Gunners legend raises concern over the club’s pursuit of Rice

Arsenal legend Gilberto Silva has raised concerns about the Gunners’ pursuit of West Ham midfielder Declan Rice. The club has already had two bids rejected for the 24-year-old, and now faces competition from Manchester City, who have expressed concrete interest in the player.

While Rice is believed to prefer a move to Arsenal, Gilberto believes that the club’s transfer chief Edu may end up paying an exorbitant fee for the midfielder.

The former Arsenal Invincible expressed surprise at the high price tag associated with Rice’s potential transfer, especially for a central midfielder.

Arsenal have confirmed to West Ham their plan to submit one more bid for Declan Rice — after £75m plus £15m rejected. #AFC

For GOP presidential hopefuls, the weekend that marked the anniversary of the Supreme Court Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade presented an opportunity to demonstrate just how opposed to abortion they were. At the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference on Friday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez all made their respective cases to an audience of approximately 500 religious conservatives in Washington, DC. Then on Saturday, it was former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley’s turn to defend her self-described “unapologetically pro-life” record, with the weekend culminating in the appearance of former president Donald Trump.  

“We’re certainly going to do everything that we can, as an organization and as a pro-life and pro-family movement, to give our candidates a little bit of a testosterone booster shot and explain to them that they should not be on the defensive,” Ralph Reed, founder and chairman of the Faith & Freedom Coalition said before the conference. “Those who are afraid of it need to, candidly, grow a backbone.” 

“We’re certainly going to do everything that we can, as an organization and as a pro-life and pro-family movement, to give our candidates a little bit of a testosterone booster shot.”

As historically one of the most ardent anti-abortion candidates who calls himself an “advocate for the unborn,” Mike Pence urged all Republican candidates to support a federal 15-week abortion ban. “We must not rest and we must not relent until we restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law in every state in this country,” he said on Friday.

Trump has avoided taking a definitive position on a national abortion ban, largely dodging the issue on the campaign trail. He has also expressed concerns that abortion might be a losing issue for Republicans, blaming his party’s lackluster performance in the midterm elections on the defeat of Roe. But at the Faith & Freedom Coalition annual event, the 2024 GOP candidates refrained from taking shots at Trump, who, Politico wrote in describing his appearance at the conference, “is still king of the evangelical cattle call.”

Nonetheless, there was one notable exception to the avoidance of discussing the former president: Chris Christie.

How Arsenal can use Kai Havertz in his starting line-up

Arsenal’s pursuit of Chelsea forward Kai Havertz has sparked speculation about how he would fit into the team’s lineup. Here, we explore three potential ways the Gunners could line up with Havertz, taking into account their current squad and possible tactical adjustments.

Jesus alternative

The first option is to use Havertz as an alternative to Gabriel Jesus, the Brazilian striker who had a significant impact on Arsenal’s game last season.

While the German may not be a natural goalscorer, his ability to bring teammates into play and provide an aerial threat aligns well with Mikel Arteta’s system. This could offer a similar dynamic to Jesus and alleviate Arsenal’s struggles when the Brazilian was sidelined due to injury.

Kai Havertz at striker might be the move, this is a fantastic header against a good team. pic.twitter.com/npiFia3oCZ

Jakub Kiwior has disclosed that West Ham had approached him prior to his move to Arsenal in January.

The Polish international impressed during the World Cup, which caught the attention of Arsenal, leading to his inclusion in their squad following the tournament.

While the transfer surprised some Arsenal fans, it appears that the club had conducted thorough research before bringing him on board.

Nevertheless, it seems that Kiwior had the opportunity to join the Premier League earlier if he had accepted a proposal from West Ham prior to his move to Arsenal.

The ex-Spezia man made this revelation in a recent interview. He said via Sport Witness:

A new revelation about Declan Rice’s future emerges each second, each minute. After West Ham lifted the Europa Conference League, their Chairman, David Sullivan, admitted it was time they let Rice leave for greener pastures. Ever since then, the feeling has been that the Hammers captain was headed to the Emirates.

It was no secret that the Gunners had labelled him their must-buy in 2023. Two bids later, Arsenal are yet to convince West Ham, who are very open to selling him, to sell them their midfield engine. Arsenal are set to try again with a third bid.

As they consider doing that, Manchester City have watched them fumble in their move for the 24-year-old, and they have now fully entered the race for the Englishman. In fact, at the moment, it is still being determined who Rice will end up joining. Although the thought is that West Ham could decide where Rice plays next as they are the ones to accept a bid, in the end, he will be the one to decide where to play next, City or Arsenal.

Gooners believes he wants them, but are you sure he will tell Man City a big ‘No’ if they come in with a better bid and higher wages and can convince the Hammers to sell to them? instead?

Wherever Rice decides to go, it will rewrite his name in the history books. Rice’s desire to leave West Ham already labels him as unloyal. Unlike Harry Kane, he has got his hands on a trophy (the Europa Conference League) at West Ham; looking at that trophy win, a Hammer can be convinced of winning further trophies at the London Stadium – but not Rice.

Update, June 24, 2:30 p.m. ET: Wagner Group Chief Yevgeniy Prigozhin said his forces were turning around. The announcement came after President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko of Belarus reportedly made a deal with Prigozhin to halt the march towards Moscow. 

Months of growing tensions between Vladimir Putin, Russia’s military, and the private mercenary Wagner Group fighting for Russia in Ukraine have escalated into a full-fledged crisis. Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the Wagner chief who has become known as “Putin’s chef” over his lucrative catering business deals with the Kremlin, claimed on Friday night that the Russian military had attacked and killed “a huge amount” of his fighters. He vowed retribution and called it a “march of justice.” In response, the Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia’s intelligence agency, accused Prigozhin of calling for an “armed rebellion” and called for his hired soldiers to arrest him. The mercenary group and Russia’s Ministry of Defense increasingly have clashed over tactics in the war in Ukraine and the supply of ammunition.

The situation quickly escalated as the Wagner Group claimed to have taken control of Russia’s key military facilities in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don. A Ministry of Defense intelligence update from the United Kingdom described the apparent rebellion as “the most significant challenge to the Russian state in recent times.” Wagner convoys are reportedly heading toward Moscow—which is under increased security—and have been sighted in Voronezh, about 300 miles south of the capital. Russia has established a “counter-terrorist” operation in the Moscow and Voronezh regions. Earlier this year it was estimated that up to 50,000 fighters from the Wagner Group were in Ukraine, having played an important role in supporting Russian forces in the fight for control of the city of Bakhmut. The Wagner Group has been accused of perpetrating war crimes in Ukraine, Africa, and the Middle East.

In a televised address on Saturday morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Prigozhin’s actions were “a stab in the back against our nation and our country.” He added: “Anyone who consciously went on the path of betrayal, who prepared the armed mutiny, went on the path of blackmail and terrorist actions, will be punished inevitably. They will answer before the law and our people.” Prigozhin fired back in an audio message on Telegram, saying Putin “makes a deep mistake when he talks about treason. We are patriots of our motherland, we fought and are fighting for it.” On Twitter, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy weighed in, saying, “Russia’s weakness is obvious.”

“Putin’s never looked weaker than right now, in the Ukraine war and at home,” Ian Bremner, a political scientist and president of the Eurasia Group, tweeted, “which is welcome. and extremely dangerous.” US officials are monitoring the power struggle closely. 

When particular jersey numbers are mentioned, football fans immediately think of some of the game’s best players. When the number 10 is mentioned, many people immediately think of Messi; the same can be said of the number 7 for Ronaldo and the number 14 for Thierry Henry. Players’ jersey numbers are constantly changing these days, making it difficult to keep track of which jersey number they prefer.

Kai Havertz is set to join Arsenal from Chelsea, and there’s so much talk about which jersey number he’ll pick. But don’t you think it’s obvious which jersey number he’ll settle on?

The German has always won the No. 29 jersey, whether at Bayer Leverkusen, where he rose to prominence, or at Chelsea, and there’s reason to believe that at Arsenal, he will continue to have the number 29 at the back of his jersey. In 2021, he revealed to the Athletic why he settled on such an odd jersey number. “When I was young, I always used to play FIFA or Pro Evolution Soccer with my brother,” Havertz said.

“We always made ourselves in the game. My brother always put number 29 on his shirt. When I came to the professional game, and Leverkusen asked me what number I wanted to have, I asked them which numbers were free.

“When they said 29, I said I’d take it because of my brother.

Arsenal have confirmed the permanent departure of 20-year-old striker Nikolaj Moller, who has joined Swiss Super League side FC St. Gallen. Moller’s move to St. Gallen comes after his loan spell at FC Den Bosch.

Moller, who joined Arsenal from Malmo in 2020, spent his first season with the U21 team, impressing with 10 goal contributions in 18 games. His performances earned him a loan move to FC Viktoria Koln, followed by a switch to FC Den Bosch in January 2022.

All the best, Nikolaj

— Arsenal Academy (@ArsenalAcademy) June 20, 2023

During his time at Den Bosch, Moller faced some injury setbacks but managed to score seven goals and provide two assists in a total of 35 games across two spells. Now, as he embarks on a new chapter with St. Gallen, the young striker will look to overcome his injury issues and establish himself in the starting lineup consistently.

On Friday, the US Supreme Court delivered a ruling that allows the Biden administration to reinstate a policy that sets priorities for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) regarding arrests and deportations. In an 8-1 decision on the United States v. Texas case, the justices concluded that the states challenging the government’s policy didn’t have standing to sue. The decision comes not only as a significant victory for the Biden administration but also sanctions the broader authority of the executive branch to set immigration policy.

The case concerned a 2021 enforcement priorities memorandum by the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas instructing ICE to focus its limited resources “in a more targeted way” against immigrants who represent a threat to national security or public safety and more recent border arrivals. “We do not lessen our commitment to enforce immigration law to the best of our ability,” the guidelines state. “This is how we use the resources we have in a way that accomplishes our enforcement mission most effectively and justly.”

Texas and Louisiana then sued the Biden administration claiming the enforcement priorities memo violated federal statutes requiring DHS to arrest more immigrants pending their deportation and that not doing so would incur costs for the states. In June 2022, Trump-appointed US District Judge Drew Tipton blocked the federal policy as unlawful. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case while leaving the lower court ruling halting the policy nationwide in place.  

“The States essentially want the Federal Judiciary to order the Executive Branch to alter its arrest policy so as to make more arrests.”

“The States essentially want the Federal Judiciary to order the Executive Branch to alter its arrest policy so as to make more arrests,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the majority, calling the case brought by Texas and Louisiana “an extraordinarily unusual lawsuit.” If the court was to green-light the lawsuit, Kavanaugh writes, it could lead to an “uncharted path” whereby states interfere with federal law enforcement in other areas, not just immigration.

The opinion states that because the federal government doesn’t have the ability to enforce the law against all undocumented immigrants—more than 11 million—in the country, five presidential administrations going back 27 years “have determined that resource constraints necessitated prioritization in making immigration arrests.” In his lone dissent, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the ruling left states “already laboring under the effects of massive illegal immigration even more helpless.”  

In less than 30 days, the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand kicks off on July 20. By now, I know you already have your favourite team — the one you want to be crowned world champions.

As a Gooner, I am sure you’ll be on the lookout for our Arsenal Women, who are set to feature greatly in the one-month tournament. And to make it easy to track them, here’s a list of Gunner women who are expected to feature in this year’s Women’s World Cup:

Australia: Steph Catley and Caitlin Foord are in the provisional World Cup squad, but it is almost certain they’ll make the 23-woman squad once officially announced.

England: With Beth Mead and Leah Williamson out due to injury, only Lotte Wubben-Moy made it to Sarina Weigman’s squad. Alessia Russo, who is also tipped to join Arsenal on a free transfer after leaving Manchester United, is also part of Sarina’s squad.

Ireland: As Ireland’s skipper, Katie McCabe is tipped for a big performance.