According to a report in the Guardian this morning Atletico Madrid have rejected an Arsenal approach for Thomas Partey which involved using Matteo Guendouzi as a makeweight.
Rumours have circled for months that the Ghanaian midfielder is a wanted man at the Emirates, however, with Atletico holding out for €50 million – the figure of the 27-year-old’s release clause – we’re obviously having to get creative about how we get anywhere near affording that figure.
It’s said that we initially offered €25 million and ‘a player’ and when that was rejected we returned with a similar cash offer plus Guendouzi. That doesn’t sound like a head-turning improvement, but there we go.
The Frenchman hasn’t played for the Gunners in over five weeks and looks to be on his way out of the club this summer so using him as bait certainly makes sense.
The problem – and it’s a big one for us – is that the Spaniards are holding out for a cash-only offer. Given our financial situation that looks likely to be a big stumbling block unless we can offload players quickly.
The transfer window officially opened for English clubs today so we can expect silly-season to step up a gear now. Raul and Edu have a lot of work to do.
So I’m guessing Arsenal’s next plan of action would be to offer Mesut Ozil into the deal?
One last assist from Mes.
Would be his first of the season!!
New offer is Kola Özil and Sokratis for their one ☝️ player. They would be mad (or just really bad at maths)not to consider that .
That’s over £600k a week in wages. I’m not sure their maths is all that bad.
This is not helping you must be a member of our old sales team.
I prefer (for them) to focus on the amount of players they are getting.
3 is more than one !!
“But their salary is ridiculously high”‘ -Athletico
“Erm yeah ,that’s because they are really really good , only great players get paid that much so you better strike fast” -Arsenal
But they’d also get a whole lot of Instagram followers through Özil. Shouldn’t be underestimated.
And where exactly does Ozil fit into a Simeone 442?..
Same place he fits into whatever formation we play
4-4-O-2
Right in that hole **coughs**
Damn ?
???
???
He’ll be at home with a “back injury”
That sounds to me like a Simeone problem . It’s his to solve , best of luck Diego.
Perhaps we could give them a goalkeeper and they could sell Oblak.
Chelsea have lots of money 🙂
Leno and they give us Partey + 10million.
Simeone would probably throttle the lazy fucker.
How dare they??
So, knowing how much work Simeone wants his midfielders to get through – making Arteta’s idea of suffering look like a kick about against the under U8s – they believe Guendouzi has some value to that team?
Worth a shot, I guess.
I hope this Partey bloke can put in a shift at CB
All jokes aside, he put in a great shift against us at RB in the first leg of the Europa League semi when Prof was still in charge.
In the 2nd leg at their place he played CM, very versatile player
This kind of highlights the big issue with our recruitment though. The time to buy a player like Partey is when he’s on the up and still reasonable – after the Europa League for instance when you’re talking about a 24 year old vs. now where we’re buying an almost 28 year player who Altetico want more for in cash than we likely could get by selling 1 of the top strikers in all of Europe for (Auba). As much as a dominant CM would be terrific, we badly need a new central defender to pair with Saliba (maybe Mari… Read more »
A very nit-picky thing to point out, but he isn’t almost 28 – he only turned 27 a few weeks ago, and crucially…
He is 27 until he is 28.
Paying through the nose isn’t exactly a nitpicky thing to point out. 50m in this environment is a lot of money – likely the equivalent of spending 100m on a player last year.
I love that you can always rely on the Arseblog comments section to explain how ages work.
Excellent points.
I reckon all the FIFA video game managers will criticize you nonetheless.
Meh. Partey only established himself at CM this season after Atleti sold Rodri to Man City. He was a utility player before that.
Scolding Arsenal for not identifying him as a CM in 2017 is kind of pointless.
I guess that would be what they always call “outsmarting the market” … to still have excellent transfers with limited budget?
Basically seeing the potential or a potential role of a player before others and even his current club see it.
It takes no skill to identify the world’s best player in a certain position, even I can do that. Unfortunately only Citeh, PSG and maybe 2 or 3 others can buy and bid for such players the required 100 million+ after the player has already established himself as being the best player in his respective position.
This one was definitely bound to fail. Atletico are run on discipline and a very strict gameplan. They have no room for Guendouzi’s attitude and also his undisciplined style of play.
Its a shame his attitude might get in the way of his development as a footballer.
except they have been scouting him for a while
.. and probably learned that he isn’t for them.
They have Deigo Costa as well so not sure about discipline.
Sorry, I meant positional discipline.
Diego Simeone can slap Matteo hard across the cheek and hug him afterwards. Like breaking a Rottweiler (which I’ve never successfully done btw, my rott bitch was super ill-disciplined, plus refused to birth while under my ownership. She reportedly started whelping with her new owner. No jokes)
Alternatively he could just communicate effectively to him, the way he understands. Matteo will recognize that Diego Simeone could headbutt him if it came down to that (street brawling) and probably respect his authority more than he’s accorded Mikel.
Say no to any form of violence. Walk away
Young Matteo in his intrinsic go-getter nature probably thinks Mikel is P*ssy, because he (Mikel) doesn’t run into confrontations with everybody and will take a more strategic, organization-first approach towards things. Mikel won’t bother clearing his insolence, he’s seen that attitude a hundred times. I’ve had a Matteo-like personality buddy come at me with the pussy accusation, for the least shii. Also very much Tu Pac energy, looking for trouble without any foresight, robbed us of two of the greatest members of the culture; Himself and the Notorious BIG. Likes to rile up opposition and opposition is everybody including his… Read more »
You know who looks good? Emi Buendia at Norwich.
(I know im just saying)
That is exactly the type of signing we need to make. Like Liverpool did with Mane, Wijnaldum. It’s a no-brainer for me.
Yeah like him too but although he creates a lot he never seems able to shoot or score himself
Bang on. I’ve not seen anything this season to suggest Buendia can push us towards the Champions League. Not at all, I see a lightweight player who brings no goals from midfield. We’ve had far too many of them in recent years.
Not sure who you are talking about. We have no one (other than Ozil and the still very young Willock) who naturally plays between the holding midfielders and the attackers, whatever name you give the position (10, false 9, 8, ACM, etc.). We used to have Ramsey (he brought goals, so he doesn’t fit your point) and Santi (same). Alexis, though a forward, really played in that space too, but no one ever accused him of not bringing goals. I guess Mkhitaryan might be an example, but he is much more of a genuine winger.
Actually a fair few of the relegated players could be considered for us:
Sarr
Doucouré
Buendia
Aarons
Cantwell/Onel Hernandez (both can be great on their day, but have also had massive downswings during the season)
Aké
If other teams can make succesful swoops for players going down to the Championship, why shouldn’t we? It might not even cost us a fortune.
I think bloggs covered this, but with Pepe and Saka, WTF is Arsenal gonna do with Sarr – a less good version of what we arleady have.
Why shouldn’t we?… because its ludicrous, that’s why I supposed.
Ake might really be worth it. Unfortunately the richest club in England seem to think so too.
I’ve seen a bit of Bournemouth over the last few seasons, and Ake is head and shoulders their best player. Shame for them that he will leave now, but he’s a player we should be interested in as a definite upgrade on any of the current batch (excluding Saliba, whom I haven’t seen).
Sarr is an interesting one, clearly a lot of potential there to become a very good player, maybe even a central striker. Good versatility, young, quick and strong, good technique. If available at a decent price maybe we should get him and send Reiss on loan to Watford for a season
Okay, so that covers your opinion on Sarr. I, for one, still think he looks very interesting.
But the “why shouldn’t we” part didn’t just account for Sarr. Some of the other players could still be a good piece of business for us, if the price is the right.
I.m a big fan of David Brooks, he has the look of a really clever and accomplished player
ditto
Yeah, I agree. Unfortunately, the injury seems to have set him back a bit, he was looking really promising at first.
A full season in the Championship with Bournemouth and he could seriously be one to consider!
Indeed. And take the Cantwell lad too.
His girly headbands can not be tolerated
Not a fan of Pires either?
Tempted to say Bobby is French so he could pull it off, but nah it looked terrible on him too
We really should , just for the dancing celebration alone. It’s so infuriating that I want to be on the right side of that ,also Imagine what it would do to Roy Keane.
Cantwell is a cunt
No Partey no party
You gotta fight *BOOM BOOM*
For your right *BOOM BOOM*
To PAAAARTEY
Gah beat me to it ?
Imo Guendouzi is the more technically talented player of the two and clear heir to Xhaka. I know we will be back here again in 2 years looking for a Xhaka replacement if he goes tomorrow. However Partey is the type of player we need today.
I think dani is doing all that guendouzi was doing .. mostly be better .. with less hair
What Ceballos is currently doing, is the absolute ceiling for Guendouzi
Sounds promising, at least we’ve started negotiating for a good player.
Sounds like we’ve finished, too.
Sell guen for 25m offer 50m cash problem solved.
GwenDog is a total plank BUT 25 mill is nothing for a plank with his “supposed” talent. We gota milk his sale for as much as possible.
Sorry at least 25m hehe.
Credit to the club for getting negotiations going early .
€30 – €40 Million plus Guenduez be a good deal , Thomas looks like a player that will adopt quickly, physicality wont be an issue , has quick feet, will provide defensive stability whilst being a decent dribbler and passer .
Shame about Guendez but have to trust Arteta on this one .
Doucoure from Watford is obviously for sale now too so he wouldnt be a bad alternative if it doesnt work out with Party
40 mil plus Guendouzi for a player with a 45 mil buyout with be an entirely different level of bad business
40mil in euro .. so worst case scenario he calculated 13 mil in Euros for guendouzi..
I may not be the best judge of potential but given what we saw in pitch would we pay 20-25 mil euro for someone like him in this market? (Not taking into account the behavioral issues)
You don’t have to be the judge of potential. There are people in that line of business and they’ve judged him to be worth at least 30-35m euros. And even that’s being a bit conservative. If you want Arsenal to add 40m euros in a player swap then they might as well stump up the rest of the cash to pay the release clause in your scenario.
Arsenal have completely weakened their hand is selling MG. Between a rock and a hard place I guess but any buying club is going to take advantage of the toxic relationship. I suppose similar to what we did to Dortmond. Ah Its going to be the same squad on Saturday as it will be on Sept 12th I suspect. Going to be a big last few weeks of Sept!
Not sure what you would have had Arsenal do differently though. Keep rewarding a guy who’s acting like a prick with playing time, just to keep his stock high? The damage that would do to Arteta’s standing in the dressing room would have been more damaging in the long run than the few million we might lose off Guendouzi’s sale value.
We’ll get a lot more than we have paid and invested in him. Everyone’s a winner.
I’d say Guendouzi is in the 22-34 million range depending on who’s buying. Everton, Newcastle, Inter, Atletico, Dortmund, PSG, Barca, Juve.
Maybe is the aftermath of a dreadful campaign but I am so scared of the next season.
I have a feeling we didnt hit the lowest point yet.
Losing the FA cup final, a disappointing transfer window that we just lose Auba, a bad start, firing MA are all high possibilities.
I would like to be wrong but I have a feeling next season we will be lower 🙁
Can someone disagree with me please?
You need to cheer up mate. Games are won and lost, Players come and go, the sun will shine and arsenal will one day be good again (May or may not be in our lifetimes :))
That’s the spirit, Jeremy.??
Awesome man!
I don’t think we’ll make CL but I expect we’ll see an improvement overall. It may take Arteta a couple of seasons to mould this team into shape.
Hahahaha. Fear has a hold on you and that’s so so bad. Relax, Bro.?
Well, that’s that.
Well all we need to do is sell guendouzi for 25 mil and deliver the 50 mil to athletico. Probably sell to dortmund if they get rich with sancho.
Good player granted! But how does he help with our creation problem. With no assists to talk about in his stats.
We have many other problems, and he would solve at least 2 of them.
He would screen the defence, distribute the ball quickly to our creative players and be able to carry the ball fwd himself
To have an actual functioning midfield next year we really need to sign an athletic deep midfielder, a technical creative midfielder + Ceballos as a b2b this summer
He’ll be the Rock of Gilbraltar in the middle of our midfield.
If they don’t fancy Guendouzi (don’t blame them), sell him to a different club (he’s been linked with plenty) for an actual fee, and use those funds +£20m or so to buy Partey. He would be a game changer for us. Sign him properly and stop looking for a shortcut. I accept it might not be possible, but this tactic is just us overthinking and taking the piss, as usual. Why this obsession with swap deals lately? They so rarely go through and never seem to work out for anyone if they do. It limits us to recruiting from clubs… Read more »
Partey is a good player but his biological age is not 27, he is around 32, so he has only about 2-3 years service left in him. Instead of paying much for Partey, Dacoure in Watford would do the job for at least a season while we look for a long term person somewhere else
Seems you’re his biological father. ?
This shit again?
Seems like 40M + 1£ all over again?
Sell Guendouzi, Torreira, Sokratis and Luiz and invest the money on Partey and other targets. We could also cash in on Auba if he wants to leave.
Luiz isn’t going anywhere, his agent won’t allow it. Sokratis is too shit to go to a big club and too expensive to go anywhere else. Torreira hasn’t raised his price an awful lot over his time with us. Guendouzi is known to be on his way out, not to mention he has a reputation as a bit of a dipshit.
I wouldn’t expect to raise a ton of money on this crop.
We could make £20m each from Guendouzi and Torreira quite easily. Sokratis wants to leave, so there’s no reason his current high wages should get in the way if he’d rather play. I’d expect a midtable Bundesliga team could offer £5m or so for him – considering he’s still relatively clear of injury, has a good turn of pace, and an impressive CV + plenty of pure defensive ability Numbers wise, Sokratis doesn’t need replacing, and Torreira + Guendouzi would only need to be replaced by 1 reliable 1st teamer. These sales (fees receivable + wage reduction) genuinely could almost… Read more »
Right, right. Because selling 4 players to gamble on one player who never played in the Prem is a fucking great idea.
Good grief.
Not that it’s a realistic suggestion, but you wouldn’t swap 4 high earning players who aren’t good enough for 1 who would 100% succeed in any midfield in any league?
And why the sarcasm and faux outrage? Good grief.
So far our ‘plan’ seems shit and underfunded…
If rumours are to be believed (I hope not) we are following the pied piper scripted by Superagents bc the two men in charge of our transfers are clueless. They already over comimited on Pepe in what seemed like a good installment deal but in actual fact was a risk on a player with only one good season under belt (Ditto Sailba) Both deals weigh down this summer’s transfer kitty to 20m (not to mention recent confirmed deals on Cedric and Mari) Jury still out on Mari of course (and a cheap enough punt). How much we can generate from… Read more »
that is the plan
I would personally keep Guendouzi. Send him on loan in a loan swap IMO. He may yet calm down and develop with a bit of maturity and a season or so down,Granit will be 28yrs. not sure why the club is getting so emotional and in such a hurry to move Guendouzi on. IMO he is better than Willock (albeit Joe has been working hard to close the gap) Guendouzi is still under contract, relatively very young. Why flog him off now? Partey as I mentioned will only come to us for a higher asking price on account of risk… Read more »
The other thing is if Guendouzi is difficult as is, who will want to take him? We need to be practical and minimize risk for them, have him on a loan swap maybe so he can sow his wild oats elsewhere, get the impatience out of his system. In a season, he may spark at a loan club and we can sell him for a better price or if he realises his folly bc he is still left on the bench at the new club, then we have a very good and still young player back into the squad with… Read more »
Love Arteta and his squad discipline, but, he hasn’t exactly done much to uphold Guendouzi’s market value by freezing him out and making it clear he views him as a problem he wants rid of. With Ozil it was already clear to the whole world. But maybe we could have pretended everything was grand with Matteo before reluctantly (lol) considering offers at the end of the season. I guess it comes down to how bad his behavior has been around the club, but what other club is going to be tempted into parting with significant cash to take on that… Read more »
Well, pretending that everything is fine with Matteo by giving him playtime is one thing, but who knows what dedication and motivation he would have shown on the pitch?
That’s a big gamble to make. We might have not reached a cup final or finished even 8th in the league, if we basically had played some games with more or less 10 men.
To judge that is Mikel’s task, because no one of us sees Matteo in training and could predict what kind of attitude we’d get from him if we actually played him.
Edu and raul should be working on bringing Arthur to the emirates rather than go for coutinho. Offer Guendouzi for Arthur who has just said Barca Board to fuck off for making a deal with Juventus behind his back.