Chamakh confirms signing + Spurs bring final game to life

Two big pieces of news to discuss today.

The first is that we will be joined in the Champions League next season by Tottenham.

Earlier today I posted an article with five reasons why I am happy it is Spurs, not Manchester City, in Europe next season. However, the result does have an immediate negative impact on us: lose against Fulham on Sunday and we open up the opportunity for Tottenham to steal third place.

With Fulham likely to field a reserve team with the UEFA Cup final to be played on Wednesday that is still unlikely to happen, yet it is a mark of just how poor our finish to the season has been that things are so tight.

The second big piece of news of the day is that Bordeaux and Morocco striker Marouane Chamakh has absolutely, positively, without-a-doubt confirmed that he will play for us next season. Speaking with reliable French paper L’Equipe he said:

“I am delighted to become part of the English football atmosphere. It is something amazing. Arsenal were not alone [in making an offer]. There were approaches from Liverpool, Tottenham and crazy offers from Russia that were much bigger than those from England, but I was focused on playing in the Premier League.

“Bordeaux offered me a contract extension that was almost impossible to refuse, financially – the figures were very close to those offered by Arsenal. I have always loved Arsenal’s football. I know I will have to adapt, but I have experience of playing the short passing game from working with Yoann Gourcuff.”

“I am counting down the days – 11 short days.”

Although it is hardly a surprise to hear the move confirmed it is extremely good news. Chamakh will give us another physical option up front to go with Robin van Persie and Nicklas Bendtner, allowing out frontline to rotate as required as well as ensuring we never have to see Andrey Arshavin play alone up front again.

He’s not going to be a player that scores bucketloads of goals, Chamakh, but his pace and power from the right side of the front three will be a valuable asset to the team. Personally I don’t think he will start the season as first choice which could irk supporters wanting a David Villa, yet I believe his value to the team will become more prominent as the season progresses and van Persie and Co are allowed to stay fresh.

It should be noted that Chamakh captained Bordeaux in the Champions League quarter-finals, which suggests he could be a leader in a similar mould to Thomas Vermaelen. At 26 he is hardly a pup and it is good to see the manager add a player that will be ready to make his mark from day one.

It does prompt one uncomfortbale question to be asked though: does this spell the end for Eduardo?

Thoughts?

Have your say on Tottenham’s qualification or Chamakh’s signing by leaving a comment.

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Comments

  1. Good news, but we still need a striker who can score atleast 25 goals a season. And i dont see the expirience we lack in chamakh. So AW should sign or he should resign!!

  2. I can honestly see Chamakh garnering around 12-15 goals next year, but he’ll have 25+ assists. He won’t be the top goal scorer for us, but that’s not the purpose of his presence. The really critical aspect of his presence will be in link up play and drawing off attention from van Persie, Arshavin and Bendtner (depending on the combo on the pitch).

    As long as he finishes his chances, gives us another link up option for Cesc or anything coming from midfield and allows the other attacking options more freedom to put themselves in scoring opportunities, we’ll all be VERY thankful for his arrival to the squad.

  3. I wont support anybody talk about Gallas or Sol or Nasri, Eboue, Walcott, Sagna, Clichy, Rosicky, Vela or even Eduardo leaving. If they want to leave fine, alright….but let them leave first.

    Diaby and Silvestre…I can agree, but not any other for now…..TILL WE CAN BUY FIVE OR SIX NEW PLAYERS.

    Look at Bayern for example, they got a lot of new players in and overhauled their team….they are in the champs league final. Robben is not the only player that lifts them up, he’s had his fair share of injuries too….but they also have good replacements for him and Ribery.

    We shout about not having RVP(excellent player) for the whole season as if we were all blind when all our manager did was to buy Vermalen pre-season. Why couldn’t he strengthen then, he even had January? We all felt Arshavin will do the job as a winger? Well he is not one, he is completely played out of position all season long and is seriously trying to adapt to a new style of playing on the left and is frustrated he is not delivering cos he is learning a new style. I pity him. He is world class.

    Do we really follow this team? Don’t we all know the main problem of this team for the past 2 seasons is that we do not score goals?
    The players tried to show that they were up for it at the start, but all that determination later fizzled out cos we do not even have competition for places in the squad(diaby knows he will walk into the team and demand a starting shirt etc. we do not also have world cup bound players trying to impress their local coaches) amongst other reasons including injuries to key players (forcing them to miss key games), alongside demoralising defeats like the one we suffered to the Mancs and united in succesion early in the season etc.

    The simple answer was for Wenger to get a suitable replacement for adebawhore, since he seemingly replaced kolo with Vermalen, but letting Senderos go was a critical error in his judgement and completely questions his man management skills (How could he ever prefer Silvestre?). Didn’t we all see that the spuds have 4 solid strikers(i mean centre forwards)? How many do we have? Just one(RVP). Its a shame the rest are not good enough. Doesnt this sum it all? Now we have CHAMAKH…. Only? What of the villa’s, the Agbonlahors, the solid speedy strikers who are good in finishing? Why cant we think of getting a 25 goal a season striker? Even if they cost 50mil, why not buy the quality? City bought Ade from us and they are reaping, even if they will use him for only a season….but they have the money, don’t they?
    Look at where Eto is playing for Inter? He is being managed properly. Cant we buy 2 world class strikers? Or atleast one?

  4. i dont think we should force aw to resign. maybe we shall give them 1 last year to end the drought. AW have to resolve the midfield prob. we cant really be sure that fab4 will stay fit the whole season. wihout him there’s no 1 else unless nasri steps up. we need a center midfield to link up the song or another DM wit cesc. Diaby is only good when both cesc n song r playing, otherwise he is shit. Denilson is shit in any position.

  5. This is AW most crucial summer in his tenure. If he does not buy right and solve our problems, he could face the biggest fan revolt next season.

  6. Chamakh fine…but i feel we need players with more firepower and better credentials.
    Filipe Melo, Arjen Robben, Di Maria (think he is moving to Real), Lucio/ Juan, Upson and Joe Hart are absolute must to get good results in the next year.

  7. Chamakh is a 25 goal season striker.Chamakh has the same quality as Vermaelen.The only difference between them is Vermaelen is a defender.Chamakh is a quality player,Love me or hate me come next summer Chamakh will prove his quality.

  8. We need seal our 3rd to makd sure we qualify for champs league without strugles & we also need chamakh to gunn for us next season!

  9. What i like most about chamakh is his attitude and dedication, i believe it is a good news for us but AW should add atleast two other quality players.

  10. AW has done well for us but he cannot take it any further – if he had 100 mil to spend he wouldn’t spend it anyway so what’s the point. What a shame when Spurs pip us for 3rd (I know I am a terrible pessimestic but having seen Wigan 3 Arsenal 2 who wouldn’t be.

    Paddy O’Neill
    arsenal supporter since 1966

  11. The ultimate test fof the incompetence of this French lad sholud come at thelast game of season. Should by any chance Arsenal lose 3rd spot then we must force his resignation immediately .We have really been patient and this mediocrity must come to an end at some point. I would take it if lost with a perfect team likened to Madrid but losing to mediocer teams because the copach has arrogantly refused to buy is detestable.

  12. What about the GK from Portsmouth – James? He seemed decent when I saw him play – better than our options now. And we should be able to get him on the cheap!

  13. Andrew, I understand you are in Australia and may well be 18 hours ahead of us which is why, I presume, you have heard about the 100% definite Chamakh signing and we haven’t. It is totally unmentioned over here (England) in any paper, on any news or sports channel and not a word on the official Arsenal site. Maybe, therefore, you can also tell us who is our new prime minister and what horse will win the 4.40 at Fontwell this afternoon?

  14. I am not happy about this Chamakh deal. Look at the standings of the European Golden Boot table, Chamakh is nowhere to be seen. For me, it is clear, we need a striker who scores goals, NONE, yes NONE of our strikers have scored more than 10 league goals all season, the last thing we need is a striker who averages 8 goals a season. I also think anyone who expects him to be a monster on the right side of a front 3 needs to revise their expectations down significantly. His speed is not good enough to beat a full back, and he is not creative. Look at what Eto’o does on the flanks, he can provide assists or drift in at the right time to score. That is the kind of striker we need, not Chamakh. We already have strikers who don’t score tons, we don’t need another, especially on a big fat contract.

    If Wenger was so concerned about having an aerial threat, why did he sell Adebayor who was improving and scored 34 goals in 2 seasons, how we needed a lethal striker like that now, forget his attitude,the only thing that counts are goals, and he was beginning to score consistently.

    If you look at the Golden Boot table, players we should be looking at are Suarez (35 goals), Kiessling (21 goals), Dzeko (21 goals), Cardozo (24 goals), we need strikers that defenders know will make them work hard. If I was Terry/Vidic, I wouldn’t lose too much sleep on Chamakh.

  15. Andy, we need to buy at least a keeper of holding midfielder as well. This is a crucial season for AW!

  16. I’d like to see Eboue as British Prime Minister. How long would he last during Prime Minister’s Questions before grabbing his knee and diving under the dispatch box in agony and moaning at the Speaker of the House for a free kick?

  17. @ Croyance – I see where you are coming from, but that discounts the quite incredible firepower we had in the early part of the season. The goals weren’t necessarily coming from van Persie or Bendtner but their presence in the team was allowing the midfielders and wingers to prosper and their injuries hurt us.

    Chamakh is insurance more than anything: a player who can rotate with the other two and ensure that injury crises can be dealt with. People have been crying out for depth and that is exactly what he gives us in the top third.

  18. @ Rian – I think we need a GK and a CB. But what’s the point in crying out for that on the day when we have another player confirmed? Live in the moment.

  19. being one of the popular naysayers here i would like someone to please for the love of god tell me what is so P(*(&*&&*^ hot about Chamakh or whatever his name is.

    the guy is in the peak of his career and his club record shows that he scores 28 per cent of the time. Why did we not buy Lampard then.

    Personally i do not think we need a striker for this rebuilding stage. Serious midfielders, centrebacks and a goalie is our problem. but for the love of god if we are going for a striker at least get a good one. The top guys we play have strikers who are 50 per cent rates on average. What does Chamakh do? does this guy have a rep. and i mean not a nice name but in League One show me a golden booter.

    Is it that as gunners our standards have fallen so much to this! Every year —- ooh maybe next year. The fact is for us we WILL NEVERWIN ANYTHING WITHOUT A SOLID MIDFIELD AND BACKLINE. How do we expect to win a league when even when we had nothing to play for we lose at Blackburn. BLACK _*()*(&*(^%V BURN!

    What people if Arsene wins nothing next year! Are we still going to say maybe next year. What is he doing to win this year. Chamakh??? ooh please.

  20. I welcome the addition of Chamakh but I fear this would be the end of Eduardo, such a pity, Eduardo was a clinical finisher before his injury.

  21. @ unchained – I just explained what I think Chamakh’s role will be. People want depth and then they have a cry when we bring in players who fit that description, it makes no sense.

    @ Croyance – To answer you comment about Adebayor: he wanted to leave. He wanted to play for another club, to get more money. Wenger wants players that want to play for the club, not players who play for the dollars.

  22. im afraid this could be the end for eduardo. we can all agree he hasnt been the same since his injury. the strikers we have now are rvp, bendtner, eduardo, vela and chamakh, while walcott is an auxillary striker i guess. not including theo, that’s 5 forwards, and most clubs have 4 main strikers. although im not sure what the deal is with vela – he hasnt had much game time either, although he starts (and stars) for mexico. so maybe one of either eduardo or vela will go. i’d prefer to keep vela, he’s got age and health (physical and psychological) on his side compared to edu.

    oh and i have to agree with the other posts that diaby needs help. he doesnt seem to understand his role on the pitch. perhaps wenger doesnt spell it out to him every week, but he should. diaby only knows his role when song is on the pitch, because it means that he doesnt need to do much defensive work. its clear he doesnt like defending – how many times are we frustrated when he loses the ball and doesnt bother tracking back! he needs to understand that when denilson is playing, both of them need to share the defensive work since denilson isnt even half as good as song at DM. being cynical, i’d say we should sell diaby and buy a solid DM to compete with song. but wenger will never do that! though we do need a competent back-up for song…

  23. Andy, I see your point, however can we guarantee that Bendtner and RvP will go the entire season unscathed again? Even if they do, I really don’t see any of them landing the Golden Boot, or making the difference in the really big games, there is still space for 1 elite striker in the side. There also can’t be a guarantee that teams will find solutions to stop the midfield scoring so much, and they have all learned to counter quickly when ever our CB’s come forward, the only thing teams cannot prepare for is an elite striker that can make the difference at any time, as much as I like RvP, he is not an elite striker based on his records, yet.

    Is this the best the club can do as well? Is this the best striker we can come up with, given he will be on a £14m contract over 4 years, he is not coming cheap. i don’t think it would be expensive acquiring Dzeko for £21m which is his buyout clause, his contract would be £12m, total of £33m (Toure-Adebayor money will cover that surely), he is the real deal. He is an elite striker, he is the type who will put Bendtner on the bench, and that is always a good thing, buying players who are already better than what you have.

    I’m just underwhelmed with this deal, it won’t make the difference with us winning a trophy or not, and that should be our ultimate aim, sorry to make this look negative, but I want trophies back at the club.

  24. Sensible piece of cost free business from the manager. As Andy said, it adds depth and quality to our strikeforce.

    We don’t need a ’30 goal a season striker’ – we have RvP. He didnt get to play that central role much this season but expect him to flourish there next season, with Bendtner backing him up.

    Eduardo might well have to leave but I hope Vela stays. He is still young and another season in the carling cup and/ or a loan deal may be necessary for him. It will be hard with Wilshire coming though too but it can only be good for the club.

    Now let’s concentrate on beating Fulham.

  25. Based on what I saw of Chamakh this season, I don’t think it will take him long to find his feet at the club. Bordeaux are more of a defensive scheme which I think is what stymied his goal scoring. Having said that, this year he linked up nicely with bordeaux best passer, Gorcouff, and thats with only one passer on the team. Imagine what he can do with multiple amazing passers. I think that Chamakh will actually prove his quality from the off, somewhere between 15 and 20 goals. I foresee him being the player that scores goals in bunches against the smaller teams and provides gravy for the other scorers in the big matches.

    As far as our favorite Crozilian, I think he will in fact move on. I think he is at a point in his career where he needs more and more first team football, and he is just not getting it. Frankly, I don’t know what to make of him. On the one hand, he is a finisher par excellence. His talent is hard to deny. On the other hand, there is a consistency issue that is becoming a tad frustrating for every party involved. I hope he stays, as I feel the best is still to come from him. But I will leave with this thought, is there such a thing as “too fragile” for the EPL, and if so, do we have too many players that fall in that category.

  26. Simple. If we have the one but not the other we most probably wont have silverware next year! If I remember correctly this year we did not have a problem scoring…..our problem was that we were leaking goals!

  27. Can’t believe the “Freak’ from Spurs dare claim they can leapfrog us. We may not be at our best at the moment but we are definitely better Spurs. Looks like the robotic “Freak” is having a swelling up in his head.

    Watch out as Spurs crash out in the coming Champion League campaign.

  28. Surely Chamakh cant be anything but cover. In the formation that we play will he start?

    RVP will be in the middle of the front 3. He wont start unless we change our formation. Im a believer in two upfront. We havent got the players to play in the same formation as Barcelona. We dont have a Messi or a Pedro. We have Walcott, and for all the chances that AW has given him… He is just not good enough. Players know how to play against him.

    We HAVE to buy defenders, and i do mean at least two, and AW need to be real with himself and the team and just say some of the players are not good enough.

    There is no point keeping dead weight in the team.

  29. I think Chamakh will certainly add depth to our squad and if his comments are anything to go by, he seems really hungry to succeed. We also need to align this signing with maybe two or three more. A keeper and a defensive midfielder and/or a center half. Hopefully our current injury crisis will lessen and (here we go again) I really think we can push on next season.

    With regards to the spuds haven’t won the (champions) league since 1961 qualification, I hope this is the kick up the arse(nal) we all need to stretch our selves further, the added spice to the North London derby will I hope concentrate us throughout next season.

    Personally I wanted citeh to win last night due to my unyielding hatred of all things Tottenham, but even I couldn’t help but laugh at Adebarndoor’s forlorn expression at the end of the game and the thought of getting over 45 million for him and toure.

    As for sundays game I think the team really owe us a good performance so hopefully we will limp home in third place.

  30. Hey guys been reading all over the net that walcott should stay but lets be real he has been at arsenal for a while and yes he has had injuries but has he shown any significant improvement in the last two seasons at least some should be evident for me he cant play on the wing because he has no tricks or skill all he has is pace and that is not enough and dont think he is good enough or maybe for a better point the philosophy of the football at arsenal does not suit him i guess i can say the same about nasri diaby, deneilson, bedtner, clichy the goalkeeprs, djourou, all these palyers have shown minimal development i wonder if they were at old trafford what would have occured because their conversion rate of players into world class is a lot better rooney, ronaldo, york, scholls , giggs, may i go on all wenger boast of developing players how much of them go on to be really world class you can count not a lot the best i would say would be henry and he only won 2 titles ronaldo alone won three and a champions league in less time so i think the arsenal policy has too much flaws and wenger must take the blame we need to get rid of him or we will not win a bucket or a towel in football you have to balance the books and still win what top club in europe would have a manager who has not won a trophy in six years none am sure I am sick with excuses…………….

  31. We sign Chamakh on a free and i think he looks kinda average while chelsea are gonna sign torres for 70 million,how can we hope too compete with that? its gonna be another frustrating season and i think every arsenal fan knows it.

  32. Andrew!!!dozens of thanks for your patriotic job.By any means,we must not let Eduardo out.he suffered a bad injury while playing for us and we have to wait until he return back to his best.Arsenal is known for its human and fair policy to its players not only in good times but also in bad times.we must remember his best times before he got injured.believe me if we have the patience, again Eduardo will be one of the dead finishers in the world.

  33. Nice comments all, appreciate them.

    To again clarify what I believe Chamakh will bring to the team:

    1. Cover for both RVP and Bendtner in the centre and on the right of the attack

    2. Gives the manager the option to rotate our forwards to keep them fresh, but maintain a physical presence at all times

    3. Aerial ability unlike anyone else in the squad

  34. Andrew, couldn’t agree more that he would be a good cover for RVP and Bendy…but i still think we need a good blocker in the midfield (so that Diaby, Nasri and Cesc can freely), a good central defender as a backup for Verminator and Gallas and definitely a good GK (preferably Joe Hart, if not Buffon)…

  35. i do belive that arsenal dont need a new keeper mannone anyone remember this gun in the goals??

    i think fabiasnski should go and mannone gets the no1 jersey its quite possible that arsne wont think of this.

    but sponges like diaby eduardo and bendter should go…

    sure bendtner scored a few but he is not consistent

  36. Paper talk, that Henry could be coming back, Any thoughtś??, i would love to see him back.
    I think Eduardo may go, he is not the same anymore.
    Nothing wrong with Bendtner, he is still young and has a lot to learn, give him time.
    And to all those idiots calling for AW to go, Forget the silverware, look where we are today, beautiful new stadium, always competing in the champions league, financially secure, play the most attractive football, can compete in the transfer market if needed, have one of the best youth grade systems in the world.
    We don´t buy success like Chelski, who´s long term future is determined by Mr moneybags, same as Man City. we develop success which will take time. meanwhile sit back and enjoy beautiful football.

  37. lets just hope arsene knows what hes doing. BOTTOM line is we require reinforcements this summer and he should realise it. yes we have a relatively large squad and the young players we have are acquiring experience year on year, but given our injury toll which seems to occur every season, its obvious that most of the replacements we have i.e bendtner, fabianski, denilson, djorou, are plain and simply JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH..

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  38. jeez……………
    There is a big difference in footballing terms between ‘depth’ and ‘volume’.
    Depth is what chelsea have….they can replace quality with quality and still maintain the tactical approach or formation without weakening.
    What some of you are talking about now is ,firstly, only speculation as you dont know how Chamakh will fit in, and, secondly, if hes to be a first choice striker then that means you are sayni Bentdner is the ‘depth’ and that is just hilarious because he hasnt got the quality.
    Once again it appears so many are desperate for miracles rather than going for the facts…….Chamakh is not a quality proven goalscorer….hes just a ‘bargain’ that will cost 14m in wages…..14m that could have been put towards a quality international footballer.
    I welcome Chamakh and hope he does well but Wenger is a joke.

  39. CHAMAKH IS A GOOD PLAYER I BELIEVE UNDER WENGER HE WILL DO WELL IN THE LEAUGE, I SAY KEEP JACK WILSHIRE GIVE HIM ROSICKY PLAYING TIME…
    WE NEED PLAYERS WHO PLAY HARDER A PHYSICAL GAME EVERYBODY KNOWS WE ARE SKILLFULL ONCE WE GET HIT EVERYONE LOOKS SCARED TO TAKE POSSESSION OF BALL AND LOOSE POSSESSION
    I THINK WE SHOULD SELL ROSICY GUY IS TO WEAK LOOKS LIKE LITTLE KID PLAYING WIT THE BIG BOYS ALWAYS GETTING KNOCKED DOWN …OR AS FOLLOWS

    SELL THESE PLAYERS
    ROSICKY-TO WEAK FOR THIS LEAGUE
    FABIANSKI-NEEDS TO LONG TO GROW, AND WE NEEDED A TITLE LIKE THIS SEASON

    SOL CAMPBELL- ITS OVER…… WE NEED FRESH LEADERSHIP AT THE BACK F-THE EXPERIANCE OUT OF BREATH CRAP

    LOAN
    FRAN MERIDA- GREAT PLAYER JUS NEEDS GAMES

    BUY BUY BUY!!!!!
    JOE HART
    MARCELO-REAL MADRID
    PANDEV-INTER MILAN

  40. Is this an indication we might shift to the 4-4-2 formation?…….i mean 4-3-3 has been a big time failure……….n if we really have to stick to 4-3-3 we need 2 strong and experienced CD(i think we are surely parting with Gallas and Silvestre) and one proper back for Song………or else we will surely concede too many goals!!!

    Yes Eduardo and Vela both might be sold or loaned!!

  41. AW’s plan isnt working? Is it? I think AW is making all this transfer speculation on purpose to take peoples mind away from the fact that we finished third/fourth again!

  42. AW is a joke for ever, i expect nothing new this coming season, he is a miser of the highest degree, i think he tops the PL in this sense.

    it is good to get into debate about the possibility of getting new players, but from AW record, he is sure going to get them, but not the ones whop are going to turn the club round, he cannot afford to see his accounts depleted for any trphy.

    what i think he will want to do is continue with his fetuses project which i hope to hear this time again, has POTENTIAL, which never gets to realise that potential.what the hell, he cant buy quality!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  43. Opinions! Opinions!!opinion!!!. we need to move on. we need more consistency. we need to have hope when playing chelsea and man u, they have beaten us how many times in this last two seasons? manu 5times chelsea 4 times? We have potential indeed but we want to win something… its frustrating been a gunner for this long… Lets buy if we have to, i know mr. wenger doesent spent much more but when he does he sure brings quality.

  44. up gunners , gunners till eternity.congratutions to my dear club , it has been a long session , we have really shonw that we a force to recorn with in europe football.De Prof should let fabregas go at least this coming session and try and bring in good defenders not minding thier age football is all about exprience. thank .

  45. Its a gr8 news for our club ,,,That we are signing chamakh ……Exchange clichy with buffon and almunia exchange fabianski with j . hart and sign arteta and cicinho ……Cicinho is a gr8 brazilain RWB …..Dont sell rosicky ………..

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