Arsenal line up deadline swoop for Marouane Chamakh and Neven Subotic

James Olley
1 Sep 2009

Arsenal are hoping to complete the double signing of Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh and Borussia Dortmund defender Neven Subotic on the final day of the transfer window.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has identified Chamakh as the ideal replacement for Emmanuel Adebayor but refuses to increase his £5million bid for the 25-year-old.

Chamakh has just one year left on his contract but the Ligue One club have been holding out for a fee of £8m.

However, it is understood that the Morocco international's representatives have been in London this weekend attempting to broker a deal and are confident Bordeaux will accept the figure on offer rather than risk losing him for nothing next summer.

Personal terms are thought to be a formality as Chamakh, who is also a target for West Ham, has repeatedly stated his desire to join Arsenal.

Subotic's deal is less certain. Arsenal have been quoted a figure in the region of £18m for the 20-year-old but are reluctant to pay more than £12m for the 6ft 4in Serbia international.

Further talks are set to take place today but Newcastle's Steven Taylor remains a cheaper alternative at around £6m after the club sent a scout to assess the England Under-21 international in last week's Championship match against Sheffield Wednesday.

Although Arsenal have funds to reinvest in the squad following the departures of Kolo Toure and Adebayor to Manchester City, the club refuse to be held to ransom over any deals.

Philippe Senderos, who has been told by Wenger he can leave the club, is likely to be the only departure and Hull are lining up a move for him after selling Michael Turner to Sunderland for £12m.

Birmingham manager Alex McLeish is looking to make a loan signing before the transfer window closes at 5pm with Arsenal left-back Armand Traore back on his radar as well as Tottenham's Gareth Bale.

McLeish tried to sign Traore on a season-long loan before he swooped for Lens defender Gregory Vignal on a free transfer.

But Gunners boss Arsene Wenger preferred not to make a decision on Traore's future until closer to the window shutting.

And McLeish is again interested especially with former Liverpool player Vignal currently suffering from a hip injury.

Traore can also play in midfield — as can Bale who is currently recovering from a knee operation.
McLeish is keen to add to his squad after the £2.3m deal to sign Sporting Gijon midfielder Michael fell through.

McLeish said: “We are looking at loans. There are one or two options. There have been doors closed to us in terms of players we've inquired about but we are still working on doing something.”

The former Scotland boss admits he would have liked his squad to be stronger for the challenges ahead before the window reopens in January next year.

He said: “I think we've done some good business in the summer without really strengthening as much as I would have liked to.”

Elsewhere, Stoke signed defender Danny Collins from Sunderland for £2.75m in the main confirmed transfer of the final morning of trading.

The 29-year-old, whose fee could rise to £3.5m, follows Uruguayan Diego Arismendi, Robert Huth, Tuncay and Dean Whitehead into the Britannia Stadium.

Wales international Collins, who joined Sunderland in October 2004, will join fellow former Black Cats Whitehead, Liam Lawrence, Thomas Sorensen, Danny Higginbotham and Rory Delap at Stoke.

“One of the great things about this move is that I will have some familiar faces around me with so many ex-Sunderland players already here,” he said.

“All this has happened so quickly because only a few weeks ago I was captaining the Sunderland side in their pre-season friendlies, but Steve Bruce made it clear he was going to bring in new faces and couldn't guarantee me a place.

“Therefore, when I was made aware of Stoke's interest, I thought it was a good time to move on and seek a fresh challenge.”

One player not expected to move is Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery even though the winger has admitted his relationship with coach Louis van Gaal is not a good one.

The Frenchman was linked strongly with a move to Real Madrid this summer, but that switch never materialised and he looks likely to stay at the Allianz Arena until January at least.

Ribery has not started a club game this season as he bids to regain full fitness, and has reportedly not seen eye to eye with Van Gaal, who took over this summer.

“It is important that you have faith in the coach, but with him (Van Gaal) it is complicated,” he said.

“This is the first time that my contact with a coach is not positive. There's not much feeling between us.”

Bayern have won just one of their opening four Bundesliga games and lie eighth in the table with five points.