Summer Transfers 2025 Missed Opportunities and Regrets

[Niall_Quinn]

Gyokeres is an incredibly dirty bastard - did you see that in his play? Okay, so as an Arsenal man he can't do it because we have the Arsenal One-Off Official Only For Them Rule - which is the law! But he won't get pimped out at least.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Giroud was fucking great - we just got spoiled by Henry. If you could show me a Giroud out there now I'd sign him in a heartbeat. He loved the club too. Was a genuine player. Under-appreciated.

If you’re happy with Giroud we can stick with Havertz, his goal return in the league is pretty much the same (as are the misses)

Giroud in the premier league 1 goal every 2.46 games

Havertz in the premier league 1 goal every 2.72 games


My problem is with signing a player who has played most of his career at a low level than the premier league (and I say most by including international and champions leagues games) who probably won’t get any better, and signing him from a league where there’s a consistent record of strikers who perform well there, struggling to reproduce that in other leagues.

The assumption on here is that at the very worst he should be able to score half the goals he scored last season and I think that’s a very big assumption to make (I’m not emphatically saying he won’t). I absolutely understand that people here are saying we need a striker now…I don’t disagree, but then buy someone either from the premier league or at least a league of some reckoning who is already producing (I’ve suggested Lautaro Martinez more than once)

It feels to me (and I could be wrong) that people equate signing Gyokeres as a slam dunk, much in the way it was for United when they signed Van Persie from us and I don’t think that’s the case.

Sesko for me has the potential to be one of the best strikers in Europe, so for me if it’s a choice between two things a prospect or someone who has a high risk of being an expensive flop, I’m backing the prospect.

[Mac76]

You seem quite dismissive of them when it’s Kane

Ha fair cop

[Mac76]

Gyokeres is an incredibly dirty bastard - did you see that in his play? Okay, so as an Arsenal man he can't do it because we have the Arsenal One-Off Official Only For Them Rule - which is the law! But he won't get pimped out at least.

As you basically point out, we're not allowed to play that way even though everyone else is. If Havertz wore a Newcastle shirt he'd be able to elbow and push his way through any defence but do it for us and it's yellow/red every time

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

As you basically point out, we're not allowed to play that way even though everyone else is. If Havertz wore a Newcastle shirt he'd be able to elbow and push his way through any defence but do it for us and it's yellow/red every time

Very true.

It's so annoying the way they treat Saka when he decides to give a little back to defenders (though TBF he is the only one they do balance it out for most of the time by calling a lot of fouls for him ).

I think that perception of us being a bunch of dirty "foreign" cheats really affects us, especially in the League and one day we need to be purposeful and try and work on it, even if it requires hiring specialist consultants to understand why we get so much hate (though I think its a bit of a no brainer)

If I was asked though I'd say the easiest way would be to try and get more high profile British players and maybe even go for more culturally intuned managers unfortunately.

Though I wonder if our women's team that has often been accused of being "too white" suffers this kind of partial refereeing .....though my limited understanding is they are a bit like Man U in Fergie's days when it comes to getting referees on their side and the questionable penalties.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Very true.

It's so annoying the way they treat Saka when he decides to give a little back to defenders (though TBF he is the only one they do balance it out for most of the time by calling a lot of fouls for him ).

I think that perception of us being a bunch of dirty "foreign" cheats really affects us, especially in the League and one day we need to be purposeful and try and work on it, even if it requires hiring specialist consultants to understand why we get so much hate (though I think its a bit of a no brainer)

If I was asked though I'd say the easiest way would be to try and get more high profile British players and maybe even go for more culturally intuned managers unfortunately.

Though I wonder if our women's team that has often been accused of being "too white" suffers this kind of partial refereeing .....though my limited understanding is they are a bit like Man U in Fergie's days when it comes to getting referees on their side and the questionable penalties.

I remember sky sports commentary for ages saying things like “Arsenal don’t like it up em” like a bad Clive Dunn impression.

So one suspects if we give it back, it’s seen as an act of petulance.

However I genuinely believe the season just gone was worse than any season in living memory for decisions going against us, especially in regard to being punished for offences that no other team were punished for. I think it comes down to Arteta’s reaction to the Gordon goal for Newcastle (a decision that never really irked me as could have gone either way) and listening to the VAR commentary…they were trying their upmost to not disallow the goal, which to my mind is the right thing…I think you do want to give the attacking team the benefit of the doubt.

Just too often with us it feels they want to do their upmost to not give the goal


The club for me should have been lodging a formal complaint about Pig Mole to the FA for 2024/2025