Squillaci Confirmed At Last

To the frustration of many and the surprise of no-one, Arsenal remained tight-lipped over the Sebastien Squillaci deal until today.  It took until Wenger’s press conference this afternoon, four days after Sevilla announced the transfer on their offcial website, and after the player had said it was “almost impossible” to turn down Arsene Wenger, before the manager finally confirmed the signing.  I assume it was all part of our ongoing mission to occupy the moral high ground over transfer dealings that means we never announce any deals until everything has been signed and sealed, and verified by the various footballing bodies.  Anyway, Squillaci is now a confirmed Arsenal player.

This dignified silence is nothing new, it’s one of the things we have grown used to it over the course of Wenger’s reign.  It’s a mark of the manager’s class, and easily preferable to ‘Arry’s public wheeling and dealing from down the road.  It also allows us to laugh at Manchester United when they announce they’ve agreed a deal for Aaron Ramsey, before we nip in and sign him.  And when the shoe is on the other foot with Chris Smalling, well we have complete deniability.  No, we never wanted him anyway.

There’s been a familiar lack of progress, at least publicly, on the goalkeeping front as well, so that one is clearly going to be another test of our patience.  If there is a deal to be done, it looks as if it will go right to the wire, and will be complicated by the selling club needing a replacement lined up.  I was quite pleased when Begovic’s name popped up in relation to us, but he’s really one for the future so I don’t think he fits the bill for us now.  His signing would likely “kill” one of Manone or Szczezny, so wouldn’t be sanctioned by Wenger.  I’d much rather we went for the guy who’s keeping him out of the Stoke team, Thomas Sorensen. 

• Premier League experience, tick. 
• International, tick. 
• Tall, tick (6’5″). 
• Right age, tick (34)
• Available, tick (one year left on his Stoke contract, and a ready made replacement if they keep hold of Begovic).

It seems obvious to me; he’s better than Schwarzer, with a few less miles on the clock, but I seem to be a lone voice on that one.

Moving away from our transfer/non-transfer dealings then, the Totts rolled over Young Boys last night go qualify for the Champions League group stages for the first time in their history.  Cue, as Arseblog pointed out, rapturous celebrations and sickening media backslapping for achieving something that we take for granted every year.  The draw for the groups takes place at 17:00 today, and my only hope is that we don’t get any long away trips to Russia. Okay, I’d take Benfica, Basel and Zilina.  As for the Totts, I hope they get Inter Milan, Real Mardrid and Rubin Kazan.  Or maybe Shaktar Donetsk, so we can all cheer Eduardo on one more time.

More tomorrow, including reaction to that draw, and a preview of our first real test of the season against big bad Blackburn.  Are you scared?