In short, we will be fielding Thierry Henry and a player nicknamed The Beast next season! Maybe this will give Rio something to cry about for real this time
Baptista will be a gunner within two days I believe. Goal.com reports we upped the bid to 15mil. Baptista wants to be a gunner. This is just like the Hleb deal in every way. Adding a stud young striker with the Beasts Speed, Immense size and strength, and clinical finishing ability with Hleb's creativity and flair. But one question, do we have enough depth at the back? Campbell is very injury prone, and Toure and Cygan cant play together. Add to that Eboue and Toure's absence during the Africans cup. I am slightly worried. I would love to pick up a Distin to add depth. Also, what happens if Gilberto is injured again? Without him we are done. Maybe the Beast can cover some at the DMC? These are slight worries however, and I believe adding teh Beast should make Chelsea very nervous.
In regards to the Juve Vieira rumors that have popped up.. Curiously, can Baptista be a direct replacement for Vieira?
Maybe it's just me, but I don't really see the need for Baptista. In the second/support striker role we have Bergkamp, Van Persie (who played very well towards the end of last season IMO) and Reyes already. Added to that, by all reports Hleb is probably at his most comfortable there. Bentley would like to play there also (although sadly I think his Highbury days are numbered) and it looks like we are overloaded with players in that position. Admittedly Reyes and Hleb can cover the wing positions for Fred and Bob, but a decent centre-back would be nice so we never have to see Cygan outside of the Carling Cup again and a goalie that doesn't flap at everything would be good too. If you're going to buy big in the attack, do it properly and get Shaun Wright-Phillips!
i can see where ur coming from but i can see pires leaving this summer, bergkamop will be gone next summer and i dont think bently has too long left as an arsenal fc player so i dont see this as overloading . saying that tho i do agree that we need another centre back
Baptista is a better player than shaun wright phillips... and for half the cost! got to love that english lustre price.
the real question has to be... will there be room for... Henry, Baptista, Pires, Hleb, Freddie and Reyes? of course not... so you will have some unhappy players... if u play Gilberto and Vieira in CM then u've only got room for 4 out of those six, and I've not even mentioned Van P_ssy or Bergkamp... you will have depth true, but like someone mentioned, lots of depth at withdrawn positions mainly.
OK, here's where you've lost me. Baptista and SWP don't play the same position and are not even remotely comparable except fro goals scored. SWP's out on the wing, creating, and Baptista' poaching. So, again, I just don't see the comparison. Sorry, phishy...
michaec said if we want to bolster the offense (im paraphrasing), that we should throw the dosh at swp. Baptista is hardly a "poacher". he is a good all around player who plays striker. Baptista, imo will have a bigger impact than swp would with the arsenal.
A spanish speaker and a portuguese speaker wouldn't have too much trouble communicating. I've seen my wife have numerous conversations with Brazilians and they start speaking some hybrid of the 2 that seems to work just fine.
Amen. I have listened to Serie A matches via the Net in Italian and also seen Brazilian movies in Portuguese AND I am able to speak Spanish. I'm not saying they are the same, but there are similiarities.
Hell, I speak French (far from fluently at that) and there is a lot of Portuguese, Spanish, and even Italian that I can understand. All of these languages have common roots, and Portuguese and Spanish are probably the most similar to each other.
very true. i was talking with a girl yesterday from mexico city ... she said she can understand italian better than portuguese ... but is functional in both ... and some french (meaning she can understand quite a bit of italian, portuguese and french ... just having grown up in mexico city.
Unfortunately I spoke too soon. Reportedly another British team has matched our bid for Baptista (Pool, Chelsea, or Toon?) while another report has Sevilla rejecting 15mil, and that they also believe we spoke to Baptista illegaly. All this is conjecture from all different places, but I am all the sudden very nervouse. Get it done Arsene!
This deal is really dragging on, it would suck to miss out on a player like Baptista, c'mon Wenger and Dein get this finished.