Michael Essien finally To Real Madrid

Real Madrid on Friday night completed the deadline day signing of Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien on a season-long loan deal.
Essien, who joined Chelsea in 2005, will be reunited with Madrid coach Jose Mourinho, who took him to Stamford Bridge in a £24million deal from Lyon.
The 29-year-old had been linked with a move away from Chelsea throughout the week, with Turkish club Fenerbahce believed to be keen on signing him.
Reports on Friday morning had suggested Arsenal were looking to sign the Ghana international on a temporary deal, but reports in Spain on Friday evening emerged, revealing Los Blancos were looking to sign Essien before the transfer window closed at 23:00 BST.
Mourinho's late swoop for Essien came as a result of Anzhi Makhachkala making a move to sign Lassana Diarra.
Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo had on Friday evening confirmed that Essien was looking to complete a loan move away from west London before the transfer deadline, and had ruled out a move across London to Arsenal.

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)

ARSENAL OFFER WALCOTT IMPROVED CONTRACT

Walcott set to re-sign by arsenal wiki

According to many sources, Arsenal have offered Theo Walcott a new 4 year contract with much improved terms than there £80,000 p/w offer which was made 2 weeks ago. The wage offer is set to remain at £80,000, however the club has added an improvement percentage clause.

Walcott’s new contract agreement will be subject to a certain yearly percentage increase for next 2 years. This will be determined by his performance and how his ability increases.

Fans’ opinions are divided on Theo Walcott and many have called for him to be sold, however I think that it would be a massive mistake selling him as I firmly believe that next season will be his year. Many have said he has never lived up to his potential and I agree, however he is still young and I think last season he began to show what he was capable off. Some of his performances were magnificent especially his performances against both Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and Tottenham Hotspur at The Emirates.

He may not be worth the £100,000 p/w wage he supposedly wants, but there’s no doubt that he is starting to show his worth and we certainly shouldn’t be looking to sell him.

I was very disappointed that he wasn’t offered a contract extension before the euros and I wrote an article about that a few days ago but the club must now act quickly to offer him a contract before more suitors come in to sign him. There have been reports that Arsenal will speak with Robin Van Persie, Theo Walcott and Alex Song while they are on the Asia tour as the publicity will be significantly less involved.

Chelsea, Liverpool, Juventus and Spurs (apparently) are all interested and Chelsea have even made an inquiry but Arsenal rejected their talks. Hopefully a deal for Walcott can be struck in the coming weeks, as we don’t want another player at the club with speculation driving the players down

Lukas Podolski has revealed Arsene Wenger was a big reason behind his decision to join Arsenal.

The Germany international, who is currently in action at Euro 2012, will complete his move to north London at the conclusion of the tournament after the Gunners recently agreed an £11million fee with FC Koln.

And Podolski is already eager to work under Wenger.

"He has been a very successful coach both in Europe and around the world," the 27-year-old told the official Arsenal Magazine.

"This definitely helped in making my decision. He speaks several languages, and German in particular, which is very helpful.

"We have spoken to each other on the telephone a few times, which was very good and also made my decision even easier."

Podolski also confirmed he spoke with compatriot Per Mertesacker before agreeing to move to Emirates Stadium.

"I speak to Per whenever we meet," he added.

"Per has mentioned things about the club's organisation, the training ground and the fans, and this has really helped.

"It might have influenced me to a certain extent, but in the end of course I took the decision to come here myself."

Of his move to the Premier League, he said: "I do think that the Bundesliga has done a lot of catching up in recent years and is no longer that far away from the highest level.

"But England still has the strongest and most attractive league in my opinion.

"The Premier League has very good stadiums, and the stronger clubs as a whole, and I'm sure I'm going to be involved in some exciting matches.

"I think I will adapt relatively quickly. I'm a player who plays in a similar style. They play fast in England, score lots of goals, there are tough battles.

"I enjoy this style of football, so from that point of view, I think I will become accustomed to it all in a fairly short time."