Transfer news from the horse’s mouth/keyboard

So, while I’ve been away on a short vacation to see the in-laws and eat my way through the capital city, I thought that in the space of five or six days something interesting and significant might have happened in the world of Arsenal, and not to be disappointed:

Source: Twitter

Being from across the Great Blue Void, I don’t often get to see the BBC coverage of games, instead either Sportsnet or TSN throw their punditry at me; not to be left out, foreign language streams are as common an occurrence as any over here, so really I have no idea who half the pundits punditing on these channels are. Regardless, Lee Dixon, famous for more than his finishing, has called it quits on his time with BBC as a pundit. He’s been there for eight years and, as the tweets above show, he’s moving on to new things. But just what?

The Daily Mail (I know, I know, Steve stop reading this crap), has the latest in this transfer story:

Lee Dixon has announced he’s quitting the BBC, with rivals ITV readying a deal to land the highly-rated football pundit.

The former Arsenal and England defender, 48, is being lined up to replace Gareth Southgate when he is appointed FA technical director….

Dixon has emerged as one of the leading pundits on the BBC’s football coverage and will end an eight-year association with the corporation.

While ITV remain the frontrunners to sign Dixon, BT are also said to be interested in his services when they gain rights to the Barclays Premier League next season.

I guess the transfer rumour mill must have been turning slowly the last couple of days. How lucrative will this “deal” be? Has Dixon always had a love affair with ITV? Will this be drawn out into a transfer “saga” like so many we’ve seen lately? More importantly, was there a sell-on clause in Dixon’s contract?

In any event, I wish the best for Dixon, who put in a good 15 years at Arsenal, racking up 619 total appearances and 28 goals for the club. Hearing about any of that famous Arsenal back four makes me wish I grew up in a football household where, if we didn’t get broadcasts of the games, at least I’d find out about them or be able to follow the club somewhat through the early days of the internet (before it was called the interwebs). As it is, the likes of Dixon, Bould, Adams, Keown, and Winterburn were as new to me as Fabregas, van Persie, and Wenger himself when I started supporting Arsenal a few years back. Such is the case for overseas supporters.

So, I’ll end with a little on Dixon by way of reminder. When will we have a player at Arsenal again who can count these among his accomplishments?

Source: Arsenal.com