Arsenal rumour roundup – Vidal, Praet, Higuain, Podolski and Baba

Obviously most of the Arsenal transfer rumours this morning are talking about Arturo Vidal’s imminent arrival at the club, with many publications saying that it is a done deal. Now that Morgan Schneiderlin is going to Man United it is looking more likely that Vidal is heading our way.

The Gunners legend Freddie Lunjberg is very excited by this possibility. “There [are] some rumours about Vidal, a great player, and he gets fuming if he loses the ball, so I like that,” Ljungberg was quoted as saying. “That kind of player would be great for the club.
“I hope they can challenge for the Premier League title. I think in one or two years we’ll have a squad that’s going to compete with anyone. With one or two signings here and there, we can get a stronger squad. We’re getting there and I’m really looking forward to the next couple of years.”

I think Freddie is definitely saying what all of us are thinking. If this deal is announced next week along with Petr Cech then we are definitely on our way to greatness once again.

Another midfielder rumour is saying that Arsenal have been looking at the young Belgian Dennis Praet, who is currently at Anderlecht. In November, his agent, Jacques Lichtenstei, tried to push Praet towards Arsenal when he said: “What could he learn from another season in Belgium after several campaigns at European level and having contributed to three consecutive league titles?

“Clubs like Valencia, Liverpool, Arsenal and Atletico Madrid are all interesting but Dynamo Kiev are not.

“Dennis should go to a team where they play good football.

“He is not far from the level of a club like Arsenal, if they could give him a year’s adjustment period.”

We don’t want players that need adjusting! The 21 year-old is reputed to be very promising, but with Southampton in the market for a replacement for Schneiderlin I think he is more likely to move there…..

One top striker that will NOT be coming to Arsenal is our old rumour favourite Gonzalo Higuain. He is ALWAYS linked with Arsenal with ever-increasing prices being bandied about, but now the Napoli director Cristiano Giuntoli has nipped any move in the bud. “Higuain is staying.” he said. “A few Italian clubs asked for information, but he is staying,”

We all know that Lukas Podolski is considering offers from Galatasary and hopefully others, and he now has been warned by the Germany coach Joachim Low that he MUST leave Arsenal or face being dropped by his country. “I told Lukas that he should talk to Arsene Wenger,” Low said. “He should not let things come to him, but instead approach him (Wenger) to find out his plans.

“Is the coach planning with him? And if so, in which role? He has to think about what he wants. I want him to play at least 30 to 40 games.

“He has to play. Two years without any proper match practice would not be a good foundation to participate in Euro 2016.”

I wonder if 30 games with the Arsenal reserves will count? If not, Podolski had better start looking at lots of other clubs!

Lastly, we have been linked with a young Ghanaian defender Abdul Rahman Baba. This 20 year-old looks big and strong, but his club Augsburg have made it clear he won’t come cheap. Klaus Hofmann, the Augsburg president, said earlier this month: “We will certainly not sell Baba for €20m. We are a perfectly healthy club, Baba is one of the top talents in the world. Anyone who wants to offer us a number like €20m, they can save the cost of the call.”

I have a feeling Arsene Wenger won’t be wasting his time either. The 20 year-old helped his club to the heady heights of 5th in the Bundesliga this season, but do Arsenal really need another left back?

Tags Baba Higuain Podolski Praet vidal

72 Comments

  1. Vidal will be unvealed with Cech Tomorrow!

    I know because a guy who once owned a hot dog stand outside Highbury told me he has it on good authority that this is what is actually going to happen.

    I believe him.

        1. I was just wondering (not a question), whatever happened to that black scarf movement. Did they wash the dye out revealing the old Red & White.

          Or are they repositioning themselves by saying I was never anti Wenger (no sure yas werent), I just wanted him to listen to us and change LOL.

          And while im at it what about the banner carriers, how on earth can they show there faces again… for shame, for shame.

          Some of the stuff been said was unforgivable.

          1. The Black Scarf were never anti-Wenger (cmon misconception) but were in the simplest form a voice (or union) for fans.

            1. Even though i never heard someone of that movement once speak up on Wengers behalf, i should have known there was an opening for a rebuttal as that is why they cleverly stated – not all wobs.

              Must give them credit for that because im sure they left the door ajar knowing full well Wenger could easily make them look a bunch of fools.

              Reason for my earlier comment was because i do see familiar names on this site that not all that long ago couldnt string two sentences together with attacking our manager on a personal level and otherwise i even remember one fool suggesting that he (Wenger) and Aaron Ramsey are together in a sexual nature because what other reasons would the deluded old fool have for picking the useless so and so.

              Maybe i should have just used the word wob instead of the BSM seeing as it is they whom have used the change in Wenger theory (money helps ya know?)

      1. Terrible sausage actually. All flaccid and badly coloured with blistered skin.

        However his insight to the transfer market is unquestionable!

    1. Now we are talking and getting somewhere.
      A player you cannot knock off the ball.
      Just like William(hate to admit) at Chelsea who more than anyone gives them that power in attack.
      At last , someone with all the attributes in the middle of the pack.
      intelligence,
      Power
      Speed
      Peter Cech was a side show
      Vidal is the main course.
      Now get us a striker with the same attributes

    2. Arturo will skip the ongoing Copa America, fly over to London to be Unveiled with Cech ( hehehehehehe) tell me more

      1. What’s with all this negativity round here? Why make us smaller than we are? Did you believe the Alexis Sanchez rumour? As you may know, Alexis joined, so why can’t Vidal!? Juve now have bought Pereyra permanently, added Khedira and Allegri said he wants to bring in another creative midfielder a la Oscar or Isco. So it’s not unlikely that Vidal will be sold on and I’m sure Alexis will (or already has) put in a good word for us.

    3. Just saw on goal.com that allegri is interested in signing isco or Oscar, doesn’t that correlate with possible Vidal departure??? Anyone with me on this?

  2. ———-Cech———
    Bellerin-Mert-Kos-Mon-
    —-Coq–Vidal—-
    Ox–Ozil–Alexis
    —–Walcott—–
    this team could go and win EPL and maybe go far in UCL. Why Ramsey or Wilshere isnt starting, cuz they are not better than Vidal!!! plus our injury record is proof we need someone like Vidal, we simply cant sit and wait after Ramsey or Wilshere gets injured!!!

      1. why not? is cazorla better than vidal? vidal is one of the compleatest midfielders out there, plus he can play alongside Cazorla, Wilshere or Ramsey, so why not sign him?

        1. why is everyone talking about arturo vidal?

          did i miss something?

          hes at juve, says hes happy there- im confused

      2. I will never understand why fans will put Ozil ahead of cazorla. Never ever ever is ozil a better player than Cazorla. be it as a Number 10, traquerista, advance play maker,Winger Inside forward, and CM. Cazorla is not just better than Ozil but is is far better that all our other midfielders.
        For some reasons cazorla is always the one that will be droped. Even when fans wanted Rambo in the middle they wanted cazorla out. Why not Ozil? Why always cazorla?

        Cazorla has the heighest amount of assist since he joined the premier league. that is in the last 3 years. What Ozil statististics really makes him better than Cazorla? Cazorla is 2 footed and by far a better dribbler. better at defending, better at taking Set pieces and shooting. Better at penalties too, better at tackling . what is ozil better at really?

        Its insane how underated cazorla is. I guess we didn’t pay £42 million for him so he is seen as shit by people who don’t watch football. I know the thumps down are coming. lol
        that is the decision Weneger must make in big games. Cazorla or ozil in the middle but not both. It will come to that next season. If not we gonna get taking to cleaners by big teams in europe.

        1. probably cuz, Ozil can become the best player in world, while Cazorla cant, when you are talking about stats, Ozil needs only 8 assists to take first place as player with most assists ever, thats why Ozil always starts, no matter Germany or Arsenal, personally i dont like that, for me who is in better form would play, but it doesnt work like that!!

          1. That’s because he got the chance to play with wc players in RM …. Cazorla used to be in a better form than ozil and yet we put him ahead of cazorla …

            1. As an all round player Cazorla has more quality than Ozil. But picking the final pass Ozil edges him out, thats if he has space though. Because in tight areas surrounded Cazorla i think can wriggle free and then pick a better final pass. Its close though.

          2. We should really stop talking about our players as if they are Messi. Thats how some of you are saying Giroud is better than Higuain. Or we should not get cech because of Ospina’s form.
            Ozil is not close to been the best player in the world in tearms of potential.he is worldclass but there are many players currently better than Ozil.
            He first of all has to be the best player at Arsenal
            then premier league team of the season
            then PFA player of the year
            then you can start talking about potential world domination.

            At the moment he is not close any of the four categories. At Arsenal for example Sanchez and cazorla were voted ahead of him. 2 seasons ago was Rambo. To be world best you need to fisrt be the best at your house. At the moment he isn’t. And that is the truth.

        2. then galen you should go back and want them play again. carzola tends to be less direct and sometimes when we don’t have direct players on the team sheet arsenal suffer from hesitation and sideways passes. carzola can be the cause of that.

          also ozil doesn’t get the carzola credit when he has a performance that is better or at least on par with carzola. pundits made out carzola was the best player for us in the FA cup. ozil and coquelin were.

          don’t get me wrong I get why people have hyped him up. great dribbler and a great little player.

    1. Swap Coq for Rambo and Theo for Giroud, then it’s a toss up between Ozil and Santi at CAM.

      1. With Vidal you could do many variations, cuz he can play in almost any position, but ofcourse if someone is in better form he gotta play, thats reason why i want him, he can play as DM, AM, CM even on wings, so if anyone get injured he can replace him, there isnt many players which can do that.

        1. Can Vidal play as a striker? Yes, put him upfront he will provide better service than our strikers, all combined. ..

          1. again vidal?

            is he coming what the hell is going on?

            thers no way were getting arturo- i would go absolutely mental with joy

            1. Muff, I would probably throw a huge party if Vidal joined us. I would make that party a charity event called welcoming Vidal. Will use the cash gathered to create a website welcoming Vidal. Would do a newspaper advertisement welcoming Vidal. Imagine us getting cech and Vidal in one window. And say we get a striker like benzema….cech/Vidal/benzema….lol

      2. @Charlie
        Ozil or santi for the Am spot. personally I think Santi is better, but its also a case of form. If Ozil’s form is better then we go for Ozil.
        What I don’t accept is picking a team base on reputation. form is very important as well. But Cazorla is the better footballer. Just my opinion.

        1. We don’t always have to argue who is better than who, elevating one player at the expense of another. You would have thought we’d be happy having to fret over Ozil or Cazorla – like it is a big problem! Personally for me Santi has almost totally re-invented himself as a CM dynamo operating from much deeper than he has ever been used to. People talk about “beasts” in midfield – Santi is a beast in terms of ball retention and re-cycling – hardly anyone gets near to tackle/dispossess him – one of the most composed possession players I have seen in recent years. And I agree with the poster above – for me Ozil has the edge in movement and seeing the passes – and similar to Santi rarely loses the ball in tight spots.

    2. Cazorla is the glue that keeps our team together..He is the magician In the middle helps us get out of tight defence spots and also helps in attack and he Knows how the team works. For me honestly I want Santi as our captain next season.

  3. OT: played FIFA last night, got under Chelsea players skin and he quit the club. Hahaha, Pool player from Iran quit shortly after.

  4. I am not being negative at all because Vidal in a arsenal shirt would be unreal as he is a world class player but I feel we have a over crowding of cm and getting vidal means dropping cazorla or ramsey :/. We have wilshire, ramsey, chamberlain, cazorla, all fighting for one position as can’t see wenger dropping coquelin or ozil. I know we need competition but keeping these players happy and at the club will be hard if Wilshire will be sat on the bench all season but don’t want to see him go to city and ruin his career what would u say our line up would be if we did sign vidal suggestions?

    1. Dm: Vidal, Coquelin, Arteta
      CM: Rambo, Santi
      AM: Ozil, Wilshere, Rosicky

      With various combinations in between. It’s called strength and depth pal, midfield is our calling card so we have to be strong there. 60 games a year hopefully, no need for Ozil or anyone else tp play 3 in a week and the team to suffer. Rambo/Jack/Arteta/Rosicky aren’t made of steel either it’s fair to say.

      1. Rozza will leave (sausage guy told me).

        If Vidal does come in (which he will as sausage guy assures me of this) then I think Flamini and Arteta will go as they will know they won’t really get a sniff at game time.

        1. ok everyone is sounding sure about vidal.
          starting to freak out now

          u lot are getting my hopes up unfairly

      2. and that’s not even considering putting AM combinations on the wings which i’m not an advocate of at all but against most teams our midfield will simply too strong anyway (meaning we can rotate even with few injuries). Having Walcott at the front too improves the prospect of AMs on the wings because he can actually hang on defenders and latch onto through balls, Giroud needs wingers to run past him to be effective.

        1. I think the main problem with AMs on the wing is that they are reluctant to get in the penalty box, that’s what makes Ramsey so effective, he is one of the only ones in midfield these days who has no pace but knows when to run in the box as support (resulting in goals, freeing up the striker, or just getting an awkward defensive position to take advantage of. If Cazorla, Ozil, Wilshere could integrate that into their game then AMs on the wings would be far more dangerous for us.

      3. Yer I no be Defo need competition, competition is good but what I’m saying is if wilshire is constantly in the bench and a team with like city come in for him that can offer him a first team spot he will want to move just the way it is. I just can’t see wilshire getting in the team.

      4. In my own opinion, Wilshere is best as a CM, with licence to roam forward. Santi is an AM, he just adapted well to a new position last season for the good of the team.
        Arteta, with all due respect, he is a nice guy and all, buh moving forward, he cant be counted, he is quick becoming the past, just like flamini already is…

      5. The sheer variety of Arsenal midfield combos has become a real headf***** recently, not sure I could cope with adding to it – seems like the more quality we get in there the more upset some become with their favs out in the cold. Love it.

      6. @Champagne Charlie

        Nice line-up, and great squad depth like you say. But there’s one major problem…Wenger!

        If you watch Arsenal regularly you’ll know Wenger rarely rotates, which means a lot of those players being constantly benched or played out of position on the wings. Coquelin cannot be dropped because of how important he is. Remember it was him, not Sanchez, that saved our season. Ozil never gets dropped, and Santi is also so important for our possession play. Which means what for Wilshere and Ramsey? Now let’s say we sign Vidal. How does he fit in?! He’s not come to warm the bench, he’d expect to start most games. And you can forget about ever seeing Rosicky again.

        I don’t know why people keep banging on about Vidal like we badly need him. Central midfield is the one area that we don’t need another first choice player. All we need is another quality DM that isn’t a big name, because big names will expect to start every game. I say sign Vidal if we’re selling a big name from midfield. The main priority by a country mile has to be a quality striker.

    2. dont worry, our injury record would fix that, our style simply couses to much injuries, so having Vidal wont make anyone unhappy, look at Barca or Real, if you cant preform at highest level than you will be replaced, i think Wilshere or Ramsey with Vidal would have amazing partnership, we can place first 11 from our cms LOL but thats Wengers job!!!

  5. Full name
    Arturo Erasmo Vidal Pardo
    Date of birth
    22 May 1987 (age 28)
    Place of birth
    Santiago , Chile
    Height
    1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
    Playing position
    Midfielder
    Club information
    Current team
    Arsenal
    Number
    7
    I know this does not mean anything but I like the look of it..

  6. One of the things I love about Arsenal is how the ex players still say “we”. Most of them come to Arsenal as a footballer and leave as a fan. I think that says a lot about our great club.

  7. We have to understand that vidal is not a true DM, he is more box to box who can play almost anywhere on the pitch, if you watch him for chile and juventus, you will see he does not play the DM positions. He even said he likes to score goals. I dont mind signing him but it means ramsey,ozil,and wilshere will be further down the pecking order because if i am wenger and i sign him i will rather play him in the box to box role along side coquelin. the line up will look like this..
    giroud/new striker
    sanchez cazorla walcott
    vidal coquelin
    monreal kosh gab debuchy
    This would be the best lineup, which makes it harder for ozil, ramsey and wilshere. If you think vidal will come to arsenal and play a limited defensive role, you’re joking cos there is so much more to his game just like ramsey.

    1. I agree. It’s easy to get bogged down in the “terrier-like” aspects of Vidal’s game and see him as a pure DM, whereas in actual fact he’s pretty useful in high press football and does like to pop up in the opposition box on a semi-frequent basis. His ideal game is setting the tempo, with plugging defensive gaps only a part of that.

      I’m not talking him down at all — I think he’s a wonderful player with an awesome work ethic and good technique to go with it. I’m just envisaging the actual impact his presence would have on our midfield (hypothetically of course) and how we’d expect it to alter our football.

    2. Good point and you are the first one ive heard even mention it, or at the least put it across in a logical way. I was thinking similar, what about Ramsey Jack and even Rosicky. Im glad you brought it up because for me it is those players who would fall down the pecking order. Vidal has no self discipline, well maybe not none but he has less than Song ever had and Wenger played Arteta alongside him.

      Vidal and say Ramsey is maybe something that looks great on paper, pace strength stamina etc etc but it also looks like it could easily become too undisciplined.

      We are already brimming with certain midfield types and i think Vidal would be just more of the same. Unless Wenger is pondering on losing more than a couple of players i cant see this happening. Arteta Flamini Diaby Rosicky are almost at an end but it is Ramsey Jack Cazorla Ozil that Wenger is trying to fit into one team and now people want Vidal. I love a big name new signing as much as the next person but people might not be thinking this through.

  8. Ok…! my starting 11 for next year.

    Cech
    Monreal Kos Gabriel bellerin
    Coq
    Griezmann Santi Rambo Sanchez
    Zlatan

    Subs: Messi, Ronaldo, Reus, Jesus Christ,
    Rocky balboa, Spiderman, David hasslehoff

    1. im sorry but rocky balboa- you know damn well he retired after drago fight.
      the rest sounds about right…think the hoff has fully recovered from his cruciate injury

      1. Ok you got me. I swap Drago for Rocky.
        He would probably offer more in the air anyway!

  9. My favorite gooners on this site, muffdiver, budd, ny gunner, champagne charlie. I really like your comments makes much more sense than the 5 yr olds on this site.

  10. I dunno why, people get worked up as to how potential signings will fit into the team,

    our job as fans as fans is to demand the best possible (world class) signings, and support them when they arrive.

    The players job is to grind dia ass out in training, give 110% on matchday, and fight for the shirt on a daily basis.

    The managers job is to assess all the players equally in training, and select d best team.

    So if wilshere wants to make the first eleven, he should up his game, and impress the manager in training, if coquelin doesnt want to get benched by new DM, he should keep working his ass off and maintain high standards, and same goes for every other arsenal player…

  11. watchinh william carvallho play for portugal under 21s on saturday night i just thought how well he would fit into our team . he is a very special player , and in my opinion i would put him above any of the defecsive players mentioned on this site . he is pure class . oh well , i will dream on .

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