Arsenal Rumours Archive August 21 2011

21 Aug 2011 21:23:45
heard from a source that there will be two signings before weds and two after.

1. Gago, madrid prob loan
2. Subotic

3. Hazard, big marquee, superstar
4. a striker, no name

wenger wants nasri to stay

IMO this all sounds plausible and good, striker wont be a big star though, off the rails poss agbonglahor or bellamy.

Unlikely Agbonlahor- he's getting first team action at Villa and he's not good enough... Bellamy on the other hand is.... but I wouldn't complain with either...

My money is on "No name" as no ones coming

Well at least we could pay no name's wages

They should sign Own Goal, didnt he do really well a few seasons back and got top scorer? and is already on the score board this season

21 Aug 2011 19:43:29
Nasri going to real Madrid with kaka coming on a years loan Cahill and Dann will be signed first one before weds

If Kaka came I bet there would be record shirt sales

I know kaka hasn't be the anywhere near his best at madrid and many believe he has lost it but i reckon at arsenal he would make serious things happen (great players never lose their vision or technique, only form) don't think i believe it will happen though

21 Aug 2011 19:34:20
This has been leaked and is going around...this perhaps explains some of the mess our club has been in this summer.

Quite long reading, but well worth it- URGE ALL TO READ THIS>
LG

According to an unnamed source Arsene Wenger is at loggerheads with the Board over how the transfer budget should be spent. I am not at liberty to name that source, but I believe the information I received explains the current impasse at Arsenal. Before I explain what the differences between them are, let me make it clear that there is a substantial transfer budget that has to not only cover transfer fees but wages of incoming players and contract improvements of those already here.
The Board and Wenger are both in agreement that , to avoid the situation the club has encountered with Clichy and Nasri this summer, star men like Van Persie and Vermaelen and others with only two years left on their contract need to be offered new long term contracts with big pay rises.



And this is where the first difference of opinion has arisen between manager and club, The Board believe that offering to rise a players wage from £60K - £70K a week to £90K or £100K is more than enough, but Wenger believes that this is not enough, when City, Utd and Chelsea are paying their best(£180K - £250K), and that if we want to keep our best players we have to go to the next level, he wants the pay scale risen to £150K for our best.



This brings us neatly on to the next bone of contention between manager and club, the calibre of signing we can make. Both Wenger and the Board agree that to even maintain a top four spot, let alone win the title, several new signings are required.



The Board are willing to pay big transfer fees, as is Wenger (he is not lying when he says he would pay £30M - £40M), it is also where the difference of opinion comes. The Board would willingly meet the transfer fee, but will not meet the sort of wage demands a £30M signings asks for.



Wenger had a four pronged squad plan this summer,



Keep our best players
Buy in top level players to improve the team
Sign young players with big potential
Promote from within


Wenger has done parts 3 and 4. He wanted to do part 1 and 2 by Nasri being offered a massive contract so he would stay, and he hoped to persuade Cesc to stay one more year, with not only a new contract but with the calibre of player he signed. Wenger wanted Mata and Benzema, he still wants Hazzard, wages more than anything else are ruling out Mata and Benzema.



The Board had no problem meeting the Juan Mata transfer fee, but once Chelsea let it be known to his agents what they would offer, it blew Arsenal's contract offer out of the water. We ran into the same situation with Jones and Utd.



People ask why have Arsenal not signed Cahill, Dann or Samba etc, well its simple really, Wenger wants better players, the Board want him to sign the above level of player, as it sits with their wage scale, Arsene wants the next level up, a Subotic, a Hummells, but they come with not only high transfer fees but with massive wage demands.

Wenger would rather not sign a player at all, than sign someone for a big fee who he considers no better than what we have, the board have asked him to reconsider this stance, and that is why Cahill and Dann have been scouted this late in the window, Arsene sees them as not as good as Koscielny, and thinks it is the wrong way to use his budget, he wants better quality for the first 11, the board just want him to make signings to appease the fans.



Wenger had a major discussion with Kroenke and the Board on Members day. He was told in no uncertain terms that Nasri would have to be sold if he did not sign a contract, and between them they came to the decision to let Cesc go for less than his worth. But Wenger fought his corner, and made it clear the sort of player he wants and that our star men have to be given contract that will keep them, as you can not build if every year there is doubts who are staying and who are going. Arsene also reiterated his view that we need top quality players, not just one as good or possibly slightly better, and that these players come at a premium cost and that the club has to go up a level not only on fees but on wages.



Arsene Wenger is a company man, and will not come out with any of this, while under contract, no matter how much flack he takes, and that is why his comments in the media, since the Members day meeting, have been more for the ears of Stan and Ivan than for the fans, he is warning them. He wont' walk, and it will cost the club dear to sack him, and even more to shut him up if he is sacked, if they thought the deal David Dein struck with Bruce Rioch to keep him quiet was expensive, they will be blown away by what it will take to buy Arsene Wenger's silence.



Who wins this battle of wills may define not only what happens to Arsenal's season, but for many seasons to come.

I saw the original blog post but dont entirely believe it

Makes for painful reading. This is what I suspected has been going on for the past couple seasons really.

I have been saying or a while the problems stem from the board - although sometimes during games, I feel Wenger is to blame for poor tactical/subs decisions, that is a different story altogether. When it comes to transfers I have been saying for a long time that we need to question the board not the manager. That doesn't mean I know I am right as I maybe never will, and it doesn't mean this article is true, but this article sure as hell makes me feel like the feelings I believe make sense.

And I believe the fans need to put the board through its paces. I feel SO sorry for Wenger, he is an unbelievable manager and if he is sacked because of all this summer's nonsense, and because a portion of the fan base want him out without looking at all the ongoings and coming to the conclusion that the board are accountable, if we lose Wenger (and it will be a loss) because of all of this, then as an Arsenal fan I am out. I want nothing to do with our board if this is how they behave, and if it means I stop supporting the club, buying shirts and all the rest of it, then so be it. Only when they are gone will I invest my hard-earned in this club if Wenger is sacked. I love this club, I love the ethos of the club, and I love the manager, but I do not love our board one bit, I will always be an arsenal fan but I will financially support the club if this happens.

Raz

I absolutely believe this- hey who knows about the finer details, but the essence of this makes an awful lot of sense and it is not the first time I have heard 'things' about our board... instead if getting on wengers case we must put pressure on the board and the incompetent IG.

Well that sucks, if this is true then there doesnt really seem much Wenger can do. If he hasnt won the board over by now then another 10 days will make no difference. Im not lookin forward to this season that much at the moment.
BD

Not sure I beleive a word of it, and it does nothing to explain why we have quite so many underwhelming players on wages much higher than they would get at Man United or Liverpool

Ha ha great news

Great post like I said few days ago it's the board not AW noticed the havnt said anything for a while now but before the window opened IG and the rest of the lards were saying we will sign players ect loads of lies
Stay postive
Brummy gunner

This sounds extremly plausable to me & could explain what Lady Bracewell Smith meant when she said the problems were at board level.

Well its what i thought was going on , and if this is true good on wenger to stand up to the old croneys on the board hopefully this will turn out good for the club as there is no other sensible conclusion as the club would goi into deep decline if the board were to get there way , hopefully some of the fans that have it in for mr wenger will read this post and get behind him and the team and turn there attentions more towards the board need to bring our club forward not backwards enough said southeast gooner

Usmanov, please rescue our club from Kroenke and Gazidis

What has the wonderful game of football come to when players new £150000 aweek to play for our beloved Arsenal, it disgust's me.

I wouldn't be surprised at all about this. I stated earlier, the board havn't been quick in offering Wenger verbal support in the media With a 6% increase in season tickets, I'm amazed there aren't chants aimed at the board anyway.

"Wenger had a major discussion with Kroenke and the Board on Members day"

Doesn't mean anything as such, just that I remember someone posting here on members day who attended, saying he saw wenger and some of board with very serious looking faces...and had a feeling a 'big meeting' was going on and wondered what it could be. This was kind of dismissed here as - so what.

But fair play to the guy, seems he was onto something.

Hmm if this is the case that explains this situation we find ourselves and i have always wondered why Arsene Wenger would want to shot himself on the foot institing that the crop of players we have now are good some of them are VP VT Kos. It also means that this is Our great Manager's last season because of this money bags

If this is true then Wenger should does have his hands tied. Arsenal is not unlike other clubs who also include players wages as part of their transfer fees (Man Utd, Liverpool and Spurs do this regularly).
The issues I personally have with what is claimed are the following -
1) If Arsenal charge more than any other club for tickets and season tickets, then where is this money being invested? Surely there should be no problem with the amount of money they make on an average matchday, along with concessions, shirt sales etc?
2) If Wenger truely thinks that Koscielny is as good as Gary Cahill then he needs his head tested. I have always been of the opinion that Wenger looks at statistics before signing a player, and if he compared Cahill to Koscielny then it would be obvious who is better.
3) Why the heel is Wenger is putting up with the alleged impasse by the board at Arsenal? Do you think Fergie would put up with the Glazers not investing in the team every other season? Wenger, like Fergie, has overall control at their clubs unlike any other manager in the league. Wenger should simply state what the problems are, get the fans back onside by doing so, and that may force the boards hand

At the end of the day Wenger is unsackable. He has built Arsenal into the solid foundation they are today. He has developed your youth program and ensured a smooth transition from Highbury to the Emirates. I think it's time the Arsenal fans started to organise mass protests, like Liverpool and United have done recently. against the board in order to open the publics eyes and also gain media coverage.

I am not an Arsenal fan, but I do respect what the club stands for. I also respect Wenger as a manager, but I do fear for his sanity if this continues.

Rich

I think you're spot on Rich- for a while I've been thinking that arsenal fans, by and large are fairly passive when it comes to the club- sure you will get the boo's at the ground (which is kind of passive-aggressive...), you will have 'senior' fans asking questions at organised meetings, but when it comes to a concerted 'protest' as you suggest, it never happens.

Perhaps, there has never been the need, but I think this is a turning point for the club and the time for fan action is now.

There is something fundamentally wrong at the club particularly reagrding transfers and the fans are tired of it. We need change, as I fear we will get further behind.

As we know, it much harder to get back to the top, just look around at what clubs have spent to try, than maintaining it. This appears to be down to a lack of invest in proven players.

Plausable and scary, but it is still wrong that very average players like Diaby etc were given contract extensions with big pay rises over the past year when they are clearly not good enough, or mentally good enough ( Newcastle ) to take Arsenal back to where we used to be.

Well Arsenal fans now have a common cause for which to protest. I am not suggesting that any protest should be turned into violence or stupidity. What should be organised is some kind of shirt or scarf the fans can buy, but not from the club. Instead these should be made available from independent traders so the club does not pocket the money. A bit like the green and gold campaign at Old Trafford, where fans also made point of not buying tickets.

I would not recommend that all fans refuse to buy tickets, as for every fan who doesn't, some other fan will. It can also be counter productive. But some kind of protest and common theme is needed.

I don't pretend to know the workings of Arsenal football club, but what I am certain of is that unless action is taken then the board at Arsenal will continue to ride over Wenger and the fans.

Rich

I think Koscielny is every bit as good as Cahill, who is I grant you a very good player.

I have no trouble believing this, Arsenal is first and foremost a business and that's how it's run.
The reason we're still skint even with a big shiny new stadium and expensive tickets is partly the cost of paying off said stadium, but also the fact that our merchandising revenue is far below ManU and Liverpool's level. Kroenke has plans to change that, but a mid table side won't be part of those plans. I think we do need to make a statement here.
Still wouldn't trade AW for any other manager except a 50 year old Demento

21 Aug 2011 17:55:52
First time poster here. Just spoken to my brother who is a lifetime Arsenal fan as am I. He was at Gatwick airport this afternoon on a flight to Majorca and he swears blind he saw Niklas Bendtner there. He would have no reason to lie and said that other people were double - taking when looking at him. His girlfriend however says it was not him.

21 Aug 2011 17:26:08
arsene has been scouting more teenage south americans, brazilian cam oscar.
oscar has a 26million release clause from his team.
he also hit a hat-trick in the final to lift the u-20's world cup.

21 Aug 2011 16:00:49
The reason the Nasri deal has stalled, is because a late offer from real Madrid has came in. Arsenal are more interested in this offer as it offers player plus cash deal. Expect nasri to be at Real and Benzema to v an arsenal player by Friday.

Would Be Good If True

This should be in the wish list collum

I very much doubt it but if true would be fantastic.

Too good to be true comes to mind..

Mean to say Madrid will simply give arsenal their first choice striker to get another flair player wen they have ronaldo di maria alonso kaka contraeo higuain etcc stop talking bull and write something believable

Who even cares if we get some1 in a trade. i would take 15m just to keep him out of city

Maybe its just me being an optimist here but i really dont believe Nasri will leave based on a number of things. 1. Hes openly stated he loves the club and the players he is with. 2. He wouldnt have started against liverpool if he was practically out the door (cesc didnt feature pretty much at all preseason). 3. he would not have taken the time to say to the arsenal fans he felt disrespected at the chants he recieved at st james park if he was on his way...he wouldve just brushed it off and signed on the Man City contract but instead he went out of his way to defend his name and his status as an arsenal player....lastly Nasri is a smart player and judging from his character he seems to be someone who would much rather be the cornerstone of Arsenal's starting 11 than some overpaid bench warmer (a la Shay Given) in Manchester. He will struggle to get in to both Manchester City's and Real Madrid's starting lineups is the bottom line for me.

The only reason it has stalled is because wenger has named him in the champions league squad, so the likes of him goin to man city and madrid now are low because they can't use him in europe

21 Aug 2011 14:14:16
Simple, Baines / Cahill or Jags / Parker / Higuain and a little dream of Kaka on Loan how difficult is that

First Agree A Price Then Wages The Club Thinks They Should Be Paid Then Paper Work Has To Clear

Close but for me it would be Cahil, Dann and Baines, Parker and Hazard and then maybe Higuain and Nasri,Bendtner and the other dead wood to leave

Firstly hes had all summer as we all new who wanted to leave,secondly i would settle for your choices just think kaka maybe worth a go for some experience

For me
Cahill-CB
Vertonghen-CB/LB/RB/DM
Martin-AM
Hazard-WF
Benzema-CF
Kaka would be good but way to injury prone. That being said I wouldn't be opposed to him signing.

21 Aug 2011 14:01:15
Arsenal could get Kaka on loan

www.metro.co.uk/sport/872981-kaka-emerges-as-loan-transfer-target-for-arsenal

The metro takes BS. The writers just make some p*sh up so people will read it.

KAKA WHY WOULD ARSENAL WANT HIM

21 Aug 2011 12:37:38
The board are to blame not wenger.
Wenger feels guilty for asking for the stadium to be built
a bunch of greety ppl 100m lady smith / 97m dein (bought for 260k), fizman (RIP) 140m+ etc etc

Fair enough make some money on your investment as you deserve it but you have to give to the club.
Lady smith take 20m and give back 80m to the club.

250m stadium debts + 150approx other debts. 400m debt
roughly 700m to buy the club in shares.

Well the so called ppl that love the club could have given it to ursmov or kronke for minimum price / cleared the debts and had 300m to spend on the team / infrastructure

Stadium debit is easily manageable, it would actually cost more in penalties to pay it off earlier

Arsenal are very cash rich - even before the Fab deal - money is clearly not the Problem here more likely the board don't want to pay the wages that Man C, Man U, Chelsea and others are willing to pay. Blackburn will have the same problem shortly of they stick with a low wage ( for prem league) policy

21 Aug 2011 10:25:51
Before we begin I just want to say that I am a huge fan of wenger but every dog has his day and I think he has had his
We should of got mata, jones, Enrique and many others but again the board let us all down
You only have to look at the empty seats yesterday to see that the fans are no longer willing to pay over the odds to see us fail again
Something needs to change and I think it's wenger thanks for the good times but time to bow out
P.s we should try and sign sturrage from chelski he will be great

I for one have given up hope on Wenger.

Totally agree....the guy has been amazing for us, but last 2 years he has lost his way....no signings in positions we all know are important.....love the guy but as you said evry dog has his day.....just unsure who would take over from him....I was hoping for Dennis or even Henry to join and take over (even Vieira) but it has not happened

Dennis and Thierry, Legendary players but you couldn't throw them straight in to managing Arsenal. maybe get them in the back room first.

If you acknowledge that the board let the club, team and fans down with regard to transfers then call for the board to go not for Wenger. I'm convinced he is being used as a smoke screen. The board are money-greedy and tight fisted and refuse to spend on same level as competition. Keep Wenger get rid of the dead wood in the board room and bring back Dein.

NW4 Gooner

Im not saying i want this to happen but if arsene wenger does leave arsenal.I fear the board would go for the cheap option replacement like 2nd rate mark hughes who is out of work and would not cost a lot.but wenger is near the end.

Well said NW4 Gooner. Wenger takes entirely too much of the blame for the situation the club is in. This board is clearly restricting his transfer funds and then throwing him under the bus whenever the issue comes up. Wenger is not so blind to not realize the squad needs reinforcements, but the lack of funds released by the board is putting him in a horrible position.

All those empty seats you see at the emirates are aleady paid for by season ticket holders who don't go or can't go.... Pretty much every game is that far off selling out at the emirates lastI heard.

Why are you saying the board is responsible so Wenger has to go? That makes no sense. AW answers to the board, and they are the one who ultimately decide who comes and goes. Nobody seems to respect the fact that in 5 years time our team will be winning everything while Wenger, who may not be with us by then, will have to watch someone else take all the credit for something he built. Wenger works with what the board give him. Give him credit.

Agree with the comments that the board is the real thing to worry about

You well never be able to sign sturridge. This isn't FIFA.

I know about the board but it's wenger who controls the team and it's bot the board who control the tactics used

agreed 100% mate.

AW has consistantly said that he has control over all team matters. He decides who to bid for and how much. He is to blame for the current mess.

All you arsenal fans should be careful what you wish for wenger is one of the top coaches in the world ,and who would you get to replace him? i am a liverpool fan on here with my son who is a gunner . wenger has made your team a pleasure to watch for years and i am sure that they will entertain for years to come. have faith in him and support him or you could end up with woy

He's just spent the best part of 15 mill on a 17 year old winger from league 1 Did we need to? I'm tired of people saying he's doing well with what we've got We're not Everton who don't have a pot to P in

Munnster

We seem to forget that Wenger has this dream of emulating the Ajax way of football. It's not just the footballing way but the scouting for younger talent to be sold on, preferably for large amounts of money. The board have hardly been vocal in defence of Wenger after his abortion of building his squad for this coming season. Do feel a bit sorry for the guy, but it is of his own making & sentiment is will only go so far.
MJG

I feel like people are treating Arsene Wenger like he was a cheating spouse whom we can no longer fully trust anymore...He is a brilliant football manager, will go down as one of the best EVER...the only reason why we are even considering letting him go is due to the premier league and football in general being too damn money orientated. If Roman Abramovich and Manchester City's owner (didnt know his name just know he's a Sheikh) hadn't come along and bought the premier league title then Arsenal and Manchester United would be duking it out year after year for supremacy. Not to say having all this money invested is 100% bad i mean lets be honest the Premier League is by far and large the best and most competitive footballing league in the world and a portion of credit for that is the big spenders bringing in quality talent. That being said am i only one that believes it would be better if the FA imposed limits on maximum wages for players like they do in american sports (NBA, NFL, etc). Impose a Salary Cap based on how much the club brought in the previous year? Clubs like Portsmouth and Leeds wouldn't have gotten into financial turmoil if they were unable to spend more than a certain amount. Just my oppinion...bottom line Love Wenger but hate how Money driven the sport is.

21 Aug 2011 08:00:06
Now I would like to give a few gunners a little bit of hope and my view on what wenger NEEDS to do.

So our defence needs back up urgently; scezceney was impeccable, sagna was solid but vermalen just bossed the back four on his own and made Carroll his bitch didn't get much of the ball a credit to the verminator.

Okay so let's get signing so here is what I would do and what I think wenger would do if he were to share my thinking in the areas.

Cahill £17m
Ally Cissohko £8m
Yanns M'Villa £17.5m
Eden Hazard £27m
Zarate £10m

Total spend; £68.5m

Sales;

Fabregas £34m
Eboue £4m

Plus £30m from the pot

The likeliness of this taking place 30%

They only have about 13m from th fabregas transfer so far, so i cant see this happening

Them 4 apart from m'villa are very possible, i personally would prefer samba than cahill.

M'Vila is very unlikely. What we should do is get Parker on loan from West Ham. I would get Vertonghen as he is very versatile and he could cover Gibbs. Agree with the rest. Perhaps also a cheeky bid for Marvin Martin?

Your total spend is 79.5m not 68.5m

30%? More like 1%.

Typical Gooner....cant add up. dont worry
, u will have enough to spend when the very last half decent players you have left jump ship.

I would like these signings. However, Ally Cissohko plated for Lyonais in the CL qualifier and is now cup tied.

21 Aug 2011 02:25:58
edd are we in talks for zarate {Ed002's Note - There was some discussion on Thursday.}

21 Aug 2011 00:24:20
Hazard and Mvilla and heading to Arsenal

Jay