As you are no doubt aware by now, Arsenal have signed Alexis Sanchez. The transfer fee is rumoured to be around £28 million. It's a remarkably good piece of business we've done, considering Manchester Untited bought Shaw and Herrera £30 million apiece, while Liverpool has purchased Lallana for £25 million.
This deal is remarkable in more ways than one. Not only it is a bargain financially-wise, we have landed ourselves a player everyone wanted to have after this World Cup. Is it Arsene we have to thank for that? Well, he definitely played a key role, convincing the player Arsenal is the club to go in a private talk. He did the same stunt a year ago with Mesut Ozil, remember?
Truth be told, I don't understand the way Barcelona operates. They have let Valdes and Pinto go, Puyol has retired, Xavi will go play in the USA, Fabregas is in Chelsea. Neymar is injured, let's not forget that. And though the Catalan club has bought Luis Suarez (I'm not kidding, look it up), Sanchez is another blow. And I'm only talking about this transfer window. Six players leave them permamently, Neymar is injured and Messi will be knackered after going all the distance in the World Cup and their response is to buy Bravo and that bitey racist with a four-month ban? Pffff.
Not that I care one bit about Barcelona. As far as I am concerned, they deserve a special place in hell for beating Arsenal in 2006. There's nothing quite like watching them fail miserably. If this happens, be sure to check my blog, cause I'll be here, gloating in full swing.
However, back to Sanchez. That's what he said upon signing a deal with us:
And here's the manager's reaction:
If we are talking about this deal from our point of view, not only do we get a wonderful player in his prime (he's 25), who's able to play across the front three, we also send out a statement to all other clubs. It's less of a bomb we've dropped last year when announcing the signing of Ozil, but the message is loud and clear nonetheless.
To buy a player EVERYONE wanted to see on their team after the World Cup in such a quiet and quick way is an enormous achievement. Sanchez had other options, but he chose us. While everyone thought we were interested in Balotelli, Arsene has been quietly hijacking Sanchez from Barcelona. Moreover, look at the calendar. It's July 11th. And we already have one of the most (if not the most) important piece of the jigsaw in place. Alexis will be able to play for us from August 3rd, when the Emirates Cup kicks-off.
Debuchy's deal is also as good as done, all we are waiting for now is official confirmation and, if talk about Khedira wanting to join us is true, then we'll be all set for the new season well before August kicks in. We still should be on the lookout for a central defender and a back-up keeper, but both these signings are low-priority ones. Doesn't mean we shouldn't get through with them, we should, but they are not urgent. The keeper will only be second fiddle to Szczesny and that central defender will at best be third-choice after Mertescielny.
Of course, I've seen some worrying quotes that Sanchez is a replacement for one of our high-profile players, that'll leave Arsenal this summer. As earlier Cazorla said something shady about his future, I feared it might be him. Fortunately, the little Spaniard denied all talk of exit today, so we can be quite calm on that front. It's interesting, that there are only two years left on his contract, as he has recently signed a new one, but apparently the new deal was about improved conditions, rather than prolonging the thing. Either way, I don't think we should worry about the Spaniard right now. We can have this talk again a year from now, if he doesn't sign a new contract by then.
For me, the likely candidate to leave (if, and only IF, I stress, the rumours are true) is Podolski. The German is, for better or for worse, only a sub at the moment. The arrival of Sanchez will likely see the German fall even further behind in the pecking order, something he may not be too happy about. It's hard to find a place for Poldi on the team, but I'll still be devastated, if the German leaves. He is a clinical finisher, a kind of super-sub and his transfer elsewhere will definitely weaken us. Still, it's all talk, don't forget that.
Amidst all the excitement of signing someone as good as Sanchez, I completely forgot Arsenal have officially launched a new PUMA kit yesterday. Here's a short video about the event, as I can't be bothered to search for a long one. Here are the pictures of this kit. It's goodbye to Nike, so "thank you" for them is in order. They've been providing Arsenal with equipment for 20 years, paid off some of our stadium debt and, at the end of the day, their logo looked great on Arsenal's shirts. Now PUMA takes over.
Finally for today, I've failed to report on Holland vs Argentine match. Truth be told, the game was mind-bogglingly dull, one of the most uninteresting games during this tournament. Higuain did score a wrongly disallowed goal during normal time, but that was easily the only bright spot in the entire game. I got the feeling both teams just didn't want to face Germany in the final, so it all petered out to penalties. With no sub in hand, van Gaal had to stick to Cilissen and he didn't impress. Romero was the hero, as he saved two spot-kicks and carried Argentine feet first in the final. If the South American team doesn't burst into life on July 13th, Germany will make short work of them. Which is what Argentine deserve, honestly.
Phew, that's it for today. Enjoy Sanchez and all that entails.
Until later
This deal is remarkable in more ways than one. Not only it is a bargain financially-wise, we have landed ourselves a player everyone wanted to have after this World Cup. Is it Arsene we have to thank for that? Well, he definitely played a key role, convincing the player Arsenal is the club to go in a private talk. He did the same stunt a year ago with Mesut Ozil, remember?
Truth be told, I don't understand the way Barcelona operates. They have let Valdes and Pinto go, Puyol has retired, Xavi will go play in the USA, Fabregas is in Chelsea. Neymar is injured, let's not forget that. And though the Catalan club has bought Luis Suarez (I'm not kidding, look it up), Sanchez is another blow. And I'm only talking about this transfer window. Six players leave them permamently, Neymar is injured and Messi will be knackered after going all the distance in the World Cup and their response is to buy Bravo and that bitey racist with a four-month ban? Pffff.
Not that I care one bit about Barcelona. As far as I am concerned, they deserve a special place in hell for beating Arsenal in 2006. There's nothing quite like watching them fail miserably. If this happens, be sure to check my blog, cause I'll be here, gloating in full swing.
However, back to Sanchez. That's what he said upon signing a deal with us:
“I’m so happy to be joining Arsenal, a club which has a great manager, a fantastic squad of players, huge support around the world and a great stadium in London. I’m looking forward to meeting my new team-mates and to be playing for Arsenal in the Premier League and Champions League. I will give my best to Arsenal and want to make all the supporters happy.”All the usual things new players say upon joining. His quotes are there for you just to prolong and savour this wonderful moment.
And here's the manager's reaction:
“Alexis will add power, creativity and much quality to our squad and we are all looking forward to him joining up with us in a few weeks. He has consistently produced top-quality performances at the highest level for a number of seasons now and we are all excited to see him integrate into the Arsenal squad. I’m sure all Arsenal supporters will join me in welcoming Alexis to our club.”You bet we will. There already are tons of messages and pics all over the Internet greeting Sanchez. I've already said a lot about the player's qualities here and here, so I don't know what more there is to add really. Sanchez will play in number 17 shirt at Arsenal, while Monreal will be shifted to 18. By the way, Gibbs will now be our number 3, with Debuchy all set for taking number 2. You can also read about how well Alexis fared in the last couple of seasons compared to Messi, Ronaldo and Suarez. And if you are interested in Chilean ability to score goals, check out this Youtube video. Well worth your time.
If we are talking about this deal from our point of view, not only do we get a wonderful player in his prime (he's 25), who's able to play across the front three, we also send out a statement to all other clubs. It's less of a bomb we've dropped last year when announcing the signing of Ozil, but the message is loud and clear nonetheless.
To buy a player EVERYONE wanted to see on their team after the World Cup in such a quiet and quick way is an enormous achievement. Sanchez had other options, but he chose us. While everyone thought we were interested in Balotelli, Arsene has been quietly hijacking Sanchez from Barcelona. Moreover, look at the calendar. It's July 11th. And we already have one of the most (if not the most) important piece of the jigsaw in place. Alexis will be able to play for us from August 3rd, when the Emirates Cup kicks-off.
Debuchy's deal is also as good as done, all we are waiting for now is official confirmation and, if talk about Khedira wanting to join us is true, then we'll be all set for the new season well before August kicks in. We still should be on the lookout for a central defender and a back-up keeper, but both these signings are low-priority ones. Doesn't mean we shouldn't get through with them, we should, but they are not urgent. The keeper will only be second fiddle to Szczesny and that central defender will at best be third-choice after Mertescielny.
Of course, I've seen some worrying quotes that Sanchez is a replacement for one of our high-profile players, that'll leave Arsenal this summer. As earlier Cazorla said something shady about his future, I feared it might be him. Fortunately, the little Spaniard denied all talk of exit today, so we can be quite calm on that front. It's interesting, that there are only two years left on his contract, as he has recently signed a new one, but apparently the new deal was about improved conditions, rather than prolonging the thing. Either way, I don't think we should worry about the Spaniard right now. We can have this talk again a year from now, if he doesn't sign a new contract by then.
For me, the likely candidate to leave (if, and only IF, I stress, the rumours are true) is Podolski. The German is, for better or for worse, only a sub at the moment. The arrival of Sanchez will likely see the German fall even further behind in the pecking order, something he may not be too happy about. It's hard to find a place for Poldi on the team, but I'll still be devastated, if the German leaves. He is a clinical finisher, a kind of super-sub and his transfer elsewhere will definitely weaken us. Still, it's all talk, don't forget that.
Amidst all the excitement of signing someone as good as Sanchez, I completely forgot Arsenal have officially launched a new PUMA kit yesterday. Here's a short video about the event, as I can't be bothered to search for a long one. Here are the pictures of this kit. It's goodbye to Nike, so "thank you" for them is in order. They've been providing Arsenal with equipment for 20 years, paid off some of our stadium debt and, at the end of the day, their logo looked great on Arsenal's shirts. Now PUMA takes over.
Finally for today, I've failed to report on Holland vs Argentine match. Truth be told, the game was mind-bogglingly dull, one of the most uninteresting games during this tournament. Higuain did score a wrongly disallowed goal during normal time, but that was easily the only bright spot in the entire game. I got the feeling both teams just didn't want to face Germany in the final, so it all petered out to penalties. With no sub in hand, van Gaal had to stick to Cilissen and he didn't impress. Romero was the hero, as he saved two spot-kicks and carried Argentine feet first in the final. If the South American team doesn't burst into life on July 13th, Germany will make short work of them. Which is what Argentine deserve, honestly.
Phew, that's it for today. Enjoy Sanchez and all that entails.
Until later