Barcelona Signing Adebayor For £22mil-£25mil? Nasri Signing Officially? Clichy Signs Long Term Deal

By Bilal Zaidi

This is some crazy stuff. Turkey somehow qualified tonight with a huge victory over Croatia after the tie went into extra time. Turkey conceded at one end and scored at the other and won it after extra time from the resulting penalties. What a fantastic story and a perfect illustration of what hard work and determination can get you. They never gave up, for three games in a row where they looked to be heading out. Who knows what may be in store for them in the semi-finals.

Congratulations to Turkey and local boy Colin Kazim Richards who went to school just down the road from me. Crazy stuff.

However, the news that has been reported of our thirty goal striker Adebayor to sign for Barcelona for “£22mil - £25mil” is quite amazing. He had a great season for us and I would love for Ade to be staying but it is very difficult to tell who is misleading us all. I know from other peoples comments that many may want to just get rid of him but I would like to see what is actually going on before we start to put down our striker who did very well for us last season. Is this a trick from Barcelona to unsettle the player and the club in order to gain eventually when they buy him or is it simply the truth? It has been going on for a bit of time now and I haven’t written much on it because I don’t like writing about transfer rumours that are thrown around loosely. However, a good few papers have been picking up on the story this morning as the conclusion to this predicament seems to be edging to a final sprint in the coming weeks.

Nasri is expected to sign officially very soon since his French club have already confirmed the deal. Also, his compatriot Clichy closed off any sort of speculation regarding his potential future at another club by signing a four year deal to commit his future to Arsenal. Clichy was outstanding this year, being voted the Premiership’s best left back...unfortunately he wasn’t included in Frances European squad but both Nasri and Clichy on the French and Arsenal left wing could now become a great possibility in the near future.

Any news relating to the futures of the players mentioned will be updated as soon as we have heard of any news. Don’t miss tonight’s game between Holland and Russia and Amir Khan’s fight as well from our live video streams page.

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LIVE EURO 2008 STREAMS: Switzerland v Czech Republic, Portugal v Turkey

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Switzerland v Czech Republic
Portugal v Turkey

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Zan Wants To Be An Arsenal Man…NOT WHAT WE NEED/Flamini/Baptista

By Bilal Zaidi

Turkish defender Gokhan Zan has stated his desire to be in North London by the end of the upcoming January transfer window. I don’t know much about him apart from him being a central defender which for me is enough to say we should be spending that money in another area of the team. If you look at the numbers…we have two of the best centre backs in the premiership along with two young Swiss defenders that have shown they are more than capable of stepping up when needed. Both Djourou and Senderos shouldn’t have another defender to compete with because this would hinder their development in my opinion.

We have three very able right backs once Lauren is back and only one natural left back. If there is a need for strengthening the back four it should be in the left back slot NOT in the centre. Also, we have ONE REAL defensive midfielder in Gilberto who has really stepped up this season as one of our most important players. Even if Flamini has done well of late in a midfield five and scored a couple goals…I don’t think he would be adequate to play as the only defensive midfielder in a midfield four…he doesn’t have that presence about him that gives you confidence that he can keep winning balls and shield the defence. His stamina and work rate is second to none but I think that can only really be appreciated when Gilberto is playing so once again if we need another player it is arguably in this position. Gilberto is terrific but if he gets injured or needs a break…we haven’t really got the depth we need in that position…unless of course we get to see a lot more of Denilson.

When we got rid of Reyes and Cole it was losing two players who naturally play on the left…we got Gallas and Baptista in return…that is two players who want to play in the centre…Baptista has hardly been used by Wenger even before his injury which leads us to think whether he can be accommodated and where he will be used as we still don’t have much clarity. In my eyes at least…he is a tremendous asset to have, a fantastic scoring record just leads me to believe he should be getting games…BUT WHERE? Fabregas can’t be left out…Rosicky can’t be left out…and upfront it seems Ade and Van are running things right now so that seems to be why. That is going off the topic now…and it is Christmas day so stop reading this and go and get merry…More on signings in the January window soon. Any comments on the issues I have discussed are always welcomed…from the Turkish defenders situation…Flamini reaction or Baptista’s position and value to our team…I look forward to hearing from you all. Merry Christmas to you all.

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