Tomas Rosicky has “reportedly” picked up an injury to his hamstring that will see him out of action for 5-6 weeks. I’m sorry, but no. The Sun did this just one week ago with a story stating that Eduardo would be out for up to two months. After proceeding to notch a goal in the Emirates Cup a few days later, I took this to mean that he would be okay. Now the same publication is claiming Rosicky has picked up a serious knock, and maybe he did. Its just largely suspicious that no sources were quoted, and that not one official publication (BBC, Arsenal.com, Sky Sports, et al) has even run the story yet. Not even one of those ‘Report: Rosicky Injured’ ones, where the ‘Report:’ gets them out of any liability for the story’s congurency with the truth. Until you read about it on a real news site, ignore this along with the rest of the transfer squabble. 

Update: It looks as though this story does have the legs. Tomas apparently came up lame during yesterday’s practice. The immediate estimate appears to be 3-4 weeks. Meaning his return should be around the end of August, maybe in time to face United on the 29th.

Next on the pain train, are indications that Arsenal are “bracing themselves” (what this means, I’m not quite sure) for an “audacious” bid from AC Milan for Cesc. The same paper (The Sun) is claiming that the bid is in the region of £31m. In this transfer climate, that is the kind of bid someone would have to table to pry Walcott from Arsenal, not Fabregas. A Fabregas departure for anything less than £55m would be ludicrous to even consider. And why should a 22 year old Cesc be worth less than a 27 year old Kaka? That being said, even if Milan were to table a gargantuan bid for the maestro, who’s to say he would want to go to the San Siro anyway? Surely, he’s heard from close friend Matthieu Flamini how desperate their position is…both financially and in a footballing sense. This one was a poor attempt by either the English or Italian media to sell some papers. Surely they could have come up with something more convincing though? ( More along the lines of ‘Milan to flip Kaka fee to Arsenal for Fabregas’ would have caught my eye, a least for a few seconds…)

Next, Arsene Wenger has, once again, exhibited his superior intelligence in the transfer market, by thoroughly embarrassing Bordeaux president, Jean-Louis Triaud. Two clubs showed advanced interest in striker Marouane Chamakh, Arsenal and Sunderland. After telling Sunderland they were nowhere near a big enough club to sell too, Bordeaux expected Arsenal to snap the 25 year-old attacker up. Then, despite a £15m price tag, Wenger low-balled the hell out of them with a £5m offer. Bordeaux dismissed the offer out of hand and claimed that if Arsenal wanted to make a serious offer, they would be prepared to listen. Chamakh then went on the rant that I posted previously; bringing up his desperation to leave next summer for free, when his contract runs out. Wenger then withdrew his interest stating:

“In five months, if he doesn’t prolong his contract, Chamakh will be free to talk to any club and Bordeaux won’t get anything. In the current context, to me, it is over. Let’s say that at the moment it is terminated.”

The French Ligue 1 champions then proceeded to send a letter of apology to Sunderland, ensuring the club that their intention was not to insult, but to inform. Haha. Now that Chamakh has made it clear that his dream is to be a Gunner, Bordeaux are in a very bad spot. They have to sell him now, lest he cause a dressing room rift or, worse, leave for free in 12 months time. Either way, Bordeaux’s success on the field has not exactly translated to savvy front office behavior. That’s football, though, you can tell in a heartbeat, which individuals are ready to deal with power plays and which aren’t.

Finally, tomorrow morning is the Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round Play-off draw. Needless to say, Arsenal should beat any of these sides, it would just be best to get an easy draw so that we don’t have any misguided concentration at the start of the Premier League campaign. Timisoara would be a lovely draw, although the club wouldn’t exactly relish a trip to Romania this early in the season. Let’s just hope we aren’t thrown any surprises and its business as usual on the European front.  Here are the 5 teams that Arsenal can be drawn against:

1. FC Timisoara (ROM)
2. Anderlecht (BEL)
3. Celtic (SCO)
4. Fiorentina (ITA)
5. Atletico Madrid (SPA)

Have a good one.

This is the week, Gooners. Signings or not, come Friday we will have a much better idea as to who we will be going into battle with this season. Wenger has admitted that he would like to make his additions prior to the start of the season as opposed to waiting till the last minute as he has not been shy about doing in the past; earmarking the Valencia match as his quasi-deadline. I feel two signings plus Vieira are on the way. After all of this ‘maybe, maybe not’ talk regarding Patrick, I feel it would be a bit souring were Wenger to pass on a pay-as-you-play deal. Do we really want things to end like that? No, (especially not if Vieira is to be handed a coaching role after his playing career) and I don’t think Arsene does either. Just give him some part of Adebayor’s freed up wages, and everybody wins.

Marouane Chamakh appears ready to sign for Arsenal today or tomorrow, as he is in London in anticipation for his imminent medical with team doctors. It is unclear whether or not a fee has been agreed, as Arsenal had their first offer, one of £5m, rejected. Chamakh, meanwhile, has done his best Ashley Cole  impression by blackmailing Bordeaux, his current club, into selling him for any price, regardless of whether they are content with it or not. Here is his recent rant in full:

“I am angry, I am disgusted and I do not understand why they have done that [rejected Arsenal's £5m offer]. One thing is certain, I will not be signing a new contract – if they will not let me go now, I will leave for free. If a solution cannot be found quickly, everyone will lose. Frankly, I really do not want to start the season with Bordeaux. Already I am told that Sunderland is not the club for me. But since when does a club chose the future of a player?”

While it is somewhat flattering for Chamakh to be so eager to become a Gunner, it should also serve as ominous behavior. What if he bags 20 for us this year and Real come calling? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that he will be good enough to score that many (as he only tallied 13 for Bordeaux in Ligue 1 last year), or that I would be particularly averse to selling him for a profit, its just a character flaw he has displayed with this outburst. We finally got Adebayor out of our system, do we need another loud-mouth?

In regards to the “…since when does a club chose the future of a player?” portion of the quote; what are you on about, Marouane? The club can agree to whosever offer they see fit. That’s how it works. If they don’t like the offer, or by extension the club ( as seen in Sunderland’s case), its their perogative to say no. You can sing and dance all you like, but at the end of the day, they have the right to even take you off the transfer block and bench you for the remainder of your contract, if they so please. Its clear you’ll be sold, just let it happen.

Another thing, after watching this weekend, why are we buying a flashy, unproven attacker? It seems as though we have these in spades. With Vela, Bendtner, Wilshere and Walcott all trying to stake their claim in the front three (assuming Wenger adopts the 4-3-3 he’s been toying with), which as of now should see Eduardo up top being flanked by van Persie and Arshavin (and will also boast Nasri, when he returns), why add a somewhat combustable character into the mix? That being said, there is no reason to argue against depth, especially after what we’ve all gone through over the past several years.

Furthermore, all indications are that upon Chamakh’s signing, Tomas Rosicky will be moved further back into a more central role, as opposed to the left wing, where he had been plying his trade earlier in his Arsenal career. What I’m guessing is that our first choice XI could look something like this:

Eduardo

van Persie——————————————-Arshavin

Rosicky——————Fabregas

Song

Clichy——–Vermaelen——–Gallas——–Sagna

Almunia

Quite an attacking lineup I must say, but I’m sure Wenger will employ a more defensive 4-4-2, or even 4-1-3-1-1 set up in the bigger matches. As you could see this selection having a wee bit of trouble against a potent counter-attack. But if Arsene manages to put this squad out consistently, I’d wager that we will score more goals than striker-heavy City.