Just Arsenal News

The Nigerian international midfielder Sunday Mba, who was the star of the show as his country won the African Cup of Nations in February, is being linked with a $1 million dollar-rated move to Arsenal, around 600,000 GBP.

The talented attacking midfielder shot to stardom by scoring the winning goal against the Ivory Coast in the Afcon semi-final and subsequently scoring the only goal against Burkino Faso to win the title for the Super Eagles.

Since then Mba has been the subject of an ownership struggle between Enugu Rangers and Warri Wolves FC (who won the battle) as many European clubs registered an interest in taking the 24 year-old away from Africa. .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger looks set to have at least £70 million to spend in the summer to revamp the Arsenal squad and make a serious challenge for major honours next season. The does not mean that the Frenchman will stop looking at the potential of young players, however, and one who seems to have attracted his attention is the 22-year old Sebastian Rode from Eintracht Frankfurt.

It is reported in the Sun that Wenger may be preparing a summer offer to the Bundesliga club of around £7 million for the versatile midfielder who has played for the German international side at four different underage levels but has yet to win his first senior cap. The paper describes Rode as a defensive midfielder, but in his last three games for Eintracht he has played on the left, on the right and as a support striker, so would seem to be more of an all rounder. .......Read the full article here

Should Arsenal move Vermalaen into the midfield? By Twig

It’s really hard for a very good player when he finds himself competing for a first-team place with the captain of his team. This was the emotion I felt when a very fit Koscielny was brought on in the dying minutes to help us protect our lead against Wigan. Keeping a vastly improved player – who is arguably our best defender – on the bench, would eventually turn out to be problematic for the club. While we are trying to bring in new players into the team, it is equally important that we keep hold unto our best talents. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal are struggling for consistency in midfield this season since Abou Diaby’s newest injury, with Mikel Arteta being moved into the DM position to try and instil a little bit of stability but it is thought that a new Defensive Midfielder is a priority for Wenger in the January transfer window.

One such player being linked with the Gunners right now is the former Arsenal fan favourite Mathieu Flamini, who left the Emirates under a cloud four years ago after refusing to sign a new contract. But now the 28 year-old is out of favour at AC Milan and his recent comments have made it clear that it is time for him to be moving on very soon. .......Read the full article here

Where will Arteta play if Arsenal get Diame? by Twig

Recently, Arsenal has been strongly linked with a January bid for Diame. He has been compared to Diaby as he’s strong and will make us more combative in the middle. There’s no doubt that Arsenal miss Diaby. Diaby gives us something different whenever he makes his short returns from injury. Our best games this season have been when Diaby played. During the summer, Wenger gambled by selling Song to Barcelona in the belief that Diaby would somehow manage to stay fit. That hasn’t happened. .......Read the full article here

At the beginning of the season Arsenal were awesome when Abou Diaby made a few rare appearances for the side, and as Thomas Rosicky has also been out injured all season it has been left to Mikel Arteta to act as the defensive midfielder in nearly every game so far.

Man Arsenal fans may blame Wenger for not bringing in someone like M’Vila in the summer while hoping that Diaby could stay fit for any period of time. That risk backfired horribly when Diaby went back (to join Rosicky) on the treatment table after just five games, and Wenger has now admitted that he may need another midfielder as cover. .......Read the full article here

No match report for the Norwich game but a heavily critical piece on Arsenal’s performance. by KJ

I’m sorry for not writing a match report for yesterday’s game against Norwich. I watched about 70 mins before I had to go out. It looks like I didn’t miss much in the end as we failed to score the goals required to get the result.
I’ll give a short summary of how the match went down (if you already didn’t know).

It was a terrible performance throughout the match. Arsenal never actually carved out any real chances and never looked like we were ever going back into the match. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal certainly have a hell of a lot of midfielders at the moment, although Tomas Rosicky, Jack Wilshere and Emmanuel Frimpong won’t be available for another couple of months at least, so you would think that Wenger would have an array of different choices of who to play down the middle now that Alex Song has moved to Barcelona.

But it seems that the young Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is very keen on taking Song’s mantle in the middle of the park, and he is practically begging Wenger to let him move inside from his usual wing position. ‘They are big shoes to fill but you’ve got that anywhere at Arsenal,’ the Ox said. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal could be after a £20m+ midfielder! by KJ

The ever reliable @AFCAMDEN has released some more inside info on how Wenger is planning his final assault on the transfer market. Here are his specific tweets:

“Wenger’s on the look out for “A top, top class midfielder”. Looking to spend up to £20m on the right player. Reluctant to buy average/unproven”

Wenger would’ve bought by now; money available, options out there. I’ve got the feeling he’s after someone he thought he couldn’t get. .......Read the full article here

Sahin is a Gunner! by TS

AW has secured the signature of Nuri Sahin after stalling over a £14m buy out clause should we decide to make his loan deal permanent next summer. Sportsmail revealed on Tuesday how the deal for the Madrid midfielder had hit a snag as Madrid wanted a fixed price of £14m attached to the deal if Arsenal decide to take up the option of signing the Turkey midfielder once his loan ends. .......Read the full article here

A vital ten days for Arsenal’s season by SC

After the result against Sunderland at the weekend there is a great demand on the club to spend money on creative talent along with a quality defensive midfielder. Overall Arsenal need to make at least two signings, one strong central midfielder to control the game from the middle of the park and a fullback. Preferably one that can play on the left and right, to cover Sagna and provide competition for Gibbs. However we really lacked creative quality against Sunderland, but with technical midfield players such as Rosicky and Wilshere to come back there is great optimism for better creativity in future games. There is also the fact Cazorla, Podolski, Walcott were not 100 percent sharp in this game. After seeing Cazorla in Spain especially at Villireal where he won player of the year, he really could be the gem purchase this summer. Expect after the first international break, a lot slicker, sharper midfield. And they’re going to have to be – with fixtures against Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea quickly coming up. .......Read the full article here

Ki Sung Yeung to Arsenal? by TS

Well it seems these next coming days will be riddled with Arsenal transfer rumors and the Gunners are once again being linked with anyone wanting a transfer. On our list today is the Celtic midfielder Ki Sung-Yueng who has told the club that he would like a move to the Premier League. Now with Sahin on his way, M’villa still in the cross hairs and Biglia on the fringes one has to wonder just how many midfielders the media thinks Arsenal need! .......Read the full article here