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Wenger plots raid to take Podolski to Arsenal

By 2011/11/04 29 Comments

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Arsene Wenger is keeping tabs on Cologne’s Lukas Podolski. That’s the story being reported in German paper Bild at any rate. They claim Arsenal scouts have been to watch the winger, 26, and will make a move in the January transfer window.

Another yarn doing the rounds is that Wenger will make a bid to sign Real Madrid midfielder Esteban Granero. It is claimed Jose Mourinho could be persuaded to sell the 24-year-old for £6m.

The Mirror claims that AW has an “embarrassment of riches” at centre-half as he ponders which of them to pick for Saturday’s game against West Brom.

He can choose from Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny, Thomas Vermaelen, Johan Djourou and, er, Sebastien Squillaci. AW said: “The balance is vital. Koscielny and Vermaelen can play together and Mertesacker can play with Vermaelen and Koscielny.

“It gives us a bit of an opportunity to rotate a bit when needed and people are tired. Ideally, Vermaelen will play on the left (of central defence). But Koscielny can play on the left as well so we have a good potential and balance there.

“I think that all the three can play at any moment, and we still have Djourou and Squillaci as well. People wanted us to buy a centre-back so much and then suddenly you realise we have plenty.”

Meanwhile, the Express and Sun claim AW is ready to open talks with Theo Walcott on a new deal at the Emirates pushing his weekly wonga from 60k to 80k.  We shall see.

Next up and the Mail reports that Everton and Sevilla both want Marouane Chamakh. The 27-year-old arrived at the Emirates from Bordeaux in the summer of 2010, but he hasn’t had a happy time of it in north London. According to the Mail Sevilla are in the driving suit to sign Chamakh as they want to take him permanently whereas the Toffees are more interested in a loan deal.

CARL ELDRIDGE on Twitter as @eldomedia

 

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Eldo71

Arsenal fan for 40 years. Schoolboys, North Bank, Clock End then East Upper. Then Emirates. AFC dream team: Wilson, Dixon, Sansom, Adams, Pates, Brady, Williams, Pires, Bergkamp, Henry, Wright. Subs: Seaman, Eldridge, Wilshere, RVP, Ball. Manager: Arsene Chapman.

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  • capedcrusaderbigsy

    Certainly what you need and Podolski could be the answer, cannot have Theo Walcott getting a payrise though, just don’t see it and never have with him, never an Arsenal player in a million years..scandalous for a player with such limited ability to be earning that sort of wage from football..and Aaron Lennon is no better before you all start steaming in ..!

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    • Berg10

      Walcott is still hit and miss but still time to get it right, would rather keep him than lose him to the oppo. Lennon… can’t comment, don’t watch him enough, where I will agree is the wages for ALL top level footballers being way way OTT but can’t see it reducing for some time.

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      • capedcrusaderbigsy

        Have to laugh at all of this, am I alone ?, I watched Andros Townsend last night struggling as a left back, after the game they said “he is not really a left back” well to be fair we all know that, neither is Bale, Santos, Evra, Cole, on the right side neither is Micah Richards, Glen Johnson, why do so many footballers earn top dollar without being good at what they are paid to do ? all this wing back nonsense is cobblers..not one of the above is actually a good DEFENDER ..not a Kenny Sansom, a Lee Dixon, A Stuart Pearce, who could get forward and could play football but could actually defend !..so annoying to watch, I was definitely born in the wrong era and bitter about it..I played against Kevin Campbell in the youth systems, and trust me Bendtner couldn’t lace his boots ,the money these blokes are on is a joke and they can’t play football !

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        • Berg10

          Well I didn’t see the game but read the match report and it wasn’t pretty reading, not one shot on target….all overpaid.

          Bendtner is brilliant isn’t he?   ’least that’s what he tells us.

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      • Anonymous

        Agree Berg10, Walcott has set up a lot of RVP’s goals this calendar year. he can improve and he is improving. More to come and hopefully it is with us.

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        • Berg10

          Yeah mate, it’s there to see on a few players, problem is they’re drafted in young, probably under developed and definitely inexperienced in life let alone football.

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          • Anonymous

            Not sure if they are under developed or it is their mentality and maturity which holds them back. Look at Cesc and Wilshere. They hit the ground running. Walcott has taken a bit longer, but he has improved of late. Watching Oxlade Chamberlain in carling cup shows he is quite a bit behind Theo at the minute.

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          • capedcrusaderbigsy

            mmm.sort of agree but by 20-21 you should be tearing people up if you are any good, Norman Whiteside had been playing for 5 years and had a world cup behind him at that age, It was clear Walcott was never going to turn into a 6ft 2 in winger so his game was always about pace from a kid, if waiting for a touch to appear and an ability to cross a ball consistently is on the agenda then I would argue it won’t happen, and he is maxed out already, he will certainly learn positional sense and gain important knowledge when under pressure defensively as a wide man, but doubt he will ever cross a ball like Jermaine Pennant can in his life..just shows you attitude over ability in some instances…walcott is now entering his 6th big season now since he went to a world cup as a kid, improvement must come fast for England never mind Arsenal..think he may miss the boat again if Young, Johnson and Milner carry on in the same vein as they are…as for Lennon the bloke is a tit..hate to see wingers who are so erratic, how hard is it to drop a ball inside an area the size of most peoples back garden on 80k a week.

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          • Berg10

            I think there are exceptions such as shrek, I remember his goal for the toffees against us and that highlighted his potential and strength, unfortunately for him although his football brain and body were mature his common sense seems stuck in a teenage head.

            I think Theo is an intelligent boy who knows his weakness’s and for me he has worked on them but there’s still work in progress and that’s why I’d rather keep him.

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          • capedcrusaderbigsy

            makes sense..

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  • bashman

    forget padolski i think most of us would prefer hazard,

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    • Anonymous

      So would most other top flight clubs so his price and wage demands will probably put him beyond Arsenal’s reach.

      Personally I would prefer Wenger to concentrate on buying a top notch, out and out striker. 

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    • Berg10

      Different positions, why not have both?

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      • Anonymous

        Ber10,

        Because there is no room in the squad, unless Wenger decides on a clear-out, don’t forget Denislon and Bendtner are only out on loan, apparently there is some one called Diaby in the squad, although that could be just a rumour as he hasn’t been spotted in an Arsenal side in living memory.

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        • Berg10

          True, but Benayoun is on loan so there’s a space there. I read there was some guy called Diaby working in the medical section or at least that’s where he’s always seen.

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    • Anonymous

      Face the fact that we aren’t going to get Hazard. The lille chairman has said that Chelsea is the club following him the closest. If he is as good as everyone keeps saying, then a bigger club (ie barca, madrid, chelsea, city, united, Bayern) will sign him. Arsenal won’t pay more than 21 million for mata. What makes you think they will shell out 35 to 40 million for hazard? Again the lille chairman said that if he is sold they will demand more than 40 million for him. And don’t even get started on his wages which definitely won’t fit into our “wage structure” if his transfer fee is that high.

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  • Joe-Arsenal

    Can’t see this happening at all. The idea of Wenger splashing that much cash has now become totally counterintuitive. I suspect he will not sign a striker over the winter. If it does happen, however, I would like to think we could push for third place (assuming results until January go according to plan… gulp). One extra player of his quality could be the difference between us really scrapping for fourth and cementing it quite comfortably.

    Follow at http://www.joe-arsenal.blogspot.com

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    • Berg10

      Maybe if we hadn’t bought Arteta we’d need to strengthen midfield but with Ramsey looking better by the week since his comeback and Jack coming back, Rosicky in favour  I doubt we’ll strengthen. There are questionmarks mainly media driven about Arshavin, Chamakh and Bendtner moving on, failing that….No Change.

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    • Anonymous

      A lot has changed at Arsenal since the end of last season, four senior players left the club and with the departure of the Homesick Spaniard and the greedy Frenchman went the intricate build up play.  It seems obvious, at least to me, that Wenger had a “road to Damascus moment” during the summer and realised that reinforcements were desperately needed.  In came Gervinho, Jenkinson, Santos, Meretesacker, Arteta, Benayoun, Park, Myachi and Oxlade-Chamberlain.  It was previously unheard of for Le Maestro to make such wholesale changes to his squad.

      Over the past few weeks, as the new players have settled in, we have seen a change to a much more direct style of play, less tippy tappy and a greater readiness to shoot on site.  Perhaps Wenger’s renowned stubbornness is being replaced with a more pragmatic outlook which could well lead to the dilution of his strict equal pay policy and a willingness to buy in some experienced players, Meretesacker and Santos for instance.

      We are told that there is money available, more could created by the disposal of the ever absent Diaby, so just maybe Wenger could go into the market and buy us the striker we so obviously need.

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  • Brianpat02

    We need an Striker badly which im sure Wenger is aware of.We cant depend on Van persie to stay fit for the rest of the season.

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    • capedcrusaderbigsy

      Gervinho seems to be doing ok now, what is wrong with him ? I think it is fair to say that most teams have 4 strikers, you have the added bonus of being able to play Walcott, Arshavin and a young but raw Oxo down the centre too, hardly tough times to be fair..chamakh is a bit poor at the moment but still you have options. ?

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      • Anonymous

        Gervinho is a winger. we are talking about cover for rvp. Chamakh won’t play for us again so we need a new striker.

        I thought it was going to be park but it is very strange that a guy who scores more than 10 goals for a team in a relegation battle in the low scoring french league last year and scores for fun for his country, can’t get a game for us. Surely wenger and Gazidis know that if he is going to sell shirts to the asian market, they are going to have to see him playing in one once in a while.

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        • capedcrusaderbigsy

          Very true..

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  • Anonymous

    The Podolski rumours is rubbish. A much more likely striker to be signed in january is Brek Shea who will train at Arsenal for the next month. Any americans (or anyone else) seen him play? And I don’t mean on youtube.

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    • capedcrusaderbigsy

      I’m told he is very good, very tall for a wide man and naturally that will help from set pieces too..I know he is sought after by your American feeder club and if you know how their manager got the job and where he comes from it won’t take much working out how I know..

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      • Anonymous

        Explain please

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        • capedcrusaderbigsy

          same school as me mate..colorado rapids boss…was a scout at Arsenal his dad is chief scout of cardiff city….bigsy gets all the inside info JIN..

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          • Anonymous

            Don’t reveal your sources! Makes you seem more mysterious…

            Always makes sky sports seem more authorative when they say “sky sources can reveal” but most of the time they just get a text from an agent. And that’s basically public knowledge…

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    • observer

      If Arsenal can get Shea by January, they will give City and ManU a tough tough run for the league. But there is a simple Pre-Req: Wenger has to leave; Wenger can never buy such a good player. History is proof. So, unless Wenger is history, history will keep on eating Arsenal away.

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