Much coverage overnight in The Sun and elsewhere of Christopher Samba’s comments. These are widely interpreted as a plea to move and the club he mentions is Arsenal.
“I don’t know what is happening with Arsenal because I am not dealing with it and it’s not my problem. At the minute I am still at Blackburn but it would be a big lie if I told you everything is good and I don’t want to play in the Champions League.”On the other hand, Sky quote Samba playing all this down and saying that he has never mentioned another club.
We have to bring in a dependable central defender and although Cahill is probably the better ball player, that isn’t what we’re missing. What we need is strength, determination and good judgement about where the danger is – someone else can move the ball forward.
I would be happy to see Samba join. To be honest I’d be happy to see any decent defender join after last season!
Another big transfer story, pushed hardest in the Mirror, is that Valencia’s Juan Mata is in serious talks with Arsenal. The Mirror says that his entourage of family and advisers are in London now to talk terms. He looks a great player and well worth it, regardless of whether Nasri or Fabregas are to depart.
Various media tell us that Anderlecht’s Lucas Biglia is also a possible buy and that Real Madrid would love us to take Benzema off their hands. I reckon these two stories are still firmly in the ‘dubious’ column, but Biglia is the sort of player we might need if both Song and Frimpong get called up for the African Cup of Nations competition in the New Year. Plus I think that Song could do with a bit more competition than the youthful Frimpong. Alex Song is a great player but his devotion to the defensive midfield task is prone to wander.
Not sure where Benzema would fit unless you were going to turn RVP into a more deep-lying type forward. Rather see a new left back myself.
It looks like Gervinho could get an early run in the team with news that Walcott’s ankle is playing up again. Arsenal are being a bit vague about how long recovery might take and don’t have a great track record on predicting the return of injured players anyway.
Definitely out for months is Conor Henderson, who like Frimpong last summer, has damaged his cruciate ligaments. Not sure how many first team appearances he would have got this season but he’s clearly been getting close so this will be a big disappointment.
It’s been goodbye to JET who became a Tractor Boy this week. He has clearly not impressed the Arsenal coaching staff with his attitude even if he has the ability. This could be a crucial season for him. If he impresses at Ipswich he might get into a Premiership club and, no doubt, provide a ‘sell-on’ windfall for Arsenal. A season of anonymity will herald a decade of Championship football.
There we are, a round up of rumours and scraps – these are the dog days of the football year. Doesn’t quite feel close enough to the new season to quicken the pulse, need some exciting and genuine transfer news.
