Arsenal News 24/7Writer: Tim Stillman 
Date:Thursday August 2 2012
Time: 2:55PM
UK time is: 07:38:49
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Santi Coming To Town
The murmur from the grapevine has progressed from a gentle hum over the week, but it now appears to have turned into a bloody great rave with the suggestion that the signing of Spanish international Santi Cazorla is very, very close. Negotiations have taken place this week with Cazorla`s suddenly cash strapped club Malaga and resolution seems to be at hand.
Cazorla was not at training with his Malaga teammates this morning and photos have surfaced of Santi at Barcelona airport late this morning. (In fairness, that photograph could have been taken a few weeks ago for all we know). @AFCAMDEN on twitter broke the story of our interest in Cazorla just days after Spain`s Euro 2012 victory- well in advance of any media outlet- due to a well placed source on the training ground. He tweeted this afternoon that Cazorla is booked in for a medical today. It seems we`re close to another international signing.
Comments from Malaga defender Weligton seem to hint at the departure of a top player too, "We know the difficult situation the club are in. We are about to close the sale of one player and with this money part of the problem that we have can be solved." Arsenal tried to sign the Spanish winger last summer but were beaten to the punch by Malaga and their Qatari owners, but funds have since dried up and the club are desperate to pay debts in order to avoid levies such as expulsion from La Liga and their Champions League qualifier.
The fee has been reproted as anywhere between £12m-£18m. Reports are also suggesting the Gunners are in the final stages of a deal to take Real Madrid`s Turkish midfielder Nuri Sahin on loan.
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Your Comments
I know how most Arsenal fans will react if we sign these two players but I wonder what RVP is thinking about it all? Surely it would make his statement look even more ridiculous.
Professor Calculus
Sorry LD but I will refrain from becoming exsited until this is announced on Arsenal.com...........................YEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS
Armory
excited*Look what this has done to me now....can't even spell:P
Armory
I'd love to keep Robin as well. Maybe he could issue an apolog (doubtful). Regardless of that situation, this summer will still be positive if we can bring in these signings.
gunnerkid107
The signs do look good but we have been down that road before so not going to say anything till any transfer is official. Glad that the club are aiming high in the market in line with our resources and reputation.
Deltaforce
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11670/7957564/Cazorla-sale-would-help-Malaga
Another telltale sign this deal is imminent, but I agree with DF, need to be a bit cautious until the announcement is illuminated in bright lights on the arsenal.com homepage. RVP are you watching? Lack of ambition my arse!
Ned Stark
According to Goal.com/en RVP had a different mood yesterday after all the players heard about Carzola. Would that change is mind? Not sure because of power of Money. That ***** can mess the thinking up. Also heard the Sahin deal is on hold until Tiny tots make up their mind.
Arseniger
How about the homegrown rules. Are we going to meet the quota?
Arseniger
would he track back to cover for our attacking fullback?
Joe_@**
@lunchbreak more time on hand - AFC has a total of 36 players for 2012/13. Here are the numbers
5 - Supplimentary squad players (Ox, Ryo, Jack, Frimpong and Jenkinson)
12 - Homegrown which includes players Bendtner, Vela, Lansbury
19 - Non-homegrown which includes the likes of Carzola, Sahin, RVP, Chamakh, Squillaci, Park.
How do we get 25 with atleast 8 homegrown?
Arseniger
Figured it will be 9 Homegrown excluding the 3 mentioned (Bendtner, Vela and Lansbury) and 16 Non-homegrown which excludes Squillaci, Park and Chamakh. I think we are good
Arseniger
Arseniger, there will be many players who will be sold or loaned and some who are below 21 years of age are not counted in the 36 players you mentioned. There could be some last minute scrambles but dont think getting to 25 will be an issue.
Deltaforce
We are not anywhere close wrt Nuri Sahin yet.. Jamie Sanderson just tweeted. He said we are talking but lots of stuff to take care of before Sahin is decided.. But good news is that we ARE talking.
As far as Santi is concerende.. Wooo hooooo
Sajit
Good news wrt Sahin is that the player doesnt want to be part of the Modric deal.. So even if Totts get RM to pay the ridiculous amount that Totts want.. he wont be part of that.. :)
Sajit
What Sanderson said on Twitter isn't newsworthy. He said the Sahin deal is not as advanced as the Cazorla deal. Well, obviously. Sahin is in LA with Madrid and Cazorla is having a medical at London Colney. Sanderson did say: "Arsenal have had phone contact with Nuri Şahin today. He's keen to come. Madrid happy to loan him. Şahin has rejected Spurs."
gunnerkid107
Sorry, something went wrong with the special character for S lol
gunnerkid107
Cazorla announces on Twitter he is now an Arsenal player!!
gunnerkid107
http://news.arseblog.com/2012/08/cazorla-signs-for-arsenal/
gunnerkid107
Well, **** me. Arseblog might have been fooled by a fake twitter account
gunnerkid107
A few were gunnerkid
No 10
One chicken, two chicken, three....waiiiiit a minute..nope I aint going there.
nikolaijns
It is confirmed. He is a gunner. The AFC website guys will only do their work after the whole world knows.
Arseniger
Great news! Exciting times ahead.
Naijagunner
It's not done yet. The L'Equipe story is using the same Twitter source as Arseblog.
gunnerkid107
Have been monitoring the interweb over the last few hours and it's buzzing with smoke. I think it is pretty much solid that he had a medical today. I guess it just needs to be signed on the dotted line so won't get overly excited until I see it on the official website, but would be lying if I said I didn't have any butterflys. I will not try and pretend that I knew a lot about this guy.....I know we were linked last year but that's about it. Have done my research on the fella, and to say I would be very excited to see him in an arsenal shirt would be a massive understatement, the fella is class and has obviously come from that classic, low gravity, supreme technical ability, Spanish midfielder mould. If we wrap this one up it really does put RVP in an awkward position. All of a sudden his options are shrinking tighter then a nats chuff......the clubs in interest are losing interest, and the club he is at are leaving him behind with its own ambition. And it seems we're trying our hardest to nab sahin.......come the start of the season nobody can say the club didn't try in this window. The next 48 hours will be very interesting indeed.
gunnerman76
Forgot to add........I hear he turned down a move to real Madrid 3 or 4 years ago saying "not every player in Spain has to say yes to the big two" (or words to that effect). I'm a fan of the guy already.....even if he doesn't sign :)
gunnerman76
I hope this is true, but until I see it on the dot-com I'll just drink my usual amount, no added celebratory pints just yet. At any rate, this is a much more enjoyable summer than last. I believe last summer we got Gervinho early, Jenkinson a bit later, had the Cesc and Nasri rubbish hanging over are heads even after the season started, and then made a huge flurry in the last few days with mixed results (mostly good though). But this summer, Podolski before the Euro, Giroud shortly after France was out, and now apparently the best of the three with over two weeks before the season. Last year I was dreading the potential departures, this year I'd like RvP to stay but 'dread' is not really something I am feeling at his potential loss now. Let's be greedy- snatch Sahin from the clutches of the Spuds, and get experienced back up/ competition for Szezsney and we are looking pretty strong.
elbondo
Has anyone else noticed the distinct lack of Spuddies this summer telling us how we're going to be over-taken? This has to be a first. Despite losing our best player looks like we'll be even stronger this season.
Rocky7
Agree rocky, it's a strange situation to be in, and one that RVP did not see coming, or many arsenal fans come to think of it. If you would have told me last season that we would lose robin this summer but come out the other end of it a stronger team, I would have told you to #€$%#!!!! Wenger really has earned his money this summer.......he must have the phone permanently attached to his face the poor fella. How can robin not want to play with these players? It's a shame if he goes because I have a funny feeling he will be leaving just as arsenal seem to be turning a big corner. Looking back over previous summers when wenger has REALLY shown his intent in the transfer market, it has paid off. What is ironic, is the fact that it was probably RVP decision to drag his heels over his contract negotiations that gave the board and wenger a kick up the ass to act swiftly and with purpose this summer.
gunnerman76
I agree R7. This has been a strange off season. I think RVP has seriously misjudged the market. Wenger looks like the Warren Buffet of football. Selling when the buyers are overpaying and buying when there does not seem to be the demand that was around last summer (northern summer that is - bloody cold in SE Queensland at the moment). I am quite a long way from the action so I could be misreading the market.
Gunner_Downunder
It has been a while since a new signing really excited me (I think Arshavin was the last one, so I'm hoping Cazorla turns out better). Genuinely looking forward to seeing this fella in an Arsenal shirt. I think we should get rid of RvP, hold onto Chamakh as a back up (esp for the start of the season), and we are set. If Sahin comes, it will be a nice bonus. Gazidis and his team have managed to ensure that mistakes of last summer have not been repeated, so that's nice, although not cause for huge celebration (they are doing their jobs).
prits
Our midfield will look fully stocked if we have Sahin come in; maybe, the reason Song to Barcelona even came up, except that Madrid isn't willing to have the 'buy-on' clause at the end of the loan period. If Song leaves for a good fee, we can add a cheaper, purely defensive midfield option and allow Sahin, Santi and Roscky take charge of our creative department. Much as I like Song, it won't be a big miss should all the above fall into place (add to that his ACN involvement in January). Let's do these deals.
Naijagunner
Much as I do not miss our Spud trolls, it does seem rather an unfamiliar site without them crowing about how 'this, at long last, was going to be the year they finish ahead of the Mighty Arsenal". Now, we seem to be getting more chav fans on here for completely different reasons :-)
Naijagunner
Prits - Were you not really excited by the Podolski signing? I have to agree that before this window it has been a long time since I was blown away by a signing, but AA23 was the first player in a while that I'd even heard of!
No 10
When you think we paid less for giroud AND podolski then Liverpool paid for that neanderthal Carroll. Very shrewd.......I think a lot of clubs missed a beat on those two. Not that I'm complaining. I'm struggling to think of a window in recent years were we have conducted any sort of business like this? We normally bring in one major signing followed by a lot of kids. But this window it could possibly be 4 class signings all be it one of them a lone.
gunnerman76
Still not signed Gavin Henson then?
nikolaijns
Was expecting this to be announced today and confirmed.
Ned Stark
Well, it seems Malaga have to sort themselves out first; still not sure who will endorse the paperwork, it would seem.
Naijagunner
No.10, don't get me wrong, I was / am pleased with the Podolski signing, but there are a few question marks around him. I do think he can be successful with Arsenal, but its different with Santi. I'm genuinely excited if the move happens.
prits
Yeah have heard that Malaga's uncertainty over the status of their club is the red tape holding up the formal announcement. Guardian are saying that Santi has signed and met his new teammates and it is merely a formality.
Ned Stark
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