Arsenal transfer news

ARSENAL boss Mikel Arteta might be on cloud nine with his team enjoying their time at the top of the Premier League – but he says he is prepared for an inevitable sacking. The Spaniard, 40, has turned things around at the Emirates having been one of the favourites to get the chop last season.
Arteta says getting sacked in football is inevitableCredit: Rex
Arsenal have taken 21 points from an available 24 this term and sat top of the table until Prem champions Manchester City won yesterday.
Heading into Sunday’s home match against Liverpool, the Gunners are 11 points ahead of Jurgen Klopp’s men, and can extend that to 14 with a win.
Arsenal are also one of the favourites to win the Europa League, and with Arteta’s team in a free-scoring mood, it’s hard to disagree.
But Arteta says losing his job is inevitable.
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It’s only a matter of when – but he refuses to let the thought of losing his post at Arsenal drive his emotion.
Speaking on Michael Calvin’s Football People podcast, Arteta said: “As a manager, probably it’s the (biggest) fear of getting sacked.
“I made a very conscious decision the day I made the decision to become a coach – I said: ‘It will happen. Today, tomorrow, in a month’s time, in ten years time. I don’t know when it will happen.’
“That cannot drive my emotion and this cannot be the reason why I do certain things or not.
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“For me now the fear is to let people down.”
The feel-good factor is back at Arsenal, something that has been absent since the departure of legendary boss Arsene Wenger.
Arsenal are unified both on and off the pitch – something a long-serving staff member told Arteta.
They told the Gunners boss: “I’ve never seen this before.
“I have never felt that unity across the club, with our supporters.”
Arteta says bringing the club together is a bigger success than winning trophies.
The relationship between the ownership and the fans has been fractured for some time, but results on the pitch help ease the pressure on Stan Kroenke and Co.
A lot of money has also been spent on the squad, in recent seasons especially, which Arsenal are reaping the benefits of.
Arteta added: “It depends what you call success.
“I mean, if it’s winning titles or it’s bringing our club together. For me, bringing the club together is much more powerful.
“We have a club that was in a difficult state, with a lot of cracks, a lot of division.
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“At the moment, this is a very different club.
“And that’s an incredible credit that everybody has to take, from the top of the club to every player. Because we did that together.” More

AN ARSENAL Invincibles star looks a new man with grey hair and a beard a decade on after retiring from football – and he now runs a successful fruit and veg business.The 47-year-old goalkeeper played for the Gunners for two years between 2002-04.
The ex-goalkeeper (right) played five times for ArsenalCredit: twitter@shaabanrami
The 16-capped Swede was at the North London club for two yearsCredit: Instagram/rami.fresh
He was a part of Arsenal’s Invincibles but didn’t pick up a 2004 medalCredit: Instagram/rami.fresh
He now runs a fruit and veg business out of SwedenCredit: Instagram/rami.fresh
He made just five appearances for the North London club.
The 16-capped Swede was a part of Arsenal’s squad that went unbeaten in the 2003-04 but didn’t pick up a Premier League medal.
He was also loaned to West Ham in January 2004 before being released by Arsenal in the summer.
A year was then spent at Brighton before playing in Norway and then finishing his career at Hammarby IF in 2012 in his home country.
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But a decade on since his retirement, now rocking grey hair and a beard, the ex-Prem footballer is in the fresh food business.
His company is a specialist in the supply from Egypt of fruit and vegetables segment.
Rami Fresh are based in Sweden and offer an assortment of fruit and vegetables from the best farms in Egypt.
And the mystery footballer can be revealed as… Rami Shaaban.
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Shaaban still pays attention to football and is good friends with fellow Swede and ex-Arsenal team-mate Freddie Ljungberg.
He was also pleased to see Arsenal dominate Tottenham in the North London Derby last weekend.
Sharing a throwback picture of Thierry Henry’s iconic knee slide from Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Spurs in 2002, he tweeted: “It’s this kind of day today!”
Shaaban started in the iconic 2002 win over Tottenham, where the game ended 3-0Credit: PA:Press Association
Shaaban still keeps an eye on football, and Arsenal, despite running his successful businessCredit: EPA More

BUKAYO SAKA met Hollywood A-lister Natalie Portman on Friday night at Wembley.The Arsenal star, 21, was at the home of football to watch England’s Lionesses defeat USA 2-1.
Saka met Portman behind the scenes at the Lionesses game on Friday night
The England star was at Wembley to watch his counterparts defeat USACredit: Rex
The pair both grinned from ear-to-ear as it appeared they’d each met a hero of theirs.
Portman donned a football kit as she posed arm-in-arm with Gunners winger Saka.
The movie star is not just a keen fan – she’s an owner of the US National Women’s Soccer League side Angel City.
Celebrity pals Eva Longoria, Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Garner, Uzo Aduba and America Ferrera also have a stake in the club.
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The team are in it’s inaugural year in the 2022 edition of the NWSL.
On The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Portman said: “I’m just so excited for the future of women’s football in the USA.
“A group of us are extremely passionate about this sport because we have the best players in the world in the US — in the most popular sport in the world.
“We won the last two World Cups as well.
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“We got together and we’re bringing Angel City FC, the women’s soccer team for LA to LA… 
“And now we are super excited to just celebrate these incredible athletes. It’s also the first female-led, female investors of any professional sport.”
Portman will have been disappointed by the result last night, as Georgia Stanway’s penalty gave England bragging rights over the USA for the first time in five years.
Meanwhile, Saka has hinted a new Arsenal contract is on the way after investing in an executive box at the Emirates.
The youngster is currently under contract with the North London outfit until 2024.
But Arsenal are keen to tie him down to a new deal which would see him stay for a further three or four years.
According to reports, the Gunners have offered him a contract worth £200,000 per week.
That is nearly SEVEN TIMES his current salary – which stands at just £30,000 a week.
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And while Arsenal are still waiting for Saka to put pen to paper on the deal, he has dropped a big hint that he plans to remain a part of Mikel Arteta’s squad.
Saka has “personally invested” in an executive box at the Emirates, a significant indicator that he does not see a transfer away from Arsenal transpiring in the near future. More

A “well-endowed” ex-Arsenal star had “30 pebbles” stuffed inside his foreskin after a boozy session.Colin Pates is said to be “gifted” downstairs but it had its pros and cons, as he fell victim to a practical joke by team-mates after a night out drinking.
Pates being ‘gifted’ downstairs came at a cost one nightCredit: Alamy
Carter stuffed 30 pebbles inside Pates’ foreskinCredit: PA:Press Association
The 61-year-old had apparently fallen asleep on a sofa in the lobby of the Meon Valley Country Club, near Southampton, after a heavy session in the early 1990s.
And fellow Arsenal player at the time, Jimmy Carter, seized the opportunity to play a prank on Pates.
Carter stuffed 30 pebbles inside Pates’ foreskin, leaving him with “this big heavy weight”.
David Hillier, who was also part of the squad, recalled to the Undr The Cosh podcast: “In the reception at this time, Colin Pates has fallen asleep on a chaise longue.
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“This is our last night at the Meon Valley Country Club, and obviously they loved having us there.
“I don’t know how it’s happened, but in the morning Colin Pates wakes up on this chair – and Colin Pates had quite a…he was quite gifted in the old…department, right.
“But he had a lot of skin on the top of it, so Jimmy Carter decided he’d fill it.
“You know those little balls you get that they put around artificial plants? Like little f***ing marbles.
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“He put about 30 of them in Patesy’s foreskin. So Patesy wakes up with this big heavy weight.
“And he’s laying in reception, everybody coming in the hotel has seen him.
“His old man’s out, it’s full of these things in the end of it that Jimmy’s stuffed in it.”
Pates’ foreskin being filled wasn’t the only chaotic event to happen in Hampshire.
There was apparently a fight on the coach between Michael Thomas and Paul Dickov.
Tony Adams and Paul Merson had also allegedly drunkenly burst into a stranger’s room after mistaking it for theirs.
And Merson is said to have sprayed a woman with a fire extinguisher after she poured ice cold water all over him.
Sky Sports pundit Merson then apparently lost his footing and injured himself.
But lucky for the mischievous Arsenal boys, the co-owner and vice chairman at the time, smoothed everything over.
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Hillier added: “David Dein came in and just swept up the mess. That was football at the time.
“On the Monday morning, no one heard nothing.” More

A SILVER-HAIRED former Arsenal star looks completely unrecognisable as Diego Simeone’s assistant at Atletico Madrid.The former right-back, 52, spent three years at Arsenal, winning just the FA Community Shield.
Can you guess who this former Arsenal star is?Credit: Getty
The silver-haired fox now works as assistant manager at Atletico MadridCredit: Getty
The ex-Arsenal star celebrates during an Atletico Madrid gameCredit: Getty
The Argentine ace played under legendary boss Arsene Wenger and alongside the likes of Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Martin Keown, Emmanuel Petit and Ray Parlour.
But his spell at Highbury ended in 2001, taking his short dark hair and clean shaven look with him.
He joined Inter Milan on a free transfer.
However, he also found game time hard to come by at the San Siro.
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The 5ft 5in full-back then moved back to Argentina, playing for River Plate before finishing his career at boyhood club Quilmes in 2005.
These days, he’s rocking the silver fox look with long grey hair and a beard.
And he works at one of the biggest club’s in the world.
The 42-capped Argentine works as Simeone’s assistant at Atletico.
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He joined Simeone in Spain in 2018 and helped then win LaLiga in 2021.
It was Atletico’s first league title in seven years, with their last before that coming in 2014.
And the mystery footballer can be revealed as… Nelson Vivas.
Vivas shares the same philosophy and ethics as his boss, Simeone.
He was his assistant once before between 2006 and 2011.
And the two men were the only members of the coaching staff wearing suits in games.
Vivas pays particular attention to scouting rivals and adapting his team’s tactics.
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The ex-pro also helps organise and maintain order.
After a training session, he handed Simeone a notebook where he outlined what was done in every session during the campaign, including absentees, player performances and tactical work carried out.
The former Arsenal ace opted for a clean shaven look during his playing daysCredit: PA:Press Association
The 5ft5 Argentine (left) was feisty in a tackleCredit: Reuters More