Summer Transfer Speculation and Shit.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...rd-Harris.html


Interesting interview in the Mail with Lord Harris of Peckham who's a board member at the club so privy to the inside info.

Apart from the admittedly crigneworthy Wenger love lines, there are few interesting tidbits in there. Basically all but confirms that Wenger wants to buy a world class centre forward but is hamstrung by lack of availability of one. Apparently he has his eyes set on one in particular but he's just waiting for that club in particular to buy a replacement before going in with a bid and apparently the player in question wants to come as well ...................... most likely he's referring to Benzema.

Very forthright about Szecheny and Ospina in this comment, "Since Jens Lehmann or David Seaman, we've not really had a world-class goalie. We made enquiries about Cech last summer but Chelsea couldn't sell him because they didn't know how Courtois was going to settle in" ................. can't imagine either Ches or Ospina being happy about that, or probably Wenger or Gazidis for that matter. It's probably not a good idea to talk about the shortcomings in certain areas publicly.

So, now it's the money is there but the players aren't available. :haha: Propaganda machinery well oiled and in full operation.

Even if remotely true, why can't we go in and try to prize away the player we want from a club. Must we always wait for cast offs who have become surplus to requirements or are seen as means to recoup funds? :shrug:

i'm euphoric just euphoric, we've signed Gabriel Babosa from Santos for £30 million!.......nothing can beat this!!!!!!! .....until I woke up in sweats at 5:30am and realise this was just a horrible tease dream I was having.

...so no we still haven't signed anyone.


http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/row-ze...munich-6125163

flamini gag is funny in that link

Probably not the smartest move to reveal we have 200million' in the bank! Particularly with Walcott playing games and us trying to find players for decent prices! Don't think Wenger is going to wake up too happy.

To be honest, if Walcott doesn't sign, I'd replace him with Pedro. A snip at 22million.

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Originally Posted by The Emirates Gallactico

Basically all but confirms that Wenger wants to buy a world class centre forward but is hamstrung by lack of availability of one. Apparently he has his eyes set on one in particular but he's just waiting for that club in particular to buy a replacement before going in with a bid and apparently the player in question wants to come as well ...................... most likely he's referring to Benzema.

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Which other club would sit and wait for a player to become available and wait for their club to sign a replacement before bidding?

It's absolute nonsense, clubs go after players they want regardless of whether their club has someone else signed up, I'm sure we've got some guy employed just to put this cr*p out so that it makes people believe we're actually doing everything we can but we're hamstrung by players not being available.

More often than not the best transfers are the unexpected one for players who don't appear to be available until you try to sign them.

I get the frustration and agree to an extent, but 'timing' could be key if we assume that one significant signing somewhere on the continent will be the key to a merry go round of transfers.

That said, we really should be going into next season able to challenge for the title in any case.

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"We get a list of the players that Wenger wants," Harris noted. "On the list is a centre-forward, but I'm not going to tell you who he is. You've got to get the other team to want to sell him, but I think he wants to come. It basically comes down to whether the other team can find a superstar to replace him, because they don't have to sell."

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http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...enger-and-more

This is where it gets silly. If we offer the team the right sort of money they'll go out and find a replacement straight away. As suspected, we'll gamble on deadline day and hope chess pieces move in the final hours so we can get our man. If we're a top striker away from winning the league I don't think we should be relying on such a risky strategy especially when we have the money for it.

Vidal for 26m is great business for Bayern.

Such a quality player.

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Originally Posted by Özil's Panoramic View

So, now it's the money is there but the players aren't available. :haha: Propaganda machinery well oiled and in full operation.

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I don't think there's anything egregious in that; it's basically what we've all been saying on here already.

The strikers who are notably better than Giroud/Theo e.g. Lewandonski, Aguero, Suarez etc are all simply unattainable.

Given how we've swooped in for proper class like Alexis and Ozil when they've been available, I'm fully confident that if one for some reason became available we would pounce immediately.

The alternative is to go for a talented youngster who has the potential to explode into that category (Lacazeette) but that's a lot more risky.

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Originally Posted by Özil's Panoramic View

Even if remotely true, why can't we go in and try to prize away the player we want from a club. Must we always wait for cast offs who have become surplus to requirements or are seen as means to recoup funds? :shrug:

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This is a fair point though.

If Wenger is as actively interested in Benzema as Lord Harris is hinting at here we should be trying to force the issue. We have a lot more leverage and appeal than the club and some fans may think.

Real Madrid is a circus right now - they're owned by a pompous idiot and currently managed by an even bigger idiot. Sergio Ramos wants to leave, Ronaldo is already throwing his toys out of the pram and dislikes Benitez, they've just treated their homegrown long serving goalkeeper like shit, their fans are morons who boo a player if he doesn't score in a few games ....... etc etc

As ridicolous as it would have sounded about 5 years ago but there are plenty of reasons why a player may prefer the stability and normality of being here than the circus that is Madrid, especially one who already has gone through the phase of being lured by the "dream" of playing for Madrid and also a French player to boot. It's not like they would be getting paid any less either here.

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Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...enger-and-more

This is where it gets silly. If we offer the team the right sort of money they'll go out and find a replacement straight away. As suspected, we'll gamble on deadline day and hope chess pieces move in the final hours so we can get our man. If we're a top striker away from winning the league I don't think we should be relying on such a risky strategy especially when we have the money for it.

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Nah. As silly and dumb as Real are at times, even they wouldn't willingly sell their only premier striker (I'm assuming it's Benzema Harris is hinting at) unless they had someone already in too replace him

Only other way to force the issue as I hinted above is to make the player want to come here and request a move.

Because of what I see as the paucity of available top quality strikers there is very little incentive for top clubs to sell theirs, and if we are honest....other than money what can we offer him at Arsenal that he doesn't have already at Real Madrid?.

Oh and he's just scored against City

A club without Rafa maybe? He'll piss a lot of people off at Real Madrid with his management style.

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Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory

A club without Rafa maybe? He'll piss a lot of people off at Real Madrid with his management style.

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Which poses an interesting debate on whether people think Benitez or Wenger is the better manager?

Wenger all day.

There you go, always leaping in to defend Wenger at every opportunity :sulk:




:run:

Rafa in!

There's been plenty of opportunities to buy top strikers in the past we've always let them slip by, if there aren't many strikers available it's our own fault, now we just need to make it happen.

If he money's right the player will be available.

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Originally Posted by Douglas Reynholm

Rafa in!

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Meh. He's no Tony Pulis.

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Originally Posted by Özim

There's been plenty of opportunities to buy top strikers in the past we've always let them slip by, if there aren't many strikers available it's our own fault, now we just need to make it happen.

If he money's right the player will be available.

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Don't disagree about us turning our nose up at past opportunities, but if for example it is Benzema we are after (says a lot about the striker dirge that he's probably one of the best options out there) Real Madrid are not a club that needs the money, they will want to know they can get a replacement in (they don't have that many strikers themselves you know).

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Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory

Wenger all day.

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In terms of trophies won there isn't a great deal in it, but in my opinion I agree because I think if Wenger had the squad that Benitez had with Liverpool in 2008/2009 I actually think he would have gone on to win the title.

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Originally Posted by Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie

In terms of trophies won there isn't a great deal in it, but in my opinion I agree because I think if Wenger had the squad that Benitez had with Liverpool in 2008/2009 I actually think he would have gone on to win the title.

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I'm not sure about the squad comparison because I think we had a really good squad in 2007/08. On the trophy count, Wenger pips him even if he doesn't have the CL. But the main reason I say Wenger is because Rafa has a rep for rubbing the players the wrong way. The tinkering and cold approach wouldn't work over here and I think he's going to struggle at Real if he doesn't have the players backing him. It's a club with serious player power and he'll need to have a warmer approach otherwise he'll have a mutiny on his hands.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...al-Madrid.html

And it's the second time he's had to follow Ancelotti. A coach that doesn't do the cold shoulder approach and gets on really well his his players. It's one to watch.

Hmm dunno Hleb and Flamini had left by 2008/2009, Nasri and Arshavin were good signings but we didn't have that core solidity of players like Gerard, Xabi Alonso and Torres at his peak in the side.
Wenger probably wouldn't have pissed off Robbie Keane to the point where he'd go after half a season as well.

Press conference - Nice how you get hope that Arsenal will do something to improve the squad and then when you speak to Wenger he pisses on the bonfire, although I do agree with him that we need more goals from the "non strikers"

What did he say?

I can't imagine anything said in a press conference would effect what we are doing in the background (i.e patiently observing the waiting period and being open to whatever life brings us).

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Originally Posted by Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie

Which poses an interesting debate on whether people think Benitez or Wenger is the better manager?

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Both are idiots

Sounds like we'll make an opportunistic signing if it's possible, which seems to be our strategy most of the time anyway.

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Originally Posted by fakeyank

Both are idiots

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You think Arsene Wenger is an idiot?

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Originally Posted by Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie

Hmm dunno Hleb and Flamini had left by 2008/2009, Nasri and Arshavin were good signings but we didn't have that core solidity of players like Gerard, Xabi Alonso and Torres at his peak in the side.
Wenger probably wouldn't have pissed off Robbie Keane to the point where he'd go after half a season as well.

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I was comparing the 2007/08 squad when we came close to winning the title with Hleb and Flamini. That was a very good squad but we didn't win so can't really say for sure if Wenger would win the title with Liverpools squad. All speculation but I never saw their squad as something really amazing.

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Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory

I was comparing the 2007/08 squad when we came close to winning the title with Hleb and Flamini. That was a very good squad but we didn't win so can't really say for sure if Wenger would win the title with Liverpools squad. All speculation but I never saw their squad as something really amazing.

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The team was, the squad wasn't.

But yeah, Wenger. Although had Rafa been your Champions League manager with your best teams...

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Originally Posted by Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie

Which poses an interesting debate on whether people think Benitez or Wenger is the better manager?

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More a short debate than an interesting one. Wenger, by a wide, wide, margin.

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Originally Posted by Firmino Is Boss

The team was, the squad wasn't.

But yeah, Wenger. Although had Rafa been your Champions League manager with your best teams...

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We still wouldn't have won?

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Originally Posted by Letters

You think Arsene Wenger is an idiot?

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No he's referring to his identical twin brother who is a clinical idiot and was locked in a vin cellar and fed poisson heads

Arsene has no knowledge of his existence

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Originally Posted by Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie

We still wouldn't have won?

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:shrug:

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Originally Posted by Letters

You think Arsene Wenger is an idiot?

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He is 2% away from being a bumbling idiot.

As a brief and completely irrelevant aside I passed Anfield the other day, I have family who live in the city etc etc

So how are you looking upon the upcoming season, trepidation, cautious optimism....

I personally think you need to sort your defence out, and also think Mignolet is not good enough for you (would be interesting if a prat fall mid season leads to the Ginge becoming your no1 guy)

Benteke could potentially pay off really well if he stays fit and the midfield gets him the service, your style of play is not too dissimilar to ours and I rate him higher than I do Giroud.

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Originally Posted by Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie

As a brief and completely irrelevant aside I passed Anfield the other day, I have family who live in the city etc etc

So how are you looking upon the upcoming season, trepidation, cautious optimism....

I personally think you need to sort your defence out, and also think Mignolet is not good enough for you (would be interesting if a prat fall mid season leads to the Ginge becoming your no1 guy)

Benteke could potentially pay off really well if he stays fit and the midfield gets him the service, your style of play is not too dissimilar to ours and I rate him higher than I do Giroud.

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Lucky man.

I can't answer that, since I invariably get it wrong anyway.

I think our signings have more thinking behind them this summer than last. We actually had to replace important players so that gave us more focus than sheer numbers. I hope we go back to a 433 or a variant of. Sakho and Skrtel are solid enough, they have their moments of insanity but are unfairly mocked for dodgyness, Clyne will hopefully be an improvement on Johnson and Moreno is decent enough at left back, though he definitely needs to improve defensively. Kinda important for a defender really. I actually like Mignolet. Ever since he was dropped he has come back and has looked a different keeper. Now he'll just plough through anyone and doesn't give a shit who is in his way, in turn helping his confidence and the defence's confidence in him. I can't for the life of me see Bogdan challenging him though. But then I haven't really watched him much either.

Without Gerrard, hopefully Henderson will step out of his shadow somewhat. He often looked stunted with him in the team. Certainly him, Milner and Can will be absolute engines in the middle; I thought the our pressing game was our biggest failing last season because it was one of our biggest assets the season before so hopefully they can help with that.

It does all depend on whether Benteke fits in and if Sturridge can find a donor leg. If they click well together and adding in the likes of Coutinho and Firmino then we potentially have a decent attack with plenty of pace, power, movement, pace and power. If they don't fit (Benteke especially) then it's curtains for Brendan.

We're more than likely hoping for one of the top 4 to cock up, but then we were briefly in race last season without a functioning striker, so who knows.

Where do you guys need to strengthen above all else? It still seems as if you're 1/2 players away?

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Originally Posted by Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie

We still wouldn't have won?

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We would have had more of a chance than with Wenger. If nothing else, Rafa knows how to set his teams up to be hard to beat, and you need to do that in the Champions League. It's suicide to play as open as Wenger has done against the likes of Barca, Bayern, and Real. It's no coincidence that Wenger's best run in the competition came when we parked the bus every single game. Shame he didn't learn from that...

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Originally Posted by Penguin

We would have had more of a chance than with Wenger. If nothing else, Rafa knows how to set his teams up to be hard to beat, and you need to do that in the Champions League. It's suicide to play as open as Wenger has done against the likes of Barca, Bayern, and Real. It's no coincidence that Wenger's best run in the competition came when we parked the bus every single game. Shame he didn't learn from that...

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Perhaps but that would have been tempered with finishes outside the top four which would have impacted our prestige, status and revenue streams at a time we could ill afford to, bizarre transfers (wanting to swap Alonso for Barry) and a transfer merry-go-round, adopting a flawed short term approach to things, and most likely publicly falling out with the players and the board, the latter about a lack of funds. Less not we forget he also managed to destroy a Mourinho treble winning Inter team in the space of six months. Plus there's also the fact he's fat.

I don't think it's even a contest between the pair of them tbh. Wenger will go down as one of the greats, idolised by Arsenal fans and well respected by the entire footballing community for his work revolutionising the PL alongside Fergie whereas as Benitez just won't.

It really isn't a surprise that Wenger's done a lot better the last couple of years when we've as a club have finally had the same or close to the same resources as our rivals at the tops.

I await to see how Bentiez does at a massive club like Real but given the signs so far I suspect it won't be that well. I doubt he'd even survive one year let alone the three years he's been given.