Just Arsenal News

Ever since the end of the Premier League season last Sunday, Arsenal fans have been looking forward to an optimistic summer transfer window and a much more competitive Arsenal in the future. Some Gooners, like myself, still harbour doubts about the board and Arsenal’s wage policy actually allowing Wenger to bring in the `top, top` talent he has been talking about all season.

A good proportion of the transfer rumours this week have surrounded Stevan Jovetic from Fiorentina. It seemed to be only a matter of time before Arsenal could announce that the deal is done with the player and his Serie A club, but that has been thrown into doubt in a big way today by their sporting director Daniel Prade. .......Read the full article here

Wenger can lead us through a league in turmoil by DG

While everyone knows that Arsene Wenger is now comfortably the longest serving current Premier League manager, I wonder if you all realise just how far ahead he is of the pack? It was revealed yesterday that Tony Pulis is leaving Stoke after 7 years in charge. His departure, coupled with Roberto Martinez leaving Wigan, mean that the second longest serving manager in the league right now is Alan Pardew. How can this be!? Pardew only joined Newcastle in 2010, and yet he finds himself behind only Wenger on the longest serving list. It is a remarkable and shocking reminder of just how fickle a manager’s career can be. .......Read the full article here

Rub your eyes, Arsenal fans, pinch yourself and splash your face with cold water, then read the headline again. Is it still the same? Yes, and it is not April 1st, so what on Earth is going on? Maybe whoever wrote this story originally had shaky hands from the night before, or his dog barked as he was typing and he hit an extra zero, because 100 million euros is silly money for anybody, never mind Remy Cabella.

Montpellier have had a shocking follow up season the their historic title win last year. They finished ninth, a massive 28 points behind the champions PSG, and it seems to have affected the sanity of their deputy chairman, Laurent Nicollin. .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger has already suggested that Arsenal will have a tough time acquiring the transfer targets that the manager wants this summer. The Gunners may have a lot more money to spend in this transfer window, but that in no way guarantees that we will get the players we want.

One of the major problems this year is the competition. Of course there are always teams who are after the same players, especially when you are looking at the top level. This summer, however, promises to be harder than ever. There is a lot of jockeying for position amongst the big clubs and there are a lot of very rich owners who want to get their teams up into the elite around Europe. .......Read the full article here

Could The Ox Be Arsenal’s New Fabregas? by FD

What is it with modern day footballers? They all seem to want to play in the centre of the park. What happened to all the dashing wide players of yore? Nowadays it’s as if players are trying to stay as far away from the pitch side fans as possible.

If it’s not Bale the spud one minute insisting to all and sundry that he’s really a central striker, it’s our own Theo the next, bemoaning his lack of opportunity in the middle of the Arsenal attack. Perhaps Theo’s thinking is that if Arsene Wenger was able to transform Thierry Henry from a winger to an inside forward with such success, he could do it again with him. Maybe. But whilst the Arsenal boss has seemed reluctant to commit to Theo’s wishes on a consistent basis, he looks to have fewer reservations about playing Oxlade-Chamberlain in the middle. .......Read the full article here

The Enigma- Andrei Arshavin by Dan S

Andrei Arshavin’s four and half seasons at Arsenal can be summarised as the following, the first two and half he looked a good signing, then he lost his form, his confidence and then he lost his place in the team – and that was that! Without there ever really being an explanation.

The Russian maestro’s signing in January 2009 was the last time we actually brought someone who gooners were actually aware of. His performances in the 2008 UEFA Cup and European Championships (a tournament his country should have won) had many saying he fitted the Arsene Wenger role. With a style similar to a Robert Pires, Fredrik Ljungberg and Samir Nasri. Arshavin liked to have the license to move around the midfield, popping up in different areas. Arshavin, even in cameos this year, always offered something different, a desire to take on his man. .......Read the full article here

The fans and former players of Arsenal will all have been pleased about the way the Gunners fought back from a seemingly impossible situation to clinch fourth place in the Premier League, qualifying for the Champions League and finishing above our north London rivals again.

As the dust settles, though, and we start to take stock, there are certainly concerns. The thing that really gets under the skin of the former Arsenal striker Ian Wright, is that the trophy drought has continued. Wright, as an Arsenal fan, understands the importance of beating Tottenham, but that gap in silverware is embarrassing, especially for a club of our size. .......Read the full article here

The Arsenal transfer target, Portuguese goalkeeper Rui Patricio, has admitted that he may be leaving his beloved Sporting Lisbon this summer. In an interview with the Portuguese press he said “I feel good here, but we must consider many things. I still do not know what the future holds for me”.

The keeper was the subject of an £8 Million bid just last week from Arsenal which was immediately rejected by Sporting. Arsenal have been searching for a new goalkeeper for many weeks now and Patricio was a surprise choice until a bid was actually made for him. The frontrunners were thought to be Barcelona’s Victor Valdes and QPR’s Julio Cesar. .......Read the full article here

Every year we report the Arsenal players that really have to be taken off the wage bill to make room for some players that actually are capable of competing for First XI places. This time around we have a chance to make big inroads into disposing of these deadwoods and freeing up a good amount of wages to invest in star players.

I sincerely doubt that any Arsenal fan will disagree with even one player on the list, and I will explain the reasons for any that are on the borderline. Here we go: .......Read the full article here

Arsenal fans celebrate mediocrity yet again whilst silverware goes begging by Adam Kemp

Arsenal fans will be glad to see the back of a season that has proved the most difficult during Wengers reign. I was embarrassed to see the players celebrating like they won the title as they should have been reserved with a fourth placed finish. Any player for the club should have exerted a sigh of relief as they have delivered another mediocre finish. Over the past three seasons we have given optimism to Tottenham by lacklustre results and inadequate management. Tottenham have no right to be anywhere near Arsenal and yet we have allowed them to close the gap. Wenger was damn lucky to clinch his most ‘favoured trophy’ by qualifying for Europe’s top competition. .......Read the full article here

What are we going to do with Nicklas Bendtner when he comes back to Arsenal? by SS

Simple, sell him. He has been on loan at Juventus this season after Arsene Wenger finally tried and failed to sell him last summer. He has not scored a single goal at Juventus this season and has failed to show the Arsenal management why he should stay at the club.

Bendtner started his career in his native Denmark with Copenhagen who are one of the biggest and best clubs in Denmark. He was purchased as a teenager for a very small amount and left to prove his worth in Arsenal’s reserves for a while. .......Read the full article here

There was very little to play for in most of the games yesterday, which is why the Arsenal v Newcastle game and the Tottenham v Sunderland game were shown simultaneously on Sky sports. The papers and football websites have been building up the tension between the two north London rivals and saying just how important fourth place in the Premier League was.

Most of the season we have been told, with relish, by the media that this is the spuds’ year and that it indicates a momentum or power shift and all that sort of twaddle. When the Gunners lost at White Hart Lane, nobody in the media or any of the football pundits gave us a chance. Surely, only a miracle could save us now. .......Read the full article here