With the end of the season approaching, many newspapers start to speculate the futures of lots of players and managers. The Sun dedicates 1 whole page to rumours; this means it can be hard to assess which are possible and which are just there to sell the paper.
Arsenal will be very much affected by all this gossip as Wenger may finally give in and spend or key players could leave. Either way I will discuss some players wanting an exit from north London or those that may be arriving.
I will start with who could be arriving. Arsenal legends has been urging for a new goalkeeping and centre-half but that's not all. If Cesc leaves then the midfield will need attention and a froward to partner Van Persie may also be on Wenger's shopping list. Today The Sun broke news that Diego Milito will want to leave Inter after their poor season. This may seem realistic but the paper values the 31 year old striker at just £5mil. Should that be the price he leaves Inter for, it would be a great bargain for Arsenal. The only thing standing in the way is Tottenham who are apparently also interested but Milito wants Champions League football so Spurs would have to achieve that 4th spot first if they were to have any chance.
In the same paper, Arsene will also try to sign Emir Spahic who he failed to lure to the Emirates last season. He currently plays for Montpelier in France and is the captain of the Bosnia national team. Like Milito, the experienced defender could be bought at a low price to bolster our questionable back line. The player has already stated his desire to play elsewhere next season and Arsenal is likely to be his first choice destination.
Away from the elder players and Mamadou Sahko is another possible target. The PSG centre back is only 21 but has already played for France and has nearly 100 appearances for the French club. We all know Wenger likes to his home country for signings and this is what gives Sahko a good chance of moving to London in the summer.
My final mention of defenders will both be English. Jagielka and Cahill are very much fan favourites to join the Gunners and why not? Both have played for England and I'm sure they would also prefer Champions League football to add to their careers. Being English, they would have the spirit and determination that isn't shown as much in players like Koscielny or even Squillaci and they wouldn't need time to get accustomed to the football either. The only downsides to these two are that a fairly large sum would be required to get the respected clubs to part with key players. £15million may be that sum or even more but is Arsene Wenger going to spend that amount? Only time will tell.
To midfield now and although this is a very strong area in the squad, the manager may have lost patience in some players (Denilson, Rosicky, Arshavin) so if there's a clear out, signings is to be expected.
A few names have popped up in the past especially Eden Hazard. The Belgian is very much so the one of the next big stars in football but for him to become known worldwide, he really needs to be at a top club. Due to this potential many clubs like Man City and Chelsea are battling for his signature which unfortunately may work against Arsenal unless of course his preference is the Gunners. Elsewhere there's Gokhan Inler who plays for Udinese. Soon to be 27, the Swiss international has many games under his belt and even captained his national side when they played Spain in the 2010 World Cup.
As for goalkeepers, it is hard to tell whether this needs to be addressed. At the moment Arsenal have Almunia, Fabianski, Szczesny, Mannone and Lehmann. Next season we could be left with just the two polish keepers and maybe Mannone. Is this enough to rely on? Half of me says yes as Fabianski and Szczesny have played well this year but then another half says to me that there isn't enough experience so someone should be brought in. Many names were circled last year such as Reina, Marchetti, Schwarzer, Given, Stekelenberg and even Buffon. All of those I would be happy to see at Arsenal because you only have to look at the effect Lehmann has had so far to see why.
Finally I will talk about Adebayor. Many fans dislike him for what he did when he scored for Man City but I personally think he still loves Arsenal and I can't see him wanting to sit on the bench for the whole of next season so a move would be in his best interest. Adebayor is a brilliant striker who would stay in the box for most of the game allowing Van Persie to drop back slightly or move wide without having a midfielder rushing into the box to replace him.
That's all for who have been rumoured a move to Arsenal without me even mentioning Mertesacker, Conor Wilckham, Baines, Tasci, Diakhate, Arteta, Chamberlain, Willian, Lukaku and many more who have all been linked with the Gunners.
The second part of this article should be done for tomorrow where I look at who might be packing their bags.
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