IS THIS going to happen then? I actually think it will happen and a signing that will have a more significant impact than anyone we have had in 5 years!!! yep.. better than pires, campbell, reyes, wiltord, etc.
While I'd hope he would have more of an influence than Wiltord or Reyes, you're kidding yourself with those first two names phishy. I was a huge fan of Pires before he went to Klinsman's diving school for the gravitationally able and Baptista won't be that good.
The player from Porto whose transfer was rumoured to be holding up the release of Baptista has been signed by Sevilla. http://skysports.planetfootball.com...d=2&title=Sevilla+bag+Brazilian&channel=spain I have to believe that Baptista's arrival is imminent now, and I'm well looking forward to it.
I actually think he will become our missing link and patch up some of our weaknesses, in relying too much on Henry (they will have to mark one more player) and in giving us better aerial ability. However, he is not Ronaldiho and whether he will make as much impact as Pires is questionable. And I still do not believe that we are the only club interested in him, so I do not think we will be gettting him anytime soon.
If Arsenal can get him for around 10 million pounds as I've read from somewhere, then it'll be quite a bargain, I think.
he turned down a new extension offer from sevilla today, and arsenal are expected to come back with a 9.5M GBP bid (which could do the trick)
I don't know about this guy. A small part of keeps thinking he could become the Drogba of North London, as in "Much less bang than buck"
I agree with nicephoras that he’s mad overrated but what sets him above Drogba is his technical ability and strength. He’s a versatile player who was converted from a defensive midfielder to a shadow/lone striker. I think the £10 million we’ll be offering is exactly what he’s worth and I’m confident he’ll be a success at Arsenal.
He scored 19 goals in 35 matches for Marseille the season before him moved to Chelsea and he scored 17 goals in 34 matches for Guingamp in 02/03. So the answer is 36 goals in two seasons. He doesn’t quite have Baptista’s pedigree considering he played in a weaker league.
Id be happy if he comes to arsenal , after seeing some clips of him he looks quite good , I mean he scored about 20 goals in the spanish league so he must be quite good.
How do you think he'll fit in with Henry and the rest of the offense? It sounds to me as if he's somewhat of a poacher and we've never really had a player like that since Henry has been upfront. I would think that, without a supporting striker like Bergkamp, Henry will have to create more on his own rather than getting the ball out on the left and laying it off to someone else while making his run. With Baptista up in the box it will be difficult for Henry to play his normal game, won't it?
Not to burst your bubble, but Forlan scored, what, 26 this year in La Liga? That alone makes goal totals from Spain a little suspect in my book...
has anyone else seen some of those long range lasers that baptista has scored? he scores in a number of ways (THE HEAD TOO:EEK love you stinkypants.. (somehow i never thought id utter those words in a lifetime)
In my opinion he would make a fantastic partnership with Henry because you have to realize Henry isn’t technically a striker, what I mean is he isn’t the typical goal scorer and he tends to create more chances than he gets. While Baptista is also technically a midfielder he was undeniable born to score goals, it’s best to compare him with Ruud van Nistlerooy with more ability and flair. Him and Henry will work off each other, with Henry drifting deep and wide to supply the beast with crosses etc.. Baptista is also a set piece specialist so I’m sure him and Henry could share free kicks, while Baptista is takes our penalties. And isn’t this a thought….. We could now score goals from corners!!!! depending of course of the delivery(which we’ve been poor at).
Im going to think of you after the first corner kick goal.. come on manyoo posters... defend ruud after MT put him in his place!
let's not forget that he will also be able to play with his old teammate reyes, which will not only help baptista adjust to the style in england but maybe bring reyes up another notch and find his true potential......
The trick is he won't be Henry's only partner. Likely the first partnership at Highbury this year will be the tried-and-true Henry/Bergkamp pairing. The same at Stamford Bridge. Also, if this mess in Holland does quietly go away as appears increasingly likely, Henry/VanPersie will be a common partnership. I think Bapsista will be paired with Reyes as often as with Henry in the first 11, and be coming from the bench a lot as well, and may even see some run-outs in central midfield and one or two in defence even from the bench. The versatility a favorite feature of Wenger's is as big a selling point as his quality or aerial ability I suspect...
You are usually spot on, but this is wow... i mean wow... Defence? He's not a defender and certainly not capable of defending in the prem. As for Van Persie, getting more playing time, or even as much playing time as Baptista... only if Wenger has lost his mind. I can see him playing next to Vieira... that actually scares me the most, but then where would Hleb play? Perhaps on the right I guess. He'd be a good partner for Henry for a couple reasons. A few people have called him a poacher, he's far from that... Although he's quite aware in the box and physical, he's not an 18yd box striker. He's more like Rooney, he will get into the box very often, but his best work is done at the edge of the area. He'd be a good parnter for Henry I think because he'd play in a similar position to Bergkamp, he wont do all the same things, but he will drop back and collect the ball deep in midfield and play 1-2's with Henry from time to time... he's skilled, fast and strong. However, whomever said he was comparable to Ruud is off their rocker. Ruud is a targetman... While Baptista can play as a striker - he's not adept at holding up play, or playing the offside trap and if forced to play like a target, he'd probably suffer the same fate as Rooney did when he played loan striker against Milan, that is suffer from a lack of service because he does not know how to move into spaces like a real target forward does. Baptista thrives on open spaces and lots of room to manuvre while, he's a very very talented player, comparing him to Ruud is like comparing Ronaldo's style on the wing to Beckham's style on the wing... its not really an effective comparison.
That is true, many people seem to think of him as an out and out striker, although Wenger may work his magic and make him into one, but he is actually more of an attacking midfielder, like you said somewhat similar to Rooney, only Baptista has the knack of arriving in the box late and scoring alot of goals with his head.
I'm excited to have him purely because he was DM converted to striker. If he could hang back, just slightly infront of vieira to start counter attacks and get the ball out to the wings, then push up into the middle, that would be perfect. He would also open up new ways for us to score, instead of our excellent, but also very difficult way of passing/dribbling all the way into the box. I was thinking something like this, ---------------Lehman--------------- Lauren----toure/send----sol------cole/clichy ----------Vieira-----Gilberto---------- Lju/Hleb--------Baptista---------Pires/Reyes ----------------Henry---------------- Have Baptista fall back a little more than usual, to help with some of the defending, then fetching the ball from them and launching it into the attack, but also providing someone other than henry to receive passes, because often in CL games etc. teams are smart enough to mark henry out of the game, or have enough free players in the middle to leave henry/reyes no where to go once they come storming in from the wings. Vieira and silva are support attackers, and arent really equipped to take the attack into their own hands once we have run our course on the wings, getting JB might turn out in the best possible situation to add new dimensions to are already superb attack, while maybe still been able to call upon his DM days when we desperately need it, but i am having a sneaking suspicion that he will either come to england and flop, or we wont get him and he will shine somewhere else.