Arsenal are reportedly targetting Domagoj Vida after sanctioning a season long loan move to Fulham for Calum Chambers.
The Croatian international impressed at the World Cup, but it would mean the club splashing out somewhere in the region of €25m for a 29 year old.
Having already spent £16.5m bringing in Sokratis Papastathopoulos from Borussia Dortmund, it would be another relatively substantial outlay on a player who would likely have minimal sell-on value.
The Chambers situation is a strange one as he’s a young player with the potential to improve, and he just signed a new deal at the start of July.
At the time Unai Emery said, “I’m delighted Calum has extended his stay with us. He played an important role last season and will be part of my plans this season.”
Quite what has changed in the meantime is unclear, but the Evening Standard report that Arsenal will have to raise funds in order to buy Vida, and as yet have had little success in trimming the squad.
Although Lucas Perez is being linked with West Ham and Sporting Lisbon, he has expressed a desire to stay. Joel Campbell, David Ospina, Carl Jenkinson and Cohen Bramall are all surplus to requirements but as yet no deals have been done.
The Chambers move only makes sense if there’s someone else coming in, and to decide this close to the start of the new season that we urgently need another centre-half doesn’t augur well.
We discuss this and lots more in today’s new Arsecast Extra. Check it out below.
Strange one
The only way Chambers going makes sense is if he wants first team football. We’ve heard him be quite vocal in the past about wanting to play more regularly. Surely he was a shoe in when the Sokratis/Mustafi pairing inevitably failed? If we can spend £20m+ on a CB this late in the window then we’ve played this window all wrong. We could have spent £40m on a better CB, not signed Sokratis (for our dortmund quota?), had one extra set of wages and we’d have a better quality defence. In trying to save money we’ve just ended up wasting… Read more »
Sokratis and Vida are easily a lot better than Silvestre and Squillaci. Bad comparison.
Vida, maybe. but Socrates? very unimpressive.
Squillaci had a better start if I recall right.
Missed his point.
His point is at that time, those guys weren’t good enough to be first choice CB, and it’s the same for the current lot.
We should have spent 45m on Boatend who is available at Bayern.
We have a mickey mouse buying team with Mslintat.
Sokratis is largely his call again pandering to Dortmund rather than what we really need.
Likely emery fresh in wisely did not want to rock the boat but he may now be pulling weight.
I’ve said it before our buying has not gotten better with new regime. There is a lack of strategic thought and a seeming leaning towards all things ex Dortmund.
Wow, sweeping generalisations much?
You should work for a red top.
Has anyone actually seen Mina play for Barca? I’ve read (here, I think) that he is nowhere near as good as he looked for Colombia. He certainly never plays in Barca’s big matches, which are the only ones I ever see; he is behind Thomas Vermaelen as a third-choice centre half.
Yes Vida and Sokratis are stop gaps, experience, which would make sense to give our younger cbs just another year or two to grow in confidence and competence. Young center backs are the Bain of a clubs existance.
I seem to remember Vida being an absolute beast at the WC
He had his moments, but overall not the solid and consistent CB we need. And if you re-watch the final, you’ll see wasn’t a flattering display from the bowl cut micro-pony-tailed stray Viking.
Agree with this, I think however Papa turns out it has to be on Sven. Can’t right him off yet but the signs aren’t good. I really wish we’d gone all out for someone like Koulibaly at the start of the window. Vida is underwhelming. The only thing I can think that makes any sense is that we are willing to play the long game with Chambers and that the club believe a solid year’s experience with Fulham will make him Arsenal ready next season. Therefore we are buying older, ready now CB’s knowing we won’t need them for long.… Read more »
Not sure about Vida at all, but the Kolasinac injury may have prompted a need for someone who can cover at LB as well. It might be the club felt that they could cover a shaky CB situation while they were at it by dipping back into the transfer market.
Perhaps Badstuber would be worth a look given he’s capable of CB and LB, has height and composure and could be a good presence alongside one of the more ‘wrecking ball’ types in Sokratis/Mustafi? Shame Vermaelen is so injury prone, he’d fit in well if we brought him back in this instance. Just a thought.
I don’t think LB issues feature. Vida chiefly covers Rback but he is a Cback first and foremost.
At Lback our injury issues hopefully are short term with Kolasinac/Monreal. AMN is decent cover already.
AMN is more than capable. I’d even put him ahead of Koalasnatch. It may be that he has to refocus himself as a fullback for the time being. The CM spots look well covered and he’ll find limited minutes there unless he can usurp Xhaka.
Not certain I agree with your comment.
But have a rec for “Koalasnatch”.
Ha!…well done.
Ah that old Arsenal panic station for the end of the window isn’t quite as easy to get rid of, even with Arsene gone.
Seems it’s in our DNA.
My only guess is that Emery had a look at Sokratis and has figured he’s not a compatible fit with Mustafi starting, which is my hope.
Counter to that is that I would’ve thought Chambers would be the one likely to be the “Sweeper CB” to be paired with Sokratis.
I really believe that Emery has no control of transfers which is deeply worrying
I think that’s just a bit of panic and paranoia talking. What’s clear is that we tried to be proactive and purchase some players before the new manager had been selected and embedded. But the manager has come in, had a look and decided what he wants/doesn’t want. One could argue we should’ve waited before he arrived, but I guess they figured this weird window needed us to act quick. The jury is still out on our purchases, but I think by far Sokratis is the player we’re all concerned about. Not only was the feedback not good, but his… Read more »
Curious how so many are already writing off Sokratis even before the season starts.
Yes, I get that his reputation has suffered in the past couple of seasons and yes, Mustafi has given us enough nightmares to worry that Sokratis might follow suit…
But can we as fans at least try to get behind Emery and the defense (whoever gets selected) and give them a chance and not hit the panic button from the get go?
You’re spot on, he doesn’t. Then again, he is not Arsenal’s manager, he is the head coach. He, more or less, has to succeed with the players the management team consign.
This is why Unai was a better pick than Arteta or any ex player. They simply had no clue how to operate the system having never truly managed. Emery avoided confrontation when coming in. BUT unfortunately our friend Mslintat was buying willy nilly without even waiting for the new manager’s input. Sure we did business early but most of the players he brought in (save Torreira) were easy pickings. Dick Law/Wenger may be criticised for their transfers but they have brought in the likes of Koscielny, Santi Carzola, Alexis Sanchez, Lucas Podolski, Mesut Ozil. Not all of those were last… Read more »
More likely it’s the market that dictates when we can buy players as it has always been, nothing to do with Arsene or Arsenal.
Clubs hold out for more value, until then very end, when time runs out. That’s why so many deals go over the deadline!
Are you telling me the market is the one who decided we should go into the 15/16 season with only one signing (Cech) , and consequently lose the easiest EPL title in recent memory?
No he’s telling you that certain players come available late on which is why most clubs wait till tail end to do the real business.
You are confusing yourself with decision making over market dynamics.
Which other teams also lost the easiest EPL title?
Every other one but Leicester City…?
Not such a tricky “trick question” that.
Spot on.
We are not first to feast.
BUT we could have done Cback business better IMO had Mslintat waited a bit.
In fairness we knew we had to have a clear out of a bloated squad and it’s only know emery has had anytime to actually decide. The welbeck decision for example may be as much about Nketia and our formation as it us about Welbz himself. Also we’ve done the majority of our business early and if anyone else comes in perhaps its a bit of end of window opportunism. Emery always left the door open to it.
I’m determined to stay positive before we even kick a ball. (Although it’s hard breaking a habit!)
This doesn’t make sense to me. I think the club is making a big mistake. Chambers is one of those who I suspected would really make the breakthrough for us this season. It’s writing from a defensive point of view because both mustafi and Papa had very poor seasons last year for both Arsenal and Dortmund. I can see us struggling at the back again this year.
*worrying
Yep, none of our experienced CBs are inspiring to say the least, and Vida is hardly an upgrade… well at least Kos should be back at Xmas.
Clearly Emery is not satisfied with any of the combinations he sees at Cback.
I dunno if we will pull in another Cback at this stage though.
I think United are in demand for a Cback and they are rumoured (operative word) to be looking into a swap deal with Bayern sending Martial their way for Boateng.
If the other big fish have sufficient on Cback (Bonnucci swapped with Higuain for Juve), then we may have a clear path for what;s left on market.
If man utd really is ready to let go off Lindelöf, we should capitalize on it. He had a rocky first season, but ended with a great WC. Think they’d be stupid to sell him.
off topic.. i fucking miss wenger.. anyone knows what he is doing? is he taking the year off?
damn i miss wenger tho 🙁
Last I heard of Wenger, he was being linked to the Japan national team.
But yes, damn I miss him too.
(Before the Wenger haters start to crawl all over me, I mean I miss him as a presence. I’m in full support of the current team and and the current management.)
I am too, but we shouldnt have to explain ourselves. people will always disagree. I miss seeing him, it had become a nice habit. He was such an awesome person. I think he would enjoy coaching Japan, good for him..
You are right. I just miss seeing him and listening to him. It was one constant in my life for the better part of a decade (since I started following club football). 🙂
The Japan job would be quite perfect for him I think. He was always in praise of that country, and their current team has so much heart (maybe not so much height, as Belgium realized late in their World Cup game, and defeated them with high balls! :\).
Unfortunately Deschamp went on to win it with France but I feel should Didier want to leave on a high and not pursue the European Cup as well, Wenger is a great candidate for the National job.
Its one of the best crop of young French players and Wenger has always done best with maximum talent at his disposal to play his non interventionist style.
Mina please
Anyone who saw Mina in the WC had to be impressed.
Mina’s a towering CB aged 23. He’s got 10 good years ahead of him. Exactly what we need. Thumb me down for keeping Chambers who is crafty on the ball, but a slow, mediocre defender who gets burned by average opposition.
Not sure on Mina, I’ve only seen him in the WC but Barca fans seem to be more than happy to get rid of him. Apparently not as good as he’s been made out to be post-WC, not to mention he’s fourth choice CB at Barca behind Vermaelen.
I don’t understand this one (Chambers loan) or the Vida signing if I’m quite honest…
Mustafi better step up this year or I think we’re going to have some issues at the back.
Best of luck Chambers, hopefully you play every week and come back a better player.
The sad thing is most people are critical of Mustafi but he is actually our strongest Cback.
Certainly stronger than Chambers although we will never know if Chambers could have delivered this season.
Certainly makes less mistakes than Holding.
Even Koscielny last season made a number of critical gaffes.
BUT it merely serves to illustrate the issues we have at Cback
This is the first time I have doubted our new manager. Even if we get Vida. CB is a tricky position, it takes time to work well. Chambers was just getting to the required level and he is off?
#emeryOUT ? ?
Getting the plane ready as we speak. Thanks for the memories Unai but it’s time to go.
Well, as it’s the board who decide who controls the transfers now, I think we’re having to go full on……
#ArsenalOUT
Its not the manager
He came in after Mslintat had bought from his ex club again.
#emeryOUT ? ?
The hyper optimism from Arsenal fans always had me concerned that Emery’s honeymoon isn’t going to be that long.
The dude needs a season not just to embed his ideas, but to truly know the players. He might think Ozil can be coached into increased defensive ability, or Ramsey can be coached into being more tactically astute and less desire to get into the box, etc.
He may be right, or he may need a season to realise none of these things are possible.
Letting someone as handsome as Calum go for Vida is criminal. If we let Ramsey go, our most-handsome-team trophy is in danger.
I’d rather have an ugly team that make bone crunching tackles any day. The handsome ones cant seem to get it done on the field. The ugly ones aren’t out getting laid in the clubs all night so they’re in bed early pissed off about their lot in life and they bring it to the pitch on game day.
Absolute nonsense.
Adams, bould, winterburn, dixon, keown? I’ll take this ugly group of mugs over your pretty boys any day of the week.
Yeah. But, were they ugly tho?
I think not.
I think Adams is good looking.
Bring Arnautivic then!
And Charlie Adam while you’re at it. Might as well go for the “Ugliest Starting Eleven Ever” trophy.
Shittiest starting eleven
Hang on there!! Are you insane? Arsenal always do things the right way, with class. Pretty players are far more classy than ugly shites like they have in all the other London (and Middlesex) teams.
#uglyOUT
Chelsea, with Morata and Giroud vying for minutes, have definitely moved up from the Diego Costa days.
Not in the win column. Costa is a beast and one ugly cunt to boot.
Swapdeal with Ospina…
I know there will be a lot of people telling me sports and politics are 2 different things but I don’t want any of the Croatian players who decided they want to celebrate their World Cup run with a Nazi like Thompson anywhere near my team. Vida was also the one showing the „Slawa Ukraini“ salute, which is more or less the creation version of “Hail Hitler”. Even if he’d be a world beater I wouldn’t want him but he’s not even top quality as well so why bring in such a monstrous cunt? Would be the worst transfer since… Read more »
Since you brought this up, we also got Benayoun, remember? Who’s a Zionist. 🙁
And we obviously have some fans well equipped with antisemitism. Zionism just means you’re in favor of a Jewish state. Considering the Jewish history and the fact that they haven’t been safe on this planet for centuries, I strongly support this wish. Hardly comparable to Nazis.
Zionism in contemporary world politics also has further implications of Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
I was merely trying to complicate what you said- in fact I agree with your first statement. And I was adding information to it by saying that we got Benayoun once too, whose politics is also suspect. It would be quite myopic to see the implications of a Nazi salute, but be innocent of possible oppression elsewhere. We can either choose to just see football as something existing outside everything-culture, politics, etc, or we can see it as part of the outside world. If we do the latter, then there’s no point being half-baked about it. That’s all I am… Read more »
If I speak about nazis and the first thing that comes to your mind is that fact that we had a Jew in our squad who’s in favor of his home state, you have a problem with antisemitism, dude. And saying that everybody who’s in favor of a Jewish state is also in favor of occupation or act as if radical islamists aren’t responsible for these occupations too in any way, is also antisemitism. Read the hamas Charta and what it says about a 2 State solution or that it should be every Muslims obligation to fight the jihad against… Read more »
These millionaire footballers and their whacky ideas, eh?
I disagree with you there. What I meant by that comment was not to disregard the fact that Vida could be a Nazi sympathizer, but to underline that football, like other sports, or other big industries, always has this other side, where it is able to pool in people from diverse socio-political backgrounds, and in spite of their contradicting ideologies. Now one may argue for such a thing, where it exposes people to a global cultural milieu where individuals learn from each other and grow, but it may also be guilty of being too apolitical sometimes. In conjunction with your… Read more »
I actually don’t know much about Benayoun’s political views. Clearly he is an Israeli, which is not exactly the same thing.
A different George actually it is. Zionist are, as I said before, in favor of the state Israel. The Hamas and all the other “freedom fighters” don’t want the state of Israel anywhere near this area. So you can of course criticize Israel’s policy but as soon as you question the legitimacy of Israel it’s antisemitism, or antizionism as they call it now. So calling benayoun a Zionist just means he wants his state to exist. Also as I said before, the fact that there are comments about Jews in every post about Nazis, even here the first comment, shows… Read more »
I never said it was the same thing!
*Since you brought this up, we also got Benayoun, remember? Who’s a Zionist.*
Sounds for me as if you’re comparing these things. Since you brought THIS up. In that case THIS was sympathy for Nazis. You then mention Zionism, as if it’s a similar thing.
“Would be the worst transfer since I’m following Arsenal”. I was responding to this. You said this transfer would be bad because of the player’s political leanings (and I agree), and I was merely adding that this won’t be the first time if it did happen. I mention Zionism in the context of the Israel-Palestine conflict. After a point, one cannot talk about the one without complicating it with the other, in the same way as, for example, we cannot simply say that America is a democracy and leave out the part where it systemically oppresses people of colour, or… Read more »
Anyway, so far you’ve failed to really get the finer point I’m trying to make here, so I’ll stop trying now. Just can’t stand people any longer harping on about the Holocaust. No one disagrees that it was shit. No one in there right mind today would disagree with that. But the moment you say: “This is also happening, and RIGHT NOW, in front of our eyes, and people are dying, being bombed, etc”, and you’ll get a “Oh but the Holocaust happened”. Yes that happened, and slavery was legal, and women did not have the right to vote. I’m… Read more »
I’ve met bigoted people in my country who find it difficult to believe that the Indian state is occupying Kashmir, which is the most militarized zone in the world. These same people will remember very well that India was once a British colony, and in one of the many massacres that the British have perpetrated over colonized land, one of them includes Churchill siphoning off food from Bengal during WWII, which caused a famine that killed nearly 3 million people. I’d say that is as bad as the holocaust or any other man made massacre. And these same people are… Read more »
You’re mixing up things here. We haven’t talked about the Israel – Palestine conflit but about someone who’s sympathising with Nazis. Now. Not way back then. And I said, I don’t want someone like that at Arsenal. The you came up with this zionist stuff that has nothing to do with my actual point, unless you think zionism is similar to natianalsocialism, which is of course antisemitic. Now you’re trying to act as if someone has mentioned the holocaust, when you were speaking about the oppressed people of Palestine. But it was completely the other way around. And as I… Read more »
It would seem like you have intentionally ignored half the lines I’ve written. Anyway, its cool man. I’ve dragged this long enough. Sorry.
Berlingoon, I think the guy has made it as clear as he can it wasn’t his intention. Can you just accept that? If you read something into that’s ok, but I or someone else might have interpreted something completely different. We are all different and his comment isn’t any sort of smoking gun. His explanation seems pretty feasible don’t you think? The reaction often says more about the person who receives the message than the message itself. We aren’t going to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Arseblog or which ethic cleansing is worse so let it go
Berlingoon, it’s also widely accepted the explicitly Jewish character of the Israeli state means that Jews have privileges that others don’t. For instance, any Jew anywhere in the world can become an Israeli citizen, a right not extended to any other class of person. Arabs, then, often see Zionism as a species of colonialism and racism aimed at appropriating Palestinian land and systematically disenfranchising the Palestinians that remain. Arab states actually pushed through a UN General Assembly resolution labeling Zionism “a form of racism and racial discrimination” in 1975. Israeli is fundamentally an ethnic national state.
I get the nuances and background to the situation and I’m not naive or bold enough to lecture on the subject nor am i going to trll you your opinion is wrong but remember its just an opinion.
I don’t know about any of that. From what I have heard.. Vida is a rat and should not be encouraged anywhere near the club.
Vida has simply expressed the same opinion as an overwhelming majority of the world’s governments, namely that the Russian annexation of Crimea is illegal (look up UN resolution 68/262).
Not true:
Vida nearly missed the semifinal when a pair of videos surfaced of him in the locker room after Croatia’s quarterfinal win against Russia. In those videos, he could be heard saying both “Belgrade burn” and “Glory to Ukraine,”' (from an article inSlate’ before the World Cup final.Whatever you think of `Glory to Ukraine’ (now associated with extreme-right paramilitaries fighting pro-Russian separatists), there can be no ambiguity about a desire to burn Belgrade.
The problem is the Thompson shit, which goes from the entire Croatian team. Vidas comments were not clever but hardly malicious or nazi.
Let’s go tavern, drinks on me when I come! Glory to Ukraine! Belgrade, light up! Let’s go!
Turns to Olić:
Bro, wave and say hi to the tavern “Belgrade” in Kiev. That’s where we were burning… (as in that’s where we partied)
Sings a song saying: “The tavern is my destiny…”
Greetings everyone, let’s gooo!!!
Drinks beer
Jovan, bro, kiss everyone! Ciao, kisses, bye! (Jovan is his Serbian friend and the owner of the pub “Belgrade”
Haven’t Besiktas been trying to flog Vida from the day they signed him on a free? Sounds like either his agent to the club trying to drive his price up.
Can’t believe we’s spend €25m on a 29 year old centre back who’s been liked with just about every Premier League club over the summer (unless his agent is one of Sven’s mates…)
“to decide this close to the start of the new season that we urgently need another centre-half doesn’t augur well”
Actually, the Arsenal defense being pretty-much their usual self in the pre-season games did not augur well. Its at least good that the club at some level is acknowledging that. Vida, going purely by his World Cup performances, would be good on the short term. On the long term, I hope in another year or so Emery will be able to iron out some of our defensive shortcomings.
Could anyone tell emery that their is no trophy for the oldest team in the premier league?
…unless they come 4th.
Tell it to Mslintat. Most of these buys were made before Emery got confirmed.
I think we can afford to let one CB go. As regards numbers we have 4 senior CBs available now plus KM and in a few months hopefully koscielny. That is quite a lot (quality being a separate matter). To me it would just make sense to give holding the loan move a bit like Chambers did at M’boro. I see Chambers as better equipped to help the first team than Holding at present.
This is just pure stupid and I don’t want to Vida anywhere near this club.
To be honest I don’t think we’re good enough at CB
I would be very surprised if Arsenal are stupid enough to buy a player with inflated price due to successful World Cup.
We have been wise and closed the deal on Torreira before he took place in the WC, and I think that if we really needed that Domagoj guy, we’d have approached him earlier.
Holy shit the Daily Mail was right
First time for everything I suppose
Even a broken clock. Except the Daily Mail is never right. Not even when it’s right.
An all Greek CB duo upcoming? 😉
Need a first choice LCB so loaning out the third choice RCB
The more things change the more they stay the same
When is he turning 30.
At the same time that he stops being 29.
Surely there is a way he can be both at the same time
Well yes, when he’s 59. Simple maths says we just need to wait for him and he’ll become twice the player he is now.
Isn’t that called middle age spread?
Bad news. Papa look like a has been. Mustafi we all know his limitations. One or two games good and the next one awful preferably against top teams.I thought Emery would be bold and give the youngsters Holding and Chambers and Mavra their chance. This is a transitional season anyway so by playing them and with the right guidance and midfield protection we were up for a very good trio for the coming decade! Instead Chambers is going on loan, Holding will be a squad player and we are going to end up with Papa, Mustafi and Vida a world… Read more »
If you play too many up-and-comers there’s always a chance they’ll experience a thing called relegation. Boys vs Men might work once or twice if you’re lucky, but never 38 times a season.
A weak link of Croatia’s WC finalist side. WTF are we doing. Everton going after Lascelles.
Lame.
Does Lascelles cost a lot? We don’t have a bottomless wallet.
Couldn’t cost more than 30 I reckon… though the word is that Newcastle aren’t even keen to sell him. Would be a nice way to improve to our CB problem.
I’ve said it before, Mslintat buying regime is the weak link.
He does not take strategic implications into consideration (Selling Giroud to bring Auba in early) but he should have also waited for Emery to come in first before making the critical decision for the Cback.
Instead of dicking around now, we could have made a bid for Boateng early before United came into the picture. Sure he cost 45m and is also 29yrs but the German is quicker than the Greek and had more height.
“I’VE SAID IT BEFORE” YEAH YOU SURE HAVE, SANTORI: LIST OF TIMES IN THIS COMMENT THREAD IN WHICH SANTORI HAS SLAGGED OFF MSLINTAT “We have a mickey mouse buying team with Mslintat.” ~ santori “BUT unfortunately our friend Mslintat was buying willy nilly without even waiting for the new manager’s input.” ~ santori “BUT we could have done Cback business better IMO had Mslintat waited a bit.” ~ santori “Its not the manager. He came in after Mslintat had bought from his ex club again.” ~ santori “Tell it to Mslintat. Most of these buys were made before Emery got… Read more »
Apparently Newcastle want £50m for Lascelles while Leicester are rejecting £65m bigs for Maguire. I’m not in favour of signing Vida but burning that kind of cash on English centre halves, from mid table clubs, isn’t going to solve our defensive issues.
50? Someone up there is smokin banana peels.
That’s an “I don’t want to sell and you’re desperate” number.
Transfermarkt had him at 15 back in May:
https://www.transfermarkt.com/jamaal-lascelles/profil/spieler/183318
Christ it gets worse. Surely a player winding up at Besiktas at 29 for £5 million is a better gauge of their ability than one good world cup?
He’s also a total scumbag, and not in a good way at all. Just a moronic, possibly fascist, shithead
I’d be surprised if we signed him.
BUT we did not exactly buy right first time round is the problem.
Still we may also end up with just 4 options of Mustafi-Sokratis-Holding-Mavro considering Koscielny may feature second half of season.
All in all, we have not solved Cback issues and you can see Emery has been juggling through options and is clearly not entirely convinced he has the winning recipe.
Considering the speed which some teams like City and Liverpool have in Sane-Mahrez-Gabriel Jesus-Sterling and Mane-Salah-Firmino-Xhaqiri, I’d be very concern with mobility with the high/pres/high line we are attempting.
Pity. I thought Chambers was actually the best of the 3 young hopefuls. Holding of course has the better frame and height. He still has mistakes galore in his game which if he were Mustafi some people would be moaning to no end. BUT if like for like with Chambers I suppose, the longer term future is with Holding. Add in Mavropanos (who is also a little green but looks solid) and we are a bit over stocked for young defenders/Cback. What we lack is experience. Greek guy looks composed as he should be but you wonder about mobility. With… Read more »
Frankly can’t see Vida coming in but quite obvious Emery is still tinkering at the back and doesn’t seem entirely convinced with any of the combinations.
Maybe he has second thoughts and feels this is the area which is most pressing.
Frankly don’t think Koscielny will feature much for us upon return he is getting older so it may be a good thing to add in defense now if we should be keen to move Calum onwards.
Vida isn’t any taller than Sokratis or Mustafi or Koscielny but you get the impression he is a bit more mobile.
Based on his world cup exploits, he is a perfect solution to an immediate problem. At least, he won’t be accused of inexperienced unlike Chambers
Vida is ghastly, he’s a nasty piece of work. Why would we want to get rid of Calum so we can sign crap like Vida? If there’s any truth in this then there’s a serious problem at the club, someone has obviously forgotten to tell Sven and Statwhatever that Arsenal are a classy club, not some scumbag outfit that picks up cheap shit like Vida. The Socratis signing looks like a big mistake because the guy doesn’t seem good enough, but he seems a decent person, this would be the worst signing ever because the guy is scum. Scratching around… Read more »
Which is why I said not all early signings are necessarily good. Mslintat simply rushed it to get it in before the new gaffer could take helm. BUT this is a critical area which needed a bit more time. Now we are saddled with no good options and have to scramble for solution late on. As I said, I fail to see how our buying and selling has in anyways improved with the departure of Wenger/Law and the coming of Mslintat/Sanheli. Most of the players we got early (bar Torreira) were easy to sign early on. Sometimes its the quality… Read more »
Not sure Vida is the answer. Also I can’t stand his hair.
This is the best argument against him so far. Crap player, scumbag, Nazi? I can live with that, but bad hair? No way! This club has a reputation to honour.
It would be a disaster if these rumours are true. I call bullshit
I can only imagine that Emery genuinely sees Chambers as the future of Arsenal but can’t guarantee him the game time he needs now to maintain his development. Getting another full season of Premiership football under his belt will only benefit a player who’s just 23 years old, whereas playing the odd cup game at Arsenal would not.
Sokratis and (possibly) Vida ARE slightly underwhelming signings but they make sense for bridging the gap between an ever-ageing Koscielny and the likes of Chambers, Holding, Mavropanos.
I have also tried to take your positive stance re Chambers. Getting starts will really aid his development. It’s risky though, Fulham are in building mode and could buy out Chambers if he solidifies there.