Arsenal have made a late swoop in the transfer window and signed Danny Welbeck from Manchester United.
Surplus to requirements at Old Trafford after the signing of some bloke called Marc Falco, the England international joins the Gunners on a permanent basis for a fee of around £16m.
Welbeck, born and raised in Manchester, made his United debut in September 2008 and has since scored 37 goals for the Red Devils winning the Premier League title in 2012/13 along the way. While certainly not the signing Arsenal supporters coveted at the beginning of the window, at 23 he’s still young and has plenty of scope to improve.
We can’t, on one hand, bemoan the fact Sanogo can’t score then complain when we bring in a player who can … or at least has.
Welbeck is well liked by United fans who appreciate his work-rate even if his finishing is a bit on the dodgy side. Some stats from Orbinho below, more quotes and reaction to follow:
Giroud v Welbeck 2013-2014 – Mins/goal 186-167 Conversion excl pens 17%-25% Accuracy 43%-53% Mins/assist 394-1503 Mins/chance created 83-107
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) September 1, 2014
Not that it had anything to do with it *cough* but Welbeck was at London Colney all day training with the England squad. It’s believed he briefly nipped away from one of Roy Hodgson’s inspirational passing exercises to prove he had hamstrings to the medical team. Shad Forsythe was impressed that both seemed mostly intact.
He also had a word with the Arsenal press team explaining how pleased he is to be joining the Gunners so he can play Champions League football.
Well……beck.
Seems to have been a really good window. Wellbeck, Chambers & Sanchez. Chambers looks good and if reports are to be believed and can be converted into a Gilberto more the merrier. As for the comment ‘My worry is that despite his pace he doesn’t beat many. Rio, who has played with Welbeck since he broke into the team, said during the World Cup that Welbeck isn’t a risk taker. He won’t go past people or take them on as he doesn’t like to lose the ball, however that hinders him as a striker. Rio was saying he needs to… Read more »
Last year, Welbeck’s (non-penalty) goals per game were better than Remy, Balotelli, RVP, Giroud and Falcao. So a good buy. Surprised no central defender, must have faith in Monreal as 4th choice. Otherwise best transfer window for a long time. Better right back and strikers than before, Chambers very promising.
If Shad can keep Walcott and Ramsey and Mertescielney fit we have a great chance to win the league.
I cant believe that he has got injured as soon as he signed for Arsenal! WTF
Is that our curse!!!!!!!
I really like Welbeck’s hair.
So no central defender, and no defensive midfielder….
Don’t hate the signing, but I don’t love it either. Welbeck can be developed into a better player but we don’t need another signing for the future.
United just got Falcao and Di Maria. Chelsea has Diego Costa and Fabregas. Man City is loaded.
We …….. barely survived Leicester City this past weekend.
Are we even trying to compete for the title anymore?
Sigh, it’s tough being a Gunner these days
We got Sanchez!
What must City fans think after losing at home to Stoke. They’re just not ambitious. They have bought no superstars this summer.
they signed sagna.. 🙁 our ex-superstar
It’s a decent signing I think. I honestly never even considered him an Arsenal possibility, but the United boards I read seem to keep highlighting his passing, link play and work rate. In that sense a perfect alternative (but not yet an upgrade) to Giroud, with pace and dribbling subbed in for physicality.
It’s really really easy to see that this window has been yet another half baked one, however. It’s not the supporters inventing a need for defensive reinforcements, the management has acknowledged that need for over 2 months now. Criminally negligent to let it come to this.
Very happy that we’ve got some incredible pace, muscle and hustle up front now. Really hope that he can do a Sturridge and become a regular goalscorer. He has all the attributes, he’s been a regular starter for them (accumulating big-game experience along the way), and also has excellent work-rate. Also, I’d just like to take a moment to reflect on the window: The calibre of players we’ve been able to look into is clearly a step-up. While we did sign 2 youngsters, one of them was an expensive prospect whereas the other is properly experienced and has been a… Read more »
I think Welbeck is a very good pick up.
If I was Arsene, I would try to see how Oxlade Chamberlin would do in defensive midfield duo together with Ramsey giving both the freedom to make runs if the counterpart hangs back. Oxlade Chamberlin is twice the athlete of arteta and flamini although perhaps not as slick with the ball in close quarters
Starting line up (once Walcott returns) looks pretty decent here (lots of speed):
Welbeck
Alexis Walcott
Ozil
Oxlade Chamberlin Ramsey
gibbs/monreal Koscielny/Mertesacker Debuchy
SZCZ
Maybe Andre mariner one will not notice Welbeck playing as a 12th man in your 4331 formation and think he is Kieran Gibbs..
Yeah… Ox as a defensive or deep-lying midfielder isn’t going to happen. Think about it: his strengths are his dribbling, his pressing, and his eye for goal, all of which are best suited to an attacking role.
For me, what we lack in midfield is a player who can calmly receive and distribute the ball (ala Arteta), while also asserting himself when the other team breaks, and organizing the midfield when we’re not in possession.
Was hopeful that Carvalho was that player, but Wenger… he is a heart-breaker…
My worry is that despite his pace he doesn’t beat many. Rio, who has played with Welbeck since he broke into the team, said during the World Cup that Welbeck isn’t a risk taker. He won’t go past people or take them on as he doesn’t like to lose the ball, however that hinders him as a striker. Rio was saying he needs to attack more and head for goal. He would rather play it safe and slow things down. Not really what we need is it, plus it doesn’t help that most Man U fans will tell you he… Read more »
4331? Methinks you should look again.
42121 is what he posted which is 11.
4- defense
2- ox (yes 2 names but still 1 person) and Ramsey
1- Ozil
2- Sanchez/Walcott
1- Welbeck
Certainly not defending the choice of Ox as DM, but it is 11 players.
Maybe Jack or Chambers to spell Flamini and Arteta, but I don’t see Ox in a holding role let alone a full defensive destroyer.
Ha my bad… Sorry dude
Bottom line is we have to drop 4-1-4-1 and revert to 4-2-3-1. We have to get the best out of Ozil and we only do that by getting him into the centre behind the CF. Welbeck may well be the kind of forward who would thrive on Ozill’s abilities. His movement is good, he’s quick and he may be the foil Ozil needs in the centre in the way that Ozil works so well with Walcott out wide and cutting in. Welbeck does need to address his finishing but hopefully, with support from Sanchez, Ozil, Cazorla and Walcott he will… Read more »
Hey Bergkamp it’s five defence 12 players!
I’m pretty happy with Welbeck but unless he excells he will be second choice behind Giroud when he returns, and possibly third if the Alexis experiment is successful. He will definitely get a run of games right from the start to show what he can do and improve, and I have a good feeling that he will be great for us. I wasn’t too concerned we didn’t pick up a DM (I think that will be next season’s big signing), but the lack of a defensive signing is totally negligent. HOWEVER.. Barca and Man Unt were both after a quality… Read more »
Lets hope that playing for a big team rather than those small time mid table trundlers Manure “Untied” will improve his game.
Up The Arsenal
Manure don’t rate Welbeck enough to get them back in the top 4. So why is he good enough for us?
Where was the replacement for Vermaelen that AW promised?
We clearly need a top class DM, what happened?
What a right royal fuck up!
Carvalho said he didn’t want to come, Khedira staying at Real, Bender not for sale, Gustavo looked decidedly average at the WC, Schneiderlin not available…
Not defending Arsene when it comes to defensive signings, but looks like these ones were out of his hands.
Yeah and as well as these guys wanting to come (which Wenger is always quite big on) now we’ve got the spending power we sadly have to operate in a post-Oligarch-Petrodollar transfer market. Even Madrid baulked at the Falcao deal which speaks volumes. Carvalho’s buyout clause is 35million! Had a sneaky feeling we might be looking at Kondogbia who played so well against us for Monaco in the Emirates Cup and Arsene’s old club is backing down from its ambitious project. Welbeck’s been wanting to leave United for a while and that will have kept his fee reasonable. Put it… Read more »
Not sure about that “Carvalho didn’t want to come” bit. Our bid was rejected and we didn’t bid higher.
Even if he didn’t ‘want to come’ there are more Defensive Midfielders out there. You know that right? If it takes us 6 hours to sign Welbeck. I don’t know why it should take a whole month to find one defensive midfielder and a back-up Centre Back.
why have the mighty real Madrid then loaned chicharito?
Why have Dortmund resigned kagawa???
why is mata so piss poor for united when a Chelsea he was bread and butter??
has anyone seen Torres since he left pool? no okay
players have different fortunes at different clubs so believe me boy Welbeck will surprise all of us. just wait.
How many United fans would be happy if Welbeck was their only striker until Xmas?
I think that tells you all you need to know about how good he is :/
That’s the spirit. COYG!
Hope you’re right. He was decidedly mediocre at Manure. I hope that Wenger can make me eat the words of derision that I’ve given many of my Manure-supporting friends about Welbeck.
here here
I get that people think we need more CB cover. Having just 3 seems short. But the OUTRAGE about it drives my mind bonkers. We only had 3 last season and it never really affected us. Clearly Arsene believes (And was proved right at least last season) that 3 CBs are enough cover. You can disagree and think that it is not. But don’t forget that we have the same amount of CBs now that we did last year..
I think you make a fair point. However, Chambers and Bellerin are both 19 years old and neither have a full season against top competition under their belt. When it comes to defending that’s huge. Put it this way, say we’re at a critical point in the CL and our offense and midfield are humming, but Debuchy gets a red, or Mert has a knock. You can be sure that a team like Dortmund or Bayern are going to laser target our young defenders…using top players who know all the tricks. Would Dortmund or Juventus take a team to the… Read more »
Well yeah, we had three viable first choice centre backs last year plus Sagna, who was forced to fill in what, 5, 6 times? Verm made 21 or so appearances and we were SUPER lucky banking seriously hard on Mert and Kos’ fitness. But if they miraculously manage to stay injury free for most of the season, we’re placing a tremendous amount of faith in Chambers stepping up, and we’re willingly accepting the inevitable goals his inexperience will cost us at some points in e season, which will definitely happen. AND we’re also accepting that Monreal will definitely have to… Read more »
And from early indications chambers is an upgrade on Vermaelan… Look united have spent 21 million (wages and signing fee)on a 28 year old for 1 season…. If it goes well (as predetermined by clumsy kpi’s) they will buy a 29 year old for 3 years for the bones of 100 million. No residual value for a player they possibly didn’t need… The had… Rvf’np, ruiney, Welbeck and jimmy krankie We have bought Welbeck right before players of his type bloom.. Tall agile strong, with pace and technique. I’m sad we didn’t get reus or carvalho or khedira… But we’ve… Read more »
A good point, though we have sold Djourou (admittedly on loan last year), and Miquel as well as Vermaelen, and only brought in Chambers, who’s more than just a back-up CB replacement.
I also wonder whether Hayden is ready for promotion?
We had Sagna last season
The health of our CBs last year was not only a rarity for a team that played as many games as us, but even more of a rarity for us knowing our injury record. Betting on that kind of health again is almost criminal. People are rightly outraged bc they know injuries WILL happen & then we are 1 suspension away from red alert. Not a line we should have to walk anymore.
I’m not outraged about it personally, but I am a bit disappointed. I was hoping for Chambers to be a reinforcement, giving us extra cover at CB, which we were a bit short on last year, and an interesting possibility at DM, where we need someone for the future. Instead of that, we now have him as a Vermaelen replacement, which means we’re still short of cover at CB and we haven’t done anything at DM, as Chambers won’t have much opportunity to play there now.
I’m pretty sure Arsene did not find anyone available better than Monreal at CB otherwise that deal would have gone through.
It’s hard to find people available in the last 12 hours of a 3 month window.
hahahahaha exactly, and we have too many Central defenders anyway. We have Per, Kos, Chambers, Monreal, Walcott, Campbell, Podolski look that’s too may already!
Well United’s striker options consist of Falcao, RVP and Rooney so it isn’t exactly an insult for a striker with potential to want out. Welbeck was hardly short of game time, in fact SAF picked him ahead of Rooney away at the Bernabeu. Given that the other striker they “didn’t rate enough to get them back in the top 4” went to Real Madrid, this is probably a reflection of their own terrible evaluation of the talent at their disposal. FFS they just signed 3 left-backs and retained Evans, Smalling and Cleverley. They probably had to sell someone to get… Read more »
With regard to Chicarito – he won’t get more than 5 games for Real Madrid. Is he going to dislodge Ronaldo, Benzema or Bale from the team? No.
Welbeck is going from 4th choice at Manure it 1st choice at Arsenal. Your argument falls flat on its face.
Blind is a DM and was Dutch footballer of the year last season..
Chicharito has gone from 4th choice at Man United to 2nd choice at Real Madrid (since Bale, Jese and Ronaldo don’t like/want to play center forward and they sold Morata). Also, Welbeck is not 1st choice at Arsenal by default. Giroud is definitely ahead of him and plausibly Alexis could be too when Walcott is back. I think you’re misinterpreting the signing (possibly because of the high price): Welbeck is no more a first choice CF than Chambers is a first choice CB. However, they’re both talented young players who will get a chance and have the attributes to make… Read more »
I agree with the ghost. Wenger should’ve had someone lined up when he let vermaelen leave. He KNEW that was going to happen. Basically leaves us with 5 senior defenders. Altho no DM, at least we have enough senior players in CM. Literally TWO injuries IN defence and we’re in trouble there. He must be banking on bellerin providing cover as well.
That’s exactly it, Man United a team more desperate for defensive reinforcements than we are and the most they could do was bring in Rojo who is actually pretty suspect defensively & Blind who is untested out of Holland and we all know how some of the imports from Holland have fared in the premiership. It’s hardly going to be easy to get someone like Hummels for example when he knows he may not be first choice due to Kos & Mert. I think that the DM position will be the one we spend our next big amount of money… Read more »
The other way to look at it is Man U had to fund the heavy salaries of their new galacticos and Welbeck was expendable – fair play to the lad, if reports are to be believed Man U wanted to loan him out, he wanted a permanent deal! Ambition that I like!
He has a point to prove – a bit like Sturridge. He will do well and I will love it if he ends up scoring more than Fernando Falcao…one can hope!
I like the signing. I wish a holding midfielder came with it,but while Welbeck was not hte player I thought Arsenal might sign from United (I was imagining Javier Hernandez in an Arsenal kit) he’s a good choice. He brings something different to the squad, he’s played in the PL, so shouldn’t take as long to bed in as a player from France or Spain, and he’s a relatively young player at 23. He did prove me wrong by costing 16 million. I gave a ceiling of 10 for the deadline day signing, but Arsenal did buy a striker, one… Read more »
I just want to mention the quality of Cazorla here. All the line ups posted above have a front four of welbeck, sanchez, ozil and walcott. I get the focus on pace and power, given that we play primarily technical cm’s and ozil brings more than enough guile to that front line, but hear me out here. I get it that you leave wilshere and chamberlain out of your front four but for the love of god cannot understand this underestimation and total neglect of Cazorla. To me, he is one of absolute standout quality, and is a proven performer… Read more »
It’s either Ozil or Cazorla for me not both as they get in each others way. I like them both though
I agree – two of them playing together tends to slow things down
Dont put too much focus on it. Its all FIFA formations. When FIFA stops giving undue benefit to pace and power these will change.
This. Did Wenger not say “If Vermaelen goes we will sign a defender” I think Chambers has been wonderful so far but he is prone to the odd brainsnap. I have seen a couple of balls deep dives at players in an attempt to win the ball (1 against Besikas, 1 against Lukaku that we were punished on and 1 against Leicester. I hope Per has a word to him and shows him how to stay on his feet until he ABSOLUTELY HAS TO. I don’t hold huge hope that we will fix the CB and CDM issues in January… Read more »
lets just hope we score more goals than we concede,
considering we improved our attack more than our defence,
but hey! lets be positive, let the boys try, then if it doesnt work out,
we can vent out, but for now, lets back `em .. COYG!!!
I really liked his hair in 2011-2012 season. If he can return it to that form, and somehow utilize his hair to link with Arteta’s hair, I think it will be positive for the overall appearance of the squad. I will miss Giroud’s hair until the new year, but with no new signings in the defense, I think it’s safe to say we can welcome Bellerin’s hair to the first team as well.
walcott’s perfect lego hair to return soon though.
Nah, Walcott’s close fade has been on point for some time now.
No love for Debuchy’s hair?
I think he seamlessly filled the ridiculous haircut gap that Sagna’s departure left in the squad
Good finisher that Arsenal need right now.
I was usually wait till the 12th hour of the deadline to finish my work. Talk about Procrastination
Hey arseblog curious why the shite picture of welbeck how about an action pic or him smiling?? The man just signed long term with arsenal.
Lame attempt at an article clearly trying to put a positive spin on signing…groan..welbeck
players like Ozil/Sanchez, need good players for them to function, not…groan…welbeck
Took me the whole day to muster up the nerve to read anything on this transfer.
Surprised how happy everyone here is that we got him. Fukin Mancs ..everytime!!
He looks a bit like ‘Shawn the Sheep’ (my son’s favorite cartoon). Still better than having signed no one. He is a willing runner and will put in a shift. I now realise the plan. Wenger had recently mentioned that he would like to see 6-7 England spots from Arsenal. That’s what we have now. Jack, OX, Theo, Chambers, Welbeck and may be Gibbs, 6 players.
don’t forget <3 Jenks
Welcome to the family, Danny.
When Welbeck scored that header against us a few years ago, his hair reminded me of Pele. Welcome Danny, you look quite like Pele.
Agree with your sentiments Henry’s Beard, and if you don’ t mind am going to use your post to piggyback up close to the top of the forum to make a point.. For all the people really disappointed about not signing that CB, I believe AW already signed that 3rd CB in Calum Chambers… Hector Bellerin is now the backup LB, so 2 LB, 3CB, and 2 RB..that’s how I believe AW likes to roll now.. DM is down to Arteta and Flamini..c’mon Arteta and Flamini! Apparently RVP is kind of crocked therefore van Gaal was desperate to try to… Read more »
Sorry, Hector Bellerin is now the backup RB is what I meant!
I’ll fucking take it
Yeah I think everyone had the same reaction initially but he really was the only viable option when you think about it. Falcao just seems like a horribly expensive, complicated and risky deal and Bony, who I fancied, was unlikely to be let go by an up and coming and ambitious Swansea side. PSG had no incentive to sell Cavani either. All in all Welbeck is a pretty low risk acquisition – a young, technically proficient and most importantly, injury resistant centre forward who’s bound to put his all in for the cause. I’d say he’s at least as good… Read more »
Man Utd’s commercial revenues are through the roof. Arsenal operate on slimmer, yet healthy margins. Falcao would have been a huge risk considering his wages and all.
That said — why not get a defender on loan at least!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think I’d MUCH rather be in Arsenal’s shoes at the moment. Utd still doesn’t look strong enough to challenge for top 4. Missing out on Champions League again next season would be a MASSIVE hit to their bottom line. That in effect will do lasting damage to their brand and ability to service the mountain of debt the owners have accumulated at the club. If I was a Man Utd fan I’d be scared. Very scared.
No European football might well be a MASSIVE help to their PL progress though. Didn’t do Liverpool any harm last year.
Still, rather happy with the idea of Ozil, Cazorla, Walcott, Alexis etc buzzing around the oppo. Should be a good year.
Plus don’t underestimate the fact that wenger is after an English Spine to the team. It’s pretty cool that we could end up with 6 arsenal lads playing for England in one team… If these guys all grow together – we’ll see something unique…
something as unique.. as a talented bunch of english players who go on to win the world cup 🙂 and then credit “The Arsenal” & “Arsene” for their success.
First time I have felt like this…
Arsene, thank you for all you have done for this club but it is now time for you to leave.
Not the first time I’ve felt like this…
Sometimes, even Arsenal fans can be daft.
Get behind the team!
Shove it
I have literally zero comprehension of fans like you. Although to call you fans is stretching the term…
Why?
I love the man but he has now clearly lost the plot.
Danny F*****g Welbeck ?!
You can not be serious. You can not claim to have ambition when you have Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck as your two leading strikers.
We all know we could have won the title this season, this COULD have been our year.
Now we all KNOW this will not be our year, we simply have no chance.
Because what it is to be a fan is believing in and standing by your team no matter what. And I actually would like to see how Danny fits into our team. Could be a big success.
Why are you even here?
I’ll say it again: Shove it!
and if it doesn’t work,
take it out and shove it again,
He brought in Alexis Sanchez and had the vision to see Chambers potential even before Soton really knew what they had. He brought in Ozil last year. Do you honestly think a new manager could have done these things? You have to remember he is the one in the dressing room every day with the players. He is the one who manages the squad and rotates everyone. Joel Campbell and Tomas Rosicky both have big parts to play for Arsenal this season and neither has seen a minute of PL game time yet. Our squad size is fine, our defense… Read more »
Wonder why Tomas hasn’t played — we’ve looked so uninspired and he buzzes about like a bee
Because this way, just when we’re starting to feel a bit of fatigue, he can bring in Rosicky as LANS as fuck and give us a nice boost to tide us over till January. I hope.
People need to stop saying our defensive #s were enough last year. We just got lucky. Our defensive health was a freak thing for any team playing as many matches as we did, add to that our injury luck & to not get more cover is quite worrying.
Arsenal create plenty of chances, as long as a player is sharp enough to get into positions and has composure he’ll do well at the Arsenal. The issue more is the way we want to play there has to be a lot more movement and the ball needs to be moved quicker and Welbeck can provide those options upfront. Get behind him and the team mate.
I disagree completely. I have posted some pretty negative things about this transfer window and there is plenty to criticize, but Olivier Giroud is a 22 goal striker in the Premier League, and that’s a rare and special thing. He might be as clinical as he could be, and he might not be pretty to watch (though both my daughters swoon, even knowing he’s a louse) Everyone is raving over Costa for Chelsea, and last season, Giroud, at the same point, had done as well. In fact, Giroud has already scored twice this season, against Everton and again in Europe.… Read more »
Giroud scored 16 in 34 matches…remy scored 14 in 25. Spot the difference??
Giroud is not”rare and special”… i could name more than 5 strikers that can do a better job than him at arsenal…he’s average and that’s that. Would make the bench of our past teams.
A front three of Sanchez, Welbeck, Walcott.
Fastest front three in Europe with Mesut Ozil and Ramsey behind them.
The quality in that line up is sheer insanity put together by one meticulous Frenchman!
A couple of years ago we would’ve signed fuck all. Over the last 2 seasons we’ve signed a fan favourite united born and bred ferguson favourite – Welbeck. We’ve signed fan favourite from Real Madrid – Ozil. We’ve signed a super star from Barcelona – Sanchez. Fucken wake the fuck up man.
Welbeck is a striker that is going to turn golden for us! COYG!!
That sounds mouthwatering!
Szczesny
Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs
Arteta, Ramsey
Walcott, Ozil, Sanchez
Welbeck
That leaves a second/rotational team of
Ospina
Bellerin, Chambers, (Hayden???), Gibbs
Flamini, Wilshere
Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Rosicky
Giroud
And I haven’t even mentioned Podolski, Campbell, Diaby, Zelalem, Gnabry, Coquelin, or Martinez.
Whats the point of his “speed” if he can’t finish?? at least alexis and theo do have an end product…not welbeck. 16m for this guy is totally shocking.
Last year, Welbeck’s (non-penalty) goals per game were better than Remy, Balotelli, RVP, Giroud and Falcao. So a good buy.
100% with you Sir. It tells you everything about how Wenger sees Arsenal with respect too United. If we got a reject from Sp*rs then everybody would be rightfully enraged. Guess what, united were shittier than those lot. It is simply delusional to be think that we will finish ahead of them by buying someone who can not cut it in the weakest United seem we have seen in years. N to pay 16m for their rubbish in the same day they sign one of the worlds best forwards is just a massive level of disrespect for the fans. Wenger’s… Read more »
Hey thundercunt. Welbeck is golden. He’s the striker we’ve been needing for a long time.
Damn Louis van gaal, mourihno and their magic cheque books are tied up on long term deals…
Wenger will now have to coach and manage with limited resources …. The inconsiderate bastard…
i hear manure have a new coach, if your thaat desperate for a new coach you can just vancunt sides. I for one, am very comfortable with Arsene as our coach.
Phew!
So if Giroud got injured after tonight? Why does Wenger keep playing Kerplunk with the squad? Injures remove players one by one till *SHIT* stick some players back in QUICK!!!!
What?
It’s basically all a bit last minute and slap dash with Wenger in the transfer windows. If Giroud got injured after the window closed, what then? Just me who’s played Kerplunk then?
english motherfucker, do you speak it
I get the kerplunk reference. But now I hate you for making me realise how old I am.
Damn you ‘D’
Wasn’t Kerplunk the game with the fake ice cubes from the 80s?? If so, I remember that & it has nothing to do with anything you’re trying to say.
Pretty pleased with that. However, lack of signing any defensive cover will prove costly.
Might* prove costly. But that chance is enough to make any manager sign a defensive cover. Don’t know what Wenger’s thinking.
Flamini and Ramsey are gonna have to fill in at full back at some point.
Judging from his statements, Arsene does not believe in just making up numbers in the squad. He probably sees Monreal at CB as a better option than all the others available. I just hope we don’t have like three or four defenders out at the same time.
If we had 3 or 4 defenders out than I don’t think buying will help, tbh.
We have the same amount of defenders as we did last year.. Our defense isn’t what cost us last year.
Giving the ball away cheaply and not tracking back are what cost us. But I daresay Flamini was poor last weekend. A holding player would have soooo welcome. Also, why not get a CB on loan just in case something happens?
Tell you what, I don’t actually mind. Versatile, young, still bags of potential. A comparable transfer to Sturridge and adds a lot to our front line. Still would have liked a DM or CDM, (or both) but far better than nothing. I trust Chambers as 3rd choice, and maybe Hayden or some other option has shown he has what it takes for our 4th.
COYG
Rather have him that Remy. Remy is a fine player but he’s not great — there was a reason he was at Newcastle and QPR.
I agree, underwhelming is the best i can say for remy. wellbeck has the potential to be better. there’s quite an English core in the squad now. [that’s not saying very much as far as England are as a team]. Disappointing that Cambell didnt get a half against Leicester.
If, at the end of last season, someone had told me we would sign Sanchez and Welbeck, I’d have been pretty chuffed with those attacking reinforcements I think. Welcome Danny!
Welcome to the team. Hopefully the next Ian Wright
Posted on a UTD message board last week about Welbeck:
http://therepublikofmancunia.com/stats-danny-welbeck-compared-to-other-strikers-at-23/
don’t care what anyone says; i like him & think he’ll be a good fit.
he’s no Cavani but lad will put in a good shift
Yup. Cavani hasn’t looked so great in the past few months you have to say. I mean, I’d love to have him at Arsenal but…
Did you see the goal he scored over the weekend? Please. Cavani is one of if not the best Striker in the world at the moment. Falcao on the other hand is an injury prone 30 year old who suffers from his knee. Sound familiar? Yeah. RvP; an injury prone 30 year old who suffers from his knee. They just got like for like.
Falcao is 28
I think he will suit our style of play more than Giroud would. He’s actually quick, runs the channels well, and has good hold up play. But fuck me. No centre back or defensive midfield. What a poverty transfer deadline day.
Good signing. It’s more pace in the front line #scary
As much as I want to believe that we have a scary, pacey attack, what makes us so painful to watch sometimes is the ponderous sideways passing outside the box.
Hopefully his link up play is good
I have a feeling that this might be a extremely good signing when we look a few years back from now. He’s got pace and he’s technically gifted. Look at what happend to Sturridge when he was given a little faith.
Balls
Photo of Ivan Gazidis at his desk today……
http://i.imgur.com/GMEgv.jpg
This just turned my day around….thank u
At least Van Gaal stayed true to his word and didnt sell to a Top Four rival.
*gently sobbing*
Guys maybe he’s just a realist United fan who is now more worried about his competition this year,Tottenham and Newcastle
His life just got flip turned upside down.
And he’d like to take a minute
Just sit right there
He’ll show you how he became the prince of the Premier…….
*Ship*
He’ll count as homegrown as well. Just hope he gets himself a haircut, as its not 1986.
More worried about us not signing a defender.
Homegrown is huge, esp if we by another pricey foreigner next summer.
Welcome Danny, let’s hope you emulate Sturridge’s ascent, however, I can’t help but feel generally underwhelmed (borderline terrified!!) by our lack of defensive signings …
All this talk about our defensive signings (or lack of them) but what about Wellbeck’s old club? They’ve spent £24m on a one year loan for a striker who played 22 games last season and their defence is still much lighter than ours. I think Wellbeck will do well for us. He’s hardworking and will have a point to prove.
Exactly!! We’ve replaced every defender that has left. Verm barely played last year, I want Chambers to get as much game time as possible, he’s looked incredible so far. I’m HAPPY we didn’t add any more defenders.
How the fuck are you HAPPY we didn’t add any more defenders? Are you simple?
@billymac Let’s not compare ourselves to the mid-table sides =P
Welcome Danny.. Hope you can do a Sturridge and be much better
Welcome Danny we will play you in your proper position unlike man u 🙂
how the hell are we going into the season with ONLY 2 CB’s?! Chambers is first of all a RB back up for Debuchy as i don’t see Wenger giving Bellerin promotion this season. So basically we have 3 CB’s in Koscielny, Mertesacker and 19 year old Chambers, and Monreal as our 4th CB. I repeat – Monreal as a CB! and with our injury record this is a shocking decision by Wenger.
Chambers is a CB and we had 3 all of last season mate, calm down.
….and I know the Emirates Cup is preseason but Bellerin looked spectacular then. I’ll be excited to watch him prove himself in the Carling Cup – he could be a big player for us in the future. Super fast too, apparently…
Funny thing about that emirates cup…..some kid scored 4 goals for us & some Colombian guy scored a nice header to beat us. Yet people are choosing which one matters to fit their opinion…….what I’m saying is, I want Bellerin to be big for us, but you can’t us the Emirates cup as a reason to fast track him, it was VERY misleading. Let’s see if he’s trusted in the Cap 1 Cup & FA Cup, which he should be, then we can evaluate him.
Walcott wilshere welbeck
Oxslade-chamberlin chambers
Going to test the commentators!
Can’t believe we didn’t get a replacement for TV5 though!
Young lad with plenty to improve,great pace,tireless work ethic,hardworking,cunning,and not to mention premier league experience…great buy wenger…this will certainly release pressure over sanogo and help his development as well..with walcott still to comeback we have a pretty good squad..touchwood
I would say this has been a decent Transfer window for us. Only that other top teams strengthened more than we did. So technically in the grand scheme of things, I don’t suppose we are that much more credible contenders than last season. But I like the fact that we spend with conscience unlike united to practically mean to buy the trophy.
I suppose you’re right if you don’t pit Man U in that bracket. They’ve spent a fortune and their defence is still much weaker than it was last season
Very true, we probably had the financial firepower to push for a £300k-a-week player like falcao but instead we invest and continue to build a team in a different way from City, Chelsea and now United. Makes a massive difference for me and keeps me a proud gooner.
This signing won’t win us the league but it gives us another talented brit – I like the idea of
Ox – Welbeck – Walcott
Ramsey – Wilshere
Omg I can’t wait to see him play
Had someone said to me two months ago that you’ll be genuinely excited by the signing of Danny Welbeck on September 1st I’d have laughed.
But on reflection, the lad is now in the tight fitting shirts of Arsenal and I think he can do a job for us.
He’s young, eager and has good stats from the last couple of seasons, welcome to the family.
I wasn’t ecstatic about this when he was initially linked, but I’ll support him as I would any gooner and hope he proves my skepticism wrong. Not that I think he’s a bad player but I wanted a proven goalscorer. Maybe if he gets a run down the middle it’ll work out better for him.
Sums it up for me also….I’ve got a lot to say about this signing & it’s mostly negative BUT he will get my support once he puts on our kit. Welcome to Arsenal Danny……….even tho Im a sceptic bc his offensive game doesn’t impress me, I will say the pressing he will provide from the front along with Sanchez is going to be excellent & a problem for other teams seeing as how they both have non-stop engines.
I remember watching him in the 2011/12 season and thinking “Wow, if only this guy played for our team”. Sure his performances have dropped since but every player has their rough patch, especially when played out of position (think Ramsey). IMO if Wenger can recover his fortunes, which is very possible given his young age, we have a potentially deadly striker on our hands for the long term.
I’m surprisingly happy about this. At first I was a bit miffed that we’d seemingly passed on Falcao, but then I saw his salary: £350.000 per week. Holy. Shit. That is beyond absurd. I am a big fan of Falcao, and think he’s a great player, but there are only two players in the world who (might!) be worth that kind of money, and he’s not one of them. At any rate, Welbeck is a serious upgrade over Sanogo, so this is overall good news. He is rather similar to Sturridge, and he looked rubbish in Chelsea, so who knows?… Read more »
And another thing: The price tag. It’s very reasonable, given his age and experience, especially when the whole “British Premium” thing is taken into consideration. Nicely done.
There’s also the “selling to a rival” premium and the “panic buy on transfer day” premium to take into account.
Would be lying if I said I’m over the moon about this transfer, but let’s be civilized people and give him a chance (a real one) before we start complaining that he’s not Cavani or Falcao.
Very good points! It is actually a surprising price all things considered. There are so many factors here that could have inflated the price a great deal, Andy Carroll style.
Goonermonkey – and the referees.
Arteta vs Welbeck hair..GO!
Arteta wins, no contest. Welbeck’s hair is from ten years before he was born, and it never looked good on Arsenio Hall either.
Not to jump to any premature conclusions, but I’m bloody excited about this. Plucky youngster with a point to prove, the ability and the mentality? Much more pleased by this news than I expected.
Agree. Man Utd are trying to build a galaticos squad with no defense, Chelsea have loaned out 26 players, whom they will sell when their value is highest in order to skirt FFP, and City — whatever I’m tired of writing. But plucky and young fits the bill for me.
Rate him or not, hes a gooner now, lets support him, think his play is good overall but finishing needs improving. Arsene will help him improve. Also a run of games will help. His goals to minutes ratio is pretty good though. In terms of at the back. We have 3 Full backs (Debuchy, Gibbs, Monreal) and 3 CBs (Per, Kos, Calum) we also have Bellerin who I think will be a good 2nd choice RB. What people dont realise, they go on about how great Chelsea are but they have 3 Full backs (Ivanovic, Azpilicueta Luiz) and 3CBs (Terry… Read more »
Agree on these points, but still worried you felt it necessary to add “there’s always next year” at the very end. It can’t always be “next year” with Arsenal.
Your optimism pleases me greatly. I genuinely feel a lot better now. Let’s just pray to Shad that Kos and Per stay fit..
Glad I could make you feel better Royale. And Witoldo its not a case of always next year I just think Alexis may need a year to settle before his has a Suarez-esqe impact and smashes in 30 goals a season. Shad Forysthe will have had a year to implement his methods so hopefully have a fitter squad and have less injuries. And all those players I mentioned will be more experienced and that will help massively.
Per will be exposed this season, there’s a reason he wasn’t starting in the World Cup knock out stages. Plus Monreal on the flanks and Arteta shielding….good luck. All our matches this season…it seemed like our defence could be exposed at any minute, one long ball, one misplaced pass….boom!
Well now we have to support him don’t we? And to be honest our squard ain’t that bad apart from the chavs and shitty we’ve got the best squad around atleast to challenge for epl and if we make it to the quarters of champe then anything can happen and repeat of that fa won’t be bad too even Carling might do the trick
I’m genuinely very happy to have Welbeck as a gunner. He has real potential and a good proven track record. There may be some doubters but he’s literally a “world-class striker” so frankly there is no excuse but to be happy about this transfer. Also, next time he does his little dance after scoring we can all enjoy watching him.
That being said, I’m still concerned with our current lack of defensive options but when Gibbs is back that won’t be as daunting, I suppose.
Definately can imagine him emulating Sturridge. Taking into account he played out wide quite a lot at utd, and presuming Wenger is going to do the same, I think (hope) he can do really well for us
*isn’t
Also he’s still only 23 and has plenty of premier league experience, so not sure who else would’ve been a better buy
Welcome Danny! COYG!
After my initial disappointment at this signing, your comment is the level I’m at now….he’s an Arsenal player now, so gets my support
I think he will, given some time, improve in a manner similar to that of Daniel Sturridge.
I think we could’ve done with a CDM and CB but I’m not going to fret about something that’s it’s now too late to do anything about. Hopefully we’ll make it to January with no injuries and Wenger can reinforce then.
All in all I’m happy with the signings we’ve brought in. This team is a definite improvement on the one that we had in May.
And thanks for the entertaining live blog!
I think Wenger can mould him into a goal poacher. He would get lots of service from Ramsey, Ozil and Sanchez so rest assured he will do well. Plus with him, Sanchez and Walcott being there we have added serious pace to our frontline which will be nightmare for defenders. So. Welcome Wellbeck.
Sanogo was in some good positions last weekend but looked clueless about what to do. Whatever you think of Danny, he’s a marked improvement.
People have been pointing out Welbeck’s lack of goals, without acknowledging that Arsenal have MUCH better playmakers than Man Utd and that we’ll actually give him an opportunity to play in the middle, rather than lumping him out on the wings and complaining about his goals-per-game ratio.
Sad there’s no Carvalho/Gustavo. A bit anxious about having six (seven? Does Bellerin count?) senior defenders in the squad.
However, we just used our champs league status to (a) force Man U to sell us a promising home grown striker who fits our system at a reasonable price in exchange for (b) allowing them to sign a slightly-less-fat Rooney with a bad knee at a price even they can’t afford after paying the Monaco tax difference.
Not a bad day after all. 🙂
As I said above, Chelsea only have 6 defenders, Zouma is the same age as Chambers too. Yet apparently we should stop playing and give the title to them because they are so superior to everyone according to the media. Bellerin does count he looks like he could be really good given a run. Disappointed about Carvalho but they wanted too much 30m because a 3rd party own 40%. Dont blame us for not paying that. Hes not worth that yet.
Walcotts back after the interlull? Walcott, Ramsey, Ozil, Sanchez, Wiltshire, Cozorla – Wellbeck will be a hit, pace and amazing feet, he’s ridiculously dexterous with them!
some of his goals against us have been enviable. he is class welcome welbeck.
Good luck to him, think he’ll do well here.
On another note, bit annoyed with the lack of a defender coming in. However brilliant Chambers has been for us as a CB, you can’t deny the fact that he’s still a bit raw….
Anywho, 7.5/10 transfer window, altogether. Deadline day was a massive mess what with the inability to purchase a CB and a young DM, however, can’t deny the fact that we made some very good purchases in the earlier parts of the transfer window.
Now if we can just hang on until the winter transfer window….
Lord knows we needed another stoker, and it’s a good bet on Welbeck. He’ll have bags of motivation, everything to go for, and nowhere near the same pressure/expectation monster that Ozil and Sanchez have to deal with. Also nice that he’ll be joining his mates Walcott, Jack, and the Ox – just might help him click in the side that much faster.
fucking predictive text. “Striker”. Clearly we don’t want any Stokers.
At least it didn’t end up being stroker!!
I’ll get my coat…..
Stokers are certainly not the way go mate.
I love productive textiles, it makes for some of the best typos.
Great news this. I rate him highly.
Nothing like creating yet another “pogba” and returning to old Trafford with him and shove him down manuniteds backsides!!!!!!!!!!
coyg
returning to old Trafford with him and shove him down manuniteds backsides!!!!!!!!!!
Shove him UP manu’s backsides, surely? Not literally……….
Was disappointed at first. I think purely because of the Man Utd connection. But I intend to support him 100% and give him a chance. He’s young, he’ll want to prove a point, he needs to make it work at Arsenal, Mesut likes to caress the ball towards quick gentlemen and he turned down Sp*rs. All good things to start.
Good luck to him and welcome aboard.
Worried about Nacho being 4th choice cb especially with a dreaded international break coming up. Perhaps AW has seen enough promise in Semi Ajayi, Isaac Hayden or even Pleguezuelo??
Very real chance that Chambers, Ox, Theo, Welbeck, Wilshere and Gibbs could end up playing together for both club and country one day.
Just to touch on Welbeck, I’m pretty happy with this. We got our Striker, and he’s clearly talented. Young, driven and with a point to prove? Maybe we shouldn’t be underestimating him. There’s a good reason – outside of timing – why Arsene’s paid 16 million for him.
First of all I just want to wish welbeck the very best of luck with us. Although he is a Manc he doesn’t seem like the worst of them and is a decent player too. I also can’t understand the abuse being thrown at target of the moment- sanogo. I garuntee you that boy has serious talent and in 6 months or so will prove everyone wrong. I remember the first time I seen him against bayerb being seriously impressed and he also bullied Daniel Aggger off the pitch when we played Liverpool. That’s not to mention he also turned… Read more »
Failed to sign the defender we really needed and ended up with an average forward. Very disappointing. A player deemed not good enough for manure who instead replace him with Falcao. I thought we were out of the austerity years and able to compete and yet we now have to go until at least January with only 3 centre backs. Our squad is lacking balance and we were crying out for some real top draw quality and Welbeck is not it. Disappointed
We may well have exited our period of austerity but we have not entered our period of desperate lunacy.