Lukas Podoski confirmed as the first Arsenal signing.This is a statement of intent from Wenger!

http://www.goal.com/en/n...-proves-arsenal-a

a kenyan man-u fan stabs man-city supporter

If it wasn't about money then he would have been a gooner but Man Shitty will probably give him an offer he can't refuse. Btw he was also at the Emirates when Arsenal played Man Utd (Vermaelen invited him).

"I'm moving to Arsenal to win trophies." Lukas Podolski.
And they say the Germans haven't got a sense of humour...

@Nobby, I bet if Arsenal finnished below no. 4 they'd be more pressure for Wenger to buy quality, but the dilemma would be how to attract quality players.

He has, that why he is finishing deals early....

Manchester United trying to Hijack the Vertonghen deal from Arsenal..

[quote=TAZ]I think Hazard's fate is sealed, he'll be at Man City or Chelsea next season.....most probably the blue side of Manchester!

http://soccernet.espn.go...-blue-next-year?cc=3888[/quote]

He is too expensive for the Gunners, otherwise that would have been the best place for him...

@ Smano....the transfer market has changed alot since Abramovich took over, clubs are not willing to let their top players go without a good pay cheque....young players such as Goetze, Hazard etc have a price tag of 35m and above. The only hope now for clubs which do not have rich owners is to depend on young talents coming through their academies or try their luck on unproven players. SAF had only Chelsea to deal with in the transfer market (in England) but now there's Man City as well, so players will first look at what those two clubs have to offer before thinking of other options.

Chelsea have several of their first team players on 30yrs and above which means they'll hit the transfer market hard same goes for Man City, i think they'll be signing atleast two top players each season as they offload the pensioners. The only problem with Chelsea is the the experience they've had with managers otherwise the quality of their squad is second to Man City's. I think it s about time the Arsenal board brought in Alister Usmanov!

http://www.telegraph.co....sign-Shinji-Kagawa.html

Just look at the impact this season has had/will have on Man Utd's finances.

http://www.dailymail.co....ampions-League-exit.html

@ Mkeiyd.....Clubs such as Man City will try to circumvent this rule by supplementing their income through ridiculous sponsorships like the one they signed recently with Etihad Airline (which is associated with the club's owner) to reduce their deficits thus spend more. In the early 2000s Real Madrid was also able to sell its training ground back to the city for more than 400million euros.

The only way of stopping these rich owners from ruining football is by introducing Salary caps as is the case in most US sports like NBA & NFL. I know they can always hike the signing on fee’s and added bonuses to players but it would be a good start.