Well blow us all sideways. Wenger can be exceptionally overwhelming in underwhelmnent (a casually made-up word that will do for now), sometimes. Eduardo da Silva. The Mighty, The Heralded, the who-the-hell-are-you-boy?, to be honest. Is it Eto’o? Is it Tevez? Is it Anelka? No! Eduardo. €24million, as well (as cited by uefa.com, though Arsenal.com leave it at ‘undisclosed’, per usual). You get the point.
Of course, I’m far from dissapointed. We’ve got at least one striker now, who surely did not cost that much, no? The fact is, I’ve at least seen him play before, and have liked what I’ve seen, limited as it may be, for now. Someone Wenger can improve, and yet can provide something to the club on a reasonably-immediate basis.
But pray, hasn’t this completely junked most transfer rumours flying around at present? The strikers we’ve been linked to include Eto’o, Tevez and Anelka, the first and latter of those look highly unlikely now with Eduardo signed, though Tevez is still a tempting enough idea to entertain for the time being. Who’s left? Owen? Huntelaar? Babel? If anything, the trend to believe is everything that goes against the media hype, now, especially with Wenger in charge. Babel staying at Ajax for another season? While I am not going to claim an ‘exclusive knowledge’, it’s nice and tongue-in-cheek to make the suggestion.
Who else has been linked with Arsenal in the media? Malouda - say hello to the russian money, kid. Curtis Davies - not on your life at those prices. Sagna remains believable, though - but who is really on the wishlist of fans that hasn’t seen any media coverage at all?
The best example I can think of is Ricardo Quaresma. Briefly entertain it for a second - a winger, who hit the most audacious shot I can remember in that horrible Porto/Arsenal 0-0 draw. One stepover, and lobbing the ball with the unrooted foot behind the rooted heel (easily caught by Lehmann, though) was something I myself don’t see everyday. Most fans want him, but there has never been the slightest sniff of a news report even entertaining the idea. A possibility? We can only dream. At least it’s not an ‘official’ rumour.
Note: A lot of papers are citing Eduardo as the scorer of the first competitive goal at the Emirates. This is only true in a European context. Mellberg scored the first competitive goal altogether in the 1-1 Premier League draw before the Arsenal-Dynamo match.
Some even said Huntelaar scored the first goal at the Emirates & that it was fated & was imperious that Arsenal get him…
great article………………keep it up