After Mathieu Flamini swapped London for Lombardy with his Bosman to AC Milan in early May, Arsenal was left with a gap in midfield. To further complicate the matter Gilberto has now completed a move Panathinaikos and Lassana Diarra, a natural successor to Flamini’s role, “panicked” and left for Portsmouth. With the position still unresolved and the start of the season fast approaching, should Wenger seek to promote from within or bring in a new signing to stabilise the midfield?
There is no denying that Flamini’s departure will come as a disappointment to most Arsenal fans. In his fist full season as a starting player his partnership with Cesc Fabregas created some of the most fluid and intimidating play in the Premier League. Flamini’s countrymen Diarra had both the ability and the vision to slot into Flamini’s place if he was to leave, as predicted from early on. However, this simple transition was not to be and a desperate Diarra sought refuge at Portsmouth.
Frustration lies in the motives behind each of the player’s moves. Flamini’s move appeared to be driven by nothing else but money, an accusation he subsequently denied, although it still remains a mystery to me why any player looking for world class football would move from a team set to play Champions League football to one set to play in the UEFA cup. Diarra’s motives were much easier to stomach as he sought to win a place in the French squad for Euro 2008. The irony came when he failed to appear in any of France’s three games.
With Flamini and Diarra long gone, now comes the time to fill the gap that is left in midfield. From within the squad there are a few players who could fit the bill. One player, that former Arsenal midfielder Stewart Robson sees as the possible new Flamini, is Abou Diaby. “He breaks up attacks with his ability to get across the field and get tackles in, but he has also got good ability on the ball. His ball manipulation allows him to change the point of attack. Playing against Everton last year he was outstanding in the holding role.” Robson arguments sound convincing, but last season Diaby became more accustomed to being used on the wings rather than in the role of holding midfielder. It brings up questions about how long Diaby would take to fully adapt to the role.
Denilson is another contender for the position and the young Brazilian has shown promise in midfield during last season’s Carling Cup campaign. Diaby and Denilson are the only realistic replacements from the current squad, and of the two Diaby has to be the favourite. Last season Diaby was unfortunate to spend chunks of the season injured, but when he played he showed the raw passing ability that fully compliments Arsenal’s game. Not only that but Diaby also possesses and eye for goal that would increase the overall offensive threat of the midfield. If Wenger isn’t preparing to sign a new midfielder then I think we’ll be seeing a whole lot more of Abou Diaby. It all comes down to how quickly he can adapt to a new and integral role in the team.
Arsenal’s squad has the depth to fill the void in midfield but it would not come as a surprise at all if Wenger decides to recruit a new player to do the job instead. I feel that there are a few players who would really fit the bill, but the main focus has to be on Gareth Barry. Barry had an excellent season captaining Aston Villa with nine goals and ten assists (7th overall in the Premier league) to his name. Barry has sublime passing ability and superb vision that saw him promoted to the England starting line-up ahead of Frank Lampard, a position he keeps to this day with the blessing of Fabio Capello.
There is no doubt in my mind that Barry would be an excellent signing for Arsenal. Barry would provide invaluable experience to a very young squad and add some mental toughness to a team that looked to lacking in that department towards the end of last season. At 27, Barry would be one of the oldest players in the Arsenal first team and as captain of Aston Villa he has proved that he has great leadership skills. With the leadership of William Gallas questioned by just about everyone last season, introducing Barry to the team would provide the team with a possible new captain although more likely is that he would give the younger players another experienced figure to look to for guidance if the leadership of Gallas fails like it did last season.
“Brilliant, let’s sign him right now then!” I hear you all scream. Well, there are a few snags to signing Barry. Liverpool has their heart set on the midfielder and have had a very public battle for his signature with Martin O’Neill and Aston Villa. It is said that Barry signing for Liverpool relied on Xabi Alonso moving to Juventus to raise the funds. With that deal falling through and their new transfer target being Robbie Keane, Barry might not be able to join Steven Gerrard and co.
The major qualm with bringing Barry to the Emirates is the amount of money it would take to make him an Arsenal player. Martin O’Neill has held out for around £18 million, rejecting Liverpool’s £15 million bid. It had been reiterated that Arsenal has the funds to make big signings, but Wenger is the most economical manager the league and he’ll only splash out if he really feels its worth it.
Just look at Arsenal’s record transfer, Sylvain Wiltord for £13 million back in 2000, now let’s put that in perspective: Liverpool – Torres, £20.2m, Man Utd. – Rio Ferdinand, £29.1m, Chelsea – Andriy Shevchenko, £30.8m. Wenger is not about to break the club’s record for a player he deems as surplus to requirement, which Barry might just be. Wenger has to make a decision on whether or not he feels Barry’s price in inflated and with confirmation that the club has already enquired about the midfielder, those thoughts exactly may be on Wenger’s mind as I write this. For me, Barry is a bumper package; you get an excellent passer of the ball, a goal scorer, a leader with a ton of experience.
So, there we have it, the complexity of the situation that is replacing Mathieu Flamini. Within the squad it’s Diaby vs. Denilson, with Wenger hinting that Ramsey may cause an upset. With the fantastic Marcos Senna signing a new 2-year contract at Villareal and talk about Torsten Frings seemingly dying down, signing Gareth Barry looks more and more appealing. Splashing £18m on Barry may slightly damage Wenger’s prudent reputation when it comes to the transfer market, but in today’s football finance climate £18m is not a lot and Arsenal need to compete. If I were Wenger, I’d make the £18m offer and see what happens.
Article by Andrew McPhail For Gooner Talk
Tags: arsenal, barry, defensive midfielder, Diarra, Flamini, frings, gilberto, senna
July 22, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Yaya Toure
July 22, 2008 at 3:04 pm
I hear that Bischoff is a done deal! is that the “certain” signing that AW is referring to ? we need some1 like yaya toure i think bt he is unlikley to come. what do u reckon for tonight ? line up wise ?
July 22, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Mehmet Aurelio – was pure class in the Euros and helped Turkey alot – he would fit straight in!
July 22, 2008 at 3:05 pm
where did you hear it was a done deal?
July 22, 2008 at 3:05 pm
aurelio already signed somewhere else
July 22, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Bischoff has been at London Colney all week looking to prove his fitness to Arsene Wenger, he could sign a deal if he manages to show that he’s fully fit.
And Aurelio signed for Real Betis earlier this month.
July 22, 2008 at 3:08 pm
diaby, denilson and song are NO where near good enough to be first choice week in week out players. denislon is average personified, (totally out classed by ramsey on saturday), diaby hasn’t played there in two years, has some attributes to do the role but totally unproven and injury prone and song much like diaby is potential only. these three wouldn’t get within a mile of any of the top 10 teams in europe if not 20. we can hope for the best and probably maintain a top 4 place with them, but you can forget trophies for a while. god forbid fabreagas gets injured. there is simply no depth there. i have seen the robson and groves interviews on arsenaltv, but couldn’t disagree any more with the. these are not top quality players. yes to barry even if we have to pay over slightly over the odds.
July 22, 2008 at 3:11 pm
“Is the player experienced?”
“25 – yes, that is experienced for us”
How old is Yaya Toure?
July 22, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Aurelio is no where near good enough to compete in the premier league! the turkish league and the premier league are miles apart plus the guy is in his late 20’s early 30;s isnt he? if we were to sign anybody of that age i would expect it be be Barry or Frings!
July 22, 2008 at 3:14 pm
torres £20.1m?? wasn’t it more like £26m? Also didn’t Rooney cost Utd £30m? and the Tevez deal will rise to £32m.. and Arsenal didn’t even pay £13m for Wiltord it was more like £11.5m.
July 22, 2008 at 3:19 pm
miguel veloso
July 22, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Song is good enough, as is Denilson, but not for a 50 game season.
Yaya or Veloso would do it for me, Barry maybe.
July 22, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Yaya Toure is the way to go. He would only probably cost around 13-14 mil, which is less than the Veloso deal would be. He’s an enforcer that will bring experience along with his height and power. And of course he is definitely mobile enough to work in with ‘Wenger Ball”. If you don’t believe me about his mobility take a look at this video.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=SmhKqXur-6w
He will be our new Patrick Viera!!
July 22, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Bischoff certainly isnt the player Arsene was tlkin about as he was tlkin about someone over the age of 25 so that rules out Bischoff wouldnt be surprised if it was Frings as he is experienced and would be alot cheaper than Barry and was Germany’s outstanding player during the Euros.
July 22, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Thank goodness you are not the manager of Arsenal mate
July 22, 2008 at 3:38 pm
ALEX SON
July 22, 2008 at 3:39 pm
*ALEX SONG
July 22, 2008 at 3:42 pm
barry is the only option i feel would benifit arsenal, not only can play in midfield, he an experiened defender and will do good if toure or gallas becomes injured.
July 22, 2008 at 3:43 pm
one of the experts in the prematchstudio just said “gattuso and two other players” and then said “i know something”. weird
July 22, 2008 at 3:43 pm
After researching the fees on several websites, this is what i’ve found:
Sylvain Wiltord – £13 million
Wayne Rooney – £30 million
July 22, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Veloso and yaya toure but I believe diaby is more than capable.but we do need extra players to fill in the numbers left behind by the departures.with rosicky,rvp and the pthers always injury prone we do need the depth that cost us a possible title and champions league .
July 22, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Barry’s average, struggles to get into a England team that can’t quailify for the euro’s. Frings on the other hand looks a player.
i have to disagree with dan’s opinion of Diaby, Denilson and Song, all of which are better than Barry, and TT, Song and Denilson don’t have to be good enough to play 50 games a season, as each can play 25.
Any way, who thought replacing Flamini would be so difficult?
July 22, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Barry would only be good if we had nobody else to pick.
He is no Flamini.
July 22, 2008 at 3:58 pm
gooner chris do you know for certain that biscoff has been at Arsenal’s training ground.
July 22, 2008 at 3:59 pm
barry will only come to arsenal if we lose adabeyor which will cause significant problems in itself. frings will not arrive as he hasnt got the legs for the premier league . just about every game flamin played in last season in europe he was the one who covered the most distance during a match . before last season he was no better than diaby so maybe diaby deserves his chance to get the same improvement. we still need however to bring in someone with great potential in the same area or christian vampata ( i think thats his name ) the one we had a bid turned down for earlier in pre-season who is meant to be a great defender columbian i think . then kolo can be the man who does the running in the midfield .
July 22, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Good article. But I do disagree regarding Barry. He is really over-rated. He’s got no technique and is very sloppy when it comes to passing. He could work alongside a genius like Fabregas and leave the creativity up to him and simply concentrate on breaking up opponents attacks.
I still think that Alonso would be better.
July 22, 2008 at 4:01 pm
We won’t sign Barry. If Wenger took a pass on great younger players like Ribery and Torres who were sure to have a high residual value towards the expiry of four year contracts (e.g. sell them for around or more than the amount paid for them), than there is no way the Boss is going to make Gareth Barry the club’s record signing.
Also, why do you think Diarra’s motives were so clear cut? Because, he told you through the Sun? It is pretty widely known that he went from making around 20k per week at Arsenal to around 65k at Pompey. If fact, last season, his basic salary was likely more than that of Fabregas.
Your big upping of Diaby is ridiculous. First, he’s currently injured and unfortunately since that assault in Sunderland, he has been plagued with subsequent joint and muscle problems. Second, his passing is mediocre at best. And his defensive skills are save van Persie and Theo, the worst in the squad. His off the ball positioning, running and awareness are non-existant. He can’t really pass or shoot with his left foot and he holds the ball far too long, almost always taking on an extra opponent to squander possession and give the opponent a counter-attacking opportunity.
Denilson looks to have regressed. He lacks pace and strength and his passing seems to have deserted him of late – especially the simple square passes required of a DM.
Song although away at the Olympics seems the best shout from within the squad. Go back and have a look at how he partnered with Cesc against Liverpool in the Carling Cup two years back (tremendous performance).
However, a dynamic midfield partner for Cesc will be needed next season. Perhaps Veloso’s fee will drop as interest seems low to non-existant. He doesn’t cover a lot of ground, but his good awareness, even if he seems a bit of a pratt off the pitch. He is young enough to justify a transfer fee and can also play CB.
July 22, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Mark dont forget we have the money to buy Barry if we wanted to as we have only paid out the £5 mil for Ramsey and we didnt spend any money at all last season on players as we got more money in from player sales than spent out on players.
July 22, 2008 at 4:22 pm
I agree with Jorge. Diaby doesn’t have the tackling or awareness to be a defensive midfielder.
Song would get my vote as well. If either Cesc or Song were to get hurt, we’d be in big big trouble.
I recall Denilson playing pretty well the last couple of games last year, but I think that he isn’t the answer either.
I am not sure about Xavi Alonso’s tackling, but he provides some set-piece expertise and his passing is excellent. If he was available, I’d spend the money.
Yaya Toure would be a superb signing, but it won’t happen.
I just hope that it isn’t this Bischoff guy and that’s the experience that Wenger is talking about….
July 22, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Alex Song will be given his chance and i think he will take it very well.
He his hardworking,quick,strong and good at keeping the ball.I think we can make him a star !!
July 22, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Altintop Turkish midfielder superb
July 22, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Diaby and Song have the ability to do it for sure. I’m sure Paddy V would have found it difficult enough if he was out on the wings for a whole season. Song definitley looks like he has the same tenacious drive as Flamini. I can see us not buying for defensive midfield with those 2 sharing the position, diaby for more attacking minded games. Surely Central Defence is the major issue after the drubbings we got against united and spurs. i’m still embarassed of those
July 22, 2008 at 4:48 pm
i say turn ramsey in2 a defensive midfielder so we could have the possiblity of this being the future midfield
(RM) nasri (CM)fabregas (DM)ramsey (LM) vela
July 22, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Arsene will have a backup plan in his mind already. I would think it is Diaby for the start of the season (unless he got injured). I don’t think Arsene keep him just because he is a French, or because he can replace Rosicky.. joke!
July 22, 2008 at 4:56 pm
A SONG will play that role
July 22, 2008 at 5:06 pm
What about Alonso? Cesc played with him at Euro’s and dovetailed with him superbly. Alonso has Premiership AND Champions League experience: Scores Goals and makes assists too: He’s a year younger than Barry; and Liverpool may let him go for around 14 million, a saving on Barry!!!!
Go for it Wenger……..
July 22, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Hiya Chris! Just want to say hello from northern Finland where I’m having my holiday. And with very limited options to follow what’s happening at the world of Arsenal. Lots of reindeers and icebears here, hah! Now I have meeting with Santa. I’m gonna make a wish and yes, that this would be the season of some silverwear for the Gunners!
July 22, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Ya Ya Toure
please come to your bro’s team ..
we all are warmly weclome you
July 22, 2008 at 6:38 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bischoff
very interesting…
July 22, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Barce have said they don’t want to sell Ya Ya otherwise we could have arranged a swap deal for Helb (or even Adebayor). I don’t think Song, Diaby or Denilson are quite good enough to fill the DM role. I thought Song had been converted to centre back and the other 2 are just not consistant enough. I think Barry is a good player but is way over valued at £18m. Maybe we could pay £12m and include J Hoyte? I have a sneaking feeling that if Ramsay has a good pre-season, he may well get the nod.
July 22, 2008 at 8:28 pm
ill tell u a way out of this mess.Sign and go all guns blazing 4 micah richards who supports Arsenal and the player would love 2 come. young enough and goog enough 2 be our record signing and whos value would go up every year. Make him the cb who attacks all aerial balls with gallas mopping up behind,this also gives terrific pace 2 the defence.This allows kolo 2 be our deff mid who can get up and down,tackle,pass,attack vierra like and help lock up deff when he sits in front of cb gallas and richards. buy arshavin 2 link midd with adebayor and i would also spend 2.5m blackburn are asking 4 fridel who would be class 4 at least 2 yrs giving us time 2 look 4 decent keepers.Then i think we could challenge 4 title.
July 22, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Miguel Veloso is the perfect replacement for Flamini. He will not cost any more money than Barry…
July 22, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Arsene Wenger will regret making Almunia first choice. He should be Arsenal No2 goalkeeper. I don’t doubt his talent but he still needs to study an experienced keeper. Brad Friedel is currently available for £2.5m. Imagine that! We should be taking every oppourtunity to strengthen. But Wenger is all about “keeping faith” with players. I don’t expect any trophies this season, so I won’t be disappointed.
Richards will be a great acquisition but if Wenger can’t see the need to spend only two and a half mil on getting a world class keeper then I dont expect him to break the club’s transfer record for Richards. I dont want to depress myself further but at times I wished we had stayed at Highbury. At least there won’t have been a financial excuse. In our first season at the Emirates, it was the move that was the excuse. Talk was that it needed getting used to. Now the new excuse is that we lost 3 good players in the summer so we need to allow transition. I’m fed up. There are definately players outh tere
July 23, 2008 at 2:42 am
At the beginning of last season, anyone thought that Flamini will be a good job……..NOO…………OOO. Only Arsene knows. Now everyone is talking of Flamini as if he always been there. Come on.
The new Frenck guy, Coquelin has been impressive, so far, in the two friendlies, maybe he the one to step up……who knows.
July 23, 2008 at 4:20 am
It looks more and more likely that the central midfield pairing is selected form Fabregas plus one from Diaby, Denilson, Ramsey and Coquelin.
He may buy a striker, not more than 12-mil, but I doubt whether he will buy a 18+ to 24+ mil DCM.
Unless of course, on 31-Aug-2008, at 12-midnight, like Gallas coming to us, there will be a trade and exchange of Adebayor with Yaya Toure from Barca.
But if Diaby, Denilson, Ramsey, Coquelin, and perhaps Kolo or Eboue proves that they can work well with Fabregas duringn this pre-season, I can’t see Wenger bringing in anybody, except Yaya in part-exchange for Adebayor.
July 23, 2008 at 8:47 am
diaby IS a central midfielder and i think AW plans on playing him or ramsey alongside cesc. No chance of seeing an 18m Barry or Veloso at arsenal in my opinion. think both players we have will become two of the best in their position in the world
July 23, 2008 at 11:54 am
i heard arsenal are targeting Piotr Trochowski as the midfield
but i wan’t xabi….. he’s good……..
and they need a defender …. Toure has malaria
July 23, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Yaya or Veloso.
and we really need a CB..
and a attacking midfielder and a prolific striker as well.
1 DM, 1 CB, 1 ST, 1 AM
cash in Adebayor and Bendtner pls…
July 23, 2008 at 1:57 pm
I don’t really know what is wrong with us the fans, who is Yaya Toure that everyone likes, have u really seen him play, he is very attacking minded, we don’t need to pay stupid money for Barry (though good) with that money, buy Micah Richards and we will all be happy, Song will more than do some great things there, Ramsey will also do it, Diaby i doubt a little bit because of his inability to tackle and holds on too much to the ball, that is not how we play, but maybe he will learn.
July 23, 2008 at 3:41 pm
yeah.
we don’t need BARRY.
we need Silva on our left flanks
July 23, 2008 at 10:17 pm
Yo!
i agree with the article 100%! Barry is the best option and i personally would jump up and down on my sofa if i saw that little yellow news bar on sky sports news saying “BREAKING NEWS: BARRY JOINES ARSENAL IN RECORD SIGNING…”
My take on why we need him is that I am concerned that if we don’t bring in a top, top quality player (Arsene’s words…), I fear that Fabregas will leave the club at the end of the season. Cesc needs to progress and develop and this is always achieved through playing around great players that compliment you. Barry has plenty of this. I would rate him above Hargreaves and Carrick, for example.
He has the English spirit that Big Tony had, Charlie Parlour had and Sensitive Sol had.
Barry is a player that can win you games. Or keep you in them… remember his cool pen against Chelski in that mad 4-4 draw last Christmas? It was then that I first thought Barry had it in him to be a great team player…
To keep Cesc, Arsene has to bring in more quality to play alongside him. This will help push him on further, take off some of the pressure and ease his workload over 40 or 50 games throughout the season.
Consider this, if we have to rest Fabregas for some games, what midfield would you be happy with in his absence? I for one, would be happy if Barry was there with other young players in support…
When you think about the commercial implications of losing Cesc, our only young world class player, and the pain it would cause in replacing him, 18m doesn’t seem too bad an investment does it?
If we are to challenge next year, then Barry or another top player needs to come in. In addition, we need a quality wide player like Arshavin or someone similar. It’s never going to work relying on Nasri, although I do think he will be an important player for us. But let’s not expect him to do it over a whole season when he’s never played in the premiership before!
Having said that, if Rosickbed is fit, he will definately add some quality in wide areas.
The only other position I have fears about is central defence. Gilberto was an excellent option to provide cover but now he’s gone, other than Gallas and Toure, we’re stuffed. I don’t think anyone has won the Premiership with just 2 quality central defenders. In fact, Man U and Chelsea both lost the title in seasons when their central defenders were out long term and they had no back up. I was hoping we’d pick up Richard Dunne but that option has gone now.
Here’s hoping Arsene DOES know and has three nifty signings lined up.
We’re close…. really close to having a competitive team…. just 3 more players and we’re there….
July 24, 2008 at 12:37 am
i did a poll on this on bbc 606 and De La Red was the favourite choice of signing getting the same amount of votes as gooner diaby.However i think this is mostly hype and most of the voters probably haven’t even seen himplay.And neither have I.
Know anything about him?
Would he be a good signing?
July 24, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Song??? lol!!! you guys make me laugh, play song there & we’ll be punished & end the season with nothing again100,000,000%
What haapen with our interest in xabi alonso?? not sure he’ll be the man but better than what we currently have though i’d go for barry..
July 25, 2008 at 5:08 am
can’t tell what’s really on AW’s mind. he’s so back and forth on the finances that it’s difficult(deliberately) to read anything much from the press releases. he says one thing this week another the next. I believe there’s only one certitude regarding the current squad: not good or deep enough to win anything this season.
July 25, 2008 at 5:09 am
can’t tell what’s really on AW’s mind. he’s so back and forth on the finances that it’s difficult(deliberately) to read anything much from the press releases. he says one thing this week another the next. I believe there’s only one certitude regarding the current squad: not good or deep enough to win anything this season. look for arsenal to start well and fade away at the end, again.