It was a fairly quiet day again as far as transfer rumours go, with the only real talk the endless rumble connected with Nuri Sahin. The line yesterday was that it was set to be completed, but naturally that’s changed again.

Sahin goes to Liverpool: Like Mourinho wanted

Having bounced between Arsenal and Liverpool endlessly in the last few weeks, Arsenal have pulled out of the running for Turkish midfielder Nuri Sahin on loan, leaving him free to go to Liverpool. The reasons Arsenal pulled out are many and varied. I’ll make a list:

1. Jose Mourinho repeatedly changed details of the transfer after they’d been agreed, because of his dislike of Arsene Wenger.

2. Real did not want to offer Arsenal an option to buy Sahin at the end of the window. In effect they wanted Arsenal to take a player, make him a lot better, and then give him back. While paying over 7 million in combined fees and wages.

3. Liverpool, because of Brendan Rogers sycophantic relationship with Mourinho, were willing to pay almost all of Sahin’s wages, and pay a large loan fee. They do NOT have an option to buy, contrary to some reports.

Madrid apparently view Arsenal as a Champions League rival and didn’t want Sahin to come back to bite them. At Liverpool he will get game time, and then come back to Madrid. Annoying, but not the end of the world, Arsenal have other targets.

Affelay link rolls back the months

Remember that? Back in early June Arsenal fans were convinced that signing Dutch winger Ibrahim Affelay from Barcelona would keep RVP at the club. Despite him being gone, it’s being reported Arsenal are still interested in bringing him in.

In all honesty it’s hard to see where Arsenal would fit him. He’s fairly fragile, and while certainly good enough for Arsenal, they have enough wide players as is. Perhaps an option before Cazorla, but not now.

Gervinho pledges to improve

Not much transfer news recently, so I thought I’d  throw this in.

Gervinho reckons he can emulate Robert Pires and have a far more successful season second time round that his rather slow first. He certainly does have the talent, as his performances for Lille can testify, but he’s lacked self-belief and perhaps has needed to acclimatise to the league in England a bit. He’s been unfairly written off by a lot of fans, and I reckon he could surprise a lot of people this season.

What do you reckon?

But yes, that’s all for now. Hopefully things will start to get more interesting soon (SOON!!!)

Latest: