Arsene Wenger says the club are ready to spend what’s necessary to bring in the right player this January, and admitted that talks with Villarreal over the capture of Gabriel Paulista are progressing.
The Gunners have been linked with the Brazilian defender for the last few days, and speaking to the press this morning, the Arsenal manager said, “We are ready to pay the price for a player if he is good enough. If the price is right, we will pay.”
And on Arsenal’s attempts to do a deal with the Spanish club, he said, “The talks are progressing quite well. Can we find an agreement or not? There’s a chance.”
For a man so normally closed about potential deals, to be this open about our interest in Gabriel really does suggest that something is close to happening.
We’d be pretty sure that we can do what’s necessary to tempt Villarreal to sell, the bigger issue is the work permit but Wenger seemed confident that the club could sort that out if the signing was completed.
Fingers crossed.
—
Hat-tip to @Catsarse for the pic idea
Welcome to the club you handsome gay!
Have people forgotten Santos already? Oh come on, lads!
Have you forgotten Monreal already…
Not every buy is going to come good but its a risk we take.
Back then we had around £5 million per season from the shirt deal. Now we got £30 million so obviously are targets can now be of a higher quality.
Facts only!!!
COYG!
idiots.
I regret it every time I scroll down into these comments
Me too. You idiot.
Just don’t then, already…
Haha, poor guy, all the hate for an Andrè Santos reference.
Don’t worry Gay, I mean Guy, I got the joke!
What joke?
Welcome, dear Gabriel Paulista to the home of good football, integrity and friendship. I hope you become our Angei Gabriel.
The summary of what I am saying, the deal is as good as done.
oh dear
Crickets.
Tumbleweed
But the question is, if there is an agreement will he pay cash only or will he trade in some players aswell? It’s a done deal when Wenger is open like that, i’m very surprised! From what i saw from scoutnationhd his video, he was a very quick and versatile defender! We need some Samba spirit in our team!
Chris Samba?
Lol, hell no!
Cherno Samba?
Ha ha, you’ve been playing too many Championship Manager 2001!
good question.
we should trade campbell for him (+money)!
the deal would be only in cash because of the work permit, and the price will be 10-11mil. If a player that has not represented his national team ever and has no visa in order to gain visa in England has to be bought 10mil or higher and wenger confirmed that today. Anyway i don’t see villareal accepting anything less than 10mil for this player he is rated very highly and has a release class at 15 mil pounds. The deal will be done and he will get work permit.
€ or £ or $?
Bitcoins?
£
clams
scopje
More south americans?
Yep, i’m sold, lets hope he’s more in the mould of a zabaleta and less like an andre santos. Looks like someone who wouldn’t mind cracking some skulls when the stoke cunts come to visit.
he has everything to not to be another a.santos.
he is still young and progressing well. Santos was not.
I’m brazilian and a Corinthians fan, when I heard Wenger signed Santos, it was clear it’d been a desperate move.
Are you sure Stoke skulls can be cracked? With no brains inside them, I’d have thought they were simply solid bone.
Nope. There’s air in em. Its scientifically proven to be an empty space.
Maybe he’s being open to test West Ham’s resolve? Surely Reid would be more suited given he’s used to the league, more likely to accept a “backup” role, and cheaper? Paulista would be more exciting, but the odds are very much against him getting a work permit.
End of the season on a free for that one
Well.. I don’t think Arsene Wenger wants more than 3 CB’s. Winston Reid would not be ‘free’, it is a multi million investment to tie him down to a contract. Free agent or not, players costs money.
Gee I never knew that we had to pay them on good contracts. Sigh!
Still looking for that rabbit?
Nothing wrong with four CB’s. Compitition for places is a good thing!
Yeah but then you have Jenkinson coming back as backup for RB, which means Chambers will stay at CB. Making him go down to 5th choice will be quite harsh.
Yeah decent point that. With the season Jenkinson is having it would seem bizarre to send him out on loan again next season. Wenger has said he sees Chambers as a CB or midfielder. Could be our Mr versatile next season.
Jenks is surely not coming back to Arsenal, can’t see it, a bad injury to Debuchy, Chambers or Bellerin notwithstanding. It’s a myth that free agents are that much cheaper, the saved transfer sum usually ends up in the pocket of the player via extra payments and bonus payments on top of the contract, so it’s not that big a deal.
Assuming Gabriel deal is done, no sense to sign Reid, especially if we have youngsters like Chambers and Hayden who are to play the Koscielny-Mert role in the future. Reid isn’t that great.
We don’t want a back up CB, we want one that will challenge for a starting place with mert who we know has his “flaws”. You just have to look at a player and say if our strikers came up against mert for say United, wouldn’t we be thinking”sanchez and Welbeck are going to rape him for pace” we need a pacey CB to challenge not backup
Mertesacker will only get raped by pace if we let him get raped. When we set up smart, the way we did vs City (still buzzing from that game), he doesn’t get raped by pace. Aguero and Navas didn’t get a chance to run at him and he therefore wasn’t getting raped.
We still need a defensive midfield player Lecoq is trying but he needs a back up too.Flamini is old and Arteta is out for 3months.
Coquelin isn’t just trying, he’s succeeding. And we got a defensive midfielder! Bielik!
/troll
p.s. the part about coquelin succeeding isn’t troll, it’s true
Unless Flamini is completely unserviceable, it would be much better to wait for the summer if we’re going to get another central midfielder of the deep-lying mould. The summer window’s always more fruitful.
I want Flamini to be ever ready on the bench for the rest of the season, if only so he can unleash the pent up frustration on either Terry/Mourinho’s groin/face. I’m not a picky soul, either will do.
Fully agreed, wait until the end of the season for a DM, preferably Schniederlin who will surely be itching for a move in summer. Get that done nice and early hopefully like last season with Debuchy, Alexis & Chambers. Any DM that we could get in January is likely not to be any better than what we already have. Although Coq has been outstanding and think he has a big part to play for this club just yet. Was hearing Wenger explain the Coq situation, how he saw he had improved in training but couldn’t offer him game time to… Read more »
Flamini is, what, 30?! “old”?! Get over yourself.
Gabriel Paulista, COME ON DOWN!
*Cue catchy music* Ba-ba-ba-baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Gabby the boy
Wasnt Wenger supposed to say “Gabriel? Gabriel who?!”
Good to see him talking about Coqs new deal too.
Unpredictable-Sraight-Forward-Arsene
this is really bad times for those fans that like to say things like ‘fuck off now wenger’. A beautifully crafted away win at city, the work of master wenger evident for all to see, highly regarded polish prospect brought in, and now most likely a 24 year old CB at the heart of a team not beaten since last November? (incidentally they ended atletico’s 27 game unbeaten home run in december too). His personal gift to arsenal, alexis sanchez, the most potent player in the league currently. there must be a lot of soul searching going on now amongst… Read more »
Easy there, it’s not like the critism was unjustified. Right now we’re merely correcting the failure of bringing in highly needed players in the summer. It was gross negligence of not buying that backup in summer. I’d be happy if that deal goes through, but then again, why did it take our transfer department till two thirds of the window we’re done? Why wasn’t the deal ready by January the 1st? What happens if he fails to get a permit? Why do the risk for a player we badly need? Why not do the homework before, we needed that player… Read more »
“why did it take our transfer department till two thirds of the window we’re done?”
How many deals get done in early January?
Answer: very few.
You can’t just set arbitrary expectations. Look at how other clubs operate and you’ll realise this is not out of the ordinary. We do not operate in a vacuum.
Podolski and Shaqiri were done early e.g. It’s a matter of doing your homework early enough and english clubs are notoriously bad at doing it. We’re basically paying the guy’s tranfer clause, so why not doing that early especially with the work permit thing pending? We’re in a desperate situation and Villareal are basically willing sellers as it appears hence the swift negotioations. Look, I’ll be the happiest guy if the tranfer goes through. He appears to be a great, versatile player that wasn’t on anyone’s radar, top notch scouting (if he turns out to be that good). But I’m… Read more »
Look, I’ll be happy if this signing gets through, he gets his work permit and is presented in an Arsenal shirt. If he is that good, he’ll be a great, vgersatile, under-the-radar signing. That being said I’m frustrated and shocked by our lack of strategy and planning on ouor part. Signings early in the tranfer window may be rare, but they happen, see Podolski and Shaqiri being snapped up by Inter. It’s a matter of doing your homework, even if english clubs are notoriously bad at doing this. We seem to be dealing with wide-eyed optimism that all our plans… Read more »
It is certainly possible, In ter snapped up Podolski and Shaqiri. Few deals get done by the start of the window, but there are deals being done. Why not ours? You need to do your homework and prepare, something which english clubs are notoriously bad at. We had this problem with too little backup since, I’d argue last summer. Whys is ther no shortlist being assembled, why no pre-eliminary talks with clubs and players? We seem to make stuff up as we go along. When the Manolas deal fell though we were making desperate bids for Virgil Van Dijk, laughable,… Read more »
Podolski wasn’t being played at Arsenal and wanted out. Same for Shaqiri at Bayern..
If you know a top quality CB that everyone is crying about that is sitting on the bench and wants out, is affordable and will fit our team, then by all means complain about the player not being identified and the deal not being done earlier.
We’re going for a main player for Villareal, it will obviously take more time.
But the point is, we’re paying his release clause! Why does that take so much time? The Manolas deal fell through in the summer and we were totally unprepared for that. What would have happened if Koscielny wasn’t fit to play City? He’s got a chronic injury, that doesn’t happen overnight. Mertesacker is shot, no wonder with the amount of games he’s playing, we’re rolling the dice everytime they’re playing. Chambers is young and overplayed, even Wenger recognizes that. I didn’t say it was easy finding good players, but you can, apparently like we did now. But for God’s sake,… Read more »
and of course this gut is absolutely certain wenger just picked up the phone to villareal a few days ago. its not like he has maybe been starting preliminary enquiries maybe in december, or november, or since the last window shut. he absolutely definitely was surfing the net, reading football 365 etc, phone tucked up on his shoulder ringing round all the clubs just a few days ago. “no?…no defenders at all, really? no no, thats cool, ok i’ll talk to you later “. *crosses out Ajax. his arguments are superior because HE KNOWS THE SHIT THAT HAPPENS. he’s deep… Read more »
I disagree that we have deep structural problems. I would say structurally we are in very good shape. We have a first team squad that has already proven itself capable of finishing Top 4. That is a starting point. Next we have the average age of the squad which is fairly low and most of our best players still have their peak ahead of them. We have also got the money now to buy in the positions we lack. Each successive buy since Ozil has shown that. Even if you say we have yet to get that world class DM… Read more »
How long have we been talking about this mythical DM? As if that just fell out of the sky. Gross negligence was not getting a CB in the summer. We got lucky with Coquelin who was already on his way out of the club, but that’s just making it up as we go laong, not a strategy. Even a deal as risky as this, why leave it so late? We’re merely correcting some mistakes we did to be able to play for fourth place. Chelsea did what they had to do, paid what they had to pay, that’s how it… Read more »
There is a strategy. You may not agree with it, but there is a strategy. I’ll be one of the first to agree the CB shortage shouldn’t have happened, but it did. With Coquelin, surely a fortunate turn that he has the character to return and make his qualities known. But balance that with the ridiculous ill fortune we’ve had with midfield injuries. Nobody thought we would run out of midfielders at the start of the season. We can claim all we like that a deal “should have been done and dusted” but as mentioned, take a look around. Man… Read more »
See, ManU is actually a good example what happens when you act out of desperation without a proper strategy and just tell Jorge Mendes to go mad with your chequebook. We should definately aim higher than that. “Nobody thought we would run out of midfielders at the start of the season.”??? Nobody? We have Ramsey, Rosicky, Wilshere in central midfield, each of them has had spells on the sidelines longer than a full year. Flamini and Arteta are not very robust either. Don’t tell me nobody saw that coming, just check the Arseblog columns over the summer. These injuries are… Read more »
All excellent points, some ‘fans’ have an unrealistic sense of entitlement. I would also say that Le Prof will be leaving the mighty Arsenal (when HE is ready) in very good shape, for the reasons you stated above (@ Al gilmore.)
Gross negliegence was not getting a centre back in the summer where our two CBs played. One with a chronic tendonitis. That doesn’t happoen overnight. Then we sell Vermaelen (not that I mind the selling, he’s hasn’t played a single minute for Barca) and still don’t sign a backup. Did everybody forget how short we were (still are)? Our squad is constantly fatigued causing injuries which causes the rest of the squad to fatigue even more. That is no coincidence. And it is repeated every year and still no contingency plan. we always seem to operate with some wide eyed… Read more »
My sentiments exactly. I’d like to know why this is getting downvotes.
Yawn…..
The Inner working of a ‘entitled’ fan. There must be accountability! My livelihood, my life, my reason to live depends on this! My sense of self is depleted every time Arsenal looses. How can I face up to my friends any more? I’ve even thought about changing teams many times, but my friends would respect me even less. This is completely not acceptable. All my lifes ills worries and sadnesses are caused by one person and one person only. He made me happy in years past, just so that he can raise my expectations, before letting them fall like a… Read more »
it’s not like the critism was unjustified. it sure fucking was mate you and your ape-kind were comparing arsenal and judging arsenal as if the club was the finished article and had everything ready to go and push on for the worlds greatest prizes in fact the club decided to stay back a bit and build a stadium and go with youth for a while till they recover their finances this period was seen by you and them morgan toyboys as the period to moan about perfection and excellence then arsenal lost nearly all the youngsters that were meant to… Read more »
Oh, wow, that was uncalled for. Ape-kind? Morgan toyboys? You can keep your petty vitriol to yourself. I have no interest to discuss it any further with you. Save it for Spurs, John terry or something.
Most of us are aware that the club has gone through a largely successful transition which hit a couple of bumps along the way and took longer than planned. Some have had the patience and foresight to suffer it better than others. Chanting you don’t know what you’re doing to Wenger was a particular low point for me. I think that we can now realistically look forward to more success. If this is Arsene’s final term as manager I would love to see him sign off with the champions league. People are entitled to voice their frustration however overboard some… Read more »
Keep your Petty Vitriol to yourself, eh?
That’s rich coming from a wengeroutian.
Another thing: you don’t get to tell me what a real fan is like, okay? You have nothing but strawman arguments, none of the things you so generously applied to everyone that dares to not to think everything is roses. Keep that bullshit to yourself.
Oooooooooo!!!
spotfucking on, brother.
One line I don’t agree with ‘like it or not Wenger is responsible ‘ that’s not true. The stadium has only just stopped costing and absolute fortune and now funds are available. Wenger is an absolute legend who’s stewardship of the club has brought us all to this point. The verge of success.
Why did the “master Wenger” wait until City away in 2015 to show his masterclass? I, as a supporter of the club, have known for quit some time that we have to adopt our gameplan to the opponents when facing “big” teams both at home and abroad.
That must mean I’m “super master”.
Wenger showed his master class when he won the 97/98 Premier League season.
And we’ve adopted different gameplans for big teams before. We’ve sat deep and counter-attacked against the likes of Barcelona and Man. City before.
But it’s fine if you want to have a short memory. We all don’t want to face facts that contradict us, it blows our heads up.
To my mind, most things in football are possible when you have the correct tools to carry them out. Unfortunately for Arsene he had a crossheaded screwdriver instead of a flathead and probably saw belief as the only thing that would carry us through. And it did. Champions league football every year. But now we’ve got attacking pace AND a top notch midfield so we can afford to sit back and defend and rely on the fact we’ll still score goals. With those tools you can be as tactical as you like. Gross negligence would’ve been doing a Portsmouth because… Read more »
Right on. I second that, and some…
Not really, those opinions have been formed over 9 years not 1 match. Great result on Sunday and approached in a manner that those who have been critical of Wenger over the years have pleaded for. If anything that match was vindication for the criticism, away matches against Spurs, Chelsea and United will tell if he’s really learnt or not.
Tough to use all those years to form an opinion though, when a team can’t afford to compete you need to balance that against the potential gains, and I don’t believe that everyone does.
We’ve got the seventh highest turnover in World Football, that means there is literally hundreds if not thousands of professional clubs we are substantially richer than. Are you seriously telling me that not one of them has had a competent defensive midfielder for the last 5/6 years that we could have bought? The performances of Francis Coquelin over the past few weeks shows that what’s been missing didn’t require anyone substantially better than adequate, and certainly not a world beater. Not only did he not cost a lot of money, all he’s really done is perform the task that’s been… Read more »
Ok, using our current finacial state to prove that we had a shit-ton of money during the austerity period is simply wrong.
Judge the period when we didn’t have money by that standard, and judge the last two years by a different mark; don’t run the two together as it is, at best inconclusive and at worst, disingenuous.
Also, Arteta is one of the best DMs in the league (top 5 imo, but only just), he started as an AM but I don’t buy an arbitrary definition as a reason to discount what he does.
Arsenal posted massive profits every year of this so called austerity period so you can’t have it both ways.
Arteta isn’t even a defensive midfielder let alone one of the best in the league
Hmmm.. Over the last 9 years, our record away hasn’t been bad. I wonder how did you manage to form your opinion over 9 years?
It’s okay if you want to forget the results for the first 6 years of that, we can ignore it if it’s convenient for you.
Well that’s how long it’s been since we last won the league.
Our away record again teams finishing in the top 4 over the last 6 seasons is played 24, won 2. That’s 6 seasons of being shit in big games verses top teams, and that includes Sundays match which still makes his recent record shit. Sunday’s result and performance is an anomaly and some of us will require further proof at to whether Wenger has learnt or not
We didn’t beat the big teams because we didn’t have comparative talent!
We just about had enough world class players to carry us through. Nowhere near enough to compete.
And now we do… bingo!
Bye city.
I’m actually now looking forward to chelsea.
That’s rubbish, Toure, Clichy, Fabregas, Van Persie, Nasri to name a few have all been major contributors in winning trophies for other clubs so that’s irrefutable evidence against that suggestion. Even Adebayor and Song have had success!!
Oh come on… Fabregas and Van Persie are the only two of those I’d say were world class and they went to United and Barcelona. No wonder they won things. Clichy, Toure, Nasri and Adebayor went to City – no wonder they won things. Song went to Barcelona – no wonder they won things. Money bags! We didn’t have unlimited cash so invested wisely in a new stadium and just about enough players to remain in the top 4. Which to my mind was genius. Good business and practical sense. Just like those who take on mortgages. They do it… Read more »
well said ben !
that john cunt is talking shit
the players who left arsenal went to clubs that had the budgets and the players to win trophies
They have an unlimited budget why did they decide to buy our subpar players?
Because they spent just to spend rather than holding out for top, top quality.
That’s not true, it’s because they were very good players that helped bring them success
John c, if you sincerely think that Arsene has changed his tactics because of you and your ilk, it is YOU who are delusional… That was a masterclass, but not for the first time…
oh dear, im as happy as everyone that arsenal won, and i give respect when respect is due and Arsene got his tactics right, but that doesnt magically erase all the things he didnt do well in the last years, or just a win against a top team in the EPL erase all the thrasing we got the last years? or just a buy in the winter window erase the fact he should’ve buy a defender in august not now? or just a VERY good tactical aproach against city erase the many times he was tactical inept?
Yes, let’s keep our focus on the bad stuff, shall we? It would be terrible if hope and optimism somehow crept into the club.
Exactly!… for fuck sake.
A ford fiesta wouldn’t win in formula one just because it had a good driver.
It doesn’t work like that.
We built an amazing stadium for the future and can now compete with the moneybags. How can you be so blind about how this club has been transformed?
Arsenal have done an amazing job. Sustainably!
I’m in awe of what they’ve done.
Lack of money is the only reason we haven’t won the league in 9 years. Move on.
No wounded pride, just a hint of smugness. Just proof that what many of us having been saying for several years, that playing a defensive midfielder and adopting a more conservative approach will get you results against the better teams.
Wenger’s proved us right not wrong!
What, with just a wet behind the ears (no offence lads) Walcott and Oxlade Chamberlain to break the lines? Fed by one creative player who would have to play every game of the season to make it happen? I’m sorry, but we wouldn’t have won shit with a quality DM. Özil was added to support Santi. Who before that was provided with Giroud and Podolski to replace Van P and support Santi. And this year we’ve polished it off with Alexis and Welbeck. Attacking lines sorted. So at least if we concede goals we’ll bang some in too. The next… Read more »
I actually agree that we would have been better served in some of the bigger matches defending better as a team and playing more on the counter. But I wonder if we would have fared so well before we had the potency of an in-form Santi, Alexis, Giroud as a target, Ox, and the like to actually make the reduced number of opportunities from that approach count. I also wonder if we had the solidity in defense in many of those years to be able to absorb the extra pressure it invites, and deal with the set pieces and attempts… Read more »
You are both connecting the finances with tactics, when there is no link between the two. I and every reasonable fan can accept we can and will lose, the question is why hasn’t the tactical approach been adapted to fit the opposition? This is not ground breaking, in 94, in the CWC we didn’t play the same way against Standard Liege as we did against Parma, so why has Wenger approached, for example, QPR and Chelsea the same way? It’s just bad management and arrogance. You can’t excuse him because only a few days ago we’ve seen that such a… Read more »
Let’s just say that I do not agree in any way, shape, or form that tactics have nothing to do with available talent.
And has been thoroughly discussed around here, if you just ‘pay whatever it takes’ you get some of the big talents that are money based.
Don’t forget, I agree on the tactics being important. But it takes the right quality to employ those tactics against the big sides and not lose anyway. Without Kos, Santi, and Coquelin having monster performances we’d have been right done.
They don’t, tactics are what you do when you have no money
Are you now trying to suggest that Sundays team and formation was somehow part of the master plan? lets wait until Arteta, Wilshere, Ozil, Ramsey, Flamini, Walcott etc etc are all out so we can introduce our secret weapon Coquelin? because he was somehow too good for the team before?
Tactics are what you do when you have no money? That must be why Mourinho is the master tactician. Lack of funds.
Yes, park the bus is what you do when you’re a bottom half squad. But then you don’t finish above the likes of Arsenal unless you have the riches of oil whores.
Those ‘fans’ have been notably absent from this site since the Citeh win. Their silence is deafening, glorious…
Mayber they’re just happy to have won? No need to crash the party, the wider point still stands, we’re not even fourth yet.
Ooops, I spoke out too soon. They are all crawling out of their lairs having had a few days to lick their wounded pride…
No wounded pride, just a hint of smugness. Just proof that what many of us having been saying for several years was correct, and that playing a defensive midfielder and adopting a more conservative approach will get you results against the better teams.
Wenger’s proved us right not wrong!
It’s a real shame because most of the anti-Wenger brigade are probably only acting on impulse to the information they’re fed through the media.
News is never fact, it’s a person’s viewpoint on fact.
And can gladly ignore key elements (such as the clubs long term goals) because it suits the writer to do so.
What’s said of Arsene Wenger and his resillience to changing tactics is just a big fucking story.
Wenger fan boy, did you notice that Wenge did catch a wake up.
At last he is starting to do his job, namely paying attention to team set up and not playing with his zipper or cleaning his fingernails while the game is on.
No soul searching here, I am just glad Wenger finally listened to….someone
Up The Arsenal
This deal is pretty much done then. Arsene plays it safe until the very last minute, if he’s talking about it openly now, then it means we are close.
Doesn’t speak the language
Has no experience at the top level
we should have gone for Reid or Nastasic
If he’s going to require a settling in period we may as well just wait until we can get someone who can improve the first eleven from the offset.
Let’s hope he’s a better defender than Andre Santos.
La ligaments not top level?
La liga fucking hate predictive text
Ha Ha Ha!
So many things wrong with this I simply do not have the time to correct you.
But on the other hand, he is actually a CB who is part of a very solid Villareal defence (and yeah, we can call La Liga top level), which puts him one up on our current cover of Chambers and Monreal.
Pretty sure we couldn’t get Nastasic, City are unlikely to strengthen a rival (however unlikely it is that we’d get our act together), but Reid looked like a good option to me.
Bosscielny-Gab
What a pair!
Gabby-Boss
He looks mean and lean! Not one of the Souness ‘sons-in-law’
Who is this man and what has he done with Arsene? He’s meant to say we’re not close to signing anybody.
Indeed.
Also he spent all that money on Ozil and Sanchez, despite being a notorious skinflint.
Plus he changed his tactics against City in spite of being famous for never changing his tactics (though to be fair he has often changed his tactics).
And his comments following Giroud’s sending off show that he clearly saw it.
But what’s he won in…. oh… forget that then!
Or he’s looking at somebody else.
what is poo meter reading on this deal?
I think we all need to hold hands and pray that Dick Law and Order can pull through this one. Gooners Unite!
I’m not to sure about this guy, his release clause is 15 mil. and in my opinion that’s to much for an unproven player, I never watched him play, maybe he is worth that money but I just hope we scouted him properly. I would rather go for Varane who is available for 20 to 25 mil. if this valuation of him is true.
Yes, we’re going to buy a 21 year old defender who has held down a first team place in the biggest team in the world (not so much at the moment, but still…), and it’s only going to cost us 20m.
I just can’t see it.
I hope we don’t fuck it up with work permit. Please god let us not fuck up with that. It would be so Arsenal.
By the way Gabriel is a good player and could/should do well in England.
if we buy a player 10mil or higher he automatically gets work permit, like that kamaricic guy from liester.
I don’t think that 10m rule comes into effect until next season.
Kramaric has appeared for Croatia from U14s through U21s and has broken into their senior squad. Gabriel has never appeared at any level for Brazil. This one is a more difficult argument.
But with the dearth of available CB’s perhaps it’s easier to prove ‘special talent’. I can only guess, but maybe the club feels this combined with the 10m rule right around the corner would garner support.
Maybe his granny is British?!
Let’s hope so.
Those disaffected fans who continue to gripe about our current policy based on some of the desperate transfer activity during the austerity years, need to take a step back and see what has happened recently. Since Ozil we have signed Debuchy, Chambers, Ospina, Welbeck & Sanchez. That’s 6 genuine first team starters signed in the 2 main windows. I don’t have a doubt about any of those signings. AW and the board said that Ozil was the sign that things were going to be different and well….It is being proved correct. Yeah for some it won’t be believed until we… Read more »
Sir, you are spot on! You have said exactly what some people need reminding. Rome wasn’t built in a day (unless you have a lot of cash). I think by the time Wenger’s latest contract is up, we would have won another FA Cup, the League and a perfect sending off – Champions League (his last Arsenal game). We are slowly getting the squad capable of such a feat. If we do sign this defender, we aren’t far off from having quality and depth in most positions.
Rome was a ‘cash no object’ situation and couldn’t be built that quickly.
And I know it’s a side note, but Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is ready for a big breakout second half of the season. I’m going to be the first to predict his superstardom is imminent.
What a beast of a player. And he’s only 21!
I think, irrespective of whether Wenger gets the player or not, this definitely is a bluff for some other club to either lower their demand or tempt them to sell their player.
Just hope this doesn’t drag on until the window and then fall apart at the last minute preventing Wenger from going after other options (similar to his supposed chase of Manolas this Summer). You do wonder if he has something else up his sleeve as he is being a bit too open about discussing this transfer. I just hope the thing up his sleeve is not a return of Kim Kallstrom.
#bringbackkim
Fingers crossed for the work permit
But please, one more signing
I hope this work permit thing doesn’t turn into another fiasco like Campbells or Wellingtons. They need D cover now. I think I’d rather see Reid in there. Maybe Paulista has more talent, but there’d be no settling in. Reid plays the PL and is more backup friendly. I don’t want to see it happen, but wouldn’t it make Wenger-sense to use Jenks as trade bait for Reid?
why would you trade jenkinson for ried when ried’s contract is expiring in the summer and if wenger wants him he can get him for free in the summer, now he will het gabriel, we will have cover.
It’s a matter of making a go of it right now instead of next season. If the work permit isn’t attainable, Reid is cheaper, Jenks is worth more now, probably will want to move on anyways, and it just seems more of a Wengerish deal than piling out a bunch of cash. I’m not saying that I would want it by any stretch. I’d love Jenks back here next season, especially after he’s had a bunch of games under his belt.
Why not keep jenkinson next season to compete with debucy for the RB because he will be ready for first eleven after playing full season with west ham, and send bellerin to loan to have also a full season and improve in every aspect of his game. Jenko and bellerin could be our future 2 players for Rb position for years, debuchy is 30 he will have 2 more seasons in top of his game, i don’t see him after 32 to be starter.
Who’s a better option, Paulista or Laporte?
Its all related to the questioning and his need to give little away in case things don’t happen, but —”We are ready to pay the price for a player if he is good enough. If the price is right, we will pay”— is classic Wenger. Says one thing in the first sentence, and gently contradicts it in the next. We are ready to pay (whatever) price if he is good enough. (But wait), we will pay if the price is right (player quality might become secondary).
Or maybe he means we’ll pay what we believe the right price is for the quality of the player.
Wenger ready to splash cash,YAWN how many times have we heard that if only this was true COYG
Alexis.
Ozil
In 10m quid range Santi Carzola.
Laurent Koscielny.
Enough times?
😉
Many delusional comments. We have leaked most goals this season from crosses. We have not suffered from ‘pace’. Gabriel will be a good fit bc Koscielny needs to rotate. He isn’t quite as physically frame as we will need if Per was injured. Gabriel may also be able to add height in midfield if need be should we decide to go for a more accomplished Cback in the summer if opportunity arises. There will be no return of Jenkinson. he is a limited player technically. Bellerin will be our RB with Debuchy. Calum’s position is unsettled. He may likely continue… Read more »
From the available vids, I like the look of Gabby, Gabriel. He has good positioning, he’s good in the air intercepts crosses, gets stuck in, oh, and he runs about a bit….. fingers crossed.
Gabriel needs a song
No need for a Song, he’s got a strong Coq in front of him.