Check it out guys!!!!

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/football/wenger-reportedly-closing-in-on-schwarzer-20100526-wdu4.html

What do we think of Schwartzer coming in.....

1) He knows the EPL and playing in Europe
2) Been successful internationally

but...

3) Maybe wrong side of 35...

More importantly, Fulham don't want to let him go.

The only way that they'd consider selling him would be if we offered 5m plus, which he is clearly not worth.

As for the comment of international success? How do you work that out? Knock out round of the Asian Cup and the round of 16 in the World Cup when he only played two of the three games to get there.

Most of his success has been at club level, helping Fulham and Boro both reach the UEFA Cup placings and then the final. He's a good keeper, and I'd like to see an Aussie at Arsenal, but I can't see it being Schwarzer.

What I meant when i said "international success", Richard, is that he has been Australia's No. 1 keeper for many years now and has faced a huge variety of the worlds' best attacks.
Those experiences, along with his 06 World Cup qualifying heriocs, have clearly shown in his ability to handle pressure situations, and thus made him successful in Europe with two UEFA Cup finals appearances. His long stay in the EPL also is testament to these experiences.

I know he hasn't won any major international tournaments, but his reputation proceeds him around the world! If that happens for any player, i guess you'd have to call him successful.

I agree that Schwarzer is a quality keeper and he's done a very good job for Fulham, Boro and Australia.

However, international success doesn't necessarily make a difference. Some players (particularly from lesser countries) have performed against top attacks, but it doesn't mean their that good.

On a basis of what Schwarzer has done, I think a keeper like Viera from Uruguay has better results in league and international football than Schwarzer.

He has performed well in a successful South American qualifying campaign (better than Asia, Oceania), performed well in the Champions League (vs Europa league) and achieved a higher league result in debatably a better league (4th vs 7th).

Saying that, I think Schwarzer is the better keeper.

I think we were very very close to landing Viera (the GK) from his club in Uruguay, before he went to Villareal.

My take on Schwarzer. There is no doubt he is a fine GK, and he is reliable etc. I dont think age is an issue, look at Seaman, Lehmann, James, Schmeichel, all played late in their career.

I did leave one name deliberately. Edwin Van Der Sar. Man U snapped him up for a mill at the age of 35, worked out to be a 'masterstroke'.

If it goes through or not, It has done one thing. Arsenal's media coverage in Australia has sky rocketed. Every TV station had a thing about it!

Which is obviously good for us.

The rumour was that Viera failed a medical about four years ago and that's why we didn't sign him.

I think there's a difference between signing a 35 y.o. keeper, and a 37 y.o.

A 35 y.o. usually has a couple of years left, where as a 37 y.o. could drop off in ability at any stage.

I'd buy a jersey with his name on it.

davidc wrote:
If it goes through or not, It has done one thing. Arsenal's media coverage in Australia has sky rocketed. Every TV station had a thing about it!

Which is obviously good for us.

I agree that the media profile for Arsenal and the follow on for Arse-aust would be great should he play for us.
Unfortunately we are in the "what if" - media rumour speculation frenzy that is rampant during the season break. If it did come off I'd be happy with Schwarzer between the sticks. He is generally a pretty reliable keeper, has heaps of physical presence, and isn't easily intimidated. Some of his previous gaffs have been unfortunate errors, but not generally schoolboy howlers as Lucas and Almunia have been famous for....he doesn't seem to have a esteeme credibility issue with his hair, and seems to be a down to earth hard working keeper. I don't see his age being an issue, and he also seems to have a level head, unlike Jens...Whether Fulham would let him go, Mark can speak french, or whether Arsene has other plans we probably won't know for a while yet...............my thoughts

Schwarzer signs for Arsenal BAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!!!!!!!!!

bit premature there GMAN lol

It doesn't look like it's guaranteed yet:

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 94,00.html?

It still comes down to how much Fulham want for him. I think 2m is plenty for a keeper of his age, possibly a little too much, but 4m is an absurd amount for a 37 year old keeper from a mid table club.

This may be bogus after all fuk i hate the radio BAAAAAAAANG

a quick question, should Schwarzer sign (this week I reckon) would he be given the No 1 shirt, or as shirt numbers have already been submitted, he'd have to wait a year? (I'm not gonna jump the gun and get a shirt before he signs... Given still a remote possibility, --and as an Irish born Aussie, will be happy either way - but would prefer Shay)

The most likely event is that he is bought and Almunia goes.

I don't think there would be any significant issue with the shirt numbers. Man City were able to swap shirt numbers after the start of the season after Balotelli wanted the number 45 that some kid in the reserves had.

Looks like Schwarzer isn't coming:

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/soccer/f ... 12tvn.html

Wenger set to double offer to 4 mil pounds!

http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news ... 13bop.html

Will be interesting to see if that eventuates.

I don't think Schwarzer will arrive. He's not worth 4m and Wenger has already had 2m bids rejected.

I think he may try again closer to the close of the window and if he doesn't have a bid of around 2.5m accepted then he may look elsewhere

doh no schwarzer

oh well were farked, almunia is sooo gonna balls this season up for us

especially since its clear the club has no confidence in him

He was really poor when he was under little pressure from Fabianski last season.

He was great two seasons ago when he was under pressure from Jens and the prospect of a new keeper coming in.

Hopefully he realises that he has to perform this season, or he'll end up playing for some mid table Spanish side on half the wages that he earns now.

Our failure to sign a new keeper is pretty dissapointing since Wenger highlighted it as an issue following the final game of last season. We have had months to find somebody... anybody....

Agree.

He was obviously hedging his bets with keeping Almunia.

He should've tried to sign a good quality keeper early, even if it cost 15m for a younger keeper.

this is so frustrating!! wenger always does the MINIMUM n then hopes for the best. yes we have improved with chamahk, squid n kos but we have failed to address one of our BIGGEST problems! al/fab cost us 5-10 points each season n this season will be no different. we're once again starting with a handicap n will be shittin bricks everytime the ball goes into the box. to we're gonna have to put up with another 3 years of this unambitious perpetual youth "building" rubbish...i can't believe wenger put all his eggs in the one basket with schwarzer, there are plenty of other talented (and much YOUNGER GKs out there). this has definately put a dampener on my week...

Some good points Mash. A top goalkeeper and I reckon we had the squad to challenge for the title. Where is the ambition? Does Wenger treat Arsenal's money like its his own and doesnt want to spend or what??? Our fans are asked to fork out a little extra to pay the highest ticket prices in the land and yet the club won't fork out a little extra to buy a keeper that could help us win trophies!!!! I don't blame Fab for wanting out. If we demonstrate such lack of ambition we will have very little chance of keeping our top players when more ambitious clubs come knocking. And I am not saying we should be forking out stupid amounts of money like City. What's 1-2million extra - that's all we probably needed - on a keeper who could really make a difference to our season. Hell, Wenger could have used the money he made commentating on French TV during the World Cup when he coulda and shoulda been out signing players to top up the transfer kitty. He had four months to sort this out.

It's left Almunia in an awkward position but here's hoping Almunia plays like demon for the rest of the season but I'm not couting on it.

I have never had any doubts about Wenger but I am now starting to question my belief. He has made some odd and out of character comments this season too (scholes, rugby etc) - don't know what to make of it, is he fully focused on what's best for Arsenal?

The biggest problem that I have with Wenger's conduct, is not that he doesn't want to spend money to get a player. It's that in regards to a keeper, he didn't really seem to look outside England.

That's possibly because he's had bad experiances with Fabianski not being able to handle the constant crosses and physical presence that are required in the English game, but I thought that, if he's been willing to shell out a little more, rather than focusing on Schwarzer at the expense of all others.

I guess we don't know how many other bids and enquiries he put in, although he seemed to be set on Schwarzer and assumed Fulham would let him leave.

It would be dissapointing if he didn't consider casting the net wider than England, especially since the best keeper he bought came from the Bundesliga and that their a truckload of quality keepers plying their trade in that competition at the moment.