Samba would surely be signed as backup so we'd have TV and Kosc as first choice, then Samba and Perry as back ups/to be used when teams pose more of an aerial threat... I could handle that!

You sure about that? TV and Kosc make an awesome partnership. When they're both fit we are very solid in the middle. Their styles of play work very well together.

Edited by #4_fabregas: 31/8/2011 12:17:11 PM

[size=6]Arsenal's new centre-back Per Mertesacker comes to the aid of his boyhood club in their hour of need[/size]

The three were obsessed with football and their priority was making sure they each came home with a Premier League team’s shirt. Mertesacker came back to his home near Hanover with an Arsenal shirt and he supported them ever since.

Now the German international is returning to England to pull on an Arsenal shirt for real, coming to the aid of his adopted club in their time of need.

Since emerging onto the football scene in Germany in 2004, Mertesacker has spoken affectionately of Arsenal and now, with just a year left on his contract with Werder Bremen, the 26-year-old is about to make good on those childhood ambitions.

Mertesacker grew up in Pattensen, near Hanover, and attended a school in Hemmingen that specialised in sport (it has produced several other Bundesliga players), staying to complete his abitur, the equivalent of A-levels.

While he had come through local teams to secure a professional contract with Hanover 96 — where his father Stefan was one of his coaches - he was not considered a particular promising player and came close to quitting.

There was little to persuade him otherwise when he made his Hanover debut as a 19 year old against Cologne.

Ralf Rangnick, the coach who took Schalke to the Champions League semi-finals last season, threw him into the starting XI at right back — not the natural position for a one-paced six-foot-sixer — and then hauled him off at half time.

An inauspicious start, but things started to change very swiftly. In the 2004-05 season Mertesacker established himself as a first-choice central defender and after just 20 games with Hanover was called up by Jurgen Klinsmann for a national team friendly in Tehran.

It was a remarkably swift elevation and he suddenly found himself signing autographs for his school friends. Mertesacker still lived with his parents and had to borrow his dad’s laptop to get his emails from Germany team director Oliver Bierhoff.

When Klinsmann gave him a DVD of footage analysing his performance, Mertesacker meekly offered that he did not own a DVD player.

This all contributes to his reputation in Germany as an anti-star. On leaving school he decided not to do military service, instead doing community service, working in an institution for the mentally ill.

His partner is the German international handball player Ulrike Stange, with whom he has a son, Paul. He has used his celebrity to set up the Mertesacker foundation which raises money for charity through selling football merchandise and annual celebrity matches.

Mertesacker, rake thin with blond hair, cut a distinctive figure at the 2006 World Cup, where he played every minute of every game as Klinsmann’s team reached the semi-finals on home soil.

His development had earned him a move to Werder Bremen that summer, for the modest fee of 5million euros.

As a player he is distinguished by tactical intelligence. His height means he is good in the air but really it is his positioning that is his strongest suit, masking as it does a relative lack of pace.

What is perhaps most remarkable about Mertesacker — and something that will come to the relief of Arsene Wenger and his suspension-ravaged squad — is his clean disciplinary record.

In 221 Bundesliga games he has received only nine yellow cards and two reds. He has said in interviews that he was never even booked as a youth team player.

He is not perhaps the vocal on-pitch leader Arsenal fans have been craving and his form has declined in the last two years as Werder Bremen have struggled (they finished 13th last season).

This is a crucial move for him as much as Arsenal. But you do not win 75 caps for Germany at only 26 if you are not a seriously talented defender.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/8731825/Arsenals-new-centre-back-Per-Mertesacker-comes-to-the-aid-of-his-boyhood-club-in-their-hour-of-need.html

International Watch: Gunners away on duty

Fourteen members of the Arsenal first team have been called up by their countries for the forthcoming international period.

Arsenal.com will bring you a digest of all the games featuring the Gunners.

Theo Walcott
Bulgaria v England, September 2
England v Wales, September 6
Theo Walcott has been called up to Fabio Capello’s England squad for their crucial Euro 2012 qualifying matches against Bulgaria and Wales. The Three Lions travel to Sofia on Friday, before welcoming Wales to Wembley on Tuesday, September 6.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
England Under-21s v Azerbaijan Under-21s, September 1
England Under-21s v Israel Under-21s, September 5
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has been called up to Stuart Pearce's England Under-21 squad for matches against Azerbaijan and Israel. The Young Lions host Azerbaijan in an Under-21 qualifier at Watford's Vicarage Road on Thursday evening before welcoming Israel to Barnsley's Oakwell on Monday, September 5.

Aaron Ramsey
Wales vs Montenegro, September 2
England v Wales, September 6
Aaron Ramsey has been called up to the Wales squad for Euro 2012 qualifying matches against Montenegro and England. Gary Speed’s side host Montenegro on Friday before travelling to Wembley on Tuesday, September 6.

Gervinho
Rwanda v Ivory Coast
Saturday, September 3
Gervinho has been called up to the Ivory Coast squad for their African Cup of Nations 2012 qualifier against Rwanda in Kigali.

Lauent Koscielny and Bacary Sagna
Albania v France, September 2
Romania v France, September 6
Laurent Koscielny and Bacary Sagna have been called up for France’s Euro 2012 qualifying matches against Albania and Romania. Laurent Blanc’s team travel to Tirana on Friday before heading to Bucharest on Tuesday, September 6.

Andrey Arshavin
Russia v Macedonia
Russia v Republic of Ireland
Andrey Arshavin has been called up to help Russia’s Euro 2012 qualification bid for matches against Macedonia and the Republic of Ireland. Russia host Macedonia in Moscow on Friday before welcoming Giovanni Trapattoni’s Irish outfit on Tuesday, September 6.

Nicklas Bendtner
Denmark v Norway
Tuesday, September 6
Nicklas Bendtner has been called up to the Denmark squad to face Norway in their Euro 2012 qualifier on Tuesday, September 6

Robin van Persie
Netherlands v San Marino, September 2
Finland vs Netherlands, September 6
Robin van Persie has been called up to the Netherlands squad for Euro 2012 qualifying matches against San Marino and Finland. Bert van Marwijk’s side host San Marino in Eindhoven on Friday before heading to Helsinki to face Finland on Tuesday, September 6.

Wojciech Szczesny
Poland v Mexico, September 2
Poland v Germany, September 6
Wojciech Szczesny has been called up to the Poland squad for friendly matches against Mexico and Germany. Poland host Mexico in Warsaw on Friday before welcoming Germany to Gdansk on Tuesday, September 6.

Johan Djourou
Switzerland v Bulgaria
Tuesday, September 6
Johan Djourou has been called up to the Switzerland squad for their Euro 2012 qualifying match against Bulgaria in Basel on Tuesday, September 6.

Tomas Rosicky
Scotland v Czech Repubic, September 3
Czech Republic v Ukraine, September 6
Tomas Rosicky has been called up to the Czech Republic squad for matches against Scotland and Ukraine. Rosicky’s side travel to Hampden Park on Saturday for a Euro 2012 qualifier before hosting Ukraine for a friendly match in Prague on Tuesday, September 6.

Alex Song
Cameroon v Mauritius
Saturday, September 3
Alex Song has been called up to the Cameroon squad for Saturday’s home African Cup of Nations qualifier against Mauritius in Yaounde.

Thomas Vermaelen
Azerbaijan v Belgium, September 2
Belgium v USA, September 6
Thomas Vermaelen has been called up to the Belgium squad for matches against Azerbaijan and the United States. Belgium travel to Baku for their Euro 2012 qualifer against Azerbaijan on Friday before hosting the US in a friendly match in Brussels on Tuesday, September 6.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/39270/international-watch-gunners-away-on-duty

[size=6]Behind the Numbers: Premier League players[/size]

This week Arsenal statistician Josh James takes a look at the facts and figures behind the 150 players to have represented the Club in the Premier League so far.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain became the 150th player to represent Arsenal in the Premier League when he came on as a second-half substitute against Manchester United on Sunday afternoon.

The 18-year-old summer signing came on after 62 minutes, replacing the man who had earlier become the Gunners’ 149th Premier League player - Francis Coquelin. 

The top flight in English football was remodelled for the 1992/93 season (first known as the Premiership, it became the Premier League in 2007/08) and the Gunners used 29 players during that first term as they finished 10th.

Now in the 20th season of the league, an average of 6.4 new players per year have turned out for the side in the competition since then. 


The first 11 players to represent the Club in the Premier League were David Seaman, Lee Dixon, Nigel Winterburn, David Hillier, Steve Bould, Tony Adams, John Jensen, Alan Smith, Kevin Campbell, Paul Merson and Anders Limpar. Ian Wright came on as a 73rd-minute sub to become the 12th player as Arsenal lost their first game of the new era 4-2 at home to Norwich. Steve Bould scored the Club’s first ever Premiership goal as George Graham’s men lost a 2-0 half-time lead.


By the start of the current season Arsenal were up to 144 Premier League players, and six more (Gervinho, Emmanuel Frimpong, Carl Jenkinson, Ignasi Miquel, Coquelin and Oxlade-Chamberlain) made their league debuts for the Club in the opening three fixtures of the campaign - more than the whole of last season.


The most league debuts in one season has been 11 (in both 1999/2000 and 2008/09) while just one player (Eddie McGoldrick) made his league bow in 1993/94. 


A look at the three Premier League title-winning seasons offers no clues as to the best number of new players to introduce during a single campaign (10 in 1997/98, six in 01/02 and four in 03/04) but it’s perhaps worth noting that none of the players who since went on to make more than 200 Arsenal league appearances were blooded during a championship season.

Premier League debut makers, season-by-season:



Of the 150 players, 21 of them played just one single league game, and of those, 12 made that solitary appearance as a sub (including Oxlade-Chamberlain). More than half (61%) made fewer than 50 outings.

The man with the most Premier League appearances for Arsenal is Ray Parlour (333) followed by David Seaman (325). Parlour played in the most Premier League seasons (12) tied with Martin Keown.

Dennis Bergkamp is third on the all-time appearance list - 62 of his 315 games were as sub, meaning he has made more substitute appearances in the Premier League than any other Gunners player. A total of 1,631 substitutions have been made by Arsenal in the 737 Premier League matches to date (2.2 per game).

Of the current squad, Robin van Persie leads the way in appearances (159) in this, his eighth season in the league. He also leads the way in goalscoring from the current players (67), but is some way behind Thierry Henry’s club record of 174. The 1,273 Arsenal goals in the competition have been scored by 85 different players, while there have been 35 own goals in our favour.



Top Ten Appearances
Ray Parlour------333
David Seaman-----325
Dennis Bergkamp--315
Martin Keown-----310
Lee Dixon--------305
Patrick Vieira---279
Nigel Winterburn-270
Tony Adams-------255
Thierry Henry----254
Kolo Toure-------225

Top Ten Goalscorers
Thierry Henry-----174
Ian Wright--------104
Dennis Bergkamp----87
Robin van Persie---67
Robert Pires-------62
Emmanuel Adebayor--46
Freddie Ljungberg--46
Cesc Fabregas------35
Sylvain Wiltord----31
Kanu---------------30
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/39275/behind-the-numbers

You know what, it feels good not being able to know what our XI will look like against Swansea.

Haha this. It's really weird.. But good.

also read on twitter than kronke might be tempted by usmanov millions .get him on the board now

:lol: that'll never happen. Mostly because they have a very well known dislike for eachother :lol:

I'd like him to go to Stoke. He'll go gangbusters.

I;m fine with it only if it's a loan, anything else and I'll be dissapointed.

Sky reporting that Andre Santos has passed his medical and agreed personal terms.

Someone's dad reckons "Riccardo Montolivo has been seen at Aeroporto di Firenze. We believe he's heading for a shock move to Arsenal."

Make of that what you will, who's Derek Taylor anyway?