The North Bank – “It’s got va-va-voom” (An Arsenal blog)

Greetings from a warm and sunny Yokohama. The post season is a bit quiet this week with just some tenuous transfer links that lack any real meat so far and the still ongoing Tantric Cesc saga. The Cesc thing is going on so long that it will soon make Sting jealous. I’m hoping that it will get resolved one way or the other sooner rather than later. One thing is for sure, regardless of whether it drags on until after the World Cup, it shouldn’t affect our signing of a replacement because now that Wenger knows that Cesc wants to leave, he should be finalizing his list of exactly who could replace him. That list should be drawn up immediately, just in case the worst happens. If Cesc leaves after the World Cup ends then we should be ready to move immediately for the identified replacement, or sign the replacement just before finalizing the transfer of Cesc. But, I won’t accept excuses of having to search for a replacement after Cesc has left. That groundwork should be finalized long before that time comes, if it comes. A Cultured Left Foot has some quotes from Hleb wherein he says that Cesc should stay where he is, no doubt because Hleb himself has found out first-hand that the grass is not always greener.

Crazy figures being reported regarding the transfer fee, ranging between £30m and £80m. I think that the actual fee, should it be agreed will probably lie somewhere between £40m-£50m, though I would like it to be on the high side of £50m.

Chiellini is making noises about moving on, though it could just be that he is trying to renegotiate a more lucrative contract. That said, he would be a good, strong, centre-half to put alongside Vermaelen. He is a player that I would like to see us sign and one that we have been linked with before, though how much substance there were to those links is debatable. He is also at the ‘right age’ that Wenger alluded to when talking about the signing of Chamakh.

The Swiss Rambler had a really detailed and very interesting post about the finances of Arsenal and Barcelona and details the debt at the latter. It’s a good read.

As expected, the ‘Nigerian business man to buy Lady Nina’s shares’ story has been dealt a blow by him stating that he had been interested in investing before but now has no plans to do so.

Elsewhere, we are being linked with Bolton’s Cahill, again. So, we’ll just have to wait and see what Arsene decides to do.

Right, that’s about all for today. Take it easy.