Well, good riddance to bad Reyes.

He's cried and moaned and whinged like a little baby for years now, and really needs to grow up and act like a professional. Arsenal paid a lot of money for him, and he basically put them in a position where they had absolutely no bargaining power and every club in the world knew this.

He's signed for Atletico for about €9 million, which is pitiful considering his talent and ability, and that he was valued at almost £14 million (approximately €20 million) when he went on loan to Real last season.

He always gave 100% on the pitch for Arsenal, even though he played like shit for a lot of it, and although he's never said anything bad about the club, his acting like a sissy has cost them in the transfer market. He's nearly 25 now, and needs to stop behaving like a lost, little boy. After crying all year round about the weather and how he wouldn't play in England again, he's gotten his wish, but at the expense of Arsenal. It's sad, especially when Arsene Wenger showed so much faith in him and gave him so much support.

Anyways, good luck to you Reyes. Hopefully he can make use of his incredible talent and stop crying in the media every other day.

And of course we have some leaked photos for you: 

  

Arsenal are sort of confirmed as having signed promising striker Yoan Gouffran. The young Frenchman (surprise, surprise) has had rave reviews over the last two seasons, developing well for French minnows Caen. The 20-year old was responsible for getting them promoted, and he will be a participant in their first season back in Ligue 1 because he will spend the coming season back at Caen on-loan.

He is a seriously highly-rated prospect and like other Wenger buys is very quick and technically gifted, and can play up front or on the wing. He can finish clinically with either right or left foot (although he is not a prolific goalscorer yet).

Gouffran is an exciting one for the future, but he still will not satisfy the demand for established signings that fans have at the moment. In any case he will stay in France on-loan next season, although at 20 he is a bit old to be an "Arsenal youngster".

It's a good signing for the club at a reported fee of £2-3 million, although i'm not quite sure where it fits in the larger scheme of things. Recent signing Eduardo da Silva is 24, Adebayor is 23, Robin Van Persie is 24, and Nicklas Bendtner is 19. The quicksilver Theo Walcott (18), although being trained on the wing, is being groomed to be a striker, and 18 year-old Carlos Vela (on loan at Salamanca) is considered to be one of the most promising young forwards in the world. That's a whole heap of competition for places upfront... in 2010!

Arsenal have signed 24 year old Croatian striker Eduardo da Silva for the usual "undisclosed" fee. In this case, I would think it is lower, rather than higher... probably in the range of £6-8 million. Arsenal have finally signed a "Fox In The Box", because that seems to be this guy's speciality - headers, left footers, right footers, he seems very composed and clinical in the box, and that is what the Arse have been missing. They don't need anymore players to dribble past 3-4 guys and hit a curling wonder goal, they need someone to pick up the scraps from all of that, and this guy seems like the business. Here:

Da Silva, who came to Croatia from Brazil when he was 15, has been prolific in the Croatian league, scoring 73 goals in just 104 appearances for Dinamo Zagreb, and 10 goals in 15 games when on loan at Inter Zaprešić. Since taking Croatian citizenship in 2002, his national team career has been very impressive as well - he's scored 7 in 12 games for Croatia, and previously had 8 in 12 for the Croatian U-21s. Incidentally, Eduardo was also the first player to score at the Emirates Stadium in a competitive match, when Dinamo Zagreb played Arsenal in Champions League qualifying.

A lot of fans will be underwhelmed by this, when they were expecting an Eto'o or Torres or someone big (that's not to say that no one else will be signed), and despite his goalscoring record, he obviously is not a proven talent. Still, I have a good feeling about this, because from what i've seen, he really does know how to score goals... and remember, the problem for Arsenal has not been creating chances, it's been putting them away. In Da Silva, Arsene has bought the most conventional striker he's seen in years.

There's also of course the worry that he might be another Bosko Balaban. Yes, the wonderfully alliteratively named Croatian, who top scored in the league for Dinamo Zagreb, and scored 5 goals in 8 matches in World Cup 2002 qualifying. Aston Villa snapped him up for £5.8 million, and he scored precisely ZERO goals for them, got homesick, and ended up leaving on a free transfer a year later. Buttttttttttttttttt, let's try and be optimistic.

In anycase, Balaban might not be the only striker signed. Arsenal lost 3 forwards this summer (Thierry Henry, Jeremie Aliadiere and Julio Baptista), and they have only brought 2 in so far (Eduardo Da Silva, and Niclas Bendtner has returned from his loand spell), so there is certainly room for one more.

And this interview with Cesc Fabregas's agent seems to indicate the same. He was being asked about whether Cesc wanted to join Real or Barca, or leave Arsenal because of Henry's departure, but said that Cesc wanted to stay and was looking forward to the new season, because Arsenal were going to sign lots of new players. Quotes are below:

"Thierry was a very important player for them and it is normal that now he is no longer there, everyone thinks it is very bad news for the club.

But Arsenal are going to buy a lot of good players and they are going to be a major team both in the Premier League and Champions League.

Without Thierry, Cesc is one of the best players at Arsenal and this is fine for him, he is happy with the responsibility."

Seems to be more than just speculation, and all sources seem to indicate that a deal is very close to being done (assuming it's not already wrapped up) for Legia Warszawa keeper Łukasz Fabiański.

German site GoalGate reported on April 28th, that Arsenal were interested in Fabianski , and that they had been watching him closely for the last 3 years. Then last Friday, the same website reported that Fabianski was in London and would be signing a contract over the weekend , with a reported price of €3 million.

The Sun then picked up on this a day later, when they reported with another typically awful clever headline, that Wenger was on the Luk out for a new keeper. As Sun journalists are wont to, i'm sure the writer Eric Beauchamp spent sleepless nights on extensive journeys and phonecalls to Warsaw to uncover this stunning piece of information.

Well, although the sources aren't all that fab, it really does seem like the kind of signing that Arsene would make.

Nobody really knows too much about him, but judging by his performances on Youtube, he's a strong keeper with good positioning, and decent shot-stopping:

At 1.90m he's tall enough for the Premiership, and he was picked ahead of Man United's Tomas Kuszczczak for the World Cup. He also seems like he's more than willing to get riled up when he needs to. He will though, need to learn English and get used to the physical nature of the premiership, but at 22 years of age and with Jens Lehmann staying around for one last year, i'm sure he will have the perfect chance to learn and get better.

Of course all this brings up a few more questions. Namely, what will happen to Manuel Almunia and Mart Poom? Poom of course joined the club a while ago, and is an experienced, experienced 'keeper who was at one time the toast of the Premiership when at Derby. He's only had one Carling Cup substitute apperance for the Arsenal, and I feel that he's probably there to prime for an eventual coaching role.

Almunia on the other hand is somebody that after 2 very dodgy seasons (including a dodgy Champions League final!) has finally looked composed and able this term in all his Cup appearances, as well as a 3-0 league win over Liverpool. He was always very agile, and able to make great stops, but his judgement, positioning and decision-making were always suspect. This year he has had a steady amount of games and shown himself to be upto the task, and many fans were seriously wondering whether Wenger might be inclined to let him have a run in the first team next season.

I guess we'll just wait and see.

Murmurs about Lauren possibly leaving the club over the past few weeks have now been replaced by something concrete. Sky Sports have confirmed that West Ham are in talks with Ralph.

I thought that Lauren's contract ran for longer, but apparently it seems to be expiring this summer. Lauren hasn't played in over a year, and there were fears that his career was well and truly over, but he has managed to rehabilitate himself. His ommissions from the FA Cup and Carling Cup squads potentially have more to them than just selection issues. The Mirror have already done their tabloidy bit by suggesting that Lauren walked out of training after being told that he would not be in the Carling Cup squad. Of course since Arsenal fan Piers Morgan left the Mirror, they have gone completely in the opposite direction regarding all issues concerning the club.

I first heard of the Lauren rumours a few weeks ago when there was speculation linking us with Nigel Reo-Coker, who has been sulking and looking like he just can't be bothered at West Ham. The suggestions were that West Ham had signed Arsenal old boy Luis Boa Morte from Fulham to take his place, and that Lauren was being offered on loan for the rest of the season as a sweetener for signing Reo-Coker, who was sulking over allegedly being denied a move to Arsenal in the summertime. Anyhow, Arsene Wenger kept insisting as usual that he would not sign anyone in the transfer window (to be taken with a pinch of salt because Arsene said this in 2003/2004 and signed Reyes, and then said this last year and signed Diaby and Adebayor). So the Lauren loan rumours changed to rumours of a 3.5 million transfer.

It's difficult to really guage what's going on. There has been a lot of speculation regarding Freddie, and the boss has come out and said that he thinks he still has a lot to offer. However, nothing similar has been done for Lauren (although the increased fervency of the rumours has only been recent).

It's bittersweet really. We currently have Eboue, Hoyte and the wonderfully athletic and gifted young Kerrea Gilbert (on loan at Cardiff). However, Eboue is a drama queen of the worst order, and actually seems to be degressing with each passing game. Hoyte, although solid, still looks like he only really has the makings of a squad player, and Gilbert is too young. Lauren as we all know is tough as nails, very experienced, and very solid, and really instills character into the side. I'm horrified by the thought of Eboue being first-choice right-back all on his own, and I think Lauren still has a lot to offer, but it's a difficult situation with so much upcoming quality. It's probably a similar situation to the one that materialised with Vieira leaving, mainly because Cesc was waiting in the wings. It's sad for Lauren because he is one player who has always expressed his commitment to the club, and fought very hard for a 2 year contract last time around, when we only wanted to offer him a 1 year deal. That was around the time that Arsene Wenger tried to sign Hatem Trabelsi from Ajax, and really those should have been indications. Concerns over Trabelsi's fitness scrapped the deal (well-founded concerns given his long injury absence afterwards), and Lauren remained first-choice, with Eboue arriving in the winter transfer window. Now had we signed Trabelsi, I wouldn't have minded seeing Lauren go, because Trabelsi was an absolutely top-class right back at the time, who had received a terrific football education at Ajax.

But Eboue? I liked him a lot, and supported him for his first two years, but his behaviour this season has been disgraceful. There is no place for that sort of thing at a club like Arsenal, and furthermore he seems to have given up trying to read the game and improve his positioning. He is always allowing his man to find space behind him, and relies too heavily on his pace and recovery tackles. He is a definitey worry, and although I think he's definitely got the potential to be world class, he still needs competition and an experienced right-back in front of him to fight with and learn from. Hoyte as the backup doesn't really seem like competition - he is solid, but uninspiring, and Gilbert is just 18 and quite unproven still.

Let's see what happens. I hope Lauren stays, but with the boss having said last month that there will be departures in the transfer window, I wouldn't be surprised to see him go. If that's the case, then good luck Ralph, and thanks for all the brilliant memories. You are a legend.

We love you Freddie,
Because you've got red hair,
We love you Freddie,
Because you're everywhere,
We love you Freddie,
Because you're Arsenal through and through

The news this morning that Freddie Ljunbgerg might be sold off in the transfer window took me on a little trip down memory lane, and so I decided to take a look at the career of an underrated, often-unappreciated midfielder who is undoubtedly an Arsenal great.

It was about 8 years ago that a relatively unheralded 21-year-old Swede came off the bench against Manchester United at Highbury. The now-defunct, then great-white-left-midfield hope for England, Arsenal "youngster" Steven Hughes chipped a ball over the defence with that terrific left foot, and running onto it... Fredrik Ljungberg announced his arrival with a cheeky chipped finish over Peter Schmeichel; 3-0 to the Arsenal, the champions of England. By the end of the season, Arsenal had thrown the leaague and FA Cup away to treble-winners United, but Freddie Ljungberg had established himself.

The £3 million arrival from Halmstads had gained attention for his goalscoring efforts for Sweden in the Euro 2000 qualifiers. It was his televised performance against England that prompted Arsene Wenger to quickly sign him for Arsenal, fending off Liverpool. It was a gamble from Wenger, who rarely ever buys players without having watched them live, but it paid off handsomely. Feisty and fiery, deceptively quick, always willing to get stuck in, with a knack for scoring (especially in big games) and no small amount of skill, Freddie has provided some great performances over the years.

Arsenal fans will never forget how brilliant he was during the double-winning season in 2001/2002. He scored 17 goals to carry us to the Premiership title. It was unbelievable how that little man just seemed to become the team during the run-in, and carried everyone across the finish line. We were stuttering a bit, Pires and van Bronckhorst were ruled out for the season, Henry was off-form and injured, and it could have all gone awry like in 1998/1999. But Freddie said no. Time and time again he popped up with his predatory instinct and sheer will to win. Combining almost telepathically with Bergkamp, Freddie scored 5 times in the 4 games leading up to the title decider against Manchester United, where his shot rebounded to Wiltord, who tucked it away for the winner.

Against West Ham, he single-handedly took Arsenal to victory, using every amount of determination left in him to claw us back from a goal down and then score the winner. Fans at that game said he wept after scoring that goal. You could see that he really loved the Arsenal, and the fans loved him too. Of those 17 goals, barring 2, every goal was a first goal, equalising goal, or winning goal, and one was the goal that put Arsenal 2-0 up in the FA Cup Final against Chelsea - a great reward for a great player. With that Arsenal streak running through him (literally - in the case of his hair!), Freddie really was Mr. Arsenal in 2002.

Unfortunately he's somewhat tailed off since then. Although he contributed 9, 10, and 14 goals in each of the next three seasons, he scored just 2 in all competitions last year, and has just 1 this year. His form has been patchy and poor, and he seems to be slower than before.

So what is the reason for this dramatic decline in his form? Well he has been ravaged by injuries, and his migraine problems haven't helped either. Nor has the fading and subsequent departures of Bergkamp and Pires, two sublime passers who repeatedly spotted Freddie's runs into the box. Some feel that his modelling and large earnings have affected him, and there are even a few theorists (well... me mostly) who feel that his decision to shave off his Sid Vicious hairdo (red streak and all) have had a Samson-like effect on his footballing ability. I think the crucial statistic here though, is the fact that the team has struggled badly over the last two years, and Freddie has struggled with it. Whilst players like Cesc, Jens and Kolo have stepped up to the task, Freddie has been dragged firmly into the malaise.

He has also not been as terrible as some people are making him out to be. Football fans have short memories, and seemingly of late, more than a few Arsenal fans have very short tempers as well. Time and time again I’ve heard people say "he’s rubbish, he can't beat his man anymore", but when did he ever used to? His little stepovers were always laughable, but his shielding of the ball is still fantastic. He has other notable contributions too... his tracking back and tackling are as sharp as ever, and he was a close contender for Arsenal's man-of the-match away at the Bernabeu last season, as well as in the Paris final. He himself admits that his game has suffered, but says that a lot of it has to do with the fact that the team is so new, and that there are so many youngsters in it - he has had to stay back more, and use his experience to guide the youngsters, and it has shown with his interceptions and solid performances in big matches. Unfortunately his wonder-performances from 2002 are what many fans expext of him. It's a pretty difficult benchmark to live-up to, and with a new-look Arsenal side (both in terms of personnel and playing style), Freddie probably finds it tougher and tougher.

Still, it is comparable to the 2 very lean and patchy years that Dennis Bergkamp had after he missed his penalty against Manchester United in the 1999 FA Cup Semi-Final; although Ljungberg's abilities can't be compared to Bergkamp's very obvious genius, the poor form that the Dutchman experienced while Wenger rebuilt the team around Henry and the new arrivals can be compared to Ljungberg's situation. I really don't think that Freddie has become entirely rubbish in the way that people are making him out to be (his game has gotten better and better for Sweden, for whom he is now the captain), but he is certainly a long way off the heights of that double-winning season. OK, he contributes with his running and work-rate, but we need him to be doing more than that. If all we are playing him for is his hard work, then there are Mathieu Flamini and a host of others who can and are willing to do the same job, but are on a fraction of Ljungberg's wage. Goals are what we have come to expect from Freddie, even though Arsene Wenger said he was pleasantly surprised with Ljungberg's goalscoring, because that is not what he had been signed for (at Halmstads he played in the hole behind the front two).

With Rosicky and Hleb playing well, and Walcott progressing nicely, there is a bit less pressure on FL8. Let's hope he can recover properly from his injuries and give it a real go as the season goes on. I hope that his Arsenal career isn't finished, but if his poor form continues, then he will have been at the club a bit too long. It's sad how so many of the fans have turned on such a beloved character, when Seaman, Bergkamp and Pires all had a lot more leeway, but at the same time it is understandable. I would be sad to see him go, and I just hope that it's carefully handled by the club, because he’s been a great servant to us. Where Vieira and Pires constantly flirted with other clubs and agents, Henry thought about Barcelona, and the disgusting Jose Antonio Reyes fucked off back to Spain, Freddie was always steadfastly unflinching in his commitment to the Arsenal. Contract negotiations were never a problem and neither were there any issues with the quality of personnel or the weather.

I’d love it if Freddie could stay and regain some of his fitness and form. He is our longest serving player (!!) and I think he has a lot to offer. But having said that, we are at a crucial stage this year where we really need to win back some respect and put in good performances, and if he could part with the club on amicable terms and a good genuine left-sided replacement could be found, well I’m all for it. Who knows, after signing Winterburn, Suker, Richard Hughes, Kanu and Campbell, maybe Harry Redknapp has place for another ex-Arsenal boy?

Some great Freddie viewing in 8 parts: [PART 1] [PART 2] [PART3] [PART4] [PART 5] [PART 6] [PART 7] [PART 8]