Euro 2008 – Gunners to support; potential signings to scout

Now being a massive England fan, this summer looks to be the most depressing that I have had while a major tournament has been going on, as for the first time I can remember England are not at a tournament.

But as a Gooner with our multi national squad, there are still just as many players to cheer on for their respective countries, a list of whom are below, along with their group fixtures and my opinion on what their role at the tournament will be:

FRANCE:

William Gallas:

• Vs ROMANIA, Zurich - June 9th, 1700 BST, BBC One.
• Vs HOLLAND, Berne - June 13th, 1945 BST, BBC One.
• Vs ITALY, Zurich - June 17th, 1945 BST, BBC One.

Should be a guaranteed starter for Les Bleus, but in my opinion won’t be one of their star performers judging by his later performances for Arsenal this season.

HOLLAND

Robin van Persie:

• Vs ITALY, Berne - June 9th, 1945 BST, ITV 1.
• Vs FRANCE, Berne - June 13th, 1945 BST, BBC One.
• Vs ROMANIA, Berne - June 17th, 1945 BST, ITV1.

Possibly ruled out for the first game through injury, if he comes back as he should do, he will start for Holland, probably on the right of the traditional front three. Unfortunately, I think we won’t see the best of van Persie until he is fully fit, and that could be not until the start of next season, as was the case last season as well.

SPAIN:

Cesc Fabregas:

• Vs RUSSIA, Innsbruck – June 10 1700 BST, BBC One
• Vs SWEDEN, Innsbruck - June 14 1700 BST, ITV
• Vs GREECE, Salzburg - June 18 1945 BST, ITV

Is probably the best bet for Player of the Tournament when looking at the Arsenal ranks. Should play in Spain’s new-found 4-1-4-1 formation where they can incorporate Xavi, Iniesta and Fabregas in one team. Apparently has been given the number 10 shirt, so hopefully we’ll see the forward runs and goals that you’d expect from someone wearing that number…

SWITZERLAND:

Phillipe Senderos, Johan Djourou:

• Vs CZECH REPUBLIC, Basle - June 7, 1700 BST, BBC One
• Vs TURKEY, Basle - June 11, 1945 BST, BBC One
• Vs PORTUGAL, Basle - June 15, 1945 BST, ITV

The only nation to have two Arsenal players in their squad for the tournament (unless of course Nasri signs as expected), I think only Senderos is a guaranteed starter for the Swiss, while Djourou should be a substitute only. I hope Senderos will have a great tournament as he did in the World Cup in 2006, but with his current level of confidence I can see a mistake slipping into his play somewhere along the line. Hopefully he’ll take out Cristiano Ronaldo (fairly of course…) in their game against the Portuguese.

GERMANY:

Jens Lehmann:

• Vs POLAND, Klagenfurt - June 8, 1945 BST, BBC One
• Vs CROATIA, Klagenfurt - June 12, 1700 BST, ITV
• Vs AUSTRIA, Vienna - June 16, 1945 BST, BBC One

Technically still an Arsenal player, Mad Jens will be going all out to show Wenger that he truly is better than Almunia in what could be another successful tournament for the Germans. Lehmann will be a starter for Germany despite his lack of match practice with the Gunners.

POLAND:

Lukasz Fabianski:

• Vs GERMANY, Klagenfurt - June 8, 1945 BST, BBC One
• Vs AUSTRIA, Vienna - June 12, 1945 BST, BBC One
• Vs CROATIA, Klagenfurt, June 16, 1945 BST, BBC One

The young Polish keeper had a decent, promising first campaign and will look to build on that for his national side, although it is highly likely Celtic stopper Boruc will get the nod ahead of him and so it would be a massive achievement for him to get on the pitch during the tournament. Hopefully the experience he’ll gain by being there will stand him in good stead for later in his career.

Potential signings to watch:

 Samir Nasri, Lillian Thuram (France):

Now obviously, with Wenger’s recent comments it seems highly likely that this young Frenchman will only come here if he signs before the Euros, but nevertheless he will be worth a watch as Arsenal’s first summer signing if he does sign, and if he doesn’t we will see what we have missed out on. Going by last night’s friendly, he can expect to see action on the wings for France, although will probably not be a starter.

Miguel Veloso (Portugal):

I think Veloso is only at best an outside bet for an Arsenal move, but we will be able to see whether he really could fit in as Fabregas’ partner in midfield, although a central midfield slot for Portugal is not guaranteed.

If you haven’t already seen Lillian Thuram play, I don’t know where you have been living the past decade. The man is a living legend for France, and we can see just how much age has affected him in this tournament.

Alberto Aquilani (Italy):

With such strong competition alongside him in midfield, it would be fairly surprising to see this young Italian stake a claim for a starters place in midfield, but we should see him off the bench, particularly against Romania in what should be a simpler game for the Italians. There is probably only a 20% chance that he will leave for Arsenal though.

Niko Kranjcar (Croatia):

Most of us have already seen Kranjcar numerous times, and definitely enough times to know how well he could slot in to Arsenal’s team, but for those who haven’t watched him in full games, now is your chance, particularly as he is an almost definite starter for the Croatian’s.

Ruben De La Red, Daniel Guiza, Raul Albiol (Spain):

Both De La Red and Guiza are probably players that have not been linked with us very strongly, although sometimes that does not mean much in Arsenal’s transfer dealings. De La red in particularly I can see here at Arsenal, with smooth passing style. Whether or not we’d be strong enough defensively in midfield if we brought him I’m not so sure though, and he should get his chance off the bench in this tournament. Meanwhile, Guiza will only come if Adebayor leaves you would think, and the prolific striker is unlikely to get much chance with Spain’s one-man attack and Torres and Villa ahead of him in the pecking order.

Raul Albiol on the other hand will fancy his chances of seeing more action than both of his compatriots.

 

 

Barca agree terms with Hleb; Real Madrid, Inter Milan still chasing him

While Nasri seems to be nearing a move to the Gunners, Alexander Hleb seems to be closer to an exit from Arsenal, with reports today suggesting that the Belarussian midfielder has verbally agreed to move to Barcelona, subject to the Catalan club agreeing a transfer price for him. This news comes from Spanish paper El Mundo, not what I would call a massively reliable source, but Spanish papers are worse than English ones in many ways, and that is saying something.

The story goes that Hleb discussed the move with Barcelona Sporting Director Txiki Begiristain and his agent who has already told the mdeia that Hleb finds London too noisy and will leave the club, although he will not choose to buy out his contract. This means any transfer would cost a pretty large amount of money, potentially £15-20m, giving Arsene Wenger significant funds to find a replacement for him, as I believe that Nasri would have come regardless of Hleb’s possible transfer.

But despite these reports about Barca moving for Hleb already, the likes of Real Madrid and Inter Milan do still have a say, particularly as Barca are not anywhere near agreeing a fee with Arsenal yet it would seem. Bernd Schuster, Real coach, yesterday told the media that Hleb would definitely be on his radar this summer:

“There are a couple of posts that we can improve and that needs to be strengthened to have the necessary balance,” Schuster told AS. “Over the past two months we have had a plan and we know what we want, but now Hleb has been added. We did not know he could leave Arsenal but in recent days it has been more positive. We were surprised that he might leave there.”

With Arsenal’s recent interest in Real Madrid’s Ruben De La Red, a swap + money deal has been mooted by several Arsenal fansites, while Arsenal could potentially want Robinho, although we’d also have to offer around £10m I would think for that deal to be considered. Both of these deals though seem an outside possibilty at the moment, with no major sources hinting that this may be on the cards.

Inter Milan were favourites after their alleged tapping up of Alex Hleb earlier this season, but their interest has been quietened a bit after the iminent arrival of Mourinho at the San Siro, as I doubt the Portuguese manager would be as interested in the Belarussian as the apparently outgoing manager Mancini was.

Will Nasri ever sign? His agent and Le Boss seem to think so!

It seems that, yet again, the Nasri transfer seems to be finally nearing completion. I think I’ve probably said this about five times in the last two weeks, but nevertheless, it also appears to be falling into place when you consider the factors involved.

We know that Nasri wants to move here, and many reports have stated that we have agreed a fee subject to certain technicalities with the recently signed contract that Nasri agreed to with L’OM. We also know that Wenger definitely wants him, as you can tell by his comments on the previous article that I wrote on this story.

But due to Euro 2008 commitments, it is very hard to get the promising young Frenchman to actually sign on the dotted line, as he is not guaranteed a place in the France squad for the tournament and so has had to work hard in earning a chance in Austria and Switzerland this summer. But with Ecuador playing France yesterday, it leaves today and tommorrow relatively free for Nasri to sign a deal, and this would be my guess to when he will be signed up. This is backed up by these latest quotes by his agent:

“He will leave OM. It will be done in the coming days. Arsenal’s offer has caught his interest from a sporting point of view”,  Bernes told local TV station LCM yesterday. ”I think that in his career plan, it is something very interesting for him.”

So if he hasn’t signed by Friday, I would start to get anxious about this deal, but it seems pretty clear cut to me…I think.

Meanwhile, there have been reports that Wenger himself all but confirmed the deal while commentating on France’s friendly with Ecuador yesterday, stating that the deal was “almost done”. Fingers crossed then Gunners. By the way, in the game with Ecuador yesterday, Nasri impressed on the right of a 4-4-2, a position that has a similarity to the role that I believe he would play in at the Emirates, as he outshined another Arsenal target Ben Arfa on the flanks with a clever and hardworking display.

Wenger quotes (in French): http://news.maxifoot.com/info-079014_80527/football.php

Nasri’s Agent (in French): http://www.france-info.com/spip.php?article140794&theme=70&sous_theme=70