Earlier this summer it was reported that Arsenal had offered Matteo Guendouzi + cash to Lyon in a bid to secure a deal for Houssem Aouar.
That bid was rejected by the French side, and speaking today the French side’s sporting director, Juninho, confirmed that the midfielder is a player Mikel Arteta is interested in.
He told RMC that his relationship with counterpart Edu, a former Brazilian national teammate, led to conversations about a possible deal, but no accord could be found.
“I get along very well with the sports director [Edu],” he said. “We spoke on the phone. Houssem Aouar is really appreciated by Arteta. There have been some discussions for Matteo Guendouzi who is also a good player.
“He was mentioned during the discussion, but this is not the profile we need, we were very clear. If it is like that, it does not interest us at all – it is, and we stopped.”
It’s not 100% clear what exactly he means by the profile, perhaps it’s behavioural or the player style. Juninho also revealed he’d spoken to Alexandre Lacazette about a loan move back to his former club, but wages were prohibitive.
“In January, I called Alexandre Lacazette to chat with him a bit because he was having problems with Arsenal,” he said.
“I was like: ‘Why not a six-month loan with us where you’re going to have fun, play every game and score goals like you know you can? And then you go back to Arsenal or elsewhere.’
“But from the moment you look at the contract level of these players, like at Juventus or Barça, it is not for us today.”
Arsenal still need some midfield reinforcement, so maybe as the window progresses that good relationship between Edu and Juninho can bring about more fruitful conversations.
Fingers crossed.
Good to hear from them. I hope this cordial relationship between Edu and Juninho yields good fruits…..
Now time to send an undercover buddy spy to Athletico Madrid…..
Everyone says Amazon runs the world. And they are kind of right because it’s actually Brazil.
Rainforest jokes no good here then….
Leaf it out mate
It was extreemely bad.
Definitely showing green shoots here.
Joke was fine, but your delivery was wooden.
We should branch out into Brazil
I could hardly see the joke through the trees
Wood it be time to stop with all these tree-related puns?
Your barking up the wrong tree mate
Whenever people start punning on an article I try to think of a good one, but I always make a balsa up of it.
A bit tricky this one! On the other hand what I keep wondering is, be it Partey or Aouar, why aren’t other clubs interested or even being seriously linked to them?
Let’s hope Arteta gets the team he wants! Coyg!
I think City & Juve are interested in Aouar.
City to upgrade on KDB, lol?
Pep can play with a attacking midfielder in goal and still win.
Win the Carabao Cup, yes.
We got Auba without any competition. Chelsea bought Ziyech and Werner without breaking a sweat. Take into consideration the financial hit that clubs are taking this year, and it makes sense that almost all clubs will spend big only if they think that particular player is going to be clear upgrade.
Different clubs have different needs. If Oblak becomes available this summer, Chelsea will be very interested but you can bet the other clubs in the top 6 won’t. It doesn’t make him a bad player.
look back to when we signed Auba, no premier league club went after him too but the quality is there for all to see. Sometimes that’s just how things work
If they’d known how good he was going to be we might have had more competition
Totally and annoyingly out of context.
Doesn’t that £10m for Krystian Bielik seem like good business now…
I’m sorry, if they’d have known how good who is? Aubameyang? Because he has a ten year or so track record of being very good.
Yes he was very good at Dortmund but there was no guarantee he was going to be quite this impressive in the premier league.
How would Messi do on a cold day vs Stoke?
He should cope provided he agrees to join a Championship team. But he won’t so he can’t
Hmm yes arguably the best player who ever lived. Probably pretty well, if they didn’t break his legs
Auba is _really_ impressive though isn’t he …
I think the saying goes something like this; “but can he score on a cold and rainy night in Stoke”
I’m pretty chuffed that it is no longer a hurdle to prove for major players coming to premier league
Are you really disagreeing with the idea that we didn’t know if Auba’s game would translate to the Prem? Have you not followed the transfer market at all for the past 20 years?
My completely made up stat is that about half of all big money foreign imports disappoint to some extent. It certainly can’t be less than a third. There’s even a very obvious example imported from the same team, at almost the same time! Hint: he recently departed for Roma.
What league are Stoke even in nowadays?
Who cares? I hope they go bust, the cunts.
Dude, everyone in the world who had played a few hours of FIFA knew how good Aubameyang was.
I hope Messi plays Stoke on a cold day before he retires, and absolutely rinses them
It’s like one’s wife–sometimes only you see the beauty in her while others don’t. It’s relative.
isnt that a wengerism. everyone thinks they have the prettiest wife at home
All this means that they are happy to make a deal but on better offer than last time.
I really hope so. I have concerns going forward with our creativity.
Like how they are doing that and I think luckily for us no one at par with us is in for him because they have players in the same position as him.
Sadly if you read his statement “If it is like that, it does not interest us at all – it is, and we stopped.”
Looks like they were happy to do the deal but not involving Matteo at all and we were only doing any deal with him and discussions ended there. Just interpreting that statement but I could be wrong
Yeah, but you’ve got to remember this is all a big game of poker.
Nobody wants to reveal their hand and most good sporting directors use the media to put pressure on the other club.
France, Spain and Italy do it but England doesn’t employ that tactic. Curious as to why because it surely can’t be because of ethics.
I think England clubs can’t afford to piss of suitors due to asking price and wages they are always trying to get rid of.
In hindsight, we should have pushed clubs into a bidding war for Sanchez, Ramsey & Rvp to force an extra dime out of the buying clubs.
I’m building my hopes up but I think Juninho’s making clear they don’t want Guendouzi, no further negotiations on that, but a cash only deal can still be possible. If somehow we’re able to offload Guendouzi (and Toreira) somewhere else that can go some way to stumping cash up for Auoar.
I don’t think Aouar is worth the effort it’ll take us to get him. Martinez £20m and Torreira €8m + €16m isn’t enough. We’ll need to sell someone we don’t want to (Bellerin, Niles), find a second choice GK on a loan deal and then go for Aouar.
Best part is he’s only useful when we play 3 in midfield and I don’t know how often we’ll play 4 at the back
Quite possibly the best post I’ve read on here in a long time. It’s a buyers market and Kroenke is quite clearly not going to invest a single solitary dollar to help Arteta get in the players he needs. (The next time I read a club statement from Josh Kroenke, peddling a load of utter bollocks about how they want this club to be ‘competing with the best’, I shall duly be sticking my fingers down my throat, but I digress). Selling the likes of Bellerin, Lacazette and Maitland-Niles for a fucking pittance (and by that I mean anything lower… Read more »
Not sounding very encouraging
#damagedgoods
I feel for Arteta. He has already performed a miracle in rehabilitating Xhaka, has probably nigh pleaded with the board to be able to use Ozil again and now has to turn Guendouzi into another prodigal son.
He won’t put up with this sort of shit forever from the board. Kroenke has got to start coughing up or Arteta will be gone. I give it a further two seasons before things will come to a head.
Fuck you, Kroenke.
Explain how the board is making Ozil unavailable?
Take off the blinkers mate its the player
Kroenke’s Arsenal.
I can’t stand Abramovich and his Russian coal fields blood money. But, whatever else you find to hate in the guy – and to be fair, there is plenty – at least the fucker puts his ill-gotten money where his mouth is. Unlike our cowboy cunt.
“Guendouzi” and “rejection” used in the same sentence! What is going on? Lyon just aren’t interested (as nobody else appears to be, currently) in our lad. We are obviously having great difficulty shifting players as part of potential player + cash deals. This is not unexpected as such deals don’t happen that often. The problem, as we know, is we simply don’t have the cash and, despite all the speculation, we’ve moved nobody out for any fee anywhere near double figures. Sooner or later in this window we must get cash in, in order to spend it. Easier said than… Read more »
We’re in this really weird period where everyone thinks they should be getting top dollar if they sell anyone (Atletico supposedly pointing to everyone’s release clauses such as 150m for Morata or Partey 50m) but a massive discount if they want to buy – loan deals or supposedly 25m for Laca. The risk for some of these clubs is they likely need to sell players due to finances and could end up with a Fekir type situation where they overplay their hand and discover the real market is much lower.
We don’t know how to sell. Our timing is also poor. We lack overall strategy and we do not have people in place who can work the trenches. not a surprise we are struggling to sell and generate necessary income. we have commited to 20m on Pepe and Saliba as well each summer plus now Willian takes up 24m salaries which if you think about it we could have kept Bellerin with. And that is a position of less priority we did not need to hurry with. We also foolishly pushed Laca into market early before we confirmed on Auba.… Read more »
Most probably to do with Chelsea doing what they do best, buying their way to a league title. 80m pounds for Kai Havertz is still pre-covid kind of ridiculous money and that only sets the tone for selling clubs.
Basically and as always… FUCK CHELSEA!!!
If you want the reason we can’t compete with Chelsea – then look a little closer to home. Or America.
I would say to be fair Chelsea did have cash in the bank following their transfer ban… but then i’ve got no idea why I would want to be fair to them
They’ve spent over £200m this summer, plus the fee for Pulisic. They’re playing the game, seeing as how FFP has been relaxed this summer. No way is that money they already had, regardless of selling Hazard.
Guendouzi is impetuous, I don’t think most teams would be foolish to take on such a character. It may work to our favour if he realises he needs a bit of patience but frankly Arteta has not managed this situation well. As I mentioned he is best off on loan. We have space for him to return into if he should want to in a season particularly if we use a placeholder in DM like Khedira and spend the bulk of the transfer left on Aouar. By next summer, Khedira (or whoever on loan/older player) will need replacing plus Granit… Read more »
You waffle so much bollocks
We don’t need a Khedira. David Luiz can play the DM (4) role. Luiz should be converted ASAP.
He worked miracles turning around and rehabilitating Xhaka and Mustafi, let alone unearthing more of AMNs potential. No mixed record so far as i’m concerned, got full confidence in his work in that area.
The boy has to show some humility, even if it a move that he is after.
To me it looks like a move to unsettle Laca. There was no reason to make their January interest public now.
That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if we sold him (not necessarily to Lyon) in this window as he would raise a fair amount of cash which we need – rather mercenary, I agree, but true nevertheless I think.
Seriously mate, give it a rest with the poverty talk. It’s gone beyond boring.
Maybe the question asked was the reason he gave that answer. Can’t judge that statement without the context in which it was asked
To me it looks like they’re open to swap Aouar for Laca +/- cash but have no interest in Guendouzi…can’t be too mad at them for that.
But why would Laca head back to Lyon?
For the reasons Juninho suggested… except with there perhaps now being a bit more truth with Depay likely to depart from OL.
Lyon might have been cup finalists and CL semi finalists but ultimately looks like Laca made the right choice at that time given he has an FA cup winners medal with Arsenal. Bit classless to say it all comes down to wages.
Way too many vowels for me…
We should have offered them Mikhitariyan.
We can still offer them Ozil!
Erm….they won’t pay his wages, as much as you want to see the back of our best attacking midfielder.
Got any more bright ideas? ?
Now i realise that arsenal weekness are seen by every club, both small and big, and they are happy to prey on us without difficulty. Come to think of it, players that are not up to the quality of ours are sold higher than ours and our are been offer to us as peanut
Doesn’t look like he is going to be Aouar Houssem any time soon 🙂
I actually feel for people like you who had their hopes up. No, seriously.
FFS.. Everton’s midfield is starting to look better than our’s on paper which is a bit worrying.
Do something about it you Silent prick.
We have issue competing with Wolves and Leicester.
Chelsea and United for all their flaws mean serious business this summer.
Hallelujah. People are finally beginning to wake up to Kroenke.
How’s that coffee smelling?
I wouldn’t have been happy if we’d have signed James. Not at all..
Interesting. Care to expand?
Another ex-Galactico spurned by Madrid, prone to moodiness, won’t put in the hard work, easily flustered by taller and heftier brutes, affinity for Hollywood passes and twice a year long-range torpedo goals.
The Arteta vibe is different.
I quite enjoy him on the podcast, actually.
Shouts Magpies too loud… get rid
Same. Only rate Allan. James is honestly a has-been and Doucoure is very inconsistent.
Like I keep telling everyone on here, the cowboy doesn’t give a shit.
That said, your main worries should have been invested in the centre of our defence – which hopefully have been addressed.
Don’t underestimate our midfield and forward line if no one decent is stupidly sold. ?
I hate to say it, but even with Arteta’s amazing management and coaching which got us two lovely trophies (especially the FA Cup), I very much doubt we can do much better than last season unless we seriously shore up our midfield with new signings. I prefer Partey. I admit I’ve watched him play many times but I’ve only seen Aouar play twice. Still, Partey‘s style is exactly what we need. Let’s hope!
We cannot afford both. Its either or and even so we may have to compromise and bring in say a Felipe Anderson from Hammers for 5m loan proviso we can get away with obligation to buy. If we go for Aouar we need to go all in (Likely 45m IMP plus add ons) Then that would mean forgoing on Partey which to me is OK. We need back up to Granit. Considering our entire defense is populated by new Cbacks (Mari, Saliba and Magalahes and then Sideshowbob again) plus we may dick around with the fullbacks as well losing one… Read more »
you must be a secret khedira agent.
You have never stopped selling him to us every single time you post. Do you have to be a kill-joy at a single opportunity?
Thanks but we don’t need your client (khedira) and never will
While the midfield needs help, I am optimistic we can find ‘internal solutions’ if Partey doesn’t come on board this year. We did pretty well with Ceba and Xhaka. Elneny is a good enough stand by. Aouar would transform us more immediately though. He’s a lot similar to Ceba and will play further up ahead.
I really disagree that Partey is what we need. We can make do with Ceba and Xhaka, but I don’t trust anyone in that advanced midfield position. Not Ozil. Not Willian.
Partey also plays in the best defensive team in the world. His defensive ability is massively overstated, and honestly wouldn’t help solve our biggest problem right now.
Absolutely, we got 56 point last season and considering Chelsea and Utd’s spending i expect we’ll need an additional 20 points to get into the top 4 this season which I just can’t see happening with this set of players especially in midfield.
We don’t have an issue with numbers, if fact our squad is bloated, we need better quality and quite a bit of it.
I said months ago that unless Kroenke is prepared to invest and help Arteta, the best we can hope for is 5th or 6th.
I stand by what I said.
One of my favourite signing in FIFA 20 career mode. Aren’t we all just crossing figures that we can sign aouar and party.
Personally, I’d be happy if we get aouar and partey later. Just by looking at YouTube videos Partey is very good at through balls which is useful in breaking down low blocks.
There is purpose to this transfer window.
It really is the balance he can bring that will afford a higher active press and ability to work a fidget spinner rotating midfield. with either him or Ceballos dropping to assist Granit or both pushing forward in tandem on either flank….
……………………Aouar………………….Ceballos…………………………
Tierney………………………..Granit………………………………..Bellerin
Big D Raul would have sorted transfer out by now!
He has saddled us with 20m this summer on Pepe and Saliba just so you know.
Plus parting gift of Willian which is a commitment for 24m on salary for willian (a position which was NOT a priority) that if you think about it, we could have used since we are now attempting to sell Bellerin for 25m.
Saliba is a good signing and Pepe will hopefully be even better this season! Edu and Arteta wanted Willian
You really are having a laugh.
All that shyster was interested in was blaming Ozil for wanting to take a pay cut and building up a media hate campaign against him (which more than a few idiots fell for), checking out where he could get the highest interests rates in an off-shore account to deposit his Pepe money and where his next fifty daily plates of paella were coming from.
cool i will take your word for it
*Not wanting
If we don’t get a deal over the line for a midfielder, then how about Maitland-Niles in the middle?
By profile he meant position or play style. It’s a Brazilian idiom.
Maybe sweeten the deal for Aouar by sending them Lacazette and pay a chunk of his wages? They can have Kola and Mustafi too.
What has happened to the Thomas Partey trail? It’s gone so cold.
We need outgoings, it seems we’ve been told what it will take and may have even agreed potential terms with the agent but have to sell before we can invest as to curtail losses.
A player sold at 20m makes the net spend on partey 25m which is alot nicer on the books.
Clubs regularly spend more than they bring in, so I don’t think we haven’t the cash. I hope we are looking at a spend of 100m with partey aouar and Gabriel. A number we could potentially half with sales.
What trail? Either we pay the 50m or we don’t. We don’t currently have enough $ until we sell. Seems clear.
Spanish newspaper Marca reported yesterday that Atletico may have to loosen their stance on Partey, as they need to generate funds to bid for another player that they want.
But even if that’s a red herring, by the end of the window Partey’s price is going to come down anyway.
We were never in the hunt in the first place.
There’s not enough money down the back of the sofa for a Twix, never mind Partey.
I think Arteta is going to need to find some internal solutions. The poor market also means that Arsenal might be better off holding on to younger assets, like AMN, who might be worth twice as much next year.
Ridiculous to keep trying to push Guendouzi when they already voiced their opinion that they did not need him. As mentioned before obvious we cannot sign two goldilocks players in Partey and aouar. Its either or. So one position has to compromise or both half compromise. …no surprise some other candidates losely linked to left midfield/AM position include Coutinho, Benrahma, Soboszlai and Felipe Anderson. Coutinho looks like he will receive a reprieve at Barca. Benrahma is back pocket stuff. Sobozlai and Coutinho whilst decent going forward are not as flexible as Aouar covering deeper. Particularly Aouar will balance out ceballos… Read more »
Or maybe we should just take a chill pill and hold on to the midfield players we have.
Latest is Villa potentially 20m in for Martinez. Nipples offered as loan from PSG. I do think if we sell him and one of the strikers plus 40m on (Torreira/Kolasinac /couple of other peripherals), we can generate enough to roll one big dice on Aouar or Partey. The other positon will have to comprmosie in Partey’s case maybe Khedira on loan or if other way round then say Felipe Anderson on loan. Alternative is semi-compromise on both positions say Szoboslai and Diawara each for mid 20m mark. or say if we are concern with striker back up Edouard and Diawara… Read more »
Martinez is worth at least £25m – £30m. Villa can cough up or piss off, like the rest.
I think we will get Aouar.
I don’t think we will.
Other clubs don’t want our dross, like Mustafi, and can’t be bothered to stump up even half a decent fee for our better players, like Bellerin and Lacazette.
Stan Kroenke is far too busy cutting ribbons in Howdy-Doody stadiums across the Atlantic to give even half a toss about funding any of Arteta’s wish list.
So, unless Edu and Arteta rob a bank, it ain’t gonna happen mate.
On to other news, great day for our youngsters. Eddie Scores AGAIN for England U21s, and Nelson starts. Our U21 team beats Ipswich town 2-1 in the EFL Trophy. Not a bad day for Arsenal!!
what’s the point of having a billionaire owner if they can’t splash the cash during a depressed market. it’s value town now!
or are we just posturing…
You can blame the previous management for lobbying UEFA on FFP
Why? FFP has been relaxed so Silent Stan could be splashing the cash if he wanted to. He doesn’t.
When was it relaxed?
Oh give up mate!
That is, without doubt, the most ridiculous Kroenke-Apologist rubbish I have ever read on here.
I think your comment on how Ozil is still our best attacking midfielder takes that title by a long shot!!
Elneny then…
If Xhaka is staying, and Cebellos is back, I’m not sure where you lot think this new midfielder will play, maybe we’ll sign a back up, but Xhaka and Cebellos will be first choice as far as I can tell. If Xhaka isn’t starting he’ll leave, Cebellos also wouldn’t have come back without the starting position.
Ideally we play a 433 (seems arteta wants think too with these two heavily linked players)
DM: now xhaka – partey > xhaka (if anyone thinks otherwise you’re having a laugh)
CM: ceballos
AM: willian? Willock? Özil (please no)? Basically the missing link forcing us into 523 formations. Auoar goes straight in…
I think the AM role will be filled by Willian and ESR.
Wait, clubs look at a player’s profile BEFORE they sign him?
If that isn’t a hint I don’t know what is – Guendouzi isn’t the sort of player we want, but Lacazette is!!! How would people feel if we got Aouar in exchange for Lacazette?
Well said.
People keep on and on and on about selling Laca, as if Auba (who STILL hasn’t signed) is going to have a 50 goal season, or other goals are going to come down the fucking chimney at Christmas. Laca is an experienced international who knows where the back of the net is. He was this club’s ‘Player of The Season’ not so long ago. Yet people are ready to part with him as though we’ve already got a ready made twice better replacement on the books at half the price. Idiocy…….
Edu must be very great full to have you sharing how our players feel about the club. That is some friendship.
I want this guy to be Aouar player.
Has any one heard of jasper karlsson? arsenal should sign him up.play like c.ronaldo & is currently better than all our youth player
I think David Luiz should be converted to a standing 4. Luiz is fluid, a good passer of the ball and can be solid. There’s no need of buying Thomas from Athletico.
Arsenal needs another creative midfielder if Ozil won’t be available rather than buying a 4 if they can convert Luiz.
My opinion anyways.