According to France Football, Arsenal are keen to sign Thomas Meunier from PSG.
The Belgian right-back is on Unai Emery’s radar as we look to rebuild the squad this summer, and with Carl Jenkinson and Stephan Lichtsteiner likely to leave this summer, as well as Hector Bellerin being sidelined until September, a player in that position is not an unreasonable acquisition.
The 27 year old who will be 28 in September but until such time remains 27, joined the French outfit from Club Brugge, and is clearly a player that the Arsenal boss knows from his time in Paris.
The story has been picked up/reiterated/ by an Italian journalist on Twitter – and we all know they’re the most reliable sources of transfer information in the entire universe – who claims that we’ve offered him a five year deal.
There’s no mention of transfer fee, but if we’re offering a player who will be 28 in September but until such time remains 27 a contract of that length we assume the transfer fee will be somewhere in the region of 23 trillion euros.
We’re giving this one an 8 on the Poo-o-Meter
But then having reconsidered it all, this seems like exactly the kind of deal we’d do, so have a 3.
No, thank you!
First focus on playing better with what we have.
Isn’t that what the manager has just spent the last 9 months trying, and failing, to do?
huh? you mean like Ozil the other ones…
Have you been asleep for 12 month?
I wish??
If your 2 strikers worth 50 million each can’t score a goal in the final, then the answer is not always the transfer market.
If your 30 million midfield terrier is ineffective in a big game, then the answer is not the transfer market.
And now Thomas Meunier? Again, no thank you!
Maybe they all just needed a nice 3 week holiday beforehand?
“Any team missing players like Neymar, Cavani, Meunier will miss them” Solskjaer.
If your backlines are filled with people like mustafi and jenkinson or lichtsteiner, sure as hell you need a better replacement. And in case you don’t know, Thomas munier plays as a right/right wing back. So your argument regarding our striker and midfielrer is quite invalid
Cant play better in the LB department if we get rid of our backups to Bellerin this summer.
Anything is better than the shite that we currently have piled up in this squad
Sign him up now, Wagner, you stingy old fart !
“The 27 year old who will be 28 in September but until such time remains 27.”
He’s closer to 28 than he is 27?
When the clock on the clock end says 22:35, it’s called the 23rd minute, right? I mean, they’re both measures of time.
Is it too much to ask for some consistency here?
Well yes because you’ve had 22 minutes and are into the 23rd.
As soon as the clock hits midnight on your birthday, you’ve completed the year and are into your next. But no one says how many years they are into, they just say how many they have completed. I am X years, I am into my X+1 year.
I don’t see an issue here.
So he’s in his 28th year? Should really say that in article to avoid the confusion
Yes and if you add the nine months before birth he is actually well past 28 anyway.
I think hes referring back to that ridiculous Twitter argument a few years back. But still, I dont say my toddler is 2 years old when i get asked because hes turning 3 in a few weeks – i actually just say hes 3.
Incorrect. Your toddler is in fact 2
You think?
Apart from strikers, isn’t RB our strongest position?
We have Bellerin who is coming off a major injury and hence isn’t going to be able to play every game. Maitland-Niles is an absolutely horrible defender (witness last night or even the past few weeks of the year). The entire reason we had to play a back 3 this year is we didn’t have capable fullbacks once Bellerin went out. Monreal got old quickly. Lichtensteinter’s legs gave out. Kolosniac & MN can’t actually defend.
That’s a little harsh. He’s deputized well this season and he had a good first half, idk what happened in the 2nd half.
he deputized as a wingback though b/c his lack of defensive ability meant that we couldn’t play a back 4. he’s much better going forward than he is defending & worth keeping in mind he doesn’t view this as his natural position. We need defenders who can actually defend.
True about Maitland-Niles having to play as a wingback–but it was the same on the left side with Kolasinac. With nobody coming back to take over for him (like Bellerin will be on the right), I’d consider that position a much bigger need.
My worry is that signing Meunier would be another year with Kolasinac as a regular starter and Emery stuck using three at the back yet again.
One thing though, Meunier is a better RB than Bellerin. I do not see Bellerin in starting XI if this guy comes.
Meunier 339 career games 46 goals (as a RB)
Bellerin 143 (6 goals)
Bellerin is not strong in defending. Brings the ball forward but very rarely scores.
I had no idea we judged our defenders on goals scored.
Shall we rate Aubameyang on clean sheets?
I did say Bellerin was not too good at defending. You may agree or disagree but I did say that. Now, Meunier is able to score which is a plus.
Ronaldo picked Ashley Cole as the most difficult defender he faced. Those who think Bellerin is a great RB should set the bar higher.
By that logic we should also try and replace laca with Messi and auba with Mbappe. Don’t you see…we have a limited budget…we should focus on what’s broken….RB is not it. We may need a backup at RB for next season…but it should be someone young with potential rather than some super star who costs a lot. Instead we need better CBs.
But Ashley Cole (another exhibit in the John Terry “you can be a complete dick and still a great footballer” museum) is a bit too high of a bar. Probably the best in the world at his position, the last English player with a reasonable claim to that distinction.
Auba is shit then =’].
Well, a lot of people seem to rate Ozil on whether he tracks back.
bellerin could play left back , did last year in europa league, he could cut inside on his left and shoot. i think hectot could do a better job there at left back than monreal [ too old] and kolas..[good] can only play well usually in a back five.
im sure there must be some bargains to be had in the championship or ligue 2 . we are more aldi and lidle than waitrose these days!
Word is it’d be £26million, seems crazy for PSG’s third choice RB. If the sum is anywhere near that I’d far rather we prioritised other roles.
I honestly think even with our comparatively small budget it shouldn’t be the hardest job in the world to improve our team in the right positionsz
*positions. Sorry, still suffering from all the years of typing Szczesny.
Third choice? Pretty sure he started more games than any other RB (Alves shortly behind). But agree that he won’t be cheap, especially for a squad player
He did but apparently he’s now surplus as Tuchel already has Alves and wants to bring Dagba and Kehrer into the team more. Think he got a lot of game time due to others’ injuries and the fact he can also cover at LB or CM. But I’ve not watched PSG enough this season to say, just going off what I’ve read to be honest.
So that would leave £14 million for a CB, a LB, and at least one midfielder–all of which are bigger needs than RB?
Yeah, sounds about right.
Honestly if this is true we might as well spend the rest on a convoy of ice-cream trucks and send them to the Arctic.
I wouldn’t bother. Raul/Mslintat wasted 90K a week on Lichstieiner last season which ushered in the “PANIC LOAN” era in January. We could have kept Chambers who played Rback for Soton (His Natural Position) and could have covered Right of defense and at DM for good measure. Instead we were left scrambling between a raw but injury plagued AMN, the limited at Rback Mustafi, the rubbish Jenkinson and the unavailable and waning Lichsteiner. We have AMN already providing decent enough quality at Rback. He needs to be trusted and given potential to evolve (like Bellerin). RBACK is his NATURAL POSITION.… Read more »
Chambers is a DM. His stats were second best to Fernandino last year. Hope we bring him back and send Xhaka packing.
Although the 27 year old who will be 28 in September but still remains 27 is a good solid, right back type person will we not be stumped by the fact that we have no money?
He looks extremely slow on the turn
Is there a poo meter for this current squad. I will give em 11 poos ?
Why are arsenal line up getting older n older.. What happen to the below 23 years old scouting? Look at Manchester United, France, Southampton, Spurs, Manchester City, Dortmund, Arsenal’s Invincibles.. All of them were young team great talent
Don’t worry, we have a back-up RB, his name is Shkodran Mustafi. We ain’t sellin’ him, cuz there ain’t no buyers.
Better off with Jenko or one of our own academy, or a cheaper Championship option, then using money for a RB.
Jenks is a capable RB but terrible when played as a wingback. If budget is limited though buying a backup RB seems like it should not be high up in our priorities
I thought it said Thomas vermaelen, he kibd of looks a bit like him
After what we witnessed last night, I’d take Tommy Vermaelen right now!
He was probably our best defender for a few years. Shame with the injuries, however
Not an easy task for Unai. Capability gaps down the spine with exception of Strikers. With a smaller budget due to lack of CL, we need to be even more concentrated in being quality into 2 or 3 key areas rather than dissipating our effort and money all over the place. The areas to address have not been sufficiently dealt with by Mslintat (an Raul). It is highly disconcerting that we have yet to employ a successor given monumental and very tricky task ahead. 1) Strikers – As mentioned I think we are good with Auba and Laca. Keeping them… Read more »
agree with a lot of this but we need to replace kos and monreal, remember 6-0 at stamford bridge, 5-1 liverpool loss, atheltico madrid last year etc… they all played in those games, and they are gone, now
Seriously, write shorter or start your own blog. Please. I am getting tired of the scrolling.
I just read the name, scroll down and thumb down. Sorry but I have not got that much time to read all that
Apparently his contract ends next year
With only 40 millions in our budget i wouldnt sign a right back when we have bellerin coming back in that position.
Maybe there are plans to sell Bellerin? Could raise good money… If we are going to rebuild we need to raise money, which means saying goodbye to some of our better players.
I like him
on this page in “related articles” I see “Yacine Adli deal completed” from 1 yr ago…that sums up the reliability of these “news”.
What was Wenger thinking? Bringing Walcott on that early
If the finances make sense get him. He can start the season till Bellerin is back and then share the load at RB and CB.
He would also give us some extra height in the back and AMN can rightfully transition into a CM or a winger.
Veratti..
Not sure 26 million for a PSG player qualifies as “beating the market” strategy we are about to unleash.