TRANSFER UPDATE: Juan Mata, Cesc Fabregas, Craig Gordon

     Good evening everyone.

     Some encouraging news for Arsenal fans: it is heavily rumored that Arsenal has made an 18 million pound bid for Juan Mata. 

     Mata plays for Valencia in La Liga, and recently won the Under-21 EURO Championship with Spain, as the top goalscorer in the competition. 

Stats:

Nationality: Spain

Age: 23

Club: Valencia

Price: Bid was 18 million, asking price unknown.

Height: 170 cm

Preferred foot: Right

Position: Attacking midfielder, left winger, could also play as a striker.

     Mata is a very clever, creative player. He can cut defenses open with his perfectly weighted balls, and also has the ability to score goals. He's an exciting player, and would really fir the mold at Arsenal. He is extremely intelligent, and plays the short, quick passing game with the Spanish national team. 

     While Arsenal is interested in snapping up this young talent, so is Liverpool and Manchester City. They could both offer more than us, and this may be the main difference between signing him or losing him to either of those clubs. However, Mata has said he likes Arsenal's style of play. But take that with a pinch of salt.

      Signing Mata would be a fantastic move for Arsenal, both on and off the pitch. Off the pitch, he would bring more supporters to our matches, and enhance Arsenal's global brand, perhaps bringing in more and better sponsorships - an area that Arsenal is poor in.

     On the field, it would be a real battle for places. Assuming Cesc and Nasri stay, we would have five players capable of playing in the Trequartista role - Cesc, Nasri, Wilshere, Ramsey, and Mata.

Goodbye?

     In my opinion, you can scratch Nasri off that list; he doesn't offer enough penetration. He's fantastic at keeping possession without a doubt, but you don't need me to tell you the lack of penetration we've had in our later games of the season when it was desperately needed. 

     I also believe Wilshere can be scratched off that list, along with Ramsey. As an early prediction, I feel Wilshere will have a poor season after the amount of games he played last season, and will share the holding midfield role with Ramsey, along side Song.

     Mata would be fantastic for us, and it seems to be a real preparation for life after Cesc, after "someone" in Arsenal has said when asked about Barca improving their offer of 30 million:

“Possibly yes, and if it’s enough then I expect we’ll have to sell.”

     I honestly believe this comment is real, there is a lot of talk going around about Cesc leaving for a fee around 35 million. So much for "not wanting to hurt Arsenal". I'm on the verge of tears.

     In other news,  @DarrenArsenal1 (A very reliable source) tweeted (said) this earlier:

     "#Arsenal have been talking to Sunderland over transfer of CraigGordon as GK competition.. Discussions very advanced"

     This would be a good move for Arsenal in my opinion, to sit on the bench as a number two, or even number three for Arsenal. The rumored fee is around one million pounds.

     That's all for today, I'll have updates regarding all three of these players as news come along. 

     Cheers.