He's not an unknown. I'm not sure he's a major signing either but I've only seen the press report him as such.Originally Posted by ItsMe
Are you now contriving to blame Arsenal or Wenger for newspaper headlines?
You'll be blaming the club for hacking Milly Dowler's phone next. Sheesh!
How is that blaming Wenger exactly?
I was commenting on their headline that it was a major signing, it's definitely not. He's an untested player from the French league basically, not an established proven player, we're signing a player with potential not the finished article.
Is that the signings we should be going for? If we bring in established players as well then why not, if however we sign other players just like him and don't sign proven players I'm not so sure. Think we need players who are the real deal and will hit the ground running at this stage, not players who will take a season to settle in.
Letters you really need to calm down mate
Hardly anyone had herd of Gerbil before our interest and IMHO the guy is a gamble and not a major signing in any way shape or form
i would agree he is not a "major" signing but he is not exactly some teenager picked up to potentially blossom in 3-4 years. he is a full international and is ready to play now not just in the mickey mouse cup. we wont get major etoo style signings so for us this is probably major. he will step straight into the team. how much more established and ready to people want?
Tbf, Gervinho is neither an unknown nor is he a major signing. But we never sign big names (bar Bergkamp and maybe Campbell but that was over ten years ago). He fits the more recent kind of signing, like Vermaelen, Eduardo, Sagna etc in that he's early twenties in age and has proven himself in a smaller European league (and also for his country and maybe even in the CL), ready to step up to our level. But because of the type of player he is (18 goals and 10 assists in all comps last season), we definitely need him, because it seems he would bring a much-needed variety to our attacking game. It's a start, but there are obvious places where we need to rebuild, as has been the case for years now.
Gervinho is a project but he should be willing to play after he settles in. The problem is that it may take him 2-3 months to settle in and then he's missing for two months in winter for the ACoN, so we probably won't see the best of him this season.
That said, I think he was a good buy and offers us something different, I'm happy that we've signed a pacy attacker to go with our more continental ones.
The problem with Wenger is that he always replaces, rarely strengthens in terms of transfers. So far we're one in, one out (don't count Jenkinson as anything more than a youth player) so we're still even with the potential departures of Cesc/Nasri.
The King Is Back.
He's played for Lille for a couple years and before that for Le Mans for a couple years, he's basically spent a few years in the French league, in my book that's not really an established player.
He's like all those other players from the French league we tend to buy relatively untested, it will take him time to adapt and he's been playing at a lower level all his career.
How much more major, we'll I'd personally prefer players who have either played in England or Spain, maybe even Italy as these tend to be harder leagues.
He's a player with potential basically.
D'ya know what.
I reckon we'll get Benzema.
I have no substance to my statement. I just got a feeling.
I also need a wee though. So it could be that.
It's better to burn out, than to fade away.
So? He's not an unknown or some French kid who may come good in 5 years. What was the point in commenting on it unless it was to have another moan. We can't control what the press write.
I looked up his stats, they're not spectacular but he just won the French league and seems decent enough. I'd be disappointed if he's the only player we sign but it seems like a decent enough signing.
There's no guarantee a big name player would hit the ground running btw, Torres at Chelsea? It's more likely I guess but even Bergkamp took a while to get going and Henry was a little hit and miss in his first season.
I think we should be looking at the Bundesliga more. Similar style, but probably a little less physical and more technical. It'd be easier for players to adapt from there to the EPL. Someone like Bayer Leverkusen's Arturo Vidal, who only has a year left on his deal, would be perfect to beef up our midfield and provide competition to Song and Jack.
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