Aug 20
Silvestre Passes Medical And Is An Arsenal Player!
Arsenal have secured the signature of Manchester United defender Mikael Silvestre for a fee rumoured to be in the region of £750,000.
The 31-year-old has played over 249 games for the Premier League champions and has surprising swapped Manchester for north London.
Silvestre was reportedly undergoing a medical at bitter neighbours Man City last night when his agent phoned him to say that Arsenal had an interest in him.
According to The Sun, Mikaël immediately abandoned the medical and hurtled down the M1 to meet Gunners boss Wenger and discuss terms.
Speaking on his move to the club, the Frenchman said:
“I’ve spent a large part of my career at United, the last nine years, and I’ll remember that time fondly but feel I’m ready for a new challenge. Arsenal is known for playing technical and skilful football, and has a young but experienced squad. I’m really excited about this next stage of my career, hopefully playing my part in helping the Club to new successes.”
What is also surprising, is the fact that Wenger has given Silvestre a 2-year deal, going against his usual 1-year to over 30’s policy.
Not only will the signing of Silvestre bolster Arsene Wenger’s defensive options, but it should also provide experienced cover for fellow countryman Gaël Clichy.
Mikael will wear Pascal Cygan’s old number 18 shirt.
Tags: arsenal, Clichy, defence, france, Gallas, gibbs, left back, Manchester United, sagna, silvestre, traore, versatile
Why all the doom and gloom it is an experienced, versatile defender. I'll say one thing to you skeptical gooners out there I would rather call upon Silvestre in an injury crisis than Senderos. Let's just hope we sign a CM and we'll be in good shape going in to the season.
You stupid cunts wenger buy silvestre because we sold hoyte and we were body short and he will be cover for gallas toure and left for clichy he has expirience and he will be good cover for defense and next week wenger will sign inler.
Totally agree with you mate.
A lot of Man United fans are upset at the departure and would of liked him to of stayed back-up to Vidic/Evra.
How can ppl say cygan II??
Silvestre is a miles better player than cygan & much more experienced.. He would be much better & more reliable than senderos for us next season BUT we must sign a good cm if we want to be as strong as last season
WENGER OUT
i can't believe this signing tbh…but i'm one who thinks its a good one. from what ive heard this is NOT the 'one more experienced midfielder' that we are meant to be signing but a signing that has come by chance and wenger has jumped to sign him. i am happy as there is no real cover for clichy if he gets injured and silvestre can also play CB which is very good for cover as i just don't trust senderos
Well said my man.
RVP: “Why is there so much negativity about this signing?”
BECAUSE SILVESTRE IS A FUCKING USELESS, NO-GOOD, CATFISH-LOOKING CUNT WHO PLAYED FOR THE ENEMY, WHO'S PAST HIS BEST, INJURY PRONE, HAS AS MUCH SKILL AS A TWIGLET, IS PALMED OFF FOR FUCK-ALL FROM A TEAM WITH MUCH BETTER DEFENDERS, AND IS A COMPLETE AND UTTER RETARD.
THE DAYS OF SOL CAMPBELL AND HENRY ARE LONG GONE.
FUCK THIS.
my first reaction was “what the hell is going on!” however the more i think about it its makes sense.
a bit of experience that we needed and some much needed back up at left back… troure is being played more forward and never looked comfortable at left back, Gibbs is too young and more of a midfielder.
He can also play center back and to be honest i know who i would choose
between him and Senderos….
Could prove to be a very very good signing… (still he is Utd scum and does leave a bitter taste in my mouth)
Shut up you idiot and get off this blog.
Just for interest:
Silvestre: 6ft 0″
Toure: 6ft 0″
Gallas: 6ft 0″
Djourou: 6ft 4″
He's a good back-up.. problem?
I have three problems with this signing: 1. He is ex-Man U. 2. If experience is what you want, why let Gilberto leave? If you can offer this over thirty a two year contract, why not Bergkamp and Pires? 3. I have never liked him, at all. Now I'm forced to accept him.
I don't give two shits about this signing either way really, it's what happens after that matters. It kinda suggests we might be skint, but he could just be saving the cash for his main target((s) – wishful thinking)).
Song: 6ft 0.5″
Senderos: 6ft 3″
dont say wenger out because of one signing that is REDICULOUS…i agree this is a bit of a controversial signing as he played for the scum but still he plays for arsenal now and so we must back him
yeah u are right I agree with you
He's quick. He's versatile. He has experience. He's cheap. And he means Utd have next to no cover for Evra. What's not to like?
I Have to Be honest I was Really Surprised When i Saw on on Arsenal .com , But I have Come to Realise This is actually Pretty Good Signing Really , Thats is excellent additions To The Squad , and Im Pretty Sure That Wenger will Sign DM Real Soon, Well Done The Boss, Btw Has anyone Of YOu Guys Have an Update on The Team Injuries , whos will be Out For The next Game and whos In Please ! Thank You.
We now have a good back up for Clichey that we can trust, would you now worry if Clichy got injured, not as much now. Troare even by his own admission he wanted to play left wing because attacking was is strength.
sivestre is cb like wenger said that we lose points last season only for defense mistakes toure was injured senderos doesn't have experience and he will be good cover as for giblerto he was too old don't worry inler is on his way to emirates.
Robin scored for holland tonight against russia.
played something like 70 minutes which is very good for us
If I was an Arsenal fan I would be slightly worried by a signing like Silvestre. Dont get me wrong hes not that bad, he is experienced versatile so all in all would add more than take from the squad but surely Arsenal should have been looking to add a top quality centre back to challenge Toure and Gallas. I dont mention Senderos because hes just not good enogh. Also it is very out of character for Wenger and to me suggests that Arsenal may be stuck for cash afterall.
Yep, International round-up coming soon.
Who do you support then? Silvestre is a good cheap experienced back-up for arguably the best left back in the world.
i dunno if people feel what i feel ,but silvestre was more of a man utd senderos,always making errors,anyways he adds the exp we need,also heard appiah is a free player it wld be good if we get him ,like essien,but i feel le prof will go for inler
cool cool. im glad robin has played and scored
Anyone know how often he was used as a centre half, i cant quite remember
On another note Gooner Chris, since your changes to your site, srolling up and down your site has become really slow on my lap top and the post message appears at the top of the comments rather than at the bottom. Dont mean to moan, like the look and that but anyone else having these problems or is it my laptop
his a fuckn knobhead
I don't mate
okay everyone this is the signing we need experience, CB cover, LB cover. now for a defensive midfielder, which i think is definetly inler. and if it is then we are done and ready. so dont be angry about tgis signing, he is what we need.
not cygan's?! why not 23?
I'm OK with this, provided this is not “The Big Transfer” that Arsene talked about. If this is all we are getting, I would be very disappointed.
Xabi Alonso bathed himself in glory tonight for Spain. I would go for him.
I assure you that this is not 'the' signing Wenger had been going on about. With Gibbs gone on loan and Traore switched to the left-flank, it is clear he will cover Clichy at left-back whilst the aforementioned Gibbs develops.
Wenger claimed we were 'one body short', whilst at the same time, maintained no bid had been made for Hoyte. The reports suggest it was a very impulsive move on Wenger's part to sign Silvestre, which connotes to us that he is a replacement for the recently departed Hoyte.
This still leaves us one body short and with additional capital from the Hoyte sale.
At the time he claimed we would be making another signing, he said we had money to spend, and this only adds to it.
In short, we are still 'a body short' with 'money to spend (even moreso than before)'. These are Wenger's own words.
I am a serious Arsenal fan, and I beleive that this is a fantastic signing for The Arsenal.
He provides more depth to the squad and has strength and experience in an area that we've been lacking in. People have been complaining about needing to sign an experienced defender for ages, saying that Senderos and Djourou either aren't good enough yet, or never will be.
This isn't a long term solution – he is 31 – but short term, it is a fantastic, opportunistic signing by Arsene.
Anyone who has the audacity to come out with things like 'Wenger out' can F**K off. We don't need that sort of 'fan' in our club. Wenger obviously knows what he's doing, I'm 100% behind him, and we don't need 'fans' that obviously don't have a clue what's going on.
Sometimes when a good player comes along, it means signing someone from rivals.
Get over it.
well said mark. i for one totally agree with you.
i am excited by this signing. not because of the player himself, but more because of how much more solid he makes the squad look.
add a midfielder to the mix, which hopefully arsene will, and suddenly we look a title threat.
excellent signing.
I'll look into Jillu. Thanks for pointing it out mate.
gooner chris…can u assure us we will sign inler???please tell us a percentage of the signing
chris update the transfer table
95% mate.
Yep, will do soon, thanks for reminding me mate.
Yes, it's annoying he's ManU, but ust one question cos I haven't seen him play for ages: is he any good?