Arsenal feel Robin van Persie's absence in goalless draw with Stoke

Life after Robin van Persie is turning out to be every bit as painful as many Arsenal supporters feared. A day after the Dutchman opened his Manchester United account with an exquisite strike against Fulham, Arsenal fans departed the Potteries with their unbeaten start to the season intact but still waiting to celebrate their first goal.

Picking up a point at a stadium where Arsenal suffered defeat in three of their previous five visits hardly qualifies as a bad day at the office but as long as Arsène Wenger's side continue to lack a cutting edge, which was also the case in the 0-0 draw against Sunderland last weekend, it is difficult to look beyond the absence of the man who almost single-handedly dragged them to a top-three finish last season. "Robin van Persie, he would have scored that," the Stoke City supporters sang time and again.

None of the chances that fell to Lukas Podolski, Olivier Giroud, Mikel Arteta or Abou Diaby were clear cut, although the reality is that they never needed to be when Van Persie was still around. Wenger had a point when he talked about the need to be patient and give the new signings time to develop an understanding, but he also bemoaned the lack of spontaneity, something that Van Persie could never be accused of.

Giroud, in fairness, gave a decent account of himself on his full debut, and came close to scoring an outrageous winner in the closing minutes, when he spotted Asmir Begovic, the Stoke goalkeeper, off his line and clipped a left-footed shot from well outside the penalty area that skimmed the roof of the net.

Podolski, deployed in the wide-left berth he occupies for Germany rather than the central striking role he took up against Sunderland, showed some early promise but faded, and Gervinho, the other member of Arsenal's three-prong attack, was a disappointment.

Wenger, however, was entitled to be reasonably satisfied with the outcome. Stoke, as he pointed out, are formidable opponents at home – the top six all failed to win there last season – and this had the look of an awkward fixture beforehand. It was easy to imagine Tony Pulis rubbing his hands when he was given a team sheet that included the name of a rookie Arsenal goalkeeper. Vito Mannone was making only his seventh start for Arsenal and in his last appearance, against Olympiakos in the Champions League eight months ago, he made a dreadful blunder in a 3-1 defeat.

The Britannia Stadium hardly felt like the ideal place for a comeback but Mannone enjoyed a comfortable ride. Deputising for Wojciech Szczesny, who was ruled out with a rib injury, the 24-year-old Italian handled Stoke's aerial threat from set pieces with the minimum of fuss and had little to do other than make a couple of routine saves. Stoke, as Pulis later conceded, were poor as an attacking force, although they could have pilfered three points late on, when Jonathan Walters ran on to Michael Kightly's through ball only to snatch at the chance and shoot wide of the far upright.

Defeat would have been hard for Arsenal to accept. Although Begovic was not exactly overworked, Arsenal had plenty of possession and always looked the more likely team to score. Arteta should have done better when he curled wide in the second half, and Podolski had a sight of goal in the eighth minute only for his left-footed shot to be blocked by Andy Wilkinson. It struck the full-back on the forearm but there seemed to be little intent and Wenger did not even mention the incident afterwards.

Stoke had a penalty appeal of their own in the second half when Kieran Gibbs rather untidily tangled with Jermaine Pennant. Lee Mason, the referee, saw no offence and Pulis was not minded to make a big deal of the incident. The Stoke manager was more interested in making what felt like a point to the board about the importance of adding to his squad before the transfer window closes. "I hope next week will be a busy week for us because we need to freshen it up," said Pulis, who is keen on Tottenham's Michael Dawson as well as Tom Huddlestone.

There is certainly a need for some more imagination about their play on the evidence of this goalless draw. "I thought we were disappointing going forward. We can do better than that," Pulis said. "We looked unbalanced without Matty [Etherington] on the left-hand side but the attitude and the commitment of the players was absolutely first class, and as a football club we must never become blase about just taking a point off of one of the top clubs in Europe."

Man of the match: Mikel Arteta (Arsenal)

Source: Stuart James, The Guardian on 26 Aug 12

Arsenal's Olivier Giroud will add intelligence as well as robustness

Olivier Giroud admits Arsenal lack the financial firepower of big rivals but insists club can rely on 'other values' for its title aims

It was less than 24 hours since the news broke that Arsenal were selling Robin van Persie to Manchester United, and one of the men bought to fill the vacuum found himself in the middle of Hackney Marshes. He patiently repeated footballing poses for a photo shoot with giant reflectors highlighting his imposing frame. Nobody batted an eyelid. A couple of dog walkers passed by hanging on to a cluster of leads. A little group of kite flyers were out. A lone runner jogged along. A cameraman for Al Jazeera, knowing there was an interview with a footballer scheduled, wandered over, asking, "What's his name?" Olivier Giroud. "Who does he play for?" Arsenal. The cameraman shrugged, none the wiser.

If he needs time to make himself better known in the world of English football, that's an idea Giroud is totally comfortable with. His career trajectory is that of a slow burner. He knocked around the lower leagues in France until his mid-20s, finally planting his flag in the top division with Montpellier when he was not far from his 24th birthday. Since then, the pace of his development has picked up considerably, and the last few months have been more like a whirlwind. May: clinch the French title and golden boot, and even feel self confident enough to appear as the cover shot of Parisian gay magazine Têtu to reflect spiralling profile. June: take part in the European Championship with the national team. July: catapult into Arsenal ready to leap into a new challenge.

The meandering route to the top has made him circumspect, wary of getting too carried away. Giroud has absolutely no intention of setting any goals about what he wants to achieve and how quickly he might achieve it. He may have them privately, but they are certainly not for public consumption.

Van Persie's departure does put a new slant on everything. The pressure on Giroud, along with Lukas Podolski, the other international Arsène Wenger recruited to score goals, automatically becomes more intense. That was evident on the opening day of the season as Podolski struggled to make an impact, and Giroud, presented with a matchwinning chance on his debut appearance on the Premier League stage, fluffed his lines.

It is a pressure that Giroud welcomes, though. He is not afraid of this opportunity. "I don't want to spit in the soup," he says, a French maxim which in other words means I don't want to knock what's good for me.

"If Robin had not gone it would have been fine, it would have allowed me to adapt more progressively and with more time," he explains. "But I don't want to be fussy. I am happy. It works for me, because when you are a footballer you want to play. Inevitably, with Robin gone it will give me more playing time. People will expect a lot, and I really feel the desire to fulfil this expectation. It is better than if I was sitting on the bench."

Van Persie passed on a few words of advice before he headed north. "We said goodbye, wished each other good luck for the future, and said that we will cross paths again," Giroud recalls. "I hope everything will go well for him. I have no worries about him. He's a great striker."

Giroud is fond of the idea that everyone has their own story, and he feels compelled to make his own the best it can possibly be. His own childhood, in a household he describes as "a family of footballers" showed him that some tales end abruptly. His big brother Romain, 10 years his senior, was on course for a big career, and was a central defender of such promise he was capped regularly as a junior. "He was picked 40 times for the French national team, at under-15 and under-17 level, with Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet, Nicolas Anelka," Olivier recalls. "He was trained at Auxerre, he was a hope, but he never had a professional career." Romain went back to studying, and became a nutritionist.

All this happened when Olivier was just starting out as a boy in the youth system at Grenoble. Having witnessed what happened to Romain, and been sent on loan to Istres in the third tier, it was quite a knockback when his club put him up for sale, saying that he did not have the qualities to play with the elite. He went to Tours. "I had to take a risk to restart in a lower league," he says. "But I never gave up."

It resonates how often his story has overlapped with Laurent Koscielny. They were in the same team at Tours that just missed out on promotion, a close-knit bunch who felt they could be part of something special. They moved on in different directions but met up again last winter with the French national team. Now Koscielny has been showing him the ropes in London. "It was funny to see him again, like fate giving you a wink," Giroud says. "Laurent is a good example. I am proud of what I did. Those experiences [in the lower divisions] helped me to develop my personality. I have certain values. I know where I come from. I am a hard worker. I'm conscious of my luck."

Giroud has a reputation in France for being a likeable, uncomplicated character. As he opens up a chocolate bar and fizzy drink from the vending machine to sustain him through the afternoon, he breaks into English for my benefit. "Are you hungry? Thirsty?" His willingness to share a snack with a journalist he has only just met emphasises how he has not yet let a famously egotistical profession get in the way of affable good manners. He even manages to keep a straight face when a grammatical slip meant that one of my questions in Franglais turned out to be a malapropism of the highest order. Attempts to ask him about his targets ended up referencing what happens to a man when he gets excited.

Communicating in another language is clearly not always a breeze, but Giroud is keen to start making connections. He regularly interrupts his French flow to try out English phrases. It is all part of his eagerness to get on the same wavelength as his team-mates as quickly as he can.

He is realistic enough to suggest that does not happen overnight. "You have to communicate, you have to click, to find automatic reactions with your team-mates," he says. "It takes time to adapt to become an Arsenal player. Before the start of the season we had 45 minutes together. That's how it is when you have the Euros and then have to rest. But there is a lot of quality in this team."

In a sense he would like Arsenal to emulate Montpellier, a team that last season came together to prove that the wealthiest do always equate to the best. His old team were surprise champions at the expense of the newly wealthy Paris St-Germain. "Compared to PSG we had a fraction of their budget. We had less money but a lot of quality. To keep going for the whole season was something extraordinary. We had a young group of guys and we told ourselves we achieved something really huge.

"It's a good example for Arsenal. We don't have the money of the Manchester clubs or Chelsea. Arsenal builds its team through training, through recruiting players who can become something. Arsenal has less money than some other clubs so we have to fight with other values. The collective, the group spirit, is good. We have an important role to play in this championship." Is it possible to win the league? "Honestly, it will be complicated. Because the competition is fierce. But who knows?"

After that slightly downbeat start of a goalless draw at home to Sunderland, Arsenal need to find more spark, more rhythm, more efficiency at Stoke on Sunday. Next month is fairly unforgiving, including trips to Liverpool and Manchester City, as well as a visit from Chelsea. Giroud is aware of the welcome that traditionally awaits Arsenal at the Britannia, and if Wenger is tempted to select his 6ft 4in target man, whose aggression on the training ground has been noted, it will be a fascinating test.

It is early days, but the expectation seems to be that Giroud is being judged either as a potential heir to Van Persie or as an expensive version of Marouane Chamakh? In truth, neither is particularly fair.

He wants to make his own impression, his own way. So, how would he describe himself to his new audience in England? The first adjectives trip off the tongue. "Ambitious. Generous …" Then he pauses for thought. "Natural … Intelligent …" That was enough, but Giroud feels obliged to come up with another word. "Stubborn!" he exclaims before again slipping into English with some very deliberate gestures. "I want to go here." He points, then drops his voice to sound even more determined. "I go here."

The overall message does not really need translation. Do not judge this particular story by its opening line last weekend.

Source: Amy Lawrence, The Guardian on 25 Aug 12

Arsenal rue Olivier Giroud's miss in goalless opener with Sunderland

Olivier Giroud felt his heart race as time appeared to slow. In the words of Arsenal's £13m striker, "the dream start" beckoned. Eighteen minutes into his debut for the club as a substitute, he found himself clean through, thanks to Santi Cazorla's clever pass. He simply needed to steer his right-foot shot into the corner.

If he scores, Arsenal win, he is the hero and the healing process over Robin van Persie's departure to Manchester United begins. Instead, Giroud's shot kept on travelling past the post. Arsène Wenger, the manager, threw up his hands and slumped into his seat. Everybody in the stadium suspected that Van Persie would have found the net. "It just didn't smile for us today," Giroud said.

Wenger always takes defeat badly, and this result felt like a defeat, despite the worthiness of Sunderland's defensive effort and the pair of decent early chances that they created for James McClean and Jack Colback.

Yet it was startling to see how weary Wenger looked afterwards, as was the sense of resignation in his words and body language. He confirmed that Alex Song was bound for Barcelona in a £15m deal which, as things stand, means he has turned a profit on his summer transfer spend.

With Van Persie and Song absent and Lukas Podolski, Cazorla and Giroud wearing the red shirt for the first time, there was a sense that another cycle has started. After overseeing so many of them, Wenger could have been forgiven for feeling the grind.

It felt appropriate to ask him whether he still had the enthusiasm for it all. "I believe that part of our club is to influence people's lives in a positive way," he replied. "You would prefer to influence it in a positive way for yourself but it does not always happen."

Van Persie's departure has hit him hard and Martin O'Neill, the Sunderland manager, said that the situation was "as bad as it gets". Song's case is more curious. The midfielder's desire to explore his options led to friction with the club while his consideration of his worth to the team, in technical and financial terms, differed to that of Wenger.

Arsenal had Song under contract to 2015 but their readiness to accept Barcelona's offer spoke volumes. It is easy to detect a feeling at the club of good riddance. Wenger is expected to push ahead with his move for Real Madrid's Nuri Sahin, although he said that he has sufficient existing options to cope.

Song, though, is the latest in a line of players to have developed impressively at Arsenal, only to leave. "We make the players here," Wenger said. "All that have left were made here or made a name here or came here very young. Fábregas, Clichy, Adebayor, Henry, Nasri, all of them. Song came at 17. He had a lot to do when he arrived but he did it."

Wenger's challenge is to get the best out of his new signings. He said that he sees Podolski as his centre-forward, which raises the question of whether Giroud, a true No9, can expect to start regularly. Podolski, who was disappointing on Saturday, did play as the centre-forward for Cologne last season, but he has tended to play off the left for Germany.

"That's where I see him [as the centre-forward]," Wenger said. "But he has some work to do to change his game … to make runs in behind, protect the ball and move around the box. When you come from a wide position, it's not easy straight away to find all that."

It was put to Wenger that Arsenal might have to play differently with Podolski as opposed to Van Persie. "Maybe," he said. "I have to study the game and see what he did when we had the ball. At the moment, we cannot say it worked."

O'Neill could be relieved at Giroud's miss but delighted at Sunderland's collective resilience. His thoughts, though, were also coloured by transfer-market business. He is desperate for reinforcements, particularly up front. "What we lack is some quality in major positions and I actually think the quantity, too."

Man of the match: Lee Cattermole (Sunderland)

Source: David Hytner, The Guardian on 19 Aug 12

Steely Sunderland highlight Arsenal's striking problems

At the conclusion of an active summer, Arsenal were left hot and bothered. Despite the presence of three new players around which Arsène Wenger intends to build his attack, Arsenal sweated and stuttered and found no way through Martin O'Neill's resilient Sunderland.

It felt like a chef had thrown together a bunch of ingredients but could not pull together a mouthwatering meal in a hurry. It was bland at times, as Arsenal lacked cohesion, communication and natural combinations. Perhaps it was not altogether surprising that they played a little like strangers. Compared to the final game from last season, Arsenal had seven different names in the starting XI.

Wenger acknowledged there was an inevitable, awkward question that will trail around them in performances when they falter in front of goal. If Robin van Persie were there would they have won? "Maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong. We can never check that. But it's true last year in every game he found something special. I never deny we lost a world class player and it is very difficult to replace him." Alex Song has also gone, with terms agreed with Barcelona for the Cameroonian's transfer.

O'Neill anticipated there might be a special nuance in the atmosphere hot on the heels Van Persie's move. But the most helpful thing from a Sunderland point of view was that Arsenal simply could not click. After two chances in 11 minutes – James McClean's snap shot and a well worked move that fell to the excellent Jack Colback – they resorted to a rearguard action. New arrival Carlos Cuéllar played his part and slotted expertly into the back four.

Arsenal's game revolved around Santi Cazorla. Fresh – if he'll pardon the expression – from a midweek long haul to Puerto Rico, he immediately showed he has the quality to pull strings at will. He found space easily, and with his polished touch and seemingly equal control with either foot, was able to spray passes, launch set pieces, and he even did not mind pressing to win the ball. First impressions suggest Arsenal might have landed themselves a gem. "It is difficult not to be pleased with him," said Wenger. "Basically he created all the chances."

But for him to be a successful creative hub, he needs greater understanding with his new team-mates, who were not quite on his wavelength.Arsenal did not make the best of Cazorla's invention. In the sixth minute he ambled forward and let rip. Simon Mignolet thrust up a strong hand to push the Spaniard's effort over the bar. Shortly after, Gervinho carved Sunderland open and Cazorla nipped in ahead of Lukas Podolski but steered his shot narrowly wide.

It was not quite happening for the Germany international. He was tantalisingly close but frustratingly far from clean connection on more than one occasion. Three minutes before half-time, the lead went begging as Mikel Arteta, Cazorla and Theo Walcott combined to set up Podolski, but the determined mass blocking of three Sunderland players smothered the danger. He gave way to Olivier Giroud, who scooped his first chance over the bar, then shanked wide when he was teed up by Cazorla. His physical presence augered well but his sharpness was not yet there.

O'Neill was relieved to see Sunderland hold out when they began to feel the effects of fatigue in the burning sunshine. Further forward they, too, were missing sharpness. "Stéphane Sessègnon had two days training and Louis Saha has not had anything all summer," noted O'Neill. "I thought coming here would be particularly difficult. We had a disappointing pre-season and we were very tired indeed, but that game will bring us on immensely." He also added that new recruits are expected before the close of the transfer window.

Wenger assessed that his new strikers were not entirely geared up to plunge into Premier League football. "Podolski is not ready yet," he admitted. "Physically he lacks that change of pace. Giroud had a great chance and we expected him to score." Wenger did not beat about the bush in concluding that the result was a "greatly missed opportunity."

Emerging from the shadow of Van Persie's departure might take time. It seems there is no quick fix.

Source: Amy Lawrence, The Guardian on 18 Aug 12

Van Persie completes Manchester United move

Arsenal Football Club can confirm that Robin van Persie has now completed a transfer to Manchester United after terms were agreed between the clubs.

This ends Robin’s eight-year association with Arsenal, after joining the Gunners from Dutch side Feyenoord in May 2004.

During his time with Arsenal, Van Persie made a total of 278 appearances for the Club, scoring 132 goals, including 37 from his 48 appearances last season.

His fantastic performances during the 2011/12 campaign resulted in the PFA (Professional Footballers’ Association) and FWA (Football Writers’ Association) Player of the Year awards, together with the Premier League Golden Boot.

Van Persie also became a regular in the Holland team during his time with Arsenal, making 68 appearances to date.

Everyone at Arsenal would like to thank Robin for his contribution during his time with the Club.

Source: Arsenal.com on 17 Aug 12

Arsenal's sale of Robin van Persie to Manchester United is good business

Arsène Wenger has three young attackers in Podolski, Giroud and Cazorla to replace one with a worrying injury history

According to the gallows humorists of N5, the obvious candidates to be Arsenal's next captain are Sebastian Squillaci, Marouane Chamakh and Park Ju-young. There is a painfully obvious theme when examining the list of adored skippers since Tony Adams bowed out: Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry, Cesc Fábregas and now Robin van Persie. Gilberto Silva and William Gallas may have moved along with considerably less drama but it is striking how often Arsène Wenger hands over the armband to a particularly valuable player, only to have to pat him on the back as he exits shortly afterwards.

This episode provides yet more evidence for those who slam Arsenal as a selling club. It pours fuel on to the debate about how ambitious they can ever wish to be with the self-sustaining model they believe in so vigorously. But within the club they will sit tight and wait for it to blow over. They read the updates from Rangers and Portsmouth and feel increasingly sure they are doing the right thing.

They know their place in football's economic table. They know under the current ownership, who believe in running a tight ship, that they cannot compete with the clubs who are bankrolled by oil. They know that, despite Manchester United's controversial financial arrangements with the Glazers, Van Persie's new club make the most of their marketing potential in a way that they currently cannot. They know that keeping hold of a player worth over £20m in the last year of his contract is not an option.

Arsenal are hamstrung by weak sponsorship deals that were struck when they were desperate to generate revenue to fund the stadium move from Highbury and by the vast salaries they are committed to for players who are not required but not shiftable. It is frustrating but it is reality. Their self-sustaining concept is a difficult one to sell when stars turn their backs on it but Arsenal refuse to risk a collapse by overstretching themselves financially.

Van Persie's departure is not welcome and of course Arsenal will miss a player so talismanic last season he played a defining role in the team's elevation from 17th to 3rd. But at least they have had the whole summer to plan their response.

Long before van Persie's statement on his official website, which was basically a euphemistic interpretation of a transfer request, his club were made abundantly aware of the Dutchman's desire to leave. At the end of the last campaign, before the European Championships, he and his representatives sat down with Arsenal and made a set of demands about the running of the club that were so outlandish that the warning signs were impossible to miss. The truth is that Arsenal have expected this day for more than two months. The only issue was when, where and how much. Fans are not programmed to think that way. Directors and beancounters are.

At least in the meantime they were able to be proactive and get down to business to recruit alternative attackers. Hence Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud arrived with unusual haste, to be followed by the new creative spark, Santi Cazorla. This contrasts with the paralysis that hit them at the same stage last season, when they hung on, waiting for Cesc Fábregas and Samir Nasri to go, before scampering round in search of last-minute reinforcements.

Van Persie has played a minimal part in Arsenal's pre-season. Effectively they have been trying to move on while he was still in situ.

Supporters may have been able to chew over the pros and cons of whether van Persie should have been sold for a smaller sum to a less direct rival (Juventus's offer was much less substantial than United's). It will pain them to see him at Old Trafford, and to see Sir Alex Ferguson's team strengthened at their expense.

There is more to come as Alex Song is expected to finalise his move to Barcelona. Nuri Sahin, the Turkish midfielder surplus to requirements at Real Madrid, is being chased to arrive as his replacement.

Arsenal are rather used to all this by now.

Besides, is it really that much of a crisis? £20m-plus for a 29-year-old with a shaky injury history, replaced by three younger international attackers, does not sound such a terrible piece of business.

Source: Amy Lawrence, The Guardian on 15 Aug 12

Arsenal's Robin van Persie may be answer to Manchester United prayers

The Dutch striker could be the final piece in United's jigsaw – if Sir Alex Ferguson can find the right way to fit him in

Robin van Persie's imminent arrival at Old Trafford answers a couple of questions, the two big ones that have been worrying Manchester United supporters all summer. Yes, the club is still ambitious and does not plan to sit back and let Manchester City have everything their own way. And yes, the Glazers do have some money to spend and are willing to let Sir Alex Ferguson invest a considerable amount of it in a player who played like a dream last season but at the age of 29 may not have a significant resale value.

Despite constantly complaining of not being able to find any value in the transfer market, Ferguson has now broken his self-imposed rule of looking only at players in their teens or early twenties, though the attractions of a proven goalscorer to a side who lost the title on goal difference last season are obvious.

Less clear is how Van Persie will fit into the United attack or, more accurately, which players will have to make way to accommodate him. The £23m capture from Arsenal will dash any hopes Dimitar Berbatov may have held of playing his way back into the side but United were more or less playing without Berbatov last season anyway. If Van Persie goes straight into the attack alongside Wayne Rooney, as one imagines he will, then his arrival is bound to impact on Danny Welbeck or Javier Hernández, or possibly both.

Ashley Young, last summer's big signing, may also be wondering where he fits into the scheme of things, especially with Tom Cleverley back to claim a midfield place. All depends on whether Ferguson is willing to use him as a wide player or not, but a more fundamental question is whether Van Persie goes into the United attack alongside Rooney or instead of him. United are not about to sell Rooney or relegate him to the bench but for a sustained period last season he was played in a far deeper-lying role than was usual, stationed on the half-way line at the behest of his manager and launching attacks rather than completing them.

It may be that Ferguson is willing to try Van Persie on his own up front, or possibly Van Persie and Welbeck as a partnership, with Rooney playing the sort of advanced midfield role that Paul Scholes used to excel at just behind them. If Rooney does drop back to midfield it is going to make it tough for Cleverley or Young, assuming that at least one of the wide places will go to Nani or Antonio Valencia.

Presumably Ferguson has a plan, for his admiration of Van Persie has been known for some time – as has his desire to introduce someone who can display composure in front of goal. The former Arsenal striker fits that bill perfectly and Ferguson will now be looking forward to making fewer flustered appearances after matches to observe bitterly that his side made enough chances to win six matches but failed to take any of them. United dominated a lot of games last season but either won them narrowly or were held to a draw when they had created enough scoring opportunities to win.

A striker with the poise and confidence to make his own chances and finish the ones created by others is possibly the final piece in Ferguson's jigsaw, although the manager thought he was getting the same type of player when he paid considerably more for Berbatov, only for the Bulgarian to struggle to replicate the form he had shown with Tottenham.

That will probably not happen with Van Persie, who has thus far shown no inclination to believe that no one understands or properly values him, and the only real worry for United is that he might become injured again. He was almost an invisible man for long periods at Arsenal, so regularly was he unavailable, and, though his form last season unquestionably established him as one of the most effective all-round strikers in the Premier League, the fact remains that it was just the one season and none of those that preceded it were quite as fluent or impressive.

With Van Persie and Rooney in the same side, wherever they end up playing, United fans can look forward to some spectacular goals this season. In fact the array of striking talent at the two Manchester clubs is more than some whole leagues have. Unfortunately both United and City have too many players for too few positions and an inability to move out strikers who are now surplus to requirements.

That is the least of Ferguson's worries. Tasked with competing with the noisy neighbours, he has made a solid start. Van Persie ticks all the right boxes. There may be doubts about how he fits in but most of the question marks over United's readiness for the new season have now disappeared.

Source: Paul Wilson, The Guardian on 15 Aug 12

Arsenal sign Spain midfielder Santi Cazorla

Arsenal Football Club is delighted to announce that Spain international Santi Cazorla has joined the Club on a long-term contract.

Santi Cazorla - full name Santiago Cazorla González - joins Arsenal for an undisclosed fee from Malaga. He was a key part of the Malaga side which finished fourth in La Liga last season, qualifying for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in the club's history.

Cazorla, a versatile 27-year-old attacking midfielder, has made a total of 45 appearances for Spain and was a member of his country's victorious squads at the European Championship in 2008 and 2012.

Before joining Malaga in 2011, Cazorla spent two spells at Villarreal, making 181 appearances and helping 'the Yellow Submarine' finish runners-up in La Liga in 2008. In between these spells, he spent the 2006/07 season in La Liga on loan at Recreativo. Cazorla spent the early part of his career at youth level with Spanish side Oviedo.

Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger said: "Santi Cazorla is a great signing for us. He is a player with good experience at both club and international level, who will add significant quality to our squad.

"He is a versatile, attacking midfield player who can play comfortably on either side of the pitch or centrally. He has good pace, is technically gifted and will be a huge asset to Arsenal Football Club.

We are delighted that he is joining us."

Cazorla, who was voted Spanish Player of the Year in 2007, said: "I'm so happy to be joining Arsenal. This is a club with great players, a fantastic stadium and huge support.

"The Club has one of the best managers in football and their style of play is recognised and admired all over the world.

"I'm so excited to be joining one of the greatest teams in Europe and also in the Premier League. I will do my best to help Arsenal challenge for trophies and make all the supporters happy."

Everyone welcomes Santi to the Club, his squad number will be confirmed in due course.

Source: Arsenal.com on 7 Aug 12