RP Online, the online arm of Rheinische Post – a major German regional daily newspaper – are reporting this evening that Arsenal have made an official bid of €43m for Granit Xhaka.
Speculation about the future of the Swiss international has been rife over the last few weeks, with North London mooted as his destination this summer.
The paper, based in the same region as Borussia Monchengladbach, say an agreement between the two clubs is imminent. The bid is subject to bonuses for appearances and achievements.
Of course until a transfer is fully completed you can never be 100% sure, but it seems there’s an awful lot of smoke around this. And with the Gunners set to lose Mikel Arteta, Mathieu Flamini and Tomas Rosicky from midfield, it’s an area that does need to be strengthened.
It seems clear there’s something to this one, making this a very solid 2 on the Poo-o-meter. Always leave room for one more poo, just in case.
Two poos of how many? 10?
Out of three (a shat-trick).
A tough tackling midfielder being signed this early … can hardly believe it.
Thats what I am talking about.
2 CMs, and 1 of the is already on his way, it seems.
HUGE thumbs up. Still its Wenger and knowing how much he hates doing anything sensible in the transfer market these days, I will rejoice when its done. Have been down this path too often in the past.
Yeah out of 10. Blogs, do you think Sanchez is going in the summer? What’s your hunch on that?
Genuinely don’t know. I would be reluctant to money on him staying though
Surprising, I really can’t see a scenario wherein he leaves. Most definitely not the type to withhold any effort or sulk if he tries and fails to engineer a move, he enjoys playing too much to risk being stuck on the bench/ reserves. Think we’ll get another year at the very least out of him and Ozil, this time next year their actions will be very much determined by league position I’d imagine, but I’m confident for now.
Sanchez is not leaving. He has 2 years on his contract left. His agents are trying to increase his salary. Alexis is frustrated with this season. We as supporters should be encouraged that the team genuinely cares about the lack of results.
– Arsene fixes this issue by showing his intent by spending some money on a top CM and an elite striker. Think it fixes any issues with Ozil as well.
This boy can be our Matic. If it Happens if be over the moon.
I love alexis but in my heart of hearts he really doesn’t suit our play. He’s such a frustrating player. Maybe you need those sorts in a Balanced XI but I wouldn’t be devastated if he were to move on
Great. We already have inanimate carbon rod playing for us, and now we’re after a rock. Wenger Oooot!
Know nothing about this guy, hopefully he is decent on the ball and doesn’t puss out of a tackle in midfield (and he isn’t made out of paper mache and can actually last). We cant afford to have another summer window of us fucking around, holding our dicks in our hands whilst we barter over 1 or 2 million pounds difference in the final price of a player, as that always leads us to blow the deal and we subsequently never sign anyone. We need Arsene to be ruthless early doors, make some moves before the Euros and not fucking… Read more »
This is my impression of the fresh approach the protestors were suggesting recently. Gazidis needs to take more control of the transfer negotiations. Let Arsene identify players he wants but keep him away from the final numbers. I read that this was done with the Ozil transfer. The front office took the final negotiations out of Wenger’s hands and paid the premium to get the top top quality player. Wenger probably wouldn’t have paid 42mil for him. Gazidis realizes you can’t create a premium brand, and charge fans the highest rates without star players. They trusted Wenger last summer that… Read more »
Yayyy!!! This early !!
I would actually not be surprised to see us do business early this summer. AW studied economics and I am sure that he is well aware that the pound is expected to crash against the euro if we vote to leave the EU. We could get a lot less for our money after June the 23rd so I think our business could be done before then as he always wants the best deal financially. That may not be at the end of the transfer window this year!
Did they report it before, or after the Man U result??? I must know!
I have a mental image of Arsene and Ivan watching the match in puffy coats chewing on their nails with a phone on the table in front of them and water bottles strewn across the floor.
43m euros seems a little pricey but I suppose it’s better than having the cash in sloshing around in the bank doing nothing.
Money in bank accrues interest. This interest can then be paid to Kroenke Sports Enterprises for valuable consulting services they provide the club. Thanks to their A+ advice, we can avoid spending silly money on superstars to fill in the gaps in the team, and instead buy marginal players. This leaves more money in the bank to accrue interest. And the circle of life continues!
Next season’s central midfielders… Coquelin, Elneny, Ramsey, Cazorla, Wilshere, Toral, Xhaka…? Can’t fault the quantity at least.
Good in aerial challenges according to Squawka. That what is needed. For all the talent in midfield one thing that they have in common is that they’re all poor in the air. The weakness from set pieces isn’t just down to bad luck, we need a player in midfield that can be a real asset defending set pieces.
You Wenger has always deployed a Pokemon-esque “gotta catch’em all” attitude to CM collections.
Even our academy system at every level choc-a-bloc with CMs.
Btw, I’m not saying I WANT this to happen, but I wonder if Cazorla will also leave this summer. There was talk of him moving back to Villareal one day, and he does turn 32 this year. I say this because we seem to be after a CM while at the same never having needed Arteta and Rosicky this season. In what sense, then, is a Xhaka a replacement for an outgoing midfielder? I bet we also give Toral a chance next season. He had an outstanding season at B’ham City.
Yeah, and what’s worrying is Villarreal are a qualifier away from next season’s Champion’s League.
If Xhaka comes in and Santi goes out we’d still be taking one big step forward and three steps back. He’s near-irreplaceable but hopefully he won’t want to go out like that. Let’s hope Xhaka-Cazorla becomes a thing.
Should Cazorla leave in the summer, the only like for like player I have seen in Europe is Isco, and he’d cost a fortune we are unlikely to spend (but it would be like cheating having Isco alongside someone like Le Coq or Xhaka and Ozil).
I do think that Ramsey is being groomed to take the Santi position when the Spaniard does eventually depart.
From what I have seen, Isco has been suite.
From what I have seen, Isco has been shit
Ild happily have jack in santis position
Make your mind up Dr Nick!
Is Isco sweet or shit?
Shweet.
I don’t want Ramsey anywhere near midfield…….
It would be a crime not to sign Emre Can from Liverpool to facilitate a Xhaka Can midfield..
Xhakazorla? Xhaquelin?
Don’t you think xhaka is a replacement for flam? We did need flam and will need a second defensive Midfielder to rotate with coquelin. El Neny doesn’t have a solid tackle on him. He’s more of a pressing, harrying ramsey style player with disciplined positioning.
I think Wenger will try to play Wilshere across the front 3 attacking positions. So one less CM in your list.
I think Wenger’s idea is one can’t ask a CB to play winger or a CF to play LB/RB. However, he has been playing CMs in many positions including winger, RB, etc.
Possibly his way of dealing with the injury situation!
Ramsey and Wilshere are nothing players. I d sell them and get some real spanish/german players like cazorla or the new one xhaka
And. So. It. Starts…
Christ, we’ve got a full summer yet of this made-up shit…
Everyone.Who.Does.That.Needs.To.Be.Castrated.
Everyone?
After. This. Sentence.
I couldn’t of put it better myself. Hard to imagine Wenger forking out that kind of money for a CM.
He seems a natural to replace Arteta in the role of Central Midfielder with immaculately maintained hair. Also, he’s a good footballer, so there’s that too I suppose.
Does this mean we will play Ramsey on the right hand side? Xhazorla or Coqxhaka or Xhaneny??
Surely GranitCoq rather than CoqXhaka?
Wilsh-Kaka
XhakaCoq. Say it aloud. It’s quite fun.
Or we sign Bouma, Xhaka and Kaka
BoumXhakaKaka
I’d think he would be the type of signing who’d allow Ramsey to play in the middle. Ramsey played his best with Arteta in the middle and this lad’s supposedly in the Arteta mold. I’d imagine Xhaka-Rambo becomes the main center pair, Elneny and Coq become the backups and Jack and Santi are two utility players who float through all the midfield spots based on need and form.
As long as Ramsey doesn’t come anywhere near our midfield I’m happy. I think he should try to turn himself into the new Ray Parlour, just stick to the right wing where he creates great balance for the team with his work ethic and his runs behind the full back.
Rock, Coq and one smoking Wilshere as a midfield trio…
Brilliant!
Elneny + xhaka + Iwobe all upgrades on the squad for the departing three musketeers, but to move the squad to challenge we need another five (top) quality signings on top? If that happens, I’ll really believe Wenger has changed his spots.
Even though this isn’t confirmed and the window hasn’t opened and Granit is unproven in the Prem and we are Arsenal and I am a hopeless romantic i.e. an Arsenal fan, I can’t but be a little excited.
I just really want Wenger to make some statements this summer and not profitable bank balance ones then go out with a big successful bang in his final season.
Amen!
Knowing Arsene, I totally believe this.
Honestly I’m not even sure how good he is. From what I read he seems like a box to box mid (defensive minded). Interesting to see how we’ll use him considering we have so many options there now. Hope he’s worth the hype
Remember that at one point this season we were playing Flamini / Ramsey as our sitting pair with Coqzorla out, Jack out, and no Elneny yet. We also have Arteta, Rozza, and maybe Flamini? opening squad places. There is a lot of room for midfield additions.
If he’s the real deal, which I don’t claim to know, a good addition to provide a strong defensive platform and allow the front 4 to flow and attack more freely.
And remember that after that Flamini/Ramsey sitting pair had been playing together for 2 months we somehow found ourselves top of the league, and after they had stopped playing there for 2 weeks we weren’t.
Btw I’m not suggesting I have the slightest idea how/why
Just see in YouTube.he makes pin point “long” passes..and shoots from outside the box(many of them are goals).. Breaks up play…bullys other players,plays the one two touches
Elneny used to shoot from outside the box, making many goals.
….yeah.
Barca?
would be nice to see a compatriot lining up for the gunners again. xhaka is a very solid player, but frankly: he’s never got the creativity and those strokes of genius of cazorla or rosicky (cause some people are already seeing him as their successor). i’d much rather invest that amount for a striker and/or a centre-back. however: if there’s dough for all the three positions: well ok then…
Can you even make a bid before the transfer window opens?
bayern already bought hummel and the kid from benfica thats already 60M spend , you can buy , you just cant register them
That’s interesting. Thank you
Yeah, buying is just a contract between two corporations. That can be done any time. The league only controls when you can use those players.
You can bid and buy whoever you want, whenever you want. The problem is registering the player which is only possible in these windows.
Don’t get ahead of yourselves again, I got a funny feeling Xhaka will turn in to this summers Higuain or Vidal or Kondogbia, how many times have we been in this situation, and then we will procrastinate and someone like Bayern comes in and the deals done in 5 minutes. As someone mentioned on here Wenger will come out anyway in a few weeks and say why do I need a new midfielder when I have Ramsey, Elneny, Wilshere, Carzola and Coquelin plus we have Chambers and the Ox who can play there to..
Except we were never signing Vidal or Kondogbia, were we?
Or maybe he’ll be this summer’s Ozil, Alexis or Cech? Our current track record is to sign a world class player every season.
ps. There’s no way we’d let three central midfielders go and only bring in one replacement (Elneny).
Don’t get to exited about the prospect of this finally showing a change of approach from wenger , we were here 12 months ago with cech , I wouldn’t be getting to exited just yet
Soon you will see “Welbeck returning is like a new signing. We also have Sanogo returning, and I promise you, he will show you his true qualities. Walcott is world class, as is Giroud. I believe with the signing of Granit, our goals will come from the rest of the team. I expect Ozil to score 20 goals, and Ox to score 15 goals, and maybe Petr to chip in with 5 or so goals himself. We have super quality all over the pitch and superb mental strength.”
The Yaya Sonogo?
The Yaya Sonogo who want on loan to Ajax and made 3 appearances before they returned him to us, saying he’s garbo?
The Yaya Sanogo who made a whopping 8 appearances this year for Charlton, who were relegated from the championship?
He’s going to show us his world class by saying, “F*ck off, Messi. I got this!” before lighting up Barcelona with a hat trick to send us to the CL final?
nah, wrong guy. Stillmatic was talking about Sanogo.
Are we really getting baited this early?
How good is he really? Anyone watched him a lot?
All ive seen is him at the world Cup and I can’t can’t remember many details
All these stories can go on a one way trip to hell for all I care. What I want for next season is a fit and firing Mesut Ozil…we all talk about his assists, no on talks about his lack of shots/shooting. Players need to go against Wenger on the whole no shooting from range B.S…some of our midfield players don’t even hav the skill set anymore. All lost in training on some tiki-taka crap.#Coyg #SHOOTMORE
Assists are his job. If the stone-footed donkeys we play up front could shoot at all, we might have had a chance.
To look at this team, riddled with flaws, and finger ÖzIl as the problem is baffling. I just hope he’s here in the fall.
Xhaka can.
Is it wrong that i find the Poo-o-meter quite tempting? Looks like chocolate ice cream with eyes.
Yes.
Anybody know this guy from other than YouTube?
I actually know xhaka when he played very well against Bayern Munich in the first leg when he helped his team in winning 4-0 against them
He has both the name and the looks of an exotic Game of Thrones character, a castrated slave fighter from Essos or something of the sort. If he does well I vote we call him The Unsullied.
Thats like, what, £34m?
Has Wenger been informed?
lol
No, they are trying to finalize the deal before Wenger hears about it.
Can I go back to bed?
Has a little Basel connection there with Elneny. (not actually sure if they were there at the same time)
Just finished watching a few full matches from Bundesliga this season..He has the lot and love that he is captain at a relatively young age.
Hate comparing but fuck it, reminds me of a young Alonso
If its true its great news. Remember the time when Arsenal Veira and Petit. They were apowerful duo and powered the gunners to the epl 1998. On a side note rf was seen having lunch with the current Spurs boss. You never know but the latter would be taking a massive gamble by going to OT.He would be expected to win the whole lot. Since RF’s domination days are over,its unlikely the epl will be like the Bundesliga where BM are perennial champs. And that’s why rf left because he could no longer dominate like he used to be. And… Read more »
Who’s “rf”?
“Rio Ferdinand’s Domination Days”???
There’s a filthy video I never want to see.
redface
I prefer baconface myself, but either works.
I hope that arsenal will buy Karim benzema in this transfer window or van Jansen who is dubbed the next van nistelroy because I think that one of them will help them be competitive in all of the competitions
I’m all for this. Now to add another couple of squad players and a player who can slot in as a wide forward or center forward…
He looks like Wilshere
can he play striker?
You know I had him confused for the other Albanian chap Shaqiri. If indeed we are in for him, this could be useful (Albeit price still looks a tad high) As I have mentioned repeatedly, the Elneny brigade must be watching a different match. I think Elneny is decent under circumstance and an adequate addition because Wenger neglected to reinforce this position last summer. BUt he is hardly the scintillating performer the arsenal website nor some fans seem to imagine. Flamini has hit similar 96% pass percentages. Nor have we been any more water tight with Elneny/Coquelin or indeed Elneny/Ramsey.… Read more »
Agree with focusing funds on a striker, the question remains who. Still think the midfield has been really poor this season compared to previous seasons and some additions are needed as Wilsheres fitness can’t be trusted, Ramsey may be better in a more offensive position and the team has missed an Arteta-type of deep playmaker. Coquelin must also prove himself again as he hasn’t looked too good when being responsible of the ball distribution when not playing with Cazorla. Cazorla is aging too and may be affected by fitness issues. Elneny has been good but is definitely not a DM.… Read more »
Dude, enough with the Flamini obsession. Unless you are Flamini.
Never seen him play, is he any good ?
Getting business done before the Euros this summer. That’s Xhakaly what’s needed.
I’m Swiss, so I have an interest in following Xhaka’s career (as Gladbach also had a great Swiss coach for a while). He’s consistently been one of the best CMs in the Bundesliga for the last two seasons and developed into the leader of a good Gladbach team (probably two Top four trophies in a row). He’s still young, but has extensive experience in Europe and has won a bunch of trophies in Switzerland – he shined with Basel as a 19 year old (together with Stoke’s Shaqiri and was replaced by Elneny after moving to Gladbach). Xhaka is strong… Read more »
Yeah, I think he’s tailor made. Great passer, but also combative and feisty, takes no shit from anyone. He’ll need to work on his temper though.
A fiery personality would be considered a positive rather than a negative. This team can use more fire.
Nono, I definately agree. However he’s also prone to the odd red card, he’s got a bit of Vieria in him but you need someone like that somtimes. I think Cruyff called it “mala leche” refering o Stoichkov.
Arsenal’s latest signing injured on Arsenal’s concrete training pitch in pre season training?
I believe the Emitates pitch is being relaid in the off season. I hope they do the same with the training pitch = less injuries
This guy seems like the prefect fit. Could be paired with Elneny to create a defensive stable ball-playing midfield base. Or with Coq to go ultra defensive. Or with Ramsey to recreate the well functioning Ramteta. Interesting to see if he could provide enough defensively to be able to play with Cazorla. Really happy if this goes through.
Yeah, I don’t get some of the negative comments. Flamini, Rosicky and Arteta are leaving, Wilshere can’t be relied on, so we do need someone in central midfield. Xhaka is a playmaker that can also destroy, he’s pretty much perfect. Although the price is steep, but hey, finally we’re doing what is necessary and not diddling around.
There is a lot of smoke round this? In regards to the poo-o-meter should that not read “a lot of steam”
Is this a concrete bid for Granit?
I mean, are you saying it’s set in stone?
Are we insane? That’s another Matic.
I remember watching him play for the Swiss National team a few years ago (don’t remember the exact competition) and thinking that he would have fit perfectly with us. He’s strong, mean and can boss a midfield. It was Xhaka who stood out to me, not Shaqiri. Plus he’s got a bad ass name.
What time will he be injured ? Just so I can miss the same feeling I get every bloody season !!!
Great news! A little pricey, but we really need to spend