Arsenal are ramping up interest in Leeds United’s Raphinha with Goal.com claiming the Brazilian could be a Gunner as soon as this week.
The 25-year-old has been heavily linked with Barcelona in recent months but with the Catalan side struggling to finance a move, it’s said we’re now in pole position to close out a deal that could cost as much as £50 million.
Raphinha signed for Leeds in the summer of 2019 for £17 million and has since made 66 appearances, scoring 16 goals and making 11 assists. The left-footed winger has previously played for the likes of Rennes, Sporting Lisbon and Vitoria Guimaraes.
As always, we’re naturally cautious. At this point, it’s hard to tell whether this story has been planted to kick the Camp Nou hierarchy into gear or whether we’re genuinely trying to close out a quick deal.
If the latter, it would be a big show of intent, especially with Edu and Mikel Arteta also looking to finalise moves for Gabriel Jesus, Youri Tielemans and Lisandro Martinez from Manchester City, Leicester City and Ajax respectively.
The Gunners are expected to confirm the €40 million acquisition of Fabio Vieira from Porto in the next 48 hours.
I’m struggling to see where the money Is coming from for these signings without a significant outgoing. My concern is Saka to City.
I mean, it’s not impossible. Villa spent the Grealish money before he left to keep the prices down. But there was so much smoke that was going to happen. I will definitely feel better when Saka, Saliba and Martinelli sign new deals though. And until they do, it’s not completely unforeseeable that they leave in this window (I think we have an option on a third year with Martinelli though). I really hope this isn’t the case. And I don’t believe that it is due to his ties to the club. But yeah, it had crossed my mind. City with… Read more »
Pepe alone gives you atleast 25-30million quid. When you throw in Leno, Torreira, Bellerin, AMN and Mari. That’s well over 60 million pounds for the 6 of them. Europa will bring in another 30mill at the very least. The Kroenke’s should be able to invest around 50mill this summer. While I acknowledge deals are not deals until they are done, I don’t think you need to sell anyone to spend 150 this summer.
There is no chairman on this planet who isn’t in a padded cell on a high dose of antipsychotic’s that would give us £30m for Pepe.
I keep hearing this. And it’s something we really need to adjust our expectations about.
On the other hand, I am hoping Eddie Howe has been super impressed by Pepe because £30m is literally irrelevant for his owner. I mean, he (the owner, not Howe or Pepe) just invested $ 2 billion in an investment fund that his own financial experts said was completely unsuitable. Because what’s $2 billion between friends?
But even a billionaire wouldn’t walk into a shop, see a pair of sunglasses for £30 and offer the shopkeeper £50.
However, it could be that OUR billionaire is smarter than we think.
Stan doesn’t want to invest heavily in Wenger as he sees him as a fading star whose powers are diminishing.
Emery was unable to prove himself worthy either.
But with Arteta, he’s found a manager who is deserving of financial backing and is happy to do it when Arteta has proven that he has what it takes to move the club forward.
If Stan was just waiting for the right moment to throw his money into the ring, then he’s playing 4D chess alright. And I salute him!
I think it’s more to do with the fact that we have fallen down the league due to miss management and we now have a streamlined and structured management system.
Also according to Forbes Stan Kroenke became 2.5B richer this year. Probably skimming tax by loaning Arsenal a nice sum
Maybe it’s more to do the fact he fully owns the club now
Isn’t that exactly what Man City have been doing for years when selling their advertising to Etihad etc.
It will be tough to get pepe out on loan never mind getting a fee for him.
We should make £70-80 mil in sales of players like Leno, Pepe, Torera, Bellerin, Niles, Nelson, Mavro, Gandeuzi etc
nope this is post-wenger arsenal,, we will more likely make 15 million and have to beg and swear at some players hoping they leave, either that or call in some mafia style hits on their cars and watches to smoke them out
I predict:
Pepe – loan with £15m option
Leno – £8m
Torreira – £10m
Bellerin – £7m
AMN – £6m
Nelson – £5m
I just can’t see us getting anywhere near £70m.
We’re going to be lucky to even get that.
Yup, although I think you are underestimating Leno, because he wants to stay in England. I am not sure we will be able to move Bellerin and Torreira at all, because the only places they want to go cannot afford anything like a reasonable price.
You need to add
Guendouzi – £10m
Mavropanos – £3m
Ballard – £2m
I mean….£51m is pretty close to 70m
That’s £51 million according to your figures. Throw in the £9 million for Guendouzi and £3 million for Mavropanos, and you’re actually not far from £70 million at all… not to mention the savings from the relatively small wage bill we’ve had for last season (particular the last half), and you can begin to see how we might have the funds to do a bit of decent business this season.
I don’t know. In the entire universe of available integers, 51 is incredibly close to 70
Mavros, Guendo….all the money off the wage bill, Euro income, Rwanda comissi…..
Stan is worth 10-12B and is married into the Walton (Walmart) family. It’s not really where the money comes from as much as it’s whether he wants to spend it. And judging by the amount he shells out in new contracts for the LA Rams I don’t think that’s an issue.
His Colorado Avalanche (NHL) are about to win the Stanley Cup in hockey as well. KSE are on a roll!
Indeed they are. I didn’t want to use them as an example though. I don’t follow hockey close enough to say whether they have many highly paid players on their roster. I assume they do though. Some of the stuff Stan does is surely questionable, but he has never been afraid to spend some coin on his teams.
i don’t follow the hockey either, but friends who own season tickets say the av have had about a decade of mediocrity before this run into the finals so i wouldn’t read too much into this one season of potential success
None of their players are high contract guys. KSE built the Avs through the draft. They went for youth about 4 years ago. They are now reaping the benefits of a team that has come to age together. Sound like a familiar formula?
It’s a bunch of young guys playing fast with some veteran leadership. Sounds kinda familiar doesn’t it?
The NHL has a very hard salary cap–that is, a cap on the total payroll (not the pay of any individual player) as well as strict limitations on free agency (Bosmans). So, a team of young, talented players almost inevitably must sell (or trade, more typically) some of those players as they become eligible for free agency because keeping them all would exceed the cap. There is also a payroll floor, something unimaginable in European football. Sometimes NHL teams have acquired the contracts of highly-paid older players for the purpose of reaching this floor. (Imagine if a team like Southampton… Read more »
I think the LA Rams thing is a muth.
The NFL has a salary cap which limits thebwage bill so no team is able to give all their players big contracts.
Yes, but there are ways around the salary cap to allow you to pay players without it showing. All the NFL teams know the salary cap is going up by a big wedge next season, so a lot of new deals are being back-loaded, so you pay a small amount now, and a big amount later. They also do things like a small base salary and massive incentives (which are easily achieved) so the payment doesn’t come straightaway. I’m assuming the Rams have very good accountants because they seem to keep signing more and more stars (although they have lost… Read more »
This is nonsense. The Rams have been a crap team for years. The NFL is set up (through the draft, the salary cap, and variable scheduling) to allow all but very poorly-managed teams (the Detroit Lions, for example) to have a period of success which, for all but the best-managed (New England), tends to be relatively short.
The Rams have successfully gone all-in on immediate success (trading away future draft picks and with long-term commitments to older stars). There is every likelihood that they will enter a poor run in the next few seasons.
Not sure I’m saying something different from you. I don’t understand the use of the word ‘nonsense’. They’re all-in at the moment, purely because they’re kicking the can down the road on having to pay all the crazy wages for all the stars they’ve signed in the last couple of seasons. In a year or two they’re not going to be able to afford any stars because they’ve shunted all the contracts down the line. It doesn’t mean they haven’t fudged their way around the salary cap to give them a shot at the SB now. It’s not like they… Read more »
Ultimately though the owners willingness to pump money into the club is only relevant as it allowing us to maximise losses under financial fair play. Stan Kronke is not a state, he cannot inflate our revenues through commercial deals as City have done and Newcastle want to do. So the player sales point is extremely relevant in the context of maximising profitability to spend within the rules as well as cash flow.
No man, Saka is staying here! He will sign a huge contract I’m sure but he’s the star player at his boyhood club and he is still only 20. Why would he leave? Maybe one day down the line but I just can’t see him wanting to join City. And the cash, we’re the biggest team in one of the the richest cities in the world, we play in the richest league and are owned by one of the world’s richest countries’, richest men. We got the cash. The big question is if we sign Raphina and Jesus, what is… Read more »
Xhaka is in starting line up. 😂😂
Why’s that funny?
We are linked with lots of forwards and defenders but I’m guessing we will start the season with Xhaka and partey in middle. An upgrade on Xhaka is essential in my opinion. More will be revealed and I find it funny 😂😂🤓
Also after the collapse last season I’m trying to laugh more as the disappointment did my mental health damage. I can only describe the disappointment like chewing on a tender piece of prime fillet steak when eventually you realise you are eating shit.
We just signed a midfielder…..
You have an odd sense of humour.
Maybe it’s old-fashioned to think in terms of an 11 these days. 25-man squad.
Ramsdale, Turner, Hein, Tierney, Martinez, Gabriel, White, Saliba, Holding, Tomiyasu, Cedric (rank), Sambi, Xhaka, Partey, Elneny, Viera, Odegard, Smith-Rowe, Martanelli, Saka, Raphina, Nketiah, Jesus.
Space for two more.
And we will have 5 subs per game next season, that heavily changes everything
My bet is Saliba to PSG. He’d command a fee, gets to stay in France, and he has no great affection for Arsenal.
Truth is arsenal don’t need raphinha ( a lot of Gunner’s will want my head) but that’s the truth, what we need is a goal scoring left forward, like richarlison or danjuma at Villarreal, comparing raphinha and pepe, I believe pepe is a better player ( calm down guys) my reason is both raphinha and Pepe’s game requires a lot of space to thrive, at Leeds raphinha is afforded such space, but at arsenal pepe isn’t cos many teams play with a low block against arsenal, but teams don’t bother with Leeds…. let me explain further; when mahrez was playing… Read more »
until the money is actually spent and the player is holding up the shirt- does it matter?
also i find it incredibly difficult to care about money, which is not mine, being spent
Yeah! Especially by a man who made 2.5B profit last year
Lisandro
As long as Arsenal don‘t get confused and buy the wrong one… 😋
Def wouldn’t mind Lautaro
Actually I wouldn’t mind that
Not sure tbh. Lautaro looks like a world beater in one game and then goes missing for the next 2-3. Considering the amount of money it would cost us to bring him over, i‘d be at least hesitant.
Hopefully they do. But it won’t be from Ajax.
Dump all these guys and put £70 million into Lukaku then play a system that would allow him to thrive.
Not sure if it‘s worth moving Arsenal to the Italian league just to make Lukaku thrive tbh 😬
hahaha god-tier response
Or alternatively stick with the plan and don’t spend £70 million on Lukaku?
Romelu? Shouldn’t you be busy crowdfunding your move back to Inter?
Having spend a season with Lacazette and Nketiah, I love that we look down a player with Lukaku’s quality.
Probably has something to do with the fact Nketiah scored more goals in all comps last season, with less playing time, compared to Lukaku
OH yes stats!
I forgot all about them!
You are right!
Lukaku is worst striker from Nketiah.
“OH yes stats!”
And goals.
Where did I say “Lukaku is worst striker from Nketiah”?
All I know is that, last season, Nketiah was statistically more effective than Lukaku (not difficult, I know). Which makes it hard to believe that Lukaku’s worth £70m to anyone. Good luck to him though. Thought some of the criticism he got was a bit OTT. Should’ve never left Inter really
Now we are talking.
Yes is not worth 70 million but he is a quality player definitely better than our Eddie. Although we ve been burned many times with seasoned players I recon he could keep defenses busy and help our youngsters buzz around. Also set pieces will be lethal with Gabriel also in the team and perhaps Saliba
He’s fat and shit. Total donkey at UTD and Chelsea. Looks good in Italy because the level is way lower.
That’s surely a joke?
Jesus H Christ….🙄
Think you have the wrong Martinez
See I’m at that stage where I’m considering what arsenal would look like with raphinha, lisandro, vieira, jesus, and tielemans and it’s really exciting but really a part of me knows I’m setting up myself up for severe disappointment. That being said, we’ve had properly reliable reports about all these players so, if it does happen, wow what a window that would be.
100% agreed, I’m determined not to get too excited by these reports, they can not all be true, surely!
Yeah, I do love all this. It’s super exciting. But I just hope we aren’t in a position where Saka is keeping Raphinha on the bench, Viera can’t get into a CM spot, ESR is keeping Martinelli out of the team, but Cedric is whipping crosses into the ghost of Olivier Giroud all game.
Mate, let’s cross that bridge when we get to it.
This club needs a far bigger squad than what we have at the moment.
Give me an embarrassment of riches on the bench any day – rather than patching up with Cedric, Tavares and Elneny as we crawl like like a thirst crazed man in a desert into 5th.
Having a big squad is something we’re all going to (hopefully) have to get used to – but after years of having to play the stiffs to put out eleven men, I’m all for it.
Bring. It. On. 😊👍
I’m with you, raphinha and Saka in the same team can’t work can it? The lack of any Saka contract talk is worrying. Fingers crossed Raphinha isn’t a replacement. If he is it better be one tenth of what Saka goes for. Jesus I don’t even want to think about it it’s too sad!
Sterling and Mahrez, with both De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva capable of playing in the same area, etc. etc. Dismal failure, only won the league four of the last five. We don’t have those resources, of course, but it’s pretty clear Arteta has the same notions about flexibility in his players.
I’m not entirely convinced that we have such funds available.
Unless we can fetch 100m for Bellerin and Torreira and Leno
Good point.
And no. We cannot fetch 100 from them even if you add Pepe on the lot
I dunno. If the government keep printing money…
Me neither but – raphinha 55m, Jesus 45m, Vieira 30m, tielemans 25m, lisandro 30m makes 185m – huge window. Let’s say torreira, AMN, Leno, Bellerin and Pepe leave. Being conservative, we can get between 8-10m for each of the first four, and 20 for Pepe. That’s between ~50m and 60m in sales, so gross spend becomes 125-130m, which when we are improving the squad this much isn’t ridiculous. Yep it’s farfetched, and yep I’m playing career mode here, let me have my fun 😅. But the board have shown a certain willingness to spend during artetas reign. This much spending… Read more »
remember us not spending in january.
If we had got vieira in january our total spend would be less than £100m this summer which is much easier to comprehend.
It seems like we’re interested in the player but not in a bidding war. Leeds don’t like our current offer and don’t have one from Barcelona, the player is probably ambivalent. If we get him, great. But with the Vieira signing, the wide forward positions seem reasonably well-stocked even without.
Lautaro Martinez? Where did that one come from. Haven’t heard a lot doing the rounds about our interest in him.
Typo. He meant Lisandro Martinez.
Cheers. That makes sense
As long as he didn’t mean Emi.
Besides, he’s way out of our league after his “step up”.
Roberto? Only if his assistant coach can play.
What a transfer window if we manage to pull all of these off. The thought of a front 3 of Raphina, Jesus and Saka is enough to quicken anyone’s pulse. COYG
I’m very, very excited, don’t get me wrong, but I’m getting awfully confused as to where everyone fits!
I know that we need to stop thinking in starting XI’s and start thinking about 16 or 17 first team players, but I’m still trying to figure out quite how our team looks if we sign all rumoured players.
But fuck it! It’s really good fun! Kind of like drunk Football Manager with the cheat code on.
Very exciting, and it means we stop thinking about a first 11, when was the last time you looked at city that way? 5 subs, players interchangeable across positions, players not playing all the minutes and burning out…it’s the future!
Unfortunately, comparing anyone bar Newcastle to City is slightly moot. But no, you’re right. Liverpool had 5 options for their front three and it gave them all sorts of rotational options when players became jaded towards the end of the campaign. It’s a really tricky one for a club like Arsenal who aren’t historically a rotational team. Wenger liked a starting XI and you always knew what his best eleven was. Say next season Saka scores 2 and assists 1 in a game and then is rotated for Raphinha and we don’t win, I think a lot of Arsenal fans… Read more »
Forwards in the last 5-6 years have significantly greater physical demands placed on them. They must press, track back and cover vast distances every game. I would think if we got all these guys there would be plenty of football to go round.
I’m thinking of another scenario where Saka gets hat tricks in the first 2 matches.
That aside, chasing all these players makes sense because we realistically can’t get them all. Arteta and Edu are probably trying to avoid putting all eggs in a basket like we did in January.
Even if we get them all, it doesn’t look like adding 5 extra players to this current squad should leave any important player too unhappy. There will be enough games plus we get to avoid burning anyone out or worrying when a few injuries set in.
Highly sceptical about our links to all these players but I agree 100%. Nobody questions the Citys, L’pools, Chelseas & even Utds of this world when they stack their squads with quality players, so I see no reason why we shouldn’t be trying to do the same if we have the funds.
I hear you.
But Saka is hands down our best player. And Raphinha plays exactly there. The reports are saying he could cost as much as £75m.
I’m all for squad depth. But for a club like Arsenal who will always have limited resources, it seems a question worth discussing.
You don’t see Liverpool buying a specialist RWF.
True. I guess I’m just encouraged by the business we did last summer & more willing to trust the club wont neglect obvious priorities before deepening squad depth.
Also, after last summer, it’s clear I have no clue how Edu, Arteta & co plan on building the squad but seem to have a plan.
Who knows. Gives us something to chat about in this world cup free summer if nothing else
A lot of people questioned the logic of City spending £100m last season on yet another wide forward instead of Harry Kane, to be fair.
True but that decision didn’t turn out to be a complete disaster for them either, did it.
Not saying we’re anywhere close to having the resources to throw money at our squad like an oil rich nation trying desperately to launder their image but, if there’s an opportunity to deepen the squad with quality, I’m not gonna question that.
Depends on how you categorise ‘disaster’. They generally win the league and probably would have done so with Kane (I would say they would have been more likely to win the league, if nothing else because they would probably beat Spurs at least once) so I don’t think Grealish helped in that regard. They still fell short in the CL because they don’t convert enough of the chances they make. They probably would have strolled it with Kane up front. Yes, they’ve now got Haaland, but I still think Kane is a better fit for the football they play, because… Read more »
Again, think Squad rather First XI. 😉
Everyone seems to forget we’ve got the extra games with Europa, Arteta would ideally, you’d guess anyway, like a longer FA Cup run this season & 5 subs is permanent now. I’d love us to sign Raph, Leeds are my second team through my stepdad(except when they play us, then it’s fuck Leeds) & his my favourite player to the point where I got brought a Raphinha 10 shirt for Xmas but if we did sign him, he’d have to cut out the strops when things don’t go his way, we all saw how he reacted when Ayling got sent… Read more »
A lot of people still with an Arsenal finishing in 8th outlook.
Amazing how quickly some people will put up with mid table mediocrity.
Thank fuck Edu, Arteta and – for that matter – the Kroenkes – don’t see it that way.
I know it’s not really a comparison but in 2018-19 Man City had Sane, Sterling, Mahrez, Aguero, Jesus and Foden competing for 6 foward spots.
(foden mostly started in CM but came off the bench into the forward line).
In a lot of people’s heads, we’re an Everton or a West Ham.
Not a City or Liverpool or a Chelsea.
*And before anyone starts getting salty about how long it’s been since our last title win, just check out the rest of Arsenal’s history and educate yourself first.
We’re one of the biggest names in world football and certainly the biggest club in London, bar none – and therefore we should have a squad size reflecting that.
The reason I think signing a wide forward is so important is precisely to protect our young ones. They – especially saka – get way too much game time. Martinelli and ESR less so, but saka in particular is at a huge risk of being overplayed at such a young age. So many examples recently of poor youngster management – dele Alli and rashford e.g., exploded as youngsters, got crazy amounts of game time which led to rapid development yes, but also to severe problems at the age of 24-25. Burnout, injuries, fitness. Even cesc played so much when he… Read more »
Hard to believe this actually needs to be explained to people, but here we are. Cheers.
Think this is just Arsenal trying to tell Citeh we’re not going to be paying too much for Jesus and have other options.
It‘s probably just me but somehow I’m not that excited about the Raphinha rumours. Can‘t say I’ve watched loads of him but when I saw him, he looked decent but really not like someone who‘s worth that amount of money, if you ask me. Can‘t imagine him playing ahead of Martinelli or Smith Rowe, let alone Saka. And for a back up that‘s quite a lot of money. But what do I know. Arteta and Edu will have their reasons for chasing him and if he comes in and does well, I’d be more than happy. Just hope we‘ll find… Read more »
I’m with you- and the Premier League tax bumping the fee up to £50m (if the report is to be believed, which is by no means a certainty) seems enormously inflated. He has amazing moments, but seems to go missing often, and not as though he’s that young.
Will get behind him and hope to be proven wrong if it does come about, but can’t help but feel Arteta et al are too smart to be pursuing this kind of deal. His stats aren’t markedly different to Pepe..
Raphinha is a top top talent, I’d be surprised if we can get him, and if so it’d be very exciting. The closer the other players are to Saka in talent, which Raphinha is, the less likely we are to ruin him and the more confident players will be to come to and stay with Arsenal in pursuit of silverware.
Can you call a guy ”a talent“ who turns 26 this year? That‘s one of the problems. If he comes in and doesn’t fulfil the expectations, we could have a lot of problems moving him on, especially if he‘s getting closer and closer to his 30s.
If we sign him, this is a deal that has to work out. Similar to the Gabriel Jesus one. But I’m way more confident about that, when it comes to Jesus.
By talent I don’t mean potential, he’s proven that he’s already top drawer in the past two PL seasons.
I believe there’s a lot of substance to your opinion and I’d tend to agree with you, but then again, last summer’s window proved me that I know sh*t about football compared to the people currently running Arsenal’s operations, so there’s that.
With Arteta’s „I want 2 players for each position” and the introduction of 5-sub rule, I guess we really have to re-think the whole “back up player” thing.
Wat re u on about… Raphinha is more mature ND better than all our youngsters.
No one is keeping him on the bench … It’s a big signing, like the way pool got mane, sterling to city… It’s a statement signing….. One of Brazil’s top talents.
Worth all that money
And then there’s always the thought that we could just be the bait on the Barca hook.
It’s happened before and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit…
100% this. Seems… unecessary?
But I thought that about the £50m we spent on Ben White and I was very wrong about that too.
My stepdad & sister are Leeds fans so they’re kinda an adopted second team for me & I’ve seen virtually every game since they returned to the Prem. Raph is my favourite Leeds player by far, yeah he drifts in & out of games but I put that down to not having a team mate anywhere near his talent, for every performance against us, he’ll put one in like Brentford where he was the best player on the pitch by a mile, I’d even go as far to say he single handedly kept Leeds in the league on that performance.… Read more »
Think this is just Arsenal trying to tell Citeh we’re not going to be paying too much for Jesus and have other options.
Lautaro?
A really positive and exciting move if true. Don’t want to piss on the parade but we need to be careful how many new players we bring in without damaging the current good vibes in the squad. It’s happened elsewhere: How many is too many?! I know , right 🙄
I’ll take Lautaro Martinez.
This would transform our attack. Better than every one of our young wingers.
He is like Martinelli in style. Great finisher. With much higher volume of dribbling. Also elite crosser and passer.
Maybe it’s me, but I don’t think he’s anything like Martinelli in style. Martinelli is all action and intensity, whereas Raphinha is all dribbly and skilful (but doesn’t look that hard-working).
Any time I’ve watched him he has ran his bass off and looked completely deadly on the counter attack.
‘Left sided winger’ typo? or left footed winger? That’s a bit confusing. He is left footed but plays on the right
This a Mahrez type of signing. You either get him in now and he helps you change a gear, or he goes to one of the filthy rich state-owned pricks two years down the line and wins everything.
Not sure about that. Thought Mahrez was a candidate for player of the season the year Leicester won the title. Raphinha wouldn‘t even be anywhere near my team of the season.
I mean they just avoided relegation not title winning team so slightly different. He’s very very good and also quite Mahrez in mould so I see quite a lot of comparisons.
Yeah, but that‘s exactly the difference. Mahrez was a star performer in a title winning team that has put in top performances week in week out. Raphinha was one of the better players in a team that just avoided relegation.
Again, would be more than happy being proven wrong here but I’m not fully convinced he‘s a player that will upgrade us significantly.
I know a couple of season ticket holders at Leeds – they’d be gutted to see him go. They believe his assists would be literally doubled if playing for a top team.
I’ve just not watched him enough. His youtube clips for last season looked incredible – but I can’t trust them. I want to go back a watch a few Leeds games from last season really…
Not that hard to double his assists from last season. Had exactly 3.
Which probably means we should double our efforts to sign him.
off topic…this made me giggle! thought i would leave it here 🙂
https://youtu.be/J3qoqB8YFuU
This feels very Come-and-get-me-barcelona-vlahovic-ish. Our transfer fever is extremely high at the moment so this not working out would be our atypical smack in the guts calm down-get back in your place.
I’d be extatic if it happened, but for now I’m keeping my cool.
Ecstatic even..?
Raphinha is extremely exciting
A big if, but if these Raphinha and Lisandro deals go through + Vieira at their reported prices – that’s £130-140m spent. Before we’ve even touched the 2 main starting XI positions that everyone seems to agree we need to bring in – CF & a Xhaka upgrade for that no. 6/8 CM spot
That seems completely mad to me. We aren’t Man City. I’m not doubting the quality of these players but just questioning our priorities. Will any of the above even make our 1st choice starting XI? Maybe Raphinha on the left away from his usual RW position?
Chill bruv.. even if it’s 200m . Yes Stan owes us one. Remember we didn’t sign anyone in January even wen conte spent about 60m.
It’s not our money they re spending.. so chill.
About who’s starting or not.
Grealish was bought for a 100 ND he’s sittingon the bench .. no one’s dead. Now they ve added haaland to that already deadly attack.
If u don’t spend… Like spend big… U will never get closer to those guys.
I think mainly I just don’t want us to be that kind of club. Like one of the main things we took pride in as a fanbase over the relatively lean 2010s and early 20s, was that any success we had was through our own steam. Not like City or Chelsea If we suddenly start competing at the top again because our slimy multi-billionaire owner on a whim dumps 00s of millions into the club (another big if) – won’t it feel a little empty to you? Compared to getting back to the top, perhaps more slowly, by spending what… Read more »
Save the holier-than-thou rhetoric.
It’s almost as boring as not playing in the ECL for five years…
Does the average older City fan feel any more connected or get any more enjoyment from their club than they did 20 years ago? I won’t pretend to numbers but I know that some do, some the opposite. It’s an individual and not always conscious or rational thing
Besides, that’s a false choice. We’re a big, rich club already, we can compete under own steam. We’ve been relatively uncompetitive the past few years because we’ve made rubbish decisions over and over.
The average City fan – young or old – would be laughing their heads off at your comments, that’s for sure.
Arsenal start to show some ambition in the market place and people like you get out the crucifixes and garlic. Mate, what are you scared of….?
That we might finally have a squad that can actually compete week in week out with City, Liverpool, Chelsea and the Scum…? Or do you enjoy seeing us struggling to finish 4th, year after year?
If it was up to you, Arsenal shirts would be made out of sack cloth… 🙄
First of all, that top statement I know not to be true
Liverpool and Spurs have got where they are under there own steam haven’t they? Why is it beyond us?
Wouldn’t worry about it too much. We are football fans, not economists. Maybe the Kroenkes are willing to invest now they have a young manager who they trust who’s sold them on the idea that even at 40/50 million these players are wise investments for the future. If this is true, it will go along way to suggest that the frugality which existed in the late Wenger days was down to him and not the Kroenkes.
The Kroenkes’ model, I’m quite confident, was that Wenger would get Arsenal into the Champions League every year, but would never be given the resources to challenge for the title. Like “making the playoffs” is the only thing that matters during the “regular season” in the American sports in which they invest–coming in first in the league is barely a relevant consideration. That’s why all the American owners loved the Super League. I am afraid it is the same now, but the top four requires a much bigger spending commitment.
Perhaps you’d rather we scrape 5th again, with Cedric and Tavares making up the numbers…?
Give me strength…..🙄
This is a statement signing ND am all in for it. The kinda mahrez to city, sterling to city, mane to pool. One of the transfers that can change us for good. This guy can match jota, Diaz. Talent to talent. ND he’s as clinical too. With this guy ND teilemans joining…. We definitely closing up on Liverpool ND city. Martinelli, saka, esr ND odegaard would ve to up their game now.. no more inconsistencies… ND the guys coming in will have to be at their best too. This sadly is the end of Pepe at the arsenal. It will… Read more »
I’ll have what he’s having— ND!
Well this all seems incredibly well organised! Don’t want to jinx it, but it’s could we really get all our important business done at the start of the summer…
his face is so punchable that I’m not sure I can be on board. And that’s before we talk about the price. and the fact that we still need to offload pepe before buying wingers becomes a priority.
I have nothing against the player, and he must be pretty good to attract the attention of so many clubs, the issue I have is why sign a player who blatantly wants to move to Barca? Surely he’ll just agitate for a move when they have some money again.
Then we can sell him for £135m and buy van dijk and alisson!
The move doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t care for these transfers if it means relying on Cedric, Xhaka and Tavares with no striker next season.
You’re thinking about our old formation Scwibble.
We will now play 2-1-7.
Make sense now?
Ramsdale
White / Gabriel
Partey
Odegaard / Saka / ESR / Martinelli / Raphinha / Vieira / Nketiah
Wow, yes! It’s all coming together now.
Just please do not sign Morata. Saw the link in the paper today, and my heart sank. How does this Morata keep getting gigs at top clubs without actually scoring goals??
At this point that’s gotta be an agent plant to keep his name out there seeing as Juve didn’t take up his signing after having him around for 2 years
I saw that, was frightened for a moment, then laughed. Come on, he is never never never coming here, no matter how many times he is “linked” to Arsenal.
We are usually successful at signing Brazillians. Have the cultural pull now.
Edu / Gabriel / Martinelli / Marquinos…
and portuguese speakers…
Vieira / Tavares
Cedric is also Portuguese
Yeah. But we want to get rid of him.
Excited about this. We still need someone to debutize for Partey and Xhaka, our spine is very brittle at this point.
I wonder how far our thinking on signing attacking depth has been influenced by the 5 subs rule. Arteta has mostly been a 60 minute substitution man, but I guess next year our attacking changes could become a lot more fluid..
Good stuff.
We’re finally moving in the right direction and being linked with big names, big signings and an altogether bigger future, befitting this football club.
Too bad there’s still too many blinkered idiots wondering how we’re “going to fit everyone in” and “where’s the money coming from”
LOSER MENTALITY.
50 million? Hmmm…
I would have serious concern that if we signed all those Sakha was off to city and they were to appease the Fans some ifthe players we are linked with make no sense especially Raphina
I like him but he’s got a bit of an attitude, the kind of player who would never accept being on the bench, which makes me worry we might be selling Saka.
Priority
Get Lisandro Martinez and Jesus
If you can’t sell Pepe. Keep him (no Auba situation, please)
No need for Raphina