More to follow……

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Following the humiliating defeat at the hands of Manchester United, Arsene Wenger has moved in quickly to sign South Korean striker Chu Young Park from AS Monaco for GBP 3 million.  Arsenal’s fifth acquisition of the summer (The other four being Gervinho, Carl Jenkinson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlein and Joel Campbell) was earlier reported to be close to signing for Lille and had even completed the first stage of his medicals.

However, following reported interest from Arsenal, the 26-year-old South Korean flew to London and passed his medical. He has been given the Number 9 shirt and will go straight into the first team.  After putting pen to paper on a three year contract, Park said:  “I am very hounoured and I feel very happy to be at Arsenal. They are a team that I dreamed about when I was young. I am very proud to be an Arsenal player. I just want to show how good I am and prove myself. ” “It feels like a big step up but that doesn’t mean I won’t be able to perform. I will work very hard, I will train very hard and I will show that I am able to be part of this Arsenal team. I will work hard to prove myself and build a reputation with the Arsenal fans. I have to show what I can do on the pitch. I will do my best, show heart and give everything for this Club,” he added.

Park is a versatile player who can play as a striker as well as a winger.  He has good speed and is good in one-on-situations. But perhaps he is best known for his free-kick taking ability and has been compared to David Beckham.

There are also reports that Arsenal have agreed a GBP 6.2 million fee with Turkish side Fenerbahce for Brazilian left-back Andre dos Santos.  The 28-year-old has is reportedly close to signing a four year deal and will provide much required experience to the Arsenal backline.

However, the most exciting news for Arsenal fans will be the impending signing of German international Per Mertesacker from Werder Bremen. After the recent public spat between Arsenal and Bolton Wanderers over the signing of Gary Cahill, Arsene Wenger has decided to cease pursuit of the England defender and has turned his attention to the 75-times capped German. The 6’6″ defender will bring much needed height to the Arsenal defence. At GBP 8 million, the 26 year old is a bargain buy for Wenger, because he brings with him not only defensive solidity but also an attacking threat from the set-peices.

Arsenal are also said to be looking to bolster their midfield and have made enquiries about Chelsea’s Yossi Benayoun and Salomon Kalou.

Meanwhile, following his horrendous display on Sunday, Arsenal have sold Armand Traore to QPR for GBP 2 million.

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What was never in doubt was his commitment to the club and the cause. He was our captain and he gave his all on the pitch. So it was quite surprising and in fact very disgusting to read some of the comments left on various internet forums by some ‘fans’..abusing him and questioning his loyalty.

In his first interview after becoming a Barcelona player, Cesc said that he was unhappy with the fact that he had been unable to explain himself to the club’s fans.

He said: “I have time to talk about it and I’m sure I’ll do an interview especially for them. I’m sorry I couldn’t say anything in the last two and a half months, Arsenal wouldn’t allow me to talk to anyone, even if I wanted to I couldn’t. I’m disappointed and upset about it because I have had a great relationship with the fans over the years. It took time to build this and I’m disappointed I could lose some of them. All I have are words of gratitude. I’ll never forget what they have done for me, I gave absolutely everything to the club and I think they know that but it was the right time to come back here. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything to them in the last few months but I couldn’t. I was very, very sad to leave, I spent one third of my life there, eight years, so I’m very sad but life goes on.”

That shows his loyalty to the club and his feelings for the fans. I don’t care what the plastic fans think of him, but for me the lasting image of Cesc will the captain who suffered a hairline fracture yet played on against Barca. He never gave up and I shall always have respect for the man.

Now that he has finally gone, it will be interesting to see how the team and Arsenal as a club react. There are rumours that a deal with Manchester City is close to be completed, leaving us bereft of two of the best creative players.

When we lost Thierry Henry in 2007, everybody said that we wouldn’t make it to the top 4. But we came back strong and lead the pack for majority of the season before losing steam post February. What was interesting was the way we reacted to Henry’s departure. We fought as a unit and were nearly there.

We didn’t splash out cash to replace Henry with another world-class striker. Perhaps we couldn’t afford one or perhaps we had someone in Fabregas who could create chance after chance after chance. Things are different now. We have been without any silverware for quite sometime now and the pressure has increased on the club and the manager.

Earlier, Arsene Wenger was successful in shouldering the criticism alone, referring it as a youth project and how the strategy was to have the young guys play together, keeping them together and reaping the benefits later. That project, sadly, has failed. It has been an epic failure.

We had perhaps the best midfield partnership in the entire Premier League in Fabregas and Flamini that showed its immense potential in just one season. Why we let the Frenchman run down his contract and leave on a free is still a mystery. All the while Arsene said that he “expected Flamini to stay.”

And the same thing has happened again in case of Nasri. Wenger can’t protect his players from facing the flak any more. He did that successfully previously, but not any longer. It was no surprise that some fans chanted against Nasri, who wasn’t even in the stadium, at the season opener against Newcastle. The fans questioned his loyalty and called him greedy.

I for one don’t support these fans. In fact, I believe if they have some gripes, it should be against Wenger and not Nasri. He is young, talented, ambitious and wants to win trophies. If he believes Arsenal is not the team with whom he can realise his dreams then I see nothing wrong with that. Many ‘experts’ would have you believe that Nasri showed flashes of his brilliance for just one half of the last season and the rest of the time he was lacklustre or nothing out of the ordinary. I respectfully disagree because he took over the creative mantle of the team when Cesc was out with injury and he kept us in the title race. A certain Andrei Arshavin was having a nightmare of a season.

My point is, a footballer has a very short career. A manager can remain in the game for decades; a footballer has to win down his career in his thirties. If Nasri decides to leave to win trophies, then I see no problem with that. Because we haven’t been able to sustain our challenge — we lose our steam every season before the end of February.

I lay the blame squarely on Wenger. I blame him for turning us into a feeder club. I blame him for not buying players and I blame him for waiting to buy players of ‘Super quality’ when the others buy quality players and keep on lifting trophies.

Is Wenger going to change his philosophy? If not change, is he going to be flexible enough to accommodate players who are not dirt cheap and come from clubs we haven’t heard about before? Are the Arsenal players mature enough to handle the loss of two of our best players and play to their full potential? Are there players in the reserves who will take this opportunity and step up the plate?

I honestly don’t know. It would be interesting to step back and observe from a neutral point of view because Arsenal definitely are in crossroads at this point of time. Whether they go up or go down will depend as much on the manager as the players. But as an Arsenal fan I just hope and pray that we do well and finally win some silverware.

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Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger has come out saying that he will keep Samir Nasri this season and if he doesn’t sign a new contract, will allow the Frenchman to go for free next season. This despite some firm offers in the range of GBP 20-22 million from Manchester City. In the case of Cesc Fabregas, Wenger says that he is confident the Spaniard will stay. Although many have said that Arsene should let Nasri go and use the money on a quality replacement, for me Wenger is doing the right thing.

In my opinion (and this is entirely my opinion), Wenger was prepared to let Cesc go to Barcelona after getting the best possible deal from the Catalans. And he was banking on Nasri to take over Cesc’s position in the midfield (hence Gervinho and possibly Ryo Miyaichi to play in the wings). But with Nasri refusing to sign a new deal, Wenger is reluctant to let Cesc go this season. Also, I believe he hopes to persuade Nasri to sign a new deal in the course of this season.

In other news, Wenger has confirmed that he will not buy a new left-back.  With Clichy gone, Wenger looking to give more playing time to Kieran Gibbs and Armand Traore.

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Meanwhile, Arsenal have reportedly lost their chase for Argentinian midfielder Ricky Alvarez. The 23-year-old had written in his twitter page earlier that he would like a move to Arsenal. However, it seems Inter Milan have stolen a march over Arsenal and agreed a GBP 10 million deal for the Velez Sarsfield player. A statement issued by the Argentinian club said, “Velez Sarsfield Athletic Club announces that it has reached an agreement with the authorities of FC Inter Milan for the transfer of our player Ricardo Alvarez.”

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Apparently, apart from the obvious big pay cheque that he will receive every week, the reason why he moved to City is because he can link-up with Kolo Toure and Patrick Vieira.  He said:  ”When I first came to England, it was Kolo Toure and Patrick Vieira who took me under their wing and really looked after me. Kolo would pick me up and drop me at home and his wife used to cook meals for me. Patrick was always there to offer me advice so it’s wonderful to be back and at the same club they are at. ”

Commenting on his new team, the Frenchman said:  ”I’m really happy to be joining such a great club. I hope I can add to the quality we already have here because we have a fantastic squad who I believe will continue to get better.  I can’t wait to get started and I think anything is possible with this team.”

For his part, Arsene Wenger wished Clichy good luck with his new team, praising the 25-year-old’s commitment during his time at the club. Wenger said:  ”We would like to thank Gael for eight years of terrific service to Arsenal, during which time he gave absolutely everything for the Club. He has grown and developed so much since joining us in 2003, and has been a crucial part of the team over recent seasons. Gael leaves with our respect and best wishes. We wish him the very best for his future career.”

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Update:  Clichy HAS joined Manchester United

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