Gooner Talk

Arsenal are weighing up a pre-season friendly proposal from Barcelona which would see the Gunners vie for the Joan Gamper trophy in August.

The annual competition is named in honour of founding member, player, and later president of the club Joan Gamper, with Manchester City the most recent English side to have been involved against the 2010/11 Champions League winners.

Several Arsenal players have joined Barcelona in past seasons – ex-captain Cesc Fabregas finally signed for the Catalan giants in a much drawn-out transfer saga last summer.

Arsene Wenger’s side traditionally hosts the annual pre-season Emirates Cup at Emirates Stadium, but they opted to postpone the event this year because of the 2012 London Olympics.

Instead, Arsenal will visit Nigeria at the beginning of August after playing in both China and Malysia in July.

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry could be back at the club sooner than expected, as his New York Red Bull side consider an invitation to the 2011 Emirates Cup competition.

According to the Washington Post, the MLS giants “have been considered for an invitation but nothing is set in stone”, although their participation looks likely with no matches scheduled for the usual tournament dates in late July.

The Emirates Cup has been hugely successful since Arsenal staged the inaugural tournament back in 2007 and it’s now recognised as one of the world’s most prestigious pre-season tournaments.

More information on Arsenal’s pre-season tours, with Malaysia being touted as a likely destination, will be released towards the end of the season.

Following on from the confirmation of Arsenal’s pre-season tour to Austria, it has been announced that Sturm Graz will play a friendly against the Gunners.

The Austrian side revealed that Franco Foda’s men will face the north Londoners between the first and second Bundesliga round of the 2010/2011 season on 21st July.

Sturm, who finished last season in fourth and won the ÖFB Cup (Austrian FA Cup), will also play a friendly against Blackburn Rovers on 10 July. Both matches will take place at the UPC Arena in Graz where England beat Japan 2-1 yesterday.

Thanks to ‘Austrian Gooner’ & ‘AA’ for the information.

Arsène Wenger will take his Arsenal team on their traditional pre-season visit to Austria, it has been confirmed.

The Gunners, who have been regular guests in Austria for almost 9 years now, will stay at a Bad Waltersdorf-based 5-star hotel from 19^th to 27^th  July this summer.

Here is a list of Arsenal’s confirmed pre-season friendlies so far:

17th July – Barnet (A)
19th-27th July - (Austria Tour – A)
31 July - AC Milan (Emirates Cup – H)
01 August - Celtic (Emirates Cup – H)
07 August - Legia Warsaw (A)