Don't know if it means anything, but apparently Willian trained with the rest of the players on Sunday morning and was left out of the squad completely for the spurs game. No mention of illness or injury or imminent moves away - just not picked.
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Don't know if it means anything, but apparently Willian trained with the rest of the players on Sunday morning and was left out of the squad completely for the spurs game. No mention of illness or injury or imminent moves away - just not picked.
Nah he's just shit.
Even just that acknowledgement from the manager would be something.Quote:
Originally Posted by dazthegooner
Seriously, where’s the goalkeeper signing? I can understand / forgive anything else that hasn’t happened, but this feels like we’re dicing with death now!
Arteta and Edu have had a disastrous transfer window and shown they're just not up to it
On one note though, it doesn't look like we've actually signed this new contract with Xhaka yet - is there any hope this is a clumsy bluff to force Roma's hand? :pray:
A new contract makes zero sense and for me the season's basically over before it's started with him in the side
Give the guy a break. He is obviously pregnant. Baby due any moment. We wont see him back till January at the earliestQuote:
Originally Posted by I am invisible
I bet he's planning on comeing back already pregnant with the next one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Globalgunner
Transfers are on Edu - he's made it clear that he's the man you go through for all recruitment and contract matters. Arteta might help draw up the list of targets, but his responsibility is training the players, tactics and team selections.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mac76
I get the frustration - I want someone to rage at too because it feels like we're woefully unprepared for this season to start - but tbf I'm not sure how much you can really blame any of the current management team for how the window has gone? They've had their hands well and truly tied by previous regimes who have saddled us with a squad full of overpaid shit and, surprisingly, there's no market out there for them in a pandemic-devastated Europe. Our owners won't put their hands in their pockets and we have to free up space in the squad before we can add to it - that leaves us with very little room to manoeuvre. I think / hope we'll see some things start to happen as we get closer to the end of the window, but I'm starting to brace myself for maybe having to lose some of the players who we'd probably prefer to keep in order to land our key targets (not our best players, but not the unwanted crap either - I'm starting to look at in-betweeners like Willock, Holding, etc).
Unfortunately, I don't think we can just let Xhaka go for nothing - it looks like his replacement is going to need to be (at least partly) funded by his sale, so Roma's offer of a rubber band and a paperclip is no good to us. Unless someone comes in and meets the asking price that we need to achieve in order to fund his replacement he's more valuable to us as a player.
Much as I wanted him to move on (for symbolic reasons as much as anything else), he really is the least of my midfield worries. The fact is he was our best midfielder last year - that may be a sad fact, but it is still a fact - and him and Partey were actually a decent pairing on those rare occasions that Partey was available. Sure, we could raise the ceiling of our midfield by upgrading him, but the more pressing issue for me is that we desperately need to raise our floor. We can't roll into another season where the next available options are players like Elneny and Ceballos - that's what has really killed us. Looking on the positive side, Ceballos is gone, Lokonga looks the absolute business already, and there's been talk of keeping Azeez around the first team this year - personally, I'd rather make another CM signing and send Azeez out on loan for a full year of first team football, but anything that pushes Elneny further away from the starting XI is an improvement for me (love him, but he really is nothing more than an extra body on the pitch).
https://twitter.com/ChrisWheatley_/s...42040360407043
I like him. Seems expensive though.
These valuations are all just meaningless these days.
Willian was 100% their doing and if Xhaka gets a new contract then that is tooQuote:
Originally Posted by I am invisible
Don't forget we made Arteta Manager with a capital M so of course he has a lot to do with it
Sounds like the Ramsdale deal has broken down as Sheffield hold out for 30 million, which we aren't prepared to pay.
Bit of a shambles really that we go into our first league game without a proper back up keeper.
Agree about Willian - they have to own that one and, tbf, it does look like they are: he’s basically been benched since Boxing Day 2020, and now he’s not even making the squad for friendlies, which is encouraging. Our targets this summer have also looked very different, and far more data-driven, so hopefully that’s another sign of lessons having been learned (or maybe just a sign that we actually have a scouting and analysis department to identify targets this summer).Quote:
Originally Posted by Mac76
Not sure I agree on Xhaka, though. We’ve genuinely tried all summer to move him on, but there’s only been one interested club and they were only prepared to offer half of what was already a hugely reduced asking price for one of our starting CMs.
The talk of a contract extension doesn’t actually bother me too much - from what I’ve read, it’s only an extra year (the second year is just an option), and it wouldn’t be on that much more than he’s on now. If the only offer we have is Roma’s then his sale is borderline worthless to us this summer, so all we’re really doing here is ensuring that he’s not going to be down to his final year going into next summer - if he rolls into next summer with one year left then I guarantee he’s not going anywhere until his contract ends in 2023. He’ll hold out for the free, as will any interested clubs.
The Xhaka situation isn’t ideal, and it’s not how I wanted this summer to go, but at this point CM is far less of an issue for me than GK, a 10, RB and CF.
Xhaka + a fit Partey is decent.
Xhaka + Elneny is crap.
Xhaka + Ceballos was crap.
Elneny + Ceballos was just terrifying.
If Xhaka is staying put then there’s a lot of improvements to be made just by avoiding those duff pairings as much as possible. A fitter Thomas Partey (who has a full preseason under his belt) will be a massive help there, as will the addition of Lokonga and Ceballos’s return to Madrid - if we can also promote someone like Azeez, or maybe make another more modest ‘prospect’ signing, then that all helps push Elneny further down the pecking order. God love him, but he really is nothing more than an extra body…
If need be I would push Elneny down the stairs... :blink:
You know… it’s hard to hate the guy on a personal level - he’s just a bit of a non-event as a player. I guess he’s a good guy to have around the training ground and a good role model for the younger players in terms of personality, humility and professionalism - if we can’t find a buyer for him then I don’t mind letting him see out his final year to help us transition Azeez into the first team.Quote:
Originally Posted by dazthegooner
But there’s no way he should ever be getting as many games as he got last year - 1 or 2, tops, if we’re all out of other options - and there should be no efforts made to retain him. Just let him quietly bow out with as much dignity as possible.
I'd play Elneny over Xhaka any day of the week, he's tidy, gives the ball away much less, doesn't get sent off, isn't a c**t etc
If we want to sign ramsdale why cant the player moan and throw his toys around like most would.
Everything is on Edu and Arteta, they seem to be making it up as they go along. Other teams go out and pay what is asked. The money for Ramsdale is ridiculous, surely there are better options elsewhere???Quote:
Originally Posted by Gooner23
Ødegaard rumours picking up steam..
https://www.skysports.com/football/n...t-granit-xhakaQuote:
Originally Posted by Mac76
Mac, this you?
:lol:
Have we spent 50 million on a CB that can't head the ball?
Good luck trying to give me a 3 year ban
Damn, caught red-handed :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by I am invisible
£50m for a 5'3 centre back who cannot head or run. What a fucking shambles.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gooner23
Ødegaard didn’t even make the bench for Real yesterday so it looks like something might be shifting there. Even old man Bale got some minutes!
If only they were as sharp on the pitch. The priorities of this club are laughable.Quote:
Originally Posted by I am invisible
Odegaard looks on verge of being signed... at least that gives us another attacking option. not someone who i think will take us to the next level but at least someone who would stop us going backwards... literally.
Maybe although there were signs towards the end of last season that he'd been Arteta-ised and was being less attack-mindedQuote:
Originally Posted by Bumble
Good. Get it done ASAP.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bumble
Really?? Yet ANOTHER ordinary player.Quote:
Originally Posted by I am invisible
Every player ends up being ordinary in this squad. But there are a few who would do well elsewhere. By modern standards - which are very low.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chippy
Fair enough, that’s your opinion and I gee that there was a split on what kind of player we wanted here. I liked what I saw of him, though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chippy
Considering he’d barely played any football in the 6 months prior to his loan, and the fact that he was moving to the toughest league in the world, in the middle of the season, and to a new country in the middle of a pandemic (and to an absolute shambles of a team), I think he settled and started contributing pretty bloody quickly? (Oh, and he had that injury right in the middle of his loan too, which set him back just as he was finding his stride). Might be wrong, but I think we’ve only scratched the surface of what he can do?
Shouldn’t need much time to settle and adapt to the league / manager / team mates this time, and I’m looking forward to having him fully focussed and committed, and not thinking of Madrid.
€35m - good price if true.
What’s the opposite of LANS?
SNAL?Quote:
Originally Posted by I am invisible
Ooh, I like that!Quote:
Originally Posted by Mac76
This week, Ramsdale is… on again!
Honestly, at this point I just think we need to get it done - I don’t even care about how much we get done for. The more I see of Leno the more he scares me - the guy just radiates panic and it bleeds out into everyone around him.
@Mac76 - what’s the opposite of Emi? Ime? Zenitram? That’s what Leno is.
Not sure about Odegaard personally but it doesn’t look like we’ll be signing anyone else in this position so just get him in.
Think these number 10, creative/between the lines type of players are a bit dated. Would prefer someone a bit more dynamic with tangible end product. He will struggle to make a serious impact in a team where most of the play is just geared towards the wide areas and getting crosses/cutbacks in.
I thought Odegaard looked very good at times last season, think we should keep him if we can.