Wenger confident over Squillaci signing
Arsene Wenger is definitely eying at least one new face at Arsenal before the transfer window closes.
The Gunners’ impressive 6-0 victory over Blackpool did not overshadow his side’s need for more numbers in depth at the back.
Alex Song was forced to fill in for the suspended Koscielny since Johan Djourou was not match-fit, and despite the Cameroonian’s success in deputizing at centre-back, that is not where he prefers to be deployed on daily basis.
Sevilla revealed a few days ago that Arsenal made an offer for their defender Sébastien Squillaci but the bid was deemed insufficient.
Wenger is likely to improve his proposal for Squillaci and according to his tone today, the Frenchman has moved closer to luring the defender who turned 30 just ten days ago.
“I am confident we will add at least one, maybe one plus one. It is difficult to predict because the market is very quiet but I know that in the last five days it gets crazy and then it gets completely mad.”
Wenger’s bonus signing will possibly be a goalkeeper and Mark Hughes claimed yesterday that Fulham had rejected a second bid from Arsenal for Mark Schwarzer.
But Wenger, who is now linked with an interest elsewhere for Dutch shot-stopper Maarten Stekelenburg, stated on Saturday that he wants his moves to be made very secretively.
“It’s important we do not start saying what we do and they say what they [Fulham] do. I believe it has to be as quiet as possible”
“We always respect the decision of the clubs if they don’t want to sell. They do not need to come out in the press with that. If they don’t want to sell they say that and we respect that. It’s the same with anybody.”
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I noticed a lot of people complaining about this Squillaci guy all over the blogs. To be fair, its hard to find an experienced international who is happy to warm the bench. I havent seen much of him personally, but did ask a friend of mine who watches La Liga religiously, he maintains that although not world class, Squillaci would be a real improvement over all our departed defenders, bar Gallas.
If Koz keeps going as he started, I think the addition of Squillaci would give us enough at the centre of defence.
All we need now is a keeper.
Decent blog, by the way. I often read.
EireGunner real good post, i totally agree with you this Squillaci sounds like he’s got alot of experience and if he’s happy to sit on the bench then get him in!, And yes we do need a new goalie nobody wins a league unless they have a top goalie and i have to say no offence to Almunia he’s not good enough yes he can pull off some good saves he just does them mistakes in matches like at Birmingham away last season and Liverpool last week etc. I say get Schwarzer yes he’s 37 and hasn’t got many years left but at the moment he’s still a great keeper and when he’s to old we have Mannone who looks to be coming along really good just look at his perfomance at Fulham last season.
We need 2 players minimum. A GK and a CB. A DM would not be too much to ask for also
Will Gallas be a starter at Tottenham?
^Who gives a fuck?
Couldn’t put it better myself Rohan
Wenger is a clown
your mum is a clown
Your a dick
The reason I ask is what does that say about our club if Gallas is a backup?
No stephengee ur a fucking clown
at least 1, maybe 1 to 1. IMO he is looking for 2 players for defence and 1 GK!!!
Theres no way Gallas, at 33, signed for Spurs unless he was guaranteed first team football.
I wonder if we offered him that?
You guys need to zip it with Gallas. The article above nor what happened today had anything to do with him.
Anyway, is it just me or Wigan Athletic are a disgrace to Premier League level? I will much prefer them in the Blue Square league.
is that the same wigan that came from 2-0 down to beat us only 4 months ago?
Were we not battering them ourselves at 2-0 before we pressed the self-destruct button?
And isn’t that the same Wigan we even thrashed 4-0 at home, United mulled 5-0 at home, Chelsea did 8-0 and even Spurs whip 9-1 last season?
Sure, they beat us and Chelsea at the DW last year, but if you think Wigan are any good then you probably think Sunderland are a top four side too.
Oh, and Portsmouth thought it was ‘only early days’ too until they realized by the end of August that their points tally, goal difference and confidence was just too low for a fight.
Well said Gary. It’s early days for Wigan they’ll find their legs.
I reckon stekelenberg would be a great signing from what I saw of him in the world cup
also we need a centreback so bad we can’t keep using song and djorou as back ups
Errm ain’t that just ‘simulisation’ Randy??
Do you even know what that means, you Legendaire servant.
Short and bottom of it, ‘fabrication’
I not thick mate. I’m nothing to do with stringfellow hawk.
I actually liked this blogg until you went on legendaire and another site, that I can’t remember using that word. And let’s not forget deleting my comments!!!
You say you’re not ‘thick’ but you don’t even know what the word means.
‘Fabrication’ would’ve been coming up with something out of the blue like ‘Squillaci having a medical’ when there are no substantial quotes in the article to support it.
In the article above, I’m telling people about what Wenger said and not something ‘an insider source’ or whatever told me.
No mate I said short and bottom of it I was not going to sit and write a definition of a stupid word. Now I used the word correctly, you have taken words that wenger said and added your own interpretation of it which by my calculation ‘simulisation’ would be a good word to use 🙂
with games coming in thick and fast, I don’t think an extra CB would be warming the bench all that much!
Not sure why people assume Squillaci won’t start over Koscielny. Squillaci has more experience, comes from a better club,and probably will cost more. Also Squillaci has 20 caps for France and Kos has none. I think he’s the partner for TV when the big games arrive.
We´ll need a gk after frimpong injury prob another def mf. But gk is a must!
To those who haven’t seen Squillaci play hear from a person who has seen plenty of him.
First things first Squillaci is a pure CB (we don’t have such a player amongst our team). He is a better defender than Thomas Vermaelen and Kos and yes Gallas. That said, those 3 are better footballers. I know I’ll get some people angry with that but its the truth. This guy is a born CB a pure defender and cannot do anything else thats why his price is rather cheap. He’s solid and certainly the most intelligent French defender since Laurent Blanc. That’s why I’d relish the addition of his pure defensive mind that would give a solid defensive configuration to our system, with Chamakh and Song in form. With him we can forget about attack and actually finally have some defense.
Hes a good reader of the game and anticipates very well. Hes a great man marker, hes quick (not like he used to be) and smart and knows how to use his body and aggression in the right manner to outmaneuver bigger players. His heading ability and stamina are off the charts. He’s combative, always motivated and focused.
I don’t know if I’m clear, and I hope people won’t get angry at me saying Squillaci is a better defender than Vermaelen etc… Overall, every player in this team will be a better player than Squillaci, but he will be the best defensive asset of our team, along with Chamakh who will be precious in our defensive organization.
Now to all the doomers out there, can you please stop questioning every players we are about to sign. Just because there names are not Mertersacker, Chellieni, and Franz doesnt mean they are not good.
Be Safe guys!
Chamakhs a striker, dont think I can trust any of what you just said lol
get the dutch man
keeper
now
I’m not sure about Swartzer and with sqillazi it’s same, i think we need 2 central defenders, cos we have so awful lot injuries going on one after another whole time long. Sqillazi is much too expensive for a 30 year old, add little more and we can get a proper centre-half, there’s few interresting names who had stated their will to dress red and white, like Tasci and Zapata, these two would be real reinforcements to our squad, and with Swartzer it’s just the same thing, add little and we can get someone with real class. It’s just money wasted with these kind of signings, no one ever will pay nothing for these guys to us, gone with the wind, forget Sqillazi and Swartzer, Arsene and get some real contents!!!
Up gunner$!!,…what ever wengers got to do ,he got todo quick,we need 2cbs,1 dmf like,de rossi,and if gk is 2 hard to fynd den,nigerias goalie @ d wc enyeama is very willin,lets press wenger.coz we must get titles dis season.
Stekelenburg is a good buy, but isn’t he cup tied because he played in the Champions League with Ajax? If that is so, we know Alumina will leave if we bring in a new keeper and Wenger will let Fabianski be our number 1 keeper in CL matches. Scary.
You have raised a very pertinent point man.
In fact, I’m starting to think Wenger is leaving this goalkeeper strengthening issue too late.
Too late that we might end up with nothing.
Squilachi wil b a gr8 add n a gud goal keeper! shwarzer best 1 since he wil add sme discipline to our inexperience n crazy bak line. at last we gna b mre secured at z bak while dfending set pieces.
y nt get anozer dfender as bak up to Djourou who wil always b sure to get injured, even while sleeping! n last a gud bak up 4 Song!
hey didnt any1 c hw Arshavin ystd was lazy n shockng in his performance? as if he was having alzeimer n so many times stood on z field watchng ozers! wen he lost z ball, he stopd runing n watch chamak pressing bak! we r fed up wiz zat guy nw! he couldnt even score again liverpool. guess we should offload him or put him on z bench!
What is with the layout? I can’t read any of the text on my screen. And there are bits of HTML code appearing below this box. Please sort it out as I wanted to read this article.
Gooner4ever,
You’re spelling and grasp of english is awful, I assume therefore that it is not your first language, so your comment may read differently to how it was intended. but either way it makes you seem like an idiot.
Arshavin himself has admitted that he has been playing below his best. I was at the game and thought he played well, yes he was poor against Liverpool but we can’t expect him to score everytime he plays at Anfield just because he’s played well there twice before. And to suggest that we should get rid of him is absolutely ridiculous.
If Arsenal is serious about winning any titles, there must be “dept” in the squad. For much of the previous seasons, whenever an injury or injuries occurred, the substitutes can’t performed and had cost us points. For me, any new addition/s who can strengthen the squad should be seriously considered.
Randy,
We can zip up if we want to about Gallas, but we can also talk about it if we want to. Its a free world, in most places.
Some of the best conversation on blogs comes from an unexpected point/off-hand remark.
I think its a little arrogant to tell people what they may speak about.
Especially when you go on to slate Wigan, which had nothing to do with your article either.
You should be encouraging conversation on your blog, once the subject is Arsenal, it shouldnt matter.
I suggest you treat your readers with a bit more respect.
i say bring in”archie” squillachi!!
Fuck al arsenal fans
Do u have a problem,Jr?
New keeper Please!!!
Just announced on talksport that Squillaci is on his way to London.