Arsenal's Journey towards Glory : Huge win for Gunners

Arsenal announce Arsene Wenger Resignation



Wenger leaves Arsenal on the verge of qualification for the UEFA Champions League, with Gunners chairman Peter Hill-Wood confirming in a statement that Wenger has left the club amid rumours he could be appointed as Inter Milan boss soon.

Hill-Wood told the club's official website www.arsenal.com: "I have reluctantly accepted the resignation of Arsene Wenger after eleven years of success at the club."

Report:Arsene Wenger leaves Arsenal

Interview:Former Arsenal Striker Thierry Henry

Wenger has steered Arsenal 3 Premier League titles , 4 FA Cup titles , and 4 FA Community Sheild . Arsenal also reached the finals of UEFA CHampions League in 2006 .

He has apparently revealed his reasons for stepping down to Hill-Wood, but the Arsenal chairman wants the matter to be kept private.

Hill-Wood told www.arsenal.com: "I would like to thank Arsene for his enormous contribution to Arsenal Football Club, as a manager.

"Since joining the club as manager in September 1996, he has helped lead a fantastic transformation of this famous London club and has helped design and build an infrastructure that will enable the club to continue the progress that we have undoubtedly made in his period of office.

"He has given his reasons for wanting to leave the club at this time, which are private and we respect that privacy. I would like to wish Arsene and his family every success in the future."

Damn! That sucks. Wenger leaving Arsenal

Nice start though. KUTGW!

Mourinho appointed as Gunners boss



Arsenal have appointed the former Chelsea Manager José Mourinho as their new manager. The former Chelsea and Porto manager has signed a new contract which expires in the summer of two-thousand-and-eleven, an unusual appointment by the Arsenal chairman Peter Will-Hood.

Mourinho, 45, was previously was the manager of the Champions League winning FC Porto side before joining Chelsea who won the Premier League twice under him before he decided to resign as the Chelsea manager .

The Portuguese told Arsenal's website he was "excited" to become the new Arsenal manager, adding: "The club has an ambitious board and a first-class coaching team, I'm very happy to be the new manager and I'm looking forward to this challenge."

Interview:Jose Mourinho as new Arsenal Manager

Mourinho had won two Premier League titles , two Carling Cup and one FA Cup and Community Shield with Chelsea . He signed some great players like Petr Cech , Didier Drogba , Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko to name a few . He was known as the Special One .

"I believe he will be very successful at the club as he has a lot of experience in the Premier League with Chelsea and we hope he signs a few great players for the club," Arsenal chairman said.

"With his ability to bring some good players and make them brilliant like Didier Drigba , Petr Cech , Ricardo Carvalho we could expect to win the Premier league title after a long time and may also win our first Champions league titele . We would give our whole support to him both mentally and financially ."

Mourinho added: "The challenge for me is to assist the club to play football in the best manner and to continuously seek to improve everything we do.

"I feel there is much that can be achieved and I am excited to be the manager of this football club and look forward to this new challenge in my career."

Good Start !
Looks like arsenal will for the first time challnege for the Champions League!

Four new faces at Emirates



Jose Mourinho has brought in four new quality players to Arsenal and has unveiled them today at Emirates Stadium in front of viewing fans. The four include, Two midfielders, a left back and one winger. All they need now is a fourth striker and that's Mourinho's targets.

The first of the four signings to be unveiled was French midfielder Samir Nasri from French team Marseille. The twenty-one-year-old was wanted by many other English clubs like Manchester United , Portsmouth , Everton but Mourinho purchased him quickly .

Nasri has been bought for an undisclosed fee round about £12.5 million. He is the most expensive player Mourinho has bought at Arsenal and he would hope Nasri keeps his price tag.

Welsh winger Aaron Ramsey is the next signing for Arsenal. The seventeen-year-old has joined for a fee of £7.00 million.

Aaron Ramsey has made twenty-three caps for Wales under 21 scoring two goals, he was part of the Cardiff City team that lost to Portsmouth in the FA Cup 2008 final. He made sixteen appearances for Cardiff and scored two goals . He was linked with a move to Manchester United but at the last moment decided to join the Gunners.

Thirty-year-old French left back Mikael Silvestre has completed his move to Arsenal from arch rivals Manchester United after passing a medical this week for a fee of £2.2 million.

Silvestre made his debut for Manchester United in 1999 and since then he has made two-hundred-and-forty-nine appearances scoring nine goals. He is the second French player Mourinho has signed since taking over from Wenger as the new manager.

The last player to be unveiled at Emirates Stadium was Portuguese under 21 international central midfield Amaury Bischoff. The twenty-one-year-old Colmar born midfielder has signed for an undisclosed and is hottest talents in Europe.

He is well known for his fierce pace, crisp passing and hardworking style. Wenger was keen in signing the Portuguese before leaving Gunners .Amaury Bischoff has sixty-two caps for Werder Bremen and has scored six goals.

Mourinho said following the signings, "This is massive for the club, we have two good midfielders . Nasri has impressed me a lot when he played at Marsielle and as also made a mark in the French national team . Ramsey is a brilliant talent and has impressed every one in England with his pace and has attracted interest from some of the top clubs . Silvestre provides that back up in defense .He can play as left back as well as center back so he would add a lot of experience in the young defense we have . I'm very excited about the upcoming season."

Nasri is a great signing!

Great start, but could you change it from signs to signings.

Good luck this season, although I hate the idea of Mourinhio at the Emirates

Mathieu Flamini and Aliasandr Hleb leave Gunners

Arsenal defensive midfielder Mathieu Flamini and central midfielder Alisandir Hleb are the first two players to leave Arsenal as the Mourinho revolution kicks in at Emirates.

Belarus midfielder Aliasandr Hleb was chased by Chelsea and Barcelona, however it was Barcelona he chose to go when the £12.1 million offer was accepted.

Hleb spent three season's at Arsenal since signing for £7 million back in two-thousand-and-five. He made eighty-nine appearances at Highbury and Emirates combined scoring seven goals overall.

Italian club AC Milan completed the signing of Mathieu Flamini earlier today. The twenty-four-year-old Frenchman played a vital role last season and made up a strong partnership with Cesc Fabregas in the midfield leaving Gilberto Silva on the bench .

Flamini made a hundred and two appearances for Gunners scoring just seven goals for London club . Flamini will join the likes of Ronalidnho , Kaka , Pirlo at Milan as he moved for free as his contract expired .

Mourinho stated "I wish all the best to both Mathieu and Aliasandr, Mathieu wanted to leave and we didn't want to keep a player who didn't want to play for the club, there were a few in for him but he accepted Milan's offer of thirty-two-thousand-pounds a week. Aliasandr is also a great footballer and it looks like we'll be seeing him if we play Barcelona again at both Nou Camp and Emirates in the Champions League ."

Nice start to your latest story Shantanu, keep it up!

Clearout continues at Emirates



Two more players have left Emirates today as Mourinho's Gunners team continues to look thinner. Germany goalkeeper Jens Lehmann and Brazil central midfielder Gilberto Silva are the latest to be sold .

Lehmann was wanted by four Premiership clubs but Germany club Stuttgart are the team who have payed £1.4 million for the Germany international goalkeeper.

The German No 1 keeper was left out on the bench for the Spanish keeper Manuel Almunia who had a brilliant season . Lehmann was angry and made his mind to leave the London club and go back to Germany .

Lehmann made one-hundred-and-forty-seven appearances for Gunners scoring no goals in his 5 year career at Highbury and Emirates . He has sixty-one caps for his country, his first cap coming against Oman back in 1998.

Brazil international Gilberto Silva has moved to Panathinaikos for a fee of £2 million. The thirty-one year old could of moved back to his old club Atletico Minneiro but he rejected their contract offer.

Mourinho said "Lehmann is a brilliant goalkeeper and Gilberto is an outstanding hard worker, they will be missed by the fans I'm sure, but in my opinion, to me they are not the players that are going to get us Premiership or Champions League title. We have a few replacements lined up, here's hoping it all works out for the best."

Gilberto got his first cap for his country in 2001 and he has seventy-one caps to his name. He has scored four times for Brazil and scored seventeen times for Arsenal in his one-hundred appearances for the Gunners .

Nice presentation here Shantanu. Mourinho needs to do this re-shuffle if he's to give Arsenal a chance at the title, so he's doing the right thing. keep it up

Friday's gossip column

Breaking Gossip

Arsenal , Valencia and Barcelona are all in for Chelsea's and Portugal's center defender Ricardo Carvalho for 12m pounds . Will Scolari let go him to Arsenal?(Daily Telegraph)

Manchester United's Welsh mid fielder is set to join Tottenham Hotpsurs for an undisclosed fee reported to be around ?6 million. (The Sun)

AC Milan have made a bid of ?32m for Chelsea's Frank Lampard. Chelsea are not willing to let the Englishman go but it's up to the man himself. (Gazzetta dello Sport)

Iain Dowie's Queens Park Rangers have had a ?7 million bid for Manchester City's Nedum Onuoha rejected after the young England defender just signed a new deal with Man City. (The Sun)

Middlesbrough look favourites to land Arsenal center back Phillipe Senderos but Jose Mourinho has already said he will only let the defender go if the price is right. (Daily Mirror)

Frank Lampard's agent has said Lampard will be joining Real Madrid if the contract offer is good. (Spanish sports paper Marca)

Transfer Rumours

Emmanuel Adebayor has reassured fans that he will not be leaving Arsenal this season as he believes they can win the Champions League . (Daily Express)

Pavel Nedved could be on his way out of Juventus with four clubs in for the Czech Republican International midfielder. (The Sun)

Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill will offer Reading ?4m for Republic of Ireland striker Kevin Doyle who didn't have the best season for the Royal's last season. (Mirror)

Many Premiership clubs are in for Zenit Peterburg's attacking midfielder Andrey Arshavin, The Russian is in England and will be signing for a club on Sunday. (Daily Mirror)

Cristiano Ronaldo's agent said that Chelsea have tabled a huge offer for his client and United are not ready to let him go. (The Sun)

Other Gossip

Fabio Capello has stated that he will become the most successful manager the England national team has ever had, he will start by winning the World Cup in 2010. (Mirror)

Jose Mourinho is happy with the transfer budget of ?45m he has recieved to spend by the Arsenal board (The Sun)

Everton manager David Moyes has finally signed a new contract which will keep him with the Toffee's until the summer of two-thousand-and-nine. (Daily Telegraph)

And Finally. . .

Wayne Rooney will return from his Honeymoon at Los Angeles later today . He was reported to miss one week of pre season training but he decided to come early and meet his team mates.(The Sun)

Wow Excellent story on GUnnders this desreves to be the SOTM

Gunners' David Villa bid rejected



Premiership side Arsenal have had their £22.5 million bid for the Valencia and Spain striker turned down, according to the Spanish press. Liverpool and Arsenal are also after the highly-rated striker.

Gunners manager Jose Mourinho wants to reinforce his team so they can fight for to win the Premiership this season and has underlined the striking as the main department in which they have to strengthen themselves.

David Villa is a Spanish striker who currently features for the Spanish side Valencia .He has scored fifty-nine goals in hundred appearances for Valencia. He made his debut at age of eighteen years old after impressing on loan at Sporting de Gijon, Villa was an influential player in their promotion season.

Gunners initially offered £17 million for the Spanish striker but Valencia rejected their offer on grounds of getting a higher offer which they did, Gunners then bidded £22.5 million which also got rejected. The main bone of contention for Valencia is the amount on offer for the player whom they think is good enough to fetch a considerably large sum of money with which they can then strengthen their side.

Arsenal have been linked with several other strikers and might or might not return with a better offer for David Villa. Some of the names included are Italian striker Luca Toni and Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov.