The Premier League transfer window opens in six days time and Mikel Arteta has said he’d like all our transfer business to be wrapped up as soon as possible.
That’s probably wishful thinking given we might not know whether we’re in Europe until the final whistle blows on the FA Cup final on 1 August but we’ll let the man dream.
There has been some progress on the squad rebuild since our last round-up. Cedric Soares, Pablo Mari and David Luiz will all be part of our plans next season while Dinos Mavropanos will spend next year with Stuttgart.
The other comings and goings remain to be seen, but they could include…
Ainsley Maitland-Niles
Last week David Ornstein wrote that the 22-year-old doesn’t see a future for himself at Arsenal.
Within days, Mikel Arteta admitted he’d not played the versatile midfielder as much as he’d liked in recent weeks and then handed him a starting place in the FA Cup semi-final during which he thrived as a wing-back.
You get the feeling the boss thinks he can get more out of Ainsley and wouldn’t mind keeping him but we also have to acknowledge that as a young, English talent he could be used to raise useful cash. According to the Evening Standard, Brighton are said to be sniffing around.
Dani Ceballos
We know Mikel Arteta wants to extend Ceballos’ stay in London. It’s now down to whether Arsenal and Real Madrid, with whom the midfielder is under contract for another three seasons, can find an agreement. Another season on loan probably suits both parties unless he’s going cheap, in which cases we might want to do a deal this summer.
“I’ve felt very comfortable at this club from the beginning,” he said this weekend. “The truth is I’m very happy at Arsenal. It’s a club in which I already have a year of experience, so it would be very easy to return.
“I wouldn’t have to adapt to a new league or new club with a different manager and players.”
John Stones
Arsenal were linked with Stones back in January, something Arteta dismissed, but his name has come up again.
The 26-year-old England international has fallen down the pecking order at the Etihad and with Nathan Ake reportedly set to sign from Bournemouth he may feel the time is right to test his luck elsewhere.
Does a move to Arsenal make sense? Mikel Arteta knows him well and on his day, he’s a decent defender but it looks like we need to shed some weight first.
As things stand we have Pablo Mari, David Luiz, Shkodran Mustafi, Rob Holding, Sokratis and Calum Chambers as centre-back options, Kieran Tierney and Sead Kolasinac have also both played there and William Saliba will on the roster from pre-season.
We can’t see it happening.
Willian and Coutinho
The magic formula:
Kia client + leaving current club = Arsenal move
In the case of Coutinho, you can also chuck into the mix a very tidy rumour that Matteo Guendouzi could be offered as a makeweight.
We’d love to paddle these rumours into the middle of next week but they’ve been wafting around like eggy farts for so long that we’re almost used to them.
Danilo Pereira
Porto’s midfielder says he likes the work being done by Mikel Arteta and is confident he’d fit in at Arsenal. A regular in the Portugal national team, the 28-year-old is no new kid on the block.
On the plus side, he’d be a lot cheaper than Thomas Partey. Reports claim he’s available for less than €20 million; double what he would have cost us in 2015 when Luis Boa Morte first recommended him to us.
We want someone who wld be an upgrade to Torreira. Partey is the man!
I think this impression of Partey as our DM messiah is wide of the mark. He is used as more of a box to box 8, rather like the role Alex song used to play for us, he has a final ball and shot and uses his physicality to break lines and travel with and without the ball. Maybe that’s exactly what we need, but in now way is he the makalele sweep-up merchant that people portray him as.
I mean there is little doubt Partey would be an upgrade on every midfielder on our books. We definitely need a box-to-box player that drives us forward. I agree that is more his role. But I think then Torreira would be great foil for that type of player as his creativity isn’t as pressing as it is in the less mobile midfield we currently have that lacks players with turn and drive. I think Ceballos as a 2nd box-to-box player or slightly more attacking/creative option in such a trio would be great too. He is really developing. Those three would… Read more »
From what I’ve heard and seen the best comparison is his compatriot, Michael Essien, someone that can play as both a box-to-box CM and as a holding midfielder.
As you say, Partey is a good player. It is also true that the majority of Arsenal fans who I see say he is “exactly what we need” have never seen him play nor even know his style of play.
He’s a more mobile Xhaka, best at distribution.
I’ll admit we are all YouTube scouts here but.. is he? I would say Xhaka is far better at passing. You don’t see Partey switching 60 yard balls and fizzing it into feet. He is a pure athlete with many positive characteristics, but I wouldn’t say distribution was his forté. In fact he seems to have a fairly average touch and a loose pass or two in his locker
He wouldn’t be an upgrade to Torreira as he is best suited as a box to box midfielder and not as a DM.
torreira is the most overrated layer at the club
Torreira is straight buns.
I watched RVP commenting after the game against City. He thinks the main thing is to keep the current team playing well not bringing in new big players. I totally disagree of course and even felt RVP had a secret plan against the club.
I wouldn’t be surprised if after nurturing him through injury after injury for a decade, to then sell him to Ferguson to massage his bloated ego and give him a swansong title with a frankly rubbish team, that hurts Arsene more than nearly everything else. What a tragedy, as you can see I still haven’t got over it
Couldn’t put it better. We suffered almost a decade of injuries while priming a player to push an average Utd team over the line.
Remember earlier this season when RVP became a BT pundit and purposefully ripped open old wounds during that dumbass interview with Jake Humphrey?
Humphrey asked him what “the real story was behind him leaving” and RVP lied about not being offered a new contract. He literally wrote in his letter to the fanbase that he didn’t want to renew!
I thought his open letter at the time was harsh but honest, so for him to lie about it all these years later says a lot about him. Disloyal tw*t
Arsene didn’t have to sell him and came out afterwards and said he knew Utd would win the league when he sold them van Persie. Arsene was feeble.
I always thought Wenger sold rvp to man utd not city. As he did not want city to get too far away , where as Wenger knew utd not a great team, tho they did win it. And could try and catch them . Rvp at city would have seen city won league by end of march . Plus if city did well in Europe with rvp , they could have attracted other big European players to club. Therefore man utd was clearly the better option. For Arsenal.
I think at this point we should really stop crying over RVP. Whatever the reasons for him leaving, we can’t deny he was a good player for us, we can’t also deny that he was successful when he moved and in some ways that vindicated his decision to leave us. But on the plus side, we won 3 FA cups after he left. We didn’t do all that bad either. All it means from our perspective is that he was simply a good player and nothing more. Despite all his talents, he has a lesser status in our club’s history… Read more »
Thought rvp was referring to Auba keeping . He did say to add ,one or two but not massivly upset dressing room. With loads of players. So while I think two or three extra new would be good. He was maybe saying , in classic Wenger not to block all the youngsters development.
We have two William s. And Mari.
I think Arteta has a plan.
We need to back Arteta, we will be surprised to how far he will take us.
Wish we still had Sven to find some hidden gems. I just hope we don’t end up with a bunch more older players. If we do, then we’ll know for sure the board is useless. Willian would be an absolute joke of a signing.
To cheer yourself up think of young talent like Martinelli.
And Saliba
Sven Mislintat signed 35 yr old Stefan Lichtsteiner so why do people talk like he only signs unknown teenagers?
Get off your high horse! Every time that’s your ammunition for this anti-Mislintat agenda. Lichtsteiner had won 7 titles on the bounce and came into a team sorely lacking experience on a free. I’d say 90% of us would have done that deal as a backup to Bellerin if offered.
he also signed mhiki
And Juve also didn’t keep him around cause he was such a nice lad. In his 7 years for Juventus he played between 26 and 33 league games each season, so he was definitely their first choice right sided defender through his whole stay and up until the very end.
However, credit to Juve, it seems they knew exactly when it was the right time to let him go and not offer another contract.
I cannot blame anyone involved in signing him, because at the time I thought he would be an excellent backup.
I don’t care who comes or leave. I trust in Arteta and I’m confident he will only bring players that he knows will add to what he’s building at Arsenal.
Dear Summer Santa of the EPL,
I would like to see ESR staying with us and playing more.
Also can we please keep AMN and sell Kola Musta and Ozil instead?
Finally, can we renew Balogun? He could be LANS.
Br
K
Loool why are people downvoting you
Dunno, he’s right. Kolasinac must be sold at any cost, Özil should be paid off if he doesn’t leave otherwise. If we can make a good signing that improves the team, let’s do it.
Kola. Is in top five best paid left back in world . Who is gonna pay those wages and buy him
It’s the “Ö” word
Yup. The comment “Arsenal will sign Messi on a free and win the treble next year, all supporters will be given £1,000, and by the way we should sell Ozil” would generate many downvotes.
As weird as it sound yes, even this comment will get some down votes. Of course everyone is entitled of an opinion
And whilst you’re on our case, Summer Santa, see what you can do about bringing Geoffrey Kondogbia to the Arsenal too. Thanks Santa, and have a good one!
I have to admit I haven’t been that impressed by Kondogbia. Our old Coq kept him out of Valencia’s starting eleven some of the time this year (so did injuries…), and frankly, Coquelin seemed more useful anyway. Kondogbia feels sort of like Xhaka to me–a DM who can pick out a pass, but I don’t think he’d be an upgrade on Granit. At least this season it felt like he could be slow to react and dawdled on the ball a lot. You can imagine why the fans there liked Coquelin more with his energy and determination.
Think coutinho is the type of player we need to unlock our talent up top.
Chris Samba is a free agent and would offer some much needed stability in central defence.
Thoughts?
Too young
If Partey is proving difficult, Ibrahim Sangare is as equally good, IMO. He’s a very skilful DM with loads of obvious potential. He’s younger, very quick, drives forward when needed and ‘ll only continue to develop under Arteta. I’d love to see him playing for Arsenal, if we don’t get Partey.
if Willian and Coutinho make their way into Arsenal..we are going down the Leeds way – stupid money on silly transfers leading to downward spiral.
Coutinho is quality. He lossed his way at Barcelona and needs a club where he can be one of the two main players. Arsenal can absolutely revive him. Willian, we dont even need a player in his position.
At Barca Coutinho was played out of position by a manager they eventually sacked. Not sure why people never mention that!
John Stones wouldn’t make a lot of sense imo, not sure why he’d succeed here when he’s struggled so much at City. Willian is still a good player but we’re well covered on the flanks. Coutinho is another matter, CAM is a problem position for us and at 28 is still well within his prime. He’s been decent for Bayern and I don’t think what’s happened at Barca should count against him considering all the issues going on at that club. If Guendouzi goes the other way that’s potentially two birds with one stone.
And let’s remember the extra bonus in signing players like Coutinho; he’s an attraction for other potential signings and if done quickly that includes Auba?
It’s his wages I see being the problem. Guendouzi wouldn’t be a like for like in that regard.
My problem with all these transfer stories is that no one knows how different the market will be in the next season or two because of covid. It looks like Chelsea and, presumably, Man City will spend as if nothing has happened–but it’s not clear anyone else in England can. It’s very unlikely that clubs will be paying Bruno Fernandes-type money for players like Partey. Certainly not Willian. Maybe more swaps, or loans with options, or something else, but the situation is too uncertain to just estimate value in comparison to recent years.
Danilo would change our formation from a 343 to a 433 and would replace David Luiz. Danilo dm, xhaka lcm, Ceballos box to box. Possible Guendouzi Ceballos.
On the subject of the Silly Season (SS). I saw a link claiming that Man City are looking at buying Sanchez in a 150 million pound bid. I mean if you had that kind of money to buy a player for, you’d spend it on him, wouldn’t you?
“We’d love to paddle these rumours into the middle of next week but they’ve been wafting around like eggy farts for so long that we’re almost used to them.”
This kind of writing is why I read so much material on this site. Well done. I will be chuckling about this image all day.
I like the look of that magic formula ?