Arsenal set for last-minute move for Watford defender
Arsenal’s defence has taken a pounding over the last few weeks with the numerous injuries to the back line, and Arsene Wenger has maintained that there is no truth in any of the Arsenal transfer rumours and he will not be making any purchases in the next few days, maybe!
He was typically cryptic last night when asked if he will sign anyone before the end of the month. “Certainly not. But you never know!”
But the Sun today reckons that Wenger is set to outbid Newcastle for the versatile Watford defender Adrian Mariappa, who can play in the centre of defence or at right back.
Watford are looking for £4million, but the red-top says that Arsenal will bid £2million, which is more than the £1.5million that Newcastle are prepared to pay.
They report that Wenger has decided to bring in the 25 year-old Englishman as extra insurance due to the ongoing back problems suffered by Carl Jenkinson and the lack of confidence in the erratic performaces of Johann Djourou lately.
It has already been confirmed that Newcastle have failed to reach Watford’s valuation, and their manager Sean Dyche admitted that other clubs could still be in the bidding, but only if the price is right. He said: “There is talk of loads of people to be honest which in a way is a positive for us. We like to think we are a club that improves and develops players.
“Although, of course not at the expense of doing well in the Championship. We value our players highly as people and there is a monetary value involved. Nothing has changed on that.”
It has been reported that Arsenal scouts were watching Mariappa in Friday’s game FA Cup tie against Tottenham, so perhaps Wenger could yet surprise us all today or tomorrow….
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What about Vertonghen??? I thought we were going to buy him…..
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
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I watched him playing against tottenhum..he is better than djouru..should get him..!
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
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I dont think so as sagna has make a return yesterday…now what we need is a left back and vermaelen return to heart of our defence with either koncielny or mertersacker…back up proven or premier league experienced striker to back up RVP..maybe rodallega or clint dempsey…or even lucas barrios…come on Gunners…we need a string of winning games!!
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
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i’ve nt watched him play but i knw he is better than djuorou
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
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sad
Opinions divided. What do you think?
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Saton my friend where r u. I knew u spoke the truths even without source. U r right about Barrios. Please come forward. As far as djoru is concerned even i am better than him. I would have done it for 40k a month plus making the tea, massaging wenger, ironing clothes for rvp.
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
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podolski is out for a month (injured), cant buy him no more. y not DEMBA BA! newcastle have already bought a replacement striker this jan. we dont need a new defender with sanga back but im not gona complain if we get 1
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
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yea what about one world class attacker….more exp….
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
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@mizopa no chances this january may be in summer we might get one..!
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We do NOT need a defender.
We need a striker to relieve pressure on VAN P.
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Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Out of tune?. Like or Dislike:
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mo u sic breh!
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Whatever happened to the Kalou rumours. Got to be carefull what we get our hopes up on. No transfers, period.
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Can you PLEASE stop writing articles with those odd symbols attached to your words!!! I dont see how useful or stylish they are. Love to read your articles but those symbols do my head in. Thanks for the constant news and info. Keep the good work up and drop the symbols. Arsenal finish 3rd this season, lift the FA cup and wait for it………..make it to the CL finals. TRUE STORY
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Check his Wikipedia profile
)
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@ sir weener. This happened in the summer with jagielka, so I wouldn’t read to much into it
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I hope it is true and he is a good player..but, what we need is cover 4 RVP.
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who?? marriapa who?? okay..whatever wenger,usmanov,gazidis n hill wood. what about squid??n almunia??we stil keep these guys n pay their wages?? djourou as a tenth backup centre back shud b good. n hire him as arsenal hos programme. he is good on talking. next summer please do settle these guys bendtner n denilson out permanently. arshavin m chamakh dnt think they wud leave this january. nxt summer please!cnt see us win anythng bt yeah keep on faith.
btw i think wu should always boo the team in the scond half. so they might cme in scond half with spirit like they done ysterday. bt stil aftr leading by one goal. we always being complacent. i missed the old arsenal that would finished the game n score a lot.mayb that is the new us. leading by one goal is enough nowadays.bt the dferent from the past,is now we concede more n score least. bt yet glad sagna,gibbs,arteta,henry n myb mr.diaby in 3-4 more weeks. atleast they’re some positive news about players back.major setback mr.wilshere!am gutted.
who else??santos in march. jenkinson?? myb same with diaby. hope would be no more bad news regarding long term injuries.
n im stil with my dcision. i wud nt love mr.wenger like most of the dellusioned fans aftr one match.im stil fed up with em. unless he prove me wrong by the end of the season. by atleast finish in the top four(yeah low ambition), then bring one or both cup. from champs league or fa cup. no more positive to tke from loses of that two cup.
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what you lot need to understand is that hardly anyone is available in January and if they are there over priced are top 3 targets are hazard podolski and gotze we already bided for them but there not available to the summer 1 because they wont be sold and two two of them are injured were going to have to weight so there is no good strikers midfielders available. but this guy is available and we all know Wenger if he sees a barging he will take it.
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@arsenaluva
We should never boo our team. What a stupid thing to do! If you boo the team, then you are booing every player who has tried their upmost to win. (RVP, Ox, Song! – were all playing 100%). So you lose my respect if you boo the team. You are NOT an ‘arsenalover’ if you do. (not sure what you love booing our team). Nuffield said.
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With English football experience and versatility, he will be good asset to the team. Add Djourou to the deal Wenger, his height and size may be an intimidating asset in nationwide league
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vermalen Koscielny mertasacker Mariappa for good cbs
also he is English
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A depender again? I think we are going to parade a team full of dependers in the next couple of seasons, common wenger, what about cover for RVP?
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WHAT’S THE POINT IN BUYING DEFENDERS AND NOT PRACTISING DEFENDING IN TRAINING. THE COACHING HAS TO CHANGE FIRST. WE WERE LUCKY YESTERDAY.
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@KickuPthearsene
chill dude! haha. i am just kidding.why wud i boo the team i support?? i wud only boo on these three faces hil wood,gazidis n kroenky. im an arsenal lova for sure dude. im jst kidding cus with that way it lift the team. dnt u think that is one of the factor the squad cme back with belief in the scond half to always prove the fans wrong? and again. jst kidding dude! chill. i do stil hv faith with the team.
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another lower league defender to weaken a already fragile defence, welcome back sagna, , wenger is just weakening the arsenal squad, , by buying french and lower league players. take a look at samba. or hangelaand, decent premier league defenders who like to score aswell, and plzzz buy darren bent, hes always scoring against arsenal, man utd would of bought him by now, if he done the same to them , come on mr wenger power and experience, not kids, and frenchmen , thanks
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Sooo we are now in d class of newcastle.draging watford players at 2 mil pounds.God deliver us from d hands of arsenal board and wengar.
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@arsenaluva
Just didn’t find it funny mate. Our team needs all the support they can get. The booing yesterday – at home! Was a disgrace. To boo Wenger for a stupid decision is one thing, to boo our entire team as they walk into the dressing room with a 2 goal deficit is so wrong it makes me mad. It’s not like they weren’t trying. (the second half paid off for their efforts as they continued to push forward against the tide of momentum, and managed to swing it). I appreciate it may have been a joke, but IMO – not to funny considering it was OUR fans, at OUR ground! If we start down this path of turning on our team, we set a new wrong culture that isn’t Arsenal.
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@KickuPthearsene
n if we keep the trohiless streak. i cn see it coming.wrong culture that isnt arsenal. myb that dscribe best what is us right now. okay i respect u are mad n sory if my post offends you. im jst stil annoyed with mr.le prof.wenger. n that boo did lift the team.
if nt wenger out. please replace pat rice. need someone to organize those dfence. we concede bad goal. n cost us in 8 match dfeat in premier league. n worst goal conceded on top.scond is blackburn. that is embarassing. djourou,squid shud be out.n the organizing is poor. even cost us at the carling cup quarter final. even liverfool cn beat them.hope we cn revenge them at our homegrown.yet the squad is nt gud enough. no one cn supply the killer pass. dfence evry year no improvement from wenger.attack n dfend as a team. fabregas learn much to dfend at barca. that jst show us. no sign of improvement.n yes keep the faith with the le prof plan.aslong this streak dnt goes straight for 10yrs.
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what stil mke me unhappy. we always being on complacent aftr scoring one goal. n aftr leading. we nt kill the game n score more. we always being way too complacent. n it is always. now. espcially these season.
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Arsenal make their second January purchase, 19 year old attacking midfielder from Dortmund. I’m sure you guys are all excited now
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Saton, i apologise on behalf of everyone .Plz, plz come back with the information.
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@KickuPthearsene Have you ever considered that perhaps the boos from the crowd is actually what made our players change their attitude second half? Sometimes the truth hurts and the boos from the crowd were people expressing their distaste at a possible 5 defeat in a row, especially at the Emirates! Let’s be frank, Arsenal played absolute sh*t first half.
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@Twig say what??
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I’d offer 2 million + Squillaci. Makes sense on a lot of levels.
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Looks like we signed Thomas Eisfeld from Dortmund. Is that a good thing guys? Haven’t seen him play.
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@ BIg Gun
Can’t find much on him on youtube. 19, he’s had a serious knee injury when he was younger which allowed Gotze to over take him in the pecking order at Dortmund. Has never been given an opportunity since. His contract is expiring and so it looks like 400k is being offered in compensation.
It’s intriguing, but I cannot tell if it’s a good thing…..could suggest we won’t be going for Gotze.
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How can booing a team lift their spirits? Don’t you think they know they didn’t play well? It’s a ridiculous thing to think telling players they are rubbish – Improves their performance. Would anyone tell their children they are not doing well as a motivator? Psychology of that sort never produces good results. I am sure all the players were told to lift their game in the dressing room. But booing a team is rubbish.
I agree with all you said @arsenalova. Just not the part about booing the team lifting them. Just think if it were anyone of us out there, how would that make us respond? We freakin hate it when our boss at work, teacher at school, girlfriend, wife, or whatever tells us we are doing sh!t, how would 60,000 people do otherwise?
@Biggun – don’t think the booing helped one bit. The second half we played with confidence. You think the boo’s gave our players confidence? I think they just went out with nothing to lose – as they were already on the back foot, there’s no use just defending (which they didn’t do well in the first half anyway). And yes – we are not playing consistently well. We are lacking in many areas. Our manager may have totally lost the plot. Our board and owner is stingy, and need to losen the budget to get the right players to become competitive. Yes to all of that. No to telling our players are crap. (was RVP crap? Ox crap? Song crap? TV5 crap? ….. So our entire team wasn’t crap. Let’s not communicate that).
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Buy: Vertonghen, Samba, Goetze/Hazard and Podolski.
Sell: Almunia, Djourou, Squillaci, Denilson, Diaby, Rosicky, Arshavin, Chamakh and Bendtner.
Loan out: Mannone, Yennaris, Gibbs, Miquel, Coquelin, Lansbury, Ryo and Park.
Loan finished: Benayoun (back to Chelsea)
Loan return: Frimpong, Campbell and Vela
SZCZESNY
SAGNA
KOSCIELNY
VERMAELEN
VERTONGHEN
WILSHERE
SONG
GOETZE/HAZARD
GERVINHO
VAN PERSIE
PODOLSKI
Subs:
Fabianski
Santos
Samba
Arteta
Oxlade-Chamberlain
Walcott
Vela
Rest of 1st team squad:
Jenkinson
Gibbs
Mertesacker
Frimpong
Ramsey
Campbell
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plz dont spend yor money with this lad maybe his good but i havnt seen him u arsne w u have 50m to spend u only need podilski or de jung and hazard and samba thats all to win the matches and trophies ( de jung is a good player can help van persie he played 16 matches so far he scored 15 goals ) please arsenal get them. thx
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I dont think it makes sense to buy Mariappa. We’ve got 3 very strong center backs in Mertesacker, Kos and TV and Kyle Bartley (who is starting for Rangers in the heart of defence) and Ignasi Miquel on the fringes of the first team. Defensively, I reckon we are safe once Gibbsy and Santos return. I would love to see us make a statement, show some ambition and buy Hazard and give Walcott and Gervinho some competition as they are way too inconsistent. We also need a quality signing to ensure Champs League ftball and RVP stays. But, typically, Arsene only buys quality and chooses to buy a 19 who hasn’t made it into the BVB first team as yet, had a year out because of injury and didnt even have a wikipedia page until this morning.. Not to mention his stats on football manager.. FOREVER ARSENAL!!
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Guys according to goal.com broussia dortmund have confirmed that arsenal have signed ther some 19 year old midfielder..does anyone have details abt that???
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@luwenger now you talk about luck. wen blackburn scored an offside and 2 own goals against us, werent they VERY lucky? io think luck comes if u r prepared well enuf.
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Wenger has repeatedly said no more signings in January..why do fans continue to speculate ?
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Arsenal have signed Thomas Eisfeld of Borussia Dortmund for 0.5 million !! Aged 19 yrs!! Attacking Midfielder !! German, born Russian !
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Speculation = hope, and hope is in short supply right now. Therefore, we all speculate in what could be, not what is. 4th is not a guarantee. RVP may not resign in Jan. we are not performing well. Wenger is stingy, arrogant, and may have lost the plot. So we all wish of what could be. Instead of the facts. I hope we don’t F it up this season. If we do, it’s AW and the stinking clan of money hungry board and owners. I’m all for buying wise and not overdoing it unnecessarily, but we are so far from that at the moment, we are making some huge errors in judgement. If we keep on this path, we will only be able to attract average talent, and become an average team, not a great one – which we all believe in.
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Eisfeld… nice, we will be PL champion in 2015
… that’s why i love Arsenal, i’m always be surprised 
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nobody knew persie, herny, berkhamp, ljumberg fabregas either! you all need to trust in le professor, with players with no reputation its not really wengers fault more likely the players who have yet to restore the faith wenger put to their name, we can only hope that wenger saw something in this player!
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Hope these eisfield guy is already a true exciting talent such as wilshere or the ox. Nt a star in the making such as rambo. Hope he cn turn to be such as fabregas. cn bring back our sexy play n scores.myb there is somethng with em.aslong it ddnt turn to be another almunia,squid,arshavin.
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its better 2 sign a 19year old than not sign anyone.atleast d fans hav some1 2 look forward to…who knows how talented he is !!!
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Please may the booing continue…BOOOOooooooooooooooooo!
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Thomas Eisfeld is completing a medical i think and will be signed soon he is from Borussia Dortmund and is 19, he is an attacking midfielder and has scored 6 goals in 12 games for Dortmund’s U19′s squad.
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Will Arsene really sign any body this window? Any way, let’s wait and see if Mariappa or any body wil come in.
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i hope he’ll be ready for the 1st team.. n the 0.5M we paid
might be a bargain..
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The booing should be done if i know i am not getting value for my money and players are not trying hard enough. Yes some of the players were playing well but i believe by booing the whole team the other players playing well would kick those not playing well into shape. We have been peaceful for a long time and in life WHAT YOU ALLOW WILL ONLY GROW OR BECOME WORSE. Cut the cancer now by changing playing style, policy, board. We used to say we haven’t won anything in 2yrs, then 4yrs, now it’s 7 years, soon 10yrs. Booing will make them think again. Look at the England squad.
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@ bryannnnnnnn,
Didn’t you know who Henry was before he signed for Arsenal? Because he was in the France World Cup squad before he joined Arsenal and played for a huge European team too.
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This player is gone to Wigan.
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Arsenal,s main problem is in midfield with noone,not even
Ramsey or Wilshere able to play a holding position,Alex So
ng does it rather well ,but why no ben Ayoun to complement
Arteta or Rosicky who at least can get Arsenal going forw
ard consistently unlike Ramsey and Wilshere who keep on passing backwards to the goalie, or sidewards,the ball is lost too much in midfield causing our defenders all sorts of problems ,Ramsey the main culprit ?
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