Arsenal Category
Arsenal football club news, Arsenal transfers
Transfer Balls: Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud Passes To Edinson Cavani On The Way Out
TRANSFER Balls: Are Arsenal looking to get shot of Olivier Giroud, their main striker?
The Metro screams:
Arsenal to offer PSG £32million plus Olivier Giroud for Edinson Cavani transfer
The Metro’s annoucnemnt is based on a single report by a website called Sport.fr. It reports:
Giroud, the perfect signing for Paris
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Transfer Balls: Arsenal Sell Lukas Podolski As Khedira Arrives And Buy Douglas Costa Who Likes AC Milan
TRANSFER Balls: The Sun leads with news that Arsenal are ready to sell Lukas Podolski to Galatasaray. Is the German going to be taking selfies in Istanbul?
German tabloid Bild agrees. Podolski’s agent, Nassim Touihri, tells the paper:
“There have always been questions. Now we have a concrete interest from some teams. Lukas is in London, and he feels good.”
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Transfer Balls: Mario Balotelli To Liverpool Makes A Liar of Brenadan Rodgers
TRANSFER Balls: Having been linked with amove to Arsenal, is AC Milan striker Mario Balotelli on his way to…Liverpool?
Italian site MediaSet says Liverpool have made a £17.5m bid for former Manchester City striker. No sources are quoted in the story. But it’s enough for the Star to run with it:
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Posted: 20th, August 2014 | In: Arsenal, Liverpool, Sports | Comments (4)
Transfer Balls: Arsenal And Spurs Battle It Out For The Player Neither Wanted
TRANSFER Balls: A look at football rumours being passed off as fact by the mainstream press. Let’s look at how much Arsenal and Spurs want the titchy Brazilian called Bernard.
The Daily Express has news:
Arsenal and Tottenham on alert with Brazilian starlet Bernard set for loan move
Ben Jefferson adds:
ARSENAL and Tottenham are on alert after Shaktar Donetsk revealed plans to try and send Bernard out on loan this season.
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Posted: 18th, August 2014 | In: Arsenal, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Transfer Balls: Sami Khedira Wants Arsenal, Teases Chelsea And Moves To Bayern Munich
TRANSFER Balls: The reporting on Real Madrid’s Sami Khedira. Is he heading to Arsenal? Chelsea? Anywhere? All these facts are from today’s media:
The Metro says the German World Cup winner is available for £8m.
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Posted: 17th, August 2014 | In: Arsenal, Chelsea, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls Royal Flush: Edinson Cavani Wants Manchester United But Heads To Arsenal
TRANSFER Balls: Is Edinson Cavani coming to the Premier League? And if he is, which club badge will he be kissing?
The Daily Express has a truly epic headline that takes in no fewer than four of the top five English teams:
Arsenal to gazump Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea with £51m bid for PSG star Edinson Cavani
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Posted: 14th, August 2014 | In: Arsenal, manchester united, Sports | Comment (1)
Transfer Balls: Samuel Eto’o Heads To Liverpool Via Arsenal, Everton, Ajax, Inter Milan And Sunderland
TRANSFER Balls: Is Samuel Eto’o heading to Liverpool? What about Arsenal, Everton, Ajax, Inter Milan or Sunderland?
The Sun says he might be.
The Sun’s story is an “exclusive” – that you can also read in the Daily Star:
The Star says “Liverpool have yet to make a formal approach for Eto’o”.
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Posted: 12th, August 2014 | In: Arsenal, Liverpool, Sports | Comment (1)
Transfer Balls: The Independent Gets Arsenal News From Wikipedia
ONCE upon a time a journalist’s job was to find answers. Now it’s just about asking questions to get clicks. Take this balls from the Independent, which added a new low to the media bilge about Arsenal captain Thomas Vermaelen making a move to Manchester United. (More on that here.)
Transfer Balls: Manchester United Sign Mats Hummels And Lose Him To Arsenal
TRANSFER Balls: Is Mats Hummels leaving Germany for the Premier League? The media hasn’t a clue. But that hasn’t stopped hacks stating rumour, speculation and utter balls as facts.
July 21
The Daily Express says Hummels has agreed to join Manchester United. The fee is £16m.
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Posted: 11th, August 2014 | In: Arsenal, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Thomas Vermaelen Agreed To Leave Arsenal For Manchester United (Via Barcelona)
TRANSFER Balls: How the media covered the transfer of Arsenal captain Thomas Vermaelen.
Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger was the subject of the April 2013 Daily Mail statement:
We won’t sell any more players to United after RVP, insists Arsenal boss Wenger
But on June 16, the tabloid-style Telegraph told its readers:
Then Sky Sports stated that Manchester United were favourites to sign the Belgian:
And the Belgian wanted United:
Sky sources have revealed that United are Vermaelen’s preferred destination and the Old Trafford club will have no problem matching or beating Barca’s offer.
And the Mirror had beaten Wenger and scored his “dream move” to Old Trafford:
And then the news broke.
The BBC noted:
Barcelona have completed the £15m signing of Arsenal’s Belgium international defender Thomas Vermaelen on a five-year contract. The 28-year-old passed a medical on Saturday and was presented to fans and media at the Nou Camp on Sunday after finalising the deal. “Coming to Barcelona is a dream move – it wasn’t a difficult decision at all,” the centre-back said.
Looks like he got his dream move after all – just not to the club the British Press reported…
Posted: 10th, August 2014 | In: Arsenal, Sports | Comment (1)
Adrian Durham’s Devotion To Arsenal Sets The Benchmark For True Gunners Everywhere
The Daily Arsenal: a case study in obsessional fandom
Why Adrian Durham’s devotion to the North London club sets the benchmark for true Gunners everywhere.
Listeners to talkSPORT – the national radio station that pumps out sing-along ads for builders’ merchants 24/7 from a ketchup-stained studio on south London – will know that surly Drivetime anchor Adrian Durham has redefined the terms ‘troll’ and ‘shock jock’ to the point where neither really does him justice any more.
A troll tends to pick on one victim and stalk them in cyberspace. Durham’s prey is an entire football club and its employees and supporters, whom he has been winding up on a regular basis for several years.
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Posted: 9th, August 2014 | In: Arsenal, Key Posts, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls Full House: Marco Reus Joins Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool And Man City
TRANSFER Balls: A regular look at rumour and speculation being passed off as fact in the media. So, is Borussia Dortmund’s Marco Reus heading to the Premier League? As ever, the media contest is to link every top player with every top English club.
Daily Mirror, December 26, 2013:
Manchester United target Marco Reus will cost £40m… Midfielder Reus had a £29.4m buy-out clause in his contract at Borussia Dortmund. But it is understood the situation has changed since Bayern Munich activated a similar clause to snatch Mario Gotze last summer.
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Posted: 26th, July 2014 | In: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Sami Khedira Signed For Arsenal On Deadline Day
TRANSFER Balls: A regular look at rumour and utter balls being passed off as breaking football news in the media. Today we look at news on Real Madrid’s Sami Khedira.
Sami Khedira is still hopeful of sealing a move to Arsenal this summer despite suggestions that the Gunners have given up trying to sign him.
The Metro does not say how it knows Khedira is hopeful, only that he is. The paper’s ability to read minds is famed.
But over in the Express, the German’s hopes of playing for the Gunners turn to disappointment:
Arsene Wenger is ready to abandon his pursuit of Sami Khedira, Morgan Schneiderlin and Lars Bender. The Arsenal boss is considering deploying Jack Wilshere in a midfield holding role next season.
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Posted: 25th, July 2014 | In: Arsenal, Chelsea, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Arsenal Sign Sami Khedira On The Never Never
IS Sami Khedira leaving Real Madrid to play for Arsenal? Transfer Balls – Anorak’s look at utter bilge presented as fact to news-hungry football fans – spots news on the website CaugthtOffside. It is an “EXCLUSIVE”:
The new Arsenal player is World Cup winner Sami Khedira.
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Posted: 21st, July 2014 | In: Arsenal, Sports | Comment (1)
Arsenal Balls: Kick Mourinho And The Moralisers Out Of Football
JOSE Mourinho says Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere is setting children a bad example. The Chelsea manager notes:
“What football players do, millions and millions are watching, lots of kids are watching.”
Well, no. Wilshere was in a hotel pool in Las Vegas. Millions of kids were not watching. One adult paparazzo lens leering at the footballer in his swimmers was.
Mourinho adds that the kids looking in will start thinking…
“…if a top football player can smoke then I can smoke and it is not a problem.”
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Posted: 19th, July 2014 | In: Arsenal, Sports | Comments (2)
Arsenal Balls: Adrian Durham Is Shouting At Pigeons
THE Daily Mail’s Adrian Durham continues his routine attack on Arsenal with a tour de force. Ignoring facts – many of which are stated in his own paper – Durham focuses on three Arsenal players involved for Germany in the World Cup final. Rumours that Durham rehearses his columns by sitting in the shopping precinct and shouting them at pigeons cannot be ruled out.
This week’s highlights are:
The FA Cup gave the fans a great day out, but seeing Arsenal players win the World Cup is a reality check for Gooners who are letting Wenger get away with it.
After waiting all this time they should demand more. And in fairness to Gooners they do want more. In fact they are so desperate for more, they have hijacked Germany’s World Cup success as some sort of trophy for Arsenal.
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Posted: 19th, July 2014 | In: Arsenal, Sports | Comments (2)
Transfer Balls: Sami Khedira Agrees Arsenal Move Without His Agent Knowing
TRANSFER Balls: What news in the mainstream media of Real Madrid’s German midfielder Sami Khedira? Let’s look at the Daily Express’ reporting on the player’s move to Arsenal.
Daily Express, June 16 – and Khedira is a Gunner:
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Posted: 17th, July 2014 | In: Arsenal, Chelsea, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Daily Mail Attacks Manchester City’s Joe Hart And Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere For Following Its Health Tips
England’s Charlton brothers, Jack (l) and Bobby (r), relax at a pre-tournament function
Date: 26/06/1966
HOW football journalism works, with the Daily Mail’s Neil Ashton. Before the World Cup, on May 20, 2014, England were at the Grove Hotel for the Lions and Roses dinner. The charity event hosted by the England Footballers Foundation “raised £362,000 in a night for charity… and even Premier League stars were surprised at that amount of money!”
One bidder paid £10,000 for a round of golf with Manchester City’s Joe Hart and Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney. Ashton notes:
In an era when it is so easy to casually criticise the players, this event, in football parlance, could be described as ‘a leveller’. Every member of that squad, from captain Steven Gerrard and vice-captain Frank Lampard to Southampton trio Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert and Luke Shaw, understood their roles and responsibilities.
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Posted: 16th, July 2014 | In: Arsenal, Key Posts, Manchester City, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Sami Khedira Wants Arsenal And £6m More To Play for Manchester United
TRANSFER Balls: Is Real Madrid and Germany midfielder Sami Khedira heading from Real Madrid to Arsenal?
The Daily Star manages to link the player with four of the biggest English clubs:
Liverpool and Man United join Arsenal and Chelsea in four-way £24m fight for Sami Khedira
Jack Wilson is in full Balls mode:
Both Arsenal and Chelsea have been linked with moves for the 27-year-old Real Madrid midfielder.
Linked by whom? Jack doesn’t say. Instead he just speculates to deadline:
But their attempts to sign him could be hit by their Premier League rivals… Manchester United were after Khedira last summer and ready to try and snap him up again. Liverpool could also reportedly move for the German.
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Posted: 12th, July 2014 | In: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Arsenal Put Santi Cazorla In The Shop Window (And Sell Him)
TRANSFER Balls: Is Santi Cazorla leaving Arsenal?
Metro, June 13: “Santi Cazorla has told Arsenal he wants to quit the club and join Atletico Madrid this summer”
The Herts&Essex Observer added: “Arsenal rocked as star demands to return home”
SPAIN midfielder Santi Cazorla wants to return to play in his home country and leave Arsenal this summer.
ESPN had more news:
Cazorla is quoted as having told a man who told a man who told the papers:
Everyone tells me [Atletico] is a good club, Koke and Juanfran are there as well [as David Villa]. But I do not know anything. Until after the World Cup I do not want to know.”
This site had a fact:
And then… Arsenal put Cazorla in the shop window, literally.
And the Arsenal bought Alexis Sanchez, as told by the Guardian:
A measure of the stature of the signing is that Santi Cazorla, Mathieu Flaimini and Mikel Arteta all cheered when they were told the news at yesterday’sThursday’s official unveiling of their new Puma kit.
The Mail was there (as were we):
Arsenal fans that queued outside Puma’s flagship store for hours enjoyed their first glimpse of the club’s new kits as Santi Cazorla, Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini stepped into the front window of the shop wearing the home, away and cup strips…
Cazorla, Arteta and Flamini were all present at a glitzy unveiling at the Puma store in Carnaby Street, before Arsenal spectacularly unveiled the kits to the public via a 20m high water projection visible from the North Bank of the River Thames, right in front of the London Eye.
And ESPN, which talked up Cazorla’s move away from the Emirates:
…Cazorla, whose superb free-kick in the FA Cup victory against Hull helped Arsenal end their nine-year wait for a trophy, was equally impressed with their new signing and believes Sanchez will help the club challenge for top honours. “He’s a fantastic player and a first class player,” Cazorla said [of Sanchez]. “He will bring even more quality to the side which is why we’re all very happy about it. We can focus on the new season and try to win the Premier League. The FA Cup win took a lot of pressure off us so it was great to end nine years without a trophy, it was very big. We will now go into the new season and try to achieve the same again.”
About that sale..
Transfer Balls: Arsenal Endure Feast And Famine In The Daily Mirror
TRANSFER Balls has a quick look at the kind of to-deadline exclusive churned out by the Daily Mirror:
Andy Dunn has words of doom and gloom to Arsenal fans:
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Transfer Balls: Alexis Sanchez Move To Arsenal Is An Undone ‘Done Deal’
TRANSFER Balls – Anorak’s regular look at speculation and rumour being presented as fact in the mainstream press. Today the Daily Mail leads with news that Barcelona’s Alexis Sanchez is on his way to Arsenal.
Simon Jones writes:
Arsenal have agreed a £34million deal in principle with Barcelona for Chile international forward Alexis Sanchez but Barcelona are waiting to see if Juventus can match the offer.
The Metro has similar news, only it does that neat trick of altering the fee to stand out as a unique story on the search engines:
The Mirror reads the round-up of figures and opts for the more circumspect:
Mirror Sport understands a deal hasn’t been completed yet, but the Gunners are working to agree a fee with Barcelona.
So. The consensus is that Sanchez is a Gooner.
Well, not quite.
On July 2, the Express told us:
Liverpool to bank Alexis Sanchez as Barcelona jet in for Luis Suarez deal
And on June 25, the Express reported:
LIVERPOOL have already completed the signing of Chile’s Barcelona star, and Arsenal and Manchester United target, Alexis Sanchez…
So said Phil Thompson, who told one and all:
“Just yesterday I heard things from people, newspaper guys who are very close to the ground at Liverpool, saying that the Sanchez deal was actually done.”
Oh, and in case any Arsenal fans are feeling happy at the news, the Independent notes:
So. No deal done…yet…
Such are the facts…
Posted: 7th, July 2014 | In: Arsenal, Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Barcelona Begin Alexis Sanchez Auction As Arsenal, Liverpool And Manchester United Check His Teeth
TRANSFER Balls: Is Alexis Sanchez heading from Barcelona to… Liverpool? Let’s see what the trusty media have been saying today:
The Daily Express says Sanchez is Liverpool bound:
Liverpool to bank Alexis Sanchez as Barcelona jet in for Luis Suarez deal
It’s a banker. Bookmakers in Malasia are paying out. But wait a moment. The Daily Mail says the player is not keen on the move.
Alexis Sanchez would prefer Arsenal to Liverpool despite Barcelona wanting to use him as part of Luis Suarez deal
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Posted: 2nd, July 2014 | In: Arsenal, Liverpool, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Arsenal Loving Sanchez Joins Liverpool Who Sell Sterling To Real Madrid And Suarez To Barcelona
TRANSFER Balls – a regular look to-dealine rumours and anonymous sources presnted as news in the mainstream media. The Independent says that Alexi Sanchez could be on his way to the Premier League:
Alexis Sanchez transfer latest: Arsenal and Liverpool to step up battle for Barcelona star
How do we know they will?
Among those linked with the player are Premier League duo Liverpool and Arsenal.
Of course, this is Transfer Balls – ome aim of which is for the media to link every top player with as many leading Premier League clubs as possible – so the Express adds:
Alexis Sanchez PREFERS Arsenal to Liverpool and Manchester United
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Posted: 30th, June 2014 | In: Arsenal, Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Mario Balotelli Plays Joins Manchester United’s Hernandez In Newlook Arsenal Front 5
TRANSFER Balls: A round-up of Mario Balotelli news in the scoop-to-deadline mainstream media:
The Guardian has news:
‘Replaceable’ Mario Balotelli could leave Milan, says agent
Could. Maybe. Any other news?
Striker’s agent says: ‘Mario is sad, desperate’
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