The transfer window is open and we
are ready to shop. Are we? It seems so as we revealed our first signing in Yaya
Sanogo yesterday evening. Ok it’s not what we have wanted as a first big
signing. But I think we are on a good way which leads me to my main topic this
week. Getting rid of the deadwood and work on all fronts.
I
wrote about the possible Johan Djourou deal to Hamburg last week. The deal was
announced on Monday with a presentation of the new signing in Hamburg. The
first year will be a loan with an option to buy at the end of the season. The
loan is worth a fee of £800,000 which will be credited against a £2m transfer
fee in case Hamburg claims the option to buy. That’s another one off the
payroll.
And
the next will follow soon after. Nicklas Bendtner will be heading to Germany as
well. I wrote about Frankfurt’s interest a week ago and as it seems
negotiations have gone well and the deal will be completed in the upcoming
weeks. A fee of £3.5m plus add-on’s is reported to be agreed between the clubs.
With Besiktas disqualified from next year’s international competitions, along
with the attraction of the Bundesliga, Bendtner has made his choice. There are
still reports Malaga are interested in his service but that’s a deal that I
can’t see happening at this point. Especially with the financial difficulties
they have. But as long as the signature is not made…you know what I mean.
Anyway Bendtner is on his way out. And we are pretty sure it’s on a plane to
Frankfurt airport.
Another
big story was the reported £19m bid for Bender on Monday. The Express reported Bayer
Leverkusen rejected Arsenal’s bid as they want to keep the core of their successful
team which finished third in last year’s Bundesliga. I reported a while back
that we were interested in Bender. That was back in spring and since then the
link has pretty much cooled down. But as it seems Arsenal came back with a bang
and tried to get the German international. As I was curious if the reported bid
was for real I contacted my mate at Cologne press (not working for Express). He
made some calls and told me that the Express has their info from within the
club (Leverkusen) and that the bid was made. That’s interesting in many ways as
there are two questions to ask.
1)
Will we come back and test the resilience?
2)
What’s the impact on the Marouane Fellaini situation?
Personally
I think we will come back with another offer. Although I think the offer is
pretty good already Arsenal seem to be after their targets this summer. What we
can be sure of now is that the reported release clause of around £15m is not existing
or at least not active at the moment. But the same situation Bayern Munich were
in last year when they needed a defensive midfielder and they were after Javi Martinez
they just improved the offer and probably paid over the odds. In the end they
were right to do so. If it’s Bender or any other player. The question will
always be the same.
Many
suggested a Bender bid means we are not in for Fellaini anymore. That’s
nonsense for me. The Bender bid shows we are working on many fronts and are not
simply concentrating on one target until he says “no” on transfer
deadline day. We try to do our business quick this summer and I hope we are getting
our targets. Fellaini is still up on our list and I’m sure we are working on
that front as well. But you need options these days. Especially if it’s about
salary negotiations the info that a club is also looking elsewhere can be a
game changer.
Enough
for this week. See you all next week. Please check out our new designed blog at www.germangunners.wordpress.com for more info.
Cheers
Chris Mader
Mad, Jens-like, thirty-something German. Waving the Arsenal flag in Münster, Germany. Red member. Visiting Arsenal matches for more than 10 years now. Still fussed EasyJet won’t get me free flights. Always down N5 with my dad. Worked in London for about half a year. Started my own German Arsenal blog about two years ago. Expert on Bundesliga issues. BVB my local club.
No comments yet.