Bundesliga: free agents list for the summer + Timo Hildebrand

Wenger is keen on completing his potential signings before the 2010 World Cup in South Africa begins.

The Arsenal manager wants to build on his transfer success (Marouane Chamakh), by doing business earlier than expected: "I beleive that the earlier you settle your teams for the next season, the better it is and the less anxiety you have," the Frenchman told Arsenal.com.

The Gunners have being and are still linked with a host of names.
Although, Wenger has lost Metzelder to Schalke 04, he can take solace from the fact that there are several experienced Bundesliga players who will become free agents at the end of the season.
The good news is - they can be signed for free unless they renew their contracts with their respective clubs.

Some of them are:

¤Jaroslav Drobny (Hertha Berlin)

¤Pierre Wome (FC Cologne)

¤Javier Pinola (Nurnberg)

¤Steven Cherundolo, Hanno Balitsch, and Arnold Bruggink (Hannover 96)

¤Hamit Altintop (Bayern Munich)

¤Robert Hibbert (Stuttgart)

¤Christoph Spycher and Halil Altintop (Eintracht Frankfurt)

¤Kevin Kuranyi (Schalke 04)

¤Paolo Guerrero (SV Hamburg)

¤Mohammadou Idrissou (Freiburg)

Meanwhile, Timo Hildebrand Hoffenheim's #1 goal keeper is set to quit the club.
The news comes as a result of extensive discussions between Sporting director Jan Schindelmeiser, Coach Ralf Rangnick, as well as Timo Hildebrand and his advisor.

The Arsenal manager is discontented with the services currently rendered by his goal keepers (Almunia and Fabianski), Wenger has being reported to be on the look out.
Az Alkmaar's Sergio Romero (£8m) and Fiorentina's Sebastien Frey (£8.5m) have being the only tangible names so far.

Still on Hildebrand, the 31-year-old former German international is currently labouring with a thigh strain, but at least he's tested and trusted unlike our basket hands. And there's nothing to lose (except a few games) if Wenger decides to beam his searchlight on the player. As stated by Bundesliga.de, Timo's preferred destination is yet to be revealed.

Transfer Rumour | why I won't pay £8m for AZ Alkmaar's Sergio Romero

The 23-year-old Argentine is considered by many to be the solution to
Arsenal's goal-keeping mishaps.

I beg to differ, not only do I think he's over rated at £8m, but
I'd like to base my judgement on one incident (afterall, we all wrote
Vito Mannone off, just because he failed to deal properly with a West
Ham free-kick which gifted Cole the opportunity of setting up that
comeback last year). So why should the adage "different strokes for
different folks" be adopted as our yardstick for judging this unknown
quantity?

Agreed, Lukasz Fabianski screwed up against Porto and I know he's
notorious for commiting high profile blunders. But the simple reason
that we put four goals past the Argentine, at the Emirates is a
reminder that we've got to appreciate what we have and it's also a
very bad
sign for a club with Arsenal's pedigree to be involved with such a player.

With Almunia finally bracing himself for action - as seen in the
way and manner he executes his duties these days.

I don't see Arsene Wenger, spending a dime on that untested
shot-stopper who is eager to escape the boredom of Dutch football.

Hear him out: "My career has gone very well in Holland but I came to
Europe to play in the biggest Leagues and I will soon be ready to
move," he enthused.

Instead of settling for an error-prone goalie, I think we should give
Fabianski and Mannone another opportunity at the big stage. You never
can tell what might transpire after that.