ARSENAL MADE END OF SEASON SIGNING (ALEXIS SANCHEZ)

Sanchez, 25, joins Arsenal from Barcelona where he made a total of 88 appearances, scoring 39 goals during his three seasons with the Catalan side.

With Barcelona, Sanchez won both La Liga (2012/13) and the Copa del Rey (2012), as well as the Spanish Super Cup on two occasions (2011, 2013), the UEFA Super Cup (2011) and the FIFA Club World Cup (2011).

Regarded as one of the world’s finest talents, Sanchez has just returned from the World Cup in Brazil, where he played an integral role in Chile qualifying from their group (which included the Netherlands, Spain and Australia) and reaching the round of 16. During the tournament, Sanchez scored two goals from his four appearances.

The striker, who has now made 71 appearances for Chile, scoring 24 goals, started his career with Cobreloa, based in Calama in north Chile, where he spent a season before moving to Santiago-based Colo-Colo, where he won the Chilean Primera Division in 2007.

After convincing performances in Chile between 2005 and 2007, Sanchez went on loan to Argentine side River Plate, where he added the Argentinian Primera Division to his honours.

Following his success in South America, Sanchez made a permanent move to Serie A side Udinese in 2008, where he spent three seasons, scoring 20 goals from 95 appearances, before making the move to Barcelona in 2011.

Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger said: “As many people have seen during the World Cup this summer, Alexis is a fantastic footballer and we are delighted that he is joining us at Arsenal Football Club.

“Alexis will add power, creativity and much quality to our squad and we are all looking forward to him joining up with us in a few weeks. He has consistently produced top-quality performances at the highest level for a number of seasons now and we are all excited to see him integrate into the Arsenal squad. I’m sure all Arsenal supporters will join me in welcoming Alexis to our club.”

Sanchez said: “I’m so happy to be joining Arsenal, a club which has a great manager, a fantastic squad of players, huge support around the world and a great stadium in London. I’m looking forward to meeting my new team-mates and to be playing for Arsenal in the Premier League and Champions League. I will give my best to Arsenal and want to make all the supporters happy.”

Sanchez travelled to London Colney on Thursday to complete his medical and will join up with his new team-mates at the end of July, after spending some time on holiday following the World Cup.

It is expected that Sanchez will make his first Arsenal appearance at the Emirates Cup, which takes place at Emirates Stadium on Saturday, August 2 and Sunday, August 3.

Sanchez’s Arsenal squad number will be revealed soon through Arsenal’s official Instagram account.

A full interview with Alexis will feature soon on arsenalwiki blog.

Everyone at Arsenal welcomes Alexis to the club and looks forward to seeing him in an Arsenal shirt.

END OF SEASON TRANSFERS 2012/2013

Arsenal have made late dash to fill the void left by Alex Song with a shock bid for Michael Essien claims the Arsenal wiki's, with the Gunners hoping to add the Chelsea midfielder on loan for the season. A series of knee injuries has left the 29 year old struggling for form and fitness and Roberto Di Matteo is reportedly open to the Ghanaian going out on loan


Finally, it is that time of the year again. Managers get busy on their phones, hooked in meetings and fretful over agents and tow, players and agents start acting pushy and pricey or just plain desperate, Chairmen and board members are expected to put their money where their mouths are, fans are spurred on by an enthusing excitement owing to a latent synergy arising out of the haunts of the thought-fox during which they turn managers of their beloved clubs. It is a sorority for footballing analysts, journalists and all those with the privilege of expressing their thoughts about the game on a public platform.
The woes of the previous season get washed away, and the desire for more glory gets rejuvenated. It's almost festivity, only not so entirely due to the skewness in the market and the obvious financial disparity between clubs. Still, it's pretty exciting and a readymade invitation for all football buffs to confabulate over. It is the beginning of the summer transfer window...
Top Deals thus far: Lukas Podolski (Cologne to Arsenal, £10.9m), Marko Marin (Werder Bremen to Chelsea, £7m), Eden Hazard (Lille to Chelsea, £32m), Shinji Kagawa (Dortmund to Man Utd, £16m), Nick Powell (Crewe to Man Utd, £4m), Olivier Giroud (Montpellier to Arsenal, £12m), Gylfi Sigurdsson (Hoffenheim to Tottenham, £6.8m), Pavel Pogrebnyak (Stuttgart to Reading, free), Jan Vertonghen (Ajax to Tottenham, £9.6m), Park Ji-Sung (QPR, £2m), Fabio Borini (Roma to Liverpool, £11m), Oscar (Internacional to Chelsea, £25m), Steven Pienaar (Tottenham to Everton, £4.5m), Santi Cazorla (Malaga to Arsenal, £15m), Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea to West Brom, loan), Robin van Persie (Arsenal to Manchester United, £23m), Alex Song (Arsenal to Barcelona, £15m), Nuri Sahin (Real Madrid to Liverpool, loan), Victor Moses (Wigan to Chelsea, £9m), Luka Modric (Tottenham to Real Madrid, £30m), Moussa Dembele (Fulham to Tottenham, £13m)

Club-wise

arsenal transfers

Arsenal (In:3, Out:21):
In - Lukas Podolski (Cologne, £10.9m), Olivier Giroud (Montpellier, £12m), Santi Cazorla (Malaga, £15m)
Out - Manuel Almunia (Watford, free), George Brislen-Hall (released), Gavin Hoyte (released), Sean McDermott (released), Rhys Murphy (released), James Campbell (released), Jeffrey Monakana (Preston, free), Ben Glasgow (Stoke, nominal), Alban Bunjaku (Sevilla, nominal), Joel Campbell (Real Betis, loan), Denilson (Sao Paulo, loan), Carlos Vela (Real Sociedad, undisclosed), Pedro (Atletico Paranense, undisclosed), Benik Afobe (Bolton, loan), Oguzhan Ozyakup (Besiktas, undisclosed), Robin van Persie (Manchester United, £23m), Kyle Bartley (Swansea, £1m), Alex Song (Barcelona, £15m), Daniel Boateng (Oxford, loan), Henri Lansbury (Nottingham Forest, £1m), Philip Roberts (Inverness, loan)