Transfer Merry Go Round
So rumours are starting to build up now. We are always linked with the weird and wonderful…
First up we seem to have firmed up our previous interest in Andrei Arshavin the Russia Captain and UEFA Cup medal winner. Personally I have always liked the look of this lad who is technically brilliant. Very direct, good dribbling, players with a bit of fire in his belly and has a cracking eye for goal. He’d certainly put in better crosses and corners than Geremi and Milner. This is one link I hope is correct and if is correct apparently has to be a done deal by the end of the week due to their season being at differing times to ours.
Milner is still being linked with Liverpool though we have flat out rejected Penant (thank goodness). If we do sell I would say we want straight cash or Peter Crouch. Another player who might be worth a look is Benayoun… Having thought about it I wouldn’t bother with Riise…
On that note we are being linked with Shorey who has won his England Cap and is available for £3million without a ridiculous wage packet that Riise will be picking up. We also know that Shorey can have an eye for goal as well and would probably represent a player with a bit more to prove than Riise who could now be on the downward spiral of a career as many of my Scouse friends have stated.
Next up are Kapo and Sebastian Larsson. Both I feel are good players and could represent shrewd moves to bolster our squad at very doable sums of money. Both certainly have the ability to score goals.
We have apparently been rejected by Emana of Toulouse. He does have bags of pace but if hes not wanting to join up with his country team mate Geremi and is vying for moves else where we’d best be letting him go. We want hunger and passion at the Toon.
No further news on the apparent tabled bids of £9 million for Turan and £10 million for Bafetimbi Gomis who appeared in France’s drubbing last night. The latter looks a big lad with a bit of power but so far no shown glimpses which may or may not be a good thing depending on the pricing. Turan scored the deflected equalising shot the other night to help Turkey.
Something a few of us have been predicting is the possible departure of Shay Given to Arsenal. Harper has came in this time and done a very good job at a far less pricey wage packet. We also have plenty of youth coming through now which will need to be given a chance. Perhaps it might be time to cash in and save £60k per week on a player who now seems possibly to be past his best with a problematic injury. Given simply has not been right for 2 years and our defence needs a regular between the sticks to build some consistency and confidence in our defence next season. A case of no room for sentiment.
It seems to have gone quiet on the central defence front so if any one has any news on that score be great.
So thats the round up as we know it…
June 15th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Great roundup Toon! Pretty much agree with everything you’ve said. I have to admit to having never actually watched Arshvin but I only ever hear great things. I should check him out on Youtube, although we all know that with a bit of editing anyone can look good on a Youtube video montage…
I think we might well see Given and Milner head for the door this summer, along with Ameobi. That’s nearly all of the dead weight gone (although of course Given and Milner are good 1st team players). Gone a bit quiet on the Duff front though? I wouldn’t miss him.
I also agree about our young goalkeeping talent. We’re supposed to be looking at a young Scottish keeper - why? Harper will do for a season or so and Forster and Krul can fight it out to be deputy (and replace him in a season or so). Then again it seems that the future for young keepers is to farm them out on loan right up until they’re going into the first team, so Forster can cover with Krul (who I rate) staying on loan.
Crouch, Shorey, Kapo, Larsson are all good signings, although as differing levels of importance and therefore need to be at the right price. Forget Riise, he seems to have given up. As for Turan and Gomis, we’ll just have to see I guess!
In terms of signings, I reckon the next week could remain quiet, with the folloing week seeing them start to come relatively thick and fast. No idea why, just a feeling…
June 15th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
I agree on everything except Riise. I think a move would do him good and if (I know its a big if) he didn’t come too expensive I think he would do a good job. Young and hungry is the way forward but I wouldn’t be completely against a here and now defensive player.
I wouldn’t miss Duff either and I wouldn’t be too upset to see Given go. He has been magnificent for us and couldn’t wish him well enough in my mind if he was to leave.
Arshavin - I hope so.
June 15th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Yes Arshavin is an exciting talent and at 26 got a good 4 years in him. I think he’d suit the Premier League as well. Given has been great but I think we have to look at it this way. Harper costs us less and does just about the same job and we have to start blooding youth if our new policy is going to work. Duff has gone quiet tbh but I still feel he’ll go. The players we are being linked with certainly suggest so. By the sounds of things though Smith is going to be staying… It could go either way with Riise but I can’t see it happening if what the rumours about Ashley cutting the wage bill are to be true. We’ve all seen Riise pay packet… I think Shorey to battle it with Enrique and Arshavin or Turan in front would be a great left side. We have to remember a bigger bench next season as well. I still think we have issues on the right though.
June 15th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
I think we have big issues right across midfield to be honest. At current we only really have Milner on the right and we might be waving him goodbye very soon. You can count Geremi there, but I’d rather not. So we need one if not two players on the right. On the left we have N’Zogbia, but is he going to start putting a shift in and fighting for a place? Duff is producing nothing, so he can go. So presumably we’ll need a left winger too (hence the Turan bid makes such sense). Added to that, we need AT LEAST two central midfielders at least now, seeing as we only have Butt in there, with Geremi and Faye able to play if desperately needed and Barton possibly returning at some point.
In defence we only have Enrique, Taylor, Faye, Beye, Cacapa and Edgar. That’s it. And to be honest, I get a bit worried if either of the last two are on the pitch. We’ve said we want to strengthen the defence, so we need about four new defenders, with two of those being much better than the players that they would push out of the first team.
Up front I’m surprised to hear we might sell Carroll. Why not a season long loan to a club like Derby? Either way, like you say, Smith still feels like rather expensive dead weight. We need a big striker in to take over from Viduka (who would do well and hopefully keep fitter playing from the bench). Crouch would be great, but I’d take a gamble on Gomis.
Wow, once things really kick off it’s going to be one Hell of a shopping spree! Which I guess shows you why the club is happy to cash in on Milner and Given, neither of whom we desperately need to keep and would generate a nice dollop of cash.
June 15th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Watching this Turkey match Arda Turan looks a good team player with a bit of something. Young and defo has prospects.
June 18th, 2008 at 10:32 am
I’m actually hoping that Turkey go out in the next round so that we can ramp up our efforts to sign the lad… If we fail in our bids for the likes of him, Gomis, Arshvin etc we need to know quickly so we can move onto secondary targets.
June 18th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Id like to see Arshavin through the doors. That means we need Sweden to knock Russia out tonight
Well now France are out and Gomis didnt really feature so thats good news. Arda does look like he could be a useful player and young as well. Seemed refreshing as the lad just seemed to want to play football and win.
June 18th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
we should get riise, podolski, jagielka a really good midfielder.
June 19th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Welcome OKM. Well Riise wouldn’t have been a bad buy but his wages would have been quite something. Roma can probably match that as I believe they are in the Champions League (Sure they finished 2nd but seems like a lifetime since seasons finished). Well Sweden did us no favours last night and if anything now 2 of our prime targets in Arda Turan and Arshavin will have gone up in value
Arshavin is simply a must! He is such a good player that if we have any chance of signing him we have to take it. Ive been very impression. Slightly hot headed but in a good competitive way but his distribution, eye for goal, pace and technical ability is excellent. The ability to play either side of midfield or upfront is useful as well. Ive watch him many times and everytime I see him I just wish we could see him in a toon top. We may well miss out now though 
June 19th, 2008 at 11:31 am
TBH if Arsenal go on to sign Arshavin when we’ve had the chance over the past 12 months gonna be annoyed! lol
June 20th, 2008 at 10:48 am
So now that Wright Phillips has been told he can leave Chelsea we are bound to be linked to him. Ive got to be honest though I think I would prefer it if we looked elsewhere. Every player we have signed from Chelsea’s cast offs has been a bit of a nightmare. Its like its a major come down for them. I think we would be much safer signing players who have not tasted that and would enjoy playing for the Toon.