Whispers in the night - have we signed Malouda?

You know it's a tired day when even TribalFootball can't dig up anything more salacious about your club than a re-hash of yesterdays news. There's not even much going on in the Thierry Henry to Barcelona saga, which is unusual.

Is it the quiet before the storm, one asks?

Anyway, all this suits me, as I've got a massive headache today, so am not up to writing a huge amount.

Interestingly though, a long-standing rumour has re-surfaced on a couple of blogs today with stories that we have beaten Liverpool to the punch for the signing of Florent Malouda. This hasn't filtered down through any of the usual news sources yet, and you have to treat these things with the caution they obviously deserve, but it's interesting nonetheless.

Malouda is a player I hold in fairly high regard - he doesn't have the flair of the likes of Quaresma and Franck Ribery, but he's been an exceptionally effective player in France this year.

He's direct, he's fast, he's committed, he's experienced, and he gets a few goals too with usually excellent finishing. He's very much a left-footed player, and will spend most of his time competing with Rosicky on the left, and filling in for the 1/3 of the season that Tomas is usually injured for.

At the right price, this could be a very astute signing. But he's no Messiah - I think he'd fix more problems for us than Ribery would, but I'd be just as reluctant to spend our whole budget on him. A price of around £10 million would seem sensible, but may be difficult to agree given the hard-arse negotiating tactics the Lyon Chairman Aulas seems to employ.

A definite 5/10 from me, and very much watch this space.

In other transfer news, the Nasri rumours we talked about a few days ago don't seem to have materialised - nothing should be surprising about that though, given that the French team are still off playing internationals, but with Marseille selling Ribery to Bayern, it's hard to envisage them qualifying for the Champions League and then selling off two of their best players in the same summer. It's still very hard to see where he might fit in at Arsenal, so I'm pretty sure that one won't be happening.

There's really nothing at all else going on today. I could talk a little about Cesc's 'Arsène goes, I go with him' comments from yesterday, and how I feel about the danger of Arsenal becoming a personality cult, but at the end of the day I feel that even if Arsène goes, the board could pre-empt a mass-exodus by signing a quality coach to replace him, and that's all that really needs to be said.

When Arsène eventually leaves, the time will have come for Arsenal to start behaving more like a big club, and if they do that, retaining our top players won't be a problem.

Right, off to nurse my poor, poor head.

User Comments

arsenal4life

Posted on 11 Jun, 2007 at 03:40 AM - Reply

i personally rate quaresma higher than malouda, he's above average but he's getting old and he's not exceptional. Whereas quaresma can win us games and he's still young, and cheaper, maybe. I dont life ribeiry, simply because of his scar :D

Mark Wirth

Posted on 10 Jun, 2007 at 04:32 PM - Reply

I think that its about time that Wenger buys a high quality Englishman! I know that this is hard because they are all expensive, but i dont know how you feel...but when i see the starting line up before a match without one english player, i feel embarrassed! Im Maltese, so dont think that im an English racist, but we are an English club with traditions, and i want to see some Englishmen getting into the team!! What do you think about it? Malouda is good, but Nasri is better! Come on Wenger, buy somebody and sign an extension!!!

Smith

Posted on 9 Jun, 2007 at 08:16 PM - Reply

I am very optimistic about the future of Arsenal. I was reading an article on the future wonderkids of football and apparently arsenal has the maximum number of wonderkids with 7 followed by Real Madrid with 4. Look at the young players who are coming out of Arsenal.
Carlos Vela (18)
Nicklas Bendtner (19)
Theo Walcott (18)
Francesco Merida (17)
Francesc Fabregas (20)
Denilson (19)
Abou Diaby (21)
Armand Traore (17)
Johan Djourou (20)
Gael Clichy (21)

and then we have
Van Persie (22)
Adebayor (22)

I am optimistic about Lukasz Fabianski (22) as well.

The future of AFC is great without spending any big money

I would hope though AFC signs Samir Nasir ahead of Malooda. I personally do not rate him highly. I hope that he goes to Liverpool.

gooner_atheart

Posted on 9 Jun, 2007 at 05:01 PM - Reply

This has been one of the toughest seasons for me as a gooner.. So many self doubts. Will henry leave. will cesc leave, are we losing the plot?

come on gunners, come on wenger.

Cigarhudson

Posted on 9 Jun, 2007 at 04:25 PM - Reply

I like the notion that Arsenal will 'start behaving more like a big club' when Arsene leaves. It's very true. Until then we just have to grin and bear the speculation about our top players. It's such a pivitol season coming up. Arsene obviously believes his squad is good enough to win something major... it'll be interesting to see if the players respond. Henry leaving would not be the end of the world. We lost Viera and made the Champions League Final and could have won it if Henry had buiried that chance at 1-0 up and Mad Jens hadn't.. well you know what happened.

saadiafc

Posted on 9 Jun, 2007 at 04:21 PM - Reply

i agree we need a winger!!! Ricardo Quresma would be perfect!! hes got the fleer, the speed, the power, the attitude, the tecnique... hes got everything..... ps ribery is is a world class player but i dont know why arsenal would need him bcuz we have henry, robbin, addebayor, bendtner.... arsene probubley wants him cuz he got 40millon pounds and he has allways admirred him..... pss.... im 13 so im basing everything i just said on what ive seen (which aint much.... hope Quresma and torres come to arsenal and own with fabregas :P

saadiafc

Posted on 9 Jun, 2007 at 04:15 PM - Reply

i agree we need a winger!!! Ricardo Quresma would be perfect!! hes got the fleer, the speed, the power, the attitude, the tecnique... hes got everything..... ps ribery is is a world class player but i dont know why arsenal would need him bcuz we have henry, robbin, addebayor, bendtner.... arsene probubley wants him cuz he got 40millon pounds and he has allways admirred him..... pss.... im 13 so im basing everything i just said on what ive seen (which aint much.... hope Quresma and torres come to arsenal and own with fabregas :P

DannyWilliams

Posted on 9 Jun, 2007 at 10:55 AM - Reply

I think we should sign Malouda he is a great player and for that price is a bargain...RIbery is an idiot imo,he says he wants Champions League football so he wanted to leave Marsielle but Marsielle are in the CL and Bayern arnt....stupid

Darren

Posted on 8 Jun, 2007 at 11:43 PM - Reply

Short answer - No. Longer version - No we haven't...

eastsyder

Posted on 8 Jun, 2007 at 10:13 AM - Reply

Arsene please buy us a right winger who can score alot of goals and dispose freddie lungberg and buy a towering central defender to deal with arial threats and set pieces as well as bring more competition in the area

Nick

Posted on 8 Jun, 2007 at 06:00 AM - Reply

hey i thnk u r 100% on to it! i culdnt see wher ribery wuld fit n either. i thnk if cesc goes it givs opportunity to others such as denilson or even rosicky to play inside however havng said tht i hope to god cesc doesnt go! as for thierry it wuld b a shame bt in all onesty dd he do much for us last season!?! i thnk we'll b alrite!

Hansa

Posted on 7 Jun, 2007 at 11:37 PM - Reply

I don't think Arsenal will sign Malouda. Wenger will probably look at less expensive targets and players that he can develop in the Arsenal way.

Phil442

Posted on 7 Jun, 2007 at 08:47 PM - Reply

If Liverpool want him, he can't be that good.

piotr

Posted on 7 Jun, 2007 at 08:43 PM - Reply

super Malouda is the best player in the world

naqi7121

Posted on 7 Jun, 2007 at 04:45 PM - Reply

Bayren signed Ribery can u please make a blog about this miss out cause we were so close to signing him i just want to know what do the fans think of it cause it really pissed me off. Thank you

A

Posted on 7 Jun, 2007 at 02:51 PM - Reply

I'd love to see arsenal spend their whole transfer kitty on one player actly... buying a new central defender will not help next season as defenders usually need 2-3 seasons to come of age in their new clubs.. (vidic) give gallas time ;) ... as for a new striker.. if a world class striker is bought then that would mean RvP would play alot in the midfield rather then upfront... so that leaves a midfielder.. Arsenals priority is a winger... their were far too many games that denilson, diaby or even aliadier played on the wings... !!

Soo i would love to see arsenal go ahead and splash a $20-30 dollar siging on a winger... not a malouda.. but more like a Robben!! tempt chelsea with an offer they cnt refuse Arsene!

Carlos

Posted on 7 Jun, 2007 at 01:43 PM - Reply

Well said. I love Arsene but we need a different mentality at times. That which the top 3 teams have at this time.

rdcgunner

Posted on 7 Jun, 2007 at 10:40 AM - Reply

Rosicky is NOT a left winger we used him there becouse RVP got injured.If Malouda comes he will compete with RVP for that position or we could move back to the standard 442 ...still in my oppinion Rosicky or Hleb will have to come off the bench couse we can only field 11.

Slippery When Wet

Posted on 7 Jun, 2007 at 10:31 AM - Reply

I hope this is not true - Malouda is dross and £10m is a lot of cash

walkpass

Posted on 7 Jun, 2007 at 09:46 AM - Reply

I guess Fabregas and Henry sees Arsenal like their employers, rather than their football club. Wenger to them, is their direct boss who has been great. It is a common workplace situation where if you feel attached with your colleagues or immediate boss, you tend to want to follow suit if he/she leaves (especially if the BOD or indirect superior sucks). Do not blame AW for being thought as bigger than the club, it is a recognition for his efforts during the past decade. In addition, there has been no indication of him abusing this reputation, e.g. holding the club to ransom (like JM or RB). Do not be too quick to jump on one of the best managers Arsenal ever had.

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