The end is nigh

Does everyone realise that there's only 5 days left in the transfer window? Technically the weekend doesn't count but no reason why deals can't be finalised then and the registration done by Monday or Tuesday. It's all gone quiet on the Arsenal front. Newspapers has even gone bored of recycling the same stuffs over and over again.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger believes that the club's 8-2 defeat away to Manchester United five months ago will have no impact on their preparation for this Sunday's rematch at the Emirates while skipper Robin van Persie strongly feels otherwise.

Speaking to the club's website ahead of United's trip to North London, Wenger explained that no matter what, his side cannot reverse the disaster that occurred in Manchester last August and hence, they must look at Sunday's match as a new opportunity altogether.

So the bottom line is they're not thrilled:

But let us recall the stated policy of BSA – no atheists and no gays allowed. Period. They even succeeded in defending this position at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000.
So then, is it really such a great deal for our rapidly-expanding professional league to ally itself with an organization that openly espouses bigotry and intolerance?

Getting close in securing Gary Cahill from Bolton Wanderers, Chelsea apparently will still continue their surge in the winter transfer market and capture at least another quality player.

This confirmation was revealed by the club's tactician, Andre Villas-Boas, who unfortunately still can't confirm, whose the other player they're trying to grab this January aside from Cahill.

Robin being ultra friendly to Arteta in the past

Transfer window is finally behind us now. I for one, am happy to it be gone for the time being. It was not easy trying to follow every news and get a little excited when a particular name is linked and then be devastated when it's either a false rumour or when our bid got rejected.

Arsenal are close to completing the signing of Brazil left-back Andre Santos and are in talks for Werder Bremen centre-back Per Mertesacker.

The Gunners have agreed a fee with Turkish giants Fenerbahce for Santos reportedly £6.2 million with the move subject to a medical and personal terms being agreed.

Traore will not get to play with the other Park

Being an Arsenal fan has never been easy. It will a whole lot worse from now until the end of the transfer window. Just a day after our drubbing at Old Trafford, the rumours merchant has already been out in full force. Best to do it according to the position on the pitch, here goes.

Video, interviews and highlights (if you can bear it)

They say the darkest hour is just before the dawn. Let's hope they're right about that. They have a tendency to say a lot of shit which doesn't make a lot of sense, unfortunately.

I said yesterday I was fearful of facing United with the squad in the state it was in.

Morning all.

It was a relatively quiet day yesterday. Nobody left. Nobody came in ... excuse me a moment ... hahahahahahahahahaha. Hahahaha. Haha. Hah. Ok. I'm better.

Hahahahahaha. Eeep.

However, I did get a bit of an exclusive. Arsene has been in his office, working obsessively on transfer targets and my super serial spy managed to take a pic over his shoulder as he was working.

First there was talk on ESPN Deportes Radio this morning that a deal between the Houston Dynamo and forward Carlos Costly was done and the team was awaiting visa paperwork to be approved to make the announcement.

Now a report from the website Rumbo claiming the deal is indeed done and that Costly will be joining the Dynamo for at least the remainder of the 2011 season and not as a designated player.

Real Salt Lake has signed trialist Chris Agorsor to a professional deal, according to our friends over at the Salt Lake Tribune.

Michael C. Lewis, the SLTribune's Real Salt Lake beat reporter, reached out to the Real Salt Lake brass and came back with the following response from the team's General manager:

The former Philadelphia Union forward has signed a contract with RSL, general manager Garth Lagerwey confirmed Wednesday, potentially providing some reinforcement for the team's attacking corps.

(All translations by @MarksXJ - Jon Marks - also writes for Philly Union Talk.)

In what is becoming a weekly event, Philadelphia Union striker Carlos Ruiz has been linked to a Mexican club. Club Tiburones Rojos de Veracruz, linked to Ruiz twice in the past couple of weeks, have reportedly paid the Guatemalan forward's buyout clause (also referred to as a minimum release fee) in his Union contract.

Argentinian club Velez Sarsfield have announced the sale of Ricky Alvarez to Inter Milan, for a fee of around 11 million euros. The 23 year old attacking midfielder was a sought after player in the current transfer window and had reportedly attracted the attention of some big clubs, including Arsenal and Roma.

(Full translations by the Brotherly Game editor Joey Samuel, with consultations from @RockstarLugo10 , @MarksXJ, Tom Marshall of FMF State of Mind and Eric Kessler.)

Carlos Ruiz is in Mexico City in an attempt to move to Mexican club Veracruz, according to a report by El Gofo.

While the Sharks begin its preseason in the city of Guadalajara starting this Thursday, the back and forth search for a third foreign signing continues in Mexico City, where the Guatemalan Carlos Ruiz trains with an eye to soon joining the Red Sharks.

Reports have surfaced out of Mexico that Gaston Puerari has been transferred to Atlas. According to two spanish football media outlets, Atlas manager Ruben Omar Romano identified Puerari as a new reinforcement for this upcoming FMF season and the forward will report to the club this coming Sunday.

Cool as you like

How have you been? Good I hope. Let's get straight into it then. Yesterday, the Arsenal Supporters Trust (AST) has a dialogue session with the CEO of Arsenal FC, Ivan Gazidis. You can see them here and here. Plenty of questions were raised but due to the time limitation, not everyone manage to get their question out.

Wenger summing up the season after the Fulham match.

" But we are not to go overboard. Maybe one year you will realise that it is not easy to finish in the top four every time. Even if people say we have to spend money, we have to be realistic. We cannot buy players for £50 million and, even if we try to strengthen our team and spend money if needed, that is fact.

After a couple days of speculation -- and a confirmation on the Philadelphia Union's side on Wednesday -- the Seattle Sounders officially announced that their July 23 game has been moved to Oct. 8. The move was made to accomodate the Union's desire to host a friendly against Real Madrid at Lincoln Financial Field as part of the World Football Challenge.

PUMA joins the ranks of the Nike5 series and Calle Rilo in the up and coming street soccer market with the launch of its Urban Cat Cetto street soccer shoes. Designed for soccer and casual use, the Cetto feature a rubberised toe reinforcement and studded rubber outsole to give top level performance and durability.

Thomas DiBenedetto will assume control of Roma as agreed, as lawyers working in relation to the takeover confirm there is no conflict of interest with Liverpool.
On Wednesday, The Guardian reported DiBenedetto's assets in New England Sports Ventures - the company that owns Liverpool - could jeopardize the takeover as it reportedly breached UEFA rules which state it's forbidden for "persons or clubs to control or influence more than one club registered for European competition".

Your top 5 games for Americans to watch this weekend:

(And when we say to watch that doesn't mean an American has to be playing just that we're suggesting you check out the game if you're around some HD in the States.)

It's been mostly "hold the applause" for Everton this year.

Getting into final day in the transfer market, Premier League clubs made some surprising record breaking deal that no one would actually expect could happen this season.

Among the teams that reinforced heavily this January, Chelsea are practically the one that made the headline with the sensational swoop they made for Fernando Torres and David Luiz.

Arsene Wenger is relieved to see the progress of summer signing Sebastien Squillaci as the former Sevilla defender recovers from a hamstring strain.

In the absence of Squillaci as well as long-term absentee Thomas Vermaelen, the Gunners have only had the starting pair of Laurent Koscielny and Johan Djourou to rely on in the central defense.

Chelsea's big win against Bolton Wanderers last Monday give a much more valid prove that the Blues are finally getting back into their old self, with the striking department start to click their engine once again the other part of the team looked more secured.

However, aside from applauding the improvement that his squad are making, the club's tactician, Carlo Ancelotti, still plan to add the defensive reinforcement he has been planning since the winter and the tactician confirmed that David Luiz is their new target.

Liverpool is reportedly monitoring Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema.
According to 4-4-2, the Reds will make their move for the Frenchman if they fail to pull off a deal for Ajax captain Luis Suarez, whose protracted move to Merseyside continues to rumble on.
Benzema – who joined Real from Lyon for £30 million in 2009 – remains on the fringes at the Bernabeu and Liverpool are prepared to offer him a fresh start.

Still leading the premier league with two matches in hand, Manchester United are indeed looking very comfortable in pursuing their goal of claiming the title this season and this condition surely gave lots of confidence for their players including Rio Ferdinand.

The England international believes that United's current squad is already the best in the league and won't even need any reinforcement during this current transfer window.

It looks like Birmingham City have a very odd way in terms of deciding their transfer target especially when it involves big name players as after canceling the deal for Mauro Camoranesi in the last minute last summer, the club done the same thing again with Robbie Keane.

Just Like Camoranesi's case, Birmingham also decided to cancel their offer for Keane just after the club already agreed in paying the transfer fee required by Spurs to acquire the Irish striker.

Having already promoting promises of their maturity this season, Arsenal, once again left some question mark for their fans' hopes after the Gunners surprisingly suffered a 1-0 in the Carling Cup against Ipswich Town, despite fielding a pretty strong squad.

One of the cause of the defeat is being placed in the defensive department as with many injuries facing their main defenders, the substitutes' quality seemed far behind.

Having already promoting promises of their maturity this season, Arsenal, once again left some question mark for their fans' hopes after the Gunners surprisingly suffered a 1-0 in the Carling Cup against Ipswich Town, despite fielding a pretty strong squad.

One of the cause of the defeat is being placed in the defensive department as with many injuries facing their main defenders, the substitutes' quality seemed far behind.

Hunter Martin - Getty Images

Philadelphia's Danny Mwanga, the top pick in last year's draft, certainly showed that a top MLS draft pick could be a game-changer in 2010.