Aubameyang doubtful for Arsenal
ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger may be forced to wait to hand club record signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang his debut after the Gabon striker missed training on Friday due to illness.
Aubameyang joined the Gunners from Borussia Dortmund in a £56 million ($79 million, 63 million euros) switch on Wednesday, but may be forced to sit out Saturday’s visit of Everton.
“Aubameyang was sick, so we will assess him,” said Wenger yesterday.
Arsenal are hoping Aubameyang can reignite his prolific partnership with former Dortmund
the helm. Conte’s complaints at Chelsea Chelsea benefited from the clear-out at Arsenal, signing Olivier Giroud to land the teammate Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who also joined from Manchester United last month as part of the deal that took Alexis Sanchez to Old Trafford.
A unusually busy transfer window for Wenger also saw Olivier Giroud join Chelsea, while Theo Walcott could quickly come back to haunt the side he played with for over a decade when he returns to the Emirates in an Everton shirt.
Out-of-favour Chelsea striker Michy Batshuayi also joined Dortmund to complete a striker swap triangle between the two London sides and the German giants.
“It was difficult because of course Dortmund
target man Antonio Conte has been chasing to add firepower to his stuttering forward line.
The French international, 31, split opinion in his five-and-a-half years with the Gunners, needed a replacement,” added Wenger on the drawn-out deal for Aubameyang.
“It was a cryptic deal because Giroud went to Chelsea and Batshuayi went to Dortmund. That is why it was short in time and tense until the end.”
A frantic few days was rounded off when German playmaker Mesut Ozil ended speculation over his future by signing a new three-year deal on Thursday.
“Many predicted Ozil would not commit but it is good news for Arsenal,” said Wenger.
“The fact you can keep a player of that calibre is good news.” — AFP
where he was capable of spectacular goals but struggled to convince Arsene Wenger he was worth a permanent starting berth.
However, he is exactly what Conte sought as an alternative to Alvaro Morata up front, with the out-of-favour Michy Batshuayi shipped out to Dortmund on loan to complete the Arsenal-Chelsea-Dortmund triangle of striker swaps.
Conte bemoaned his side’s “disastrous” preparation for Wednesday’s shock 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth, blaming the transfer upheaval.
It was not his first complaint about not having a strong-enough influence on the club’s transfer policy, increasing speculation he may not remain in charge at Stamford Bridge beyond the end of the season.
United may not have spent a penny in transfer fees but committed to reportedly the biggest contract in English football history by tying down Sanchez for the next four-andhalf-years.
Beating City to Sanchez’s signature was a small crumb of comfort for the red side of Manchester, with Pep Guardiola’s men romping towards the Premier League title, now 15 points clear of their fierce rivals.
City reinforced at the back with a club record signing of Laporte from Athletic Bilbao for £57 million, pushing their spending on defenders alone since Guardiola arrived 18 months ago to more than 200 million.
Crucially, both Sanchez and Laporte are free to play in the Champions’ League, with both sides of the Manchester divide eyeing European glory.
No panic at the bottom The huge sums of television money on offer for survival in the Premier League has often seen those at the bottom more active than at the top in January.
However, that was not the case this month, with many relegation threatened sides refusing to panic-buy.
Despite slumping into the bottom three, Southampton were one of few sides to end January in the black after their windfall for van Dijk (£75 million), with Argentine striker Guido Carrillo’s near 20 million move from Monaco their only major move.
Bottom-of-the-table West Brom have pinned their hopes of survival on a return to form for Daniel Sturridge after he sealed a sixmonth loan deal from Liverpool.
Newcastle United were also forced to turn to a flurry of last-minute loan deals for Kennedy, Islam Slimani and Martin Dubravka — AFP..