Van Persie mess, Denilson back on loan, why? Nigeria tour postponed – AFC

Well the past 48 hours have been a bit of a PR disaster for Arsenal football club haven’t they? The biggest hammer blow being the Robin Van Persie revelation that he has made the decision that he will not extend his current contract and therefore signalled the end of his Arsenal career. This news was excellently summarised by my partner in crime Cdrive77’s blog post yesterday.

Arsenal fans are used to losing their top player (and captain) year on year, when will this trend stop? For all the talk of self sustainability that gets spewed out to the arsenal fans time and time again when will this policy transpire into a top team unrivalled by all? We the arsenal fans have had the patience, stuck by the team and manager as we await the new dawn of Arsenal reaping the benefits from the being ahead of the rest when the Financial Fair Play rules kick in.

I admit the financing from a sugar daddy rich owner doesn’t sit well with me, a team should build their own success and buying titles is a major cop-out. I would not like Arsenal to win things that way and besides it’s a bit too late in the day as the F.F.P rules are just around the corner.

What the other big clubs seem to be doing now is building their teams with a strong core that when such rules come into play it will take minor acquisitions to add to the core to continue and grow. This is the part where Arsenal needs to catch up with the rest, if the overall plan is for the future when exactly does the team itself come into the reckoning?

Ever since the new stadium was built the one area that suffered was the playing team, I believe the general plan at the time was minor additions to a highly successful core. What wasn’t in the plan was for the team to disband as rapidly as they did. Many of the players from the invincible’s era were happy winning things, we put the money in for the right players and reaped the benefits. This stopped and so then did the commitment of the players who got us to that standing. They were used to being the best and then suddenly changed to carrying the team as lesser players came in. The emphasis was heavily leaned on the youth and many young players needed nurturing; the bigger players did not favour rubbing shoulders with and carrying the young. The opportunity to rub shoulders with the best as they were used to was more tempting. Once we peaked and conquered the premiership back in 2004 the next step would be to attack Europe and bring in the champions league trophy instead we reached a plateau and concurrent regression.

It is from this stage where a team which should have been growing has weakened with each year, the bigger marquee players have moved on year after year and the team itself has suffered as we have had to rebuild to fill voids of those who have left. The key eye for spotting talent from Arsene Wenger has ensured that with every gem that has moved on another gem surfaces and becomes invaluable.

The problem I have is that such a policy cannot last forever; the signs were there last season as we were so close to finishing the season outside the top four for the first time in Arsene’s era. This is the wakeup call the club needed, the scare that would open the eyes of the money men at arsenal that the team needs to be the focus and has to grow. If we lose a massive cog from the team we end up going back to the drawing board. I’m not advocating purchasing players we could not afford in the long run but im happy in the knowledge that everything was done in our power to keep a player. And if those players do not want to be a part of the team then we move on, we don’t honour their wishes and send them on their way with a handshake and a smile. Our focus should be on Arsenal and Arsenal alone. The timing of Robin’s announcement was all wrong and in a way didn’t show respect to the same men who honoured Van Persie’s silence. They protect him while he pissed over them without a second thought; and this is what irritates me as it makes the club look like chumps. We are Arsenal football club and we should call the shots, if a player wants out then we play hardball. Too many players have left over the past few years wrapped in cotton wool only for the club to reveal the bad points of the players long after they are gone. Why tell us at the last AST meeting that Fabregas refused to play for us last season as he wanted to play for Barcelona only? what benefit is there in telling us this last month and not at the time? They might as well have taken that story with them to the grave.

The Arsenal hierarchy need to start doing things differently to avoid turning us into a laughing stock. The team needs to be the focus from now on, do everything in their power to keep the players we build the team around and keep the core together. Let the Robin Van Persie saga be the last year this happens. Self sustainability may be the way forward but without a team you risk falling out of the top four places and that’s where the money stops and trouble starts. We are no longer guaranteed top four and our new acquisitions already have the burden of needing to hit the ground running to ensure we stay there.

In other news that further dents the fans relationship with the club is the news that Denilson has signed another season long loan with Sao Paulo. It is well known Denilson had no intention of returning to Arsenal. The club have put the player up for sale however it is alleged no offers have come in for the player. We were in negotiations with Sao Paulo to turn his loan last season into a permanent deal. We were adamant on a price but the Brazilian club wouldn’t budge and in the end we succumbed and granted the player another season long loan. This is the kind of thing that infuriates fans, myself included. Why is the player calling the shots? If Sao Paulo didn’t want the player they wouldn’t be negotiating with us. If there is no budge then the player returns and rots in the reserves until his people can organize a transfer to someone willing to pay for him. I would not be surprised if we are footing the majority of the players wages, it is claimed Arsenal have a clause to cancel the loan if an agreement for his sale can be arranged with another club. We all know that isn’t going to happen so we end up with the Brazilian who doesn’t want to play for us still on our books picking his big wages. Why are we so soft when it comes to transfer negotiations?

In more embarrassing news on the Arsenal front it was announced last night on the official site that the tour of Nigeria is now postponed till possibly next summer. In the announcement the club stated:

“We could not get comfortable on everything needed to satisfy our requirements, so we have reluctantly taken the decision to postpone the team’s visit”

To be blunt these kind of things should be looked into long before announcing any possible tour and game. This is a major own goal by the club and again sends the PR team into the spotlight. I only hope not too many fans have made arrangements and booked flights for the sole purpose of this tour. If so should the club make an effort to reimburse those who possibly could lose money if they attempt to cancel their bookings?

Enjoy your day people

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Ramsey in GB squad, Campbell to La Liga, no bids for RVP yet – AFC

Stuart Pearce named his 18 man squad for the London 2012 Olympics yesterday; a squad that included young Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey amongst the likes of fellow Welshman Ryan Giggs and Micah Richards.

There was no place in the squad for Kieran Gibbs even though he was heavily tipped to be included. I don’t think Gibbs will be losing much sleep over his omission anyway.

The experience will be good for Aaron Ramsey, he had a tough season at Arsenal and the potential for a good tournament would do wonders for his confidence. The opportunity to learn off of Giggs will benefit him a lot and judging by the rest of the squad selections Ramsey has the opportunity to be one of the leading lights in the GB team. I don’t think Ramsey ever played in the same team as Giggs for Wales so this will be a special opportunity for the player.

Ramsey himself said of his squad selection:

“I’m delighted to be a part of it”

“It will be a good experience and a different experience to play in the Olympics, being part of a British team and playing alongside some of the English players too”

He is clearly excited and it’s a pity he didn’t have David Beckham there also to bounce off of. I hope he comes through the experience with his confidence rebuilt and a fresh impetus going into the new season. He has the potential to be as influential as Cesc Fabregas was to the team, he just needs to find his rhythm again and increase his consistency. Good luck Aaron I’ll be cheering you on but not Stuart Pearce.

Joel Campbell looks to be off on loan again for next season as word started to spread of his impending loan deal with La Liga outfit Real Betis. If the move does come to fruition that will be a great move for the young Costa Rican to make. La Liga is of a much higher standard than Ligue 1 and a real push in the right direction for his development. It is not known whether work permit problems are behind this move however given our recent acquisitions up front opportunities would be limited for the young forward next season. Better for him to test himself in Spain, although the Spanish league is dominated by the two giants there is still enough quality in the league to raise Joel’s standard.

In spite of the rumours of bids for our captain Robin Van Persie with wages and fees on the table from Juventus and Man City Peter Hill-Wood has come out publicly to state that there have been no bids for our captain as yet. He has also stated that Robin is not for sale as Arsenal does not want him to leave the club.

Hill –wood said:

“As far as I am aware nobody has made any offer for him and he is away so we are not in any dialogue at all”

He followed that up with:

“We’re not in the remotest bit interested in selling him”

Of course these quotes are based on what Hill-Wood knows, is there a possibility something could be happening behind the scenes unknown n to him? Probably not, though he is known for letting the cat out of the bag too soon on many Arsenal related issues. I know if I knew someone who can’t keep a secret I would wait until the last possible opportunity before I bring them in to anything.

Robin is apparently still on his holidays getting away from all the stresses of the last 11 or so months, I think the silence has made us all assume the worst though there’s still no guarantee he is staying what we need to do is wait until he is back from his holidays and having talks with the Arsenal men before we jump to any conclusions. Let the papers make up what they want but be aware nothing is happening for now so take all reports with a pinch of salt.

Enjoy your day people

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Euro 2012 over, Miyaichi out of London 2012 – AFC

We have reached a football inter-lull again, all the goodness we witnessed from Euro 2012 is now over, the dust is settling and realisation is kicking in that there is no more football for a while. The Euros themselves were quite enjoyable overall, most of the games were entertaining and as expected the latter stages were tense affairs and lacked entertainment value but still kept you glued to the screens. Still we can’t complain since the final gave us four goals to digest. Former captain Cesc added another Euro championship to his CV as Italy appeared to have used up all of their mojo in the earlier rounds I guess peaking to beat the Germans. Now with Euro 2012 over we have to wait a little while until the Olympics kick off; to be honest I’m not even too excited about Great Britain team because I do not tend to care for Stuart Pearce and his erratic decision making. Personally I hope no Arsenal players are named in his squad, I wouldn’t put it past him to name Jack Wilshere in the squad to try to wind up Arsene Wenger. We all know he’s not ready for action but that won’t stop Mr Pearce.

One player apparently not making an appearance at London 2012 will be our very own Ryo Miyaichi. The young winger has been omitted from the Japan final squad announced which is quite a bizarre decision. Especially with his links to London his inclusion would have resulted in an added fan base to the japan side as gooners would have supported Miyaichi and Japan in their numbers. Quite a blow in general as the Arsenal man has recently broken into the japan squad, the experience at the Olympics would have been a great experience for him. Hopefully young Ryo can turn this into a positive and give it his all in pre-season training and games and work his way into Arsene Wenger’s plans for next season. A big ask really as I think he would benefit from another loan but who knows, he could take his game to the next level and make it hard for Wenger to send him out again.

I haven’t really commented on the Theo Walcott to Spurs rumours since the whole story is a load of bull, I really think this is the press having nothing to report so start using their assumption skills. (AVB likes Walcott) + (AVB joining Spurs) = Spurs want Walcott. Maybe they should move one step at a time; AVB hasn’t even been announced as Spurs manager yet.

In other news the Carlos Vela’s permanent move to Sociadad is picking up pace as reports from Spain state negotiations are going on between clubs and look positive. Arsene Wenger has ruled out taking the France manager position. Good move there since that hot seat has become as much a poisoned chalice as our very own England manager position. Good luck to the sorry soul that talks on that role and tries to manage those egos.

That’s it from me this morning, enjoy your day people

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Jack to miss season start, M’Vila interest over? AFC

So Sunday 1^st July greets us with depressing news. News that our very own Jack Wilshere could actually be sidelined for longer than expected and any sign of a return may not be before September. The mirror paper reports his rehabilitation from the operation he had back in May would take up to 12 weeks and that would effectively rule him out of the start of the season. Not ideal as it would have been more beneficial if Jack had a full pre-season behind him making him ready for the new season rather than joining the first team well into the season and having to hit the ground running. Jack is so important to Arsenal and its future however can we afford to ease him back into the team; early season is so fast paced the risk to jack’s ankle with be very high.

With England in desperate need of a saviour to ignite a new dawn under Roy Hodgson it is very likely he will be thrown into international football at first opportunity.

Although this is quite worrying news for Arsenal fans to digest I am sure this information has been known to Arsenal management. What they have planned in light of this information is not known but there has to be a contingency plan in pace in terms of cover. As we learned with Aaron Ramsey last season having to rely on a player who has returned from a long term injury and throwing them straight into the deep end not only hurts the player but hurts the team also. Through no fault of Ramsey himself his contribution to Arsenal midfield was under the microscope more than usual due to our poor preparation and start to last season.

Arsenal fans wanted answers and Ramsey’s form was highlighted, with the loss of important personnel from our midfield that season Ramsey wasn’t the afforded the luxury of being eased back into the team. This is a similar scenario that could be faced by Wilshere for Arsenal and England. This situation has to be handled with the upmost sensitivity or we could risk losing the player longer or denting his confidence to critical levels if he doesn’t reach the high levels he set before the injuries as soon as possible. A year is a hell of a long time to be out through injury and ring rustiness is inevitable I just hope Arsene has everything under control.

In light of the sombre news we were all waving off Yossi Benayoun to pastures new. Could he have been able cover until jack is back up and running? Would Yossi himself be happy effectively keeping the seat warm for Jack until he is back to full fitness? It seems with the Jack news that our transfer business this summer will be far from over. Who has wenger got his eyes on to fill the void, will there be a promotion within. Could Henri Lansbury receive the opportunity to prove himself at last in the Arsenal midfield or will the returning Denilson play a part this season. Not to mention Francis Coquelin and Abou Diaby being in Arsene’s thoughts.

One player who seems to have fallen out of Arsene’s thoughts is Yann M’vila. It seems the young midfielder’s behaviour at Euro 2012 hasn’t gone down well with our manager. His reaction to a substitution in France’s game against Spain didn’t go unnoticed and may have harmed his chances of a move to the Emirates this summer. One thing Arsene doesn’t do is babysit troublesome souls, any sign of petulance and the front door shuts on that player. Will be a shame to lose out on a player we need though it will be important that the squad isn’t ego driven and actually has some togetherness.

With the transfer window now open we will see how the transfer dealings pan out before season start. We leave it into Arsene’s hands. Arsene knows…

Enjoy your day people

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Benayoun farewell, players in/out as transfer window opening looms – AFC

When the 1^st July arrives it will signal the cut off point where many a deal ends for footballers. 1^st July is primarily set as an end point to contracts to coincide with the opening of the summer transfer window in England. Despite the high number of transfers announced by clubs since the season ended and in some cases towards the end of the season while it was still being contested; the deals do not officially kick in until 1^st July.

Arsenal took the opportunity to re-confirm the professional players that will be released come this date and there have been no new additions to the names mentioned at the end of the season; Manual Almunia still being the most high profile name. A few second year scholars have also been released while a number have been offered professional contracts. Some names of the new professionals will be known to arsenal fans already, young players such as Hector Bellerin, Kris Olsson and keeper Reice Charles-Cooke.

Another set of players have 1^st July as a significant date and that is the loanees who were on season long loans. In that category for Arsenal will be the loss of Yossi Benayoun. The Israeli became popular amongst Arsenal fans because of his contribution to Arsenal’s run of form in the second half of the season gone. He scored some important goals at times and proved to all he had the passion and ability to fit into the Arsenal team. Unfortunately it seems with no word of any negotiations between Arsenal and Chelsea that Yossi will return to his parent club.

Benayoun even took to twitter yesterday to give his thanks to the Arsenal players, staff and fans for his time spent over the past 11 months at the emirates.

He tweeted:

“My loan spell with arsenal will be officially over tomorrow… I want to say again a big thanks to the fans and the club for the opportunity and the great support and I wish this club all the very best!”

Very nice words from the midfielder towards the club and I’m sure all Arsenal fans will wish him the best in wherever his career path takes him (with the exception of games against us of course). It could be that with a new manager at Chelsea he could feature in Robert Di Matteo’s plans for next season or he is holding out for an offer of a more secure longer term contract; something Arsene doesn’t throw out freely to over 30’s very often. Whatever the reasons are behind the scenes Yossi will leave the club on good terms.

Whilst signaling the end of season long loanees to Arsenal in the opposite direction the doors will open once again to a number of players who spent the last season elsewhere. The likes of Bendtner, Denilson and Vela will all become property of Arsenal again. It will be fair to say that neither of these players will be returning with the intention of starting the new season playing at the Emirates. Each has been quite vocal in their insistence that they see no future at Arsenal; Bendtner has been putting himself in the shop window at Euro 2012 and his agent has been talking up his demand across Europe. Vela and Denilson have enjoyed productive loan spells at Sao Paulo and Real Sociedad respectively and look towards potentially making permanent moves to those clubs.

Only sticking point is with Denilson, the Brazilian club is pushing for an extension on his loan rather than a permanent deal. Not ideal for us and we really need to stick to our guns and push for a permanent deal at the right price for a player who doesn’t want to return to Arsenal.

Young players returning which are very much in Arsene’s plans for the future are Joel Campbell and Ryo Miyaichi; however their involvement next season depends heavily on work permits and whether Arsene feels their experiences gained has made them ready for the first team.

A player at crossroads will be Henri Lansbury, its unclear whether Arsene will finally give him a run in the team next season, he had a mixed season on loan at West Ham as he was hampered by injuries and struggled to get back into the first XI after a long spell out on the sidelines. Arsene has spoken highly of Henri in the past and he has been one of the standout players in the England u-21 set up. Time will tell how that pans out though it would be a shame for him to not get a fair crack of the whip. Oguzhan Ozyakup has gone after he confirmed via twitter last week will Henri follow him out the door?

Enjoy your day people

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