Nine Jimmy Rimmers – Arsenal and Football

Three weeks after the end of the summer and Arsenal have made one signing.  Judging by the reaction of some fans you would think that they’d also announced that it will be the only signing of the the summer.

Carl Jenkinson looks a decent buy to me, he’s there to keep Sagna on his toes and presumably to let Eboue depart for regular starts elsewhere.  Of course if he does turn out to be the only buy of the summer, that will be depressing, but there is plenty of time left yet.

Most pundits seem convinced that Arsenal have also tied up a deal to bring in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from Southampton.  Although he looks promising for the future, that doesn’t set the heart racing for next season – unless Arsene Wenger is planning to move Theo up front and centre straight away.

A few days ago there seemed to be a media consensus that Gervinho was definately on his way to the Emirates, but now they’re not so sure!  Happy to wait and see on that one as the real need is some better defenders and someone to back up Song when we’re clinging on to a result.

Over this weekend we’ve been linked with just about every conceivable English Central Defender plus Mamadou Sakho for good measure!

Apparently we’re in for Scott Dann and Roger Johnson from Birmingham City. I know we lost the Carling to them but really?

Alternatively we’re in for Christopher Samba, Phil Jagielka or Gary Cahill.  One of these is more likely and I think would be welcome.  I would hope for Cahill as the best option but if Manchester City are determined to have him as rumoured, there won’t be much Arsenal can do about it.  After that I would go for Samba over Jagielka.  I’m not sure that there is much between them on ability and Samba has more presence.

Most of the the Arsenal coverage though is about the apocalyptic exodus we apparently face.  I think that there will be a fair few on their way in this window but it’s far from crisis time.

Bendtner needs to leave for his own good and he won’t be overly missed.  If Clichy goes he will need replacing as I don’t think Gibbs is quite ready yet and seems a bit injury prone.  I had high hopes of Clichy, and his first season after Ashley Cole went promised a lot, but nothing much since and he seems to be in a rut now.  Leighton Baines has been mentioned by some and would be good.  But it’s hard to separate real stories from agent talk and page-filling at the moment.

So hold tight and don’t panic yet!

In the Bill Murray film Goundhog Day, the hero is fated to repeat the same day endlessly until he finally works out the right answers to the really important questions in life.

About a year ago I wrote a blogpost called ‘What price Fabregas?‘, the gist of which being that if Fabregas wants to go wouldn’t it be better to get a whopping great price for him and buy a goalkeeper who wasn’t the second worst in the Premier League, a central defender and a defensive midfielder more effective than Denilson to back up Song.  And that was before I heard Gallas was going!

Well hear we go again!

Xavi and Villa are speaking up, on Fabregas’ behalf they say, Wenger is cutting short his holiday, the media tell us, for the Fabregas battle and the man himself is saying little.

The goalkeeping situation doesn’t seem as dire now we’ve had a good look at Szczesny, but despite bringing in two central defenders last summer we are still in the market for another.  And we still need someone better than Denilson!

Various media outlets tell us that both Inter and Chelsea are are in the hunt as well.  But surely after all that has been said by Fabregas in the past he would only go to Barcelona?  So do Barcelona want him right now and do they have the right amount of cash?

But most importantly, Cesc Fabregas needs to decide what he wants and for Arsenal’s sake he needs to do it quickly.  Until he does, Arsene Wenger doesn’t know who to buy or how cash to splash on each purchase.  The choice between the likes of Phil Jones and of Mamadou Sakho is down to cash.