Arsenal: Arsenal.....

Jermaine Pennant has insisted he wants to stay at Highbury and fight for a place in the Arsenal team, despite reported interest from Liverpool and Tottenham. The England Under-21 star spent last season on loan at Leeds United and was one of the few bright points in an otherwise disappointing campaign which saw the West Yorkshire club relegated.

Spurs and Liverpool have both been strongly tipped to make a move for the young winger, but the Nottingham-born starlet wants to make the breakthrough at Arsenal.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will not join any bidding for Everton's teenage sensation Wayne Rooney.

Rooney has been linked with a transfer away from Goodison Park after starring at Euro 2004 but he will not be considered by the English champions.

Reports in Spain claim that Barcelona have opened talks with Arsenal over the transfer of Edu and will look to land the Brazilian star in December. Spanish daily AS insists Barca have been given encouragement by The Gunners after initial talks, but will wait until the winter transfer window before trying to finalise a deal.

The reason is purely economic, as Edu's contract at Highbury expires next season and Barca hope to persuade the midfielder to sign a pre-contract agreement in December.

Arsenal have confirmed that Greek defender Efstathios Tavlaridis has left the club to join French side Lille.
Tavlaridis has joined Lille for an undisclosed fee after a successful loan spell at the club last term.

The 24-year-old spent the second half of last season at Lille and he suitably impressed at the club.

The move to Lille had been upheld as Tavlaridis had wanted to keep his options open with a number of clubs interested in signing him.

Well they have let a few go and havn't really signed anyone yet. Still time for them to bring in a couple of decent players but will they do as well as last season? I don't think they will. I can only see them finishing no better than 3rd place.

Chesterfield manager Roy McFarland has continued to strengthen his squad with the capture of former Arsenal defender Alex Bailey.

The 20-year-old has agreed an initial 12-month deal at Saltergate following his release by the Gunners.

Arsene Wenger has revealed how he would like to sign England's Euro 2004 sensation Wayne Rooney for Arsenal.

But the Gunners boss fears the Everton striker is bound for rivals Manchester United.

And Wenger also believes the signing of Rooney by Sir Alex Ferguson would make the Red Devils the biggest threat to Arsenal's bid to retain the Premiership title.

New Tottenham boss Jacques Santini says Arsenal's Thierry Henry and Robert Pires had a bust-up during Euro 2004.
The row occurred only two days before France's game with England and Santini, who has now stepped down as French coach, had to stop a training session.

Arsenal have announced that they have completed the signing of promising Italian youngster Arturo Lupoli.

The 17-year-old has signed a two-year scholarship deal at Highbury after coming to the attention of the Arsenal coaching staff with his exploits in Parma's youth team.

Arsenal have been able to seal the coup as Lupoli had not signed a professional contract with Parma.

Ray Parlour has been told by Premiership champions Arsenal that he will not be offered a new deal at the club, with his current contract set to expire next year.

The former England international has been strongly linked with a move this summer, with Middlesbrough and West Bromwich Albion both known to be keen admirers of his abilities.

Parlour, 31, is the longest serving player at Highbury - but he is now considering his future knowing that the coming season would be his last as an Arsenal player.

Boro are thought to be looking at Parlour's situation very closely - but it remains to be seen whether Arsenal would be willing to sell him this summer.

Arsenal are still refusing to confirm the 500,000 signing of Spanish goalkeeper Manuel Almunia from Celta Vigo but the deal is expected to go through within the next 48 hours.

A sticking point may be that Celta Vigo still owe the Gunners around 1million on their signing of former Highbury full-back Silvinho two years ago and negotiations could revolve around how much of the Brazilian's valuation will be wiped off by Almunia's arrival in north London.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has turned down an approach to become new coach of Germany.

Wenger, who hails from the French region of Alsace which has a strong Germanic culture and tradition, insists he will see out his contract with Arsenal.

Arsenal midfielder Edu has reiterated his desire to sign a new contract with the reigning Premiership champions.

The 26-year-old, who is currently on Copa America duty with Brazil, will be out of contract at Highbury next summer and is desperate to stay with the North Londoners.

Catalan titans Barcelona are reportedly huge admirers of the South American and are planning to try and agree a pre-contract with the former Corinthians star in January.

However, Edu has made it clear he sees his future with The Gunners.

Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood is becoming "irritated" at Real Madrid's repeated attempts to lure Gunners skipper Patrick Vieira to the Bernabeu.

Madrid president Florentino Perez, who was re-elected on Sunday, has again suggested he may be ready to put in a bid for the 28-year-old France midfielder.

Arsenal have signed Spanish goalkeeper Manuel Almunia for an undisclosed fee.

The former Celta Vigo stopper, who spent last season on loan with Albacete, has signed a "long-term contract" at Highbury.

The 27-year-old will link up with the squad for pre-season training immediately.

They havn't really signed anyone big and i think they won't be as dominant as last season.

Real Madrid coach Jose Antonio Camacho today went public on two players he is interested in signing - but neither of them was Arsenal midfielder Patrick Vieira.

The Gunners captain was named this week by re-elected Madrid president Florentino Perez as "the best in the world in his position", sparking speculation that the Spanish giants may launch a 30million bid to sign him.

However, Camacho named Porto's central defender Ricardo Carvalho and Roma's Brazilian international midfielder Emerson as two possible arrivals at the Bernabeu.

My opinion? Viera will be gone by the end of the week, he's always had something of the mercenary about him and never seemed loyal to me. This has been on the cards for quite a while.

Premiership champions Arsenal are interested in signing FC Porto midfielder Nuno Maniche.

"I can confirm that Arsenal has shown interest and I have already held talks with the manager of the club," Paulo Barbosa told Radio Renascenca.

"Let's see if it is possible, the amounts demanded by FC Porto are very high," he added.

Maniche was one of the outstanding players at Euro 2004, scoring two goals for Portugal as he helped the hosts into the final of the tournament.

The 26-year-old has been linked to a number of big European clubs, including Spain's Real Madrid and Italy's AC Milan, since he helped FC Porto win the Champions League in May.



[Edited on 23/7/04 by TRD]

Arsene Wenger admits the speculation surrounding Patrick Vieira's future is overshadowing Arsenal's pre-season preparations, but will continue talks with the French midfielder in a bid to keep him at Highbury.

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez is a keen admirer of Vieira and seems prepared to bankroll a suggested £30million swoop for the World Cup and European Championship winner as new boss Jose Antonio Camacho looks to build a side for another assault on the Champions League.

Vieira is under contract with the Gunners until 2007, but is reported to be ready to quit Highbury, where he has nothing left to prove domestically having now won both of England's major domestic honours.

Along with the other Euro 2004 players in the Arsenal squad, Vieira was flown out by private jet to Austria ahead of Saturday night's friendly with Grazer AK.

And the 28-year-old was clearly irritated when asked by a journalist from Spanish paper Marca in a hotel lobby if he would like a move to the Bernabeu.

"I am sorry," said Vieira. "I can not speak. This is not the right moment. I can not talk about R

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