Fran Merida Has Left The Building

by Rachid



Fran Mérida has opted not to renew his contract at Arsenal and decided to sign for Atlético Madrid on a Bosman's. It is believed that he agreed terms to a 4 year deal at Estadio Vicente Calderón.



A quote from the club's official site says:

The Club Atlético de Madrid have closed the signing of midfielder Fran Mérida from Arsenal, whose contract expired with the London club on June 30.

The Catalan midfielder has been committed to the institution for the next four Red and White seasons and will be officially launched on Friday 28 May at 12:30. The event will take place in the VIP room of the Vicente Calderón Stadium and the player will be joined by Don Enrique Cerezo, President of Club Atlético de Madrid.

Now some of you reading this might think this is just sour grapes when I say this but I genuinely don't believe Mérida is a more talented footballer than Aaron Ramsey or Jack Wilshere. He's quite skilled but they're better than him. With that said, I think his reason for leaving is because he felt first team opportunities were not coming his way and he felt frustrated seeing others such as Ramsey and Wilshere get into the first team ahead of him.



I understand why he wants to leave but he's being too hasty. He's only 20. He can't expect to be a regular starter already. Our problem in this team is that we don't have enough leadership and experience. It's axiomatic that he's not ready for the first team yet. He should've sat and waited for his turn. Ramsey did and it was paying dividends until Shawcross' vicious assault. He would've had his chance if he waited. He's immature and he's gonna find out that the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence.



Atlético Madrid struggled this season. Sure they won the Europa League but aside from that their season mirrored Liverpool's in so many ways. If he thinks his career will be better there than it promised to be here then he's joking. I hope he gets what he wants when he makes the signing official, that is to get into the first team straight away and play regularly but I just have a feeling it won't pan out exactly as he has it in mind. I'll be watching his progress at Atlético to see what becomes of his career.



Good luck Fran, don't let the doorknob hit you on the way out.

Cesc Finally Speaks...Well Kinda

by Rachid



I've stayed away from the Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona rumours for as long as I could but today I saw something that forced me into giving my two cents on the matter. It was this video interview I found here on Sky Sports.



As I watched a few thoughts came to my mind which I'm now gonna share:

• In the past Cesc would've just categorically denied any claims about him wanting to go to Barcelona within hours of the rumours coming out in the press yet today he's saying he doesn't want to say much about it. It's just like when a celebrity's asked about their sexuality. If they're not gay they'd just be frank about it and say "No I'm not." but when they are, they beat around the bush because of the controversy it creates. It's the same thing here. Cesc wants to leave and it's pretty obvious. He would've shot this rumour down when it started two weeks ago if he didn't want to.

• I don't get why he wants to leave now. I mean, if he had said this last year it would've made more sense given the poor season we had then. Why now? Why now when we had a better season this year than last? Although the season didn't pan out how we hoped it would, there were definite positives to take from it. Wenger clearly has more money at his disposal this summer to spend on quality players to improve us. If we the fans know this then shouldn't the captain of the team know it as well? Why the impatience now?

• He knows there are fans who are gonna turn on him if he goes. In fact, there are some who already have. He's trying to be gracious and diplomatic as to not piss the fans off. As such he's sugarcoating the interview by saying how much he feels at home here and how much he respects Arsene Wenger. To me it sounds like a man who's in two minds and he wants to play it safe just in case he does leave.

• Cesc saying he had the most important conversation of his life with Wenger is a bit ambiguous. It could mean that he told him how important it is for him to leave and go back to Spain, confirming all the stuff Guillem Balague had been bleating about for weeks or it could mean he gave Wenger an ultimatum to improve the quality of the squad or he's gone.

• If Cesc wants to leave we still call the shots. He's still contracted to us and we can either hold him hostage here or demand a hefty price tag for him. If he goes we get quite a lot of cash to replace him with a player of equal calibre. On the other hand, if he stays we have an unhappy player on our roster who we might not get the most out of because he'd rather be playing elsewhere. It has the potential to be a lose/lose situation.

• Why is it that we seem to be changing captains every 2 years? We need some sustainability to the captaincy and if Cesc goes then Arsene Wenger needs to make sure we have a proper captain to replace Fabregas and make sure we don't have another Gallas situation on our hands.

Watch the video for yourself and tell me what you think in the comments section below. Be sure to click the follow button to the right of the page and follow the blog for updates on new posts. Until next time, take care fellow Gooners.

Leave Andrey Alone!!! (Sob Sob)

by Rachid



There hasn't been much football to sink our teeth into and as a result Arsenal fans worldwide have been scraping the barrel for Arsenal related content on the internet. As such, many were up in arms when they came across some comments about Arshavin wanting to play for Barcelona. According to claims by majority of the press, this is what Arshavin said:

 “Even playing just one season for Barcelona would make a pinnacle of my whole career,” the Arsenal midfielder said.

“Barca are the best team in the world and I enjoy their style of play so much,

“But after watching them against Arsenal in the Champions League quarter-finals the enjoyment has quickly turned into sorrow. They are so much better than anybody else at the moment.”

According to what I've read, these words came from an interview Arshavin did while in Russia. The first thing I thought when I saw this was "oh here we go again". Everyone's gonna get on his back about this just like they did with what he said in January (while the transfer window was open) about us needing new players, which was rehashed after the window closed to make it just seem like he's complaining idly. It's obvious that this whole nonsense came to being to not only try to unsettle the player but also to turn us against him. He's been pretty inconsistent this season and it makes him an easy target for the ire of Arsenal fans. It wouldn't be far fetched to think that the contents of the interview were changed during translation to create controversy. It doesn't seem to have crossed many Arsenal fans' minds though. Arsene Wenger, while not pleased with the whole issue, seems to be taking it with a pinch of salt though:

"Yes, I’m very disappointed [by this story] because he shows a completely different attitude [to me]. He wants to extend his contract with us and stay with us so the noise coming out of Russia is very difficult to explain. He looks to be very happy here.



"You should ask him where it comes from. Usually you have direct access to him, you can ask him where that comes from. I don’t forbid you to talk to him. But I take with a little bit of distance what comes back translated sometimes with the help of some agents who want to move the players.



"I think everybody has the freedom to speak but you want to make sure first of all that you respect your club. I just put a question mark on the things that come back translated.”

I think what Wenger's saying is that he's skeptical to believe that Arshavin really said this but at the same time he seems pretty annoyed at how often this is happening with him. He's known as a very frank individual and he should know better than to trust these journalists who look to create shitstorms from his comments.



There's a lot of vitriol directed at him from Arsenal fans on the internet too. Many are now criticising him for his on and off performances throughout the course of the season and some are even saying we should sell him to Barcelona. What most people are on his back about though is that he's lazy. People are making it seem as though he didn't contribute this season. He's scored 11 goals this season and had 9 assists. We couldn't possibly ask more of him when he got two significant injuries this season and also was being played in a position where his height (or lack thereof) put him at a major disadvantage. There's no need to single him out for criticism. There are far lazier people in this Arsenal team and if you're gonna talk about laziness, their names should be called first. Names such as Almunia, Denilson, Diaby and Sagna to some extent.



Apart from all that though, there's not much else happening with the club this week. Arsene Wenger revealed a little more of his transfer plans yesterday. He says we'll be signing a player before June 11th (when the World Cup kicks off). He says:

“We have a basic squad and I believe in the squad I have,” he said. “But if I can make an addition – two or three maximum – then we will do it.



“I will try to do what I want to do as quickly as possible but I am not the only decider. It doesn’t only depend on me.



“Ideally, you would want to do the job before the World Cup. It is difficult to give yourself the right timing.



“Certainly, we will announce one player before the World Cup. After that we will see.”

 It's obvious the player he's talking about here is Marouane Chamakh. I think the only reason we're so hush hush about it is that we can't announce anything about him coming here until his season with Bordeaux is over. What concerns me though is that he claims we are gonna make two signings, three tops. Most agree that our current squad needs a new goalkeeper, maybe two center backs, a defensive midfielder and a striker to get that improvement that will put us over the top and make us truly competitive with the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Barcelona next season. If we're gonna sign only 3 players, at most, it leaves you a bit anxious about whether we're going into next season with the same depth issues we faced throughout this season.



A factor in Wenger's decision might be the new regulations set by the EFA though. It's now been made official that next season we're supposed to register 8 home grown players and 25 total for the Premiership. In seasons past that number was 30. It obviously means that our current Premiership first team squad of 30 players will have to be cut by 5.



At first I was a bit upset about what Wenger said about spending because this is something he says at the start of every transfer window - that he's looking to sign just two or three players maximum. Where it might be different this season however is that we need to trim the fat from our team. It means that he's probably looking to just make 3 additions maximum to the team and replace whoever else is leaving. It doesn't mean we're getting rid of 8 players and signing 3 in their place. It just means that Wenger now knows what areas of the team are lacking and he's probably gonna sell those players that are the weak links in the chain that's the Arsenal team. He's gonna sell them and probably replace them with like players but players who possess the qualities those other players didn't.



Also, the 25 registered player restriction doesn't necessarily mean we can only have 25 players in our squad. We can have as many as we like and if we have players who are underperforming or injured we can always deregister them and replace them with other players who are fit(ter) and performing better in training. We could always do this during the January transfer window.



A player that is a doubt to be in the team next season however is William Gallas.



Of Gallas Wenger says:

"There is a cut off point for Gallas. It doesn't depend only on me. Gallas can come and say 'Boss we will stop the talks because I signed somewhere and that's it'.



"I could set a deadline for us and that will certainly be before the end of May because we then have to look for someone else. We have more talks planned."

Many want Gallas to leave but I believe he's had very good performances when he's managed to stay fit this season. He and Vermaelen have forged a solid partnership at the heart of our defence. Many claim his constant bitching has been a blight on the team but ever since he was stripped of the captaincy he's been very professional and his game has turned around significantly. I'd rather not see him go but I'd like to see us sign another center back regardless of whether he's in the team next season.



What do you think? Let me know in a comment below. That's it for today. Dust!