Not a lot going on.

May 25, 2010

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.

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Black Monday.

May 24, 2010

There is absolutely nothing going on today. It’s all very quiet, I have to say.

 

Gallas avoided further injury when he overturned a buggy during some kind of French squad bonding exercise. You do have to question the logic in having your team participate in a buggy race this close to a major tournament, but that is the wisdom of that mentalist Domenech for you.

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Yesterday we were linked with a Nigerian suitor who, allegedly, is considering making an offer for Lady Nina’s shares. You’d have to wonder what the logic would be to buy those shares as that would still leave him around 14% short of Kroenke Tonk Stan’s current holding of 29.9% I guess all of those emails that have been coming out of Nigeria for the last few years have been so that he can make a move for Arsenal. I think that we can put this particular story and character to one side for the time being as I would be confident that it is a bit of a non-runner. It just doesn’t make sense, to me anyway, unless he has done a deal to go into partnership with our shady Uzbeki.

 

The Times says that there are eight potential suitors interested in buying Lady Nina’s shares, however I am taking that with a grain of salt as in the same article they also state that shares are changing hands for £10 apiece, but that Lady Nina wants £13. Given that both Kroenke and Usmanov have paid between £8,500-£10,500 per share, we can safely assume that the quoted figure is either a typo or extremely poor research. The article does point out, however, that her attempts to sell the shares may be prompted by a possible change to capital gains tax in the forthcoming emergency budget on June 22nd.

 

Elsewhere, there are some transfer links reappearing about Melo and Schwarzer. The is also a link to Mertesacker. Whether there is any substance to these links or not remains to be seen. Schwarzer would be good for a year or two, giving Szczesny some more time to mature by getting first team experience out on loan, that’s assuming he actually makes the grade to be our no1 in the future.

 

That’s about that for today. There’s nowt going on. The fact that I had to mention the Gallas buggy accident story shows you how slow the news is today.

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