Sunday 3 June 2012

Crocked Theo, Ox delight & toilet roll transfers!

It’s the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee holiday and we’re ‘celebrating’ with some depressing weather and the following depressing news: Theo Walcott is crocked. Sort of. Theo has tweaked his ankle and hamstring, but still reckons he’ll be ready for the tournament. From an Arsenal perspective, it might be best if Theo misses Euro 2012, as I’m sure he’ll return from it just as knackered as all the other participants. If he does miss it, another player on the waiting list will get a call-up. Even if he was a winger, I don’t think Rio Ferdinand would be getting it! Purely footballing reasons, of course! Yeah, right!
Anyway, one man's loss is another man's opportunity and, looking at the Telegraph for a moment, it sounds like the media have a new darling. Yes, it’s opportunity knocks for another Arsenal winger. It's great to see Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain getting the plaudits he deserves for a decent first start for England. It wasn't the scintillating performance at all from the England team in general, but ‘The Ox’ provided us with some of the brighter moments of the game.
The Telegraph’s Henry Winter didn’t comment much on the Belgium team that ‘The Ox’ and co were up against. Of course previous Arsenal transfer target, Eden Hazard is on the way to Chelsea and another previous Arsenal transfer target Jan Vertonghen appears to be on his way to Spurs. Or is he? The deal is not done yet, so there has been talk that Arsenal may hijack the move. Personally, I can't see that at all. The 25-year-old defender will be at White Hart Lane and the deal is expected to be confirmed within days or weeks. I'm not too upset about it myself, having seen his display against England I don't think Arsenal are missing out that much. Or is that the case of sour grapes? I'll let you, the reader, decide.

One player who did catch the eye was his international teammate and number 7: Dries Mertens. He was playing on the left wing for Belgium, and I thought he gave England's right back Glen Johnson quite a few problems. He only joined PSV Eindhoven last summer and has racked up 21 goals in 33 games already, not a bad achievement for a winger. I think we should try to sign the 25-year-old, but somehow I can't see it happening.

Something else I can't see happening, is Robin van Persie moving to Italy. Nevertheless, ClubCall claim that Arsenal have told Juventus that we want €30m for the Holland international striker. With the match fixing scandal going on in Italy at the moment it is incredibly difficult to imagine them personally heading that way. No doubt it is in ‘the pipeline’ like ClubCall’s claim about our proposed deal for CSKA Moscow star Seydou Doumbia. The last ‘pipeline’ I saw was a piece of toilet roll without paper. I think that says it all, and I will deposit both stories in the aforementioned cylindrical container where they belong.
While we're talking about silly transfers, is it worth mentioning that Gregory van der Wiel is up for grabs? The Ajax and Holland international right back will probably move to Chelsea but wouldn't it be a good idea for our club to make a move given Bacary Sagna's recent injury record? Some might say that ‘Corporal’ Carl Jenkinson is a good enough replacement for Sagna, but I'm not quite sure he's up for the task on a long-term basis despite some admirable performances last season.

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