According to Portuguese publication SIC Noticias (and corroborated by transfer expert Fabrizio Romano) Arsenal have struck an agreement to sign Porto’s attacking midfielder Fabio Vieira.
The 22-year-old is reportedly on his way to London to finalise personal terms and to undertake a medical after the Gunners agreed to pay €40 million (€35 million plus €5 million in add ons). Interestingly, the deal is being brokered by super agent Jorge Mendes.
❗️EXCLUSIVO. Fábio Vieira vai ser jogador do @Arsenal . Já existe acordo entre o @FCPorto e o #Arsenal. Valor da cláusula de rescisão é de 40 milhões de euros.
✈️ Fábio Vieira viaja nas próximas horas para Londres. pic.twitter.com/Evj0eSdt3y
— Pedro Sepúlveda (@pedromsepulveda) June 16, 2022
Vieira has spent his entire career at Porto, climbing up the ranks to become a regular in the first team since making his debut two years ago.
Last season he made 39 appearances, scoring 7 goals and making 16 assists.
While he’s yet to be capped by Portugal at senior level, Vieira has played 20 times for his country’s under-21s and was voted the best player of the finals at the 2021 UEFA European Championships in Hungary and Slovenia.
All in all, he sounds like a talented lad. It’ll be interesting to see how quickly this develops.
It’s come out of the blue, but soon enough we may well be singing, “He came from Portugal, to play for Arsenal…Vieira.”
The question many will be asking now is whether we’ll subsequently cool our interest in Leicester’s Youri Tielemans? At this point, we’re not sure. But we’d imagine not.
He’s a very good player, left footer
Those defence-splitting chipped assists have me believing Nketiah will be a big part of the team next season.
Vieira, Oh-oh
Vieira, Oh-oh, Oh-oh
He comes from Portugal
He plays for Arsenal!
Variations on an old theme.
Very apt for the Renaissance.
I’m sure he’s a great player. But is another lightweight technician REALLY what we need? And at €40 million without a senior Portugal cap, it looks like a joke. Like we are getting bent over, again. I’m thinking back to Palace away last season, where what we needed was some height, strength, speed and physicality. This sport is a game of duels and you can’t always turn up on a sunny day and play 5 a side. We play Palace away at 9pm on the first Friday night, again, with the world watching. Do we want yet another guy getting… Read more »
I suggest you wait to see what the entirety of our transfer business looks like before declaring we’re doomed to be outmuscled by everyone. It’s still only mid June and I suspect there will be a few more players signed before the transfer window shuts.
The association with size and strength/ physicality is really not as straightforward as people seem to want to believe. Find me a clip of Bernardo Silva getting easily knocked off the ball in the last two years. I’ll wait.
Silva vs Xhaka springs to my mind 😅
Although it was technically a pull rather than a knock.
And Silva benefitted by going to ground.
Regardless, I agree with your point. Just couldn’t resist commenting. I’m still annoyed by that penalty 🤣
Xhaka and Partey in midfield was not physical enough? How many other lightweight technicians do we have in team till now? I count one. We also bought William Saliba without a cap to his name … he turned quite alright till now on loan. He will probably not start week one. But he looks like a great technician and we have non if Odegaard gets injured. I think many forget that. ESR is a nice player but he doesn’t suit the middle of the park. Now we have a player with technical qualities I suppose. We needed that too.
He will be developing this season with plethora of Europe and Cup games. Exciting from initial signs and how it was wrapped till it became almost done, good business.
Our friends ,already forget Santi Cazorla.
Seems like needless disrespect if a great servant of the club, but what do i know?
Its still too early in the transfer window fior your essay… why dont you go outside and play instead?
Interesting one. I will not pretend to know much about him but if we are willing to spend 40 million on him, then there is a reason.
Hopefully not a Pepe shaped reason 😂
Interestingly the Scotsman (usually pretty accurate when it comes to Scottish sport) reports we are close to signing Aaron Hikey too.
Aaron Hikey, Aaron Hickey’s mountain-loving cousin 😉
But in all seriousness yes they don’t just make things up.
And Jesus is coming! What a day
But can he get onto a cross?
we can nail him to it snooch snooch
Let’s pray 🙏
Nailed on three points
Hopefully this Jesus has a better relationship with nails
Hopefully him coming, would mean we no longer will need to cross
I’m already tired of the “Jesus leads Arsenal-resurrection” headlines
With European football next season, it’ll be great to have him available every three days.
Alright John the Baptist, settle down
The resurrection of the center forward position at Arsenal! Christ, I hope so.
@blogs Here’s the title 4 one of ur subsequent blogs prior to Jesus’ actual arrival
Liverpool should just give us 30 million for Pepe
Pepe’s price tag wasn’t Pepe’s fault.
I can’t stand it when ignorance becomes folklore.
Ya, even the stats quoted from last season are in par with returns of some of the best middle fielders in European leagues
Are the best middle fielders same as middling best fielders? 😀
But yeah, the stats are impressive.
Really interested to see if Arteta sees him as a front three option or a CM option.
Does anyone know where he’s been playing for Porto and in what system?
Awesome news regardless. Love the age profile. Like that he’s had plenty of first team football too. And even happier that United fans seem pissed off as they thought he was signing for them.
Anyone spreading stories about Mikel’s anger at transfer inactivity might want to keep quiet. We’ve signed two players in the first week and it would appear Jesus and Tielemans are close.
COYG!!!
He’s not actually a first team regular at Porto as of yet, but rated as one of the best prospects in the country. His stats on Sofascore show he only averages 50mins per game, and his heatmap shows that he occupies the transition space between midfield and forwards across the pitch https://www.sofascore.com/player/fabio-vieira/904835
Thanks for the info dude! 😊
Yeah, as I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been ignoring all football news as I desperately try and process the end of last season. So this is literally the first I’ve ever heard of this lad.
Looking forward to geeking out on YouTube compilations when the kids are in bed.
And I’m back baby!!! All it took was my club to start throwing obscene amounts of money around. Ah capitalism. Isn’t it just so nourishing?
*pulls ten pound note out of his wallet and rubs it gently against his cheek*
Aaaaahhhhh.
I’ve had a feeling ever since Arteta took over that we are going to adopt the RB Leipzig strategy – sign the best young players in world football and give them game time – this in turn means that the next gen want to join our academy because we can demonstrate that we bring youth through and give them opportunities (this is also why the Europa is probably better for us next season as the whole squad is involved). For me, this is “the process”, transforming our image to one where the best youth in Europe come knocking at our… Read more »
The RB system is a whole other story. We sign top quality already educated prospects for a comparativly high prizes. RB Salzburg recruits the biggest unknown talents around the globe and guide them to Leipzig through two other clubs in Austria (Liefering and Salzburg). No one knows about them, before they sign for Salzburg or then Leipzig. And they take the cheap prospects like Brobbey or Moriba. Who think they can make it here (as you said). We are quite a bit away from that. Signing Tielemans and Jesus will be even further away from that. But yeah, young players… Read more »
How is the leipzig strategy different from the wenger strategy of project youth
You’ve been missed.
You’d be surprised how much that means to me buddy.
Which cheek?
Great
Johnny, it was a funny old season indeed.
But holy shit this news made me feel good.
I’ve been checking daily for something, anything (yes I know I’m mad). Just got a nice shot off dopamine.
I have no idea who he is, so I’ll see you on youtube 😉
You know how often I googled “Tielemans” in the last week haha?
I read your previous post Johnny and I just wanted to say that was feeling exactly the same. The end that season really scarred me. I’ve half heartedly talked about giving up being a fan after other big arsenal losses or set backs but after last season I really meant it. Without being hyperbolic, It traumatised me. Having a tottenham fan as a close friend didn’t help. And the pain I felt was so intense I found myself feeling totally crazy. Even as I right this I realise how nuts it sounds. Since then I’ve been travelling through South America… Read more »
I agree..direct competition for saka, Odegaard and Smith Rowe..we need the numbers for the squad..that’s most likely the kiss of death to Pepe
I think he will be more positioned to challenge xhaka for the left side of two no.8s (odegaard on the right) ahead of Partey at no.6. Arteta has said that he wants the 4-3-3 similar to city and pool with one anchor mid and two ball carriers
I have the feeling that Arteta is trying to prepare the squad to play those “false 9” systems.
He won the best player at the
U21 Euros. Pretty decent reason :). Pump with this one, we desperately needed cover for Odegard and more technical ability in the midfield.
If we buy Hickey, Teliemans, Jesus and add Saliba. That nails every department for me.
Still room for a big Cf for me.
Maybe yeah. But I just don’t see us getting another one if we are giving Eddie a big contract. Maybe not this window anyway.
Happy to be proven wrong though.
Attacking midfielder but we have ESR and Odegaard, a young brazilian winger last week but we have Martinelli and even ESR and Odegaard who can be deployed there.
We spent 70 million+ for Pepe…
I’m assuming Xhaka will go if this is the case? Either that or we’ve done a Maddison/Odegaard trick on Leicester again with Tielemens…
Hmm not sure. I think Viera is very much an attacking player, i still think we would keep Xhaka even if we sign Tielemans, otherwise we would need another midfielder surely?
If he wants to stay is another thing. I’d definitely keep him, not going to get a better player for the money we’d get for him
I see a direct battle between Xhaka and Tielemans for one spot. Vieira will be around Odegaards spot. But he will probably need some time to get used to the league. BUT he was signed early. That helps.
Nah. That means Melo won’t be coming. Good news one after another
I love transfers out of the blue. No fuss, no muss, welcome to the Arsenal!
Same here, there’s something really exciting about an under the radar signing you know nothing about!
Sadly reality rarely lives up to the initial thrill. But until then Yay!
Like Xmas in June!
that song gives me goosebumps
Looks to be quite adept with both feet and can play centrally or wide. Exciting looking player that adds depth and competition.
Here’s hoping he’s half as good as the original Vieira.
There’s only one Vieira.
*2
This guy is also called Vieira, did you not hear
He’s completely the opposite. Slight and about half the height, but looks exciting.
The alter ego viera, slight, short and white
I was referring more to overall success as a player and signing, rather than him being an imitation of our great leader. Not been many built like him
Reminds me a bit of Bernardo Silva. Or a left footed Bruno fernandes
Hopefully not a rat-faced dirty little shitbag like Fernandes
Tielemans always comes across as a bit lazy for my liking, but I presume we’ve watched him enough and got all the in game stats 🤷♂️
His ball winning and ground covering stats are right up there with the best. I really hope we get him and Jesus.
Don’t know much about this kid, a look on You Tube seems to indicate Bernardo Silva vibes which means we might be going full Man City next season ! 👍
You never go full Man City…
I have a good LCFC friend who says he’s excellent but he has been lazy and clearly wants to leave.
So was Tielemans was a smokescreen? Looks very left footed. Should slot in nicely as a left-side mf option.
Think he’s more of a number 10 so hopefully we get Tielemans as well …..
Tielemans is a deeper midfielder than this guy – so signing them both will be very useful pieces of business.
I think the key here is Xhaka. If he stays, we are OK in midfield if he leaves, we are not.
What from the last 6 years gives you that impression? I’d say it’s the complete opposite. If he stays, expect more of the same. If he goes: Halle-facking-luya. Finally a new slate.
I can cast-iron guarantee if he goes not a single person will say: we really missed Xhaka today.
you got that backwards buddy…
we do need numbers, yes, but we do not need xhaka.
if leverkusen really kinda want him, i would offer him as part of the deal for Patrik Shick.
that way we could finally fully replace Patrick Vieira… by name at least…
I would like that swap, even though I quite like Xhaka. Good thought
Never thought I would hear myself say this, but I’ll feel a lot better about the experience levels in our defensive midfield if Xhaka stays.
He really impressed me last season with the way he put his woes behind him, got his head down and put in some really Sterling performances.
Fair play to the lad and long may it continue. I hope he stays – we’re going to need him, that’s for sure.
Odd that you would say he looks “very left footed” because perhaps the main thing that has struck me so far watching him on youtube is how two-footed he seems to be!
Yep me too, goals and assists with his right foot like a natural
Expensive for someone so young and inexperienced. Plus we have Odegaard, ESR that sound similar.
We also definitely need someone solid in midfield for when Partey is injured and to give him a rest.
Hope it works out…
Just like Wenger stocking up on attacking midfielders, whilst leaving the back door open. At least the football might be more attractive than last season’s slog.
Do you bother actually watching them?
Certainly do and it was one of the lowest goal tallies I can recall for a season. Our attacking play was pretty poor all season.
How many attacking midfielders do we actually have? And ESR is seen as a CAM because we had fuck all of options, when he broke into the team.
My take is always “but he’s similar to Odegard and ESR” yes, sign him! If he’s not good enough to kick them out of the team then they have similar cover. If he turns out better than them then great. That means improvement for The Arsenal and better cover. I do remember the first time we got Ødegard on loan some fans moaning because he was a threat to ESR playing that number 10 position. I also have favourites in the team but if we signed a player who turns out to be better than my favourite in the long… Read more »
Exactly. The top teams have lots of quality players fighting for playing time. It makes the team better as a whole.
I don’t really think of Smith Rowe as a central attacking midfielder. He’s much more effective from the left so I see him and Martinelli competing, this Vieira 2.0 chap competing with Odegaard in the middle and Saka competing with whoever replaces Pepe (unless somehow Pepe stays) on the right. That could be Jesus sometimes too although I hope he’s going to be being bought as a central striker.
Problem is that ESR hasn’t been working at No. 8 as Arteta wants. He’ll clearly fight Martinelli for LW now.
I wonder if Arteta thinks Tielemans can cover Partey, if need be…..
Would his position not be in conflict with Odegaard’s? They’re both young and in need of constant playing time if they’re to progress as footballers.
They also need to compete with each other for the starting position. Plus we have European games and can rest Odegaard more
No. It means we can rest other players in the Europa games.
Arteta wants to play with one number 6, which is Partey, and two number 8s in front of him. One is Ødegaard, one could be this guy.
Apart from that he could offer depths on the flanks which is another plus.
Not really. So far we’ve seen he wants a 6, an 8 and a 10.
The 8 takes up advanced positions in possession but out of possession we use a 4-4-2 which means the 8 is a player more akin to xhaka/tielemans/neves.
He played that way because he didn’t have any other player capable of playing the Ødegaard position from the left side. Tried ESR a few times there but it hasn‘t worked for several reasons. Look how City plays in most games. Especially against teams they expect to beat. Fernandinho/ Rodri plays the ”Partey role“ and then you have Silva and de Bruyne in front of him. Of course you can‘t play that way against stronger sides, that‘s why we‘re also interested in Tielemans to have more variety in midfield but it wouldn‘t surprise me at all if we play Ødegaard… Read more »
I don’t think anyone is planning on displacing Odegaard. At his best–which is happening more often, though still not every game–he is genuinely world class. Add a few more goals, put a striker with quick runs into the box in front of him, and combining with Saka, and Odegaard is team of the year, maybe player of the year.
If we have a fully fit Partey – this screams 4-3-3 potential, with 2 ball carrying attacking midfielders. This is like when we had Cazorla and Wilshere and Rosicky in the same side.
Nothing wrong with adaptability too – Creativity off the bench is as vital as finishing. So many time last year we needed a goal and the opposition stifled Ode, so we relied on Cedric hoofing in crosses. NEVER should we be forced to rely on Cedric.
I wish I could like this comment more than once.
Here is another comment – feel free to add second likes here.
Exactly this. It is pretty common knowledge that Arteta wants to use 4-3-3 similar to City and Liverpool – Partey with two ball carriers ahead of him. Odegaard will drift right (the role he plays for Norway) and Viera as a left footer will be the other side. There will not be a specific no.10 but two creative no.8s ahead of a no.6. I was expecting Aouar to be the signing to fill the left hand void so I am surprised by this one (but excited), would love us to sign Aouar too, apparently available for £13m as only one… Read more »
Aouar is a diva so nobody wants him even at his bargain basement price. The last thing we need is a shit attitude stinking the place out.
Nah, not Aouar anymore. He had his chance. He’ll prolly end up at Newcastle though.
Sounds just like Draxler
Sebastian Frey?
Interesting! MØ is very left footed. He seems to play from the right and drift centrally to use his body to shield the ball while looking for those defense splitting passes. Does this guy play the same way? Or does he stay more to the left?
Odegaaycan be a bit inconsistent sometimes. Competition will kick his drive more
It means we actually have a plan B if one player needs to be subbed or is injured. Phil Foden played a handful of minutes over years and still developed nicely. There will be plenty of game time for both. Think about it: We can sub someone else on, than Holding, Pepe and Nketiah
Who?
Some people said that when we signed the first Vieir
Have you considered reading the article attached to this comment section?
Bernardo Silva type of player. Very direct type. Hope he can cope with the physicality of the EPL
Another exciting prospect, if it goes through. Good stuff. Let’s get this lad in AND Tielemans.
Should the unpunished offender injuries and soft yellow/red suspensions mount up again in our midfield – thanks to those cunts masquerading as refs – we’ll be ready for them. 👊🏻
The strength is in the squad. 💪🏻
COYG
Vieira wohohawhere did that come from?
Portuguese speaker as well so fits in with our Brazillians
People are critical of Edu at times, but I doubt we’d have been able to sign this exciting Portuguese/Brazilian contingent without Edu pulling the strings
Woooo oooo eoooooo!
“he comes from Portugal….”
This is very exciting, but he plays primarily as an attacking mid, I’d imagine we are going to use him from the wings (Pepe replacement) as regardless of his signing we still need a starting CM. If we get Tielemans too, I’ll be really excited for next season.
We need chance creation in this team. This guy will get those killer balls in. Silky touch, passing, technique, vision, composure, decisions, balance, agility, finishing, it is all there.
Fabio Vieira, Jesus and Tielemans will have this team upgraded in a big way, from an attacking standpoint. Elite talent, all those targets.
He is capable of reliable crossing with his great technique and vision.
We have been lacking quality crossing from midfielders.
Yes, all the buzzwords are there!
Wait, you’re missing ‘technical ability’ 🙂
Haha. This feels like a Wenger kind of signing, relatively unknown and out of the blue. And even in terms position and skill set. The Frenchman loved himself an attacking midfield signing.
Hopefully this new Vieira makes as big an impact as the older Vieira.
Seems like a really good player. Just not sure its one we need. But then again we did grt White when we didnt need a cb and nobody would question that signing now.
Also Tielemans is there really no one better we can get? Seems like Leicester fans arent to worried about losing him.
Also 14 assists in 27 games is absolutely insane. Welcome to Arsenal Fabio
Yes. And 1329 minutes to be precise which is even more impressive.
Not a regular starter though, but probably not the plan yet at Arsenal either. Decent backup to slowly grow into the starting lineup.
That’s a good point – it isn’t really 27 games at all – he’s grabbed those assists in far fewer minutes than that would suggest.
He actually only started 15 games, Average playing time 50 mins (as per sofascore stats). 6 goals and 14 assists in 15 starts, not too shabby
LANOS ?
Interesting! We were first linked with him in December 2020 according to Transfer Markt, so hopefully he’s someone we’ve been keeping our eye on and now feel has made the progression necessary to take the step up to the Premier League. Seems like he played a lot more last season after Dias left for Liverpool.
Is he an alternative to Ødegaard + depht on the wings? So we don’t sign a winger? I don’t know anything about this guy so I don’t know! But very interesting, starting to get excited
I think of this simply. He is a player who is very single minded about that final killer pass.
I thought this was the summer to solidify our young squad with proven talent… Definitely intrigued, and glad we are starting to be active, but do really hope this wasn’t at the cost of someone like Raphinha.
He sounds better than Raphinha. I haven’t seen him myself, but will trust the Arsenal team have bought a good, young player Coach Arteta wants to use in the squad.
Meh….don’t think I could stand looking at Raphinha’s “You just say sumpin’ ’bout my girl?” constant facial expression every match….
Going to doubt that a guy who doesn’t start for Porto is better than a Brazilian senior international with proven excellence at PL level…but blind optimism is a trait of the Arsenal fanbase after all
He does start for Porto no?
Martinelli is also a Brazil senior international, isn’t he? Blind optimism you say. I say, Ramsdale, White, Tomiyasu, Gabriel, Ødegaard, and well Martinelli, too. That’s what we call a track record, mate.
Clearly the use of “blind optimism” was referring to saying Veira is better than Raphinha….not a comment on our track record of signings..
Tbh I think Raphinha is probably a bit out of our price bracket, brilliant as he is.
If this kid will be playing further up the pitch, I think as he’s younger & lesser known he’ll have less of an issue battling it out with Saka, Ødegaard, ESR & Martinelli. Not bad options up front are they.
Raphinha plays for Leeds ffs! Why is everyone so excited about him?
Van Dijk used to play for Southampton. Just saying…
Mahrez was at Leicester the season they were almost relegated. His industry kept them up. They won the league the following season and he contributed massively. Raphinha’s numbers are also really good for someone in such a shit team. I’m not a great fan of his but I get why people want him.
Wow! This was truly well wrapped. I know virtually nothing about him, but if Arteta and Edu’s record with signing young players is anything to go by, it is more likely to be an ace than a dud.
Welcome to the greatest club in the world, Fabio.
We start next season at a club coached by your namesake; an Arsenal legend, but he owes us one. A goal and two assists won’t be a bad EPL debut.
Wow! any word on his wages?
He’s going to get them.
Should be about £26k a week, reports say
Ornstein says the transfer was driven by Arteta, who loves the player.
When Arteta loves the player, it usually ends really well . Fingers crossed and welcome Fabio VIEIRA!
Shame his agent is Jorge Mendes. Probably be shopping him around to Real or City behind our backs after one good season
Arteta also drove the Willian signing; just saying.
Yeah, the difference with Willian was, his mind and heart got left behind at Chelski.
Why kill the vibe!?
Willian was for many years a top premier league player who managed to do something no Arsenal player has for almost 20 years, which is to win the league
Just when we were looking at the gossip columns, The Arsenal pulled one from the blues.
Signing #2. On we go!
This should mark the end of Pepe’s career at Arsenal. I don’t think this impact the CM position at all.
He’s a left footer, so I would imagine he’ll bring in a bit of competition for ESR and Martinelli.
If we sign Tielemans, who is predominantly a right sided player, then it’s definitely curtains for Pepe – like it isn’t already….
Sorry, my bad.
I meant to say Raphinha instead of Tielemans when talking about being a right sided player….🙄
He’s young, I’ve never heard of him & it goes against anything out in the rumour mill. Feels like the stereotypical Wenger signing.
Lovely stuff. Keep the surprises coming.
Technically good, easy on the eye, Very left footed, slightly built, not the quickest- in the mould of Juan Mata, Martin Odegaard, Bernardo Silva. 22 years old, Plenty of potential. Will add more creativity, guile and ball retention to the Arsenal midfield.
14 assists and 6 goals in 27 league appearances last season.
Interesting how Arsenal’s interest shifted from team mate Vitinha yesterday to Vieira today.
Part of the Jorge Mendes stable.
Now if only we could think of a suitable song for him…
Feels like “direct all attention to Vitinha but sneak Vieira in before they notice”. Nice one Mikel
Wow, that’s out of blue.
I think 40M could be better spent elsewhere: defensive/central midfield; winger; or a striker. But I hope he settles well and make a good attacking combo – for now and for the future – with Saka, ESR, Odegaard and Martinelli.
If we’ve agreed prices for our main targets then who cares what the other players cost? Stan owes us one!
The way Benjamin White’s £50m would have been better spent elsewhere last season.
14 assists in 27 games
WELCOME FABIOZILLA!!!
there’s something cesc about the way he plays
I see Kai Harvetz
So is this instead or alongside Tielemans?
If it’s alongside, it makes Elneny’s contract kind of pointless, and pushes Lokonga way down the pecking order. Unless of course Xhaka is on his way out.
We’ll have 6 senior centre mids if we retain everyone and sign them both
Or is he competition for Odegaard? In which case he reduces ESR’s game time even further, especially if Raphinha or another winger is arriving too
We need 25 players in the first-team squad. We are not close to that yet.
No we need 23 – 3 gks, and 2 players for each outfield position, ideally with some versatility and variation in skillsets 25 senior players is a waste of resources, will cause several players to decline as their game time dries up, and leaves no room for academy players to make their breakthrough. If you want to see 3-5 currently highly rated players added to the dead weight list by the end of the season, then great Attacking midfield isn’t a position we’re lacking depth in, and neither is deeper midfield. We need 1 starting quality centre mid and that’s… Read more »
Keep in mind that the EPL is reintroducing the 5 substitutes rule next season, so the deeper the squad the better
We’ll have 20 players in the match-day squad (11 + 9 subs on the bench).
The 3rd choice goalkeeper makes 21.
With our odds for getting injuries and/or suspensions would you be comfortable only having an additional 2 players to come into the squad, who aren’t academy players?
Elneny and lokonga do not play in the same position as tielemans.
Eh?
You are very clueless if you think they do play the same position
After listening to some of the hot takes last summer about how the Ben White & Ramsdale signings were pointless wastes of money, I’m willing to give the club the benefit of doubt & freely admit they know way more than I do about how they wanna build the squad.
Seems an exciting player. Can’t wait to see him integrated with the rest of our young, exciting forward players
Elneny will get games.
If it’s more coverage for other players that we want to see on the pitch then, meh. It’s fine. 40m for that scares me as far as signing what we really need. It’s time for us to again have a man who strikes fear at the top. Our striker can’t just be “useful.”
♪Vieira woah oh~ Vieira woah oh♪
this seems to be a good signing. We still need Raphinha , Tielmens and Jesus so there are no excuses for Arteta next season
Finally, we have replaced Vieira! Woot?
I know nothing about this guy but it’s nice we’ll finally have the new Vieira!
There were no rumours about this one. A bolt from the blue like the early Wenger years.
Any news on Jesus? Not the longhaired bearded one.
Kevin Campbell has been doing us a big PR favour by stating that Gabriel Jesus – contrary to every other pile of steaming tabloid clickbait – wants to join Arsenal because he knows Arteta, he knows the system Arteta is implementing and because he’ll be the ‘main man’ up front.
It might not have speeded up the transfer any more, but it’s certainly shut up the arseholes who were linking him to anyone but us.
My guess is an Odegaard understudy.
Tielemans and Xhaka LCM
Partey and Lokonga/Elneny RCM
Nicely done, hoping this is our Saka rotation. His numbers certainly fit the bill.
Would it be over-hyping him if we call him the New Vieira?
Edu putting his Portuguese to good use in these transfer windows.
Not saying he’s as good, but in the YouTube compilation I see some echos of Santi’s play. Great touch, dribbles, nutmegs, and accurate progressive passing. Of course he’s not preternaturally 2-footed like Santi, but seems like his right foot is a lot more useful than Xhaka’s. Exciting player.
Remember when Flamini came back? Why don’t we do a 2.0 of that and pull our Coq back? He’d be cheap and a great alternative to Partey, either due to injury or Europa league games. He’s performed well for Villareal.
No way! I’d rather we picked one of the boys from the academy.
We already have Elneny, remember?
We know Coquelin can do a specific job, but would he be any different to Torreira who we already own?
Very underrated player even when he was with us
Wow, what, this came out of nowhere!! never heard of him or seen him play, so this is purely based on the extensive scouting I did by watching youtube compilations for all of 5 mins… But first thing I thought was I see similarities to bernardo silva. could be a very exciting prospect and I see this as good cover/rotation/europa league option either for Saka or Odegard.
“Viei……….rraaAAAAAAA!!!!”
Xhaka off then?……
I think arteta keeps Xhaka and adds another LCM (and then he’s done with midfielders). My prediction (as always) is a metronome/ball-controller to give the team control. In other words, Arthur Melo. Things have gone very quiet on that front. I’m hoping it’s the usual quiet before the announcement. And keep your eye on Partey (I know, I know) going the other way. I think Arteta will be happy to rely on Elneny/Lokonga at DM if it means getting rid of Partey’s wages.