Even though the transfer window closed after 31 January, it sure hasn't shut tight. It seems like there are more Arsenal rumours in the air than ever before. On the 2013 summer rumour page, you'll see a compilation of no less than 103 - one hundred and three - professional footballers linked with a summer move to the Gunners.
As always, the list is sorted alphabetically, with each mention in the so-called serious media linked. These rumours aren't spread by men in pubs, these appear in print - or as close as it gets in the 21st century.
103 names in 59 days is almost 1,75 new players linked to the Arsenal per day. Words fail me.
These are the top 3 so far:
1) Stevan Jovetic, forward, Fiorentina, 56 mentions.
2) David Villa, forward, Barcelona, 42 mentions.
3) José Reina, goalkeeper, Liverpool, 36 mentions.
Montenegrin striker Jovetic is, despite his tender years, old news in an Arsenal transfer rumour setting. He was first linked by UK radio station Talksport, an outlet without enough credence to be included among my regular sources, in September 2011. He was only included on the 2011/12 winter rumour list back then because the BBC and the Daily Mirror lent credibility to the rumour by quoting it.
This winter, almost half his mentions were in the run-up to Montenegro's World Cup qualifier with England last week. A quote from a press conference where he spoke of an "affinity" with Arsenal was all it took for the rumour to fly around the world.
David Villa, on the other hand, was flavour of the month for February. Arsenal's reported attempts to sign the out-of-favour Spanish international in January kept his name in the running for a few weeks. Then he started appearing and scoring for Barcelona again, and the rumour has since died down.
Liverpool's Pepe Reina has similarly been a hot target when Arsenal's current 'keepers have had bad games, or when his own fortunes at Anfield have been scrutinised. But what really brings Reina to third place overall is that goalkeepers are linked with Arsenal like never before these days. The Spaniard has been a reported target since April 2010 (the link to the Sunday Express story has later died) and his name often pops up whenever any other goalkeepers are linked.
The top 3 for goalkeepers are:
1) Reina, 36 mentions.
2) Victor Valdés, Barcelona, 31 mentions.
3) Asmir Begovic, Stoke, 27 mentions.
Valdés and Begovic both look to leave their clubs for new challenges. More times than not, it seems, that is reason enough to link them to Arsenal.
When it comes to the forwards, the story is different. After Jovetic and Villa, many names are mentioned without anyone standing out. It's symptomatic that Carlos Vela is third on that particular list with 16 mentions. The Real Sociedad forward has spent the last month assuring that he'd like to stay in Spain even if Arsenal have a buy-back-clause after his transfer last summer. There is absolutely no reason to think that the Mexican would have any role to play at the Emirates next season.
As for defenders, the top 3 are:
1) Ashley Williams, Swansea, 32 mentions.
2) Fernando Amorebieta, Athletic Bilbao, 12 mentions.
3) Nicolas N'Koulou, Olympique Marseilles, 8 mentions.
By far the hottest rumour is Welshman Williams. He is, however, coveted by other Premier League clubs as well when the rumour is reported. Liverpool and his former manager Brendan Rodgers were the main interested party when the rumour was first reported in the January window by the Daily Mirror. Since then, most mentions have been a re-hash or other of this original rumour.
The midfielder top 3 are:
1) Étienne Capoué, Toulouse, 22 mentions.
2) Victor Wanyama, Celtic, 16 mentions.
3=) Mario Götze, Borussia Dortmund, 6 mentions.
3=) Sebastian Rode, Eintracht Frankfurt, 6 mentions.
3=) Alex Song, Barcelona, 6 mentions.
In brief, the rumours are that Arsenal are looking for a replacement for Alex Song. However, this is so difficult that Song himself is a prime candidate!
(How easily Gooners forget screaming at the so-called defensive midfielder for straying out of position in game after game, never really replacing Gilberto Silva.)
Oh, and Arsenal are looking at youngsters in the Bundesliga. There really are a lot of rumours about up-and-coming, short-arsed, technically gifted, attacking midfielders about. As if Arsenal are lacking.
To put it briefly, only the Stevan Jovetic story qualifies as a proper rumour. It carries the weight of at least some quotes, interest has been reported for some time and by many different media outlets. Not that all that should mean anything at all in football's ever expanding Silly Season.
Showing posts with label Top3. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Top3. Show all posts
Monday, 1 April 2013
Tuesday, 1 January 2013
Happy new window!
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!
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!
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.
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Winter and spring Top 3 targets
May has arrived, and Silly Season is about to get serious. Lukas Podolski and Tarum Dawkins have already signed.
Err..., I hear you say. Remember Dawkins? The Luton teenager arrived without fanfare, like all other youngsters joining Arsenal's academy, back in March.
As of 30 April, 90 - ninety! - players have been linked with a summer transfer to Arsenal by news sources we normally would deem reliable. They are listed alphabetically here.
Lukas Podolski has been the obvious top target, with 167 mentions. But as his signing is now confirmed, the Top 3 consist of these players:
1) Eden Hazard, Lille, 51 mentions,
2) Yann M'Vila, Rennes, 45,
3=) Mario Götze, Borussia Dortmund, 35,
3=) Jan Vertonghen, Ajax, 35.
The targets with the most mentions from other Premier League clubs are Sunderland's Stéphane Sessegnon (17 mentions), Blackburn's Junior Hoilett (15) and Fulham's Clint Dempsey (13).
The fact that Götze signed a new contract with German league champions Borussia Dortmund hasn't convinced the English media, he is still linked with Arsenal intermittently.
While the German wonderkid is staying put, the two likely rumours - if any! - are M'Vila and Vertonghen, a midfielder and a defender.
But I suspect that Arsenal's main focus this coming summer is to shed some dead weight off the wage bill. Those rumours are also listed here, but I'll get back to them in a later entry.
Err..., I hear you say. Remember Dawkins? The Luton teenager arrived without fanfare, like all other youngsters joining Arsenal's academy, back in March.
As of 30 April, 90 - ninety! - players have been linked with a summer transfer to Arsenal by news sources we normally would deem reliable. They are listed alphabetically here.
Lukas Podolski has been the obvious top target, with 167 mentions. But as his signing is now confirmed, the Top 3 consist of these players:
1) Eden Hazard, Lille, 51 mentions,
2) Yann M'Vila, Rennes, 45,
3=) Mario Götze, Borussia Dortmund, 35,
3=) Jan Vertonghen, Ajax, 35.
The targets with the most mentions from other Premier League clubs are Sunderland's Stéphane Sessegnon (17 mentions), Blackburn's Junior Hoilett (15) and Fulham's Clint Dempsey (13).
The fact that Götze signed a new contract with German league champions Borussia Dortmund hasn't convinced the English media, he is still linked with Arsenal intermittently.
While the German wonderkid is staying put, the two likely rumours - if any! - are M'Vila and Vertonghen, a midfielder and a defender.
But I suspect that Arsenal's main focus this coming summer is to shed some dead weight off the wage bill. Those rumours are also listed here, but I'll get back to them in a later entry.
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Mid-November Top 3
I'm undecided as to whether this Silly Season is sillier than others. 94 names have been tossed up into the air as potential Arsenal January signings. A relatively small percentage are repeated after first being mentioned. The Top 3 rumoured signings are the three most mentioned since 1 September.
1. Eden Hazard, 40 mentions
2. Gary Cahill, 32 mentions
3. Mario Götze, 13 mentions
The Belgian international Hazard is linked with a host of major European clubs. Today, the Daily Star Sunday are the latest so far to suggest that Arsenal are being jostled out of the competition for his signature by Barcelona. They report that Arsène Wenger might sign as many as four Barcelona youngsters instead - a cliché if I ever saw one.
The rumours of players leaving are less concrete now than last summer. The delay in contract talks with Robin van Persie have inspired almost every mention of him looking to leave the Arsenal.
1. Robin van Persie, 35 mentions
2. Marouane Chamakh, 13 mentions
3=. Andrei Arshavin, 11 mentions
3=. Theo Walcott, 11 mentions
The percieved under-performances of Chamakh and Arshavin have led the stories of their possible departures, while Walcott is sometimes linked with Juventus (as before) and sometimes associated with van Persie as another Arsenal star with contract issues.
It is, in my opinion, a rather quiet Silly Season, where the mass of names suggest that the media are struggling to unearth proper stories. We haven't yet seen the whole pack of the press hunting one rumour like in the Vieira or Fàbregas stories of old.
But there is still a month and a half until the window opens.
1. Eden Hazard, 40 mentions
2. Gary Cahill, 32 mentions
3. Mario Götze, 13 mentions
The Belgian international Hazard is linked with a host of major European clubs. Today, the Daily Star Sunday are the latest so far to suggest that Arsenal are being jostled out of the competition for his signature by Barcelona. They report that Arsène Wenger might sign as many as four Barcelona youngsters instead - a cliché if I ever saw one.
The rumours of players leaving are less concrete now than last summer. The delay in contract talks with Robin van Persie have inspired almost every mention of him looking to leave the Arsenal.
1. Robin van Persie, 35 mentions
2. Marouane Chamakh, 13 mentions
3=. Andrei Arshavin, 11 mentions
3=. Theo Walcott, 11 mentions
The percieved under-performances of Chamakh and Arshavin have led the stories of their possible departures, while Walcott is sometimes linked with Juventus (as before) and sometimes associated with van Persie as another Arsenal star with contract issues.
It is, in my opinion, a rather quiet Silly Season, where the mass of names suggest that the media are struggling to unearth proper stories. We haven't yet seen the whole pack of the press hunting one rumour like in the Vieira or Fàbregas stories of old.
But there is still a month and a half until the window opens.
Sunday, 7 August 2011
Nerd alert - top 3 and then some
If you ever were in doubt that this blog was nerdy, here's all the confirmation you need. I've spent this morning taking stock of Arsenal's Silly Season 2011 so far.
I'm not really good at this. It should of course have been a database with entries easy to sort in different ways. I should have had penpics of every player and some cool graphics. But, instead, there are only numbers compiled and calculated the old fashioned way.
Let me start with the wildest number of them all: Cesc Fábregas has been linked away from Arsenal in 680 different news items published since 1 May. In total he's been linked with five different clubs. And while you digest that number, please remember that I don't include any and every website, only those of some reputation.
This is the 7 August edition of Top 3 Arsenal players linked away - with runners-up:
1. 680 mentions: Cesc Fàbregas - to Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester City, AC Milan or Chelsea
2. 494 mentions: Samir Nasri - to Barcelona, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus or Roma
3. 163 mentions: Nicklas Bendtner - to Fulham, Everton, Blackburn, Bayern Munich, Sevilla, AC Milan, Besiktas, Inter Milan, Sporting Lisbon, Borussia Dortmund, Besiktas, Hamburg SV, Bolton, Benfica, Werder Bremen, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Parma, Fiorentina or Stoke
There were 128 mentions for Gaël Clichy before his transfer to Manchester City (to Juventus, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Roma and City)
74 items linked Denilson away from Arsenal until his loan was confirmed (to Roma, Sevilla, Wolfsburg, Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus, Villarreal, Sao Paulo, La Coruña, Bolton, Newcastle, Málaga or Fluminense)
51 mentions: Manuel Almunia - to Atletico Madrid, Malaga, Fenerbahce or Paris Saint-Germain;
49 mentions: Emmanuel Eboue - to Queen's Park Rangers, Bolton or Galatasaray;
40 mentions: Andrei Arshavin - to Fenerbahce, Chelsea, Zenit St. Petersburg, Udinese or Galatasaray;
29 mentions: Henri Lansbury - to Brighton, Norwich or Bolton;
20 mentions: Carlos Vela - to West Bromwich or Bolton.
Then it's the 7 August edition of Top 3 rumoured Arsenal targets:
1. Gary Cahill, defender, Bolton: 222 mentions from 9 May to 7 August
2. Gervinho, forward, Lille: 218 mentions from 20 May until his signing was confirmed by Arsenal 11 July
3. Christopher Samba, defender, Blackburn: 177 mentions from 8 May to 7 August
As you can see, the two longest winded rumours this Silly Season compete for the top spot with a confirmed signing. The runners-up, some of them already with other clubs, make it a top 30:
150 mentions: Juan Mata - forward, Valencia
126 mentions: Phil Jagielka - defender, Everton
75 mentions: Alex Oxlade Chamberlain - forward, Southampton
56:Ricardo Alvarez - midfielder, Velez Sarsfield (signed for Inter Milan)
39: Scott Parker - midfielder, West Ham
38: Karim Benzema - forward, Real Madrid
36: José Enrique - defender, Newcastle
35 mentions: Eden Hazard - forward, Lille
33: Joel Campbell - forward, Deportivo Saprissa
33:Stewart Downing - midfielder, Aston Villa (Liverpool)
30: Scott Dann - defender, Birmingham
27:Phil Jones - defender, Blackburn (Manchester United)
26 mentions: Joey Barton - midfielder, Newcastle
27: Thiago Alcantara - midfielder, Barcelona
21:Adel Taraabt - forward, Queen's Park Rangers
20: Leighton Baines - defender, Everton
15: Radamel Falcao - forward, Porto
14 mentions:Bojan Krkic - midfielder, Barcelona (AS Roma)
13: Mamadou Sakho - defender, Paris Saint-Germain
12:Sebastian Larsson - midfielder, Birmingham (Sunderland)
12:Blaise Matuidi - midfielder, Saint-Étienne (Paris Saint-Germain)
12: Peter Odemwingie - forward, West Bromwich
12 mentions:Arturo Vidal - midfielder, Bayer Leverkusen (Juventus)
12: Willian - forward, Shakthar Donetsk
11: Craig Gordon - goalkeeper, Sunderland
11: Romelu Lukaku - forward, Anderlecht
11: Per Mertesacker - defender, Werder Bremen
30 new signings would make for an interesting first team squad. Not least if 10 of the current first teamers were to leave...
I'm not really good at this. It should of course have been a database with entries easy to sort in different ways. I should have had penpics of every player and some cool graphics. But, instead, there are only numbers compiled and calculated the old fashioned way.
Let me start with the wildest number of them all: Cesc Fábregas has been linked away from Arsenal in 680 different news items published since 1 May. In total he's been linked with five different clubs. And while you digest that number, please remember that I don't include any and every website, only those of some reputation.
This is the 7 August edition of Top 3 Arsenal players linked away - with runners-up:
1. 680 mentions: Cesc Fàbregas - to Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester City, AC Milan or Chelsea
2. 494 mentions: Samir Nasri - to Barcelona, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus or Roma
3. 163 mentions: Nicklas Bendtner - to Fulham, Everton, Blackburn, Bayern Munich, Sevilla, AC Milan, Besiktas, Inter Milan, Sporting Lisbon, Borussia Dortmund, Besiktas, Hamburg SV, Bolton, Benfica, Werder Bremen, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Parma, Fiorentina or Stoke
There were 128 mentions for Gaël Clichy before his transfer to Manchester City (to Juventus, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Roma and City)
74 items linked Denilson away from Arsenal until his loan was confirmed (to Roma, Sevilla, Wolfsburg, Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus, Villarreal, Sao Paulo, La Coruña, Bolton, Newcastle, Málaga or Fluminense)
51 mentions: Manuel Almunia - to Atletico Madrid, Malaga, Fenerbahce or Paris Saint-Germain;
49 mentions: Emmanuel Eboue - to Queen's Park Rangers, Bolton or Galatasaray;
40 mentions: Andrei Arshavin - to Fenerbahce, Chelsea, Zenit St. Petersburg, Udinese or Galatasaray;
29 mentions: Henri Lansbury - to Brighton, Norwich or Bolton;
20 mentions: Carlos Vela - to West Bromwich or Bolton.
Then it's the 7 August edition of Top 3 rumoured Arsenal targets:
1. Gary Cahill, defender, Bolton: 222 mentions from 9 May to 7 August
2. Gervinho, forward, Lille: 218 mentions from 20 May until his signing was confirmed by Arsenal 11 July
3. Christopher Samba, defender, Blackburn: 177 mentions from 8 May to 7 August
As you can see, the two longest winded rumours this Silly Season compete for the top spot with a confirmed signing. The runners-up, some of them already with other clubs, make it a top 30:
150 mentions: Juan Mata - forward, Valencia
126 mentions: Phil Jagielka - defender, Everton
75 mentions: Alex Oxlade Chamberlain - forward, Southampton
56:
39: Scott Parker - midfielder, West Ham
38: Karim Benzema - forward, Real Madrid
36: José Enrique - defender, Newcastle
35 mentions: Eden Hazard - forward, Lille
33: Joel Campbell - forward, Deportivo Saprissa
33:
30: Scott Dann - defender, Birmingham
27:
26 mentions: Joey Barton - midfielder, Newcastle
27: Thiago Alcantara - midfielder, Barcelona
21:Adel Taraabt - forward, Queen's Park Rangers
20: Leighton Baines - defender, Everton
15: Radamel Falcao - forward, Porto
14 mentions:
13: Mamadou Sakho - defender, Paris Saint-Germain
12:
12:
12: Peter Odemwingie - forward, West Bromwich
12 mentions:
12: Willian - forward, Shakthar Donetsk
11: Craig Gordon - goalkeeper, Sunderland
11: Romelu Lukaku - forward, Anderlecht
11: Per Mertesacker - defender, Werder Bremen
30 new signings would make for an interesting first team squad. Not least if 10 of the current first teamers were to leave...
Saturday, 11 June 2011
Top 3 ins and outs pt II
It's time again for a little roundup. 76 players have been linked with Arsenal since May 1st.
Top 3 Arsenal targets so far:
1) Gary Cahill (45 mentions)
2) Gervinho (44)
3) Christopher Samba (42)
In the first team squad, more than half the players have been linked away from the club!
Top 3 Arsenal players linked away:
1) Cesc Fabregas (81 mentions)
2) Samir Nasri (58)
3) Denilson (31)
The complete list is here, and it's updated every day.
Top 3 Arsenal targets so far:
1) Gary Cahill (45 mentions)
2) Gervinho (44)
3) Christopher Samba (42)
In the first team squad, more than half the players have been linked away from the club!
Top 3 Arsenal players linked away:
1) Cesc Fabregas (81 mentions)
2) Samir Nasri (58)
3) Denilson (31)
The complete list is here, and it's updated every day.
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