Today, Athletic Bilbao and Spain striker Fernando Llorente is the 72nd player to be linked with a possible Arsenal transfer this autumn. The January window rumour page is still growing. New names keep popping up, almost every day.
It's been a week since the last blog entry, but there aren't really any new trends to be seen. The names linked with a January move to the Emirates are still very much the same as last summer. However, the sheer mass of names thrown about seems to suggest that the club perhaps isn't that eager to make any deals.
At the end of the summer transfer window, the same names were repeated and repeated by every source that any tabloid could get to. There were obviously some core to the stories about, say, Gary Cahill.
This autumn, many players are mentioned only once or twice before new rumours pop up. Many stories seem to stem from agents angling their clients before Arsène Wenger's considerable nose, only for the Arsenal manager to ignore them.
The wide variety of players is also a sign of media and football people wanting things to happen, more than anything actually happening. Arsenal have been linked with English teenagers such as Lewis Dunk and Matt Lecointe, as well as veteran imports Didier Drogba and Christopher Samba. Neither rumour - not even Samba, so often linked last summer - look like developing into major transfer stories.
The news of Thomas Vermaelen's new contract made Wenger state that there now were enough central defenders at the club. While that's the kind of typical Wenger statement many Gooners love to hate, it's now believed. The signing of Per Mertesacker and the form of Laurent Koscielny underlines it. And in turn, it all works against any frenzied rumour-fest concering, say again, Cahill. (The dreadful form of his Bolton side works against that, too, of course.)
If I were to venture to guess ONE target who might be signed in January, I think we should look up front. The amazing Robin van Persie has only the disappointing Marouane Chamakh as seasoned competition.
Traditionally, Arsenal are linked with creative, attacking midfielders like Eden Hazard and Mario Götze. They both now look way out of Arsenal's price range. Besides, the club doesn't need midfielders, either, as Wenger stated before this week's Marseille game.
But where are the striker targets? Noone stands out from the crowd as yet. So maybe we should look out for number 72, Fernando Llorente, after all?
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While I agree with you re a striker being the most likely signing, I'm surprised you're so confident both Hazard and Gotze are out of Arsenal's price range. The quote pricing Hazard above E40m (was written in the UK press as Pounds but in context it read to me as Euros) was attributed to the Director of Football Development at Lille. Thats about as impartial as Hulk's agent valuing the striker at E100m.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, Real Madrid is cited as the most likely bidder for Hazard, Gotze and also the Brazilian striking wunderkind Neymar. While I appreciate Madrid's willingness to spend money like a drunken sailor, I would humbly suggest that even Madrid can't afford all 3 of those players unless they make some sales. With Hazard being the cousin of Thomas Vermaelen and Gotze being on the record as having grown up an Arsenal supporter, I remain cautiously optimistic that one of thsoe big names could potentially come to us.
Finally, as you pointed out there is little need for depth at the club bar at the forward positions, but what is in short supply is game-changing talent, which of course normally requires big fees/wages to attract (the latter being Arsene's big issue, he is on record expressing his willingness to pay big fees). But with 50m in the bank as of now before funds come in from probable sales like Arshavin, a major signing would seem to make sense.
I caveat this long comment with my belief that none of this would happen in the winter window. Lille seems likely to advance to the knockout stages of the Champions League, and while Dortmund is in very bad shape in that competition they are fighting for a top 3 spot in the Bundesliga, so why would either team sell in January when the market is so much thinner than in the summer? My winter window tip: sell Arshavin, buy CSKA Moskow striker Seydou Doumbia, Gervinho's Ivory Coast teammate, reported by Sports Illustrated (US) as being in talks with 2 unnamed EPL clubs for a move this winter