Arsenal Need A Brazilian, 8 Youngsters Leave the Club

Morning all. It's been awhile yet again. I've decided I really do hate transfer season. It's the same every year for us. Teams are signing players for ridiculous fees that we would never ever pay for anyone, and we're linked with 34,592 players and don't sign any of them. It makes me not want to read about Arsenal, but I have been watching a lot of football lately in the form of the Confederations Cup, so I wanted to talk a bit about that today, so if you don't care about it then turn off your station.

First of all I have to give some credit to the US team. While I've been a huge critic of Bob Bradley, Landon Donovan, and the entire rest of the national team setup, I have never seen such a turnaround from the start of one tournament until the end of it. From losing against Italy and the 3-0 defeat to Brazil at the start to somehow getting into the semi-finals with a great show against Egypt, then going on to beat the best team in the world, Spain, was an amazing turnaround. Even in the final against Brazil, without one of our better players (Michael Bradley) we managed to go up 2-0 and had to withstand a second half barrage from a team that can attack as well as any in the world. Yes, the result was a loss, but the overall result is a lot of confidence to take forward to the World Cup next year.

Landon Donovan should have been named the player of the tournament for what he did. Off the ball he was amazing, and the counter-attack goal against Brazil was a thing of beauty. I've never seen the US score a goal like that.


Felipe Melo was a big player for Brazil in this tournament, and since he's a holding type central midfielder, he's been linked with Arsenal. I think he'd be a great addition personally. After watching him several times in the past few weeks I think he's the type of player we could really use. Problem is, he's just signed a contract extension with Fiorentina. It does say there is a buy-out clause in the contract, but who knows how much it is. If we could get him for 12-15 million though I'd be all for it.

Some youth team news today as eight of our young guns will be leaving the club and four have signed professional terms. The list is as follows:

Released:
Amaury Bischoff
Paul Rodgers
James Dunne
Rui Fonte
Abu Ogogo
Rene Steer
Vincent van den Berg
Anton Blackwood

Signed Professional Terms:
James Shea
Craig Eastmond
Luke Ayling
Cedric Evina

No real surprises there then. I'm glad Bischoff is gone. What a terrible waste of money he was. I know he was signed for free, but he still got paid, so don't leave comments telling me it didn't cost any money.

That's really about it. There's some bollocks in the paper about how Andrey Arshavin would love to play for Barcelona. So would I. But it doesn't mean they'll be signing me any second now, and the same is true for Arshy.

Leave a comment or follow me on twitter. Peace.

Vermaelen Officially Signs for Arsenal

Hello all. I've been on a bit of a hiatus since June 2nd. Why, you ask? Well simply because there's been absolutely nothing to write about. I don't want to write about how we might sign a 16 year old Frenchman, or about how Cesc might leave, then the next day he might not leave. It's just boring. Besides that, I've been kind of busy, so that's my excuse. But I'm back now and I'll be posting every day just like I did before. Now on to Arsenal.

I suppose there's pretty big news today. Thomas Vermaelen was introduced officially as an Arsenal player. We've been trailing him for a couple of weeks now and we've landed our man. We've all known that we need a center back for a while now so it's good that we've locked one up. Problem is, as is with most of the players we sign, I haven't seen much of him at all since I don't ever watch the Dutch league or the Belgian national team.

Arsene Wenger had this to say about him:

“Thomas is a great signing for Arsenal Football Club, and we are all delighted that he is joining us. Thomas is a solid performer with good experience of Champions League and UEFA Cup football and is also a regular with the Belgium national team. Thomas is primarily a left-footed centre back, but he’s multi-functional and can also play at left back. He is strong technically with a positive winner’s attitude and I have no doubt his arrival will strengthen our team. Thomas Vermaelen will be a huge asset to Arsenal.”

Vermaelen responded with these quotes:

“I’m just so happy to be joining Arsenal. This is a great Club with a world class manager, high quality players and a fantastic stadium. Everything is set up for Arsenal to be very successful for years to come and I joined this Club because I know Arsenal will be challenging for trophies.

“I have had a good taste of the Champions League during my time with Ajax and this is something I am looking forward to experiencing again with Arsenal. I’m also looking forward to playing in the English Premier League, which for me, is the best league in the world. Also, I just want to assure the Arsenal fans that I will give everything for this Club and I hope we can enjoy winning some trophies together next season.”

I like him already. I know everyone goes on and on about how great a club Arsenal is and how they are going to give their best for the club and the fans, but it still never gets old. If every player actually stuck to that mentality life would be wonderful.

While I can't comment all that much on the actual player we've signed, I can say that I'm pleased with the way this deal got done. We didn't wait until August 30th to start negotiating like we did for Xabi Alonso last year, we identified a target and went and got him, which is how it should be. This will allow him to get a full pre-season camp in with us and get accustomed to the style and to all of his team mates.

It'll be interesting to see what happens to not only Kolo Toure and William Gallas but also Phillippe Senderos. I forsee at least two of them being sold with Vermaelen coming in, and the only question is which two. If Milan want to keep Senderos, I'm absolutely sure we'll let them, but that is a big if. Then it comes down to Toure and Gallas. Gallas has played better than Toure as of late, but he's also older and is a bit of a cunt. We also have Djourou coming up who I think is going to be an exceptional player. Who do you think will be our first choice pairing at center back next year? It's really hard to predict.

Last but not least for today, I'm seriously considering getting an Arsenal tattoo. I haven't decided exactly what or where though yet. I may just get Arsenal down the inside of my forearm, or across my back. Anyone got any sweet ideas that I can steal from you? Let me know. Thanks. Peace.

Arsenal Linked With Matuidi, Madrid Want Alonso

Hello everyone. Not a lot happening in the world of Arsenal today but I'm posting anyway. I'm pretty much starving by the way, but that does tend to happen at lunch time. I'll probably make some coffee and have a microwave pizza, because that's clearly a good combo.

First off today is Arsenal have been linked with St. Etienne midfielder Blaise Matuidi. He's 22, plays as a DM, and really wants to join Arsenal.

“I asked myself questions at the end of August after Arsenal showed their interest. An opportunity to join them is not something ordinary. It gives you great self-esteem, it is Arsenal."

I tell you, it is REALLY hard to find any videos or anything on this guy, but I did find this one of a really nice goal he scored this season. If anyone knows more about him, feel free to fill us all in.

If Xabi Alonso is really a target again this summer for Arsene Wenger, then the competition for his signature just got a lot tougher. Real Madrid are interested in signing him, and since they'll pay just about anything to get the players they want, it could price us out of the picture. I've given you my views on this subject. Xabi Alonso is a good player, one who I would certainly like to have at Arsenal, but I'd rather have someone who will knock some dudes out. The only dude I remember seeing Xabi Alonso knock out is...well, Cesc...last season. Not nice. Still, if that's the way Arsene wants to go with it I'll be quite happy to have him because he really is an excellent passer with mounds of Premier League experience.

Kolo Toure has called for the squad to stay together this summer, and says it is the key to really improving.

"I think keeping the team together is the most important thing. When you stay with your team-mate for three or four years you start to learn how he plays. That helps you for the games and I think we have been together for a while now. It's important for our improvement next season. Sometimes when you bring somebody else, these players have to settle and that can take a year sometimes. The Premier League is already difficult so if you play six months badly it's difficult to come back."

That's a really long quote but it all needed to be shown. While I agree in principle with Kolo on this, and would like to keep most of the squad together, there is no doubt in my mind that we need additions to it like Andrey Arshavin was last year. The impact he made was unquestionable, and it didn't take him six months to adjust to the league. So yes, keep the squad together, but add to it as well. Depth never hurts any team.

And last but not least today, good ol' Jens Lehmann is getting set to make his film debut. He's apparently going to play a talent scout in the movie Themba, which is a pretty weird title to me but fair play to Jens.

So yeah, that's about it. Join the forums and start talking, because it makes the world a better place. Follow me on Twitter too. Man's game. Cheers.

Arsenal's Problems All Down To Teeth, Bring in Lorik Cana

Morning all. How are things? I'm doing just swell, except the whole not having any money thing is getting a little old. So when you're wondering, "Hmm, I wonder why the ArseNole hasn't posted in 3 days..." it's probably because I'm sitting around trying to think of a way to make money without getting a second job. I tried the lottery, but amazingly I did not win. I think I'm going to branch out into sketch comedy or something else that will be completely hilarious and cause people to throw kajillions of dollars at me, so I can just sit around and write about Arsenal all the time. That's the plan.

So what's new with Arsenal, you ask? Well, not a lot really. Not a lot besides discovering the cause of all of Arsenal's problems! Actually just Robin van Persie's injury problems, but if you figure we have a fully fit RvP for the full season, it could definitely solve some of the problems we have had. His doctors say that the reason he suffers from so many muscle injuries is because of his wisdom teeth.

"I fear I'll be forced to drink porridge through a straw. My osteopaths think there may be a connection between my teeth and the muscle injuries I suffer."

That's a bit odd isn't it? How bad does that suck that you get a couple more teeth in and suddenly you're pulling groins and hamstrings and every other muscle that isn't anywhere near your teeth.

"It could have an influence on the recovery time my body needs after an injury. Three of the four specialists I chose were rejected by the club."

Both of my Grandpa's are dentists, so I wonder if the club would approve either of them for the operation. I know they've done a lot of wisdom teeth in the past so maybe we can get RvP over here to Florida and get that done. If somehow this has been contributing to his muscle injuries and removing the teeth makes him stay more fit, I'll be absolutely amazed and thrilled. We all know what an important player he is when he's fully fit so let's hope he gets this done and it has the effect they say it will for him.

The other news is not really news at all, but Cesc wants Xabi Alonso at Arsenal. Of course we've heard this before, just last summer, but we didn't get him or anyone else for central midfield.

"We need someone in the middle to make competition and make a difference, plus give us a new dimension. I think that is all we need. The rest is perfect. Xabi would be great. He's experienced and can score goals. I'm sure the boss is aware of that fact."

Yes, Xabi is a good passer, he does have experience, and he can score goals. However, he does not kill people. I'd like to have someone in our team that loves killing. Patrick Vieira would not have hesitated to kill someone, and we need that mentality in the team. Lorik Cana is exactly the type of player I'd like to have. He's the captain of Marseille currently and he pretty much smokes chumps and lights up fools all over the field. He's a f***ing animal really and if you don't believe me watch this video. I've watched him in several Marseille matches and I just really like what he does on the field. Who knows if Arsene thinks he's Arsenal material though.

And that, ladies and gentleman, is all I have today. I'd like to say I'll do a podcast soon, but I pretty much can't guarantee anything with how my schedule is lately. Class every day, Karaoke on Tuesday, Poker Wednesday, the Baseball all weekend. It's hectic I tell you. I need to get a sponsor for that thing. Or sell drugs. That would make it way easier.

Alright, I'll get back to you all tomorrow. Subscribe to the website if you haven't already. Follow me on twitter, for the good of your souls. Follow Miley Cyrus too, cuz she is my future baby mama. Hit me up on my Myspace. Or Ole Ole. Or join the forums so we can get those started back up again. Just do all of the above. It will make supporting Arsenal THAT much more fun for all of us.