Summer Transfer Speculation and Shit

[I am invisible]

In essence, yes.

Though recently it's been closer to just the two up front with Sterling in behind, Suarez pulling off to the right, Sturridge staying more central and Coutinho popping up here and there.

Though tbh, they do pretty much what they like.

Yeah, I've always thought formations are more about where you stand when you're defending anyway - when you have the ball, you pretty much go where the opening is. Glad I wasn't too far out though.

That's kind of the beauty of having a striker who's comfortable playing wide - at any given moment you can switch between 433 and 442 (especially if your play-maker is OK going wide as well as staying central)?

[selassie]

If Podolski is out of contract this summer (I was amazed to learn that for a second and then suddenly not amazed thinking about how much he plays) and literally nobody on this board fancies Cazorla wide left and the other half don't care whether he remains or not who exactly are we expecting to play wide left season unless we sign somebody?

I get that we need a forward and maybe even 2, but we aren't going to buy a perfectly suitable forward and play him left unless he is extremely versatile....and I can't think of many great forwards who are.

In the cold light of day we could have a heck of a lot to do this summer. Even taking Draxler out of the equation, anyone of any real quality we buy is going to cost a huge amount, UNLESS, the player is not that well known, in which case we aren't going to be that happy about said player coming in anyway!

Seriously though, how many top forwards can we seriously look at signing this summer?

IMO, the bare minimum we should be aiming for should be an elite or soon to be elite striker like say....Balotelli or someone of that sort of level and then someone like a Loic Remy type.

[selassie]

I'm not sure why we would be able to sign Pogba or Bender. Better off trying to sign M'vila!

I think Bender is a possibility, Pogba isn't though, wages, cost of fee and competition would put us out of the running for Pogba's signature IMHO.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Of those 3, I think only the main CF absolutely has to be a top signing (if by 'top' we mean an elite name signed for big money) - the others obviously need to be very good players, and add qualities we currently lack (e.g. pace, power, dynamism, hunger, etc), but I think they can be less well-known and/or signed for more modest fees? I reckon it could be done without too much hassle (IF the desire was there to do it, of course)...

I would only be up for us getting rid of Giroud once and only once, we have signed a few players. He's no world beater but he is the best we have right now. If Chelsea are set on someone other than Costa then I think we should be in for him.

I like the sound of the Drmic dude (as a back up to a world class player), though I've NEVER seen him play but a young guy who's scored a bag of goals in the German league sounds promising.

Antoinne Griezman (or however you spell it) sounds a good option as does Remy but if we were genuinely interested in him I sense we'd have moved a long time ago.

As always there is a huge discrepancy between what we want and think should happen and what Wenger thinks needs to happen so we all know we're never going to sign 1 world class forward, 2 top class attackers, a top class DCM with a quality CB, RB and goalkeeper. That would be 7 players alone at a considerable cost! There will need to be some picking and choosing for the club to do but to my mind the priority is a world class CF or a player on the verge. As I keep repeating a world class CF can often mask a multitude of sins and if you really want to win things....you can't be lacking in that position. Unless you are Bayern Munich, which of course Arsenal are most certainly not.

I think Bender is a possibility, Pogba isn't though, wages, cost of fee and competition would put us out of the running for Pogba's signature IMHO.

Bender is not beyond our price tag (neither is Pogba technically) but clearly Wenger is only willing to pay 23 million for him and no more and he doesn't go back in for players once he has given up. Unless of course another manager is at the helm and fancies the same player, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

It needn't be a tricky position to fill...we have just made it an issue through the years of inaction in singing someone there. Somebody like M'vila who is disciplined and a good distributor would be a good fit and he isn't exactly a light weight. I don't think he would cost too much either as it seems he is unsettled over there in Russia.

Matuidi's signed a new contract so that's a dud now too.

[selassie]

I would only be up for us getting rid of Giroud once and only once, we have signed a few players. He's no world beater but he is the best we have right now. If Chelsea are set on someone other than Costa then I think we should be in for him.

I like the sound of the Drmic dude (as a back up to a world class player), though I've NEVER seen him play but a young guy who's scored a bag of goals in the German league sounds promising.

Antoinne Griezman (or however you spell it) sounds a good option as does Remy but if we were genuinely interested in him I sense we'd have moved a long time ago.

As always there is a huge discrepancy between what we want and think should happen and what Wenger thinks needs to happen so we all know we're never going to sign 1 world class forward, 2 top class attackers, a top class DCM with a quality CB, RB and goalkeeper. That would be 7 players alone at a considerable cost! There will need to be some picking and choosing for the club to do but to my mind the priority is a world class CF or a player on the verge. As I keep repeating a world class CF can often mask a multitude of sins and if you really want to win things....you can't be lacking in that position. Unless you are Bayern Munich, which of course Arsenal are most certainly not.




Bender is not beyond our price tag (neither is Pogba technically) but clearly Wenger is only willing to pay 23 million for him and no more and he doesn't go back in for players once he has given up. Unless of course another manager is at the helm and fancies the same player, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

It needn't be a tricky position to fill...we have just made it an issue through the years of inaction in singing someone there. Somebody like M'vila who is disciplined and a good distributor would be a good fit and he isn't exactly a light weight. I don't think he would cost too much either as it seems he is unsettled over there in Russia.

Matuidi's signed a new contract so that's a dud now too.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I don't really get why so many are convinced of Giroud's departure this summer. He's only been here 2 years is the best forward we have for how we play and has scored 20 goals. I get that he danced around in his pants with some hoochie mumma after hours but that kind of thing is hardly the gravest of all sins for past and present Arsenal players.

We spent half the summer trying to sign the bitey racist for goodness sake. Check out his rap sheet. Selling Giroud the moment the season ends will only ensure (if he remains) that Wenger has even more pressure to sign two never mind one forward. No sure who exactly is going to want Giroud either for any decent money.

[Power n Glory]

We should keep Giroud but sign another striker. It would serve his right to suffer a bit on the bench. These players have it too easy sometimes and get moved on too quickly.

[Dein-machine]

I don't really get why so many are convinced of Giroud's departure this summer. He's only been here 2 years is the best forward we have for how we play and has scored 20 goals. I get that he danced around in his pants with some hoochie mumma after hours but that kind of thing is hardly the gravest of all sins for past and present Arsenal players.

We spent half the summer trying to sign the bitey racist for goodness sake. Check out his rap sheet. Selling Giroud the moment the season ends will only ensure (if he remains) that Wenger has even more pressure to sign two never mind one forward. No sure who exactly is going to want Giroud either for any decent money.

We should be convinced of his departure because we should know by now that we cannot afford to have these type of players hanging around the club, taking wages & getting game time when they simply aren't good enough. We've put up with this for far too long, Eboue, Senderos, Djourou, Bendtner - players that should be nowhere near an Arsenal shirt and yet we take ages to get rid. Giroud is a Stoke player, not a player in a team of quick thinking, fast passing footballers - he is simply not good enough.
Don't delay the inevitable for his own sake aswell as ours. If we buy 2 strikers with the second one as back up, even this guy needs to be 10 times better than Giroud. Even our squad players need to be quality next year, no more Flamini's or Kallstrom's to fill gaps. Recent years tell us we need these players throughout the season, inevitably this will mean games against top teams - we cannot play these teams with poor replacements. Let's get spending - properly.

[I am invisible]

From what I've read, a lot of it seems to be based on the assumptions that a) we're definitely going to sign a big-name striker this summer, and b) having been demoted to back-up option, Giroud will chuck his toys out of his pram and demand a move.

Oh, and also his wife wants him to move, according to the rags - I'm sure her opinion carries a lot of weight in this, given how much of a shit he clearly gives about her...

[selassie]

I don't really get why so many are convinced of Giroud's departure this summer. He's only been here 2 years is the best forward we have for how we play and has scored 20 goals. I get that he danced around in his pants with some hoochie mumma after hours but that kind of thing is hardly the gravest of all sins for past and present Arsenal players.

We spent half the summer trying to sign the bitey racist for goodness sake. Check out his rap sheet. Selling Giroud the moment the season ends will only ensure (if he remains) that Wenger has even more pressure to sign two never mind one forward. No sure who exactly is going to want Giroud either for any decent money.

I think Wenger needs to sign two striker regardless, one top class, one backup. Giroud needs to fight it out with the backup striker. Giroud is not good enough to be first choice for Arsenal and would struggle to make the squads of any of our rivals and I include Man United in that list.

I have no problem with Giroud sticking around, he will be a useful squad player, but in reality he should be 3rd choice striker.