Rumors Rumors Rumors

If you believe some of the press, Vieira and Pires will be playing for "la vieille dame" of Juventus. Essien and SWrightPhillips will be making the move to Chelsea. This will be a major midfield moves.

First, I think that Lyon will end up selling Essien. He has made it clear he wants to move to the Premiership. Lyon has already developed a back up plan by bringing in French international Pedretti into the fold. He would take over the role of defensive midfielder. Diarra has resigned at Lyon until 2009, so the midfield should remain solid. With Essien, I believe that Lyon can make a strong run in Europe. Having added young defender Monsoreau from Sochaux to settle the back line and adding Norwegian international Carew up front, I think that Lyon has added without losing anything from the 4 time Ligue 1 champions. However, all this changes if Essien leaves. He resembles a younger Vieira, a midfield player that can defend and score, a player that can dictate the pace of the game. I have watched him play a few times but from all the press he is the next Keane, Vieira combined...no wonder Chelesea are after him. Partnering him and Makelele at Chelsea would be a formidable defending - holding midfield combo. Lyon will still be odds on favorite to win another Ligue 1 title, and might make a deeper run in Europe.

Second, I think that Arsenal might want to seriously consider the attention Juventus is giving their two french international midfielders. While I think Arsenal should not part ways with Vieira...even though his value might never be greater...I think Pires should be sold. I think that Pires, while always a top goal scorer, has run his course at Arsenal. The big teams know how to play him and how to contain his game. I do not see who on the horizon Arsenal can purchase to replace either midfielder, it might make the right business sense to maximize their returns on these two players. Maybe if they did so they could turn around and look to get into the Essien bidding....now that would be interesting.