hleb takes medical at barcelona

Arsenal’s Belarus midfielder Aleksandr Hleb will arrive in Spain on Wednesday to take a medical ahead of completing a move to Barcelona, the Primera Liga club said on their website (www.fcbarcelona.com).

The 27-year-old has been a long-term target for Barcelona and arrives the day after they agreed to sell Brazilian Ronaldinho to AC Milan.

Spanish media reported a deal has already been agreed with Arsenal for 15 million euros ($25.9 million), with a further three million dependent on results.

Hleb will become the Catalan side’s fifth signing of the close season as they continue to rebuild the team under new coach Pep Guardiola after two years without silverware.

They have already landed Uruguay defender Martin Caceres, former youth team defender Gerard Pique, Brazil full back Daniel Alves and Mali midfielder Seydou Keita.

Hleb has made it clear he wants leave Arsenal despite having two years left on his contract, and will help add to Barca’s attacking potential.

Barca have said to complete their squad they wanted an attacking midfielder, a wide player and a number nine.

Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor has been linked as a possible front man to replace Samuel Eto’o, who has been told he is surplus to requirements.

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Gilberto looks to leave to pave way for barry

Aston Villa’s want-away midfielder Gareth Barry has returned to training this morning with his future still undecided.

The England international made his way into Villa’s Bodymoor Heath training complex this morning following a two-week exile for declaring his desire to join Liverpool this summer.

Time to say goodbye? Barry’s future remains up in the air

Barry’s fitness levels are reported to have dropped during his two-week absence. He has done little work since being banned from pre-season training, a problem which could delay his inevitable Villa departure as Liverpool will not want to be potentially buying an unfit player.

The 27-year-old is expected to sit down with Villa manager Martin O’Neill at some point today. It will be his first face-to-face meeting with the Northern Irishman after Barry criticised him in a Sunday newspaper.

“There’s no going back, it’s time for me to move on,” he said.

“I’m desperate to play Champions League football and that’s why I have to leave Villa.”

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O’Neill responded to Barry’s comments, saying: “The chairman and I were surprised at Gareth’s comments.

“Contrary to what he said, we desperately wanted to keep him and he knows that. Why on earth would we not want to keep our very top player at the football club when we’re trying to improve?”

Barry was upset with O’Neill’s handling of his likely £18million move to Anfield and since then the clubs have been at loggerheads over the situation. Liverpool are unwilling to match O’Neill’s asking price, a problem which has not been helped by the collapse of Xabi Alonso’s £16m move to Juventus.

Alonso has said he wants to fight for his future at Liverpool, although Arsenal are reported to have expressed an interest in bringing the Spaniard to the Emirates to compensate for the loss of Mathieu Flamini this summer.

Arsenal have been keeping a close check on the Barry saga but may decide to turn their interest towards Alonso who could team-up with compatriot Cesc Fabregas in central midfield.

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Adebayor IS going to Milan

The proposed move of Adebayor to Milan has become one of the main transfer sagas of the summer. Yesterday the Rossoneri claimed to have received a letter from Arsenal saying that the Gunners were now prepared to discuss a deal for the Togo striker.

This was later followed by a statement from the Arsenal chairman, Peter Hill-Wood, insisting that the Londoners were hoping to keep Adebayor.

Despite Hill-Wood’s assertions, the Italian press strongly believes that the 24-year-old will indeed be joining Milan, and the latest claims are that the clubs have come to an agreement over a transfer fee.

The Rossoneri will pay €30m in cash, and will also throw in €8m rated France Under-21 international Yoann Gourcuff as part of the deal.

Gourcuff joined Milan in 2006, and was regarded as one of the best young talents in the whole of the Europe. However, the 22-year-old has failed to impress, and indeed has already been loaned out to Bordeaux for next season.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is a huge admirer of the attacking midfielder, and it seems the inclusion of Gourcuff in the deal has swayed him to accept Milan’s offer.

Gourcuff will not arrive at the Emirates Stadium until his loan spell at Bordeaux ends in June 2009, but Adebyaor will immediately move to San Siro.

Milan general manager Adriano Galliani is said to be hopeful of completing the transfer by next Wednesday (July 16).

Leicester Sign Kerrera Gilbert from Arsenal

Leicester City have completed a deal to take the Arsenal defender Kerrea Gilbert on a season-long loan.

The 21-year-old full-back has made nine appearances for the Gunners first team and has had spells on loan at Cardiff City and Southend United.

Foxes boss Nigel Pearson has worked with Gilbert in his England youth days.

Pearson told the club’s website: “He is a fighter and a winner. He is strong in the tackle and athletic and we will only benefit from his arrival.”

Gilbert is Pearson’s fifth signing of the summer, following Michael Morrison, Lloyd Dyer, Nicky Adams and Aleksander Tunchev.

Hleb Moves Closer to Barca

Alexander Hleb looks set to get his move away from Arsenal as Barcelona close in on a £12m deal for the Belarussian winger.

The exit of the 27-year-old – who said he was “mentally tired” of London life – could be confirmed within the next 24 hours.

The Gunners may also complete the signing of their long-term summer target Samir Nasri from Marseille within the same time frame.

With Nasri replacing Hleb, for what is understood to be a similar fee, manager Arsene Wenger will now look to focus on the rest of his squad who are desperate to build on last season and mount a sustained title challenge.

Arsenal may have to go without leading scorer Emmanuel Adebayor, however, as he also appears to be determined to move for a perceived better deal elsewhere.

Despite AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani claiming Arsenal submitted written confirmation they were now ready to do a deal for the Togo frontman, it will be on the Gunners’ terms – with the Barclays Premier League club determined to secure £35m for a player who joined them just two-and-a-half years ago.

With veteran central midfielder Gilberto Silva also in talks over a switch to Panathinaikos, Wenger looks set to have his work cut out ahead of the first competitive game of Arsenal’s season when his team play a Champions League qualifier on August 12/13.

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You can take Ramsey, we’ll have Huntelaar

Much fuss was made of lifelong Manchester United fan, Aaron Ramsey, choosing to leave Cardiff for Arsenal, over a move to United. In the end, Arsene Wenger showed that he wanted the youngster more, putting in far more effort than Sir Alex Ferguson to secure the deal.

No doubt, the lad clearly has a lot of potential, however, the only football I’ve seen from him is his half hour cameo in this year’s dull FA Cup final. He looked good though and the fact that he’s had so many Premier League clubs after his signature certainly suggests he has ability.

However, we’re not going to be having too many sleepless nights over missing out on the teen, as thoughts of our league and European Cup double will be more than enough to keep us warm. Not only that, the fact that we’re looking likely to beat Arsenal to long term target Klaas Jan Huntelaar is something to celebrate.

Ramsey who?

At the end of June, Huntelaar rejected Ajax’s latest contract offer, which resulted in countless rumours linking him away from the club.

Arsenal emerged as favourites to sign him, much to many United fans’ disappointment. He has been a player plenty of Premier League fans have been looking at for some time, taking note of his latest stats or video on YouTube. He seemed a bit too good to be true and everyone has been waiting for him to make the move away from Holland.

However, this week, the deal seems to be swinging in our favour, with Huntelaar admitting that he wants a move to United.

“I love clubs with great history like Ajax, I also love United,” he said last week.

“It’s a club that makes me dream, especially as Ruud van Nistelrooy played there and did great things with them. I know certain English clubs are following me, like Manchester United, who are very interested in me.”

For the most part, United fans were excited to hear this revelation, already working out how we could fit him in to our squad.

Huntelaar’s representative, Arnold Oosterveer, has today moved to strengthen the likelihood that the player will be at Old Trafford next season, claiming that Huntelaar is interested in the transfer.

“For him, United is a club that is interesting, but unless a suitable club come in for him, he will be at Ajax next season,” he said. “We won’t speak to Ajax any more about a new contract because they wanted to put a new clause in it, but he has two years to go.”

The lad’s goalscoring record is incredible, averaging out at 35 goals per season over the past six seasons.

So Arsenal beat us to Ramsey, but given a choice between the two, both sets of fans could admit Huntelaar is the one we all want… and this time, the player we’re fighting over wants to play for us!

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Wenger Confirms Nasri

Arséne Wenger confirmed on Arabic news channel Al Jazeera that the transfer of Olympique Marseille attacking midfield star Samir Nasri to Arsenal will be completed after the European Championships.

Gunners boss Wenger confirmed the transfer when asked if Nasri would be coming after Euro 2008 by his co-commentator during the Romania v France game.

The reports come from respected Arabic Arsenal forum “Arsenal 4 Arab” that 58-year-old Wenger stated on Al Jazeera News that Nasri has signed but it will not be officially announced until after Euro 2008.

It appeared that several posters on the forum had viewed the France game and heard Wenger confirmed Nasri’s arrival, most of the fans, applauding the coul.

News of the 21-year-old’s move escalated earlier today when French agent Issa Traore told Christian Recalcati’s website that the France prodidgy will joing the Gunners after this summers Championships:

“Samir will go to Arsenal. Arsene Wenger is a great coach and as usual has proved clever in being able to sign the boy before his price rose further.

“He’s a great player that Italian teams have allowed to escape.”

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Ronaldo makes United – Lehmann

In a frank interview with gunflash magazine Arsenal’s now departed goalkeeper who will go down in Arsenal history as one of the key team members of the world famous Invincibles, the team that remained undefeated for an entire season and also reached a remarkable 49 Games without defeat.

When Jens was asked about the credentials of the top four teams in the Premier League he said that Liverpool had no one of any special calibre, Chelsea did have a couple of special talents who could win a game for them single handed and Manchester United had Ronaldo. He then went on to say that Arsenal had many many individuals who could win games far more that any other team , they just lacked experience.

With Ronaldo’s departure from Manchester United looking more than just idle gossip these days it would be interesting to see just where Manchester United would have come without Ronaldo and probably the reason why Manchester United have been on TV so much lately trying to quash the rumours about this possible departure.

Ronald has contributed an amazing 24 points to their Premier League campaign and a United team without Ronaldo would not have made it to Moscow or to the Premier League trophy either as they would have finished in 5th position below Everton and above Aston Villa.

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Is Samir Nasri Coming to Arsenal?

We all are wondering. Is he coming? If he is when? I thought it was supposed to be before the Euro’s?

Is he even as good as he has be made out to be?

These are the questions on everyones lips. We all saw his brief appearance in the Euros and lets face it, it wern’t that great.. but then most of us inspire to Wengers views. We seem to have faith.

On my website I will post the news when and if Nasri signs but for now we can only hope or even hope he doesn’t…. I can’t be the only one thinking, though, I hope he doesn’t sign Crouch.. surely that would be a nightmare.

Arsene has been known to find superstars like Theirry, Fabregas, Clichy, Viera and many more but he also has been known to sign flops like Stepanovs, Tomas, Wreh and maybe even Djourou or Senderos could end up in that list.

I feel though that the speculation surrounding Nasri has ended. Either Arsenal have given up interest or the papers and media have just given up. In my experience, I reckon Nasri will not be at Arsenal next season.

my thoughts on arsenal 2 july 2008

It has been a long time since we won any silverware, to be honest it is starting to get embarrassing. Even Tottenham have one some.

It was nice seeing brief appearances from Robin and Cesc in the Euro though, they really look like they are going to make a mark on the premiership this year.

Currently their are a few rumours going around. Senna coming to Arsenal, Guiza coming to Arsenal, Olafemi Martins and a load others are supposed to be coming. It would be nice to see a couple of new faces but I could imagine loads of changes could do more good then bad. I really believe that we are on the verge of something brilliant.

Another rumour going around at the moment is the one about Adebayor. Is he going to Milan, Barca or even Chelsea? My opinion is if he wants to go don’t stop him. We need players who want to be there and I believe we have adequate cover with the likes of Van Persie, Eduardo, Walcott and even Bendtner. It won’t be a big problem if he decides he will go.

I am currently working on a couple of websites at the moment that are to do with Arsenal. One is arsenalnews.co.nr and another is arsenal.co.nr. Arsenalnews.co.nr has all the news and rumours while arsenal.co.nr has all the facts and figures. It has been tough setting up these sites and keeping up with constant updates but I am trying to keep on top of it.

This is my first blog, I know it’s a bit basic but football is something I like talking about and if you like these then I will carry on posting, so please do comment on them. That would really be appreciated.

I am looking forward to next season though, it seems really close by. I am excited by the recent arrival of Aaron Ramsey and the return of Carlos Vela. They really seem like they could be superstars. The new Fabregas or Theirry’s of the world.

Although we didn’t win anything last season at least we know we didn’t miss Henry badly and in my opinion I believe we improved as a team without him but with his influence still on players like Theo and Fabregas.