Transfer Talk: Who should Arsenal target this summer?
Yup, it’s that time of year again. The domestic season has finished and the back pages of all the national papers will be full to the brim with the latest transfer rumours and done deals. So lets have a look at the Arsenal contingent this summer.
There’s only one position to start at Arsenal and that is in goal. With all 3 first team ‘keepers making high profile errors this season, Arsene Wenger will surely be on the lookout for a new number 1 next season. Juventus king Gianluigi Buffon has been linked already this summer but a slightly more likely option would be CSKA Moscow and Russia goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, who fits the Wenger criteria perfectly; young, good and not English.
Akinfeev made his international debut aged just 18 and has gone on to win 40 caps for his country despite being just 24 years old, and a move to one of the big European leagues cannot be far away. Should a move for Akinfeev not work out then Wenger has an abundance of talented young ‘keepers to look through.
German international Manuer Neuer has been heavily linked with Arsenal before after former goalkeeper Jens Lehmann recommended him to the Arsenal scouting team 2 seasons ago. If Wenger was to look at Neuer then he would also do well to take a look at Dortmund’s Roman Weidenfeller, who was originally signed as Jens Lehmann’s replacement at Die Borussen.
With William Gallas not signing a new contract and almost certainly leaving this summer, with Roma interested, Wenger’s back line looks extremely bare all of a sudden and Wenger will surely need to sign a partner for Thomas Vermaelen should Gallas jump ship.
Potential suitors could be Serbian defender Neven Subotic, who has been drawing interest from Manchester United of late, or the ever-present in rumour columns, Philippe Mexes of AS Roma. The former is more likely here because Wenger is unlikely to pay the vast sum of money that Roma would want for Mexes. There have also been reports in the media that if Mexes was to move clubs this summer then it would be to Chelsea and not anyone else.
Whenever Alex Song has been unavailable to play this season the chasm in the Arsenal midfield has been there loud and clear for all to see. What Arsenal really need is someone who is quality back-up to Song and could also play in other positions if the need arises.
That man could be Blaise Matuidi, the Saint-Etienne captain. Whilst being a predominantly defensive midfielder, he can also play in central midfield and at left back and is a terrific passer of the ball. Wenger was rumoured to be very interested in Matuidi as early as 2007 but has never made an offer for the midfielder. Could this summer be different?
Another young, French, defensive midfielder has been heavily linked with the Gunners this summer is Toulouse powerhouse Moussa Sissoko. Recently Sissoko stated that it would be his “dream to join Arsenal” and he has already drawn strong comparisons with former Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira. A box-to-box, all action brute, Sissoko has already been capped twice for the French national team at the tender age of 20.
A place where Arsenal don’t really need any additions to the squad is on the wing but that hasn’t stopped them from being linked with Manchester City speedster Shaun Wright-Phillips and Nice wide man Loic Remy. With Theo Walcott already on their books Wright-Phillips is an unlikely signing on the right hand side for Arsenal as is Loic Remy who is more at home when playing behind the main striker, a position which is not used at Arsenal, than he is on the wing.
Although he does play left wing for Nice on occasion it is doubtful he will be able to prise that spot away from Andrey Arshavin.
Finally, an honourable mention goes to Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh, who we will be seeing in an Arsenal shirt next season barring a freak turn of events. The Moroccan, who has the best headed goal return in European top-flight football, has already stated that he will be playing for Arsenal next season and Arsene Wenger has done little to hush up the rumours.
Wenger has already said that he will unveil a new signing before the World Cup starts and that signing is likely to be Chamakh, unless Wenger has an ace up his sleeve.
Which players should be on Arsenal’s radar this summer? Tell us your thoughts below.
(Photo via wallyg on Flickr)
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Just Football presents…
In:
GK – Akinfeev
CB – Subotic/Jagielka
CM – Gourcuff
LM – Ben Arfa
ST – Chamakh,Huntelaar
Out:
Almunia, Gallas, Denilson, Arshavin and Eduardo.
I wish Buffon to join Arsenal but I don’t think wenger would splash out huge money for one player. Igor Akinfeev is not that great. So I go with either Neuer or Joe Hart (they’ll fit in our budget). For defenders, Philippe Mexes and Neven Subotic are the ideal replacement and no other thought…If we earn money through selling of players (like Eduardo, Denilson, etc) then we need buy a world class striker and a bonus of attacking midfielder. My choices for striker is David Villa and yoann gourcuff for midfield position.
Wenger may as well resign Jimmy Carter in between goals and Andy Lineghan as a striker for all we know!!
very good i like all the transfers apart from mexes he is total bullshit any day i would have senderos over mexes rather than him we could have samba from blackburn or shawcross(if it was not for that sick tackle on ramsey).
Any of the following will be good, within our budget and realistic.
GK: Buffon, Akinfeev, Frey, Hart (The first being unlikely)
CB: (one of to replace Gallas)Zapata, Hangeland, Subotic
DM: Yaya, Melo, Inler, Matuidi
Going forward we are okay. Chamakh will be the new improved Adebayor
NB: We have a problem in defensive midfield. Ideally I would like to see us deal with this issue internally with Eastmund or Coqelin, as I would rather Denilson improve. Diaby is world class alongside Song. It is just without him that is an issue.
Wasn’t Arsenal also linked to Frey and Toulalan recently?
Oh, and hands off Gregory van der Wiel please. Just saying.
A work colleague of mine is french and returned from france this morning on th Euro star and saw Chamakh on the train. He said there was a bit of chatter and excitment in the crowds and then he relised it was because it was chamakh. my colleague has no need to lie so I assume if it is true then Chamach is gonna have a medical today.
Exclusive inside information brought to you by bigd daddy on Just Football! We shall find out shortly I guess…
sky sports news is now showing on their yellow ticker that Chamahk is in london to talk about a move to us. I guess it was true.
It was true! You star!
A job at Sky Sports awaits
i think we need only three-four players to complete our team
IN:
gk: hart/buffon/someone from prem league
def: subotic/zapata/jagielka
mid: yaya toure/gourcuff/melo
OUT: eduardo,rosicky,gallas,almunia
in case if fabregas goes we should go for ireland. i think he will perfectly suit arsenal
In:
Joe hart or Green
Mandanda, Yaya toure, Phil Jones, Chamakh and Wright-Phillips
out:
Rosicky, Almunia, Denilson and Vela
What odds are Arsenal for the title next season? a few good signings this summer and they would be worth a few quid bet.
I’m sorry, but i think a lot of these signings are unrealistic. Wenger has never been a fan of billboard signings, so why would he spend £10-15m on 4 or 5 players (I’m thinking about Ben Arfa, Subotic, Akinfeev, Gourcuff, Huntelaar?
Maybe he is finally realising his team are nowhere near lifting the title and have won nothing for half a decade?
Money from the Highbury flats development project is also starting to come in – as is, according to Guillem Balague today, a £30 million windfall for the transfer of Cesc Fabregas.
I think these are the players that Arsene Wenger should buy : -
GK : Joe Hart, Manuel Neuer, Sebastian Frey, Hugo Lloris
DF : Neven Subotic, Giorgio Chiellini, Philippe Mexes, David Luiz
MF : Yoann Gourcuff, Blaise Matuidi, Eden Hazard, Juan Mata,
Sergio Canales, Danielle De Rossi, Jack Rodwell, Javi Martinez,
Craig Bellamy
ST : Alexandre Pato, Gonzalo Higuain, Mauro Zarate, Karim Benzema,
Luis Suarez, Loic Remy, Ivica Olic, Mohamed Zidan
All of them?
While you’re at it you may as well throw Ronaldo and Messi in there!
I think these are the players that Arsene Wenger should sell : -
1) Fabianski
2) William Gallas ( if he wants to go )
3) Mikael Sivestre
4) Eduardo
IN BUFFON , CICINHO , MERETSACKER , YAYA TOURE , ARTETA , CHAMAKH , PALOSCHI , BRUNO GAMA , CHHETRI , JOE . HART , P.LAHM , BADSTUBER , MICHAEL BASTOS……….
OUT ALMUNIA , FABIANSKI , EBOUE , RAMSAY , DENILSON , EDUARDO , CLECHY , GALLAS , FABREGAS , ARSHAVIN………..
TRY TO TAKE RIBERY…….OR TORRES…………
Its just a suggestion…
I’m not trying to say to buy all of them, just some of them…
Ahh ok Brian. I was going to say – Wenger would be pretty busy trying to buy a completely new squad there!
Question for you – if you could only have 1 from each position you mentioned which 4 would you choose?
I would choose : -
GK : Manuel Neuer
DF : Neven Subotic
MF : Yoann Gourcuff
ST : Alexandre Pato
I believe we have a good team but we need about 3-4 changes that being said this is what I believe will happen…
OUT: Almunia, Gallas, Fabregas
IN: Lloris or Frey, Hangeland or Jaglieka, Gourcuff, Chamakh
Those are fairly realistic targets Khalifa. I’d be interested to see who Wenger targets to replace Fabregas if or when he does leave Arsenal – whether he puts Arshavin into a central creative role or buys someone like Gourcuff to pull the strings in midfield.
Yeah, Gourcuff will fill in perfectly in Fabregas’ role.
In:
gk:hart,neuer
cb:carvalho
str:suarez,pato,ebrahimovich
mid:sissoko
out:
denilson
silvestre
almunia
Recent rumours say that Arsenal are trying to buy Stephane Mbia from Marseille for 16M. Do you think Arsenal should buy him?
My name is abraham assefa
Iam best fan of arsenal 8-10 loves arsen
but he makes a mistek in buying selling process.
in my opinion in summer transfer;
in ramos,maxes,in defender side
st david villa,chamak,cole
out almuniya,sagna,silvester,trayora,rosicky,eduardo,
Recently I heard that Chelsea is releasing Joe Cole for free. Arsene Wenger is very interested in him and Joe Cole is interested on joining Arsenal. Do you think Arsene Wenger should bring him to Arsenal?
Does anybody know if havard nordveidt is gonna be moved up to first team…he hasnt been doing that well at nunberg, but maybe that’s because he’s playing out of position
Great news! Laurent Koscielny of Lorient has agreed to join Arsenal. Arsene Wenger wants to buy Gregory van der Wiel and Jan Vertonghen of Ajax for around 25 to 30 million, moreover, both of them want to join Arsenal.
I think Asamoah Gyan would be a good buy for Arsenal. He is playing very good for Ghana.
I think Arsenal should also buy Róbert Vittek. He has scored many goals for Slovakia and he even contributed in Slovakia’s win over Italy to secure Slovakia to Round 16. He would be a good addition to the squad.
in koikoff mertszacker hart macgeedy young
if he is really aiming for better result or winning the league next season then he should try getting “Santos” and “Defoe”. it might lift the attacking speed for bit by also adding our current youngsters “wilcott and nasri on the mix.
I think these are the players that Arsene Wenger should buy : -
GK : Manuel Neuer ( 15M )
DF : Jan Vertonghen ( 10M ),
MF : Felipe Melo ( Swap deal with Gael Clichy to Juventus, 26M ), Mesut Ozil ( 20M ), Yoann Gourcuff ( 22M )
ST : Alexandre Pato, Gonzalo Higuain, Mauro Zarate, Karim Benzema,
Luis Suarez, Loic Remy, Ivica Olic, Mohamed Zidan
Sorry guys that was the wrong one, the next one is the right one. : )
I think these are the players that Arsene Wenger should buy : -
GK : Manuel Neuer ( 15M ), Maarten Stekelenburg ( 10M )
DF : Jan Vertonghen ( 10M ), Per Mertesacker (10M ), Serdar Tasci ( 10M )
MF : Felipe Melo ( Swap deal with Gael Clichy to Juventus, 22M ), Sami Khedira, Mesut Ozil ( 20M ), Yoann Gourcuff ( 22M )
ST : Luis Suarez ( 35M ), Asamoah Gyan ( 20M )
To fund those transfers, I think these are the players that Arsene Wenger should sell : -
1) Fabianski
2) William Gallas
3) Mikael Sivestre
4) Eduardo
5) Thomas Rosicky
6) Manuel Almunia
If Arsene Wenger buy the players that was suggested, Arsenal new formation would be like this : -
Luis Suarez / Robin van Persie / Marouane Chamakh / Asamoah Gyan
.
Yoann Gourcuff
.
Mesut Ozil Andrey Arshavin / Samir Nasri
. .
Cesc Fabregas
.
Felipe Melo / Sami Khedira
.
Jan Vertonghen Thomas Vermaelen Laurent Koscielny Bacary Sagna
. . .
Manuel Neuer
.
winston reid from new zealand ; static form of defense against paraguay ,italy and slovakia
Latest news!!!!!
Arsenal are going to bid £42m for Ajax trio : -
1) Maarten Stekelenburg
2) Gregory van der Wiel
3) Luis Suarez
I’m sure that this bid for the three of them will be accepted by Ajax because of their financial problem.
If three of them join Arsenal, Arsenal will be invincible…… FOREVER!!!!!
In Arsenal and Arsene we trust.
Sebastian Giovinco is also an Arsenal target. Arsenal are set to bid 7.5 m for him.
Arsenal Set for Surprise £13.5m for Loic Remy as Liverpool and West Ham talks stall after a £12.5m bid was rejected by Nice. Loic Remy wants to come to Arsenal. He is an exciting striker.
Great news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ajax are set to sell Gregory van der Wiel to Arsenal.
i wonder why wenger doesn’t want to buy spanish ,italy,or brazil player instead of buying french player