Friday, March 29, 2024

Report: PSG make £25m bid for Hector Bellerin

According to a report in the Guardian, PSG have made a bid of £25m for Hector Bellerin, plus £5m in add-ons.

It’s substantiated by an update from David Ornstein who says that dialogue between the two clubs is ongoing.

This is a summer in which everyone accepts Arsenal need to raise funds to bring in the calibre of players we’d all like to see, but the players we’d most like to depart are the ones who would bring in the least money.

As per reports, the club would like to keep Bellerin, but if the price is right they will sell, and the player himself is said to be open to a departure while not pushing for it to happen.

Bellerin has been at Arsenal since 2011, making him one of the longest serving players in the squad, and although some sad lads in their Datsuns make angry videos about him, he is a popular figure at the club and with fans.

However, it has always felt like some of the money we need to raise this summer was going to come from selling someone we like, someone we don’t necessarily want to go.

David Ornstein says that if he does go, Ainsley Maitland-Niles would be first choice as his replacement, and discussions are taking place over a move for Houssem Aouar.

Let’s see how this one goes, but it does sound as if there’s genuine substance to this story.

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Tim Langedijk

Bellerin has Arsenal DNA. Don’t sell!

Biggles

Who do we sell then? We must raise money to balance the books and (hopefully) provide Arteta will funds for other purchases. Most of the usual suspects we have available aren’t wanted by clubs, or not for much money anyway. Bellerin will raise a fair sum. What’s the alternative?

Anonymarse

It’s one area where we are over stocked, unfortunately both are players we’d like to keep

Bob's Mexican Cousin

Let’s sell Kroenke

Biggles

Fair enough, he can be bought out from Arsenal for around £900 million or so, I guess. I’ll put in a fiver.

Oldleg Luzhny

Well…PSG can afford him… let’s make it happen ?

Qwaliteee

I wish someone like Arsenal fan Bernie Ecclestone and his mate Lakshmi Mittal would join forces again like they did for QPR a few years back and buy Kroenke out.

Mittal is the 5th richest man on the planet; he’s considerably wealthier than Kroenke, that’s for sure. And I’m willing to bet we wouldn’t be having to sell one of our best players to ‘balance the books’ if he were on the board.

Qwaliteee

Fair one, Blogs, I have to say I knew nothing about this.

Whatever else Stan Kroenke may be, to the best of my knowledge he is not someone who praised Adolf Hitler for ‘getting things done’ like it seems Bernie Eccleston has done.

Why are billionaires such cunts? Actually, the answer is in the question, when you think about the hunger and poverty in the world. Depressing.

Right. Scrap what I said in my former post. It would be nice to have an Arsenal man with some market-viable cash, but not if they’re Nazi sympathisers. Piss of Bernie.

Goonsquad

I wonder if he feels the same about those dynamic entrepreneurial types who stole all his daughter’s jewellery.

Heavy Gunner

Right on, Blogs- but, y’know, it’s seems like that we find ourselves in a time where the ‘average Joe’ absolutely praises the endeavours of men who ‘get things done’. A worship of absolute power with iconic history- A.Hilter, Napoleon, Alexander the Great, Stalin, etc, etc. Compared to that shower, Bernie Boy is merely a school boy.

Non-flying dutchman

I think there is a reasonable argument to be made that Bernie Ecclestone is worse then Napoleon… assuming that is that you mean the French General and not the despot pig that ruled Manor Farm… the latter definitely was a swine

Bob's Mexican Cousin

Telling that we are willing to consider owners who participate in either slave labor, Russian mobs or lunatics.

Truly depressing. We, the fans, should buy him out. Don’t ask how

Goonerjag

Bernie is a right prick in more ways than once. The parents of a guy I know bought a house from him decades ago. He bribed the surveyor not to report dangerous subsidence, the sale went through and the house literally fell down three months later when they tried to build an extension. I’d bang his daughter though.

A P

I am not sure about this story. I will give it a 10 on the poop meter.

Tapps

….and how did that work out at QPR?

Gooner

Deal Done mate lets sell him to LA Galaxy

claude g

For Arsenal to brevity great again we need a different owner.
The reason Arsenal has fallen is totally the owners fault.
He thought he could save money and the club would remain great on the field.
How naive for a business man to think like that.

atom

Kroenke does what 99% of other owners in football do and has left the club to be financially self sustaining. He didn’t know anything about football and thus gave Wenger absolute power. That worked ok while Wenger was at the top of his game but became a real issue when Wenger started losing his touch. His biggest flaw was he wasn’t willing to strip Wenger of power when it became obvious Wenger was starting to fail.

Dazzlo

Wenger never failed. #Wengerin. He won 3 FA cups in his last 4 years with average players mostly. Look through the league table to appreciate what 90% of clubs would give to have him.

John C

Average players he bought with a well above average budget

Atom

So I take it you view this past season as a rousing success. Or for Wigan the year they won the cup and were relegated.

fineas

i wish

The optimist with little hope

Lovely to see Pique!

menace2society

The alternative is to get Kronke to open his wallet and back Arteta like he’s supposed to. Selling our best players is a step in the wrong direction, we’ll never compete with the big boyz and will just be an average club struggling to make the top four every season!!

Qwaliteee

And the truth shall set you free.

Daveo

Can we move on from the fantasy realm where Billionaire owners of football clubs are actually socialists that only care for the emotions and well-being of fans.

menace2society

All the more reason why you DON’T sell your best players!!

Daveo

We don’t sell, we don’t buy, and I think we can all concur after last season we need an improved midfield. Like I’ve said “selling” (or donating) or loaning Mustafi, Sokratis, Kola, Douzi (loan), Torreira (loan), Elneny, Holding (loan) and even chambers (injured – cut price) doesn’t move the bar on getting funds to upgrade midfield and neither does Ceballos loan by itself… Right now Arsenal possession is like a donut, starts in the middle at the back and goes wide to the wings and full backs to knock in crosses. That’s mid-to-lower table football. If that’s what you want,… Read more »

Drew

Although it kinda worked for Liverpool though didn’t it?

Eternal Titi Berg Pat Nostalgia

Isn’t a priority for PSG to buy a playmaker who is one year from the end of his contract?

ER1

We can sell Kroenke

ER1

Ha, someone beat me it tonite already…

Merlin’s Panini

There are a few centre backs and midfielders we could shift first. Mustafi, Sokratis, Torreira, Guendouzi, Elneny, even Xhaka.
I’d be open to any of them going (although not all of the midfielders at once!). We’ve just completed our defence as I see it with strong options across there. If we need to raise funds for a solid midfielder or two it makes sense to sell one or two who haven’t really cut it and shift the surplus centre backs.

Daveo

So you might get 4.5M€ Sokratis (fee discussed), basically nothing for an injured, unwanted Mustafi, Torreira is most likely going on loan (typical for a player on the fringes, especially in this market) with maybe an option to buy, Douzi the same (his market seems very limited), Elneny – 5M€ at most (loan or less more likely), Xhaka maybe 15-20M€ (I mean when we was available it was Hertha Berlin and Newcastle interested – not exactly teams that shell out 30M€ on players). Does that fund 1-2 quality midfielders (def. 2 if Xhaka is involved and you’d need to keep… Read more »

BelfastGooner

All the fans calling for xhaka to be sold need to look at our record without him this season. Yes we can buy an upgrade but still think we should keep him around as he has massively improved under arteta and in the new system. The same fans are calling for bellerin to stay when he has been distinctly average for a long time. The last great game he had was in the champs league against Bayern about 4 or 5years ago. The guy is too concerned with fashion and planting trees.

Daveo

Exactly, @Biggles, seems people think we can sell Kola for 20M€, Sokratis for 15M€, Douzi for 40M€, Mustafi for 10M€, Chambers for 20M€, Holding for 20M€ Torreira for 30M€ and then we are set. People are living in a fantasy Fifa Career mode world! Even if we could move all of them (seems unlikely) we might get 20M€ total at very most, as loans are far more likely for many. We aren’t allowed to sell AMN, Bellerin, Lacazette, Leno/Martinez. So where the fuck is the money coming from? We have depth and talent at GK, FB, and Forwards and we… Read more »

PeteyB

“he could raise a fair sum”
Yes, and of PSG make an offer we can’t refuse, then fine. But £25m isn’t close in my mind. Chilwell went for double that. For PSG money pretty much grows in trees… or at least they pump it out of the ground… so if they really want him make them pay.

Daveo

Well it’s actually £30M (inc add-ons), but hopefully we could squeeze out some more and push the total towards £40M. Can’t control Chelsea’s spending reality and really it can only be used as a slight incentive to squeeze a few more quid out of the deal. If it was £35-40M, that is really good money to invest in midfield.

SB Still

I think this may be unpopular but since we have to sell a regular, I would actually prefer Laca to be sold (for a bigger amount than the £25M), than Bellerin. Arteta was giving chances to Eddie sometimes ahead of Laca in the middle. I would personally prefer Auba to be moved to the middle with Eddie and Martinelli as back up. We have Pepe, Saka and now Willian to play wide. That’s 6 players atleast for the front 3 positions. We still have Nelson and Willock both of whom should be pushing for more game time, as well. We… Read more »

VAR will solve the problem

Time for Kroenke to spend some of his own money. Walmart stock is at all time high. I’m sure his wife could lend him some! She is probably richer than him rn. So these billionaires have no money during covidb is just BS. We, the regular people getting screwed that’s for sure…but they r making a killing.

Luckylee

Here we go again with selling laca,he was our player of d year just 2 seasons ago..n u want to sell him,lucas,papa,musty,guend,n kola can all be sold as they are not really active or position sorted while holding or chambers can go on loan to ease payment..miki is off d book n for me Josh kronke should do his best to invested just for dis year and allow arteta qualify us for d ucl;every body around us is buying without selling off present talents so y should arsenal sell every player before buying ? Auba is not good centrally as… Read more »

db10s

I get your point but Laca might be worth nothing much in 2 years. If we keep Laca, then we’ll be faced with the issue of having to replace 2 good old strikers in the 2 years. Unless Martinelli and Eddie step up big time, we’ll need to spend big a new forward.

I am hopeful we can move out Guendouzi, Skoratis and maybe chambers for around 30+ mil combined and just top up abit of a decent midfielder.

Yoki

Laca is too important, and dare I say is harder to replace.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles can cover for Bellerin if sold, it will be ridiculously hard to find a replacement for Laca and what he does.

Dave cee

We also have Cedric. And maybe a bid goes in for Max Aaron’s.
If the bid is 30M cash it is hard to refuse for a RB who has underwhelmed at times

TheNicolau15

Laca and his hold up play can be replaced by Edouard ou Daka, the first has a great first touch, is very roaming around and has pace, and the second has an awesome pace and a Giroud-esque hold up play. I Don’t think selling Hector is a good business right know. If he’s sold, who’s going to give us width and attack the right corridor? Pepe? Everybody knows that he’s better in a more free role, closer to the goal. And Maitland-Niles never played like this type of full back, he was as a Guardiola type of fullback in the… Read more »

PEA14

As much as I like Laca and he is Aubu close friend, can’t deny that he can generate more revenue than Bellerin who both are at the last year of contract. And think Eddie will do a decent job taking that role there or as an alternative selection when Aubu plays up front with Saka, William, Pepe at the wings

No point trying to sell Bellerin for peanuts, only to find out we need to sell a few more key players cos funds is not enough

Goonslinger

I think they both have the potential to leave, and would/should bring in substantial fees. The pro’s for selling both? Out way the cons for me.

Dave Roberts

We don’t have a replacement for Laca. Eddie maybe good enough at some later time, but he’s not Premier League quality at the moment. In fact, a long way off. Why not sell Cedric? Bellerin is too good to let go. Plus I’d sell or loan out both Eddie and Nelson. Auba and Laca pair up perfectly. Add Pepe to play a similar role as Auba on the right, coming into get balls laid off by Laca. We bought Willian to play a #10 type role, didn’t we? However, we’ve an embarrassment of riches. Saka and Martinelli must stay as… Read more »

Daveo

I agree Goonslinger. Both are quality, both are valuable – we desperately need cash for midfield and our deadwood is getting us basically nothing. If we sell Bellerin, AMN gets the gig with Soares as rotation. Both solid, AMN could be really good (at least as good as Bellerin if he knuckles down) – considering Bellerin has more value than AMN (who also has more versatility) it makes sense to sell hector for a good fee. Laca is quality, but was basically in rotation with Nketiah in 2020 anyway. Laca could like get 30-35M€. We have Auba, who would likely… Read more »

Merlin’s Panini

You make a decent argument here.

Reality check

At this point in time, Ainsley is a better player, younger and even more authentic Arsenal DNA. Hector is one of our own but kids to fly nest, it happens..

Ckot

You can’t get too caught up in “Arsenal DNA” – but I’m with you on not selling him; we need players of his class, and it just isn’t enough money to justify the loss.

AMN can play there, but is a completely different kind of player, who we are currently using on the left. If we want to get to a back 4 eventually, Bellerin is the better fullback for that formation.

Looney

Please stop this rough play. How can we even open discussion with a bid of £25k??? Leave Hector alone. There are so many other players gathering dust on our shelf that we can sell. The guy gives us something intangible and he’s just recovering his best form. Our memory is such a fickle thing.

fineas

i’d rather sell him than ainsley maitland-niles

Cangooner

I’d hate to see Hector leave. Especially since he seems to be re-discovering his form post-knee knack. I get that finances need to be factored in, but I’m crossing my fingers that others are closer to the exit.

Atom

I love hector but if we can get 50 for him and buy Dani plus a huge chunk of another midfielder we need to seriously consider it. I know we ended the season well but we need to seriously upgrade the midfield or we’re going to continue to struggle against sides we need to attack

Biggles

There’s not a snowball in Hell’s chance of getting that money for him in the current market – pure fantasy, I’m afraid. Around half that is far more likely as the article suggests.

atom

In the current market where Childwell is going for 50m, Everton is paying 22m for Allan, Eze to Crystal Palace for 20m? This is PSG – money is literally no object to them. We should only sell Hector if we get a price we can’t refuse.

A Different George

I think Arsenal supporters (maybe it’s true at every club) generally overvalue our players and this has been even more true in the covid market. But this is the exception. Bellerin should bring much more than someone like Chillwell, and certainly from PSG. I think Hector, with Tierney, Saka, Martinelli, and Pepe (and I am beginning to believe, Maitland-Niles) can be the core of a Arsenal side that challenges for the mid-term future.

Oldleg Luzhny

I agree with you 100% What really annoys me though is the fact that we all know that the value of the players will have to be greatly reduced to get deals done due to circumstance but how come the value of anyone we are after doesn’t seem to be going down at all? I.e. Thomas Partey… same principle should apply. PSG have money… we don’t need to sell as he has a decent amount left on his contract… (we only need to sell to raise money) so therefore we should be treating potential suitors the same way that we… Read more »

Goonersaurus

+40 mill or keep him

lessthanthesumoftheirparts

25 mill is an absolute god-damn piss in the wind these days. I’m insulted.
What does that get you? Half a Joelinton, Chilwell’s right foot.. 3/4 of neymar’s left arse.
Buck up your ideas PSG or get the fuck out of town.

Scott P

The other thing is I’d like to keep both AMN and Hector. But if AMN can be sold for only 5m less than Hector, I think that’s the better deal for us. Hector has more experience and has a really high ceiling once he is fully recovered from his injury. AMN does too, but it’s still more potential than actual even given his recent good form. It’s a hard discussion to have either way…

Adams9802

Don’t sell especially for such a low fee. If Chillwell is somehow worth 50 Bellerín is worth that too especially with three years on his contract.

Cultured Determination

yup. how the hell is chillwell worth more than bellerin lol. chillwell should be AMN’s price.

SB Still

Rather Bellerin should be Chilwell + more (not £1).

Anonymarse

Chilwell isn’t worth 50m. Hector is certainly worth more than 25m.

Biggles

Sounds logical but it doesn’t work like that though. A player is what he’s worth to the club that’s buying him. Clearly Chilwell has the skill set/experience/temperament, whatever, that Chelsea think will fit with their style of play, the other players they already have etc. No two players are identical so there’s never a direct comparison in value. If there was, agents would be out of a job tomorrow. Yes, PSG have lots of cash but I think they know (by now anyway) that clubs are likely to try to get more out of them because of that. Bellerin is… Read more »

Kartik Iyer

To counter your argument, I distinctly remember the Neymar deal affecting several future deals. It ramped up prices for even average players ridiculously. If that happened, then surely arsenal can tell PSG to match the price chelsea payed for another player of slightly lower pedigree in the same position and in the same market. Anything less than 50 mil would feel like a loss to me.

Merlin’s Panini

Chillwell has English player premium. That’s the only reason he’s £50 million. Same reason Andy Carroll was more expensive than Suarez when Liverpool signed both of them.

Badaab

bellerin would count as home grown if he were sold to a PL club in the same way cesc counted somehow for chelsea (because he had been with us during the formative years).

mashkeyboardgetusername

I think he’s worth more than that, and given it’s PSG I think we can get more than that.

Xanat

Although the price looks relatively small, if we get Aouar because of this deal, I’d take it. I think Niles more than proved that he’s ready. Nevertheless, Bellerin is a uniqur and great great homegrown lad – the feel is that we’d sell our own son..

Guymanface

Absolutely f-this – bin off signing Partey and just play AMN as the b2b ball winner in midfield :/

Qwaliteee

Top post, well said. I totally agree. Dani Ceballos is returning for another season, with Willock as back up. It’s absolutely imperative that we set up shop with a solid back line, with no question marks whatsoever. For me, getting the defence sorted once and for all has been priority number one – and, at last, we seem to have done that. To sell Bellerin in order to make what is (given that Stan’s coughing up sweet fuck all) an increasingly expensive signing that we arguably no longer need (for the short term anyway) no longer makes sense. Dani Ceballos… Read more »

Daveo

A guy who basically never played a game for Arsenal first team in midfield now becomes the new Vieira? Man, people really are living in a dream.

And when he struggles in that position a bit, you’d never be one calling for AMN to be sold and cut and a joke of a midfielder?

Hi-brid

If we have to sell, we need to push for much more than that.

Cultured Determination

we should be able to now that shady raul is out of the club.

Magneto

I don’t particularly want to see Bellerin go, but if we have to sell him, lets do so for big money, and not the piss taking fee offered by PSG.

Sean

Think we really need to be ruthless this window and let’s be honest, I don’t think Bellerin has turned into the RB we all thought he would be. Could be the injury, or he could just be a limited RB, there’s no shame in it…

Anything north of 40m and I think we should cash in

Arseluvr

Agree. Bellerin has been good, really good, not so good and then occasionally a liability defensively. i think the injury slowed him a bit, but to his credit he has gained experience and been playing smarter. Anyway, he is certainly not THAT good that he can’t be sold, especially when we have decent depth at that RB position and bugger-all in midfield.

db10s

I’ve had the same injury and obviously not anywhere near the level of rehab Bellerin would have got but it really takes 18-24 months to feel comfortable again. I would like to give bellerin the same amount of time or any other player with an ACL injury. I started playing football weekly again after 11 months and first it’s the psychological issue being scared to play full throttle again and then it is realizing your body isn’t the same. Normal things that you could subconsciously do before feels very different. One main thing for me was putting weight on my… Read more »

Onenil

Not sure about this. I like him but he hasn’t been quite the same player since injury. If it is Hector or AMN who would you keep?

Sac, Lac & Crack

Hector

Tapps

both

Thierry Bergkamp (non negotiable)

At least 40 mil for him and make AMN first choice sounds ok. Actually, if Chilwell is worth 50 mil, Hector a Spanish International should be at least that

Anthony

Let’s not forget that Harry McGuire cost United £75m and he’s utter dross.

Ckot

Chilwell is “newer” and people see potential, Bellerin has been around and you know what you will get (which is better than Chilwell, IMHO)

Biff

Don’t sell Hector, please. One of our longest serving players, and a player who carries the Arsenal legacy and values.

Arseluvr

Sorry Biff, but we can’t treat RB like its a government union job. Nice guy though.

Biff

Not often one gets the chance to start off a sentence with “Sorry Biff”.

On the seriuos side: I don’t think you can over-estimate how important it is to have players with values who know the club and contribute to the cohesion of the team. When they actually can play (RB) as well, we should hold on to them.

Automatism

I find the thought of this sincerely upsetting.

aberinkula

Double it, double it, then double it again. Then fuck off.

Twatsloch

That’s the best suggestion so far. I can get behind this.

gunnerpete

2 words – “F” and off”. 25m for their budget is derisory. What are we going to do with 25m. When healthy, Hector is among the best RBs in the Prem. If Chillwell is worth 50m, then a bar has been set.

A. Williams

Double the fee for us to even consider the bid or Get the f out psg, what an insult, £25m my arse.

A. Williams

They must be joking

lessthanthesumoftheirparts

They must be smoking

Fred

I love hector, but I think AMN has a higher ceiling, and is younger. If we can get that fee up to ~40 mil, and those funds are used to but auar/partey or both (other outgoings too obviously) then it would soften the blow of losing one of our own.

Anonymarse

It’s going to suck losing either but looking at it objectively it probably makes sense, provided we get more than 25m …

Hector is surely worth more. AMN does look ready and may get better.

Pepe The Frog

Agreed. I understand why this might be seen as an unpopular decision (huge fan of Hector myself), but these are the kind of decisions we’ll have to take if we’re going to rebuild the squad. Liverpool sold Coutinho. Chelsea sold Hazard. Man United is shite, fuck em. We’re not going to reach the top without some difficult decisions, and this is one of them.

Arseluvr

Fucking right Pepe.

John C

Maitland-Niles should be sold as he’s rank average.

Don’t let 3 ultra defensive team performances cloud your judgement on individuals.

No one’s advocating that David Luis is now anything other than a beneficiary of the new defensive system, so why are we doing it for AMN?

Biggles

We have to start selling players… not the ones we want to sell necessarily because most of those aren’t in much demand. There are, however, a few “saleable” players that we could offload without weakening the squad too much – Bellerin is one. If the offer comes in I suspect we’ll take it.

Richard

“not the ones we want to sell necessarily” – meaning we want to strengthen the team, so we weaken it

pingunner

PSG making stingey bids!
I couldn’t bare to see Hector leave. He’s been here so long, I thought he was going to be captain. I still feel like he has so much more to achieve and room to improve at Arsenal.
I get we want to buy Partey, and we have backup in this area (unlike Lacazette), but it seems way too early and desperate to have to consider selling Bellerin.

Bendtnerschristmastree

slap a £50 mil price tag on him. make a deal, and then put guendouzi on that plane instead of hector.

Richard

I would do no business with PSG unless they offer ridiculous money. The only way I can see this working is if they take Guendouzi as well, pushing the price at 60 mil at least.

thw14

It’ll take about 10 mil in Brylcreem to pull off this switcheroo. Still, bargain.

Nw 9 gooner

Didn’t expect it but a good sell- 25 mil would be an initial offer -so 30 mil with add ons would go a long way towards our midfield

allezkev

I don’t want to see Hector leave but maybe he himself wants a change, a new challenge and wasn’t there talk also that he was considering leaving Arsenal only a few months ago?
He’s only recently got over a serious injury and it’s possible that during his rehab that he was considering his future and whether he wanted a transfer?

mikeoz

Who is going to design those FA Cup Final suits if he leaves?

ClockEndRider

A proper designer hopefully. They looked like they’d all been to Mr Buyrite to get their cup final suits last month.

MontrealGooner

The only way I’d sell Hector is if we rinse PSG. Otherwise, I’m inclined to keep. It’s too bad because I quite like Hector.

Cultured Determination

bellerin is our first choice RB and he’s rediscovering his form. perhaps based on mikel’s tactics where the FB drifts in to CM, AMN would be a more suitable choice. I’d keep them both and sell kolasinac. anyway, no way cedric should be first choice. (i wonder why we sign cedric and mari if our finances were tight)

Anonymarse

Both cheap experienced players

Anthony

Cheap, add experience and depth in those positions.

A bit like the Lichtsteiner signing, only less shite.

Anonymarse

Bit like that yes 🙂

Anthony

Sometimes it works, sometimes you end up with Kim Kallstrom, other times a Squillaci, if your really unlucky a Silvestre…

Anonymarse

Doesn’t often work tbh

Berlingoon

Mari offers cover/ competition to Luiz as middle man in a back 3 and to Gabriel as left cb in an back 3 or a back 4.
Cedric is a proven professional who is perfectly capable of being a back up rb.
Would have a problem with the Cedric deal if I’d think we sell Bellerin or Maitland-Niles because of that but I think the idea has always been selling one of AMN/Bellerin and the Cedric deal was actually good foresight.

Jack

Why buy ultra-cheap, useful squad players when finances are tight? The mystery may never be unravelled…

Anthony

Knee jerk reaction to this is to tell PSG to f off and then again to f off from wherever they end up after telling them the first time. Of course there is likely to be a valuation the club has of him, and should it be met, I guess it then comes down to the desire of all parties. Does Hector want to stay, does Arteta see an Arsenal without him in the short to medium term? Do we have a ready-made replacement in AMN, who Arteta does value. I imagine PSG won’t go much higher than £40m. But… Read more »

Qwaliteee

Maitland Niles has stated many times that he doesn’t consider himself a traditional right back. Now, if Arteta can sweet talk him into ‘accepting a new challenge’ then fine. The problem is, if the player is genuinely uncomfortable, he isn’t going to perform well, not matter how many flip charts Arteta shows him.

Cedric isn’t the answer.

If we’re serious about getting back in the top four, we have to keep Bellerin. Simple as that.

Jack

Disagree. Hector is, as much as I love him, probably the weakest link in the defensive chain (purely defensively, I want to emphasise). As useless as our CBs were last season, he really made them look worse and made their job more difficult. He’s great going forward, of course, but his marking, defensive positioning, and concentration are often abysmal and don’t seem to be improving. I’d argue that the main obstacle to top 4 is our leaky defence. Selling Bellerin and replacing him with a less flashy, but more tactically astute and defensively responsible full back could be a net… Read more »

Qwaliteee

The weakest link in our defensive chain is Mustafi – hands down, no competition.

Bellerín didn’t make our centre backs look bad – they managed to do that quite comfortably by themselves.

If we sell Bellerín, you can kiss goodbye to the top four and the ECL for yet another year.

Jack

I think there’s a question. Actually, Mustafi in particular suffered from being left exposed by Hector time and time again last season. Obviously Hector is the better player overall, but defensively they’re similarly disastrous.

As for your final paragraph, I think that’s wildly overdramatic. Hector has had his ups and downs, but last season his contribution was mildly net positive at best. To say we’ve got no chance at top 4 without, frankly, a defensive liability at full back is just silly.

Djgooner

I’ll be super unhappy if Hector leaves, a real class player on and off the pitch and should be made vice captain. Exactly the type of player we need going forward

Pepe The Frog

Anything close to £40m should be accepted I feel, provided we use it to get Aouar and Partey. I really, really like Bellerin, but he’s a saleable asset, and let’s be honest, he’s become injury-prone. I think the Ligue 1 will take a lesser toll on his body. Plus, AMN and Soares could probably manage it on the right. Selling Bellerin isn’t going to drastically weaken our team. On the other hand, getting Partey, Aouar is definitely going to strengthen the team.

gunnerpete

40m is getting us even one of those players, let alone both. Maybe Chelsea paid a EPL premium for Chillwell, but for me, 50m is the bar to clear now.

gunnerpete

*isn’t getting us

TommyGun

That assumes that we have no money set aside for transfers which I suspect is not the case. I think there will also be more departures.

Pepe The Frog

Add 5m to that and we can trigger Partey’s release clause. Of course, we’ll need to shell out another 50 odd million for Aouar, but you surely know what I mean. We’re looking at getting both at a net spend of 50m rather than 100m.

Jack

No-one is saying £40m will get us them. We also have this thing called a transfer budget.

Pete

In a way, while I will be sad for us, I will be happy for Bellerin as he will be winning trophies there too.

Frankie

Looking at the comments about selling hector… there’s a big flaw… AMN s wants to be a midfielder not a right back…. so I doubt he will want to be pushed in to that position and will probably look to find a club that will play him in midfield.. and Soares is average at best… so let’s keep hector and pray we can sell someone else

Vino

Amn is wingback now. He has made peace with it that was the reason for the initial bust up with arteta

Arseluvr

How do you know he still wants to be a midfielder? He got a call-up to the national team as a RB. Arteta seems to have talked him into a new mindset, and he is flourishing – MOTM against Liverpool, one of the best teams in the world, means he is doing pretty well back there.

Torterrier

He didn’t play Right Back in that game though

Tapps

His international recognition came on the back of superb performances at left back – not right back. Absolute madness to consider selling Bellerin. One of the best RB’s/RWB’s in the EPL, and the back up is Soares (who is average at best in my opinion) and AMN who doesn’t want to play there.

Qwaliteee

Exactly. Thousands of us can quite clearly see this – why can’t the fucking board?

Nilaroulettes

No idea if I prefer losing AMN or Bellerin. For less than 30M I’d keep both of them.

I feel like AMN is like our Milner. Hard working and versatile.
Bellerin has been and can be world class, and he ended the season with a solid performance.

I don’t see the need to lose one of them before we’re absolutely sure there’s no market for Guendouzi and Torreira.

Qwaliteee

Top post.

With Ceballos back for another year to resume his partnership with Xhaka, Joe Willock able to deputise for Ceballos, AMN able to operate as a b2b midfielder and Guendouzi and Torreira still on the books, I don’t see the need to sign a midfielder to the detriment of our defence.

AMN has always maintained that he is not a defender. Selling Bellerin now will come back to haunt us – big time. People who think Cedric is going to help us back into the top four are living in cloud cuckoo land.

Qwaliteee

FFS ?

Qwaliteee

Down vote it all you want. I make absolutely no apologies whatsoever for being pissed off with this situation.

We have an eight time billionaire majority shareholder; we shouldn’t have to be selling our better players to balance the books.

If other people wish to take takes a “Ho-hum, oh well, life is a cabaret” attitude to this, well that’s down to them. I see my football club and a brilliant coach unable to build reasonably and properly, because of another man’s greed.

The Big Ray Gun

I love Hector, and would be very sad to see him go. I think he can continue to grow as a very productive RB in the coming years. I also think he maybe isn’t the same “type” of RB that he was pre-injuries. Maybe it’s a crossroads that is unfortunately convenient for the club at this point in time. I hope if we do sell, it’s for a proper value, and with a great salute and a key to the building if there is ever a road to return later on. He’s been a fantastic ambassador and is a wonderful… Read more »

pound4pound

If 25M is the current price, don’t settle for less than 35M. Be ruthless for once, Arsenal!

Bobbyp

I really like Hector, but I would quite fancy seeing AMN at right back. Think he’d do really well there.

Vino

45 mil pounds or no deal. We do have the position overstocked but 25 million won’t do any good for partey and aorar

Kanu Believe It

Tierney might genuinely become the longest serving player in our first choice defence come October.

Kanu Believe It

I don’t even know what my point is beyond that is fucking mental. And I might still be down with it.

Cliff_B

I would be VERY sad to see Hector go if it happened. He has been a loyal servant to our beloved club. He even had the rotten job of negotiating the players pay-cut during the lock-down – to help save jobs! Not sure how he really feels about that and perhaps that has a baring on this situation; however although he is open to a new challenge he is still not pushing for a move. I hate PSG, but if he is going to move at all then his talents deserve a club where he at least play CL football… Read more »

ifan

DO NOT SELL BELLERIN !!! if Maitland Niles replaces him..it will be dangerous for Arsenal..bcoz MN is a bit fragile & he did a lot of mistakes before in Emery’s time ..he s not look strong if he attacks and defend back at the same time & not sharp in shooting…please sell MN rather than Bellerin

Crank Case

Fuck rite off

Alex

PSG, arrange these jumbled up words into a well-known phrase or saying: Fuck To Get

Hantal

I’d hope the club have more insight on whether his injuries have affected him. His pace has looked off but it’s been a weird season so can’t judge

ZAMBIAN GUNNER

I am glad am not the Coach. This is tough. it’s very easy to be sentimental especially that we are slowly running out of senior players that have been with us for a long time. But again, one can understand the logic behind.

Qwaliteee

If I was the coach of this club, I’d be telling Kroenke to start coughing up or I’d be off to a club where they do invest properly.

It’s only a matter of time before Arteta does the same thing. If we haven’t made top four in two seasons time, due to a lack of investment from Kroenke, Arteta will leave.

Gooner Sam

Bollocks to the DNA shit (I get its the Barca dig BTW), we need money and he is a world class talent that we would miss but could compensate for. If the money is good he has to go unfortunately

Qwaliteee

The thing is mate, it’s that kind of ‘DNA shit’ that inspires players to give their all – and results in success, FA Cups, that kind of thing.

More money in Kroenke’s bank account or ECL football in 21/20..?

I know what I’d choose…

Qwaliteee

*21/22

Dawie

Surely that’s not enough money regardless of the current climate. At 25 years old, with that many senior experiences, potentially a few Spain caps if I remember correctly, id take nothing under £30 million at minimum

Santori

We are getting desperate. We have not sold any of our surplus. We should be selling them off for 10-15m at very least instead they are rumoured to be attracting 5m bids or loan deals. Its a lack of experience in the Transfer Team which is predictable and could have been remedied but for lack of will. And we have bought unecessary players in positions we do not need to prioritise at the moment (Cedric and then Willian, arguably even Magalhes) There’s a lack of strategy to our business and awareness to what we need to do to bring balance… Read more »

Bryan Clayden

What total utter rubbish

Joe

If PSG are starting at £25m plus £5m in add-ons and Munich and Juventus are also interested we should be able to drive the price up. For £35-40m I’d sell. Love the guy but I’m not convinced he hasn’t lost a bit of what made him so promising with all the injuries. Still a good player but I’m not Bellerin is so far ahead of AMN that a high offer should be turned down. If the sales of Bellerin (~£35m), Leno or Martinez (~£20), Torreria (~£20m), Guendouzi (~£20m), and Laca (~£25m) generated around £120m we could probably bring in Aouar,… Read more »

Daveo

I agree, but it seems ~£20M for Torreira (loan) and Douzi (loan maybe) aren’t happening. I’d also be dissapointed with ~£25M for Laca (~£30-35M). Still Laca, Bellerin, Leno/Martinez could generate close to ~£90M. If you swap Thiago (~£25M) for Aouar (~£50M) you get a cheaper, better, more rounded, more experienced player. ~£45M for Partey. And potentially an alternate striker option (~£20-25M range – seems Celtic are keen for close to double that for Edouard due to sell on clause). Then we are talking. But I fully agree with you we need to cash in where we have depth in quality… Read more »

Cobwebs

I would sell him for 35m. He has slowed down and now doesn’t have the pace to compensate for being out of position. He has always been lax at preventing crosses. His balls into the box are not world class or even Tierney class. I like him though.

Dave cee

This is the truth. Decent player, clearly a good guy, but replaceable. And from his point of view, Paris, Champions League, league titles and most likely a bumper pay rise. Everyone wins at 35M fee.

Qwaliteee

Did you watch the FA Cup Final?

Just wondering……

Santori

Absolutely spot on. Bellerin was the one who instigated the winner. People like to cherry pick. What is a world class Tierney cross…there have been good crosses and poor ones. Kolasinac has put in a lot of assists for us as well start of season. Cedric IMO arguably still inferior to Bellerin (considering gaffer starts Bellerin) AMN IMO should have been kept at Rback as surrogate, we had no need to go chasing for Cedric and spending money there. It was NOT a priority. People need to wake up and see how unstructured our spending habits are and how much… Read more »

Guns Up

How do you disinguish between world class and “Tierney class” crosses? They are one and the same.

Santori

Everyone is replaceable even Auba. Depends on price. BUT rumour is we are trying to fish for 30m and PSG etc are more keen on 25m which isn’t that much considering we then have to maybe now replace him. AMN as much as he has improved isn’t Bellerin yet and risky to think he will develop into Bellerin at this point plus Kolasinac now looks unsettled by us. It simply does not make sense. The one secure area at fullback we have good depth for once (with Cedric…arguably we did not even need him since we could have persisted with… Read more »

Kartik Iyer

Anything less than 50 million is an insult. If the bloke Chelsea bought is worth 50 mil then definitely Hector goes for 60 mil. Especially since it’s PSG. We should milk them for all they’ve got. Rather prefer he’d stay though.

Santori

We are not realising on prices for our sales list is the problem. We don’t have the right man on the job. frankly, the whole approach is wrong. I mentioend before we should be selling off older depreciating assets. As much as I like Auba and he hauls in the goals for us, we should frankly be selling him at 31yrs. He is the MOST saleable asset. BC Arteta is reluctant to countenance this (Maybe he lacks faith in himself), we are now trying to sell Laca BEFORE we know if Auba is 100% on board. This is so clumsy… Read more »

WalZ14

So we stick with Hector when he’s young, error prone, injured, recovering and getting back to good form, becoming a real leader as an Arsenal man only to now sell him for what is essentially pocket change and won’t buy us Auoar or Partey? What dumbfuckery is this.

Unpopular opinion: we may not be able to strengthen midfield this year with a top target but that doesn’t mean we sell players who are currently playing well. I.e. AMN, Bellerin.

Qwaliteee

Spot on.

I would only begin to even entertain the idea of letting Bellerin go if an offer was £50m

We’re talking about one of the best right backs in the world; that’s more than a fair price in this market. Any suitors, in my book, can cough up or fuck off.

Santori

The trouble is it likely won’t be the fantasy 50m…. We are struggling to find price on players which is why we are now throwing in good assets. Sokratis and Kolasinac were rumoured (it has to be stressed) to be offered at a mere 5m Holding to go on loan, Torreira we want some ridiculous price for at 26m and may also scare off buyers into a loan instead… We do not have the experience in trenches to direct transfers… We are also buying players unecessarily in Willian (24m in salaries++) which take away from areas we need to prioritise… Read more »

Qwaliteee

That’s what happens when you have a billionaire majority shareholder who refuses to invest any of his own resources to help the club.

Jack

Qwaliteee, are you Hector’s mum? You are adorably besotted with the boy.

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