Somewhat surprising news. Arsenal have beaten Manchester United to the signing of Cardiff's Aaron Ramsey, BBC Sport is saying. £5m with no loan back option.
^He's being built up as the new Ryan Giggs. Left footed, a winger, skilful and Welsh. Of course, those are some big shoes to fill. It's surprising because it's been a long time since we beat Manchester United to a player we both wanted. United can usually outbid us easily. The only one I can think of is Sol Campbell when he was the hottest Bosman around in the summer of 2002.
And now, we can confirm that Aaron Ramsey has signed a long term contract with Arsenal for a transfer fee of £5m.
He'll play. If he's good enough, and I think he will be, he'll see time. He definitely gets slotted straight into the League and early FA Cup sides and gets a good look. Age is never a barrier to the first team, skill is.
We have a saying at Arsenal - Arsene Knows. Eboue played more because he added defensive balance to the team when Sagna and makeshift right-back Toure start bombing forward. Theo has shown the contribution he can make to the team already, and Ramsey will be no different. Anyway, I don't care, it's not often we sign a player right out from under United's noses, especially when they were showing off about agreeing a fee with Cardiff for him on their own website.
Man, how far has Ronaldinho fallen? 2 years ago, there was no one like him - now he's not even in the team's plans unless he shows "he wants to be the player he can be" (read: he needs a serious fucking attitude adjustment). What is his problem? I"ve heard reports of a divided, clique-y Barca locker room, one such clique led by Ronaldinho and that he likes to party - can anyone shed any light on what he's done to not even factor in to Barca's plans?
^He became rubbish ? Flicks, tricks and no end product. At least Thierry Henry scored the occasional goal.
Nope. Seasons of 20, 15, 25 and 23 goals, followed by this season where he scored 9 goals but only started 21 games. That's more of a dip in form than anything else, due in most part to injury. Guy's only 28 years old. Anyone else have any idea? Is he on the blow? Too many prozzies not enough practice?
By all accounts he spends way too much time in the clubs. The tabloids intimated blow use, but who can believe anything they read in The Sun and the like? So, maybe. But, even at the height of his powers, it is said that he never trained very hard and was largely allowed to do the training he saw fit. And at 28, with injuries and a partying life style, he is unable to regain peak fitness because of it. At one point in the season he seemed to be carrying noticeably more weight. All of which makes this transfer business fascinating and tricky. I'm curious what valuation they place on him. And depending on that, and whether or not the challenge of a new club moves him to return to form, it could be one of the best or worst buys of the summer window.