Forset Capture Lansbury

 

By Nick Lander

 

Nottingham Forest have unveiled their 9th signing of the summer, Arsenal youngster Henri Lansbury, who joins in a permanent deal. The talented midfielder, who has also played in goal when called upon, is bringing to a close a 13 year association with the Gunners.

 

Lansbury worked his way through the ranks in North London, joining the club as an eight-year-old, as part of the same group as Jack Wilshere and Emmanuel Frimpong. The youngster made 3 Premier League and 5 League Cup appearances for the club, scoring in the 4-1 League Cup 3rd round victory at White Hart Lane in September 2010. The 21-year-old also has 14 caps for England U-21s - for whom one of his goalkeeping appearances came, after the substitute goalkeeper got sent off.

 

The youngster has plenty of football league experience, having had loan spells at Scunthorpe, Norwich and West Ham, enjoying promotion with all three. Lansbury made 22 appearances for the Hammers as they got promoted back to the Premier League last season, and will be hoping to have a greater involvement as Forest look to return to the top tier of English football, having joined on a 4 year deal, for a fee reported to be over £1m. Arsenal seem to be including hefty sell-on clauses in most transfers away from the club at the moment, and this is likely to be the case for Lansbury's too.

 

Lansbury's failure to really make it at Arsenal could be largely attributed to circumstance, he decided to go out on loan in August 2011, but failed to make any real impact in East London, and may have been better off remaining with Arsenal and trying to force his way into Arsene Wenger's first team plans. He also seemingly missed out on one last chance to prove himself, after injury prevented him from travelling on the club's Asia tour this summer - his replacement Thomas Eisfeld went on to score twice in the three games.

 

Lansbury had this to say about his move, "I am leaving a huge club in Arsenal... but the time is right for me to move on and I'm delighted to be joining a club of Forest's stature in the game.

 

"I'm in no doubt that Forest have what it takes to go up."

 

A player who I have always liked and thought talented, I am sure that Lansbury will be back in the Premier League soon, be that after a fourth successive promotion with Forest or somewhere else. I believe he will be more Seb Larsson than David Bently with his post-Arsenal career.

 

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Afobe Loaned to Bolton

By Nick Lander

Arsenal youngster Benik Afobe has been loaned to Bolton Wanderers for the season. It will be the England U-19 star's third loan spell, having previously spent time with Huddersfield in League 1 and winning promotion to the Premier League with Reading.

Afobe will be the third Arsenal youngster to have a spell at the Reebok in recent years, following in the footsteps of Jack Wilshere and Ryo Miyaichi. Bolton manager Owen Coyle told Bolton's official website that: “Benik is a very exciting addition to our squad for this season... he is only 19 years old and you can see already that he is going to be a very good player. He has an eye for goal, is an athletic striker and there is much more to come from him.”

It may well be a make or break loan spell for the striker, who will be 20 when he returns to the club, as he needs to make some big strides in order to challenge for the Arsenal first team. It has been  reported that Arsenal can recall the player in January when he could then possibly secure an alternative loan move to a Premier League club. Bolton are also believed to still be interested in taking Ryo Miyaichi back to Lancashire, but Arsenal are still to decide his future. As it is though, Afobe will be hoping for a second successive promotion.

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Hull Close on Mannone Capture

Vito Mannone is set for a permanent move to Hull

By Nick Lander

Steve Bruce has confirmed that he plans to speak to Arsenal about taking Vito Mannone to Hull on a permanent basis. The Arsenal stopper has enjoyed two loan spells with the Tigers, in the second halves of seasons 2010/11 and 2011/12. The Italian amassed 23 appearances in amber and black in 11/12 and impressed then manager Nick Barmby greatly. His chances of a permanent move seemed to have vanished when Bruce replaced Barmby in June, but after Brad Guzan chose to stay on at Aston Villa, Hull are back in for the Arsenal 'keeper.

Speaking to the Hull Daily Mail, Bruce said "we'll speak with Mr Wenger... next week." The Gunners are believed to be after a fee of around £1m. Mannone would be the second goalkeeper to leave Arsenal this summer, following Manuel Almunia's release at the end of June. Lukasz Fabianski is also hankering after a transfer having made just five appearances in 2011/12, after compatriot Wojciech Szczesney usurped him as Arsenal's #1 the season before. Arsenal fans can reasonably expect to see at least one new goalkeeper join this summer, possibly Lyon's Hugo Lloris who has been heavily linked this week (though his club refute the claim that the Gunners have already bid for the French #1).

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