Transfer Targets of the last Week

An Extra Defensive Mid: It's been a fairly quiet week on the transfer speculation front, a couple of names cropping up a lot, but not much else. One of those names being repeatedly mentioned is the tenacious West Ham's 30 year old defensive midfielder Scott Parker. The Hammers are down, and by the sounds of things there's set to be a fire sale of their best players and a mass exodus of  out of contract players. He isn't a bad player, and has shone this season at Upton Park, however, has he shone because he's played brilliantly or has he caught the eye because he's played alright in an ultimately poor West Ham side? I'm not sure, and at £7 million his price tag is a bit steep for someone who would be brought in to play second fiddle to Alex Song. I think that a move for free agent Owen Hargreaves, also 30, (as touted by the Daily Express last week) would represent better value for money. He is undeniably a fantastic defensive midfielder when he's fit, and could prove a real asset to the squad. Injury prone as he is, he'd be the perfect man to pull on an Arsenal shirt.

A New Goalie: As I mentioned in my previous post, I think that we'll be in the market for a new second/third choice goalie this summer. Having mulled the situation over, I feel that Rob Green's name should be added to Mark Schwarzer's as a possible target the former England #1 has suffered a significant fall from grace after that error at last summer's world cup; something which should mean that he's available for less, coupled with the whole relegation thing. I think last summer that I expressed my opposition to his signing, but that was when a new #1 was being considered - I also touted Szczesney at the time - and I don't think he is good enough to be Arsenal's number one, part of the back up brigade however, I think that he could be the man for the job.

One of the other regularly mentioned names has been that of Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema. I really don't see how he'd fit into the Arsenal line up, and at a reported £25,000,000 he'd be the world's most expensive sub. He's too similar to what we already have. I feel a poacher is what we need, there to come into the team and make an instant impact when van Persie is either injured or off form. I think that the striker to make way should be Niklas Bendtner, and with Bayern Munich reportedly waiting in the wings, I'd let them have him.

SkySports have linked us to the 21 year old Malaga striker Salomon Rondon. He's hardly the household name it seems that most Gooners are after, though with 16 goals from 29 starts, he certainly sounds like a goal threat. The relative anonymity in the UK of Rondon would make him a typical Wenger signing, although the rumoured £10 million price tag could put Arsenal off.

Kavin Gameiro, a Lorient striker who sounds set to follow in Laurent Koscielny's footsteps, and make the move from Lorient to the Premier League. The young Frenchman has some promising stats behind him, with 20 goals from 34 games this season. This is a move which has been infrequently reported since pretty much the start of the season, much like Chamakh's last year, so I can see it happening. Having turned down the offer of a new contract from Lorient he looks almost certain to leave in the summer, potentially for a knockdown price, rather than Lorient risking losing him for nothing in a year's time.

Morgan Amalfitano is another Lorient player with a soon to expire contract who has recently been linked with Arsenal, with 5 goals from 36 he's not too bad going forwards, and could be a cheap replacement as a squad player for the likes of Diaby and/or Denilson.

Eden Hazard and Serdar Tasci have again been linked, and I don't have anything to had to what others have said before. The only thing I would question is where Hazard would fit in with the likes of Nasri, Arshavin & (hopefully next season) Miyaichi already playing on the left of that front three.

Leigton Baines is still being linked with us, but he's also being touted for a move to Man City, and we don't have the financial resources to get into a bidding war with them - and also  he's not fantastic either. I'd rather play Gibbs than buy him - assuming we sell Clichy because he won't sign a new contract.

Hector Bellerin is the new name today, SkySports claiming that he's been frozen out of the Barca youth side for turning down a new contract. They have also said that it looks likely that he will be joining Jon Toral in leaving Barcelona for Arsenal in the summer, in what seems to be a busy window already for the reserve and youth squads, Charlton youngster Carl Jenkinson already said to have signed, who may or may not go into the first team squad.

Someone commented yesterday that they'd like to see the back of Eboue, but I feel that he brings a  lot to the squad, he's the joker, the morale booster, and I feel that he can occasionally add something to the team on the pitch too.

What do you think, let me know via the comments below, or through Twitter: @Goonernl (mostly Arsenal related updates).