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According to This is London, Arsenal have identified
Daniel Fonseca as a potential solution to
our striker crisis.
Arsène Wenger has reportedly admitted that he's
looking around Europe for a loan signing to ease the
pressure on Thierry Henry and Davor Suker, while
Bergkamp and Overmars are injured and Kanu is out in
Africa. Worries over rumours that Bergkamp's injury
could be career-threatening will be eased somewhat by
the fact that Wenger has confirmed that he'd prefer
a loan signing.
Thierry and Davor didn't appear to be suffering
from the pressure while they banged in 2 each against Sunderland on Saturday, but while they're the only 2 experienced strikers
available any injuries or suspensions to them will be
critical. This is brought into focus by the fact that Graham Barrett,
with 10 minutes first-team experience, could get the
call-up to face Man Utd on Monday because of Suker's
suspension, and also by the gasps that echoed round Highbury on Saturday
when Henry went down injured in the first 30 seconds of the game!
The This is London report suggests that Arsenal have been told by
Fonseca's club Juventus that he is available for a 3 month
loan, if we cover his £30,000/week salary and pay a
"small" fee.
Fonseca, 30, is a Uruguayan international.
See this page for his club career stats. Although he's
generally regarded as World class, his strike rate hasn't really been that great in the last 3 years. But we know that Wenger
has a knack for picking the right man, and getting the best out of him. So maybe if Fonseca did come we'd see him return to his old ways. In each of his 2 seasons at Napoli Fonseca scored
at a rate of just over a goal in every 2 games.
Interesting to note also that former Leeds front man
Tony Yeboah, who enjoyed a brief spell of
scoring spectacular goals for the Elland Rd outfit, was
quoted on Ceefax last night as looking for a move to London.
They reckoned a loan to Chelsea was on the cards, which seems
strange in the wake of the Weah deal. But no-one appears to
have made an Arsenal connection to this story (yet ;>),
and in fact I haven't seen any mention of Yeboah at all in
today's press. So it's a bit of a long shot, this one... :-)
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