Arsenal fans get double dose of Fokker...or good news

Robert DeNiro might call it a `double dose of Fokker`, but me, well I call it `better than nothing`. While Manchester United sign Gooner Ashley Young, we manage to bring in Velez Sarsfield midfielder Ricardo Alvarez, allegedly.

Arsene Wenger`s record with Argentinians is not that good. Anyone remember Nelson Vivas? Not bad, but I don`t recall him impressing the faithful that much. How about Fabian Caballeros? Less said the better.

Talking of players we don`t think about much, what about Emmanuel Frimpong? I must admit I haven`t been losing sleep over his possible departure, but nevertheless it`s nice to know we do have a player at the club who genuinely wants to stay. Allegedly.

Good ol` Frimpong said on Twitter: "If he [manager Arsene Wenger] doesn't come up to me to say 'I'm giving you an opportunity' then obviously my time at Arsenal doesn't look too good.

"Arsenal FC is pumping through my veins.

"I will never leave Arsenal even if I get released I will beg on both knees to stay they're going to have to escort me [out]."

Now who wishes the early-leavers at the Emirates felt as passionately as that?

Gervinho in, Bendtner out, Vela stays, Falcao`s fantasy, Afobe loaned

It`s been protracted but hopefully soon we can say Gervinho`s a Gooner! First, we`ll have to say `goodbye` to Nicklas Bendtner, who seems to be ready to join Borussia Dortmund. No doubt we`ll use the money from that deal to pay for Gervinho, not that we`re tight Arsenals or anything!

That`s why the Falcao story is pure fantasy. A £26m buy-out clause will put us off the scent. If Porto will do business for half that, we might go as far as to make inquiries. Otherwise, forget it.

Meanwhile, Carlos Vela is likely to spend another season looking cold on the bench. He`s going nowhere. He looks as happy as a penguin at London Zoo in the summer, and I feel we should do a whip round and buy him his ticket back to Mexico. He`s just not going to cut it, sadly.

A bit like his forgotten compatriot at Spurs (you know the bloke they got from Barca!), loads of skill but not enough grit for the Premier League. Only difference is one`s too lightweight and the other one`s too heavyweight, allegedly.

Let`s hope Benik Afobe cuts it out on loan next season and returns a better player. It`ll probably be Millwall and it`ll probably be another Jay Simpson situation: a loan ahead of a transfer, but hopefully Benik can prove me wrong.

Sell Clichy on the cheap to Roma if he must go, not to Man City or Liverpool

To be honest, I don`t want Gael Clichy to go. But he`s not had a great season and it seems inevitable that he will be sold if he continues to baulk at signing a new deal.

Manchester City, Liverpool and Roma have all been credited with an interest, and if he goes to the highest bidder, clearly City will win the auction and pay the 8m-pound asking price.

I`d rather sell him for less (around 5m pounds) to Roma, as then it won`t be a deal that bites us on the backside. The last thing we want to do is strengthen our Premier League rivals.

It may cost us 3m pounds in lost transfer money to sell him to Roma, but it will cost an awful lot more if we miss out on 4th spot next year. Clichy is a good enough player to significantly strengthen our rivals and we simply can`t afford to do that.

Surely Cesc thinks he`s worth more than £35.5m!

It`s hard to believe anything at this time of year. The Sun have trotted out a story on Cesc Fabregas, but I don`t blame them for it. Instead, it`s Barcelona's president Sandro Rosell who`s making audacious claims.

Sandro said: "Cesc is doing everything he can to come. Pep Guardiola knows the value of players and for Cesc it is less than £35.5m.

"Barcelona will offer less and if they don't accept he won't come."

How the hell do they expect us to let him go so cheaply? He has to be worth £80m all day long. We don`t normally sell our players for peanuts, we just expect to buy them for that! Unless, they`re crocked, and after Cesc`s injury-hit season, you have to wonder how many games he`ll play in the next campaign. If it`s a full season, I stick with my valuation, if not then Barca might not be taking the pee as much as we might think.

Joey Barton to move to Arsenal? Can we believe it?

If I`d been eating cornflakes at the time I read the Barton story on Sentanta, I`d have choked on them.

They quote Micky Quinn, an ancient opponent who caused more pain (with his goals) at Highbury than I care to remember. Now it seems he`s at it again, winding us up with his comments on TalkSport. Quinn said: "I know through a third party that Arsenal have enquired about Joey Barton.

"Why are they (Newcastle) letting players like Joey Barton go if they have any ambition.

"But it's only going to be Arsenal's gain. He'll put a bit of steel into that Arsenal team."

It sounds like something out of the realms of fantasy to me. Barton is skillful enough for Arsenal, I feel sure of that. But what would he make of our dressing room? And more to the point, what would our current players and fans make of him. I couldn`t imagine Barton getting a hero`s welcome if he joined us from Newcastle. Me personally, I`d love to see him play for Arsenal. But that`s why I`m `The Loose Cannon`!

Unseen costs spiral out of control while Arsenal pay `peanuts` on transfer front

What a busy summer we`re having on the transfer front!

Under Bruce Rioch we signed `pups` like Dennis Bergkamp (sorry about the sarcasm!). Now our ticket money is being invested in these four future prospects:

Héctor Bellerín - a speedy 16-year-old Spanish winger from Barcelona - cost = 400,000 pounds.

Jon Miguel Toral - a 16-year-old Spanish midfielder from Barca, 350,000 euros.

Serge Gnabry - a 15-year-old German midfielder from VFB Stuttgart, 100,000 euros.

Carl Jenkinson - a 19-year-old England-born Finnish defender from Charlton, one million pounds.

So, our total outlay is 1,400,000 pounds plus 450,000 euros.

Back in the bad old regimental days of Bruce Rioch, we were announcing signings of the calibre of Dennis Bergkamp. Now we can`t pay more than `peanuts`, according to Peter Odemwingie, who`s more likely to opt for another suitor.

Arsene, please get the chequebook out soon! We could do worse than sign Adel Taarabt from QPR. It always baffled me that Spurs got him first and then proceeded to ruin his career, before he moved down a division to get regular football. He`s not the most hardworking, but he`s got flair in abundance. Get him, Arsene!

If we`re going to lose Samir Nasri, if not this season then next, we need to plan ahead. Taarabt is not as versatile as Nasri, but he can offer the same kind of threat going forward.

He won`t be cheap though, so I suppose we can forget about it. Arsene Wenger won`t consider the cost of not winning anything and the cost of alienating our fans, as well as the cost in time of dithering on the transfer front. I reckon it`s better to just pay the money and get the players we want and need. All this quibbling makes us look cheap. If the tickets were just as cheap, I`d understand it, but they`re not.

Then there`s the cost of developing these uncut diamonds and throwing some out that don`t cut it. These unseen costs are spiralling out of control.

Everything is shrouded in secrecy nowadays. All of Arsenal`s transfer fees are 'undisclosed' officially. It`s as if the club are trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

It`s about time we bought another `pup` like Bergkamp, even if we have to pay more than peanuts to get him!

Silly season? Let's enjoy the imaginary machinations!

No wonder our fans laughed, when Ivan Gazidis claimed we'd be busy on the transfer front. We've heard it all before. Arsene Wenger's had money to spend before, but for some unknown reason has chosen not to spend it. In January, had we invested we'd have had a real chance of winning the league, but instead . . . well, we know what happened. The money stayed in the bank.

Gazidis also said that Wenger's position will become 'unsustainable' should he fall out with the fans. I hope that doesn't happen, as I believe Wenger is the best available man for the job. I'm not his greatest fan, but he's done a lot. We all know that. We also know he has to change.

You learn more from failure than from success. Therefore, we should have learned an awful lot recently! I'm sure the players have. This season, we'll find out if the manager has. Because if he hasn't, he'll be ousted. I feel sure of that.

It's not something I want to happen. I want Arsenal to remain a stable club. So please Arsene change your ways! Bring in some players that will hit the ground running.

My wish list includes:
Ashley Young (no chance, as despite being a Gooner, he's too expensive now)
Craig Gardner - versatile and will only cost about £5m, but will end up at Sunderland!
Ben Foster - Birmingham's relegation could be good news for us!
Gervinho - 15 goals last season! Bring him in!
Marcos Senna - free! But make sure he passes a medical
Keisuke Honda - my connections in Japan say we're genuinely interested, let's hope they're right!
Jose Enrique - not bad at all, and available, it seems
Steven Taylor - let's get two from Newcastle, why not?

We've also been linked with Madjid Bougherra, who could buy his existing contract out at Rangers for just a million.

Also, Didier Drogba would love to play for us. If Chelsea sign another striker, who knows? Maybe it will happen.

Yes, this time of the year pigs and crazy rumours really do fly.

Almunia, Denilson, Nasri & Bendtner leaving Arsenal - do we care?

It's not so easy to contemplate new arrivals at Arsenal. Us fans have been disappointed so many times by the club's lack of investment on the transfer front. Therefore it's much easier to imagine departures. Some departures seem overdue and few tears will be shed when Denilson shuffles off. The Brazilian has been described as 'lazy' by some supporters and he does have a tendency to play the ball sideways a bit too often for my liking. Despite opting for safe passing first, he still manages to give the ball away with alarming regularity. Not once did I ever believe this midfielder was good enough for Arsenal. He had his moments, but not enough of them.

The same goes for Manuel Almunia. However, I still maintain he's a better keeper than Lucasc 'Bag Of Nerves' Fabianski. Neither keeper inspires confidence and I'd ship both out.

I'd be happy to see all 3 players mentioned so far go on free transfers, but knowing Arsenal, we'll be able to cash in on Denilson at least. Arsene Wenger still seems to believe he can transform the bag of nerves into someone who can protect the onion bag. Personally, I don't think Le Boss will succeed, but no doubt he'll need at least another year to admit it was a mistake signing the Pole.

More worrying, as far as possible exits are concerned, is the possible or even probable departure of Samir Nasri. He seems to be ready made to fill the void being left at Manchester United by the retirement of Paul Scholes. What I fail to understand is how we could sell Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor to Manchester City, yet won't counternance flogging Nasri to United. Surely, if the price is right we should let him go there. After all, we're not really title contenders, are we? Not unless we go in for some major squad facelight instead of just trying to iron out the wrinkles with a tiny bit of cosmetic surgery.

It's been pointed out that Nasri won't be so popular with the fans, now he's come out and said he won't sign a new deal unless he gets a lot more money and Arsenal bring some players in. It reminds our fans so much of the Ashley Cole saga, so don't be surprised if there's a similar outcome with Nasri. If Nasri does move to one of our so-called 'rivals', he'll soon become as popular as a Nasgull at a Hobbit convention, if you'll forgive the 'Lord of the Rings' analogy.

Meanwhile, Nicklas Bendtner is 100% certain to leave. Who says? The player himself. We hear Bayern Munich are out of the running to sign him, so where will he end up? My guess is he'll go to a smaller club, but I do think we might regret letting him go. He's almost certainly going to improve so his next club are likely to reap the benefits of what he's learned at Arsenal. Shame, eh?

Well, Nasri's departure will cause the most grief. If we are to cash in on him, we have to get good money as the cost of a replacement doesn't bear thinking about. How he was allowed to get into this position, gawd only knows. It was as clear before he joined Arsenal that Nasri was incredibly gifted, so why didn't we get him to sign a longer-term deal?

The club have a lot ot answer for. We sign duds forever, while true talent is allowed to leave for free or on the cheap. We need to wise up and fast, if we are ever going to seriously compete at the pinnacle of English football again.

Should Arsenal become more English again?

Having just watched England drop points at home to Switzerland, I'm not so sure I agree with fans who want Arsenal to recruit more Englishmen. I never really cared about the nationality of our players, but I could see the reasoning behind the view that more English grit is required. However, grit comes at a cost. What Arsenal would gain in grit they might lose in technique, if they went more English.

Although James Milner is a grafter, do we really want him at Arsenal? I'm not sure. I'd see him as a decent squad player. No more. And, of course, he';s not available and if he were, he'd be over-priced.

John Terry would give us grit, but we'd never get him and he's the wrong side of 30. Same applies to Frank Lampard.

Of the younger players, none would strengthen our team except Ashley Young. Quite why we didn't sign him when he was still at Watford is a mystery to me. It was quite clear that this guy was going places. He's also a boyhood Gooner. Surely our scouts could see he had the pace and skill to cut it at Arsenal.

Aside from current England Gooners, Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott, Young's the only Englishmen in Fabio Capello's team today that I would like to see in the red and white of Arsenal. Joe Hart, who's been linked so many times in the past to us, made a couple of costly errors (although the goals weren't entirely his fault) and a current Arsenal target (according to the rumour mongers) Stewart Downing, once again, failed to deliver on the international stage.

So to all those that say 'buy English Arsene', I say 'no thanks, unless it's Young!'

Arsenal's potential ECL opponents: chickening out of Kiev!

Although most fans are talking about which big-name players might be coming to their respective clubs, during the close season, Arsenal supporters are different. Partly that's because we expect Arsene Wenger to be reluctant to dip into the club's coffers and we expect to be distinctly underwhelmed by the names that come to the club. Usually, we say 'who?' when the club announce a new signing.

Perhaps that's one of the reasons many fans are more concerned about our potential opponents in the European Champions League qualifiers. The thought of going out so early in the competition is almost unthinkable, to the money men as well as the fans.

So who could we face? Well, scaremongers have suggested we could face Bayern Munich, Benfica, Lyon or Villarreal. This is not going to happen, as like ourselves, those teams will be seeded.

Yet, there are some big clubs that we could be pitted against. They include: Dynamo Kiev, Panathinaikos, Standard Liege, Twente and Udinese. Of those teams, Kiev would be the most feared opponents in my book. I mean, how many European opponents win in Kiev? I've not checked the statistical archives to back up my opinion on this, but I don't think of that part of the world as a happy hunting ground. Of course, we lost 2-1 to Shakhtar Donetsk in the Ukraine last season, so a trip to that country does not augur well at all. Plus the flight might leave our players knackered! So they're the team to avoid in the draw at all costs, in my book.

If you disagree or simply want to add your opinion, please do so below.