Denilson: Another Wenger Special or Absolute Waste of Space?

A guest post from Aaditya Gupta this morning:

Over the 2008/09 season, no player has been more controversial in terms of popular opinion as Denilson. Everybody, from bloggers, to the press, to my neighbour’s dog, to the tramp outside Stamford Bridge, to the fish in the Thames, has an opinion about him. There are people who put him at the level of a headless chicken and there are others who call him the new DM legend at Arsenal. Let us examine from both sides.

Denilson is too small to be a defensive midfielder in such a physical league. He gets muscled away by opponents. Most of the time, he stands and watches as the man he was supposed to be marking beats him for pace and strength. He loses the ball far too often and he only knows how to pass sideways. Hold on a sec there!

Sure, Denilson passes the ball around sideways all the time, I’m sure that’s how he got seven assists this season, six of those before Christmas. Robin van Persie, an out and out striker, got the most assists for Arsenal in the Premier League with eleven throughout the season. This means that until December, Denilson was Arsenal’s best playmaker, above Cesc and Van Persie, neither of whom by the way, gets any slack for not showing up.

Denilson was NOT supposed to be a defensive midfielder. He was a centre midfielder in the same mould as Cesc. In January, Mr. Wenger realised that our defence was too disorganised with Gallas and Toure were both sweepers. Denilson was asked to defend a bit more. Result? 21 unbeaten Premier League games.

In our unbeaten run of 21 games and the Chelsea match which we lost, Denilson played in 21 of the 22 matches. He was subbed off only at Anfield on the 65th minute. With Denilson on pitch, we conceded 13 goals in 2,045 minutes (1 goal every 157 minutes). When he was off, we conceded 6 goals in 115 (1 goal every 19 minutes). On top of this, he won the ball more times than anyone else in the league, 254 to Barry’s 187. And just to top it all off, 60% of the time he wins it back with an interception, completely eliminating the chance of a foul or a card.

So let’s get this straight. When he attacks, he is one of the best playmakers in the league. When he defends, our team’s defense is magically plugged. For somebody who’s an Under-21, pretty amazing, no?

Denilson is not going to become and out-an-out playmaker like Cesc. He is also not going to become a monster in midfield like Essien. However, he has the potential to be a great midfield general, similar to Xabi Alonso, who can both start attacks from deep as well as create a wall for the defence.

Denilson is too inexperienced to handle both roles efficiently at the same time. How are we going to give him that experience? Normally, match time gives them the experience to be better players. Unless you expect him to become magically better from the sidelines like in the manager modes of the FIFA series.

With the arrival of Vermaelen, and the coming of age of Djourou, our centre back pairing will be a lot more organised. With that, plus Arshavin, Rosicky and Cesc all working towards creating chances, Eduardo and RVP to finish the gazillion chances which they create, I think Denilson will be able to settle down and develop properly into the great player we know he can be.

Compare that to Melo who cost £15m and misses out 9 games a season due to suspension. Or Cana who is now negotiating with the likes of Sunderland. Denilson is cheaper than both these players, and at his age, light years ahead of where they were. Watch out for him, he is going to be the surprise package this season!

Back tomorrow with an Emirates Cup preview. ’til Then. YW.

Cesc, Toure & Return Of The Pat

A win in Hannover last night and from the bits I have seen, a relatively decent workout for the players. Credit must be given to Cesc Fabregas for not only scoring the only goal of the game but for also cutting short his holiday to return to training earlier than he had to. Too little credit is given at times to the dedication that players put in to achieve the peak of their games. Onwards to The Emirates Cup this weekend and a full rotation of the squad can be expected, the only reason which I can think that Wenger played with fewer than necessary substitutes.

So long, farewell, gonna get along without you now

Alas poor Kolo, I knew him well. Actually that’s a bit of lie since I did not know him at all but as author I claim as much right to artistic licence as the rest and there has been some of that this morning in the back pages. More of that later though.

Toure has gone, so much for his brother’s recent observations that Kolo would not take the step down to join Manchester City. Whichever way you look at it, a good servant to the club has left, a link to the past severed. Having been a sterling performer for Arsenal, Toure Senior has been sold when the currency offered by Manchester City was too much to reject. he will rightly be missed, his performances over seasons past surely earn him the right to considerable respect in our rememberances. Whether he is in decline or not remains to be seen. Perhaps a new challenge sought will reinvigorate him. May be not and perchance Wenger has spotted something that may yet become apparent. Some handwringing is taking place but the future is found by looking forwards not down to navels.

Some are demanding Hangeland, other names will no doubt be thrown into the ring in the coming days. Whatever the case, the demands for confirmation regarding the amount of money that Arsene has to spend will go unheeded. A public affirmation that the transfer fees for Adebayor and Toure are there to be spent is tantamount to telling a club with whom Arsenal wish to conduct business the combination to the corporate safe. It simply is not going to happen and is futile requesting such information. One aspect of this silence will no doubt be continued ill-informed speculation about the state of the club’s finances, more sabre rattling from R&W to suit their own position rather than pursuit of the truth.

Whichever way you look at it, £16m for Toure is good business. He could have left in the next season or two for nothing so financially speaking, Arsenal are a lot better off. From a playing perspective, that answer cannot be given until the season starts. Pre-season is a useful guide but ain’t nothing like the real thing, baby as the song goes. There is an inherent risk in this policy since Wenger has only to look at the past two seasons to see the impact that a good and an indifferent start to a campaign has.

Undoubtedly any transfer activity that allows some of the pre-season to get to know the squad is beneficial. The pre-season tour to Austria was always going to leave a lull in any activity that was not concluded before the squad departed and there is nothing wrong with a little patience to see where the leaves from other transfers fall.

Going back to my roots, yeah

Amazing how a little hysterical observation from Ian Wright Wright Wright becomes fact. Sort of like Science Fiction only without the Science and a little too much fiction. An unlikely scenario emerged with Wright telling his Talkshite listener that Patrick Vieira was returning to Arsenal on a pay-as-you-play deal. Credibility, if that is the right word, was given to the story in this morning’s The Sun where the initial transfer talk was hyped up alongside another piece telling us how Arsenal had never replaced the Frenchman. The current trio of Song, Diaby and Denilson were all dismissed as not being up to the task. The piece justified the transfer talk indicating the quietness of the market or the truth in the story. You decide which one you want to believe for I know my choice…Curiously enough both articles were penned by the same hack who, I am sure, was under no pressure whatsoever from his editor to justify the original piece. That Wenger has no history of re-signing players or offering deals to 33 year old midfielders whom he previously believed to be in decline is the fundamental flaw in the whole story which eluded them.

’til Tomorrow.

Toure Off Today. Apparently.

Having failed in their attempts to sign John Terry, Manchester City appear to have succeeded in signing the only other defender in the Premier League with a five letter surname beginning with ‘T’. Financially, the reported deal of anywhere between £14m – £17m represents exceptional value for Arsenal with the profit made on the sale of the player almost Anelkaesque in its proportions.

There is little doubt that there is serious intent on the part of Toure to at least meet with City to talk terms and it is a case of whether or not he is convinced by Mark Hughes, a manager who faces the sack every time a scoreline goes against City. Latest reports suggest that the deal will be completed this evening

From an Arsenal perspective, it is something that must have been coming for a while. Having handed in a transfer request earlier this year, his eventual departure is still surprising to some extent given that he publicly re-affirmed his desire to stay and also at the start of the summer, made it quite clear that he believed that the squad could challenge for the title if it stayed together.

Clearly whatever exchanges the manager and Toure have had were not as convincing to Wenger as the public utterances. Has Toure let it be known he was not minded to renew his contract? Perhaps the smoke signals from Arsene’s office were not so charm filled for Toure, the Ivorian feeling most threatened by the arrival of Thomas Vermaelen.

Whatever the case, little doubt that Toure will be fondly remembered. Even those with reservations over his recent form will acknowledge that he was on the path to recovery. Ultimately, Wenger outlined his rationale for letting one of his centre backs go when he observed that he had seven centre backs and was having to play some in midfield to accommodate them, no matter how backhanded the swipe at his critics was.

Crucially, Wenger has stated his intention that Gallas is his chosen one out of his two most experienced central defenders. He simply does not buy players for £8m – £10m to have them sit on the bench on a regular basis. Vermaelen will no doubt start with Gallas whilstDjourou and Senderos as the back ups.

Whether Wenger will sign a new defender remains to be seen. I suspect that he has other plans for the money in mind:

Well at the moment I’m more focussed to get everybody fit for the start of the season. We are looking at opportunities as well but there are still some pre-season games to see what we really need and when the time has come we will do something.

The final words are the most telling. The tour of Austria is the key for Wenger’s plans. He is no doubt looking at attitudes but also improvements in technique that should be showing in the younger members of the squad. Not only that but maintenance of the form shown in the 21 game unbeaten run. Whilst the season petered out, that was the key spell and the manager will be basing squad judgements on that run. If the players indicate that run can be replicated, it would be no surprise if the summer’s transfer activity were over. However, he has not ruled out newcomers but I suspect his focus is higher up the pitch.

How much he has to spend is anyone’s guess. R&W with their media cronies believe that books have to be balanced and that any revenues earned are the money available. I doubt he has the full £40m from Adebayor and Toure available but it would be no surprise if it were half of that.

Whatever the case, recent seasons have shown us that Wenger makes full use of the transfer window and signings can take place right up to the last nanosecond. Patience is going to be required in waiting for anyone to arrive but for the squad, the sooner a new player signs, the sooner they are ready for the Premier League in three weeks time.

’til Tomorrow.

No Toure Denial, Arshavin & Other Transfer Rumours

You can say what you want

This summer has been one of continued transfer speculation surrounding the top players at the club. One did find the sums of money on offer elsewhere too much to resist but so far, that is it. Nothing unusual in that, after all since the turn of this century we have witnessed an endless stream of media gossip about who is going where and when, for how much and 99% of it has turned out to be baseless. Rarely has the club commented. The Reyes debacle probably offers as good a reason why as any other.

Yet this summer, the official line from the club has been much more defensive. Thus far, official denials of transfers have come via the official website from Wenger, Cesc (on two separate occasions), Sagna and now Bendtner. Add to that unofficial denials by Clichy, Cesc, Gallas and Arshavin, a pattern of the club being more pro-active (albeit reactively) in quashing stories before they gain any credence amongst supporters.

There have been occasions when stories are not denied. Adebayor, for example, may have used the official magazine to re-affirm his commitment to the club but two months later, he was gone. Now we have continued speculation surrounding Eboue and Toure without official denials forthcoming. There may be several reasons for this. In the case of Eboue, he is a squad player and whilst Arsene probably wants to keep for the experienced cover of the right side of defence and midfield that the player brings, he might not be averse to selling him if the right offer were to come along.

Toure though is a different case altogether. Wenger knows the player inside out, the defender having been at the club for over half a decade and a rarity amongst the current squad at having won the title here. He has been one of the first names of the team sheet during that spell and has much still to offer having seemingly recovered his form after an inconsistent spell. It begs the question as to why a denial has, at the time of writing, not been forthcoming and more to the point, whether the absence of one means anything can be read into the situation.

The signing of Thomas Vermaelen was a signal of intent to strengthen the defence but suspicions are growing that he is more of a Toure replacement than squad player. Perhaps those are the signals received by the Ivorian. Certainly the media is building up a head of steam over this, the rumour mill picking up pace with John Terry’s decision to stay at Chelsea and Everton’s continued reluctance to countenance selling Joleon Lescott.

The question that has not yet been answered is why the club are suddenly issuing these denials. Undoubtedly, the media perception of being a cash-starved club is part of that. Manchester City are the New Kids On The Block and as such, Arsenal are the easy target for being knocked out of the top four. Gazidis has been vocal is his desire for professionals to be recruited to improve the commercialisation at the club, part of which will be brand protection. It is, after all, hard to sell a brand where the perception is of decline or vulnerability.

Mostly though, the negativity towards Arsenal shown in some quarters over the lack of information will have been biting. Whilst there has not been a breakdown in communications between the supporters and the club, there has been, for a number of years, a widely held view that they have not been as forthcoming as they might be. A good start on their part; long may it continue and continue to improve the (mis)understandings of yesteryear.

One To Another

It seems that Dennis Bergkamp rather likes the start Andrei Arshavin has made to his Arsenal career. The Dutchman observed:

Arshavin has every chance of becoming a favourite of the London fans. Arsenal found the kind of player they have been lacking. I hope Andrey will not rest on his laurels and will to continue to work to a higher level. Then he will become part of Arsenal’s history.

High praise indeed. The Dutchman knows a thing or two about making a successful career at the club and whilst he was a tad younger than Arshavin when he signed in 1995, Arshavin has quite possibly got the best years of his career ahead of him. Bergkamp’s take on what a player requires to succeed in England is interesting:

The advice is simple but important for any player who moves to the Premier League: give everything, fight all through the game – those are the qualities that the fans fall in love with. In England it’s not enough to be a talented player

I am not sure that these qualities are unique to England since I think football fans around the world respond positively to those attributes. For mediocre players, the ability to fight for every ball often masks their lack of technical skills with a football hence the pace of the English game.

Talking is cheap, people follow like sheep

Nicklas Bendtner may yet be on his way even though he won’t be playing . According to the Italian media, Arsenal has offered £13m plus the Dane for Mirko Vucinic with English-based hacks rapidly running out of names to throw into the ring for Wenger to sign as a replacement for Adebayor.

Whomever comes in, Robin van Persie will welcome them with open arms. So long as they don’t take his place in the team, of course. Can anything be read into the Dutchman’s comments about an imminent signing? I don’t think so. He has his opinion and it seems highly unlikely that they will have been cleared beforehand. Inocuous as they may be, no doubt there will be a spew of headlines that say van Persie is demanding a new striker.

’til Tomorrow.

It Rhymes: Red & White Talk…And A Bit Of Transfer Gossip

Awwww, come on, you know the word which was missing. Red and White has launched its own PR offensive with Farhad Moshiri interviewed by the BBC offering their own version of the current state of play at the club. Mindful that the manager still has the support of all but 0.001% of supporters, Moshiri chose to divert attention to the Board and their rejection of Red and White’s Rights Issue.

There were several curiousities that emerged from the interview, not least of which is that Red & White are refusing to put their information into the public domain. The Lazard Brothers Report is based purely on the published financial statements of the club and at best, that information is six months old. Therefore, most of their conclusions are either out of date or based on estimates. That is not to say some of their thoughts might well be true but until R&W put the whole of their plans for the Rights Issue open to scrutiny, they will never be able to win the minds of supporters on this matter.

Despite his resignation from the Board of R&W, Dein appears still be heavily involved. That deduction came from Moshiri’s comments that the relationship between Dein and Wenger has never been replaced. That is according to Moshiri. No evidence exists to suggest that Wenger and Gazidis are heading towards that level of friendship. Likewise, no evidence exists to suggest that their is anything other than personal respect on either part. Any antagnosim is being hidden from public view, if it exists.

It is apparent that Moshiri is particularly clueless:

Based on our analysis any money is very limited and possibly spent already and I don’t think there are any spare funds with the exception of Adebayor’s proceeds

Even by my dodgy grasp of mathematics, that means that there are about £20-25m of spare funds. Since wild, sweeping statements are the order of the day, I would suggest that R&W would not make that money available in its entirity to Wenger since one aspect of their investment is abundantly clear. If they take the club over, money will be diverted into dividend payments, a matter on which Usmanov already made his views known before being put in his place by the current board.

The lack of knowledge displayed with regard to the first team squad was baffling if R&W are truly intent on taking over the club. Moshiri or one of his minions has obviously been reading blog comment sections and taking the extreme views as some sort of vindication of their intentions towards Arsenal. Particularly baffling was the notion that Arsenal will suffer greatly when Kolo Toure goes to the ACN next winter. It must have escaped their notice that there are six centre backs at the club.

The sale of Adebayor unsurprisingly brought more ill-informed comment. R&W clearly believe that Eduardo, Bendtner, van Persie and Vela are not up to scratch. It may well be that Wenger brings another striker in but more than anything else, R&W were clearly starting to stoke the fires of malcontent. Should the start to the season be less than spectacular, it will be little surprise to find another exacting analysis provided by R&W, stating that since Dein left, no success has arrived, erasing Wenger’s contribution entirely.

Having failed through normal channels to secure support for their strategy, R&W are now clearly attempting to portray themselves as the voice of supporters, the assumption being on their part that fans are too shallow to see through such pitiful posturing.

Elsewhere, the usual suspects are emerging for the first train into Euston. Lee Catermole is probably the first to arrive since it will be quicker for him to journey down from Wigan. Hot on his heels on the Heathrow Express is Klaas Jan Huntelaar, whose wages demands have seen Peter Crouch  usurp him as ‘Appy ‘Arry’s top transfer target.

Kolo Toure has apparently agreed personal terms as part of Manchester City’s triple transfer swoop which is rapidly disintegrating since John Terry has refused to countenance earning huge wages. Apparently Toure popped out to a local Wiener Schnitzel parlour for talks with City when Arsene turned his back. It seems many moons ago that clubs agreed a fee before contacting the player directly.

’til Tomorrow.

Kalou, Boots And Money Men Getting Antsy?

Sunday morning brings the usual suspects as transfer targets and a new boy to boot. Wellington – a headline writers dream if ever there was one – is the latest Wunderkid to be linked with a move to The Emirates, seemingly ready to pick Arsenal ahead of Manchester United, Real Madrid and Chelsea. Until Manchester City come in and offer him £250k per week, that is. Elsewhere, Saloman Kalou is like the hardy perennial in your back garden, once more linked with a £7m move from Stamford Bridge. It surely cannot be a coincidence that the same report linking him with a move, also mentions that he is angling for a new contract at Chelsea. No doubt that contract will be signed this week.

The transfer market is used by the media as a benchmark for the financial well-being of a club. Manchester City are rich although heading for a fall if Michel Platini gets his way with punishments meted out for clubs who exceed his plan for a Wages / Turnover ratio to be used as one element of the UEFA Licensing System. Arsenal continually underspend feeding the belief that money is tighter than the club reveals. The transfer budget was set at a ludicrously low £13m this summer in media terms, a figure that has not disappeared. With add-ons, it is so far up to £38m less £8m for Vermaelen. A round £30m.

Were Eboue to leave, that would bring the transfer income this summer to £35m or so. With media targets disappearing off to other clubs at a rapid rate of knots, it is questionable as to how long before there is barracking if Wenger does not spend some of this. No doubt there will be allegations made that the economic situation at Arsenal is considerably worse than the Board is letting on, a backhanded vindication of his Rights Issue plan will be claimed by Usmanov.

It seems that whilst the club has exploited its global image, there is scope for more to be done. You sense that the time is coming when tours will be undertaken in the Far East and America where Chelsea and United receive fees alone in excess of £5m for a fortnight’s jaunt. Wenger has steadfastly rejected calls for Arsenal to follow suit, preferring to travel to Central Europe. Wenger believes that the far-flung tours are detrimental to a teams preparation.

The evidence is totally contradictory since the top four has remained unchanged for the last four seasons with three of them, including the eventual champions, all taking part in such tours. It is a sign of Wenger’s standing that the Board has not imposed such tours unlike their other rivals. Whilst the Manchester United board no doubt hold Ferguson in similar esteem, the Scot has been unable to fight off what might be considered rapacious greed on the part of his paymasters.

Arsene has in recent weeks spoken of recession hitting football. The exceptions of Manchester City and Real Madrid aside, this summer has seen a drop in the number of high value transfers but with over a month to go, that situation may change. Where clubs may find it hard is in commercial revenues. There is no evidence yet of attendances suffering or merchandising dropping but the decision to launch two new away strips this season must be seen as dubious to say the least.

There will be a new home strip next summer, hopefully including a return to red with white sleeves – is it too much to ask that the designers at Nike forgo modernism with a return to the simplicity of the 1970s before pinstripes, pigeon footprints and other ghastly elements entered the design phase? The need for a third kit is highly debatable from a footballing perspective. Unless opponents have a significant element of red / blue in their tops, the all-white third kit is purely a commercial decision since last season’s yellow strip would have sufficed in those situations.

The moneymen needed to fill the void hence the creation of The Emirates Cup to compensate. With all due respect to this season’s participants, the calibre is not what the original idea would have had in mind. A march was stolen by IMG with Barcelona going to Wembley although that only one of the Champions League starting XI took part suggests that the Catalans are not taking it anywhere near as seriously as the sponsors would like.

The three participants all bring differing styles and I guess their own uses from a football perspective but these games are not played at anywhere near the level of intensity of competitive matches which rather undoes the experience of playing against different tactics. Sharpness and fitness are still the only objective. I wonder what the attendances will be like this year though. Rangers will bring supporters to vindicate their place, commercially speaking, but surely one objective should be to attract the best teams in the World to stretch the players that close to the start of the season?

’til Tomorrow

Clichy Puts His Size 11s In, Eboue and Transfer Tattle

Gael Clichy has aimed his size 11s fairly and squarely at Emmanuel Adebayor this morning whilst promoting his new Umbro boots:

I really believe if you are a player who thinks only about money then you could end up at Manchester City. You have to think if you want to play for a big club and have your image or if you want to earn big money. When you ask someone to move for something like £300k per week it is just crazy.

That is pretty much indicative of the reasons that Clichy believes Adebayor moved which is somewhat at odds with the rationale that Adebayor put forward.

Clichy is not unduly concerned with the City spending pattern these past transfer windows:

It does not always mean a team will do well. Sometimes when you have players coming in it can take six to seven months for them to adjust.

That is the nub of the question about the way in which City have addressed the deficiencies in their squad. Can Mark Hughes really bring out the best of the new boys and weave them into the first team, everyone firing on all cylinders from the first kick-off? It seems unlikely. So far this summer, they have focussed on attack with Barry the only non-striker brought in.

Defensively, City were not great and are agitating for Terry or Toure to move to Eastlands. The former is a problem since Chelsea do not want to sell, the latter, well his brother Yaya hinted at the problems City face when he observed that Kolo would not move there because it is a step down. In other words, Yaya agrees with Clichy about money being the only reason anyone joins the self-styled revolution.

It is a sign of the regard in which Kolo Toure is held that he is being linked with a move away. Having seemingly come through his tough spell, his form adversely affected by his personal relationship with Gallas and injuries, Toure is still one of the best centre backs in the Premier League. Little doubt that there was some loyalty to a friend when Adebayor answered the loaded questions of hacks but don’t forget, this is a man who witnessed the Ivorian in training every week during his spell at Arsenal.

Elsewhere, various transfer targets are signing for lesser clubs or will be doing so in the very near future so we are told. The “I told you so’s” will be starting with Lorik Cana who apparently is off to Sunderland where he could be joined by Marouane Chamakh whilst Klaas Jan Huntelaar is going to sign for Spurs, or as one erudite hack put it this morning, “the Graveyard of talent at White Hart Lane“. Emmanuel Eboue, it seems, is still wanted by Fiorentina. Reports suggest that a £5.6m fee has been agreed between the two clubs although others seem to think that there is an £8m fee which has put the mockers on any transfer. Andrea Della Valle, La Viola President said:

Eboue is a really good player but it won’t be easy to take him to Florence

Perhaps Dylan could serenade the Ivorian, almost Pied Piper-ish, and the soothing quality of his music could take Eboue to Dougal’s cast off. Failing that Zebedee could bounce in and kidnap him. Boinggggg!

’til Tomorrow.