French Eurosport are claiming that Riyad Mahrez is set to sign for Arsenal after discussions were held on Friday in France.
Arsene Wenger reportedly met with the player’s agent with the Gunners in France for a friendly against Lens. Eurosport could get no comment from the agent subsequently, but a fee of €40m+ is being mentioned.
Last week the Algerian international said he wanted to leave the Premier League champions to join a ‘major European club’, although in midweek Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri played that down saying the ‘market was finished’ and that Mahrez wanted to stay.
The 25 year old PFA Player of the Year ticks many of the required boxes for an Arsenal transfer this summer.
He’s an exciting, creative wide man with goals and assists, and having missed out on teammate Jamie Vardy last month, it would be quite something if Mahrez were to make the move to North London.
We’re giving this an optimistic 4 on the Poo-o-Meter.
Make this happen Arsenal. Sanchez, Ozil and Mahrez…now that is a proper forward line
Xhaka and Cazorla behind them as well. Best midfield in the league perhaps?
I’d have Xhaka and Ramsey behind them. An amazing mix of useful possession and directness between all those guys.
U forgot Ramsey, and yes it has to be by quite a long way
Ramsey is hit and miss. He’s a man with tremendous talent but at the same time plagued with terrible consistency of form.
But then we also have santi, elnenny, jack and coq
Ramsey has had an amazing euros though
Ramsey is an incredible player when he is inform and rested, but if he is out of form he really is a negative on the team because he tries to much as the box-to-box midfielder and turns over possession in the middle of the pitch, which leads to too many counters, exposing us. But at the top of his game he is truly one of the best in the league…that is tough to balance. Santi and El Neny are far more consistent and really balance the team. I think in the upcoming season rotation and playing the correct players and… Read more »
I don’t think you see him at the Euros. Or that year he single-handedly kept us at 4th. Infact I don’t think people see him at all. They watch his games, but don’t see him. I don’t people see ANYONE who doesn’t score a goal, or makes a killer through pass, or a unbelievable dribble, or a last-ditch save.
Or that year!!! Sums it up really
So… he’s had one really good run of a form lasting half a year during his entire career and that makes him good? Mkay.
@ Holyviper
There are plenty of us who’ve seen him at his best, like for example in the euros, and also the 13/14 season. Just like plenty of us have seen him struggle and overdo stuff. Not least the numerous times he’s wasted chances outside the box by leathering the ball when it could and should have been passed.
When did he single handedly keep us at the number 4 spot? As much as I rate his abilities I never saw him do that.
Euros Ramsey would get the nod over Santi, never mind 2013/14 Ramsey. 2014/15 Ramsey would be sat on the bench until he sorts himself out ….
Let’s not bin le Coq and Elneny just yet.
No mention of Jacky boy!
Obviously I would be delighted to see Mahrez sign for The Arsenal, and then I wanted to write a comment that I’m worried we’ll again go through a season without a real striker alternative for Giroud. But I took a look at some stats: Mesut Özil averaged one goal assist for every five chances created Aug to Dec. This dropped to 22 per assist Jan to May. So you might think this is because of Giroud, because he went missing for 10+ games. But then look at this: In 2016, Olivier Giroud had a 882 minute goal drought from open… Read more »
I think that we’re three players short of a title-challenging team (a CB, a winger, a striker). Like you, I had begun to despair over our lack of activity, and believe we need some alternative to Giroud up front. You make a good point that it’s not All His Fault. Leicester got through Vardy’s goal drought due to Mahrez still scoring (some) goals, and a solid defence (five 1-0 wins in six matches, Mahrez scoring twice). A goalscoring winger like Mahrez would get us a long way towards giving us that title-challenging squad, and does not rule out us also… Read more »
And lets not forget you need a little bit of luck to win the league, those 1-0 victories by Leicester had a considerable element of luck.
The Arsenal on the other hand, suffered from being cursed by the injury goals and getting one penalty all season, Vardy scored more penalties than 16 premier league teams last season, including Arsenal.
Autocorrect increased my argument lol… *injury gods and injury time goals
They also had some amazing support by the officials.
Our loose team defence is the biggest problem we have. Wenger has to finally do something about it. We will seriously challenge for the title with Marhez and a striker but we still won’t win it if the team as a whole doesn’t defend well.
You mean the terrible defence that allowed the same number of goals in as Leicester and that only allowed 1 more in than ManU and Spuds?
That terrible defence?
It is known by all and said by all that Arsenal team defence is one of the worst in the league. Those set pieces where opposition players are knowingly let unmarked and get the ball and score are our trade mark.
Who are you going to believe? Me or the goals against statistic?
Who needs facts when you have opinions
Optimistic?? We’re not signing Mahrez. You should know this..
Problem is overplaying Giroud. Giroud is an absolute beast when he is well rested. His movement is better, control is better, engine is better, pace is better…he is just better.
We need depth, and class depth (so Wenger has confidence to rotate) up front so Giroud can stay fit and fresh the whole year. its no coincidence that his goal drought lined up with Walcott’s terrible form and Welbs being out (he came back at the end of Giroud’s barren run) in Jan/Feb
I also like the fact that having mahrez as a creative player would enable Alexis to be pushed further forward and, crucially, into the middle to provide support/an alternative to Giroud.
Very good idea. That would inevitably make Sanchez a second striker, kinda like Griezmann for France. Imagine the supply rate of chances to be created by Ozil and Mahrez playing behind Giroud and Sanchez; if Mahrez indeed happens, I’ll not call it a very bad transfer season.
No word of a lie, I was at Heathrow today and the entire Leicester team was on the same transit train as me. Loads of people asking Ranieri for a selfie. I was literally a meter away from Mahrez, could’ve whispered something in his ear but thought better of it! He was joking around with the other players, fist bumping, did not look like he was in the middle of a huge transfer process, but then not sure what someone should look like in that situation. I would like to say what a hero Ranieri seemed like, totally up for… Read more »
I’ll bet you let them go first at the end of the journey too…
**(S)anchez, (O)zil, (M)ahrez,
Now that is “som”e forward line.
Can I have a spare coat?
You can take the whole closet. Props for trying though ?
Giroud,Ozil,Sanchez,Santi,Asano,Mahrez,Elneny and Ramsey surely.
Nothing would penetrate.
Now that is just brilliant.
have 10 thumbs for that!
I see what you did there. Unsheath the Coq …
Tuck El Neny in behind and it’s SOME midfield…*cough*
Would really like us to at least give Alexis another go up front, especially if we don’t buy another striker.
Why not even Mahrez alongside Giroud? Damn, I’m wetting my pants a bit. Get Jesé Rodriguez in to fill in at right wing and we’re sorted
What gives me hope is that the agent refusing to comment – hallmark of our deals.
Would be so absolutely brilliant if and when this is done.
Apparently he said later that he wasn’t there about Mahrez, rather for an 18 year old Lens player. Whether to believe that is another question…
hate to be a ‘party pooper’ but i’ll urge caution guys to avoid a big let down. I will love it to happen, just like anybody else but Personally?….i will only believe this, or even get excited,only if it is confirmed by official Afc sources…….Arsenal fan baiting appears to be a popular e-journalist past time these days, how else can you account for all these different stories popping up every day? Its become obvious that during any transfer window, arsenal transfer news, is one of the most potent click baiting ‘baits’ available because the stupid e-journos now know we hardly… Read more »
Not just click bait. Agent bait to improve current contracts. We are the ultimate vehicle for agents and players.
Yup, as much as I wish it’s true, it sounds like just more transfer bullshit to me.
No direct attributable quotes as usual – I’d treat with caution
This makes a lot of sense, especially in context of stuff like:
http://metro.co.uk/2016/07/23/arsenal-fans-go-into-meltdown-after-riyad-mahrez-is-spotted-on-plane-to-london-6024932/
But for €40m+ ?!?!
That’s Ozil money and I don’t think he’s on the same level yet…
He was the Player of the Year in a counter-attack team. Imagine him in a team with a guy with the most assists. I think he deserves more respect than ‘not at Ozil’s level’.
I think being the talisman who led relegation fodder to the title is enough for me
But Ozil would cost much more today.
I agree that seems high, especially for one year of evidence, but the baseline has shifted. We would not get Ozil for that now. Transfer fees have gone stupid and that is the new reality. Look at what Deeney and Stones are going for. I hope it happens. At least he’s got one season of proven PL performance, and we’ve had one good wing for the past season, and a hole on the other. Plus, we know he knows how to work with a speedy finisher. If Walcott somehow ends up up top here or there (!) maybe Mahrez could… Read more »
The 40 million we paid for Mesut in 2013 is now at least 60 million considering inflation and the weak £.
Apparently, Mahrez’s agent has just said that the reports about Arsenal are untrue, which should be of no surprise to anybody.
According to Ed Aarons at the Guardian:
https://twitter.com/ed_aarons?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Doesn’t sound good.
[Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, guys. Genuinely want Mahrez at the club, and hope his agent is bluffing / Aarons is misinformed, but there have to be serious doubts about this deal. Feels too good to be true.]
Signing mahrez Would make so much sense than wenger can allow
@Rafiu Olalekan I am a deal heat Arsenal fans in Nigeria. For the issue of Riyadh mahresz he will be a great fantastic singing Arsenal can do that quickly but as arsen wenger consing I don’t it would happen because the bord of Arsenal and wenger management day are after business not trophy. Thanks Arsenal fans from Nigeria.
All strikers we are linked to are overpriced. If we cant afford them why not bring RVP back. At least it will be an upgrade on walcott, Apkom or sanogo. Besides, according to report Rvp is ready to decrease his salary and is available.
Mahrez is the real deal, no doubt about it. This would be so awesome it is hard to believe it could really happen. I am honestly shocked there hasn’t been more clubs in for him. He was the best player in the league by far last season and the one who won Leicester the title. Vardy is not half the player Mahrez is.
Sign Mahrez and Lacazette and sell Walcott and Ramsey
Guys, any comments on this?
http://metro.co.uk/2016/07/24/have-adidas-just-revealed-chelsea-have-hijacked-arsenals-deal-for-leicester-city-ace-riyad-mahrez-6025555/
Come on please let this be true!
From the headline I thought it was, bit misleading Blogs, keep my dumb heart in mind.
I think it’s fair to say the French site made up some shit, and the sooner we move on from this, the better.
It’s the “hope” that kills…:-(
Did Vardy actually *sign* his new contract?
He put an x on the dotted line like the fine graduate of the Sheffield schooling system he is.
I heard it was a fingerprint.
Actually, I think he just dribbled on the dotted line. And not the footballing type of dribble.
Are you sure his agent didn’t sign it on his behalf?
When it became clear Vardy wasn’t coming I said to my mate to be honest there are other strikers out there (At the start of June there actually were haha), if we had to take any Leicester player I’d want Mahrez.
This guy is fucking class. Get it done!
Cautiously optimistic. Seems to have something behind it.
I’d be ecstatic with this signing, giving us a real option on the wings to complement Alexis. Still need a striker though. I’m still leaning towards one signing, purely because the need is so blindingly obvious the club can’t ignore it. (Definitely prepared to be wrong on this.)
(I’m definitely not cautious, I’ve fallen for this rumour and I’m dreading the inevitable heartbreak)
I’m not excited by news anymore… Have experienced enough with Suarez, Higuan etc.. Why did they have to bring it to such state… It’s perhaps only the media or is all Arsenal family the same.. I can’t understand
It almost sounds like the signings of Ozil, Sanchez, Cech and Xhaka since the Suarez/Higuain saga in 2013, have been completely disregarded…
Q: Arsene, are the rumors about Mahrez true?
AW: Look, we have Ox and Walcott…
You know it’s true.
Vardy was no more than a smokescreen.
If it’s not true, I’m going to have nightmahrez
Nice
But if it is, it would be mahrezing.
Yea, I know, I know.
You’re jinxing it with your bad pun 🙁
4 on the poo-ometer? This is Arsenal we’re talking about. It won’t be long until we get the generic “our squad is good enough” quotes from AW. Even if it is true can’t we offload Walcott as part of the deal?
Yeah I thought that poop was a tad solid for this stage in the saga. I’d love it to happen, but given the state of footballing media I would still put it on the quite unlikely pile (pun intended)
Blogs did say “optimistic”.
It says something that this rumor comes out and there seems to be resounding optimism. Way more feel-good factor than the Vardy rumor. One of the few comment sections I would hope the player in question and manager could see.
Walcott would have to take a pay cut, Leicester wouldn’t be able to offer him £140,000 a week. I also highly believe they would be more interested in signing Bambi on ice instead of Walcott.
If he does sign can we please sing, “his name is Riyad and we’re dancing in the stands” (to the tune of Rio, obviously) this season? Thanks.
Want to believe this will happen but not going to get my hopes up. When you look how lightweight our forward options are for the U.S tour it is blindingly obvious we need strengthening there
ah yes the U.S. tour
I wont believe it till he’s in the shirt on arsenal[dot]com but …LETS GO GUNNERS!!
I can’t take the disappointment if this doesn’t go through
Then you should be staying as far from the newspapers and football as you physically can be.
C’mon, get this shit done!
COYG!
Medium rare at the moment(4 on poo-o-meter)
Great if it happens. Cant help but think wenger will try and do the normal progression of making quality centre forwards from natural wide men. I could see Mahrez sitting through the middle with Ramsey out on the right.
Its certainly one of those mood brightening type of signings weve been looking for.
Do you still want Ramsey on the right?? Are you blind or haven’t had enough of him doing NIL on that position. Mahrez on the right would be the deal
Ramsey scored 6 goals and 8 assists last season 3 goals and 6 assists in 21 games in the middle. 3 goals and 2 assists in 11 games on the wing. Pretty sure he played a good deal on the wings when he was banging them in the previous two seasons. Like I said earlier if he is on form he is absolutely brilliant in the middle, but if he is not (and it happens a lot – he is a very hot and cold player) he is a liability in the middle of the pitch because of his turnovers.… Read more »
He did not play a si gle game on the wing when he was banging them in that season.
People need to stop making this Ramsey right wing happen. It’s almost forgotten that Sanchez is better on the right than on the left.
If Ramsey is out of form, just drop him. Jack will play instead.
I will agree with that. I don’t think its ineffective though as it is a viable tactic to help retain possession in certain instances against certain opposition. But I would say El Neny is ahead of Jack, Jackie boy has A LOT to prove…actually playing the best part of a full season would be a nice start
And Santi too (ahead of Jack)
Please let this deal go through????
Blogs u had better be right on this one. Getting all my hopes up. I know where you stay blogs. Which is around 25,000 Miles from where I am. I’m crossing my balls for this.
Did Wenger sing Alexis the way ? After the world cup match he was doing bunditry on ?
He usually sings Edith Piaff numbers after bunditry.
That’s only after bunditry. The rest of the time I think you’ll find he sings ‘Stinky Toys’ and Asphalt jungle’ stuff.
“We remain in the market, so stay close to Arsenal.com for any further transfer news.” Suddenly, this statement makes sense.
and “Wenger prepared to spend big”….
So Gazidis was just trolling then
“Maybe we will have a good surprise for you.”
Please make this happen.
In a sea of shite that is the transfer season, in a world of newsnow, caughtoffside, the Mirror and all the other lying scuzzbuckets, when I see news on this site I get genuinely excited. News Blogs if you are fibbing (4 poos is almost a dead cert in your meter!) or mistaken, I will go all Liam Neeson on you. I will find you….
….or at the very least, be mildly irritated and frustrated and despair for my club and life!
Caughtoffside is still alive? I was surprised to find Tribalfootball is still a thing these days.
They took bullshitting to a new level
As he says, French Eurosport are saying this.
Blogs is just telling us it’s being said.
No promises of his own ‘inside source’ or ‘a friend of Mahrez’.
“If Arsene makes the signing. That’ll be the end of it. But if he doesn’t. I will find you. And I will moan at you.”
I know we need a striker very badly, but this is a deal we need to happen. Right wing has been a problem for about 2 seasons now and this would solve it while adding goals/assists to us.
If this went through, and quickly, it might encourage a few strikers to give us a second look. How many strikers could picture themselves playing up front while flanked by Sanchez and Mahrez, Ozil in behind, and Cech making sure their goals aren’t cancelled out at the other end?
Quick Mr. Wenger and sign him
That makes me very happy and excited, now we just need a striker (and hopefully a world class center back as well). Mkhitaryan was obviously our first choice and we seem to have been chasing him at the same time we were chasing Vardy, so I’m confident we are still chasing a striker and it wasn’t a case of either a striker or a winger.
We missed out on Leicester’s striker and get their RW instead…we missed out on Dortmund’s RW, can’t we just buy their striker instead? (Please, please God make this happen)
We clearly still need some form of striker but a signing like Mahrez would go a long way towards addressing our problems.
I desperately hope this happens! but what if mahrez is doing a vardy and courting arsenal so to get a better contract from leicester as was suggested by many news outlets last week? let’s hope he signs though! would be so perfect on the right flank. 2 inverted wingers that can score goals!
Vardy is 29 and grateful he had a stellar season. He knows he’s one serious injury from dropping down the leagues again. He’s one of the first names on the team sheet and gets paid shedloads compared to his days at Fleetwood etc.He’s reached his ambitions of playing for his country and winning the league. Leicester stand little chance of repeating that but could build a team to fight in the cups which He hasn’t won yet. If he moves he may just become a squad member. Mahrez is 25 and knows he can achieve more and earn more with… Read more »
This would be an excellent signing and really an UPGRADE ON RAMSEY on the right wing who doesn’t like playing there and it shows.
Let’s hope then, this plus either a very good CB would be very important for a title challenge. Bringing a top striker would be crucial too but I can’t see Wenger signing all these players.
Again remember when we struggled the most last year and fell out of the running was when wenger just kept persisting with the Flame and Rambo in the middle. It wasn’t all Flamini either. El Neny was waiting in the wings, but he just kept going with two out of form players and it was a big mistake (proven too as El Neny was a really good addition and played well both in attack – keeping possession and defensive positioning and cover).
I’d be happy with this signing, it’d make much more sense than getting Vardy. Still we have the issue of central striker to be solved – Giroud there alone is not there and this is not the season to experiment with youth players like Akpom or the likes of Walcott…
This makes much more sense than a superstar striker – assuming everybody matched their levels from last year, our highest scoring (PL) front line would be Alexis (13) Giroud (16) Walcott (5) giving a total of 34 goals. If we swap Mahrez for Walcott, he would have given us 12 extra goals (scored 17 last year.) for a striker to improve our overall goal total by the same amount, he would need to score 28 league goals. Only Suarez, Higuain, Cristiano and Lewandowski scored that scored that many league goals in the top european leagues last year. If we assume… Read more »
Berahino worth a punt ??
If Mahrez joins Arsenal, I’m laughing at Vardy from now till the end of the season
Vardy won’t mind in the slightest. He’s where he wants to be and where he’s wanted. I wonder how he’ll do next season if Mahrez comes to us, but he’s probably happy knowing he’s always going to be a hero right where he is now.
House Vardy, the North (London) remembers
I’ll wet myself with excitement if this happens.
No other new source has mentioned this sadly. Usually 2 or 3 will have it if there’s any truth.
Hope I’m wrong, he’d be tremendous.
fuck the poo meter this is the kinda shit we like if we get him and no other striker than we will have a great balance to the squad in midfield and front line and good variety all round
Would be exactly what we need. People claim that Giroud isn’t world class and that there is a need for a new striker. Then when Wenger is signing a quality winger people say that we already have so many wingers. Well, none of those wingers have been any good the last 2 seasons apart from Sanchez. I would say that Giroud is more world class in his position than any of Walcott, Ox, Campbell in their positions f fs. Yes we need a striker but we need a goalscoring and creative wing player as much. Now bring in some competition… Read more »
I’d be surprised if Napoli sell Higuaín to another Italian team, unless they know something negative about him.
They aren’t desperate for the money.
I’ve heard the “He’s at Juve for the medical” etc rumours but we’ve heard that about plenty of players coming to us that don’t come to us and were never likely to come to us.
Once bitten…
I prepared myself for the usual arseblog joke article when I read the headline..
Been waiting an hour to comment on this… now I have nothing to say other hasn’t PLEASE BE TRUE ARGGHHH !@!!
Worth the wait.
Been waiting an hour to comment on this… now I have nothing to say other than PLEASE BE TRUE ARGGHHH !@!!
Worth the wait.
Is the site “banjaxed” due to this report or is it me?
Be a great signing if it happens. Would just need that STIKER signing we are crying out for to be challengers across Europe.
Gonzarlo having a medical at Juve apparently. We can stop banging on about him now €90 million was always going to be a fanciful option.
A good addition to the wide men. Walcott will be doomed lol.
And i am not hoping much cause i dont want to be disappointed.
Mahrez will be a welcome addition but looks like Higuain is away – http://www.skysports.com/football/news/12962/10510233/sky-sources-gonzalo-higuain-undergoes-medical-at-juventus
I don’t think he wants to go to the PL. none of the other top teams gave it a serious shout and he’d have improved on everyone except perhaps Aguero.
I don’t think he’s ever wanted to go to the PL. He (or his agent, which is much the same thing) just used us last time he was looking to make a nice deal for himself.
Please let this rumour be true. It was Mahrez that made leicester tick.He is such a creative player that he would make arsenal tick as well. He would be a huge upgrade on Walcott. Seàn
https://mobile.twitter.com/ed_aarons/status/756794524534439936?p=v oh no.. Is this guy reliable?
Was just stressing about this too. He appears to be Deputy Sports Editor at The Guardian. His latest tweet says the agent says he was at yesterday’s game but it was not connected to any transfer discussion. Aaron provides no info about who the agent gave this message. This is going to drive me crazy! Could it be the agent is lying as the deal gets finalized?
With higuain Goin to juve for 80 mil £…I wud take mahrez for 40 mil £ and lacazet for 40 mil £..
Hopefully we have this deal done in time for the Arsecast Extra on Monday 🙂
I wouldn’t hold my breath. The club is glacier-like in announcing signings. How long did it take to announce Holding?
And add that it’s the weekend, so noone is working at the website… ?
I would really like this to be true. But if we look at how things have been done in the past… This will take a while. And maybe need a bid of £45mil +1.
Halefuckingluja.. 40+ mill though, not much room left if any for a striker on a Wenger budget.
Unless he goes all postal in what may very well be his last season at the club and spend a good chunk of all the hoarded cash.
Should have spent more sooner since only a few years ago you could get 3 players for the prize of 1 in this market.
It’s a bit odd considering Ranieri’s confirming of Vardy talks back then and doing the opposite now – the transfer might be on the cards … let the good times roll !
I really hope this turns out to be true, given that Wenger recently said that he will spend big money…… if the player is available.
I can seriously live without signing a new striker if we are to sign Mahrez.
But we really need a quality CB to partner Kos.
No matter how much goals we can score, we can’t win the match if we are to let in at the other end.
1-0 scorelines are fine with me.
We need to win the title this year.
For Wenger..
By the looks of it Wenger will stick with Mertesacker who will also be the first captain this season, so let’s get ready to concede a lot again…
Bellerin Monreal
Xhaka Cazorla
Mahrez Ozil Alexis
???
If we sign a proven striker then WHAT an attack we’d have!
A new good CB to partner with Kos is needed though
Does this leave room for Walcott in the club? I think its time to let the lad go find his legs under a different manager. Somehow i still think the Ox can still amount to something but a loan might suffice.
Not ready to believe. Would be a good signing but I don’t know if he will add enough goals compared to a top striker.
Maybe he would help our top striker add a few more goals. A striker is just the sharp end of the team. It’s teamwork that gets goals. More, or better, support from the right wing is absolutely something Giroud can take serious advantage of.