Which striker do we need in the summer ?

[dostoy]

I cannot see us signing a really big name striker in the summer because they all seem to love their current clubs.

Lewandowski and Muller - loves Germany and Bayern Munich especially.

Higuain - loves Napoli.

Benzema - loves Madrid.

Cavani - when Zlatan leaves he will be the main central striker I would think.

Aubameyang - loves Dortmund, apparently wants to play for Real Madrid.

Ronaldo, Neymar, Suarez and Messi - lets not waste time.

The one I would say MIGHT happen is Romelu Lukaku from Everton.

He is young, used to English football and would want to improve his situation by moving to Arsenal.

It would take an offer of 35 to 40 million and maybe more.

It would take major balls from Wenger to do it especially as Everton are an English club and would NOT want to sell.

Any other suggestions ?

[Kano]

Lukaku, absolutely.

Maybe Lacazette but he's had a stinker this season.

Yarmolenko might be a good shout, as we need more goals outside the striker/Sanchez. Although he's a wide player. If could shift on Theo, he'd be a massive upgrade.

[selassie]

Lukaku, absolutely.

Maybe Lacazette but he's had a stinker this season.

Yarmolenko might be a good shout, as we need more goals outside the striker/Sanchez. Although he's a wide player. If could shift on Theo, he'd be a massive upgrade.

I'd like Lukaku too but he won't be coming here Kano and you know that.

Ighalo is the cheaper version, that's the kind of striker I think Wenger will be looking at.

[Marc Overmars]

I think I'd like someone from the PL, unless there is someone abroad genuinely special and wouldn't need a settling in period. Lukaku is the obvious one. I think I read he's approaching 50 career PL goals and he's not even 23, that's a potential record goalscorer there if he can explode at a top club. Would we drop 50-60m on him though? Ighalo would be a good left field alternative.

The one thing we can't afford to do is pussyfoot around though. We need to go knocking on the doors of these clubs, no one is going to fall into laps and I think that's the mistake we made last summer. Be a little aggressive, unsettle the players and put the selling club in a difficult position. God knows we've experienced it ourselves in the past, now we have the money turn the tables in our favour.

[dostoy]

The one thing we can't afford to do is pussyfoot around though. We need to go knocking on the doors of these clubs, no one is going to fall into laps and I think that's the mistake we made last summer. Be a little aggressive, unsettle the players and put the selling club in a difficult position. God knows we've experienced it ourselves in the past, now we have the money turn the tables in our favour.


I agree, thats why I said it would take balls, which I'm not sure Wenger has.

Surely our new striker, and there has to be one, does not come from Watford.

[fakeyank]

From the league, I'd get Vardy or Lukaku

Outside the league, its Aubamayeng

[Marc Overmars]

I agree, thats why I said it would take balls, which I'm not sure Wenger has.

Surely our new striker, and there has to be one, does not come from Watford.

Not really arsed what club they come from if they're scoring goals to be honest. Giroud's best PL tally is 16. Ighalo currently sits on 14 in his first year and with a pub team, there must be something to work with there.

[dostoy]

From the league, I'd get Vardy or Lukaku

Outside the league, its Aubamayeng

Vardy is too old for Wenger and there is no chance of Aubameyang.

Wenger is at least semi-intelligent, he must realise we need an upgrade.

Please get Lukaku.

[fakeyank]

Vardy is too old for Wenger and there is no chance of Aubameyang.

Wenger is at least semi-intelligent, he must realise we need an upgrade.

Please get Lukaku.

Sanogo it is then..

[dostoy]

Sanogo is the first one out in the summer.

Ospina, Rosicky, Flamini, Arteta and Debuchy are the rest, none are strikers I know.

[LDG]

If Danny Welbeck had slightly more skill/creativity, and a deadlier finish, I'd be happy with him up top. His workrate, and ability to switch between target man and runner is the combination we need, just not at that world class level.

I have no idea who is that type of player from other leagues, but it strikes me that the people crying out for Abumingyan, or whatever his name is, or Cavani etc, are the people that wanted Dezko...and he's shite.

Vardy is a pointless player for us too, as he plays on the counter attack, and we spend most of our time playing in front of two banks of buses.

Lukaku maybe....

[Power n Glory]

We need someone in the mold of Aguero, Tevez, Suarez....a busy explosive player. No more target men that struggle in tight spaces.

[Niall_Quinn]

Put together a money no object bid for Lewandowski and spend the entire summer unsettling him, tapping him up and treating his family to all expenses paid shopping trips to London - like our rivals do. We should have nabbed him several seasons ago, but his 40 goals in 42 games last season (something like that) is not top, top, top, top quality. Failing that, Kalou on a free.

[Özim]

should have gone for Griezmann, still can of course but would need a mega bid that can't be turned down. We always miss the boat, if we do sign a striker (can't see it happening as Wenga thinks his pet project crocks will come good and become world beaters) it'll be another guy with an average record, Wenger never seems to sign players with proven track records of goals.

There's young guys like Berardi as well who wouldn't be a bad bet.

[Globalgunner]

Juventus have a surfeit of good young strikers. Choose 1 and give the old lady whatever she wants.

[IBK]

My money's on Odion Ighalo. A very Wenger type of signing. Thoughts? (Selassie - as usual I agree with you!)

[GP]

I think signing someone like Ighalo doesn't really improve us a great deal.

I think the striker position is one that we can improve the most so we should go all-in on someone truly world class.

No idea who that might be.

[Bumble]

Sturridge - think he would fit in perfectly at Arsenal. English player who likes being injured.

[Niall_Quinn]

My money's on Odion Ighalo. A very Wenger type of signing. Thoughts? (Selassie - as usual I agree with you!)

If we are going to compete with the elites then it will take £60-£70 mill to get the striker we need. I don't trust Wenger to find a cheap alternative who isn't dog shit. If we are going to bum around waiting for another season where all our rivals are in chaos then some average turd with one decent season under his belt should allow us to slug it out with the spuds for the minor placings. Ambition or no ambition is the decision.

[mastermind84]

We need a right sided goal scoring attacker more than a Giroud replacement.

[selassie]

My money's on Odion Ighalo. A very Wenger type of signing. Thoughts? (Selassie - as usual I agree with you!)

I do like Ighalo but do share the same concerns as others, we pretty much need the finished article now and not some development job like Ighalo.

Despite that, I am pretty certain Wenger will go for someone he can mould and develop.

[mastermind84]

should have gone for Griezmann, still can of course but would need a mega bid that can't be turned down. We always miss the boat, if we do sign a striker (can't see it happening as Wenga thinks his pet project crocks will come good and become world beaters) it'll be another guy with an average record, Wenger never seems to sign players with proven track records of goals.

There's young guys like Berardi as well who wouldn't be a bad bet.

Yeah, Griezman should have been bought when he was leaving Sociedad but Wenger probably thought Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walcott would be good enough. Nope. I wanted Sterling too, even with the high price tag.

And its hard to buy proven goal scorers from bigger clubs because they are so limited.

IIRC, we bid for Dybala last year but he wanted to goto Juventus. Dybala woulda been perfect.

[selassie]

should have gone for Griezmann, still can of course but would need a mega bid that can't be turned down. We always miss the boat, if we do sign a striker (can't see it happening as Wenga thinks his pet project crocks will come good and become world beaters) it'll be another guy with an average record, Wenger never seems to sign players with proven track records of goals.

There's young guys like Berardi as well who wouldn't be a bad bet.

Yeah I really like Griezmann too, think he's a great player.

The guy at Inter, Mauro Icardi, young Argentinian striker, he looked quite a talent a few seasons back, scored a lot of goals two seasons on the trot, he's gone off the boil a bit this season but I still think he looks a good player. It was rumoured we were in for him in the summer but Inter flat out refused to sell him.

[I am invisible]

I'd happily take another world-class, goal-scoring wide attacker a la Sanchez, if we can't find the world-class CF that we want - one or the other, as long as we inject some more world-class into the forward line somewhere.

A combination of Giroud, Walcott and Welbeck through the middle may even be ok, IF we get that extra world-class wide attacker, and IF we use the the 3 of them in a more sparing, highly targeted way (e.g. start Welbeck as the all-rounder, and then bring one or the other off the bench once we know what kind of game it's going to be).

Those 3 would have to accept sharing the one role though. If Walcott and Welbeck can't stay fit across a whole season, then no more game time out wide unless there's absolutely no other choice. And if Giroud's form is going to dip drastically every time he gets over a certain number of games, then he's gonna have to put up with heavy rotation and less game time. Tough shit, if they don't like it - either stake your claim in a serious way, or accept a more modular role where we have to manage your fitness and freshness.

What I absolutely do not want to see, is us either settling for another middling CF (we have enough of those already, thanks), or signing no one at all to boost the attack, if we can't get the world-class CF that we want.

[fakeyank]

We are getting Aguero then..

[Static]

Lukaku is the most obvious one considering the issues with others.

Even if he cost something like 50 he has enough years in him to repay it.

[Niall_Quinn]

Lukaku is the most obvious one considering the issues with others.

Even if he cost something like 50 he has enough years in him to repay it.

He's missed 9 games through injury since the start of the 13/14 season. Theo has missed 62 games in that period. Welbeck 47. Giroud 18.

During the period, Giroud has 59 goals, Welbeck 29, Walcott 19, Lukaku 57.

Lukaku scores a goal every 160 minutes, Giroud every 167 minutes, Welbeck every 300, Walcott every 243.

So I's rate Giroud and Lukaku as second tier strikers, and Welbeck and Walcott as nowhere near effective enough to be at a club supposedly chasing major honours. It could be argued Walcott and Welbeck haven't had the run of games or haven't played in the striker's role enough to realistically challenged the other two, but then again if you are injured all the time you aren't going to get the opportunities. If we aren't prepared to spend the money then Giroud is the best we can expect, and spending 50mill to replace him with Lukaku seems a lot of money for not a lot of gain.

[Marc Overmars]

Should the comparison not be from 12/13? That was Giroud's first year and also in essence Lukaku's as well at West Brom, as Chelsea never used him.

I'd rank Lukaku's progress as more impressive. Much younger than Giroud and has scored goals for an average Everton and an even more average West Brom. Put him in our team and I don't see why he wouldn't outscore Giroud comfortably. 50m for someone at home in this league, goals to his name, years away from his peak and even a sell-on value? Seems pretty ideal to me. The transfer market is ridiculous these days anyway, 50m was probably 25m a few years ago.

[Niall_Quinn]

The £50mill is a reflection of a crazy market, agreed. So why not embrace crazy wholeheartedly, add £20mill-30mill on top and put in an offer for a real game changer? 10 years of caution surely buys us one window of excess? It's not like we'd be throwing away the principles of the club, we'd just be doing a bit of much needed catch up.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

The principles of the club are to live within our means, 80million outlay on a striker is within our means now.

Would be interesting whether the board would be prepared to spend it even without a skinflint manager

[Kano]

£80m (maybe up to £100m based on the new TV deal) is probably the maximum the club can afford to sensibly spend in a transfer window based on the idea of 'living within their means.' Given we'll have Arteta, Flamini, Ospina, Debuchy and Rosicky leaving, replacements will be needed and some upgrades on Ox/Theo too, possibly in central defence. The whole £200m in the bank is before the annual stadium repayments and outstanding monies owed on player purchases (probably wages, structured deals). Both of which add up to around £100m and no business would ever empty out their entire cash flow if they want to stay afloat. There won't be any £80m players being bought anytime soon but we do have a very healthy pot to buy some very good players.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Does anybody still think Mane is worth 50million.....

[dostoy]

Sanogo has scored for Charlton today.

Problem solved.

I'm joking of course.

[GP]

Sanogo has scored for Charlton today.

Problem solved.

I'm joking of course.

He scored twice...

[GP]

Does anybody still think Mane is worth 50million.....

The Southampton guy?

Who thought that?

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Hat-trick for Sanogo. :bow:

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

The Southampton guy?

Who thought that?

Herbert Chapman.........the poster that is.

Not to Ighalo too!

[Niall_Quinn]

£80m (maybe up to £100m based on the new TV deal) is probably the maximum the club can afford to sensibly spend in a transfer window based on the idea of 'living within their means.' Given we'll have Arteta, Flamini, Ospina, Debuchy and Rosicky leaving, replacements will be needed and some upgrades on Ox/Theo too, possibly in central defence. The whole £200m in the bank is before the annual stadium repayments and outstanding monies owed on player purchases (probably wages, structured deals). Both of which add up to around £100m and no business would ever empty out their entire cash flow if they want to stay afloat. There won't be any £80m players being bought anytime soon but we do have a very healthy pot to buy some very good players.

The 80mill wouldn't just come out of the bank account, it would be spread over several seasons and incorporate performance payments etc. Like other clubs do it. With the financial strength of the club, the massive positive cashflow (unrivalled in football) and all the new money being dumped into the game 80 mill should be easily within our reach. And because of all the new money being pumped into the game, that's the going rate for an elite player these days. If we aren't prepared to pay it then drop the ticket prices and focus the team on the FA Cup and Europa League. Make the drop down to second tier status official and stop trying to lie to a fan base most of which stopped swallowing the stream of shit being pumped out by the leeches in charge and their bagman Wenger. Either we're in this to win or we're in this to return profits to investors.

That fat Russian shit who pretends to love the club gave the game away yesterday when he bought more shares for his family so they can "continue to enjoy and benefit from this investment for years to come." Nothing stopping the crook pumping his own cash in whenever he wants but not a penny from him so far, except the cost of the ink used in his self publicity campaigns. As for the American cock in charge, he probably has 80mill down the back of his sofa.

[dostoy]

Hat-trick for Sanogo. :bow:

After that he went off injured.

He needs a few more hat tricks for Charlton to be taken seriously.

[Static]

He's missed 9 games through injury since the start of the 13/14 season. Theo has missed 62 games in that period. Welbeck 47. Giroud 18.

During the period, Giroud has 59 goals, Welbeck 29, Walcott 19, Lukaku 57.

Lukaku scores a goal every 160 minutes, Giroud every 167 minutes, Welbeck every 300, Walcott every 243.

So I's rate Giroud and Lukaku as second tier strikers, and Welbeck and Walcott as nowhere near effective enough to be at a club supposedly chasing major honours. It could be argued Walcott and Welbeck haven't had the run of games or haven't played in the striker's role enough to realistically challenged the other two, but then again if you are injured all the time you aren't going to get the opportunities. If we aren't prepared to spend the money then Giroud is the best we can expect, and spending 50mill to replace him with Lukaku seems a lot of money for not a lot of gain.

He was playing for an inferior team and going by your post he compares pretty well to Giroud.

Now consider the fact that he is only 23, has more pace and arguably has more strength. He also has the physique to do the whole hold up play which is Giroud's strength.

Someone like Giroud but with pace would be ideal for us imo. That's what Lukaku is and he'll only get better.

[Marc Overmars]

The 80mill wouldn't just come out of the bank account, it would be spread over several seasons and incorporate performance payments etc. Like other clubs do it. With the financial strength of the club, the massive positive cashflow (unrivalled in football) and all the new money being dumped into the game 80 mill should be easily within our reach. And because of all the new money being pumped into the game, that's the going rate for an elite player these days. If we aren't prepared to pay it then drop the ticket prices and focus the team on the FA Cup and Europa League. Make the drop down to second tier status official and stop trying to lie to a fan base most of which stopped swallowing the stream of shit being pumped out by the leeches in charge and their bagman Wenger. Either we're in this to win or we're in this to return profits to investors.

That fat Russian shit who pretends to love the club gave the game away yesterday when he bought more shares for his family so they can "continue to enjoy and benefit from this investment for years to come." Nothing stopping the crook pumping his own cash in whenever he wants but not a penny from him so far, except the cost of the ink used in his self publicity campaigns. As for the American cock in charge, he probably has 80mill down the back of his sofa.

In fairness to the fat bloke he doesn't have a controlling stake, why would he pump money into something he has no say in?

Only we could end up with 2 of the richest people on the planet and not see a penny from them.

[GP]

We don't even need it.

[Niall_Quinn]

In fairness to the fat bloke he doesn't have a controlling stake, why would he pump money into something he has no say in?

Only we could end up with 2 of the richest people on the planet and not see a penny from them.

Because he loves the club so deeply, he's the biggest fan and everything he wants to do is for Arsenal and has nothing to do with wanting control.

[Globalgunner]

So you trust Wenger to spend 80m judiciously. Except in a case where we have agreed a price with Juve for say Pogba and Usmanov pays the cash personally. I would not give the cash to the club. We would either bank it or use it to pay the squad bonuses for winning a hattrick of FA cups or qualifying for CL 23 years in a row.
Or pay Arteta and Flamini loyalty bonuses to stay another year, or Wilshere the 200k pw that he no doubt deserves. Not spending money is Arsenes get out of jail card every season. Leicester will hopefully win this thing and put everyone else to shame.

[Özim]

Because he loves the club so deeply, he's the biggest fan and everything he wants to do is for Arsenal and has nothing to do with wanting control.

Noone is going to pump money into a club 2/3 owned by another Billionaire when they have no control over anything, I don't care how much you love a club, that would just be a p*ss take.

Putting your own money in when you own something like Abrahmovic does is one thing, but putting in money when someone else is going to benefit from it and is already loaded is someone completely different.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Nobody is asking anyone to pump money into this Club because Arsenal does not need 1p, 1c or 1 Rouble or whatever the fuck they use in Uzbekistan from anyone.

Just spend some of the fucking money generated from the mugs fans that have been shovelling money hand over fist into this extortion racket of a football club.

[Niall_Quinn]

Noone is going to pump money into a club 2/3 owned by another Billionaire when they have no control over anything, I don't care how much you love a club, that would just be a p*ss take.

Putting your own money in when you own something like Abrahmovic does is one thing, but putting in money when someone else is going to benefit from it and is already loaded is someone completely different.

I'm taking the piss out of Usmanov for being so transparent and so obnoxious. He's the guy who wanted to buy the place up and go straight to dividends. A lot of that 200mill would be in his pocket by now if he'd prevailed. The only good thing about Kroenke is he's not Usmanov. Both these "benefactors" are in Arsenal for what they can get out of it, one wants to leech at a slow and steady pace, the other wants to go full pelt. I don't expect for a minute either of them will ever contribute a penny to the club. But they could if they wanted to, in addition to the cash and resources the club already has. There are many routes to getting the players we need to elevate the club to the top level and none of them are being pursued. And the manager has come out and openly agreed with the policy. So there we stand.

[Özim]

Nobody is asking anyone to pump money into this Club because Arsenal does not need 1p, 1c or 1 Rouble or whatever the fuck they use in Uzbekistan from anyone.

Just spend some of the fucking money generated from the mugs fans that have been shovelling money hand over fist into this extortion racket of a football club.

That's down to Kroenke and Wenger though, Usmanov has no say in that, I was only responding to NQ's point about Usmanov putting in his own money when he's got no control or say at all.

[Özim]

I'm taking the piss out of Usmanov for being so transparent and so obnoxious. He's the guy who wanted to buy the place up and go straight to dividends. A lot of that 200mill would be in his pocket by now if he'd prevailed. The only good thing about Kroenke is he's not Usmanov. Both these "benefactors" are in Arsenal for what they can get out of it, one wants to leech at a slow and steady pace, the other wants to go full pelt. I don't expect for a minute either of them will ever contribute a penny to the club. But they could if they wanted to, in addition to the cash and resources the club already has. There are many routes to getting the players we need to elevate the club to the top level and none of them are being pursued. And the manager has come out and openly agreed with the policy. So there we stand.

Who knows, Usmanov has tonnes of money, who's to say he wouldn't do the same as Abrahmovic at Chelsea, all we know is that Kroenke isn't interested in spending money and is happy with 4th places and no success on the pitch.

[Niall_Quinn]

Who knows, Usmanov has tonnes of money, who's to say he wouldn't do the same as Abrahmovic at Chelsea, all we know is that Kroenke isn't interested in spending money and is happy with 4th places and no success on the pitch.

And we know that Usmanov is interested in taking money out of the club because he said as much. So if you had to choose between two abominable choices then pick the one that hurts the least. Neither are any good for us, that's for sure.