The best rumours circulating around possible Emirates Stadium targets and apparent exits.
Shaw thing: Gunners plot raid on Southampton for teenage starlet Luke Shaw
Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have already been recruited from the Saints and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has had rave reports about the left-back
Arsenal are set to make a another raid on Southampton with 17-year-old full back Luke Shaw their target.
They had the promising full-back watched at St Mary’s Stadium yesterday when he played the last 25 minutes of the 1-0 defeat to Dutch champions Ajax.
He looked confident and competent enough in a match treated with stunning indifference by the Southampton fans.
SOURCE: Daily Mirror
Clearly Arsenal have made something of a habit of picking up talented youngsters from the South Coast side and any successful move for teenager Luke Shaw would bring up a hat-trick of Southampton captures, following the signings of Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
The highly rated full-back is yet to play a league game for the Saints but did make his Southampton debut in January aged just 16 in an FA Cup tie against Millwall.
The talented teenager has been capped by England at Under 17 level and has been dubbed the ‘New Gareth Bale’ after another successful recruit from the Southampton Academy.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is of course well known for his penchant of signing youthful players that he feels can be polished into household names and given that the North London club saw their full-back options decimated by injuries last term perhaps he feels a move for another left-back, especially one with such obvious potential, is a wise one to make.
However it may prove trickier to lure players from St Mary’s now that back to back promotions have led Southampton back to the top flight after a seven year absence.
Last term Arsenal saw full-backs Andre Santos, Carl Jenkinson, Bacary Sagna and Kieran Gibbs all suffer knocks, leading to the likes of Johan Djourou and Frances Coquelin having to be used as makeshift replacements.
Arsenal have been dealt a transfer blow as Besiktas confirmed they do not want to sign striker Marouane Chamakh.
Arsene Wenger has been keen to get the Moroccan striker off the wage bill and it had been reported last week that Besiktas were ready to offer £4m for the player.
But having signed defender Julien Escude from Sevilla, Besiktas boss Samet Aybaba says he has no interest in adding Chamakh to his squad.
He said: “We needed a defender like Escude and I think our defence will be stronger with him. We’re not attempting to sign Marouane Chamakh.”
SOURCE: talkSPORT
Arsenal’s attempts to offload woeful striker Maroune Chamakh have been dealt a serious blow with the news that the Moroccan’s only suitor, Besiktas, are not interested in his signature.
After a promising start to his Arsenal career, Chamakh has faded drastically and managed just one Premier League goal last season, making it a grand total of 8 in his entire Gunners’ career.
If Arsenal cannot find a new suitor for Chamakh for August 31st, the club may find itself stuck with the lumbering striker for at least another six months.
Elsewhere, it looks as if Park Chu-Young, Nicklas Bendtner, Andrei Arshavin, Theo Walcott and Robin van Persie could all leave the Emirates this summer.
With Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski having already joined the north Londoners, we could see a completely different Arsenal going forward next season than we did in the last campaign, with Gervinho the only forward certain to remain.
AC Milan are considering a move for Arsenal misfit Nicklas Bendtner, as their summer rebuilding programme continues apace.
The Italian giants have seen a number of ageing stars leave the club this summer, leading manager Massimiliano Allegri to describe the next few months as ‘year zero’.
Mega-rich Ligue 1 club PSG completed a £55 million double-swoop for Milan pair Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva last week, while the Rossoneri have released a number of ageing stars including Mark van Bommel, Pippo Inzaghi and Clarence Seedorf.
Milan have been linked with several Premier League stars, including Manchester City pair Carlos Tevez and Edin Dzeko, and Tottenham’s Sandro Raniere.
Bendtner has now emerged as a surprise candidate to replace Ibrahimovic, according to Football Italia. The Dane impressed at Euro 2012, scoring twice against Portugal as the plucky Danish failed to progress past the group stage.
The 24-year-old’s agent has insisted that he will join a ‘top’ club this summer. Bendtner spent last season on loan at Sunderland but the Black Cats have decided against pursuing a permanent deal.
The striker is determined to leave Arsenal this summer and would welcome a move to the Serie A.
Juventus are prepared to spend up to £70 million to lure Arsenal skipper Robin van Persie to Turin.
The Serie A giants will offer Arsenal £20 million for the contract-rebel, who’ll be on a staggering £190,000 a week after tax for the next five years, according to the Daily Mirror.
Juventus looked to have pulled out of the running for the 28-year-old last week, after a source described their interest in van Persie as ‘exaggerated’. The news left Manchester United and Man City in a two-way battle for his signature.
But Giuseppe Marotta, general manager of the Serie A Champions, has reportedly held further talks with van Persie’s representatives and stressed they will top any offer made by the Premier League duo.
It is thought that van Persie favours a move to Italy and Arsenal would prefer not to sell the goal-machine to a direct rival.
United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is understood to be keen to land the former Feyenoord striker but is not willing to pay more than £15 million – with Arsenal publicly holding out for closer to £35 million.
City meanwhile are desperate to sign van Persie but first need to ship out unwanted strikers Emmanuel Adebayor and Roque Santa Cruz, both of whom are providing stubborn to shift.
The English Champions’ failure to move for the Dutchman, who scored 30 Premier League goals last season, has left City boss Roberto Mancini furious with his superiors.
Arsenal, meanwhile, are confident of sealing a £20 million deal for Malaga playmaker Santi Cazorla this week and want in excess of that figure for van Persie, meaning Juventus may have to dig even deeper to get their man.
Fulham are hoping to pull off a coup by landing unwanted Arsenal winger Andrei Arshavin.
The Russian has been told he can leave the Emirates this summer after boss Arsene Wenger finally lost patience with his inconsistent and often lazy displays.
The 31-year-old remains a huge talent, however, and showed glimpses of his best for Russian during Euro 2012.
Arshavin spent the second half of last season on loan at his former club Zenit St Petersburg but the Russian outfit appear reluctant to make the deal permanent.
Fulham are prepared to offer the forward, who was coveted by Barcelona before he joined the Gunners in 2008, a chance to stay in London, where he is settled and his children go to school, reports the Metro.
The Cottagers are struggling to afford Arshavin’s £80,000 a week wages, however, and it is understood that the playmaker would have to take a significant pay cut to move to Craven Cottage.
Fulham boss Martin Jol is also interested in landing Huddersfield striker Jordan Rhodes and is hoping he can seal deals for the young Scot and mercurial Russian before the start of the Premier League season.
Spanish source Sport claims Barcelona are set to sign Arsenal midfielder within the next 48 hours.
Nou Camp boss Tito Vilanova is apparently keen to sign the Cameroon international and this source suggests that only an agreed fee between the two clubs stands between a deal occurring in the next few days. Barcelona have apparently being trying hard to bring in Athletic Bilbao’s Javi Martinez but are ready to drop the pursuit of the Spaniard and instead concentrate on signing the 24 year old Arsenal man.
Though Barcelona appear to be keen on landing an ‘enforcer’ Alex Song has actually matured into a more rounded player with the former Bastia man weighing in with 14 assists in all competitions last term.
Indeed Wenger may well be looking to bring in an out and out defensive midfielder due to this change of direction by Song, after all Arsenal have more than enough creative talents in their midfield armoury and this could well be the reason for the Gunners continued interest in French tough tackler Yann M’Vila.
Wenger can, injuries permitting, call upon Jack Wilshere, Tomas Rosicky, Aaron Ramsey and Mikel Arteta as attack minded central midfield options but arguably do not have much in the way of players who can protect these creators.
Barcelona have of course nabbed a number of players from the North London club over the years, most recently bringing former youth team player Cesc Fabregas a year ago.
Alex Song has made over 200 appearances for Arsenal since his move to the club almost seven years ago.
Arsenal are considering Celtic’s Victor Wanyama as a replacement should Barcelona make a substantial bid for Alex Song.
Scouts from Arsenal and Manchester United have watched the Kenyan, 21, in action.
Wanyama has voiced his frustration at being played in defence and rather than defensive midfield. He is keen to move to England.
Celtic want around £7m.
SOURCE: Daily Mail
Victor Wanyama impressed many during his debut season at Parkhead but is he a player of sufficient quality to replace Alex Song as Arsenal’s first choice defensive midfielder?
The 21 year old Kenyan international is apparently keen to move to the Premier League but is he the man to offer Arsene Wenger an alternative steely presence to reportedly Barcelona bound Song? The former Beerschot man put in fairly consistent performances last term to help Celtic to the SPL title but there is a world of difference between cutting it in Scotland than in the English top tier.
If Song were to move to the Nou Camp then Arsenal may well step up efforts to land long term French international target Yann M’Vila.
Unless of course Wenger believes Wanyama can make the step-up to make an impact at the Emirates Stadium. Alternatively the Gunners boss may well look to youngster Emmanuel Frimpong to make a case to challenge for a regular first team spot having spent time out on loan at Wolves last season.
Arsene Wenger is ready to push on with efforts to offload a number of his Emirates Stadium squad to help finance further moves in the summer transfer market with the arrivals of both Santi Cazorla and Nuri Sahin, from Malaga and Real Madrid respectively, set to be completed in the next few days.
Having already released keeper Manuel Almunia and sold Carlos Vela to Real Sociedad, Wenger has earmarked a further five player sales he wishes to complete before the current transfer window closes on August 31st.
Park Chu-Young has proved a massive disappointment for Arsene Wenger. A signing that surprised many has seemingly failed and the Gunners boss is keen to offload the 27 year old South Korean at the earliest possibly juncture, not least because the former Monaco man is now even further down the Arsenal pecking order following the arrivals of Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud.
Wenger has handed the forward just one Premier League appearance, that being a short sub run-out against Man United, and will now look to recoup the £2.4m paid to sign Park but could end up settling on a nominal fee to trigger a quick sale.
Andrei Arshavin did not join Arsenal on their Asian tour and that appears to have signaled the death knell to the Russian’s Arsenal career. A number of Premier League sides are said to be keen on the 31 year old who may well elect to stay in the Premier League given that his family have settled in England.
Fulham are said to be in prime position to land the winger, who is also being chased by former club Zenit St Petersburg. Though Wenger spent a club record £15m on Arshavin he is reportedly willing to accept half that fee this summer.
Following an impressive Euro 2008 Arshavin was touted as one of the best players in Europe but his three and a half years at Arsenal have seen more lows than highs, though his four goal haul at Anfield will long be remembered.
Marouane Chamakh, much like Park Chu-Young, will find himself further down the Arsenal striking pecking order and after managing just one Premier League goal in 18 months the Moroccan has been made available to prospective interested parties.
The former Bordeaux man cost Arsenal nothing when he arrived in the summer of 2010 but Wenger is keen to rid the club of his reported £60k a week salary. As yet no concrete offers have been made for the 28 year old but there is speculation that a number of Ligue 1 sides are ready to register their interest.
Sebastien Squillaci has proved to be something of a disaster at Arsenal, the veteran defender looking off the pace and out of his depth, and Wenger is keen to sell the French international for as little as £1m. The former Sevilla man is apparently a target of newly promoted side Bastia though they are said to be reluctant to meet the centre back’s pay demands.
Nicklas Bendtner, like the aforementioned Arshavin, did not join Arsenal on their Asian tour and the Danish international’s Gunners career is effectively over, pending the acceptance of an offer that Wenger feels is appropriate for the 24 year old.
The big forward has never been a first team regular and has reportedly fallen out with the Gunners boss. Sunderland have opted to not follow up interest in Bendtner following a relatively successful loan spell at the Stadium of Light but the likes of Lille and Schalke are said to be interested in the Arsenal man.
Santi Cazorla met his new Arsenal team-mates on Friday after agreeing a £20million move from Malaga.
The 27-year-old midfielder has passed a medical and agreed a four-year contract worth £70,000-a-week.
The Gunners will pay Malaga a basic £16m fee as part of a deal that includes various add-ons.
SOURCE: Daily Mirror
So apparently the only reason Arsenal could not officially unveil Spanish international Santi Cazorla as a new Gunners signing was due to the fact that Malaga are in such disarray due to the change of ownership that is underway at the La Liga club, that the relevant documentation to complete the move was not completed in time.
However a deal has been agreed and as this source states the 27 year old will join the North London club next week and has already met his team-mates and put pen to paper on a four year deal.
Arsene Wenger has already bagged attacking pair Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud and will hope that a third major signing will help prove to wantaway skipper Robin Van Persie that the North London club do have the ambition, and spending power, to push for major honours.
Cazorla had an impressive first season at Malaga, scoring a career best nine La Liga goals and becoming a focal point of Manuel Pellegrini’s attack as the La Rosaleda side secured their first ever Champions League berth.
The fee paid to land the former Villarreal man will break Arsenal’s record transfer fee spend, which came in the form of the £15m move to land Andrei Arshavin three and a half years ago.
Ryo my! Wigan make a move for Miyaichi as they prepare to sell Moses
Talks are underway about Arsenal’s teen forward spending a season on loan at Latics – whether or not they sell star to Chelsea
Latics manager Roberto Martinez is in talks to borrow Miyaichi, who showed pace and skill while on loan at Bolton during their doomed fight for Premier League survival last season, for the whole of the coming campaign.
Miyaichi will be sent out on loan again by the Gunners, and manager Arsene Wenger wants him to move to a Premier League club rather than to a Championship outfit or abroad.
SOURCE: Daily Mirror
Some Arsenal fans may have been under the impression that talented youngster Ryo Miyaichi would have featured in the Gunners first team this coming season but it appears that Arsene Wenger has other ideas. The Japanese international spent half a season on loan at Feyenoord in 2010/11 and then another half season at Bolton, the winger impressing in both spells.
A move to Wigan Athletic may well further Miyaichi’s Premier League education and this source claims Roberto Martinez is looking for a replacement for Victor Moses who may well be Chelsea bound and should the Nigerian leave for Stamford Bridge then the Arsenal man may well be guaranteed a first team spot at the Latics.
If Arsenal do complete a deal to sign Santi Cazorla then perhaps the chances of the 19 year old being sent out on loan will increase, likewise if Arsene Wenger opts to hold on to Andrei Arshavin this summer.
Arsenal’s star striker made it clear at the start of the summer that he wanted to move on because of the club’s lack of ambition.
Club insiders believe van Persie, who has a year remaining on his contract, now wants to stay.
The next challenge will be for the club to table a contract that gets him to commit to the club for the long term.
The summer signings of Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud, as well as the imminent arrival of Spain international Santiago Cazorla, in a £9million deal from Malaga, have impressed the captain.
We asked La Liga expert David Cartlidge what Arsenal fans can expect from Cazorla.
There is also the prospect of Holland team-mate Gregory van der Wiel arriving for £7million.
Van der Wiel also has one year left on his contract at Ajax and the Dutch champions are anxious to cash in rather than lose him on a free next summer.
SOURCE: Daily Mirror
Arsenal target Nuri Sahin has been told by Jose Mourinho that he can leave Real Madrid.
The Gunners are reportedly interested in signing Sahin on a season-long deal with an option to buy, but face competition from Galatasaray for the 23-year-old Turkey midfielder.
Emirates Stadium is Sahin’s preferred destination and the transfer moved a step closer today when Mourinho declared he is surplus to requirements at the Bernabeu.
SOURCE: Independent
Arsene Wenger appears set to change a habit of a lifetime as he continues his club’s spending spree in pursuit of an end to a silverware drought that has lasted seven long seasons.
The hope is that by bringing in further new talents Robin Van Persie may change his mind and sign a new contract and if indeed the North London does manage to bag this trio then the Gunners may well have a squad that can once again challenge for major honours.
The Daily Mirror believe that Arsenal’s £20m signing of Santi Cazorla will be announced next week and moves to bring in Nuri Sahin from Real Madrid on loan are also well advanced.
A move to bring in Dutch right back Gregory van der Wiel would be sensible given the injury problems Wenger has had in the full-back area of his squad. Last term Arsenal saw Carl Jenkinson, Kieran Gibbs and Andre Santos all spend time out injured however Bacary Sagna was more in the wars than most, suffering two broken legs during the campaign.
Van der Wiel, though still just 24, has almost 200 top tier appearances for Ajax and if indeed the Amsterdam side are looking to sell the contract rebel then Arsenal would do well to nab the attack minded defender.
Arsenal fans would no doubt be most grateful if their side could land this trio to go with the captures of attackers Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud, who arrived from Koln and Montpellier respectively earlier in the transfer window.