Arsene Wenger has admitted that Arsenal are working on deals to sign Lucas Perez and Shkodran Mustafi, but was a little less forthcoming about when they might be completed.
Nevertheless, the Arsenal manager confirming interest in actual, real life players is undoubtedly a positive development, and the squad looks like it’s going to receive the boost it needs in the very near future.
“We are working on the deals,” he said. “We are not close enough to announce to you today that they will sign for us.
“Will we sign anybody before the end of the transfer window? I am 99% confident.”
Pressed on whether he might be busy on deadline day, Wenger continued, “Today maybe I’m too optimistic, but I hope we will have done what we wanted before!”
With medicals booked for both players today though, unless something goes wrong there it seems we’ll be adding the two La Liga players to the squad, and all going well there should be announcements fairly soon.
It’s worth remembering though that Arsenal do not officially announce transfers until all the required paperwork between the two club is completed, and delays can come from the other side as well.
Having spent much of this summer in a state of stressed anxiety, our advice over both of these deals is to chill out and not give yourself an ulcer because it hasn’t been put on arsenal.com by midday today.
?
ANS!!
Ha ha ha! Good one…. although ANS can only be counted as ANS when it is published on our website 🙂
I’ll believe it when I see them play their testimonial match.
TNS – Two New Signings to be exact. Heh.
TNS, two new signings
Still LANS – Likely a New Signing
Good article on Lucas https://moarfootball.com/2016/08/25/a-deportivo-la-coruna-fan-on-lucas-perez/
THank you for sharing. Wonderful insight
But I do love me a good ulcer!
“Today maybe I’m too optimistic, but I hope we will have done what we wanted before!” +ve
Really hope these go through and think we’ve done this the right way round, spending more on a long term defender and less on a forward who will not be guaranteed to start most games, but great to have a some variety up front now!
Two players we definitely needed. Can’t wait to see them in action.
Well, if we would have signed an experienced defender (Ashley Williams cost 12 million for Everton) we could have spent about 40 million on an attacker…
Mkhitaryan – 36 M
Sadio Mané – 35 M
Leroy Sané – 42 M
Batshuayi – 33 M
Unfortunatelly… It seems to me that our guideline again was: Safety (a.k.a.: Top4 finish) first!
Signing Ashley Williams would have been pointless. Mustafi is clearly a signing for now AND the future with. Williams is just as old as kos and Mertesacker and we would have to have yet another transfer merry go round next season over CB’s. Mustafi should be good for years
…and we would have to have yet another transfer merry go round next season over CB’s…
1. …and easily: we would have to have yet another transfer merry go round next season over Central Strikers…
2. Chambers? Holding? Gabriel?
Glass half empty morning?
We all need to chill out, either one might still turn out to be the signing of the season or a Park; but either way, signing them is a good thing.
Coyg!
🙂
Agree with you. Ashley Williams probably has two good years in him. Holding will definitely be ready by that time. We also have Gabriel. We did not buy a striker who will start games ahead of Giroud. Not even good for Welbeck when he is back. We have a new guy at same level ad Welbeck who will prevent Welbeck from having game time as CF should Giroud gets injured.
Just an interesting data:
In the last four years, as far as GA (goal against – so our Defense) concern we were better than the avarage of the top 4 teams two times (12/13 and 15/16), but…
As far as GF (goal for – so our Offense) concern we were inferior in every years.
I don’t get the ulcerisation, did lots of people really think we weren’t going to sign more players by the end of the window? Granted, our state of preparedness for the first few games of the season has not been good enough even accounting for the usual vicissitudes (tournament year, injuries etc), and if we had UCL qualifiers against tricky opponents then I could definitely understand some ulcerisation. But I’ve been pretty much certain that we would add new players by the close of the window.
Oops, jinxed it.
Have u forgotten last season already. Same issues. Had need of a striker, and a def and a def mid. Signed Cech and then no one else.
Wenger not being able to sign a single player was a distinct possibility.
” and my Mama told me, therell be days like this”
I really want these transfers to work out well on the pitch. Especially the striker deal. We are the best at creating chances. I just want us to outscore our opponents. Predator football. And give Akpom a chance as well. Those would be three strikers inclusive of Giroud. Walcott can take a back seat or be shuffled to the wing… That is if the Ox wishes not to claim that position.
I like the perez signing for the fact that he’s clearly very different from giroud. We’ve been crying out for an alternative for a while.
However, don’t we need better than giroud to improve the team immediately as wenger keeps pointing out?
I thin Perez will be much more better buy for us than Vardy, Vardy is a runner and counter attacking player using his speed as main weapon, he can’t dribble or make a chance out of nothing and 90% of the teams against us are parking the bus which I don’t think that vardy would make any deference, perez has all, speed great feet and ball control dynamo of a shot and he can individually crate chances for himself. And I’m betting now he will score more than Vardy.
You spoke my mind . . . though I can’t guess how many he could score this season
The emotional rollercoaster Arsenal puts you on is unmatched.
It’s always fun, even when it isn’t.
Also, the CL draw has been pretty kind, it’s almost too much good news in one day, come on Arsenal, are you not going to break my heart today?
Please don’t jinx it. You know what club we’re talking about. Before we know it half the stadium has burnt down to the ground and Cech and Ospina has been abducted by aliens.
Im hopeful but i know nothing of Lucas Perez . Is he top , top quality ??
He is good. Not top-top quality. Better than walcott and campbell for what i saw of him last season in la Liga
But if he is not very quickly better than Giroud the whingers will be out……whinging……again!
Lucas…… Another striker that Wenger will probably try to play as a winger.
He can play anywhere up front
Is it done yet?
How about now? Is it confirmed?
I swear to god, I will turn this car around and you can forget all about going to Monkey World!
Wenger buys players like i buy used cars. Point out every little scar and fault you may find and ask for a cut prize.
So if the medical reveal a scar on Mustafi’s left shoulder from when he fell out of a tree as a kid, then he is probably going to want to shave a mill or two off the prize. This is not mint condition like the prize suggests. 😛
Would have loved it if the James Rodriguez rumours were true.
Guy is one hell of a player.
Hi Bloggs……I love your site, but Im recently getting my thoughts moderated all the time…….can you explain?
I don’t know, sorry. It’s not personal, but it does happen a bit arbitrarily at times. I’ll see what I can find out.
Me too blogs!
me too!
Seems to work ok for me even when i want to call you a shower of cunty twatbaskets
…comment awaiting moderation.. i deserved that..
This will look odd if previous comment doesnt come through!
It’s because he is a racialist
Although these don’t seem like the marquee signings social media was crying out for there is something different about these 2 from our usual signings. They seem like solid professionals with a bit of backbone, or maybe I’m just trying to find the silver lining (sorry Rambo).
Never heard of Perez before this, but not the top, top quality Wenger is always harping on about for sure. To me it seems we mostly shop below what should be expected of a club our size. Ozil, Cech and Sanchez aside. I know players can come good given time and experience, but surely now we have the funds to buy proven players from our rivals to weaken them and give us an edge. How about bidding for players like Lukaku to weaken Everton, buying Coutinho to weaken Liverpool. offer the right deal and I’m sure these players would come… Read more »
Oh dear.
Oh dear what? That we continually buy from lesser clubs because we don’t have the money to buy from our rivals? No, we have a manager who reacts too slowly to team deficiencies and don’t prepare for the season start. We’ve already dropped points meakly and now throwing 50 million at players who may or may not improve the team from last season that fumbled over the line. Our biggest rivals have strengthened are already 5 points ahead and look a lot more organised. When our fans are split over whether we want Wenger to stay as manager. Get a… Read more »
If I could multiple thumb you down I would. Your negative take on such a positive day for us is what is driving me away from this club. The social media platform maybe creating this poor atmosphere.
Your comment is indicative if someone who thinks putting on a shiny new coat of paint will hide the existing flaws. How do you explain Wengers comments about being fit and ready after beating Man City in a friendly, then after being nearly humiliated at home to a team that lost the week after to Burnley, he said we weren’t fit or ready? Is spending 50 million on two untested players is all it takes to satisfy you? 35 million on Mustafi. 32 million more than Holding who Wenger had to play because of being unprepared. Sorry, but this isn’t… Read more »
Have you ever tried self pleasuring? Its a very good way to release pent up frustration.
Yes you are right. Buying that failed winger from Juve was a disaster. Not forgeting that under achieving midfielder from Milan.
What’s Wenger been smoking all this time?
that was 16 years ago talk about now
I’m happy atleast for one reason. The atmosphere at the Emirates would seize to be toxic in the near future, except if results prove otherwise. In which case I doubt so much.
This reminds me of a joke: What do an old man with a beard and a rabbit have in common? They both have a beard, except for the rabbit.
Listen not all top strikers reach their peak straight away, very early in their lives. For some of them they bloom late and get to be one of the top strikers in the world all of a sudden! Who knows what kind of a player Lucas would turn out to be! Let us give him time. Let us not judge him until we see him running around on the pitch! Add to the fact that there are not a lot of top strikers out there who we could sign! I would sign someone like him for 20 million than signing… Read more »
Agree with you but I think Lyon would have wanted 50-70 million for Lacazette (quoted 60 million) which added to a 100k+ weekly wage would have been an absolute waste of money on a player who wouldn’t even be a guaranteed starter for us. Happy with these signins, sensible choices and make the squad stronger.
Pretty sure Lyon would’ve taken 45 mill if we had offered it 2 months ago. The price hike was because of how late in the window it got. I don’t want to get into defending Lacazette’s quality on here (personally I rate him higher than most people seem to on here, but ultimately I can’t say for sure if he’d have been a big hit, obviously), but here’s the deeper point I think people are missing in their (understandable) optimism: if you were Arsene and had had the chance to sign one “bargain” unknown player for 10-20 and one “marquee”… Read more »
I’m a late bloomer meself.
I’m hoping to be. Otherwise, all this effort has gone to waste.
at the start of the summer (and perhaps for the last 5 summers) we needed a holding mid, a centre back and a striker. Looks like we now have those so that’s a big positive.. it’s just a shame we can’t form a habit of getting our business done before the annual dumping of crucial points in early August every season
Think the problem is the transfer window closing so late. Clubs are always going to keep their cards close until the end o the window, not much arsenal can do about it if they want to make the best out of the window. What many managers have been asking for is to end the transfer window before the season starts which would be good for everyone apart from the media.
You make it sound like we are the only ones that buy in the window.
Many clubs bought before the season started. If we can’t do top, top quality I totally understand it. Just don’t tell me that’s what you’ve been waiting for then go and buy an unknown
Maybe I’m biased, but I’m a real fan of Mustafi. Apart from the occasional blunder here and there (he’s only 24), I really like his positional play and think he can develop even further at Arsenal. Also he is terribly ignored in German media, partly due to the fact he played abroad for most of his professional career. Happy about signing him!
He’s good. And has Hummels and Boateng ahead of him for Germany and still managed to play a few games for them.
Agreed. It’s no shame to be kept out of a regular starting role by Hummels and Boateng! Boateng may, at the moment, be the best CB in the world.
At the start of the season we needed a CB, Holding mid and CF. Wenger clearly stated from the start that the deals would be negotiated closer to the end of the window à la Poker Game. The man hasn’t lied once. He has never exaggerated once either. True almost every statement he makes is with a tone of calming down the fans, but can you blame him? Most of these idiots use the Mirror, Guardian, 90min, etc. as their main source and and fall for it every time. By doing so they tarnish the name of the management, board,… Read more »
Yeah, thank God we don’t actually win shit.
I wish I could give more than one thumbs up.
“Wenger is a team builder” Trouble is, his teams are never competitive at the top of the game.
Never competitive? It’s the same man who built The Invincibles. Even though I never watched them live because I wasn’t following much football that time , I respect and admire him for what he did. And I am sure he still has it in him. He is building something great again. Just have patience. I have been waiting for 10 yrs. And I am sure my patience will never run out.
Support your team. No matter what!
That was 13 years ago.
Which of course means it didn’t happen 😉
Wow! How long have you been waiting to post that?
You’re an idiot if you think “perez” was wenger’s plan all along. The dude hasn’t even kicked a ball and he’s the second coming of jesus. And wenger is a genius.
I’ve seen him compared to david villa, vardy, greizmann and eduardo. I’m gonna watch him play and judge.
I agree, yet he chooses to do it after we have already lost two games when the season had already started. Not giving enough time for them to gel with the team. Remember quotes similar to ‘They are not playing well as they did not get a full pre-season’, if we go by this, this season would be a write-off as far the two potentially new players are concerned. Nobody can say both of these are our first choice signings including Mustafi, which seems to be pertinent issue since the stadium move. We almost never ever seem to get the… Read more »
We haven’t lost two games.
Going by the strength of the other teams this season, a draw this early is almost similar to a loss.
No, it’s not.
All nice words and I’m too happy with the new arrivals but at the end of the day we’ve been +10 years without a league title. Last season especially hurt with all top teams so poor
Wenger the builder, always building… next season, next season I am quite happy with the transfers, if we can’t get the best striker, at least bring in some good ones that can refresh the attack. Mustafi is wait and see territory, worst case scenario is we bought ourselves a Mangala. Best case he is the top, top quality we need. Arsenal fans must be the most fickle and deluded bunch out there, game week 35 or so it is full meltdown as spurs look to challenge for the title and Arsenal suffer the annual season collapse. Few weeks later we… Read more »
The transfers haven’t gone through, although hopefully they will, that being said I still think we need a new manager and there are several reasons for that. 1) We have again started a season unprepared. We can quibble about the lost points back and forth and how much they will be worth come the end of the season and that other teams will drop points but the fact is that as a team we weren’t ready. Period. 2) I am excited by new players, we all know we need new players but there should be a plan in place to… Read more »
1.) I’m not quite sure this is Wenger’s fault. We had Ozil, Giroud and Kos at the Euros then Gabriel got injured in our last preseason game. Also, did you watch those games. It had as much to do with not having a defender as the whole team not playing well enough. Also, we scored 3 goals so you cannot blame it on the lack of a striker instead. Besides, we played Liverpool and Leceister. Man U, City & Chelsea lost those games last season. We got a point and almost drew the other game. Also, the transfer window closing… Read more »
I respect your points but I also disagree. 1) Wenger himself stated that we weren’t prepared so I don’t see how this is point can be argued. We can talk about signings and what we lacked, how there were the Euros (I feel this is a straw man argument but I won’t get into that) and all sorts of other excuses but at the end of the day they are excuses. I feel that no matter how you look at it that it is clear we weren’t ready. 2) Your system sounds like a complete and utter gamble and based… Read more »
I would like a brief rebruttal/clarification. Thanks for a courteous response. 1.) I agree, we were under-prepared and the manager confessed so as well. My point though is that, it is more down to the loss of crucial 1st team players. How about we take out Aguero, Silva and the 2 central defenders from city. Will they have won in the late minutes against stoke… I’m not quite sure. My point is that it is not mainly the manager’s fault. I’d like to hear your straw man argument’s rebruttal, if you will acquiesce. 2.) I am not advocate chaos without… Read more »
Not a problem at all. We both support Arsenal and while we might not have the same opinions about everything it doesn’t mean we can’t have a conversation and discuss our positions in a civil manner. I am sure I will get downvoted for my opinions, especially when we are potentially on the verge of signing players but I think we have to have open discussions about our club so we can move forward as a whole. 1) While I agree that you cannot control when or how an injury will happen I think how you react and handle the… Read more »
Oh just call each other cunts/plastic fans/nazis and be done with all this polite reasoned conversation!
Its so sad that we have signed the two players that we needed in the correct positions. what are poor old wingeing Paul Merson & Piers Morgan “so called fans”and all the other moaners going to talk about now.
Mustafi also knocks in many headed goals. It’s all good.
With him and Kos we don’t need a new striker!
And Perez can take a good corner.
Defiantly need that as well.
I hadn’t heard of either of these players until very recently (yesterday in the case of Perez) and I am UTTERLY CONVINCED they are the answer to all our problems.
Signed,
Half of Arsenal Twitter
I hadn’t heard of either of these players until very recently (yesterday in the case of Perez) and therefore I am UTTERLY CONVINCED they are NOT the answer to any of our problems.
Signed,
The Other Half of Arsenal Twitter
When it comes to players we’ve never heard of,were all UTTERLY CONVINCED that wenger has had far more misses than hits recently and almost seems to ignore our immediate problems
Signed
The rest of the known world outside of Arsenal Twitter
At last we may have found how to make Arsene spend, the fans have to moan loudly, the media have to keep harping on about it, key and not so key players get injured, we start the season poorly, ensure the transfer window is still open and most importantly have money to spend.
I don’t think the ‘fans’ or the media make one iota of difference to the managers purchases.
Otherwise we’d have bought more last summer.
We can stop berating Wenger now and get on Blogs’s case about not fixing the arses!!
99% sure
That 1% is haunting me.
It worries me as well but having listened to the presser I think they are definitely on their way!
Why do people keep saying that there aren’t any top strikers out there to sign? Mourinho seems to keep finding them. Ibra might just win them the league. Seems like atletico can find one every other transfer window. This club needs another deal maker like dein because the current regime seems an embarrassment when it comes to finalizing deals.
Ibra may win them the league if he turns up often enough. But as a 34 year old striker with an enormous ego, he may only play when he feels like it (as he did at PSG) and his body allows him to.
We’ll find out this season which.
Let them come #coyg
This could be the end of Walcott? Lucas seems to be a pretty similar player – speedy and can play on the wing if/when needed.
Once we mention medicals. .they’ll run away
Lucas Perez is more a 2nd striker if anything, not a box striker, he will come deep looking for the ball, will work best with Giroud, which is unlikely to happen unless placed on the wing, I like him though, but he’s the winger we were after, not the striker.
watch him play wing when giroud plays, fools.
is this Lucas guy any better than Girioud? Looks like we will never be able to sign an Aguero type striker.
I do like the Mustafi signing but overall we won’t be able to compete with the Manchester clubs for the title.
I would love it if we signed James Rodriguez as well but that is just pure fantasy!
What the heck do you see in Rodriguez, he’s worse than Ozil and was on the bench for Real as deemed not good enough. Too much money for a kind of player we already have enough in our team
yeah of course…Walcott is a better player than James
Go watch his performance at the last world cup!
Rodriguez is better than all our AMs and WF bar Ozil and Alexis.
Not many (if any) ‘Aguero’ level strikers available.
I love the way five days ago nobody knew who Perez was. Today everyone knows what his mam had for breakfast. He looks good on his YouTube montage. Time will tell.
Shhhhh!!!! Let people enjoy things.
I think I will be very happy if we get these kind of deals done much earlier in the window. Instead of big money, high profile signings, Wenger clearly has identified what we are missing in the team and invested in those qualities. Yes please.
Always left feeling underwhelmed by the way we conduct our transfers.
Lucas signing seems down to the fact he has a cheap buy-out clause.
werent these deals doable the past 3 mounths? we had a much bigger chance with a better centre back for Liverpool and a real striker at Leicester.
maybe they werent our priority (esp. Peres)
maybe injuries fans pressure and bad results forced us back into do the market, finally
and maybe Wenger believed he could get better bargains in final days if window
either way should have done it way sooner. although we wont be favorites for the league now, still we have a better chance making it to the top 4 now.
I am trying to get excited about this, even though it hasn’t gone through as of yet, but I am struggling. I feel that this is due to the fact that we have been told all summer that we are only looking at top top quality and our signings have to meet certain “criteria” and I don’t know if this guy ticks all those boxes. If we are talking about him as a 27 year old prospect then maybe ok, but if he is still just a prospect then why not then just give Akpom a run instead. I feel… Read more »
Thanks for the answer Bloggs re “moderation”!
Meantime Im “pushing hard” for a big Zero Poo on the txfr prospects.
I hope Theo can come good for the next few months, so we can get more money for him in January!
So as earlier stated, we came in to the summer needing a central defender, a holding midfielder and a striker. It now looks as if we’re close to completing the deals so that all three of those boxes are ticked. I’m not pretending to know loads about Lucas but it sounds to me like he has similarities to Vardy, who we all know Wenger tried to sign. He obviously feels that’s the type of player we need as an option up top so I’m happy if the deals go through. I agree it’s a shame we couldn’t do it earlier… Read more »
For me it’s never an issue of supporting the team. When they play I throw my heart behind them and whoever is on the field at the time I wish then nothing but success and eternal glory and fame. For example, while I don’t always think Walcott is the best player we have seen, when he pulls on that shirt I am not sitting at home hoping he does his knee or disappears, I hope he scored a hat trick and puts some poor bloke on the other side to the sword. I want us to win and I want… Read more »
Agree.
Unhappy when not signing anyone.
Happy now it looks like we got the players we need.
Simple.
http://www.shoot.co.uk/expert-arsenal-to-annoucne-52m-double-deal-within-hours/
Getting excited now…
Any transfer to any club can go good or bad. As fans we get excited when we are linked with big names but we don’t know for sure that they will adjust to the new club and be a great signing. We could have signed Higuain for £80m and he could have failed to adjust to the Premier League or to Arsenal (I present Shevchenko, Torres and Benteke as three, of many, examples). However, he could have scored 40 goals and taken us to the title. We just don’t know. Alternatively we may have been forced to rely on a… Read more »
It took Vardy 3 years before he started scoring properly at Leicester 😀
What a Goal from our new striker :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H0P9Z0K4pA
I’m hoping to have a drink today
A bit naive to think this is a new trend…Arsene announcing deals early. All it is is indication as to how close we are and how confident we are that we will close with these deals soon. Otherwise he won’t nominally talk about transfers. Why would he? Why would anyone who has any experience hanggling? You leak it to the press early, they announce it, the cretins in the fan base start to make a lot of noise, the selling club will use this to leverage further on price and it can all get more complicated. Best to keep it… Read more »
Been a grumpy so and so of late when thinking about Arsenal but Arsene did put a smile on my face today during his press conference: “And now you accuse me of being a money splasher.”
In or out you can’t dispute the fact that he’s a clever chap.