As speculations about Arsenal’s transfer activity continue to be rife, the last couple of days have given the fans a little insight about developments regarding player recruitment.
Two of Arsenal’s top targets – Gervinho and Ricky Alvarez – have spoken about their dreams of playing for the Gunners. So, at least we know Arsene Wenger is not chasing shadows and is actually looking to sign players who want to come to the Emirates this summer.
While Gervinho is an established talent, the same cannot be said about Velez midfielder Alvarez, who was virtually unknown until Arsenal’s interest in him came into the spotlight.
The Velez playmaker dropped the biggest hint yet that he is on his way to North London this summer by ‘tweeting’ this message to his followers a few days ago:
‘I would love to play for Arsenal, it would be a dream for me. God willing it will happen!’
While it is heartening to know that the 23-year-old Argentine is keen to play for Arsenal, the problem is whether he is the signing that Arsenal requires in the current circumstances at the club.
While the midfielder would love a move to a club like Arsenal – a chance he may never again get in his career – will Arsenal gain anything substantial from this potential move?
Here is a video of Alvarez in action:
I am not ready to bet against Wenger’s scouts because they have unearthed a number of amazing talents over the years. They see players who somehow evade all other scouts. So I am cautious of passing a judgement on Alvarez until I see him in Arsenal colours. But there can be no arguing that he isn’t the player that the fans were expecting, especially with our star players leaving and some marquee signings being the only way of seeing Arsenal challenging for the title next season.
Alvarez is a two-footed player, and this is probably his biggest asset. He is touted as a replacement for Cesc Fabregas, but it will be difficult for him to fill the boots of the Barcelona-bound Arsenal captain – the jump of quality is huge. Whether he is good enough to handle the huge rise in quality is not clear at present. At 6’2”, Alvarez probably has a physical presence that we need, but lacks any experience of top flight football, and this is my biggest concern.
However, there is no time for Alvarez to develop at Arsenal and then start performing a couple of years later. Arsenal’s recent poor run doesn’t give place for such a scenario to ensue. The Argentine will have to make an impact straightaway to be considered a successful signing. Arsenal needs that big name signing that might lift the spirits of everyone, but unfortunately, Alvarez isn’t the one to do this.
This ‘deal’ is a deal of a lifetime for the Velez midfielder, but I see Arsenal gaining very little from it to be honest.
Arsenal are in urgent need of quality and experience this summer, and I for one honestly hope that Wenger and his scouts prove me wrong about Alvarez and he turns out to be one hell of a player.
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im pretty sure on his twitter page in the exact same tweet as what you quoted he said there is no contact with arsenal he knows about etc and he just hopes the *rumours* are true
long story short some tabloid hack randomly linked arsenal to him, he said ive not heard of this but if its true it would be an honour
theres not really anything in this story which is more likely to come true than the 100 other players weve been linked to so its probably just a non starter and not worth your webspace writing about
Well whats obvious is that you haven’t been following any news for the last 2 months because Arsenal have already made contact with Velez to discuss a transfer once this summer, it didn’t work out and we’re going back…there was no tabloid hack that linked him
If you played football, you would see that the guy is a great talent. I think the departure of cesc will be a very good thing for arsenal. the team was built on him and he is too slow.
In Arsene we still trust
Yep it’s on YouTube the great players are discovered. Then again Bebe looks marvellous on YouTube… Means everyone that are crap there can’t be good irl.
im a great fan of AW but if he doesnt start getting active in the market then we could see big problems next year. If we dont get any good players yet were going to loose 2 good players we wont get in to the top four.
I have a feeling that this could be AW last year if we dont win anything, as fans of Arsenal we shouldnt tolerate coming seconed.
Message to wenger start winning or get out
if you took away Fab, Nasri, Denilson and Bendtner and gave me Alvarez, Gevinho, Parker, samba/cahill and Falcao…I believe the trophy will be ours to loose. Alvarez can do great things with the ball. If Nasri can remain the better…
My god! A fellow-optimist! Thank you, nikkogunners, for your sanity amidst a sea of whining.
While loosing players like Fabregas and Nasri may be a big blow to Arsenal, I would not say that we will gain very little from Alvarez. I think it would be better to give the guy a chance and if we go by the signings Wenger has been making for example Thomas Vermaelen, then we should know what to expect. I don’t think Wenger would just sign a player for the sake of it.