Unfortunately, he's a midfielder.
Alex Song
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) are here to discuss Amad saving our blushes in a win against Southampton as well as our now annual loss at home to Brighton. They discuss Amorim's post-match comments, revisit how mid-table we may or may not be, and discuss some transfer news.
Probably a sign that board doesn't want a repeat of another last year of contract scenario; and wants to bring in players when there is room to make changes.
Midfield is a position we can never have too much trouble unless it's a loss of Fabregas' magnitude.
Sell Song now and use the funds to bring in a new player with more years in his contract.
Song's agent is Darren Dein, which hints of what's going to come.
For the last 2 seasons or so - Chelsea have looked absolutely dreadful in defense. Cech is nowhere near the player he was at his best - Terry and Cole aren't getting younger, or better (and Bertrand isn't as good as Cole before anyone suggests that)
On their day, they can beat any team in the league - but they will drop a lot of points away from home when they are up against teams getting the ball into the Chelsea box.
If they win or even come close to winning - di Matteo will have done a magnificent job even with the money they are splashing
The Barca players have already been at it, Fabregas said he won't comment on any Arsenal players out of respect for the club
Don't have a problem with Song leaving as long as he is replaced. Think defensively he has always been a liability for us, his positioning is suspect and while he is good and strong in the tackle which makes people think he is good defensively there is more to that if you want to be a top class DM. He set up a fair few goals last season which is all well and good but apart from that he had a very average season imo. A common one I hear from Arsenal fans is oh he had to get forward as we lost Fabregas but when he was around he was a world class DM, like feck he was. A simple pass and he was out of the game, ball watching and generally a lack of mobility didn't help his game.
Also rumours around of a poor attitude and Wenger seems to be clamping down on that and doesn't seem to rate him any more. My mate has a season ticket and he said Wenger and Rice used to get very animated towards Song so maybe this has been on the cards. I think from our signings I think Wenger is changing the way we play and maybe Song no longer falls into his plans
If we bring in Sahin or M'Vila to replace I say let him go.
I really don't understand this at all. With RvP gone he's one of their best two or three players. They should be building a team around him, not looking to replace him with a loan player and/or Abou Diaby, who's never fit.
Ramsey-Arteta-Cazorla
Diaby-Coquelin-Chamberlain
Not even counted Wilshere yet.
Even room to deal with his departure. Just because Robin & Song were our best players doesn't mean we can't replace them.
If players dont want to play for you theres not much you can do. Instead Arsenal will have to build around the players who want to stay, and Cazorla + Giroud
Hectic, your post has disappeared 
Song is the last player I'd want to see our team built around....
Wenger is selling him because he doesn't want him any more, he has 3 years on his contract and just recently Song said he is happy at Arsenal. I think Wenger is looking for a different type of player for that position and a welcome change imo.
I do think Song is a good player but he is one of these jack of all trades master of none type, good at CB, DM and even CM but doesn't really excel or stand out in any.
Song is the last player I'd want to see our team built around....
Wenger is selling him because he doesn't want him any more, he has 3 years on his contract and just recently Song said he is happy at Arsenal. I think Wenger is looking for a different type of player for that position and a welcome change imo.
I do think Song is a good player but he is one of these jack of all trades master of none type, good at CB, DM and even CM but doesn't really excel or stand out in any.
Alex Song is probably the nearest of the remaining bunch who will take it to last year of his contract.
Vermaelen, Koscielny, Arteta, Czorla, Podolski, Giroud, Gervinho, are players with many years in their contract.
It would be ideal time to let go of any further contract non-sense from any player now, expecially from a midfielder.
Vermaelen, Koscielny, Arteta, Czorla, Podolski, Giroud, Gervinho, are players with many years in their contract.
It would be ideal time to let go of any further contract non-sense from any player now, expecially from a midfielder.
As I've said on here a lot, I didn't especially rate him defensively, but he's an extremely good midfielder. None of the players you have left can even do as good a job as him at protecting the back four, unless you sit them in front doing little else, which doesn't seem to be Wenger's way (and I applaud him for that).
He's a much better player than Ramsey and more of a traditional midfielder than Carzorla. I'd rate him better than Arteta, too, though that's closer. Diaby's a good player but he's a crock and neither Coquelin nor Chamberlain have the experience to play a lot of games for you if there are a few injuries. Wilshere is top class, but again, is he going to be fit?
You seem to have a few players that prefer the attacking side of things but few like Song that play both ways pretty effectively. I get that it's a case of "Well he doesn't want to be here, so feck him" but I reckon this is a massive loss for you.
Ramsey, Arteta & Cazorla is nowhere near good enough defensively. You'll be in a similar position to us - plenty of midfielders who can break forward and pass the ball but no one to protect the defence. I'm not saying Song is particularly good at that because as you've already suggested he isn't actually that good defensively, but he's certainly an option. I wouldn't like to be left with Diaby and Coquelin as your only options at DM if I were you. I guess with two weeks of the transfer window left you're going to find a replacement though.
Well, i admit it was hard to see a lineup with Song for last 3 seasons, and for initial few months of this, we might have to be bit conservative till we find the right balance.
Will be a massive loss, but a massive short term loss.
Will be a massive loss, but a massive short term loss.
You might go and spend that money on someone like M'Vila or Capoue. There are plenty of decent defensive midfielders with potential around.
I won't consider Diaby as DM at all. However, i am a huge fan of Coquelin & think he will flourish in what is a big season for him already.
Frimpong will return by second half of the season, who is also a promising footballer.
And probably you are right, Wenger might buy/loan someone, which seems like a case, as per Internet.
The problem is continuity though. You get rid of Song, and it's another year where you've got to bed a side in. It's a complete joke that this is happening every summer, and there's no comment from Kroenke, Gazidis or anyone.
Frimpong is a clogger. Won't make it at Arsenal. Coquelin though is good.
True. This is the second consecutive season where your two of the best players will leave. Not sure how anyone can take a positive of this deal. Arsenal fans should be rightfully worried about their club.
The problem is continuity of players making a mess of our transfer market every season.
I say lets get it done with the old bunch; and continue with the new ones who are not affected by what happened in past 3-4 seasons.
There are no positives. I don't know whether you follow any of the Arsenal guys on twitter(there's no real reason for you to, I guess) but they all, to a man, say stuff like 'they're just players, the club goes on.'
I get the argument that the club is there regardless of who the players may be. This doesn't mean that we should just accept Song will go on the basis that we'll replace him with someone who'll take 3 years to get up to his level. It just means you're in a constant state of transition.
The old bunch would be fine if we invested in new players to play with them. I don't really understand the argument of 'Song was part of the old guard, let's get rid.' He's still got a lot to show us as a player, why not do it at Arsenal?
Coquelin is terrific, they won't skip a beat
All true stuff. I'm not Wumming here but constantly selling your best players doesn't give a good message at all. What's the guarantee that new players won't see Arsenal as a stepping stone.
Arteta, Mertesacker, Giroud, Podolski, Cazorla, Chamberlain, Santos
Come on, we have signed enough players of International experience, who alongwith Robin & Song have really made a title winning squad, but they want to creat uncertainity around them, so can we give Wenger some leeway to deal with Song as he likes.
Fans criticise them for letting contracts go to last year of contract and now we are also criticising them for dealing with it before that.
Give them a break.
Frimpong will be back competetively in October, according to Wenger.
Le Coq seems to be rated pretty highly on here, surprisingly. He has a long way to go IMO. He's shown signs of being a good player, but needs to do that consistently. I have my own doubts whether he will step up, but you never know.
Song can feck off, for all I, and it seems, Wenger, care. Hardly irreplaceable.
Song can feck off, for all I, and it seems, Wenger, care. Hardly irreplaceable.
How do you go from the "best DM in the league" to jack of all trades who is replaceable?
It's not about being replaceable. It's about ensuring continuity and not having your best players jump ship every summer. Reckon Arsene and the fans need to take a stand against the board and loosen the purse strings. Once you start spending how much the other top 4 contenders do, you'll automatically have your best players more likely to stay as they'll see the club has proper ambition.
Nice bit of gamesmanship from Mou it seems...Blocking Sahin from going to Arsenal, despite that being the player's preference to Anfield, as Mou knows it facilitates the Song move to Camp Nou...Dragging it out as long as he can to keep the deals from materializing from the look of it
Same way "the best striker in the world" goes to "Injury prone player who has been good for last one and half season".
You don't need Song anyway and it's fair play to Mourinho for making it as hard to happen as possible, surely you can understand him.
I understand two thing about that...One, Mou will do anything, regardless of sportsmanship, to 'win' and two, Barcelona would not pull this kind of nonsense
Of course, because Barca are more than a club and are saints.
Sahin is Real Madrid's player and Mourinho has every right to decide where to send him.
No you'd rather blather on about DNA and deliberately unsettle players under contract.
Signing a player to a contract does not equate to ownership, just a rental...As soon as a player at Barcelona wants out, they're shown the door - no one is remanded into custody indefinitely...In fact, the player's desire factors into it...There's little fuss so long as it doesn't involve going to the capital club
Just ask Gago, Drenthe, Sneijder, KLH, Kaka, Garay, Negredo et al where the label prisoner comes to mind
Wenger saying Song is out of the Sunderland match due to a knock...presumably, at the door
Local press seem to believe the deal will close in a matter of hours, latest this weekend...Final details are being hammered out over added incentives to the transfer fee...Astonishingly, the rumours are that it'll be around €20m
Agreed, if this was going on at Utd there'd be all out war, and rightly so.
The only thing I can think of is them being afraid of ending up in the same situation they have done with RvP, Nasri, Clichy, 1 year left and being forced to sell.
Selling Song for 15m (if thats accurate) is madness, that sort of money barely gets you Jack Rodwell.
Song said the other day that he's happy at Arsenal.....
We United fans complain a lot about transfers, and rightly so, but you do have feel for Arsenal fans. Consistently replacing quality with mediocrity. Giroud, Podolski, Cazorla etc could go on to be very good signings. But Song, RVP, Nasri, Fabregas were fantastic players. One thing you do know is that they won't replace them with anyone better than who you had. Much like us with Ronaldo, but it must be so frustrating to see this happening year on year.
But as I've said a lot, Arsenal's short term plan is to stay in the top four until that stadium is paid off. If that's done they'll be in an excellent financial position to compete once again.
To think this summer was all going so well, and then the board remembered they needed paying.