Colchester Capture Gunners Duo

 

By Nick Lander

 

Arsenal youngsters Sanchez Watt an Craig Eastmond, both 21, have moved down the A12 to the Weston Homes Community Stadium, joining League 1 strugglers Colchester United on 3 month loan deals. Their moves were confirmed during a busy day for the U's who also named Joe Dunne as their new manager (following John Ward's dismissal on Monday), confirmed Mark Kinsella as assistant manager and captured Jabo Ibehre on a three month loan from MK Dons.

 

Sanchez Watt begins his seventh separate spell away from the Gunners, and will be playing to earn a permanent deal as much as he will be trying to force his way into Arsene Wenger's first team plans. The striker has been on good form for the U-21s so far this season though, with four goals in as many appearances - a record he will be hoping to extend in Essex.

 

The FA Youth Cup winner is optimistic that he will enjoy a successful spell with the U's, telling their official website that "the manager plays the same formation as I’m used to so it should be good for me.

"I want to fight for my position in the team, keep my place if I get it and do well for the club and for myself. Hopefully, we can play well, pass the ball around, score some goals and push up the table."

 

He also hopes that he will be able to perform at a level that will earn him another shot at breaking into the Arsenal first team, saying, "its all about what you do on the pitch, when you're doing well, you get your chance but after that, what happens, happens."

 

Eastmond on the other hand, has had more success in breaking into the first team at the Emirates, having played for Wenger's side on 10 occasions (compared to Watt's three appearances). He has had two loan spells in the past, featuring six times for Milwall, before injury curtailed his season, and impressing in Wycome's ultimately futile attempts to avoid relegation to League 2 last season, playing 14 times.

 

Whilst his Arsenal future is considered bleak by some parties, he probably has a better chance of making the grade with the Gunners than Watt. The midfielder, who featured heavily in Arsenal's Asia tour in pre-season, just wants to get senior appearances under his belt, telling the Colchester website, "I just want to play games so I said yes to it [the opportunity to move to Colchester on loan] and I'm looking forward to the new challenge. I like to meet new teammates, and I've done that here, but I already knew Clinton Morrison very well and I've played against Freddie Sears and a few others.

 

"I want to play as much as I can in the next few months and show the manager here, and Arsenal, what I can do. Hopefully, I'll gain some good experience from my time here."

 

Both should go straight into Joe Dunne's first squad as permanent manager to face Hartlepool at Weston Homes on Saturday.

 

The duo join Conor Henderson (Coventry City) and Chuks Aneke (Crewe Alexandra) in plying their trade on loan in the division. It is understood that both Arsenal and Crewe are keen to extend Aneke's loan spell, beyond 7th October - when it currently expires. The youngster is currently serving a three match ban, after being sent off on his full debut.

 

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Aneke to Join Crewe on Loan

 

By Nick Lander

 

Chuks Aneke is set to join League 1 Crewe Alexandria on loan, swapping U-21 level football for the Football League. He has previously had loan spells with Stevenage and Preston North End, scoring for the latter on his debut.

 

The 19-year-old is understood to be being brought in to cover for the injured Mathias Pogba. His wages however, have been an issue, with Crewe unable to match the percentage of his wages that Arsenal wanted. Manager Steve Davis said, "They are on a lot of money and we couldn’t quite pull it off. But I know (assistant manager) Steve Bould very well and we’re trying to negotiate it down. We are hopeful it will happen. We need cover and we are waiting to hear.

 

“Arsenal players are grounded very much like ours in terms of the way they play and they’d fit in with what we do.”

 

It does seem that the two clubs have since managed to come to an agreement, with Aneke's teammate Nico Yennaris tweeting a good luck message to the powerful midfielder. Whilst Arsenal tend to start loaning out their youngsters after the League Cup campaign has started, the competition in which Aneke made his Gunners debut last season, it seems that on this occasion the club are allowing him to move before then in order to secure first team football.

 

Davis is also understood to be after a second, unnamed midfielder, and there has been some speculation that he could be Arsenal's Craig Eastmond.

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Park Joins Celta Vigo

 

By Nick Lander

 

South Korean striker Park Ju-Young has joined La Liga side Celta Vigo on a season long loan, with a view to a permanent move next summer. He will be presented at 17:00 local time.

 

Park will join up with the Spanish club fresh from winning the bronze medal in the men's football with South Korea at the London 2012 Olympics. Celta Vigo describe him as "a player of extraordinary talent."

 

An Arsenal flop, with just one goal in the League Cup and one, substitute, Premier League appearance, Park is one of a number of players expected to depart the club today, with Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner understood to be close to leaving the club on loan too.

 

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Roberts Links Up With Caley Thistle

By Nick Lander

 

Promising Arsenal youngster Philip Roberts is to head to the SPL to spend the first half of the season on loan with Inverness Caledonian Thistle. The 18-year-old will link up after impressing on trial last week.

 

Signed from Norwich in summer 2010, the Republic of Ireland youth international was the U-18s top scorer last season. A powerful centre forward, Roberts likens his style to that of Thierry Henry, and hopes one day to be compared to him.

 

Thistle manager Terry Butcher said: "Arsenal have agreed to let Philip sign for us until the next transfer window and we're very grateful for their help. This is the beginning of a partnership with Arsenal that will help their younger players gain first team experience with Inverness Caley Thistle in this season and the future. I am extremely thankful to Liam Brady for his first class help and assistance."

 

Roberts himself is looking forward to linking up with his new club, tweeting that "it's a great place."

 

The loan move is sure to be a good one for Roberts who will have the chance to experience first team football at a very young age, rather than the less competitive atmosphere of the new U-21s league. Caley Thistle are hoping to complete the paperwork to finalise the loan by the end of the transfer window.

 

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Boateng Heads to Oxford

 

By Nick Lander

 

Oxford United have signed 19-year-old Arsenal defender Daniel Boateng on loan, initially until January 2013.

 

Boateng heads to League 2 having made one senior appearance for the Gunners, in last season's Carling Cup victory over Bolton Wanderers. He spent two months on loan in the division last term too, making two appearances for Paulo di Canio's Swindon, on their way to promotion. Boateng, who has been at the club since he was 11, also appeared for Arsenal during the Markus Liebherr Memorial Cup during pre-season.

 

Whilst inexperienced at senior level, Boateng has made 32 appearances for Arsenal's reserves/U-21 side, most recently in the U-21s 3-0 win over Blackburn at the weekend.

 

The centre back went straight into manager Chris Wilder's squad, making his debut as a late substitute in United's 3-0 loss to Championship side Leeds in the Capital One Cup - formerly Carling Cup - tonight (Tuesday).

 

Hopefully Boateng will return to the club with a wealth of experience in January or have his loan extended until the end of the season, as the U's try to attain promotion.

 

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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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Who Should Replace Alex Song?

Anderlecht's Lucas Biglia

By Nick Lander

With Alex Song's impending departure to Barcelona, Arsene Wenger has two options. Promote from within or find a new recruit. The latter is far more convincing. While it is disappointing that Song is set to leave, it will represent a good piece of business by the club, who signed him for just £1m. It will also represent a the club's new attitude to players, which seems to be 'you are 100% focused and on board or you will be sold.' A refreshing approach in an era when players seem increasingly to hold all the power.

Promoting from Within:

The likes of Abou Diaby and Mikel Arteta may also be considered to play the holding role, but for me either would be a short-term fix, rather than a long-term solution, so there are four possible candidates to replace the outgoing Cameroonian: 

Emmanuel Frimpong - Age: 20 Arsenal Appearances (Goals): 14 (0)

Frimpong made his breakthrough into the Arsenal first team in pre-season before the 2010/11 season, but an injury to his cruciate knee ligament put paid to his first team chances that year. He came back stronger and (for the mostpart) impressed in last season, especially in the Carling Cup game against Manchester City. Physically, Frimpong is probably the most ready of the four internal candidates, but sadly another cruciate knee ligament injury (sustained whilst spending the second half of 2011/12 on loan at Wolves) means that Frimpong will not be available until October at the earliest, so whilst he may be the best solution in the long-term, Arsenal will need an immediate replacement.

Francis Coquelin - Age: 21 Arsenal Appearances (Goals): 21(0)

Coquelin has shared the holding midfield role with Alex Song during pre-season, and has performed fairly well, but may lack the physical prescence to play that role in the Premier League. Technically assured, and comfortable on the ball, most of Coquelin's opportunities came at full back last season, where he impressed. Although he did play well in midfield too, being one of the few players who emerged from Arsenenal's disastrous start to the season with any credit.

Craig Eastmond - Age: 21 Arsenal Appearances (Goals): 10 (0)

Eastmond has played the holding role in the Premier League before and did impress me. Having said that, that those games came in 2009/10 which would suggest that Wenger was rather less impressed. He traveled on the Asia tour and played quite well. With Arsenal said to be ready to listen to offers for the youngster, it is unlikely that Wenger will put his faith in Eastmond, but if called upon, I think that he would be ready.

Nico Yennaris - Age: 19 Arsenal Appearances (Goals): 3 (0)

Yennaris is far less likely to be turned to. He only made his senior debut last season, and has been mostly been used as a right back. Quite short, Yennaris isn't strong enough either, so to be playing in the holding position would be a big ask. However, he may be ready in a couple of years after spending some time out on loan.

New Signing:

Before you read my thoughts on who Arsenal could bring in, I would like to state that I am by no means an expert on French or Belgian football, and do not regularly watch it. My scouting has been done by watching a few YouTube clips of all the players, but I hope that I will still manage to paint a reasonable (and accurate) picture of their respective merits.

Lucas Biglia (Anderlecht) - Aged 25, Argentine Biglia is rated at around £8m by Belgian club Anderlecht, where he is contracted until 2015. Arsenal are believed to have had an interest in him since 2006, before he moved to Belgium. He is not the tallest player, be his is strong on and off the ball. He also is quite a skillful player, who posesses some of creative guile we are so used to seeing from Alex Song.

Yann M'Vila (Rennes) - 22-year-old M'Vila is a very good player. Sadly, he knows it and has the attitude problems of a young player who is aware of his abilities. Arrested three times in the last two years and with a number of spats with managers behind him, M'Vila's attitude is what has put off some fairly solid interest from Arsenal earlier in the transfer window. He is technically accomplished though, with a good right foot and a good passing range too. His vision is also excellent and he could be as capable as Song going forward. He also has the potential to bulk up a little more, to become a far more powerful player, and a truly menacing opponent. Rennes want at least £17m for him, were he available for £10m or under, I think he would be worth the gamble, but for that sort of figure, he is too bigger risk, and only the likes of Manchester City could afford for him not to perform as hoped.

Etienne Capoue (Toulouse) - Capoue has just one France call up to his name, and is behind M'Vila in the French pecking order, but at £9.5m he would be at least £7m cheaper. There are also far fewer questions over his attitude. To me it seems that he is the least mature of the quartet that I am suggesting, the furthest from the complete player and not quite technically at the same level. Were the Gunners making the same search two or three years down the line, he might be the man, but at his current stage of development, he seems to me to be too far off the finished article to be better than any of Arsenal's internal options.

Nigel de Jong (Manchester City) - The Dutchman has just won the Premier League and Charity Shield with City, but he only has a year remaining on his contract at the Etihad, and the Citizens do not seem to be in a rush to tie him down to a new deal. That he already has Premier League experience would be a major draw. He also has the defensive discipline that some Arsenal fans feel Alex Song is so desperately lacking, with City generally looking a better side with him in it. Despite that, de Jong spent much of the second half of last season warming the City bench as Yaya Toure was unleashed in a deeper role. Potentially available for less than £10m I am sure that de Jong would be worth a bid to test the water at the very least.

Some people may be surprised not to see Nuri Sahin's name on that list, but my understanding is that he will be brought in whatever, and would have come on loan even if Song were not leaving.

Were Frimpong not injured at the moment, I would have given him the opportunity until at least January, but that is obviously not possible. With that the case, I hope that Wenger moves for one of Biglia or de Jong. I think that either would do a sterling job for Arsenal and prove to be a really good signing.

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Arshavin & Shea set for Moves

By Nick Lander

Both Andrei Arshavin and James Shea are believed to be nearing moves away from the club.

Shea, who kept a clean sheet in the Arsenal XI game at Stevenage today (Saturday), was in training with Graham Westley's Preston North End last week, as a trial spell with a view to the Reserves goalkeeper joining the Lancashire club on loan. The 21 year old has had two fruitless loan spells in the past, having managed just four senior appearances so far in his career - none for Arsenal. He really needs experience and the Gunners will be desperate that any loan to Preston works out significantly better than Shea's previous spells.

Another player who looks set to move on is Russia captain Andrei Arshavin. His departure has been widely expected since he moved to Zenit St Petersburg on loan in January. They were believed to have been keen on taking him back at the club permanently, but a bitter war of words with the Russian public, after the nation's underwhelming Euro 2012 campaign seems to have ended their interest. West London side Fulham are now understood to be in pole position to sign the diminutive forward, with Arsenal likely to hold out for a fee in the region of £5-10m. Arshavin was left out of Arsenal's Asian tour in order to secure a move away from the club.

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Arsenal Announce Squad for Boreham Wood

Fresh from the 1st team, Olsson's now set for his Reserves debut

By Nick Lander

Arsenal have today revealed the squad that will be taken to Boreham Wood on Saturday (21st July) for the Reserves' first fixture of the new season (under the guise of an Arsenal XI). The game is a 3pm kick off, at Boreham Wood's Meadow Park.

Reserve team regulars Emi Martinez and Martin Angha are joined by the likes of Chuba Akpom and Kris Olsson, who are in line for their second string debuts - Olsson being fresh from debuting for the first team in the Markus Liebherr Memorial Cup last weekend.

Arsenal have performed well in these 'Arsenal XI' friendlies over recent seasons, a young side beat eventual League 1 play-off participants Stevenage 1-0 last summer, so Saturday's game should be an interesting affair.

The full squad is:

  Emi Martinez

  James Shea

  Martin Angha

  Daniel Boateng

  Sead Hajrovic

  Jernade Meade

  Elton Monteiro

  Kyle Ebecilio

  Samir Bihmoutine

  Josh Rees

  Jordan Wynter

  Phillip Roberts

  Hector Bellerin

  Kris Olsson

  Chuba Akpom

  Sanchez Watt

  Conor Henderson

  Thomas Eisfeld

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