Plenty of rumours about today but nothing too solid. Some say bids have already been made for Anderlecht striker Suarez and Lille leftback Cissokho. Alternatively Arsenal have been snubbed on both. One common theme though is that it’s looking difficult to secure a loan deal rather than having to buy a fullback outright.
It’s easy to understand why that might be true. If you don’t see yourself using a player again you want to free up the capital for a player purchase rather than just get their wages covered. When you see Arsenal lose a defensive option virtually every game, you might as well hold out for that sale. Of course, Arsenal don’t really want to buy because when they’re fit we have the number of fullbacks and cover that we need. Though the apparent fragility of Kieran Gibbs may chip away at that theory. So what do Arsenal do? Reluctantly shell out for a purchase after all? We apparently have the cash to do it. Or go to brink of the deadline and hope that the likes of City or Lille will cave in at the last minute and accept a loan.
Trouble with the second option is that we need the player now rather than later and we cannot assume that we are the only club in the hunt for a fullback. Interesting titbit in one paper today that one of new QPR boss Mark Hughes’ targets is Wayne Bridge. Hard to believe I know when they’ve got Armand Traore at the club but it makes the point. Arsenal may just have to face up to buying in asap and worry about congestion at leftback later.
On the subject of leftbacks, two new names in the frames are Swansea’s Neill Taylor and Southampton teenager Luke Shaw. Given that the sixteen-year-old hasn’t even made a first team debut, he would obviously be one for future development rather than a solution to the immediate problem.
Neil Taylor sounds like a better option than Wayne Bridge, but the story doesn’t seem to have anything in particular to back it up. Just chatter to keep us going until the Swansea game I guess.
Of some little interest is the game at White Hart Lane this evening where Spurs and Everton catch up the fixture postponed from the first day of the season. If Spurs win it would create a eight point hole behind the top three which isn’t helpful, but the various setbacks that all the top clubs have suffered show there’s a fair bit of life left in this season.
