Arsenal bid for Zapata – Everton to nick Ramsay? – Ljungberg still an angel in my eyes

I love Fredrik Ljungberg. Always have, always will. Maybe not as much as this guy (get ready to laugh) – but I still love him and nothing that he says or does in the future will change that. While Dennis Bergkamp was the player who got me to start watchin Arsenal, Ljungberg was the man who really made me fall in love with them.

Even so, I have to admit that I was very disappointed to hear the negative comments aimed at Arsenal and Arsene Wenger made by the Swede earlier this week. However, since then, Ljungberg has come out and made a statement completing denying his earlier comments.

“I haven’t done an interview with this Russian newspaper and none of the quotes have any substance, I certainly didn’t make those comments. I get on very well with everyone from Arsenal and enjoyed my visit to the Emirates Stadium recently when Sweden played Brazil and I saw a lot of old friends.” 

So, I can rest easy again and Ljungberg can go back to being an angel in my eyes. Hurrah!

The statement from Ljungberg is just another reminder that in the world of football media very little can be taken for granted. I’d encourage you to remind yourself that when you read comments about players apparently wanting away from the club or demanding more money to stay. Most of the time these articles are just falsified rumours from newspapers trying to shock and amaze in order to attract readers.

While these sorts of stories do make up quite a lot of the material that we all comment on in this blog and others it’s important to remember to check the facts before making statements about the attitudes of the players or indeed the manager. There is no reason why one of your favourite players should turn into an absolute twat overnight because of a quote in a dodgy newspaper and I hope you can all remember that.

Just before I go it’s worth mentioning a few transfer rumours that are floating around. Alex Hleb looks like he will be joining Barcelona and not Inter Milan after the appointment of Jose Mourinho as manager of the Italian club. According to Hleb’s agent Vincenzo Morabito the Belarussian is close to signing a deal with Barcelona.

“[A deal] is close. He has been a Barcelona target for some months. I’m sorry that we won’t be able to take him to Italy, he liked Inter a lot but obviously Mourinho has made some different choices and has gone for some other names.”

Seeing as though this is the third different agent that has been involved with Hleb I just can’t be sure of whether or not this can be believed. It does make sense that Inter’s interest might have waned with the appointment of Mourinho but it’s pretty much impossible to know whether Barcelona are close to signing him.

According to Sky Sports, Arsenal have had a £9.5 million bid for Udinese defender Cristian Zapata turned down by the Italian club. Apparently Udinese value to the 21-year-old Colombian at around £15 million so if Arsenal really wants him then they will have to up their bid. Watch this space.

Another player that Arsenal have apparently been tracking is 17-year-old Cardiff City winger Aaron Ramsey. However, any interest that the club may have had in the Welsh winger looks set to be over after Cardiff confirmed that they have accepted a £5 million bid from Everton. To be quite frank I couldn’t really care less whether Ramsey signs for Arsenal or not, he’s not going to help them win the league next season and there are bucketloads of excellent young players coming through the ranks who could become better players than Ramsey. No disrespect to him, though.

Well, that’s it. Just over a day until Euro 2008 starts so if you want to get involved in any of my tournament Pikums you’ll need to join up ASAP. You’ll need a special invite code to join so if you’re interested make sure you email me at spanishfry(at)arsenalfcblog(dot)com.

Additionally, if you’re someone like me who absolutely loves retro football kits then make sure you check back here tomorrow because I might just have a surprise for you.

Have your say on Ljungberg, Zapata, Hleb or Ramsey by leaving a comment.

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Comments

  1. Looks like we need to pay more anyway what are we to do with the millions hanging around it seems every deal we are trying to do seems to fall apart like a blogger says we need experience players in the back department.

  2. Given that he isn’t exactly high profile, I’d be less surprised if the story is true. We know Wenger wants to recruit a defender and this kind of no name brand is just his style. However, I can’t see us paying more than 10 million for a defender.

  3. The other thing that should be mentioned is that at no stage have Cardiff confirmed that Arsenal are the other club – where did this come from, apart from pure speculation?

  4. My friends a Cardiff City season ticket holder, and he reckons Ramseys world class. He must be if Man Utd want him too.

  5. First lets get you educated.

    1) Ramsey is the best young player ive seen since Cesc arrived. He will not get the chance to shine with ManU as he would at AFC…just remember how Fergie rushed to outbid everyone for Rossi & Pique only to turn them ito alsorans. In contrast, Arsene brought in for next to nothing, Cesc, Merida, Traore, Senderos, Djourou, Clihy, Anelka, Toure, Eboue, . AND he brought in for a pittance (ie:under £4 mill )Viera, Petit, Jens, Freddy, Pires,Flamini .The list goes on. The only BIG investment he made that he failed with was the Everton kid who was just lazy. All the other buys like Henry, Overmars, Wiltord, Petit ,Vier , Anelka, now Hleb he sold for a big profit.

    Ramsey + Hennersey would be really great buys and they would be big stars in a couple of years IF they came to AFC.

    Point two…Zapata…at his age and with his skill he would solve the shocking whole in the centre of our defence. If he is the right man and I think he is, then AW should pay up to the £13 mill he paid for Wiltord. The money from winning trophies alone will compensate as that was the defference between us walking the league and losing so many games we had led for so long.

  6. Your statement “However, any interest that the club may have had in the Welsh winger looks set to be over after Cardiff confirmed that they have accepted a £5 million bid from Everton.” is bizarre and illogical.

    Cardiff are reported to have accepted offers from Arsenal, Man Utd and Everton and it is down to the player to decide where he wants to go. Why do you think that Everton tagging along at the end makes them most likely to win the race? I would have thought that they are least likely to come out on top.

  7. i would think Everton offering him the chance of first team football would see them as favorites. If he proves his class, he’ll be available for a bigger team.

  8. Ramsey – I have no doubt that if he is left with a choice between Arsenal and United, he will choose the latter. Weighing up the situation, Arsenal is clearly the better destination for him with Wenger’s ability to nurture young talent. People don’t realise that Ferguson hasn’t groomed a youngester from that age since the crop that won the treble.
    However, the lure of United will probably be too strong, and they will no doubt tell him that he will replace Paul Scholes soon. (I doubt he’ll be in the team that quickly). United are bigger unfortunately and carry more prestige, however unfair that is.

    Zapata – I have seen Udinese a few times this season, and he is a promising youngster with all the right attributes to be a success – at 21 he is now captain – but paying anymore than Arsene has allegedly offered would be a huge gamble. With that sort of money we should be buying proven talent rather than potential. Also, for around £10million there are experienced centre backs available, and I for one would be disappointed were we not to sign one.

    Premiership player – Just out of interest, remember when Arsene said he’d try to recruit from abroad and from the Premiership (less risk), does anyone have any idea who he was referring to?

  9. I too feel so much happier about Ljungberg. I’m loyal, probably to a fault to my Swedes (bit mad for a half-French-half-Irish girl). I was disappointed with it too and while it didn’t stop me liking him, it did tarnish the shiny just a little.

    I’ve given up speculating on everything regarding transfers. Arsenal will get what they get, and my footballing love will continue. In some ways, I hope Ramsey does go to Everton for a couple of years so he gets some good first team play to really develop.

    Hleb’s either being screwed over by the media or has submitted to a schizophrenic management style. I can’t really tell anymore.

  10. Whats the matter is Welsh not foreign enough for you, or will you get confused because he speaks English

  11. I really hope Wenger sign zapata because he is just as good as M Richards but a little bit cheaper….

  12. regarding Hleb – I had a look at his website since I could not figure out who is really representing him… did not find out much, although one name that has crept up recently – Uli Ferber – seems to be associated with a company called Ferber Media… it’s a PR company that seems to be responsible for Hleb’s image – but certainly not for any transfer business…
    regarding morabito or whatever his name is, there was a story yesterday on football365 reporting the outrage of jan-klaas huntelaar’s real agent about comments made by this morabito guy that huntelaar would soon join real madrid… seems to be some kind of transfer-trouble maker, probably the source of thousands the rumours flying around…

  13. Am getting too bored and tired of speculations and transfer rumours linking players,but to make it worse our manager does not bother to bring some smiles into our faces by signing some players, if he had done so earlier i would be hopeful.To be sincere am facing nightmares because of this transfer window,hope the professor will do something sooner than later.

  14. Am not certain and don’t know about Zapata & Ramsay so i can’t comment on them, but Ljungberg & Hleb have been great players for Arsenal whom i did’t want to leave because of their playing styles and contribution to the team.

  15. just read in the print version of the guardian that hleb’s agents are apparently Uli Ferber and Nikolai Shpilevski… Morabito seems to be some ‘floater’ or tosser who acts as a middlemen… anyway, I would be really interested in some background stories about how transfer deals are actually realised in reality – if anyone can recommend some literature on this, would be grateful…
    and I would not like to see hleb leave. he has not scored many goals and has not much assists to his name, but I liked him already when he played for stuttgart and he can certainly break up defensive playing teams

  16. tdp richards from man city was the english player arsne wanted and he’s a arsenal fan as well so he would be great but now hughes is manager can’t see him selling any of his players to the others in the top 4 if he can help it. Plus I would rather have hennesey than fabianski as no.2 because 9 clean sheets in his 1st 9 games plus a 40 yard free kick sounds like a bloody good goalie to me and fabs looked very out of depth when I saw him in the cc last season.

  17. Zapata is class for a lad his age. He really is quality but for quality and youth Arsenal is going to have to pay. I think it’s the same deal with Nasri. It might sound crazy but potential is something that is quickly being equated with experience. If Arsene wants a bargain he’s going to have to dig deeper into his hat and find someone who we come out and say “Who the heck is that?”

    As for Freddie it’s good to see he didn’t make those comment I always and still am a fan. Also good news to see Sanga’s contract extended.

  18. Does anybody have any information about the Adebayor situation, I really dont want him to leave, he is a big goal threat and a main man for Arsenal next season, can anyone help me out.

  19. All I know is Ac Milan wants to sign him. Adebayor is happy to go but Arsenal’s asking price is £32 million which AC Milan don’t have I think £30million will be a good bit of business.I doubt Milan will pay that amount its risky business as Adebayor had one good season and he is not proven in the Champions league and we have to remenber Ac milan don’t create many chances as Arsenal do and that is why he has done well this season. To be honest if he goes I will not worry that much we can use the money for a far clinical finisher tahn him he gives us aerial threat which can be replaced with Bendtner.

  20. I love Ade absolutely love him and would be sad to see him go but if it’s for 30 plus million I certainly wouldn’t be crushed. Well maybe I would, if we didn’t use that money to buy.

  21. Regarding Adebayor, it looks like a pretty lame story to me, exactly the type that I’m talking about in this article.

    Milan might be targeting Adebayor but at the end of the day it’s just a rumour with no substantiating evidence. I can definitely see why Milan would want him though, after he ran them ragged at the San Siro.

    Just for the record, I would be crushed to see him go. He has the potential to be the best in the world.

  22. I agree with Spanish Fry, at the beginning of the season I didnt like Ade but now I would be devastated to see him leave however 30 million would pay for David Villa so either way, a clinical striker will be at the Emirates.

  23. Sf-unfortunately most rumours turn out to be true.there is no smoke without a fire. if Adebayor wants to become a world class player he must stay at Arsenal to improve his ability. Anelka recently confessed that his biggest mistake was leaving Arsenal very early in his carrer and this is a man who played for top clubs won titles the champions league with Madrid and yet he feels had he stayed with Arsenal he would have become an even better player and a legend a status given to very few players and no money can buy. Thierry will remain a legend at Arsenal and in the history books while he will be forgotten.

  24. @ Le Gunner – I disagree. There is often smoke without fire. What happened to the Adebayor-Barcelona stories? They came and went in a flash. The same thing is likely to happen with this AC Milan link.

    Many many rumours pop up with little or no substance and they’re not worth considering until player comments are quoted in respectable newspapers or websites. Just my opinion anyway.

  25. I dunno if this is just a rumor Spanish. In Milano its said that all the Adebayor deal is waiting for is AC to pay 40 million. I hoe this is true! I want Adebaor gone so we can get a real striker like Villa, and use the rest to bid on Miguel Veloso. My sources knew about the Flamini move months before it happened, and altho i havent talk to that person about Adebayor… The AC fans in general are pretty sure this move is gonna happen. If its not true i’ll be very dissapointed.. im not a Adebayor fan, let the Milan fans be frustrated with this wanna be Thierry Henry.

  26. 16 mill for henry 32 for ade?????????????? Who comes up with these prices at our club needs to be shot. Plus spurs have dos santos so there goes my swap with hleb +10 mill idea but I would like eto in our team as he could be our drogba.

  27. @ Demetrio – How can you want Adebayor to leave after he scored 30 goals? He’s only 24 and has so much to give. I’m perplexed!

  28. I would love Villa to join Arsenal and if Adebayor was sold then that could happen however I would rather see Adebayor stay at the Emirates and so I am also in a disagreement with Demetrio and am for only the second time ever i believe lol agreein woth SF.

  29. Hey guys i am lara from India. i am a big big fan of cesfabregas of arsenel. i am new to this blogs and comments. so i really don’t know what to say. but whatever it is i am a really big fan of fabregas than any one else in the world. He should be the upcoming beckam of world football history. Spanin is really a fortunate country. So i would like to thank to Spain which gave us the wonder. IF you seen the euro 2008 won of spain. Definetly the fabregas is the match winner of all matches even in arsenel he is the match winner and he is the entertainer and he is the best of me now and then. So i wish to stay fabregas on the arsenel club forever. As like as fabregas i like arsenel also. i don’t know its because of fabregas and gallas. So see you. …………

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