Summer Transfer Speculation and Shit

[Power n Glory]

This. Wenger's thoughts have been too obvious to miss. Why he hasn't acted on his obvious desire for a top striker is a mystery.

This sort of story doesn't help either. It was pointless bringing in Sanogo and Bendy.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/...-arsene-wenger

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

He tried to, didn't he? He tried to get the best striker in the country. Maybe the next best option wasn't available in the January window and he wasn't prepared to blow a ton of cash on somebody he doesn't actually want. Could be many reasons, some of them not revealed to the public. We'll do big business for a top striker in the summer. Not winning the title in a year when nobody expected us to even compete is not the disaster it is being made out to be. Chances are the club is trying to do things properly, get the right player in. Especially given the huge amounts of money at stake and the fact we can't just keep buying players until we hit on a random formula that works - like the chavs and gypos have been doing. We have real business considerations to take into account.

I was quite public about not wanting the bloke at our club so I am not critical of the simple fact he isn't an Arsenal player..... but I am critical of number of things in our procedure in any case.

Once Suarez had been made the target I am critical of our efforts in getting him as I don't believe it was concerted enough. Wenger could see he was the best forward in the country and possibly the world and that he would be coming from our very own English rivals. That all amounted to the fact that we wouldn't get him out of there easily. I think that when it was clear that Liverpool were going to dishonour their agreement / plead ignorance (and not be held to account for it legally) about the infamous clause, we should have been boxing a little more smartly.....or in effect, come in with a bigger bid beyond the 40 million pieces of silver plus a penny. Instead we just walked away from the deal, despite people like Giroud giving an interview with Arsenal tv about welcoming him here!

Moreover, given how ambitious a target Suarez was and bearing in mind that we had effectively abandoned the pursuit of another target (Higuain) to pursue him, a contingency plan should have been in place, should we fail, as we did to get Suarez. A contingency plan less likely to fail than the one enacted in getting Demba Ba out of Chelsea in the final hours of the window that is....

Afterall....none of us really believes he looked at Sanogo, Bendtner and Giroud and thought....right this is a new dawn and we are now ready to win major trophies.....but that is essentially the vision he sold to Ozil....though clearly he would have been reluctant to put a time scale on it to him.

I try and tend to disregard January as a window.....we know it is a complicated time and furthermore we know the club does not like to operate in it. That leaves us levelling the line of inquiry and seriously question last summers plans which however crafted should not have been contrived in such a way to not provide us with a top class/world class forward at the bare minimum. I know spending 70/80 million in one window on a few players is somewhat a shock to the system and perhaps we were reluctant to do so (though we spent a lot on 1 guy) but we only have that much to do because we have been shedding quality over the years. If it was the choice of one big signing or another one, then Suarez should have been made the priority over Ozil. Not just by hindsight, but by the simple fact we were far more lacking in quality in the forward area above any other position imo. The longer we draw out acquiring the playing staff we need the less likely and the longer it takes to achieve our goals.

I don't think the crime is so much not winning the league, but looking at the options at your disposal in the summer, knowing it isn't near to good enough, yet allowing it to be the finished squad you take into the new season was a grave crime. We all accept Ozil isn't a goal machine and it would have been unfair to expect him to be.....and clearly Wenger knew that too as he has followed his whole career, so he must have known we would come up short in terms of goals and attack....and that is without factoring in Ramsey's goal scoring prowess which surprised even the manager. Yet he still went into the season as he did.

If by some twist of fate we end of signing Diego Costa for example....and he happens to be Mourinho's target and instead of signing an alternative, Mourinho signs nobody or resigns Solomon Kalou. Chelsea then go on to next season and win nothing (again I hope). Mourinho will be royally and roundly criticised with a lot of justification....and not just because they have deep pockets over there. In fact he would be roundly criticised before he enters the season.

Obviously Wenger hasn't slagged his forwards off every week but it doesn't get away from the fact we know full well he doesn't believe the forward options he has are anywhere near complete.

[I am invisible]

Unfortunately, Costa looks pretty Chelsea-bound at this point, so I fear we might be wasting our time with that one. Who the hell are the other options though, if he does end up going to the filth? There doesn't really seem to be anyone else around of a similar standard (i.e. a big-name, big-money signing who also has that stats to justify the price)?!

[fakeyank]

I was quite public about not wanting the bloke at our club so I am not critical of the simple fact he isn't an Arsenal player..... but I am critical of number of things in our procedure in any case.

Once Suarez had been made the target I am critical of our efforts in getting him as I don't believe it was concerted enough. Wenger could see he was the best forward in the country and possibly the world and that he would be coming from our very own English rivals. That all amounted to the fact that we wouldn't get him out of there easily. I think that when it was clear that Liverpool were going to dishonour their agreement / plead ignorance (and not be held to account for it legally) about the infamous clause, we should have been boxing a little more smartly.....or in effect, come in with a bigger bid beyond the 40 million pieces of silver plus a penny. Instead we just walked away from the deal, despite people like Giroud giving an interview with Arsenal tv about welcoming him here!

Moreover, given how ambitious a target Suarez was and bearing in mind that we had effectively abandoned the pursuit of another target (Higuain) to pursue him, a contingency plan should have been in place, should we fail, as we did to get Suarez. A contingency plan less likely to fail than the one enacted in getting Demba Ba out of Chelsea in the final hours of the window that is....

Afterall....none of us really believes he looked at Sanogo, Bendtner and Giroud and thought....right this is a new dawn and we are now ready to win major trophies.....but that is essentially the vision he sold to Ozil....though clearly he would have been reluctant to put a time scale on it to him.

I try and tend to disregard January as a window.....we know it is a complicated time and furthermore we know the club does not like to operate in it. That leaves us levelling the line of inquiry and seriously question last summers plans which however crafted should not have been contrived in such a way to not provide us with a top class/world class forward at the bare minimum. I know spending 70/80 million in one window on a few players is somewhat a shock to the system and perhaps we were reluctant to do so (though we spent a lot on 1 guy) but we only have that much to do because we have been shedding quality over the years. If it was the choice of one big signing or another one, then Suarez should have been made the priority over Ozil. Not just by hindsight, but by the simple fact we were far more lacking in quality in the forward area above any other position imo. The longer we draw out acquiring the playing staff we need the less likely and the longer it takes to achieve our goals.

I don't think the crime is so much not winning the league, but looking at the options at your disposal in the summer, knowing it isn't near to good enough, yet allowing it to be the finished squad you take into the new season was a grave crime. We all accept Ozil isn't a goal machine and it would have been unfair to expect him to be.....and clearly Wenger knew that too as he has followed his whole career, so he must have known we would come up short in terms of goals and attack....and that is without factoring in Ramsey's goal scoring prowess which surprised even the manager. Yet he still went into the season as he did.

If by some twist of fate we end of signing Diego Costa for example....and he happens to be Mourinho's target and instead of signing an alternative, Mourinho signs nobody or resigns Solomon Kalou. Chelsea then go on to next season and win nothing (again I hope). Mourinho will be royally and roundly criticised with a lot of justification....and not just because they have deep pockets over there. In fact he would be roundly criticised before he enters the season.

Obviously Wenger hasn't slagged his forwards off every week but it doesn't get away from the fact we know full well he doesn't believe the forward options he has are anywhere near complete.

He didnt need to blow a ton of cash for someone like Berba. What he got instead is the most baffling bit of transfer business in football history- Kallstrom. Got a player we didnt need, in a position we had cover for and all the while knowing he wont play for 6 weeks. WTF is that about? I cant even imagine what kind of drug deludes your thinking that way!

[Niall_Quinn]

LOL, the Daily Cyril Smith is speculating Lukaku's fee will be close on £40mill. Why not just say £400mill, or a million, million, million, million, millionillionillionillion+infinity (in my head) quid?

[Niall_Quinn]

Apparently Kos is in talks with the club - deal worth £90k pw being discussed to fend off interest from Utd and the chavski bottlers managed by that specialist in failure bloke.

Also Dick Law now allegedly going by the name "Dicky"

Source is the Daily Voldemort so none of it is true in any way.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Heard a rumour Allardyce turned down signing Lukaku for 13 million because he wanted Caroll. Not buying that one for a second though....

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Unfortunately, Costa looks pretty Chelsea-bound at this point, so I fear we might be wasting our time with that one. Who the hell are the other options though, if he does end up going to the filth? There doesn't really seem to be anyone else around of a similar standard (i.e. a big-name, big-money signing who also has that stats to justify the price)?!

Yeah, I don't actually think there's any chance we'll go and sign him. Wenger will look for something far more left field....but as you say, there are a real lack of obvious options what with all the forward movement last summer.

Jackson Martinez maybe?....but even his star is not that high.... A real goal scoring wide player like Griezmann may be the way to lighten that load. Not actually seen the bloke play but his goal tally has caught the eye and it would be nice to have a regular scorer from a wide position other than Walcott.

[Niall_Quinn]

Glaziers have issued instructions to get Cavani regardless of how much the chavs and the gypos bid. Wages speculated to be £300kpw like shrek.

This is a well established mainstream source - therefore utter bullshit.

Imagine if they did something like that though. They'd be paying more to two players per year than it is costing us to finance a stadium. That's how crazy it is getting. We can't be that far away from the billion quid a year wage bill.

EDIT: Posted here because of the irrelevant reference to our stadium.

[pakgunner]

Giroud is average and has been stinking the place up for 2 years already so i hope the manager finally decides to get beter options (assuming he has the ambition to) and take us to the next level. He is of the same quality as Chamakh and Bendtner and these guys have either failed to make it anywhere else (including the likes of Sunderland) or have found their level (Crystal Palace). However, as bad as they were, at least they were back up to the likes of RVP, Adebayor, Eduardo ect and not first choice.

Giroud typifies the current Arsenal team, slow, average, static and easy to defend against.

Totally agree, Giroud is too one dimensional, lacks the ability to take on defenses on his own, too slow, no positional sense. We should follow the Liverpool attack structure and build a front three who can rotate at a blink of a eye, another forward player not a out and out striker, mobile and good passing ability, capable of dribbling and assisting, speed to burn. Imagine a front 3 of podolski, Walcott and Morata/ or Walcott, OX , and balotelli. In other words 2 acquisitions of balotelli and morata.