ARSENAL CHASING PALACE STAR

We’re after another 17-year-old, this time it’s Victor Moses from Crystal Palace, and the full report is here.

With Simon “Sunbed” Jordan still seething from the supposedly cheap sale of John Bostock to Tottenham, you can’t imagine they would want to lose another gem so soon.

We’re also being linked to Man City youngster Michael Johnson for a reported fee of £12m. For me, he’s not the replacement for Flamini. We need a defensive midfielder who can actually tackle and get the team going, just like Flamini did. Johnson is more a box-to-box midfielder, but I would like to see us sign an enforcer, someone who strikes fear into opponents before the game has even started, Vieira and Keane like. Is such a player on the marker? I’m sure Wenger and his scouting network are aware of one.

Meanwhile, Paul Robinson has signed for Blackburn for £3.5m, which has complete fucked up my rumour from a “reliable source”. Bollocks!!!

I watched The Dark Knight last night and I thought it was OK. Heath Ledger stole the show, but everyone knows that already. Anyway, after watching the film, I came up with a new lookalike.

Does anyone know what happened to the Batman star after being arrested for allegedly assaulting his mother and sister? Last I heard he was out on “bale”!!! On that note……

ARSENAL TO SIGN REASONABLE TARGET

Arsene Wenger has finally come out and said exactly what every Arsenal fan was hoping for, and publicly spoke about his desire to bring a midfielder to the club.

When asked about his midfield, or lack of it, Wenger responded with, “We will need one more body in there”.

He also mentioned the midfield target being a “reasonable target”. I don’t know about you, but when Wenger says “reasonable”, I translate that to “cheap”. I don’t think Veloso, Barry or Alsonso would be “reasonable” targets.

Let’s wait and see.

The full article can be found here.

ARSENAL STARTING LINE UP

With all of these wholesale changes happening this season, I do not think our starting line up against WBA on the first game of the season will be too far off a team we would’ve fielded last season. The only trouble I’m having is who to partner Cesc in the middle of the park. I do think Wenger will sign a defensive midfielder, but if he didn’t, then what would your starting line-up be (barring injuries), and assuming Adebayor were to stay.

I think he’ll go with the following:

Almunia

Sagna - Gallas - Toure - Clichy

Walcott - Fabregas - Denilson - Nasri

van Persie - Adebayor

ARSENAL TO SIGN AT LEAST ONE MORE PLAYER

After the 2-1 win at Barnet, Arsene Wenger told press that he would sign at least one more player, maybe two. You can read the full article here.

Aaron Ramsey was clearly the star man yesterday, every time he got the ball you felt like something was going to happen, and it generally did. Similarly in the second half, the fans got to see a bit of Jack Wilshere, and he didn’t disappoint, involved in both goals. I can’t really see Wilshere being involved too much this season, and I’m not entirely sure where Wenger will play Ramsey, but there is no doubt we’ve got a couple of absolute gems.

It was against Barnet I know, but I can’t help but be excited about next season, and even if we didn’t buy another player I’d be confident of winning the Premiership.

In other news, Robin van Persie is being linked with a £15m move to Juventus. I’d take that all day long to be fair. A cracking player but rarely fit.

Good article in The Observer about Theo Walcott. A bit long, but worth a read.

What does he think of Cristiano Ronaldo’s ’slavery’ comments? He laughs. ‘Not bad, is it, being a slave on that much a year? Anyone would do that, I can guarantee.’

You gotta love Theo.

OFFICIAL: GILBERTO SIGNS FOR PANATHINAIKOS

So we have finally sold Gilberto to Panathinaikos, the official report is here.

Regardless what some fans think of him, he has been an absolutely fantastic player for us over the years, and he has been our most under-rated player in a long time. He just goes about his job, ego-free.

What can I say? He’s a legend. Well done Gilberto, and good luck in Greece.

You would imagine the sale of both Hleb and Gilberto in matter of days would indicate a huge signing, hopefully Barry or Alonso. I’m sure most Arsenal fans are dreaming of a big signing like this, let’s hope Wenger does us proud.

OFFICIAL: HLEB SIGNS FOR BARCELONA

So, it’s official, Hleb has finally signed for Barcelona for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around the £15m mark. The article can be found here.

Sad to see him go, he was a decent player and probably has the best first touch I’ve ever seen, but he’s more suited to La Liga and I think he’ll do well. Good luck to the lad.

Hopefully, this will open the door for us to make a signing in the next week or so.

ARSENAL TO MAKE SHOCK KEEPER SIGNING?

Before you read any further, I do apologise if this is untrue, but I heard it from a reliable source and I’m going to post it in the hope that my source comes through with flying colours. I have a lot of credibility amongst my eleven readers and I’d rather keep that credibility in place, but you may think I’m mental or absolutely thick when you read on.

Anyway, my source actually gave me two rumours, one of which isn’t really a surprise but one is absolutely ludicrous.

Rumour number 1 is that Klass Jan Huntelaar has 100% signed for Arsenal. He told me no more than that, but I can only assume we’re waiting to offload Adebayor before we announce the signing.

Now for the crazy one. The good news is that he’s a goalkeeper with Premiership experience, but the bad news is a lot of people actually don’t rate him, and the transfer of this player could be the shock signing of the summer. The signing is none other than……….. Paul Robinson, for a fee of £3.5m.

I did warn you.

Personally, I’m not sure what to think of this, as we could’ve signed Scott Carson from Liverpool for £4m who most people are pretty much in agreement would be better acquisition. Also, we had Robinson on trial a few years back before he signed for that lot, and wasn’t he one of the unfittest men ever!!?!

I’ll leave it as that, not really knowing whether or not I’d like this to come true.

This is the same source who told me Bernie Eccleston was going to attempt to buy out Arsenal weeks before it happened, so there could be a bit of truth in this.

ARE ARSENAL FANS ACTUALLY WORRIED?

I don’t know about anyone else but I am more confident about this coming season then I ever have been as an Arsenal fan. There are rumours about Adebayor and Hleb leaving, and we’ve already lost Flamini and Lehmann, but I’m just not concerned whatsoever.

Adebayor, Hleb and Flamini were great last season, and we would’ve struggled without either of them, but I believe they are all absolutely replaceable. I’d be concerned if it was Sagna, Clichy, Toure or Fabregas. They are not replaceable right now. Yes, we could probably find better players, but not realistic targets.

If the rumours are true then we would replace Adebayor with Santa Cruz, Huntelaar, Martins, Falcao, or Eto’o and I’ll be happy with either of them. Same applies to Hleb, we’ll just bid for Silva or Arshavin. Flamini is the toughest one to replace but I’ve got no doubt we’ll fill the gap comfortably. Wenger obviously has someone lined up otherwise we would never be releasing Gilberto, according to reports.

When there was all the talk in the past about us losing Vieira, Henry, Anelka, and even Overmars, I was always worried and absolutely sick when each of them left, but it just doesn’t feel as bad as that this time around, even though some seem to think we’re in a crisis.

NASRI FINALLY SIGNS, AND ARSENAL CHASE ONE-HIT-WONDER

So, Samir Nasri has finally signed for Arsenal. Not exactly sure what was holding up the deal but I was as excited as the next man when I finally read the news today and saw the official statement. I was actually starting to worry that he was never going to come.

Full story can be found here. I have got no doubt whatsoever that Nasri is going to be a cracking singing. He reminds me of Joe Cole, which I’m sure most Arsenal fans wouldn’t like me to admit.

In other news, we are chasing Colombian striker Falcao from River Plate, for a reported £8m. We are not signing the 80s one-hit-wonder.

Falcao has scored an amazing 38 goals in 58 goals for River Plate, which is a phenomenal record in any major league. He seems like the ideal Wenger signing, somebody nobody has ever heard of and totally unexpected. Not really sure how good Falcao is to be honest, but I have faith in Wenger whoever he decides to sign.

Hleb and Adebayor are still with us, only a matter of time before Hleb leaves, and do we really want to keep hold of Adebayor? I think we could do without him.

ARSENAL STAR OF 2008-2009?

Every season, one of our players seems to hit form out of the blue, and it’s generally one of the players who isn’t necessarily a fans favourite.

Last season we had many players in this category, Hleb, Flamini, Adebayor and to a certain extent Song. The fans were even getting a little annoyed with Theo Walcott but he seemed to really turn it around towards the end of the season, and hit a nice little patch of form.

I have a little prediction for next season, which I’m sure isn’t going to go down well with the Arsenal faithful, but I believe the player to to be unleashed next season could be Emmanuel Eboue. You’re probably thinking I’m absolutely taking the piss, but seriously I have absolutely 100% faith in Eboue, and it’s all a matter of confidence before we see a surprise package next season.

He is one of the best crossers of a ball at the club, he’s got pace, and he’s got a great engine on him. He may be a little petulant at times, but anyone who cracks hardman John Terry and takes him out for several weeks, is a top man in my books.

As we all know and we’ve been reminding ourselves for sometime, Wenger watches these players in training every single day and he definitely sees something that most Arsenal fans do not, and who would ever doubt his ability to spot talent.

I’m sure everyone will disagree with me on this. What’s your opinions? Do you think we have another dark horse in our ranks who could be the surprise package next season?