Never mind that Sevilla still have Sergio Ramos, Daniel Alves, Renato, Jesus Navas, and they just bought Luis Fabiano... It's not like Baptista carried Sevilla or anything. They are an all around good team but mostly focused on defending. Sevilla got 6th last season and they'll probably finish around the same, with or without Baptista.
With Baptista now off the board I'm much more inclined to believe that any players brought in at this point will be guys we've never heard of. Does Real move any of their forwards? Does this make any of the Michael Owen scenarios more plausible? I don't think so - has anyone heard anything?
I don't think Real jumped Baptista just because Arsenal was after him. They were rumored to like him all of last season. And don't forget that Luxemborgo is also Brazilian, and seems to like having his compatriots playing for him. Real needed some new blood, some hungry younger players to light a fire under their Galacticos. Add in that Baptista gives them the versatility to play as a striker or midfielder, and he would be a solid addition to almost any squad. I think the Arsenal interest may have motivated Real to move for Baptista, but I doubt it was the only reason. Madrid had to realize that if Baptista went to Highbury, it would be tough, if not impossible, to pull him away in the next couple of seasons. Very expensive, unless Baptista was a bomb. Since Wenger just admitted that Baptista was a major summer target, I'm curios to see now who we'll pursue.
im not here to troll but i do have a question about Arsenals transfers because this interests me. anyway, i remember some of the players, i think it was Freddie jlunberg(sp sry) and maybe others complaining about AW not buying any stars but youngsters, i know they were after Baptista but they failed to get him amd as far as i know this was there big and probably only big target i heard so far this summer, i was wondering if there is any other big player they are rumored to be after and if they dont get any, could this develope internal problems inside the lockerroom among the older players, getting young potiental players is great but this club isnt Ajax, its Arsenal and they need stars in order to win the CL and EPL again
Well, Hleb was a pretty big and important buy for the club. Baptista probably would have been bigger, but there's not much you can do in a case like that. Arsenal traditionally don't buy stars. They simply cannot afford to. The club lacks the financial base that Manchester United and Chelsea enjoy. Which is why its been key that Wenger has such a keen eye for the hidden gem and quality youngster. Thats how Arsenal has essentially "punched above its weight" for years now. This summer is a bit different, because the club has given Wenger a bit more money to spend. The realization is that it will be difficult to continue to compete against Chelsea without having some spending flexibility. That said, Wenger will never buy just to spend. That isn't his way. He will only target players that he feels bring something special to the club, who are going to make a difference. Some players wanted the club to spend this summer to prove its serious about competing against the money of Chelsea. To make sure the club has the depth to continue to compete through the likely injuries a season brings. A lot of the depth last season was young - Senderos, Flamini, Van Persie, and Fabregas - and while they played well and developed, having experienced depth can make a big difference. The amount that Wenger spent on Hleb and tried to spend on Baptista shows he's trying to do that. I believe it was Ljundberg and Vieira who made those type of comments, and hopefully this provides proof for Ljundberg (Vieira's opinion matters less now, I guess). I can't imagine that they expected Arsenal to pull a Chelsea and get into the chase for World Class players. That just is not going to happen. Once the club moves into the new stadium, the finances should stablize and provide a sounder base. Should provide more money to spend. I, for one, think that Wenger will still bring in a couple more players this summer. We get one more big buy, but they are probably going to mostly be smaller buys or young players. That is just the way that Wenger and the club works.
yea there was a lot of talk about a nice transfer "kitty" before the offseason.. but it seems like wengers turned another profit this summer.. 9mil out for hleb, 13.7 back in for vieira. and few mil here and there for traore and song, assuming they get signed. looks like its pretty much even at this point. or did i miss something?
As much as I trust AW, I can not help but being concerned by the lack of depth of Arsenal this year. We have lost Edu & Viera in the midfield and we only got Helb. Upfront, Bergkamp is one year older and the young players are pretty inexperienced. I really hope that AW will be able to get something of his hat before the season. Owen, since Real just bought Batista and Robinho, could be a nice addition.
*sigh* i feel the other poster may be right about if Arsenal wants to compete well in CL that they need to step up their mid with a key experienced player. i love the youth on the squad but will they carry us through? i want to say yes but i have my reserves. who to go after now or a wait until jan?
I posted a link a few days ago where one of the arsenal execs spoke about arsenals current financial situation where he mentioned back in february that we had a total of 47m cash in the bank and that wenger would be allowed to use a large amount of that if he needed to fund a big transfer. We should probably have alot more now with all the money we get from the cl/premiership/sponsors for next season. I remember seeing something this morning of the top100 sports teams according to financial position, and we were 4th after Real, NY Yankees, and ManUtd. We arent going to sit in debt like some other clubs, and definately still cant compete with the spending of chelsea, milan, real etc. but we do have enough money, and certainly alot more than we have had before, to fund 1 or 2 major transfers should we need to. The problem is as michaec said earlier, was that no one can really give names of players we should spend the money on. Owen? Ballack? I wouldnt want us spending that much money on either of those players. Essien aside from dying to go to chelsea is 30m+, gattuso/pirlo etc. would only be in reach to chelsea if RA decided to open up his checkbook. Aside from baptista who is gone to real, i cant really think of any players up to even 20m that we should splurge on. We definately should spend the money, and have the money, IF there is a player who will bring something special to the team.
why do you have to spend that much? what about a guy who is around 9M'ish? again, we go to who is available, and to be fair.. i just dont know.
http://www.football365.com/news/transfer_gossip/index.shtml "AND THE REST Arsenal will sign Bastia midfielder Alexander Song for £2m...And are chasing Messina midfielder Carmine Coppola" Does anyone know about this player? He was recently capped in the Italian national team. He seems to be on AW's radar.
Carmine Coppola Midfielder Messina Age: 26 Height: 5'10" Weight: 140 lbs 03/04: 1 goal in 37 appearances 3-4M GBP likely cost Spurs were interested at one point Definitely defensive - 14 yellow cards in 34 matches last season Cited as one of the stars in a recently promoted Messina side punching above their weight in Serie A Called up to Italian national side for US tour
More on Coppola, looks like he wants to stay in Italy. Italy interest fading Mon 13 Jun, 7:06 PM Tottenham's efforts to sign two Serie A stars are set to fail, while Southampton insist they have not received any Spurs bid for Peter Crouch. Spurs have been linked with Inter Milan's Argentina international winger Kily Gonzalez and also Messina midfielder Carmine Coppola. Martin Jol targeted Kily as a potential loan signing but Roberto Mancini wants to keep the inconsistent forward at the San Siro. Meanwhile, Coppola does not want to leave Italy and is likely to move to Roma or Udinese, if he moves on at all. He said: "I would exclude going to England. "All the rest must be evaluated but I'd prefer to stay with my team." The weekend papers suggested Spurs were competing with Liverpool for the services of Crouch but Saints chairman Rupert Lowe said: "There has been no contact from Tottenham at all."
Gosh, I'm hoping/praying we buy Owen. There are now five strikers at Real Madrid (Ronaldo, Raul, Owen, Baptista, Robinho) who will all have one eye on the World Cup next summer. Baptista and Robinho just arrived, and I doubt they'll sell their top scorer in Ronaldo, especially after hitting great form in April/May and getting a restful summer. Raul's the club icon but is in the worst form of the 5. But Owen looks most likely to be sold, of course. Imagining Owen and Henry supported by Bergkamp, Van Persie, Reyes, Pires, Ljungberg, Hleb, and Fabregas. Those players alone could score 100 goals in a season. That'd be the best attack England's ever seen. I could almost forget our problems in midfield if we just get Owen. We could probably get him for £10 million even though I still think he's worth twice that. I'll keep praying AW splurges for Kameni, Diarra/M'Bami and Owen.
yeah im actually warming up to the prospect of owen at arsenal... good strikery, pacy, english,,, will complement arsenal and henry..
Well the only reason I can think of is that Owen is very good at losing markers and making off the ball runs and Henry would create goals for him. Would love to see Adebayor too as we've missed Kanu since he left (IMO) as he gave us something different and was creative too. ARSENE KNOWS
I could never see anyone turning Henry into simply a provider, and I actually like our depth at striker. RVP, Bently, and Quincy need more time to show what they can do and that seems to be where AW is leaning from his comments. On another note, has there been much talk of Kolo playing the DM role? If we could ever get Sol, Big Phil, and Kolo all healthy at the same time, that may be something to take a look at. By the way, did anyone else think our new hosery looks suspiciously like a Victoria Secret collection? Looking forward to the old school home kit debut tomorrow.
henry already is a provider. the amount of goals he scores is awesome, but what is more incredible is how many goals he creates for his teammates. With michael owen with him, i think they would score loads of goals between the two of them.