Proper season is up and running

So September is here, with crisp air, falling leaves, school and transfer deadline.

This blog will now enter a hiatus until the next Silly Season, coming up around Christmas, I should guess. My blood pressure is still high after my ISP decided Transfer Deadline Day was the perfect time to fail me miserably. So I can need the break.

The transfer rumours are updated up until 31 August, and the lists will be there to see. For the next transfer window I expect to make brand new pages for the brand new rumours which the papers and websites use to attract an audience.

Yet again, these media have throughout the Silly Season passed rumours and unsubstantiated reports as "facts" and "news".

All in all, 162 players have been linked with signing for Arsenal. Four of them have signed: Marouane Chamakh, Laurent Koscielny and Sébastien Squillaci for the first team squad, Kyle Ebecilio for the youth team - albeit the official confirmation never appeared.

There have been considerably more traffic on the way out of the club. Eight players have left outright, while eight have been loaned out for the season or for a few months. However, 35 Arsenal players in total have been linked with moving away on loan or permanently...

Rumours of the summer: Mark Schwarzer in, Cesc Fábregas out. Neither happened. Let that be a lesson for us all.

Tick, tock, four days to go

There might not be any more signings in this Silly Season.

Marouane Chamakh, Laurent Koscielny and Sébastien Squillaci are three elite signings, strengthening the defense and replacing Eduardo in attack.

A new goalkeeper, though high on the supporters' agenda, will have to be moved to the list of New Years' wishes - if there are no surprising developments before Wednesday.

There are still murmurs about Mark Schwarzer, the dead Shay Given rumour still has a post-mortem following on websites like the Metro, while Federico Marchetti looks like never having been in the running. If there ever was a "running" to be in.

Three multi-million signings are still a few more than most clubs. The transfer market this Silly Season has been tight, and the manager has publicly complained that the deals he has made all have been difficult to complete.

But can we trust Arséne Wenger, seasoned wheeler-dealer in Europe, when he says that the market is dead? There are still four more days to spread the rumours.

[updated] Dead market or not, the Daily Mirror proclaims that Arsenal WILL finalise a deal for Schwarzer before the transfer window closes. So both extremes are being reported as news...

Just a thought on defenders

Have you noticed that when media now report on Arsenal's search for defensive cover, Sol Campbell is more and more being regarded as a "new" signing?

Campbell was one of only four senior defenders that the club intended to keep after last season. William Gallas turned down his contract offer (some reports suggest he didn't even reply), so that made three.

Campbell stated very clearly that he intended to play in the World Cup if selected (he wasn't) and get married (he was) before deciding on his future. Meanwhile, Arsenal have signed Laurent Koscielny, but are STILL short of defenders EVEN if Campbell should decide to sign a new deal.

So in my world, Campbell wouldn't be a "new" signing, free agent or no. Even if he were to stay, which a majority of Gooners would love, I'm sure, we need another defender.

[added] Yesterday's piece in the Daily Mirror reported what the Young Guns Blog told us first: Håvard Nordtveit will get a three-year deal and a place in the first team squad. But I don't see him as a new signing, either...

Koscielny signed. No, really

Well, would you believe it. Laurent Koscielny has officially signed for Arsenal, posing happily on arsenal.com with what appears to be the number 6 shirt.

Not only has he been linked 56 times with Arsenal (at least on the news sources quoted here), but he has already trained with the youth and reserve players at London Colney for the last few days.

Are we all excited then, about a central defender without international caps, who only a year ago left Ligue 2? Personally, looking back on the manager's transfer dealings since 1996, I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt and then some.

What are your expectations? And who will be the next to sign? Feel free to comment.

Silly Season Top 5 - new installment

We've passed 30.000 visitors on the blog this summer, thanks to everyone for your time and interest.

We've also passed 119 players linked with Arsenal since late March. That's impressive even for the Silliest of seasons. After England got knocked out of the World Cup the tabloids suddenly started to pick up transfer rumours again, so we can still extend the list.

Here are the author's current ranking of the Top 5 Arsenal transfers still likely to happen:

5. Loïc Remy: OK, so it's just his desperate agent crying out, but I couldn't make fifth place a tie for 'everyone else'. So I'll give the Nice forward the benefit of the slight doubt: just maybe Arsenal might be interested to shell out £10m on another striker. (I'm not convincing myself here.)

4. Joe Cole: this saga almost rivals the Cesc-to-Barca-or-not carousel. Cole is reported to make a simple choice between the two sides of North London. Though his eternal soul is at stake, he might still end up at the Dark Side of Seven Sisters Road.

3. Mark Schwarzer: the only goalkeeper who has been linked continously for more than a week or so (Buffon held the last record). It all depends on what transfer fee Arsenal are willing to pay for a 37-year-old.

2. Kyle Ebecilio: Dutch media have reported this as a done signing weeks ago. The Feyenoord youngster is said to move to Arsenal for a £500k compensation only. Another prospect for the reserves at 17.

1. Laurent Koscielny: already a done deal according to the Sun and the Daily Mail. The player surrounded by the most persistent rumours all summer. Expect an announcement on July 1.

So for the really Silly Top 5:

5. Takayuki Morimoto: just to remind you all about what kind of players Arsenal were linked with back in March. The Cagliari striker didn't get a sniff of World Cup football for Japan, either.

4. Gonzalo Higuain: deserves a mention again after climbing to the top of the World Cup scoring charts. As if Real Madrid needs to cash in on him...

3. Edin Dzeko: a familiar face on any Arsenal rumour list except the one on this blog. Last linked with Arsenal in the January transfer window, his name has been put forward again by sport.co.uk in connection with several Premier League clubs. The Bosnian striker has a buy-out clause of £32.5m in his Wolfsburg contract, so... I think Wenger'll settle for 40 or 50 teenagers instead.

2. Mikel Arteta: the Spaniard is rumoured to leave Everton, despite promises to the contrary. The reason is reported to be illness in the family that prompts him to return closer to home. London isn't that close to Spain.

1. Juan Roman Riquelme: this 32-year-old Boca Juniors playmaker's agent issued what is known in the media as a "come-and-get-me"-plea to Arsenal. Didn't bother to do much research first, I gather.

Well, it's July soon and the contracts expire. Let's see some action then.

Can Coquelin open the door for Koscielny?

Young defender Francis Coquelin has joined Ligue 1 club FC Lorient on loan. According to the excellent Young Guns blog, this is the beginning of a collaboration between Lorient and Arsenal.

Their main point is that this partnership opens up for a more cordial transfer of Laurent Koscielny, the central defender coveted by Arsène Wenger as William Gallas' replacement.

We expect this deal to be confirmed soon. Even if arsenal.com are notoriously slow - they haven't confirmed the Coquelin deal yet, even after Lorient have unveiled him...

The rumour that won't go away

Even if the main page of this blog isn't updated with fresh postings every day, the pages for incoming and outgoing rumours are. There it's easy to see which targets have the most mentions from the most sources.

Based on that, it seems more and more likely that Arsenal are to sign Laurent Koscielny from Lorient. The central defender has been consistently linked with the club for weeks. The first rumour surfaced in the Daily Mirror on 26 May, and the next day in the Daily Mail (as noted here).

It isn't just the repeats of the rumour convincing me, it's the evolution. Reports have been coming in of bids being made, turned down, upped... it hasn't been just agent speak and mysterious, source-less stories in the Metro or on self-important blogs.

But because Lorient are a small club and Koscielny a low profile player, this serial rumour has passed under many Gooners' radars.

Of course, it might be linked to the fact that most reporters covering Arsenal have spent their time trying to find out whether Joe Cole will sign or not, and when, and if not, for who else.

Meanwhile, Arsenal are still linked with Phil Jagielka, by the way. If he is to be signed, he'll probably end up in goal...

New month, old rumours

Not too much happening, then. Joe Cole has yet to sign, like the Daily Star said he would yesterday. Cesc Fabregas has yet to leave, as we've all been led to believe for two weeks now. Laurent Koscielny has yet to become our new Cygan, and Pape Diakhaté has yet to become our new Kolo.

But according to the Daily Telegraph, William Gallas' deadline has passed and Arsenal will sign two centre backs soon. So here we go again.

In other news, Theo Walcott gets a nice. long summer holiday, and Aaron Ramsey gets to do his rehabilitation on better pay. So there's no reason to be down...

Silly Season top 5 - second installment

Here are updated, personal top 5 lists of Arsenal's supposed transfer targets this summer.


Credible list first:

out:  Simon Kjær: the Danish defender, rated at £10m, is now crocked after a WC warmup game for Denmark. Jack Rodwell: definitely staying with Everton, signing a five year deal. And Marouane Chamakh has actually been signed, remember?

5. (3) Brede Hangeland: this everlasting rumour was lastly pushed by the Evening Standard. For £10m, you get Norway's international captain, Fulham's MVP and one of the best defenders in the league. They say.

4. (new) Mark Schwarzer: at 38 he would be too old to be a Wenger signing? Well, we signed Mart Poom back in the day, and even re-signed John Lukic at almost 40.

3. (new) Yoann Gourcuff: playmaker from Bordeaux, about to hit the World Cup. This deal will either happen very quickly or not at all. Most probably the latter.

2. (new) Laurent Koscielny: a defender from French football who the local papers there report are scouted and a subject for bidding. These stories have been uncritically translated by the Mail and the Mirror. We'll see...

1. (2) Pape Diakhatè: now wanted even by Bacary Sagna. Supposedly on the skinny side for a central defender, but that would just be a typical Wenger signing, wouldn't it?

The silly list is all new, or it would be boring:

5.  Joe Cole: being a free transfer doesn't help. His salary would be as far from free as you could imagine.

4. Lassana Diarra: just what Arsenal needs now, an injured midfielder. And one who wasn't good enough  the last time he was at the club.

3.  Shaun Wright-Phillips: just what Arsenal needs now, a kind of winger-cum-midfielder, on the slight side but with good dribbling skills... Touted by his step-dad, not by any others.

2.  Zlatan Ibrahimovic: sure, you could just see him link up with Bendtner, waiting for the right moment to pass to him... And at least the Dane can handle the rain.

1.  Luka Modric: as if he was even good enough...

Feel free to comment and discuss  any target on this blog.