Wenger Waves His Wand/Baptista/Gallas/Denilson/Cole/Cygan/Reyes
By Bilal Zaidi
This years deadline day has got to be one of the most memorable for years to come; not was it the same day we all found out the shock news of two of the worlds most promising players going to West Ham…albeit for West Ham to be the “shop window” for a future big money move in a seasons time…it was a day to remember for us especially…the Arsenal football fans, who have waited patiently for months on end for Wenger to wave his magic wand in the transfer market once again.
The last three months have been so hard for us…waiting…watching other clubs sign players…trying to take our minds OFF football to erase the prospect of us having a disappointing time in the transfer market…all this while the World Cup was on!?...Then deadline day came and that thought in the back of everyone’s heads that nothing would happen was finally thrown out the window once it had emerged that Julio Baptista and William Gallas had signed for us. WHAT A TENSE day…waiting until the last moments before midnight to confirm the deals…but the anxious wait made me enjoy the moment even more than I imagined…FINALLY the wait was over…
Wenger has acquired two solid players who will add steal to the team…and got rid of three players that were no longer wanted or needed. Perhaps I am being harsh on Reyes…but once he kept rollicking on about Real Madrid being his dream destination and all sorts…after the 62nd time he said it…I said to myself “enough is enough…get out of here son”…Ashley Cole is now forever going to be hated by Arsenal fans, you can read my “letter to Ashley Cole” if you haven’t read it before (This was written a bit of time ago, before he actually left, August 2nd 2006)
NOW THE BIGGEST relief of the day had to when I was half asleep crouching on my sofa watching sky sports news and a breaking news headline came onto the bottom of the screen saying “Arsenal’s Pascal Cygan Signs For Villarreal For £2 million)
£2 MILLION!!! It was quite clear for a long time that Cygan has been surplus to requirements for a long while…but the fact that we have let so many players go on a free in the past, recently Sol Campbell, just shows me what a fantastic deal this was for us…how on God’s green Earth did anyone from Arsenal convince Villarreal to actually pay for him…incredible!
Overall a successful day for us as Cygan went for £2 million (Almost as good as getting £2.5 million for D. Traore)…Ashley Cole finally left us for the arrival of one of the best defenders in the world PLUS £5 million…Jose Antonio Reyes leaving his whining and crying ways to join Real Madrid on loan for a year with an option to sign him for EURO’s 22 million…and in his place…"The Beast" Baptista who will prove to be a huge hit in time to come in my opinion.
On Baptista I have read two different stats, don’t know which is true, perhaps one is league goals and the other is overall but the stats speak for themselves: For Sevilla Baptista scored 38 goals in 63 games….51 goals in 89 appearances!!!
Add to the pot a young Brazilian, Denilson, that I don’t know too much about apart from the fact he was signed for £3.4 million and is a defensive midfielder…captained of the Brazil youth teams at Under 17’s and Under 19’s level…A promising talent none the less.
Overall this has got to prove as being a very successful day in the transfer market for Wenger who has on many occasions pulled out of the bag some amazing deals…A strong team now even though there can be some potential problems…but a 3rd special and “super team” is what Wenger is building and this time with their youth they will be around to stay for a lot longer than previous great sides…A very promising season is underway…An exciting chapter in the clubs honourable history is being opened…I just cant wait…can you?
What did you think of our signings on the day and who do you think came out better of the swap deals done? Leave your comments…
posted by ArsenalReview.co.uk @ 2:31 PM
11 comments
11 Comments:
Nicely analysis. Looking forward to the next few weeks to see our new boys in action!
yep great trading, although the left hand side does look a bit weaker now...
I think rosicky will be (close to being) as good as Pires but it is a bit early to expect him to score the 10-15 goals we got from Pires on the left each year.
Also my worry is keeping all the players together. Every summer, all the top clubs come hunting for our best players. With all the young talent coming through, I worry that some of it will be creamed off by other teams...
But if Arsenal manage to keep Henry, Gallas, Fabregas, Toure, Baptista for the next 5 years, arsenal will win the EPL.
Not quite Henry, Vieira, Bergkamp, Pires and Campbell, but has the potential to be!
Next year hopefully Van Persie and one of Rosicky and/or Hleb will join the group above. Maybe even Theo
Rocka04
I would definately BACK Van Persie to "join that group" as you put it...infact more so than Baptista at this particular moment just for the fact that Baptista has just arrived and has got to prove to us he is as good as his hype...not saying he isnt...just that he still has to prove himself in the premiership like Gallas already has with Chelsea.
Van Persie has looked one of our best/if not our best player so far this season in the few matches we have seen...lets hope his luck isnt as bad as it has been in the last few games...
The point about the weak left handside needs to be raised.
Cole, Reyes and Pires have left and no one has directly come in to replace them.
Some would argue that Rosicky is a CM, a guy who wants to drift in field and I dont think he will track back.
Clichy, well if he can stay fit and play 40 games, then great, we will know if he can play. Walcott, Baptista and Freddie could all play on the left side of midfield depending on a 4 4 2 or a 4 3 3.
Could our Traore come good and be the left back we need, perhaps Lauren could fill in there, or even Senderos as I am guessing he wont be first choice CB.
Hopefully all of these new players will mean that Henry will open his account for AFC on Saturday, and also Fabgreas get more involved.
After years of having no real right side and a fantastic left side the reverse is beginning to occur, but on advantage is the youth of Traore, Clichy and Walcott coming through. although this season they won't solve the problem in every game they will burden a lot of resposibility and hopefully come out better players for it! the only risk is if we played traore and walcott our left side would be aged 33, compared to when wenger arrived and winterburn himself was about 34-35...crazy ey!!
OH!!!! also just had a look on the arsenal site and there's now a lowdown on denilson if anyones interested!
Good account of the transfer window! Can't wait till these pointless and shitty qualifiers are over and we can get back to the prem and our stronger looking squad! I disagree with ur views on our left side which some have suggested. Hoyte hasn't quite set the world alight at left back, traore is young and still learning and clichy is injured at the moment. But rosicky and walcott can do a job there walcott is more direct rosciky will come inside and try to initiate more attacks centrally. I agree that we are light at the moment at left back but the players who can play left wing are more than capable: hleb, ljungberg, walcott, rosicky, van persie. All our wingers or wide players can play any wing so we are more than covered rvp can also help out if we get stuck with injuries (touching wood) I think that once clichy, lauren, senderos and diaby finally come back we will not have a problem and the left sided situation will sort itself out. Don't panic we've bought 3 world class players, 1 talented brazilian and got rid of 1 spanish pansy who cried all the way home and 1 absolute twat who decided to talk to the scum nehind our back good riddance! and we also got rid of a unreliable defender who was mistake-prone and was always goin to be a back up squad player nothin else, fantastic piece of business to convince villareal to buy him, they must have been desperate! Bring on the boro!
why does everyone say Pires has not been replaced? he has been, by Rosicky.
RvP was always AW's replacement for DB10 - as a bonus they had a year training together, which must have done RvP loads of good....
Campbell replaced by Gallas...
Clichy is BETTER than Cole was at the same age. Yes it's a pity he's injured, but once he's back, LB is just not going to be a problem. Till then, frankly I thought Flamini did the best job of the 20 or so emergency left backs that AW was forced to use.... and should get the place over Hoyte, who is right sided... its a lil unfair to ask such a young guy to come in on the wrong side, IMO..
and before the bricks start flying, MF16 is 23 years old, and had played in a CL final before he came to us... he's not a "kid"
Reyes, replaced by a combination of Hleb and Baptista, and frankly I wont miss him. He had the potential, and some great games, but overall he's a lightweight... the players who will replace him at LM will do better, IMO.
The squads in great shape. Yes, it will need time to gel ( no EPL this year, I'm afraid) but this is potentially the best Arsenal team ever assembled....
You are passing off with this site
Like most gooners I'm chuffed with the senior players we have brought in/given the boot but let's not forget about Fran Merida! like we did with Cesc we may have to wait a while for the goods... but it is very likely that several years from now it will be his signing that will prove to have been the greatest this summer.
you all have to remember about left back, gallas is very experienced at left back and can play anywere across the back four, of defensive midfield. rosicky, hleb,walcott and rvp can all play left midfield, plus flamini and glichy in left back-its lookin good to me
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