Wenger Talking to Potential Buys? and Goalies Galore

Can you believe it? Wenger says he is talking to potential targets. He wants to get his buying done before the World Cup for various reasons. Having the team together as soon as possible allows for everyone to start bonding and playing together sooner rather than later. Plus, I hear World Cup performances can inflate a player's price. In honor of that news, I decided to take a look at players in different positions we have been linked with via rumor. The first position up is...Goalie. I don't think anyone would deny that we need to address that area the most. Listed with each goal are his season stats and "rating" via Skysports. I wish I had a source for rating players that did not involve this big a conglomerate, but I'm still learning what's out there. Here's the explanation of the ratings:

We must stress that these ratings are judged independently by the skysports.com journalist reporting on the game and have nothing to do with the Sky Sports television coverage. Hence, the official Sky Sports TV Man of the Match may sometimes differ from the top mark awarded on the site.These are the standard rules we will be using:

10: Out of this world - very rare, exceptional performances only.

9: Excellent - Top-class display, probably the matchwinner.

8: Very Good - Outstanding, very influential.

7: Good - Impressive, eye-catching.

6: Average - No major faults, nothing overly impressive.

5: Below Average - Some faults, out-of-touch.

4: Poor - Many faults, easy to criticise.

To be fair to our incumbent Arsenal keepers, I have included their stats as well. Therefore, Almunia and Fumbling are up first.

Manual Almunia:

Full Name Manuel Almunia
Birth Date May 19, 1977
Birth Place Pamplona, Spain
Height 6' 4'' (1.93m)
Weight 190 lbs (86 kg)
Age 32
Position Goalkeeper
Squad No 1

29 Games
10 Clean Sheets
68 Saves
Rating: 6.2

Fumbling:

Full Name Lukasz Fabianski
Birth Date April 18, 1985
Birth Place Kostrzyn nad Odra, Poland
Height 6' 3'' (1.91m)
Weight 183 lbs (83 kg)
Age 25
Position Goalkeeper
Squad No 21

Games 2
Clean Sheets 1
Saves 5
Rating 4.5

Hugh Lloris:

Age 23
Club Lyon
Position Goalkeeper
Squad No 1
Born Nice, France
Height 6'2"

Games 31
Clean Sheets 13
Saves 107
Rating: 5.0




Joe Hart
Full Name Joe Hart
Birth Date April 19, 1987
Birth Place Shrewsbury
Height 6' 3'' (1.91m)
Weight 181 lbs (81.9 kg)
Age 23
Position Goalkeeper
Squad No 25

Games 34
Clean Sheets 10
Saves 126
Rating: 6.9



Igor Akinfeev

Full Name Igor Akinfeev
Birth Date April 8, 1986
Birth Place Russia
Height 6' 0" (1.84m)
Weight 157 lbs (71 kg)
Age 24
Position Goalkeeper
Squad No 35

Games 10 (CL)
Clean Sheets ?
Saves 49
Rating 5.0


Craig Gordon
Full Name Craig Gordon
Birth Date May 3, 1983
Birth Place Hungary
Height 6' 6'' (1.98m)
Weight 207 lbs (94 kg)
Age 26
Position Goalkeeper
Squad No 13
Games 24
Clean sheets 5
Saves 84
Rating 6.9

Well, there you go. I like the dimensions of Gordon and Hart. Akinfeev seems too short to me and Lloris seems like he could get pushed around quite easily with his lanky frame. Hart and Gordon both have EPL experience. Overall, I'm going for Hart as he is the cutest. One must have one's standards. Let me know what goalie you hope we are talking to? Have a good one!