Arsene Wenger has admitted he is in negotiations with Valencia over a possible transfer move for their Spanish international goalkeeper Santiago Canizares. Arsenal have been tracking the former Real Madrid player since the end of last season but turned to the Colombian Oscar Cordoba, the Finn Mikko Kaven and the Argentinian Sebastian Saja as possible alternatives.
Tentative bids for Milan's Christian Abbiati and Nelson Dida were turned down, and Wenger is still undecided over whom to bring to Highbury as David Seaman's successor. The manager set himself a deadline to land his man but it passed on Friday, leaving the former England under-21 international Stuart Taylor as his first-choice goalkeeper.
"I have put a deadline on it before and that has been and gone so I am not going to put a deadline on it again," said Wenger after a 0-0 draw at Barnet on Saturday. "But we are talking and we are hopeful. At the moment I cannot give you a definite name of who we will buy because we have not got that far. But Canizares is one of them, that is true.
"I have confidence in Stuart Taylor but we're not sure he can go through a whole season as first choice and so we need to bring someone experienced into the squad. That is why we are still looking.
"Of course it is something we are thinking about. We have one more week where the games don't matter. But then we take on Celtic and Rangers and then the Community Shield and the season is on you. So it comes very quickly now."
That talks with Valencia over the 33-year-old Canizares should have been resurrected, after initially faltering over the Spanish club's reported £10 million asking price, suggests he is Wenger's principal target.
Matteo Guardalben, who played in the 1-0 defeat to Peterborough on July 11th when Taylor was taken off as a precaution after hurting his neck, has returned from trial to his club Piacenza and Wenger says he has "yet to make (his) mind up about him".
Wenger still has the burden of Nwankwo Kanu's £42,000 a week wages affecting his budget and it appears he has given up hope of disposing of the striker.
However, it is not only in the goalkeeping position that Arsenal suffer from a lack of strength in depth, as a side shorn of most of the super-stars demonstrated in their laboured draw at Barnet on Saturday.
Apart from a pair of misplaced headers from Yaya Toure, younger brother of Arsenal's Ivory Coast international Kolo, the visitors hardly worried goalkeeper Danny Naisbitt.
The biggest cheer of the afternoon went to Steve Pankhurst whose £5,500 pledged in an auction allowed him to play the last five minutes of the match.
Dennis Bergkamp, meanwhile, ended weeks of speculation when the Dutch striker agreed to stay at Highbury, signing a new one-year contract.
