It sounds as though there may have been a breakthrough in negotiations with Barcelona as we looked to snaffle Denis Suarez for the rest of the season.
It sounded like the deal was dead, but Spanish radio station Cadena COPE claims the 25-year-old has agreed to a one-year contract extension at the Nou Camp which will preserve the player’s market value should Arsenal opt against activating a €25 million option-to-buy clause at the end of his proposed six-month loan.
After weeks of wrangling and media speculation – including suggestions that the Catalans were less than impressed by Raul Sanllehi’s behaviour – it looks as though Emery will get Suarez on loan before Thursday’s transfer deadline. It means he could be available to face his former club Manchester City on Sunday.
Suarez started his career at Celta Vigo before moving to the Etihad in 2011 where he spent a couple of years in the club’s youth ranks. After only two League Cup appearances for City, he was snapped up by Barcelona in 2013 but initially only featured for their B team before being sent on loan to Sevilla where he scored six goals in 46 appearances for Emery.
Villarreal signed Suarez on a four-year contract in 2015 and he went on to play 48 times in an impressive first season. Having inserted a buyback clause in his contract, Barcelona re-signed him, this time for €3.5 million, and he’s been in and out of the team ever since at the Nou Camp.
We’re now just waiting on official confirmation. It also means we can dedicate 48 hours to getting another deal over the line, or another 48 hours of this deal not getting done because someone doesn’t like someone else’s face. Or something.
Fine, I would prefer Perisic though.
Join the discussion…Let’s give him a chance. it seems as though Unai rates him highly. I wish Nkunku arrives too
Perisic is another Hleb. Does a lot of little technical stuff on the pitch but not the decisive player who makes you win.
This squad needs an Alexander Hleb
Or a Gervinho probably… But I like both.
Why though? I don’t think having another 30 year old player (a winger mind you) in a permanent deal is worthwhile. He is not going into improve Arsenal by much.
At least with Denis Suarez at 25 years there is a chance to improve him and if he performs well then permanently buying him in the summer is quite a sensible deal. If he fails then Arsenal can return him back.
Good point, NMA.
I am comparing apple to apple-loan of Perisic vs loan of Suarez. Age is one thing, ability and track record the other and these are to my mind clearly favoring Perisic.
Prefer Suarez.
BUT if Perisic comes AS WELL on a loan that’s fine. We need more options attacking particularly from right. EVERYTHING comes form our left right now with Iwobi and Kolasinac doing sterling work but clearly that is a bit obvious and so easy to shut down.
Ivan Perisic’s track record isn’t great to be honest. He ping ponged around a few clubs that are in and out of UCL. He never really sealed his position in any and his stats are not that great.
I just see him as another Mikhi and porbably worse considering Mikhi has higher profile.
I see them as different players and uses though. Suarez is much more of a dribbler and creator and good carrying the ball. Whether or not he can do that while an orc attempts to amputate his lower leg is another matter, but we are crying out for another player that can carry and hold the ball. He also plays a lot more frequently in a central location than Perisic, who looks to almost always play on the left side. Suarez can and does play wing, but he’s also quite comfortable across the middle of the pitch and likes to… Read more »
We are basically getting an imprpved Ozil.isn’t that what the fans want?Both kicked out by barca and real at same age.(although barca gave suarez a new contract ) we spent 50m for one and now spending 0 for another.what a steal!! Sanellhi showing how its done! And he isnt a lazy player so his celling is so much higher than the turkish.buzzing for this one!!! 🙂
I have lived in Milan three years now and inter are my second club due to in-laws etc. I go to a lot of games and follow inter pretty closely, even forgetting this season’s poor form I really don’t want to see perisic at arsenal. Don’t rate him at all on or off the pitch
Haha. Regardless of the player, I’m happy that Barca are miffed at us for once.
Raul doing to them what they were doing to everyone else when Raul was there
For all I care, Raul might be doing us.
Better than Mslintat.
If Raul is a tough negotiator and brings this over the line, I say good for him.
Clearly Barca will have their feathers ruffled.
Thus far our transfer team has been hit and miss.
I’m hoping Emery has lit a fire under them (as I suspect he has) and they get something done instead of scrambling around headless on Bailley and then Perisic and then Nkunku. It all seems rather panic manic.
incredibly underwhelming
2m loan fee. if he’s bad, we can just get rid. i’m happy he’s joining, also if he turns out good he’s the right age at 25
ah yes, because we desperately need another attacking midfield option, regardless of how much he costs, seems like were signing him for the sake of it, does he actually improve our team? i don’t think so
“…does he actually improve our team? i don’t think so.”
So, you’ve watched a lot of this player, then yes? You know his strengths and weaknesses? Ha, doubt it very seriously.
Why not give it a chance – IF – it happens.
Have you? are you so utterly convinced that he is going to take us from 5th and move us up the table? will he help us stop hemorrhaging goals? is he in to replace Ozil? does he get in our best eleven? or as i said initially, Does he actually improve our team? at all?
I think he certainly improves the squad and could potentially improve the first team if frees Auba to move off the wing and further forward. I certainly think if it happens it’s a positive although I can relate to your general dismay about the state of the club.
Seems a long time ago since we were promised an Ozil level signing per season and able to complete with Bayern financially.
Well I guess that’s the exact point of it being a loan deal…. to find out if he’s a decent fit or not. Given that he can play wide and central and that we’re lacking in the wide positions and severely lacking in creativity then im willing to give him the chance to prove himself. We’re losing Rambo in the summer, Emery doesn’t seem to like ozil and theres no obligation to buy then I really don’t see the problem?
no no no, its a Loan deal because we have no money to go and buy players until the summer.
Ok, so we have no money and we’re managing to get a decent player who can do a job for us until the summer, at which point if he’s been a good fit we can take him for €25. I really don’t see the issue with this deal, under the circumstances, unless you’d prefer we brought nobody in this window?
Don’t believe everything you read or hear. You want clubs to hike prices because they hear we have lots of money in the bank? Creative ditching out of information is part of the bargaining power amongst clubs nowadays. The more they know you have, the more they dig in their heels.
Do you think we have lots of money in the bank? we’ve been in the same position for over 10 years, scrapping for 4th place, failing in that recently
Pedro and Sanchez were deemed surplus to requirements at Barcelona. Ive looked at some Youtube comments from Barca fans and they have called him their Isco as in he’s technically very good, doesn’t get the opportunities he deserves and no one really understands why. Which is a comparison i would like to believe lol Isco has lit up the world in so many games but still cant seem to buy a starting spot consistently. Anyway thats my positive side talking. Worst is he comes, doesn’t get picked much, doesn’t enjoy that, doesn’t try hard because he knows he’s only on… Read more »
we will see, but i rather have him than have him not. there might be more attractive options out there than him (or maybe there aren’t too many?) but he’s still an actual new signing, which should (almost) always get you excited. and, as said, we can get rid of him again quite soon
Better than no one
Exactly better than not.
We are so bereft of options out right but also we lack players with technical ability who can control the ball and the game’s tempo like Santi (wenger got him for a steal)
Forget panic buy, we have entered the panic loan era.
I like this kind of loan deal. Relative young aka maybe his last chance to show that he can play in big club, so I guess he will do everything to play good and fight for first team place here. If not, than his back in Barca and sold in some mid-table club.
I don’t think that there is bigger motivation than this… 🙂
Much better age than Perisic. If he does well and we end up signing him long-term, it’s a far better deal for us.
Perisic is a much better player regardless of age or resale value…etc
it baffles me that people voted this down, are they arguing that Suarez is better than Perisic?
Apart from the world cup, who on this thread knows more than fuckall about either player? Noone, I’ll wager.
And its isn’t like Inter is a hotbed of football talent. How much Serie A do you watch? I watch a fair bit, and I’m not in a position to fully rate Perisic. (I follow Milan.)
Its a free country (I think … Blogs??) and folks are allowed to have a different opinion than you.
and as such i’m allowed have different opinions to them,
“And its isn’t like Inter is a hotbed of football talent”
are Zenit? they’ve just sold someone to PSG? congratulations on making redundant point after redundant point,
‘Its a free country (I think … Blogs??) and folks are allowed to have a different opinion than you.’
Christ, your hypocrisy is something else!!
Which country is this?
Time will tell my friend.
Sorry but your name reminds me of a blonde ironing board who once played for Blackburn so that’s a down
Not excited at all by this. Will reserve judgment till I see him play, but I don’t think he’ll turn our season around.
Way to reserve judgement Dude!
heh, this a prediction of overall direct not a judgment on his individual performance. given how many problems we’ve got, i don’t see this kind of signing can be a game changer. But what do I know? maybe he’s a very good cb too.
🙂
So Mr Murderer, I Will reserve judgment till I hear the evidence but I don’t think you can convince me – said Red-Sky the juror-
I mean he might be an upgrade on Iwobi and if so then great – if he’s not taking a spot on the first 11 then i am not sure of the point.
Who thought Guendouzi would be a regular starter and have nearly 30 appearances? Suarez is player the manager knows.. he could be Emery’s Patrick Vieira (or Remi Garde)
It’s not about the Suarez deal being a game changer or solving all of our problems on the pitch. It’s about us fighting on two fronts (top 4 and UEL) and we need squad depth for rotation and competition of players. Plus there should be insurance with this signing incase of another season ending injury. Last but not least, players’ form dip. He could just save us in those moments of some players being off form. Plus it’s good to have players of different characteristics/playing styles. I’m all in for Suarez AND Perisic. As long as the Perisic deal DOESN’T… Read more »
The issue is
a) We need options on the right side particularly with Bellerin out. All the good work comes out from our left in Iwobi and Kolasinac.
b) We need players who can control the ball and dribble pass opponents
We have been lacking this for over a season now.
Last January we had opportunity to load on Mahrez which we neglected to do.
I expect Emery knows this and is pushing Mslintat and Sanheli.
With Welbeck gone for the season and may be for good and Ramsey and may be even Ozil, we will be in the market for more than a couple of attacking players. So getting two loan players to see how they integrate into the squad is a great option. If they play well, it will be less of a transition next season and we only need to worry about may be 1 great signing.
Watford level player. Not paying 25m for him. Good stop gap level tbh.
What I wouldn’t want is spending 35m on a 29 year old Perisic this summer. We need to start getting players with resale value.
we need to stop worrying about re-sale value and build a team that can win things, now, next season and the season after,
Apparently Perisic is 30 on Saturday too. Which basically means he’s 30 now… I think that’s how it works?
No he’s 29 until he’s 30, which will be on Saturday. I think that’s how it works.
Stop worrying about resale value; we ain’t Monaco or Sevilla.
Watford level player and Barcelona signed him twice?
deulofeu
I was going to say Deulofeu who is out injured again.
BUT better watford level than no one at this stage particularly at Rwing.
Haha well Deulofeu is slightly different as he came through thier academy and first signing was a professional contract but good spot!
Every signing who can potentially put Iwobi on the bench is fine with me.
One of my favorite players is Iwobi. That being said, I actually understand your frustrations. He seems to be a bit incompetent at times, but then this moment of magic comes out of nowhere. But, I truly believe that he is a bit out of position. He’s an attacking mid, but we can’t play him in such an influential position yet because, well, the inconsistencies. I think he’ll get better if he keeps getting minutes on the wing. But, we are in a top 4 and Europa League race. If Suarez is an upgrade on the wing, I’m all for… Read more »
All our best play comes from the left with Iwobi unless you’ve had your head stuck up your arse all this time.
You should watch the game more carefully.
Well, that was uncalled for.
His reply was for el_primo not you ?
I’m curious to see how he fares. Simple. I am also glad as we seem to toughen up in terms of negotiation skills
Really? It’s not as if we’ve got Dembele. They’re literally trying to give Suarez away.
Sounds better than being stiffed on a 30 year old looking for a final pay deal. This way we can send him back and only lose the loan fee if nothing happens for him.
Amazing how things have changed since the stadium project as meant to place us at the top table after paying it off!
In fairness to Stan Kroenke, he won’t spend any of his own money.
Apparently its all his wife’s and she said “no”.
He relays her decision every year and only charges the club 3mill.
I thought that Arsene was getting the £3m for recommending light-weight attacking mids during a defensive crisis:-)
Nope – he was getting 8 million a year to stop big names coming into the club to kill denilson, song, flamini and coquelin.
Although…. The man was a miracle worker when you look at what he did with championship level midfields..
He won 4th place with whom you describe, when there was only 4 ‘big clubs’. There was hardly any contender for top 4 until the beginning of 2010’s.
It’s similar to how we finished 6th last season, automatically when the number of contenders grew to “top 6” .
Hardly a miracle.
There has always been a big 6 – everton / spurs and liverpool haven’t just suddenly started not winning trophies – they have been not winning trophies for decades now.
My point was that the midfields we played with where by an large terrible post Gilberto / Vieira.
Come on man, it was only between 4 teams.
Go check the difference of points between top 4, 5th and 6th places in those years, compared to now. Or even the quality of quality of squads.
There is no debating this. Top 4 was much easier then.
Blinkers on then…..
I’d prefer Luis Bergkamp but Denis Suarez will do
Guess Barca got Raul-ed. Them frowning at him, even nicer 🙂 Though not impressed yet by the player, happy we got it our way.
Good deal, if done.
Deal will be dead soon
He’s no Kim Kallstrom
we have Lichsteiner don’t worry courtesy of Mslintat. 90K a week.
damn right im not, mate!
Sounds like a good piece of business – based on that I would be pretty pissed if it was our player joining Barca on such good terms, haha.
If we have option to buy and the price is locked in, it will be decent business for us on a 25yr old coming into prime years.
We still lack control in midfield. Torreira has dropped off.
We don’t have sufficient players who can either take on players on one on ones or dribble with ease (Auba is surprisingly poor)
About the only player who can hold or engage others on one on one is Iwobi.
I didn’t want to be one to speak to early. However, I’m so glad Raul stuck to refusing to be budged on forcing our hands on a mandatory purchase of Suarez. He isn’t the most ideal signing for us, so I was never too bothered if we could get this deal over the line or not.
The previous Arsenal would have panicked and agreed at the last minute for a mandatory purchase. I’m so glad we have finally gotten over such naive, spineless transfer business strategies.
Thank you Raul and co.
I’ll also go with it at the moment, but then I liked Lucas Perez, Arshavin and Podolski too. Didn’t like Kallstrom, Silvestre or Gallas who all seemed panic buys.
We don’t do Panic buys anymore.
We do Panic loans.
They were’nt panic buys. They were Wenger being his own worst enemy in short changing himself.
Kallstrom though was just a hedge bc we had risk to injuries in midfield as you may recall…then of course he got himself injured without seeing much action. Typical Arsenal.
Kim Kallstrom is a legend.
There’s not going to be ‘ideal’ for us. We had an opportunity last January with Mahrez which we spurned in faour of yet another pass and play type in Mhkitaryan. Transfer team has made some poor decisions. BUT if Raul can get this through it could be good business bc there is a risk otherwise in leaving things to the summer. If we are out of CL again things will be difficult and pricier plus some of these players like Dennis will have more attractive options. We will again find we cannot reinforce in all the areas we want (Keeper… Read more »
He’s not a true CM from what I’ve seen. More of a technical passer. Weird considering we don’t play with a 10 really. Unless Emery is thinking of a 3 man midfield of xhaka/Torreira/Suarez
We don’t need a DM if Torreira can stick to his task. Blogs can only fixate on Mustafi when for United’s third goal, Pogba exposed Torreira’s physical limitations as a DM, left him in his wake. Mustafi was not featured for our problems at BHA, Soton, West Ham. Currently we need Granit to play WITh Torreira (and not shuffle him in and out of back 4) Those two need to build a relationship like they were earlier in season. Torreira has been poor (I’ll say it since clearly many people prefer to avoid being ‘unpopular’). against Soton, BHA and Liverpool… Read more »
Borrowing/buying Suarez must entail that he is better than Willock and Smith-Rove. He must be some player.
This argument baffles me…. are you suggesting we just play the kids? It’d be good to start wedding some of these youngsters in to our first team but suggesting we pin our champions league aspirations on them is laughable.
The “problem” is that the midfield is already so strong that reinforcing it would normally mean lashing out £40 million or more for a player. Suarez is cheaper, and he played very little at Barcelona.
A substantial strengthening of Arsenal’s midfield would, in my opinion, require a real superstar (Veratti), or somebody who could become one. Maybe Suarez can. He is of course welcome, and I look forward to seeing him on the pitch.
Seems like a good deal. Could replace Ramsey/Özil. But he isn’t a natural winger is he? So i don’t think, the club adresses the areas where WE need to strenghten most (CB, RB, winger).
No.
But he can function right I believe bc of his ball control. May mean we play in a back 3 with the fullback AMN given a bit more cover as he commits forward.
we need the impetus on the right side bc everything is coming from Iwobi and Kolasinac at the moment.
Yet some people have it to replace Iwobi go figure. Shoddy thinking never ceases to amaze me.
I’ll watch Denis Suarez play before judging him.
The best approach.
I love that someone took the time to down vote this. Obviously, the best approach is to make a mindless judgement based on absolutely nothing….
Nah I think it was down voted just because it’s fucking santori
TAKE IT. He adds versatility. Critically he also has good control on the ball which we need in deep midfield at times. Never mind Granit, Torreira has also looked unconvincing. But he can also provide work further forward (particularly if Ramsey leaves) and may also have function on right side tucked in with AMN on overlap. At 25yrs, a MUCH better prospect for the future. IF we don’t have commitment to buy, it adds incentive for the player to perform. If we lose Ramsey though it will be just replacement rate. The only thing is we have 3 similar type… Read more »
And LOL Wenger always said Jan was difficult but people had a moan.
…yet now Unai and company are telling you that its difficult and people agree.
Before it was panic a case of buy Wenger. Its panic loan now.
Double standards much?
January has ALWAYS been difficult to add and business nearly always tends to come in at tail end of window unless you have tons of silly money to throw.
Really hope we pull through with this one in any case. So many injuries. Defense is going to be make shift today. I suspect we will also have the next match against city in the back of our minds with today’s selection. Maybe we need to revert to back 3 with 3 Ms for the moment with Monreal- Mustafi- Mavro But it is Cardiff and their world class player Harry Arter is out injured. Prob need to ensure we keep Iwobi/Kolasinac going as they have been our most potent threat. what we do to balance out the right and help… Read more »
can he play the santi role?
Depends if he can deliver in one day
Am excited by this one. Relative young player with a good potential, hopefully he can recapture the form that made Barcelona use the buyback clause.
Loan signings make perfect sense. The last thing the club needs are to buy players that have no sell on value, and most likely will decline in performance later on in their playing career.
Emery knows the players he wants, but they aren’t ready ofor taking in the January market. Besides 6 months is a long time to go from potential world beater to an average player