Well thank Christ for that. Arsene Wenger had a question and answer session with the shareholders today and said he's looking to add two players, a creative player and a powerful defender. He said our defensive problems were not from set pieces or from open play but only from long balls through the middle, which Gallas and Toure seem not to be able to deal with. I personally disagree with him as I've seen more than a few goals come from open play that were very, very shoddy defending against. And as for set pieces just think of the Derby match as an example. That was absolutely terrible defending off of that free kick, and it was Derby!
So the defenders we have been linked with are the usual suspects, Raul Albiol of Valencia (who
are shit this year, check the Spanish table) and Micah Richards of Manchester City. I've always been a fan of Richards and I think his play belies his young age. Unfortunately he is English which means his price will be 5 million more than it should be. Albiol is another good player but he'd also probably be at least 10 million pounds and I really don't think Wenger is going to pay that much for one defender. I guess it comes down to how much his "creative playmaker" ends up costing so we'll be able to see how much he has left. You can see pictures of Wenger meeting with the shareholders here.
I've heard from several sources that David Villa is close to signing for Real Madrid. I never had all that much hope of him being brought into Arsenal but it was worth dreaming about. Wenger hasn't mentioned signing a striker though anyway so I guess he feels that Adebayor, Bendtner, hopefully a fully recovered Eduardo and Rvp and Theo can do it.
Yet again Real Madrid is trying to tap up Cesc Fabregas, with Ramon Calderon, the club's president, actually telling Cesc to just request a transfer from Arsenal so he could join the Spanish twats. However, Cesc has again put these rumors to rest and said he is happy at Arsenal.
"I am young and happy at Arsenal. I regard them as one of the biggest clubs and (Arsene) Wenger is like a father to me on the pitch."
It's getting really annoying with this whole situation because this is the third straight summer that they have tried to take Cesc from us by tapping him up essentially and nothing is ever done about it because they do it through the newspapers and Spanish media will print anything just to blow bubbles up Madrid and Barca's arses. It seems that Cesc's future is very much tied to Arsene Wenger though, and if he were ever to leave Cesc would surely leave Arsenal as well.
Petr Cech lets us know how much of a cunt he is by saying that nobody will remember that we played good football ten years from now.
Freddie Ljungberg has been asked by West Ham to tear up his contract after only one year there. He makes 75,000 quid a week which is a ridiculous salary for a player well past his prime. It's sad to see him going through all the injuries and stuff though so I wish him the best. If I was him I'd take the 3 million and go play in Spain or Italy. That'd be a new place for him to try out his skills and he could still make good money. Plus those leagues generally aren't as physical. But good luck Freddie.
So that's about it today. Tomorrow we may start looking forward to the Sunderland match at the weekend or we may have our Youth Squad and Reserve overview from YoungGuns ready. We shall see. Cheers all! And last Arsenal.com is having a countdown of the 50 greatest Arsenal players of all time. You can click here to vote.
