Summer transfer joy and happiness

[SMatthews]

I think he will come, it's more a case of will we close out the deal. Our transfer budget is truly pathetic, clubs like West Ham and Leicester comfortably have bigger budgets than us given the players they are being linked to.

We also have a much bigger salary bill, which makes a big difference as the two pots of money are intrinsically linked.

[Özim]

We've already reduced that by 400k with Cech, Ramsey, Welbeck, Suarez, Lichsteiner and Jenkinson and Monreals' contracts are due to expire on the 30th so I would think the former is on his way and the latter could well be, that's probably another 120k there as well.

So if we get rid of just these and noone else (we need to get rid of some if not all of Mustafi, Mhktaryan, Xhaka and Ozil if we can), that'll be 500k a week saved.

[Bumble]

We've already reduced that by 400k with Cech, Ramsey, Welbeck, Suarez, Lichsteiner and Jenkinson and Monreals' contracts are due to expire on the 30th so I would think the former is on his way and the latter could well be, that's probably another 120k there as well.

So if we get rid of just these and noone else (we need to get rid of some if not all of Mustafi, Mhktaryan, Xhaka and Ozil if we can), that'll be 500k a week saved.

And so that's £26m to cover transfers, salaries and agent fees. don't think it really is a deal breaker.

I think we either give the youth a chance smith-rowe, AMN, Nelson etc or sell perhaps one of sellable players... those who are good and we could get a fee for them, as realistically who is going to buy ozil, mikhi or mustafi and pay them the salary we pay them. No one. I doubt we could even give Ozil away without covering salaries.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

To be fair, his rep in Scotland was way above Robertson's when Robertson was there. Moreover, Tierney has performed well in CL for Celtic so he has been tested and performed at a high level.

Sure he isn't the very best left back out there, but I think he is as good as we are going to get with our pathetic transfer budget. We can't even close the deal out for him, quibbling over a few mil.

I was more referring to his rep amongst the English. I expect everybody Scottish to rate him, almost regardless and fair enough...they see him all the time.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I also find the notion that our budget is only 40 million and yet our first bid for Tierney should be the asking price almost farcical.

Every club haggles so let the process happen. If we come away without him in the end, then sure..... we can really criticise.

[Özim]

I also find the notion that our budget is only 40 million and yet our first bid for Tierney should be the asking price almost farcical.

Every club haggles so let the process happen. If we come away without him in the end, then sure..... we can really criticise.

I agree, but to spend 25 million of our 40 million budget on a full back wouldn't be great, unless we can shift some of the deadwood I would prioritise a decent CB.

We desperately need to find a buyer for Mkhytaryan, Ozil, Xhaka and Mustafi. A few years ago we could have probably sold the first two to a chinese club, as it stands though we don't have much to play with. To be honest I'd be happy to sell Iwobi if we could find a buyer, there's really only 4 players I wouldn't want us to sell in any scenario, Lacazette, Aubameyang, Leno and Torreira, the rest can go to raise some funds.

[selassie]

I was more referring to his rep amongst the English. I expect everybody Scottish to rate him, almost regardless and fair enough...they see him all the time.

I think he is rated all over Europe to be fair, not just by English. H's clearly not rated as an elite talent, but as a decent young player. He does have Napoli looking at him too. Also, he has had a fair bit of CL exposure, albeit mostly in the group stages.

[selassie]

I also find the notion that our budget is only 40 million and yet our first bid for Tierney should be the asking price almost farcical.

Every club haggles so let the process happen. If we come away without him in the end, then sure..... we can really criticise.

It's not that I think it should be the asking price, but it should be serious. We clearly like the player and see him as an important target, let's get this one wrapped up quickly and move onto other targets. Getting it wrapped up doesn't mean paying the asking prices...but it also doesn't mean spending weeks and weeks drawing out a long running saga...this is typical Arsenal to be fair.

[SMatthews]

Rumours that Neymar is returning to Barca on a 5-year-deal. Dickhead.

[I am invisible]

I agree, but to spend 25 million of our 40 million budget on a full back wouldn't be great, unless we can shift some of the deadwood I would prioritise a decent CB.

We desperately need to find a buyer for Mkhytaryan, Ozil, Xhaka and Mustafi. A few years ago we could have probably sold the first two to a chinese club, as it stands though we don't have much to play with. To be honest I'd be happy to sell Iwobi if we could find a buyer, there's really only 4 players I wouldn't want us to sell in any scenario, Lacazette, Aubameyang, Leno and Torreira, the rest can go to raise some funds.

I’m not sure it’s as simple as taking 25m away from 40m - it would probably eat up something more like 8-9m of our 40-45m budget (e.g. a 25m fee + 70k/wk wages spread across a 5 year contract = 5m/yr in repayments + 3.6m/yr in wages). It’s still a pretty sorry amount for a club of our size to be working with, but it should still be enough to finance 3 or 4 such deals?

In a weird way, I’m almost hoping our budget doesn’t increase too much! I’m really worried that any sudden windfalls will remove any immediate urgency to sort this mess of a squad out. Need to keep the pressure on the men in charge...