While Gunners are touring Asia....the new Summer Transfer thread

Apparently we're in for Javi Garcia if Sahin doesn't go through.

and for a 11 he puts in a nice defensive shift.

Iniesta is the next cnut to sing Song's praises.

To be fair to Busquets and Iniesta, they were directly asked about Song and they complimented him. It's not like the Fabregas saga at all. At least not yet.

Santos isn't leaving the 11 shirt, I don't think, but Cazorla has worn 20 before, and Djourou may move. 13 is the only number available under 20, I think.

Can't we just be in for him regardless???

DM who can also play CB? Perfect for our needs.

Boss seems to be going all Spanish all of a sudden. Laying the groundwork for bring Cesc-y back?

Yeah, but where they cross the line from compliment to inappropriate is, in my opinion, here, "If he comes it would be because he has the qualities to play here, there is little doubt about that, and we'd welcome him."

Could take the #18. Maybe Wenger can send Seb to Malaga on loan.

What a swap.

i dont see the problem

We gotta save that for the next shoddy French defender.

Agree. They are doing the full court press now. Arteta was asked about Cazorla in China and responded he was a great player, that is it. The Barca folks are taking it above and beyond.
apparently though, Song is not helping either. His wages demands are way over the current AFC structure.
Related comment from Matt Fortune
Matt Fortune ‏@MFworldfootball
@Kevin_Quigley but no Song.... I've heard his wage demands mean his sale....... ah, sod it, don't go there!

There's no reason to sell him now when he still has two years on his deal.

Keep him for another year, find a replacement, then sell.

Or find a replacement now and then sell him so you can get the most money out of him. I don't want to see him leave as he went from a player no one wanted in the squad to being one of the best players.

Some people do. I think they are right around the area where someone still annoyed with their blatant pursuit of Cesc could see this as: Step 1 - start a rumour about a player Step 2 - use players as proxies to make the approach Step 3 - make formal approach from a position of strength having used others to gauge player interest which you could not otherwise do within the rules.

Who asked the question? An anonymous Catalonian reporter?

i'm totally stoked we signed cazorla (on general principle, as anti said, this signing ready-to-play players is new and weird and it's great) and, if he's as good as i've read here, i'll be absolutely thrilled but if you're talking about a player's profile before joining the club, wouldn't 78 caps for a very good german side be pretty high profile?

i believe mr. wenger has been on record naming park as one of the players leaving.

and if the question was, "what would you think about the possibility of him (song) joining the club? can he play barcelona football?", what would be the appropriate response?

"he gets caught in possession way too much, probably not the type of player to play for us."

Don't know, but I've worked as a journalist and met unpleasant journos. Granted, the highest level game I ever covered was an MLS game.

i absolutely love song as a player (frustrations and all) and would totally hate to see him leave. that said, as with van persie, if he doesn't want to be here, he can go away. i wish him all the best (except against us) and thank him for his time with the club giving me something to root for but, y'know, don't let the door hit you and all that.

15-20 seems a reasonable range for somebody that age and potential with 2 years remaining still, especially coming off the season he did. based on comments i've seen about him here, reinvest that into m'vila and either let coquelin back him up or, heck, spend the rest of that money on wanyama and let him and m'vila push each other.

What about 52? Hopefully it will be free...

Would anyone be in disagreement that Sahin would be an improvement over Song? Listen, i love Song, but if Barca come knocking with a 30m offer or something good and we can secure Sahin, good luck Song.

Even tho it remains to be seen how good Sahin can be in the prem, I agree!