According to the Mirror, Kieran Gibbs is on the brink of a move to Watford.
The left-back has been deemed surplus to requirements, and was not part of the squad that travelled on the pre-season tour. He was also not included in the Emirates Cup line-up this weekend, and was seen training alone.
The report states that talks between Arsenal and the Hornets are ‘advanced’, and the 27 year old could make the move this week.
It would certainly be a handy one for him, staying in the Premier League, and given that Watford’s training ground backs onto Arsenal’s London Colney base, he won’t have to do reprogramme his Satnav or anything.
It was previously reported that Arsenal had turned down a £10m bid from West Brom for Gibbs, but it may also have been a case that the player rejected to a move to a Tony Pulis side (perhaps explaining the Welshman’s subsequent rather sniffy dismissal of the England international).
All the best Gibbo!!! Model professional and always a Gooner!
PS:Why is there so much talk about Chambers leaving? He is still extremely young(atleast in CB years) and I still don’t trust Gabriel to play week in week out in case Kos or Mustafi have a long term injury(god forbid!). He had a solid if unspectacular season at Mboro and with an experienced partner by his side, he can do the job as good as anyone in my opinion.
Others care to weigh in?
Agreed . And his performance yesterday in the second half was tidy and efficient.
Gotta keep him, don’t really see any reason to let him go. He did very well at M’boro and I don’t know what better you can do while on loan than perform well – and he did just that.
Also, he was a starter for U21 at this year’s WC ahead of Holding. Yesterday when he came on, he looked much more experienced than when we saw him last time in our jersey. I think the 3 at the back system could suit him very well.
Completely agree. I think Chambers and Holding could be the future at centre half, and at the very least it would be an odd time in his development and Arsenal career to get rid of him
Looks like Wenger doesn’t trust Chambers much at the moment. If we could keep faith with Chamberlain, Walcott and Wilshere, Diaby for all those years, it would be really short-sighted of the club to sell Chambers just 3 seasons in, wherein 1 season he had a solid loan outing. He has genuine potential and will be a England starting Xl player in the future, once Gary Cahill starts declining(not long now!). And he also has that versatility (as a DM) that Wenger generally tries to bring in players by playing them out of position. Keep Chambers and Holding. Mustafi, Chambers… Read more »
How can he not trust Chambers while keeping with Gabriel (who has pace, yes, but also has at least one big mistake in him every match)?
I would be gutted if he went…..we have potentially got the next England CB pairing….I might even start watching international football again!
Because the Arsenal will Arsenal.
There was no good reason for Sczesny to leave either, yet we sold him for very little.
Funny, I thought that Wojciech having only 12 months on his contract was “ideal”, but what do I know.
Good move for him. Wish him well.
Hopefully we’ll get 9 or 10 out and another three in.
Squad needs serious trimming and first team needs improving.
Van Dijk/Manolas
Kovacic
Lemar
If we managed to add this sort of quality? then I think we’ll challenge.
Can we get you out? I dont mind no replacement.
Why not?
Nimble foot.
Have you checked your addiction rating on football manager recently Rich?
Watford would be a much better move for him, Marco Silva is a good coach who likes to play attacking football and it’s somewhere he can hit the ground running. The main reservation I would have is they’ll have a new coach next season, so there’s always the risk of an Italian Pulis coming in dropping him for no reason. Also it won’t really help him get into the England squad (if that’s his aim). There seems to be a preference for calling up players form shitty midlands or northern clubs over those in the south east (think Watford, Palace,… Read more »
Marco Silva could win the triple and Watford would still have a new coach next season. Ok, if he won the triple, he could stay an extra year.
Very nice guy Gibbs. Always calm and composed. His looks reminds me the main character in the movie; “Gods must be crazy”.
He stopped Hull making it 3-0 in that FA Cup final … later he lashed one over the bar with a clear sight of goal late on. But we still won. All the best KG
Not gunna lie, had to google that film.
Sounds better than West Brom
Good luck to Gibbo! Watford would be a good move for him.
We need other CM… Over than Lemar. Ajax must win and Seri is coming
Good luck Kieran (wipes tear from eye)…
I feel that the club has been a bit disrespectful to Gibbs in making him train alone, playing him in a reserves game, & basically putting him in the same boat as Debouchy. It’s similar to the way Mourinho treated Bastian Schweinsteiger when he was on the outs at ManU because he was out of shape. Gibbs has been a solid professional & a servant to our club. While I agree that it’s time for him to go, & I’m fine with playing others instead of him in the friendlies, at least let him maintain appearances by letting him train… Read more »
Couldn’t agree more. We are continuously fed this hogwash that we have “class” and “class” is eternal. Look at how we treat Gibbs, a great servant of the club who never complained about anything. He always came in and did a job for us and now that we decide we don’t need him we essentially freeze him out of the squad? While a completely different situation, I don’t think we were great to Perez either, especially with the jersey situation. Meanwhile we have all the time in the world for a guy that phones in sick with a frowny face… Read more »
Dropping Gibbo in the off season is not disrespectful to him, provided we properly explained the situation to him (ie that we’re planning to sell him and he should look for other clubs) at the end of last season.
I don’t see any reason we should keep him training/playing with the first team in the off season, and disrupting our prep for the team we will actually use next season, just to keep up appearances.
The question is, did any of that actually happen? Did Wenger pull him in and have the chat? We will never know to be honest. But I don’t think it’s a great way to treat a player that has been so loyal to the club. What happens if you don’t find a suitor for Gibbs? (which based off our past and present transfer activity is not a long shot) Also, you made mention of our pre-season prep and how having him in our first team would disrupt that. I would counter with this, we haven’t been fully ready for a… Read more »
To be honest I’m glad we’re finally being somewhat ruthless. We need to be shipping out guys like Gibbs and Jenkinson. No point in having them train with the squad if they’re not in our plans – and if it helps them realise that, then all the better. And “great servant” – really?
Agreed that all the talk about “class” is BS.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t sell our players to make room for better quality. If anything we should have tried to do this ages ago. But I think there is a way to treat people and a way not to treat people. If this was your job that you’d been at for years and you had done your best, rode through the bumps and then one day your boss said you are surplus and you need to find new digs and then changed your job completely to really give you the hint to leave you’d be running to the labour… Read more »
Maybe if they know that he will end up in the PL.. they don’t want him to see any new tactical changes that might be being implemented during training sessions which could give him a slight advantage at some point in the future
Gotta keep chambers. . Don’t make mistake of getting rid like keown years ago then buying him back
If indeed we turned down a 9m or 10m bid by Westbrom, does anyone see Watford matching that?
And that is how we show “class” to the “loyal servant”, lol paid professional more like it. We sell him local at a cut-rate fee to show Gibbs the appreciation for being a true professional.
As long as it’s not a ridiculous cut rate I’m ok with that. He’s been a loyal Gunner for a long time, and he hasn’t pissed and moaned about a single thing publicly. It IS classy.
Non-trolls typically would turn down a move to play for pulls.
First off, the move to West Brom was ended by Gibbs because he doesn’t want to accept less than the ~75K a week on his contract, not because Arsenal wouldn’t take the offer. Secondly, he’s training alone to help him see that a move, even at a reduced weekly wage, would be in his long term best interests.
He’s got a contract and the right to see that out. But aside from that, why would a fullback like Gibbs even consider signing with Pulis? He’s not 6′-13″, his knuckles don’t drag on the pitch, and he can’t throw the ball 50m. He’d never play! If he’s going to sit the bench, I’d do it at Arsenal too.
I think you are wrong. I’m sure he makes like 100K a week.
People as usual tend to over react.
Turn down West Brom and its the end of the world, we need a director of football so we can sell players etc.
We’re not even end of window.
How do you know there aren’t any better offers out there? Watford is a decent switch for Gibbs just across town.