Written by Fab4.
Arsenal are confident they can fend of interest from Liverpool and Real Madrid for PSV Eindhoven midfielder Ibrahim Afellay, according to a report in the Daily Mail.
Dutch international Afellay will be available on a free transfer next summer after declaring he will not be signing a contract extension and is allowed to sign a pre-contract agreement with foreign clubs in january, and Arsenal are believed to be front runners for the highly rated 24-year-old.
The Daily Mail claim Liverpool have already held talks with the attacking midfielder after he announced his reference for a move to the Premier League, with Roy Hodgson watching him in action last week, while Everton, Manchester United and Spanish giants Real Madrid are also said to be interested.
But it is Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal who are said to be closing in on one of the hottest free transfers this year. The Gunners have been admirers for some time and were even reported to have made a £7.5m offer last summer, but now it seems they will snap him up for nothing.
Well, if you believe the Daily Mail that is!
Would Afellay be a good signing for Arsenal? Or is this more rubbish from the Mail?! Leave your comments below….
Miles Slade
November 6, 2010 at 10:44 am
Arsenal would be the best option for Afellay. As for Real Madrid, it’s unlikely to happen, for their midfield is the best in Europe along with Barcelona’s. But we all know how good Wenger is at persuading a player to play for him, so i think the Dutchman is about to become a gunner. United and Liverpool are lost cases, they won’t land him.
salman
November 6, 2010 at 10:53 am
may be
………
dan
November 6, 2010 at 11:18 am
I know this guy can play on the wing but you will only see the best out of him from a central posistion and I really don’t think Arsenal need another player in this mould as they have Fabregas,Nasri,Rosicky,Wilshere and Ramsey who are all the same type of player, personally I don’t see this one happening
nujum
November 6, 2010 at 11:35 am
no…when walcott arshavin fabregas nasri van persie chamakh is available, where afellay will play?..keeper?..that’s i still not mention wilshere bendtner song and diaby..maybe arsenal can play him at defence..ppfftt!!…please dont make his career worse..he is young and need to play every game..liverpool or man u maybe can but not arsenal..unless they sell cesc to barca then they can start talking about afellay
Fab4
November 6, 2010 at 11:41 am
I have to agree that the signing of Afellay makes little sense given the options Arsenal already have for this type of player.
Surely there are positions in need of strengthening far more than a small, technical, attacking midfielder?!
If we do agree a pre-contract with him in january hold tight for all the Cesc to Barca stories to re-surface!
jesus casanova
November 6, 2010 at 11:49 am
i think this could actually happen, it just makes sense. Arshavin is stalling over his new contract, he’s turning 30 soon and he’s probably waiting for a better and longer deal elsewhere. Affelay would be the ideal replacement. Arshavin hasnt really ticked all the boxes for me anyway, he doesn’t work hard enough.
sanchit
November 6, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Ok, now this is confusing.
It is true that Arshavin is losing his form and is ageing.
And his contract is running out too.
Also, it is very likely that Fabre will stay, seeing that Arsenal are in with a real chance for some silverware this season, if we get our priorities right.
If we get Affelay, what will we do with Wilshere and Ramsey?
So sorry, no.
No Affelay right now. We have enough striking options for now.
As for Arshavin, I see Walcott replacing him after a year or so.
Ifeanyi enyeribe
November 6, 2010 at 12:56 pm
Wenger no de best 4 me we need the player
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Cleff
November 6, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Yes, Affelay is a very talented player and on a free we have to sign him. There are a few players in our current squad just not up to the quality we desire. A problem identified is we can only move the ball around the opposition, we now need 2 or 3 players that can take the ball thru players to unlock defences. Affelay can do this, also Eden Hazzard, Neymar Da Silva.
demongooner
November 6, 2010 at 4:33 pm
i think if this deal was to go through, i’d say we be saying goodbye to fabrigas too, though i would love see affelay arrive here and replace the lame arshavin who continues to do little in games, what i will ask is this, will arsenal get a player in, when we got players such as, frimpong ,ramsey and sunu and many more waiting to get into the team.
he would be a great signing but would he unsettle the squad or make it better? i think he would do more harm to the squad then be valuable menber of arsenal football club.
have great weekend every one see you at match morrow.
always till i die a true gooner
ss
November 6, 2010 at 4:51 pm
afellay-chamakh-walcott
nasri-song-cesc
clichy-verm-squillaci-sagna
fab
afellay is a great crosser of the ball, we don’t have one of those. seems like chamakh gets to every header yet we give him 3 or 4 opps a match at most. i’m not putting rvp in my starting 11 until I see more than a 94matches/6yrs return. seriously, he’s basically part-time.
umair
November 6, 2010 at 7:16 pm
I dont understand one thing.Y is everyone wanna get rid of arshavin.He is surely a match winner.He can turn around a dull game with his brilliance.Players like him just play with their own mind and when they do we get 4 goals against liverpool
kylo
November 6, 2010 at 10:29 pm
It maybe rubbish but it sounds like classic wenger to me, young rising talent and on a free. I’m glad to hear that other people agree that Arshavins’ performances of late have been lame. With Cescs’ future unknown wenger must think ahead. Wilshire is excellent but still rough around the edges, and who knows what sort of state Ramsey’s going to come back in.
We may have a fair few attacking options at this time, but this sounds like an opportunity we shouldn’t overlook, especially with question marks over three first team players of that position.
kenyc
November 7, 2010 at 12:24 am
The main reason that arsenal want to buy him is because of arshavin’s form and the injury problems. If arshavin do not sign new contract then it might happen. Another problem is the wage structure. Nowaday the output of the total salary was increasing for arsenaland almost all the arsenal players’ salary increasing. Do we have enough money to lang afellay ? Rosicky also not in good form,maybe we can sell rosicky and go for afellay.Personally i wish afellay become a gunner as soon as possible.