Why Beijing could prove vital to Arsenal's summer spending
Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 12:06PM
David Alexander

One of the most important developments over the past few days has been the announcement of the Brazil squad for the Olympics in Beijing next month.

Lest we forget, the South Americans tend to take the competition more seriously thesedays than the rest of the world.

So it is no surprise that Alex Pato, the AC Milan wonderkid, is in the Brazil squad.

Which means that, with Ronaldo crocked and Gilardino departed, AC Milan only have Kaka and the elderly Filippo Inzaghi to lead their forward line next season. After finishing fifth last year, the last thing the club can do is have a bad start to the season.

So there is NO WAY Milan can afford to start without a new striker, and the choice comes down to Adebayor and Ronaldinho, according to the club themselves.

Let's just say that they baulk at Arsenal's price and sign Ronaldinho instead.

That still works for Arsenal, because it frees up wages and transfer funds for new coach Josep Guardiola to buy Alex Hleb and/or Adebayor.

Then the merry-go-round will begin.

I just hope it's Huntelaar and not Santa Cruz who we end up signing. The Paraguayan may have been impressive last season, but his record in Germany speaks volumes - 31 goals in 155 games.

Huntelaar by comparison, has 70 goals in 82 games for Ajax. Says it all really.

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