Valencia boss Pako Ayestaran insisted last night that Shkodran Mustafi was not for sale, as he came to terms with a 4-2 defeat at home to Las Palmas in their opening game of season.
“Mustafi is not for sale and he will stay at Valencia,” he said.
The German international has been linked with Arsenal for some weeks now, but despite personal terms being agreed the two clubs look no closer to agreeing on a fee.
Despite their need to sell players to meet FFP rules, it seems Valencia are keen to hang onto the 24 year old, as well as attacker Paco Alcácer who had been tipped for a move to Barcelona.
“With Alcácer I can be as firm as with Mustafi, Lay Hoon already said it. The president has said in public that Alcacer and Mustafi are not for sale and I have to believe her
But of course until the window is closed nobody can be 100% sure, especially if Arsenal come closer to Valencia’s valuation of the centre-half.
“The market is open and there are still possibilities,” said Ayestaran.
Mustafi was a second half substitute last night, but was unable to prevent what was a disappointing loss to Los Amarillos.
Our ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory is unmatched.
As much as I would like us to buy a CB I wouldn’t be happy if we bought a mediocre CB for 50m ad a matter of fact there is absolutely no CB on this planet that’s worth 50m so if valencia is asking for 50m then I’d support wenger to not buy mustafa. He can find someone else maybe we should go in for a loan deal for an experienced CB than pay 10times over the odds for an average CB. And also there’s no way I’d accept wenger paying 25m for Johnny Evans no way. I’d play debuchy… Read more »
are you calling mustafi mediocre? that’s pretty wild. while i agree that £43 mil (€50) is too much, how is that ’10 times over the odds’? you’re suggesting mustafi, a german international is worth €5?
20 max, and we bid 26 for him I think even 26 is too much.
Callum Chambers cost us 17 million pounds and a WC winner for you is 20 max? Some perspective, please.
I think everyone knows we overpaid heavily for Chambers.
New is just new. Chambers cost us 16mil because he’s British and a promising player. Look, the issue isn’t at the back, its our front striker situation. As long Kos stays fits (BIG if, I know) Holding or Chambers will only improve week after week playing with Kos. Isn’t that what we all want? When Per and Gabriel are fit, then we have 5 fit CBs. Id rather wait until January or next summer and replace Per at that time to keep everyone happy. We need a striker who will score goals and a new manager with fresh ideas.
Dude Is not like mustafi is hummels and bayern payed 30mil euros for Humells proven world class CB, mustafi is not even established in valencia and was shit against france in euro and always exposed when he came on.
Great point. I’m a bit tired at the way the English media stokes up the flames of controversy amongst Arsenal supporters. We are way too easy prey for these instigators. Any little sniff of a possible Arsenal transfer target and it sends people into madness. Their advertisers must be making enough money to pay the Mustafi fee and just have him sit in an empty film studio alone. Every so often, they’ll release a photo of him in ‘training’ or ‘boarding a jet for North London’ just to get our juices flowing again. It’s probably the same compound that houses… Read more »
This is one of the most level-headed and decent comments I’ve read on Arseblog for a while. I’m glad someone else recognises the need for signings in certain positions, yet also sees the recent consumeristic nature of fans almost completely clouding any form of judgement.
Fabregas went to barca for less than market price, so did hummels and a few others. The key reason is they want to go to a certain club. Don’t see anyone other than sissoko wanting to come to us. Which puts us in the ‘lure with money’ bracket, not ‘lure with trophies’ bracket with barca and bayern. Makes sense, don’t you think? You know, since we haven’t won anything of note in a while.
Absolutely agree line by line…the criticism if the board and manager is at times mind blowing. We are short in those areas yes everyone knows that, but having the media breathing down your neck trying to throw wood in the fire all the time is just as annoying as us not buying. I hope we dont pay that much for mustafi cause its insanely stupid. We ate late. We should have done this business long time ago. We didnt and now we suffer like this.
Excellent point, mate & very well written comment.
Wonder why we aren’t able to attract talent like Mats Hummels if he was available so cheap?
Let me know if you’re ever in Mexico so we can get some drinks
Mustafi is good but not good enough for Arsenal. Should only a back up. No more.
Sad news that Mr. Blogs has in recent weeks been ruding for the people frothing at their mouts for Soldado deals. This is a mad world and I am proud of Wenger refusing to take part in it.
What?
Very well put and I agree with u! In this crazy market I would value Mustafi between 25m to £30m. Anything more than that and I’ll be happy to bring in an experienced premier league player worth 10-15m£. As for the striker position, to be honest we had the entire transfer market to find our guy and we have gotten nowhere :S so frustrating.
The problem also is that with all this TV money alot of the average teams are more confident with keeping their players
The thing is I’m pretty sure we could’ve got him for £25-30 mill but by the sound of it we kept hanging around, being indecisive, haggling over a couple of milk and eventually they just said screw you if you want him now it’s gonna be £50m. It sounds like the same thing happened with lacazette, they talked about it on the sky Sunday supplement piece and it sounds like something wengers renowned for
You know something we don’t Or you are also picking your facts from the rubish the media put out there?
The people on the Sunday supplement panel who I assume to be more in the know than me talked about how it happened with lacazette, they also touched on it on arseccast yesterday, and with the stuff I’ve read and the timeline of how info has come out this deal seems to have gone along the same line as the lacazette one where the stuff in the papers was similar. You can’t believe everything you read in the press but that doesn’t mean it’s all bullshit, mustafi was being left out of pre season matches it definitely looked like negotiations… Read more »
Don’t mean to sound like a dick, but Sunday supplement? really? That program that tabloid journalists talk about what stories are going to sell the most newspapers?
watch the one I’m on about before you make any judgement
Yes, I’m sorry but just because journalists talk about something does not make it right or true. I’d rather be skeptical until I see a quote from someone involved in the deal. We cannot jump to conclusions because someone claiming to be “in the know” and, who obviously has ulterior motives, claims this or that. I genuinely think we need to hold the media to a higher standard of journalism. This comment here shows why. I am grateful that you (Frank) were asked to cite your sources so that the rest of us could evaluate the veracity of your claim.… Read more »
Last season was Wengers fault as Well. He’s lost his touch. If he believes our squad (same squad as last season essentially) can challenge for the title then he’s lost the plot completely.
Invincibles, also his ‘fault’
can’t keep living in the past, that was 12 years ago
let him do the same thing twice if it wasn’t a fluke.
The problem here is not the new 50M price tag, which I think almost everyone on this site would agree with you on – he is not worth. The problem (if you believe all the press and reports, which I do) is that if Wenger could have done a deal as quickly as any other club does theirs, we would have bought him 3 weeks ago now for half this price. Which I think we would all agree on too, he probably is worth. He would have added to our defensive options going in to the beginning of the season,… Read more »
An old colleague spoonerised this for me once and it always stuck with me.
Our ability to jaw defeat from the snatch of victory is unmatched.
I would call it a victory. We already have Koscielny Mertesaker Gsbriel Chambers and Holding. Just because some of them are injured at the moment you want us to pay crazy money for a player whos probably not even half as good as Koscielny? We bought him for like 10 millions so Mustafi even for 35 millions doesn’t make sense to me.
No one is advocating we should pay crazy money for Mustafi! All I want is Wenger to sign a centre half that improves our team. Couldn’t care less who is he and how much he costs. It is Wenger who decided to leave it this late to sign a centre half and it is Wenger who has decided to target Mustafi.
Holding?
Holding is a good signing “for the future” as Wenger said himself when he signed him. He certainly didn’t sign him as first choice centre half to start the first two months of games for. If he has a bad game, which he is bound to given his inexperience it would be unfair for anyone to give him too much stick. He should not have to start two months of games for a team that should be challenging for the title, it’s not fair on him.
Now that Kos is back, frankly think Holding and Chambers both have enough quality to cover for the remaining 4-6 weeks until Gabriel is back. And anything over 20m should only be spent on someone who is expected to walk into the starting lineup even when Gabriel and Mert are fit. Holding and Chambers must be the best and most promising 4th and 5th choice CB in the league and would likely be 2nd or 3rd choice at most PL teams. This is exactly the situation they are intended for and we should have faith that they can step in.… Read more »
I would have in fact expected us to sign a player to walk in to the starting lineup. I like Mertesacker but it is an area we could improve on. There’s no reason why we couldn’t get a player good enough to start. I don’t buy Chambers is one of the most promising players in the league. What performances have warranted this tag? He couldn’t even get a game at the U21 European Championships. His development has gone backwards since he joined Arsenal. We conceded 4 against Liverpool and we were very very lucky to keep a clean sheet against… Read more »
Mustafi is a more established CB than Kos was when we got him. But I agree we will have to pay too much for him in this crazy market. I’m hoping that a stop-gap defender, hopefully a lot more dependable than a Mikächu or Squirtle, to fill in if anything goes wrong with Holding or Kos. I really think Holding is going to be a beast, granted it is very dicey to rely on him coming good right now. It would be a bit bleak though if we paid 35mil for Mustafi and he ends up sitting on the bench… Read more »
Mikächu? Squirtle?
When did Wenger resort to Pokemon characters?
Ok, say for a second everyone is fit (haha). Aside from Kos we have Per who is near the end of his deal and we really should be starting to plan succession, Chambers was bought as a right back and has yet to have a clear role in the squad, Gabriel is prone to costly lapses and it is asking a huge amount of Holding to continue performing at the level he is. I can’t see how failing to add an experienced long term option to this area is a success.
A game of brinkmanship to extract the last pound out of a desperate club? Whatever it is, this latter half of the window has been excruciating for anyone supporting Arsenal FC.
It’s nearing the end of the window now. Maybe things will move along now? We have a winnable game against Watford- let’s hope we get those signings in before the Southampton game!
And after Watford we play a series of winnable games as well..what we do on the pitch from now until the end of the first game against Spurs is going to affect whether I give a fuck about this season or not really.
Heeeeeerrrrrreeeee’s Jonny!!
Yeah yeah whatever… with Kos back a new CB is less of a concern. Would much rather a new striker as Sanchez had not been very convincing in that role…
Also anyone surprised to see Holding displace Chambers? Can’t help but feel Chamber’s development has stalled somewhat.
Right, because we’re the club that prides itself in keeping our players healthy! It’s not like he already didn’t train last week with a back problem, I’m sure we’re not rushing him back in any way.
With Kos back we’re one injury away from “we should have signed Mustafi”
Well Wenger disagrees with you because even before the injuries he said we were a bit short and would try and bring a CB in…
Yes he brought in Holding. He had 3 established CB´s Kos Mert and Gab. Having 6 CB´s is bollocks, you cant give them enough playtime
Well, fuck!
If they are really holding out for his 50m eur release clause, then i must cut wenger some slack on mustafi… I woulddnt pay that either. But what is plan b?
I would love a striker, and I can only really imagine lacazette since we have at least made one previous formal bid. Personally im all for this deal. 50m could do it?
Not surprised.
Both clubs holding out. One desperate there was the other experienced in holding out. Hope they aren’t as good as Holding at holding outout.
Not surprised.
Both clubs holding out. One desperate and theother experienced in holding out. Hope they aren’t as good as Holding at holding outout.
Autorcorect
Not surprised.
Both clubs holding out. One desperate and theother experienced in holding out. Hope they aren’t as good as Holding at holding outout.
Christ.
I can’t believe you’ve done this.
Awesome wordplay
I blame the flu. Lol. My shambolic post goes hand in hand with our transfer policy. At least my flu will be sorted before deadline day but as for the club….
What devil has possessed you to do this? I think you’ve factory reset my brain.
What an absolute shambles. It is hard to think of any club that goes about its transfer business in such a manner.
If, as is looking likely, arsenal go for a cut price option in defence instead of Mustafi, I can only imagine the reception the poor player will get from the fans when he steps into the pitch.
With the price being quoted for Evans he’d be even shitter than Evans. A sobering thought
Just stick with Holding .. From what Ive seen , weve got a great player in the making , he`s learning fast , and in a couple of months we will have Mert and Gabriel back anyway .. Invest in a striker !
I doubt we will sign anyone else before the window closes, defender or otherwise. All the proper signs point to that. Even the newspapers are not reporting anything really. I think we all need to be prepared to get behind the squad we have today and hope it sees us through to January without the wheels coming off.
The wheels have already come off and are rolling down the street.
Mathematically we can still win the league!
Here’s to Holding doing a bellerin and cementing his place and progressing the position more so than the guy(s) he replaced.
What else do us Arsenal have to look forward to?
that’s a crazy gamble to take on a player who has never before played in top tier football.
It also leaves us really thin at the back until our players come back from injury. What if Kos’ back problems return for example? We know the kind of internal solutions we would use but would we really be challenging for the title in these conditions?
Honestly, i’m not that much interested in a CB. Just get that striker and stop wasting alexis in that position.
If you have the money for a CB, use that to get a good winger in.
Just take me to the deadline day already. This transfer window is ageing me…. literally to a point where my mrs has even said to me on monday.. “is something wrong with you lately or has arsenal lost a few games recently?…”
Even she knows we need bloody signings just to have a cheery home life.
If we spend over the odds on this guy we better not call for his head after his first OG.
High stakes poker game going on. Arsenal offering 25 million, and Valencia wanting 50 million. Valencia will settle for 30-35 million. They’re cash strapped, and dealing with FFP.
My dark horse acquisition is James Rodriguez. We’ve dealt with Real Madrid before, and he’s not getting much playing time under Zidane. Last minute deal, just like Ozil.
He definitely has the quality or potential and would be an upgrade so itsit’s a good target available.
I call the same but for Benzema!
Him or Isco, yes. Then we would have Giroud, Alexis as CF options (according to Wenger, not yet convinced Alexis can play lone striker for us) and Akpom and Sanogo for the odd game. Sanogo actually has some good performances for Arsenal so he and Akpom could possibly do the job in about 5+- games where we need to rest Giroud/Alexis (or Walcott). I think Giroud is good enough, remember Bayern won the CL with Mandzukic.
Xhaka – Coq/Elneny/Cazorla
James/Walcott – Ozil – Ramsey/Alexis/Iwobi/Gnabry
Giroud/Alexis
Looks pretty good. Add Wilshere if fit. And gnabry, Ox.
We have already Koscielny, Holding, Chambers, Bielik, Gabriel and Mertesacker who are injured but the boss will be (optimistically) be expecting them to play at some point this season. This is already 6 CBs. Considering Arsene is perfectly fine with having just 3 CBs for an entire season, there’s no chance we bring in a 7th.
In my humblest of opinions, for me only Koscienly is good enough if we are going to challenge.
We probably need another “world class” cb, also a striker and a winger.
But most of us know this, I’m not influenced by the media when I say this, I’m influenced by what I saw last season, what I’ve seen the two first games of this season.
good enough for what? we dont aim to challenge for winning PL or CL. Wenger’s objective is another top 4 and this squad is good enough for a 4th place trophy.
So you’re saying Wenger doesn’t want to win a title and other manager do? Arsenal finished 2nd last year higher than ManUre Shitty and Chelshit. Why can’t you trust your manager instead of this whinnings.
beacause all those teams have won leagues and progressed further in CL in last 13 years and will continue to do so. we can be proud of last year runner ups. would you bet your hard earned money on Arsenal to win a league again under Wenger? there you go. although I didnt say I dont trust him youre right I dont. he is satisfied with this medicority as you are. you trust him to reach your ambitions while mine is to see Arsenal really win major trophies and be free of this money parasites. so U dont trust neither… Read more »
According to Guardiola, Stones is “world class” (judging by the fee) and Holding has looked as good. Koscielny, Gabriel and Holding are easily good enough if Holding keeps his level.
Not easily good enough but if they are compensated with a good midfield and attack, then yes.
Don’t worry guys, we’ve got this. Arsene is really good at poker.
Think it’s pretty well known Valencia initially wanted £35 million and we came in at £25 million, typical us probably took weeks to barter upto £30 million, meanwhile this dude was training alone.
In terms of playing to the gallery, world class move by Valencia, the owners are tough businessmen and the landscape of football has changed where you try to lowball clubs and get a deal when they know you’re sitting on huge cash reserves.
I’m not with the ‘we don’t need a centre back’ line some have on here. We need players who are already decent because Wenger is not going to develop anyone now. Holding already being treated by Wenger as a pawn in a pr game rather than as a youngster who needs to be protected. He and Chambers should be on loan somewhere in the Prem, getting ready to compete for the spots Per and Kos will leave in 18 months time.
Should Cesc and Jack been on loan when they were 16 getting games for Arsenal? (Legit question) this is the wenger way. Go with youth until the prove you wrong. (Denilson as an example of someone that proved him wrong, not good enough)
Jack made his breakthrough(kind of) when he was loaned to Bolton. That’s where he played his first premier League games as central midfield.
Cesc on the other hand was so special he didn’t need a loan spell.
Then we have the disaster of a loan with gnabry. You have guys like sturridge and welbeck who broke through in the pl while on loan.
For some a loan spell is exactly the right thing and for others it doesn’t work out at all. Bellerin was on the Watford bench I belive.
16 and getting games when Arsenal weren’t competing for the title. Would it be right to give games to akpom and gnabry etc if we were locked in a tightly fought title race where the margins could be that couple of points, the tiniest bit of error or chance missed etc.
Did we win anything building our teams around Cesc and Jack?
The trouble with Jack and Cesc, Cesc in particular was that Wenger had a style that they could fit into, hence the amazing youth Carling cup sides. Now these guys who prob don’t have the equivalent talent of a Cesc. It’s a big leap but if I’m Rob Holding I’m wondering how I’ve walked into this team…
No one seemed to have a problem when Sterling was part of the Liverpool formidable trio in their best EPL season ever. Or even when Machedda and an unproven Obertan were given the odd games in a SAF EPL winning team.
Holding is 20, not 16. No one is building a team around him. But its like everything Arsene does now is wrong. Every other person is right but him.
I agree that it’s too early to us to pass judgement Holding. It was also too early for Wenger to talk up Holding as a multi-million pound signing in front of the press. Chambers hasn’t convinced there and neither has Gabriel (much as I love the guy) so the reality is, Wenger’s decision-making is under more scrutiny than normal. The problem with the 2 you mentioned is Sterling’s form fell off at the crucial phase of the season and Utd fans thought Macheda didn’t handle his sudden fame very well. Mistakes in defence are more costly too. We’ve sacrificed more… Read more »
Hahaha. Valencia also told us to fuck off. Good.
Ahhhh the laughing stock that we are. Thanks gaffer.
Only if you are gullible enough to believe the media.
The only crisis is media invented.
Mvilla Melo Capoue…none of them have become world class but the media linked them all to us and said we missed out.
Mangala we were told was the dog’s bollocks.
I think you need to be a bit more circumspect. None of these media numpties have managed a big club let alone operated in the transfer market but you deem to believe in them instead?:D
You’re forgetting Samba, Pape Diop, Soldado..
Ppl saying that we don’t need a new proper CB seem to forget that Mertesacker was already a liability towards the end of last season; we already needed to upgrade him.
Still I agree that 50m is way too much for Mustafi; he’d be a good signing but not at that price.
Per is not the liability.
Gabriel for all his pace is more of a liability.
Even Koscielny has had his fair share of blunders returning from injury last season.
Per for all his lack of pace is a steady presence and has saved us numerous occasions with his good positioning.
You can’t use the errors of Per’s colleagues in defense to big him up – he’s supposed to be our best defender! His flaws should be accepted same as anyone else and it was glaringly obvious last season that even at his best he might not be what this team needs.
And yet we finished 2nd higher than all those money bag teams. Our injured player will be back soon. We also bought Holding. He IS a CB. I guess if he had cost 60m you wouldnt be whinning.
Is there a CB in the world who doesn’t make mistakes at times?
I don’t know if anyone is saying we don’t NEED a better CB. I’m arguing that in Arsene’s mind we have 6 CBs on the books already so in my mind there’s no chance we bring in a 7th.
Defenders are not like strikers, there’re bunch of them out there, let’s just get one but plz not Evans
You cannot just get anyone and pay high price for them. We don’t want to be paying a high price for a Silvestre or Squillaci. Those days are over (and at least we did not pay ridiculous prices for those flops which would have impacted our bottom line. Look at Mangala whom the press endorsed wholeheartedly and said we did not show enough ambition on. For the matter Otamendi even both brought in at combine total of 55m. Look at Stones at 47m. Holding is doing a great job considering. You buy a mistake at premium prices and you may… Read more »
You obviously didn’t get my point, there are great defenders out there who I felt we won’t need to pay over the odds for even in this present market.50m for mustafi is tons over the odds, he isn’t world class atleast yet. To get some good strikers, you must pay some huge extra pounds.
“Look at Aguero, still taking up the wage bill. They paid a lot for a non performing player.”
wow
I was with you until the Aguero bit. If over a hundred league goals in 150 games and two league titles in five years is non performing I’d give my right nut to have that non performing player in my side, dodgy hamstrings and all.
Why the reluctance to sign Jonny Evans? I have said before on here, he is actually a very good solid defender. He isn’t world class, but at this stage, all the world class players have either moved or are staying where they are. I have been watching him for 10 years playing for Northern Ireland. He really isn’t as bad as people make out.
I think the actual problem for some, is the other club he used to play for!
Just what we need. A player who isnt that bad really. Look how far out expectations have lowerd in the last 5 years.
Expectations have been lowered because as a club, we are not competing for the top players, for whatever reason. I also said that he is a very good solid defender. I wonder just how many people slating him have actually seen him play over a period of time. He is consistent, a leader, good tackler and doesn’t take any crap from opposition players. I would rather have Evans than a defender from abroad, who does not have PL experience and would cost 30/40 million, taking money away from a possible top class striker IF one becomes available. Who would you… Read more »
There’s 25 million reasons not to sign him.
He’s absolute shite. I saw his last season at United, he’d regressed so far as a defender. He was the main player culpable for their 4-0 loss to MK Dons. He looks ‘not bad’ at WBA because Pulis can get decent performances out of any meathead defender.
So basically what the guy said is that Mustafi is not for sale….unless someone offers enough to buy him.
So…that means he’s for sale. I work in a shop and nothing is for sale in my shop until someone pays the asking price…but even them there is wiggle room on certain items.
Pure posturing by Valencia. They know their hand has been weakened by their money issues.
Spot on!
A player with a buy out clause is never not for sale. They may not want to sell him but FFP regulations should mean they have to sell someone. The timing of the interview straight after his team have been spanked 2-4 at home may also have played a part in this defiant stance.
To be fair our defending wasn’t great last season, but it was acceptable most of the time, and we do have Gabriel back in four weeks, with holding chambers backing up. With pretty much the same squad that came second last season what we really need are goals, I’d even say attacking may be the best form of defense sometimes, if wen could get someone with 30 goals per season, and be able to take the chances to kill off a game by being 2 or 3 nil up by half time，that may ease our relative weak defense. Priorities!
Another one gone out of our hands. Would have been a terrific signing but I do understand paying 50 million for any defender is non sense. I hope we now look at some decent alternatives and buy a defender before the end of the transfer window without dragging the deal till last moment trying to get a bargain of a quid or something and let the deal collapse yet again. But as others have mentioned I do have my own doubts of us signing any player before the window closes as there are a lot of signals pointing to that.So… Read more »
Valencia are playing hard ball not football.
Clearly they will have to sell. They will talk the game up hoping for other interested parties but if they price themselves too high, it may be to our benefit in the end as others will be put off equally.
If they need to clear at end of window to meet regulations, then the price will cool off.
When will you all accept that our summer business was completed when we signed Holding…?
AW is not going to change his ways today because we are all screaming or protesting.
Why should that be? Aside from last summer (and to some extent the Ozil summer) we have generally bought on average 4 players+ per summer and that’s not counting odd ones like Park and recently Asano.
25m is a bout right. We paid 35m for Granit. It’ll take us to 55-60m outlay. Even should we go in to grab a striker, tops we will sped 40-45m which is 100-105m for the summer on main purchases. That’s a substantial sum. Wich is why I said the 5m either way is a big deal. If we bring say Mustafi in at 20m, that’s an extra 5m to play with on a striker. They aren’t cheap at the moment. If say Draxler’s price drops to 45m ball park, the 5m will be indeed handy. The unknown factor is how… Read more »
And Wenger wanted Zlatan to trial at Arsenal. Sums this club up. I’m so sad that we have fallen so far from glory. Because when it comes right down to it, if you can’t compete why even bother…
He wanted him on trial when he was 18 when we had players like Bergkamp, Henry, Kanu etc. Not when he was fully established. And it’s normal procedure to offer behind the scenes trials to prospective signings so you can get an idea of their character/attitude. There’s a lot to be critical of, but this isn’t it.
Wenger says he always regretted not signing him which I’m in agreement. He’s a winner. Ruthless striker with chances. An enigma. We needed that. Henry left, kanu aged, Bergkamp aged.
Other question is would he actually have stayed considering the financial situation we had. I doubt so either way it looks like it may not have worked out
And Ibrahimovic wanted to do the trial. (Source: his book) But then Malmo didn’t want to sell to Arsenal because they wanted a higher bid.
I disliked all your posts. Why would you try to let facts get in the way of a rant?
With regard Joel Campbell loan, I don’t see the problem. Firstly, there needs to be a significant sum tabled by an interested party. Secondly we do not know if/how Walcott may fare next 3 months. Should Campbell do well on loan, Walcott get an offer, we retain the option of bringing Joel back into the fold. I’m not sure I see a problem here. If anything it speaks highly of the fact that we now have great options in the team and reiterates the fact that we are very strong numbers-wise in a number of areas. Further more it also… Read more »
I disagree with you on Theo. We all know how he’ll fare this season: we’ve watched him for years drifting in and out of games, scoring fantastic goals then disappearing for weeks. Joel may not be world class or a deadly finisher but he is a consistent grafted. Our Milner if you will.
Let’s stop swallowing all the bs Wenger spouts, we have options yes, but do we have genuine game changers?
I also disagree with you about knowing the future. Theo has actually been decent in the last two games. He has had a hard time in his career but he is not as horrible as many make him out to be. He is actually the best finisher in our team. He just blows hot and cold and gets injured. Also, just because you do not see a player for a game does not mean he is not trying hard or playing well. Some of the best strikers are anonymous until they pounce. Wenger always points to theo’s efficiency. I have… Read more »
And the boss loves Ox and Gnabry so he’ll be wanting to get them minutes…
Sheesh. How come this became a saga? What happened to striker or wide forward? How difficult can it be to move on Theo and find a upgrade? I wonder how long Ozil will put up with the silliness Wenger is presiding over.
Couple of thoughts..Firstly i do believe Wenger when he says he wants a CB but the prices are crazy. This is impacted upon by my 2nd thought. Maybe Arsenal are unwilling to get heavily involved in transfers this summer bcos every club in the prem plus a few others in Europe with new Chinese money plus the Chinese clubs are spending like lottery winners and are unlikely to be so loose with the cash next summer and likely prices will come down. Perhaps ine the absence of truly great quality being available the Club is keeping it.s powder dry for… Read more »
I’ve reached a point where I honestly don’t care now if we sign anyone or no. I just want this stupid Transfer window to end right now. I rather sign no one than pay 25m for bloody Evans. It’s time to go YOLO with Holding. Really like that guy. He can be the new Bellerin and cement his place in the team
Guillem Ballague’s comments are interesting. He reckons Mustafi is not even good enough for Arsenal and that the asking price of 40mil euros is already way too much.
The fact is: the market is slim on CB’s and strikers. Chelsea are also bidding for half the CB’s in Europe, Liverpool and United are in the market too. The fact we already offered some pretty hefty money for Mustafi (let’s be honest, 25mil is huge money), already indicates the club’s keenness to sign someone.
We are in the top five clubs financially, but the team would be lucky to sit in the top ten best European clubs – go figure that one!!!
At least we are consistent. Even Real Madrid or Barcelona havent been in Champions League like Arsene Wengers Arsenal. And what do you call top teams in Europe? We finished 2nd in league last season I say we ARE a top 5 team.
a top five team in europe whom hasnt won a league since 2004 let alone a CL. lol
If personal terms are already agreed, but a transfer fee is not, isn’t that totally at odds with the narrative of this morning’s blog?
anyway Wenger would have some bulsh*t to feed fans about insanity of market financial fair play finding right players and many fans surprisingly will praise him for caring much about our values. Arsenal will finish in top four (not as champions of course) and Arsene renews his beneficial business contract with Kroenkes Arsenal. just for us to see the real top teams (ambition-wise) compete and win major trophies as we pay biggest money to watch our medicority.
I’m genuinely scared we won’t reach top 4 this year. The best coaches in the world are now in the EPL, it’s never been this competitive.
Klopp, Guardiola, Conte, Mourinho, Pochettino, Bilic, Koeman, Ranieri.
A couple of the clubs they manage have strengthened their squads massively.
I fear for our top 4 chances.
Could not give a flying fuck about finishing in the top 4 (unless it’s finishing 1st). What does it get us really? The CL money isn’t important compared to the domestic deal now, and we don’t invest it anyway. As for playing in the CL, we aren’t going to win it and the performances are slowly getting worse, season by season. We aren’t using it to attract players anymore either. So what is the point of it?
Yeah, I think Arsenal passed the “worried about top 4” stage about 3 years ago.
Why fret about it when the club never fields a squad good enough to even reach a semi, budgets for life without it, and our manager thinks it wise to bring on Mathieu Flamini at a crucial point in a Barcelona tie?
People refer to Holding as a “great” find. Not saying he won’t be but let’s not forget how Chambers started his career and how now looks like he down the pecking order…When the going gets tough, some of these young players might not be the same…Just saying…
Even he turns out half as good as Stones I call him a great find as he cost us 48 millions less. Thats 24 more Holdings. You bring in 25 players like Holding I bet more than a couple of them will surpass Stones easily.
what is the use of 24 Holdings when only 11 can play at a time and I am pretty sure you would not want to field a team only of Holdings to win a football match…
Here is Arsene Wenger’s (not my!) thinking: Holding has played well in his first two games (I know he let four in against Liverpool, but let’s not pretend that they weren’t all excellent goals). Koscielny is back and virtually match fit. Chambers can understudy both of those players if necessary. Bielik looks to be the real deal and is unlikely to be needed anyway. Gabriel is less than 6 weeks away. Mertesacker will be back at some point and I’ll need to find a space for him. Monreal can do a job there if necessary. Do I really need to… Read more »
Apparently, Mustafi played as a second half substitute in Valencia’s last match. Does this sound like the sort of player who’s SO good that Valencia can’t sell him at any price..? (or is he not fully fit ..?)….either way, it doesn’t look like a sensible buy at £40m or more ! When you remember how well Kos played against Leicester, could you imagine him on the Valencia subs bench…? If Arsene had been keen to sign someone who we all know could have done the job – and proven in the Premier League – then surely that should have been… Read more »
He’s actually coming back from some sort injury according to his club.
I just what to fast forward to August 31st 2017. Hopefully we will have a new manager with new ideas and tactics who is willing to spend the money to sign the players he needs and get shot of the dead wood or no hopers. Arsenal needs a reboot.
Why August 31st of 2017?? I want to get this window done away with…..
I don’t understand. Does this mean Wenger was not truthful when he was asked about the deal? Surely he wouldn’t have said anything if we were nowhere near close. Would be silly of him to give false hope amidst such a toxic reaction to everything he says nowadays..
Whilst I have some sympathy for Arsene over the price Valencia are asking, it is very own indecision that brought us to this state. The need was obvious a month ago and if he had been in with a £30m offer then, we might not have lost 5 points out of 6.
With £1.2m prize money for each place higher in the league, this might have been money well spent. In any case, the fans generate all the income and definitely want some action.
This is what can happen when you play hardball on a transfer offer. But I guess Wenger has to save some cash so he can pay off the annual £3m he will owe Kroenke.
Valencia: 30 mill please
Arsenal: 20 mill
Valencia: 29?
Arsenal: 20 mill and 1 pound
Valencia: 27mill
Arsenal: 20 mill
Valencia: okay, 25 mill, very cheap
Arsenal: 20 mill and 1 pound
Valencia: Fuck You! Release clause is 50 mill asshole, pay it or Fuck Off!
I really do wonder if that was the case.
I heard it was the agent’s fees that were holding things up. And we know Mr Wenger hates agents.
Well that’s that then. 8 days until the transfer deadline and it has quiet so far.
Why does any supporter give a flying f how much a player like Mustafi costs, particularly if we are paying through the nose for tickets to see Arsenal play? We have the money. We have the requirement to spend it. Just do it and dont worry of we end up paying £20m too much. It will not affect anything financially the club does now or will ever do, so get over it. We have too much money to worry about a piffling £20m. I would rather Arsenal fail miserably having purchased a few good players in an effort to try… Read more »
it does affect what the club does financially: if Mustafi comes in for £50m, the world class players the likes of Ozil, Sanchez, etc will negotiate for way more than they’re paid now. Contracts then gets stalled or don’t get renewed, we lose world class players, and we lose revenue coming from said world class players. We cannot set the precedent of buying (at best) decent players for the price of world class players. it’s just a waste of money. Soon we’ll be like Man City spending £50m on otamendis and mangalas and still winning fuckall. To be honest, we… Read more »
Are you Ivan Gazidis? Never read so much tripe before in my life.
Players contracts get renewed for stupid amounts already (see Theo on £140k oer week) Mustafi coming in will not affect the pay rises Ozil and Sanchez will get if and when they renegotiate their terms – defenders are lower earners in the team pay structure.
As for not needing a CB, you are putting all your eggs into one Kos-shaped basked. Per is past it and Holding has only played 2 games. As for Gabriel, he has a lot to prove.
supposedly we are afraid about those 600 employees
Fuck the media and fuck all the other excuses being banded about. Fact is, mert has been injured two months now, gab-out, kos still recovering from euros and what have we done!? City, United and Chelsea have all strengthened in key areas and done it ages ago while we pissed and dithered. Pathetic.
Won’t even mention the striker situation.
Tbf we strenghtened a key weakness area in buying Xhaka. Our midfield was **** last season after the injury to Cazorla. We have replaced the 2 worst players in the squad, Arteta and Flamini with Elneny and Xhaka which I consider good business. Still need a forward and a CB though, but you can’t just panic buy after 2 injuries, especially when a club doesn’t seem to want to sell. Confident we will get 2 players in before the window shuts.
I think Blogs hit the nail on the head saying that English clubs dont want to lay out large sums on transfer fees + wages when, if the player doesnt work out, they get lumbered with him because foreign clubs cant afford to buy the player (eg Debuchy). HOWEVER, it then comes down to our risk appetite……our English rivals appear willing to take these risks (look at how many players chelski have bought and subsequently farmed out on loan around Europe). Whilst I would not want to go down the chelski route, I do think that AW needs to be… Read more »
This hasn’t affected the approach of Barca or Real in the last decade, when they effectively ran a mini-market of their own. They buy “top top players”, they pay what it takes and give them huge wages.
A lot of them seem to work out. But the ones who don’t seem to be movable. Or else it hasn’t mattered too much.
If I were Valencia, I’d leak to the media that a deal for 20m was close but behind doors I’d ask Arsenal for 50m. Just let the media and fans pile on the pressure.