Even though Arsene Wenger is in South Africa for the World Cup, it seems that there is still work being done behind the scenes to secure his main targets, of which the first one is the Lorient centre-back Laurent Koscielny.

Just like with Thomas Vermaelen last summer, it looks like Arsenal are driving a hard bargain, but it looks like they are just about to get their man.

Koscielny’s agent, Stephane Canard, yesterday told L’Equipe: “Laurent has told the Lorient President and coach that he wants to join Arsenal.

“It is hard to ignore interest from Arsene Wenger. Lorient’s directors want to get more than €10m from Arsenal.

“We have held talks with them, and with a sell-on clause inserted in the deal we are not far off agreement.”

Considering that Koscielny only cost Lorient 1.5m euros last summer, they should certainly be happy with the profit they are making on the deal, and Koscielny will get his wish to play for one of the biggest clubs in the world!

The future of Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas is more and more uncertain after a long month of speculation and several interviews and announcements from both clubs.

But speaking on the future of the Spaniard, midfielder Andrey Arshavin explained that he should stay as he is a very important piece of the Arsenal midfield, adding however how he is the one who should decide his future.

The Russian was incidentally linked with the Spanish giants in the past but last week he was quoted as saying how he is only focused on Arsenal despite supporting Barcelona as a kid. The 29-year old will be looking to put the disappointment of not playing in the World Cup Finals behind him and do well for his club next season.

Meanwhile, Barcelona president Joan Laporta declared that negotiation between the two clubs is on stand-by, a situation he described as “tense calm” as the midfielder gets ready to kick-off his Word Cup campaign this afternoon.

On his team-mate, Arshavin said:

Quote:

As an Arsenal player, I like him a lot and we need him because he is our best player and our captain. But it is his decision. In modern football everyone goes somewhere and most clubs sell their players, but personally I would like him to stay.

There is still lots of Arsenal transfer rumours about, and it certainly looks like Laurent Koscielny will be the first target to arrive at the Emirates since the window opened. I have already covered what Koscielny’s agent said so it certainly looks nailed on.

The latest on the sulky William Gallas is that he is close to signing for Juventus. The reports say that the Italian giants have offered him a two year contract, but of course he is now trying to squeeze three years out of the. He will probably spend most of his time on the bench anyway (or the treatment table!)

An exciting link that has just come up is the Dutch midfielder Ibrahim Afellay. Arsenal have been linked with this talented lad for years, and today the Italian sports channel CalcioNews24 says that Wenger has given a €14m offer to PSV Eindhoven for the Holland international. He played quite well in the game against Denmark, and would probably make a good replacement for Cesc if he finally leaves….

Another possible replacement is the German playmaker Mesut Ozil. The 21 year-old also had a great game while Germany trounced Australia the other day, but he refuses to talk about any possible moves until after the World Cup. He said: “I am under contract until 2011, but all that interests me now is the World Cup, because as a team we have goals, that is all that matters. Our dream is to win the title. That is why we are here.” At least he made it clear he is in the last year of his contract……

Another midfielder that looks like he will be on the move this summer is Inter Milan’s Sulley Muntari. The versatile defender/midfielder has obvious Premier League experience and according to CaughtOffside reckons Wenger is willing to pay £16m for him. I’m not too sure about that one myself. He was good at Portsmouth, but would he hasn’t really sparkled at Inter….

We all know how most of the media in the big football countries are talking about transfers. I should have said lying about transfers. Every big name that goes along is rumoured to be sold, or has been sold or will be sold before, during, after the world cup.

Now I must say that I live in a rather small country with hardly any tabloids of the type that exist in the UK. I’m not saying we have the best press in the world, heaven no, but I must say that in the sports section we don’t usually get carried away and we splash around all the big names and the clubs they want to buy them or want to sell them.

So in this case I just would like to give you a thing that has appeared in our newspapers and well we will just see what happens with it. But I must say that it started this way with the Vermaelen transfer in our newspapers.

I think you have already heard about Arsenal having interest in Van Der Wiel from Ajax. The right back from Ajax and the Dutch national team appears to be one of the targets Wenger is going for.

But according to the press in Belgium, Arsenal is also talking to Ajax about Jan Vertonghen. I can imagine you saying: who?

Well that is another young Flemish defender from Ajax and he has almost walked the same path that Vermaelen did. He also played for Germinal Beerschot in the youth teams. Then he went to Ajax who was working together with Germinal Beerschot in those days.

In fact when Vermaelen left Germinal Beerschot in the youth teams, Vertonghen was the one that came to the Germinal Beerschot youth team. And Vertonghen  also went on a loan spell when he was at Ajax first and yes, he also went to RKC Waalwijk and that was the same team Vermaelen went. And after his loan spell he made it in to the first team of Ajax.
Vertonghen is also left footed and he is 1,89m, so he is a bit taller than
Vermaelen and in English that should be 6ft 2.
He is 2 years younger than Vermaelen and they have played together in the Ajax defence.

Last season Vertonghen played most of the season together with a player named Toby Alderweireld.  And guess what……yes he is another young Flemish defender, even younger than Vertonghen. Another 2 years younger in fact. And I don’t know if you are going to believe me but before this boy Alderweireld joined Ajax in 2004 he came over from….yes Germinal Beerschot.

Last season Vertonghen and Alderweireld only conceded 20 goals in the whole season for Ajax  and they had a few runs like 5 and 6 games without conceding a goal. It was the best defensive record in the Dutch league. And they were praised in the Dutch press for this achievement at such a very young age.

Vertonghen also is a player that likes to score a goal every now and then, just like Vermaelen. In fact if you look at the statistics Vermaelen scored 8 goals in 98 games for Ajax and Vertonghen scored 12 goals in 93 games so far for Ajax. So in fact his goal scoring record with Ajax is even better than Vermaelen’s record was.

The only thing that could speak against him is the fact that he also is left footed but in Ajax he has played in central defence, left back and left midfield. He also plays for the Belgian national team. And with the Belgian national team he ended in 4th place in the last Olympic games in China. In those Olympic games he played in midfield for the national team. Since then he has played 22 games for the Belgian national team.

I really wonder if Wenger would go for him and if there is any truth in this. Like I said our press doesn’t do transfer gossip just for the sake of it and to sell more newspapers. In fact it was just a small article hidden somewhere in the sports section.

To finish I like to give some petite histoire about Vertonghen so you might get to know him if he would come over.

When Ajax had won the Dutch cup after beating Feijenoord, their fiercest rivals in Holland, the team was brought on a stage in the Amsterdam Arena and the players were called forward one by one. When the announcer called Verthongen he took the microphone from the announcer and started singing a very popular song that Ajax fans sing when they play Feijenoord. The song goes like this: “They are only cunt cockroaches”.  [Goodness I am glad we don't have anything as rude as that at the Ems - editor]

Well it got the whole Amsterdam Arena rocking and it was party time and the fans all joined with him but the Dutch FA thought it not so funny and have banned him for the first two games of next season. Vertonghen did apologise a few days later in public and said that he was drunk at the time from the champagne he had been drinking after winning the cup. But you can imagine that he is a very popular boy with the fans.

In his first years in Amsterdam he also studied Sports Marketing, when he was already playing in the first team in 2008. He lived some 15 minutes from the training ground, which is near the Amsterdam Arena. And even in those days he went from his home near the university to the Ajax training ground using his bike. So he was a very unusual type of player if you think of all the other players coming in with their big and expensive cars.

Of course it might not be true, but in Holland he is described as a humble person who strongly believes in himself but very down to earth.

If you want to describe him in 3 words they say: plain, sober and modest (except when singing).

Last year he also finished second in the player of the year award in Holland. Is he the new Vermaelen signing this year? The unknown defender no one heard about?

Well we shall see (said the blind man).

Arsène Wenger has been discussing the World Cup with Arsenal.com, and says that Brazil and Spain are the favourites for the tournament.

The manager has put those two firmly ahead of the other contenders, but believes teams like Argentina have it in them to provide something of a shock.

And although he fancies Spain, he believes they could struggle with injuries to key players.

He said: "I think Spain will be the overall favourites for the cup. The two standing out are Spain and Brazil.

"Afterwards you have Netherlands, France, England, Germany or Italy. That is the next level - the usual names. Maybe you could add Argentina too if it goes well for them. You have to say though that the super favourites are Brazil and Spain."

The Frenchman believes Spain will have enough to cope with the group stages, but missing players like Xavi, Iniesta and Torres could harm them later on.

He said: Spain cannot have any complaints about being in Group H. They have some injuries going into the tournament and while I don't think that will affect them during the Group Stage, it could catch up with them later on.

"If they do not have Iniesta or Xavi or Torres, and it can also happen that you lose one or two en route, there could be a big handicap.

"I still think they have enough, certainly to get out of the group."

The idea that this is a final offer from Barcelona sounds strangely familiar. This is the same team who said they would respect Arsenal’s wishes if they told them the player was not for sale, which the Gunners then did but was then ignored by the La Liga champions.

Wenger will surely reject this, or indeed any other, bid and it seems the ball is firmly in Cesc Fabregas’s court. The north London club have conducted themselves with a great deal of intelligence over this whole saga. They have been clear and concise in their dealings. They haven’t attempted to lead the Catalan club a merry dance they have simply told them their skipper is not for sale.

Clearly if the talented midfielder then takes it upon himself to put in a transfer request then it is only the 23 year old who can be seen as instigating proceedings then the Emirates side can consider their options but at least they will not be perceived as inviting offers.

Wenger wants to keep the player at the club and seeing as he is contracted to stay at the club until 2015 they really can just refuse any offer on the table. Clearly this won’t be the last offer on the table from Sandro Rossell, even though he may say that it is.