Just Arsenal News

Should Thomas Vermaelen be the Arsenal captain? by SS

My personal opinion is no. Vermaelen is obviously one of Arsenal’s biggest name defenders and he has been in the team for a fair few years now but I personally have never liked him. I have nothing personal against him, I have just never appreciated his defensive skill.

To me, it seems like Vermaelen has been injured for three quarters of his entire Arsenal career and when he does come back, he plays terribly. I can only honestly recall one season where I remember him playing consistently well without injury .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger revealed before the transfer window that he was looking to raid the Spanish market for “bargains” due to the financial difficulties suffered by clubs in La Liga (e.g. Malaga!), but in the meantime Newcastle have been concentrating on Wenger’s traditional hunting ground, France, and have come away with some excellent buys.

It was revealed that just this week, everyone in France thought that Montpellier’s Yanga M’Biwa was on his way to the Arsenal before he went to Newcastle at the last minute, and along with Lille’s Mathieu Debuchy, Toulouse’s Moussa Sissoko, Nancy’s Massadio Haïdara and Bordeaux’s Yoan Gouffran, Alan Pardew has severely strengthened his Toon squad for a combined price of just £18m, with £7m being recouped by the sale of Demba Ba to Chelsea. .......Read the full article here

Most would agree that Arsenal need a proper defensive midfielder. Arsene Wenger allowed the sale of Alex Song to Barcelona in the summer and have not replaced him. We can argue about whether Song was disciplined enough for the role, but Arsenal have not brought anyone in to do the job. Wenger just moved Mikel Arteta further back. We also have Francis Coquelin coming through, but recent events have shown up the lack of an experienced, out and out midfield destroyer. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal lose another transfer target by AH

The January transfer window is always a disappointment for Arsenal fans. We start the month confident that we will strengthen in key areas to help us either build on our strong position, or to help us recover our season.

A week in and still no signings, we accept that it’s hard to sign top quality players in January and it’s a slow process. 2 weeks in and we begin to worry, our hopes are starting to diminish as we often begin to see players leaving without any reinforcements coming in. 3 weeks in and Arsenal fans begin to get desperate as we see our rivals strengthening around us, while we sit back and watch. Then it comes to the 4th and final week, and suddenly we find ourselves so desperate we just want the club to sign anyone, no matter on the quality of the player. .......Read the full article here

Why Wenger can’t afford to let M’Biwa go to Newcastle by KJ

As I write this article, Newcastle are apparently close to signing Montpellier captain Yanga M’Biwa for a measly £6.8 million. Arsenal have been in for the Frenchman since the summer and it’s a massive surprise to most Arsenal fans that we aren’t interested in him for such a low fee. .......Read the full article here

Watching another inept defensive display from his Arsenal players yesterday may have convinced Arsene Wenger that he cannot afford to wait until the summer to buy another defender. Arsenal have been linked before with the Montpellier captain, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, but it did not look as if we were going to make a move for him, at least not yet. Newcastle United, however, have agreed a transfer fee with the French champions of around £7 million for the 23-year old, so Wenger knows that he is on the verge of losing Mbiwa. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal have already released a couple of players on loan deals during this transfer window, with Marouane Chamakh off to West Ham for the rest of the season and Johan Djourou joining Hannover in the German Dundesliga. There have been expectations that Squaillachi and Arshavin might also be on their way out of the Emirates, but Arsene Wenger has said that Arsenal are not looking to offload any more players at the minute.

“At the moment, no.

“We have a good squad, a balanced one. At the moment, nobody can go out unless we buy somebody. At the moment our focus is to keep everybody. In every position we have two players. Three is two many and one is not enough.” .......Read the full article here

Arsenal were expected to sign a few players in the January transfer window anyway, but they have already agreed deals with West Ham and Hannover for Chamakh and Djourou until the end of the season. With Squillachi and Arshavin also expected to leave, either permanently or on loan, Arsene Wenger has even more options and wages to play with.

If Squillachi does leave, it will allow Wenger to sign two top quality defenders, and the German international Benedikt Howedes is likely to be one of them. The 24-year old captain of Schalke has halted the talks he was having with the German club about extending his contract which runs out in 2014. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal Transfer rumours are starting to heat up… by KJ

December is going to be a very tense month with key games that could either put us back in contention for a top 3 place or could ruin any chance of us qualifying in the Champions League. We are rumoured to be in for 5 players in January to dramatically change up our current squad. Here are my thoughts on each one: .......Read the full article here

One man who knows Olivier Giroud well but will not be pleased at the striker hitting form at Arsenal is Rene Girard, the manager of Montpellier. Girard is well aware of what Giroud can do, as he helped make him the player he is. Girard is hoping that his extensive knowledge of Giroud will help him to prepare Montpellier to stop the Arsenal front man from scoring, but he doesn’t sound overly optimistic.

“Olivier worked very hard for us and we almost sculpted him into the player he is today. We made history at the club and had great times. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal have been linked with the 22-year old Cameroon international Nicolas N’Koulou before and are keeping an eye on the talented defender who signed for French Ligue 1 side Marseille last summer. He has continued to improve and is drawing the attention of quite a few big clubs, including Chelsea and AC Milan.

If Arsene Wenger is keen on signing the player, he may have to make his move soon, as Barcelona are said to be thinking seriously about him to supplement their back line, according to Talksport.

With Carlos Puyol and Gerrard Pique being injured at the same time, Barcelona have realised that they need more defenders. The club have had to use makeshift defenders in recent weeks, including Alex Song. .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger is very keen on adding the talented and versatile defender Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa to his Arsenal squad, apparently, and the 23-year old Montpellier captain is available on a free transfer in the summer.

With Montpellier in Arsenal’s group in the Champions league this season, and Olivier Giroud a former team mate of Mbiwa’s it would seem that Wenger has this one in the bag. A problem has appeared on the horizon, however, in a red and black striped top. .......Read the full article here