Reports in the Netherlands suggest that Arsenal have an interest in PSV’s Xavi Simons.
The 20 year old had an impressive season for the Eredivisie runners up, scoring 19 goals and creating 9 assists in the league, and according to vi.nl, it has caught the eye of Mikel Arteta as he looks to strengthen his squad for next season.
They cite the Arsenal manager’s ability to develop young players as a key ingredient, and while his former club PSG have an option to bring him back, PSV are free to sell to anyone else for an agreed fee.
Simons played against the Gunners twice last season, impressing in both Europa League encounters, and the versatile attacking midfielder has recently changed agent. He is now represented by Darren Dein, son of former vice-chairman David, but it’s hard to say whether this makes a move to Arsenal more or less likely.
Meanwhile, the Swiss press report that Bayern Munich are trying to hijack Granit Xhaka’s move to Bayer Leverkusen, tabling a three year deal for the 30 year old.
The appeal of working with Xabi Alonso, and the possibility of a post-playing career role is said to have Xhaka favouring Leverkusen, but we’ll have to wait and see what kind of transfer fees are on offer.
His current deal with Arsenal has one year left to run with an option for one more.
When PEG player Arsenal he was a central midfielder but according to Sofascore he is an attacking left winger. What is his true position? .Also why do Arsenal always sell their players at half the true valuation? Examples are Teirney and Balogun who should both be valued at nearer £60 million. If they were Barcelona players being sold with the same stats, they would be worth nearer £80 million each. Arsenal haven’t got a clue how t sell players for their real value. They need a new salesman.
A tad harsh, but certainly more than a grain of truth.
Xhaka, for example, should be going for nothing less than £30m.
An exceptionally experienced former Premiership captain and heavily capped International, playing the best club football of his career….£13m…..?
Come on Arsenal, FFS.
Granit Xhaka is currently worth £30m of any football club’s cash.
Outside of the Prem and the 4 top European clubs, transfer fees are are just less for quality players. Agree if Bayern wants Xhaka the fee should be around what you are stating but Leverkusen wouldn’t meet that valuation. Leverkusen transfer would be something we do for Xhaka. Arteta can be ruthless but the club also rewards players for loyal service. I’m ok with that club value.
Unless we sell to a prem club, no chance of getting over 15mil. All other leagues/teams are broke by comparison.
If Newcastle want Tierney we should be demanding huge money, they’re good for it.
How can we demand huge money for a player they know we don’t rate? They know we’ll sell at some point this summer so they can make an offer and say take it or leave it….
Zinchenko was quite expensive, and City didn’t think they’d need him and have buckets of money anyway… I hope we’ll get something for Tierney.
Tierney is tipped to go for the same amount we bought Zinchenko for.
We should be asking £60m for Tierney from Villa and £70m from Newcastle.
I’ve no real problem with him going to Villa, but if those Geordie cunts want him, then they can fucking cough up for him – as far as I’m concerned anyway.
That said, Edu will probably let him go for about £25m. We are the softest touch in the world football when it comes to transfers.
Doesn’t matter, there will be other teams interested in Tierney and they can pay the going rate. Newcastle should be treated like the cancer it’s owners are and charged accordingly
60 mil for him. Get villa to get into a bidding war now that young has retired
If we signed Zinchenko for around £30m, then I don’t see which metric you value Tierney at £60m.
The one which values Mudryk and 100m
*at
You mean the really stupid one.
Obviously, very stupid. I don’t think we’re going to get 60m for him but if people are basing the prices they charge us on 100m for Enzo and Mudryk it’d be nice if we got more than 30m for Tierney. Zinchenko was cheap.
Markets usually ignore others stupid business and sporting decisions.
Yes, it’s stupid.
But it’s also the one we have to buy at. So why shouldn’t we sell by it?
And please, spare me The Arsenal Way stuff. Keep that for the club blazer and the Emirates facelift.
Our own Nicolas Pépé metric and if you put that in money of today then you want £75m.
By a leftback metric not an an inverted midfielder.. He was an important/key player for us last season as a left back competing with Tavares and should be worth 40 mil at least if we are/were any good at selling..(his contract only expires June 2026). It doesn’t look like it now because he is playing in a role that does’t comes naturally to him, but I dont want to risk seeing him killing it for other team later and wondering why we let him go for just 30 mil (or for just 5 mil profit given we bought him for… Read more »
Thank God you aren’t in charge of the outgoing transfers then.
It’s bad enough with Edu and his Mister Nice Guy ways.
We should get around 30 – 40 mil for tierney. No more as he’s not featured much this year and he’s not better than zinky or Jesus who were in that ballpark. Balogun 60 mil? That’s a stretch. A big one. If he’s a regular for Arsenal and banging them in, maybe. But he’s not.
Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t max the opportunity for all its worth. His is, after all, an experienced International still in his prime at 25 years.
Would you really accept £30m-£40m in this market? I bloody wouldn’t!
If Villa want him, then £60m.
If those Geordie twats want him, let’s have some of that fucking oil money. £70m
Why is this so hard for people to understand? Yes 60M for Balogun in this market is absolutely fine. He’s going to be the face of his country going into a WC. On shirt sales alone he’s worth it. Arsenal fans kill me sometimes.
A large section of this fanbase have still got their Europa heads on.
We’re chasing City down now. We’re playing big boys games now. That means selling for big fees in order to afford big fees to challenge for big trophies. It’s hardly rocket science, but you wouldn’t know it judging from the naivety displayed in some of the comments on here.
I never thought I would see the day Bayern Munich wanted Granit Xhaka, but if their interest helps to bump up his transfer fee then so much the better. He should be going for more than the quoted £13m after the season he’s had.
Agree. £30m at least.
£13m is taking the piss. I love this club until the day I die, but, honestly, we’ve never EVER learned how to sell…
Wenger’s obsession to be a man of ethics was the reason. He turned that into our culture before he left.
Wenger always sold to the highest bidder no matter who it was, including direct rivals (Manchester clubs mainly). So money didn’t even get in the way of competition for him. Strange to criticise him in this context.
Mate, when Wenger was here, we had a stadium to finance – and luxury flats that didn’t sell for ages due to the stock market crash and subsequent global recession of 2008. I’ll freely admit that we didn’t get nowhere near enough money for Cesc, Nasri and RvP and were up against it yet we still managed to make top four every season – until Wenger made the one true blunder of his entire career by signing Mustafi in the summer of 2016. I love Edu to bits but he still has plenty to learn in his job. 13m for… Read more »
Bayern could maybe pay 30m. I doubt Leverkusen could. German prices are not EPL prices.
Anelka to RM wasn’t a bad but of business. Nor Marc Overmars to Barca. Even got good money for Iwobi, it sometimes happens.
My guess is that part of Xhaka’s motivation is to find the path that leads to a coaching career. I also find the Bayern story a bit difficult to credit–they are famous for refusing long-term contracts to older players, ever their stars like Alaba.
If it’s Bayern then charge them accordingly. They practically own the Bundesliga so they’re good for it.
I want Mané and will give in return Xhaka plus 25M.
Who are these downvoters who don’t want Mané who came second to Benzem in 2022 Ballon d’Or?
Chape, your ID honors the victims and survivors of that terrible crash. So I respectfully have to ask…do you work on transfers for Everton? That self absorbed, dressing room cancer Mane for Xhaka and £25 million? That’s simply mad. Pull the other one mate!
Now you are cracking me up…and I do happen to think that Mane was a great player…stop it now…
Hahaha….thats a funny one..stop it..
Bayern doing a Chelsea on Leverkusen for Xhaka. I think the idea of a post-coaching role is more attractive to him from the latter than a 3 year deal from BM.
If Bayern offer more than £30m then do it.
£90m plus the Xhaka money = Declan Rice on a silver platter.
“Oh it’s not that easy, blah blah blah…” Not for this club it isn’t….
I would agree 30 mil would be reasonable for Granit. Player of the year for me and he’s noticeably improved his game last couple of years. He was also outstanding for Switzerland in the World Cup only 6 months ago…he’s at his peak imo.
Agree with that but players also have a say in where they sign. If Xhaka wants Leverkusen for personal reasons and has no interest in Bayern, then Arsenal can either keep Xhaka or let him go to Leverkusen. Based on Xhaka’s history at Arsenal and the manager convincing him to stay, Xhaka and Arteta have discussed this eventuality.
Xhaka is going to be so good in Germany and Bayern need a midfielder. Maybe a late offer is why we never got confirmation of him moving.
Xavi Simmons impressed me when I saw him play for PSV against us, wouldn’t mind another fast dribbler in the middle. Quality rumors.
Not sure I’m a fan of PSG’s option to buy back this lad.
We do all the hard bit developing him – and then that lot come calling to cash in their chips….?
Still, if Arteta wants him, who am I to argue? Trust the process…..🤞
PSG only have the option to buy him back from PSV. If he were to become an Arsenal player PSG wouldn’t have the buy-back option.
Right! Now that makes sense.
I wondered what the fuck Charles Watts was going on about….!! 😂
Watched almost al PSV games this year and although as a whole they were below par, Xavi really stood out.
He was mostly used as a left winger but he is also very effective as a 10. Became topscorer of the Eredivisie as well in his first season (this season). Would be really good business if we could get this done imo.
I was more impressed with Simons than with Gakpo when we played PSV
This is really good to know–I hate judgments based on seeing two matches or a highlight reel.
Also interesting to know is that PSG have a buy back clause for around €12 mil, but it can only be activated if Xavi wants to go back there. If he is smart, he won’t activate it.
I only saw video-clips about him (plus our games against PSV) but I’ve heard a couple of bad stories about his ego and stuff like that…
What do you think? Is there any truth in it?
No, I really do not think he has a bad attitude. In games he is the one who takes the lead, especially after Gakpo left in January. I also think he is quite humble whenever he is interviewed. I think it is the media narrative around him more than anything else.
Hmm. That’s great… and good to know.
Thanks for the info!
Idiot press see a confident black player with cornrows and they froth at the mouth waiting to put out their “bad attitude” takes. Does he wear headphones during warmups and overspend too?
Isn’t this Simons guy a notorious attitude problem?
Also if bayern want xhaka the asking price should be double, they have the money and are despicable cunts who owe us (re gnabry)
Xhaka to Bayern.
Rice to Arsenal.
Allardyce to Spurs.
Lovely Jubbly..
Spurs to the championship.
championshipmoon*Cruel to the moon.
Trust Big Sam to do it!
Was only thinking the other day how fucking glorious it would be for those cunts to be relegated.
Many people – especially them – forget that when we beat Everton to lift the title in 1998, we ensured that Tottenham stayed up.
I have won pub bets with mates who are Tottenham fans who simply refused to believe it….until they checked the facts online for themselves.
So, the next time a dirty Spud refers to us as ‘bottlers’, kindly remind him/her/they/it that we helped them escape relegation – by winning the Premiership.
Fucking mugs. 😂
Hahaha this cheered me right up.
Allardyce too good (100% wins for England) ,
I say Lampard to Spurs.
Nah. I’d rather they stick with the little chav they’ve got in charge at the moment.
He is woefully out of his depth – and to see and hear how much it winds up that super-cunt O’Hara is Comedy Gold.
Long may it continue. I want that prick O’Hara to self combust live on TalkShite.
Taking this with a pinch of salt (or a pinch of rice for the summer that is) but he certainly looks a quality player with pace, technique, and he can finish. Wasn’t there a question mark over his attitude. Nothing worse than working with a spoilt 20 year old brat. But I preferred him instead of Gakpo when we were strongly linked with the latter. I didn’t know Darren Dein was still an agent. Haven’t heard that name in years. Seem to remember he was besties with Thierry Henry and took on agency for a lot of the Project Youth… Read more »
He absolutely tore us to pieces in the Europa League.
From what I know he seems like he could actually be quite suited to the advanced left sided central mid ‘Xhaka’ position as a more offensive option. As opposed to Smith-Rowe and Vieira who I think would fit awkwardly there
—————Partey/Rice/Jorg/Elneny
—————————————–Rice/Xavi
Saka/Nelson——Odegaard/ESR—–Martinelli/Trossard/ESR
Gives us quite a few options and combinations, though perhaps still a little light in the deeper midfield positions. Perhaps better to bring in a more proven option than Xavi
Personally I’d like us to sign a striker capable of challenging Jesus for the starting spot as well – probably means selling both Nketiah and Balogun
Why would we sell Xhaka? He can play on the highest level for some years. It is just a joke to let him go for 13.
These downvoters are the very people who’ll be moaning that more than £90m (our first bid will get turned down flat) is too much for Rice. The same people who were accusing the club of bottling the title a few weeks ago, completely ignoring the gallant heroic efforts of our tired painfully thin squad
He wants to go, they’ve offered him a long term contract and a move into coaching. I think the club have agreed a basic value to enable the move as there’s a lot of respect between him and the club. Sometimes it’s better to stay classy.
13 mil is a joke. A bad one.
What’s with the stay classy narrative like this is not business? So why are other clubs not letting their players move to us for token fees? We are the only “classy club”? Please Xhaka on current form is worth over £25m at the barest minimum.
The classy bit is allowing Xhaka and his family to leave – granting them their wish. Xhaka will probably get quite a handsome salary in his new contract.
Asking for £13m is not, however, being classy. It is being plain dumb. We have to think of ourselves too, we are trying to build a squad capable of challenging for the Premiership and the Champions League next season.
Allowing our top players to leave for peanuts isn’t going to help that.
You’re 100% lying if you wouldn’t have ripped Leverkusen’s arm off for 13m for Xhaka even a year ago. He’s been immeasurably improved this season no doubt but is now the wrong side of 30 in a squad that is otherwise focusing on a long term collective group that will hopefully play together for many more years. Xhaka as much as I respect him will not be around three years from now; Saka, Martinelli, Odegaard, Rice (maybe), Saliba (hopefully), White, Gabriel, Ramsdale, Zinchenko could all spend a decade at The Emirates, sadly Granit has a few more years at this… Read more »
I understand and like your point of view very much. But unfortunately it is a cruel world outside.
I’m not overly familiar with Xavi Simons, but I don’t think this link makes any sense for us. Probably a player we’ve been watching, on the list of potential options, but not a good fit for us at this time. This squad is ready to win NOW. We need ready made plug and play options, not projects. With all due respect, I don’t rate the Eredivisie. He’s neither blazing fast nor a game controller. At 135 lbs and 5’6″ seems too small for the PL unless you’re an exceptional talent. He may be, but it’s a risk. We already have… Read more »
Xhaka should go where he pleases. He’s earned that in my eyes.
Bring him in. His performance against us was very good
Double the xhaka price if it’s for bayern.
Triple it. They’re not short of a few bob.