Former Leverkusen manager Reiner Calmund: '90% chance' Podolski will go to Arsenal

Former Bayer Leverkusen manager Reiner Calmund believes it is very likely that Lukas Podolski will move to Arsenal in the summer after claiming he spoke with the striker.

It was reported earlier this week that the English club have an agreement with Koln over the transfer of the Germany international at the end of the term. Furthermore, it was suggested that due to a contract clause, the Gunners could acquire the Podolski for a fee of €10 million.


'Calli' revealed that he met with the player at the city carnival, and the 26-year-old striker conveyed his desire to join an English club at the end of the season.


"I would bet a fortune on it [Arsenal transfer]! I talked with Lukas during the carnival. He is fixated on clubs in England, and I believe that there is a 90 per cent chance that he will move to Arsenal," said Calmund to SPORT1.


"Nothing has been made official yet. Koln calculated a price of €20m. Arsenal, however, will not easily blow out €20m for a player who has just a year left on his contract.


"Arsenal are a club with ambitions and he will explode there."


Podolski has been one of the main protagonists for Koln this season, scoring 15 goals in 19 Bundesliga appearances.


Credits to: www.goal.com

Arsenal makes £18m bid for Valencia's Juan Mata

Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger has made a club record £18m bid for Valencia midfielder Juan Mata, claims the Daily Mail. The paper says that we are now planning a summer spending spree, beginning with the capture of the Spanish Under 21 star.

 

It is reported that officials spoke to the 23-year-old’s agent and father and that Mata is now happy to discuss his future. Mata can play in central midfield or on the left wing and was also part of Spain’s 2010 World Cup winning squad.

Mata's eye for goal and assists are why AW is said to be willing to smash the club’s current transfer record -- £13m for Russian star Andrey Arshavin -- to bring the Spaniard to the Emirates.

Former Real Madrid youth player Mata was one of the stars of Spain’s victorious Under 21 side in Denmark, scoring two goals in the tournament, and has been identified by Wenger as the man to help ease the blow of Cesc Fabregas’ possible departure to Barcelona.
But, the paper says, AW  may have to act fast to head off Barcelona and Manchester City -- who are also vying with Chelsea to sign Udinese and Chile winger Alexis Sanchez  -- and Liverpool.
Many of the Arsenal fans are delighted after hearing this report that their team is chasing this 23year old for a record transfer fee.

Arsenal lead the North-London race to sign midfield veteran Parker

Sources from North London reveal that Arsenal are in the pole position to sign West Ham United’s Scott Parker. It should be confirmed by a bid from Arsene Wenger  by next week. Despite strong rumours, the newly appointed manager, Sam Allardyce  made it clear that no official bid has been received.

Scott Parker is the kind of player that we lack in our squad. Although West Ham are relegated now, his performance last season for the Hammers shows his winning mentality and leadership qualities which we lack here at Arsenal. With Parker’s presence at the midfield, Wilshire and Fabregas will get the freedom to attack.

Harry Redknapp revealed that his top priority is a striker to replace misfiring Defoe and Crouch at White Hart Lane.  Arsenal should get the signature of the English veteran for about  £5 million.

Arsenal reject £27m bid from Barcelona for Cesc Fábregas

Arsenal have turned down an offer from Barcelona for their captain, Cesc Fábregas, according to reports last night. The bid is reported by the Sun and Telegraph to be worth £27m and is said to have been rejected out of hand.

The Spanish club had been expected to make a renewed attempt to sign Fábregas, who began his career at Camp Nou, after having offers rejected last summer. It is anticipated that they will return with an improved bid but they have stated that they will not pay more than £35m for the midfielder.
Their president, Sandro Rosell, spelt out the club's position and claimed this week that Fábregas was doing "all he can" to join Pep Guardiola's Spanish and European champions.
"Guardiola knows the values of players and Cesc's is less than €40m (£35.4m)," Rosell said. "Barcelona will offer less and, if they don't accept, then he won't come."

Vela not leaving Arsenal

Arsenal will not sell Carlos Vela this summer, the Mexico international's agent has claimed.
The 22-year-old was loaned out to West Brom for the second half of last season, but failed to make a major impact, scoring just twice in eight Barclays Premier League appearances.
The pacy Mexican was expected to be one of several players allowed to leave as Arsene Wenger revamped his squad following another campaign which promised so much but failed to deliver.
However, Vela's agent Eduardo Hernandez maintains Vela is still very much part of Wenger's plans. He told ESPN Radioformula in Mexico: "I have had eight conversations with Arsenal, the most recent was last Friday, and Carlos is an Arsenal player, he will stay at Arsenal and is not for sale.
"The process with Carlos is a little bit slow.
"Arsene Wenger is an extremely demanding coach, he sent him on loan for six months to West Brom not with the results he wanted, but, nevertheless, everything is going very well."
Wenger may so far have added only promising young defender Carl Jenkinson from Charlton, but Arsenal are determined to do more business before the summer ends.
Deals for Blackburn defender Christopher Samba and Ivory Coast forward Gervinho are understood to be close to completion, while the arrival of Southampton starlet Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is expected to be confirmed at the start of July ahead of Arsenal's Far East tour. Everton's £15million-rated centre-half Phil Jagielka is another reported target.
Despite the claims of Vela's agent, there are set to be departures.
Full-back Gael Clichy, the last surviving member of Wenger's Invincibles squad from 2003/2004, is coming towards the final year of his contract, and is expected to leave, with both Liverpool and Roma offering a fresh start, while Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner is also likely to head for the Emirates Stadium exit door.
Speculation continues over whether France midfielder Samir Nasri will commit to a new deal or be sold, while the future of captain Cesc Fabregas once again is uncertain under renewed interest from boyhood club Barcelona - but not at the £30million offer they made last summer.

Wenger hopeful of landing Zenit striker with £12M plus player deal

Arsene Wenger  will begin a frantic period of transfer activity by purchasing Aleksandr Kerzhakov  from Zenit St. Petersburg. The transfer is unclear but it is thought to involve around £12 million and involve at least one Arsenal  player moving in the opposite direction.
There was some dispute as to whether it would be Andrey Arshavin  moving back to his old club as Zenit have revealed in the press lately, they would love to have their old star back in their midst.
However, it seems Wenger feels Kerzhakov – who struck up a four-year long fantastic partnership with Arshavin at Zenit – can bring the best out of the Russian playmaker.
Kerzhakov finished an injury-hit season with 13 goals and has scored 7 goals already this season. This signifies a decent return but, like with every other club he has played for, the total fails to match up to Kerzhakov’s impressive totals whilst playing alongside Arshavin at Zenit.
It seems more likely that Denilson  will be the player to leave Arsenal. After featuring in only 16 games this season – finishing without a goal or assist – and with reported problems with the young Brazilian’s attitude, Wenger has made up his mind to let the midfielder go.
It was reported this week that Denilson was also used as a makeweight in a deal to sign highly rated Shakhtar Donetsk winger Douglas Costa. The offer was rejected as the Ukranian giants favoured money.
Cash-rich Zenit however will be interested in adding players to their ranks as they aim to establish themselves as the best Russian team. Fans will expect a follow-up to last year’s league title and will demand Kerkhakov is replaced.
The move will mark the start of a hectic few weeks for Arsene Wenger. As many as eight Arsenal players may leave the club, with Wenger aiming to improve the replace them with better quality.

After indifferent seasons from Nicklas Bendter, Maruoane Chamakh and Carlos Vela, Arsenal relied heavily on the irrepressible Robin van Persie. The purchase of Kerzakhov represents a lifting of the burden from the Dutchman which will allow him to flourish.

West Brom reject Odemwingie talk

West Brom have said they are not considering the sale of striker Peter Odemwingie, despite reported interest from Arsenal.

 

Odemwingie scored 15 goals in all competitions last season and piqued the interest of both Chelsea and Arsenal with his performances, with reports from Africa claiming that the Nigerian had agreed a move to the Emirates.
However, West Brom technical director Dan Ashworth maintained that no contact had been made over the star and that talks are still ongoing about him signing a new deal at the Hawthorns.
He told the Birmingham Mail: "Our aim is to retain our core players and try to strengthen our squad around them. I want to make it clear that Peter Odemwingie is not for sale and remains a key member of our squad.
"We have not received any offers for Peter and we have placed no valuation on his head."

The Reasons why Fabregas will not leave Arsenal this Summer......

Only a few days after Sandro Rosell made claims that the value of Cesc Fabregas has gone down over the past year, the Barcelona president insisted that the club will not offer more than 40 million euros to acquire his services.

According to Rosell, Fabregas is worth less than he was at this point last summer because of injuries that slightly hampered his season. However, I would like to point out that Cesc only played one game fewer in the 2010/11 season compared to 2009/10. It is also worth noting that although he did not score as many goals, he still provided an astounding 17 assists last season; He currently sits 3rd in the all-time Premier League Assists table.

“If last summer we offered 40m euros (£35.1m) for Cesc, since then there has been wear and tear, now he’s worth less. I don’t know what will happen, but in the case that we were interested, we won’t go mad and pay over the top.
“I don’t think he will got to another Spanish club. Cesc is of Barca, and if I were the president of another club I wouldn’t sign a player who holds dear the colours of another team.”

Fabregas has made 303 appearances since he joined the club in 2003 (Ronnie Macdonald/Flickr)

Speaking to the media yesterday Rosell yesterday confirmed that if Arsenal reject the bid (of less than €40m) then Fabregas will not be moving back to his childhood club:

“Guardiola knows the values of players and Cesc’s is less than €40m (£35.4m). Barcelona will offer less and if they [Arsenal] don’t accept, then he won’t come. Pep knows the club is not well-off in terms of money.”

In my opinion, this is the final confirmation needed to convince me that Fabregas is staying at Arsenal for next season. There are 6 reasons which make me more than confident that Cesc won’t leave Arsenal this summer:

1. It would seem that everybody, except for Barcelona, know that 40 million euros for Cesc Fabregas is ridiculous. Rosell’s valuation is well below what I would deem acceptable for arguably the best midfielder in the Premier League.
2. If what Rosell said is right, Cesc won’t sign for another Spanish club (ruling out Real Madrid).
3. Arsène Wenger has already said that he refuses to sell Cesc to another Premier League club
4. A.C Milan (the other major European club linked with Fabregas) have already revealed that they cannot afford him.
5. Only last week Fabregas made it clear that he is happy at Arsenal, and that the final decision regarding his move lies solely with Arsène Wenger.
6. Wenger cannot afford to lose both Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri.

We should be more worried about Samir Nasri leaving the club. Nasri has been the focus of much media attention over the last few weeks and is hardly making it easy on himself with strange and ambiguous comments. The good news is that ss far as I am concerned, Cesc Fabregas is and will remain an Arsenal player.

Is this man slowly becoming Wenger’s number one summer target?

Arsene Wenger  reportedly failed in January with a bid for Blackburn Rovers‘ centre back Christopher Samba , and that failure proved to be extremely costly with Arsenal ‘s defence being the main culprits in Arsenal ’s demise after the Carling Cup final.

With the fans’ and board running out of patience with Le Prossfeur it’s expected that finally, he will abandon his usual transfer policy and spend big in the transfer market and the media are expecting Wenger to go back in for Samba as he is what Arsenal need; for once I actually agree with the Fleet Street bigwigs.
Laurent Koscielny ’s indifferent season has proven how hard it is to adjust to the hustle and bustle of the Premier League but Samba has established himself as a strong and physical player at the heart of the Rovers defence, all attributes Arsenal have lacked this season. The Premier League is arguably the best in the world and over his four full seasons for Rover’s the Congo international has continually proven his ability to play consistently at the highest level.
Thomas Vermaelen  is arguably Arsenal’s best defender but despite this, the Belgium defender lacks that physical presence that a centre half should have. Samba would give Arsenal that much needed bit of brute force in the middle, which in turn would enable them to compete with the most physical of sides such as Stoke City, where the Gunners have dropped ‘silly’ points of the season due to them being ‘bullied’ off the park.
Set pieces should bring anticipation or reassurances depending on whether your team is attacking or defending one. This season the Gunners’ faithful have rarely got excited at a set piece because they know that their side lack the hunger or aerial prowess to win the ball, something which Samba has in abundance with the majority of his Blackburn goals’ coming via set pieces. When it comes to defending a set piece the Arsenal fans’ are a bag of nerves not knowing if their keeper will flap at the ball or Johan Djourou  will take it upon himself to score for the opposing team. Samba has shown his composure when under pressure while playing for Blackburn and will give Arsenal the attribute they have lacked for so long, the ability to clear the ball quickly and cleanly or even just a good ol’ fashioned ‘hoof’ up field.
Recent big money transfer involving Jordan Henderson and Phil Jones have proven how costly buying Premier League experience is, and Samba has plenty. The real bonus in signing the former Hertha Berlin player is he shouldn’t cost more than £10 million, an absolute steal when you see the money being touted for another Arsenal target Gary Cahill .
Samba is a must for Wenger this summer as he begins his seventh attempt at ending Arsenal’s barren spell, which may well be his last chance.