Wednesday
20Aug
Hundreds on show, but which midfielder will Wenger be watching for Arsenal?
So Arsenal are on the verge of signing Mikael Silvestre from ManUre. Am I surprised? Yes. Am I disappointed? No.But I will be disappointed if the aging, injury prone defender turns out to be the experienced midfielder that Arsene Wenger promised us. Silvestre might be hugely experienced, but unless I missed something in his nine years at Old Trafford, none of that experience was as a midfielder.
However, Arsene is a man of his word, so I’m hoping he doesn’t let us down on this one. And if he does have an eye on one or two players to bolster the defensive midfield slot, tonight will be an ideal opportunity for him to run the rule over them.
There are 28 international friendlies and one World Cup qualifier being played today in and around Europe, so that’s 58 teams for Wenger to potentially watch. There are also seven under-21 games, but I'm ruling those out because of the "experienced" part of the promise.
Put another way, there will be more than 232 full international midfielders playing this evening, so Le Gaffer won’t exactly be short of options if he is still seriously looking to add a new face to his squad.
The rumours about Arsenal signing Swiss midfielder Gokhan Inler just won’t go away, so if you spot Le Boss in the land of cuckoo clocks, let us know.
Wenger is well known for wanting to see players in action himself before making any decision to buy, so similarly, if you see Arsene boarding a flight somewhere today, share the news so we can get a clue about who he might be watching.
On the other hand, if he’s staying at home, then could Le Prof be about to pull on of his repositioning tricks? I really can’t believe that Wenger could see Silvestre playing as a hard tackling, workhorse midfielder, so I still hope beyond hope that there’s another signing in the offing before FC Twente visit next Wednesday.
GM
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Reader Comments (31)
Maybe it's Toure who'll be the midfielder and Silvestre who'll cover the gap Toure moving to midfield would create??? I hope not.
1st
you don't put ageing CBs in midfield you do it the other way as Manure did with Keane but Wenger might want to put Kolo in Midfield as with his tackling abilities and pace it would make more sense and anyhow, he used to be a midfielder and in his youth, a striker. i expect to see a new midfielder as well with Silvestre as a squad player, used in various back 4 positions.. lets see if I'm right
let mr. wenger buy a natural CM and i hop it's not Silvestre on his mind.in wenger i trust
I think it will allow Djourou to move into the midfield position - one which he always wanted. Silvestre will provide a cover for Gallas and Toure. Also, maybe the boss is trying to get over the language barrier which might be hampering Gallas and Toure's partnership. Notice that Gallas works well with Senderos and Djourou who are both French speakers. So maybe getting in someone like Silvestre who can also speak french is an option.
Gallas and Toure can both speak English !!!
Kolo for midfield is an option though and it would allow Gallas to be the right sided centre back, which he'd no doubt prefer.
Hold on a minute, your getting ahead of yourself here matey. Silvestre is a defender, he will only fill the role of cb or lb as back up for that matter. Secondly, surely the recent Olympic football tournament is a much better hive of prospective talent than a load of international friendlies that no-one, including the players, takes seriously. Indeed, Wenger is much more likely to have been monitoring the recent under 23's in action in Beijing.
now what is le boss trying? silvestre is seen as a supplers player at manure thts why they are selling him! do we there4 need him i dont know?.anyway whats happening 2 inlers deal? i think by now he should be making his friendship with passmaster coz i understand passmaster is returning nxt week.lets cross our fingers that nasri plays on da weekend coz i heard he is injured.en lets support ade pls
Um, PG, Toure is from Ivory Coast. His first language is French. And his English is very good. Any communication problem between him and Gallas is not down to language problems
what are you talking about toure speaks french its ivory coasts native language there is no language barrier
mr wenger dont tell us u wont sign a dm for us bcos if we intend to win any trophy this season it depends on the new dm.so pls try and sign a dm for and dont try to tell us u re sign silvester from manu to replace flamini position bcos i dont tink he even a pin xperience of a dm and even about kolo pls dont change is position this season, bcos changing is position curse us alot of agony last season in uefa league against liverpool.
Wenger has already seen Inler play at the Euros. Inler will be in London on Friday
hello,
it unforunate u dont try want to sign a beta striker 4 us dis season u will tell us adebayor will do every tin dis season for with likes of walcot, vela, wilshere, and even ur new sign ramsey.i will tell u they are too young to face this kind of competion from the likes of a strong defender of ferdinand, JT, vidic and etc and adebayor and rvp can do the job but interms of injury mater it will be difficult to even get a win.so am advicing mr wenger to pls and pls try to sign a better off striker who can pattern with ade and rvp.
I think it wont happen. If it does he wont be in the first 11. He is cover at best.
Silvestre would be an ideal covering squad player for two positions that we are scarce in-CD/LF.
I think that the squad will consist of 25 players including 2 keepers.
So that leaves us with 8 defenders/4 strikers/2 keepers/11 midfielders.
Lets have a quick look at where we stand at the moment: 2 keepers are obviously Almunia and Fabianski
The 8 defenders are; Sagna,Toure,Gallas,Clichy,Djourou,Senderos,(Silvestre)IMO Eboue.
The 11 Mid-fielders; Fabregas,Rosicky,Nasri,Denilson,Diaby,Walcott,Song,Ramsey,Vela,
Bischoff,Wilshire.
The 4 Strikers; Adabayor,V. Persie, Bentdner, Eduardo.
I think that the Times also reported that Silvestre would be signing in the coming days which is a publication to be trusted in comparrison with the Sun.
As far as a CDM goes I would think that deal is all but wrapped up and waiting announcement provided we qualify for the group stages of the Champions league.
Wenger has had a few months to replace a player (Flamini)who was offered to Birmingham only last year-according to Steve Bruce.
So its understandable that a quality DCM is stalling until we definately qualify. Why would he swap if we didn't qualify?
silvestre will be backup to clichy.
What happened to "in Arsene Wenger we trust?". Silvestre would be a superb signing in place of Senderos who Arsenal can keep as a last resort back as we did with Pascal Cygan. I think Wenger's got the midfield spot on with Denilson, Ramsay, Diaby, Walcott, Vela, Wilshire, Lansbury, Barazite and Rosicky vying for places. We have enough down the flanks to trouble other teams. What we need are good defenders and an exceptional goalie. That was how we became the double winners before. Wenger will deliver again at fraction of the cost spent by Chelsea, Liverpool, Man U and Tottenham, even if it isn't this season. I'm sure of it!
Did Michael johnson play last night for england U21s? If so, where was Wenger? just a thought, anyways, I dont really mind if we dont sign another CM because we have Denilson, him and Fabbie will work. Mark my words. They are the long term CM pairing.
Whoever said we need a striker iz an idiot. With rvp, ade, eduardO[he'll be bak, why worry] ,bendtner and vela we have da best attacking force in the league. We certainly need a cdm. And silvestre is not in my list...
Silvestre is costing peanuts. He's simply cover for Clichy and he'll be smoothing some of Clichy's rough edges with his experience. He's also a close pal of Gallas.
The only player we don't have cover for is Clichy. Traore is the only other left full back we have, and at best he's 'potential' cover.
Silvestre is also an EXCELLENT centre back.
I personally think song could play as a DM!
I beleive AV is tracking beijing, i have seen talented defencive mid-fielders like kaita of nigeria. mikael sylvestre will be good addition since wenger believes defenders are good at their 30's. Inler is for sure heading to arsenal soon.
kolo can also speak french too, he's from a french speakin country u know
Great to hear that Stéphane Mbia is coming back from the Olympics with Alex Song. He will be a great signing.
I hope silvestre isn't the "experienced midfielder wenger was talking about. Probably the back up cb because traore has impressed recently. I think he could move toure into midfield and start with silvestre alongside gallas. If reports are right we will offer him 50 000 a week.
An amount of money arsene wouldn't waste on a player to sit on the bench. Would be a decent signing because we need depth in defence as well as midfield.