Arsenal rumours May 11th – Campbell, Bonucci, Gallas and Asamoah

There is a good bit of Arsenal transfer news about today, and it is not all good news. It appears that Arsene Wenger has upset William Gallas with his not-generous-enough new contract offer, and the French defender has decided to go off in a huff.

The Sun reports today that Wenger is wasting his time going for new talks with Gallas’ agent, and they quote a “source close to Gallas” as saying “Something seems broken between William and Arsene and it looks possible he will not be at the club next season.” I guess that if Gallas hasn’t signed a contract by now, it is pretty unlikely that he will in the next few days….

But if Gallas goes, and Silvestre is a certainty to join him, then it looks imperative that Sol Campbell stays, or Wenger will be desperate for defenders in the next couple of months. But today it seems that the newly promoted German club St. Pauli have made Campbell a big offer to play in the Bundesliga next season. If Campbell gets tired of waiting for Wenger to make him an offer, Arsenal could be dropped in the proverbial manure. Come on Wenger, pull your finger out!

But perhaps Wenger has other, younger, defenders in mind, as he is being linked with a couple of Italians this morning in TuttoSport. The Bari defender Leonardo Bonucci has had a great season in Italy, and is definitely on the move this summer. He has been variously linked with Man City and some top Italian clubs before today, and last week he sounded like he would prefer to join Inter Milan if Jose Mourinho wanted him. He is currently co-owned by Bari and Genoa, and they will both need to be involved in any transfer dealings.

He said last week: “I don’t know anything about my future. The co-ownership will be discussed in June. But it would be a source of pride for me to play with either Inter or Juve.

“However, I am still really attached to the Inter shirt and Jose Mourinho is a great boss and a great man. It would be a massive pleasure for me to be coached by him.”

I’m sure he would be persuaded to say much the same thing about Wenger if he came in with a serious offer….

Another Serie A player linked with Arsenal is the Ghanain midfielder Kwadwo Asamoah. The big 20 year-old has just been named in the Ghana squad for South Africa. He is obviously very talented, and Udinese have put a pricetag of 30m euros on him to frighten off any hostile bids. There is no way that Wenger would pay that much so this link is unlikely to be taken any further.

I imagine Wenger will be spending most of his time looking at defenders anyway

Hodgson is LMA Manager of the Year

Fulham's Roy Hodgson has been named as the manager of the year by the League Managers' Association.

Hodgson has been recognised by his peers after steering the Cottagers to the Europa League final for the first time in their history as well as taking the London club to 12th in the Barclays Premier League on a limited budget.

Fulham, who also reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, will have played 63 games this term after their prestigious clash with Atletico Madrid having started their European campaign last July.

Tottenham's Harry Redknapp took this season's Premier League manager of the year award after guiding Spurs to fourth place but LMA Chairman Howard Wilkinson believes Hodgson's efforts since taking over an ailing Fulham in December 2007 make him a worthy winner of the overall prize.

"Since joining Fulham, Roy has transformed the club's fortunes," said Wilkinson.

"He initially saved them from the brink of relegation then took them to their highest ever league position last season. This year he has capitalised on that platform, achieving remarkable success in this season's Europa League.

"He is highly respected by the LMA members and also on an international level where he has worked his miracles in no fewer than seven countries. He is a great role model for all aspiring managers and coaches and is fully deserving of this recognition."

Newcastle's Chris Hughton is the new Coca-Cola Championship manager of the year for his efforts in taking the club back up at the first attempt, while Norwich's Paul Lambert and Rochdale's Keith Hill have been honoured for their exploits in League One and League Two respectively.

Steve McClaren, enjoying a career renaissance in Holland with FC Twente, was handed the LMA's special merit award, while there were also gongs for Arsenal director Ken Friar, who won the service to football award, and Ron Atkinson, who was inducted to the LMA's Hall of Fame.

Richard Bevan, chief executive of the LMA, said: "Tonight is a celebration of this season's managerial achievements throughout all four leagues at the highest level.

"To be voted for and acknowledged by your fellow members, peers and competitors is a great honour and the ultimate accolade is public recognition of success.

"The manager remains the most important man at a football club and to succeed in this profession requires extreme dedication and commitment.

"Roy Hodgson received an overwhelming number of votes from the members and has won the LMA Manager of the Year Award sponsored by Barclays by the most significant margin in the history of the award.

"He is highly respected within the game and held in the highest regard in the family of football. He freely gives up his time to help other coaches and managers develop and hone their skills and talents, regularly contributing to the LMA's educational programmes."

RVP: I like Chamakh

Arsenal forward has Robin Van Persie says he has seen Chamakh on T.V and liked what he saw.
Chamakh could link up with Van Persie at Emirates Stadium and the Dutch forward is excited at the prospect.

"[I know him] just from TV," said Van Persie.

"He looks good, he looks quite strong in the air, he scores lots of goals with his head and he looks quite confident on the ball.

"Hopefully it [the deal] goes through. I think it is good for all of us and that is why I am happy to see him coming here."