We’ll start with the outgoing; because for the first time this summer there are more stories about players coming in, rather than going out. Jens Lehmann has been linked with a Stuttgart move. It’s believed that he met officials from the German Club yesterday morning. Stuttgart’s general manager Horst Heldt has said that they cannot afford Jens’ high wages, but if he wants football it now looks like there’s an option in his home country. He’s played his last game for Arsenal, but whether he retires or moves on is not yet known.
Right, so who are we being linked with? The big story going around at the moment is about Marseille midfielder Samir Nasri. If I’m being honest with you, I’ve never heard of him, but since this interest has been raised I’ve heard great things about the 20-year-old. Don’t be fooled by his age though, he’s an established player, he’s just been named in the French squad for the Euros and the reported signing fee would be around £13.5m! You have to wonder if Arsene is going to pay that kind of money, however if this guys does end up coming to Arsenal, then he’s going to be the nuts.
He plays on either wing (Hleb replacement?) but is well known for his fancy football giving him the reputation in France as ‘the next Zidane’. He won the young player of the year and Marseille’s player of the season this year. He does sound quite exciting this kid. If you think we’ve got Vela coming in too then it looks like we’ll actually have some wingers next season.
The next tasty link is for Roma’s Alberto Aquilani. He’s 23 and would apparently cost us around £12m if we were interested. Once again, I’ve never heard of him, I’m rubbish aren’t I? I don’t really follow football outside England you see. How has this rumour come about? Well his agent, Vincenzi Morabito has actually said we’re in negotiations:
Aquilani is speaking to Arsenal. We will have to see if Roma will be able to match his demands.
Sounds another exciting prospect, but to me that quote sounds like it’s been purposely planted by his agent to get more money/a better deal out of Roma. I dunno, he said we’ve inquired about him anyway and that’s a start.
Lastly, UE Cornella youngster, Ignasi Miquel’s club’s President and Sports Director have been pictured at Arsenal’s training ground along with our Spanish stars Fabregas and Almunia. For that picture to be taken, and for that article to be on the clubs website, you can tell how much of an honour it is for them to be negotiating with us. They are only a small club, and this is only a young player, but he must be half decent if someone in Spain has scouted him for us. He’s a lazy translation of that Article:
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Gálvez and Manzano in London to negotiate the transfer of Ignasi Miquel
The president of the EU Cornellà, José Gálvez, and the Sports Director, Andrés Manzano, have travelled to London to negotiate the transfer of the youngster, Ignasi Miquel to Arsenal.
[Pictured] Cesc, Manzano, Almunia and Gálvez
The Cornellà player, Ignasi Miquel, is set to sign for Arsenal. Last week, representatives of the club travelled to London to discuss details of the transfer. Currently, he is in company in London to finalize the details.
Click that link above to see the picture if you really want. But he looks like the latest Spanish signing to our reserves. More on that when we get it I suppose.
So it’s all quite exciting this week. Hopefully we’ll have a new signing to announce soon! Thanks for reading.
