News on Melo, Diaby, Arshavin and Bendtner 22 June, 2009

Just a few little stories to bring you up to date with today, so I’ll give you a few little thoughts on those. The time shortly after a signing is usually a quiet one so I must take whatever news there is and make the most out of it.

First up, Fiorentina’s Felipe Melo has spoken about Arsenal’s reported interest. News of this came up last week whilst I was away so this is the first time I have covered the story. It sounds exciting doesn’t it? Straight after buying an established centre back we’re linked with a Brazilian holding midfielder. He played 90 minutes in Brazil’s 3-0 victory over Italy but was outshone by a certain Gilberto Silva playing a similar role. Melo is 7 years younger than the Arsenal legend though and has plenty of time to fit into his mould.

Here’s what Melo said about Arsenal anyway:

“Obviously it is a good thing that great clubs are interested, as it shows that I worked well. But as I said, I have a good relationship with Fiorentina, with the directors and the fans.”

He hasn’t said anything right or anything wrong but more importantly he hasn’t denied or confirmed anything. Despite only seeing clips of him in action with Brazil I’d be quite excited if we did put a bid in for this guy. He was an important part of the Fiorentina side that finished 4th this season and was well known for his no-nonsense aggressive football. If anything more on this develops I’ll bring you up to date on it – however, last week Eboue’s agent said Fiorentina aren’t good enough for his client but I know I’d take some sort of a swap deal…

Abou Diaby has been hard at work this summer; instead of spending his spare time on holiday he’s been working with a personal trainer ahead of the new season. His trainer has been speaking to the French media saying Diaby wants to improve his physical power to be able to be stronger in the challenge. Obviously, this is positive news; Diaby is a player I wouldn’t normally associate with putting in extra effort so this is good. He has the stature to be just as strong as Vieira but at the final second he can be seen pulling out of challenges or giving up. If this training goes well for him we could have a much improved Diaby next season.

He did have that awful leg break up at Sunderland a couple of years ago so I guess you can’t blame him too much for pulling out of challenges but it’s not helping his football. There is another part of his game that he needs to work on and that’s his work rate. He has a lot of talent and from time to time he shows us but too often he is seen ambling around the field giving the impression that he doesn’t give two shits. This news of him putting in extra training suggests that he’s going to buck up his ideas next season. It might turn out to be very well timed too; last season his appearances were few and far between not to mention being all over the midfield whenever we had injuries. Clearly Wenger doesn’t know what to do with him and 08/09 could be his chance to prove his worth.

Andrei Arshavin has been talking to Radio Zenit in Russia about all things football and has revealed he might not retire at Arsenal. He played for Zenit for a long time and wanted to play abroad, but he says he wants to return to St Petersburg to finish off his career there:

“I played for Zenit for a long time and now I want to play abroad and then return to St Petersburg to finish off my career there,”

That’s fair enough. It reminds me of Thierry Henry’s situation who still says he wants to return to Arsenal one day. However I think now that Titi’s return will come after he has retired as some sort of coaching or ambassador role.

And finally, Nicklas Bendtner’s agent/father/fathent has been speaking about his son again and this time he says he’s staying at Arsenal. There’s been a bit of speculation about a possible move to Roma but the fathent says he was simply there on holiday. I believe him.

Ok that’s you up to date for today then. Thanks for reading.