Summer Transfer Speculation and Shit.

[Syn]

Also, is Welbeck better than Akpom? Wenger's (hopefully) last panic buy has it all to do.

[GP]

Just banged in a hattrick in our first friendly...

Against the mighty Singapore Select XI, no less.

Job done.

[Power n Glory]

Tbh the Giroud we saw this season is good enough to lead a title challenge. He was scoring at a good rate and his general all-round play is right up there with any striker in Europe IMO. He's actually more of a creative player than a goalscorer. Walcott is the polar opposite, very selfish but will guarantee you goals. I'm sure if Walcott played up top for a full season without injuries he'd match Harry Kane and get 30 goals. But would the team be better off? I don't know. As much as people like to claim strikers should be selfish, it is ultimately a team game and your strikers need to be aware of options around them. A mix of Walcott and Giroud is Van Persie. He was perfect, for the 3 years he was injury free. Hard to find a player like that right now.

Seeing how Giorud was able to learn how to link up with the team and get the passes flowing, do you think it's possible for Walcott to learn? RVP had to learn that also and was a very selfish player when we bought him.

[I am invisible]

I agree - its hard to come up with an Aguero/Suarez type striker that would fit the bill but where were we when Liverpool bought Suarez or when City bought Aguero - too busy trying to turn Bendtner into a player or thinking Giroud was the answer.
Last year Dybala had made a name for himself as the new Aguero. Juventus get in quick & snap him up. Where were we again?
If these type of players are like rocking horse shit, we have to be more pro-active in getting to them before others, especially in key positions on the pitch.

Again, I don't think you'll find many gooners who disagree with the sentiment (although, to be fair, I think we were generally still too busy being skint when Suarez and Aguero first moved to Liverpool and City back in 2011?)

But, yeah, we definitely need to get our scouting network doing it's shit again, especially now we have the means to do something about it.

I don't really know enough about Dybala to be able to say whether he's worth the hype yet, but it feels like there's a general shortage of those kind of up-and-coming talents too? I suppose there's Lacazette at Lyon, but he's not that young at 24, and not really a million miles off what we have in Walcott. Is anyone tearing up the Dutch league these days? Or Belgium? Eastern Europe? Anyone other than the obvious big names who we should be looking at in the big leagues?

[I am invisible]

Also, is Welbeck better than Akpom? Wenger's (hopefully) last panic buy has it all to do.

Welbeck is an impressive combination of attributes at the moment, but sadly not too much more just yet.

I have hope for the lad though - if we can get 30 goals out of AdebayEeyore, then surely we can help Danny towards at least the mid-teens? Surely?

[I am invisible]

Seeing how Giorud was able to learn how to link up with the team and get the passes flowing, do you think it's possible for Walcott to learn? RVP had to learn that also and was a very selfish player when we bought him.

Maybe we just need to treat them more as cogs in a machine? On their own, both players may have a couple of deficiencies that stop them being considered truly top class - Giroud lacks the pace, so it's easy to play a high line against him, and Walcott lacks the strength and hold-up play, so it's easy to sit deep... put them in the same XI, and all of a sudden you're giving opponents something to worry about (especially when you also have someone like Sanchez alongside them who can do the lot)...

[Bumble]

Again, I don't think you'll find many gooners who disagree with the sentiment (although, to be fair, I think we were generally still too busy being skint when Suarez and Aguero first moved to Liverpool and City back in 2011?)

I don't think we were ever skint really, if you can pay a manager £7m a year and have 3rd highest wage bill in the country. you are not skint. I think at one stage we were paying £1m a week more in salaries than Spurs were.

[I am invisible]

I don't think we were ever skint really, if you can pay a manager £7m a year and have 3rd highest wage bill in the country. you are not skint. I think at one stage we were paying £1m a week more in salaries than Spurs were.

Could we do both though (big salaries and big transfer fees)? Bearing in mind the kind of player we're talking about here. I'm sure we could have pinched a bit of money here and there from our wage bill, but I don't think it would have gone very far...

[fakeyank]

I am perfectly fine going into the season with Welbeck, Akpom and Giroud as hold up strikers with the possibility of Theo and Sanchez playing there too. Unless Suarez becomes available again for 40 million quid and 1 pound, there is no one else I can see realistically who can improve us.

IF we are talking about converting Reus and the likes, I think we should show a little more patience with Welbeck. This guy has all the characteristics to be a Sturridge type striker but so far I havent been impressed!

There is only one position that needs strengthening and we dont have a single good back for- Defensive Midfielder. Besides Coq, there is not one good player for that position. Arteta and Flamini are horribly out of their depth and the rest of the CM's cant play that position half as well as Le Coq. This is the reason we need to get someone like Wanayama. We wasted a perfectly good opportunity to get someone like Cabaye and Schneiderlin.. lets not let another one get out of hand too!

[Dein-machine]

RVP wasn't a striker when we bought him or a proven goal scorer, neither were Anelka and Adebayor for that matter. None of them were dead on certs to score 30 goals a season and that's the point I'm making. Refutes your point about us not being a club that goes into seasons taking a gamble on players that could be dangerous.

In fact, unless I'm mistaken, weren't you arguing the other week that we should push out Arteta and Rosicky to try out our young reserve players that have zero first team experience?

Yes I was arguing that but as I pointed out to you I was talking about the squad. When it comes to the starting 11 we have to have quality to compete.
My squad point is highlighted again today. We have played Flamini today - why?. What don't we already know about a fairly average player ( normally what you get when you pay nothing for someone ) that struggled last year to even make the bench with the emergence of Coq. He is simply taking up a space in the squad & getting game time ahead of the likes of Zelalem & BielIk.