Huntelaar and Hangeland deals becoming more possible (27/07)

[JohnYork]

http://www.onlinegooner.com/blog/index.php?id=167

I've never posted an original thread here, so I'm hope I'm doing this properly. Please let me know if I've fouled this up so I don't do it again....

Anyway, I thought the article was pretty interesting. I've thought Huntelaar would be a perfect fit for the Gunners for quite some time. I was actually disappointed when Real Madrid picked him up in January because I was sure he'd be a hit there and our chances of picking him up would be lost for good.

The money part of the deal makes sense. He's a class striker and we just took in more money than he would likely cost and took a salary off the books that should be pretty comparable (as long as what we read about the £25M fee and £80K per week for Adebayor are accurate). I have little doubt he would link up well with our other attacking players (RVP, Cesc, Eduardo, Arshavin, Theo, Rosicky, etc). The one thing that just irks me a little is that this isn't necessarily where the money we got from City for Adebayor is most needed. Which brings me to the 2nd player in the article...

I'd love to see us buy Hangeland. I think he's the kind of big, imposing central defender we need. The article talks about how we already have Gallas, Kolo, Vermaelen, Djourou, etc. It's mentioned that Kolo may end up at City (I'll get to this in a second), but one big thing to note here is that Gallas and Sylvestre are almost assuredly gone by the end of this upcoming season (at the latest) and our most likely cover at RB should Sagna get injured (Eboue) seems to be headed to Fiorentina (again, pending accuracy of "reports"). Mix in that Senderos seems more likely to be playing somewhere else as well (whether part of a Hangeland deal or not) and it just seems a little iffy to ship Kolo.

Maybe I'm being too sentimental about him, but like the author suggests I think pairing him next to a player like Hangeland would really improve his play. Maybe Le Boss thinks Djourou / Vermaelen is the long term CB pairing. I don't really know. If it only takes £8M to pick up Hangeland then I'm not sure we really need to give up depth at CB buy selling Toure. Especially not when a lack of depth at the back really hurt us in the business end of last season.

My main concern is that neither of these players address our lack of a holding / defensive midfielder. Maybe we perceive this to be less of an issue with the return of Rosicky and the inclusion of Arshavin in all competitions (two players than have the dribbling ability to retain posession a bit ala Hleb prior to last year). Neither really fit that hard man role in the middle of the pitch though. It seems that Melo was the guy we were really after until Juve swooped in. Other than that, nobody that's been suggested really makes a ton of sense. I think now that City has seemingly limitless money and Real seem to as well, Wenger kinda rues the fact that we didn't pick up Barry or Alonso last summer when we had the chance (if we had the money).

I'm curious to hear what everybody else thinks...

[stewcat]

It's all moving very quickly now so comments could be overtaken by deals.
Kolo Toure is a proven winner and needs a commanding partner at the back(this is not Gallas).I think it would be a major mistake to lose him from the squad before we know for definite we have better all round cover.
I'd prefer to keep Kolo and jettison other players, those being all too familiar to fellow gooners.

[foxinthebox2001]

I'm not sure what all the fuss is about with Huntelaar. His stats since leaving Ajax for Madrid have been pretty unremarkable, and no appearances in european comps last season. It's indicative of todays inflated egos of professional footballers that he hopes to pick up £90.000 per week. Not from us he wont!
To be fair it's difficult to pick out a good striker to replace the one just gone, particularly for a club on our budget, now any forward with a average strike rate thinks he is worth top dollar.
Wenger missed out on Santa Cruz, a proven goal scorer we should have signed last summer, before City struck gold.
I have not a clue who the starting 11 will be on Saturday but what is clear is it wont be selected from our squad as per Sept. 1st.
Are Arsenal following the Arshavin blueprint again? that is to play brinkmanship with a selling club, waiting until the final minute of the final hour before the transfer window shuts in an effort to get a couple of mill off the price. Why not just for change actually have the team together for this annual tournament and give them more time to gel as a team.

[hatemanu99]

Glad to see there are others who think selling Kolo would be a bad move.
I think we may be ok for goals this year with Arshavin and Rosicky now available. As much as it pains me to say it, I think Bendtner will come good.
If Song improves at the rate he did last year the holding position may even be solved.
What we really need is to get rid of Gallas and get Hangeland in. Gallas set the worst example of any captain i've seen and is too mentally unstable to provide any consistency. I'm not sure Vermaelen is actually any good (not seen him but reports suggest not).
Arshavin should be skipper, having Cesc is purely political to keep him from returning to Barca for as long as possible.

[JohnYork]

Well, it looks like Kolo is off to City (reported in both the Guardian and the Telegraph), so the discussion on not selling him seems a bit moot. I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's a great bit of business if we go out and use the money from his sale and the Adebayor sale to strengthen the midfield and central defence. I guess it's wait and see time...

[proudtosaythatname]

Disappointed if Kolo goes but on last 2 seasons it may just be sentiment. Sensible to keep him until other deals finalised but may not be practical. Overall, though, I'm beginning to feel more positive...roll on Hanover tomorrow!

[Redexpress]

With Kolo leaving I think we should concentrate on Hangeland. This deal must SURELY be nearly done otherwise Kolo wouldn't have been let go.

If everyone stays at theclub, and fit, we probably have enough firepower, but defence is paper thin as ever.

I dont think sadness over Kolo leaving is pure sentiment. He was my preffered choice as club captain, and I'd say he was second choice to Cesc overall, so a lot of gooners still felt he was an important part of the club.

This close season is starting to feel like deja vu all over again!

[mcdowell42]

With Kolo leaving I think we should concentrate on Hangeland. This deal must SURELY be nearly done otherwise Kolo wouldn't have been let go.

If everyone stays at theclub, and fit, we probably have enough firepower, but defence is paper thin as ever.

I dont think sadness over Kolo leaving is pure sentiment. He was my preffered choice as club captain, and I'd say he was second choice to Cesc overall, so a lot of gooners still felt he was an important part of the club.

This close season is starting to feel like deja vu all over again!

If they are doing a deal with fulham they may do it quick they play in the europa league 2night and if he plays will be cuptied for cl.

[foxinthebox2001]

We have sold a 28 year old established central defender with over 200 appearences and 65 european appearences, and now we are linked with another 28 year old central defender with 52 appearences for Fulham, and just a handful of euro games for mighty FC Copenhagen. Yet we stiil retain the flaky character Gallas (32 in August) and the manc veteran (also 32 in August). Lets not forget the injury that Toure picked up last year set him back quite a bit, but the back end of last season saw him getting back to his reliable self. If there was a problem with Gallas as reported why not move him on?
Now incredibly we are rumoured to be looking at bringing Vieira back at the ripe old age of 33. If true what message does that send out to Denilson, Ramsey and Song?
Once again its coming to the end of July, the Emirates cup is almost upon us and once again Arsenal's pre sesason preparations are shambolic.