Arsene Wenger refused to be drawn with regards the ongoing pursuit of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, insisting anything he said would not be helpful to the situation.
Arsenal have had a delegation in Germany since the weekend trying to secure a deal for the Borussia Dortmund striker, but as yet no agreement has been found with the Bundesliga side reportedly rejecting two bids they have deemed unacceptable.
Speaking after the 2-1 win over Chelsea which saw the Gunners through the Caraboa Cup final, Wenger was asked about Aubameyang and said, “The best is I don’t talk about that because it wouldn’t help.
“If something happens it happens. If it doesn’t we are strong enough to focus on the players we have and to focus on the job with the players we have.
“I’m perfectly happy with the players I have, we got Mkhitaryan in. We have a strong squad.”
It seems like very public posturing at this point. Arsenal know Aubameyang wants to leave Dortmund and sign, while the German side will want to get the maximum to help them replace him.
It seems as if Olivier Giroud could still play an integral role with a proposed loan there for the rest of the season still on the cards.
Arsenal don’t play again until next Tuesday night, and the transfer window closes on Wednesday evening at 11pm, so there’s still time to get this done.
“The best is I don’t talk about Aubameyang as he is not our player.
Pierre-Emerick Emiliano François Aubameyang, who was born on 18th June 1989 to a Gabonese father and french mother. He’s not our player. I don’t want to talk to much about his golf handicap – which is 8 – or how he excelled at maths and history in school. Stop asking me about this enigmatic Gemini, with his erratic hairstyles and effortless stride…”
😀 😀
Welcome to Arsenal aubamayeng.
Our reluctance to play through balls will be telling but hoping mk7 adds that zip.
Iwobi seems the player to loose his position but we’ll miss his physicality and bullying of players on 50-50s. Plenty of games.
What is this feeling? It’s like I’m looking at the future and it isn’t made out of corrugated shite. Weird. Last time I felt like this some Chilean dude had just arrived.
Can MK7 (MOOORTAL KOOMBAT!) be Version 2.0 (sans injuries) of the Little Mozart – TR7? Asking because I only vaguely remember Mkhitaryan’s awesomeness from his Dortmund days.
I’d rather we loaned out Lacazette and kept Giroud. Lacazette was supposed to give us a different option, but he’s not quick and he doesn’t have great movement, so he does pretty much what Giroud does but without offering anywhere near the same threat. I think he’s a neat and tidy player who bang in a few goals, but physically he’s not built to lead the line. We’ve spent £50mill on a player who’s not as good as the one we had. I said this last summer and got nothing but abuse, so I’m not expecting much else this time.… Read more »
Not one to pay attention to media bullshit but these stories about us being unwilling to meet their £55m valuation and sticking on our £52.5m bid scare me.. Would be very typical arsenal.
I read they want €70m and we’ve offered €58m… but then, who the fuck knows? Can we just make it happen please.
BBC (generally the most reliable) says we’ve offered 43.something million pounds, and they won’t go lower than 50m. It would be RIDICULOUS for a club our size to lose out on him for that little change.
It’s happened before though. Xabi Alonso anyone?
£7m is a lot of money though right. its not about relativity, its £7m actual absolute cash money. This isn’t championship manager. Its the difference between profit and loss for a business and therefore its huge and its the difference for whether the money men keep their jobs.
Personally I think we should just go and get him but then I’m not responsible for the money.
Honestly, if this deal goes through, and we can get Johnny Evans in as well, this will be one of the best transfer windows we’ve had in recent years.
I’m trying really hard not to get too excited though, as we have a bit of a habit of messing up these big money deals.
It would be best in 20 years.
The transfer window didn’t exist 20 years ago!
Your comment is a good one if you remove the words “and we can get Johnny Evans in as well”
Johnny Evans ? Do you actually watch football or are you just desperate for new signings regardless of quality. Johnny Evans lmao wow
I do watch football actually, and there’s a reason Man City are also in for Evans. He’s not a world beater by any means, but he’s a good centre back who has played a lot of games in the Premier League. With our defensive issues, we surely need some reinforcements in that area.
The main reason we need defensive reinforcements is our best defenders are all 30+. Evans is just as old. We don’t need him.
Aubameyang will be a great signing. I will be sad if HFB goes the other way. Let’s hope it’s a loan deal and HFB is back next season. The fact that Aubameyang can’t play in the Europa while HFB can should be considered before we make a move because I think losing HFB can be disastrous from a Europa League point of view. We will need more than Aubameyang if HFB is going there.
Are you sure Aubameyang is cup-tied? Dortmund have not played in the Europa League yet. Has he been included in their Europa squad list–and is that enough to bar him?
Dortmund entered the Europa league in December and that’s enough to make him cup-tied.
He isn’t cup tied until he actually plays a game in the Europa Cup, and their first game will be 15th Feb.
Wrong. There’s a special rule for third-place CL teams that drop to the EL. It’s stupid but it’s true, Aubameyang is cup-tied for the EL.
@A Different George ForeignGooner is right. I’m guessing the rule is there to probably discourage clubs from buying players from their direct rivals and thereby influencing the competition. In this case Dortmund are already in Europa league now but you may have a point their about his inclusion in the Europa league squad list. The general rule says he is cup-tied but i don’t know if we can fight to include him. From a tactical POV if we get him i think Arsene will probably rest Laca in the league games and rotate him with Auba. We need to be… Read more »
What would the purpose be if we loaned him now rather then sell him? He will have the same problem in the summer with worse options for us as a club and himself. Unless we go to a pure 2 striker formation then there is no room for Giroud.
Arsenal legend but time to move on if it gives us a chance with Auba.
So…
Laca
Auba — Ozil — Miki
Xhaka — Ramsey
Nacho – Kos – Mustafi – Bellerin
Or what?
There’s got to be a place for Wilshere in there somewhere.
I think Jacky Boy is undroppable at the moment..
You missed out the Captain
With the players we got and are after, no formation, who plays where isn’t obvious. E.g. in that formation to buy the best striker in the Bundesliga and sticking him on the left doesn’t seem right, not only for taking away his goal scoring powers but also asking him to defend the wing.
Maybe Wenger will invent a new formation to fit the squad, maybe he has already and looking for players to implement 😉
Laca on the wing is a waste too, but if you play two strikers upfront you have to ship both Ozil and Miki on the wings. No good.
sure, but only nominally “on the wings”. better description: Ozil and Mkhi attack “from” the wings. they’re both very good on the wings, we just don’t want them to be stuck there. so we give them maximum freedom to float around and find space, just as Ozil does now (much of the time the dangerous space is on the wings anyway).
This is a better solution than sticking either Auba or Laca on a wing. Let them play as a partnership (they’re both mobile enough to shift wide when the situation demands, of course).
Contrary to nearly everyone else I think Xhaka should retain a spot as well. Think Ramsey be Wilshere have to tussle it out but I also see a spot for Ramsey in one of the more advanced positions.
laca auba
ozil
wilshere ramsey
elnenny
Nacho Kos Mustafi Bellerin
defensive nightmare though
How about instead..
Monreal
Nacho-Ozil-Nacho
Monreal-Monreal
Nacho-Nacho-Nacho-Nacho
excellent from a mile
Yeah, I think with that line-up we would need just ten players on the pitch.
Auba doesn’t help us. We need defensive help, and who from our current team do you drop – or worse play out of position?
Auba laca
Ozil
Miki- jack
Elneny
Nacho- kos- mustafi- bell
Į saw a tam that had a purpose against chelski, if Pierre add to it – maybe it come.. But Į see wonderfull things ahead in The future. Arsenal 4 life
Just make it happen. Quit posturing and looking silly over a few million quid.
Was never confident about this deal, this is Arsenal afterall.
We’ve lost the Ox and didn’t replace him
We’ve lost Theo and haven’t replaced him
We’ve swapped Mkhitaryan for Alexis
And Aubameyang for Giroud?
I’m not mathetician…. but surely we could do with another forward?
His Spider-Man mask will blend very well with our jersey.
So does Batman’s for our away trips to Stoke City.
Riyad Mahrez spotted at Emirates….Means nothing but i think we could use a left footed wide player
Don’t let Santori know lol
I’d rather get a top class defender, given we have Mhiki coming in now.
We need more variety in the squad in terms of height and strength so I’d like a Matic style enforcer too.
Only reasonable way to add both Laca and Auba is with a 3-4-1-2:
Alexandre Lacazette – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
———————- MÖ —————————–
Kolasinac – Xhaka – Ramsey/Wilshere – Bellerin
——- Monreal – Koscielny – Mustafi —————-
———————- Cech —————————
Dortmund wants us to up the bid higher than 50m so we offer 50.9m. Its an improvement from before, Wenger would have pegged on 1 quid only over the 50m mark.
And looks like we are trying to keep Giroud which would be very wise.
Even from as far away as Africa i can see the deal collapse in front of our fine faces once again.Auba is a great immidiate proven goal machine and his partnership with nimble footed Laca should send some chills into some big teams spine.The problem is at Arsenal we look at ourselves as the shadow of other big teams and that needs to be corrected.Mr Wenger the world as evolved so has football.In life there is time for everything,a time to spend and a time to store,i feel its about time we celebrate something bigger than the odd cups and… Read more »
All the poeple woofing about how to possibly fit all these players into an 11 need to chill out. We are in 4 competitions every year. Players get injured. We need people to compete for places, and we need to be able to rotate and adapt to our opposition. Please stop worrying about how to fit them all in and how to make them happy. Focus on making the Arsenal a better squad. Remember when we had Henry, God, Kanu, Wiltord?
Worrying was autocorrected to woofing, but I kind of like it.
Exactly, stop woofing and chill out.
Wenger said it best this week-
” In football teams, there is a number that pushes you, a number that makes you asleep, and a number that paralyses you.”
“So you have to find the right number in each squad to give fair competition, but as well not be too much in administration, and not to have no chance at all, no matter what happens, to play.”
Wenger 2018.
I think its all there. But if its Wenger that still has the final say, my money is on that we don’t go for him. And while this has really frustrated me in the past, I’m not sure this time it will.
However, if we want to keep Ozil (and the many players yet to sign behind him), we need a signal of intent. If its Aubameyang or nothing, then Aubameyang.
Higuain all over again
I need you, I want you, oh baby, oh baby. but I can’t talk about you; … yet!
I just want him to say that my Oliie stays!
Just sign him up,,,he could be the only replacement for Sanches,,,if Arsenal board will be stingy,,it will be very tough for us and qualification for top 4 would be in jeoapardy,,,,Mkhityrian is not a replacement for Sanches,nor proven goal scorer.
after all we sold Walcott,Coqlene, Chamberlain ,hopefully there is enough monies to pay for such kind of players,,,,wake up Arsenal board
It’s worrying hearing him say this because you know he means it. He believes we have the best squad every season before he scratches his head or blames luck/officials or too many games coming all at once. If we really want and need Auba just put some targets attached to the extra money difference.
just get it done
looks like arsenal have fucked it up again , trying to sign aubameyang , another one slips through wengers hands
I have seen a bit of Felipe Anderson from Lazio recently. Quite impressed. I think he should be on our radar
Arsenal should cut their ticket prices if this fall off due to the money. I don’t know BVB real valuation for Aubameyang but i heard it’s 60M€ plus Giroud on loan, i think it’s a good valuation knowing we just loan out Giroud till the end of the season and could try have him back if our duo didn’t workout.
amidst the concern and gossip for whether the aubameyang deal will go through, i choose to ignore any journalists clever enough to get in some cases, well paid, for spreading “In the know information” who nevertheless fail to know the difference between euros and pounds. As in “Arsenal have offered £44 m but Dortmund are holding out for £60m, (daily mirror), and many others, which make the figures seem miles apart when in fact they are quite close, if indeed we are to believe there is anyone who knows the true current state of negotiations. All part of the unseemly… Read more »
Seems increasingly likely that this transfer is not going to happen – Arsenal are apparently unwilling to meet (or even approach) Dortmund’s price.
Why are nobody writing about Steven N’Zonzi? According to the bookmakers, he is more likely to join Arsenal than both Boomerang and Evens. And bookmakers are never wrong.
Brace yourself, he is not comming….