I propose that Arsenal fans World wide post letters once a week for the next four weeks to UEFA & FIFA complaining about Barcelona FC’s ‘tapping up’ of Cesc Fabregas. Also post a letter just once to Arsenal FC requesting that they formally complain to UEFA & FIFA. I have drawn up 3 template letters that I will email to willing participants. All you need to do is type in your own Name & Address before printing off & posting. Momentum will be boosted by you forwarding the email to every one of your Arsenal FC fan family & friends, encouraging them to participate.
The aim of repetitive letters is to create an Admin headache for UEFA & FIFA with thousands of letters received from all over the world & display the strength of feeling from Arsenal FC fans. The purpose of the single letter to Arsenal FC is again to display the strength of feeling from us fans.
My email address for this campaign from where I will email you the letter templates is …….. [email protected]

Johan Djourou says this is his season to step up and be a regular for Arsenal.

The defender spent almost all of last term on the sidelines with a knee injury but is ready to fill the void left by the departures of William Gallas and Mikael Silvestre.

"Now it is time to step up and start," he told Arsenal.com in Austria. "I will always say that but now I am mature enough.

"We will have to see with the injury because when you have it for so long it is difficult to come straight back into things.

"But I played 90 minutes against Strum Graz and it went well. I have to get other games under my belt and hopefully I will be ready."

Arsène Wenger has stated that his side need to concede less than the 41 goals they let in last season. Djourou agrees and suggests Arsenal could be a bit more aggressive.

"I thought that we were looking quite solid," he said. "But it is true that 41 goals is too much when you are playing for the top places.

"I think sometimes we are missing a bit of aggression. It is not that we are not good enough, because the team is good enough.

"We have top players at the back, top players all over the pitch. It is just that we have to be stronger as a unit."

ARSENAL are ready to launch a £10m bid for Per Mertesacker next week – if Everton refuse to budge on Phil Jagielka.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has already had a £14m bid for England defender Jagielka rejected by the Merseysiders.

The Frenchman is still weighing up whether to raise that offer to £18m – but Starsport ­ understands David Moyes has said that Jagielka must not be sold with the new season only weeks away. So Wenger is looking again at German giant Mertesacker, who has two years left on his contract at Werder Bremen.

World Cup star Mertesacker, 25, would jump at the chance to join Arsenal.

And sources close to him last night confirmed that his future will be resolved next week. (Daily Star)

According to some sources the deal to bring German international Per Mertesacker to the Emirates could be completed next week. Werder Bremen are finding it hard to beat off advances for their towering centre back and will accept an offer for the defender rather than keep an unhappy player.

Mertesacker is reportedly very keen on a move to the Premier League and is looking to push for a move from the Bundesliga side he has represented for the past four seasons. Arsene Wenger will surely feel that a move for such an established international would be a better option than offering almost twice that fee for Everton defender Phil Jagielka?

Having lost William Gallas the Gunners boss is looking for a strong presence in his back four and Mertesacker could well be the perfect man for the job.

So Cesc has finally said no to the bullies from Barca, by all accounts he has decided that to ask for a transfer request will set him at odds with the Arsenal fans and he loves us too much to do that, finally he speaks! Well done Cesc, I welcome you back, we can forget what has happened.

The good news is that barca will now turn to Ozil, why is that good news? Well in theory, it means they’ll leave Cesc alone now, the strange thing is, like Cesc, they don’t need him.

And that’s why we should sign him, imagine a midfield with him, Cesc, Ramsey, Wilshere and Nasri to choose from, wow!

Campbell signing is good news if he does, but at his age, we still need another, from what I have seen, Koscielny isn’t the answer, good squad player, but we need a nasty big bugger there to bully and cut out crosses, keep looking Arsene.

I have yet to see what Wenger is doing to placate cesc, I had hoped it would be some world class players and not the customary £10mil a year bribe, I’m still hopeful it will be a big DM and a keeper, if it’s not, then I hope like hell Frimpong can step up, he did look good and composed and maybe he is the answer, Eastmond didn’t look as good, but it’s only when we play the bigger teams we’ll find out if we have a potential Essien there, they both came from Ghana so who knows eh!

Vermaelen says we can win the league and we will be having a go, well what do you expect someone who wants to be the next captain to say? I admire him and believe he will become a modern day Keown, but I still think we are short and will struggle until we put that right.

And that my friends is all I think Cesc is saying, 3 more players boss and we’ll rule the world.

I can’t wait to see Chamakh, RVP and Arshavin all charging at fat boy Reina on the first day of the season, that really is a mouth watering prospect, let’s just hope that Robin can stay injury free between the Emirates cup and that game, hey who knows, maybe even longer!

Have a great day Grovers, today is the last Saturday before the real football begins, today is your last Saturday off, next weekend it’s Milan and Celtic, I’ll be there, but sadly, my Vuvuzela won’t be!

Football Transfer Update: Cesc Fabregas is a Barcelona man - The counter argument

The Cesc Fabregas Transfer saga is now in overdrive, and the claims by Spanish players and media that Cesc is ‘their’ player are so absurd that it gets the readers to doubt their sanity.

No Arsenal fan wants Cesc to leave the Emirates but at the same time, they all know by now that it is inevitable. The player has made clear of his desire to play for the Catalan club and there is no use of keeping a player at a club against his wishes.

It has been said many a times but the point here is not if Cesc wants to leave or not but the claims in the Spanish media that Cesc is their player and Arsene Stole him from them.

Just one thing worth asking to all those deluded fans and journalists is that do they seriously think that Cesc would have been the same player had he not been at Arsenal? Had he been playing for Barcelona would he still be regarded one of the best midfielders around the world?

Yes, Arsenal are a club that likes to sign young players and that too for paltry sums, but as you may or may not like it but the existing FIFA rules make this possible so they are not doing anything out of the laws of the game. They are not pulling off a Gael Kakuta or Paul Pogba. Everyone signs young players like Arsenal, Chelsea does it, Barcelona does it, AC Milan does it, so when Arsenal signs a 14 year old unknown from Barcelona and turns him into a world Class player how are they at fault? Cesc Fabregas is a glaring testament to the success of the Arsenal youth system.

The argument that Cesc Fabregas is a Barcelona player is so absurd that it does not even need to be answered. Fabregas chose to leave Barcelona on his own accord; he was not pilfered in any way. Barcelona were not willing to offer him the same contract as they were offering Lionel Messi, even though both players were exactly the same age. Barcelona also did not give any assurances to Cesc, that he would be promoted and would get a chance to play. So the player chose to leave the club, and chose the English Capital and Arsenal as a club, while Barcelona received the compensation they were due.

At Arsenal, under the tutelage of Arsene Wenger, Fabregas flourished and broke into the first team so much so that he was promoted to the position of the Club Captain. Wenger built his whole team around Cesc and now all of sudden Barcelona claims that Cesc is their player and they want to take him back to Spain. He is so blind that he can’t see nothing but playing for Barcelona, even if that means sitting on the bench.

Fabregas spent 6 years from the age of 10 to 16 at Barcelona from 1997 to 2003 and at Arsenal, he spent the same amount of time from 2003 to 2010, and anyone who knows football would vouch for the fact that years 16-23 in any player’s career are much more important than years 10-16. What Barcelona saw, Arsenal nurtured, Cesc was nothing more than a coal mine waiting to be explored at Barcelona, Wenger turned him into a diamond and yet Cataluna claims Cesc is their man.

Cesc is a Barcelona man is like saying Ryan Giggs is FC Dean’s man, a club where he spent his childhood up till the age of 14.

These are just cheap tactics that Barcelona are employing to get a cheap price for the player but Wenger is not naïve, he will surely sell Fabregas if the player himself wants to go but just like Barcelona were 7 years ago, Arsenal should be compensated and given the price what Cesc is worth.

With the future of The Gunners’ current skipper Cesc Fabregas still far from being fully resolved, we look back at three of the Spaniard’s predecessors who have performed this role with particular distinction during the last 50 years.

This trio were all fine players in their day, great leaders on the pitch and lifted their fair share of trophies. They each represent a distinct episode in the North Londoners’ recent history whilst occupying a space in the minds of the Arsenal faithful.

Frank McLintock

The Scottish centre-half was made skipper by Bertie Mee in 1967. In proved to be an inspired move as the next four years would be a rollercoaster at Highbury. After the pain of two successive defeats in the League Cup Finals of 1968 and 1969, Arsenal won the Fairs Cup in 1970 and McLintock secured his place in history the following season by leading Arsenal to their first ever League and FA Cup double.

Tony Adams

‘Mr Arsenal’ was the archetypal one-club man. He became the club’s youngest-ever skipper at only 21-years-old when inheriting the armband from Kenny Samsom in 1988 and led The Gunners to nine major trophies before his retirement in 2002. He is the only player to captain a Championship-winning side in three different decades and made over 400 appearances for the North Londoners from the heart of defence.

Adams played 66 times for England, including 15 games as captain, and went on to manage both Portsmouth and Wycombe.

Patrick Vieira

Arsenal’s first foreign captain was the natural choice to succeed Tony Adams in 2002. The Frenchman lifted the FA Cup in his first season as skipper before playing a pivotal part in the legendary unbeaten title campaign that followed.

His height, stamina and physical presence ensured that he was a great leader and a colossus in midfield. He won everything that the English game had to offer before leaving for Juventus in 2005 and being replaced by Wenger’s new rising star Cesc Fabregas. Vieira also won international honours and possesses World Cup 98 and Euro 2000 Winners’ medals from a long and successful career with France.

Арсен Венгер полагает, что Сеск Фабрегас не вернется к своим былым кондициям до сентября.

Полузащитник лондонского "Арсенала", как известно, желает переехать в свой бывший клуб "Барселону", но предложение "каталонцев" по покупке испанца было отклонено руководством "канониров".

Тем временем, главный тренер "Арсенала" Арсен Венгер сосредоточился на подготовке капитана клуба к началу сезона.

"Физически, каждый имеет преимущество, когда не играет на Кубке Мира", - сказал Венгер в интервью The Guardian.

"А мысленно, ты еще на Финале Чемпионата Мира 11 июля и очень трудно вернуть былые кондиции к началу нового сезона".

Напомним, что Сеск Фабрегас и Робин ван Перси вернутся в расположение "Арсенала" после окончания "Эмирейтс Кап" и единственный матч предсезонки "канониров", в котором они могут принять участие  - матч против "Легии".

Тео Уолкотт и Самир Насри же не приняли участия в мундиале, присутствуя в предварительных списках сборных Англии и Франции на Кубок Мира в ЮАР, и Венгер полагает, что это - хороший источник побуждения на новые победы для двух полузащитников.

"Они великолепно мотивированы. Оправившись после разочарований, теперь же, голодны до побед. Насри в хорошей физической форме, он полон уверенности", - сказал Арсен Венгер.

Первый матч "Арсенала" состоится на "Энфилде" против "Ливерпуля". Напомним, что в предыдущем сезоне Арсенал ниразу не проигрывал "Ливерпулю".

Венгер в своём интервью, которое он дал журналу "Арсенала", сказал: "Мы хорошо начали, и должны прогрессировать ещё больше! У нас есть своя планка, через которую мы должны перепрыгнуть."

"Мы были близки к цели в прошлом году, но увы, удача повернулась к нам спиной. Но мы показали результат лучше, чем в прошлом сезоне! Важно начать хорошо, запугать соперника в самом начале! Мы покажем всем, что такое истинный "Арсенал!"
Защитник Вермален так же пологает, что "Арсенал" улучшится, и покажет своё "лицо".
Говоря с телевидением "Арсенал Онлайн", он сказал: "У нас хорошая молодёжь, у нас прекрасное будущее. Я уверен, что в этом году мы будем конкурировать за звание лучших. Мы укрепляемся, наш состав становится лучше и лучше. Арсен обещал подписать ещё игроков! И мы сделаем всё возможное и невозможное, что бы стать чемпионами."

Сегодня с утра, поступило сообщение, что голкипер лондонского "Арсенала" Мануэль Алмуниа может вернуться в свой первый клуб "Осасуна". Алмуниа не против перейти в испанскую "Осасуну", но при условии, что ему будут платить 50,000 £ в неделю.

Также, на него прицелился и мадридский "Атлетико". На данный момент они готовят предложение для "Арсенала". Голкипер не собирается отсиживаться на скамье запасных в "Арсенале", и поэтому готов принять предложения всех интересующихся им клубов. Так как у "канониров" очень большая конкуренция среди вратарей, и ожидается, что Щесны станет номером 1 в "Арсенале".