My thoughts exactly. It seems as if the only hold up is his decision. Lets hope he makes the right 1!
It's interesting that after several weeks of not much Arsenal info at this site, in the last 2 days potential Arsenal moves have made some headlines here: http://www.footballrumours.info/speculation/ with the latest speculation being Armand Traore from Monaco and Olivier Dacourt from AS Roma (as well as the news on Alexandre Song and the Guti rumour).
Trying to read the player, now... (and by way of summary) It seems like Baptista wants to leave Sevilla and would prefer a more prestigious club, preferably one in Spain. Possible reasons are that CL exposure would allow him to claim a place among the Seleciao in time for WC '06, and his stated desire for an EU passport. In Spain, Barca have been quiet on him, despite talk about the possibility of the player moving there. Real Madrid have just signed Robinho, according to reports. Strike both of those clubs. What other clubs in Spain might be a step up? Are CL teams Villareal and Real Betis so much better, year to year? Neither are vying for his signature (perhaps because they lack the funds). So, to leave Sevilla, Baptista would need to leave Spain in all likelihood. Arsenal can offer CL play with another possible national team member in Gilberto. Arsenal, futhermore, have ostensibly agreed a fee with Sevilla. It's down to whether he wants to wait for a bid from Barcelona later this summer, stay at Sevilla where he will be pressured to sign another contract (they will obviously not want him to leave on a free transfer next year), or come to Highbury. Tick, tock, tick, tock...
Pretty simple really. You were claiming that Cygan is an ok 4th CB and suitable for games against the likes of WBA. I was just pointing out that he wasn't good enough to play Southampton, C.Palace, or WBA last season without Arsenal dropping 8 points. The fact that we aren't even looking at backup CBs other than the oft-injured trialist doesn't fill me with joy. Clear enough?
no, cuz in those games, CYGAN was at fault?? not positive, but i think we only managed ONE goal in most of those draws. thats CYGAN's fault for not scoring more than 1 goal? he was HARDLY to blame for any of those dropped points. so ya, im still totally confused what you mean.
Yes all but one of the draws were 1-1 with the other being 2-2. My point was that Cygan's poor play cost us points. Yes, we could have won with more goals but we're discussing Cygan's value. Lets look at what a wise man said about Cygan's performance in one of those draws. The 1st draw with Southampton: I think you summed up who was at fault on their goals, "Cygan was an embarassment marking on set pieces". You were also pretty clear on who was at fault for the goals. "Cygan isn't premiership quality" Care to disagree with yourself?
Cygan is the best 4th string Centre-half who doesnt play for chelsea.. emotions run high after matches and i was prolly frustrated. fact remains that we need to bury teams in the lower half WITH MORE THAN one goal. period. extra credit for pulling up posts from back in the day though. dude, you are arguing about a player who wont play 10 games with the arsenal. EDIT: i was sure wrong bout AW gettin a new keeper.. oh wait.. i guess we got that italian bloke.
We need to buy Joaquin... arsene wanted a right winger in SWP so we should go in for the betis star. We already have vieira's replacement in M. Flamini.... gilberto....Fabresgas & that new bloke hleb we now jus need a right back. i hope the young goalie we got is good, wenger doesnt know his arse from his elbow when it comes to goalies
welcome to bigsoccer! we dont have a full time vieira replacement yet, and joaquin would only be considered if abramovich decided to start funding our team too. fix what is most broken/missing first. yes lauren has concentration lapses and has some really bad days, but he also has some really good days as well where he could be considered as good as any other rb in the league, including g.neville. So yes we could use a world class right back, but that is not really a concern now. I'd like to see someone like cicinho, based on what i saw of him this summer, but im more than willing to keep lauren there for another season. Assuming we lose pires, we may need another striker, but its not essential right now, which makes me think that wenger has other plans for baptista should we get him. Our attack force has been the strongest in the league for a while now, so we should turn our attention to the midfield, where we have many worldclass wingers, but are down 1 very important dm/cm. Hleb is for the attack, we lack defense though.
About Diarra, I would like to say that Lyon is smart. They don't mind (too much and provided they could rip as much money from Chelsea as possible ) about selling Essien, because they know Diarra is a more important player to them. Which is why I doubt we can get him, seeing how much trouble Chelsea are having over Essien. Lyon is a rich club and trying to get any of their players is very,very difficult. About Baptista, agreeing a fee with Seville is not hard at all. Despite all the talk of Seville trying to milk us dry, the fact is they want to sell and it's only a matter of time before they agree to our offers. What which is much more difficult is trying to get The Beast himself to come over to England, cause from the look of things he's hoping someone in Spain will want him. Which I doubt will happen anytime soon, and which is why getting him is very difficult. P.S Is it me, or does anyone else have a feeling that he'll become a second Vieira when he comes to us and loves Madrid/Barca more than he loves us?
DaCourt??? paaleeeze. The rags are really getting desperate. http://www.fansfc.com/frontpage/frontpagenews.asp?newsid=142399
The only quotes I see linking Dacourt and Arsenal are from Dacourt's agent obviously trying to talk up a move. Having said that, he's experienced in the Premiership and if we could get him on a free as has been mooted then he may be some good cover for a year while Fabregas and Flamini develop a bit more. He's not a long-term solution to anything though.
We seem no closer to signing a PV4 replacement (not that he could be replaced but you hopefully know what I mean).....what is the liklihood of getting a deal worked out with someone in the next few weeks?
well I'm convinced that Wenger is after Baptista to play in the midfield, with his versatility of being able to play up front a bonus. If we take the majority view that he's not, then it doesn't look like it. The only players really in the frame in any way don't seem to be pursued by us; Jenas was only mentioned when Sounness starting going on about him, Diarra just signed a new contract at Lyon, Dacourt has only been mentioned by his agent and Guti was agent talk also. Looks lie it could well be a Fab/Flam combination alongside Bert if we don't sign The Beast.
it'll get done michaec... thing is.. id be just a bit disappointed to see baptista in the midfield. then how does van persie get a game (if baptista plays upfront).. ya, it should be a great option regardless.
In an article stating the AW wants Pires to stay, it mentions that Dacourt is a target of Arsenal, though it was only reported in French and Italian media.
Is this a joke or are you really a fucking tard? I never said I rated Jenas anymore than Diarra, I’m just clearly pointing out Jenas isn’t as bad as some of you ‘fans’ are making out. And he’s English so what? Arsenal is an English club you utter shyte what’s so wrong with wanting English players?
If Baptista plays in the midfield he gives us a goalscoring option breaking from there in the kind of late-arriving Platt/Scholes vein. He'd obviously have to restrain himself a little bit and realise that he can't just bomb off up the field whenever he likes, but he's played in there before and shouldn't have too much trouble readjusting. We can then have Van Persie and Henry up front too.
I agree that we need more english or british players... i would like to see a british core to the squad... with at least 4 or 5 first team home grown players, and the remaining 6 or 7 to be the worlds best. not sure when that rule fifia are bringing in about a min of home grown players is coming in, i think u must have at least 4 per team... but the sooner the better. Im not saying i dont want non-british players, just sayng that its important to have players who are british because Arsenal is a british team, and even more i want to see north londoners and arsenal fans playing for the club. Then the remaining places should go to the best players from around the world. im starting to get pissed off... theres like 7 million people in london... cant some fuking talent start to come through? yes i know theres the odd joe cole, defoe or wotever but whens the last time players from the academeys broke into the top 3 epl sides? ashley cole was arsenals last dunno were Bentley came from... we need to sort this out insted of spending millions on average players, by that im refering to chelsea and man utd mainly.
I don't think that there is a lack of talented players in England, but the fact that the prices for the English players are so high (at the moment) that when countered with someone of similiar strengths, talent, etc. and a substantially lower price/wages, when only negative is that the player is not from England, most teams will take the player that will require the lowest wages. I know that SWP is very talented but do you think he is worth (really) what Chelsea paid for him? Edit: Would you have wanted Arsene to use all of Paddys transfer $ plus some for him?