Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger in all he does » Arsenal sign Samuel Galindo. Is Celta Vigo our new reserves club?
by Tony Attwood
With Wellington Silva joining us full time in January, Arsenal are stepping up the South and Central American connection.
Samuel Galindo is Arsenal’s latest transfer costing €500,000. He is Bolivian, captain of the under 20s, he is 6′ 3″ tall, left footed, an attacking midfielder who can play either in the centre, behind a striker, or on the wing.
According to Young Guns who know everything, he has signed a four year contract. But he doesn’t have a work permit so he will be going to Spain to play for Celta Vigo, and then get an EU passport. There was previous talk of him going to Salamanca.
Galindo has been training with Arsenal since the start of the year, but was then the subject of a media campaign in which it was alleged he was not the age he claimed be. But apparently everyone is now happy, so we have him.
Meanwhile Arsenal are having a bash at getting a work permit for the Brazilian Pedro Botelho. He has spent three years in Spain and has got his EU citizenship – he’s now 20.
Last season he played 27 times for Celta Vigo who reached the quarter-finals of the Copa Del Rey, despite being a second division team. They beat Villareal during the run.
But, there may be a Botelho Problem, as he seems to have left both Celta and Salamanca under a cloud.
Now two names pop up here and there in this: Celta Vigo and Salamanca. And given that we’ve been pondering what the hell is going on with the reserves (with their sudden cessation and all) could it be that we are actually going to do something big time with several clubs – one in France for all our French kiddies, and one or two in Spain for the central and south Americans who have to play there to get an EU passport?
That could be what is going on, so without more fuss, here’s a quickie (that is a run down of Celta Vigo.)
R.C. Celta de Vigo was formed as a combination of teams who could compete more vigorously in the league. Real Vigo Sporting and Real Club Fortuna de Vigo were merged in 1923 as Real Club Celta.
Their best moments came between 1997 and 2001 when they were a top six side, and managed to beat Liverpool and Juve on their Euro adventures.
But as can happen, it ended in tears. They finished 2003/4 fourth in the League, qualified for The Champs League and reached the last 16 where we played them. But meanwhile they fell apart in the League and got relegated. Next season they came back up.
The following season they got into the UEFA cup but by 2006/7 they were failing again and got relegated and were on the edge of administration.
They have struggled on and finished 12th last season.
This position – a mid-table second division club just wanting to survive could be exactly what we need. No pretentious behaviour, just plugging away and trying to secure the funds to keep going, this is what we need.
Of course relationships with Celta have been around for several years – Vela went there remember, and wasn’t Silvinho there too? – but I am not too sure that many others have done so since then.
I’ve got nothing more than this to go on – so it might well all be a load of tosh, but well, it could it also be true. One thing is sure, the Celta-Arsenal link has been around for quite a few years and in the second division Celta need all the help they can get.
Untold Arsenal. Not always accurate, but still, who is?
Rundown of our squad for the new season, with the up and coming kiddies included