Arsenal News Today » General

New Season Snippets

Our Correspondent — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:44:59 +0000

After finishing the previous season in third position, Arsenal began the new season with a couple of changes to their personnel. After a protracted transfer saga, skipper Cesc Fabregas announced that he would stay with the club for one more season at least. The club released William Gallas, Mikael Silvestre, Sol Campbell, Philippe Senderos and Eduardo da Silva. Marouane Chamakh and Laurent Koscienly came in. Mark Schwarzer could be coming soon. Meanwhile, on the opening day, the Gunners drew 1-1 with Liverpool and sit 8th on the table after the opening round of the league

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The Week That Was

Our Correspondent — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:50:58 +0000

Arsenal beat Bolton 4-2 In The Premier League

Wojciech Szczesny Extends Loan With Brentford

Vito Mannone Signs Long Term Deal With Arsenal

Philippe Senderos Joins Everton Till The End Of The Season

Arsenal Exit FA Cup After Losing 1-3 To Stoke City

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Cesc: I Am Gunner Be Here For Life

Our Correspondent — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:24:46 +0000

Dismissing the Barcelona rumours, Cesc Fabregas has said that he could stay at Arsenal forever. The Arsenal captain has regularly been subject of transfer speculation linking him to the club he left as a 15-year-old. Barcelona’s presidential election campaign is sure to see Fabregas used as a pawn. Out-going president Joan Laporta had hinted that pre-contract agreement was already in place to bring Fabregas back next summer. Other contestants, such as Sandro Rosell and Agusti Benedito also had promised to bring the Catalan genius back to Camp Nou. However, Fabregas insists that he is not distracted by such thoughts. He said, “It does not affect me at all. This has been going for years. I don’t mind really if it happens, it happens – but it will not change the way I think. “ “I do not think about it because I do not want to and I do not think I should. I am at a great club, with a great team and am happy.” ” We have a long season in front of us, and the last thing I want to do is get disconnected from what I have to do playing for Arsenal, who are the club which pays me. I am really looking forward to a great season with Arsenal.” When asked whether he saw himself spending his entire career at Arsenal, he said, “‘Why not? I have never really thought about it, staying here all my life, because I am only 22 and you never know what your career will bring – but why not?”

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Arsenal On The Right Track, Says Gazidis

Our Correspondent — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 06:32:55 +0000

Although the team finished 18 points behind eventual winners Manchester United in the Premier League and failed to move beyond the semi-final stage of both the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League, last season’s campaign was not a disaster, according to Arsenal’s CEO Ivan Gazidis. He believes that last season could be an important step towards future success for this team. “I think perspective is very important. You need to take a distance when you assess the season. This club has over 120 years of history and if you’re looking at where we are and how we’re doing at this period of our development you have to say it is one of the special times, one of the golden times. I hope we don’t forget to appreciate that,” he said. Commenting on his own arrival at the club and the team’s poor form at the beginning of the campaign, Gazidis said, “I arrived halfway through the campaign and obviously the first half was very difficult, losing five out of our first 14 games in the Premier League. We were struggling for consistency but then there was the period in the middle of the season when the team found that consistency.” Commenting further on the gradual improvement in the side that resulted in an extended unbeaten run at the end of the season, the Arsenal CEO said, “There were times when we were having trouble being really fluid and then of course the consistency came, the players started coming back from injury and everything began to look possible. We had a terrific run in the FA Cup and the Champions League and we were on the cusp of doing something very special with a young squad this year. Then unfortunately at the end we feel like we missed out on the prizes that we were aiming for. That’s a disappointment for us but there’s a lot to build on from the campaign. And as we look forward to next season we’re very optimistic.” Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger has acknowledged that Arsenal need to sort out their defensive problems if they are to mount a serious title challenge next season. They are linked with a move for Belgian international Thomas Vermaelen, who plays for Dutch side Ajax Amsterdam. “The last season was very interesting because we had a sloppy start and then we became stronger and stronger. It has been interesting as well because it is a very young team, but they have been tested mentally. The defensive record, that is an area that we want to work on and that we want to improve,” Wenger said.

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Eduardo Wins Court Battle Against Uncle

Our Correspondent — Sat, 30 May 2009 18:17:04 +0000

Eduardo Da Silva yesterday won a court battle against an uncle of his wife who wanted to cheat him out of almost £1 million. Milenko Radivojevic, an uncle of Eduardo’s wife Andreja, had claimed last year that Eduardo owed him 10% commission for the work he had done to facilitate Eduardo’s move from Dinamo Zagreb to Arsenal. And to prove that, he had produced a document bearing the signature of both of them. However, Eduardo had denied that he had signed any such accord with Radivojevic. The court yesterday ruled in Eduardo’s favour after an expert on handwriting established that Radivojevic had forged Eduardo’s signature. According to the expert, a photocopier or a laser printer was used to to copy the signature and then to place it on the contract.

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Theo Exhaustion Worries Wenger

Our Correspondent — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:21:42 +0000

Arsene Wenger has made it clear that he does not want Theo Walcott to be part of both the England senior team and the Under-21 team this summer. Walcott has been selected by England manager Fabio Cappello for the World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Andorra next month and there are chances that England U-21 coach Stuart Pearce could select him for the European Championships. If England play well in that tournament, Walcott would get just 6 days break before reporting for pre-season training with his Arsenal teammates. “My feeling is that I am against it. I have let the FA know that he should not play in both national teams during the holiday period. First there is an international on June 2 and June 5, then he joins up with the Under-21s. It is not logical that he plays for the first team and the Under-21s. They finish on June 28 and we start training on July 6,” Wenger said. Wenger,however, sounded less optimistic about preventing the situation when he said, ” It is difficult for us to accept that, but the rules are on the side of the federation and we cannot do anything about it. Capello is comprehensive and Stuart Pearce is less comprehensive. But that is because Capello uses him and then after it is a problem for Stuart Pearce. I have nothing against the senior side, that is the normal FIFA dates. The basic problem is can you use a player for two different national teams during the holiday period? I do not want to stop Theo to play for the Under-21s but during the holiday period they should choose one or the other.”

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Vito Likely To Start Against Stoke City

Our Correspondent — Thu, 21 May 2009 20:57:45 +0000

Reserve team goalkeeper Vito Mannone is likely to make his first team debut against Stoke City after Lukasz Fabianski was ruled ’50:50′ for the match by Arsene Wenger. It is understood that second choice goalkeeper Fabianski suffered a kneee injury during training and is a doubt for the last match of the season. First choice goalkeeper Manuel Almunia is out with an ankle injury. “Vito Mannone might get a call-up. But we still have to assess Fabianski. He is 50:50 for the game at the moment,” Wenger said. He also revealed that Samir Nasri would miss the match due to a knee injury. “Nasri has patella tendonitis and is out for the weekend. Apart from that, everyone from the Man United game is OK,” he said.

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Arsenal Away Kit 2009-2010

Our Correspondent — Thu, 21 May 2009 05:28:47 +0000

Arsenal have chosen pinstriped midnight blue as their colour of choice for the new away kit for the 2009-10 season. Earlier reports suggested that the club may go with hunter green. However, the new kit seems to be a good choice as it contrasts well with the home kit of red and white.

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I’m Gunner Be Here

Our Correspondent — Wed, 20 May 2009 19:18:50 +0000

Arsene Wenger has, for the third time in his career, turned down the chance to manage Real Madrid. This time, however, speculation over his future increased, especially after he was given a tough time by a small minority during a question answer session with the shareholders. Also, rather than dismissing reports straight away, as he had done in the past, Wenger this time admitted that working under Madrid presidential hopeful Florentino Perez would be ‘an interesting project.’

But yesterday Wenger held a meeting with Arsenal Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis to discuss the plans for next season and later confirmed that he was staying at the Emirates. “There’s nothing to worry about, it’s not an issue for me. I’m staying here. If that changes I will let you know, but don’t worry about that. It’s not an issue,” Wenger told reporters.

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Arsene Going Nowhere, Says PHW

Our Correspondent — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:22:07 +0000

Following recent reports that Real Madrid were looking to take Arsene Wenger to Santiago Bernabeu and Wenger having described Madrid presidential hopeful Florentino Perez’s project as ‘interesting,’ Arsenal Chairman Peter Hill-Wood was quick to allay fears of Arsenal faithfuls yesterday. Hill-Wood said that Wenger was under contract till 2011 and he was sure that the Frenchman would honour his contract. Hill-Wood also commented on the recent shareholders’ meeting where some of the shareholders criticised Wenger for his policies. According to him, the behaviour of some the shareholders was shameful, but added that it wouldn’t lead to the departure of Wenger. He said, “I am not concerned about it. Arsene is here and under contract (until 2011), and I am sure that is how it is going to remain. I think he is a big enough man to accept that a few people are not prepared to be reasonable. I think we all have to accept criticism, but you expect it to be reasonably constructive, rather than destructive.”

Commenting on the events of the shareholder’s meeting, he said,”Frankly, some of the questions were quite disgraceful. There you have the most successful manager in our history and two or three of the shareholders made the most negative and somewhat hostile and sarcastic comments, which I think were completely out of order. I was very upset by the questions, I have to say. We, and he, kindly agreed to have this meeting and whether we have another one is a moot point. Arsene was very diplomatic and honest in his answers and deserves great credit for that. But I wouldn’t have been anything like as polite if they had asked me.”

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