Summer transfer joy and happiness

[hobson's choice]

How Welbeck has carved out a career in top level football I'll never know, must be all these people always saying he has it all the attributes to be great but somehow he never gets any better.

Because he does everything well except for the scoring part. And for what Emery actually trying do he's very useful. One of our only attacking players who can actually win the ball. He knows and understands how to play wide, particularly the helping out the fullback part.

The scoring part is never gonna be consistent. Cause he's just builted awkward. Danny is very high IQ player.

[SMatthews]

Fergie loved having him in the squad, thought he was a very useful player that could be used in a number of positions and always put a shift in. Every squad needs one or two players like that.

[selassie]

are we going to get a fee? a sack of potatoes or something?

Sad isn’t it? Spuds and Liverpool are shifting their squaddies for 15million plus yet here we are discussing if we are going to get a fee for a half OK player.

We have a lot of shit to sort out, we are paying players surplus to our requirements fairly hefty wages.

[Marc Overmars]

are we going to get a fee? a sack of potatoes or something?

I think we're probably paying them tbh.

[I am invisible]

are we going to get a fee? a sack of potatoes or something?
https://i.imgur.com/2LRqOIY_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

[Power n Glory]

Because he does everything well except for the scoring part. And for what Emery actually trying do he's very useful. One of our only attacking players who can actually win the ball. He knows and understands how to play wide, particularly the helping out the fullback part.

The scoring part is never gonna be consistent. Cause he's just builted awkward. Danny is very high IQ player.

I'm not gonna lie, I thought he'd have been useful against City after seeing the lack of power from. Mkhitaryan and Ozil out wide. Danny is another player I think is best suited when the game is in front of him and playing on the counter. When trying to unlock a static defence he's a shambles. Hasn't got the finesse in his technique to control tight spaces and his movement isn't great either.

[Bumble]

I'm not gonna lie, I thought he'd have been useful against City after seeing the lack of power from. Mkhitaryan and Ozil out wide. Danny is another player I think is best suited when the game is in front of him and playing on the counter. When trying to unlock a static defence he's a shambles. Hasn't got the finesse in his technique to control tight spaces and his movement isn't great either.

i think Welbeck will be useful against Chelsea for example... a team who will attack us but he can be used on the counter as well as hound the defensive players and come back and defend himself. the more naturally creative players will be use against teams at home like Burnley, organised defensively but with limited will to attack especially early season when its just point accumulation.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Heck, when Litch goes down, Welbeck can play left back!

[Ralpheroo72]

Seen something on click bait sports that we are about to sign Yaya Toure? Could he still do a job? Useful addition?

[Goonermerree]

Seen something on click bait sports that we are about to sign Yaya Toure? Could he still do a job? Useful addition?

Definitely not!

[GP]

We aren't signing Toure.

[Marc Overmars]

He’ll sign for Fulham.

[Ralpheroo72]

He’ll sign for Barnet.

:gp:

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

10 years too late.

[Mac76]

There's talk of us going for Wan-Bissaka in the summer, that would be a very good signing IMO

https://www.eurosport.co.uk/football/premier-league/2018-2019/_sto7158754/story.shtml

[Bumble]

There's talk of us going for Wan-Bissaka in the summer, that would be a very good signing IMO

https://www.eurosport.co.uk/football/premier-league/2018-2019/_sto7158754/story.shtml

we are still being linked with him again. Not really seen him but he is supposed to be playing incredibly well this year. would be an odd signing for £40m supposed fee, unless we intend selling Bellerin for £70m.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Never going to pay that for a back up.

[Globalgunner]

Sell Bellend. He`s been Wengerised

[selassie]

There's talk of us going for Wan-Bissaka in the summer, that would be a very good signing IMO

https://www.eurosport.co.uk/football/premier-league/2018-2019/_sto7158754/story.shtml

Yeah he looks a talent.

Can't see how we are going to pay that kind of money for him when we need to sort out Central Defence, the wings, need a new left back and possibly and additional central midfielder.

[GP]

Yeah there's no way we're spunking the whole transfer budget on a backup Right-back

[Globalgunner]

Maybe Bellend wants to go to Barca and play backup to Semedo

[Mac76]

we don't know exactly how much money we'll have so i wouldn;'t be so quick to dismiss it

surely they can get £10m for Mustafi from some mug, plus Welbeck will be off the wage bill and we can get something for El Neny, also Lichtsteiner will be out, so we're savig a bit there with all those.

we without doubt need a better option to rotate/subsittute for Bellerin - at the moment we've real trash - it really says something that even i think Lichtsteiner's the best option and he's really not up to it...

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

If we had enough money and were it more of a priority.....Isco would be a good shout.

[Bumble]

If we had enough money and were it more of a priority.....Isco would be a good shout.

if we had enough money Mbappe would be a good shout.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I get it.....but hey, Mbappe is not regularly warming a big clubs bench, neither will he be in the foreseeable future.

NOTE: I know he wasn't getting on at the start of the season.

[Marc Overmars]

We should see if Bale would sign for us....

[Letters]

Or Kane.
He is a Gooner, after all.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Another one that will never happen, but I'd love Bale.

[SMatthews]

We’re in the habit of wasting money on overrated talent, so why not.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

He is quality...but his wages would rule us out alone.

Manolas available for 30mill...... could give them Mustafi plus a little change.

[Bumble]

He is quality...but his wages would rule us out alone.

Manolas available for 30mill...... could give them Mustafi plus a little change.

probably that would increase the price to £40m.

[SMatthews]

Adam Johnson is out - should be available on a free.

[Bumble]

Callum Hudson Odoi... if Chelsea don't want to play him - I am sure we could find room.

[Marc Overmars]

Think he will probably end up staying there because of the transfer ban.

[SMatthews]

Think he has a year left, so Chavs will no doubt have a few tempting offers put their way this summer.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

We seemed to be linked to Nicolo Barella a lot who looks a decent player on youtube (I know....don't they all). Seems very close to Torreira as a player though (who hasn't been getting into the side lately) so not sure why we would be that hot on it....

Maybe we are bringing him in to teach Mustafi how to slide tackle if he insists on doing it with gay abandon.

[Marc Overmars]

Bit of paper talk that we're interested in Umtiti.

Yes please.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Perhaps a little controversial but I don't rate Umtiti that highly. Most of the time I've watched him I've have wondered why his reputation is as high as it is.

[LDG]

Bum-titty bum-titty bum-titty bum.

There, I got it out of my system. Carry on.

[Globalgunner]

If it means we dump Mustafi on some Autobahn Ausfart. then Yes. Lets get Partey from Atleti too while we`re over there

[Chippy]

Bum-titty bum-titty bum-titty bum.

There, I got it out of my system. Carry on.

I also wanted to do that...... thank you, I feel better now.

[Mac76]

If it means we dump Mustafi on some Autobahn Ausfart. then Yes. Lets get Partey from Atleti too while we`re over there

"Unai Emery's 'avin a Partey..."

No...? Oh well... :getcoat:

[Maestro]

Not sure who we can and should get, there's the usual opinions out there and then there's reality of our limited budget and the vision of the management team. I think we should, however, be getting rid of the following players for sure either by design or due to contract expiry:

Cech
Lichtsteiner
Jenkinson
Mustafi
Elneny
Ramsey

Given those actual and potential departures as well as other existing weaknesess, we're left needing to replace in the following positions:

Goalkeeper - back up to Leno unless Martinez is sufficient?
Centre Back - quality required here
Left Back - not sure how much Nacho has left in his tank and Kola has defensive weaknesses if we need to play a flat back four
Central Midfielder - clearly with Ramsey off, and Elneny done we need quality here
Winger/Wider Forward - been lacking qualty here for a while and struggle changing tactics effectively due to lack of genuine wide options

With very little coming in from sales, maybe nominal amounts for Mustafi, Elneny and 2p for Jenko, we'll need some more inspired Torreira type signings. Young genuine quality at reasonable pices .......what are the chances and options out there?????

Discuss

[SMatthews]

I think we should definitely get rid of Cech - before he retires.

[Mac76]

People we should get rid of for sure:

Mustafi
El Neny
Mustafi
Jenkinson
Mustafi
Lichtsteiner
Mustafi

...and Mustafi

[Bumble]

People we should get rid of for sure:

Mustafi
El Neny
Mustafi
Jenkinson
Mustafi
Lichtsteiner
Mustafi

...and Mustafi

what about mustafi?

[Gooner23]

I think we should try and move on Mhiki as well, he flatters to deceive more often than not and is on big money.

[I am invisible]

This shows the challenge we face in overhauling the squad...

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/arsenal-player-wages-revealed-mesut-14173298

...quite simply we’ve got to get that wage bill under control before we start rebuilding.

In an ideal world, Özil and Mkhi would be the first names out the door on those contracts, but unfortunately the only way I see either of those going is once their contracts expire. So that means we may have to make some fairly brutal decisions elsewhere (e.g. cancelling Ramsey’s contract talks and letting Welbeck go when he’s on his way back from injury).

Anyone on that list who is either on over £90k/week or over 31/32 y/o could go, imo...

[I am invisible]

On the plus side, CL football will be a bonus, if we can secure it, and the new kit deal with Adidas sounds like it will bring in twice what we’re currently getting from Puma...

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I find it hard to believe we will buy any of the players I'd want us to sign even if they push all the high earners off a cliff and shoot the over 30's AND we make CL.

Player's that could genuinely push us on to the next level like Ndombele, Pepe, De Ligt, Alaba, Koulibaly, Malinkovic-savic, Isco....

I also think Koscielny is basically playing as good has has ever done right now, albeit he doesn't have the sort of partnership he had with Mertesacker at his best. I also hear his operation has actually completely dealt with the problem he had had for a few years so from a medical point of view and footballing point of view, keeping him isn't as daft as some would think.

We've been a burned a lot in recently years and are trying to change the page from the Wenger reign so I think we can be a bit to eager to get rid of players.... though I would agree that having a wage bill that is as much ahead of Spurs' as it is is unworkable.

.....but I do think Spurs are going to run into their own issues with their wage bill shortly.....

[Marc Overmars]

If the Suarez signing is any indicator then our targets will be run of the mill. I'm guessing a lot will depend on CL qualification.

On Suarez; is he Emery's Kim Kallstrom? What a pointless signing. :lol:

[dazthegooner]

At this moment in time we have no idea what the plans are for next season... Suarez? Hope this isn't the level we are looking for personally I don't think so Emery I would assume has players in mind and know's more regarding the financial situation so :pray:

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Manolas is the only high profileish player I can name we would be able to afford in the best case scenario of qualifying For the CL. Can’t think of too many others unless one of the big clubs are keen on selling cast offs for less than 40 mill.

[LDG]

.....but I do think Spurs are going to run into their own issues with their wage bill shortly.....

If they want to keep Son, Kane, Erricsson etc, they will have to bump up their wages. Makes sense they will have a much higher wage bill soon.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Or lose them.

I think Son is such a massive player for them. Really wish they didn't have him.

[Marc Overmars]

Yes Son is quality.

I’m hoping they suffer as we did when we had to sell our best players to pay the mortgage.

[SMatthews]

Or lose them.

I think Son is such a massive player for them. Really wish they didn't have him.

Eriksen is coming up to his last year. Alderweirdo can leave for £25m I think.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I'd rather they kept both and lost Son....but yes you are right.

[SMatthews]

Eriksen’s their most important player I think - they don’t have a replacement and players like him aren’t easy to find.

[I am invisible]

I find it hard to believe we will buy any of the players I'd want us to sign even if they push all the high earners off a cliff and shoot the over 30's AND we make CL.

Player's that could genuinely push us on to the next level like Ndombele, Pepe, De Ligt, Alaba, Koulibaly, Malinkovic-savic, Isco....

I also think Koscielny is basically playing as good has has ever done right now, albeit he doesn't have the sort of partnership he had with Mertesacker at his best. I also hear his operation has actually completely dealt with the problem he had had for a few years so from a medical point of view and footballing point of view, keeping him isn't as daft as some would think.

We've been a burned a lot in recently years and are trying to change the page from the Wenger reign so I think we can be a bit to eager to get rid of players.... though I would agree that having a wage bill that is as much ahead of Spurs' as it is is unworkable.

.....but I do think Spurs are going to run into their own issues with their wage bill shortly.....
I think there’s room to keep some of those expensive / older guys on, and I don’t think we’ll see all of them go, but I wouldn’t be shocked if we accepted offers for (or simply released) many of them. I can see there being one or two shocks there, if the right offer came in.

(And, unfortunately, I also think that the one or two older players that I’d choose to keep might want one final move back to their home countries this summer to see out their careers?)

The bottom line is there’s far too much fat on that wage bill and we need to get our operation leaner. When you look at the return we’re getting from guys like Torreira, Gendouzi, Holding and AMN who are probably on about half the money that we’re paying some of their competition, there’s gains to be had everywhere. Even if we can’t afford to shop at the de Ligt end of the market, we should still be expecting the people running this club to move us forward - Christ, even if all we do is bring players of a similar standard on less money who can handle away days, that would be something...

[I am invisible]

If the Suarez signing is any indicator then our targets will be run of the mill. I'm guessing a lot will depend on CL qualification.

On Suarez; is he Emery's Kim Kallstrom? What a pointless signing. :lol:
What’s happening on the technical director job, or whatever we’re calling it? Monchi and Overmars can’t have been the only names on the list? Someone st the club needs to get a grip, if that Suarez loan is anything to go by...

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I think there’s room to keep some of those expensive / older guys on, and I don’t think we’ll see all of them go, but I wouldn’t be shocked if we accepted offers for (or simply released) many of them. I can see there being one or two shocks there, if the right offer came in.

(And, unfortunately, I also think that the one or two older players that I’d choose to keep might want one final move back to their home countries this summer to see out their careers?)

The bottom line is there’s far too much fat on that wage bill and we need to get our operation leaner. When you look at the return we’re getting from guys like Torreira, Gendouzi, Holding and AMN who are probably on about half the money that we’re paying some of their competition, there’s gains to be had everywhere. Even if we can’t afford to shop at the de Ligt end of the market, we should still be expecting the people running this club to move us forward - Christ, even if all we do is bring players of a similar standard on less money who can handle away days, that would be something...

I think as you suggest any number of players could go.....but the departures will be mitigated by the fact that eventually you need to shut the out door and start replacing them which in itself is costly.

I think Koscielny specifically (as I thought with Santi) is worth making it worth his while to stay, but as he was looking to leave last summer, I wouldn't be surprised if he left this summer.

Sanchez was the man for us for away games and in that respect we still haven't replaced him. My main worry when Emery came here was his horrible away record in Spain so I hope the trend does not continue too long.

Nicolo Barella is one of the only players we've been linked to that looks like he can move to the next level, though i think he looks a bit too similar to Torreira. Umtiti I've never rated anywhere near as much as most.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Can't really think of many players affordable that will get us where we want to go.....but I'm not a professional scout.

[Bumble]

Can't really think of many players affordable that will get us where we want to go.....but I'm not a professional scout.

we certainly wont be boosting the coffers by selling Mustafi, who in the right mind would buy him.... well maybe west ham.

[SMatthews]

My main worry when Emery came here was his horrible away record in Spain so I hope the trend does not continue too long.
His away record in Spain was fine for the teams he managed - Valencia had the third best and Sevilla 4/5 - he did have one car crash season when they didn’t win away at all. Until we sort out the squad it will be hard to tell if it’s the players or the manager that struggle away.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

His away record in Spain was fine for the teams he managed - Valencia had the third best and Sevilla 4/5 - he did have one car crash season when they didn’t win away at all. Until we sort out the squad it will be hard to tell if it’s the players or the manager that struggle away.

Yes, that was the part that concerned me. I do think he tends to have an overly cautious approach away from home, but I think he is more willing to learn than other managers so I live in hope that he becomes more positive in this regard.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Also if we were looking for a right back....which we aren't or probably won't be...... Aaron Wan-Bisaka is it.

He really is the real deal. A little simple going forward, but absolutely the real deal.

[Özim]

IMO you should spend big and bring quality like Liverpool have done, for years we've scrimped and in turns wasted large amounts on cheaper players who don't work out, people scoffed at Liverpool paying for Van Dijk, now he's probably worth 2-3 times as much and is seen as if not the best, one of the best defenders in the world.

On top of that if you sign a big name, he pays back his transfer fee on merchandising alone, never mind all the rest.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Agree to an extent. If your recruiting staff back their judgement on a player that can take you to the next level.....then show it by paying a decent sum occasionally. Obviously we don't have 75 mill to spend on one player but we have paid big money for forwards and the same may be needed for a defender.

I remember before Aguero was signed by City It was pretty obvious he had the qualities to be a top player in the prem or at a top club. But he wasn't flavour of the month and there were other more fashionable players around and no team backed themselves by putting down a large fee for him until City did. We know how that turned out. He was obviously the best player outside of Real and Barca at the time....just as Santi was one of the best players outside the top clubs when we signed him.

Obviously they can afford costly mistakes.....but there are always a handful of top players not already playing at the top clubs that if you move quickly on, you can get.

[Özim]

Agree about Aguero, really wanted us to sign him, City got him and what a bargain he's turned out to be!

Just think top quality players improve those around them and sometimes you need to buy big, it's fairly obvious which players stand out and I think you need them to go to the next level.

If we hadn't wasted time buying Mustafi and Xhaka we could have signed someone top top notch with the 70 odd million we would have had to spend.

[Bumble]

If we hadn't wasted time buying Mustafi and Xhaka we could have signed someone top top notch with the 70 odd million we would have had to spend.
We could have got Van Dijk. think he would have improved our team more than those two.

[Globalgunner]

Mustafi and Xhaka for 70m is the biggest waste of money I can imagine. Spunking it all on black at Las Vegas would have given a better return

[SMatthews]

We could have got Van Dijk. think he would have improved our team more than those two.

It’s the beauty of hindsight. Everyone was staggered at the price Pool paid for him. Same for Mane at the time.

[Marc Overmars]

This is where having the right coach comes into play. Klopp has transformed that Liverpool team and elevated the game of every player in the squad. Van Dijk and Mane have doubled maybe even trebled in value.

Emery needs more of his own signings to work with and less remnants of Wenger’s closing years.

[Özim]

I think there should be a clearout this summer, some going on a free, Ramsey, Lichsteiner, Welbeck, then Cech is retiring, then we probably need to get rid of the likes of Mustafi, Eleneny, we also have some ageing players who probably need replacing now Koscielny is too injury prone and Monreal at 33 is probably at the tail end of his career at the top level, Suarez will head home after being a waste of time loan signing.

I wouldn't be against replacing Xhaka either.

You're probably looking at 7-8 leaving (4 for sure) so we'll have to be creative with replacements.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

We could have got Van Dijk. think he would have improved our team more than those two.

I don't think he had any interest in going to any other club aside from Liverpool.

[Özim]

I forgot about Jenkinson too, he has to go.

[Özim]

I don't think he had any interest in going to any other club aside from Liverpool.

They all say that and then a club offers them more money and they miraculously change their mind.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Emery does needs his own signings.....although Suarez was a weird one.

[SMatthews]

Guess he was a utility loan for the midfield as he can play left, right, middle. But he ended being pointless.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

They all say that and then a club offers them more money and they miraculously change their mind.

And yet nobody else did.

[Bumble]

Guess he was a utility loan for the midfield as he can play left, right, middle. But he ended being pointless.

Which was the more pointless January window loan signing Saurez or Kallstrom?

[Bumble]

It’s the beauty of hindsight. Everyone was staggered at the price Pool paid for him. Same for Mane at the time.

That is true but Van Dijk is an example that you can spend big on one player at a time. However, you need to a solid bedrock of a side to start with.

[Marc Overmars]

Which was the more pointless January window loan signing Saurez or Kallstrom?

Suarez for sure.

Kallstrom scored a penalty in the semi final shootout against Wigan. :bow:

[SMatthews]

Which was the more pointless January window loan signing Saurez or Kallstrom?

Suarez. Also, while Van Dijk has made a difference, so has Robertson and Allison. Along with Fabinho and Keita. Not all of that was Coutinho money but along with Suarez they’ve spent their money well.

[Özim]

And yet nobody else did.

What's your point? This happens all the time, one club bidding for a player.

My point was that just because a player says he wants to go to one club, doesn't mean he can't be swayed to move to another, money talks as they say.

[Özim]

That is true but Van Dijk is an example that you can spend big on one player at a time. However, you need to a solid bedrock of a side to start with.

Van Dijk actually helped raise the level of performances from some of his teammates, sometimes top players have a positive effect like this, they calm the players around them.

Liverpool have some talent, but you need top class players around them to get the best out of them, this is what our former manager failed to understand when he dismantled our best team and didn't keep some for the younger players to learn from.

[Maestro]

Cech
Lichtsteiner
Jenkinson
Mustafi
Elneny
Chambers
Asano
Ramsey
Mkhitaryan
Ozil
Monreal

Only regret is Ramsey there but couldn't be fucked if the rest left tbh, if we got any money out of it I'd be over the moon.

We need to start again and go back to basics.

[SMatthews]

Ozil has come out and said he isn’t leaving this summer.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Be lucky to get 50 million for that lot. And yes Ozil, won't be a part of it.

[Marc Overmars]

Of course Ozil wants to stay, he’s got it cushy here.

We need him off the wage bill so we can rebuild. Getting rid of him should be top of the to-do list this summer.

[SMatthews]

Yes, could be a tactic so he can leave and say he was forced out. He has a pretty good PR team. Further weakens our negotiations though.

But he has 2 years left of his contract and at 30 he has to be skipped on.

[fakeyank]

Cech
Lichtsteiner
Jenkinson
Mustafi
Elneny
Chambers
Asano
Ramsey
Mkhitaryan
Ozil
Monreal

Only regret is Ramsey there but couldn't be fucked if the rest left tbh, if we got any money out of it I'd be over the moon.

We need to start again and go back to basics.

Good list. I wouldnt mind keeping Monreal and Jenks out of the lot as backup players.

[Özim]

Would have to add Xhaka to that list the guy causes more goals for the opposition than he stops. Also Welbeck is out of contract, shouldn't offer this guy a new one either, he's always injured.

[selassie]

Be lucky to get 50 million for that lot. And yes Ozil, won't be a part of it.

We will be lucky to shift Ozil or Mkhi. They are both on big wages, the best we can hope for is loans out and I suspect we will have to pay half of their wage to subsidise the loans

I think we will have trouble shifting Mustafi too, could also be a loan.

We are in a real sticky situation with our squad, we are going to need to be super smart with our recruitment given we seem to have a limited budget. CL qualification is absolutely crucial TBH, more so now than ever before.

[Mac76]

Good list. I wouldnt mind keeping Monreal and Jenks out of the lot as backup players.

I agree re Monreal, i think people are being way too quick to write him off. And i agree with Ozim re getting rid of Xhaka and Welbeck

Tbh the more players we're prepared/able to shift the more we really can put a proper rebuild in place. With people like Nelson coming through and Holding and Hector returning from injury, if we can get of the deadwood and make some good new signings we could have a really fresh look about us

[Bumble]

I agree re Monreal, i think people are being way too quick to write him off. And i agree with Ozim re getting rid of Xhaka and Welbeck

Tbh the more players we're prepared/able to shift the more we really can put a proper rebuild in place. With people like Nelson coming through and Holding and Hector returning from injury, if we can get of the deadwood and make some good new signings we could have a really fresh look about us

i would be tempted to keep Welbeck, only because surely he is cheaper than having to find a new player to be 3rd choice and know what you are going to get. It would be better to focus on the many other areas of the team.

of that list the only ones we might get cash for are Chambers (English), Elneny.

Ramsey leaving on a free, Cech retiring. Lichsteiner we got on a free and old. Jenks might get £5m but it would be a championship club or again we could keep him as back up to Bellerin and let AMN play in midfield. After Ramsey, Elneny leave. Cant see Ozil or Mukhi leaving as who will pay them the silly money we do. Mustafi again.... people have seen him play so who would be interested.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I'm pretty sure the clear out many want won't happen and that if it did happen...we wouldn't adequately replace the dearly departed.

The work cannot all be done in one window I'm afraid.

For that reason as well as limited funds I would keep Monreal, Koscielny and would be inclined to keep at least one of Ozil and Mhki unless they are sufficiently replaced.

I'd be happy to keep Xhaka, because he is the best we have and losing him won't make us stronger. Our build up play looks lacking far too often without him. IF the club are adamant they want to replace him though and they replace him with somebody better, then be my guest.

I think we should be highlighting 2-3 players of top quality this summer with a realistic budget in mind.

1. Top Centre half
2. Top wide player with cutting edge!
3. A Top central midfielder

[Letters]

Of course Ozil wants to stay, he’s got it cushy here.

We need him off the wage bill so we can rebuild. Getting rid of him should be top of the to-do list this summer.

Completely disagree with this. He's one of our best players. Emery has hardly played him though which isn't Ozil's fault.
Personally I'd rather Emery start using him but I guess if Emery's not going to not play him then he should sell him, it's ridiculous to have a player on those wages sitting on the bench.
If him and Ramsey going it weakens our squad and needs addressing.

[SMatthews]

He has become a regular again in the past few months but when you can’t rely on Ozil away from home (even more so than the others) then I can see why he’s been dropped. 5 goals and 2 assists from 23 PL games is piss poor. On paper he’s one of our best players but it doesn’t translate onto the pitch enough.

[Letters]

Those stats are pretty damning, admittedly. Still think if used in the right way we could get a lot more out of him. Dropping him to the bench so often this season can't have helped him. Agree he hasn't delivered often enough this season though.

[Marc Overmars]

I'm done with Ozil tbh. Been mind fucked by him one too many times.

He can be a great player on his day but we don't get enough from him anymore and haven't done for a few years now.

Other clubs get so much more from their key players, it's sickening.

[Letters]

There's definitely a mentality issue at Arsenal. I'm not convinced replacing him with another player of similar quality is going to solve that.

[Marc Overmars]

Would prefer to replace him with a more direct and effective player who can operate from wide areas and do the one thing that seems to be a lost art these days, cross the bloody ball well. We've got 2 strikers who need a constant supply line, they're both probably good enough to get 50 goals a season between them, so lets play to their strengths.

Iwobi with enough coaching can probably do what Ozil does in terms of drifting into space and passing between the lines, even Torreria gets us moving forward quickly so I don't think Ozil is providing anything unique. Ozil's assists have long dried up, he doesn't really combine well with anyone now. You'd have to go back a few years to Alexis and Giroud for when Ozil was really making a difference up top but even that was short lived.

[SMatthews]

It’s about finding players that do have a better mentality. Although, that generally comes with spending a lot of money, as the best players with mental strength tend to arrive at the top end of the game. It’s either that, or spotting them early doors before they land at a big club. But given we haven’t replaced Sven and won’t in time for the summer, it’s not looking good at the moment.

[Maestro]

We will be lucky to shift Ozil or Mkhi. They are both on big wages, the best we can hope for is loans out and I suspect we will have to pay half of their wage to subsidise the loans

I think we will have trouble shifting Mustafi too, could also be a loan.

We are in a real sticky situation with our squad, we are going to need to be super smart with our recruitment given we seem to have a limited budget. CL qualification is absolutely crucial TBH, more so now than ever before.

I would make them both available on a free, we need to shift Ozil and Mikhi real quick. Our wage cap is killing us right now and tbh their contribution on the pitch no way justifies th wages we're paying them.

[SMatthews]

Regardless of Ozil’s wage he has two years left on his contract and as he isn’t signing a new one, he has to be moved on. Same with Miki.

Although it seems like Wenger was right - more and more players are happy to see out their contracts to get the bigger payday at the end.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

How much is Nicholas Pepe going to cost us? :d

[Bumble]

I would make them both available on a free, we need to shift Ozil and Mikhi real quick. Our wage cap is killing us right now and tbh their contribution on the pitch no way justifies th wages we're paying them.

I agree. the money saved on salary is like a transfer fee. ozil is the reason ramsey is leaving, ramsey when fit at least tries.

[Maestro]

Add Xhaka to that long list, useless fool

[Bumble]

we should just have a dfs style sale. sell anyone we receive a decent offer for. start from a blank slate.

[Mac76]

we should just have a dfs style sale. sell anyone we receive a decent offer for. start from a blank slate.

Yes with the exception of:

Bellerin
Laca
Auba
Leno
Holding
Sokratis
Guendouzi (on the basis he can get better)
Nelson

Everyone else can go IMO - though i am only including Kos in that as i just want him to retire while he can.still walk

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Sell virtually whoever we need to to sign Pepe from Lille.

Get in Rabiot on a free and pay him the salary saved on Rambo plus whoever else may go. He's been linked to Barca but they have De Jong coming in for big money and think they will be satisfied with that and look for an attacker after.


Then sign a Centre half of the right profile, good age, athletic, aggressive and can head a bloody ball.... Uppercano? Manolas?

Then get rid of;

Ospina
Chambers
Jenkinson
Welbeck (going anyways)
Rambo (going anyways)
Cech (going anyways)
Lichsteiner

Elneny is something of a nothing player but low wages, low resources and wont command a huge fee so no need to desperately sell.

Kos and Monreal I'd keep for experience and to avoid having to replace too many players.

Mhki and Ozil ......not sure who will realistically take them off our hands so Emery needs to stop wasting time and work out how to integrate them properly and maximise their qualities. It was already reported that Ozil turned down China and PSG so who the hell else would sign him.

[Özim]

There's so many players to clear out in this squad it's unreal, there's barely anyone worth keeping, Wenger really left us in a terrible state, the reality is we need to start again with this squad but don't have the funds to do so so we'll probably keep hold of a lot of the players who just don't cut it.

[Özim]

Sell virtually whoever we need to to sign Pepe from Lille.

Get in Rabiot on a free and pay him the salary saved on Rambo plus whoever else may go. He's been linked to Barca but they have De Jong coming in for big money and think they will be satisfied with that and look for an attacker after.


Then sign a Centre half of the right profile, good age, athletic, aggressive and can head a bloody ball.... Uppercano? Manolas?

Then get rid of;

Ospina
Chambers
Jenkinson
Welbeck (going anyways)
Rambo (going anyways)
Cech (going anyways)
Lichsteiner

Elneny is something of a nothing player but low wages, low resources and wont command a huge fee so no need to desperately sell.

Kos and Monreal I'd keep for experience and to avoid having to replace too many players.

Mhki and Ozil ......not sure who will realistically take them off our hands so Emery needs to stop wasting time and work out how to integrate them properly and maximise their qualities. It was already reported that Ozil turned down China and PSG so who the hell else would sign him.

What about Mustafi and Xhaka, surely those two have to go, I would have happily seen them released on frees' but we stupidly renewed Xhakas' contract last summer (one of the worst decisions possible), so now we're stuck with his calamitous errors every other match.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I forgot to say Mustafi. Fuhk me I must have been tired!

I wanted him gone this time last year.

Xhaka I want us to improve on, but ultimately he's lower down the priority list.

[Mac76]

I forgot to say Mustafi. Fuhk me I must have been tired!

I wanted him gone this time last year.

Xhaka I want us to improve on, but ultimately he's lower down the priority list.

No, Xhaka has to go, we simply can't afford to have someone who makes the kind of mistakes he does regularly, i'm convinced his actions have cost us way more points than they've gained us

[Özim]

No, Xhaka has to go, we simply can't afford to have someone who makes the kind of mistakes he does regularly, i'm convinced his actions have cost us way more points than they've gained us

He's useless, we need to get rid of him, he's actually a liability, likely to givewaway a goal at any time, would rather we never played him.

I'm not holding too much hope out for the transfer window, we seem to have nobody and are stuck with a bunch of average players we'll struggle to get rid of, there's just too many to replace. It looks like we'll have very little money, the owner just doesn't care at all, I'm not sure where we go from here, we held onto Wenger for far too long, we got rid of him at the worst time really, after he'd spent all the money and had signed rubbish and left us with barely any quality.

Should be a warning to all clubs that holding onto a manager too long has a massive impact on a club and can affect it's chances for many years after they leave.

I'm not sure where we go from here tbh.

[Mac76]

He's useless, we need to get rid of him, he's actually a liability, likely to givewaway a goal at any time, would rather we never played him.

I'm not holding too much hope out for the transfer window, we seem to have nobody and are stuck with a bunch of average players we'll struggle to get rid of, there's just too many to replace. It looks like we'll have very little money, the owner just doesn't care at all, I'm not sure where we go from here, we held onto Wenger for far too long, we got rid of him at the worst time really, after he'd spent all the money and had signed rubbish and left us with barely any quality.

Should be a warning to all clubs that holding onto a manager too long has a massive impact on a club and can affect it's chances for many years after they leave.

I'm not sure where we go from here tbh.

The only assets we have are about 4-5 high quality players and the stadium - but we need the owners to start taking serious notice before our previous successes fade too far into the background

i almost wonder if we'd be better off not winning the EL, so the owners would realise they had to take action, especially given the success of the other top clubs

i'm willing to bet that if we win the EL and scrape through it to the CL they'll think it's all ok and won't invest or seriously scrutinise Emery's performance

[Özim]

The only assets we have are about 4-5 high quality players and the stadium - but we need the owners to start taking serious notice before our previous successes fade too far into the background

i almost wonder if we'd be better off not winning the EL, so the owners would realise they had to take action, especially given the success of the other top clubs

i'm willing to bet that if we win the EL and scrape through it to the CL they'll think it's all ok and won't invest or seriously scrutinise Emery's performance

I can only really think of Lacazette who would command a significant sum, Aubameyang is 30 so his value would have dropped, Bellerin we might get 40 million for (but in todays market that's not a lot and we'd need to replace him as well), Torreira we might get a bit for, but he's been hit and miss as well this season so we wouldn't get a ge amount for him and again would need to replace him.

Who else is there who would command more than 25 odd million in reality?

On top of that we can't really afford to sell these guys, because they won't raise big funds and replacing them would cost nearly as much anyway and also because without them we'd be really poor. There's no Coutinho in our team we could sell for 140 million unfortunately.

I honestly don't think the owner cares and that's the problem, he's making money, he never comes to matches, talks to the cameras about Arsenal, he's not interested in football, he's really the worst kind of owner, one that is a businessman and has no interest in football at all (it's always better to have someone who enjoys the sport).

I don't think we'll get much money in the summer and to be honest there's so much that needs replacing as well, a fair few we probably couldn't give away.

[Mac76]

yes, sorry by assets i was talking more about what we have currently that is in our favour in terms of owners investing in our future as a top club - i don't think for a moment we should sell our top players at all. i'd much rather a big clear-out fof the lesser-quality ones though as otheres have said, i don't know how realistic that will be

and in terms of attracting more high-quality players - even if we had a decent transfer budget, why would players who want to win things come to us? They could see we do have some top players plus a big modern stadium - but that's about it...

[Özim]

yes, sorry by assets i was talking more about what we have currently that is in our favour in terms of owners investing in our future as a top club - i don't think for a moment we should sell our top players at all. i'd much rather a big clear-out fof the lesser-quality ones though as otheres have said, i don't know how realistic that will be

and in terms of attracting more high-quality players - even if we had a decent transfer budget, why would players who want to win things come to us? They could see we do have some top players plus a big modern stadium - but that's about it...

Yes I agree, but sadly I don't see the owner investing and there lies the problem for us, we need money to bring in quality but the owner seems to have no interest in putting money in which leaves us in a difficult position.

We don't really have that many up and coming players, we got 1 or 2 maybe but who knows if they will make it.

Regarding attracting players, if we don't qualify for the CL we'll probably struggle with that too, I think our reputation has taken a real hit in the last 10 years too, top players don't see us as challengers, the only reason you'd come now is for money so we'd have to pay them a lot but with our high wage bill that would be tough too.

[Letters]

I honestly don't think the owner cares and that's the problem, he's making money, he never comes to matches, talks to the cameras about Arsenal, he's not interested in football, he's really the worst kind of owner, one that is a businessman and has no interest in football at all (it's always better to have someone who enjoys the sport).

Correct.

And this is why getting rid of Wenger, although necessary, was no silver bullet.
Gary called this years ago, he knew about Kronke from his American franchises.
I think I read that Kronke is the only owner in the PL who hasn’t put in any of his own money.

[GP]

We should sign Manolas and Umtitty

[Globalgunner]

Correct.

And this is why getting rid of Wenger, although necessary, was no silver bullet.
Gary called this years ago, he knew about Kronke from his American franchises.
I think I read that Kronke is the only owner in the PL who hasn’t put in any of his own money.

Getting the right man in would have improved things. Greatly, depending on the individual
Kroenkes money isnt needed if he is not taking money out of the club, which now he is perfectly entitled to.

What I want to know, is where all the money we had 3 years ago went to. Was it all on Ozils wages. How do West Ham and Fulham get to spend more money than us. This club is really badly managed.

[I am invisible]

Getting the right man in would have improved things. Greatly, depending on the individual
Kroenkes money isnt needed if he is not taking money out of the club, which now he is perfectly entitled to.

What I want to know, is where all the money we had 3 years ago went to. Was it all on Ozils wages. How do West Ham and Fulham get to spend more money than us. This club is really badly managed.
It’s probably all still sat there somewhere - we just can’t really use it for anything until there’s room to add to the wage bill again.

The new Adidas deal should buy us some room to manoeuvre, as should losing Ramsey, Welbeck, Cech and Lichsteiner, but we shouldn’t let it stop there - that wage bill is out of control and needs to be reeled in...

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I can only really think of Lacazette who would command a significant sum, Aubameyang is 30 so his value would have dropped, Bellerin we might get 40 million for (but in todays market that's not a lot and we'd need to replace him as well), Torreira we might get a bit for, but he's been hit and miss as well this season so we wouldn't get a ge amount for him and again would need to replace him.

Who else is there who would command more than 25 odd million in reality?

On top of that we can't really afford to sell these guys, because they won't raise big funds and replacing them would cost nearly as much anyway and also because without them we'd be really poor. There's no Coutinho in our team we could sell for 140 million unfortunately.

I honestly don't think the owner cares and that's the problem, he's making money, he never comes to matches, talks to the cameras about Arsenal, he's not interested in football, he's really the worst kind of owner, one that is a businessman and has no interest in football at all (it's always better to have someone who enjoys the sport).

I don't think we'll get much money in the summer and to be honest there's so much that needs replacing as well, a fair few we probably couldn't give away.

You've essentially made my argument for me and stated why we can't get rid of Xhaka without saying the words 'we can't get rid of Xhaka'. Nobody is going to pay us decent money for him and whatever we did get for him, will be half the amount it will cost us to replace him with a player who progresses the ball as well. IF......we can manage to bring Rabiot in, then fine.......but there aren't many players of that calibre knocking around. And as a free agent it's him who has the power.

If we had kept Santi as we should have done, I'd sooner see him walk around the pitch for 90 minutes than see Xhaka chasing shadows and playing hospital passes half the time. But we didn't keep him.

CB And a wide player with a serious goal threat come before a midfielder IMO.

[selassie]

How much is Nicholas Pepe going to cost us? :d

Surely he is out of our price range right now?

Mind you the tabloids keep linking us with him and Zaha, both players are rumoured to have 60m+ price tags on their head.

No idea what our real transfer budget is...though I can't get excited because I do think we will need to do a BIG cull before we start bringing players in.

[selassie]

There's so many players to clear out in this squad it's unreal, there's barely anyone worth keeping, Wenger really left us in a terrible state, the reality is we need to start again with this squad but don't have the funds to do so so we'll probably keep hold of a lot of the players who just don't cut it.

Yep, Wenger left us right in the shit with this squad. It's ironic that he use to preach on about "value for money" and "self sustainability" yet he left us a squad of players nobody wants to touch who are all on high wages, it's actually laughable.

Let this sink in, we couldn't get rid of Mustafi last season...what's the betting his stock is even lower now? He's on over 100k per week too!

As others have stated, the Mkhi and Ozil wage situations are disturbing. We are going to really struggle to move these guys on.

Many of our squad players are literally on the scrapheap, Jenkinson is going to be difficult to move on, I read somewhere his wage is 70k per week!!!!

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Surely he is out of our price range right now?

Mind you the tabloids keep linking us with him and Zaha, both players are rumoured to have 60m+ price tags on their head.

No idea what our real transfer budget is...though I can't get excited because I do think we will need to do a BIG cull before we start bringing players in.

Unless PSG sign him..... I don't really see why he should be out of our price range. Real will be focused on Hazard, Chelsea have Pulisic and are banned from buying this summer. City will look to replace Fernandinho and most of the others we should be able to compete with.

I have no doubt he'd cost a lot though, but that's why I think we should be looking at 2-3 core players that can make a difference and take us to the next level and not fantasising over a mass exodus style clear out with about 15 players to replace.


Let's take an optimistic view..... Adidas give us 30 million on top of our 70 million. Sell Chambers for 20, Mustafi for 10. That's 130 million.

I'd be willing to spend half of that on Pepe. Then you have 60-70 on a top centre half and a midfielder......and more if you get Rabiot on a free.

[Maestro]

Unless PSG sign him..... I don't really see why he should be out of our price range. Real will be focused on Hazard, Chelsea have Pulisic and are banned from buying this summer. City will look to replace Fernandinho and most of the others we should be able to compete with.

I have no doubt he'd cost a lot though, but that's why I think we should be looking at 2-3 core players that can make a difference and take us to the next level and not fantasising over a mass exodus style clear out with about 15 players to replace.


Let's take an optimistic view..... Adidas give us 30 million on top of our 70 million. Sell Chambers for 20, Mustafi for 10. That's 130 million.

I'd be willing to spend half of that on Pepe. Then you have 60-70 on a top centre half and a midfielder......and more if you get Rabiot on a free.

wtf is going to buy Chambers for 20M from us?? or maybe i just don't have any idea on current market values??

[Mac76]

wtf is going to buy Chambers for 20M from us?? or maybe i just don't have any idea on current market values??

I've seen comments from Foolham fans saying Chambers and Babel were the only two decent players and Chambers showed a lot of spirit, tbh i think i mid or lower table team would pay that kind of money for him

[SMatthews]

...and not fantasising over a mass exodus style clear out with about 15 players to replace.

And that's what should be remembered (but it won't be by many). Every year there's a 'wish list' of players to get rid of and every year it is never completely fulfilled. The changes to this squad are going to take time for a number of reasons, probably two summers at the very least. Fans shouldn't be surprised if some of the names they want gone this summer are still here come September.

[KSE Comedy Club]

And that's what should be remembered (but it won't be by many). Every year there's a 'wish list' of players to get rid of and every year it is never completely fulfilled. The changes to this squad are going to take time for a number of reasons, probably two summers at the very least. Fans shouldn't be surprised if some of the names they want gone this summer are still here come September.

As long as Mustafi goes, I can be plenty patient ;)

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

wtf is going to buy Chambers for 20M from us?? or maybe i just don't have any idea on current market values??

For the last 2 years there have been 2 bids in that region which the club have rejected......and it was a lot more than just hearsay.

[Globalgunner]

For the last 2 years there have been 2 bids in that region which the club have rejected......and it was a lot more than just hearsay.

We should keep Chambers IMO. He can be a decent player if well coached and is right now better than El Neny will ever be. He is versatile as CB and DM, plus need him as part of our home grown quota and is on reasonable wages...40k I have heard

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Pepe's release clause is 43 million apparently.

Come on Arsenal.

[Letters]

Yep, Wenger left us right in the shit with this squad.
The squad which finished a point below Spurs - a team who everyone is wanking themselves into a coma about - and got to the Europa League final?
I think we can all agree that we need some work but the top 2 aside we're as good as anyone.

[Gooner23]

CB, CM and winger are the 3 positions we should be prioritising.

We can probably fill some of the other gaps by promoting some of the youth.

[Mac76]

For me it's as important to get rid of some players which we really don't want /need as well as signing new ones

i will be very annoyed if Mustafi's still here come August, and personally would like to see the back of Xhaka too, plus Elneny and others who aren't good enough - for as long as those players are on the books there's the possibility of them playing, which i really don't want to see

i do agree with maybe keeping Chambers as a versatile player

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Think you're going to go into next season very very disappointed.

[SMatthews]

According to The Orn, our priorities this summer are a CB and box-to-box midfielder.

[SMatthews]

Griezmann has finally grown a pair and decided to leave Atletico.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Going to Barcelona it seems. :rose:

[Globalgunner]

Going to Barcelona it seems. :rose:

Atleti may revive their interest in Laca

[SMatthews]

“I don’t think it will be the most spectacular summer for Arsenal but I do think they have some very important business to be done.

“It all depends on their budget. If they’re playing Europa League football next season it looks like it will be around £40m. If it’s Champions League it would be significantly higher. They also have revenue streams coming on board with the new Adidas kit deal.

“If it’s Europa League you’ve got to remember it’ll be their third year in that competition. They’ve also heavily invested in the last year or so, especuially in the striking department, and they are adamant they will not break Financial Fair Play.

“Despite still waiting to appoint a Technical Director/Sporting Director/Director of Football, they still have identified targets and conversations are underway. They are looking for experience and youth in their recruitment.

“Their priorities are a central defender, Jeremy Wilson of the Telegraph mentioned the Getafe and Togo centre-half, Djené, he’s under contract until 2023 with a reported value of £13.5m.

“The other priority is a box to box midfielder. Previously, in January, they came close to a deal for Christopher Nkunku from PSG – this is course is to replace Aaron Ramsey. Adrian Rabiot is a player they’ve tried to sign in the past, and they have a long-standing interest in him, however he is a complex individual and has had some issues off the pitch.

“As a sort of secondary brief they’d be looking for a wide forward and in January came close to a deal for Ivan Perisic, and had interest in Yannick Carrasco. Possibly a centre-forward with Danny Welbeck leaving, and Eddie Nketiah would go on loan if they did bring a centre-forward in.

“There is interest in bringing in a left back and possibly a right back, but again those are secondary to the centre-half and box to box midfielder.

“Not to forget they’d be looking to integrate young players too. Reiss Nelson coming back from his loan, Emile Smith Rowe, Joe Willock and Bukayo Saka who is said to be the most highly rated prospect – he’s a wide forward, but extremely young.”


The Orn has spoken.

[Özim]

Heavily invested? In what, we spent peanuts last summer.

On top of that a winger should be a priority too, the current lot are hopeless and we need more creativity for the strikers, thats more important than a box to box midfielder IMO.

As usual looks like we're going to go for the very cheap options, that's not going to get us anywhere, Wenger did this for years and look where we are now. This club is going nowhere if this is true, we need big investment and we seem to be looking at peanuts again.

[Marc Overmars]

Greaseman to Barca for 108m.

Surely they will be flogging Coutinho?

[Globalgunner]

Coutinho is a sold man walking

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

According to The Orn, our priorities this summer are a CB and box-to-box midfielder.

Iwobi will be delighted.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

If we win the WEFA cup we're looking at around 100million. Sell Chambers and Mustafi and whoever else and it's 130 million plus.

Sign a CB...Manolas? Rabiot on a free, Pepe for 43 million.

If we had ideas for AMN to be a midfielder, then go after Wan-Bisaka too who is the real deal.

[Marc Overmars]

Rabiot is a bit of a no brainer IMO, an easy replacement for Ramsey. Not too concerned with questions over his personality, it was said that Auba could be difficult to work with but that's hard to believe from what we've seen of him here.

I'm not expecting much this summer anyway. I can't see the club making the type of signings we need and if we do they will probably be from the reduced aisle of the supermarket.

I feel that might be the case with or without CL qualification.

[SMatthews]

Rabiot is a bit of a no brainer IMO, an easy replacement for Ramsey. Not too concerned with questions over his personality, it was said that Auba could be difficult to work with but that's hard to believe from what we've seen of him here.

I'm not expecting much this summer anyway. I can't see the club making the type of signings we need and if we do they will probably be from the reduced aisle of the supermarket.

I feel that might be the case with or without CL qualification.

I agree - even if we shift one or both of our biggest earners.

Apparently we’re about to post a £60m loss according to AST and talk of cutbacks within the club have been doing the rounds for a while.

i think it’s becuse of the wage bumps we handed out and the money spent on Auba last January on top of Laca. At the same time our income has dropped quite a bit over the past two years after being in the Europa.

Speaking of which, Auba only has two years left and his agent will no doubt be looking for an improved contract, as will Laca no doubt (3 years left I think).

We won’t be buying any big name players. It will be prospects ready to make the next step or youngsters with potential - especially when Edu arrives.

[Marc Overmars]

I'll be feeling a lot better if/when Edu is appointed. Right now it's hard to see what kind of vision is in place with the club a bit rudderless.

It does seem like not being in the CL has hit the club a lot harder than we were led to believe it would.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I think Rabiot probably does have a bit of an ego...... but I don't think he's so out of control that we should be turning our nose up on a player who could save us 40 odd million in transfer fees. Of course we'd pay him more with the signing on fees but we'd still be saving money.

A lot of people think we can't compete for top players....and I get why, but the 3/4 clubs with limitless funds can't buy every decent player in the world every summer. They won't be available indefinitely though so we should be looking to move quickly.

[Gooner23]

I'll be feeling a lot better if/when Edu is appointed. Right now it's hard to see what kind of vision is in place with the club a bit rudderless.

It does seem like not being in the CL has hit the club a lot harder than we were led to believe it would.

If the January signing of Suarez is anything to go by we should be worried about what this summer will bring!

[Marc Overmars]

Zaha wants to leave Palace.

Cheeky bid?

[Letters]

Zaha wants to leave Palace.

Cheeky bid?

Meh.

Not really at the level that would push us on, is he?

[SMatthews]

He’s one of the best forward wide players in the league - way ahead of Iwobi.

19 goals and 8 assists over the past two seasons for a bottom half team is pretty damn good.

But either way, he has four years on his contract, is British and would cost upwards of £70m so no chance!

[Marc Overmars]

Meh.

Not really at the level that would push us on, is he?

Well he’s better than our current options but probably well out of our price range. Most players who would push us are likely to be too expensive for us anyway.

[Özim]

If the January signing of Suarez is anything to go by we should be worried about what this summer will bring!

Yeah not gonna lie, based on what we're hearing it doesn't sound good, cheap bargain basement type signings are unlikely to raise you to a higher level unless you get exceptionally lucy and unearth a gem, which these days is very rare (and are discovered by smaller clubs oddly).

We've not had great success with buying cheap, so I don't trust the club to find the right players, fact is we need top quality now if we realistically want to raise our level, but it seems the club isn't interested in that, last summer we spent peanuts relatively speaking and that didn't work out too well, we've ended up 5th and had to watch rubbish players populating the team every game.

We really need to get rid of these guys, but it seems we may be lumbered with them for quite a while, who's dubm idea was it to give Xhaka/Chambers a new contract last summer?

On top of that we still have no replacement for Mislintat, that's a bit of a shambles too, like much of what this club does these days.

Based on what I've heard I'm expecting another average summer followed by another mediocre season, where's the progress?

[Özim]

Well he’s better than our current options but probably well out of our price range. Most players who would push us are likely to be too expensive for us anyway.

Exactly, that will be our entire budget (possibly more) on one player and we'll be lumbered with that rubbish the former manager left us with.

Basically we need some free transfers to save our summer, Rabiot is one but he'll probably choose some other club that better serves his ambition to be honest.

[Bumble]

We've not had great success with buying cheap, so I don't trust the club to find the right players, fact is we need top quality now if we realistically want to raise our level, but it seems the club isn't interested in that, last summer we spent peanuts relatively speaking and that didn't work out too well, we've ended up 5th and had to watch rubbish players populating the team every game.


that's not quite right, do you not think Leno, Guendouzi and Torreira were actually bad signings? as that is what you are implying. they were good signings.

the problem was that mustafi kept playing. he is one of the worst signing ever in the premier league. had holding stayed fit he would have made the difference.

[Letters]

Exactly, that will be our entire budget (possibly more) on one player and we'll be lumbered with that rubbish the former manager left us with.

Basically we need some free transfers to save our summer, Rabiot is one but he'll probably choose some other club that better serves his ambition to be honest.

Maybe one day, Zim, the logic will click into place that a lot of the reason our squad needs work is because of the budget our former and current manager are working with.
Because of our owner who isn't interested in success.
I know you like to pretend that Wenger is the root of all evil but it's a bit more complicated than that.

[Özim]

Maybe one day, Zim, the logic will click into place that a lot of the reason our squad needs work is because of the budget our former and current manager are working with.
Because of our owner who isn't interested in success.
I know you like to pretend that Wenger is the root of all evil but it's a bit more complicated than that.

That's rubbish sorry, 35 million on Xhaka, 30 odd million on Mustafi, 200k wages on Mhkitaryan because we never tied down Sanchez, Ramsey leaving on a free because again he never got him signed up early, Ozil on 300k because he never signed him up or sold him before he had 8 months left and there's countless other examples of wasting money, Perez, Jenkinsons ridiculous contract, Wishere leaving on a free when we'd been offered 30-40 million for him a season before and the list goes on and on.

He got plenty of money but he utterly wasted it and brought in average players, which is what the current manager has been lumbered with, don't get me wrong he's not covered himself in glory either but this squad he's inherited is awful, he's left the manager with almost no assets of any value to raise money with either, obviusly the owner is at fault as he won't invest but with that in mind Wenger really screwed over the new manager as he had no players of any value he can sell because Wenger wasted what we had.

There's a good reason Wenger is still out of work (despite his claim that he's had plenty of offers).

[Özim]

that's not quite right, do you not think Leno, Guendouzi and Torreira were actually bad signings? as that is what you are implying. they were good signings.

the problem was that mustafi kept playing. he is one of the worst signing ever in the premier league. had holding stayed fit he would have made the difference.

Leno has been really good, Guendouzi has been decent but he's not a world beater and we need more ready made players than him, Torreira is decent but we knew that from the World Cup, we snapped him up in time I just don't trust the club especially now we've lost Mislintat and have noone to replace him.

Trouble with buying cheap is you'r just as likely to end up with a Lichsteiner or Xhaka as you are a Torreira, we've done it and enough over the years to know this.

[Letters]

He got plenty of money.
:lol:

You literally just said "that will be our entire budget" and lamented the lack of funds for our manager.
Are you suggesting that is a new policy and our previous manager had loads of money?
I mean, I agree he wasted a lot of money but our manager doesn't have the budget that the managers of some of our rivals have.

[Letters]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfnrY8ISR9w

[Özim]

:lol:

You literally just said "that will be our entire budget" and lamented the lack of funds for our manager.
Are you suggesting that is a new policy and our previous manager had loads of money?
I mean, I agree he wasted a lot of money but our manager doesn't have the budget that the managers of some of our rivals have.

Yes because the current manager is getting very little money considering how much he needs to fix this mess, 70 million in todays money buys you next to nothing as transfer fees are now astronomical.

Wenger didn't get huge amounts, but certainly in more recent times he spent a fair amount and wasted a lot of that (transfers were not as bad as they are now in the whole time), probably a few hundred million that could have been better spent, money we could reall do with considering the owner isn't going to put a penny in. What's worse is that these players either can't be shifted or have no value and are all on huge wages making it a real drain on resources.

I know it's not the same as the money Man City have spent, but certainly it would equate to what Liverpool have had in recent times and look what they've done with it.

So in short yes Wenger really messed it up for the existing manager, he left him with a squad full of duds and spent and wasted large amounts we could use now.

[Letters]

I know it's not the same as the money Man City have spent, but certainly it would equate to what Liverpool have had in recent times and look what they've done with it.
Nope.

See video above. :good:

[Özim]

Nope.

See video above. :good:

That goes back to the 90s, I said in recent times, not even sure if that takes into account money recouped or not anyway.

If you look in recent years Liverpool haven't spend huge amounts, they've sold players and brought in quality using that, yes they have spent but probably no more than us.

[Letters]

It does go back a while but we only briefly even appear in the list. We have started spending more recently but not compared with the top sides.
Liverpool have hardly been frugal and Utd have spent a shitload and finished below us.

[SMatthews]

Apparently bidding £10m for an Argentine international CB who plays for Gremio in Brazil called Walter Kannemann. Obviously through Edu’s contacts.

[Letters]

If you look in recent years Liverpool haven't spend huge amounts, they've sold players and brought in quality using that, yes they have spent but probably no more than us.
Livepool have spent £500m in the last 4 years.
Maybe we'll have to disagree about what "huge amounts" is. They've recouped 367m, largely because of Coutinho, which has helped them do that.
We have spent 334 in the same period, hardly pocket change but a lot less than Liverpool. We've recouped 157
Actually our net spend is higher, but when you sell one player for over £100m it does help to buy.
We have managed certain contract situations poorly though which has meant players leaving for free or nowhere near their market value because they were at or towards the end of their contract.

[SMatthews]

The net spend argument is utter bollocks as clubs calculate costs through amortisation.

[Chippy]

Yeah not gonna lie, based on what we're hearing it doesn't sound good, cheap bargain basement type signings are unlikely to raise you to a higher level unless you get exceptionally lucy and unearth a gem, which these days is very rare (and are discovered by smaller clubs oddly).

We've not had great success with buying cheap, so I don't trust the club to find the right players, fact is we need top quality now if we realistically want to raise our level, but it seems the club isn't interested in that, last summer we spent peanuts relatively speaking and that didn't work out too well, we've ended up 5th and had to watch rubbish players populating the team every game.

We really need to get rid of these guys, but it seems we may be lumbered with them for quite a while, who's dubm idea was it to give Xhaka/Chambers a new contract last summer?

On top of that we still have no replacement for Mislintat, that's a bit of a shambles too, like much of what this club does these days.

Based on what I've heard I'm expecting another average summer followed by another mediocre season, where's the progress?

:lol:
What a depressing club we support!

[Özim]

Livepool have spent £500m in the last 4 years.
Maybe we'll have to disagree about what "huge amounts" is. They've recouped 367m, largely because of Coutinho, which has helped them do that.
We have spent 334 in the same period, hardly pocket change but a lot less than Liverpool. We've recouped 157
Actually our net spend is higher, but when you sell one player for over £100m it does help to buy.
We have managed certain contract situations poorly though which has meant players leaving for free or nowhere near their market value because they were at or towards the end of their contract.

Yes but that's because they signed the right players, Coutinho was bought and was a success and his value rocketed, we on the other hand have spent on duds and thus have next to no resaleable assets and that's my point, poor management of the highest order, effectively our spend was higher because we wasted money and had no assets to raise money with, that's not the clubs fault it's the managers for wasting the resources we had.

We've lost a lot of potential income through poor contracts, players walking away on frees, paying too high salaries to nobodies, but again that was all done to the previous manager and his poor handling, he has to take a lot of the blame for this, whereas if you look at Klopp he's largely got it right and not wasted Liverpools resources in the same way.

Wenger as I said really messed up for th new manager, we know the owner isn't going to put money in, but if that's the case you have to use what you do have wisely, Wenger despite professing his love for the club and repeatedly saying he'll only sign super super quality did the exact opposite, he also massively overrated his players and had some odd belieft that everyone should get paid loads regardless of how well they had performed.

We left it far too late to let him go IMO, those few extra years allowed him to create a team of overrated overpriced average players and allowed him to waste most of the resources we had at the same time, this was a big error of judgment, something we may end up paying for for years, I guess this is can happen when you keep a manager on too long, we're not stuck with players we can't get rid of, have a wage billl that's is way too high compared to the talent relatively speaking and have very little money to spend and it now seems if the reports are true we're going after a 28 year old CB from Argentina for 10 odd million because of it, a player who in a few years will again need to be replaced due to his age.

[Marc Overmars]

Allegri is leaving Juve.

Sign him up. :ninja:

I bet United regret appointing OGS even more now.

[Özim]

Wonder where he will go, PSG maybe, they're the biggest club looking for a manager, Tuchel has been an utter failure, not sure where he got his repuation from, he's not really achieved anything prior to PSG.

[SMatthews]

Allegri is leaving Juve.

Sign him up. :ninja:

I bet United regret appointing OGS even more now.

Probably Barca - Valverde hasn’t got a leg to stand after that embarrassment.

[Globalgunner]

Bayern will be keen too I guess. Kovac making a mountain of a 1 horse race in the Bundesliga

[Özim]

Good point, Barca, Bayern or PSG (Tuchel think he's going to make 3 or 4 signings but after that bad season reckon he'll probably be out on his ear).

[I am invisible]

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-legend-dennis-bergkamp-puts-16167013

Time to bring Dennis home...

[Marc Overmars]

Kompany leaves City.

Sign him up.

[I am invisible]

I'll be feeling a lot better if/when Edu is appointed. Right now it's hard to see what kind of vision is in place with the club a bit rudderless.

It does seem like not being in the CL has hit the club a lot harder than we were led to believe it would.
:good:

As a club I’m really struggling see what our identity is any more, both on and off the pitch? What is our brand? What do we stand for? What is quintessentially ‘Arsenal’ about anything we do or how we do it? We’ve become utterly anonymous and forgettable on nearly every level.

I’ve got to say, I’m really anxious for us at this point. I’ve got almost all of my hopes pinned on the new TD coming in and actually having a clue - if we make the wrong appointment (and it looks like we were a whisker away from that with Monchi) then I can see us sliding into obscurity and maybe never climbing back out again. Glad we’re looking in Edu’s direction - at least he’s got some Arsenal in his blood (and from our best years at that), and can maybe open some doors for us in untapped markets.

Re: the CL, I think what no one really anticipated was being out of it for quite this long? We’ll have had contingencies in place for a year or two, but 3 years has got to be the maximum that we continue paying CL wages to a squad that isn’t earning CL money. If we don’t win the EL then the club simply can’t afford to let it go on for another season...

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Kompany leaves City.

Sign him up.

Anderlecht player-manager!

[I am invisible]

Not really been blown away by most of the CB names I’ve seen us linked with so far - certainly no one who’s come close to being a Virgil van Dijk, if that’s what Emery is looking for?!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

It would seem a little premature looking at transfer rumours at this point given we don't know what our circumstances will be yet i.e whether we're in the Champions League again or not.

[I am invisible]

True - just trying to get a sense for who might be out there...

[Mac76]

As far as CBs go, the main thing is we get someone, anyone who isn't Mustafi, they really don't have to be a world great to immediately make us less of a disaster at the back than when we have him in the side

[Marc Overmars]

Looks like Bale is leaving Madrid.

Cheeky bid?

[Özim]

Looks like Bale is leaving Madrid.

Cheeky bid?

He's 29 and would cost too much, IMO at his age it wouldn't be a good move for us, we really need to be bringing in players in their mid 20s so we can build a team that can be around for a while.

[Özim]

As far as CBs go, the main thing is we get someone, anyone who isn't Mustafi, they really don't have to be a world great to immediately make us less of a disaster at the back than when we have him in the side

I actually think we need to find a decent CB who can become top class, early to mid 20s would be good. Mustafi isn't much good, Koscielny is a bit part player, Sokratis is decent but soon to be 31, Mavropanos didn't impress last season and Emery wasn't keen to play him, that just leave Holding, I just think we really need to find our own Van Dijk who can lead the defence, without that I don't think we'll see a vast improvement on the defence. Van Dijk has basically raised the level of the defenders around him due to his quality.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

It shouldn't take finding the best CB in Europe to improve the crap we've seen though. Neither is our scouting good enough nor our pockets deep enough to pick out the next best CB. We're just going to have to improve on what we have.....and in some cases really shouldn't be hard.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Bale wouldn't happen for a number of reasons, but I'd welcome a player of his ability with open arms.

[Marc Overmars]

De Ligt is off to Barca. £65m.

Interesting to see if he and De Jong excel there or become more wasted talent.

[SMatthews]

Really like the look of van de Beek - but that’s just a pipe dream.

And with Juve and possibly Barca and Bayern looking for new managers, surely Poch will piss off this summer?

[Özim]

It shouldn't take finding the best CB in Europe to improve the crap we've seen though. Neither is our scouting good enough nor our pockets deep enough to pick out the next best CB. We're just going to have to improve on what we have.....and in some cases really shouldn't be hard.

It shouldn't no, but do we just want to be just one of the best losers or do we want to challenge, if we're just interested in top 4 and not interested in winning then yes we can improve the defence with some decent player and settle for that, but if we want to move up a level or two we need to start finding top quality players who can take us there, you're going to need one outstanding CB who can organise the defence to do that.

[Özim]

De Ligt is off to Barca. £65m.

Interesting to see if he and De Jong excel there or become more wasted talent.

De Ligt might turn out to be the next Van Dijk and a bargain, he's been touted as the best young CB around.

[Özim]

Bale wouldn't happen for a number of reasons, but I'd welcome a player of his ability with open arms.

At 29 though you'd be wasting a lot of our scant resources on an ageing player with no resale value, we've already got issues with not having any players we can sell for large amounts to rebuild the team, this would be another and with little money being put in that's a problem for us.

Wouldn't happen anyway, Bale won't even consider us even if we were interested, at this stage of his career he'll be looking for a club who are ready to win stuff.

[Letters]

Waah, waah, waah.

And yet, for all your whining, we are a good as anyone apart from the top 2 - one of whom has resources which make them extremely difficult to compete with, Klopp has certainly done well but even he couldn't quite topple them.
We were a point of Spurs - people have spent all season sucking Poch's cock and going on about their team. We were above Utd who have spent a load of money. And we're in a European final.
We have a front 2 as good as almost anyone. The midfield needs some work but it's not that bad. Defence is a shambles, never Wenger's forte.
We have some work to do but we're not as bad as you keep pretending.

[Özim]

And yet, for all your whining, we are a good as anyone apart from the top 2 - one of whom has resources which make them extremely difficult to compete with, Klopp has certainly done well but even he couldn't quite topple them.
We were a point of Spurs - people have spent all season sucking Poch's cock and going on about their team. We were above Utd who have spent a load of money. And we're in a European final.
We have a front 2 as good as almost anyone. The midfield needs some work but it's not that bad. Defence is a shambles, never Wenger's forte.
We have some work to do but we're not as bad as you keep pretending.

:lol:

We're not as good as Spurs, they're in the CL final are above us in the league and that's despite buying no players last summer.

Klopp has done amazingly, all these years you've been saying you need money to challenge, but Leicester and now Liverpool have disproved that, it's about having the right players and the right manager.

I know your harp on about our team not being bad, but not being funny apart from the front and maybe the keeper we're average, the midfield is awful, it lacks creativty, lacks fight and lacks quality, that's why we have to rely on very limited players like Xhaka, Mhkitaryan, Iwobi and the defence, well the less said about that the better.

Yes Man U are in a bad place, but that's down to the people at the top, they want to reproduce the Ferguson way and aren't giving their managers the freedom to have total control of team matters, what we do know is that they'll spend money and probably bring in quality, we on the other had will most likely have peanuts to spend on a bunch of nobodies. As for the Europa league final, lets not make out like it's some sort of major achievement please, plenty of people didn't even want us in this competition and didn't have any respect for it, now I'm happy enough we're there and it's always good to be in a final in Europe, but you can't say the oppositon has been top class, we've played and lost to some pretty poor sides on the way, we haven't wept into the final performing amazingly and winning game after game, it's been stop and start and we've stuttered a fair amount.

I'd be really happy if we won the EL final, but the reality is that other awful competition in Europe has really devalued this by taking most of the top teams through the top 3/4 sides qualifying for that, it's not like when we won the CWC and faced some European giants. It'll will be good to win and will get us back into that other competition, but unless we invest heavily I think we may well get outclassed in that like we did for years when were were in it a few years back, in reality just making up the numbers.

Please tell me, how long is it now since we were a serious football club, I don't mean a bunch of also rans who collapse when the pressure is on btw, I mean a team who other teams fear and a team who genuinely can challenge? In my book that's about 15 years now, yes that's right 15 years, how time flies.

As a club we're firmly in the 2nd tier also rans club now, we don't excel at anything, our youth policy is average, our transfers are average, our team is average and so on, then on top of that we have an owner who really couldn't be less interested, hard to see where we go from here to be honest, noone at this club seriously has any ambitions of winning or being a big player, they seem all too happy to fight for the scraps of 4th place.

[Marc Overmars]

As a team I think we could kick on with some good coaching and smart signings but as a club I don’t think the pride or hunger is really there from the people at the top to make it happen. It should hurt everyone at the club that Spurs are in the CL final but I’m not sure it really registers because they’re not football men let alone Arsenal men.

[Mac76]

As a team I think we could kick on with some good coaching and smart signings but as a club I don’t think the pride or hunger is really there from the people at the top to make it happen. It should hurt everyone at the club that Spurs are in the CL final but I’m not sure it really registers because they’re not football men let alone Arsenal men.

Yeah that's the biggest cocern, with the right people in charge we could actually improve quite quickly IMO but it's just that feeling it's not gonna happen

[Letters]

We're not as good as Spurs
They were better than us by a point over 38 games :shrug:
In the two head to head games we beat them comfortably at our place and they were lucky to get a draw in the other.
If they are better than us then there's not much in it.
Yes, they're in the CL Final but they have, to say the least, rode their luck to get there. Very fine lines in Cup competitions, they should have been out several times.
Whisper it quietly but they deserve credit for getting there and if they win it (:sick:) then they will have earned it, but they're nowhere near as good as teams like Liverpool, City and Barca. They are nearer our level than theirs.
It's interesting how you use cup competition progress when you think it backs up your argument and dismiss it when it doesn't.
Intellectual dishonesty.

Klopp has certainly done well. He has spent a shitload of money though - I've given the stats on that. What they have done well, and we have done very poorly, is managed contracts and transfers well so their net spend hasn't been that high. But they've still bought £500m of playing talent over the last 4 years. They've bought well and sold well but they've hardly been thrifty. Leicester's achievement was incredible, they did it in a season when the other big guns were rebuilding and it was increasingly clear by that point that Wenger wasn't able to deliver another title. But it was a one off, they don't have the resources to maintain it. They've won nothing since. If you don't think money and success are highly correlated then you haven't been watching over the last decade.

You'll need to explain to me how an average team can finish a point below a Spurs team who everyone keeps fawning about and can get to the Europa League final.
There is clearly work to be done, we're miles away from a title challenge, but we are far from average. You say yourself we are not going to have loads to spend this summer.
Partly because of poor contract management but partly because our owner doesn't care about the football side of things. Until that is sorted there's only so much any manager can do.

[hobson's choice]

And yet, for all your whining, we are a good as anyone apart from the top 2 - one of whom has resources which make them extremely difficult to compete with, Klopp has certainly done well but even he couldn't quite topple them.
We were a point of Spurs - people have spent all season sucking Poch's cock and going on about their team. We were above Utd who have spent a load of money. And we're in a European final.
We have a front 2 as good as almost anyone. The midfield needs some work but it's not that bad. Defence is a shambles, never Wenger's forte.
We have some work to do but we're not as bad as you keep pretending.

This type of thinking is why the 2 Milan clubs and United are where they are. And we are going down that route.

We have to rebuild properly and that means stop thinking we are 2/3 players away. We need to completely gut this team and hit restart. Kinda like Barca did in the early days of Rijkaard.

But we are not doing that. So best of the rest is our future

[Letters]

This type of thinking is why the 2 Milan clubs and United are where they are. And we are going down that route.

We have to rebuild properly and that means stop thinking we are 2/3 players away. We need to completely gut this team and hit restart. Kinda like Barca did in the early days of Rijkaard.

But we are not doing that. So best of the rest is our future

Personally I think any rebuilding should be done slowly - if nothing else, our owner isn't willing for us to spend a load of money at once so we can't just gut the team and start again.
We're a million miles away from a title challenge, I don't think we're going to get there in one or 2 seasons.
A proper captain and better defence and that would be some progress which is all I'm looking for right now. There are a bit of progress this season but not much.

[Özim]

Personally I think any rebuilding should be done slowly - if nothing else, our owner isn't willing for us to spend a load of money at once so we can't just gut the team and start again.
We're a million miles away from a title challenge, I don't think we're going to get there in one or 2 seasons.
A proper captain and better defence and that would be some progress which is all I'm looking for right now. There are a bit of progress this season but not much.

Realistically if you want to rebuild slowly you have to buy young players who are going to be around for years, otherwise if you bring older players and especially players in their late 20s which seems to be what we seem to be interested in (very short sighted and costly IMO) you'll constantly have to replace ageing players, Klopp pretty much did it in 2-3 seasons, there's really no reason why we shouldn't be able to rebuild in 3 seasons.

First stage is to get rid of the duds and not offer them new contracts, offering Xhaka a new contract last summer was ridiculous, he's never going to make it and is a liability.

What strikes me about Arsenal is that it's full of excuses, when Wenger was around it was the fact we were paying for a new stadium, then that we had a young team and it will take a bit of time for them to get experience, then it was that other clubs had too much money, there's also been excuses about injuries (when in reality maybe our medical team wasn't up to scratch, out training seemed to cause injuries and we brought in and stuck with injury prone players) and now it's that the owner won't spend and we need to spend years rebuilding.

When does it end, what will it be next? Personally I'm tired excuses, I don't want another manager who sticks around for years and doesn't deliver with everyone being happy with scraping 4th. I'm alarmed that Sanelhi and co are delighted with Emery's work, to me that's the sign of a club stuck in mediocrity, failing to get top 4 in such a poor season isn't great, yes we've got to a European final but we've really stuttered along the way and as we know this competition isn't full of top quality teams, so we've not exactly had to beat amazing teams.

[SMatthews]

This type of thinking is why the 2 Milan clubs and United are where they are. And we are going down that route.

We have to rebuild properly and that means stop thinking we are 2/3 players away. We need to completely gut this team and hit restart. Kinda like Barca did in the early days of Rijkaard.

But we are not doing that. So best of the rest is our future

Man Utd finished second in 2018 - as funny as it is, the mass introspection about their current situation is way off the mark. Panic always sets in when it comes to the media and fans, drawing up doomsday scenarios that rarely come true. They have money, are still a huge draw and will be back - although not under OGS.

And that financial pull is the big difference between the Prem and Serie A. When Inter won the CL years ago they - and the rest of the league - weren't set-up to capitalise off the pitch. The fact the two clubs share the same stadium is also a massive drawback in today's money driven era. The theory is that the Chinese have bought into both clubs because it connects them to Berlusconi and the economic and political heartland of the country - the owners are apparently under pressure from the Chinese government to capitalise on financial opportunities that will benefit their home country.

If Man City aren't reigned in by UEFA - and it's hard to see how they will be given their backers have more money than the governing body - then no-one else will be winning the title any time soon.

[Letters]

Realistically if you want to rebuild slowly you have to buy young players who are going to be around for years, otherwise if you bring older players and especially players in their late 20s which seems to be what we seem to be interested in (very short sighted and costly IMO) you'll constantly have to replace ageing players, Klopp pretty much did it in 2-3 seasons, there's really no reason why we shouldn't be able to rebuild in 3 seasons.

First stage is to get rid of the duds and not offer them new contracts, offering Xhaka a new contract last summer was ridiculous, he's never going to make it and is a liability.

What strikes me about Arsenal is that it's full of excuses, when Wenger was around it was the fact we were paying for a new stadium, then that we had a young team and it will take a bit of time for them to get experience, then it was that other clubs had too much money, there's also been excuses about injuries (when in reality maybe our medical team wasn't up to scratch, out training seemed to cause injuries and we brought in and stuck with injury prone players) and now it's that the owner won't spend and we need to spend years rebuilding.

When does it end, what will it be next? Personally I'm tired excuses, I don't want another manager who sticks around for years and doesn't deliver with everyone being happy with scraping 4th. I'm alarmed that Sanelhi and co are delighted with Emery's work, to me that's the sign of a club stuck in mediocrity, failing to get top 4 in such a poor season isn't great, yes we've got to a European final but we've really stuttered along the way and as we know this competition isn't full of top quality teams, so we've not exactly had to beat amazing teams.

Agree with most of that. Honestly, we are a pretty poorly run club right now. Replacing Wenger was necessary, but it wasn't a silver bullet.

[hobson's choice]

Man Utd finished second in 2018 - as funny as it is, the mass introspection about their current situation is way off the mark. Panic always sets in when it comes to the media and fans, drawing up doomsday scenarios that rarely come true. They have money, are still a huge draw and will be back - although not under OGS.

And that financial pull is the big difference between the Prem and Serie A. When Inter won the CL years ago they - and the rest of the league - weren't set-up to capitalise off the pitch. The fact the two clubs share the same stadium is also a massive drawback in today's money driven era. The theory is that the Chinese have bought into both clubs because it connects them to Berlusconi and the economic and political heartland of the country - the owners are apparently under pressure from the Chinese government to capitalise on financial opportunities that will benefit their home country.

If Man City aren't reigned in by UEFA - and it's hard to see how they will be given their backers have more money than the governing body - then no-one else will be winning the title any time soon.

I'm not even taking into account money.

Those clubs refuse to rebuild and just tried to reload instead.

[SMatthews]

I don’t know what that means.

And money has to be taken account when talking about success in football, there’s no separating the two anymore.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

It shouldn't no, but do we just want to be just one of the best losers or do we want to challenge, if we're just interested in top 4 and not interested in winning then yes we can improve the defence with some decent player and settle for that, but if we want to move up a level or two we need to start finding top quality players who can take us there, you're going to need one outstanding CB who can organise the defence to do that.

I'm not saying we shouldn't identify the best we can get, clearly. I'm saying that finding us out own VDV is nigh on impossible....and even if we did we wouldn't pay the money for him anyway. But nevertheless we can improve in other ways. Plenty of examples of players not of VDV's standard who would improve us.

[Mac76]

Plenty of examples of players not of VDV's standard who would improve us.

this is the key point for me - we could immediately improve by getting reliable quality players who haven't been Wengerised and who turn up and put a good shift in for pretty much every game - and minus the monumnetal goal-conceding fuckups we get from the likes of Xhaka aand Mustafi

[Globalgunner]

this is the key point for me - we could immediately improve by getting reliable quality players who haven't been Wengerised and who turn up and put a good shift in for pretty much every game - and minus the monumnetal goal-conceding fuckups we get from the likes of Xhaka aand Mustafi

There are plenty abound. Duff and Dunk (Brighton CB pairing) are better than anyone we have apart from Sok and the late lamented Holding. (Kos is not aggressive enough and too fragile). Basically anyone is better than Mustafi.....apart from the United lot who are also crap. I wouldnt take anyone from their motley crew

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

Realistically if you want to rebuild slowly you have to buy young players who are going to be around for years, otherwise if you bring older players and especially players in their late 20s which seems to be what we seem to be interested in (very short sighted and costly IMO) you'll constantly have to replace ageing players, Klopp pretty much did it in 2-3 seasons, there's really no reason why we shouldn't be able to rebuild in 3 seasons.

First stage is to get rid of the duds and not offer them new contracts, offering Xhaka a new contract last summer was ridiculous, he's never going to make it and is a liability.

What strikes me about Arsenal is that it's full of excuses, when Wenger was around it was the fact we were paying for a new stadium, then that we had a young team and it will take a bit of time for them to get experience, then it was that other clubs had too much money, there's also been excuses about injuries (when in reality maybe our medical team wasn't up to scratch, out training seemed to cause injuries and we brought in and stuck with injury prone players) and now it's that the owner won't spend and we need to spend years rebuilding.

When does it end, what will it be next? Personally I'm tired excuses, I don't want another manager who sticks around for years and doesn't deliver with everyone being happy with scraping 4th. I'm alarmed that Sanelhi and co are delighted with Emery's work, to me that's the sign of a club stuck in mediocrity, failing to get top 4 in such a poor season isn't great, yes we've got to a European final but we've really stuttered along the way and as we know this competition isn't full of top quality teams, so we've not exactly had to beat amazing teams.

Pretty good post that summarizes us in a nutshell.... a club full of excuses!

You don't need to shell out a +100 million to improve a defence, you need 3 or 4 good players that know how to play in sync and a coach who knows what he wants, simple. Its like in modern day football people think money is everything and readily give excuses for coaches who don't have loads of it. Cut your coat according to your cloth... Wolves finished as the 4th best defence in the country with players bought on a shoestring budget. Even the circus that is Newcastle conceeded less than us and anyone who knows anything about football could have predicted that a Rafa team of midgets would still be able to defend to a certain "advanced" level.

We know what our onfield problems are, in fact every EPL team has known/exploited it for the past few years; it's this coach's job to fix them with the resources he has available, resources he was well aware of before he took the job. No more excuses pls.

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

There are plenty abound. Duff and Dunk (Brighton CB pairing) are better than anyone we have apart from Sok and the late lamented Holding. (Kos is not aggressive enough and too fragile). Basically anyone is better than Mustafi.....apart from the United lot who are also crap. I wouldnt take anyone from their motley crew

I always marvelled at AW's inabilty to recruit a decent domestic CB after the coup that was Sol.

It really confused me how a so called world class coach would watch his team get battered year after year, in a league known for producing great CBs, by the most basic of teams, playing the most basic of attacking styles. I still struggle to understand why his go-to response was to recruit an unnamed defender from an unfamiliar league in a mid level team that had won or was known for nothing!! (Merts being the only exception I can think of)

Its like choosing to die slowly of hypoglycemia in a candy shop!

Anyway I hope Emery is smart enough not to tread the same path.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

As much as we roll our eyes at the diabolical machine that is Man City.....someone the other day made a simple but good point on a radio station I was listening to. When they lose the ball, they give everything to win it back. There's no reason any other team can't do that. Of course you are more incentivised to do it if you have a genuine chance to win the league and your manager is Guardiola who would kick his Gran to the ground to win a game....but still. Money doesn't directly buy that kind of work ethic. ]

If we do nothing else to the team and defence other than to get them to run like maniacs when they've lost the ball....then Emery will improve us defensively.

[Globalgunner]

Wengers problem as ever was his fragile ego. If everyone says he has a poor defence. He will make sure that in the next window he buys midfielders or an attacker. If you tell him Maldini is available. He will buy Stepanovs to prove he can find his own Maldini. He is a man who held on to his job so tight, he squeezed the life out of it.

[LDG]

Its like choosing to die slowly of hypoglycemia in a candy shop!



:lol:

[I am invisible]

As much as we roll our eyes at the diabolical machine that is Man City.....someone the other day made a simple but good point on a radio station I was listening to. When they lose the ball, they give everything to win it back. There's no reason any other team can't do that. Of course you are more incentivised to do it if you have a genuine chance to win the league and your manager is Guardiola who would kick his Gran to the ground to win a game....but still. Money doesn't directly buy that kind of work ethic. ]

If we do nothing else to the team and defence other than to get them to run like maniacs when they've lost the ball....then Emery will improve us defensively.
:good:

The crazy thing is, if the whole team does it as a collective, then no single, individual player actually has to work that hard or run that far - each player only really has to cover something like their own 15sq yard of space before they’re moving into one of their team mate’s ‘zones’. Put them all together and you have a grid

It really is more about mindset and mental conditioning than anything that requires superhuman levels of fitness or defensive technique: stay alert, keep your eye on the game and be ready to get under someone’s feet if they move onto your patch...

[Bumble]

As much as we roll our eyes at the diabolical machine that is Man City.....someone the other day made a simple but good point on a radio station I was listening to. When they lose the ball, they give everything to win it back. There's no reason any other team can't do that. Of course you are more incentivised to do it if you have a genuine chance to win the league and your manager is Guardiola who would kick his Gran to the ground to win a game....but still. Money doesn't directly buy that kind of work ethic. ]

If we do nothing else to the team and defence other than to get them to run like maniacs when they've lost the ball....then Emery will improve us defensively.

Also the pressure is on the players as if you aren't going to put the effort in, City will find someone else who would. The fact Sane isn't a regular starter is ridiculous where he would be one of our best players.

it doesn't bother me what City have done, because they are so enjoyable to watch.

[Marc Overmars]

There are consequences at City for sure and everyone is held to account if standards are not met. That’s something I think we lost sight of as a club a long time ago, they are the building blocks of success as far as I’m concerned. If you don’t keep the bar high you’ll never go on to be successful.

However for City those consequences have only been so stern because they have the financial muscle to chop and change as they please, in a way we and most other clubs simply can’t.

[SMatthews]

When you’re paying big money for a player you aren’t just paying for talent. You’re paying for mentality.

You can’t build a team on a budget that can sustainably challenge for the PL anymore. Most players have the same level of talent at the top of the game, it’s the mentality that separates the best from the rest. That’s what allows the very best players to bring their A game each week.

We can improve without spending hundreds of millions but we won’t improve THAT much. The best we can achieve on a small budget is third - which was all of 2 points away at the end of last season.

[Bumble]

When you’re paying big money for a player you aren’t just paying for talent. You’re paying for mentality.

You can’t build a team on a budget that can sustainably challenge for the PL anymore. Most players have the same level of talent at the top of the game, it’s the mentality that separates the best from the rest. That’s what allows the very best players to bring their A game each week.

We can improve without spending hundreds of millions but we won’t improve THAT much. The best we can achieve on a small budget is third - which was all of 2 points away at the end of last season.

yeah city we cant compete with but we should be looking at the Liverpool model and following that.... IF the owners were interested. I know that took time to develop but buying and selling and coaching can help.

[SMatthews]

yeah city we cant compete with but we should be looking at the Liverpool model and following that.... IF the owners were interested. I know that took time to develop but buying and selling and coaching can help.

That would still mean operating above the level we currently seem to be set at. Granted, they did lay out £100m on two strikers and two crazy contracts, so we can do it. The money just has to be spent well. Which it hasn’t been for a while.

[Özim]

yeah city we cant compete with but we should be looking at the Liverpool model and following that.... IF the owners were interested. I know that took time to develop but buying and selling and coaching can help.

We should be way ahead of Liverpool, we had the stadium, the paltform to build from, then Wenger went on a one man crusade to save football by not spending and building a team of kids and the rest is history.

We messed up our chance, we were all set to compete with the big boys now we've missed our chance and have to settle for scraps and watch other teams who have planned far better do what we should have been doing.

[I am invisible]

I'm not saying we shouldn't identify the best we can get, clearly. I'm saying that finding us out own VDV is nigh on impossible....and even if we did we wouldn't pay the money for him anyway. But nevertheless we can improve in other ways. Plenty of examples of players not of VDV's standard who would improve us.
It’s possible - we’re just not going to be acquiring a finished product at the £75m end of the market (not until we’re back to being a consistent CL side again, anyway). For now, we need to be shooting for a Celtic-VVD, rather than a established-PL-VVD. Maybe even a pre-Celtic VVD? In all honesty, City and Liverpool are probably going to dominate this league for a couple of years yet, so I’m kind of ok with taking on a bit of a project with the right player.

As with everything with us right now, though, it all seems to hinge on how the club is being restructured. To pull something like that off we need to: hire a TD and head of recruitment who can spot the right players; improve the coaching and mentoring; and probably get the wage bill under control (so we can afford to ride out any non-CL years without needing to sell off half the squad before the job is done).

[Özim]

Trying to find a young up and coming CB would be our best best, someone who could potentially become top class, from the names we're being linked with so far it's been older players however which is a mistake IMO.

We don't seem to be able to get the balance right, when Wenger was about he signed all the young players he could but none had any experience or had shown any real talent at a decent level, now we seem to be after older players who will need replacing sooner rather than later (Sokratis is already 31 for example), we should be looking for young up and coming players or players around their mid 20s if we want to build a decent team.

[Mac76]

Trying to find a young up and coming CB would be our best best, someone who could potentially become top class, from the names we're being linked with so far it's been older players however which is a mistake IMO.

We don't seem to be able to get the balance right, when Wenger was about he signed all the young players he could but none had any experience or had shown any real talent at a decent level, now we seem to be after older players who will need replacing sooner rather than later (Sokratis is already 31 for example), we should be looking for young up and coming players or players around their mid 20s if we want to build a decent team.

i agree - i actually think we're only one good CB away from having a decent defence if we have Holding coming back and also if you assume Bielik might be good enough, which i've a suspicion he is

i keep saying it, but just as important is not ever giving Emery the option of playing Mustafi ever again - he is a fucking disaster area - beats me why the rest of the team haven't frozen him out by now - his fuckups against Palace alone cost us the top four then and there

he just HAS to go

[I am invisible]

i agree - i actually think we're only one good CB away from having a decent defence if we have Holding coming back and also if you assume Bielik might be good enough, which i've a suspicion he is

i keep saying it, but just as important is not ever giving Emery the option of playing Mustafi ever again - he is a fucking disaster area - beats me why the rest of the team haven't frozen him out by now - his fuckups against Palace alone cost us the top four then and there

he just HAS to go
The fullbacks need a lot of work too, IMO - at the moment we’re shelling out around £400k/week on Bellerin, Kolasinac, Monreal and Lichsteiner, and yet somehow Maitland-Niles has ended up doing most of the work! Definitely not getting value for money there...

[LDG]

So Gabriel Martinelli to us is everywhere saying deal done.

No idea who he is, but apparently #decent

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Didn't she win the US Open?

[Mac76]

Let's hope he's better than the last Gabriel we signed :pray:

[Globalgunner]

Didn't she win the US Open?

In that case at least we will have signed a player with a lot of balls

[Özim]

We need to get in quick as we've got big competition for this guy with no less than Watford, Leeds and Middlesborough after him!

Don't know anything about him, just hope he's a decent tricky winger if we do get him.

[Ralpheroo72]

I hope he’s not a former post man

[Mac76]

I hope he’s not a former post man

Presumably Letters would know if he is... :rimshot:

[Letters]

I see what you've done there.

[KSE Comedy Club]

I think we need to start bringing some of the younger players in on a more regular basis this season. The old heads have proven to be the same old shit and the younglings will more likely have the hunger and desire to do well.

[Mac76]

I think we need to start bringing some of the younger players in on a more regular basis this season. The old heads have proven to be the same old shit and the younglings will more likely have the hunger and desire to do well.

Yeah given we can't spend much we need to using Nelson, Saka, Willock, Medley etc

Looking ahead further, I really hope next season's fixture list gives us a gentler start then Man City followed by Chelsea away, a (hopefully) revamped Arsenal side with some of the younger players will benefit from some early momentum

[I am invisible]

I think we need to start bringing some of the younger players in on a more regular basis this season. The old heads have proven to be the same old shit and the younglings will more likely have the hunger and desire to do well.
I really don’t see what we have to lose at this point? Let’s be honest, we’re already an erratic, inconsistent shambles who are being hindered by a bunch of players who haven’t mastered the basics - I’m sure we can achieve much the same thing with a bunch of younger players who won’t cost us an extra £70-100m a year in wages for the privilege!

[fakeyank]

We should have blooded the likes of Saka, Willock and Nketiah more this season as early as January. We knew our season was over, and should have started prepping for the new season as early as possible. Another failure in planning IMO.

[KSE Comedy Club]

All too familiar I'm afraid.

Willock looked fantastic against the Chavs in the final, full of pace and desire. We needed some of that during the season and maybe we would have been better off!

If he is the standard we can expect from the younger players that are earmarked for success, then damn well bring them on I say!!

It's time for a new era, we sell the dross, bring in some new players and youngsters and let them have a full season crack at it.

We have been embarrassed beyond belief for a long time, what else is there to lose at this point?

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Just hope that if they do come in...they are given the patience needed and that we don't expect them to be consistently good.

[SMatthews]

Just hope that if they do come in...they are given the patience needed and that we don't expect them to be consistently good.

A tough ask for the internet.

[I am invisible]

Just hope that if they do come in...they are given the patience needed and that we don't expect them to be consistently good.
It might not be 100% popular, but at least this time it might be universally viewed as a necessary measure to take us forward again, and not just a self-inflicted vanity project that is holding us back? That might make all the difference in terms of achieving acceptance amongst the fan base, and I expect any grumbling would be directed at the owners and the people running the club, rather than the players.

Personally speaking, I think the kids would already have succeeded before they even stepped on the pitch, if they help free up that extra 50-70m from the wage bill (plus whatever we make in sales) to reinvest - they’ll be giving us the means and the freedom to rebuild over the next 2-3 years, so as long as they’re not so bad that they get us relegated, I’ll be happy to back them...

[SMatthews]

Talk of a £300k a week offer for Auba from China.

Whether true or not, it brings into focus something I’ve mentioned a few times. If the club are staying true to their word, there’s a decision to be made about Auba. Two years left on his contract. Are they going to give him a new contract? Can we afford to, given the situation with money and Micky and Ozil’s contracts? If not, are we going to sell him as the club said we would with players in this situation? No one seems to be talking about this anywhere which I find odd.

[Marc Overmars]

Surely one of these Chinese clubs could take Ozil off our hands.

[Özim]

If we could somehow lose Ozil, Xhaka and Mkhitaryan without it costing us to much it would be amazing, all 3 are liabilities we could do without. I'd settle with losing all of those for free without having to pay off thie contracts, I'd even settle for us paying some of it just to get rid of these guys.