There have been persistent rumours about Miguel Veloso coming to Arsenal for the last 6 months. It all started with stories towards the end of last season about us trailing him, and Joao Moutinho. Then late this summer, there were quotes from his agent about how English clubs were interested. Over the past few days, there have been stories circulating everywhere about how we have come close to matching his £20 million release clause. There are also stories that he had signed a pre-contract agreement to arrive in January 2008, which appeared on his Wikipedia profile (it now says that he is on the verge of signing for a club record fee of £17 million.

I spoke to LaViz, our excellent Portuguese blogger, and she tells me that Veloso currently plays in a style quite reminescent of Fernando Redondo, the Argentine ex-Real and AC Milan holding midfielder who was a brilliant reader of the game, and had incredible technique and vision.

She also describes Veloso as being a bit like Nicolas Burdisso - in that he is very versatile, and can function anywhere across the back line or midfield, or in between. And not only can he play in these positions, he can do so effectively.

Because of the fact that he is athletic, and technically blessed, she feels that the coaches are trying to get him to play a bit like Esteban Cambiasso (she's an Inter fan, so does best with these comparisons); i.e. getting him to contribute more when going forward, and be more dynamic with his movement.

And how would he fit in at the Arsenal? The answer is... well... I have no idea. We signed Lassane Diarra this summer, and his best position is the holding midfield role, as is Gilberto's. However, neither of them have seen much playing time because of Mathieu Flamini's all-conquering, Gattuso-esque displays. Don't forget about Abou Diaby either. However, it's worth noting that Flamini is yet to sign a new deal, and that Gilberto might well be off in January (the Valencia rumours keep persisting, and Juventus haven't gone away either). Even so, with Diarra, Cesc, Diaby and Denilson around, that's quite a congested midfield.

Then again, Arsene Wenger has a habit of signing players and then doing other things with them. He spent £10m on the winger Thierry Henry (remember him?), and made him into a terrific striker. He spent £12m on left-winger Reyes, and made him into a striker (which never really worked out). He spent £11m on Wiltord, and played him at right-wing a lot of the time. Those are the big buys, there's also Van Persie, Ljungberg, Toure, Djourou and Eboue who have all learned new positions.

So where would Veloso fit in? He's played left-back, centre-back, central midfield and left-midfield, so we know he could cover all of those. He's got an excellent left-foot, and we all know that Arsene likes his gifted left-footed midfielders (Petit, Edu, van Bronckhorst, Reyes). The team has no left-footed midfielders at the moment, and is missing a bit of width, so it's quite possible that he might be sizing up Veloso as an option.

There's also the theory that he signed as the ultimate utility player - capable of playing anywhere in defence or midfield, he might hasten the departures of Hoyte, Senderos, Song, Gilberto, and maybe even Gallas, trimming the squad, and reducing the wage bill. However £17 million is quite exorbitant for a utility player, even if the club has cash to spend, and Gilberto's (possible) departure might bring in about £7 million or so.

Julio Baptista arrived at Arsenal in the summer of 2006 - a year too late, but still able to excite the fans. Along with the signing of Gallas, he helped to snowball the fans' expectations to gargantuan proportions that would quickly dissipate into disappointment. Gallas was mostly injured and under-par, and Baptista was an almighty, almighty flop.

He arrived with this tag and reputation of being "The Beast" - a goal-scoring powerhouse that could barge past anyone and thump in the goals. Well. He wasn't.

Apart from one storming performance against Liverpool where he scored 4 goals in our 6-3 Carling Cup win at Anfield, he was awful. And to be honest, that game was such an anomaly that I can't believe it even happened. Not only did we go to Anfield and score 6 goals, but Baptista scored 4 (and missed a penalty, which isn't surprising), Aliadiere scored the first and setup 3 more, and ALEX SONG SCORED. Freakish.

He really did seem like a nice earnest lad who gave his best, and to his credit he ended the season with 10 goals (although 6 of those were in 2 Carling Cup games), but he was rubbish - a big lumbering cow more than any sort of fearsome beast, his missed chances deprived us of so many wins.

And why am I suddenly bringing up "The Beast" all of a sudden? Because a quote I came across today from Ryan Babel only serves to confirm what we all suspected... that despite his bulk, incredible muscle percentage and density, and ninja-turtle like exterior, he was just a great big softie:

"A big body doesn't mean you're strong. I understand from Robin van Persie at Arsenal that Julio Baptista isn't strong at all, even though he's a massive guy." - Ryan Babel

Not strong at all... hilarious stuff really, considering that his size and strenth were one of the few things still going in his favour. But I think we all knew what the real deal was when PSV's frail looking Chinese left-back Sun Xiang comprehensively barged Baptista to the ground in a soft little shoulder-to-shoulder encounter.

Not to say that he's a bad player though, he isn't - his performances for Sevilla were oustanding, and he showed in flashes at the Copa America how good he can be. The problem is that he's just very limited. He's not mobile, not that quick or strong, and needs too much time and space. He was found out in fast pace of the Premiership, and especially so in Arsenal's quick passing-and-moving system.

The other problem with Baptista, is that he thinks he's better than he is. We've all heard the stories about how clumsy he was in his Sao Paulo days, and how the fans used to laugh and call him a clown, but did you know that they also used to call him "Zidane"? Not out of any recognition of his oustanding abilities, but rather the lack thereof, and his continual attempts to try tricks and skills that he was so far from mastering, that they often ended in complete embarassment.

Good luck to him, and here's some highlights from his one "good game" for Arsenal:

And for once he's not talking about how wonderful he is, or how regretful Chelsea should be, or how nobody around him is good enough. That's right ladies and gents - it seems that when the going is good, it gets Gallas going (or something like that). Seeming happy and cheery before France's Euro 2008 qualifier, he's talked about the various goings-on at the club, including his own absence, as well as giving his optimistic opinions on a few teammates.

He starts off by apologising for his behaviour during his enforced absence through injury, in stark contrast to last season's hissy fit at the alleged "incompetence" of the Arsenal medical stuff, and says he's looking forward to playing for both France and Arsenal:

"It's difficult for everyone. I have experienced it before when I have been injured, and it's always the same. The first week or so you can deal with it, but three, four, five weeks later? Trust me it's hard to keep smiling. So I want to say sorry to all of the players, and also the staff at the training ground, because they could see I wasn't always happy. It's just that I really want to play."

Fair enough I suppose.

He also talks about Gael Clichy's absence from the France squad, which is quite puzzling given his excellent form this season. Clichy was named along with Gallas, Sagna, Flamini and Diaby as provisionals for the squad, but was the only one not picked. The best thing Clichy can do now is to just keep plugging away, because he's one of the best left-backs in Europe, and that cap will come sooner rather than later. Gallas:

"He has to be patient now, and I know what he is feeling because I was in the same position as him when I was at Chelsea and all I can say to him is to be patient because it will come."

Discussion moves on to another young, French left-back - the exciting Armand Traore, and Gallas clearly sees a big future for him:

"There are lot of great youngsters at Arsenal so it is difficult to say one name above the others. The one who has monster potential and can achieve something special is Armand Traore. He is only 18 and plays for France’s Under-19 team. If he keeps his head on his shoulders he can do something big in the future."

Thankfully for Armand, his head seems to be quite small and dainty in proportion to his shoulders, so hopefully it stays firmly there. Which is in stark contrast to some very big-headed people at the club:

And lastly, our great captain shares his wisdom on Eduardo, our Crozilian striker who is still in the process of settling in, and hasn't yet had the chance to show us what he's capable of:

"When you are on your own you ask yourself questions on your sporting performances. In such moments you have to feel mentally strong. Eduardo is not a different person. Everybody has to go through this. I can reassure Arsenal fans that he is a talented striker. We will see the Eduardo we know from Croatia in a couple of months."

Well we look forward to that, and to Gallas's return to action from injury. It's a bit annoying that he's going to play for France in the qualifiers, but he looks to be doing so with Wenger's blessings this time, and hopefully he comes through unscathed. Things are going well with the team at the moment, and Gallas even talks about how the French Gunners are all happy in the national training camp because of how well they're doing in the league:

"It's a great feeling, though, for us all to meet up for France when we are top of the league, and top of our Champions League group. Of course nothing is done yet, and I would prefer to go to the national team as champions, because then you feel very strong - but at the moment things are fine, things are going well."

I have no problems with a happy, committed Gallas coming into the first team, because he's a classy defender with a wealth of experience. It's when he's in his whingey, self-centred psychosis that he starts to become a complete pain. But so far, so good, and it's nice to see that the youngsters aren't the only ones starting to show a bit of maturity.

After another swashbuckling goal against Sunderland over the weekend, one has to wonder whether Robin Van Persie's left peg isn't really some sort of explosive bionic device grafted onto his hip by the Cyborg Lizard Overlords that rule our world. The young Dutchman says that Arsene Wenger watched him 40 times before he was signed, and that there was an entire development planned mapped out for him in his Arsenal career.

Well the plan seems to be taking shape quite brilliantly. Despite not playing for most of the first 6-8 months that he spent in London, and constant injury problems, Van Persie has scored 41 goals in 119 appearances. That's a ratio of just under 1 every 3 games, and when you consider that he spent much of his first two years making substitute appearances and playing second fiddle to Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Jose Reyes, then that's not bad at all.

He's scored 7 goals in 11 games this season, and his goal last Sunday was by far the pick of them. Unbelievable technique, power and precision. Craig Gordon (Britain's most expensive goalkeeper) had no chance.

Well, it got me thinking about the Dutchman's other stunners in his brief Arsenal career (and there have been a few), so I decided to put together a Top 10, with video where possible. Enjoy!

1. Arsenal 2-1 Charlton - Premier League - 2006/07 - WATCH
Easily Van Persie's best goal, and last season's goal of the season. It was an incredible volley from Arsenal's number 11. Hleb weighted a perfect ball through for Eboue running down the wing, he in turn crossed to the edge of the box, and Van Persie hammered in a volley at shoulder height.

2. Arsenal 2-1 Inter Milan - Emirates Cup - 2007/08 - WATCH
Despite it only being a pre-season friendly, this goal can't count as being anything but brilliant. Arsenal fought back from being a goal down, and Van Persie scored the winner with a piece of ingenuity that is difficult to comprehend even in slow motion. Standing near the right-touchline (as he so often does when scoring spectacular goals), the Dutchman somehow turned the entire Inter defence inside out before drilling the ball right-footed past Julio Cesar, high at the near post.

3. Arsenal 3-0 Blackburn - Premier League - 2005/06 - WATCH
Coming on as a substitute, Robin once again produces one of his right-wing extravaganzas. Getting the ball just past the half-line, he twists and turns and works his way down the wing, before cutting in past 3 players and thumping an unstoppable shot past Brad Friedel.

4. Arsenal 3-2 Sunderland - Premier League - 2007/08 - WATCH
Van Persie's deadball exploits have come on nicely, with some vital goals over the last 2 seasons. Sunday's opener against Sunderland was probably the pick of the lot, a shot struckwith incredible pace and power, giving the goalkeeper no chance to even move. 77 km/h is what we've been told the speed was.

5. Arsenal 5-0 Aston Villa - Premier League - 2005/06 - WATCH
Yet again from his favoured position near the right touchline, and showing exquisite close control to outwit Sorensen and a few defenders, before scoring an acute, powerful near-post shot.

6. Fulham 2-1 Arsenal - Premier League - 2006/07 - WATCH
Not a great result for the Gunners overall, but Van Persie at least gives them a chance with this vicious free-kick. It's from a similar position to the one against Sunderland, and although it's nowhere close to as powerful, it swerves a lot more.

7. Arsenal 2-1 Wigan - Carling Cup - 2005/06 - WATCH
Another excellent free kick, but this one is more about technique and precision. It was a vital goal to give Arsenal the lead against Wigan in the 2nd Leg of their Carling Cup semi-final, and it was a perfect over-the-wall-and-back-down dipper.

8. Arsenal 3-0 Blackburn - FA Cup - 2004/05 - WATCH
Arsenal were 1-0 ahead in a very tight game, when Van Persie came on as a late substitute to take a short pass from Vieira, turn brilliantly, slalom past the Blackburn defence and put Arsenal 2-0 up. Not one of his most spectacular goals, but a great display of the touch, technique and awareness that he has. He then scored Arsenal's third, only to be elbowed in the face by Andy Todd as he wheeled away to celebrate.

9. Arsenal 6-2 Blackburn - Premier League - 2006/07 - WATCH
Yet another Van Persie goal against Blackburn, yet again from that spot out on the right. This time he completely rips apart his compatriot Andre Ooijer before thumping one past Friedel. Van Persie is one person that Friedel has been powerless against, and he has scored 7 against them in the last 3 years or so.

10. Arsenal 1-1 Southampton - Premier League - 2004/05 - WATCH
To round off the Top 10, we have Robin's first goal for the club, another typical effort cutting in from the right. It was a sign of the character and talent to come, because he came on as a late sub with Arsenal chasing the game, and you can see him demanding the ball, and oozing confidence in his own ability to carve out the chance the way he did.

A professional counter-attacking performance from Arsenal saw them prevail 1-0 in a tough away fixture in Romania. Robin Van Persie scored the only goal of the game with 15 minutes left to play, absolutely hammering a left-shooted shot from Emmanuel Adebayor's square pass across the face of goal.

The interesting statistic in this game was that although Steaua had a fair share of the possession, the Gunners had 21 shots to Steaua's 7. The win was achieved on the basis of efficient counter-attacking, although you might say that Arsenal were hardly efficient given that despite all the chances that they created, there was only one late goal to show for it. Still, it is an improvement on many of the performances they had last season in the Premiership and in Europe, where they created and wasted countless chances and drew or lost many games as a result. Cesc Fabregas even provided a reminder of those days when he missed an easy chance from about 3 yards out.

Still, this Arsenal looks more purposeful, patient and composed. Alexander Hleb was a darting, menacing presence throughout. Van Persie made life tough for opponents with his aggression and technique, Fabregas was controlling as always, Flamini was busy and "bossy", Kolo Toure was heroic, and Emmanuel Adebayor continued to show his curious duality of being profligate but good at the same time. Senderos had a very good game apart from a few moments, and both fullbacks were very solid (Clichy having a few suspect moments). Eboue looked rusty, but did his job, and Gilberto came on in the second half for him to stem Steaua's attacking pressure. The team always looked confident that the goal would come, and it did, unlike last season where they would start to panic more and more, with desperation creeping into the play.

It could have been quite different though if Steaua had made the most of their chances. First, Manuel Almunia rushed out to head clear, but didn't manage to get too much distance on the header. He was also unlucky that the ball fell to the clever number 10 Dica, who took a touch and lobbed him. However, Captain Kolo was on hand to perfectly anticipate the lob and head it away with Almunia completely stranded - whether the sequence just happened that quickly, or Almunia was ballwatching and didn't get back soon enough, I don't know. Their second chance came when Iacob went clean through on the left-side of the box, opened up his body and curled a far-post shot high and wide of both Almunia and the goal. Perhaps he thought he would try to score a Thierry Henry goal since he was playing against the Arsenal, but it ended up being more Adebayor (on a bad day) than anything else.

And that was about it for the Romanians. They had some clever, technically gifted players, but Arsenal were the superior team, and should have had at least a goal or two more to show for their efforts.

One can't help but feel sad at their disappointment at the end though. Gigi Becali, their mad owner had already said the coach Pedrazzini would be sacked if he couldn't get a result against Arsenal, and the players would all have received £20,000 each as a win bonus, and they must have been devastated by Iacob's missed chance.

Fiorentina wouldn't pay him enough, and so he was back with the Arsenal for pre-season training.

But West Ham winger Julien Faubert did his knee, and will be out for 6 months, and a high-quality replacement was needed.

West Ham have money to spend, so Arsenal are rumoured to be getting a decent fee out of this (3.5m) and Freddie is rumoured to not be having to take too much of a paycut (60,000 per week).

Altogether not bad business for both clubs.

Freddie... thanks for all those great moments over the years, and good luck.

Arsene... please... sign someone! 

Well, after months and months of speculation, it looks like Arsenal are about to wrap up a deal for Auxerre and France right-back Bakari Sagna, for about £7-8 million.

It's a big fee for a player that many regards as a relative unknown, and I must confess that I don't know too much about him other than that he's very fast and athletic, and was the best right-back in France last year (and some even say he was the best right-sided player overall).

One thing is for certain - this makes things a bit confusing for the fans, with Eboue and Hoyte already in the side, and the promising Kerrea Gilbert there as well. Will Hleb be sold, and Eboue pushed up to the wing? Will Sagna be the new right-winger? Maybe Freddie is on his way? It will be interesting nonetheless, because this transfer seems certain to finally take place, and it's also the kind of transfer that indicates that one of our current players will be moving on.

It will be a pleasing signing, in some ways moreso than Eduardo da Silva, because Sagna is a really, really highly-rated player, but it won't satisfy the fans, because more than anything else, they are still crying out for a star (preferrably) a striker to come in. 

Arsenal are sort of confirmed as having signed promising striker Yoan Gouffran. The young Frenchman (surprise, surprise) has had rave reviews over the last two seasons, developing well for French minnows Caen. The 20-year old was responsible for getting them promoted, and he will be a participant in their first season back in Ligue 1 because he will spend the coming season back at Caen on-loan.

He is a seriously highly-rated prospect and like other Wenger buys is very quick and technically gifted, and can play up front or on the wing. He can finish clinically with either right or left foot (although he is not a prolific goalscorer yet).

Gouffran is an exciting one for the future, but he still will not satisfy the demand for established signings that fans have at the moment. In any case he will stay in France on-loan next season, although at 20 he is a bit old to be an "Arsenal youngster".

It's a good signing for the club at a reported fee of £2-3 million, although i'm not quite sure where it fits in the larger scheme of things. Recent signing Eduardo da Silva is 24, Adebayor is 23, Robin Van Persie is 24, and Nicklas Bendtner is 19. The quicksilver Theo Walcott (18), although being trained on the wing, is being groomed to be a striker, and 18 year-old Carlos Vela (on loan at Salamanca) is considered to be one of the most promising young forwards in the world. That's a whole heap of competition for places upfront... in 2010!

Arsenal have signed 24 year old Croatian striker Eduardo da Silva for the usual "undisclosed" fee. In this case, I would think it is lower, rather than higher... probably in the range of £6-8 million. Arsenal have finally signed a "Fox In The Box", because that seems to be this guy's speciality - headers, left footers, right footers, he seems very composed and clinical in the box, and that is what the Arse have been missing. They don't need anymore players to dribble past 3-4 guys and hit a curling wonder goal, they need someone to pick up the scraps from all of that, and this guy seems like the business. Here:

Da Silva, who came to Croatia from Brazil when he was 15, has been prolific in the Croatian league, scoring 73 goals in just 104 appearances for Dinamo Zagreb, and 10 goals in 15 games when on loan at Inter Zaprešić. Since taking Croatian citizenship in 2002, his national team career has been very impressive as well - he's scored 7 in 12 games for Croatia, and previously had 8 in 12 for the Croatian U-21s. Incidentally, Eduardo was also the first player to score at the Emirates Stadium in a competitive match, when Dinamo Zagreb played Arsenal in Champions League qualifying.

A lot of fans will be underwhelmed by this, when they were expecting an Eto'o or Torres or someone big (that's not to say that no one else will be signed), and despite his goalscoring record, he obviously is not a proven talent. Still, I have a good feeling about this, because from what i've seen, he really does know how to score goals... and remember, the problem for Arsenal has not been creating chances, it's been putting them away. In Da Silva, Arsene has bought the most conventional striker he's seen in years.

There's also of course the worry that he might be another Bosko Balaban. Yes, the wonderfully alliteratively named Croatian, who top scored in the league for Dinamo Zagreb, and scored 5 goals in 8 matches in World Cup 2002 qualifying. Aston Villa snapped him up for £5.8 million, and he scored precisely ZERO goals for them, got homesick, and ended up leaving on a free transfer a year later. Buttttttttttttttttt, let's try and be optimistic.

In anycase, Balaban might not be the only striker signed. Arsenal lost 3 forwards this summer (Thierry Henry, Jeremie Aliadiere and Julio Baptista), and they have only brought 2 in so far (Eduardo Da Silva, and Niclas Bendtner has returned from his loand spell), so there is certainly room for one more.

And this interview with Cesc Fabregas's agent seems to indicate the same. He was being asked about whether Cesc wanted to join Real or Barca, or leave Arsenal because of Henry's departure, but said that Cesc wanted to stay and was looking forward to the new season, because Arsenal were going to sign lots of new players. Quotes are below:

"Thierry was a very important player for them and it is normal that now he is no longer there, everyone thinks it is very bad news for the club.

But Arsenal are going to buy a lot of good players and they are going to be a major team both in the Premier League and Champions League.

Without Thierry, Cesc is one of the best players at Arsenal and this is fine for him, he is happy with the responsibility."

Unfortunately not a 100% good source, but a new striker is expected to be signed by Wednesday for the Arsenal, in fact possibly even being unveiled as early as Monday, to boost the Arsenal fans as pictures of Henry doing tricks and juggling and smiling at the Nou Camp in a Barca shirt stream through.

Rumours so far are - Anelka, Michael Owen and/or Obafemi Martins. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is also another widely mooted possiblity, although Wenger's preference for pace and Huntelaar's lack of it (especially in comparison to the aforementioned trio) will probably count against him.

The Henry transfer has been boiling for a while, maybe even from as early as January, and Wenger has been actively seeking out reinforcements. The broadsheets have also picked up on this, some saying that Arsenal are in advanced negotiations to sign someone.

Wenger won't be wasting any time this year. Two seasons ago he dilly dallied over Julio Baptista, while Shaun-Wright Phillips and Sergio Ramos both decided to sign for Real Madrid and Chelsea (respectively) instead, and pre-season (and the season) were disastrous. Early July is when the Arsenal will have their pre-season matches underway, and hopefully all signings will be done and dusted by mid-July so that the preparations for 2007/2008 can go smoothly.