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Classics professor Richard Thomas discusses “Why Dylan Matters” with Robin KelseyRichard Thomas may be the first Harvard professor to celebrate a book release that’s co-sponsored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But that’s where the classics professor and Dylanologist found himself last month for the publication of “Why Bob Dylan Matters.” The book was sparked by Dylan’s 2016 Nobel Prize in literature, but grew from Thomas’ popular freshman seminar “Bob Dylan,” which he has taught every four years since 2004. The course, affectionately known on campus as Bob Dylan 101, studies the music and the influence of the likes of ancient poets Virgil and Homer on the American singer-songwriter. The George Martin Lane Professor of the Classics has seen Dylan perform scores of times, and considers “Why Bob Dylan Matters” only the first verse of many to come about the present-day bard.GAZETTE: Did you write this book as a classics professor teaching a class or as a Dylan fan?THOMAS: I’m a Dylan professor and a Dylan fan. I’m always a Dylan fan. The book wouldn’t have happened if Dylan hadn’t started entering into the world of my texts 20 years ago. He’s come to me in a way, and I’ve always been with him. The book is also about how he related to Roman poets really from the beginning, but those resemblances are accidental, just reflections of shared genius. But his more conscious adoptions are a more recent thing.The book is recognition of what Dylan is. It came when he won the Nobel [last year]. I was contacted by a number of press and agents. I first thought, “No, I’ll think of doing a Dylan book further down the road.” I was about to teach three courses in the spring semester, and they wanted a draft by May 1. But I was persuaded by an editor at Harper Collins who wrote a very good and persuasive email. I was pretty terrified to begin with. But the terror-to-exhilaration ratio eventually shifted as I saw what I wanted to do. “Why Bob Dylan Matters” didn’t exactly write itself, but I was thinking of it every minute I wasn’t teaching. I wanted the book to put Dylan in a serious literary tradition that pushed back against the idea that he’s just a protest singer, that he’s ephemeral, that he won’t be around the way great literature stays around.GAZETTE: You have taught “Bob Dylan” since 2004. Does it draw hardcore Dylan fans, casual ones, poets, or all three?THOMAS: It’s all of that. In the applications that students submit, I’ve tried to select a bit from those different groups. Each year one to three know Dylan as well as I do, and there are those out there who know him better than I do. Then there are some whose parents listen to him, and they’re curious. Parents always come up in discussions. Last fall, one parent took his daughter to a show in the desert in Nevada to see the Rolling Stones, Neil Young, and Dylan. I’ve also gotten students who are songwriters who realize Dylan is without parallel, and are trying to learn or improve their craft. The course is not letter-graded, so they can take a chance, and I always advise students: Take a freshman seminar that interests you because you’ll make 11 new friends. We even have a marriage that started out in my class a few years back.GAZETTE: You trace the influence of the classics on Dylan to his early years, even traveling to his hometown of Hibbing, Minn. What did you find there?THOMAS: I found out about his involvement in the Latin Club in early 2000s when the camera in Martin Scorsese’s documentary film “No Direction Home” panned Dylan’s senior yearbook entry. It had three items: to join “Little Richard,” Social Studies Club, and Latin Club. And I found a clipping from the Hibbing Hi-Times about the induction of new students in the Latin Club. The year he was in the club was the year I started taking Latin as a 9-year-old in New Zealand. I’d already been hearing these lines from Virgil and later Ovid and Homer. There’s always been an intellectual and aesthetic and emotional component to the way I think about Dylan and his songs and career.In his Nobel lecture, we heard him talk about books that were formative for him — Dickens, “Moby Dick,” “All Quiet on the Western Front,” and Homer’s “Odyssey.” As much as I’d like to think it was the joys of the Latin subjunctive and participles, I’m not sure how much Latin he’d done. One of the attractions was that it allowed him to go back into a world he’d inhabited in the movie theater, where he saw “The Robe” and other movies about ancient Rome. He’s about absorbing other times, other songs, and other traditions.,GAZETTE: You make the distinction in the book about “stealing” literary inspiration versus intertextualizing. Can you elaborate?THOMAS: It’s similar to the way that Virgil can take, say, a simile from Homer. The setting of the Homeric reference is something Virgil brings into his poem. The Virgilian context becomes richer when discovering the Homeric layer. Dylan is identical, whether it’s Ovid or the folk tradition or T.S. Eliot in the song in “Desolation Row,” and Eliot also drew from Virgil and from Greek epigram in “The Waste Land.” Part of what we gain from reading Eliot or hearing Dylan comes from recognizing those prior contexts.When Dylan has a line “No one can ever claim that I took up arms against you,” he is taking a line from Ovid, putting it in a song addressed to an ex-lover, perhaps. Seeing that new context, completely different from the source where it is taken, is part of the pleasure of hearing this song — along with the music, of course. That process with classic lyrics started with “Changing of the Guards” [in 1978], but really it’s 2001 when it became a central feature of his composition.GAZETTE: How often have you seen him in concert?THOMAS: I couldn’t afford to go see the Rolling Thunder Review in ’75 when I was in grad school. I didn’t see him until after I came to Harvard in 1977, and I’ve seen him pretty steadily across the years, probably 80 times. If he comes within a few hundred miles, I’ll go. The farthest I’ve traveled was to Texas. I talk periodically to his manager. He’s very helpful for us Dylanologists.GAZETTE: You interviewed fans at a few concerts for the book. Were you surprised to find criticism for his song choices and musical arrangements?THOMAS: He knows where he’s going. It often takes people a bit of time to catch up with what he’s doing. If you go to a concert and don’t hear the song version that you heard 20 or 30 years before so it doesn’t bring back your memory of whatever was happening to you back then, that can result in quite an emotional response, even anger that your memory has been disturbed. The general glowing mood of the other 2,000 people coming out of that show in Florida the month after the Nobel announcement was positive.If you go to a Rolling Stones or Bruce Springsteen show, you’ll generally hear a pretty close version to what you heard when you bought the album. Dylan is not at all like that. He’s not only been producing new types of songs, new genres, much more literarily layered, but he’s also been singing the old songs with a band made up of five amazing musicians, completely in sync with the new styles he’s been teaching them. The set list on this tour has been quite predictable. It’s telling the story of his life. The arrangement of the songs, the way he’s peppered his own list with songs from the American Songbook — these so-called cover songs — these concerts are magnificent and utterly coherent.GAZETTE: Are there more Dylan books to write? Is that what you will work on this spring when you are on leave?THOMAS: The George Kaiser Family Foundation, on behalf of the University of Tulsa, bought Dylan’s archive, some 6,000 pieces, including song drafts. There’s the leather jacket he wore when he went electric, but more importantly, thousands of hours of recordings and archival drafts of this and that. I was able to see an early draft of “Tangled Up in Blue,” and the Bob Dylan Archive Center has just been opened to Dylan scholars. I plan to get out there. That’s a real trove.This interview was edited and condensed. read more

FacebookTwitterLinkedInEmailPrint分享Taylor Kuykendall for SNL:Chiza Vitta, an analyst with Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, noted that six companies are currently rated a “D,” indicating a fairly high level of stress. The companies — Patriot Coal Corp., Walter Energy Inc., Alpha Natural Resources Inc., Arch Coal Inc., Foresight Energy LP and Peabody Energy Corp. — represent about 40% of the industry.Even though the coal industry is a relatively small sector of his coverage universe, it takes up much of his time as they are “continually reassessing” the distressed sector, Vitta said. Much of the decline in ratings, he said at the 24th Annual Platts Coal Properties and Investment Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on March 22, has occurred since 2015. Since then, liquidity has suffered as other financial metrics have been squeezed as well.With “no positive outlooks” in the coal sector, one of the challenges Vitta faces in rating the coal sector is trying to predict when a company may file for bankruptcy. He pointed out that many bankruptcies have come as the result of an overleveraging of balance sheets associated with large bets on the metallurgical coal market.“They didn’t have very much in the way of space as things got more and more difficult,” Vitta said.Now the industry is facing a “supply-side stickiness,” with producers adverse to taking production offline and facing idling or commissioning costs. Meanwhile, he said, due to restructurings, the coal industry’s relationship to customers is “unraveling” as observers discover the companies’ “true liabilities and securities.”Coal companies, he said, are at times similarly perplexed by their situation. Vitta said when looking at one company’s restructuring exit plan, he found little idea of what markets could do in the future. “They really didn’t know what things were going to look like at all,” Vitta said.Full article ($): Coal ratings low as sector struggles with current market, future sentiment S&P: ‘No Positive Outlooks’ Across U.S. Coal Sector read more

Sign up for our COVID-19 newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest coronavirus news throughout New York Suffolk County prosecutors say they’ve busted three men who allegedly created fake credit cards to rent cars that they sold for pennies on the dollar.Two men from Brentwood and Bay Shore rented the vehicles from Avis, Hertz and other rental companies using authentic-looking drivers’ licenses and credit cards that a third suspect from Lindenhurst manufactured, authorities said.The suspects rented late-model cars from the companies’ locations at LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark airports, including a Mercedes and a newly rented 2013 Cadillac that they allegedly sold for $2,100.The Lindenhurst man created the fake cards using equipment he purchased on e-Bay, including thermal printers, a “Tipper machine” used to imprint raised numbers on fake credit cards and “skimmer” devices that copy personal information from the magnetic strip on victims’ credit cards.A fourth suspect, a Holbrook man, was arrested during the investigation for selling marijuana.Authorities plan to discuss the case at a Wednesday morning news conference. read more

Sign up for our COVID-19 newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest coronavirus news throughout New York While many people made New Year’s resolutions to lose weight and exercise more, Ryan Murphy, a cancer survivor from Amityville, resolved to resume his athletic lifestyle after having his leg partially amputated.The past several years have been difficult for Murphy, but now that he’s been fitted with a prosthetic limb, he is looking to the future instead of swelling on past challenges. Much of that is thanks to advances in prosthetics.“So much can be done for amputees of this generation when compared to say, 25 years ago,” said Vincent Benenati, a Certified Orthotist and CEO of East Coast Orthotic & Prosthetic Corporation in Deer Park.“Computerized, digital prosthetics now offer highly advanced performance and provide a fine quality of life,” he continued. “Still, when a patient is faced with the fact that they are going to lose a limb, especially a young person, they are shocked. They become concerned, perhaps depressed about their future…or not they will have the ability to hold a job, be active, or enjoy recreation.”As a young man in his 20s, whose contemporaries are full of ambition and future plans, Murphy was confronting these fears. Because of his leg amputation, would he be missing out and facing limitations? But last year, Murphy went through the mentoring of fellow leg amputee Robert Rodriguez of Bay Shore, and was recently fitted with a state-of-the-art prosthetic.“In a sense, my new top-of-the-line prosthetic became the ‘play toy’ which Santa Claus brought me,” Murphy joked.His progress and quality of life has vastly improved in a matter of weeks. Ryan is now excited, pumped, and motivated by the opportunities awaiting him going into the New Year. He is determined to look forward embracing his potential, not dwell on the past.Murphy works as an assistant greenskeeper at the famous Bethpage Black Golf Course. Despite the recent freezing weather, he has been walking the hills and challenging terrain at Bethpage Black as he is thriving with his new leg.He just signed up for an amputee basketball team, which has been practicing at the YMCA in Bay Shore. Together with his mentor, he is eager to show off his new moves and gyrations on the basketball court, as part of their strategy to win games.Ryan is looking forward to running competitively. And he is now making plans for a great spring and summer when he can perfect his golf swing on Long Island courses. read more

If anything marked the Days of Croatian Tourism in Slavonia, it was the HeadOnEast concept and program that showed a totally new modern and urban story from Slavonia. And again, with a touch of what Slavonia is, but interpreted in a different way. Thus, the offer of Slavonia and Baranja in September until the beginning of October, when the HeadOnEast event will take place in Osijek, was presented to the public today by the Osijek-Baranja County and the Osijek-Baranja County Tourist Board. The campaign “Hedonism without borders” lasts during September, when numerous events will be held in eastern Croatia, and the head of the Administrative Department for Tourism, Culture and Sports of Osijek-Baranja County Tatjana Roth spoke about them at a press conference. “Our goal is to take advantage of the positive epidemiological picture in our area and invite domestic guests to move their borders and get to know the east of Croatia at a time when travel abroad is limited or disabled. What is our advantage is individual tourism, in Slavonia and Baranja the emphasis has never been on mass. Our family farms and other accommodation facilities offer the possibility of maintaining social distance among guests, and most of the facilities offered in September and October are outdoor facilities. Autumn in Slavonia and Baranja is really special, so in previous years we recorded the largest number of arrivals in September and October. ” said the prefect of Osijek-Baranja County. Hedonism without borders is accompanied by an online campaign, so the Osijek-Baranja County Tourist Board organized prize competitions in September thematically related to upcoming events. A new one has also been published HeadOnEast brochure. “The first in a series of events is the excellent Wine and bike that will be held this weekend in Erdut and the Fishermen’s Days, which are traditionally held in Kopačevo, as well as the Feriva Baranja Half Marathon. Next weekend is reserved for the Febire cycling recreation festival in Osijek, the Panona fest and the first Craft beer fest in Đakovo. The jubilee 15th Wine Marathon in Zmajevac will be held on the last weekend in September, when the European Sports Week called #BeActiveNight will be held in Osijek under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism. And finally, from October 2nd to 4th, the second edition of the HeadOnEast festival will take place, which delighted thousands of visitors last year. ” said Roth and added that Osijek-Baranja County is actively working on designing projects for the benefit of the tourism sector during the pandemic, and for the first time a public call was opened for family farms offering accommodation services to mitigate the negative consequences of the corona crisis. By the way, Osijek-Baranja County recorded 53% of last year’s overnight stays, while the number of guests in August rose to 63% last year. It is time for tourism in Osijek-Baranja County to “fix” the numbers in September, because the rich natural, cultural, sports, gastro and eno offer awaits the most curious and courageous. PS You know, the same distance between Osijek and Split and Zagreb in both directions. And certainly the news of the year for our tourism, and especially Slavonia tourism, is that, despite the coronavirus pandemic and on a smaller scale, the whole story of hedonism continues and that the HeadOnEast concept has remained, not once, but as an annual campaign and narrative. This year, Osijek-Baranja County invites: Go east – Hedonism without borders. Agencies, here’s an opportunity to start something from a standstill and generate some traffic. This is an opportunity, and the focus is on the domestic guest, both from Zagreb and other Adriatic regions of Lijepa naša. “These are interesting questions that arouse the imagination of our companions and the answers that come to us are truly excellent. The best will be chosen by our expert court, and the prize is a weekend in Slavonia and Baranja. Therefore, I invite everyone to follow our social networks at the address visitslavonijabaranja, where we will broadcast in real time, in addition to the contest, the experiences of our guests.”Said Ivana Jurić, director of the Osijek-Baranja County Tourist Board. read more

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Masks will still be mandatory on all public transport, she said.New Zealand, a nation of five million, had appeared to have succeeded in halting community transmission of COVID-19, but a fresh outbreak in Auckland in August prompted the government to place the city back in lockdown.Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who is facing a general election on Oct. 17, scaled back the restrictions this month, but the city is still under alert level 2.5, meaning social gatherings of more than 10 people are not allowed.Ardern cabinet will review the current rules for Auckland at its meeting on Sept. 21, with a view to increase gathering limits if the situation stays stable.That change, if it comes, will take effect on Sept. 23, she said.New Zealand on Monday reported one new case of coronavirus in the community, taking the total number of cases to 1,447 and 24 deaths.Topics : New Zealand will lift coronavirus restrictions across the country on Sept. 21, except in its biggest city, Auckland, which is the epicenter of a second wave of infections, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday.Ardern said Auckland’s restrictions would be reviewed next Monday. She also said the government would immediately ease all physical distancing requirements on planes, a boost for Air New Zealand, which has had to limit passengers on its planes for months.”I know this change will make a real difference to Air New Zealand and those parts of the country seeking increased numbers of visitors,” Ardern said in a news conference in the South Island city of Dunedin, where she is on an election campaign trip. read more

Comment Advertisement Advertisement Sadio Mane has been in sensational form an regularly performs well against Everton (Picture: Getty)Liverpool go into Sunday’s Merseyside derby unbeaten in their last 18 games against their local rivals although Everton gave Jurgen Klopp’s side a real test at Anfield when only a freakish late winner from Divock Origi separated the sides.Both teams had comfortable midweek wins, but the Blues are not in the same form as they were when the sides met in December and they have already lost at home to Spurs and Manchester City so far this season with Chelsea, United and Arsenal still to come to Goodison.AdvertisementWhatever the result of the game at the Vitality Stadium 24-hours earlier, I believe Liverpool will be top of the table come Sunday night.Michael’s Tip: Liverpool to win to nil 9/5Michael’s weekend wager: Spurs, Wolves and Brighton 5/1More: Manchester United FCRio Ferdinand urges Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to drop Manchester United starNew Manchester United signing Facundo Pellistri responds to Edinson Cavani praiseEx-Man Utd coach blasts Ed Woodward for two key transfer errors Raheem Sterling scored a dramatic late winner in the same fixture last season (Picture: Getty)Bournemouth have never beaten Manchester City in 13 previous league meetings and have lost all seven games between the clubs in the PL by an aggregate score of 24-3.The Cherries last six home league defeats have come against “big six” sides including all three this term. City were not at their best against West Ham midweek, but they did have an arduous couple of hours at Wembley on Sunday and they will miss Fernandinho in the centre of the park.I expect City to take all three points and return to the top of the table – if only for 24 hours.Michael’s Tip: City half-time/full-time 5/6Brighton v Huddersfield The goals of Ashley Barnes have been vital to Burnley’s recent improvement (Picture: Getty)Crystal Palace had 29 shots in the reverse fixture at Selhurst Park earlier in the season at a time when Burnley were struggling for form. I feel they will find the hosts a different proposition at Turf Moor, however, as the Clarets look to put behind a rare indifferent performance at Newcastle midweek.Palace put four past Leicester at the King Power last weekend and they have picked up more points on the road (17/30) than they have at Selhurst Park. I expect to see an entertaining draw.Michael’s Tip: Game to finish in a draw 9/4AdvertisementAdvertisementManchester United v Southampton Scott Parker will take temporary charge of Fulham after Claudio Ranieri’s sacking (Picture: Getty)Chelsea are unbeaten in their 17 PL games against their west London rivals and I would be surprised if the Cottagers bucked that trend in a game they simply cannot afford to lose given their defeat at St Mary’s midweekChelsea bounced back from their League Cup defeat to beat Spurs midweek. The selection of Willy Caballero in goal for the Blues and the reaction he got from his players midweek suggested to me that Maurizio Sarri is very much in charge at the Bridge and has the full backing of his squad.Michael’s Tip: Chelsea to win 4/7Everton v Liverpool Michael OwenFriday 1 Mar 2019 8:55 pmShare this article via facebookShare this article via twitterShare this article via messengerShare this with Share this article via emailShare this article via flipboardCopy link2kShares It’s a huge weekend of Premier League action including two big local derbies (Picture: Metro / Getty)I had back-to-back winning trebles in the past two weeks and this weekend, with a real derby weekend ahead, I’m tipping Wolves, Brighton and Spurs to win at 5/1!BetVictor Brand Ambassador Michael Owen gives his latest tips…Tottenham v Arsenal Brendan Rodgers will take charge of Leicester for the first time on Sunday (Picture: Getty)This will be Brendan Rodgers’ first game in charge of Leicester City, although the former Liverpool and Celtic boss was on hand to see the Foxes’ beat Brighton at the King Power midweek.The Hornets have put five past Cardiff and conceded five at Anfield in the last week and I expect to see plenty of opportunities at Vicarage Road – a point apiece for me.Michael’s Tip: Game to finish in a scoring draw 18/5Fulham v Chelsea Marcus Rashford is likely to return to the Man Utd starting line-up against Southampton (Picture: Getty)United remain unbeaten domestically under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and their injury-ravaged team were too good for Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park midweek. United have picked up five more points than any other club in the division since the Norwegian took charge!The Saints gained a valuable three points at home to Fulham midweek to ease their relegation worries although they remain just two points above the drop zone.As a former striker I enjoyed Romelu Lukaku’s predatory goals at Palace midweek. Although eight of his 10 PL goals so far this season have come on the road, I expect the Belgium international to be among the goals back at Old Trafford.Michael’s Tip: Romelu Lukaku to score anytime 13/10Wolves v Cardiff CityWolves only mustered one shot on target in their defeat at Huddersfield midweek while Cardiff conceded eight goals in their two home games over the last week – games against Watford and Everton they would have hoped to pick up valuable points from.I expect Wolves to bounce back from their surprise loss at the John Smith’s Stadium and keep the points on home soil.Michael’s Tip: Wolves to win to nil 13/10West Ham v Newcastle UnitedFelipe Anderson was outstanding for West Ham in their 3-0 win in the reverse fixture earlier in the campaign and Manuel Pellegrini will be hoping the Brazilian recaptures his best form given he has been relatively quiet in recent games.The Magpies have improved dramatically in recent weeks and they comfortably saw off the challenge of an improving Burnley side at home midweek – their fourth successive league win at St James’ Park.AdvertisementI think this promises to be a cracking game and I just think the hosts will edge it.Michael’s Tip: West Ham to win and both teams to score 3/1Watford v Leicester City Lucas Torreira starred in Arsenal’s win over Spurs earlier this season (Picture: Getty)Arsenal came from behind to win the reverse fixture at the Emirates 4-2 back in December, but I expect their North London rivals to gain their revenge back at Wembley in another hugely entertaining derby.Spurs’ have won five of their last seven PL home games against the Gunners and will want to bounce back, having lost their last two PL games on the road this week. They take a three-goal lead to Dortmund midweek and the Champions League looks their only realistic chance of silverware this term.AdvertisementAdvertisementADVERTISEMENTThe Gunners meanwhile, have picked up six home points this week and a win for Unai Emery’s side would take them within a point of their neighbours.The away side have only won one of the last 16 north London derbies and Arsenal remain vulnerable on their travels. I feel Spurs will extend the gap between the sides to seven points in Saturday’s early kick-off.Michael’s tip: Spurs to win and both teams to score 12/5Bournemouth v Manchester City Michael Owen’s Premier League predictions including Spurs v Arsenal & Manchester United v Southampton Brighton dropped closer to the drop zone after Tuesday’s defeat at Leicester (Picture: Getty)The Seagulls are the only side in the four divisions of English football yet to win a game in 2019 following their midweek loss at Leicester City and Huddersfield’s last-minute winner against Wolves.Brighton had their chances at the King Power midweek and the Terriers have failed to score in over seven-and-a-half hours of PL football away from home. I think one goal might be enough to give the Seagulls all three points.Michael’s Tip: Brighton to win 5/6Burnley v Crystal Palace read more

Metro Sport ReporterTuesday 30 Jul 2019 10:38 amShare this article via facebookShare this article via twitterShare this article via messengerShare this with Share this article via emailShare this article via flipboardCopy link5.8kShares Arsenal will spread the cost of Nicolas Pepe’s transfer over the course of a five-year contract (Picture: Getty)Regardless of when he makes his debut, Arsenal fans are ‘in for a treat’, according to Pepe’s soon-to-be ex-teammate Jose Fonte.He told talkSPORT: He’s incredible if he can reach the same level, which I believe he will, which he did with Lille last season then Arsenal fans will be very happy. ‘He is super quick, he has a left foot which is silky, one vs one he is second to none.‘He finishes really good, he takes penalties, he takes free kicks, he is a very, very accomplished player and I think Arsenal fans will be in for a treat for sure.’More: Arsenal FCArsenal flop Denis Suarez delivers verdict on Thomas Partey and Lucas Torreira movesThomas Partey debut? Ian Wright picks his Arsenal starting XI vs Manchester CityArsene Wenger explains why Mikel Arteta is ‘lucky’ to be managing Arsenal Advertisement Comment Advertisement Arsenal pencil in Nicolas Pepe debut as £72m record signing jets in for medical Nicolas Pepe is set to undergo a medical ahead of his club-record transfer to Arsenal (Picture: Getty)Nicolas Pepe will arrive in England today and undergo his Arsenal medical ahead of his club-record £72million move.Despite their limited transfer budget, a consequence of Unai Emery’s failure to secure Champions League qualification, Arsenal have agreed to pay Lille in a series of installments over the course of a five-year contract.Arsenal had seen a £40million bid for Wilfried Zaha dismissed out of hand by Crystal Palace earlier this summer and, with the Eagles refusing to budge, turned their attentions to the Ivory Coast international, beating Napoli to his services.The likes of emerging youngsters Emile Smith Rowe, Reiss Nelson and Bukayo Saka are set to provide Emery with fresh options on the flanks this season, but the Spaniard was desperate to add a proven goalscoring talent to his ranks, especially given the disappointing output of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alex Iwobi last term.AdvertisementAdvertisementADVERTISEMENTMore: FootballRio Ferdinand urges Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to drop Manchester United starChelsea defender Fikayo Tomori reveals why he made U-turn over transfer deadline day moveMikel Arteta rates Thomas Partey’s chances of making his Arsenal debut vs Man CityPepe had been holidaying in America following his international commitments at the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this month, but will arrive at Arsenal’s Colney training base this afternoon to complete the formalities of his move.Arsenal face Angers in France on Wednesday, but Pepe is unlikely to feature there, nor in the Joan Gamper Trophy against Barcelona on Saturday at Camp Nou.According to Goal, however, Arsenal are hopeful the 24-year-old will be ready in time to feature against Newcastle on the opening weekend of the Premier League season. read more