Just Arsenal News

One story in today’s papers caught my eye and made me think there is something seriously wrong with the recruitment policy at Arsenal. Whoever is ultimately in charge of signing new players needs to take a long look in the mirror, because we seem to have dropped the ball, and not for the first time. The story, in the Express, concerns a potential move by Chelsea for M’Baye Niang from AC Milan, who they are looking at as a possible replacement for the misfiring Spanish international Fernando Torres. .......Read the full article here

It was reported last week that the teenage strike sensation M’Baye Niang was on the verge of signing for Everton. The 17-year old had previously spent a week at the Emirates on trial and had obviously impressed every body. Arsenal were said to have made an offer to his French club Caen but it was rejected.

The reported value of the offers varied wildly from £500,000 to around £5 million, so basically nobody knew. Manchester City and a number of European clubs then expressed an interest but it seemed that Everton boss David Moyes had pulled off another coup. Niang had visited Merseyside and Moyes thought that his offer of around £2 million had secured him the youngster. .......Read the full article here

The longest and most complicated loan deal in history has finally been arranged, with Liverpool announcing that Nuri Sahin will be at Anfield as long as he passes his medical. The Spanish media reports that Liverpool have agreed to pay Real Madrid £5 million for the privilege of having Sahin for a year. If the reports are true then I can fully understand why Arsene Wenger did not bring the Turkish international to the Emirates.

To pay £5 million plus substantial wages, you would expect to get a player guaranteed to be a star, but Sahin has hardly kicked a ball in anger for over a season. He may turn out to be a great player for Liverpool but they are paying a lot of money for a possibility. World heavyweight champion of arrogance, Jose Mourinho, must be very pleased with himself. .......Read the full article here

Manchester City Set To Take Another Player by AH

Manchester are eyeing up another player in association with Arsenal. No I’m not talking about Van Persie, or any current Arsenal player, I am talking about SM Caen striker M’baye Niang, who had a weeks trial with the North London club earlier this month.

The 17 year-old is a highly rated striker and Arsenal made their move immediately after the loan, as they reportedly launched a £5 million bid, which was rejected. However, the Caen manager said the offer wasn’t drastically off what the relegated club are looking for. It’s understood that Arsenal were preparing a £6 million offer for the Frenchman, but now sources suggest that Manchester City have offered the young striker a mega-wage package to join the Premier League Champions. Officially, however, no bid has been made by the Manchester Club. .......Read the full article here

Yesterday the news broke that Arsene Wenger made an offer to Caen for their prodigy M’Baye Niang. The 17-year old striker is reckoned to be on his way to greatness and is also being tracked by Tottenham and Manchester City. The stories seem to be true, as Jean-Francois Forlin, who is the president of Caen, confirmed that the club had rejected an initial bid.

The numbers reported yesterday were around five or six million, but the offer made by Arsenal is now believed to be much less than that, in the region of just £1 million. Sources in France think that it will not take much more than this to persuade Caen to sell Niang. .......Read the full article here

Man City force Arsenal’s hand over Niang by BA

I am not sure how accurate this report is but, apparently, Arsenal are going to make an offer of around £6 million for the 17-year old striker M’Baye Niang. The youngster has just had a trial at Arsenal after drawing rave reviews for his performances in France for Caen and the underage national team.

Niang has been described as a phenomenon, but only made his debut in Caen’s first team last April. He had already attracted the attention of Tottenham and Manchester City. The Spuds have reportedly had a bid for the player rejected already. Now City have renewed their interest, according to The Mirror, and Arsenal are going to make a move to sign Niang quickly. .......Read the full article here

There is a deafening lack of information coming from the club about Theo Walcott signing a new contract with Arsenal this summer, and this seems to indicate that he will also be moving along with Robin Van Persie. This has led to a spate of rumours about his possible destination with both Liverpool and Chelsea said to be interested.

I can’t see him going to Liverpool if he is “in search of trophies”, but Chelsea would be a real possibility given that Theo wouldn’t even have to move house, but after securing Eden Hazard I doubt that the Blues would have space to make him a regular first team player. Personally I think he will be persuaded to re-sign by Wenger if they increase the wages on offer. .......Read the full article here

It was announced this week that the young Caen striker Mbaye Niang was going to be coming to Arsenal on trial, there were reports that his bosses at the French side were unhappy that Arsene Wenger was trying to poach the 5million-rated U21 France international.

But after the various reports hostile to Arsenal, Caen have made an official announcement that they have given their blessing for the trial. It reads: “Contrary to what has been written on certain French and foreign websites, Mbaye Niang has left to have a trial at Arsenal with the agreement of president Jean-Francois Fortin and technical staff headed by Patrice Garande. .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger has returned to his home country again in the search for promising young footballers. The 17-year old hotshot Caen striker M’Baye Niang is coming to the Emirates for a trial. His coach at the French club is urging Niang not to go as it is too soon in his fledgling career, but the youngster is eyeing a dream move.

“He has talent, yes. Does he have the potential to make a career? Yes, but is he doing the right thing for this at the moment? No.” .......Read the full article here

It looks like Arsenal are finally making inroads into disposing of some the out-of-favour players at the Emirates. It was recently revealed that Denilson will be staying at Sao Paolo for at least another year, and Arsene Wenger has now confirmed that he has received an offer for Marouane Chamakh.

“Fiorentina requested information on his availability and made an offer,” Wenger said yesterday. We all know that the Arsenal boss will try and squeeze as much as possible out of the Italians, but let’s all hope that he accepts ANY reasonable offer, especially as Chamakh arrived on a free transfer. .......Read the full article here

There is no doubt as the transfer window nears closure there are some very strange Arsenal transfer rumours being bandied about right now. Just as the Arsenal Fans are clamouring for Wenger to buy some top experienced centre-backs, Sky Sports reveals that Arsene Wenger is chasing a 16 year-old striker/midfielder!

His name is M’Baye Niang and he currently plays for Caen in France, and has quite an impressive record of three goals in just seven games for the French minnows, and he hotly tipped as a star of the future (so of course Wenger is interested! .......Read the full article here

Despite Arsene Wenger saying that there will be minimal signings this summer, the papers are still full of Arsenal transfer news today, and there are a couple of new names to add to the list.

The first one is the classy Sampdoria striker Giampaolo Pazzini, who the Mail says that Wenger would love to partner Marouane Chamakh next season. (I presume that means that Arsenal will revert to 4-4-2, and Van Persie will come back from the World Cup with an injury in September!) .......Read the full article here