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."

Barca's radio station, Cadena Ser has announced that Henry has signed for Barcelona for 4 years, for €24 million.

Sad if it's true, and many Arsenal fans will not be very happy with Henry.

The most frustrating thing is that there doesn't seem to be any sign of Eto'o coming the other way, and the fee that we're receiving for Henry is pitiful considering a player of his stature. He signed for just under £11 million, and he's being sold for about £16 million.

I don't think there's any question that he needed to go, because he was making his position at the club very difficult with his comments about David Dein and all the goings-on. It's not what you expect from a player committed to the club, and most definitely not the captain of Arsenal Football Club.

Last season, when Henry wasn't injured, he seemed to not care much. Many speculated that his heart was elsewhere, but by the end of the season, with both our top strikers out, fans were desperate enough to believe whatever excuses were on offer.

I can't really hold any grudges against Thierry for what he's given to the club, but the way in which he's behaved over the last year has been awful, and a bit reminescent of Patrick Vieira. He's openly flirted with other clubs, made vague and misleading statements, and set an awful example for the younger players. His comments about people within the club (and allusions to some of his teammates) have been very destabilising, and it's hard to take many positives from these events. He had almost become another Mr. Arsenal, and his lack of honesty more than anything else has been most frustrating.

I'm sure Arsene Wenger has a plan, and to be honest after his absences over the whole of last season, the team has learnt how to play without Henry, and to be honest, played better without him on many occassions.

But Arsenal is a big club, and needs its star power, so a big name will have to come in. Will it be Torres? Will it be Eto'o? At least we know what Arsene Wenger was meeting Barcelona for, but hopefully he will not be following TH over there.

It's a testing time for Le Professeur as well... he's lost his main ally David Dein, he's lost his two major protegees in the last two years (Vieira and Henry), and with all the politics at the club I suspect there might be doubts over his future as well. Maybe Henry knew that Wenger wouldn't be there to take care of his future after this season?

 

Fucking rubbish news if it's true, but France Football is reporting that Thierry Henry has reached a 3-year agreement with Barcelona after meeting with their officials in the South of France. This is an odd one from FF, because they are usually very good and reputable, and don't do large scale speculation like the rags. But they've really nailed their colours to the mast with this one, because it's their cover story:

Again, all this has been complicated by a statement from Henry's agent Jerome Anderson read out soon after saying that the article is pure bullshit, that Henry hasn't been to the South of France in years, and that they are conisdering legal action.

Let's see what unfolds, but after very bold moves from Henry in backing the departed David Dein and criticising some aspects of the team in an exclusive interview, this is an equally bold move from the usualy reserved and reliable France Football. It's nervy for everyone, and not what you wan't to see from your captain. I hope he stays, but if this is all part of some game, then things will be very, very bitter.

Various sources have proclaimed that it's a done deal, and to be honest this rumours has been rumbling on for months, and seems like a quite likely one.

He's French, he's very experienced, he's won loads of titles in France, and made great progress in both European and international football. He's left-footed, and can scrap and work hard just as well as he can charge forward. He's a decent finisher, if not a prolific goalscorer, and is a classy player, even if he is underrated by many (mostly because they are busy complaining about how overrated he is).

He's played a lot with Thierry Henry, and is a determined character. He'd probably be everything that Reyes wasn't, and i'm sure he'd love to work with Arsene Wenger. Plus, he's been linked many, many times before as well. Before he joined Lyon in fact, so Wenger has seen his potential ages ago.

If rumours that Gerard Houllier is going to take over as Director of Football at Arsenal are to be believed, then that makes this story even more likely than before.

A pacy, energetic winger with a bit of steel and no small amount of ability - sounds like he's needed, especially with him being left-footed (there's no one left in that department apart from Van Persie and Clichy, and of course Armand Traore in the reserves; compare that to a few years ago over overlapping periods when Edu, Silvinho, Overmars, Cole, Upson, van Bronckhorst all gave the team great balance).

Seems to be more than just speculation, and all sources seem to indicate that a deal is very close to being done (assuming it's not already wrapped up) for Legia Warszawa keeper Łukasz Fabiański.

German site GoalGate reported on April 28th, that Arsenal were interested in Fabianski , and that they had been watching him closely for the last 3 years. Then last Friday, the same website reported that Fabianski was in London and would be signing a contract over the weekend , with a reported price of €3 million.

The Sun then picked up on this a day later, when they reported with another typically awful clever headline, that Wenger was on the Luk out for a new keeper. As Sun journalists are wont to, i'm sure the writer Eric Beauchamp spent sleepless nights on extensive journeys and phonecalls to Warsaw to uncover this stunning piece of information.

Well, although the sources aren't all that fab, it really does seem like the kind of signing that Arsene would make.

Nobody really knows too much about him, but judging by his performances on Youtube, he's a strong keeper with good positioning, and decent shot-stopping:

At 1.90m he's tall enough for the Premiership, and he was picked ahead of Man United's Tomas Kuszczczak for the World Cup. He also seems like he's more than willing to get riled up when he needs to. He will though, need to learn English and get used to the physical nature of the premiership, but at 22 years of age and with Jens Lehmann staying around for one last year, i'm sure he will have the perfect chance to learn and get better.

Of course all this brings up a few more questions. Namely, what will happen to Manuel Almunia and Mart Poom? Poom of course joined the club a while ago, and is an experienced, experienced 'keeper who was at one time the toast of the Premiership when at Derby. He's only had one Carling Cup substitute apperance for the Arsenal, and I feel that he's probably there to prime for an eventual coaching role.

Almunia on the other hand is somebody that after 2 very dodgy seasons (including a dodgy Champions League final!) has finally looked composed and able this term in all his Cup appearances, as well as a 3-0 league win over Liverpool. He was always very agile, and able to make great stops, but his judgement, positioning and decision-making were always suspect. This year he has had a steady amount of games and shown himself to be upto the task, and many fans were seriously wondering whether Wenger might be inclined to let him have a run in the first team next season.

I guess we'll just wait and see.

1 man went to bed, went to bed with Ashley, 1 man and his mobile phone, went to bed with Ashley

I was fortunate enough to get tickets for the last home game in the Grove's debut season, and the atmosphere was tremendous yesterday. Unfortunately a certain cowardly left-back failed to appear - not on the pitch, on the bench, and not even in the stadium. It was disappointing because fans had probably been preparing all season for this moment, and all the songs that had been prepared had scant opportunity to be sung, but i've decided to theme this post accordingly.

2 men went to bed, went to bed with Ashley, 2 men, 1 man and his mobile phone, went to bed with Ashley

Arsenal once again showed all their failings of the season, and Chelsea showed their strengths. Arsenal went under the cosh from the kick-off, but recovered well to have a strong spell of posession, and then one the stroke of half-time when Julio Baptista broke free of the last man and was brought down in the penalty box, Gilberto duly tucked away the penalty. As a bonus, Boulahrouz was also sent off for being the last man. Arsenal had the initiatve now, and for the first 10 minutes of the second-half they had bags of chances.

3 men went to bed, went to bed with Ashley, 3 men, 2 men, 1 man and his mobile phone, went to bed with Ashley

And that was symbolic of the season really; Adebayor, Hleb, and notably (and unsurprisingly) Baptista all squandered chances, and Arsenal conceded an equaliser from a cross - sloppy marking as usual, Michael Essien heading in at the near post. Chelsea had shown great resilience in coming back into the game, and as the fullbacks pushed up for Arsenal, they somehow managed to dominate possession with their 10 men.

4 men went to bed, went to bed with Ashley, 4 men, 3 men, 2 men, 1 man and his mobile phone, went to bed with Ashley

Some good singing on the day - "F*ck Off Mourinho", "Shit Club, No History", "Liverpool", and "Ashley Cole, is a f*cking arseh*le" amongst others. I did enjoy the "Sacked in the summer, you're getting sacked in the summer" whenever Jose Mourinho began his histrionics.

5 men went to bed, went to bed with Ashley, 5 men, 4 men, 3 men, 2 men, 1 man and his mobile phone, went to bed with Ashley

Chelsea almost stole it later on in their period of dominance, when neat footwork from Joe Cole saw him place the ball high into the top left corner past Lehmann, when facing almost away from goal. But it was rightly disallowed for an offside in the buildup. Arsenal poured forward in the last 10 minutes, squandered several chances, and then with almost the last kick of the game Eboue was played in on the right, and he wound up and unleashed a high, hard shot that thumped off the crossbar. Chelsea played well, and deserved their draw, but a winner would have been nice, because Arsenal had been the brighter, more attacking force throughout.

6 men went to bed, went to bed with Ashley, 6 men, 5 men, 4 men, 3 men, 2 men, 1 man and his mobile phone, went to bed with Ashley

I can't for the life of me understand why Khalid Boulahrouz even bothered to foul, or try and win the ball off Julio Baptista. Anybody who watches football knows that when the Beast is clear through on goal, he either softly caresses the ball into the keeper's midriff or sends it somewhere near the corner flag. Silly man, deserved his red card for being stupid.

7 men went to bed, went to bed with Ashley, 7 men, 6 men, 5 men, 4 men, 3 men, 2 men, 1 man and his mobile phone, went to bed with Ashley

As I said, the game was symbolic of Arsenal's failings - inability to finish chances, to cope with pressure, and to concentrate and defend properly. The other side of the coin was displayed by Fulham's other team who with 10 men fought their way back into the game, and almost won it. Incredibly irritating, incredibly resilient.

8 men went to bed, went to bed with Ashley, 8 men, 7 men, 6 men, 5 men, 4 men, 3 men, 2 men, 1 man and his mobile phone, went to bed with Ashley

Even my dad, who was watching his first ever football match in person, said quite confidently that the Arsenal looked pointless up front, and needed a winger, preferrably a left winger. This is the same thing that fans have been saying all season, and if my dad who knows very little about football found it obvious enough to give such confident punditry, then it definitely is obvious. This of course means that in the summer we will sell two wingers and sign a central midfielder. What do I know anyways?

9 men went to bed, went to bed with Ashley, 9 men, 8 men, 7 men, 6 men, 5 men, 4 men, 3 men, 2 men, 1 man and his mobile phone, went to bed with Ashley

Watching the lap of honour after the game, there were some interesting things to be noted. For one, it was called a "lap of appreciation", which I guess is fair enough when you are not competing for any honours at all. Mathieu Flamini seemed alive and well, which was nice considering that many of us suspected that Arsene Wenger had drowned him in the hydrotherapy pool. I also noticed (albeit from a great distance) that Jeremie Aliadiere seemed to be wearing spectaces. Strikers with bad eyesight are about as valuable as goalkeepers with no hand (no disrespect meant to the fine participants of either the Blind or Disabled World Cups).

Anyways, the season's done. Tied for 3rd place on points, but in 4th on goal difference, I feel the team has moved up a level from last season. With the kids blossoming in the background, all that's needed is 1 or 2 good experienced players (left winger included), and things could be very, very interesting next year. Seriously. Last season Arsenal only got 4th spot on the last day of the season, and stuttered throughout. Of the 6 league games played with Man Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool, they lost 4, drew 1 and won 1. Pathetic. I was worried at the end of last season.

This year, of the 6 league games played with those 3, we've won 3, drawn 2 and lost 1 (to Liverpool). Both draws were against Chelsea, and both involved them coming from behind to equalise for 1-1 (and one of those was in injury time). Add to that 3-1 and 6-3 away wins over Liverpool in the FA and Carling Cups and 2 wins and 2 draws over Tottenham in 4 games, and Arsenal have dealt comfortably with the big teams. It's the small teams that have posed the problem - losses to West Ham (x2), Man City, Sheff Utd and Fulham have been unacceptable, and you add those up and it's 15 points more to the total. This is not unrealistic because in each of those matches, Arsenal dominated (sometimes 20 shots to 1), but just allowed the points to slip away. Add to those results the pairs of draws against struggling Newcastle (1-1 and 0-0) and Middlesborough (1-1 and 1-1) and that would be another 8 points. It all adds up - that's roughly 20 points, with those added to our total, we'd be contenders. All we need is to gain experience and be clinical.

10 men went to bed, went to bed with Ashley, 10 men, 9 men, 8 men, 7 men, 6 men, 5 men, 4 men, 3 men, 2 men, 1 man and his mobile phone, went to bed with Ashley

Just a quick pre-bedtime post: Arsenal face Man City in the Premiership tomorrow. City are more or less safe from relegation, and at this point i'd say have not much to play for, so the Gunners should have a slight advantage. They can wrap up 4th place in the league if they beat City, and then it should be smooth sailing. I have a sneaking suspicion though that if they can beat City and Spurs on the weekend, that they'll have a good chance of taking 3rd place away from Liverpool.

The team will be more or less the same as it was against Bolton, but Freddie is injured so Julio Baptista will probably come in for him. At this point in the season with no Robin Van Persie or Thierry Henry, it's not really worth moaning and groaning about who plays, it's better to just get behind whoever is playing and support the team. I'm looking for Hleb to get a goal tomorrow, he really needs one, and ALL the midfielders need to spend a bit of time on shooting. Bring in Dennis and Wrighty, and let them teach a bit of brilliant technique from opposite ends of a sparkling spectrum.

And lastly, on a non-football related note, I just wanted to say a little something about Kurt Vonnegut, who passed away on April 11th. Sadly, i'm so out-of-touch with things that I didn't even hear the news till today. It's sad, sad stuff.

He was such a brilliant author - a man with morals, a social commentator, and an extraordinary abuser of genres. Insightful, witty and always ahead of his time, and able to dole out irony and advice in equal measure. His brand of satire can only be described as art.

Of the many Vonnegut quotes that are floating around at the moment, here is one of my favourites:
"True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country"

I had always hoped one day to meet him, but it was not to be. Maybe it might still happen, maybe it won't. But "so it goes".

RIP Kurt Vonnegut.

Arsenal deservedly beat Bolton 2-1 today at Highmirates, going down early on (as usual) to a Nicolas Anelka goal (as usual) from the opposition's first chance (as usual). But they showed great spirit and good football to equalise and then take the lead just after the restart. Tomas Rosicky scored the equaliser after great work from Emmanuel Adebayor and some not-so-great work from Bolton's right-back/human-celery-stalk Nicky Hunt. Rosicky had looked super up for this from the start, and after taking on the Bolton defence and trying all manner of shots, it was no surprise that he stole in to capitalise on the gangly one's mistake - Hunt tried to chest Ade's cross to their keeper, but didn't sense Tommy sneaking in behind him, and he neatly dispatched the ball past Juskalaineaieiaaaieiein.

The winning goal was a special moment - 44 seconds after the break, Gilberto played a great through ball for Cesc to run on to. "El Matador" took a touch to compose himself, dummied a defender, set himself up and fooled Faye into thinking he would shoot to the far post, and then splendidly placed the ball high into the near post. His first goal since August, and his first Premiership goal this season... the first shot scored in 62 attempts on target!

The joy was all too evident on his face, and he jumped up and down madly for a few minutes before getting back to the task at hand - which was to hang on to the lead and beat Bolton. This was almost blown to bits with the horribly profligate finishing that Arsenal keep showing - About Diaby first missing a clear header on goal, and then completely messing up a one-on-one chance. He first pushed Baptista out of the way when the ball was played through, and then ran at the keeper and weakly shot straight at him when he could have set Baptista up for an easy tap-in.

Then straight down the other end, Eboue horribly handled the ball in the box, but somehow referee Rob Styles styleshly signalled that it was unintentional and ball-to-hand when it clearly wasn't. Sam Allardyce complained afterwards of course, being the insufferably ugly and painful walrus that he is, but on balance of play Arsenal deserved the win, they had 9 shots on goals to Bolton's 2.

The usual defensive problems were all too evident though - Bolton's goal came from a long ball and Kevin Nolan was given all the freedom in the world to head the ball back across goal. Lehman clawed it away, and Anelka opportunistically knocked the rebound in. Oh, and you know that rule about how strikers always score against their former clubs, well it's beginning to piss me off? Anelka with 3 against us since he signed for Bolton, and he had another 3 or 4 when playing for Man City. Annoyance!

Ok, i've had enough of this writing business for the day. I'll sign off, but first I must mention Freddie Ljungberg. He looked committed and threatening all game, but most importantly he seemed to step up a gear and try and drive the team on once we went a goal down. He never let our heads drop, and was important today even if he missed his scoring chances.

Finally... a bit of an oddity/treat. If you're using IE, then highlight the image below with your mouse. If you're not using IE, then use IE for this. Then once you've seen it, please explain it to me:

Manchester United and Chelsea both advanced to the semi-finals of the Champions League today. Whilst Arsenal haven't managed to score against either West Ham or Newcastle, United thumped 7 goals past Roma at Old Trafford to win the tie 8-3 on aggregate. Chelsea dominated slightly superior opposition away in Spain, coming back from a goal down to win 2-1 in stoppage time, and 3-2 on aggregate. Gutting stuff really.

Not only that, but assuming they overcome their semi-final opposition, there is the distinct prospect of a Manchester United vs Chelsea Champions League final, and FA Cup final. YUCK!

To add to that, if things stay as close as they are, then Wednesday May 9th might very well see the Premiership title decided in 1 game, when Manchester United play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. It's almost like 3 cup finals in a row, and the only thing that could make it worse would be if Spurs reach the UEFA Cup final.

Meanwhile Arsenal, with 2 wins in their last 11 games in all competitions are still trying to figure out how to score a goal and not let the season completely fall to pieces. I don't think a single person is in Wenger's corner anymore, and certainly no one is going to put up with another "The boys have shown tremendeous spirit, and you can see that the quality is there, and they are learning and next season we will see the benefit of that and the team will be much stronger". It's a dangerous game to play, to keep building up the merits of the next season, because too long without success and the entire project will have failed, because the youngsters will want to leave.

Millions of fans around the world aren't paying hard-earned money to see a team be slowly educated, they are doing so to see a challenge take place. The education of youngsters is supposed to be something that's happening in the background. Maybe it's just the frustration of today, and maybe i'm ignoring the big picture, but Arsene has left himself with far too much to do, and unless there is serious rebuilding in the summer, a lot of people will have no faith at all come next season. All deficiences have been clearly exposed this season - the inexperience, the lack of goalscorers, and the lack of effective players - and Arsene Wenger, with his fondness for youngsters, perception that goalscorers aren't important, and penchant for buying technicians, dribblers and passers, is to blame for all of them.

But deep down I think we all still suspect, despite his best efforts to confuse us, that Arsene still knows. Make it happen next season Boss. Please.