Reports have surfaced this afternoon that Arsenal are close to a deal for Icelandic goalkeeper Runar Alex Runarsson who currently plays for French side Dijon.
The 25-year-old started his career at KR Reykjavik before moving to Danish side Nordsjaelland in 2014.
It was at Nordsjaelland that he crossed paths with current Gunners keeper coach Inaki Cana. Presumably, that connection has played an important part in our interest.
Runarrson moved to Dijon in 2018 with the French side’s chief scout Sebastien Larcier saying at the time: “When we discovered his profile, the interest was immediately strong…He is technically talented, he is not afraid to play high and has very good footwork. In addition, he has the temperament and charisma”.
In light of Emi Martinez’s impending move to Aston Villa, Arsenal have pushed hard to get a deal done for Brentford’s David Raya, another of Cana’s students, however, the Championship side have refused to budge on their steep asking price.
A cut-price alternative would allow us to redirect the majority of the £20 million we’re set to receive from Villa towards our midfield targets.
One to watch in the coming days…
I’d pay 5M just for that jawline. Get it done Edu.
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I like to think of myself as a handsome fellow, but several years ago I took a vacation in Sweden and Denmark and felt like the ugliest person in the world.
HIs father (the most capped player in the history of Iceland’s national team): https://www.visir.is/i/267616C44263EC9101937802CA8FDB281DD5EBFC30D481D4E760D53C06B73D0A_713x0.jpg
You do realise your head is a cheeseburger?
And? It’s never stopped me from getting the ladies. They’re always nibbling on my ear!
hahaha!!!
They gonna finish you.
Hahahaha
Don’t. It’s bad enough already trying to watch a game whilst my missus and our two teenage daughters wax lyrical non stop over Arteta, Bellerin and Xhaka, respectively.
But listen, as long as this lad’s a good goalie, I honestly don’t care what he looks like!
Lol he could cut diamonds w that jaw. Certainly adds to the Arsenal handsomeness quotient, which took a serious hit when Giroud left.
I don’t get why Inaki Cana didn’t make a name for himself as a goalkeeper and nothing in the photo makes this any clearer…
LOL, nice comment 🙂
Tell that to David Hilliers Arm Cast…
The same reason why our Wenger never made it through his playing career
He has a thing with Zacchaeus.
As an Icelander myself, I’d be thrilled to have someone from my country at Arsenal. He’s solid, could be a good backup for Leno.
Reassuring. A Viking is coming ashore!
It’s been a long time since Siggi Jonnson
Siggi the beast.
Also Olafur Ingi Skulason
Siggi was a great player, injury robbed him of a big career at Arsenal.
Siggi is a joy 🙂 I agree , injury prone like so many of our old boys, we did play on gravel and paved pitches,,, Siggi used to train on the beach in Akranes,, and Siggi always talks with great love about arsenal. And Olafur Ingi is one year younger than me. lived few houses away . and I found it bretty funny to meet him 2002 in London before we played against Everton ( the last game of the season, ) because he was not the best player in his group. but he was/is a leader and now he… Read more »
Yes, Arsenal signed Siggi from Sheffield Weds if I recall correctly and the fans took to him straight away, I’m pretty sure I saw him score at Highbury, but he used to run up the touchline warming up as a sub and all the kids in the East Stand would hold out their hands and he’d shake them as he ran by. Seemed a really nice guy and a bloody good player.
I’m pretty sure I saw Skulason playing in the reserves in the Combination as a midfielder.
I actually spoke to Siggi in Avenell road, the day he signed for the Arsenal.
I shook his hand and said to him “On behalf of all Arsenal fans, welcome to The Arsenal, Siggi.”
He smiled a genuinely grateful smile and, taking another look at the East Stand entrance to the marble halls, said “Thank you, this is a special club indeed.”
Nice lad and a good player.
Think of the shirt sales!
Are none of the reserves good enough to step up?
I feel there’s a lot of “baking” that goes into keeper readiness, largely related to sheer time between the sticks in meaningful, mentality-forging minutes, and I’m thinking that after having seen Macey in real situations they don’t see him projecting to top level. The younger prospects I’m sure all have the tools, but throw them into first team games? That’s a way to break a kid. I can only assume they feel strongly that the kids ain’t ready.
Who is the first choice keeper at U23?
Who knows… Up untill Leno’s injury Martinez wasn’t deemed good enough either.
Macey is still a teenager and he’s the most experienced of our current backups.
Matt Macey is 26.
He is 26 actually
If only. He is 26.
He’s 26 years old and leaving this summer.
Macey is 26. Now I may be way off, but I’m pretty sure that’s some way beyond being a teenager.
I’m 43 and still a teenaget
That would be a teenager in goalkeeping years
Several of our punts didn’t come good. I remember us having 6-7 a few years back. Macey, Iliev, and Martinez are the last of those. Iliev is likely to get the 3rd choice given Macey saying he wants to leave. The next rated young keeper is Okonkwo, but he’s been injured recently.
Hein is very highly rated also. He could be special. Super athletic, huge and great reflexes. He’s my tip for the top. Okonkwo looks really good too though. We have some really nice young options. I hope we don’t spend too much on this backup.
I don’t know anything about him but what about our very own Macey?
He wants to leave to get first team football.
And that is the clincher. Raya MAY be better as a player, but is he better value to the squad building effort? I’m down for a cheap back up with enough quality to play if needed.
Bring on Aouar, pls
Remember Alex Manninger? Cheap but vital in our run to the title in ’98 when Seaman got injured
He, just like Emi, looked every inch a future number 1. Big shame it didn’t work out, but he still played brilliantly when called upon that season. I actually remember being worried Man U would come in for him and give is a big dilemma
Very much so. I remember being terrified that it would all turn to ashes when Seaman got injured, but Manniger surprised the world. He was outstanding. I also agree that the two scenarios, Manniger and Martinez, are cut very much from the same cloth.
There was a game away to Wimbledon we absolutely had to win, late in the season. Alex pulled off an amazing top corner save, amongst others.
The game winning scorer that day? Chris Wreh, a 100k signing from God knows where, also with a top corner effort.
And also scored the winner in the FA Cup semi as I recall, as we went onto win the double. Vital contributions from two squad players.
Thanks for allowing the warm memories of those times bubble up again.
That was a proper nervy game. Think it was the game before we played beat Utd 1-0 as well and Alex played like champion.
Overmars goal and that fan at full time with the eyes like saucers.
That’s when I knew – I think we all did – that we were going to pull back that ten point deficit – or whatever it was – it was a big lead Utd had on us, but we had games in hand – and take the title off those fucking cunts. Beautiful memories.
Petit goal against Derby at Highbury with about 10 mins left to play. I nearly jumped into orbit!
Exactly why a squad needs such back up players that can do a job when required.
Nah we hammered Wimbledon 5-0. The must-win game was a really nervy mid-week match home to Derby, we played with butterflies in our stomachs the whole game, think Petit scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win. But yes Manninger was fantastic that season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBov9YUvGss
After getting a Celt, now going for a Viking….. Hmmm interesting ?
Very down for this, seems more cost effective than Raya and a backup goalkeeper really shouldn’t cost that much. Onwards and upwards!
Go watch a couple videos on youtube…much better prospect than Raya…the third video i watched (not uploaded by our goalkeeper coach) has him doing a Cruyff turn to dummy a striker closing him down and another him coming way out into defensive mid position and calmly spraying it wide.
also…some of his speed to get back up!
We should get him just so all the television commentators can have a heart attack when he does a Cruyff turn. “Just get rid of it,” the official motto of youth football in Britain.
He’s clearly Iñaki Pavon’s suggestion. There’s a compilation of him from 2018 on Pavon’s YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxa-Qk1C6DI&list=PLl5yYNtR855OFpeLwe_QZQxEPE9znnmCI&index=6
I gave you an upvote for the diacritical over the n in Inaki’s name. Superb keyboard control.
Seems a shame that we can’t promote a keeper from within (as with Emi, there are so many keepers who just need the chance to play some games), but I gather Macey is not good enough with his feet to takeover if required. I pray we don’t overpay for a backup, though, not with finances as tight as they are.
Unfortunately for Matt, he’s not good with his hands either. He fumbles the ball a lot.
Inaki Cana knows his area. The goalkeepers have improved tremendously under him. Wonder how Arsene never saw how poor our goal keeping was in his tenure, the keepers couldnot kick a ball till half line. Remember Fabainski and Szczesny criticising the then goal keeping coach on the same. Inaki Cana is turning out to be a great addition for us.
This is a very weird signing by Cana. Runnarson lost is place and are currently backup at Dijon because of a series of costly mistakes, and he’s also a backup for the National Team too.
If he’s not good enough for Dijon, why would be for us?
StatDNA
You understand these reports? It starts with Fjölmiðlamaðurinn
So much consonant clusters I find it a herculean task to vocalize. Lol
Not even sure what ð is
It’s an Icelandic letter. I think it makes a sound like the th in this, that and there.
Which, what, where?
That “Th” sound is the old runic “letter”.. ehm.. shit, can’t reproduce it on my keyboard. A Vertical line with a triangle in the middle, pointing right. Kinda like a P, but the bubble fell half way down and became pointy. Yeah, ehm… I meant well. Sorry 🙂
His mkt value is registered as € 1.6 Millions but this is the price Dijon paid for him. Maybe it should cost us around € 3 Millions i guess.
Possibly, but it depends on how much we want (need?) him really. We’ll have to have a replacement for Martinez (assuming he goes). It seems Raya is too difficult to lever out of Brentford so I guess we’ll pay whatever we think is necessary to fill that obvious gap. However, the more we pay, the less we have to re-invest elsewhere as the article suggests. Clearly, Dijon know we’ll need a keeper so there could be some additional haggling. That said, if Runarrson is “Plan B” then Arteta/Edu will have “Plan C” tucked away, just in case.
Back to square one again, eh Biggles?
I dunno. This selling your better players malarkey only to have to stump up for a replacement. Heh. Who’d have thought it? ?
Gutted to see Emi leave but on the bright side, we bid 31m for Aouar meaning we have atleast that in the bank, so add that to the 16m we’ve received upfront front Emi and we now have ta funds to trigger the partey release clause?. The asking price for the dijon keeper is 1.5m so we can do both
Brentford to Dijon in a single bound… .
His father is the highest capped player in the history of the Icelandic national team (midfield general type, with great passes and good vision) and the manager of the current Icelandic champions. Good bargain. This young man is much better than his current value might imply.
I don’t know about this guy but the Raya guy looks seriously bad even from the video highlights.1m83 is too short and seems like he can never catch the ball.
I’m not sure I understand these deals. We are getting just £20m for a proven keeper but have to spend a proportion of that to get a replacement. Why not persuade Macey to stay as Emi did to get his chance via Europa and Carabao appearances? We have lots of players who are going to have to do the same this season but they seem to be up for it.
We look forward to those volcanic saves.
I want the keeper on the right ?
Since we have sacked the scouting team, and wasn’t expecting to be buying a goalie, so we don’t have a shortlist and have to revert to ask around the club, guys anyone know any goalies? so we are looking at him and the guy from Brentford.
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/sports/the-rams-5-billion-stadium-is-bigger-than-disneyland-it-might-be-perfect-for-la/2019/01/26/7c393898-20c3-11e9-8e21-59a09ff1e2a1_story.html%3foutputType=amp
How comes Stan can find $5billion to build the Rams stadium but can’t find £40m to fund Thomas Partey deal?
I take the point although the stadium is an investment with a return (seat licences sound like the North Bank Bond but refunded in 50 years) – a player is a more risky investment without guaranteed return. It is annoying that he sees LA as important but London as a side bet.
A lot of that sum wasn’t invested by KSE and is in fact public funds. American business is a whole different beast to British business.
I agree that it doesn’t bode well for Arsenal’s future financial prospects.
1.5m is a good price. do not see the point of minting 20m on Martinez then having to spend on Raya for 10m. Effectively, we would have only earned 10m Makes zero sense. If Macey and Iliev are not deemed good enough then this fella at 1.5m is a good option albeit a little on the small side. We need as much money as possible frankly for one more critical position LCM. I don’t see why we should be wasting resource this summer on DM if Elneny is looking decent enough. We can revisit this issue next summer. As mentioned… Read more »
Saw Arseblogs post on StatDNA having a hand. Honest question is how you can have any stats if you don’t play and are backup?
Whoscored seems to say his weaknesses are saving long range shots, saving short range shots and catching crosses. Let’s hope at least one of those is wrong!
He looks a bit short for me. We don’t need another Ospina, who I remember standing on tip toes for a team shot.
Curious signing. Cut-price. Reviews say he’s inconsistent and error prone but good with his feet and is a solid shot stopper. But we now have a one less homegrown player. Think we missed a trick with Joe Hart. Would have been a decent backup. And with rumors that Macey might be off too, wonder if lliev might be in the mix. Cos we’re one long term injury from Leno away from a crisis.
Probably ice cold when facing a PK