By Walter Broeckx
Yesterday someone who writes for a another website said to me that in the last summer transfer window Arsenal had been linked with some 150 players. 150 players. Hundred and fifty that is. We bought 3 players in reality.
Compare those numbers: 150 rumours – 3 bought actually. This is pure madness. This most and for all shows how much rubbish goes around during a transfer window. One could say that they need around 50 rumours to have one correct.
But please don’t let that stop some of you from taking every rumour as true.
Apparently there are a few favourites this transfer window. And of course the same names from the last transfer window get mentioned again. This is what I could find and have read in the last hour from the last weeks:
- Mignolet from Sunderland
- Reina from Liverpool
- Iker Casillas from Real Madrid
- Baines from Everton
- Taye Taiwo from AC Milan
- Mario Gotze from Dortmund
- Nani from Manchester United
- Hatem Ben Arfa from Newcastle
- Wilfried Zaha from Crystal Palace
- Adrian Lopez from Atletico Madrid
- Fellaini from Everton
- Napoli wing-back Juan Zuniga and Colombian international
- James McCarthy from Wigan
- David Villa from Barcelona
- Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa from Montpellier
- Ferando Llorente from Bilbao
- Victor Wanyama from Celtic
- Luke Young from Plymouth
- Luke Shaw from Southampton
- Loic Remy from Marseille
- Thierry Henry on loan again.
That is 21 names so far. And we are only January 8, which happens to be the birthday of Adrian Lopez. So we wish him a new contract of course.
If they keep it up like that we will be linked with some 80 players this short transfer window. And we only have 25 places in the squad.
All jokes aside. I think the media are not doing enough. They could do better. Only 21 players linked to Arsenal. That is poor.
Why don’t they mention Lucas Biglia anymore? Don’t they know that he refused to go to the winter training camp with his team Anderlecht? He stayed in Argentina where he was for the festive period and wants to get a transfer away from the Belgium champions. So where are the rumours linking him with Arsenal? He has been linked before so why not jump on to this? And where is M’Villa in all these rumours or did I miss him?
Now in a way it could be funny, all these rumours. I usually laugh with them and shake my head and think: oh well. But the problem is that all these rumours bring expectations.
If you hear the same rumour every day over and over again it is hard to look at it as what it really is: a rumour. I admit even I have been caught on occasion when a name is mentioned I would like to see in an Arsenal shirt. But I try to keep relaxed about it and think of it as paper and website filling to sell paper and to get clicks.
Let me take David Villa as an example. I would love to see him in an Arsenal shirt. His goal scoring record is great so I would be thrilled if he would come to Arsenal. But if I had to believe the rumours from last week he would do a medical last Sunday at Arsenal. As I knew that Barcelona was playing a game last Sunday I knew this was a rumour that could be checked rather easily. And as I expected David Villa was in Barcelona that day sitting on the bench (now we really could say “beach” over there) and coming on as a substitute after 66 minutes.
Unless it was a lookalike of course. And the real David Villa was seen on Heathrow but only wearing his t-shirt as he didn’t know winters in London are a bit colder than in Barcelona?
But some people believe all these things. And then they get angry because Arsenal doesn’t make the signing public. When nothing is signed they can’t make it public of course. But some people just don’t look at it like that. It was mentioned in the paper that we will sign player X so we should sign him. No matter what. Wenger and Gazidis cock it up again by losing the player at the last second.
The rumours create expectation and when they don’t get materialised those people get angry and start shouting and abusing the club and the people that are responsible for the transfers. And yet there is no evidence at all that the club ever was interested in those players or wanted them at all.
I usually try to stay as far away from the internet and transfer rumour madness as I can. If it wouldn’t have been for this article I wouldn’t have visited those sites (and I only did a few so it could be that we have been linked with even more names) because I don’t want to help them in their search for clicks.
I think we all know that Arsenal does their business as far away from the publicity as can be. It is only when a player by accident says something that you can imagine that there might be something going on. But all those “it is reported that” or “a source said that” are things that we can best ignore.
Ignore because there is a 98% chance that it is rubbish. Ignore because it will raise false hope. And ignore because it will bring you down if your favourite transfer target doesn’t come.
The only thing that you can rely on is the Arsenal website. And maybe reading it you can see a few things. First thing is that Wenger is talking about 1 or 2 signings in public. That is already something. You can be sure that they are working on some deals.
And also Wenger saying that he expects that there will be most of all an internal English market. So can we scrap the foreign names? Is he looking at players at an English club?
Or is Wenger putting us on the wrong foot? Time will tell. Just keep calm, after all we are the Arsenal.
Recent posts
- When Blatter steps in something unspeakable, it is hard to distinguish the man from what he trod in
- Ref Review: Lee Probert – Southampton Vs Arsenal (1 – 1) [01/01/2013]
- If Arsene Wenger was the Liverpool boss they’d be replaying the Mansfield FA cup tie.
- Match fixing continues, but little is being done
- Swansea v Arsenal FA Cup; Billy and Dennis converse
- 101 WAYS to CHEAT in FOOTBALL
- Song and Modric top flops in Spain
The books…
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal FC: crowd behaviour at the early matches
The sites…
- Referee Decisions - just what are the refs up to this season?
- Parent News - what is going on in schools these days?
- The weight loss programme: The only guaranteed way to stay fit
- The Arsenal History Blog from the AISA Arsenal History Society
players linked with Arsenal since Aug 31st 2012 all 52 of them
Klaas Jan Huntelaar
Wilfried Zaha
Thierry Henry
Adel Taarabt
Fernando Llorente
Adrian Lopez Alvarez
Jose Reina
David Villa
Hatem Ben Arfa
Raheem Sterling
Radamel Falcao
Riechedly Bazoer
Edison Cavani
Jetro Willems
Stewart Downing
Kevin Strootman
Mohamed Diami
Nani
Yann MVila
Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa
Liam Moore
Didier Drogba
Brede Hangeland
Isco
Igor Denisov
Aleksandar Dragovic
Gianelli Imbula
Leandro Damiao
Max Clayton
Andre Schurrle
Lewis Holtby
Son Heung-Min
Ante Roguljic
Yoan Gouffran
Charlie Austin
Edin Dzeko
Will Hughes
Andreas Cornelius
Frank Lampard
Marco Verratti
Remy Cabella
Luiz Gustavo
Afriyie Acquah
Stephan El Shaarawy
Simon Mignolet
Luke Shaw
Luke Young
Benedikt Howedes
James McArthur
Jack Butland
James McCarthy
Lucas Biglia
Yohan Cabaye, Jonas Olsson, Wesley Sneijder, Arda Turan, Jack Butland, Stevan Jovetic, Kevin Strootman, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (alas, he signed a contract extension days after the link was forged), Anthony Knockaert (?? the rumour originated in France), Vicente Guaita (Valencia keeper, Spanish rumour). That’s 10 names I can come up with, and maybe 1 of them makes any sense at all… And how do you feel about “Arsenal’s long-term target Aubameyang” being linked to Newcastle?
I really don’t get it – I know the media are all about fabricating evidence and making things up in any which way they can, but why should they do it so transparently? Falling for fake twitter accounts, fanpage wishlists and whatnot, they are proving to be dupes themselves. Perhaps it does affect their sales, but it eventually proves a world without journalists is possible. After all, what do we need them for? If they have no insight, no particular knowledge of the matters they discuss?… if they have no special sources, and only use the channels available to any pressman?… if they even fail to assess the stories they copy/paste? I don’t care about the ethics of journalism (the courts rule on that), but it proves to be a thoroughly mind-numbing job that mostly affects the lives of the under-educated. With the fast-growing number of graduates in the West, I can’t see the press gaining any more ground by getting stupider.
i think that arsene Wenger dose not know what he want.
@FunGunner
Couldn’t agree more with you regarding the M’Vila link, and that its all designed to attract suitors by associating him with Arsenal. Last time it was reported it was his agent trying to force an offer from an Italian club that he came up with this story that a deal with us was imminent.
http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/yann-mvila-not-on-the-arsenal-wanted-list-7728385.html
Surprised they are/were still trying to use this tactic. My policy, as Walter suggested, is never to believe anything in the media, until ts published on the Arsenal website.
FCArsenal,
the thing is, I seriously doubt these names come from scouting reports. I’m quite sure a half of them are thoroughly made up. And then, even if Wenger asks for an extensive report: how often do you think he does that? once a day? It would seem so… And then, what’s the security at the Emirates doing if the press can gain such easy access to these materials? Or maybe they’re leaked out of Wenger’s home?
It’s pointless to argue that even a major part of these rumours have more foundation than someone’s rich imagination. The Vargas story illustrates how it works. “Arsenal are looking for 1 or 2 players? Well, they could definitely use a CF/winger/DM/CB/keeper! You know of any crappy keeper that would cost them a lot?” Oftentimes, these rumours don’t even make sense in terms of what the team needs. If we need to replace Diaby, how come there’s only so few rumours about incoming DM’s? If we won’t take more than two players this window, how come there’s so many keepers on that list? If we are known to spend as little as possible, how come so many of these links lead to very costly players? And so on…
You are now moving on to the ‘sensationalism’ of the media with the rise of the ‘blogger’ and the popularity of forums the sports media are increasingly having to over sensationalise every little story so that it jumps into the face of the reader/listener. The facts matter very little as long as the headline is big and controversial or just plain silly whatever is best to gain readers/listeners. Talk sport are experts at this and The Sunday supplement/SSN are getting there with radio 5 coming a close 3rd.
The problem comes when you listen/read the story enough in the end you begin to believe it no matter if the facts are not 100% correct. You only have to look at the 52 names above and then think how many of those would come to Arsenal? Arsenal are a fairly closed club only allowing bits of info out at a time and I think the media make up these stories to try and get other info out of the club.
Just found out we’re ‘battling it out’ with Chelsea and spuds for Alvaro Negredo’s signature after the player himself admitted he likes the prem…..
So on our list nr. 31 is Alvaro Negredo
And are they battling it out on Holloway road or in the Wembley Arena?
Oh, another name:
Stoppila Sunzu ( Zambian international)
there is many players out there looking for good club like arsenal. but Arsene wenger can not bring out money to buy players.Arsene wenger should look for players like
M Vorm, Swansea City
L Piszczek Borussia Dortmund
L Baines, Everton
M.Hummels Borussia Dortmund
M Mbiwa Montpellier
M Vila Rennes
M.Fellaini Everton
L.Biglia Anderlecht
M.Götze Borussia Dortmund
Cazorla Arsenal
J.Rodríguez Porto
J.Hernández Manchester United
T.Walcott Arsenal
Great article Walter.
We all need to keep our feet on the ground and not be seduced by the media.
A little bird told me that mo farah has been seen at the training ground….could there be anything in that? That guy has some engine, and is a true Gooner…..
@ Mandy Dodd January 9, 2013 at 8:07 pm
ha ha
@ Al
If you don’t take it seriously, it is quite entertaining, isn’t it? Especially when they try and act like they know something about a player who has been invented by a Twitter wag. Wag as in humourist, obviously.
@ Van Cruz
I feel that Götze won’t sign for any other club. He has been at Dortmund since he wass 9.
The main problem is all media newspapers are involved in publishing this crap. So, even if one doesn’t want to publish it, they still do it as they can’t risk losing hits & thus advertising money to their rivals.
To be honest, you must be an idiot to believe in such nonsense.
Am I the only one who doesn’t see what all the fuss is regarding Fellaini?
We’ve also been linked to Lars Bender who looks quite good, however no matter how good he could be there is **** all chance of me buying his shirt if he ever did come.
And next on the list is
32. Stoppila Sunzu ( Zambian international)
@ Stuart – the afro is amazing and he’s great at headers. Not sure what else you’d want in a footballer?
Where are those posters who claimed that Arsenal are rubbish just because we drew at Swansea???
Nice article Walter.
The squad is still in rebuilding mode so I expect important signings, but perhaps not in January. I would settle for Diaby and Rosicky playing on a fairly regular basis at this stage.
For a moment I thought Vancruz was next on my list but next is
33. Lars Bender
@ Walter – make sure you get the right one (Leverkusen not Kickers!)
van cruz….what tree do you live in? Did your mother drop you from it on your head while breast-feeding you last week? How old are you anyway?
Reread the article and maybe you’ll get the gist of this blog…that is if you can read past the title!
Huntelaar, Jelavic, Zvradko Kuzmanovic, Dusan Basta, Afriyie Acquah, Denis Praet, Sean Morrison, Cavani, Kevin Strootman, Kieran Trippier, Max Clayton, Mateo Kovačić, Aymen Abdennour.
I could go on but I think you get the idea.
Im bored.
Liam Trotter, Victor Wanyama, Ki Sung-yeung, Sahin.
woohoo! its the rumor mill running. so much fun in there. most of which have no legit sources cited.
Permin Schwegler, benedikt howedes?
Good to see we are no longer linked with st Scotty Parker at least.
Apologies Steve, just seen howedes on your list
Walter, I think we are going about this wrongly . What we need is a 7 foot,4 lungs( lunged ?) forward who not only is good the air (duh!),
nimble on his ambidextrous feet to unlock the most stubborn of defences ,able to defend from deep in central defence ,able to set up chances for the others after breaking up the opposition’s attack in center midfield as well as being in the 10 – 15 million Pounds region .
He would be the first goal to goal ‘central zonal player ‘ (CZP – you heard it first !) in the world !Wow ! 3 in 1 !
He would save us money , please the fans ,manager , bankers, shareholders as well as stump the AAA (Yes!), the press , bloggers ,black scarve wearers and of course ,Steward Robson!
He exsists (well at least in my mind!),and waits to be discovered .So go forth and find him .We need him like yesterday !
Try those secluded, secret medical laboratories of N. Korea , Transylavania or even Malaysia ! Or in Deepest Africa .
Ooops !(….heard it here first !)
Arsenal is too slow when it comes to making up his mind on a player. And i doubt if he really knows which player to buy and in the end, he ends up pick up players who dont fit Arsenal standards.
Could he be the one ?
http://www.funpic.hu/en/categories/gary-larson/6645_picture?categoryId=12&position=193
@Brickfields Gunners: How about giving Ben 10 a chance?
And I’d love to see Spider Man replacing our poor boy with the weird name of Wojciech
And the next: Moussa Sissoko-sporting review.
What of signing this player that led Montepillier to the Ligue1 title last season by the name Olivier Giroud and one Lucas Podolski, a proven German international with over a hundred caps for the national team. Also, learnt that a Santi Carzola is available for cheap at Malaga. Wenger should move fast in order to secure their signatures. Don’t forget that you read about this first from me.
Oh! I didn’t realize that they are already Arsenal players. Lol
Is this list still being updated? I’m sure we can make more than 80, they’re coming thick and fast now: Aleksandar Dragovic, Austrian international playing for Basel
34. Moussa Sissoko-sporting review.
35. Aleksandar Dragovic, Austrian international playing for Basel
Great piece, Walter!
I am an Arsenal fan that still trusts in Arsene, but I am still so desperate for Arsenal to sign several extraordinary players in each transfer window that I look at the club website every day. As we all know, there is very rarely any new signings being reported there, especially in the early parts of the window (Poldi being a great exception). Then against better knowledge I go on to look at the media coverage and there find almost endless rumors.
Thanks for this super antidote from falling for such click traps almost daily. We should disregard all such rumors that do not contain actual quotes with actual identifiable and reliable persons. How many of these alleged 30-50 targets have this? My guess is none.
Swede
A new day a new rumour
36. Loic Remy from Marseille
Great piece Walter
I have accepted the fact: that we as Gooners will be subjected to the hype. I have also accepted the reality of our transfer policy.
I ask myself regulary: Realistically, which player(s) would
I like to see at the Emirates that can/could have an impact in the premiership?
The list is small!!
And another one – Diego Milito
Edison Cavani