Bienvenu chez nous, Monsieur Flamini

Transfer deadline day is looming. The market is chaotic. Everyone is rushing to sell and buy players at the right price. Fans are demanding, this time more aggressively. Managers have to make a point to prove that they can lure the best players – Arsene Wenger is one of those managers. He has courted everything good on the market, but alas, not even the average have accepted, but the tired and spent.In other words, Yaya Sanogo and Mathieu Flamini are the players for whom Wenger spoke these words: “We have the money to spend and bring the best quality players to Arsenal.”For starters, Frenchman Flamini played only two games for Milan in the 2011/2012 season due to injuries, and when he returned last season, he only played on Play-as-you-earn contract, after which he became a free agent. And that is when Wenger came in to snatch his ‘star man’.Both Sanogo and Flamini are in dreamland as we speak, like Mikael Silvestre was five years ago. To have no other club desiring your signature and suddenly receiving a phone call from Wenger, is a dream come true for any about-to-retire or average player in the world.Probably Wenger is a patriot first before being a Gunner, seeking to help his fellow Frenchmen to get a good life in the lucrative English Premier League. One thing is for sure, Arsenal’s signings so far make the club probably worse than it was last season.**Teams like Cardiff City are what make EPL tickI was one of the normal people in the world, who believed that the game between Cardiff City and Manchester City would be nothing less of a foregone case win for the later. Indeed it was a win – but not exactly how we thought it. Cardiff beat Man City like they were clobbering a robber and not even the highly rated new guys like Jesus Navas seemed to understand what was going on.This famous victory will be remembered by every Cardiff City supporter, young and old, but most importantly, as a sign to those free-spending clubs that, in Arsene Wenger’s words; “you can’t buy class.”That said; such a result is what La Liga would die to have. So rare has it been that Barcelona and Madrid usually get to lose only when they face each other. For the Premier League, no club is a walk over, and almost every season, we get to witness a famous upset. This is what competition should be all about, not about a two leg El Classico and that’s it.**Champions League draws marred by Ronaldo snubThe draws were made and the mouthwatering clashes are imminent. Will Manchester City progress through the group stages this time? Will an English club make the semi-finals?Will Guardiola’s Bayern adopt the tiki-taka style successfully? Will Messi and Ronaldo still stand out as the geniuses? Too many questions make this Champions League even the merrier.There is no realistic group of death this round, although Arsenal’s group tries to resemble one, so, probably there won’t be major upsets.Once the draws were concluded on Thursday, Luis Figo left the stage for another important event to happen; awarding Europe’s best player of 2012/13.The usual suspects Messi and Ronaldo were on the list with Franck Ribbery. Ronaldo, however, preferred not to attend because; it’s at this same place that he has suffered numerous heartaches. And rightly so, I thought to myself, if I were him, I would do exactly the same.Who on earth wants to be subjected to annual torments of being recognised as being below the people he believes are not better than he is?