Friday, March 29, 2024

Report: Arsenal ‘firm favourites’ for Raphinha, new talks planned

According to The Athletic, Arsenal are ‘firm favourites’ to sign Raphinha and will make a concerted effort to seal a deal with Leeds United next week.

The Gunners have already had one bid for the Brazil international rebuffed but Edu and Mikel Arteta seem intent on adding the 25-year-old to our growing stable of attackers even though the asking price has been quoted at £65 million.

Despite holding a long-standing interest in the winger, Barcelona seem to have dropped out of the running while Chelsea and Sp*rs, also said to be suitors, are focusing their attention on Raheem Sterling and Richarlison respectively.

Arsenal’s push for Raphinha is happening as we close in on the signing of Manchester City striker Gabriel Jesus for £45 million (plus add-ons) and just days after a €40 million deal was struck with Porto for playmaker Fabio Vieira. Ajax defender Lisandro Martinez and Leicester’s Youri Tielemans remain on the shopping list.

At some point, the club’s attention will have to turn to selling fringe members of the first team squad in the hope of recouping some cash.

While a deal with Marseille for Matteo Guendouzi is guaranteed, there are question marks over the futures of Lucas Torreira, Reiss Nelson, Hector Bellerin, Alex Runarsson, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Pablo Mari, all of whom return from loan deals.

Fulham are said to be in talks with Bernd Leno, Marseille have been linked with Nuno Tavares and Granit Xhaka continues to be the subject of interest from the continent. We also need to find a home for Nicolas Pepe.

The first team squad should begin returning to London Colney in drips and drabs in the coming week before pre-season training kicks off in earnest on 4 July.

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Russ

Wow! I do wonder where the money is coming from but certainly not complaining.

Could be some squad next season

John G

I see a lot of complaints about Stan and his team but arsenal never spent like this before. Too many people complaing about money they down own. If we can be half what the LA Rams are we can compete in the EPL.

Russ

I also feel it’s being spent well and wisely… A nice direction we’re heading

JCNY

Not saying the Kronkes are the best owners in the league, but remember only few years ago, some fans wanted Farhad Moshiri and/or Alisher Usmanov to become the majority owners. In hindsight, thank god we are not Everton FC.

Johnny 4 Hats

I saw something today that said we have chiseled £80m from our wage bill. That alone pays for Jesus and Viera.

So if you take that into account and add on the Europa League money, then it makes sense.

Again, really good management from Edu and Arteta to build us up financially to this moment. And the whole “pull of the Champions League” thing seems a bit overstated.

Both Jesus and Raphinha don’t seem to care.

Teryima Adi

Arsenal is brand bigger than Champions league (pull).

Johnny 4 Hats

I just think players pay attention.

Raphinha played when we beat Leeds three times last season.

Jesus played when we were so unlucky not to beat City.

Players know a good project when they see one. And they know a shaky one too. I don’t give a fuck what anyone says about Sp*rs and Conte. They are shite and it will implode.

John C

Am i the only person that doesn’t rate Conte?

He has 1 tactic that gets found out after about 12-18 months max, he saddles a club with expensive, ageing players and then fucks off leaving mess.

I actually think he’s shite

One Beat Off

So, he is Sp*rs?

Johnny 4 Hats

He’s the new Jose. Strict. Regimented. But with little imagination.

He will get found out this coming season. CL could be Sp*rs biggest Achilles heal. Good luck resting Kane and Son for Eintracht Frankfurt away.

John C

Being in the Champions League is over indexed. You’d have to be pretty stupid sign a 4 or 5 year contract based on champions league participation in the first year, what about the other years?

Any player with an ounce of common sense will look at the squad, manager, and ambition of a club and make a judgement based on where they can see the club developing over the length of their contract. Which makes Arsenal look like a very attractive prospect, Spurs on the other hand not so much.

DAFC13

I like the NFL and whilst I’m no way an expert Stan and the Rams (not a Rams fan either) were buying pretty prudently in the run up to the SuperBowl win. There seems to be something similar building at Arsenal and it’s been a long time since I’ve felt like there’s any transfer strategy going on.

Mayor McCheese

I think (?) the Rams team-building strategy was a bit more like Man City’s in the sense that they just went for the best established players possible, cost be damned, whereas Arsenal are thinking a bit more long term by investing in younger players or players about to enter their prime.

Interesting that the Colorado Avalanche, another Kroenke team, are one win away from winning the Stanley Cup. I know nothing of how they got to be so good, but maybe there’s an NHL follower here who can enlighten us!

Mayor McCheese

(But NFL player transfers don’t work like our football does; teams deal with salary caps and I think they pay out contracts for transfers rather than a fee for the other team (?), so it’s not the same as Man City or PSG being to do whatever they want.)

A Different George

The salary cap prevents a NFL or NHL team from *keeping* all its good players for long. They can get them when they’re young, but if a lot of them turn out to be starts, the team can only keep a few.

A Different George

stars not starts

A Different George

The NHL has an absolute salary cap (total wage bill, not any individual player) and also a floor. I’m not sure if the Avalanche are nearer the top or the bottom of that range, but it is mostly irrelevant. As is typical of the NHL, they got to be so good by being very bad for a while and therefore amassing the exclusive rights to some very good young players. Good scouting matters, but luck plays a big role–these are physically immature kids whose career trajectories are difficult to predict. There are exceptions–the obvious superstar-to-be every few years. You get… Read more »

Mayor McCheese

Thanks, George. You’re different, but I like you.

Trixie Popsicle

The effing LA Rams, this is bloody English football ffs!!

A5000m555

I think the difference is simply that they have been happy to spend since they became 100% owners. Before they owned 100%, any investment they made, that increased the value of the club, would have increased the amount they would have had to pay to buy out Usmanov.
If they want to spend, they have access to more funds than nearly all owners, outside the State owned clubs. It really doesn’t matter whether they invest personal funds or provide collateral for loans.

thw14

They’ve been more willing to spend since we dropped out of the CL. It costs them current and projected revenue, and hurts the valuation of the club.

Pete Plum

The Super League or whatever it was called could be a factor too. Hopefully because they’ve given up on it, meaning we’ll have to play our way back to CL riches. Hopefully not because they want to keep us in the picture for SL mark 2

jw1

This– and, they sacked Raul the thief– who gave away far too much of KSE’s money for Pepe and Cedric.

Quincy Owusu-Abeyie

Well, honestly it’s not a big amount of money for someone like Stan Kroenke. according to Forbes, he made $1.33B profit last year alone. He is one of the world’s biggest real estate developers and married to the heir to Wallmart. Sports teams are only a small part of his and his wife’s portfolio. He might not be Suadi state rich but he is exorbitantly wealthy and we shouldn’t care too much if he is spending money on us this time.

The odd $100M on a few Brazilian soccer players for his franchise in London really is nothing.

Grabs

I had you till you said soccer

JCNY

We are also spending money on, relatively young, Premier League proven talent. Love it

Frog In Ze Room

This player is incredible. Super excited to see the team next year . A bit heavy on left footed player. Let’s see how MA’s gonna balanced that team. COUG

Diaby's Left Peg

Probably just seen Chelsea get sold for 4bn and realised their asset is worth investment, don’t pretend this is benevolence.

Also, they have spent money before just ended up poorly – Edu and Arteta seem to be buying better players to match the system, 140m on Xhaka, Pepe & Mustafi or 130m on Jesus, Vieira and Raphinha?

Tony

Ah, squad…I’ve seen a joke somewhere that Arsenal should not have any excuses next season when they have both Jesus and Mohammed

Onenil

Arsenal in spending spree shock.

jw1

If you were a headline?
I would not click you.

The one time it has ever been true.

martinhaze

The wages are much lower than before, so that allows us to spend bigger amounts on actual transfer fees. In the past we were overpaying weekly wages on the likes of Ozil and Aubameyang.

Qwaliteee

Amazing how often Willian gets overlooked in the ‘money down the drain’ discussions….

Crash Fistfight

Jesus is going to be getting £250k/week

Nathan

May be the most boring deadline day in an age for us if we wrap up our business early.
Wouldn’t complain about that at all.

Man Manny

Could be anxiety about exits this time with exits Pepe, Torreira et. al, hanging in there till dateline day.

Announce Bendtner

Well that’s a pleasant surprise. Big show of faith in the Edu/Arteta setup by Kroenke if he funds all the mentioned transfers.

I suspect there’s a feeling that if Raphina does well, Barca may come back in for him when their pockets are no longer as empty as sp*rs trophy cabinet. So a sale for profit may be on the cards.

Graham

Exactly. 3 good years out of him and hopefully Omari Hutchinson is ready then anyway .

James

gave a thumb up for this “… Barca may come back in for him when their pockets are no longer as empty as sp*rs trophy cabinet.”

Sp*rs trophy cabinet ain’t empty. Decades of accumulated dust has to count for something.

Qwaliteee

Plus Son’s Golden Boot, which sits alone in a glass cabinet with more cobwebs and insects than a secret tunnel in an Indiana Jones film.

While we’re at it, let’s all have another fucking good chuckle at the football media for getting all salty because their Favourite-Second-Only-To-The-Window-Licker didn’t get nominated for the PFA ‘Team of The Year.’

Suck it up, you Journalistic Spud Lovers😜

Diaby's Left Peg

Don’t forgot that Audi Cup

Collibosher

It’s 14 years since Sp*ds won anything. Next year Eddie will have to take the 15 shirt, and the year after, 16 and so on!

Qwaliteee

15 years without a pot to piss in really will be quite hilarious next May.

Watching Conte, Kane and Son then drop them like the veritable hot potato they are, will be even funnier.

Listening to Gary Neville and Jamie O’Hara then telling everyone that they’re still better than us, will be funnier still.

But us celebrating St Totteringham’s Day and getting back in the top four again – at what will probably be their expense – will be the funniest of the lot.

Chrispy

A little concerned where that leaves Saka. Would love the depth but note a sale to balance the books. Owners backing the manager again though. Exciting times

Quincy Owusu-Abeyie

I wouldn’t be. He needs competition and rotation, we need attacking players. We also need lots of players training at a high level with high competition for starting spots in big games. Something we haven’t had in a while. This is a good thing for Saka.

Announce Bendtner

Agreed. For Sake to be the best that he can possibly be, he needs competition. That’s not to say he would slack off without it or take his place for granted but having someone to compete with pushes him to develop further. He’s clearly got a great mindset so will be great to see him thrive under competition for places.

Collibosher

I’d say that Saka also needs a break from time to time!

Thierry Bergkamp (non negotiable)

Mikel is obviously looking to do what Pep does. Mahrez doesn’t start every game, but is good enough to do so. Same can be said for Gundogan, Sterling, Foden, Bernardo, Walker, Laporte.

EDgooner4ever

We need to get away from this ‘medium’ size club attitude. All the top teams have 6 players plus youngsters competing for the starting front 3, plus last season our opponenents knew we’d play Laca, Saka, MO8, then Martinelli/Smith Rowe and could set up accordingly (this was one of the reasons I think Eddie was quite successful when he finally came into the team).
If we land Jesus and Raphinha (plus Vieira), we’ll be so much less predictable and thats very exciting

loose_cannon

Thank you, total agree. I was criticized here a few weeks ago for saying we need to be making signings like this if we want to compete with the big boys. I’m glad it looks like the club are finally showing that ambition in a real way.

Mpls

Think back to how many attacking midfields and forwards we regularly carried in the Wenger years – and there will always be injuries, exhaustion,

AND 5 subs…

The game will get faster and more demanding. Runners will need to be refreshed more.

49 Hale end

I wonder what happened to make Bellerin fall out of love with football at the Emirates besides the obvious back to back 8th finishes in a row and the heart aches and traumas that comes with game. Whatever it is I hope he gets back in there to push Tomi for a starting role. A right sided Saka/ Tomi Raphinha/Hector partnership is mouth wateringly worth the required resolution. Yes Mikel…?

Qwaliteee

I’d take Hector over Cedric, any day.

That said, I’d take Frank Spencer over Cedric.

Saka and Smith-Rowe, they need their own songs

I could see Frank linking up well with ooooooh Benny

Qwaliteee

Top post, well said.

🍺👍

ThreadRipper

You know what makes teams like City very intimidating to the opposition? They don’t get a moment to breathe, because the subs are going to equally good or even better than the player who is going out. Imagine Saka coming in for Raphinha? Or Viera for Odegaard? and vice-versa? Now with the 5 subs rule, it will get even more interesting. We really need attacking firepower and players of different profile.

Badaab

it allows saka to have a rest once in awhile and not have to carry the entire team on his back for 38+ games a season. he’s only 20 and hasn’t had a vacation in about 3 years

Stonks

Hahahaha ‘firm favourites’? What terms don’t they use nowadays! What about ‘hard favourites’? Lol
Anyway let’s sign these guys asap

goonerink

‘Firm’ has been betting language for decades.

I dont bet, and even I know this.
*memories of booting up good to firm on the amiga as a kid*

Mayor McCheese

Yeah, the kids these days, using one word when another one means much the same thing! Does my head in! The other day, I was in an ice cream shop and I overheard one of these alternative wordstyle types saying that their cone was ‘crunchy’. What about ‘crispy’? He could have said ‘crispy’, couldn’t he? I near socked him in the mouth. Seems everybody’s a bloody walking thesaurus these days. I miss the days when every noun had its own adjective. I can’t even say that I have a hard cock these days without my wife reminding me that it… Read more »

Grabs

Haaa ha classic

Qwaliteee

😂

That’s brilliant.

🍺🍺

Prakhar

22-25 age group signings are the smartest thing.

Graham

Liverpool and city both do this with most of their transfers. Meanwhile man u buying 30+ year olds because they exist in 2013…

Arseholemio

Hard to find a bigger cunt than Richarlison.

Hard to find a bigger team of cunts than Spurs.

A match made in heaven.

Goonerink

Butcher is that you?

ButcherBilly

Arteta’s first team talk:

“With great power comes the absolute certainty that you’ll turn into right cunt.”

Qwaliteee

Yes mate.

😊👍🍺

Emi Rates

I think that applies to Sterling and Chelsea too. He’ll fit right in with the Oligarlacticos.

Gunnerlocutor

Updating my comment from yesterday: This would seriously strengthen our attack. If you were a central defender would you want to have to deal with Jesus, Rapha, Saka, Ode, Marti, ESR, Vieira, dribbling through your lines and pinging the ball with quick one touches ? You would be soiling yourself. Gonna be fun to watch. And yes, we will play a 3-7 formation and score 6 goals per game.

The Beast

With Ramsdale coming up for every single corner as well, surely?

Graham

…with the caveat being that we will also concede 4. But who cares baby! Harlem Globetrotters!!

chepetin

and updating my response to your comment from yesterday: The vaunted 3-7 formation.

Looking forward to your updated response to my updated response.

Gunnerlocutor

Hah. I tried to preemptively satisfy you.

chepetin

Ha ha. I saw that and got a good laugh.

At the current rate of signings we’ll be surely playing a 2-8 or 1-9 formation

PEA14

I guess this is why they say, “The Best Defence is Attack”

A5000m555

I don’t have strong opinion myself, but if the quoted prices are correct, Gnabery could be a lot less than Raphinha. Who would be better for the current squad? Assuming they both want to join.
Of course, as well as transfer fees, it is possible Gnabery may need a much higher salary which could be an issue.

Russ

Can’t help but feel ‘been there’ etc with Gnabery. Other players to look at now

Jackie

Does Gnabry want to come to you, though?

Thierry Bergkamp (non negotiable)

If there is a small chance of Gnabry being available, I’d take him over Raphinha

Gunnerlocutor

I think his wage demands would be through the roof. And keeping the wage bill under control seems like part of the new strategy. Not that Rapha won’t be well paid but I think Gnabry might want over 200.

Luke

I don’t think we are keeping the wage bill under control with jesus signing, as they are reporting he will get 220-250k per week. And in my opinion, he is not worth that money, and if it doesn’t work out we will struggle to offliad him. I think gnabry merits that kind of wage more, but we should be vary of giving that kind of wage to either of them.

Qwaliteee

You’re entitled to your opinions of course, but you guys moaning about salaries, fees and “how we’re going to fit everyone in” take the biscuit. I cannot, in all my years of supporting Arsenal, recollect a time when we splashed the cash so freely – maybe in ‘95 when we signed Platt and Bergkamp within a matter of weeks of one another. After years of scrimping and scraping and putting up with more than our fair share of dross coming in through the trolley dashes of yore, it’s fantastic that not only are the club clearly executing a strategic plan,… Read more »

chepetin

Seriously? He’s on about 90k now and I think a bump to that range is bonkers.

Berlingoon

Bayern offered him nearly 20 Mio per season, that‘s almost 400k a week. No chance we can get him for significantly less. And then we shouldn’t do it at all. No matter how much we like Serge.

Dennis Elbow

Try 300,000+

Badaab

gnabry reportedly wants 300k a week

The Beast

I’d be surprised if we were up there with the clubs Gnabry has in mind & even more surprised if we could/would want to pay him what he’d probably be asking.

Think Raphinha probably fits the profile of the type of player we’ve been targeting a bit more. Young but experienced, has his peak ahead of him & not yet a superstar that’ll demand insane wages.

Greg in Seattle

The only reason to bust the wage structure is for something special with positional scarcity. Tricky wide players? Exceptional ones are out there that haven’t built up the CV to make those salary demands. The mythical #9 who bags 20 every year easily, wants to lead the press, and opens things up for everyone else? If one wants to come to you, that’s when you open the wage wallet, IMO. (Jesus may yet bet that kind of 9, but he has something to prove. It’s a bet on his future based on his body of work that I agree with.… Read more »

Graham

I worked this out and based on a 5 year contract for both Gnabry would work out approx £15m more expensive over that time. Similar ages so really depends whether he’d give you £15m extra value.

Scrubby

Also, assuming both stay for those 5 years, then Gnabry would be 32 and Raphinha 30. Much more resale value at the lower of those 2.

Berlingoon

If both would stay 5 years there would be no resale value at all as they would be free agents 😋

Jimboslice

Interesting signing as I would like to see us strengthening midfield and lb first but I guess that’s not how the transfer market works. Still exciting times to be a gooner, looks like we’re not playing our usual games of waiting until transfer deadline day. COYG!

Yellow Ribbon

Well, Richarlison and Sp*ds would go well together. 😂

Zii

the moment u manage to sign Raphinha i will the happiest gunners on this planet Earth, please act fast time is not to our side, Arsenal for Life

Cliff Bastin

Brazil 🇧🇷

Qwaliteee

https://youtu.be/FPY1Z-fzZzk

Old Blue Eyes 😉🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶

A Different George

He looks a good player, but it’s really hard to judge his overall game because of the way Bielsa set up the team. (I haven’t really seen Brazil in competitive matches recently to make any judgment based on that.) I would prefer Tielemans if that’s the choice, but both would be great.

djourou's nutmeg

i don’t want to be a downer, but am i the only one not very excited about raphinha? sure he’s fast and tricky, but he’s 25 years old and we only got to hear about him last season, when he scored a personal record of 11 goals.

in previous seasons he’s only played half the matches (at best) and rarely scored. if he was worth 20M it’d be alright but can somebody explain to me why we’re spending 65M on him?

Qwaliteee

Write in to Arteta and Edu. 😂

Alex

No

Man Manny

Jamie Vardy.
Can you remember how old he was when you started hearing about him?

djourou's nutmeg

leicester didn’t spend 65M on vardy, and by the time he was worth that much, it was because he was a PL champion and goalscorer with 23 goals. kind of a diferent CV than that of raphinha’s…

PEA14

I dun think you are alone.
I think there’s a good player in Raph , but the question is
– Is he worth spending the 65M?
– Can we get someone better for 65M?
– Are we paying over the odds?

If he scored 11 goals for the team that finished 17th, how many could he score for the team that finished 5th, considering how many more chances we create than Leeds.
I get it doesn’t work like that in real life but his ceiling is incredibly high.

djourou's nutmeg

we don’t create much more chances than leeds, we’re pretty even, in fact they created more big chances than us last season. we were the 4th worst team in that department. funny thing tho, while looking up the stats i found out raphinha’s numbers for chances created are pretty high, about the same as odegaard’s and saka’s. so maybe that’s why we’re trying to sign him!

Badaab

remember last season when we were struggling for goals, chance creation, and creativity to drive the team forward because we had a great XI but not much behind that? remember how tired everyone looked at the top of the pitch?
raphinhia is annoying to play against because of his tenacity- the creativity and ingenuity on the ball are really just bonuses to his pace and determination and he’s got all the qualities in a player that have made zaha incredibly formidable for palace (and supposedly the same qualities pepe had when we signed him).

Bill Hall

This is great news, most likely a replacement for Pepe, now if we get Martinez and Tielemans as well I will be well fucking impressed?

Mark Hazelwood

Hard to imagine we’ll all the named targets, but I guess if Stan has the credit card out then anything is possible. Who else should be added to the shopping list? Is there anyone in world football who is actually a Partey play-a-like?

Badaab

lesley ugochukwu at rennes is very raw but he’s a similar style of player and would fit nicely into our age group for the squad project. however i think the extension on elneny pushes a signing in this area into next summer

Graham

Cheick Doucoure at Lens is eerily similar in style to Partey but he’s slightly shorter.

Qwaliteee

I love it when the plan comes together.

Sign this guy, Gabriel Jesus and that defender that looks like a human Rottweiler – and we shall have a squad to be reckoned with. 👍😊

Badaab

LFG

Wengerball

Is Arsenal taking Brazil’s spot in the WC this year? We have half their team now haha

Guns Up

Just said to my friends, “surely the Brazilian national team would do quite well in the Premier League… right??” I’m all for it.

Wengerball

Neymar next??? Haha

chepetin

We are becoming to Brazil what Wolves are to Portugal

AJD

I don’t know much about Raphinha, what are his football manager stats like?

Qwaliteee

He was fucking good for Leeds.

That’s all you need to know son.

#oldschool

BillyKrystal

I signed him in my FM save. He was good without being great. Sold him to Madrid for nice profit where he was poor for them.

Lewis

Reiss Nelson to Leeds and mainland-niles to leicester ,swoop to save cash

Vieraera

Kinda looks like Brazil is the new France. Moreover, 3 Gabis, Raphinha, Marquinhos, Viera, we should all be learning to speak Portuguese at arsenal! Love it!!! Make it happen Edu pls

Ricky

Terrific

Rocastle07

I love that ‘find a home for Pepe’
It’s such a shame it hasn’t worked out,

Scrubby

Indeed. In some ways it seems such a waste that we are having to spend serious money on someone that will effectively be taking Pepe’s place in the squad, but at this stage (and for a good while) it is obvious that Arsenal and Pepe are not working out. Shame, as we all know there is some serious talent in there.

charvakan

If all these attacking players are willing to fight for their minutes, and Josh is OK with the wage bill, great. I’d still like to see some attention paid to the outside backs and holding/destroying midfield. Arteta understands what’s needed and they are probably working on something. Arsenal is building a squad that could challenge for the league in the season after next and beyond.

Tom

I’d rather we get the players in first (before the start of the season) and then be scrambling around to offload players at the end of the window. If we get Jesus, Raphina and Martinez over the next few weeks anyone late in the window like Teilemans will be a bonus. We seem to be way ahead of United and Chelsea in our plans / intentions.

Qwaliteee

Well said.

We are so low on numbers at the moment, that to sell before we buy is beyond stupidity.

Not only that, you have to move fast to secure the top targets – when everyone, especially that lot up the Seven Sisters road, start sniffing around anything that we might be interested in.

Get the big signings on board first and move out the deadwood afterwards.

gab3

my main issue with this is that his name isn’t Gabriel

TotsOfJack

Exciting times definitely. But we’re still a Thomas Partey injury away from disaster. Let’s hope Sambi can go up another level next season.

Qwaliteee

Elneny stepped up well last season. No reason why he shouldn’t be able to do so again. Maybe we haven’t got the cash in this window, but if I were Arteta, I’d be making a plan to eventually go all out to sign Conor Gallagher. I’ve mentioned this guy before and been downvoted in droves, but I stand by what I’ve already said. He would slip effortlessly into this team – and if Partey remains injury prone, could prove to be a long term solution. Whether Palace or Chelsea would do a deal is another matter entirely and he wouldn’t… Read more »

Badaab

gallagher is going to be asking the same questions of chelsea’s heirarchy this summer as christian pulisic is- when can i play in the side? if tuchel and the new owners can’t answer effectively, the player may push for a move

Qwaliteee

Exactly.

Again, if I was Arteta, I’d be starting a file on Gallagher now and be all over it like an old suit.

If he doesn’t go back to Chelsea this season – and has another great campaign at Palace, then next summer he will be touted by everyone – City, Liverpool, Newcastle and probably those cunts up the Seven Sisters road.

He is a special talent, a proper box-to-box ball winner and I reckon he will eventually usurp Rice in the England set up.

Sammy

Let’s not forget Viera can do a job there if the need arises. Happy times for the gunners.

Badaab

sambi isn’t the same type of player as partey and expecting him to play that role is a bit of an ask- he’s more suited to playing alongside someone like xhaka or elneny who will be busy alongside him rather than being a one man midfield like partey is capable of (and lets be honest, very few players are capable of performing that role- the last one to play for us was gilberto)

Qwaliteee

Not impressed with Sambi, so far.

He needs to work on his game a lot, his first touch isn’t great and gives away possession far too easily.

Hopefully he can step up, but at the moment I would still look to Elneny as backup for Partey.

Parth

60m is too much in a position we already have covered up well. I don’t want a scenario when Raphinha, Martinelli and Viera are on bench and Elneny & Lokonga are handling midfield as Partey is injured. CM and LB has to be the priority. Buy RW backup with whatever cash is left.

IziRascal

Agree. Am I the only one that is a little concerned about his attitude? Blogs described him as being a bit nasty but in our last game with Leeds he seemed like a bit of a nob…

Gunnerlocutor

We know Blogs. If Rapha performs and helps us win, He will love him. He’s not exactly not biased!

IziRascal

Truth. It wasn’t meant to be a dig at Blogs. It’s just we all know what effect one bad apple can have on the squad, not to mention Arteta’s non-negotiables…

Mad Mick Madison

Tielemans is coming…

Appels&Pere

Love the young guns that have carried the team, but Jesus and Raphina are way more decisive and confident. They’ll be able to take control of a game and not just react.

Mad Mick Madison

The Oracle is rarely wrong. I am excited.

Teryima Adi

Arteta, Edu and Arsenal on fire

Jim King

The Kronkes know that if they don’t spend this summer things will get worse for their investment (that’s all Arsenal are to them) because next summer we will have a Ten-Hag-improved Man. U (possibly), Chelsea (with new cash)), the football-club-formerly-known-as-Newcastle – AFC Saudi Arabia and even Sp*rs all competing for the Champions League. They know we have to get into the Champions League because it will ultimately become a ‘super-league’ – either that or there will be another iteration of the super-league. They also trust (as I do) Arteta to improves us as long as we have the right players.… Read more »

Badaab

the changes at chelsea in terms of ownership, board, as well as their financial obligations to renovate the stadium, will impact them more than most assume. boehly’s wealth is largely based on stock valuations and not actual liquid assets- he’s very heavily leveraged into tech stocks in particular- think of him like a slightly larger version of the spotify guy who thought he had enough to buy us last summer.

EmileSmithWhoa

Raphina, Gabriel, Martinelli… and Jesus playing together to make the Brazil World Cup team…at Arsenal. I hope Martinelli doesn’t suffer as a result.

Gabigol

Even paying part of Pepe wages to get him off the books seems a decent solution right now. If Leeds are willing to part exchange him for even a 20m price for Raphina, that would be a win from Edu.

However I am sure Leeds have other priorities going on.

Perhaps a season loan of Mari or Ballard ontop.

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