By Aries
As you may recall Bulgarian Nicolay Dimitrov finished a week’s trial at Arsenal last month and has returned back home to his club Levski feeling that he left a good impression to Arsene Wenger and his team at London Colney.
As first reported here, PFC Levski’s official site stated that the club received communication from Arsenal which was positive about the player.
However Arsene Wenger in one of his recent interviews for Arsenal.com stated categorically that there will be no transfers in this window! He said that he was very happy with the current strike force available in Adebayor, Van Persie, Eduardo, Bendtner and also Vela who he said will be joining this summer.
Wenger of course has made this sort of statement before but has gone on to make major signings nevertheless! So we all take these sort of statements with a pinch of salt.
For a start how can he state so emphatically that he will sign no one when in fact according to Batkov, Levski’s President, Stuart Rowley and another Arsenal scout will be travelling to Israel on the 20th January to watch Dimitrov in a friendly game against Dinamo Kiev?
Batkov said : " I have received two letters from FC Arsenal, in which they mostly thank us and praise him. The first letter was from Arsene Wenger and the other - from their chief scout, who will travel to Israel together with another representative of their team to watch on Nikolay ".
Also only last week the "Independent" was reporting: “Arsenal close in on Bulgarian wing Dimitrov”. The newspaper said that “a decision on whether to buy him should be taken next week”.
Well if you are to believe football.fr, Levski and Arsenal have already started negotiations on the transfer of the young player! Apparently the two clubs are close to an agreement on a transfer price of 3 million pounds.
Levski coach Stanimir Stoilov when contacted by Bulgarian newspaper “Standart” on the matter stated that he was not aware of anything but he did not exclude the possibility that Nikolay Dimitrov might fly for England any moment!
Is Arsene Wenger about to spring another surprise? Watch this space…
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13 comments:
It would be nice to have another left sided winger. He would give a different option to Rosicky. One-in-one-out would mean that Diarra can move away as he wishes. Also this would mean Diaby might get used more in the centre rather than on the left.
Personally I think Diarra is too good to just let go of unless he really is causing problems for the team's spirit. I have lots of respect for Gilberto. He is a model professional and has brought great success to Arsenal. He brought leadership last year when there was nobody else, but, based on this years performances and his age, if we have to lose one defensive midfield option, he would be my preference.
I would be happy however if things remain as they are provided Senderos and Djourou are fit enough to cover in defence.
Steve Rowley
Steve Rowley is Arsenal's chief scout
Thank you for the continuous updates on Dimitrov.
Arsene Wenger did leave some room open for new signings when he said "...unless we get the bargain of the century". In which case an unknown from Bulgaria who is good enough for the premiership and only costs £2-3Million fits the bill exactly.
With Diaby as the only backup to rosicky, and after Diaby's recent performances it's fair to say this would be timely signing.
Chelsea buys anleka, Man u don't need anybody and Arsenal could well have enough strength in depth after this signing. Otherwise I would be highly disappointed to see more mediocre performances from Diaby.
Is it just me or is there anybody else getting fed up with constant demands from fans for another center-back. Do I have to remind people that Wenger almost made senderos team captain this year. Wenger sees him as the eventual replacement for Gallas.
Stop whining about 5 or 6 easy games without Toure! Senderos/Djourou/Sagna/Hoyte/Gilberto/Song. How much cover do you want. May I also add that Birmingham begged on both knees to keep Djourou. Hoyte did not put a foot wrong in the entire second half, everybody's crazy and plays too much Football Manager.
I can't see this happening. Wenger thinks more long term than this. And this guy is not one to win us the EPL or CL this year, he is a long term additon to the squad as he is young, lightweight and will need time to adapt to the EPL.
But we have Vela coming back next year who plays left wing and up front too. So why buy this guy if he is not going to help us this year and we have next year covered? I know Diaby is woeful on the left (I think he is woeful, period, how can he expect to play in centre mid if he never tracks back and never tackles cleanly) but getting someone for the left wing would have to be a temp measure until Vela arrives. Tom will play the big games, has stayed fit for a while now and has been playing very well in his last few games. So no worries there. If he gets injured Hleb can play there. We only have to suffer Diaby in the CC and FA cups.
I don't think we need to buy anyone. If I had my wish we would sell Senderos and buy someone from another EPL team (Taylor from Newcastle maybe?) who is young enough to understudy Gallas and Toure but good enough to be a long term player for us. Or else take a seasoned player on loan but Arsene has never done that and I can't see him starting now.
Dont you feel just a little bit worried abou the right wing position?
Manure have Ronaldo, Chelski have SWP, and we have Eboue?
We also have Hleb and Walcott (reply to January 11, 2008 5:39 PM)
And has anyone noticed how subtle Arsene is in the transfer market. Eduardo was signed with no previous suggestions or rumours.
Hleb works brilliantly in a midfiled triangle with Fabregas and Flamini, Walcott is still potential. We ahve not replaced Bob and Freddy.
My guess based on wenger's past behaviour is that Modric is option number 1, but if AW thinks Modric is overpriced (which seems to be the case if the papers are close to correct in their estimates) then AW will find a cut-price, poor man's Modric and mould him into possibly even a better player. So AW is keeping negotiations with Levska Sofia on the front burner, waiting to see if Dinamo drop their price tag.
Guys, sometimes it's just business. Buy Dimitrov & probably wenger will be able to see how far he can go. If he turns out to be a raw diamond (Sagna!) & a surplus to requirements, then he can be sold for a profit. Otherwise, someone will have to go to make way for him.
Simple as that, just an investment before the stock runs up.
the arsenal's scout is steve rowley not stuart rowley!!!!!
is this article even for real!!!!
What is your obsession with the Dimitrov transfer?
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