Welcome everyone to my guest page. Below is the first instalment, of what I hope will be a successful "guest blog". Our first contributor is Angus (@goonergibbo09), who is a massive Arsenal fan. Hope you enjoy this article, outlining his thoughts ahead of the January transfer window. Thanks for visiting. @Mr_arsenal_blog.
January Sales by @goonergibbo09
After being in a so-called crisis for much of the first half of this season there will almost certainly be some movement in the way of signings in and out during the January window. It's certainly not an ideal time to do business and I don't think for one second that Wenger will go all out, I think he will do much more business in the summer, but one or two signings is quite likely and important too.
As always we are being linked with a plethora (probably my favourite word ever) of different players in various positions, I think the most likely area we are to see a signing is up front. Klaas Jan Huntelaar, who we were quite strongly linked with, has recently signed a new contract with Shalke so we can immediately cross him of the list. In the premier league we are interested in Newcastle's Demba Ba whose buy-out clause has been made public by Alan Pardew on more than one occasion. Wenger did say we won't sign him in his most recent press conference but he does tend to bend the truth to some extent with what he says sometimes ('we are not interested in Arteta' he said 2 days before signing him!). Although he wouldn't leave fans jumping for joy, he is a proven scorer, would need no settling in period and is decent value, I think he would be a solid signing indeed.
Elsewhere we are supposedly perusing David Villa, perhaps on loan, he's getting on a bit and wouldn't be as cheap as Ba but is one of the best finishers out there so I would happily see him at Arsenal but don't see this one being too likely. Also in Spain is Athletico Madrid's Adrian Lopez. I can't really tell you much about him as I've never seen him play so I won't pretend like I have an opinion, from what I've hear from other people he would be a worthy addition to the side.
It also looks possible that Wilfred Zaha, the Crystal Palace winger could join in January. It seems as though it's us or United but @Established1886 seems convinced it's us. He's a huge English prospect and the thought of adding him to our young Brits to recently sign new contracts (and hopefully Theo) is exciting.
Other signings really depend on who goes out. There are still many players in the squad who appear to be on their way, Chamakh, Arshavin, Squillaci etc. I'd like to see some back-up to Szczesny in goal but it's hard to find a keeper who is willing to sit on the bench most of the time. We've been linked with Pepe Reina but not only would he be quite pricey he's also been poor for the last season or two. There's also the possibility of Santos going and that would require another left back to provide cover for Keiran Gibbs.
There has been lots of talk about getting an out-and-out defensive midfielder, Yann M'Vila appeared to be the man in the summer but that never materialized and since then he has gone off the rails. Other names out there are those like Etienne Capoue but again I can't say a lot about him. With Coquelin yet to really assert his presence in the side signing a DM would certainly take some pressure of Arteta but I don't see it as one of our priorities.
Finally we come to the potential loan signing of Thierry Henry. Now being who he is I could never say no to him returning, in any format and that will never change, however in this case I think it would be best for everyone if he were not to. To reasons for this, firstly is that last time was so perfect. His goal against Leeds was just magic, purely brilliant and you just couldn't write it. If he came back and didn't really make any such moments I feel it might slightly tarnish his legacy, only a bit I know but I like his Arsenal career as it is. Secondly though and more importantly is that we don't want a stop gap signing (even in the form of the King himself) but we need a permanent, you could say marquee signing. Arsenal are always talking up our ambition and I don't think bringing him back is ambitious enough. But I stress I would welcome him back gladly were it to happen.
If I were to predict what was to happen then I'd say we'd see Adrian Lopez and Wilfred Zaha come in and Arshavin go out, but Wenger does like a surprise here and there so we'll have to wait and see. Feel free to comment below on who you think we should buy and sell.
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