Morning all.
Our lovely warm summer is soon coming to and end, or at least it’s set to have a break according to the Met Office. Today or tomorrow the storms are coming in with plenty of rain, thunder and lightening. Floods are much expected as the ground is too hard to absorb the rainfall. Be safe on the roads a# they’ll be messy, slippery and dangerous.
Amid all the speculation surrounding Ivan Gazidis and a potential move away from Arsenal, it finally dawned on Sir Chips that he’d best speak. Great I thought, a statement from the club either confirming or denying this story.
‘We are aware of the speculation. We know he receives many offers from organisations inside and outside the game as he’s a hugely respected figure. He has never accepted these opportunities. He has always been fully committed to taking Arsenal forward and is working hard in Singapore with Unai Emery as we prepare for the season.
Well that’s cleared that up. Not! Over in Italy though, AC Milan have appointed Leonardo as the club’s sporting director so whether there’s still room for Ivan Gazidis, I don’t know. As said yesterday though, I can’t see him leaving, not right now anyway.
Anyway, whilst all that rumbles on together with will he or won’t he stay Aaron Ramsey, the squad face their first real test in preseason today as they face the team which knocked them out of the Europa semifinals just a couple of months ago. There’s nothing quite as important at stake in this one and the performance is far more important than the result. This one and the one against PSG is about another good workout and another chance for new manager Unai Emery to see how his ideas working and if they’re not, it’ll be back to the training ground for more hard work. Barring the injured Lauren Koscielny and Ospina, Welbeck, Monreal and Torreira yet to return the squad is a near full one. Atletico will be missing one or two also, certainly Antoine Griezmann who remains on holiday after helping his French teammates to win the World Cup.
According to RMC, Jeff Reine-Adelaide is on the verge of a permanent move to French side Angers which comes as no great surprise really, especially after he wasn’t selected for the trip to Singapore. He’ll probably one of a number of players to depart over the next couple of weeks before the transfer window closes.
Alex Iwobi won’t be one of them though as suggestion is he’s signed a new five year deal at the club. I didn’t see that one coming but it’s a smart move by Arsenal, just as it was with Xhaka because if both fail to impress this season and the manager decides it’s time to give up on either, they can be sold rather than given away for nothing as their contracts expire.
What’s interesting though is the fact that the club haven’t messed around with these two yet with Aaron Ramsey, they’re struggling to thrash out a deal which must be down to one of two reasons. Ramsey’s agent demanding a too higher salary, or the player himself simply wants out. After all, Emery has been quite vocal about wanting Ramsey to stay on. Whatever though, as the clock ticks by and he doesn’t show any signs of wanting to commit to the club, the more likely it is he’ll be sold within the next two weeks. At least I think so.
Transfer gossip:
Arsenal are talks with Paris Saint-Germain to sign Stanley N’Soki. The 19 year old centre-back is considered to be one of the best bright talents coming through for France and Emery wants him at the club.
Leon Bailey is another linked to Arsenal, but he’s linked to other clubs too. Darn agents!
Finally, there’s an interesting peice in The Mirror this morning. Well, I thought it was…
Enjoy the game guys, it’ll be shown live on the Arsenal Player apparently.
Good morning, Ramsey leaving arsenal is not a problem, the problem is replacing him, that’s thesame issue most Arsenal fans here in Nigeria had with Wenger, bring in better replacements not selling a Clichy and bring in a Santos, or sell a Van persie and bring in a Sanogo…Its kinda insulting to the fans… On a replacement for Ramsey I will go for an Nzonzi… Even though he is not an attacking midfielder he will improve our midfield greatly and allow other attack minded midfielder to play also…
Good morning Rico. Yup fine and hot already here.
There’s no reference to TV coverage on Arsenal.com just text commentary.
Is it significant that Sir Chips didn’t specifically rule out the possibility of Gazidis’ departure?
…….although it will be shown live on ArsenalTV, according to The Mirror.
Hi All:
Mexzy, apparently the N’zonzi deal is still alive. According to ESPN, the hold up is because of his father who has some type of personal service deal with N’zonzi that allows him to receive sell on fees. They say Sevilla want 35m but Arsenal is offering 28m, but if the father will forgo his “fees”, then Sevilla wil accept the 28m.
I thought it was interesting that even without AW, we are still penny pinching.
Obi, penny pinching? The difference between £28 million and £35 million is an awful lot of pennies.
No club is going to pay whatever the selling club is asking without some bargaining. 😉
It could be significant that Guendouzi is getting so many minutes pre-season. Unai having a good look at him as a replacement for Ramsey, should the Welshman fail to sign a new contract in the next two weeks.
Kolasinac looks rocky. Holding too.
Reading on line.
Stats: 68% possession = no goals”………………32% possssion = 1 goal!
Looks familiar, sound familiar, begs a question, is Wenger in the stands or has sent his spirit out from afar, just to curse our progress?
Sounds like more of the same old. I may be wrong but if things don’t change they’ll stay as they were!
Hot and humid here going to seek car air con and then take a turn round the supermarket whilst drinking in their air con.
Worst group of penalties I have seen from an Arsenal team. Rubbish.
Afternoon all and thanks Rico.
Never liked Gazidis before Arsene left so he has a lot to prove still imo………………talks the talk so about time he walked the walk seeing as he has been here nearly 10 years !………………………still he`s not as bad as the chief culprit in our titleless years, it`s the man who has so far invested a grand total of £0 in the team evedn though his worth is $8B !
https://twitter.com/arseblog/status/1022462780996313095?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1022462780996313095&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.talkingbaws.com%2F2018%2F07%2Fvideo-17-year-old-arsenal-kid-emile-smith-rowe-scores-beauty-against-atletico%2F
Shit !………………….was there pens ?……………………I turned off the stream at the final whistle……..sounds like I did the right thing, Adam ! 🙂
LC. You didn’t miss anything. 🙂
Hmm, seems like we need to practice penalties.
Did I hear right? Cech saved one? Quick give him a new ten year deal and treble his wages. 😉
I will not tolerate complacency….
Afternoon all, seems I didn’t miss much then apart from a cracking goal from Smith-Rowe…
Emile Smith Rowe scored an absolute cracker, he looked very composed and comfortable on the ball, I can’t recall him losing possession.
Reiss Nelson made some really good runs into the box, he could be an option as a winger next season?
Matteo Guendouzi had a mixed bag, wins the ball but a few times he got caught in possession, but he’ll learn, he has a lovely range of passing and loves a shot at goal, at least he won’t have that coached out of him.
Mavropanos looked good and Sokratis did ok, but a lot of our passing was poor, Athletico pressed the ball so much better than us, it’s something we have to learn quickly after all the easy come easy go years under Wenger.
Man to man marking at corners looked a lot better than the usually hopeless zonal.
Leno looked very assured with the ball at his feet, he had no chance with their goal imo.
All sounds promising then.
I guess Rome wasn’t built in a day… 😉
Man to man marking ? I wonder if Bouldy has had a word . Didn’t see any of it ( working ) but I did not expect overnight miracles . So I will catch what I can on You tube . News Now here I come .
Highlights are on the official site later too..
Thanks for that , will have to wait.
The match is being shown on Sky channel 422 (FreeSports), starting at midnight. Probably be too hot to sleep tonight so I’ll watch it in the garden.
Until 2am 😅
I watched it earlier. It was certainly different but there was also something very familiar about the whole thing. Lovely goal by Smith Rowe.
Thanks Cicero.
JRA has gone then, no fee mentioned.
It’s all gone quiet re: the Swiss goalkeeper?
New post up now.