He’s tall and silky.
He’s graceful and two-footed.
He’s a greyhound who can zoom from the half way line to the box in about four seconds.
He plays for Everton but wants to come to Arsenal to enhance to his England chances.
Wenger made an enquiry in August and Everton wanted to sell.
Discussions are now ongoing.
Everton need the money and Jack Rodwell, 20, wants to play with Jack Wilshere for England in Euro 2012.
Rodwell had a good game for England against Sweden last night.
He’s a brainy player, a pass-and-move merchant who can do a bit of everything. Although he missed a sitter just on half-time, heading a Stewart Downing cross against the post from four yards, Rodwell performed well.
Rodwell looked like an international player because he\’s good at keeping the ball.
He\’s more Trevor Brooking than Frank Lampard, more Martin Peters than Stevie Gerrard. He’s not a power player, not a gladiator, not even a playmaker as such. But he’s a linking team player with a good shot. He can hold it and use it and blast it and get into scoring positions.
He definitely has the equipment but he’s at the beginning of his career. I think he played centreback for Everton Under-18s and maybe for England Under-18s.
Mainly, Rodwell is Wenger’s kind of player because the professor loves the aesthetics of athletics. He finds clumsy footballers painful to watch.
For England, right back Kyle Walker did very well on his first start.
Sturridge replaced Walcott at half-time but didn\’t impress. I didn\’t think he would because he\’s only started 25 Premier League games for Man City, Chelsea and Bolton.
I\’m not convinced by Sturridge\’s touch or his decision-making. He\’s scored some tidy goals but has a helluva lot to do in the next six months if he\’s going to be on that plane to Poland.
Still, Fabio Capello now has some useful youngish players who have a bit of craft and bite. Adding those to a handful of experienced ones makes it a more fluent, capable squad than he took to South Africa.
Bottom line, England won two home games without Rooney.
England beat Spain 1-0 and then they beat Sweden 1-0 without Wayne Rooney, Ashley Young or Jack Wilshere.
The decisive moment was an own-goal in 22 minutes. Leighton Baines crossed, Gareth Barry glanced a header that was going wide, and the ball went in off the skull of defender Daniel Majstorovic.
Sweden always do well against England because they play English football more intelligently and professionally than we do.
But not last night. The Swedes were remarkably average.
Germany’s Under-21s threw up Ozil & Khedira, who now play for Real Madrid, and Moller (Bayern) and Gotze (Dortmund), so coach Joachim Low now has a very strong team who beat Holland 3-0 last night.
I’d like to see Rodwell give England what Ozil gives Germany : explosive pace and goal-making penetration.
Fabio Capello summed up his night more neatly than usual.
He said, “It was important to win and important to beat Sweden after 43 years, but, for me, it was most important to see Jones, Walker and Rodwell play against a team which is really organised on the pitch and difficult to play against. The answer that I received from the performance was really important for me. These three players played really well.
“The last two matches, against Spain and Sweden, have been really interesting. During these games I was looking for something new and I found it. I found three really interesting players. These three players are really good technically, really good physically and all three are fast. That is important in modern football.”
Bolton’s Gary Cahill partnered John Terry in defence and looked good. Being a centreback near the bottom of the league, like Jagielka and Cahill, you really have to earn your keep, far more than you do in teams at the top of the table.
BTW, the Gary Cahill deal is done and dusted.
He’s going to Chelsea.