According to The Telegraph, Mikel Arteta and Edu have identified Spain international Isco as a possible short-term addition to the Arsenal midfield.
The 28-year-old, full name Francisco Roman Alarcon Suarez, is thought to be available on loan until the end of the season after falling out of favour at Real Madrid under Zinedine Zidane.
Isco came through the ranks at Valencia before making a move to Malaga in 2011. After winning the Golden Boy award in 2012 he was quickly signed by Real for €30 million and has gone on to make over 300 appearances for the Spanish giants since 2013.
Up until last year, he was also a regular in the Spain side but his lack of minutes onf the domestic front has seen his international career stall. He’s not played for his country in over a year.
Arsenal have been linked with a host of attacking midfielders in recent weeks – Joan Jordan, Christian Eriksen, Riqui Puig, Julian Brandt, Houssem Aouar and Emi Buendia have all been touted as possible solutions – but conditions for a big-money permanent deal are not optimal.
While our wage bill will reduce significantly in July once Mesut Ozil, Sokratis and Shkodran Mustafi are off the books, we’re not exactly flush with cash given the financial ramifications of the ongoing global pandemic. You can see why we’d potentially analyse loan options with the parent club contributing to paying wages.
To be able to register new players for the Premier League and Europa League we’ll also have to shift non-homegrown players when the transfer window opens. As we’ve seen before, that could be easier said than done.
Isco’s current deal at the Bernabeu ends in 2022 and Real are keen to sell him next summer. Having spent his entire career in Spain, a loan at Arsenal would give him the chance to try something new but he knows he won’t be short of suitors at home where Sevilla are said to be keeping tabs on his situation.
What is the point?
We will climb from 13th to 8th?
This season is gone.
Please give minutes to ESR and co.
Keep the best sell the rest.
Project restart.
Yeah, because the midfielder we loaned from Real is doing very well. Whatever happened to ‘everyone can contribute’?
To be fair, Ceballos was a major reason of our second half resurgence under Arteta last season. That makes him a successful loan deal and I completely understand why we renewed.
Isco though sounds like a terrible loan deal. He is the opposite of ESR – his lack of drive caused Real Madrid to play worse. We need a midfielder who injects urgency and flow, and Isco won’t do that.
lol…good one. <face palm>
Far from done. Still major cups to compete for.
Are you telling me you’re not going to be supporting the arsenal in the months to come?
I will support Arsenal for the rest of the season. And in case you ask I will support even if: 1. We sign old washed up players to retire on our team. 2. We sign all Kia’s unsold clients. 3. We sign Jonh Terry as a replacement for MA Nonetheless we should get rid of short-termism. And yes if you ask I would rather have a few cups less if you would give me a proper plan getting out of the mid table position we have slipped the recent years. Pile up all the Willian’s and Isco’s you want. We… Read more »
I see so much of on this forum “so you won’t be supporting The Arsenal then…” and “you’re not a real fan because…”
It’s a low blow in all forms and is just unnecessary. We all take the time to comment and discuss and nobody should have to justify their ongoing support and passion for the club because they have an opinion that not everyone agrees with.
But signing John Terry would make it really hard.
The guy’s got 4 names.
At least one of them could be Isco.
FrancISCO
That’s fun to say!
I think most of us are just frustrated. I really don’t think you will ever find a fan that visits arsblog that will stop supporting Arsenal. We might stop wat ching some games, curse Arteta and the club, but end of the day we will all support Arsenal even if we get religated to division 2. One you lover Arsenal you will always love Arsenal. Players, managers, and owners will just come and go.
Will Arsenal support me?
I hope this is one does not go through. As you said he is most likely not going to improve our season by much while certainly reducing playing time for the likes of ESR. We really have no reason to give this bugger a chance to play himself back to form in place of our own youngsters.
PS: I hate this guy for mocking Tony Adams during his stint managing in La Liga.
9 points to 3rd as is stands – not saying that is an expectation, but the table is congested, and there’s plenty to play for. As for blocking ESR…. how about affording to give him a break? Considering he’s the only option in that role as it stands. I don’t see a down side in this deal.
There is also Julian Draxler to consider. He is also out of contract in June and really does have something to play for. Could do worse. Versatile, talented, big. Probably already speaks decent English.
this holds valid but if esr get’s injured and ozil is not integrated, we might again hit that relegation form.
Yes, table position wise we are down in 13th but having played the same num of games as Chelsea we are only 6 points behind them. Due to the late start of the league, we haven’t even reached the halfway mark of the season. Also, like 2Highbury said we still have the cups to play for. Arteta has shown he can play those pretty well, while the marathon of league has been a problem. We have done well in the EL so far, albeit against teams from the relatively lesser leagues (no disrespect intended). We should aim to win it.… Read more »
You do know we’re already knocked out of it right?
He referred to the Europa League, not the EFL Cup.
We need 2 players in every position. ESR is the only 10 we have.
We have Ozil
Not any more.. yes we saved 350k and will now spend them on Willian and Cedric to insure that they retire peacefully.
While ESR can get burnt due to too many games in his first season of premier league football and also Saka who is already looking like he needs a break. But we can survive that. Whats maximum gonna happen?
They can’t play every game, do you want to see them overplayed and injured? This would be a good stop gap until summer.
I hear that argument. But I think it feels like one stop gap too many. Do they ever really work? Willian? Sok? Ceballos? David Luiz? Lichtensteiner? Dennis Suarez? At present we have Partey to return which means with ESR we have 5 midfields playing for 3 positions. With AMN keen to get on in these positions too, I think we have enough. I also worry that coming from La Liga, by the time he’s settled and adapted, he’ll be off back to Spain. Having said that, he’s a very good player. So I won’t exactly be throwing my toys out… Read more »
I agree with you, I think we should put this horrible season to good use and give the hungry youngsters a chance. But I think Wenger would say “Well you know……we are not even at the half point of the premier League, and mathematicaly we could catch Liverpool.”
Top four is still the objective. It was fun getting out of group stage to get crushed by Bayern in CL. Only Adebayor, Djourou and Senderos knew how to take us to quarterfinals.
Romanticism aside, do you really expect ESR to play every game till the end of the season?
Why not?
TIA
Really? Every game? That’s pretty unrealistic don’t you think? 1. Even the fittest of players will struggle with fitness this season with how little the offseason was, and how congested the fixtures are this season 2. History suggests that ESR is actually injury prone. Hoping he shakes off that tag this season, but he’s missed significant time almost every season I’ve been watching him 3. He’s a young player, his form is about to drop anytime soon, so obviously you’ll need to take him out of the firing line. 4. He might catch the Corona virus and have to be… Read more »
Isco will not be happy to be understudy to ESR. I don’t think Arteta has any plans to play a number 10 every game anyway, but if so why not try martineli there.
Half the people on here claimed the number ten role was dead.Glad to see it’s back in fashion, sadly doesn’t look like Ozil will get a sniff
I’m not against it in the January window.. Isco is /was class and was who I hoped would be Santis successor.
Not gonna jinx this but everybody is kinda shit now I do not believe 8th is the upper limit , lets leave it at that ..
ESR has a long history of injuries ,Saka is overplayed as it is. Arteta hates Pepe ..Reese Nelson will soon show up on milk cartons .
… Wait is that Hobo on the pic ISco?
Really ?
If he hates Pepe he may have a genuine reason, that guy(Pepe) plays crap.
We need a new number 10 going forward, and another striker, over reliance on Auba has done immense damage this season. Another midfield general in the form of Partey is needed. Big players have not stepped up this season. Look at the squad depth of man city, liverpool, chelsea, utd and not to mention spurs. Around four to five squad players in this team need to be moved, I want Mesut out immediately. Arsene Wenger did not add depth to the squad in the last decade of his career. These issues are now surfacing, Arsene over relied on a few… Read more »
ESR, Saka, etc can’t play 90 minutes every single game. Isco could share the load, and possibly provide an upgrade on what we have if he returns to the player I watched before. It’s low risk and potentially high reward. Isco was/still is an amazing player
Agreed, keep ESR for the rest of the season and restructure in the summer, offload in Jan, and keep a nose in the grind for an unlikely deal
Why not. A lot of good players get lost in the swamp at Real Madrid.
And this is a seriously talented player who could make a big contribution for us on a short term basis
I support the kids getting priority but we know we need depth in the creative department
Priority in the window should be selling as well though
Btw lads your relentless pig headed pessimism doesn’t make you intellectual.
Would prefer Emi Buendia, that kid is talented and have him and ESR fight it out for the AM role. Buendia is class and really underrated. Isco is a good player, but another aging ego that has been to the top…we have a bad history with these guys.
Agree he is a good player .Even last season his chance creation was top notch
How is he goal/shot wise ?
I guess if he’s creating chance for the forwards it doesn’t matter so much?
A playmaker from Real who doesn’t score many but he creates a lot. He does disappear a little in games and isn’t great tracking back but his chance creation is great.
Hhhmmm. 🤐🤐🤐
This is the twilight zone. We need playmakers and we need to create chances.
Have you seen how successful Jese was in the PL? hahaha.
Well at least he’s not 30 plus and it’s a loan.
True, so it’s relatively low risk. Although I guess it depends on loan/agent fees – Luiz ended up being a damn expensive stop gap.
Also depends on whether Arteta makes sure ESR still gets good game time / learns from Isco, and doesn’t just drop him.
I can’t say I’m massively excited about short term fixes though.
We’ve quite the eye for depreciating value.
Isco looks like an upgrade on what we have in midfield with experience. He’s 28 so hardly past it yet and it’s a half season loan.
He is a lost cause, maybe he will enjoy English hospitality for good chunk of 5 months. Please NO!
Great, another “good market opportunity” – like Cedric.
I fully expect there to be another “verbal agreement” that we have to buy him and give him a four year extension.
Any information on who his agent is and how they’re connected to Edu?
Isco, Costa, Erikssen… Do we ever learn? He’s not young anymore, he’s fat and he’s never played outside Spain so will need to adapt to the PL.
Get in some young, fresh, hungry blood – or failing that, carry on with the youngsters.
Isco is still a better player than the majority of our midfield options.
I am all in for giving the young Guns (Willock, Smith-Rowe and potentially Azeez) however, we should not overplay them and cause injury because of that.
Isco would give is a creative option and may increase our changes in the fa cup an Europa league. And its a loan so if he is shit we just send him back in june.
Send him back “in June” or “injured”
Smell of ceballos 2.0 off this would much rather go in for buendia who is actually proven in the league, then again that’s not really our style
I think Buendia will make much bigger impact
They’re on top of the championship why would they sell one of their best players!
He does have the obvious advantage of a season of PL experience, I doubt he will be cheap though.
Did he stand out in the Premiership?
So what makes you think he will now ??
Championship is much easier just look at the promoted teams.
You don’t get as much time on the ball to think about your next pass due to much better players / good players in other teams.
He did, but the Norwich team was about 4 or 5 PL level players and the rest were/are championship quality so they had a rough season.
More stopgap short-termism and lack of vision. Expected nothing better from the KSE shitfest.
For 6 months, let’s reintegrate Özil who is much better, knows the teammates and the league and can have an instant input (because as good as ESR can be in two games, he is not as good as Özil was under MA). Or is Alarcon another Spanish player in distress for daddy Mikel to save by giving him play time to convince the Spanish national coach for the Euro? Ceballos, anyone?
I agree. Mezut is not the player he once was but if we really are only looking for a short term solution to our creative problems then Ozil is a much better option than Isco or Erikson etc. He is just as good if not better and we are already paying him!
Not sure why so many down votes as this would make more sense to me. The only thing is would we get the best out of Mesut based on his treatment over the last year. Might be hard to motivate him.
It was hard to motivate Ozil during his prime. Now…pfft. Can we let the Ozil thing go and just get him out of our club at long last.
Get Buendia and have him and ESR compete for the role. I 100% agree that Isco is not the answer…just another player to dump a massive contract on who will likely have limited motivation (hence why he has fallen out of favour at madrid).
Ozil is supposed to be a non-person now, its some kind of internet social-media hive mind crap.
Alarcon…you are such an extraordinarily petty man Alex.
What’s this sudden “Özil is the answer” – everyone was utterly fed up with him for two seasons, not contributing, not running back, not pulling his weight, he didn’t travel, he was mysteriously absent for games… I wouldn’t want him in our shirt if he paid back all the money he earned in 2020.
Spot on odal
Yup. Team destroyer Ozil should have been booted out years ago.
I was waiting for this comment for months now. Thank you sir!
Alex, make sure you avoid post traumatic disorders when Ozil leaves at the end of the season.
You’re making too much sense and Arteta would never do this. Play Ozil in cup games and ESR in the league. Take time to find a suitable replacement at seasons end. What’s the point in bringing in Isco? He’ll take time to integrate with the squad and by then the season will be just about done
There are no rumours about Ôzil, he is not linked to any club. It seems he might sit out his contract, in which case it is no point in punishing him for refusing to leave. He could well get matches again the last months, but maybe not on the first team.
I think we should shift the dial and sign Sisqo and his (now well worn) thong instead.
Please no ! I’m enjoying the optimism desire and fight of our youngsters playing for theirs and our club ! Quite happy to have them play and learn in the first team and yeah if we lose well we lose but with our players ! And can we please please understand Rob Holding is growing into a good defender these days ? Yup he’s not gonna spray Luiz passes about like lasers but he defends like he’s willing to die for his club I like that and ESR Willock Azeez Saka Martinelli AMN Balogun Eddie et all are looking damned… Read more »
His wages will be a stumbling block for a (presumably) stopgap signing. Not actively rooting for this, but I’m sure he’d elevate our midfield if he does arrive. I’d rather have a younger, long term signing to complement our Hale End boys
Signing another global superstar on massive wages, with his best days likely behind him, really highlights how badly we need a competent director of football With an eye for talent, a track record of setting up scouting departments + negotiating teams, and constructing balanced and functioning squads. The PL is all about pace, power, stamina and aggression A midfield of Xhaka, Ceballos, Isco, with a lumbering Willian to the right, Lacazette who rarely lasts 70minutes, a 31yr old Aubameyang, and a lethargic Pepe Is a recipe for disaster. If this is all Arteta + Edu have got? They shouldn’t be… Read more »
Fully aware how little I know about the market and the internal situation of the club but if we’re looking for players that could make us competitive in the coming seasons surely a 24 year old Julian Brandt would be a better option and more financially realistic as a direct successor to Mesut than getting Isco on Real Madrid wages for 6 months and a loan fee. Taking into account that he is one of the top German prospects, Dortmund might be interested in selling or loaning with an option to buy and his connection to Leno through Leverkusen.
Don’t we have enough ageing players on high wages yet? Smith Rowe needs to develop at some point.
If he does come, can we return Ceballos?
Exactly this. If we take Isco on a loan, we have to get rid of one of the midfielders currently occupying the back pass position. If it were my choice it would be Ceballos or Elneny, probably Elneny because his last game is recent in my mind. Might be easier to cancel Ceballos loan move though.
We’re all going to the d-isco Partey!
How exactly does are recruitment policy function these days? Are we still using StatDNA to identify talent? Are we just working off agent recommendations? I know Cagigao is gone but do we still have a scouting network at all? Or do Mikel and Edu watch the odd La Liga game together in the evening with a few bottles of Corona and identify talent together?
By the way if one of the Admin here can switch off my ‘Awaiting for approval’ restrictions for every single comment, that would be awesome thanks.
I don’t know exactly why your comments are being held
Mine are the same, I comment straight after a game and it’s always waiting for approval for hours. Get it sorted blogs.
I’m sorry man. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people whose names/IP addresses are in moderation for really good reasons, but sometimes other people get caught up as collateral damage. I do my best to approve comments as soon as I can, but sometimes I have to sleep.
Sleep is the cousin of death!
Thanks for the brilliant site Blogs.
Much prefer having to be a bit patient than the site be the cesspool other places can be.
It’s a case of why not so long as he plays in the CM role. He’d be a good partner with partey. Will be good if it means seeing less of xhaka and ceballos.
It wasn’t that long ago that Ceballos was the literal “flavour of the month” with dozens of posts on this site along the lines of “Let’s hope we can sign him when the loan runs out” etc. Up one minute, down the next, then out the door (probably). That’s football.
i’m rather baffled by Ceballos. what is he? a tough tackling DM like Torreira? no.
a transition-keep-the-ball-moving (ambitious or not, quality aside) like Elneny? no.
creative guy that plays key passes to open up defences or quality balls for team mates to run into? no.
a cant-do-anything-else but play a few long passes sort of dude? no.
he’s like someone who runs around, makes some passes (short non-forward ones), does some tackles (not aggressive enough and not decisive enough on that), doesnt run into space to make himself available as a passing option.
Yes, I tend to agree with that. All in all, it’s probably a piece of good luck for us in the player market (for a change!!) in that we couldn’t/didn’t make his signing permanent.
Quite a few passengers will be shown the “Exit” door of the Arsenal bus this summer so we don’t want (and can’t afford) to let any others come through the “Entrance” door. As they used to say: “There’s no room for one inside, sir.”.
what he is is a very avergae all round midfielder who we have no need for
Isco may be better at keeping possession but not much else. If anything he takes even longer than Ceballos to pass after receiving. It would be terrible business
Well, Madrid have been trying to offload him for some time now. There’s been some interest but nothing firm yet, although that may change. Whether we do go for him or not, and I think he’ll remain in Spain if he can, as the article mentions money is very tight now as Covid will have been a major financial blow to us (it is damaging to almost all PL clubs, but we’re particularly vulnerable to anything that concerns matchday attendance). There’s been lots of speculation as to who we might buy in the coming window but I doubt the money… Read more »
If Martinelli , Saka and ESR can scale up and deliver Arteta should look at more young talent Miguel Azeez , Nelson , Willock Cortel etc at his disposal.
Create stars than looking for Super stars
Wake up guys. We got a sh*t squad with hardly any creativity.. and no cash. If we can add Isco on loan I for one won’t be complaining.
He was certainly a very good player but I’m not really sure how good he is now. That said, even if he is still up to scratch it depends whether he’d want to come to England and, if so, to a side that’s still in pretty poor form overall (the two recent wins not withstanding) is another matter. As I said in another post, I think he’ll stay in Spain if he possibly can – with an eye on a permanent transfer elsewhere in La Liga come the summer. Anyway, we’ll see.
Isco is not better than ceballos. Has a worse engine and physical condition and even lower shot/goal/assist stats
I am glad this is just a discussion thread and not a confirmation thread…as i can’t get behind these sort of signings anymore. He was a good player but Real Madrid don’t look that Real anyhow and him not playing just shows he is not the quality he was earlier. He might show some temporary spirit and spark like Ceballos shows but I am afraid this is not the way. Hope these are just smokescreen. But I hope whoever our targets are need to be signed at the start of the window and not wait till the end, because points… Read more »
Prefer to replace anyone in our CM/and find a partner for Partey . I would take Isco and return Ceballos.
Mesut Ozil definitely better than this bloke. If we’re going to be paying his wages anyways then fucking use him. I’m not saying play him every game..just play him when u wanna rest ESR or others.
Ozil has been utterly shit for past 3 years and has screwed the club big time in the process. The fact he won’t accept an early pay out of his contract and move somewhere else to restart his career and instead hang around and disrupt the dressing room says it all about mesut. Despicable behavior.
yes signing a contract and expecting it to be honoured. despicable
Jimbo, not having a go at you, but El has point. Ozil has not really reciprocated the contract. He has played badly when given chances, put out a stream of bad PR and not been anything like value for money. He could have left and refuses to. It is perfectly valid to not be happy he is still at Arsenal
Well isco hasn’t been doing shit either. If you look at his stats, he’s no better than Ozil. And since he’s being paid by us anyways…why not use him and not pay some more money to a guy who’s equally ineffective.
What dressing room disruption.
A short loan deal like this might make sense. Not sure if Isco is the answer, but qualification for CL is not impossible through the Europa League, so we should improve our squad in January if we can find the right player for the right price. ESR, Martinelli and Saka will tire out and run hot and cold if we play them every week.
Overall though we need to prioritize trimming our massive squad. We need to find loan deals for Saliba, Nelson and Chambers. We need to offload any of the 6 month players if at all possible.
I’m all for the loan deal, if we can loan Ozil back to Real as part of the package
Oh yes please! Isco and Partey with ESR in front of them now we’re talking about calibre.
That would be good to see if they actually occupy the midfield instead of drifting into the back four all the time. Some of our current crop just give up the midfield to the opposition.
God forbid such move
Is there an option to send back ceballos and take isco instead?
According the rules about loans; “Premier League clubs may not register more than two players on loan at any one time.
The maximum number of loans registrable in the same season is four, and,* under no circumstances, shall more than one be from the same club at any one time.*”
So yes it sounds like we would have to give them back Ceballos. Seems like too many variables would have to fall into place for this deal to happen.
Why does Arsenal want to tie players who does not perform to new contracts ..Sell them and make way for new blood .They all in a comfort zone and not working for the club
Why not just integrate Mesut Ozil back for his last 6 months, let him say his farewell to the fans the right way + we are paying his wages… just dont waste the 350k
We’re passed the point of no return for him, I suspect. MA has indicated that his tactics/team selection have been at fault (on the whole, there were exceptions of course) with the changes and comments made over the past two games. It’s highly unlikely that he’ll now reverse another very public decision on top of that.
Or just unfreeze Ozil and use him until the end of the season. We are already paying for that. No matter what, Ozil has an eye and an ability to make passes that can unlock defense.
Another pointless loan deal no thanks
We would be better off using Ozil when needed and then signing a younger more long term replacement for him in the summer.
Seeing as we are already paying his wages and he is without doubt the most talented creative player we have available
might as well just bring back Ozil if we are going to go down this route.
Arteta’s ego won’t allow it. It’s the same reason he keeps picking Willian
If its a loan, there’s no harm. He plays left of midfield and I think we are critically missing a Mezalla there. Whilst not entirely convincing at RM at the moment, it may be a risk we need to take anyway. The benefits of Isco is in ball control and retention, something we still need improvement. BUT also take ons. Then pairing say with Ceballos higher up adn with Partey returned to fold, we could potentially play a more offensive minded inverted triangle in midfield with the Ghanain holding and Isco/Ceballos hunting higher pushing on left and right respectively. This… Read more »
guff as usual ceballos doesnt have the pace to play higher up
hence hes is played alongside xhaka in a deep role where both do fuck all apart from plod around and pass sideways and backwards.
ceballos should be no where near this team. shame we cant send him back to madrid
Successful half season loan examples?
Thierry Henry
Isco not in Real’s 23 man squad today….
Isco would be another Ceballos, good, but… I want Marco Verratti.
Bad idea. We already have 3 second rate midfielders for when ESR and Partey need a rest. Focus on moving players out.
We could give him Denis suarez shirt from seasons back during his unveiling. But really it’s a no for me
I am encouraged by the fact that it is a loan. But Isco is isolated at Madrid for the same reason that Ozil can’t play here (at least the football reasons). They both cannot play in a team that isn’t built to offset what they are unwilling to do.
Aren’t we done with Suarezs by now? But seriously I won’t mind isco
A better option could be Hakan Calhanoglu. He also offers a set piece and long range threat. Plus he can play in all three attacking mid positions. Problem we have Willian who was supposed to bring that all in as well.