted, his prime has not seen all that much production out of him. We have all talked about his lack of goals, but we have only even talked about him being quality for just this past season. Before that all we talked about was how he gave the ball away too much. If you don't believe me then read my season review from last summer, which was my very first post on this website. I said he was a waste of money then because he never shot and gave the ball away too much. So should we really be upset about him leaving? Hell no. We should be happy someone is willing to take him off our hands, give us money for him and then waste their own money paying him wages. I can't be the least bit upset if he leaves.

So that's my rant on Hleb and good riddance to him.

Now on to what I think Arsenal will do next. I think after Nasri defender is the next target. My personal feeling is that it will be Kompany or Albiol, but I could be completely wrong and it could be someone we have never heard of. Whenever a team finds out Arsenal is interested in one of their players, the price for that player skyrockets and usually causes us to have to go in a different direction, and this could turn out to be the case here. Kompany at least I've heard is valued at 15 million, which a shiteload for a defender, I don't care who it is.

But I've done enough rambling so now I'll try to go over a little bit of news. Oh wait, there isn't any bloody news because every single site spends hours nutting over the Nasri story.

For all the idiots saying that Wenger should be sacked and that Arsenal should let Usmanov take over so we can spend billions of dollars you should read this article and realize just how stupid you are. I'm being kind of harsh today aren't I?

The Man from East Lower agrees with me that Diaby could develop into the new Vieira, or something like a replacement for Flamini at least, in the new season.

And that's really all there is for today. I'm so over the Nasri stories, so unless there is a picture of him holding an Arsenal shirt tomorrow then there will be no mention of him in my post. If you really need to hear about how Nasri likes his croissants baked or something then you can read about it on 823,508 other sites. I know it seems like I'm in a pissy mood this morning but really I just am sick of every news story being about him. So yeah, more to come tomorrow, hopefully there will be news about something else. Until then, join the forums, talk on em, leave a comment, or do something useful other than waiting for Nasri to sign. Cheers.

Arsenal To Sign Nasri

Ok so it's a very very late post today, and it's not going to be a long one because I am sick at the moment and I'm also tired after work. I was going to wait until tomorrow for this but it appears our first signing of the summer is going to be Samir Nasri. Quotes from the Marseille playmaker seem to point to a move to Arsenal in the next week.

“I’ve maybe played my last game at Stade Velodrome,” said Nasri. “In any case I wanted to finish well.”

Several sources are reporting that the fee is going to be 13.5 million pounds and that it should be completed within the next ten days. It looks like Alexander Hleb may be moving to Barcelona and Nasri is seen as his replacement.

This article contains a quote from his agent confirming that there have been approaches for Nasri.

In other news, Roman Domanech has again proved how much of a cunt he is by leaving out Gael Clichy AND Bakary Sagna from the Euro 2008 squad. They both were in the team of the season and yet can't make it into the French squad at all. Absolute bollocks.

Also, Justin Hoyte has been linked with a 4.5 million pound move to Aston Villa. I like Hoyte more than I like Eboue, but I think Wenger likes Eboue more and he isn't really listening to me, so I'm guessing he'll probably be off. At least it'll bring us some money. I'd be sorry to see Hoyte go though.

That's about all I have time for right now because I've got to lay down. More tomorrow if I get a chance but cross your fingers on the Nasri thing. Cheers.

Hleb Won't Do a Webster

Morning All. So I've decided to do something that I don't think any other sites really do at the end of the season, and that is to go through the whole squad and review each player, giving stats and thoughts on this year plus what to expect next year from them. I've decided to just go in order of squad number so since Jens has left us we'll start with Vasiriki Abou Diaby. You can read my report on him later on in this post.

The big news that has been reported today is that Alexander Hleb won't be doing a Webster move and buying out his contract to move to Inter Milan. His agent was quoted as saying:

“Hleb has been playing in London for three years now and isn’t sure whether in the future he can show the level of talent that he is showing currently. I can only confirm that some of the world’s biggest clubs are interested in him.

“In any case I can say simply that Alexander will not buy out the remaining part of his five-year contract for a fixed sum of his sale. Hleb is a gentleman and will not stoop to that level. Everything will be done properly.

“I am sure that the situation surrounding this issue will finally be resolved in the next 10 days.”

So it's good news there, that means Hleb is either staying or we'll at least get a transfer fee for him. If Hleb would have done that we would have hated him on Cashley Cole levels, because buying out your contract to leave with two years left on it as absolutely shite. I mentioned earlier that I didn't care if Hleb stayed or went, and I still don't, I just think it's a lot nicer that if he did leave we'd get some money for him.

And In other good news, Gael Clichy looks set to exted his stay at Arsenal as it has been revealed that he has just started talks about a new contract. This is great news because Clichy is one of our best young players. He played in every single Premiership match this season and did an outstanding job throughout the year. I hope he signs a lifetime contract but that's wishful thinking.

So now what everyone enjoys, transfer news and rumors!

First off, we've been linked with Crystal Palace wonderkid John Bostock. His contract recently expired and he has been stalling on signing a new one so he can leave for minimal compensation. All the big clubs and Sp*rs (because they are not a big club) are after him and they are reporting that Arsene could make a late move to try to bring him in.

David Villa has yet again been linked with us, this time by Setanta Sports. We know he likes the way Arsenal play, and we know Valencia are shite and he's looking to move, but for some reason I still don't see it. Let's just hope to God he doesn't end up at Liverpool with Torres or we'll be chasing 4th place.

Vincent Kompany has also been linked with us and was asked about a potential move. He gave the usual "I'm not saying anything" approach to the question but it seems that has only increased the speculation around him. He's a good player but can he stay healthy is the question. Also, 15 million seems a steep price for him.

So now on to our first player review, Abou Diaby.


In the past: Diaby came to us in January of 2006 from Auxerre for 2 million pounds. He was touted as "the next Vieira." We saw moments of what he could do, as he could certainly make a tackle and he also scored against Aston Villa. His season was ended by Dan Smith of Sunderland though on a tackle which broke his ankle and he missed the next 8 months. Since then he's had a lot of injuries that have hindered his playing time and not allowed him to really get in a groove.

This Season: This year Diaby made fifteen appearances for the club, scoring one goal and making one assist. He has played mostly on the wing, which is not his natural position, because of Tomas Rosicky's injury troubles. He had a brilliant goal against Derby from 25 yards out after beating three defenders, but unfortunately that was the only time he scored all year. I know he is not a natural winger but he should be providing more goals or more assists from out there. It doesn't seem like he has as many crunching tackles as he did when he first arrived either. It may be because of the tackle that broke his ankle and it's made him nervous about it or something or it could be because he's out on the wing but you'd like to see that come back into his game.

Looking Ahead: Diaby is now 22 years old. He hasn't been able to fulfill the label of new Vieira at this point. He is still young but he needs to be played and molded into the player we want him to be. We can't expect him to grow into the holding midfielder role by playing on the wing. Will Diaby be the guy Wenger tries to put into Flamini's place? It could very well be. We know he can tackle and he can shoot long range, what we need to see is more dribbling ability from him and better decision making. He is somewhat versatile and he is a decent, but not great, backup on the wing. The question is, if Arsene doesn't move him back to the center than does Diaby contribute enough to the team to be kept around? Wenger acknowledged that Diaby is a central midfielder, so you'd think he'll get more games there next year, but if we bring someone else in I wouldn't be surprised if Diaby is gone this year or next.

So that's all I've got for you today, that was a really long post I feel like so hopefully you made it through it all. Let me know what you think. Cheers

Hleb is Leaving, Let Him Go

Morning all. The main news this morning is that Alex Hleb will not be back at Arsenal next season, and while it's not 100% that Inter Milan is the club he'll be joining, it's about 99.130958203598% that he will. Hleb's agent, Nikolai Shpilevski (sounds like a shady character), had this to say today.

“Alex is preparing to make one of the most important moves of his life.

“He is leaving even though Arsenal want to offer him a new long-term contract.

“Only time will tell if it is the right decision but there’s no way back now. Everything will be settled in the next two weeks.”

He sounds so proud of it doesn't he? So it's certainly looking like he's definitely going to be gone, and to be honest I'm not all that bothered about it. With Flamini I'll admit I was constantly checking headlines to see if he had signed a new deal with us or someone else, but with Hleb it doesn't feel like much of a loss. He's probably had his best season for us this season and still only got three goals. Freddie and Pires used to be able to score in the double digits from the same spot. Hleb was never a natural winger, so even when he got the ball out wide his game wasn't about crosses and making runs, it was just cutting inside and generally losing the ball or passing it to the other team.

So how is he making the move? Well he could be doing a Webster, buying out the last two years of his contract in order to allow him to move for free. This would pretty much piss Arsene off so much that he would report Inter for tapping Hleb up and probably never do business with them again. Or maybe, just maybe, Inter will give us a fee for him. This is highly unlikely as Wenger has said he wouldn't be letting Hleb leave so it's pretty clear that he wouldn't have accepted a bid just a few days later. So Hleb is gone, probably for free, and we'll probably become a better team without him.

The question now is, how do we replace him? Wenger made it clear he was only prepared to lose Flamini this offseason, and now he has lost Hleb as well. That means he could be prepared to bring someone in to replace him. God help us if he decides to start Eboue out there every week because I think someone would be forced to run him over or something just to prevent it. I don't think the boss thinks Theo is ready for the full season playing every match, but I certainly think he's ready to start most of them. The problem there is I think Wenger sees Theo more as a striker than a winger. Who do you think can come in and play right winger?

More transfer rubbish before the season is even over as The Mail has said that Adebayor is demanding 80,000 pounds a week and he'll leave if he doesn't get it. Adebayor immeadiately came out and said that was complete rubbish and the Mail can shove their bollocks up their arses.

"I am very happy here. Reports which suggest I have threatened to quit are rubbish."

"I love the club and the fans."

"We have a great set of players here with a fantastic team spirit.

"We have had a good season, but next year we want to go one better by winning a trophy."

And that's why I love this man. He isn't worried about getting a pay raise, he's worried about getting the team ready for next year and going out and getting a trophy. You Adebayor haters can piss off honestly because Ade is one of the most committed and best players we have right now. You all loved Flamini so much but hated Ade...well who's turned out better for Arsenal now? Sorry that was a bit of a mini-rant but I still hear people all the time who talk about how shite he is. Nicklas Bendtner's father also says his son will not be going anywhere either.

Looking ahead to the Sunderland match this weekend it's going to be an even younger squad than we have had for the last two. Fabianski, Denilson, and Bendtner look set to continue with starting spots and Mark Randall and Kieran Gibbs could also be involved. Gibbs looks an especially promising player that can play on the left wing so I'd like to see him start on the left with Theo on the right hopefully. It looked like Jay Simpson might also get a chance in the first team, but Young Guns now says that he'll have to look for a new club.

Vital Arsenal makes his case for not bringing back Gilberto Silva. I'd personally like to see him back though.

That's about all I've got for you today so have a good one and I'll get something together at some point tomorrow. Cheers!

Wenger Reacts to Flamini Departure

Hello everyone. I think I need a new pillow because mine seems to give me a headache every day. Anyways, on to Arsenal.

We'll start today with Arsene Wenger reacting to Mathieu Flamini opting to leave Arsenal and sign for AC Milan. In his comments there was a lot of talk of being close to the title and player's not having the fight to come back and give it a go next year, which is what a real "winner" would do. While Flamini was certainly allowed legally to leave, you would like to see more loyalty to the club, especially since we aren't exactly Birmingham or Sunderland that never win anything.

"I must say I am disappointed that he did that but legally he can do it.

"We were close this year but we did not win and what I expect from my team is for them to say 'let's come back next year and win'.

"If our players are not capable of doing that and just want to walk out for bigger contracts, for me that would be the biggest disappointment."

You have to agree with him there. If every player left after their contract ended then no team would ever be able to build a squad and we would all have to turn into Chelsea and buy all the superstars in the world just so that we had a good chance to win for one or two years. I am holding a grudge against Flamini for this. Don't hold our beloved Arsenal under the water and try to make us give you more money. Either say you're leaving or say you're staying but don't toy with the club like that.

In other non-loyal-to-Arsenal news, it's Alexander Hleb back again and it's looking likely that he's going to sign with Inter Milan after the match vs Sunderland this weekend. The Guardian reports that Inter are prepared to pay him much more than the 50,000 quid per week he gets at Arsenal and The Times says that Alex has already confided in some of his team mates that he is leaving. Don't you wish they had just smashed his face in when he told them that? I don't care if Hleb leaves. He just doesn't do it for me. Let's let him leave and get his salary off our hands and just put Theo out on the wing every game. At least he can score goals.

Emmanuel Adebayor is keeping his head up after the disappointing end to the season, and at least he isn't talking about leaving for anywhere.

"I have scored 30 goals this season - but also missed a lot so that tells me I can score more. I realise now what I can do, so let's just keep doing it."

And in regards to his future he had more positive words:

"I am at the right team at the right moment playing some good football and scoring goals so of course I am happy," he declared.

"The most important thing is playing for the fans, and having the opportunity to play with so many great players at the club.

"As a footballer you want to make history and leave your name at a club.

"I hope I can do that at this club because I love the club."

If you read this site you know I love Adebayor even while everyone else who is an Arsenal "fan" seems to hate him. This is further proof of why he is a player to love and not to hate. He knows what he needs to work on, admits it, and is going to try to improve on it for next season. And, unlike Hleb and Flamini, he loves Arsenal and wants to make history here. Keep it up Ade and you'll have your name in the history books one day!

Jens Lehmann had some very nice things to say about the squad, which is in sharp contrast to his bashing of Almunia all season. He says the squad has more talent than at any other club and while there will be some changes in the summer he thinks the team will develop further and be ready for the challenges ahead. It's nice to hear from Jens and it really is making me miss him already. Good luck at the Euro's Mad Jens.

And last but not least we'll have some transfer rumors of course, and this time we've been linked with Inter Milan's Maxwell. Maxwell's agent has been quote as saying that Arsenal, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Valencia have all enquired about his availability. No idea if that's true as it could just be an agent trying to stir up interest in his client. Never trust those agents the sneaky bastards.

And that's all I've got for you today. Off to work now so have a good one. Also, I finally got a subscription to Arsenal TV Online yesterday so if anyone wants any old highlights or anything feel free to email me and I can find a way to send them to you. ArseNole[at]arsenole.com

Wenger Ready To Spend Big

Morning everyone. The transfer talk has started in full since we're out of every competition, so there's going to be a lot of talk and very little action for the next few months by my estimation. It's amazing how every single year people, including the media, think we are going to go on a spending spree and by five great players for big money that are ready to play right away. It never ever happens. We'll probably buy one or two players who Wenger think have the potential to start, but not overpriced players, and then we'll buy a youngster or two. This is how it works every year.


So today we start with Arsene Wenger saying he is not "scared" to spend big money if he finds the right player whom he thinks is worth it.

"Scared of what? I would not be scared." "If we have the money, and I am convinced it is worth it, we will do it."

Now something interesting is said here. Wenger says "if we have the money." Listening to Keith Edelman and the rest of the board it sounds like Arsene has loads of money, in fact the stated number was 70 million pounds. So why would Arsene say if we have the money when clearly we do? Who knows? Maybe it's to try to work down other teams that would want more money if they thought we had tons. Anyways, I think maybe for once this talk from Wenger could be heading toward a signing we have heard of before.


Now for some exit talk, and of course it starts with Hleb and Flamini. Hleb's agent (who has become quite a prick) is linking his client with every team imaginable just about trying to drum up an offer for him.

"I'm often approached about Hleb...I have nothing to hide; Aleksandr is a world-class player. Real Madrid, Juventus and Barcelona are interested in him. But there are no official offers."

There are reports of a huge transfer fee for him, and if we did get an offer with anything over 10 million quid I say sell him. He is a good player but he never scores and if he wants to go we may as well let him.


As for the Flamster, he's wanted by Bayern and Juve. I want your opinions on Flamini, I really do. Do you think he's staying or going? I have to say my opinion is that he is going. It's mid-April and there's no news of him even being close to signing a new deal, while the list of clubs after him add up. I think he's gone, what do you think?


Now as for players coming in the player on most everyone's mind is Hatem Ben Arfa. He hasn't been playing as much at Lyon as he would like and seems to know of our interest because he says his future will be sorted out at the end of the season. He does, however, say that he is happy at Lyon and his talks for a new contract are progressing. I think it could be good that he is getting less playing time, maybe they are preparing to sell Ben Arfa so they want to give other players a run out. Guess we shall see. We've also been linked with his team mate Karim Benzema, but I don't see that one happening.


For news on the dressing room atmosphere, it is once again Emmanuel Adebayor saying to pick ourselves up and finish strong this season.

"It is difficult, but I know my mum will be somewhere watching the TV, so I have to play for her, all my family and all the people who love Arsenal.

"We have to win all those games now, to play for our honour and for our fans."

It's always Adebayor encouraging us on. Adebayor, Toure, and Gilberto are always the ones providing us with the motivation and are always willing to work for it.


This is going to set me off on a rant so here goes, scroll down if you want to skip it. I'm SO SICK of people criticizing Adebayor at every opportunity! If you read other sites posts or their comments all you see is how crap Adebayor is or why he shouldn't be in the team. He's scored 26 goals! Nobody else is even close to that for us. Not only that, he's scored important goals too. He scored in both legs against Liverpool, scored at Milan, scored in countless league games, and a lot of times he is playing up front by himself! Since when was 26 goals a terrible return worthy of you being shipped off to play for a shite team? Does van Persie ever score 26 goals? No, but nobody is saying how he should be sold or given away for free. Is it just because he is not Thierry Henry? No, his finishing isn't brilliant. But his work rate is unmatched and his runs are good and he is out there for us every single game without fail trying to get us wins. I'm sick of reading ridiculous articles like this one and reading comments like these. He is not to blame for us losing out on the title. There are, believe it or not, eleven players on the pitch at a time and they all had a part in it. Robin van Persie hasn't scored since his return except for that one penalty and nobody blames him because of the injury. But they blame a guy who is NEVER injured and has worked all year when he doesn't score every match. Point is, Adebayor is our best striker and we'd be well worse off without him so piss off you whining scumbag fans who hate him.

There, that feels better. Leave your comments on Flamini, Hleb, Adebayor, Ben Arfa, or anything you want. There's also quite a good discussion going in yesterday's comments if you wanna have a look at that. Good day everyone.