Arsenal.com
Morning all.
Arsenal confirmed the signing of Alessia Russo yesterday and Jonas Eidevall is thrilled:
Alessia is one of the best forwards in the world and has significant potential to continue growing and improving. She has a proven track record of scoring goals in the WSL and at international level and we believe she will be a quality addition to our forward line, so we’re all delighted to have brought her to the club.
The player, well, she’s a London girl who once played for Chelsea, she plays for England and was part of the team which won the Euros. Honestly, she’s a terrific player who will only make the Arsenal womens team stronger. Alessia Russo is the third player to join this summer after Cloe Lacasse (from Benfica) and Amanda Ilestedt (from PSG) arrived earlier in the window.
Alessia Russo:
It’s so exciting. Today’s been amazing, meeting everyone, and settling in and I’m really excited to be here now. I can’t wait to get going. I think you can see it from last season and even the history that the club’s got, to go on and win trophies and perform and yeah. Time for a new challenge. I’m really excited to get going, get into Champions League and into the league next season. And yeah, just the fight from the team and everything that they had thrown against them last season, I think they did amazing. I can’t wait to be a part of it.
Before the WSL kicks off again, many of Arsenal players will be involved in the World Cup which begins on the 20th July. I’m really looking forward to that.
Arsenal.com
Over to the men and pre-season training is up and running. Not every player has returned yet but boy, it’s great to see both William Saliba and Takehiro Tomiyasu involved. Mauro Bandeira, Ben Cottrell, Omar Rekik, Amario Cozier-Duberry, Lino Sousa, Ethan Nwaneri and Jack Henry-Francis have all been involved too, all no doubt hoping that this could be the season Mikel Arteta gives them minutes on the pitch.
Late yesterday, The Athletic reported that West Ham and Arsenal have finally agreed on a payment plan for Declan Rice and the player will now undergo a medical at Arsenal. After the long and drawn out saga, I hope he passes it! Lol I read somewhere that Jurrien Timber could be having his medical this week too.
As far as exits go, Granit Xhaka continues to be linked with a reported £21m move to Bayer Leverkusen, a move which is likely to go ahead after Declan Rice is signed sealed and delivered and Sambi Lokonga is apparently on his way out too.
I don’t know where, I will try to go somewhere where I will play. That’s the most important thing, to have some games and play game after game.
I totally understand why he wants to leave and in his shoes, I’m sure we’d all feel the same. A footballers career is short and not playing must be hugely frustrating, especially when prior to coming to England, he was a regular starter for Anderlecht.
Not all transfers work out and I’ve a feeling that this time next year, I’ll be writing something similar about Fabio Vieira.
Lastly, I saw this on Twitter.
🚨 Arsenal are set to give legendary former manager Arsène Wenger a statue outside the Emirates Stadium, to be unveiled on Thursday, 3 August. [@TikiTakaConnor] #afc pic.twitter.com/acGMxPXtya
— afcstuff (@afcstuff) July 4, 2023
He deserves it I guess….. lol
Catch up later.
Great post Rico….
A statue for Arsene? Yeah, he deserves it despite how things went towards the end, he deserves it for the Invincibles, he deserves it for two Double seasons and he deserves it for his record in the FACup – and for giving us Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires, Manu Petit, Thierry Henry, Gilberto, Edu, Lauren, Anelka, Thomas Rosicky, Freddie Ljungberg, Silvinho, Sol Campbell, Marc Overmars, Kanu and all the other great players we got accustomed to watching, pre-Emirates…
Losing Highbury and losing David Dein plus a split Boardroom made his job impossible post-Highbury, that and Abramovitch.
Good news for the Ladies, if it hadn’t been for Vivianne Miedema’s injury `last year we would have won everything.
I think a statue of Arsene would be great – I hope it’s of him kicking the water bottle 🙂
Thanks Kev. I think Arsene will always have a “could have done better” on his Arsenal school report, certainly in Europe.
I think the sending off at Utd pose would be good too Brian. Lol
Should be a statue of George Graham shaking hand with Herbert Chapman and the two of them shaking hands with Wenger and leave a hand free for Arteta we might need it in the future.
Afternoon Rico and all.
I totally support Wenger getting a statue, he’s done more good for the club than he has done bad.
Good idea Potter.
Hi Geoff, it’s always a shame when the bad bit comes last but it usually does.
Rice and Timber medicals on Friday apparently.
We got a here we go !
So says Fabrizio Romano
I’m all for a statue of Arsene Wenger, it should be of him trying to zip up that ludicrous padded coat they gave him. 😉
Ah, the good old ‘here we go’ must be true then.
William Saliba and Reiss Nelson have both signed new Arsenal contracts in a further boost to Mikel Arteta ahead of the new season.
Official confirmation of both new deals is expected soon, with Saliba and Nelson joining the likes of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Aaron Ramsdale in committing their long-term futures to the club in recent months.
Saliba’s new contract is massive for Arsenal and brings to an end months of prolonged talks with the centre-back.
The Frenchman’s previous deal was due to expire in the summer of 2024 and had he not agreed to sign fresh terms, Arsenal would have had to make a difficult decision over his future at some point this summer.
But now they can plan for the long-term with the 22-year-old, whose new four-year deal has the option for a further year, according to Fabrizio Romano.
Saliba had a hugely impressive debut season in the Premier League last time out and his absence due to a back injury over the final couple of months of the campaign was viewed by many as the reason why Arsenal ultimately lost out to Manchester City in the title race.
“When he [Saliba] plays, we concede few goals, when he doesn’t play, the number [of goals conceded] increases,” Gabriel Jesus during an interview with ex-Brazil star Denilson.
“When I got injured, Eddie [Nketiah] replaced me very well. Then we signed Leo [Trossard] and we kept the pace. But when Saliba got injured, it was complicated.
“The other defenders are good, but we were playing in a certain way. Look at the stats we concede a lot less with him”
Like Saliba, who has now returned to training following his back injury, Nelson has also signed a new contract.
The winger, who was wanted by AC Milan, took his time this summer before making a decision on his future and held extensive talks with Arteta before agreeing to put pen to paper.
Nelson’s new deal will run until 2027.
By Charles ‘Charlie’ Watts
It could be a busy day, Xhaka having a medical for Bayer,
Arsene Wenger will always be remembered for his 2 major battles 1 with sir Alex and 1 with his zipper, however I believe arsenal are buying Wenger a new coat when they make his statue but they are replacing the zip with Velcro😄🏆
I’m really pleased Nelson has signed a new contract although I might be in a minority. The Saliba deal is massive because let’s be honest, he could have gone anywhere if he wanted to.
Kind of sad Xhaka is leaving but good he leaves after one of his best, if not the best, seasons in an Arsenal shirt.
We have to have squad players and Arteta has to play them. Nelson can stage either winger and can be involved a lot more this season.
Saliba signing up is means for a celebration , we certainly were weaker at the back when we lost him. I wonder if it’s true that we will be playing Havertz as our Xhaka replacement , Partey appears to be hedging his bets turning down Saudi but still linked with Juventus and others . In many ways although I have reservations about his fitness , losing them both might be risky even if Rice gets confirmed .
We are building a squad all capable of being able to play at any time and unlike last season handled right should not run out of steam as we did .
Good luck and Thank you Xhaka. The timing is perfect, he leaves us at the wright time for him and us with most fans on his side, and the team ready to take the next step, we need player that are going to be there for the next 3 to 4 years and I am not sure Xhaka has that long in the premier league in him.
Xhaka has signed a five year contract with Bayer Leverkusan. £21.4 million transfer fee. He became a much better player under Arteta and I, for one, will miss him.
All the best Granit.
Morning…
New post up now