Summer transfer joy and happiness

[Marc Overmars]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48502300

Lichtsteiner is going. There’s a start.

[Özim]

He was awful, there was little doubt he was going, offered nothing really, was sceptical about signing a player of his age when we did.

Hopefully the start of many, though Cech, Ramsey, Welbeck already gone as well.

[I am invisible]

Elneny must surely be done here? Ospina too?

[Bumble]

He was awful, there was little doubt he was going, offered nothing really, was sceptical about signing a player of his age when we did.



but people at the time thought signing him was a good move, add experience, attitude, desire, winning things, minimal risk etc. just in hindsight it didn't work.

[Bumble]

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.

If the offer is good enough then given his age then we should sell. He has had a good season and China is one market where we could get decent money for him.

[Özim]

but people at the time thought signing him was a good move, add experience, attitude, desire, winning things, minimal risk etc. just in hindsight it didn't work.

People often give it a positive spin when we sign someone, however unsuitable/poor they are, I guess it's because they don't think they have a choice as he's signed for the club.

Just look at Welbeck as an example, literally was a laughing stock with the whole fanbase before he signed, they laughed at how awful he was and how he missed sitter after sitter, then it comes out we're signing him and some people changed their tune and said he's got potential to be top notch and he'll be very useful etc.

Couldn't see how a guy like Lichsteiner who was never really a top top player in the 1st place in his mid 30s could every be any use personally.

[Bumble]

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.

Surprised Mustafi not in that list. I would actually keep Xhaka as he is the youngest and not awful and at least seems to try more than the others. And at the end of the day we cant get rid of half our squad (Cech, Ramsey, Welbeck, Jenkinson, Ospina, Elneny, Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Mustafi) some have to stay.

Also rumours Kos could be on his way, might be nice move for him.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I said at the start of the season, that I didn't really see why signing and playing Litch was preferable than playing AMN there. By the end of the season, Emery was playing AMN at every opportunity and even Jenkinson was in the frame at times over the season.

I also said, that if we didn't get into the CL, then our summer transfer strategy would have failed. I hope we have brighter ideas this summer.

[Letters]

People often give it a positive spin when we sign someone.
Something you could never be accused of.

[Özim]

Surprised Mustafi not in that list. I would actually keep Xhaka as he is the youngest and not awful and at least seems to try more than the others. And at the end of the day we cant get rid of half our squad (Cech, Ramsey, Welbeck, Jenkinson, Ospina, Elneny, Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Mustafi) some have to stay.

Also rumours Kos could be on his way, might be nice move for him.

Mustafi is gone IMO, that's why I didn't mention him, those three though may well stick around. Xhaka is awful IMO, look at the amount of goals he's cost us (the highest in the PL), how slow he is and how little he offers, IMO he needs to be moved on and the sooner the better, even on a free, with him in the team we're always going to struggle.

Well we kinda have to with those already leaving, if we hadn't started with such an average load of players we wouldn't need to, the way I see it we shoudl get rid and start again, bring a few in and play some kids like EMS, Nelson, Willock, Nketiah, Mavropanos, I'd even give Chambers a go, but only in midfield (I never want to see him anywhere near the defence again) and see where it gets us, can't be any worse than those we have.

At the end of the day we're not going to win anything or get anywhere with this lot, so whether we finished 5th or 10th doesn't make a huge difference.

[SMatthews]

Jovic has gone to Real for 65m euros, which could increase. 6 year contract.

[Marc Overmars]

If the offer is good enough then given his age then we should sell. He has had a good season and China is one market where we could get decent money for him.

Where would we find a younger 30 goal a season striker to replace him?

We only have 2 sources of goals in this team so unless the offer is out of this world we’d be foolish to sell him.

[SMatthews]

If the offer is good enough then given his age then we should sell. He has had a good season and China is one market where we could get decent money for him.

Ideally we keep him, as I don't think we'd get much of a fee (the Chinese market is more regulated by their government now).

But the question still remains for the suits at Arsenal. He has two years left on his contract. They said they won't repeat old mistakes, which means either upping his wages (presuming he wants to stay) or selling him on.

[Penguin]

I think it's best to keep him, even if we lose him on a free at the end of his contract. Even if we sell him now we won't get much money for him. The goals he'll score in the next two years are worth more than any transfer fee we'd get.

We might as well focus on other areas like our defence and midfield over the summer, rather than worrying about trying to replace a class striker too.

[Özim]

Whilst I'm pleased we signed Aubameyang, given our situation financially, his age and his fee on reflection it may not have been the best decision for the club, this is the reason I'm an advocate for us signing younger players, in terms of market value they can be sold off for decent money later on and also they won't need replacing for a while.

Sokratis, Mhkitaryan, Aubameyang, Lichsteiner (although he was free so it wasn't so bad) were all going to have very little market value and would need replacing soon enough, this on top of our other ageing players like Monreal, Koscielny, Cech, Ozil.

We just have too many older players that we need to replace in the next year or two now.

Then of course given our policy about selling players with 2 years left if they don't sign a new contract, we now have a real dilemma with Aubameyang, do we re-sign him and realistically keep him till he's 34 on very high wages, or sell him and probably don't even get a lot of the money we spent back and at the same time lose one of our few decent players.

Due to the finances at this club and the fact there's next to no money this is a problem, a problem that we needn't have been faced with if we'd invested more wisely and hadn't handled contracts so badly for so long.

[SMatthews]

I think it's best to keep him, even if we lose him on a free at the end of his contract. Even if we sell him now we won't get much money for him. The goals he'll score in the next two years are worth more than any transfer fee we'd get.

We might as well focus on other areas like our defence and midfield over the summer, rather than worrying about trying to replace a class striker too.

But this is it - according to the suits they were not letting anyone run down their contract. Which means there's a decision to be made.

If not, it will quickly demonstrate how empty their words are.

Which is worrying when it comes to any other player of value in this, or future teams. And for any other 'plans' they have laid out.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I think there have already been reports of an Auba contract extension so I suspect that will be dealt with this summer / year.

As already said....unless we get an obscene amount for Auba, then leave well alone on ideas of selling him. Lest we be literally trying to replace an entire squad this summer.

[KSE Comedy Club]

Something you could never be accused of.

:haha:

[SMatthews]

Eriksen says he is ready to leave. All depends on how Levy wants to play it. They could price themselves out of the market and he goes for nothing next year.

Not a huge surprise. Alderweireld will probably follow him out the door too.

[KSE Comedy Club]

As far as Auba is concerned, there is no way we should be letting him go.

[GP]

Eriksen says he is ready to leave. All depends on how Levy wants to play it. They could price themselves out of the market and he goes for nothing next year.

Not a huge surprise. Alderweireld will probably follow him out the door too.

They are fucked without Eriksen.

[Özim]

Never good to lose a big final, it often convinces players their interests are best served elsewhere, be interesting to see how much Spurs get for him given he only has a year left.

It's not set in stone yet though as he says:


"There are not many points that Tottenham cannot meet. If I have to go, then hopefully it will be a step up.

"It's a step up. But it requires Real Madrid to call Tottenham and say they want Christian. And they have not done so yet, as far as I know.


"It is hard. It depends on the possibilities. If nothing pops up that is more exciting, why not stay in Tottenham? If I then sign a new contract, depends on the conditions."

[Bumble]

They are fucked without Eriksen.

they can have ozil

[Bumble]

Never good to lose a big final, it often convinces players their interests are best served elsewhere, be interesting to see how much Spurs get for him given he only has a year left.

It's not set in stone yet though as he says:

there aren't many places for him to go really. Barca, Real, Bayern, Juve, PSG, Liverpool and City. who are likely to win things. Is he better than what they already have? for the money Levy will fleece from them.... is it worth it?

[GP]

they can have ozil

Double fucked

[SMatthews]

They are fucked without Eriksen.

Yep. Bigger loss than anyone else in that team if he goes.

[SMatthews]

there aren't many places for him to go really. Barca, Real, Bayern, Juve, PSG, Liverpool and City. who are likely to win things. Is he better than what they already have? for the money Levy will fleece from them.... is it worth it?

Remember what Dembele and Coutinho went for. Neither are as good as Eriksen.

[Mac76]

Yep. Bigger loss than anyone else in that team if he goes.

i'd argue Son would be as big a loss - we need them both to leave and then for Spuds to sign Xhaka, Mustafi and Ozil

we should be making 'best bits' tapes of those players right now - even though they'd only last about 30 seconds... :lol:

[KSE Comedy Club]

i'd argue Son would be as big a loss - we need them both to leave and then for Spuds to sign Xhaka, Mustafi and Ozil

we should be making 'best bits' tapes of those players right now - even though they'd only last about 30 seconds... :lol:

We would have borrow clips of other players like Messi, Ronaldo, etc and photo shop their heads on them to make them look anywhere near appealing! :lol:

[SMatthews]

i'd argue Son would be as big a loss - we need them both to leave and then for Spuds to sign Xhaka, Mustafi and Ozil

Son has only really become 'that' guy in the past season. Spurs have been in the top four for the past few seasons with Son mostly playing the bench role. The spine of that team Kane - Eriksen - (previously Dembele) - Vertoghen/Alder is very strong. Players like Eriksen are less easier to find than someone like Son and he's been at a consistently high level for years now.

[dazthegooner]

Ljungberg and Bould to swap roles :dance: https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/11735566/freddie-ljungberg-and-steve-bould-to-swap-jobs-as-part-of-arsenal-backroom-staff-overhaul

[Özim]

To be honest, if we were more ruthless we'd have got rid of Bould, he really hasn't worked out, since he joined he's had no impact at all. Would rather we had a higher profile name working with the kids, someone that can inspire them maybe.

Bould was a top player, but not so sure he's been such a good coach. Interesting to see what impact Ljungberg has though.

[SMatthews]

We're apparently after both Dennis Praet and his Sampdoria team-mate Joachim Anderson for 42m euros.

Praet has said Samp have verbally agreed to let him leave and he was Torreira's midfield partner for a while.

[Letters]

To be honest, if we were more ruthless we'd have got rid of Bould, he really hasn't worked out, since he joined he's had no impact at all. Would rather we had a higher profile name working with the kids, someone that can inspire them maybe.

Bould was a top player, but not so sure he's been such a good coach. Interesting to see what impact Ljungberg has though.
I generally make a point of disagreeing with everything you post on principle but have to say I pretty much agree here.
Being a good player doesn’t make you a good coach.
Quite honestly he wasn’t that great a player anyway, he was just part of a very good unit.
I don’t know whether he is a poor coach or whether Wenger wouldn’t let him do his job (that excuse is gone now of course) or whether they’re just bad defenders. All of those are probably factors, and maybe they don’t get enough protection from midfield but the number of basic mistakes we make which leads to goals is pathetic.
Even if our defenders aren’t top notch, I’m struggling to believe some of that can’t be corrected.

[GP]

I generally make a point of disagreeing with everything you post on principle but have to say I pretty much agree here.
Being a good player doesn’t make you a good coach.
Quite honestly he wasn’t that great a player anyway, he was just part of a very good unit.
I don’t know whether he is a poor coach or whether Wenger wouldn’t let him do his job (that excuse is gone now of course) or whether they’re just bad defenders. All of those are probably factors, and maybe they don’t get enough protection from midfield but the number of basic mistakes we make which leads to goals is pathetic.
Even if our defenders aren’t top notch, I’m struggling to believe some of that can’t be corrected.

Bould doesn't actually coach the defenders.

He's a first team coach, Emery's assistant. He has no special defensive duties.

[Marc Overmars]

Bould. :lol:

He's there to put out the cones. I have no doubt he was only kept on to ease the transition after Wenger.

[Letters]

Bould doesn't actually coach the defenders.

He's a first team coach, Emery's assistant. He has no special defensive duties.

Interesting. I guess because of his playing career we (well, I) assumed his influence might fix some of our defensive issues.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Whether or not he had influence and/or any say in our defensive organisation (for wont of a better word), he was and has been part of an unsuccessful coaching team.

Putting him in charge of the U23s does not seem like a good move for us or him.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

There's no real way of gauging Bould's level of success....and a lot of what is said about him is unverified.

Not especially moved either way though such is the level of sorcery required to get us back into the CL next season / make us competitive.

[SMatthews]

£88.5m for Hazard plus add ons to go to Real.

[GP]

Seems cheap.

[Marc Overmars]

A year remaining on his contract so bound to have a few mil off his value.

Interesting to see what Chelsea can do next year without signing anyone else. Giroud leading the line for the whole season isn’t viable and Pulisic has everything to prove.

[Bumble]

A year remaining on his contract so bound to have a few mil off his value.

Interesting to see what Chelsea can do next year without signing anyone else. Giroud leading the line for the whole season isn’t viable and Pulisic has everything to prove.

Plus a new manager.

[I am invisible]

Could be an important year for us, with Chelsea banned from strengthening and losing Hazard, and with United sticking with Ole - need to make it count.

How often have we said that, though?

[Globalgunner]

Could be an important year for us, with Chelsea banned from strengthening and losing Hazard, and with United sticking with Ole - need to make it count.

How often have we said that, though?

Your invisible mate. No ones listening

[I am invisible]

Your invisible mate. No ones listening
I've got a couple of kids, mate - believe me, I'm used to it...

[I am invisible]

Interesting. I guess because of his playing career we (well, I) assumed his influence might fix some of our defensive issues.

To be honest he'll probably be able to do more good on that front in the role he's moving to - I doubt he ever had much sway over Wenger and Emery (and he certainly didn't sign the players).

Plus, it always a little cack-handed trying to reverse-engineer basic defensive standards into a bunch of senior squad members? Makes more sense to drill it into the players at youth level, and leave the first team coach free to work on the system he wants to play...

[SMatthews]

Daniel James going to Utd for £15m from Swansea.

[Mac76]

To be honest he'll probably be able to do more good on that front in the role he's moving to - I doubt he ever had much sway over Wenger and Emery (and he certainly didn't sign the players).

Plus, it always a little cack-handed trying to reverse-engineer basic defensive standards into a bunch of senior squad members? Makes more sense to drill it into the players at youth level, and leave the first team coach free to work on the system he wants to play...

there's something in that though im not convinvinced Bould's the guy to improve defensive coahing at any level.

but having Freddie with the first team has to surely be a step in the right direction, in terms of injecting some of the spirit we feel has been lacking

[Mac76]

Daniel James going to Utd for £15m from Swansea.

"who?" :lol:

[Bumble]

"who?" :lol:

Manchester United.... they used to be a successful club who regularly won the league.

[Mac76]

Manchester United.... they used to be a successful club who regularly won the league.

oh yes, that's right :doh:

:haha:

[SMatthews]

Manchester United.... they used to be a successful club who regularly won the league.

:lol:

We know the feeling :(

[LDG]

Manchester United.... they used to be a successful club who regularly won the league.

:haha:

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Xhaka to Inter for 50/55 million Euro's? Bite their hands off...

[Özim]

Xhaka to Inter for 50/55 million Euro's? Bite their hands off...

:pray:

[Marc Overmars]

Sell sell sell!

[I am invisible]

Buy now and get this FREE Özil!

[KSE Comedy Club]

It's fake news.

Apparently it was all a twitter joke between him and his cousin.

Fucking wankers! :fury:

[Globalgunner]

Muppets!. Getting peoples hopes up.

[I am invisible]

It's fake news.

Apparently it was all a twitter joke between him and his cousin.

Fucking wankers! :fury:
Guess it must be an Albanian-Swiss thing?

“Ha ha - made you realise how much your own supporters hate you!”

:tumbleweed:

[Özim]

It's fake news.

Apparently it was all a twitter joke between him and his cousin.

Fucking wankers! :fury:

Of course, it had to be didn't it, who would want a midfielder like him.

Looks like we might be stuck with him for another 4 years!

[Mac76]

Of course, it had to be didn't it, who would want a midfielder like him.

Looks like we might be stuck with him for another 4 years!

surely we can just sell him for £15m (or less) to a lower-table PL club?

the only problem will be if we're tryigng to sell for the same as we bought him

[Özim]

surely we can just sell him for £15m (or less) to a lower-table PL club?

the only problem will be if we're tryigng to sell for the same as we bought him

That would be great, I'd settle for just getting rid of him for next to nothing (without having to bu out his contract), would rather see someone else in his spot on the team.

[Letters]

Buy now and get this FREE Özil!

:lol:

[Bumble]

That would be great, I'd settle for just getting rid of him for next to nothing (without having to bu out his contract), would rather see someone else in his spot on the team.

problem getting rid of all these players for nothing as you want... will mean we still have only £40m to spend and the salary saving just goes to Kroenke.

Xhaka still have some worth, Mustafi and Ozil would just rid. although why would anyone want either I have no idea. Ozil expensive wages and Mustafi village defending.

[Özim]

problem getting rid of all these players for nothing as you want... will mean we still have only £40m to spend and the salary saving just goes to Kroenke.

Xhaka still have some worth, Mustafi and Ozil would just rid. although why would anyone want either I have no idea. Ozil expensive wages and Mustafi village defending.

You save on wages though. Does Xhaka have some worth? From what I can see he's a bit of a liability, always likely to give a goal away with an error, not the kind of player we want in the team to be honest, would rather we played Chambers in the short term.

Players like him cost us games, that's on top of the fact he's slow, ponderous and ineffective, one of the worst midfield signings value for money wise we've ever made.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Of course, it had to be didn't it, who would want a midfielder like him.

Looks like we might be stuck with him for another 4 years!
:lol:

Well I'd believe it but for that price!??

[Mac76]

Players like him cost us games.

:clap: :gp:

[I am invisible]

:lol:
*Only transfer fee is free. Player comes with astronomical wages and may leave you destitute. Good performances are limited to 2 per season and appearances will be subject to frequent absences through illness and holiday, with up to 0 days notification. Home games only. No take-backs. Terms and conditions apply.

[I am invisible]

Who was the guy who made that brochure to sell Adebayor? It feels like the club needs his services again...

[SMatthews]

Sessegnon has put Prem clubs on alert as he won’t sign a new contract with only a year left. But apparently he wants Spuds. Going for anywhere between £25m to £45m.

[SMatthews]

Sarri to join Juve next week on 3 year deal.

[I am invisible]

Sessegnon has put Prem clubs on alert as he won’t sign a new contract with only a year left. But apparently he wants Spuds. Going for anywhere between £25m to £45m.
How did Sessegnon get on last year? I know there was a lot of talk about him the year before, but I didn’t really hear him mentioned much last season?

[SMatthews]

How did Sessegnon get on last year? I know there was a lot of talk about him the year before, but I didn’t really hear him mentioned much last season?

I think the general belief was he had a good season, although I was too busy watching our own left back through clasped hands to notice myself.

[SMatthews]

Carrasco is saying he has an offer on the table - although he hasn’t said which club. Media saying it’s us after our interest in January. Would be a good signing,

[I am invisible]

Yeah, there’s a number of supposed offers swirling around out there from us at the moment - on their own a lot of them sound quite credible, but taken together it’s hard to see how we afford them all. Plus a lot of them are for the same role/s. Maybe we’re just hedging our bets with multiple targets?

[I am invisible]

I think the general belief was he had a good season, although I was too busy watching our own left back through clasped hands to notice myself.
What left back?

[Mac76]

Sessegnon has put Prem clubs on alert as he won’t sign a new contract with only a year left. But apparently he wants Spuds. Going for anywhere between £25m to £45m.

so he wants to play in a giant toilet bowl, and never win anything?

:doh: :haha:

[SMatthews]

What left back?

That huge hole over on the far side of the...oh yeah

[SMatthews]

Looks like Monreal is sticking around too as he’s not on the released players list. As long as he’s only back up that’s fine for another year.

[I am invisible]

That huge hole over on the far side of the...oh yeah
Ah, that bit where the oppo’s winger usually stands! Gotcha.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I thought Sessegnon was disappointing when I saw him, but he is young and he did seem to be playing left wing rather than left back.

End product needs work and just seems far too timid at times.

[I am invisible]

Would prefer to go after Tierney, tbh - kid looks a proper player...

[SMatthews]

End product needs work and just seems far too timid at times.

A seamless replacement. Sign him up.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I've never really seen Tierney play so don''t really have a strong view but I didn't feel overly convinced by the particular compilation I watched.

I literally want to cry every time I watch Robertson play. I didn't even know who he was a few years ago. Somehow seems unfair that he is that good! Unbelievably good full back.


On Carrasco.....I know eveybody knows him and he scored against us when we played Monaco a few years ago, but I can't help looking at his stats and feeling a little underwhelmed. Or maybe just whelmed.

[I am invisible]

Yeah, I’m not 100% sold on Carrasco - ticks a lot of boxes, but that combination of high wages and questionable attitude sets alarm bells ringing. Feels like everything we should be trying to avoid at the moment.

With Tierney, I’m going more off professional and fan opinion - very highly regarded, and already has an impressive amount of experience under his belt for a young player (including a lot of CL matches). Been averaging over 40 games a season since he was 18 - you don’t get that much game time, at that age, for a team that’s challenging for titles (even in Scotland) unless you’re doing something well.

[SMatthews]

Utd bidding £40m for Wan-Bissaka

[dazthegooner]

We should bid £40000000.1p

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Why the fuhk can't he be left footed! I think he's so good, I almost think we should sign him and just say....just stand somewhere in our back line kiddo!

[Mac76]

Feel sorry for Wan-Bissaka IMO - joined a Moan U side with Ole's wheels truly off and the last time Moan Ure bought a promising young player from Palace he was largely ignored and it arrested his development - he now plays at... Crystal Palace

[I am invisible]

Utd bidding £40m for Wan-Bissaka
https://frinkiac.com/meme/S02E21/880568.jpg?b64lines=Q2FuIEkgaGF2ZSBpdCBmb3IgMzU_

[GP]

Feel sorry for Wan-Bissaka IMO - joined a Moan U side with Ole's wheels truly off and the last time Moan Ure bought a promising young player from Palace he was largely ignored and it arrested his development - he now plays at... Crystal Palace

No one's forcing him to go there.

[Globalgunner]

Man U have resorted to offering everybody tonnes of cash to join their rag tag outfit. bale will probably end up there alongside Sanchez on a 1000kpw bench duo

[Mac76]

No one's forcing him to go there.

True, and he probably will get played more than Zaha was

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Hold on...is this actually happening?

[Mac76]

not unless Moan U stump a lot more cash apparently...

https://metro.co.uk/2019/06/09/crystal-palace-respond-manchester-uniteds-40m-bid-aaron-wan-bissaka-9876117/

[I am invisible]

Man U will always stump up more cash.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

This deal would irritate immensely. He is bloody good. Defensively as good as any other full back in the league.

[Globalgunner]

This deal would irritate immensely. He is bloody good. Defensively as good as any other full back in the league.

Offensively competent to. Buying him would give us great flexbility, the option to have both him and Bellerin on one side overlapping each other. Unfortunately, like most kids, his dream is to make as most money asap. So he will go to United.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Probably won't get a rival bidder anyway.

[Marc Overmars]

Their need for a long term right back is much greater than that of the other top 6 clubs.

[SMatthews]

Right back is a difficult one. Bellerin won’t be back until Sept/Oct and despite AMN’s best efforts, he’s no right back. It was a short term answer that Emery had no choice to stick with, especially with the old man as the other option.

Maybe there is a youngster good enough to promote for the short term. Other than that it’s trying to find someone who knows that as soon as Bellerin returns they will be second pick.

[I am invisible]

Might as well give Osei-Tutu a try at RB, if we can’t buy anyone - Celtic and Hamburg are already trying to take him off us, so he must be doing something well?

[Özim]

Gotta say it's pretty sickening us getting linked with unknowns who play for middle of the road teams, when other top clubs are getting linked with top notch players.

Obviously many of these rumours won't come to fruition, but bit underwhelmed to be linked to two players from a mid table team like Sampdoria for example, if it was one you could probably be maybe he's their standout player, but two from a club who didn't do very well is not so great.

We seem to be looking for a Ramsey replacement, but all those supposed replacements don't really score many goals, I'm thinking we should be looking for a goalscoring box to box player as the midfield currently has no goals in it.

[Globalgunner]

The Carrasco rumours seem to be developing a lot of steam. Who does he replace in the team, Ozil, Iwobi, Mikhi?.....id be happy to see the back of all 3

[Özim]

Terrible news, Xhaka says he and his family are happy here, he signed a new contract last summer (what possessed us to do that?????) and that's he's not going anywhere.

[dostoy]

Forget big players coming here, its not going to happen.

Arsenal need to get rid of about 6 players on top of the players who will leave anyway and replace them with players in their early twenties who can be coached to a high level.

Get Ozil out, he must go ASAP.

[Mac76]

Gotta say it's pretty sickening us getting linked with unknowns who play for middle of the road teams, when other top clubs are getting linked with top notch players.



I think we all just need to see a clearer strategy - we know what Raul and Whatisname said on their video, but it's that concern that we're not clearing out the crap and starting on a new well-defined path that concerns me.

I'd even be happy if we firmly said it was about going with our academy players and bringing them on next season with a view to going for the CL the season after.

But sifting around for mid-level dross is totally uninspiring, only emphasising our diminishing stature.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Gotta say it's pretty sickening us getting linked with unknowns who play for middle of the road teams, when other top clubs are getting linked with top notch players.

Obviously many of these rumours won't come to fruition, but bit underwhelmed to be linked to two players from a mid table team like Sampdoria for example, if it was one you could probably be maybe he's their standout player, but two from a club who didn't do very well is not so great.

We seem to be looking for a Ramsey replacement, but all those supposed replacements don't really score many goals, I'm thinking we should be looking for a goalscoring box to box player as the midfield currently has no goals in it.

Torreira was from Sampdoria, but I get what you mean.

Soon as Chelsea's 4th went in against us, that was the final nail in the coffin of a serious rebuild.

The best replacement for Ramsey is Milinkovic-savic(sp?) who we will never sign in a million years.

As I keep saying we are going to have make 1/2 key signings this summer and the rest have to be hopefuls / kids and affordable punts.

I'd be willing to throw the whole budget on Pepe and a young CB. Even if Emery has to say that he will use this summer's budget and next January's all this summer to make it happen.

[SMatthews]

Even if Emery has to say that he will use this summer's budget and next January's all this summer to make it happen.

Sanllehi has been quoted as saying he doesn't 'believe' in the January window, hence the restrictions this year. We should expect the same going forward, so there's only one budget and that's this summer. We'll have to make do with whatever we can get for the budget available and try to make it work.

[Özim]

Torreira was from Sampdoria, but I get what you mean.

Soon as Chelsea's 4th went in against us, that was the final nail in the coffin of a serious rebuild.

The best replacement for Ramsey is Milinkovic-savic(sp?) who we will never sign in a million years.

As I keep saying we are going to have make 1/2 key signings this summer and the rest have to be hopefuls / kids and affordable punts.

I'd be willing to throw the whole budget on Pepe and a young CB. Even if Emery has to say that he will use this summer's budget and next January's all this summer to make it happen.

Yes that's kinda why I mentioned getting 1 player and not 2 really, 2 players out of a middle of the road team seems a lot, especially given we already took 1 of their players last summer, if Sampdoria were that good they would probably have been higher in the table, for both players to turn out being top class seems unlikely.

Yes he would cost a fortune though, missing out on top 4 was a big blow, but it's made worse by watching Man U who did even worse getting ready to spend millions (as they have season after season even when not in the CL).

[I am invisible]

Gotta say it's pretty sickening us getting linked with unknowns who play for middle of the road teams, when other top clubs are getting linked with top notch players.

Obviously many of these rumours won't come to fruition, but bit underwhelmed to be linked to two players from a mid table team like Sampdoria for example, if it was one you could probably be maybe he's their standout player, but two from a club who didn't do very well is not so great.

We seem to be looking for a Ramsey replacement, but all those supposed replacements don't really score many goals, I'm thinking we should be looking for a goalscoring box to box player as the midfield currently has no goals in it.

I can live with shopping around more middling clubs, as long as we’re looking at younger players - anything from mid-20s up and odds are you’re looking at nothing special, if they haven’t been snaffled yet.

Not really sure who / what I’m looking for as a Ramsey replacement? His goals will be a miss if they’re not replaced, but I kind of feel that we should be looking more at LW, RW and ACM for those, and not dumping that burden on one of our CMs (who will have quite enough to be getting on with in the middle)? It’s his energy and drive that I want replaced more than anything - if we can find that in a more tactically savvy, less injury-prone player (and sort those wide areas out) then I think we’ll come out of it ok.

(Also high on my list for a new CM is the ability to resist / turn a high press.)

[hobson's choice]

Why do we need a Ramsey replacement, idiot coach doesn't even have an actual system. How Bout we just get a good young midfielder or actually develop one of our younger.

Signings like Carasco are so pointless at this point. Sell sell, buyout contracts. And just destroy and rebuild.

This is so clear as day. But with this management, we are doomed. Being Spanish or working at Barca shouldn't be your only qualification for a top level football job.

[SMatthews]

PSG have reportedly offered 70m euros plus add ons for de Ligt.

Oh and the small offer of £340k a week in wages.

Please sign and turn out to be a huge flop or mistake, a la Neymar.

[SMatthews]

Spurs also talking to Lyon about Ndombélé (who??) who want 75m euros while Spuds want to pay 50m.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Ndombele is one of the best young midfielders around. Can't see them getting that over the line.

[SMatthews]

Mendy has gone to Real from Lyon for a deal that could be worth 47m. Who??

[LDG]

Mendy has gone to Real from Lyon for a deal that could be worth 47m. Who??

Mendy

[SMatthews]

Say it a third time and it still won’t fucking help

[Marc Overmars]

Lyon generally produce decent players, anyone we can pick up from there?

Even if we have to root around the bins...

[Marc Overmars]

Torreira has said that he prefers life in Italy and has struggled with the language barrier here.

:rose:

[SMatthews]

His form fell off a cliff in the second half of the season. Not sure if that’s down to his first season abroad, dealing with no winter break or if he isn’t as good as we first thought.

[GP]

His form fell off a cliff in the second half of the season. Not sure if that’s down to his first season abroad, dealing with no winter break or if he isn’t as good as we first thought.

He didn't really have a reliable midfield partner. There's more to come from him.

[SMatthews]

Hopefully, and if so, I hope he settles down here otherwise we could be on the market again very soon.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

They all complain about the weather....even if they are from Calais.

The language thing I've always found strange. These guys are rich as fuhk, with ample time. Get a language tutor around for an hour each day. Why don't they just create a school at the training ground.

Anyway, I expect him to be here for years to come and to improve. One of the brighter points of our season.

[dazthegooner]

He's supposed to have trouble with the language but didn't have a problem with Italian if only people spoke English all over the world it might be easier to learn...

[Marc Overmars]

Pogba to Juve is gathering some traction.

[I am invisible]

He's supposed to have trouble with the language but didn't have a problem with Italian if only people spoke English all over the world it might be easier to learn...
To be fair, there’s a pretty large Italian community in Uruguay, and they reckon a big chunk of the population (I’ve heard some say between 1/3 and 1/2!) have some kind of Italian roots (their players certainly always seem to arrive in Europe with Italian passports) - wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if a lot of Uruguayans grow up with Italian as a second language, whilst having the Italian culture and a love of Italy drummed into them from birth...

[I am invisible]

Pogba to Juve is gathering some traction.
Pogba and Ramsey in the same midfield...? Some poor fucker’s gonna have his work cut out covering those two!

[I am invisible]

They all complain about the weather....even if they are from Calais.

The language thing I've always found strange. These guys are rich as fuhk, with ample time. Get a language tutor around for an hour each day. Why don't they just create a school at the training ground.

Anyway, I expect him to be here for years to come and to improve. One of the brighter points of our season.
Maybe we should start teaching our players sign language, or, at the very least, military hand signals!

[Letters]

Maybe we should start teaching our players sign language, or, at the very least, military hand signals!

Or how to defend, maybe?

[Özim]

So some news on players we could potentially have been interested in Rabiot, Meunier, Fraser


Belgium's 27-year-old right-back Thomas Meunier, who has also been linked with a move to the Gunners, says he wants to stay at PSG. (Express) (https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1140118/Arsenal-transfer-news-Thomas-Meunier-Unai-Emery-right-back-rumours-gossip)

Bournemouth's 25-year-old Scotland winger Ryan Fraser, a transfer target for Arsenal, has hinted he will stay with the Cherries for another year. (Mirror) (https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/ryan-fraser-deals-arsenal-blow-16513656)


PSG's France midfielder Adrien Rabiot, 24, could stay with the Ligue 1 champions despite being left out of the team for the second half of last season. (ESPN) (https://www.espn.co.uk/football/paris-saint-germain/story/3875018/sources-rabiot-could-stay-at-psg-despite-acrimony)

and this


Arsenal are closing in on a deal for German goalkeeper Markus Schubert, 21, from Dynamo Dresden. (Independent) (https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/arsenal-transfer-news-deal-markus-schubert-goalkeeper-latest-updates-a8956751.html)


Borussia Dortmund are monitoring developments with Arsenal's 33-year-old French defender Laurent Koscielny, who could be allowed to leave this summer. (Mail) (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7139223/Borussia-Dortmund-considering-Arsenal-captain-Laurent-Koscielny.html)

[Globalgunner]

Nothing is certain till its done..all of those deals are still very possible despite the sorry headlines, then again, we might not get any of them done. Id be happy getting rid of some misanthropes like Xhaka, Mustafi and wasters like Ozil and Mikhi, even if we signed no one. Getting rid of waste is just as good as buying new stuff. As anyone who has just taken a good dump will testify

[Ralpheroo72]

Rumour has it we would accept £35M for Torreira. Would be just like us to accept peanuts

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I can't see that being the case.

It isn't inconceivable that Ozil, Mhki, Mustafi and Xhaka all stay. In fact I expect 3 of them to, if not all 4.

[I am invisible]

Or how to defend, maybe?

Nah mate, what we need is more technical, attacking midfielders.

Teach them to "defend" :lol: Good one, Letters!

[I am invisible]

Lot of stories flying around that we’ve now agreed personal terms with both Alexis Claude Maurice and William Saliba - terms yet to be finalised between the clubs, but it doesn’t sound like we’re too far apart now (especially if we’ve been allowed to speak with the players).

Obviously this is Arsenal, so we could still fuck both deals up in spectacular fashion, but at least it seems like we’re looking at the right kind of profiles for our primary targets. Gives me a little more hope that the people running the club have some kind of plan...

[I am invisible]

Can’t see us agreeing to loaning Saliba straight back to St Etienne for a year? Not at the price they want for him.

Wouldn’t mind seeing Mavs go the other way on loan for the year, though? Feels like he’s at a point where he needs top flight minutes under his belt now, so that could be win-win for us...

[I am invisible]

Bielik put in another big performance yesterday - really think we need to find space in the senior squad for him this year. Looks hungry and has real leadership potential.

I’d be surprised if Emery wasn’t at least intrigued by the lad - already looks like he wouldn’t be any worse than any of our current CBs, and he fits his preferred DM profile almost perfectly.

[Letters]

Nah mate, what we need is more technical, attacking midfielders.

Teach them to "defend" :lol: Good one, Letters!

I know. Sorry. Stupid idea.

:getcoat:

[Ralpheroo72]

L’Equipe reporting that William Saliba has a greed a 5 year contract with Arsenal, they say we will loan him back to St Etienne for a year.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Get in! Oh wait he's gone again.

[Bumble]

L’Equipe reporting that William Saliba has a greed a 5 year contract with Arsenal, they say we will loan him back to St Etienne for a year.

i wonder if he will ever play for us. but I bet he was cheap.

[Globalgunner]

1.93m at 18 years. Should crest 1.96 easy by the time hes fully grown.
New Sol Campbell. Coudb we send the Mustafi as a freebie?

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

He's probably done growing. Upwards anyway. He's also only 18 so not expecting much from him.

[Marc Overmars]

It's hard to believe that we will be making any notable signings this summer given some of the names we've been linked with so far.

Well and truly shopping at poundland now.

[KSE Comedy Club]

L’Equipe reporting that William Saliba has a greed a 5 year contract with Arsenal, they say we will loan him back to St Etienne for a year.

I really don't understand this tbh.

Yes, it's one for the future and all that and I would think it was a good idea if we were in a better position, but as things stand, we need an overhaul and bring in players that can turn things around now - not in another years time.

[I am invisible]

The thing is it’s probably because we’re not in a better position that we’re going to have to work in this way, if we want to overhaul the side. At least that’s how it will have to start. Once we get player turnover back on track, and/or haul ourselves ourselves back in the CL spots (ideally both), we can start thinking bigger again, but for now we’re going to have to box clever to get back to that point again.

The stark reality is that, right now, our current budget either gets us a bunch of average ‘now’ players, likely on high(er) wages, or it *potentially* gets us some exceptional younger players on far lower wages. We all know route 2 is a gamble, but at least there’s a bit of hope there too - all I see with route 1 is a lot of effort and expense just to end up with more of the same.

(Plus, when you look at some of the ‘now’ players that ya and others have been signing recently, and when you consider what our budget will probably get us, is it really any less of a gamble, going down that path?)

The way I see it, City and Liverpool are probably going to dominate this league for another couple of years anyway, so I’m ok with playing the long game here. I just want to see that there’s some kind of clear plan / strategy being implemented, and that we’re actually working towards something that I can get behind.

The immediate goals for me are simply to get that millstone of a wage bill that’s hanging round our necks under control (hopefully redefining the standards expected at this club in the process, if there’s some high-profile casualties), and to re-establish a footballing identity on the pitch - until we achieve those 2/3 things, I really can’t see us going anywhere as a club, no matter who we bring in.

[Marc Overmars]

I'd rather we get a couple of those "now" players for positions we need urgent care in. I'm fine with the young players too but they're are all stabs in the dark really, unless they're special talents but if they are special we probably won't be in the running.

I honestly don't know how we can expect to move forward at the moment. It's all a bit grim.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Not the future but I'd have take Hummels!

[Marc Overmars]

De Ligt is off to Juve.

Some team they are building.

[Chippy]

I'd rather we get a couple of those "now" players for positions we need urgent care in. I'm fine with the young players too but they're are all stabs in the dark really, unless they're special talents but if they are special we probably won't be in the running.

I honestly don't know how we can expect to move forward at the moment. It's all a bit grim.
I would ditch Mustafi, Kos and Monreal and start the season with Mavs, Bielek (spelling) and Sokratis. Once Holding has recovered, he could come in. Why spend MORE money on so called young prospects when we have our own. There will be a few mistakes, but our defence is a bloody shambles with experienced defenders! They really could not do any worse.

[GP]

Ornstein says we're in for Tierney

[Mac76]

I would ditch Mustafi, Kos and Monreal and start the season with Mavs, Bielek (spelling) and Sokratis. Once Holding has recovered, he could come in. Why spend MORE money on so called young prospects when we have our own. There will be a few mistakes, but our defence is a bloody shambles with experienced defenders! They really could not do any worse.

i agree i don't get why we don't just build up with those players plus perhaps Medley in League cup and EL games.

Mustafi has to go, i don't care if we have to literally give the fucker away, i just don't want ever to see him in an Arsenal shirt again - he costs us points and undermines the team to such a huge extent

[Marc Overmars]

Ornstein says we're in for Tierney

Good age and decent potential.

Big step up from the Scottish league of course but you do find the odd gem up there.

[Munchies]

really hope we sign him

Monreal is done and Kolasinac is wank

[I am invisible]

Me too - hope we don’t Arsenal it up.

Kolasinac can go, but I’d probably take the option of extending Monreal’s deal for an extra year, otherwise we’ll be shopping for 2 LBs...

[Mac76]

Me too - hope we don’t Arsenal it up.

Kolasinac can go, but I’d probably take the option of extending Monreal’s deal for an extra year, otherwise we’ll be shopping for 2 LBs...

I agree - he's still got great quality and spirit and if he can be used sparingly could be a real asset at important times

[SMatthews]

Monreal hasn’t got the legs for LB anymore. If he stays he’ll be used as back up CB. Kola won’t be leaving this summer.

[GP]

I'd keep Kola of the two, though Monreal has been a great player for us.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Least Tierney won't complain about the fuhking weather....though he might moan about the language barrier.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

I don't think he'd be the one moaning.

Sounds like he loves an injury so he'll fit right in.

[selassie]

really hope we sign him

Monreal is done and Kolasinac is wank

Me too. He looks a great little player, massive upside and huge potential ala Andy Robertson. I’ve just heard we have had a second bid rejected, way below the asking price. We better not screw this one up, classic Arsenal lowballing so far.

[Bumble]

Me too. He looks a great little player, massive upside and huge potential ala Andy Robertson. I’ve just heard we have had a second bid rejected, way below the asking price. We better not screw this one up, classic Arsenal lowballing so far.

but will he want to come to arsenal, he gets to play CL qualifiers each season and wins mickey mouse trophies.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Feels like his reputation has been boosted by the association with Robertson who is the best left back in the prem....

[Özim]

With all due respect to Tierney, hes playing in the SPL which isn't exactly a high standard, he may prove to be to class but in recent times there haven't been many top class Scottish players, the changes of having two top class left backs seems small.

Of course on the other side of the coin there's Van Dijk, but he's Dutch of course and they're well known for having top class talents.

I agree with Blink, Robertsons performances are perhaps influencing people's opinions.

The way I see it he's a gamble, but the fact we're scraping around the SPL for players is a bit worrying, as is spending more than half of our budget on a player from there at full back.

Also worried that with so little money, we're struggling to get rid of the players we desperately need rid of.

We've been linked to Zaha as well, personally would prefer the guy from Ajax, Ziyech who seems to score and create goals, the fee doesn't seem astronomical either from what is reported.

[I am invisible]

Where have all the fullbacks gone? You used to be able to just look in France’s direction and pick up 5 or 6 for under 10m?

[selassie]

Feels like his reputation has been boosted by the association with Robertson who is the best left back in the prem....

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

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

[selassie]

but will he want to come to arsenal, he gets to play CL qualifiers each season and wins mickey mouse trophies.

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

[SMatthews]

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

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

[Özim]

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

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

[Bumble]

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

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

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

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

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

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

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

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

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

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

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

[Özim]

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

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

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

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

[selassie]

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

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

[selassie]

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

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

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

[SMatthews]

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

[I am invisible]

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

We desperately need to find a buyer for Mkhytaryan, Ozil, Xhaka and Mustafi. A few years ago we could have probably sold the first two to a chinese club, as it stands though we don't have much to play with. To be honest I'd be happy to sell Iwobi if we could find a buyer, there's really only 4 players I wouldn't want us to sell in any scenario, Lacazette, Aubameyang, Leno and Torreira, the rest can go to raise some funds.
I’m not sure it’s as simple as taking 25m away from 40m - it would probably eat up something more like 8-9m of our 40-45m budget (e.g. a 25m fee + 70k/wk wages spread across a 5 year contract = 5m/yr in repayments + 3.6m/yr in wages). It’s still a pretty sorry amount for a club of our size to be working with, but it should still be enough to finance 3 or 4 such deals?

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

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

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

He may well be, but we in England haven't actually seen him that much and I myself didn't watch him in the CL this season so I'm a little neutral to it. We need a left back so I'm glad we're making the move in any case, but don't share the view of so of the media that our opening offer was insulting.

[Marc Overmars]

Insulting to Celtic I suppose as he's a big asset of theirs but we don't have a pot to piss in so we didn't really have much choice but to lowball them.

At least now the player knows our interest is real so hopefully his head has been turned.

[I am invisible]

I’m not even sure we have insulted Celtic? Seems like everyone in the world is losing their shit over this except the club themselves, who have just gone about the talks quietly...

[Chippy]

I’m not even sure we have insulted Celtic? Seems like everyone in the world is losing their shit over this except the club themselves, who have just gone about the talks quietly...
Off topic.....
Where the fuck did the spuds get 65m from to sign Ndombele? Looks like they funded their new stadium properly. Unlike our shower! FFS

[Marc Overmars]

Not signing a player for 2 years and having a low wage bill helps. :lol:

Guessing they got a nice windfall for the CL run as well.

[Özim]

Not signing a player for 2 years and having a low wage bill helps. :lol:

Guessing they got a nice windfall for the CL run as well.

To be honest we had most of that, barely signing anyone of note, selling our best players and being in the CL every season, we still couldn't manage it.

The stadium was supposed to be the golden goose, as it turns out it's been the opposite, we've seen very little benefit from it, in fact we were a better team when we were at Highbury.

Despite not signing a player for 2 years, they still ended up above us, got into the CL final and have managed to build a bigger stadium.

[I am invisible]

Off topic.....
Where the fuck did the spuds get 65m from to sign Ndombele? Looks like they funded their new stadium properly. Unlike our shower! FFS
Different times mate. They’re lucky enough to have built theirs at a time when the PL pays out 150m/yr in prize money for finishing anywhere near the top - when we did it, it was probably closer to 1/3 of that (or less). Plus they’re paying about 100m a year less in wages - that helps!

[I am invisible]

Our stadium build was actually incredibly well financed and funded at the time, esp when you consider it was pre-recession / banking crisis, and interest rates were higher (and we then had to navigate through that financial shit storm too). We’re in this current mess purely because we’ve spent and sold poorly, handed out way too many undeserved, big contracts, and have missed out on CL income for 3 years running - we had everything we needed to make a success of this, but we fucked it up.

[Globalgunner]

Our stadium build was actually incredibly well financed and funded at the time, esp when you consider it was pre-recession / banking crisis, and interest rates were higher (and we then had to navigate through that financial shit storm too). We’re in this current mess purely because we’ve spent and sold poorly, handed out way too many undeserved, big contracts, and have missed out on CL income for 3 years running - we had everything we needed to make a success of this, but WENGER fucked it up.
Fixed that for you

[Özim]

Different times mate. They’re lucky enough to have built theirs at a time when the PL pays out 150m/yr in prize money for finishing anywhere near the top - when we did it, it was probably closer to 1/3 of that (or less). Plus they’re paying about 100m a year less in wages - that helps!

They're stadium cost close to a billion I believe though, ours was £390 million I think, so a big difference in cost. Hard to believe it was opened 13 years ago now.

IMO we tried to get greedy by building the flats and it backfired on us when we struggled to sell them. The reality is we were promised a competitive team in the new stadium, we never got that, we were told our aim was to compete with the very best, instead we're struggling to qualify for the top 4, we were suppose to go to toe toe with top clubs for the best players and instead we're scraping around for unknowns and cheap buys.

It wouldn't be an understatement to say it's been a disaster, again though I agree with you to some extent, our spending was terrible (but we also sold off our best players time and time again, Spurs have resisted doing this), we kept Wenger (and Gazidis) for far too long, both did a poor job after the stadium move, Wenger got obsessed with proving people wrong and refused to accept what people were saying was correct and waste money left, right and center when he spent it and Gazidis delivered very poor commercial deals, came out with empty promises and delivered nothing, then when he finally got rid of Wenger walked away!

It could have been so different, instead we could well be stuck as also rans for the foreseeable future, with no real investment, a coach who most likely isn't an elite coach and an owner who couldn't care less about us being successful so probably won't replace Emery with anyone decent if he doesn't work out.

I guess we can all hope for some kind of miracle turnaround, but I don't think too many really believe it's going to happen for us right now, our only hope I guess is that we stumble across some miracle worker of a manager, who proves to be top class and has an eye for talent, which in these days seems unlikely.

[Özim]

Fixed that for you

Pretty much and Gazidis to be fair (and PHW and co before them), some terrible decision making, terrible transfer policy and transfers and stubborness of the highest order, in the end it was all pretty amateurish, lots of people getting rich but very little to show for it on the pitch.

[SMatthews]

Off topic.....
Where the fuck did the spuds get 65m from to sign Ndombele? Looks like they funded their new stadium properly. Unlike our shower! FFS

A others have said, they have a lower wage bill, and a lot of CL money. Plus, they have Eriksen and probably Alderweireld to sell too.

[Globalgunner]

Agreed all together that are a colostrum bag full of old farts and haughty toffs who confused cash with success. They looked down on the fans for years and smug in their superiority never considered on the pitch success as a priority and never took the AST members along. If Wenger had kept making top 4 by dint of other team collapsing around us they would never have sacked him. PHW whose family have been in Arsenal for almost a half century meekly sold us out to Kroenke purely because of the cash and more likely racism towards the Uzbek guy.

He may not have been visually appealing but who cares. He would have kicked Wenger to the curb long ago. True he might have found himself today in the same boat as Abramovich at Chelsea, but its just a geopolitical phase and it will pass. We would have been better off with him instead of Kroenke. Not that KSE are bad owners business wise, its just that they care little for success, they only ever get off their ranch house backsides when the bottom line is affected. I doubt we will get rid of them in our lifetimes. Unless another 2008 crash occurs and someone offers him $5B cash, he might be exorcised. Maybe.

[Chippy]

Agreed all together that are a colostrum bag full of old farts and haughty toffs who confused cash with success. They looked down on the fans for years and smug in their superiority never considered on the pitch success as a priority and never took the AST members along. If Wenger had kept making top 4 by dint of other team collapsing around us they would never have sacked him. PHW whose family have been in Arsenal for almost a half century meekly sold us out to Kroenke purely because of the cash and more likely racism towards the Uzbek guy.

He may not have been visually appealing but who cares. He would have kicked Wenger to the curb long ago. True he might have found himself today in the same boat as Abramovich at Chelsea, but its just a geopolitical phase and it will pass. We would have been better off with him instead of Kroenke. Not that KSE are bad owners business wise, its just that they care little for success, they only ever get off their ranch house backsides when the bottom line is affected. I doubt we will get rid of them in our lifetimes. Unless another 2008 crash occurs and someone offers him $5B cash, he might be exorcised. Maybe.
As you say, a miracle might occur and Kronke may sell up to a billionaire that wants to take the club forward, like City.
At the moment, we just need to hope that Freddie moving into Boulds shoes may help us. We also have one or two good youngsters that might make the grade.
I will whisper it, but we could take the Sp*rs route and develop players.

[selassie]

He may well be, but we in England haven't actually seen him that much and I myself didn't watch him in the CL this season so I'm a little neutral to it. We need a left back so I'm glad we're making the move in any case, but don't share the view of so of the media that our opening offer was insulting.

We being who? Who are you speaking on behalf of? Or does We mean You? ;)

Fair play on your view of the opening offer.

Below link was from a couple of years back, it was when I first personally started to notice him after watching a few Celtic CL games.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/dec/04/kieran-tierney-talented-tipped-top-celtic-europe

[Özim]

Wan-Bissaka on his way to Man U:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48770843

[Marc Overmars]

50m is a bargain really if he lives up to his potential. That’s a position nailed down for the next decade.

[Özim]

As you say, a miracle might occur and Kronke may sell up to a billionaire that wants to take the club forward, like City.
At the moment, we just need to hope that Freddie moving into Boulds shoes may help us. We also have one or two good youngsters that might make the grade.
I will whisper it, but we could take the Sp*rs route and develop players.

Miracles don't happen at Arsenal these days, all we generally get left with is little hope of improvement and moving forward.

[Özim]

50m is a bargain really if he lives up to his potential. That’s a position nailed down for the next decade.

Bit like when they signed Rio Ferdinand I guess, although he was expensive at the time, but he played for them for years!

[GP]

Ornstein says we want Zaha and he wants to come, but Palace don't want to sell and we can't afford him even if they did.

[SMatthews]

50m is a bargain really if he lives up to his potential. That’s a position nailed down for the next decade.

I remember the last hot prospect Utd signed from Palace. That one turned out well.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

A lot of money but Wan-Bissaka is worth it. Unlike Micah Richards years ago, I think he'll go the distance.

[SMatthews]

Richards was a City youth player wasn’t he?

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Errr... I think so.

Spurs on the verge of signing Ndombele. Outrageous if they pull it off.

[I am invisible]

They're stadium cost close to a billion I believe though, ours was £390 million I think, so a big difference in cost. Hard to believe it was opened 13 years ago now.

IMO we tried to get greedy by building the flats and it backfired on us when we struggled to sell them. The reality is we were promised a competitive team in the new stadium, we never got that, we were told our aim was to compete with the very best, instead we're struggling to qualify for the top 4, we were suppose to go to toe toe with top clubs for the best players and instead we're scraping around for unknowns and cheap buys.

It wouldn't be an understatement to say it's been a disaster, again though I agree with you to some extent, our spending was terrible (but we also sold off our best players time and time again, Spurs have resisted doing this), we kept Wenger (and Gazidis) for far too long, both did a poor job after the stadium move, Wenger got obsessed with proving people wrong and refused to accept what people were saying was correct and waste money left, right and center when he spent it and Gazidis delivered very poor commercial deals, came out with empty promises and delivered nothing, then when he finally got rid of Wenger walked away!

It could have been so different, instead we could well be stuck as also rans for the foreseeable future, with no real investment, a coach who most likely isn't an elite coach and an owner who couldn't care less about us being successful so probably won't replace Emery with anyone decent if he doesn't work out.

I guess we can all hope for some kind of miracle turnaround, but I don't think too many really believe it's going to happen for us right now, our only hope I guess is that we stumble across some miracle worker of a manager, who proves to be top class and has an eye for talent, which in these days seems unlikely.
The flats shouldn’t have been an issue - if the housing market suddenly crashed then we could have just sat on them and rented them out until it picked up again. No way those properties don’t get snapped up in about 5 seconds in London.

As you say, the problem has never been the stadium itself - we’ve just had a bunch of idiots in charge who have lurched from one mistake to the next for more than a decade. If anything, the fact that they haven’t managed to leave us in administration is probably a testament to the financial power of this club!

Even now it’s recoverable. The club generates everything we could ever need to be successful, with the potential to earn even more with CL finishes (and the higher marketing potential that goes with it), but it’s probably going to mean a year or two of aggressive changes and hard work to get back to that point. If it happens it certainly won’t feel like any miracle - it will feel more like surgery followed by a recovery period...

[Özim]

The flats shouldn’t have been an issue - if the housing market suddenly crashed then we could have just sat on them and rented them out until it picked up again. No way those properties don’t get snapped up in about 5 seconds in London.

As you say, the problem has never been the stadium itself - we’ve just had a bunch of idiots in charge who have lurched from one mistake to the next for more than a decade. If anything, the fact that they haven’t managed to leave us in administration is probably a testament to the financial power of this club!

Even now it’s recoverable. The club generates everything we could ever need to be successful, with the potential to earn even more with CL finishes (and the higher marketing potential that goes with it), but it’s probably going to mean a year or two of aggressive changes and hard work to get back to that point. If it happens it certainly won’t feel like any miracle - it will feel more like surgery followed by a recovery period...

Yes true, but the flats have nothing to do with football, we were building a stadium not a residential area, that's my point really, the people in charge got a bit greedy and decided to try and cash in (not necessarily thinking about the club) and in the end it backfired somewhat.

Yes we did, no doubting that and they were kept in charge for far far too long, for sentimental reasons and because it just suited everyone.

I hope you're right, but with so little money and a manager who IMO based on his career and what he showed us last season really isn't an elite coach it may prove to be beyond us, club above us will have more money to spend, as will Man U and we'll probably be lumbered with overpaid average or under performing players like Ozil, Xhaka, Mustafi, Mhkyktaryan, Iwobi, players that aren't going to drag you to the next level that we just can't sell.

Right now given the situation, it's hard to see how we're going to be competing in the near future, even qualifying for the CL which brings more money will be a push, Emery had it handed on a plate to him last season and he failed to capitalise and then got hammered in the EL final, there's a mentality issue with these players and without wholesale changes that's not going to be any different next season. Add to that the fact we lost Ramsey probably one of our best players last season and it's hardly looks rosy right now.

[I am invisible]

Yes true, but the flats have nothing to do with football, we were building a stadium not a residential area, that's my point really, the people in charge got a bit greedy and decided to try and cash in (not necessarily thinking about the club) and in the end it backfired somewhat.

Yes we did, no doubting that and they were kept in charge for far far too long, for sentimental reasons and because it just suited everyone.

I hope you're right, but with so little money and a manager who IMO based on his career and what he showed us last season really isn't an elite coach it may prove to be beyond us, club above us will have more money to spend, as will Man U and we'll probably be lumbered with overpaid average or under performing players like Ozil, Xhaka, Mustafi, Mhkyktaryan, Iwobi, players that aren't going to drag you to the next level that we just can't sell.

Right now given the situation, it's hard to see how we're going to be competing in the near future, even qualifying for the CL which brings more money will be a push, Emery had it handed on a plate to him last season and he failed to capitalise and then got hammered in the EL final, there's a mentality issue with these players and without wholesale changes that's not going to be any different next season. Add to that the fact we lost Ramsey probably one of our best players last season and it's hardly looks rosy right now.
We're probably going to have to give most of them away for nothing in the end. I'm actually not to bothered about that - the only problem is we'll probably hold out until the very last minute to see if we'll get any kind of fee for them, so it probably won't help us much this window.

The more I think about it, the more I don't understand how we haven't simply terminated Özil's contract? Whether it's on the grounds of the club itself having to make cutbacks due to loss of income, or sustained poor performance on a personal level (in spite of what must have been numerous warnings since Emery joined), or his appalling attendance record, or showing disrespect to his manager in public, or being a PR and marketing disaster for the club... there must be something legitimate there, surely?

Granted, it could set a dangerous precedent in the game, and there's a worry that players might think twice before joining us in future if we play this card, but surely the footballing world would accept that Özil is a unique case? I mean, the guy "earns" enough money to pay 5 players and he doesn't do his job, he disrespects his manager, he has every other week off, and in a PR- and marketing-critical industry he's somehow managed to alienate his own fans, his home nation and he asked a fucking dictator to be the best man at his wedding! Short of taking a swing at Stan, I'm really not sure what more he has to do to get his ass fired?

[SMatthews]

You can't terminate a contract on any of those basis. Even when players have refused to return to their clubs they have still remained in contract until they are sold. The club would be left wide open for a messy, protracted and expensive lawsuit, that would then tell every agent to advise their players to avoid us like the plague.

We're stuck with Ozil and any other player that doesn't want to leave.

[Özim]

We're probably going to have to give most of them away for nothing in the end. I'm actually not to bothered about that - the only problem is we'll probably hold out until the very last minute to see if we'll get any kind of fee for them, so it probably won't help us much this window.

The more I think about it, the more I don't understand how we haven't simply terminated Özil's contract? Whether it's on the grounds of the club itself having to make cutbacks due to loss of income, or sustained poor performance on a personal level (in spite of what must have been numerous warnings since Emery joined), or his appalling attendance record, or showing disrespect to his manager in public, or being a PR and marketing disaster for the club... there must be something legitimate there, surely?

Granted, it could set a dangerous precedent in the game, and there's a worry that players might think twice before joining us in future if we play this card, but surely the footballing world would accept that Özil is a unique case? I mean, the guy "earns" enough money to pay 5 players and he doesn't do his job, he disrespects his manager, he has every other week off, and in a PR- and marketing-critical industry he's somehow managed to alienate his own fans, his home nation and he asked a fucking dictator to be the best man at his wedding! Short of taking a swing at Stan, I'm really not sure what more he has to do to get his ass fired?

You're probably right about that, on top of all the players we've lost for next to nothing or nothing, we're probably going to have to settle for releasing those players as well as there don't seem to be any buyers right now, which kinda highlights just how bad a bit of business it was to sign them in the 1st place.

It's pretty shocking how we were left, next to no saleable assets and several players we couldn't give away if we tried, how often does that happen at a big club? Emery got dealt a bad card, I'll give him that, but I must admit to also having been underwhelmed by his first season in charge, it wasn't so much where we ended up as how we did it, IMO there hasn't really been enough clear direction or change from the previous manager which is very disappointing, I feel a more elite coach would have stamped his authority more, I guess we'll see what he can do next season, but so far our business has been very slow, we should really be desperate to get some signings over the line so we can bed them in, the players we seem to be going after are also you could argue a bit underwhelming as well, time will tell who we end up with though I guess.

Re Ozil, it the fact we'd have to pay him off that's the issue isn't it, let's face it it is, but then we seem to be the kings of poor decisions, what were we thinking by offering Xhaka a new contract last summer and of course how did we get ourselves in a position where we had no choice but to give into Ozils demands in the 1st place.

It is what it is at the end of the day, Ozil might be too expensive to release, but Mustafi probably wouldn't be, Mhkytaryan again is another player who's very poor value for money, 200k a week going on this guy with precious little to show for it, we can add Xhaka to that list now as well.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

You can't terminate a contract on any of those basis. Even when players have refused to return to their clubs they have still remained in contract until they are sold. The club would be left wide open for a messy, protracted and expensive lawsuit, that would then tell every agent to advise their players to avoid us like the plague.

We're stuck with Ozil and any other player that doesn't want to leave.

That's about the size of it.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

The end of the season was an utter shower of shite and really worked to make sure we could not move forward as far as we should be this summer.

If Spurs actually sign Ndombele I will be sick. There was a time, people were saying he was nailed on for City (Though far too many top players are said to be....they can't sign everybody) and now he might end up in our area....but playing for another team.

Honestly!

[Bumble]

i thought we made a profit on the flats and were doing quite well at selling them. Thinking a few years ago the property company was making a large profit.

unfortunately you cant sack players without paying out there contract unless they have done something criminal. also no one releases a player who a club still believes has some value. like scrapping a £5k car just because it occasionally misses a gear when driving.

i have a feeling that these players will just end up running their contracts down and all leaving on a free so once that has finished in a couple of years we will be able to rebuild and under a new manager.

[Bumble]

The end of the season was an utter shower of shite and really worked to make sure we could not move forward as far as we should be this summer.

If Spurs actually sign Ndombele I will be sick. There was a time, people were saying he was nailed on for City (Though far too many top players are said to be....they can't sign everybody) and now he might end up in our area....but playing for another team.

Honestly!

on the plus side never heard of ndombele, so i don't know what we are missing out on. baffled why Zaha would want to come to us as Spurs have been interested and is the sort of signing Chelsea would make if they weren't under a transfer embargo.

we really do have a chance next season to finish top 4 with the Chelsea embargo and selling Hazard and a new unproven manager, United either selling pogba/lukaku or having an unhappy pogba/lukaku and having to repair there defence and midfield.

so why cant we speculate to accumulate, push the boat out this summer and if it doesn't work reign it in next summer but the window of opportunity is small.

[Marc Overmars]

The problem is we only spend what we generate but we don't generate anywhere near enough to compete for serious players thanks to a mixture of poor coaching and poor business decisions over the years. We've fallen well behind off the pitch as well as on it, it's been 15 years since we won the league which means there is an entire generation of young players coming through who only know Arsenal to be the butt of all jokes.

[Özim]

The problem is we only spend what we generate but we don't generate anywhere near enough to compete for serious players thanks to a mixture of poor coaching and poor business decisions over the years. We've fallen well behind off the pitch as well as on it, it's been 15 years since we won the league which means there is an entire generation of young players coming through who only know Arsenal to be the butt of all jokes.

I know Gazidis was getting a lot of praise towards the end, but he did a terrible job IMO, our stock no doubt fell badly with Wenger failing to challenge for the big prizes and accepting being 2nd best, but we could have done a lot better with the deals with someone better than Gazidis in charge, someone who could have pressured Wenger a bit more to deliver and acheived better deals.

For years we could see this coming and yet we still continued to hold onto the old guard, now we're paying the price I'm afraid, all because we decided to indulge a few underperformer year after year.

[SMatthews]

The problem is we only spend what we generate but we don't generate anywhere near enough to compete for serious players thanks to a mixture of poor coaching and poor business decisions over the years. We've fallen well behind off the pitch as well as on it, it's been 15 years since we won the league which means there is an entire generation of young players coming through who only know Arsenal to be the butt of all jokes.

I'd much rather we remained a club who only spent what we earn. I can live with whatever we become as a club as long as operate that way. As soon as someone starts to invest their own millions, I'll lose interest, cos it's just a dick contest then. Wenger blew the best part of £300m in this last 3 years at the club - the money spend on Lac/Auba/Ozil and Miki was meant to be a last roll of the dice, a team built for 'now' to get us back into the top four, but it hasn't worked. I don't think we're seen as a 'joke' club at all in reality. Players still want to come here - Zaha is a good case in point if that rumour is true. We're a big club and will remain that way, but we're just not seen as 'serious' contenders, which is a problem that can only be changed gradually.

[Özim]

The self sustainable model is a thing of the past, two decades ago it might have been a good idea but to maintain this is frankly ridiculous in a modern era when almost every big club is owned by billionaires who can afford to invest (most importantly including ourselves). By all means let's keep the self sustaining model going year on year if we want to be also rans for the foreseeable future, you have to speculate to accummulate as they say, if you invest and succeed you'll reap the rewards, a middle of the road club get very little reward and rarely moves forward.

We're starting to lag revenue wise, all the clubs that have invested have either surpassed us will soon surpass us, our profits are falling quite a lot as well and on the pitch we're a shadow of the club we were 15 years ago, not really a great way to run a football club or indeed a business if you want it to be successful.

Besides it's not a fans job to worry about finances, fans care most about what happens on the pitch.

[I am invisible]

You can't terminate a contract on any of those basis. Even when players have refused to return to their clubs they have still remained in contract until they are sold. The club would be left wide open for a messy, protracted and expensive lawsuit, that would then tell every agent to advise their players to avoid us like the plague.

We're stuck with Ozil and any other player that doesn't want to leave.
I don’t suppose there’s any way we can justify fining him exactly £350k a week until he leaves?

[Marc Overmars]

Bit more paper talk on Auba to United.

Don’t know about anyone else but I’d be absolutely livid if we sold him to raise money for Zaha.

[SMatthews]

I don’t suppose there’s any way we can justify fining him exactly £350k a week until he leaves?

:lol:

[SMatthews]

Bit more paper talk on Auba to United.

Don’t know about anyone else but I’d be absolutely livid if we sold him to raise money for Zaha.

This kind of goes back to what I was banging on about during last season - should we sell a big player to raise funds if our transfer pot is small. It also ties into the self sufficient argument. There’s on only one team in the Prem that doesn’t operate that way anymore, even Chelsea have changed their model. But the difference is, we don’t have CL money to help. Should we sell Auba or Laca to raise money? We maybe don’t have much choice. But to Utd? That would be hard to swallow.

Edit: Although, he does have two years left on his contract and if he isn’t going to sign and Raul is going to stick to his word, then he could well be a gonna.

[Özim]

Bit more paper talk on Auba to United.

Don’t know about anyone else but I’d be absolutely livid if we sold him to raise money for Zaha.

Me too, Auba scores lots of goals, one of the few players I want to keep hold of, Zaha won't score that many goals and to be honest is a bit overrated IMO.

Be just like this club to do something that stupid though. Are there any Man U rejects we can take off their hands as well?

[Marc Overmars]

If we do have to sell our biggest assets then fine, as long as the players we bring in are of a similar standard.

Zaha is definitely not worth 70m or whatever if it meant losing a 30 goal striker.

[Özim]

Yup agreed, if we sold Auba to fund a top quality player, preferably a striker to replace him who will score goals, then fine, but for someone like Zaha......please.

I don't even particularly want us to sign this guy anyway, there's better out there for less money.

[SMatthews]

If we do have to sell our biggest assets then fine, as long as the players we bring in are of a similar standard.

Zaha is definitely not worth 70m or whatever if it meant losing a 30 goal striker.

I guess the thinking would be to spread goals across the team, which we need, and more creativity out wide. Zaha hasn’t scored a lot for Palace, but he’d be in a team who have the ball more and create more chances. I’m not 100% sold on the idea of Zaha at all, but if we sold a big player I think the money would be spent on another position. Still, the transfer market in the Prem has been bloody slow - either July is going to go nuts, or it’ll be a very quiet summer for everyone.

[SMatthews]

Lyon have said the Ndombele transfer isn’t close at all :lol:

They’ve apparently bid £40m but nothing more.

[Özim]

A lot of these rumours are created with the premise of destabilising a player to be honest, Ornstein mentioned we'd need to sell Aubameyang to buy Zaha, now it's come out in the papers.

Unfortunately this can sometimes lead to a transfer as a player can suddenly fancy a move to that club and if the club are interested a move can happen. I hope that's not the case but if Man U decide they're interested then we might have a problem, he must see how little we have to spend and how little ambition we have. That's the trouble with this model we use, top players don't want to hear you're going to sign nobodies and you have no money for top players, they want to hear that quality signings are going to be made so we can challenge for top prizes.

RVP had it spot on with the club, he had to move on to win stuff and he did, players/fans have been complaining about our transfer policy for years and it's always fallen on deaf ears.

[Özim]

Aulas said:


Speaking on RMC (https://rmcsport.bfmtv.com/football/ol-ca-discute-pour-ndombele-aulas-a-deja-refuse-une-offre-de-tottenham-1721336.html), he said: "If I wait another eight days, it will be €80million (£72m).

Tottenham made us an opening offer worth €45m (£40m). Then, we discussed more. Nothing is done, I can assure you. We are not in a hurry either.

"Tanguy has shown his qualities with the French national team. He is one of our best players. How much is he worth? I do not know, but not just €45m.

Doesn't look like he's saying he wants 72 million to me, just that he's worth more than 40 million.

[Özim]

It's being reported Bielik wants to leave, so not sure he'll be sticking around for us to use him so that option might have gone out the window for us.

[Letters]

it's been 15 years since we won the league which means there is an entire generation of young players coming through who only know Arsenal to be the butt of all jokes.

Is being champions and the "butt of all jokes" the only two options?
How many clubs have been more successful than us in that time?
Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool, City, I guess you'd have to add Leicester :wacko:. Who else? Spurs haven't won a thing to our 3 FA Cups so not them.

We're not where we need to be and with our owner I'm not convinced we'll get there but some of you lot need to have a word with yourselves. We are far better placed to succeed than most clubs.

[SMatthews]

Is being champions and the "butt of all jokes" the only two options?
How many clubs have been more successful than us in that time?
Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool, City, I guess you'd have to add Leicester :wacko:. Who else? Spurs haven't won a thing to our 3 FA Cups so not them.

We're not where we need to be and with our owner I'm not convinced we'll get there but some of you lot need to have a word with yourselves. We are far better placed to succeed than most clubs.

Are you going to call someone a cunt again?

[Letters]

:lol: That was funny last time.
Maccy removed it though :sulk:
(Rightly so, to be fair.)

[Marc Overmars]

Is being champions and the "butt of all jokes" the only two options?
How many clubs have been more successful than us in that time?
Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool, City, I guess you'd have to add Leicester :wacko:. Who else? Spurs haven't won a thing to our 3 FA Cups so not them.

We're not where we need to be and with our owner I'm not convinced we'll get there but some of you lot need to have a word with yourselves. We are far better placed to succeed than most clubs.

“Most clubs” are not our measuring stick.

The top 6 clubs are the only ones we need to be looking at.

[Letters]

“Most clubs” are not our measuring stick.

The top 6 clubs are the only ones we need to be looking at.

If that's true, and I guess it is, then you know who to thank for that. We were never a consistently top 4/6 club back in the day. #justsayin'
But yes, that is the level we are at now and while within that group we are struggling to compete, we are fairly well placed to with the right ownership.
The stadium move had to be done, it wasn't quite the silver bullet we were all hoping but we did it just as the billionaires started to have a big impact on the game and Fergie was still in his pomp.
Not much we could have done about any of those things but longer term it was the only option (that's a response to some of the posts over the last few pages which seem to suggest we shouldn't have done it).

[selassie]

Aulas said:



Doesn't look like he's saying he wants 72 million to me, just that he's worth more than 40 million.

Classic Aulas!

He will drag this one out and extract every single penny he can out of the Spuds.

[Mac76]

Although, he does have two years left on his contract and if he isn’t going to sign and Raul is going to stick to his word, then he could well be a gonna.

Yes it's Raul's 'sell or resign with two years left' rule that makes any Auba rumours credible (though not necessarily true)

And it's 'goner' btw ;)

[Bumble]

I don’t suppose there’s any way we can justify fining him exactly £350k a week until he leaves?

we probably could justify it but probably not legally.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I don’t suppose there’s any way we can justify fining him exactly £350k a week until he leaves?

:lol:

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

How much would that putrid club need to offer for us to sell Auba? Far too much should be the answer.

Even if we got 150 mill for him, I'm not sure wqe would sufficiently reinvest it.

Aubameyang, Wan-Bissaka and a top manager would probably turn them into title challengers!

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

And could we not have hijacked, Godin or hummels.... heck the both of those deals! Then Just go youth ahead of the backline.

[SMatthews]

How much would that putrid club need to offer for us to sell Auba? Far too much should be the answer.

Even if we got 150 mill for him, I'm not sure wqe would sufficiently reinvest it.

Aubameyang, Wan-Bissaka and a top manager would probably turn them into title challengers!

About that top manager part...

[selassie]

And could we not have hijacked, Godin or hummels.... heck the both of those deals! Then Just go youth ahead of the backline.

Godin I wouldn’t have minded, wage demands would have been an issue though.

Hummels is finished, we would have been stuck with another veteran player on huge wages who isn’t performing.

Im shocked Dortmund have bought him, Bayern must be laughing their heads off at them in the boardroom!

[Özim]

How much would that putrid club need to offer for us to sell Auba? Far too much should be the answer.

Even if we got 150 mill for him, I'm not sure wqe would sufficiently reinvest it.

Aubameyang, Wan-Bissaka and a top manager would probably turn them into title challengers!

As MO said, if we were selling to sign the same level of player fine, but to sell a guy who scores a hatful and then sign a player who is nowhere near that level and doesn't score a lot is madness.

This club has done stranger things though, so don't put it past them, we've sold to our rivals numerous times, something other big clubs never seem to do.

[Özim]

Classic Aulas!

He will drag this one out and extract every single penny he can out of the Spuds.

Pretty much, but the 72 million was just pulled out of the air and then picked up by a few, he never said he wanted that, he said he didn't know how much he was worth.

[Özim]

Yes it's Raul's 'sell or resign with two years left' rule that makes any Auba rumours credible (though not necessarily true)

And it's 'goner' btw ;)

Selling to a rival would be crazy, if we did sell we'd need a lot of money and somebody top notch to lined up to replace him, not Zaha.

[Letters]

Selling to a rival would be crazy.
I'm sure Arsenal would never do anything so stupid...


:ilt:

[Marc Overmars]

Sounds like Lukaku is off to Inter Milan.

[SMatthews]

Sounds like Lukaku is off to Inter Milan.

Meanwhile shady Gazidis has negotiated for Milan to sit out the Europa as ‘punishment’ freeing them up to push for a top four spot without distraction.

[Marc Overmars]

Sky are reporting that we are expected to make an offer for Zaha.

10m and a pack of Monster Munch?

[GP]

Sky are reporting that we are expected to make an offer for Zaha.

10m and a pack of Monster Munch?

Ornstein said this yesterday.

Palace will want £80m, we can't afford it.