Lupoli continues education, Henry gets lucky, Ballack, Torres, Vela rumours..
Arturo Lupoli scored his 3rd hat trick of the season, the young Italian forward further enhancing his already growing reputation at the club, as the reserves beat hitherto unbeaten Charlton at Underhill last night.Lupoli (pictured left) is really staking his claim for a place in the first team squad, the diminutive striker, poached from Parma in the summer of 2004, possesses a unique asset at Arsenal, he is a natural born striker, an out and out goal scorer.
This season Lupoli has 11 goals in 8 games. I am a big fan of his.
It is fair to say it is a big step up from reserve team football to the Arsenal first team. However Lupoli could add another dimension to the squad, even if initially he was deployed off the bench. He would be ideal to put on when we are dominating against a 10-man rear guard. Would give us another option. He may be a bit lightweight at the moment but the fact is that this guy is ruthless.
In Martinique last night Henry scored a fluke goal for France to steal an unlikely and undeserved 3-2 win against Costa Rica. Henry calving in a late winner after Costa Rica had gone 2-0 up. Henry knew little or nothing about it, but was in the right place at the right time. He's not Drogba, so you cannot begrudge him for the goal, after all he doesn't score many like that.
Henry is now France's joint (Trezeguet) all time second top scorer (31) 10 behind the legendary Platini.
In transfer news, Fernando Torres' agent has allegedly said he 'hasn't spoken to anyone from Arsenal for over 18 months' so stories claiming his imminent signing appear wide of the mark. Which isn't a surprise.
Michael Ballack has, via his agent, ruled out a move in January.
The German's agent Michael Becker saying, "There is absolutely no chance of Michael leaving in January. It just would not make sense. First, it would cost him any chance of winning the Champions League this season, which is the prime motivation for the remainder of his career. Secondly, what would be the point of Bayern selling him because they could make more in Champions League prize money with him in the team than they would in a transfer fee given he only has six months left on his contract."
"And thirdly, why would he want to leave Germany such a short time before he is due to captain them in the World Cup. I think Michael will either say he is staying, or he will say he is leaving and would like to join a particular club. That would at least allow him to start negotiating in January. I must stress, Michael has spoken to no-one about his future yet and has certainly not spoken to any other club about his plans."
Unsurprising really.
A more Wenger-esque signing is the potential £2m capture of Carlos Vela, the 16-year-old Mexican, who was central to Mexico's under-17 world cup victory earlier in the year. If a deal is struck he would be immediately loaned to Valencia for 2 seasons of first team football and then make his way over to the Premiership.
All sounds very good, the only thing that troubles me is.. What do Valencia get out of nurturing a future star for Arsenal?
posted by JoeBoni @ 12:42 PM
15 comments
15 Comments:
good post, mate.
The Arsenal wtf? Is a quality site.. So cheers fella..
Great post! Its about time there was some more inteligent writing on the Arsenal and this seems to be just that. Well done, keep up the good work!
Yes I agree Lupoli is a real find & I think your spot on with the 10 men behind the ball thing.
But isn't VP doing a good job of that himself @ the moment, and then again you can never have enough options.
Let’s hope they (the reserves) go all the way this year, in both their League & the Carling Cup because from what I have seen of them this year they are a V/good unit.
Although from a purely selfish view point I would like to see Ryan Smith back with them. Anyone know how he's doing on loan @ the moment?
Funnily enough Kim I wrote that in the profile I did for him in the 'Leading Lights' post. I think you're right this guy can can be very special. He has progressed a lot already.
Apparantly Smith is doing really well over at Leicester, he has started a couple of games and made a couple of sub appearances but Levine said he thought he would definately (injury free) be a 1st team regular by the end of his spell (End of Dec).
He will definately need more work in the gym before wenger even consider him for first team.
Nice to hear thanks Joe, to be honest I had forgotten were he was loaned out to.
But if my memory serves me correct they only have him until Jan?
From what I have seen of Lupoli this year he seem to have filled-out a bit already + for 10-15 min run-outs would he need to be that big?
That's right, Smith is loaned (currently - remember Pennant to Leeds!) until 31 Dec. Anon, I think you're right, he doesn't need to be massive, can just bulk up at a steady rate, as long as he comes on at the end of games, like you said 10-15 mins would be ideal, would get him used to the pace and physical nature of the first team whilst building his confidence up if he can bang in the odd goal.
On the subject of Vela going to Valencia for 2 years, the reason for it is that he is ineligible for a UK work permit until he is 18. Presumeably the Spanish have a different rule for Mexico (after all, they once owned the country), hence Valencia is his destination for the next two years. PS any chance of loaning Lupoli to Aldershot for a game or three? Tom Johnson.
Yeah I know WHY Vela is going to Valencia, that's fair enough, but what do they get out of it? Intergrate him into the squad, train him up, make him a star and then give him to us! Thanks very much! But WHY go to all that effort for nothing?!!
Oh right, fair enough. Maybe you're paying them some cash...
Or could it be that they know they will get a good squad player for two year with no cost to them.
Because I would imagine we will pay all his wages while he's there.
P.S. this is just speculation @ the moment isn't it, only I have seen nothing on the Arsenal web site yet?
Lee.
It has been confirmed on the chivas website but apart from that it's speculation.. Think it reeks of a Wenger style signing though..
Reportedly Vela left for London yesterday. I would think Arsenal would wait for the deal to be finalized at least, if not until they had secured the club to which he will be loaned. Valencia is now reported to be out. It's becoming a bit ludicrous that we're going so nutty over a 16 year old. Cesc was a also a golden boot winner as well as golden ball, and there wasn't near the media and fan frenzy when he was signed. Suppose it is a bit slow with the frickn international week.
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