Spanish under-21 international Ignasi Miquel has completed a permanent move to Norwich ending his six-year tenure at the Emirates.
The centre-back spent his formative years at Barcelona’s La Masia Academy before being snapped up by the Gunners from homeland minnows UE Cornellà back in 2008.
He worked his way through the ranks to become captain of Arsenal’s under-21s making his first team debut in 2011 against Leyton Orient in the FA Cup. He subsequently made appearances in the FA Cup, League Cup and in the Champions League before spending last year on loan at Leicester City.
Out of contract at the end of the season and with little prospect of usurping Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny, a move makes sense for Miquel who has reached an age when regular football is the most important thing.
The Norwich new boy said, “I had to move on from Arsenal and Norwich have given me the chance to prove myself. The Championship is a tough league, but I know what it’s about and I enjoyed it last season.
“I’m really looking forward to getting started.
Arseblog News wishes all Ignasi all the best at the Canaries.
Good luck Ignasi. I thought he looked good in some of the Emirates Cup action, but it would take a hell of a step up now that Chambers is looking so good…
Crumbs I know he was not near the first team but can we afford to offload another defender!!!
i don’t want Welbeck at Arsenal. fucking manc. might as well play Campbell as a striker.
I think its a decent but unspectacular signing. He is an upgrade on Bendtner for sure and has some pace.
ofc i mean if it does happen
Can we at least address him by his proper name… Daniel Nii Tackie Mensah Welbeck.
What’s his full name got to do with anything? Are you trying to highlight that he has African heritage? We don’t discriminate by race or background so doesn’t bother any of us.
Pity. I always thought he was going to make it.
There HAS to be a defender coming in then? Surely ?
Way better than signing for Ufa
It’s fine, I understand that Gunnersaurus played at centre back in his youth. It was 65 million years ago,so he might be a bit rusty, but I’m sure we can run him in in the League Cup games.
The rules have changed a bit since then though. Except for Stoke.
It would be Just Like a New Signing..
🙁 poop
Fair enough. What chance did he have of making his way past our veritable army of centre-backs into the first team?
I’m not saying he’s good enough for the first team. But he is pretty much our 4th best CB.
Well, welbeck to arsenal is a done deal. BBC is saying a 16m permanent move has been agreed.
Call me insane but I’ve got this funny feeling that if played up front rather than the wing,Wellbeck could do well for us.
This is heroldgoon and i want to categorically state that welbeck will be a smash hit for us. he is suited to our style of play and can turn his man with pace, exchange a one two, speed into the box and score.
i just wish the fee was £12m and not £16m for some weird reason
He’s a good guy, I sort of understand how it may feel when you have been waiting for a chance for 6+ years then we go buy Chambers effectively relegating him to reserves. Hopefully he can prove his salt with first team game time and have a good career, after all he’s learned from the best.
I remember blogs noting that more people seemed interested in the transfer window than the actual football season – I think it is because we are all waiting to see whether Wenger makes the signings that would make us into title contenders and when he doesn’t its like “4th place battle here we come, last 16 of cl before being dumped out by Barcelona or Bayern, possibly a cup run”!!! Seems a bit of a let down when a couple of quality players would make the difference!!!
Now I bet I can beat Wenger in poker game
I don’t know about you but I think Welbeck is a huge improvement on Sanogo. He is not falcao but he’ll be a decent option through the middle. Who knows, the arsenal system may suit him better
The market is so short on strikers that Real Madrid, king of the monster deal, went for Chicharito.
And Balo only got 16mil – that’s how low the demand for him was.
Arsene should stick to football. His poker game clearly needs some serious work
Good luck to Miquel. I won’t miss the annoying misspelling of his name (Miguel).
I’m sure he’ll do well at Norwich, he always puts in 100%.
Have we got a central defender in yet? Hmm. But we are bringing in a United reject, while they bring in one of the top strikers in Europe. Just what we needed. Blogs, I’m calling you out. A month ago you were saying the team felt considerably stronger than at the same time last year. You mentioned Alexis can play anywhere along the front three, providing a wealth of options for the manager. Wrong you were. Sagna out and Debauchy counts as neutral, Chambers in and Vermaelen out is also a neutral as far as this season is concerned (Chambers… Read more »
No need to ‘call me out’, we could just have a discussion, right? I stand by the way I felt at the time. I thought we’d made a great start to the transfer business and if we filled in the other gaps we’d be in great shape. Instead, we’re still missing a centre-half, which I still think should have been the number 1 signing, and Welbeck could be good but let’s not pretend it’s not a bit underwhelming either. We started well, but faded badly in the closing stretch. Can’t really say we’ve done the maximum possible but there you… Read more »
Right. 🙂
It was clear that this year things were going to be more difficult on deadline day. There was no Bale transfer which would spark a chain of events. Meanwhile, Costa and Balotelli, two of the better available alternatives, where picked off easily and quietly by competitors.
Wages might have been an issue with Costa, but Balotelli was ours to take. It would have been a risk, but less of a risk than going into a campaign with a striker who hasn’t scored a goal and a mid-table club’s reject.
Since we can discuss, then I wonder why are you so keen to say that we’re facing the season with 6 defenders?
We know who are our oldest five. Add to that Chambers and Bellerin, and it seems we have 7 defenders – not an unreasonable number by any means, considering that someone hasn’t blown up our academy yet.
It’s not the first time you insist on this number 6.
Bloggs, I’ve read some anti-Welbeck comments elsewhere. Have to say – very unfair. Would you really rather Jermain Defoe ? I would take Danny. But the failure to get another CD is criminal ; as is Wenger’s idea of spending TDD in Rome at the behest of the Pope. Perhaps we could have a transfer there ? Perhaps AW could be Pope and we could have Francis as our Manager ? I think that would be a good exchange. We are one one Per injury away from a major crisis. Is he really going to stay fit between now and… Read more »
Rene muppetstein has been quoted as saying welbeck ain’t a great goal scorer but is good with link up play!!! Oh deep joy, someone else who can’t hit the back end of a donkey with a banjo!!!
As for Welbeck, I don’t know what to think. If we sign him all I can do is hope he plays as well as he has done against us on a few occasions, rather than every other time I’ve seen him. I don’t really rate him but, if he signs, I hope he proves me wrong. I was hoping there was something to those Huntelaar rumours but they seem to be bollocks. What I want to know is where our new centre back is! We knew we needed one when Vermaelen left. You can only assume that Chambers is the… Read more »
Welbeck is an upgrade on sanogo and Giroud. There I said it. However I am 97.653% certain Wenger only bought him so fans don’t complain and he will rot on the bench.
Stweth thin defensively and we are not exactly signing a goal machine. The teams around us have all strengthened bar the sheikhs who didn’t need to. Chances of winning the league look slimmer than our reserve CB options.
Glad we have dealt with that defender surplus we had. We were just so overloaded last year, its great that we have let 4 leave but only brought in 2. Phew!
Frei, huntelaar and trabelsi have been spotted on the stansted express. Don’t give up hope just yet
yeah, and Kalou’s the pilot
Wellbeck will do well for us. Can hold it up as per giroud. Better touch and better in the edge of the box intricacy we love so much… Plus a bit of pace to get behind if we can open up a defence. Wenger will turn him into a more natural goal scorer don’t worry about that. As for falcao, that’s a pipe dream – we won’t pay 200k a week or probably more like he will earn at manure. Overall if we can get a cb I’ll be happy enough for now… Years of no spending is not remedied… Read more »
close to 350k/week!
I think the Welbeck deal is dependant on the Falcao deal at United. Would anyone else rather we missed out on him if it meant United not getting Falcao?
Any updates on Pickles O’Toole?
I used to dread the day Arsene will call time on the arsenal dugout but now I dont think it will be such a bad thing. If this is all he can do after claiming that we are now strong financially, then I’m afraid this is the last straw. Arsene has no ambition of seeing Aesenal dominate England and Europe and that, to me, is UNFORGIVABLE. He has to leave after this season. He is too stubborn for this great club. We all stood by him through all the lean years and this is how he pays us back. ARSENE… Read more »
We’re three games in to the season, unbeaten. We’re in the Champions League proper. We’ve picked up an amazing player in Alexis, a bloody promising one in Chambers and generally got on well with replacing the players that went out on free’s. An inopportune injury to Giroud sucks, and we haven’t been playing brilliantly, but you come across like a spoiled toddler throwing your toys out the pram. What we’re you expecting?? Messi, Ronaldo and Vidal on deadline day??
Can I interject and say the defensive issue may be a tad exaggerated? Yes, we have six first team defenders, but its seven if you count Bellerin. Chelsea have eight, however this includes nathan ake, andres christensen and kurt Zouma – all of whom are 19 or younger. I’m just saying.. its not THAT bad
Who cares what Chelsea have? What has Chelsea got do with us? The fact of the matter is that
we needed another centre since Verm left. All it takes is a long term injury and a suspension and
we are pretty much fucked.
It’s a gamble and a little scary entering the season with 3 CBs. Hopefully they can last till Jan with no injury. If Gibbs can stay healthy, then Nacho rotating through the middle for Cup games can help rotate/rest. Not ideal, but will have to do.
It’s 1:30 here can somebody plis confirm that wellback bloke so I can go to bed
I hope to fuck thr christmas party is not in vegas. Arsene’s family would get seriously shit presents.
Yes but Chelsea’s defenders are all frigging awesome and plus they never get injured. We have mertesacker who I love but seems to struggle when up against a counter attack. They have the best right back in the league where we have debuchy who might be great but he might not. Also they have about 64 defensive midfielders, we have 0.64.
No defender? Really Arsene, really?
Kos and per being injured simultaneously is by no means beyond the realms of possibility. If that happens, we are fucked. Completely and utterly, fucked. Oh arsene…. As for the Rome visit. Come on man! The reality is one thing (as in, may have 0 effect on dealings in reality) but ask yourself how it looks to the fans. Are you that determined to increase the numbers that no longer trust you? Christ, someone get the club some help with PR. Oh, and with signing ducking centre backs. Criminally irresponsible.
@gary I agree with you defo insane
I know Welbeck isn’t the player we were hoping for but £16 million for an young english player with good potential isn’t bad. That said, its been a disappointing end to the transfer window, a CB/CDM signing would have changed all that
*of course, ducking centre backs are of little use
Fuck Wenger and fuck the board. I’m sick of having the piss ripped out of us by Chelski fans. Wenger has really let us down and I think we are weaker than last season. His football is so predictable now I just want him out. And get that fucking gready board out too.
@Will lol just fuckin* lol! Did that just come out of your brain or were you paid by someone at the club to say such. For your sake I honestly hope its the latter
We are far too light on in defence
Surely a tight arse solution like keeping Ignasi, using Jenkinson centrally, loaning or buying Micah Richards or something not far removed from one of these options would have been a sensible idea.
Too light in defence, letting Ignasi go on loan, please tell me this is some sort of bad joke? And fucking welbeck? 20 goals in ’bout 90 games says it all doesn’t it? The lad is rubbish ;p Wtf wenger.
How can any true Arsenal fan red arrow that comment. You lot are fucking deluded. In Arsene we trust shit. Football has moved on and so should that old tit.
Athletico madrid and dortmund sell some of their best players yearly but they’ve built very strong teams ,they’ve both won their domestic titles and made it to the champions league finals in recent times. Athletico even have the luxury of sending players like manquilo and alderwied out on loan. But at arsenal Wenger has lost the passion to win the big cups. If Wenger does not win the league or champions league this season then I feel its time for him to go. We might have to get a new General for this new war (winning the big cups )
I wish everybody could just stay calmed
No new Cback . Only 3 to choose from in Per, koscielny and young Chambers. Monreal as a fourth but Gibbs is an injury liability.
Very risky ahead for the season.
People say we are unlucky with injuries last season (or any season) but should remember we were very lucky not to sustain a knock to Giroud last campaign not to mention no major injuries at Cback.
This season, we may not enjoy the same luck at the back or for that matter up top.
The numbers at the back are worrying.
Wenger: “We have ofcourse Chambers who can play Right Back, Center Back and Defensive Midfield.”
Bloke: “Arsene what is Chambers were to pick up an injury?”
Wenger: ” “
The whole world knows we need a good defensive midfielder ,flamini and arteta are no longer it. We can get a player that can give us more than what arteta and flamini combined can give us. But Wenger feels he won’t buy just to piss the world off (he is someone that won’t mind chopping off his nose to spitehis face ). Bayern ,athletico ,chelsea ,madrid ,city were better than arsenal last season but still went out to solve their problems. We are an injury and a suspension away from being in a defensive crisis. Wilshere is not a defensive… Read more »
The over reaction to deadline day says a lot more about fans then Arsene or the board.
*than.
Please do go easy on me.
I just wanted to take this opportunity to repeat my viewpoint that Sanago is shite.
If Welbeck keeps that gangly clown out of the team, then he’s worth the £16m for that reason alone.