Tomorrow marks the start of a new month where player and staff transfers will be the main activity all over the globe. We the gooners hope that AW will do his business early enough so that the fresh blood will have enough time to gel into the squad before the new season kicks off. In 2009, AW had to wait for the transfer deadline day in February before unveiling Arshavin to the World. In the winter transfer window this season, he acquired the services of a Japanese youngling that has the DNA of Hidetoshi Nakata, Shunsuke Nakamura, Cartoon Networks’ Samurai Jack and Street Fighter’s Ryu. The bloke took the EreDivisie by storm in just 5 months but he may not be eligible to play for the Gunners due to work permit problems so a second spell with the Dutch outfit might be on the cards.
Still sticking to transfer news, Barcelona is back again to launch another futile attempt to bring Arsenal’s captain to their Alien camp. The media Vultures say that a £30m bid is on the cards. For a player like Francesc Fabregas, £30m is preposterous. Even a shitty player like James Flour Mill-ner commanded the same amount and I haven’t even mentioned Andy Carroll yet. We all know that Man City say that they can pay up to £58m for El Capitan but the player has made it clear that if he’s ever going to leave Arsenal this summer, Planet Barcelona will be the only destination. I still hope that Cesc will stay because he’s absolutely vital in Arsenal’s trophy hunt next season. Denilson on the other hand is a player whose departure might be celebrated in some corners of the World. When he was on the pitch, Arsenal won only 33% percent of its games this season. His departure also ensures that a much better holding midfielder would be bought in his stead. We all know that AW is a replacement specialist so let’s keep our fingers crossed as the days go by. Sevilla has come to the Brazilian’s rescue to offer £8m for his services. Denilson cost Arsenal £3.4m from Sao Paulo in 2006 so a fee of £8m may not be the highest in the World but the club pat its back and say that it made over 100% profit from his sale because we all know that Arsenal is all about profits.
Nigeria hosts Argentina in an international friendly tomorrow so a host of international friendlies and qualifiers will take place in the course of the week. Arsenal is one the top sides in World football so it was expected that a considerable chunk of their squad will be called up for international duty. All Gunners that will leave London for their various destinations are 17 in number. They include
Thomas Vermaelen
The Verminator injured his Achilles tendon when he represented his country in September and that injury robbed Arsenal off his services for the season. He’s fully fit again so he’s been invited to captain his nation when they host Turkey on the 3rd of June in a Euro 2012 qualifier.
Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere and Johan Djourou
After defeating Wales in their last Euro 2012 qualifier, England is now at the top of the food chain in Group G ahead of Montenegro thanks to goal difference. Theo Walcott and Jack Wilshere will lock horns against Johan Djourou on the 4th of June in Wembley.
Robin van Persie
Arsenal’s red hot Flying Dutchman will get his chance to continue his amazing goal scoring form when the Oranje travel to South America to take on Brazil on the 4th and Uruguay on the 8th
Aaron Ramsey
Wales 2-0 Northern Ireland, May 27
Wales 1-3 Scotland, May 25
Rambo scored for his country as they beat Northern Ireland 2-0 in the Nations Cup on Friday but came in as a sub when they were beaten by the Scots.
Samir Nasri, Bacary Sagna, Abou Diaby and Gael Clichy
In a squad infested with Frenchies, Laurent Blanc decided to pick only 4 to play qualifiers against Belarus, Ukraine and Poland on the 3rd, 6th and 9th respectively.
Tomas Rosicky
This season will probably go down as Tomas Rosicky’s worst season in the club because he spent countless days injured and wasn’t too impressive when he was on the pitch. His lowest point was the penalty miss against Sunderland while his highest should be his first goal since the Feudal Age against Leyton Orient. He has been invited by his boss to captain his nation when they play Peru on the 4th and Japan on the 9th.
Wojciech Szczesny
Arsenal’s No. 1 will face a true test of his ability on the international scene when Poland hosts Argentina on the 5th before taking on France on the 9th.
Andrei Arshavin
Russia’s little leader will rally his troops when they host Armenia on the 4th in a Euro 2012 qualifier before playing with Cameroon on the 9th.
Nicklas Bendtner
Danish sweetheart Nicklas Bendtner will get another chance to show off his pink boots when they host Iceland in a Scandinavian affair with a place in Euro 2012 finals up for grabs. The game will take place on the 4th.
Marouane Chamakh
Chamakh has been called up to play a Nations Cup qualifier against their neighbours Algeria on the 4th
Farmer Eboue
It’s plant cropping time again in Africa so Farmer Eboue has been called by the Elephants boss to teach his fellow Ivoirians how to plant cocoa in Benin Republic on the 5th.
Kieran Gibbs and Henri Lansbury
European Under-21 Championships, June 11 – June 25
The young duo have been called up to the England squad for next month’s European Under-21s Championships in Denmark. Stuart Pearce’s side begins their campaign on June 12 against Spain in Herning. They then meet Ukraine at the same venue on June 15 and finish their Group B fixtures on June 19 against Czech Republic. Before then, England takes on Norway in a warm-up fixture at St. Mary’s Stadium on June 5.
Jack Andrew Wilshere is the revelation of this concluded season and has earned plaudits for his exploits on the pitch. He may not have the strongest of bodies physically but his mental state can be compared to a father that has 3 kids. His composure with the ball is top notch; his ball control is second to none. He also has an eagle for that killer through ball and he’s never afraid to go into a challenge. There were games he was hacked and scythed to the ground countless times but he simply got up and continued doing his thing but there were other games he lost his cool with the Stoke match a noteworthy game. Wilshere won the PFA Young Player of the Year award because of his consistent performances on the field of play and he also ended up being Arsenal’s and Gooner Daily’s Player of the Season. He has said that it will be a disaster if Arsenal doesn’t secure any trophy of any sort next season. Going without a trophy next season will be meltdown for we the Arsenal faithful.
It would certainly mean that the fans will request for AW’s head on a plate and the board might be under extreme pressure to meet their demands. Wilshere went on to say a lot of inspiring words,
“A hundred per cent it will be a disaster if we don’t win a trophy next season. We know that. The fans feel it. We feel it. We just need to win a trophy. There have been times at halftime when there have been arguments and we’ve come back out and won. We do miss a player like Patrick Vieira. But there are leaders at Arsenal, the experienced players like Robin.
Thomas Vermaelen is back — that’s great. We’ve got Van Persie, Vermaelen, Cesc. We probably need a few more big leaders to help us out. People say Cesc doesn’t look like a captain, but he’s been great for me this season. I hear people say he’s not a good leader, but I think he’s a good leader. On the pitch he is always helping me. Off the pitch he has become a good friend. He’s been over in England eight years, but Barcelona is his home. It’s hard for him so I can understand where he’s coming from but he’s the Arsenal captain and he’s been great this season and we hope he can be great next season. In some of our games he has been our best player by a mile, and we need to keep our best players if we want to win things. He likes Arsenal, and I’m sure he wants to be at Arsenal. If they can reach an agreement then I’m sure he’ll want to stay. He needs to stay.
When things were going well, we were good at that – all together. When it went wrong maybe our heads went a bit and we never got it back. There will be a lot of things going on in the summer to see where it wrong. Not so much keep going on at the ref, but just let them know. You see the players at Man United and they are great at it. They are round the ref.
If nobody watched Arsenal play and saw they finished fourth with no trophies, then everyone would say it’s a bad season but look at some of the games — you don’t beat Barcelona every week. So we can take some positives. We were so close against Birmingham to winning a trophy and then we lost in the last minute. That’s the last thing you want because Koscielny must have felt like I thought, that it was a bit unprofessional to ruffle his hair up. It was the worst way to lose and since then it just seems to have gone wrong. We just need that one trophy and it’s going to change. We said before the Birmingham game that this could change our season if we win it and if we lose it. It changed it for us.
We lost it and we went out the Champions League and it went downhill from there. Wilshere has strong support for Wenger. The manager stuck with me and he gave me that chance and hopefully I’ve repaid him. Because he’s a good manager he wants to protect his players but we have to take responsibility. We need to stay in the top four and push on for a trophy.”
He still had the time to talk about his nation,
“My perfect formation would be 4-3-3 with one holding and then the two going forward. I would be one of the ones going forward – like we played with England against Wales with Scotty Parker holding and me and Frank Lampard. He has great hope for England’s future. Definitely there are players. Josh McEachran is a great player. I hope next year he can break into the England team, like I did this year. Theo Walcott’s maturing really well. People were saying he didn’t really find the final ball but this year he has been brilliant for us. He’s popped up with some goals.
There’s Jack Rodwell, Adam Johnson, younger players like John Bostock who haven’t really had their chance yet. In the England team, there’s Ashley Young, Theo, Andy Carroll, Adam Johnson, me. There are a lot of good young English players coming through, maybe a bit like the Spanish players. Obviously I look at the Spanish and want to play like them because they’re the best in the world and won the World Cup. That style of football is the way I like to play.
There are English players like Joe Cole and Ashley Young who can play that way.”
These are certainly the words of a man that has what it takes to lead Arsenal and England in the near future. Fabio Hitler has even confirmed it himself that Wilshere has a very bright future. Jack Wilshere has been likened to Paul Gascoigne, Liam Brady and Paul Scholes.
Speaking of St. Paulinus of Manchester, the veteran has decided to call it quits with football to end an illustrious career that saw him win a shitload of trophies under Sir Alex Chewie. Neville and van der Save did it before him but his retirement will definitely be a great loss to football but I can’t recall many central midfielders that had the attributes of Scholes all at once. A central midfielder whose through passes where like hot knife through butter, shots like a battering ram and the aggression of a raging bull that’s about to fight it out with a matador. Paul Scholes will surely be missed not just by Man Utd fans but by neutral football lovers. I heard that he’ll be given a coaching role at the club in appreciation for his years of service.
In the Arsenal news, I urge to check out this Arsenal season review by Sounak Mukharjee. I really loved the way he categorized the article. He started with the season targets set by the club before writing about the goalies, defenders, midfielders and the strikers. He also wrote about the highs and lows of the season. Trust me, it’s worth a read.
I would also like you to check out Omar Almasri’s Arsenal blog called O Posts. He has been writing about and giving in-depth info of Arsenal’s transfer targets.
The tweet of the day goes to Mayorbaze,
“@Mayorbaze: Not a bad way 2 start the exodus but I would have loved to see Almunia topping that list. I don’t mind if we pay the interested club to get Almunia”
Come to think of it, no one is talking about our loyal SpanEnglish goalie.
Here’s to Jack Wilshere.
A rare gem at Arsenal Football Club.
Sayonara