Arsenal need a defensive midfielder, that much is certain. It looks to me that Gilberto is as good as gone, following Flamini out of England. This means that we’re left very short for partners for Fabregas, only a year after we had the likes of Diarra, Gilberto, Denilson, Diaby, Flamini, Song all lining up for a chance.
And apparently Wenger is methodically looking at the Greth Barry saga with some interest, Pat Rice contacting Aston Villa in recent days with this to say:
“Myself and Steve Walford both know Arsene Wenger’s assistant Pat Rice,” O’Neill told the Sun. “He phoned Steve to ask how the Liverpool thing had gone and said that they might show an interest. At the end of the conversation Arsenal said ‘that’s fine’ and that they’ll let us know.
“That is exactly what happened.”
Interesting quotes from one of the most honest people in football. Clearly Martin O’Neill is getting tired of Liverpool offering bids far below what the Villa manager wants for his captain, and it seems Arsenal are waiting to see whether or not we can take advantage of this by offering a deal more attractive than Liverpool’s. Our main trump card in all this is while they are offering Steve Finnan, worth £1m, aging right back with only his worst footballing days ahead of him, we have Justin Hoyte, worth £4m, who is still only 23 and fits right in with O’Neill’s young and promising team. What’s more, we haven’t annoyed O’Neill in any way, which is always a bonus.
But outbidding Liverpool for Gareth Barry isn’t the only option available to Arsene Wenger, because there is also a transfer saga revolving around a Liverpool player. Xabi Alonso seemed a dead cert to be a Juventus player next season, with offers and counter offers being exchanged. But once again Liverpool annoyed a fellow club with their transfer actions, and Juve quickly changed targets and landed Poulsen instead.
Spanish website Publico.es today claim that Arsenal are keen admirers of the skillful midfielder, who has the defensive capabilities to fit in alongside Fabregas, but also the fantastic passing range to help the fluency in attack. Publico reckons he would love to come to Arsenal and apparently yesterday negotiations took place with Alonso’s agent, Inaki Ibanez.
I can only hope that we will get one of these great defensive midfielders this summer. They are exactly what is needed at the Emirates to compete for trophies next season – can you just imagine a team like this for the opening game against West Brom, assuming Hleb leaves, but we keep Adebayor.
———————— Almunia ————————
Sagna ———- Toure ———— Gallas ———— Clichy
————————- Alonso/Barry ——————–
Nasri —————- Fabregas ——————— Walcott
——————– Adebayor —– van Persie ————–
Subs: Fabianski, Senderos, Song, Diaby, Ramsey, Eboue, Vela,
Sources for this story:
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5goXmuejOj-dlJcXpbnZCNYTDhanQ
