Malaga Can’t Find The Santi Clause, Sahin What & More

Transfers are simple, so the logic goe. You want a player? Just walk into the office at your new club, slap your suitcase full of used fivers on the desk and bosh! Deal done. Couldn’t be simpler, could it? Well, OK, obviously you have to walk into the right office, it would be quite embarrassing to hear, “Thank you but take the stairs to the next floor, turn right and fourth office on your left” with the thud of the suitcase on the desk barely clearing the room. Presuming of course, that the person you are speaking to, knows who is dealing with the matter. And at Malaga, that is apparently not clear cut by any means.

Which is why this morning, despite everyone’s hopes and ambitions, Santi Cazorla’s transfer has still not been finalised. Arsenal hope to announce next week that the Spaniard has joined, especially as he is widely reported to be playing next week in Cologne as the pre-season preparations draw to their conclusion.

Cazorla has reportedly been signed for anything from £12.5m to £20m, the disparity of estimates is staggering even given add-ons. Hailing him as Arsenal’s most expensive signing is perhaps premature; the money has to be paid on the clauses for that to be confirmed. Malaga will, of course, tell us how much the total deal might be worth when they brief the press whilst Arsenal will just call it as it is: “undisclosed”. It is infuriating for the observer to see this frequently cited transfer fee. As understandable as it might be during the window, there is no reason why Fifa cannot extract the data from their transfer system and publish a list of deals post-September; I am sure this is all part of Sepp Blatter’s new transparency plan.

You have to laugh otherwise you launch into a diatribe about how crap Arsenal are at managing the process of transfers. God, I hope he’s worth it after all this…

Arsène isnt’ finished. As Ivan Gazidis quaffs his champagne, savouring his elevation to mover and shaker in the English game to accompany his pan-European duties, Wenger is giving the company credit card a battering by tempting Jose Mourinho into parting with Nuri Sahin. You can almost sense the hypnotic spell that he has woven around The Not-So-Special One with the Madrid manager’s words,

He’s a young boy, he wants to play every match. We are not an easy club, because we demand a lot. We have great players, and when you don’t start well, it is difficult.

The full quote was more damning,

If he stays, he’s not a problem for me. He’s one more solution. We are leaving the situation in his hands.

It isn’t exactly an advert for the bright young things in the game, is it? Don’t come to Madrid because we’re an impatient bunch who think nothing of casting you adrift when you turn out to be not quite so good as Messi. Oh and by the way, I really don’t care if stay or go, you solve problems either way; stay and I have options on the bench, go and I have options on the bench.

Stockpiling players is all very well and good since it prevents your opponents from buying them but it creates its own problems when those players want to move because of broken promises. That’s Madrid’s problem, Arsenal once more looking to take advantage of the very nice mouth which the gift horse has.

Hmmm. The unexpected end of week is morphing into a weekend of the unexpected. Hints, nuances and the hand of agents are everywhere in the media, particularly concerning the future of Robin van Persie. The Malagese Soap Opera is amusing to an extent whereas its Dutch cousin is frankly tiresome. The opening credits were dynamite but like many a Hollywood blockbuster, its overblown, overlong, not saying much of interest and massively over budget.

According to The Daily Heil, van Persie decided he would go to Germany. What a good chap he is. Of course, the small matter of contractual obligation had nothing to do with it nor the realisation that his transfer to Juventus might take as long to arrange as Cesc’s did to Barcelona; several summers. Arsenal’s hand apparently strengthens each day it drags on without resolution. I understand the argument that Arsenal should cut their losses and take whatever the Turin club offer for the sake of stability but I disagree with that notion. And there can be no countenancing of any idea of selling him cheaply to either Mancunian club. None whatsoever.

Arsenal are keeping the door open, massaging reporting angles to make it easier for the player to swerve the awkward position which his website statement put him in. Pet paper of Peter Hill-Wood it might be but Daily Star reporter David Wood has given the Dutchman the perfect backtracking path this morning, making it seem that the player is impressed and has got his own way…

Finally, the new site will go live on Monday morning. Further details tomorrow as the final step is migrating the email subscribers over.

’til Tomorrow.