Now that it has been confirmed that Arsenal will face both Chelsea and Manchester City before the transfer window closes on 31 August, it’s all the more important that Mikel Arteta and Edu get their summer business done early.
Easier said than done, especially when they have to sift through the tabloids to figure out who is and isn’t interested in a move to the Emirates.
Here’s our latest round-up of the rumours eating up the column inches…
James Maddison
An England international in his prime years playing his football at a club that aren’t exactly desperate for cash…of course it makes sense for cash-strapped Arsenal, who don’t have European football to offer, to go chasing after James Maddison. According to various sources, the former Norwich player is seen as a possible alternative to Martin Odegaard and would cost £60 million. Perhaps Raul has tipped us off about the money in the Bruised Banana Stand.
William Saliba
L’Equipe report that Arsenal are open to selling the France under-21 international and that the player would be open to staying at Nice, where he’s played his football since January. No doubt, we’d want to recoup as much of the £27 million we paid for him two seasons ago if we’re looking to divert funds to someone like Ben White. There’s also talk of Marseille wanting Saliba on loan but at this point, it feels like a ‘shit or get off the toilet’ situation…which leads us nicely to the poo-o-meter.
Matteo Guendouzi
Talking of Marseille, L’Equipe report that Guendouzi is edging closer to his permanent switch to the Stade Velodrome.
David Luiz
Marseille also want him. That’s nice.
Eduardo Camavinga
The highly-rated 18-year-old winger has been on Arsenal’s radar for some time. Mind you, he’s been on the radar of pretty much every top side since he became Rennes youngest ever player two years ago. Le10Sport, which does a decent job of making The Sun look reliable, claim the player is stalling on a new contract and that Arsenal are still in the hunt behind PSG.
Emile Smith Rowe
Having already signed Emi Buendia, Aston Villa have alerted the football community to the fact they expect Jack Grealish to leave by making a cheeky / insultingly low offer for Emile Smith Rowe. The Arsenal youngster is in contract talks at the Emirates and is expected to earn a decent pay rise but it never hurts your negotiation stance when others show an interest. There was even talk of Real Madrid wanting him in a swap deal for Martin Odegaard. Some people have amazing imaginations. Like trapped wind, something is stirring – the Villa bid, first reported by The Athletic (£), was real – but it’s just not happening. We think that necessitates a double poo-o-meter score. One acknowledging the bid, the second paying lip service to the likelihood of us selling.
Ben White
The Athletic (£) reported yesterday that we made a £40 million offer for White which Brighton have rejected. Presumably, we’re not just going to give up there.
Jesus Corona
According to ESPN, relaying a story in a paper we’d rather not link to, Arsenal have joined Sevilla and Fiorentina in the race to sign Porto’s Jesus Corona; an apt name for these dark times we live in.
Apparently the Mexico international has a €20 million buyout clause until mid-July meaning the 28-year-old right-sided midfielder is financially within reach.
Someone obviously hasn’t told them that money doesn’t appear to be an issue this summer!
Fuck me. How badly did we botch the saliba deal. We totally did an Arsenal.
You can thank Lloyd and Harry for that. Absolute shitshow if true.
If he is coming back surely the club could have put out some confirmation by now. Or a quote from Saliba saying he’s looking forward to starting training in London in July.
Lloyd and Harry. 😂
Brilliant. 🍺
And when the apprentice Arteta finished his Mancity role-playing game by getting sacked in October we will be left with a bunch of overpriced, useless players.
It’s the Arsenal way these days.
I would be intrigued to know who do you think could do a better job than Arteta and why you believe he will be sacked in October. I am even more intrigued to know who are all these overpriced useless players that we have. I agree if Willian is still here, he is useless but certainly not overpriced.
Yeah nobody can do a better job than Arteta of finishing 8th and got kicked out by Villareal…oh wait, maybe at least, Emery?
As for useless overpriced players, well, Arteta signed Runnarsson, Partey, Willian. Go figure out yourself.
I am sure this Ben White dude will be a disaster if signed for 40m. 1m82 and shit in the air. We’ll struggle to sell him for 15m later.
Talking about October, Arteta won’t last even that long if he wanna splash money on these dross. Neves 35m. White 40m. U heard it here first.
Emery was always the relationship on the rebound – Never meant to last. But seriously, he couldn’t even get the captaining roles right.
You dont seriously think I want Emery back do you?
What I want to say is Arsenal fans should stop the “Nobody does a better job than Arteta bullshit”.
He fucked up badly, broke tons of negative records and if things dont improve soon he will get the sack.
And sadly, I dont have much hope from what Im seeing so far.
The competition in the league is probably the best it’s ever been. The squad we have is midtable + aubameyang. Aubameyang scored a load the last 2 seasons and for whatever reason this year was poor, so where did we finish? Midtable. If you can’t see that arteta is a top coach then you aren’t capable of noticing what has changed since he came in…. The jury is still out if he’ll make a top manager but what is clear to everyone is that we need a vastly improved squad, with alot more creativity and a vastly improved attitude…
Arteta hasn’t exactly played a blinder with the captain situation. It’s clear for everyone to see that Tierney is the captain in waiting yet Auba still has the armband because he’s on the most money 🙄
I beg to differ. Auba has been not himself but if/when he scores goals and cracks those smiles, I will make him the president of my country – he can inspire by example and levity.
Tierney needs more time bedding in and deliver at least what Auba has so far
You really think Partey is a poor signing? A world class midfielder who even though hasn’t shown his best form will turn out to be a great signing. You probably said the same about Pepe.
Partey played with Simeone in a system of counterattacking and tough as nails defending. At Arsenal he has no place to hide. He will have to adapt for sure or become our Fred.
White for 40m would be a steal..eaven if he’s backup in 3 positions
I hope you are not in charge of significant amounts of money in any capacity in your life.
He’s cut it in two very diferent sides, with two very diferent managers, add english young player premium and bam 40m, and don’t worry about me or what I will be in charge of.
Arteta was rubbish last year but Emery was shit for us. Unless you like losing finals as an Arsenal fan?
Good point.
If you don’t like losing European finals, it’s much better to have a manager who can’t get to the finals.
Arteta has certainly delivered there.
Such a weird comment! Even if you ignore the fact that he won a final in his last game.
At 220k per week he is most definitely overpriced.
Simeone.
Why would Simeone come to arsenal?
Who do you think could realistically replace Arteta?
If we had any ambition we’d at least test the water. If we can find 10m a year for Willian we could surely make him a very attractive financial offer. Failing that Rogers would surely be gettable.
Yeah, regardless of how much ambition we show, I’m not sure we could stump up enough cash to lure Simeone away from a club he loves and which loves him back. The man just beat both barca & real to the title and has been relatively well backed in the transfer market. Makes no sense to me why he would want to leave or why Atleti would allow him to. To a much lesser extent, I’d say the same about Rogers. He’s been backed in the transfer market, Leicester has a sense of stability to them supported by good recruitment… Read more »
There’s possibility Simeone and Rodgers could want a little bit of an adventure? Perhaps similar to what Maureen did when he was still a coach
Henry once he gets his Manager mojo?
BTW I’d love someone like Poch. Arteta looked like he was cut from the same cloth.
I would rather die than to to have to put up with the boring defensive brand of football produced by Simeone, who is not even available.
But you’d rather watch LEGOball for 90+ x 38 plus a few cup games.
Like watching the paint on the fourth bridge dry.
Ha ha ha! Simeone’s football is exhilarating. Clearly you have never played as a defender in your life.
Who could do better than Arteta?!
Anyone!
Willian costs 10 million a season. He has a 3 year contract. That’s more money than we’ve spent on Saliba.
If you don’t think paying 10 million a season for someone who provides nothing qualifies as “overpriced”, I’d like to know what your definition is.
As far as other useless players, there’s Cedric, Runnarson, Elneny, Kolasinac,
And I’m being kind by not mentioning four other players who I like, but who should improve their performance or be moved on.
Elneny is not useless. If he was London born or if his name had a Ray in it, you would be hugging him in the streets.
He is limited but keen, hardworking and brave.
I’m not English.
I have no issues with his attitude or his nationality. I don’t dislike Elneny. In a better team, he might be a cult favorite.
But you have a very narrow definition of useless. When I say useless, I mean “not good enough for what this team would like to be”, and Elneny clearly isn’t.
The only way I can see any logical sense being applied here is if Holding and / or Mari are sold. And I’d be open to that. But the silence is deafening. Haven’t so much as heard a whisper. Edu basically needs to say to Arteta, “Look, just because you’re afraid of losing your job, doesn’t mean you can freeze out a potentially world class centre back. Now we’ve developed him for two seasons and he’s good to go. You don’t have to throw him straight in but I ain’t paying for another god damn centre back you crazy fool.”… Read more »
We have just bought Mari and Holding is a no complains backup. There is no need to sell them.
I wanna see Saliba playing for Arsenal.
Tbh I think it is an ego conflict that will not benefit Arsenal in either outcome
I guess Arteta can always counter any Edu argument with “coming from the man who signed Willian”.
Arteta wanted Willian or at least was sure he would be an asset, so no he can’t counter. What I loved about Mikel was that he took what was there and got us the FA Cup. I don’t think giving him more power is wise. Apart from Auba’s spell the year before, Saka (24k gold), a slowly acclimatising Pepe and blooding ESR – Mikel hasn’t improved or even influenced improvement from anyone. We still don’t know what the spine of the team is like. I would be wary of letting Mikel pick out transfer targets. This team wasn’t supposed to… Read more »
Didn’t Arteta push for Willian too though?
who is the “potentially world class centre back”?
Richard Garlick.
B.A Baracus…
Were buying Ben White to replace the outgoing Luiz. Saliba if he is up for sale is only up for sale because we need the cash. If Saliba needs another season of development, which he probably does, we could loan him out again, but it looks like we need to make sacrifices because of our financial situation.
If Saliba needs another year of development he’ll be ready for a fucking bus pass..
This is moronic. Saliba has been playing well in France.
He has not been given a chance for us.
We’re in a rebuild.
If Arteta is too chickenshit to actually develop a player during a rebuild, he should be fired and replaced by someone who will.
Problem is he should have done this last season but he was to scared to do this. Playing Saliba etc regularly surely would not have seen us finish any worse than we did. We had one of the best defences in the league also so this pursuit of White makes no sense. You could argue that he wants white to replace the passing and ball carrying of Luiz because that’s ‘how Arteta wants to play’ or some such shite but here’s an idea – don’t be rigidly wedded to doing that. Find another solution instead of looking for like for… Read more »
Not true. Mikel did admirably in his first 6 months – adapting to the situation. Having seen them up close for almost two years if he wants upgrades on his CB he is entitled to it. But if it comes at the cost of ignoring gaps we have in the squad then that’s a shame.
He’s entitled to jack shit. He finished eighth and blew Europa League semifinals.
If he’s got a £27 million prospect, he should give him a chance before buying “an upgrade”.
Absolutely, and for me it would be only Mari, not Holding. Gives us 4 decent centre backs – Saliba, White, Gabriel and Holding (plus Chambers who also covers RB.
BUT, why are we even thinking about doing this when our relatively limited resources are required so much more in so many other areas? It’s just crazy to put so much time and effort into this when it really should be low down the list of priorities.
I haven’t seen a single full match that Saliba’s played in while on loan (seen clips & highlights here & there), so this is a genuine question.
Is he actually a potential world class player or is this more a case of a player’s quality & importance to the team skyrocketing the less he actually plays? Like most things I’m guessing it’s a bit of both.
Also, well up for inserting a clause in Edu’s contract requiring him to conduct all transfer negotiations in the voice of B.A. Baracus.
I think you’re right to ask and it’s a valid question. My retort would be simply he bossed the French league at 18. So we bought him and sent him back there so he did it again. Then he did it at Nice. And he was the slightly more anticipated out of him and Forfana. I don’t know many 20 year olds centre backs who have this kind of CV already. I can’t even think of the last time a team I’m aware of had a 20 year old centre back who they played week in week out. But Nice… Read more »
Thanks & I agree, I’d absolutely hate to see him go on to become a good, let alone world class, player with someone else if we got rid. Even with the impressive cv, I’m just a bit hesitant to jump on the hype train without first seeing how he gets on in our starting 11. And I suppose the only way to remedy that is to play the man. Personally, I don’t think central defence is a priority as I’m pretty happy with the options we already got but, equally, I thought White was outstanding last season & his season… Read more »
Indeed – would it be so terrible to start next season with 5 CB’s, 2 of which are new to the squad (White, Saliba), 1 new to the league (Saliba), also one of which (White) can perform a role as a right back competition to Chambers?
Our defensive core would be mostly 27 and younger. A foundation good for years.
Can’t see Saliba being okay with being usurped by a £50m 23 year old CB after two years out on loan. That’s his Arsenal career being defined as squad/rotation player after 3 years of nailed on 1st team. I’d expect he would push to leave at that point.
It would be disappointing if he wasn’t up for fighting for his place in the team, especially considering he just turned 20 years old a few months ago. If he expects to start for Arsenal having played a few good seasons in France, and if he is not looking longer term at his career at Arsenal FC, then he needs much better counsel.
If you’re spending 40-50mil on a guy he’s playing most games. In a season that will be between 40-50 games long Saliba won’t be getting that chance to fight for his place. Even more so given how hard Arteta tries to make his signings ‘cough Willian’ work by selecting them over and over again even when we can all see it’s time to try something different.
Ah, you are so right – I forgot about the Willian thing.
Very clever point clearly made in good faith. WBut why stop at 5 CBs? Why not 10? Why only buy a 40 million center back? Why not a 400 million center back? Would it be so terrible if we spent 5 billion this transfer window on 15 world class players? Unless, of course, we have limited resources and multiple needs. In which case, spending 70-80 million on TWO players in ONE position is kind of very stupid. Especially when we currently have ONE starting central midfielder who is going to be staying. But sure, let’s pinch pennies on a CM… Read more »
Pooh poohing everything before anything has happened – the Arsenal way, indeed!!
A bid was already made.
If I remember right Spurs wanted Saliba, too. We got him despite Spurs at their peak under Poch.
This so called fkn French superstar who can’t even make the back up squad for the euros…the same Saliba, right? Just checking…
Maybe the Saliba situation is due to the homegrown player’s rule.
Maybe it’s because Arteta and Edu haven’t got a clue what they’re doing.
SAys the man who went on a 1 man campaign on here demanding Arteta dump Saliba as quick as possible when the dodgy dressing room video appeared. To quote you…along the lines of “this fkn pervert should be nowhere near an Arsenal shirt ever”…oh how short some memories are…
Ok sure – get rid of Mari then. He’s solid but unspectacular.
Selling Saliba without a competitive game for us, buying Ben White for at least £20m more. I can see the low-risk approach (albeit not really at this price), but boy this whole thing has been a huge mismanagement.
Yup and a bad look for the club in terms of attracting young talent (particularly from France). This could hurt us for a while even after it’s resolution.
One more reason why I really hope Holding will be the one to leave if we do sign White. As much as I like hm, it would make sense: most of us will agree he can’t be our no. 1 RCB if we aim for a top-four spot, and Saliba is still an unknown quantity in the PL. Looking at it this way I can understand this move: going into the new season with only Holding and Saliba is indeed a big risk. On the contrary, selling Holding to buy White would provide us with a reliable first option, and… Read more »
Nothing is for sure … Even White can turn out to be shite also in our shirt. As it is for a CB, he is not the strongest of headers….meaning, whoever his CB partner, they would need to cover /compensate for him….This idea made me slightly uncomfortable with him as a starting CB in a back 4. I do like White overall game tho …He can play CB RB DM and he kinda remind me of Declan Rice the way he tackles and glides with the ball…but then again…NOT at the 40 million being bandied about…. Anyway, just don’t mind… Read more »
It’s been absolutely shambolic and it’s solely on Arteta. His insecurity and inexperience are transparent.
It would be bizarre but am I the only one who wants to wait and see what actually happens? Everyone is acting like we have already sold Saliba. Saliba is only 20, he signed after playing half a season in the French top flight. To put that into perspective Van Dijk was 22 when he signed for Celtic and 24 in his first PL season with Southhampton. Saliba’s first season on loan was disrupted by injury. Then he came back to Arsenal we had 8 centrebacks on the books, we were in the middle of a pandemic and he lost… Read more »
Finally some sanity
It would still be an absolutely moronic use of resources. We trusted that position to Rob Holding and David Luiz and did just fine (at CB). There’s the idea that 20-year-old CBs will cost you points. What’s usually left unsaid is that David Luiz costs teams points as well. The risk of playing a 20-year-old defender pales in comparison to the risk of having imbeciles who think it’s a good idea to spend massive resources on a shiny new CB when we badly need midfielders and fullbacks make long-term financial commitments. The fact that they’re already giving up on a… Read more »
All I’m saying is maybe we should wait for the trail to finish before guilty verdict is found. Saliba is still very young and perhaps it’s more to do with a young man who has had a tough time personally and might have to develop a bit to be Arsenal first choice CB? I might be wrong but don’t think there are many top European teams (something we have to aspire to) with a 20 at CB And don’t kid yourself, our fanbase are some of the most ridiculous around. Saliba is regularly called ‘potentially world class, future Van Dijk,… Read more »
Sorry for the typos.
Sure, but there has to be a happy medium between “he’s the next Beckenbauer”, and “he’s only 20, we can’t possibility risk him in ANY games”.
How about we let him fucking play for a season and assess him then?
Holding is a solid back-up if need be.
I don’t think anyone is against him getting a chance to play and there’s no evidence at the moment (apart from transfer speculation and enormous jumps to whatever conclusions fit a particular narrative) that he wont get a chance.
So, you know, no need to have an aneurysm.
I do find it odd that you think Rob Holding should immediately be back up though. After having a decent season as part of the 3rd best defense in the league, you don’t think that’s his position to lose?
Yeah precisely. Let’s wait and see what happens.
All we have got so far is speculation and speculation is fast becoming the new news
Sure, but that makes this whole thing seem even more ridiculous. Holding is perfectly capable of playing there, and Saliba is a good prospect. There is 0 risk in playing Saliba. None. What I meant was if Saliba is as good as we hope he is, he’ll make the position his own. If he doesn’t, Holding is a perfectly fine option – I wish we had an option like that to play alongside Partey. See, it’s ironic. I realize I come across as being very impatient, but in fact, the opposite is true. I would be perfectly fine with Arsenal… Read more »
It’s really as simple as this man.
We have a shit team, Rob Holding is a pretty average player and is currently our incumbent of one of the most important positions on the pitch.
Arteta obviously doesn’t think Saliba is ready to be our first choice CB. Let’s actually wait and see what happens in the transfer window before getting angry about what he may or may not do with a 20-year-old lad
Dude, no offense but I think you may be looking for outrage where there is none (atm). All of our current options in defence are mediocre to good, depending on personal preference. I personally think Ben White is a good player that can play multiple positions in the back line & at DM. Why is it controversial that we may be interested in strengthening an already decent defence? No one’s said Saliba’s being shipped out and, until someone says otherwise, I expect him to challenge for a spot in the squad regardless of what happens with Ben White. If he’s… Read more »
amen
Everybody wants to riot and nothing has even happened yet. It’s tiresome
This is why the media and pundits and wind-up merchants just love us to death — nothing ends the outrage for that very loud minority of fans who take a strange pleasure slandering their own club. Go figure …
Nice work in capturing every Arsenal fan’s feelings about Smith-Rowe via the Poo-o-meter. Although it still worries me that we would spend 27mn on an 18 year old and then would try to move him on 2 years later without ever playing him to be replaced by someone with basically the same skillset at twice that money
I heard a slightly worrying rumour that the contract has been on the table for a little while now and ESR is stalling a little. I’m guessing, if this is true, he’s waiting to see if we splurge £50m on a number 10 that might invade his game time.
And he might have a point. If we do buy an expensive ACM as everyone seems to want to, and everyone’s fit to play, is there room in the team for ESR?
Yes there will be room, we will need to rotate and there will be injuries every now and then as well. He could even start alongside a new CAM in a 4-3-3.
He’s an Arsenal boy through and through so I don’t see him leaving. But he will be aware that he lost his place to Odegaard in February and that Saka and Pepe now have a real stronghold on the wide positions.
Yes, there will always be injuries. But ESR is too good to have to wait again for a moment of opportunity.
Despite the experiments with Willian in multiple roles, ESR played. It would be silly for ESR to worry for his place. More likely it’s the belief in him and support given to him:
Good CMs, playing style and ambition.
Well that’s just ruined my fucking week.
I think it’s well understood that a contract extension in this situation (a very young player on a long contract who breaks into the first team selection) is basically a renegotiation of his wages. In that circumstance, a player “stalling” on signing the extension more likely reflects bargaining about that amount than a declaration that he wants to leave.
Off-topic, but does mn just mean million? I keep on seeing figures written that way on Youtube videos from American people and I wondered if the n meant something else (at first I thought it was a typo, but seeing it every time afterwards I’m unsure of its meaning).
No! It means minions 😀
Ah, it all makes sense now.
Turns out I was wrong, anyway. I’ve seen it written as mm, not mn, which just confuses me even more!
mm = thousand thousand. ie, million
1mm = 1,000m = 1,000,000
Manganese. It’s the new crypto Blogs started. Gunner is a stooge paid to use Mn equivalencies in the blog to fluff up the venture.
I wonder if Edu is keen on buying my piece of junk car. He can have it for what I paid for it 4 years ago. It isn’t a Kia but the previous owner did support Chelsea.
I don’t think Edu has a mind of his own. Remember Arteta wanted the Kia Willian and the Kia Cedric and Edu got him one of each. They’re lemons and we’re stuck with them.
Was Arteta always an evil puppet master, pulling strings, intimidating Directors of Football & ruining clubs or is this a fairly new development?
Willian you could kind of understand. I mean, if he wasn’t shit, it could have been a good signing. But Cedric? Why?
In both cases, it was only the length of the contract that made no sense for a free signing. Cedric was a Portugal international, a proven Prem player, and a perfectly adequate backup at right fullback (obviously not so adequate on the left side).
Neither player was wanted by their respective teams. Willian was 32 and Chelsea fans were hardly upset to see him leave. Cedric wasn’t even first choice for Southampton. The only thing about him that was proven was his mediocrity.
Everything is Willian.
Cedric better than AMN?
As long it has a high mileage and is prone to breaking down on the M25, it’s a Porsche 911 as far as Edu is concerned.
Please re-sign Aaron Ramsey and make my year! How love me a Rambo!
Made of glass and on stupid money after his free transfer to Juventus.
The heart says bring back Ramsey and Ox, but the head says both players’ injury records make it a gamble. Aouar, Maddison or similar are safer bets, even if they’re a lot more expensive.
While Ramsey would be welcomed back with open arms I don’t think that would happen with Ox.
On a play as you play contract – sure.
Villa need to fuck off with their “we’ve just bid for Smith Rowe! look how ambitious we are!”
This is the shit that happens when we let them get the double over us last season.
We need to reconfigure and rise again as i aint having teams like Villa thinking they can throw their coin around for our goods
Given how easily they’ve pushed your and some other Arsenal fan’s buttons seems like they’ve got exactly what they want. How are you going to make it to the end of the transfer window without an aneurysm?
Easy. By telling teams like Villa to fuck off and leave our kids.
Very therapeutic.
Not batting an eyelid = big club mentality
Pulsing vein in your forehead = small club mentality
Ha! If you aren’t affected by Aston Villa showing more ambition than Arsenal maybe it’s not us but you who needs an intervention.
They did already with Buendia.
My goodness, we’re going to need two month’s supply of Immodium at this rate.
I’d like us to get a midfielder like Camavinga not just because he’s a good player but also because of the potential windfall. I would understand the reservations any coach would have trusting an 18 year old to dictate play.
If like Haaland, he remains the obsession of Europe’s elite, the club could break our two decade old player sales record for Overmars.
Hopefully we can at least get one signing done by the end of June.
Whilst we are shit at selling players. Pretty sure we sold Iwobi for £40 million. Also pretty sure that was fluke.
I wish it was but apparently it’s actually an initial fee of £28 million with a potential rise to £34.6 million.
It’s still below Overmars who went for £36 million. We actually used to be one of the best selling teams in the world once upon a time.
There’s always money in the banana stand!
No touching.
Any news on the potential moving on of William?
No.
Apparently we’ve already got enough match day programme sellers.
In some quarters he’s called Willian. 😉
Pretty sure Eduardo Camavinga is not a winger!
We can play anyone out of position.
That’s where you are wrong. We are getting him to play on the left wing, James maddison to play at right back and Ben White to play alongside Thomas Partey
You were probably joking but I wouldn’t be against seeing Ben White alongside Partey.
Could be wrong but didn’t he play in a similar position while on loan at Leeds?
I hope the Lokonga deal has not gone cold.
I can’t wait for teams to be treated to a Konga-Partey from next season.
You win today’s prize 😀
The £25m bid for ESR is totally within Villa’s rights to make. However, if they’re going to make such insulting offers to us and then leak it as if to unsettle the player and rattle our fans, I don’t feel it would be right to let that go unanswered. Edu really needs to be bullish here and either: a) put out a statement saying ESR’s not for sale at ANY price but if he were, bidding would start at £150m and anyway, why would he join a team in the bottom half of the table? Or b) put in a… Read more »
Is there the possibility that we’re not signing Ben White as a bonafide centre back? Of course it’s a bonus that he can play there if Saliba isn’t up to it, but White has played RB and can play DM, thus fitting into Arteta’s system of one of the fullbacks stepping into midfield?
I personally think he could be a brilliant RB for us (solid defensively, good on the ball).
Thoughts?
I was thinking the same. Did he play DM (maybe just on occasion) while on loan at Leeds?
Get Isak (he looks darn good) Lokonga and another decent midfielder – defence isn’t our biggest problem!!
Do clubs usually bid for players without first sounding out via the agent/back channels? Not usually. Villa must have been in contact with the agent, but I suspect it was more a case of the agent wanting to say: look other teams are interested. Hurry the fuck up and give us the offer that we want. We need to give him a contract that reflects his potential. Lets say its a 5 year deal, we will be looking to renegotiate in 3 years, so the deal has to reflect his value to us for those 3 years, not just his… Read more »
If we need to sell Holding or Saliba to improve our defence with Ben White for 50M I’d rather replace the entire club staff.
Willock became that confident attacking mid when someone else started trusting him.
A lot of people here think Odegaard was the real deal and Mikel saw it that way.
Me, I didn’t see anything to recommend him and was particularly outclassed that day v City.
It’s the system. Willock plays in a team full of clueless and numbed players – with license. He can shine there. Odegaard played in a team of complacent, over confident players. They are both amazing but the system has to be pragmatic and complementing the players… even Zidane needed Makelele. One Real Madrid manager who asked Zidane to abstain from flickons in training was fired within days. Who is performing to newer heights because of Arteta?
Genuine question. Would you swap ESR for Grealish?
No just ask villa fans Grealish doesn’t track back and plays in a selfish manner… Smith row is still rising and will at some point be far to superior to the villa player
No.
ESR will be ten times the player Grealish is.
Which is why £25m is an insult to the player and to Arsenal.
Apart from the fact that I don’t like Grealish and I adore ESR –
Why would Grealish want to play for Arsenal?
I can’t believe this is even a conversation …. We have saliba and I’ve been watching him on loan games and the guy is a beast…. And arteta wants to buy a cb….this crazy we need a left back and a tough tackling and power house midfielder who can win a header…. And we need to sell auba and lacassette and play martinelli and bolagun instead… but wasting saliba and selling him without playing a game is truly insulting… Mari looks out of his depth and lacks composure and pace and holding can really panick under pressure… and lacks pace… Read more »
You had me until “sell Auba.”
A combined 100m for Pepe & Saliba.
Christmas came early for Raul at Arsenal.
Are you saying they aren’t good players?
Arteta is.
He signed Willian because he didn’t trust Pepe and now he’s trying to buy a replacement for Saliba.
We’ll never land a top class manager with a bit of savvy again. We’re a cheap and cheerful club now, who’s owners believe that making any old deal is ‘fan service’. Why can we never seem to find the top class players, why can’t we just spend the money and challenge for a title? Saliba aswell, what a waste of time that was. We’re a bloody laughing stock & moves like that put future player off signing for us. It’s like we’re a mess around club….
“Shit or get off”😄🤣😅🤣😅…add to alltime great Andrew Arseblog lines. I feel this should be someones slogan, or maybe a good frase to hang up in Edu’s bathrooms as timley reminder of how not to through shit against walls in our transfer buisness, and instead dunk-flush-wash and on to the next!!!Coyg
A few words for Arteta: “Don’t sell Saliba…. Focus on areas tht needs serious development.”
Can’t we, just for our season, pull out some kind of dodgy Tevez-Mascherano style deal to give us a leg up? lol
I think we will sign Jack Grealish and Yves Bissouma this summer. Think we’ll also tie down Matt Ryan permanently. We may also go for a striker if we sell Laca (which we should do), but don’t see any great ones out there in our price range.