It’s a typical Monday morning on the papers and football websites. According to one we are ‘moving ahead’ of Liverpool in the race for Stewart Downing, whilst another warns that the left winger is set to snub us for a move to Anfield. On the subject of ‘moving ahead’, apparently Tottenham now have the edge on signing Samba.
You couldn’t make it up, as they don’t say on the Sunday night shift!
The Telegraph has a slightly more convincing looking piece on possible destinations for Bendtner and Almunia. Bendtner to Borussia Dortmund or Sporting Lisbon and Almunia to Malaga or Athletico Madrid.
As I’ve said before, I don’t find Downing that convincing and the prices being talked for his contract are amazing. If every Englishman is worth upwards of £17million, how come England never win anything? If Arsenal do have to spend over the odds, let’s at least spend where we need it most, at the back and some cover for Song.
When it comes to defenders, an old favorite returns to the rumor mill today – Per Mertesacker. Despite not having a great season or world cup, the big German has some Arsenal fans. My worry is that he isn’t particularly quick, either in a straight line or on the turn. One of the main lessons of the World Cup seemed to be that as long as you can dominate the midfield and keep the ball moving you can get away with lower quality at the back. Neither of Germany’s central defenders did that well but the team as a whole did.
But I don’t think that the same applies to a season-long league campaign. As we found to our cost, teams that can’t defend get found out.
Mertesacker would add some height and experience. I think he would be as good a choice as Samba, but not as good as Cahill. But I’m still hoping that Arsenal will use what cash it has on a really classy central defender and a proper replacement for Gael Clichy.
This is supposedly the week we say goodbye to Almunia and Bendtner. Let’s hope we finally get to say some hellos as well!
