The Dutchman believes the Gunners have the quality to win the Premiership despite their deemed lack of investment in their squad during the current transfer window.

It has been felt that Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United have pulled further away from Arsenal, but van Persie, who missed much of last season through injury, believes there is a lot to come from Arsene Wenger’s youngsters.

The 23-year-old said: “It’s hard to fight with them but I know we can do it. Football is not about age or money. It’s about if you want to run for each other, if you want to fight for each other and really play some ball.

“Liverpool have spent lots of money, Chelsea have been doing that the last few years, I respect that. This is their way of winning things. But we can win things as well. We are young. So what? Age doesn’t matter. It’s about the way we play football and the way we like to play together.

“To win the title with this team would be great. I really believe we can do that. I think the manager is thinking the same.

“Since I started pre-season with these boys, every day I’ve seen their ability. Yes, they are young and young people make mistakes but that doesn’t really matter. Like in love, age doesn’t matter.”

Van Persie has been ear-marked as Arsenal’s key goal-getter following the depature of Thierry Henry this summer, but he is not intimidated by the expectations.

He said: “I don’t feel the pressure at all. It’s not my aim to be the top scorer. My aim is to play good football with this team. I’ve been out for six months, way too long. I’m just so happy that I’m back.

“I was quite surprised we played such good football because this is just pre-season. We played some tremendous stuff. It was quite funny because during the game Cesc and I were smiling at each other because we liked the fact that we were playing so well. Everyone was smiling during the game. If we play the same way or even less, we will have a big chance at least to fight for the title.”

Cesc Fabregas believes the sudden rejuvenation of Arsenal in the Emirates Cup at the weekend justified his decision to turn his back on Real Madrid during the summer.

It cannot have been an easy decision. Questions were being asked of Arsene Wenger’s squad after the disappointment of finishing adrift in fourth place last season, and the departure of Thierry Henry heightened an air of disillusionment.

However, wins on successive days against Paris St-Germain and Inter Milan have cleared the dark clouds from the skies above the Emirates Stadium.

“We played some great football,” Fabregas said, “and if we keep doing it all of the way through the season we have a lot of chance to win things this year. Everyone was nearly perfect.

“We have a strong team, but we don’t keep saying, ‘We will win, we will win’. We have to keep going game by game and if we can keep the concentration, and play like we did on Sunday, we have a strong team and we can win. Why not? But we need luck as well with injuries. Manchester United and Chelsea, when they win big trophies, every weekend they nearly [always] play the same players. In that way you have to be lucky as well.”

It was not just the Arsenal players who recognised the improvement over the weekend; the Inter Milan players commented on it, too, apparently. “Some of their players were saying during the game, ‘Don’t make me run so much, you play so well’,” Fabregas reported. “If some players from Inter say that, it means something. We have a very young squad, but we’re not scared of anything and want to win things. I think Sunday was the first trophy of many this season.”

Fabregas committed himself to Arsenal during the summer, spurning overtures from Real Madrid. However, that has not put off Ramon Calderon, who made the signing of Fabregas one of his presidential pledges a year ago.

Now, though, Calderon has said the Spanish midfielder is his No 1 target for next summer. “Since I signed this contract everybody could see I really believe in this team,” Fabregas said, “and my commitment is the same as the first day I came here.” However, he added that he would never say never about a move in the future.

Robin van Persie, back after a long injury to score the winner against Inter, said he was surprised at the football Arsenal played against the Italians. “It was quite funny because during the game Cesc and I were smiling at each other because we liked the fact we were playing so well,” he said. That now has to be transferred to the season proper.

Diarra is believed to have informed Chelsea of his desire to leave Stamford Bridge and Arsenal are ready to offer him a move to Emirates Stadium.

The French international is believed to be unhappy with his lack of first-team action at Chelsea and he is well down the pecking order in Jose Mourinho’s plans.

The 22-year-old is entering the final year of his contract and he is believed to have told Chelsea he will not be signing a new deal.

The news has alerted Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger who is a big fan of the young midfielder.

The two London rivals are understood to be in talks over a deal and the player is keen on securing a switch to North London as he searches for regular first-team football.

Arsenal have confirmed striker Jose Antonio Reyes has joined Atletico Madrid for an undisclosed fee.

The Spain international’s future has been the subject of speculation all summer after he made it clear he did not want to return to north London after a one-season loan at Real Madrid last year.

Lyon, Atletico and Real were all in the running for his signature but the Rojiblancos have managed to add Reyes to their other summer signings including Diego Forlan and Simao Sabrosa.

A statement on Atletico’s official website reported Reyes has signed a four-year deal and will be unveiled at 10am tomorrow.

The 23-year-old Spain forward will then join up with his new team-mates ahead of the pre-season Amsterdam tournament at the weekend.

Reyes spent last season on loan at Real Madrid, where he scored on the last day against Mallorca to help seal the win that brought the Primera Liga title back to the Bernabeu for the first time in four years.

Unhappy with the climate in England, Reyes wanted to return to Spain, but an agreement between Arsenal and Real could not be reached.

Reyes joined Arsenal from Sevilla in January 2004 and made a total of 110 appearances for the Gunners, scoring 23 goals.

With the sales of Vieira, Pires and Henry the Ferrari’s in our game he’s brought in a couple of Eastern European bike riders in a all new slow patient build up game . Im not just on about speed of our play but the fact he would rather have a bike then a Car , He loves to keep the cash the fans are wanting to be spent ! . We all know the moneys there ,we was told of that he had around a figure of £40,000,000 to start with and with the sale of Ljungberg and Henry this season and other bit part players to my calculations we should of had around £58,000,00 mark . I am far from impressed at the players brought in to help us push for titles in the forthcoming season and im not the only one just ask Freddie ! . Are we going to have to sit back and endure another season of ” The teams developing , Its still young ” , ” each season the players are getting better ” because to be quite blunt apart from Henry’s heroic champions league campaign that brought us to the final in Paris we have been gradually going down rather then up. With the talk of a new owner coming in can Wenger be sparked into life and using his wallet to form a team that can rival our double winning teams of yester year . Im not saying we should not give youth a chance but the fans should be showen a bit of encouragement because it was hard to lose Titi and with all the built up expectations of Wenger declaring he would sign 1 or 2 super class players I think the fans have been let down terribly. Here’s some questions for you to answer ;

Views on the article ?

What do you think of our signings ?

Who would you like to be brought in ?

Will Wenger ever splash the cash ?

Can we realisticly compete next season ?

“Is there room for another Croat ?”

Luka Modric born in Zadar on September the 9th 1985 has been linked with a moveto Arsenal since the Eduardo transfer. Luka a play making midfielder in the classic number10 mould has been tipped to have a great future after his amazing performances for his club and Country.
With the ability to use both feet comfortably when passing, shooting or dribbling he has a solid attacking game. With a good all round attacking game at his disposal thats not the end of his talents , he’s knowen to have great stamina levels and the willingness to help his team mates and defend dispite his playmaking role . Since Eduardo joined there has been Croatian Journalists following his every move and here are some quotes of several interviews with Eduardo and Wenger after Genclerbirligimatch on Thursday. A reporter asks Eduardo if he would like Luka at Arsenal,

I would love to see Modric in Arsenal You don’t even have to ask me that. He is an exellent player and I would love to see him here one day

. Another Croatian reporter then asked Wenger if he was intrested in 1 more croatian player , Luka Modric ? Wenger answerd

“Yes”

then one more question followed are you intrested in Ognjen Vukojević? Wenger replied

“Who? Oh yes, Vukojević is not bad, but I like Modric a whole lot more. That doesn’t necessarly mean I want to buy him”

.

Here are some links to the interviews

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

Credit to Thommy of A-M for the links .

Your views ?

1. Vito Mannone (20)
2. Paul Rodgers (17)
3. Havard Nordtveit (17)
4. Luke Ayling (16)
5. Abu Ogogo (17)
6. Rene Steer (17)
7. Armand Traore (17)
8. Anton Blackwood (16)
9. Mark Randall (17)
10. Vincent Van Der Berg (18 )
11. James Dunne (17)
12. Jay Thomas (16)
13. Wojciech Szczesny (17)
14. Cedric Evina (16)
15. Jay Simpson (18 )
16. Gilles Sunu (16)
17. Sanchez Watt (16)
18. Nacer Barazite (16)
19. Rui Fonte (17)
20. Craig Eastmond (16)

Group

AC Milan

Ajax

Arsenal

Flamengo

Fixtures

Wed 8 Aug     18:45     1     CR Flamengo     v     AC Milan
Wed 8 Aug     20:40     3     AFC Ajax     v     Arsenal FC
Fri 10 Aug     18:45     9     AFC Ajax     v     AC Milan
Fri 10 Aug     20:40     11     CR Flamengo     v     Arsenal FC
Sun 12 Aug     18:45     17     AC Milan     v     Arsenal FC
Sun 12 Aug     18:45     18     CR Flamengo     v     AFC Ajax

Tornament Format

• The initial group stages will consist of four groups of four teams each playing three matches within the group.
• Each match will be played over a period of 70 minutes and there will be no extra time throughout the tournament.
• In the group stages points shall be scored as: Win = 3 points, Draw = 1 point, Defeat = 0 points.
• The two teams finishing first and second in each group will proceed to an eight team knock-out stage, culminating in a final, (plus two ranking matches for those four teams knocked-out at the quarter-final stage).

More info at - http://www.thechampionsyouthcup.com/

One last word

COME ON ARSENAL !

Pedro Da Silva has joined Arsenal after impressing in trials earlier this year . Pedro Roberto Silva Botelho who was born on the 14th of December 1989 in Salvador has agreed to Join Salamanca in the up and coming January transfer window , While in the mean time he’s goin to stay in Brazil and continue training with his current team Figueirense . I gather that Pedro stands in at around 6 ft 1 and is a wing back but can play down the whole left hand side of the team . He made his debut against Atlético Hermann Aichinger in which Figueirense won the match 1-0 and went onto to become a highly thought of player for the club.

The highly-rated 21-year-old was named Ligue 2 Player of the Year as he helped Caen seal promotion to the top flight of French football.

A number of clubs in England and France have been linked with Gouffran but Arsenal are reportedly leading the chase for his signature.

Caen are determined to keep hold of their most prized asset and have reiterated that they have not yet received any bids.

“There have been no offers,” president Jean-Francois Fortin told Ouest-France.

Gouffran is unsure where he will be playing next season but his ambition is to play for a top European club.

He claims he would be happy to seal a transfer and then be loaned straight back to Caen.

The striker said: “It would be a good option. The club would keep me for one year.”

Asked whether he would be leaving Caen, Gouffran replied: “It is 50-50.”

Gouffran knows he would have a better chance of earning an international call-up at a bigger club but has been encouraged by some of Raymond Domenech’s recent selections.

“The problem is that one looks less at Caen than at large clubs,” he explained.

“But I know the selector looks at young players like (Jimmy) Briand, (Samir) Nasri, (Karim) Benzema.”

Source - Skysports News

Arsenal starlets Fran Merida and Carlos Vela are both being linked with season-long loan moves to Spain.

18-year-old Mexican, Vela, signed for Arsenal in 2005 after they beat a host of Europe’s top clubs to his signature.

However, because he is not a full international, he is not eligible for a work-permit to play in England and so he has spent his entire Arsenal career on loan, firstly with Celta Vigo and then with Salamanca last term.

Vela now looks set for another long-term loan with Levante, Osasuna and Almeria all chasing his signature.

If, as expected, Vela does agree another temporary move, it will likely be his last as he is expected to qualify for an EU passport in January next year.

Merida, 17, is already being branded as the ‘new’ Cesc Fabregas, having arrived at the club in similar fashion, following his decision to quit Barcelona’s youth ranks for North London last year.

Merida (pictured) was being tipped by some to make the breakthrough in to the first-team picture this coming season, but reports claim he could be offered on loan - and a string of Primera Liga clubs are ready to take him with newly promoted Almeria again keen along with Atletico Madrid.

Merida admits he would agree to whatever manager Arsene Wenger felt was best for him.

“I will be happy to do whatever Arsenal want me to,” Merida is quoted in the Daily Mirror.

“But my dream is to play with them in the Premiership.”