Arsenal News 24/7Writer: Rocky7 
Date:Sunday May 11 2008
Time: 10:53AM
UK time is: 22:38:10
Choose your club
Other Sites
Network Navigation
Vital Partners
'If It's Football, It's Vital'
Silly Season Begins: Arfa / Nasri / Toure & More
It's usually at the end of the season that the crazy transfer rumours start, but with the departure of Matty Flamini and the possibility of Hleb joining him looming over our heads, the rumour mill is working over time.
The transfer speculation at this time of year usually consists of Arsenal's best player being linked with Barcelona and/or Real Madrid, AC Milan, Inter and Juventus, and whilst this hasn't changed much in 2008, rumours of players coming in have reached fever pitch.
Ben Arfa Seems to be the most popular transfer story, with some sources stating the deal has already been done. With Arsene Wenger already stating that not only is does he have his sights on a creative player but has his targets in mind and is looking to seal the deals before the end of May, this one could be a real possibility.
Next on the list is Yaya Toure. Many football transfer rumours sites and blogs have picked up on this easy story. Barcelona have once again failed in the league and Europe, their manager looks set to be on his way out as do half the players, Arsenal have just lost their powerhouse midfielder, and Yaya's brother is already a Gooner ..... outcome? You guessed it.
Portsmouth's Niko Kranjcar is another player apparently in Arsene Wenger's crosshairs after the player's dad said that Le Boss tracked him when he was playing in Croatia and claims he would be the perfect foil for the departing Hleb.
Hamburg defender Vincent Kompany is a player has only recently reappeared at the rumour mill after being an apparent target a season or two ago. He would certainly go some way to suring up the defence.
Papers are also printing stories that the Gunners are preparing a £12 Million bid for Marseille's 20 year old whizzkid, Samir Nasri
Arsenal legend Thierry Henry was linked with a sensational move back to North London (And even more laughably, Spurs) but the great man quickly put paid to that one saying he's staying at Barca.
With all these stories circulating, which of the rumours do you wish would come true? Are there any not on the list you'd like to see coming in?
Let silly season commence!!!
Seconds Out! Vital Boxing is here!
Vital F1 Prediction League - Join now for Monaco
Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.
Join the Vital Fantasy Football League - its Free!
Your Comments
lol am almost afraid of wading into this but considering i have already spent most of my morning googling "news" on our beloved team when i should be concentrating on an impending java programming exam, i may as well throw in an opinion! Ben Arfa, Kranjcar and Kompany all sound like extremely exciting prospects for next season. And IMO they all bring something we need into the current team. Kompany is known as a tough tackling player with an excellent touch. Kranjcar has proven he is capable of devlivering performances in the league and could have himself a nice FA cup medal this season and Ben Arfa is a young flair/goalscoring winger who i believe plays on the left... just what the doctor ordered methinks! Nasri i know v little about, rumour is he would replace Ben Arfa at Lyon if he goes. TH14.. love the guy but cant see it happening. As for Yaya i would guess he will be too expensive to justify buying, could be wrong tho!
Unwell
I think Wenger will go for Diaby as first-choice in the CM position to replace Flamini, with Denilson and Gilberto as back-up. He's talked about a creative player and that could be someone who can give Cesc a rest, because although Rosicky can be and was a centre mid player, I don't think he'd be up for the physical/defensive side of the job as much. I think Micah Richards would be a great signing for Arsenal - he's only 19 as well. Does anyone else agree with me that we should all we can to buy him?
Gooner_Vin
yea i dont think we are gonna see a new defensive mid come in this summer either. I could actually see Gilberto reassess his situation and perhaps fight his way back into the team. Richards would be a superb buy, hes strong, fast and can score goals. I dont see wenger paying 20 odd million for him though. Apparently Dunne is being linked with us again today. Sayin that tho i wont believe any of it until i see them being marched around emirates in a red n white jersey!
Unwell
Milan lost to Napoli today and Fiorentina won to go into 4th place, the final Champs League spot. What price that AC Milan now won't make the Champs Lge next season and Flamini will play in the UEFA Cup?
Gooner_Vin
Wow, great news for flamini already, even b4 he start for the new team. COngrats Flamini for playing in Eufa cup. You've got to see the silly reason he gave regarding signing for Milan. It seems the pain in losing the title to MU made him sign for Milan. What a bunch of lie. You deserve it.
nevidimka
Diaby if playing a more defensive role to complement Fabregas should be able to fill the void left by Flamini. We desperately need wingers who can provide crosses with precision since now we have 2 big centre forwards who could actually head a ball decently since Alan Smith. It's ironic that I always mispelled Rocisky as Ro'sicky'. He style is very much like Hleb's and both are not crossing enough and scoring enough. They can take on defenders very well but their style of dribbling diagonally and halting right outside of the penalty box to pass the ball away usually leads us to no where. Eboue could cross decently sometimes. Those were the 'sometimes' when he looked brilliant, whereas 'the rest of the time' I rather not mention. Alternatively, we should have wingers who could score enough if we were to challenge for titles. Remember those days when we have likes of Overmars, Pires & Ljungberg? Walcott finally looks ready to step up. Maybe we would be in for a pleasant surprise if Vela returns. He plays a bit like Walcott, dribbles with pace and quite lethal in front of goals too. Keeping my fingers crossed
Joe_@**
I have an issue with Diaby becoming the new "DM".. he's alot like Vieira.. and Vieira wasn't exactly a holding midfielder.. also, Diaby in the middle somehow loses his ball retention skills, which is why Wenger has stuck him out on the left, so that even if we do lose the ball there, it wont be as costly as it would be in the middle. Plus he has these erratic challenges - so I'm really not too sure about Diaby.. Flamini has to be replaced, like for like in my opinion.
arsenalrulz4ever
With regards to 1. Ben Arfa might well move soon.. 2. Apparently Pep Guardiola doesn't want Yaya there.. (i wonder why) 3. Niko Kranjcar won't move, I'm quite sure of that.. he's over priced 4. Komany is some one we were interested in 2 years back.. so renewal of interest.. possibility 6. I'm not too sure about Nasri moving with Ben Arfa.. 7. No way.. it seems at least right now.. funnier things have happened though!
arsenalrulz4ever
You can have all of em, just stay away from Super Mario Gomez. The only club for Gomez is Chelsea.
The_Legend_Of_Zola
three good englishmen arsenal should sign is lescott, young, and barry, i think they would fit in at arsenal very well!
merz
I'd be happy with Ben Arfa and Kompany. They're both young but with great potential. For me, these are the two areas where we have struggled this season. Rosicky is always injured and Toure hasn't been the same since he came back from ACN. Although personally i'd have him in ahead of Gallas. I wouldn't be disappointed if we signed Richard Dunne either. He's solid and rarely puts a foot wrong. But I tend to ignore the rumours, I remember last summer when all the talk was of Owen and Anelka signing for us and then out of the blue, we signed Eduardo.
codchops
Ben Arfa seems to be realistic. Barca would probably want Cesc in the Yaya deal so screw that. Personally I think Arsenal should go for Miguel Veloso if United pass on him since they have first refusal.
Paulinho
The Ben Arfa name has been cropping up a lot in the last six months. I don't know if that's because we're interested in him, or that he's just young and French. I don't think Wenger will invest as much as people think/hope, as he has high hopes for Vela and Merida, who will seem like new signings!
navydave
Hi....Ben Arfa has been on Lyon's bench since december (exept 2 or 3 games). He is amazing, very exeting, but doesn't defend well, and is the more selfish player on earth. Between September and December, he did weel, worked for the team, nut since he's got his new "star" status, with france squad call, he did nothing as well as he used to do at the start of the season. Nasri had a **** season, was one of the poorer Marseille player this year, he is really overated and imo won't be in the french sqaud for the euro, he really doesn't deserve it anyway....
FloG
Speaking of silly season
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_G%C3%B3mez
Little Dutch
Well LD that looks pretty conclusive, but I'll still only believe it when I see him holding up the shirt in the press conference. Is he an out and out striker, or an attacking midfielder/winger? His goal scoring record is impressive!
navydave
Thaty is silly Little Dutch. I thought Wikipedia was meant to be based on facts, not rumours. I might go on to Messi's wiki page and say he is coming to Arsenal for 10 million. Maybe it will happen then.
paul_ownz
Richard Dunne, i told you about it over a month ago ;-)
AFC85Lew
just saw that a while ago LD was bout to stoke the fire a bit with that wiki page.. couldnt find anything to back it up though.
Unwell
I don't know if anyone has seen the website recently, but Wenger has hinted he might look to a player who has played in England!
navydave
merz your a spot on....as far as barry is concerend you should check out his stats on the daily telegraph,they are very impressive,he justs needs to slightly improve on his accurate passing ability by 5%,but he has lots of tackles, passing, assists and goals...ashley young is a great prospect too,and there is nothing wrong with lescotts ability in evertons defence and he scores big goals,im sure those three would make a huge positive difference.
fran merida
I think we should monitor Man City's situation and if it all blows up go for Hart, Johnson and Richards. Then again I cannot see Wenger Spending 40 mil on 3 relatively non-experienced players.
PENZ
Well I'm a big fan of Ben Arfa and have wanted him to come to Arsenal, esp. because he has been used so poorly at Lyon, and Perrin has clearly taken Benzema's side over Ben Arfa in the two players' personal feud. I just hope that we can believe Wenger when he says his transfers will be done in 3 weeks or so. It certainly would be smart to get it all finished before the Euros, after which the price of some of these players will certainly rise.
jaelle
Look to Miguel Veloso people, I'm telling ya. He reminds me a bit of a young Andrea Pirlo.
Paulinho
Have Your Say
Recent Articles
Wilshere - More Points Needed From Big Teams (Thursday May 23 2013)
Who Is Your Vital Arsenal Player of the Season? (Tuesday May 21 2013)
Newcastle United 0 Arsenal 1 (Monday May 20 2013)
VIDEO: Wenger Praises 'Exceptional' Attitude (Monday May 20 2013)
Arsene Wenger, Now Is The Time (Monday May 20 2013)
The Moment That Made It All Worthwhile (Sunday May 19 2013)
Happy St Totteringham's Day To Gooners Everwhere (Sunday May 19 2013)
Team News: Last Game Of The Season (Sunday May 19 2013)
The Squeaky Bum Preview (Friday May 17 2013)
Wenger Confirms Sanogo Deal Almost Done (Friday May 17 2013)
Archived Articles
Vital Members League (view all)
| 1. | nikolaijns | 60 |
| 2. | Rocky7 | 53 |
| 3. | Naijagunner | 48 |
| 4. | Wyn Mills | 34 |
| 5. | prits | 22 |
| 6. | flv | 21 |
| 7. | Nwankwo25 | 20 |
| 8. | gunnerkid107 | 19 |
| 9. | No 10 | 16 |
| 10. | julieloveshenry4ever | 16 |
League Results (view all)
| Latest Results | ||||
| Newcastle | 0 | - | 1 | Arsenal |
| Arsenal | 4 | - | 1 | Wigan |
| Q.P.R. | 0 | - | 1 | Arsenal |
| Arsenal | 1 | - | 1 | Man Utd |
| Fulham | 0 | - | 1 | Arsenal |
| Arsenal | 0 | - | 0 | Everton |
League Table (view table)
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| 1. Man Utd | 38 | 28 | 5 | 5 | 43 | 89 |
| 2. Man City | 38 | 23 | 9 | 6 | 32 | 78 |
| 3. Chelsea | 38 | 22 | 9 | 7 | 36 | 75 |
| 4. Arsenal | 38 | 21 | 10 | 7 | 35 | 73 |
| 5. Spurs | 38 | 21 | 9 | 8 | 20 | 72 |
| 6. Everton | 38 | 16 | 15 | 7 | 15 | 63 |
| 7. Liverpool | 38 | 16 | 13 | 9 | 28 | 61 |
Breaking League News
| 10th or Else
» Newcastle : 23/05/2013 21:52:00
|
| Liverpool: Reds To Iago For Aspas
» Liverpool : 23/05/2013 19:51:00
|
| Saints Elite Centre Still Has Places Available
» Southampton : 23/05/2013 18:47:00
|
| The Villa Times - 23/05/2013
» Aston Villa : 23/05/2013 18:07:00
|
| Managerial Odds Update
» Stoke : 23/05/2013 18:01:00
|
| Pulis Thanks Fans
» Stoke : 23/05/2013 17:53:00
|
| Rat the Optimist
» West Ham : 23/05/2013 16:47:00
|
Current Site Poll (view all polls)
|
|