Barcelona board spokesman Toni Freixa was quoted as saying today:

Quote:

“Arsenal don’t want to sit down and negotiate with us. It’s not a problem with the wishes of Cesc or of Barca – they simply don’t want to negotiate.”

Love the stance that Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal board have taken here. They are standing up to Barca and are not going to be bullied into selling their best player to them. Although there is a question whether Barca actually have the money to pay for Fabregas after they announced their loss today.

Arsenal had an initial bid of around £10 million rejected in June and are likely to make a fresh offer now that Sol Campbell is inching towards a free transfer to Newcastle.

Wenger had hoped that Campbell would stay for a further season as back-up to Thomas Vermaelen, Johan Djourou and new signing Laurent Koscielny but is now actively pursuing other targets.

He is well aware that he cannot afford to begin the season with only three senior centre-backs, particularly as Djourou missed last season with a knee injury and Koscielny has only played in the French league.

At the age of 28, Jagielka would add considerable Premier League experience to the Arsenal squad and, if he could be prised away from Everton, would be likely to begin the season in central defence alongside Vermaelen.

However, Wenger has also been scouting a number of other defenders across Europe and, despite having already spent £8.5 million on Koscielny during this transfer window, has an available transfer budget comfortably in excess of £20 million.

The other priority is the goalkeeping position, with Wenger having recently made the stark admission that he did not feel like he had an obvious 'No 1’. Arsenal’s main target is Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer and a fresh offer is thought to be imminent.

The battle to keep captain Cesc Fabregas remains ongoing, although Barcelona appear increasingly resigned to having to wait for at least another season.

An offer of £29.2 million has already been rejected and, unless there was another direct bid, Arsenal have refused to even speak to Barcelona. “It’s not a problem with the wishes of Cesc or of Barca — Arsenal simply don’t want to negotiate,” said Barcelona spokesman Toni Freixa.

A further difficulty for Barcelona is the club’s current financial predicament. An audit of the accounts by new president Sandro Rosell yesterday uncovered a post-tax loss of 77.1 million euros (£64 million) for the 2009-10 season.

Javier Faus, a Barcelona vice president, also revealed that the club’s net debt had swelled to 442 million euros (£368 million) from 329 million euros (£274 million) at the end of the 2008-09 season.

"There is a structural problem," Faus said. "The sporting excellence of the past few years has not been reflected in excellence in economic management."

Germany defender Per Mertesacker is the player Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger wants to bring in to solve the club’s defensive crisis, according to Mirror Football.

Wenger wants to make at least two defensive signings, with both William Gallas and Mikael Silvestre departing. Sol Campbell’s imminent medical at Newcastle also means that Arsenal are left with just two senior defenders, Thomas Vermaelen and Johan Djourou.

The latter sustained an injury in last night’s pre-season friendly winagainst SC Neusiedl 1919, which leaves Wenger itching to bolster his weak back line before the Gunners’ first game of the season at Liverpool next month.

Mertesacker, 25, has been on the Arsenal’s radar for some time with German scout Thomas Kost – who spotted Lukasz Fabianski and Philippe Senderos - regularly making personal checks on him in action for club side Werder Bremen.

Wenger has been linked with several defenders this summer and recent reports suggest that he’s made a paltry £6million offer for Everton’s Phil Jagielka.

Arsenals third easy win of the pre-season last night was marred by the sight of Johan Djourou limping off in the first half. The French centre-back has only just returned to playing after missing the whole of last season through a knee injury.

With Gallas, Senderos, Silvestre and Campbell all leaving Arsenal this summer, Djourou was thought to be imperative to Arsene Wenger’s plans. If he has suffered a recurrence of his injury it will only serve to highlight the lack of defenders at the club. At the moment Wenger only has the new signing Laurent Koscielny and Thomas Vermaelen as first-choice, and the 20 year-old Havard Noerdtveit as back-up, so a new defender or two is now becoming more and more urgent.

The news this morning that Ivan Gazidis is in Germany to try and do a deal for Per Mertsacker gives the Arsenal fans hope, but Wenger is hardly known for completing his transfers quickly! It would seem that Arsenal are going to need two more defenders at least or risk being decimated by injuries as usual….

Гаэль Клиши надеется, что в следующем сезоне "Арсенал" найдет в себе силы из просто хорошей команды, стать лучшей.

Защитник "канониров" сказал, что не может быть оправданий для еще одного сезона без трофеев, и верит в то, что его команда из просто хорошей сможет стать лучшей.

"Арсенал" был близок к выигрышу трофея в прошлом году, и Клиши надеется, что в следующем у команды хватит характера пройти весь путь до конца, а не сойти с дистанции на финише, как в минувшем сезоне.

"Всегда получается так, что в конце, несмотря на хорошо проведенный сезон, "Арсенал" ничего не выигрывает”, - сказал он.

"Мы должны поставить перед собой правильные ориентиры – мы должны решить, что нам важнее – быть просто хорошей командой или выигрывать трофеи. Для того, что бы выиграть титулы, мы должны быть лучшими, и над этим мы будем работать в дальнейшем. Мы хотим показать болельщикам, что верим в себя”.

Клиши так же считает, что к этому времени молодые игроки клуба уже должны были набраться необходимого опыта, и ссылаться на молодость состава в следующем сезоне команда уже не имеет права.

"Я помню, как несколько лет назад, я сказал, что для "Арсенала" пришло то самое время что-нибудь выиграть, но до сегодняшнего дня ничего не произошло. Я искренне надеюсь, что этот сезон станет для нас удачным, и сейчас мы уже не можем прятаться за отговорками о возрасте и неопытности состава. У нас есть все, что бы победить. Ну так давайте же сделаем это”.

После того, как Арсен Венгер окончательно понял, что Сол Кэмпбелл не останется в "Арсенале", он в полную силу начал поиск нового центрального защитника.

Как сообщает The Mirror, "канониры" окончательно отказались от приобретения Фила Ягиелки из ливерпульского "Эвертона", сейчас Арсен Венгер обратил свой взгляд на защитника сборной Германии и бременского "Вердера" - Пера Мертезакера. Защитника уже на протяжении всего лета связывают с "канонирами".

По сообщения того же The Mirror, Иван Газидис дал себе 48 часов, чтобы завершить приобретение Пера Мертезакера, сумма сделки оценивается примерно в 10 миллионов фунтов. В случае неудачи, "Арсенал" будет пытаться подписать Яна Вертонгена из "Аякса".