Tuesday saw Chelsea officially release Joe Cole from his contract with them, so I suppose the whole ‘who will he go to’ story will be alive and well for the next few weeks anyway. Am a bit tired of talking about that whole will-he-won’t-he transfer saga, to be honest. Word is that Tottenham are the most interested in Cole. If, and it’s a big if, Arsenal are interested in Cole (though Peter Hill-Wood has indicted that we aren’t) and he ends up going to Tottenham, then it must mean that he is going there in order to learn the age old art of tax evasion from Harry.
The biggest Arsenal news on Tuesday was that of Philippe Senderos joining Fulham. I hope that he does well there and that he can get some regular games. Of course, his arrival there has inevitably led to some more linking of us with Hangeland but I think that if we were going to sign him we would have done it by now. Senderos showed signs of being a good defender, but he always got destroyed by Drogba whenever we played Chelsea. He was certainly better than Silvestre, but I think that it won’t be too hard to find a better replacement, assuming Wenger finds one of these ‘super talented’ players he likes to mention every transfer window. I had a bit of a laugh at how the BBC used the wrong photo for Senderos on their article regarding his transfer. It may have since been fixed between the time I write and publish this but, one thing is for sure, the player pictured at the time of writing is not Senderos.
Another central defender following Senderos out the door is William Gallas who is being linked with a move to Panathinaikos. Gallas has also had yet another in a long line of strops, this time he has refused to speak to the media for the duration of the World Cup. Looking forward to his departure as he was never really a good fit for Arsenal. A good player on his day, yes, but not mentally sound.
For a team that was supposed to be strengthening the defensive side of our team over the summer, we have so far been going about it a bit arse about face. Though, perhaps Wenger has been reluctant to bring in a player until we had offloaded the deadweight as he is mindful of the 25 player squad limit coming into effect from next season. Get the players out first, in order to ensure that there is space for the new players to slot into. At least I hope that that is the reasoning behind our summer transfer dealings to date. Either way, it really is time to get some defenders in, lest we get lumbered with Silvestre for another season. Now that Neil Lennon is taking over the reigns as Celtic manager, Big Sol has a decision to make.
Joan Laporta is ‘totally sure’ that Barcelona will sign Cesc. I’m totally sure Laporta is a cunt. Symmetry. Surely it must annoy Cesc that Laporta is putting words into his mouth that Cesc has never actually said, at least not publicly anyway. This level of tapping up and unsettling is just ridiculous at this stage and the fact that FIFA are quite happy to sit there saying nothing and letting it continue speaks volumes about the people in charge there. Maybe it’s time that Arsenal fans started emailing the FIFA offices and demanding that Barcelona be charged with publicly tapping-up and unsettling a player whose contract is protected. What is the point of having player contracts if they are neither respected by clubs or players? It also annoys me that Arsenal are not pushing the authorities to get their fucking fingers out and do something about it. I’m all for Arsenal not getting drawn into the whole media circus around the transfer, but surely it would just take an official phone call or fax or something to FIFA to get the ball rolling and to punish those pricks at Barcelona.
Looking forward to the World Cup, I am hoping that this tournament will have the same transformative effect on Diaby that the ACN had on Song. Diaby clearly has a lot of ability, but all of the ability in the world is no good if it isn’t matched by application, effort and consistency. It’s time for Diaby to step up as I feel that he is approaching make or break time in his Arsenal career.
That’s about all I have time for today. Take it easy.
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