2013 is upon us! Whether the new year will bring joy or misery or both to Arsenal Football Club remains to be seen. What January will bring, though, are new players. At least if the media is to be believed.
Since the summer transfer window shut, a whopping number of 120 players have been linked with a possible move to Arsenal! They are all listed alphabetically here, with individual links to all the stories mentioning them.
Here are the top three most linked so-called targets:
1) Wilfried Zaha, Crystal Palace, 124 mentions
2) Thierry Henry, New York Red Bulls, 102 mentions
3) Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Schalke, 83 mentions
As Huntelaar has already signed a new contract with his German employers, honorary mention goes to Demba Ba of Newcastle, mentioned 73 times in December alone and four times on this first day of 2013.
The intensity of transfer rumours fluctuate with the team's form. When Arsenal had a really rotten spell of form a few weeks ago, any footballer with two legs and an agent fairly fluent in English could be linked with the club. Now, after four league wins in a row, the teenagers for the future are in vogue in the media. That's why the last week's rumour of choice concerns Southampton's left back prodigy Luke Shaw. Zaha is also in this category.
Shaw is, with 26 mentions, the defender most oftened mentioned as a potential Arsenal signing. Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa (9 mentions) and Stoppila Sunzu (7 mentions) are far behind.
Huntelaar and Ba belong to the rumours about Arsenal needing an experienced striker to compete with Olivier Giroud (and, hey! with Theo Walcott). Other candidates here are Adrián López and Fernando Llorente with 39 mentions each.
The hottest goalkeeper rumour is Liverpool's Pepe Reina, mentioned 26 times. Asmir Begovic (10 mentions) and Michel Vorm (8) can't compete.
Among the 42 midfielders linked with Arsenal, Schalke's Lewis Holtby have the most mentions with 23. This rumour can be expected to grow as the English-born German international is an Arsenal fan who has made it clear he'll be leaving Schalke at the end of the season anyway.
But who will leave before all these players are signed? Walcott, for one. If 186 individual media reports between August and here are to be believed.
Walcott's contract wrangle, the all too familiar scenario of 'will he, won't he' reporting, has been dragging on through the whole season so far. He's been linked with eight different clubs, from Chelsea to Spartak Moskva. He's been touted as a part/exchange makeweight for signing Nani from Manchester United, and costing the champions Manchester City fifteen million pounds. The varieties are endless.
As are the possibilites of Marouane Chamakh. Wanted by both Juventus and Cardiff, would you believe.
'On their way out':
1) Theo Walcott, to Juventus, Inter Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, Liverpool, Spartak Moskva, Chelsea or Manchester United, 186 mentions
2) Marouane Chamakh, to Bordeaux, Internacional, Tottenham, Everton, Blackburn, Espanyol, Norwich, Fenerbahce, Fiorentina, West Ham, Queens Park Rangers, Inter Milan, Juventus or Cardiff, 57 mentions
3) Andrei Arshavin, to Tottenham, Zenit St. Petersburg, Fulham, Major League Soccer, Reading, Galatasaray or Newcastle, 54 mentions
And, remember, January starts today. All these rumours have come to light before the transfer window has even opened. Happy New Year!
Showing posts with label Adrián. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adrián. Show all posts
Tuesday, 1 January 2013
Sunday, 11 November 2012
January draws near
This blog has no Christmas calendar. Here, we count down to 1 January, when the window opens.
Let this first entry after weeks of hibernation be dedicated to counting. Here's the Top 3 rumours, in and out, since the last window closed on 1 September.
Players in:
1) Wilfried Zaha, 30 mentions
2) Fernando Llorente, 18 mentions
3) Adrián López, 13 mentions
A total of 49 players have been linked with Arsenal in two and a half months. However, Zaha reaches the top of this list with only 30 mentions. Like Llorente and Adrián, the England youth international has been linked with several top clubs.
While the two Spaniards are mentioned as Robin van Persie successors (even if two have been signed already), Zaha is thought to be a player-for-player replacement for Theo Walcott. His contract issues make him by far the player linked most times away from Arsenal this autumn.
Players out:
1) Theo Walcott, 55 mentions
2) Marouane Chamakh, 12 mentions
3=) Andrei Arshavin, 11 mentions
3=) Bacary Sagna, 11 mentions
As a keen follower of transfer rumours the last few years, and not least the machinations behind them, I'm astonished to see yet another first team player winding down his Arsenal contract. The negotiations with Walcott should have been in progress a year ago. His deadlines should be set then. A place on the transfer list should have been his if a deal wasn't made by January that was.
This is, by the looks of it, the case for Sagna. At 29, he's a year younger than van Persie, and looking for his last big contract a year later than the Dutchman. However, they both appear to have sporting ambition as their main motivation. Sagna is disheartened, much like many Arsenal supporters, and may or may not have good reasons.
Let this first entry after weeks of hibernation be dedicated to counting. Here's the Top 3 rumours, in and out, since the last window closed on 1 September.
Players in:
1) Wilfried Zaha, 30 mentions
2) Fernando Llorente, 18 mentions
3) Adrián López, 13 mentions
A total of 49 players have been linked with Arsenal in two and a half months. However, Zaha reaches the top of this list with only 30 mentions. Like Llorente and Adrián, the England youth international has been linked with several top clubs.
While the two Spaniards are mentioned as Robin van Persie successors (even if two have been signed already), Zaha is thought to be a player-for-player replacement for Theo Walcott. His contract issues make him by far the player linked most times away from Arsenal this autumn.
Players out:
1) Theo Walcott, 55 mentions
2) Marouane Chamakh, 12 mentions
3=) Andrei Arshavin, 11 mentions
3=) Bacary Sagna, 11 mentions
As a keen follower of transfer rumours the last few years, and not least the machinations behind them, I'm astonished to see yet another first team player winding down his Arsenal contract. The negotiations with Walcott should have been in progress a year ago. His deadlines should be set then. A place on the transfer list should have been his if a deal wasn't made by January that was.
This is, by the looks of it, the case for Sagna. At 29, he's a year younger than van Persie, and looking for his last big contract a year later than the Dutchman. However, they both appear to have sporting ambition as their main motivation. Sagna is disheartened, much like many Arsenal supporters, and may or may not have good reasons.
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