Arsenal goalkeeper Rami Shaaban will be out of action for several months after breaking his leg during training on Christmas Eve. Shaaban, who has fractured both the tibia and fibula bones in his right leg, underwent surgery on Tuesday evening. A club statement read: "It is a terrible blow for both Rami and the club as the 27-year-old has settled in well since joining Arsenal earlier in the season.
Who's the backup? Taylor's finger is broken, Shaaban's out for awhile. I wonder if this changes the no buy/no sell policy for January? I still wouldn't mind seeing Rustu come in.
The backup, according to SKYNews last night, is an 18-year-old kid from the reserves. Don't recall his name offhand. Tough circumstances-- let's hope ol' Seaman can hold up. (Rustu would be very interesting indeed...!)
Just a thought from a USA fan: why not grab one of the better MLS keepers on loan as a backup (Howard, Brown, Rimando, Hartman) ??????????
Hi folks I'm new to the message board. The backup keeper is a kid called Holloway. I don't believe he'll do the job. Wenger will be forced to go to the January transfer window for a keeper. There are a number of options but I would like to see Nigel Martyn of Leeds get the call as he is out of favor with Venables. Martyn is a very good keeper with considerable experience who would also be eligible for the Champions League games. I'm sure Wenger could get him for a reasonsable price as Leeds are slightly strapped financially.
I'm not sure about Martyn, he's a bit old and he won't want to be backup to Seaman, he might as well stay at Leeds if he is content with that. A cheeky bid for Dudek now he's lost his place would wind up the scousers for a while. I can't think of any available decent replacements off the top of my head, I'm not convinced about Rustu.
Arsenal.com has said AW is going to bid for a keeper, but Seaman is still #1 unless he goes down. It does bring up some questions on who AW will go after though. What about David James from West Ham? He was on England's WC squad. Good keeper, but on a terrible team at the moment. Or would that just prevent Taylor, when he recovers from the broken finger from being the #2 guy in the future?
I wanna Brad Friedle. I saw him playing for Blackburn on TV the other day and I still think he's good. He's 31 yrs old, so it's good for Taylor, because he's not that young enough to take over his place for years.
Keepers that have beren mentioned as long term prospects are, Ferenbache's Rustu Recber, Roma's Francesco Antoniolli, Parma's Sebastien Frey, Nante's Mikael Landreau, Derby's Mart Poom, and Leed's Paul Robinson. However, Wenger apparently intends that whatever keeper is picked it won't be a big name. That suggests to me that it will be some young keeper who is highly rated and is prepared to play second fiddle to Seaman for the rest of the season.
Qui est-ce Francois Dubourdeau? Just watched the Motherwell/Rangers match. The Motherwell keeper, Francois Dubourdeau, had an outstanding match (MOTM if you ask me). If you saw the match, I'm sure you've seen his potential. Haven't heard anything of him before now. All I know is that he's French, 22, 6'3", used to play for Bordeaux avec Wiltord ('99-'00). (We all know how LeBoss has that knack for picking up unheard of talent for bargain prices.) He's been Motherwell number one since early Nov. Could be another bargain buy especially as Motherwell are in the drop zone. Has anyone ever heard of him? Here's some links: http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/021227/21/dhh0i.html http://www.inside-scotland.co.uk/lanarkshire/press/SPORT/tib_1_SPORT.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_prem/2600711.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_prem/2422709.stm
Mart Poom, good shout. Derby are in danger of going bust and they'll surely consider any serious offer for any of their players. I've always been impressed with Poom whenever I have seen him and with his proven Premiership pedigree he would be ideal to take over as number 1 next season too.
Mart Poom is out of the picture as he recently signed with Sunderland. I still believe it could be Nigel Martyn.
Nigel's a bit old, isn't he? And I think we have an old enough keeper. I'd go with Robinson, but if it's like anything else Le Boss does, it'll be someone spectacular for a bargain basement price. Arsene = the Lorne Michaels of the EPL. He ain't no dummy... Vive le AFC! OPArsenal
There's no way Venables will part with Robinson except for some astronomical price which Wenger would not accept. Martyn is three years younger than Seaman. So he'd be good for another two years and could be signed for a basement price. Nigel has plenty of Premiership experience and would be eligible for Champions League games.