Arsenal Roundup - Another Defender Linked - Subotic, Arsenification and our England Keeper

This morning I woke up all excited to see us linked with giant centre back Neven Subotic.

Reports of Ivan Gazidis being in Germany attempting to tie up a deal appear to be complete fabrication as his agent has now dismissed the rumours.

http://www.clubcall.com/arsenal/defender-move-no-go-931628.html

The move would make sense to me but seeing as his agent has poured cold water on it, there's no need to comment any further.

The club and Red Action are taking massive steps to try and improve the atmosphere at the emirates.

http://www.onlinegooner.com/exclusive/index.php?id=1268

Red Action and the club should be applauded for the attempts to bring some life to the Emirates. The idea to have murals and a shrine to Highbury plastered around the stadium are fantastic and will only add to the atmosphere and experience of the Emirates. The free scarf giveaway and the attempts to incorporate banners etc will help to involve supporters more and will hopefully help our fans engage more. I do however think we should keep the controversial Elvis song. I'm only just starting to remember the words!!!! I actually quite like it and just wish I wasn't the only one who sang it in my section!

Fabio Capello has rejected the chance of calling up Manuel Almunia to the England squad.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/2583046/Fab-KOs-Almunias-England-bid.html

To tell you the truth I’ve got no real interest in international football but if I was Fabio I’d call him up. People will criticise having a Spaniard play for England but lets be honest he would a improve the squad. He's a better keeper than Man city reserve Joe Hart, the 40 year old David James, Championship keeper Scott Carson and Man Utd second choice Ben Foster.

I know fans won't relate to him at first but a couple of good performances would win the doubters over. Deco plays for Portugal, Senna for Spain and Kuranyi for Germany and they're all from Brazil and it’s not like it hasn't happened in other Sports. Kevin Pietersen and Mike Catt captained England in Cricket and Rugby and both are South African. Andy Caddick, Ricky Flutely, Henry Paul and Geraint Jones all came from New Zealand or Australia and no one complained when they represented England. I just think everyone makes more of fuss when it's football but is it really that big of a deal these days? I'm not so sure....

More Tomorrow....

Arsenal Roundup - Hangeland, Chamakh, Hartson and Bendtner

The rumours around Brede Hangeland are refusing to die down.

According to reports emerging from Norway via Goonertalk the boss has given Fulham 48 hours to decide if the big Norwegian is available.

http://goonertalk.com/2009/08/11/hangeland-future-decided-in-next-48-hours/comment-page-1/#comments

To me Hangeland is the type of player we need, he's strong, dominant in the air and knows English football but my fear is he's not that good. I think he'll struggle with a lack of pace if he played in our defence. Fulham defend a deep line with no space behind for strikers to run into, whereas we defend a high line almost up to the halfway line and I think Brede will get caught out. I honestly think he if was to sign he wouldn't be an improvement on Senderos who had the same qualities and deficiencies as the Norway captain. I can’t see the boss splashing out the £15m Fulham want on a 28 year old. We'll soon see.

We haven’t made a new bid for Mourane Chamakh

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/11082009/58/ligue-1-bordeaux-deny-new-chamakh-bid.html

I really think we'll see Chamakh sign at 11:59pm on the last day of the transfer window for about £7m. Can't say I I’m overly excited about the prospect of it though.


Big John Hartson has taken another step on the long road to recovery by leaving hospital today.

http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/content/camden/hamhigh/sport/story.aspx?brand=NorthLondon24&category=Sportarsenal&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=sport&itemid=WeED11%20Aug%202009%2016%3A32%3A57%3A350

My thoughts are with you big fella, I really hope you pull through this.

Nicklas Bendtner is in discussions over a new deal.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11670_5485213,00.html

I know Bendtner is a bit of a marmite type player (you either love him or hate him), but I think the boy's got a big future. He's 21, a full international, and has a great goal per minute record for the club. He's raw but I think if we persevere with him we could have a real player on our hands in a couple of years.

More tomorrow...

Arsenal News - Fabregas and another rant

There is next to no Arsenal news today.

It looks like that mythical centre midfielder we crave isn't on the way.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_5483614,00.html

Wenger has claimed he is happy with his current squad and won't be adding to it prior to the start of the season. That's no big surprise as the season is only 5 days away but why do we seem to put ourselves in this sort of position every season.

Our last 'proper' game was in May that means we've had three months to find a suitable player/s yet we find ourselves routing around the bargain bins in the sky sports created madness approaching deadline day. I know the boss professes to getting more value for money the closer you get to deadline day but you run the risk of missing out on players as we did last season with Xabi Alonso. A top midfielder could also be the difference in qualifying for the Champions League and or picking up vital early points in tough away games against Everton and Man Utd. I think for the sake of say a million pounds is it worth undermining our whole season? It’s vital we get off to a flying start this season as we need to build momentum and create some belief in both our players and fans and this would have been more likely had the boss invested in our problem positions, earlier on in the summer. If and I do say IF we add to the squad the new player has to bed into the club, find somewhere to live, adapt to a new culture, learn the language, build relationships with his team mates all in the midst of a congested fixture list. The best way for a player to gel into a new team is during the relaxed atmosphere of pre-season, where he can get up to speed against lesser teams not on September the 1st when we could be ninth in the league.....

Barcelona want Cesc.

http://www.thelondonpaper.com/thelondonpaper/sport/football/barcelona-may-still-bid-for-arsenal-skipper-cesc-fabregas

Well give us £50 million, Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and Henry back and we might consider it. No seriously we know Fabregas is going to head back to Spain at some point in his career but it won't be this summer. He'll sit tight and head back to Barcelona next summer or the year after leading us to the title and the Champions League

More tomorrow...