Football

22nd July 2015: Samper’s visited London Colney. Plus OMG! Gotze follows Gibbs!

Posted on by TremendArse

A warm Wednesday welcome. Thanks for dropping by, particularly my American and Norwegian readers – you’re becoming TremendArse diehards – and as this blog is barely a month old, currently with fewer spectators than a Chelsea trophy parade, I hope you’ll continue to visit, share your thoughts via the comments and spread the word!

Shameless promotion done, I want to start today by saying that as much as Barcelona football club have irritated me, and I’m sure countless other Arsenal fans the world over, with their recurring recruitment of some of our best players ever since Marc Overmars and Emmanuel Petit opened the floodgates back in 2000, I still admire them more than any other rival club purely because for me, they regularly raise the bar on how the beautiful game is played.

In recent years, their academy has rightly been heralded as the best in the world for acting as a conveyor belt of talent schooled in the pass and move mantra, valuing footballing intelligence above all other attributes, and the results have been stunning, both for the Catalan club and the Spanish national team.

All of which is to say that when we’re linked with another one of their up and coming players, not only do I feel a sense of karma in terms of player trading, but I’m excited by the prospect of a new Cesc, a new Hector, even a new Fran Merida (who I think was on course to build a big career at Arsenal had he not decided to jump ship back to Spain just as he was on the cusp of a regular first team slot) bringing their La Masia-moulded abilities to north London, to be polished into top Premier League performers by Arsene Wenger.

And if today’s report in El Mundo Deportivo, the Spanish nationwide daily sports newspaper published in Barcelona, is to be believed, 20 year old defensive midfielder Sergi Samper may soon become the latest young star to make the switch from Catalunya to north London.

Sergi Samper

Oriol Domènech , a reporter at El Mundo Deportivo, wrote a piece about Arsenal’s interest in Samper back in September last year, explaining that Wenger had first tried to sign the player at the same time as he persuaded Hector Bellerin and Jon Toral to join the Gunners from Barcelona in the summer of 2011.

On that occasion he says, both his club and the player’s family flatly declined our ‘dizzying offer’, although Samper did take a trip to England to take a look around Arsenal’s training base at London Colney.

In the same piece, published on September 9th, Domènech then says Arsenal returned ‘a few days ago’, with Wenger this time offering to activate the 12 million euros release clause in the players contract, which runs until June 2017, and promising him an immediate place in Arsenal’s first team squad.

Again though, the proposal was turned down, as Samper had his heart set on establishing himself in the first team of the club he has been at since the age of six, with both Barcelona’s manager Luis Enrique and his assistant Joan Barbara (also Samper’s coach for the Barcelona B team until the summer of 2014) said to have assured him he would soon be a regular part of their first team set up.

The player is also believed to have felt another season in the B team would be beneficial for his development at the time, but now a year on, Domènech today reports things have changed ‘radically’.

The player is no longer convinced he’ll get much first-team playing time, after learning Enrique has told fellow academy graduate Sergi Roberto that he will play in Samper’s ‘pivot’ position, which already has Sergio Busquets and Javier Mascherano as established first choice selections.

Portuguese club Porto are also said to hold a firm interest in securing Samper’s services and their manager Julen Lopetegui has called the player personally reports Domènech. Yet with childhood friends and former Barcelona teammates Bellerin and Toral already at Arsenal, and given Wenger’s persistence in signing him, you’d imagine Samper would choose Arsenal over Porto given the choice.

And as highly as Barcelona are believed to rate the player, and as much as they’d like to keep him, a modest release clause, which we’re reportedly more than happy to meet, would mean they’d be powerless to stop him leaving. Arsenal’s hopes of completing a deal then, appear to rest firmly in the high-rated player’s hands.

In addition, Domènech reveals that Samper has been mulling over his future all summer, but remains undecided and also writes that his agent, Pere Guardiola, will meet with Barcelona’s Director of Football Administration, Raúl Sanllehí, and their newly appointed Technical Director Robert Fernandez, in the coming days once club elections conclude, with Samper likely to finally decide whether to stay at Barcelona, or make it third time lucky for Wenger and sign for Arsenal.

For what it’s worth, I YouTube’d Samper back in 2011 when we were first linked with his signature and at the time he looked to me a typical La Masia player – lightweight but a great passer and technically flawless.

Four years on, and having watched more recent compilations today, he seems to have developed into a robust, highly energetic cross between Xabi Alonso and Busquets, with lots of character and great leadership qualities for one so young, albeit with perhaps just a slight over indulgence in the Cruyff turn. I’m talking every time he gets the ball.

But if he’s half as good as the reviews he’s had from those who have watched him regularly over the course of his fledgling career, we could be about to ‘steal’ the best Barcelona youngster we ever have. Over to you Sergi…

Elsewhere, after yesterday’s Instagram activities by Wojciech Szczęsny, which in the end, were pretty revealing considering Roma are now widely reported to be in talks to sign him on loan, Bayern Munich star Mario Gotze has today followed Kieran Gibbs on the very same photo sharing site.

Now I know we were strongly linked with a move for Gotze when he was still at Borussia Dortmund but that was before we signed Mesut Ozil and I struggle to see where we’d play him. False nine? But if we do somehow end up buying him this summer, I’m doing away with Twitter and Newsnow and Sky Sports News HQ for the next window, because when it comes to breaking transfer news, Instagram’s clearly where it’s at.

Till Thursday.

21st July 2015: Cech likes Arsenal, Szczesny follows Roma

Posted on by TremendArse

Evening all. If you hadn’t noticed by now, Petr Cech quite likes it at his new club. I mean, who wouldn’t – it’s by far the best team the world has ever seen. Although in fairness, he has just spent over a decade at Chelsea, so falling scrum-cap over studs in love with Arsenal must feel a bit like marrying into royalty after escaping a long-term relationship with a lottery lout.

Anyway, the 33 year old has been gushing in his praise for his new colleagues, highlighting high morale, great work-ethic, shared visions for success and a healthy blend of youth and experience in the squad, as reasons to believe Arsenal can conquer all in sight in the upcoming campaign.

He said (I’m not sure who to, probably an assortment of reporters following the Everton game in Singapore on Saturday – I lifted the quotes from the official site):

What I’ve found is a group of players who work very hard and who are focused on what they are doing on the pitch to get ready. I found that the team spirit is extraordinary in the way that everybody pulls in the same direction. This is why I believe that we can have a successful season. We need to have that connection between players to reach the same targets. I’ve only been here a few days but I can feel that the team is together. We have a good balance in the team. We have players with a lot of experience and we have young players who want to prove their value by being a part of the first-team squad and playing as much as possible. There are hungry players, there are experienced players and in terms of the age category we have a good balance. We hope to use that to our advantage.

All of which is excellent to hear of course. No squad with fractious cliques or littered with over-inflated egos is ever likely to be a good recipe for success, particularly when things start to go against you at some point in a season, as they almost always do, and everybody needs to pull together.

And I think a lot of the praise for cultivating squad cohesion on a social level, must go to the manager Arsene Wenger, especially as he’s said to be meticulous in gathering as much information about a player’s personality and interaction with colleagues as he possibly can, when weighing up any new signing.

Moving on and Wojciech Szczesny is reportedly on the verge of signing a season-long loan deal with AS Roma, which would see him reunite with former Gunner Gervinho, as well as provide him with a new smoking buddy in the shape of the Giallorossi’s eighth choice left back Ashley Cole.

However, claims of his imminent departure are apparently mainly based on the Pole following the Italian club, and a few of it’s players, on social media site Instagram, so may in fact just be a load of balls.

Is Szczesny off to Roma?

What I would say, is that as far as Szczesny’s concerned, there’s no smoke without fire (I’m not even sorry) and given David Ospina recently joined the Pole in declaring his desire to remain at the club, and the Columbian ended last season as our first choice Premier League ‘keeper, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this deal was in the pipeline after all.

The other semi interesting thing about this story is the fact that a Roma delegation of officials were said to be in London last week to negotiate a transfer for their 20 year old central defender Alessio Romagnoli, with Arsenal reportedly one of the interested teams. Could it be that a deal was struck for both players? We’ll find out soon enough I guess.

See you tomorrow.

20th July 2015: Walcott wants stay but with increased pay – should Arsenal oblige? Or cast him aside?

Posted on by TremendArse

Hello and welcome back. If rhyming riles you, apologies for the title of this post. I didn’t set out to construct a melodic headline, or even see it coming until it was here. It just happened.

Which I suppose is a bit like Arsenal’s forays into the ritzy realms of the transfer market in recent years, in that I’m fairly certain Arsene Wenger never envisaged signing Mesut Ozil at the start of the summer in 2013, or indeed Alexis Sanchez a year later, but when opportunity arose, he was all over it like our hyperactive Chilean is a football pitch.

And that seems to me the strategy again this window – bide our time and wait for a Benzema to become available – or keep our powder dry for when one eventually does.

But more on the Real Madrid striker later because I want to touch first on the news breaking late last night, which involved one of our current players, Theo Walcott, and his reported desire to sign a new contract with the club, albeit with the caveat, according to the Guardian, of a hike in wages.

Having let his previous contract run into it’s final six months before extending some 18 months ago, Theo and the club find themselves in a similar situation this time around with just a year remaining on his current terms and the start of the new season fast approaching. Here’s what he had to say on the matter:

My agent has talked to the club, I enjoy playing for this club so I am just letting them crack on with things and I’ll continue playing football. If it happens it happens. We’ll just play the waiting game and see what happens but I’m sure it won’t be long.

Which sounds to me a lot like brinkmanship borne of past experience in these matters. He’s been here, done this and found a compromise. Yet this time around, many argue the need of the club isn’t nearly as great due to a significantly strengthened squad. It’s a risky ploy by the player alright.

Theo, as he’s informed of Arsenal’s opening contract offer

And Interestingly, his sparkling form leading up to these discussions mirrored his outstanding performances in the build up to his last contract resolution, so if nothing else, to paraphrase Walcott himself, he knows which patches to be consistent in. Which may ultimately prove crucial in the managers decision on any improved offer, because aside from the very end of last season, he was rarely picked to even start, let alone in his preferred central role, after returning from a lengthy injury lay-off.

Leaving the contract wrangle aside for a second though, I think it’s safe to say that as a player, Theo, now 26, still divides opinion among fans and pundits alike. Some love him, some not so much. Some consider him a valuable, maybe misunderstood, and perhaps even mis-used, attacking weapon, others a brainless, over-rated liability with poor work ethic and even poorer technique. And of course there are the inbetweeners who might appreciate his strengths, bemoan his shortcomings but do so with an air of indifference. To them, he’s no Thierry Henry, but he’s certainly not Aaron Lennon either.

For what it’s worth, I’m firmly in the former camp. I’ve rated Theo since I saw him live, make his debut in Arsenal colours at Havant and Waterlooville’s West Leigh Park for the under 21 side in February 2006. He wasn’t particularly impressive overall but scored a goal out of nowhere, arriving late to the scene to bury a loose ball past the Portsmouth ‘keeper in a blur. He was just 16 at the time, having arrived from Southampton the previous month.

And that’s what I think he’s all about really – scoring goals. Be that from wide or on occasion through the middle, Theo guarantees goals. In 82 starts in all competitions for the club, he’s managed 76 goals. That’s a rate of 0.93 goals per game which compares favourably even with his legendary predecessor in the number 14 shirt Henry, whose rate stood at 0.74 with 226 goals from 305 starts during his first spell at the club. Far less games of course but not so few as to skew the statistics into having no meaning.

Incidently, of the three forward positions, wide right would be my third choice in terms of where to play him as I think coming onto his right foot from the left and having the option to go either way from the middle gets the best out of him and his instinctive strengths, as opposed to when he’s forced to face a left-back from a standing start on the right. Anyway Theo also added the following when speaking after Saturday’s win over Everton in Singapore:

I won’t let that (ongoing contract talks ) delay the way I’m going to be playing this season. I can’t let that affect me, I want to do well for this club. I didn’t want (last) season to end. It was a frustrating season for me. When you have been out for such a long time, it is difficult to get into a winning team. It’s my first pre-season for two years now so I want to work hard and get fit. It’s a really exciting year for myself personally and I think this team can go very far. I’m always going to be judged on goals, I’ve been very happy with my goal record when given the opportunity. That is all I can do. I have always played with a smile on my face, always enjoyed playing for this club. It is one of the best groups I have been involved with. I want to be involved with that squad as well. I want to work really hard and make sure I’m in that starting lineup come the first game of the season.

Reading between the lines, I think Theo genuinely wants to stay but also wants to maximise the value of what could be the biggest contract of his remaining career – just like every other player on the planet would. It’ll come down to whether the club value him as highly as he does himself and looking at his stats and assuming he can maintain fitness, I think they probably should.

Back briefly now to Karim Benzema and despite there being no update or development in his rumoured move to Arsenal whatsoever, several outlets have today carried headlines declaring ‘Benzema refuses to rule out Emirates switch’ and ‘Arsenal keen on Benzema’ and ‘Benzema bid beckons’ and ‘Wenger snapchats compatriot Karim’.

As far as I can see, someone on twitter ‘confirmed’ that Arsenal had bid 45 million euros for the player a while back, but that it had all now gone quiet on that front. So yeah, nothing basically. He’s still a Madrid player and we’re still on the hunt for that prolific goalscorer with a top goals to games ratio.

Oh wait…

Till Tuesday.

19th July 2015: Asia Trophy reaction and Aubameyang

Posted on by TremendArse

Sunday greetings. With little else in terms of Arsenal chat today, I’m going to dive straight into yesterday’s post-match reaction like Ashley Young at the peak of his hornswoggling, penalty-area powers.

Steam in like Ryan Shawcross at his ‘committed’, ‘not a malicious bone in his body’, ‘not that type of player’, ‘I’m the real victim here’, Franco Baresi-esque best. Cut to the chase like Louis van Gaal telling Robin van Persie his new role at Man United. Get to the point like Raheem Sterling’s agent in contract negotiations with Liverpool…

And I’ll start with manager Arsene Wenger who speaking to Arsenal Player after the game, permeated his pleasure in seeing his players tune into the pass-and-move wavelength that defines his footballing philosophy, and putting that into practice, both individually and collectively, in beating Everton to lift the Premier League Asia Trophy. The boss again also took time to praise the tournament’s host nation and revealed his relief at rounding off the tour without picking up any injuries.

He said:

What you want to do in preparation is to find the quality of your team play back as quickly as possible, and I think that tonight for long periods we played with real quality. It’s very satisfying and it looks like everybody shares the way we see the game. We created many chances and the individual performances over the last two games were all good. [The Singapore trip has been] perfect for us because we came here with 27 players and we go home without any injuries. We won our games in a convincing way and I must say that the facilities, the welcome from people, the huge support we have here was all perfect.

Next up is Jack Wilshere, who enthused over the players’ conditioning in what he felt was a tough game against Premier League opposition, explained the team’s desire to dominate possession and talked tailored training plans. He told Arsenal Player:

I thought we looked really fit today, as we did against the Singapore Select XI. It was a different test – Everton started well. They liked to keep the ball, so we didn’t really want to give the ball away and, if we did, we wanted to win it back straight away. We did that brilliantly. They started to tire in the second half and our fitness levels really showed through. I’m feeling good. I’ve been back in training for two weeks now. I’ve played two games and there are another two games coming up next weekend after another tough week of training, so I’m feeling good. I think you feel better day by day. The fitness staff here are really good. They make the sessions individualised, so they know what you need in your position. Each session gets harder and harder. I’m feeling better and better and hopefully that can continue.

Meanwhile Petr Cech reflected on a memorable first outing in Arsenal colours, expressed his delight at a ‘trophy-winning’ start to his career at the club, pointed out that the main goal of the tour was to improve fitness and tellingly, provided an insight into the winning mindset he brings to our squad by highlighting the need for victories even when not at 100 percent physically.

He told Arsenal Player:

It’s great to win a game. The main importance was to get fit and to play well, to get ready for the Premier League and the early competitions. It was the first game for me and the first game for some other lads, but I really enjoyed the team effort we put in and in the end we had a very good game. I’m very pleased because the first game is very important and I obviously wanted to have a successful debut. I’m happy – my first game and my first trophy. If it can continue like this I will be delighted. It’s been a great week because we’ve been working hard. We had two very positive games, and we can go back home to London happy and glad with what we achieved here. The main target was to get fit and it’s important that even when you are tired you win games. Everything has been great but [the most memorable moment was] probably my debut. When you play your first game, everybody has a big expectation and you win a game, [so] it is something to always remember.

And finally for today, Borussia Dortmund’s CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke (no relation to Julian) has gone on record to say striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who was their top-scorer last season with 25 goals in all competitions, including 16 in 33 Bundesliga games, is not for sale. He told German publication Bild:

Aubameyang stays with us this season. He’s not for sale.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is all about the pace

Which sounds pretty adamant, although this comes after RevierSport reported that the player himself wouldn’t be against a move to either Arsenal or Paris St. Germain just a few days ago. My take is that if there is any genuine interest on our part in the player, it’s only as a contingency in the event we can’t agree a new contract for Theo Walcott because the Gabon international is a similar player – very quick and efficient in front of goal.

Even then though, I’d be skeptical, a bit like I am with the Alexandre Lacazette rumours, as I’m not convinced they’re better players than we already have. Gonzalo Higuain, Karim Benzema, Edinson Cavani or a re-positioned Julian Draxler on the other hand…

Back tomorrow.