Arsenal Boss Prepares £22m Bids for Relative Unknown Strike Pairing

Emirates boss targets Bundesliga and Ligue 1 aces.

Arsenal will need to part with at least £13million if they want to solve their goalscoring crisis with Papiss Demba Cisse.
Arsene Wenger’s side have scored just seven goals in their last seven games – a poor return for their usually prolific free-flowing football – and have all but surrendered the title to Manchester United.
Meanwhile, Freiburg’s 25-year-old striker has scored 20 goals in 28 Bundesliga appearances this season putting the Senegalese forward at the top of a number of Europe’s top sides’ shopping list.
But German newspaper TZ claims the club has told anyone interested in the striker not to waste their time with any bids below £13m.

SOURCE: talkSPORT

Whilst there is no denying that Papiss Demba Cisse is in a rich vein of form it is also true that the Senegal international striker is a player that most football supporters had not have heard of prior to his Bundesliga exploits this term.

Arsene Wenger is known for opting to cut costs by spending relatively small amounts on rough diamonds that he can then hone into the finished polished article and it’s a process that may help Arsenal to keep the club on a sound financial footing, however it does require these players longer to bed in than established stars, which has in some ways left the North London club to be in a continual state of transition.

25 year Cisse has done fantastically well this season but it is worth noting that prior to this term the Dakar born striker had scored a grand total of six top tier goals having previously played predominantly in France’s Ligue 2.

Wenger is also tracking £9m rated Lorient forward Kevin Gameiro who has been very consistent over the past three seasons and is currently the second top scorer in France’s top tier, again though, he is not a big name. Clearly Arsenal have bought Laurent Koscielny from the same club last summer, could that signing be considered a success? Perhaps a month ago it could’ve been but the Frenchman has been shaky of late.

There has been much speculation that the Gunners boss is keen to chop and change his front line and such action seems much needed. Nicklas Bendtner and Carlos Vela may be offloaded and there is even talk of a return to France for Marouane Chamakh, the Moroccan started the season with a bang but has looked out of his depth since November.

Arsenal supporters would probably like to see the club chase relative big names, maybe an offer for the likes of Karim Benzema, but Wenger seems happy to continue his tried and tested pattern of expenditure and in the main that plan of action has been a huge success but after six seasons without silverware, as it may well turn out to be, perhaps it’s time for the Emirates Stadium side to look for immediate returns on their investments?

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Arsenal Boss Prepares £22m Bids for Relative Unknown Strike Pairing, 4.0 out of 10 based on 1 rating

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La Liga strike cancelled after court ruling

La Liga will go ahead as planned this weekend after a Madrid court ruled in favour of the clubs seeking to call off a strike.

The Liga Nacional de Futbol Profesional (LFP) had suspended the fixtures in the Primera Division this weekend due to a row over television rights to games, with a majority of clubs unhappy with the law that states that one match per round of fixtures must be shown on free-to-air television.

Those clubs had been eager to maximise revenue from pay TV channels, and had hoped that a strike would pressurise the Spanish government into changing the law.

However, six clubs - Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad, Real Zaragoza, Espanyol, Sevilla and Villarreal - had appealed against the proposed strike action and, on Wednesday morning, a court ruled in their favour.

A statement from the court read: "The court decides the official calendar for the first and second divisions should remain unaltered for the next round of matches."

Judge Purificacion Pujol added: "The league calendar cannot be changed."

The LFP accepted the judge's ruling but said: "Despite the internal discrepancies within the LFP over the measures adopted at the assembly on February 11, all the clubs that make up the league continue to press their demands on the government.

"From now on, a new road map will be established that will allow us to unlock the talks in our search for solutions to the grievances of professional football compared to other sectors of the Spanish economy."

Villarreal general manager Jose Manuel Llaneza is convinced the outcome will be to the benefit of the game.

"The strike would have been a stab in the heart of football," he told Radio Marca. "Football only sells hope and, if we kill people's illusions, we will kill football."

He added: "There are no winners or losers. The big winner is football."

Atletico Madrid did not appeal the decision, but club president Enrique Cerezo said the strike would have been a "nonsense" and added in Marca: "I sensed that the games were going to be played. Imagine what would have happened. Luckily, everything has been solved."

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Manchester City Plan Move for Brand New £100m Strike Force

Will Roberto Mancini be at Eastlands long enough to spend the money?

ROBERTO MANCINI has asked Man City owner Sheikh Mansour to bankroll a £100m summer spree to sign AC Milan hitman Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Napoli striker Edinson Cavani.

The Manchester City boss wants Sheikh Mansour to provide more transfer funds – even though the club owner has already spent £400million on players since the Abu Dhabi United Group takeover at Eastlands two-and-a-half years ago.

Former City boss Mark Hughes started the spending spree – and Mancini has continued it in spectacular style. But he still isn’t satisfied with his squad and is likely to want up to another £100m, depending on whether players like Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli stay at City in the summer.

AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 29, will be a target as part of an exchange deal if Balotelli, 20, pushes for a quick return to Italy. The arrival of target-man Ibrahimovic would place a question mark against the future of Edin Dzeko, 25,who only arrived at City in January for £27m from Wolfsburg.

Dzeko is a similar player but has failed to impress. Mancini is also keen on £30m-rated Napoli striker Edinson Cavani, who is being tracked by Chelsea. The Uruguay hitman, 24, could be a replacement for Tevez if the Argie striker renews his attempt to leave City, having done a U-turn after asking for a transfer before Christmas.

SOURCE: Daily Star

Clearly the chances of the Eastlands club looking to re-jig their front line will increase if Roberto Mancini fails to capture a top four spot, which could lead to Carlos Tevez and perhaps Mario Balotelli pushing for a move away from Man City.

One wonders however how this pairing could cost £100m? Zlatan Ibrahimovic at age 29 is not worth over £40m so not sure how the Daily Star came to that figure, perhaps they have a rounding up machine that helps make headlines appear more enticing?

Seriously though, Man City need to work out how best to resolve the issue of sacking managers and re-investing in new players every time a new boss comes in to the club. If Roberto Mancini does fail to land a top four spot it is very possible the Italian will be sacked, which would be a mistake as it would mean having to spend another fortune funding the next manager’s attempt to finance fantasy football.

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Newcastle United In Talks to Sign £40m New Strike Pairing

Pardew wants to bring Lille duo to St James’ Park.

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew is understood to have approached French club Lille about the possibility of securing both Moussa Sow and Gervinho on a deal which would see the pair spearhead a £40m-rated Toon attack next season. Sources close to Pardew say he has been monitoring the progress of both players, who are yet to be locked into long-term deals at the table-topping Ligue 1 club. Sow has been a revelation for Lille this season and is the current French top scorer with 19 goals.
His contract comes to an end in 2013, but after signing on a free transfer from Rennes, Sow’s value could see the club cash in when the window reopens in the summer. Strike partner Gervinho meanwhile offers a flexible option to Newcastle with both his ability to play upfront and on the wing an asset. The Ivory Coast star shone in the World Cup and has also contributed with 12 league goals this season.

SOURCE: Metro

Clearly Newcastle United could do with some fresh attacking options following the sale of Andy Carroll to Liverpool in January but is £40m a tad steep for this pair of Ligue strikers? Well Lille are riding high at the top of the table and looking good for their first domestic title in over 50 years and a big reason for this, as well as young starlet Eden Hazard, has been the form shown by Moussa Sow and Gervinho up front.

Lille have outscored all French sides and Sow has netted 19 league goals in his first season at the Stade Lille-Metropole and Gervinho has put in a good deal of support and is perhaps the more well known of the two, having done pretty well at the World Cup last summer with Ivory Coast.

Pardew currently has to count on the fairly limited attacking offering that he gets from the likes of Shola Ameobi, Peter Lovenkrands, Leon Best, Nile Ranger and Shefki Kuqi, none of them being the most prolific of finishers.

In relation to thsi Lille swoop, one has to wonder whether Magpies owner Mike Ashley will shell out to this extent, especially if you take into account Alan Pardew will be looking to tie down key players with lucrative contracts as he did recently when Cheik Tiote signed on the dotted line on a long term deal.

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