Под давлением со стороны клубов главный тренер молодежной сборной Англии Стюарт Пирс все же не включил полузащитника "Арсенала" Джека Уилшера и нападающего "Ливерпуля" Энди Кэрролла в окончательную заявку для участия в Чемпионате Европы среди игроков не старше 21 года.

Завершившийся сезон стал очень непростым для 19-летнего Уилшера и 22-летнего Кэрролла. Первый просто устал физически, сыграв более полусотни матчей за "канониров", а второго в последние месяцы беспокоят различные проблемы со здоровьем.

Не желая испортить отношения с Арсеном Венгером и Кенни Далглишем, Пирс позволил обоим игрокам, которые в нынешнем сезоне стали незаменимыми в главной сборной Англии, отдохнуть летом. С собой в Данию на молодежное первенство Европы тренер возьмет 23 других футболиста.

В окончательном списке оказались Мика Ричард из "Манчестер Сити", Киран Гиббс из "Арсенала", Данни Уэлбек из "Сандерленда", Джордан Хендерсон из "Сандерленда" и Даниэль Старридж из "Челси".

According to Arsenal striker Marouane Chamakh, the lost League Cup Final against relegated Birmingham left its mark on the Gunners.

The Morocco International said that before the Wembley final the Gunners were convinced they could reach the end of all competitions but since losing against the Blues, Arsenal could only register three wins, the F.A. Cup replay against Leyton Orient and Blackpool and Champions Manchester United in the Premier League.

The striker continued by saying that had the Gunners won the League Cup, many would have had to admit that playing football the way it should be played can pay off but a last-minute conceded goal means that they have to wait at least one more season before ending their six-year trophyless crisis.

On what went wrong this season, the striker said:

Quote:

It’s weird. Right up until the end of February, we were competing on every front. Then we lost the League Cup final and we started asking ourselves questions. Everything happened very quickly, the Champions League came: we played well in the first leg against Barcelona, and then we blew the return. In hindsight, the League Cup left its mark on us. It’s my first season with the club, but it’s been a long time that my teammates want to win something. If we’d won the League Cup, people would have said: ‘Arsenal play well and win.’ But it all hangs on one goal in the last minute. Arsenal are trying to associate stylish play with victories. For the time being it’s not coming off, but I remain convinced it will come.

A senior Arsenal scout watched Downing put in a fine performance in the 1-0 win over Liverpool on Sunday and it looks likely that Arsenal will enter the race for the England international to bolster their squad for next season.

Wenger may also be actively searching for replacements for Andriy Arshavin – tipped to be sold after another inconsistent season – or Samir Nasri who is yet to sign a contract extension.

Downing has two years left on his current contract, with Liverpool also in the hunt to sign the ex-Middlesbrough winger.

The 26-year-old has scored eight goals this season and been one of Villa’s top performers during a difficult season.

Villa will be anxious to tie up a new contract for Downing or sell him on in order to avoid the situation that they face with Ashley Young who has only one year remaining on his contract and looks liekly to depart for a reduced fee to avoid him leaving on a Bosman next summer.

A student of the Barcelona youth squad, Cesc Fabregas has become one of the worlds most sought after midfielders. Many teams including the Premierships own Manchester City have been know to try to court the young Catalan, but there will only ever be 2 teams the spaniard will play for, his love Barcelona, and his second love Arsenal.

For the last few years in particular, Barcelona have been known to try every transfer window to take Cesc back to what they call, his ‘DNA’. Up to this point Wenger has done well to keep him at Arsenal, the club that arguably made him the midfielder he is.

Amongst this current crop of Arsenal players, Cesc is undoubtedly our best player. You could argue that Robin van Persie can give Cesc a good run for his money, but the majority would say that without Cesc, we wouldn’t be where we are today. One of our few leaders on the pitch, Cesc was made captain at a relatively young age, following in the footsteps of greats such as Tony Adams and Patrick Vieria. A lot of pressure to be put on the shoulders of a young man, one that he has taken to relatively well.

You can see when he’s on the pitch, the lift he gives the players around him. Not only does he have the ability to puppeteer a game, he also has a psychological influence, not only on his own team, but on the other team too.

Loosing a player like Cesc could possibly stump any growth this Arsenal team can hope of making. At a time when Wenger needs to add talent and experience to this team, to sell Fabregas when he was part of the World Cup winning Spain squad, and one of our more experienced players, isn’t the right way to go. Fabregas has almost become a selling point for us, a striker want to come to Arsenal to be fed balls from Fabregas, or would the thought of playing alongside Diaby be as exciting? If we hope of bringing in experienced players, surely having Fabregas in the team would help move things along a little.

No one can argue that Cesc hasn’t been up to form recently. Maybe this is because of an injury, maybe it’s due to a lack of motivation from a team that self-imploded after the Carling Cup Final loss. Maybe a mixture of both, but with all that said and done, Cesc needs to remain an Arsenal player. It’s of vital importance he does.

Arsenal FC are in no way in financial trouble. We meet the salary cap, we don’t need to sell star players to fund additional signings. We can sell dead wood like Denilson, Diaby, Rosicky and Arshavin and in the process make £30m in transfer fees, and save roughly £190k a week on wages. With that money Arsene could bring in a player on par with Fabregas’ skill, someone who can compliment Cesc and help push this club on to further glory. Selling our star player is a choice that no manager would want to make. One that theoretically, should never even be thought of.

The problem is, Cesc is a winner. You can argue and say well he should stay at Arsenal and fight for trophies, well that’s what he’s done. With a few additional signings, this Barcelona talk would be silenced for a while. But as things stand, Cesc can see his Barcelona winning titles, getting to Champions League finals, everything a player of Cesc’s quality should be doing.

Would Cesc leave Arsenal after guiding us to the Premiership title? Possibly. But would we win the Premiership without Cesc, doubtful.