A bloody terrific day at AFC HQ.
They announced Jens Lehmann, which was a terrific bit of surprising business.
Now they’ve brought in Lacazette, who for all intents and purposes is a good signing, questions is, will he be a great one?
He’s either a faster Olivier Giroud, or he’s the shrewdest bit of summer business we’ve done for a while. Can’t see a middle ground here.
We shall watch how it all pans out.
The important thing here is both signings were done in time for preseason, which is progress. Both were needed. Which is also important. Both could have a significant impact on how we play.
Very hard to give context to the outcome until you know what there is to work with, but it’s a solid start to July.
Hit up the podcast right now, and listen to some interesting numbers on Lacazette and some differing opinions on what Jens can bring to Arsenal.
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Leicester signing Iheanacho for 25mil is interesting, looking at Troy Deeney too…
Mahrez out then?
For me I have no doubt Laca will be a good signing for us, we just need to offload some dross like Debuachy, Jenkison e.t.c for a start.
CC
I like Iheanacho, he needs to move as he’s not getting the playing time at City but Leicester also bought Musa and didn’t give him much playing time last season.
Sounds like Leicester, lose a midfielder sign 2 strikers.
Sanchez has asked for 400k pw. Shrewd. He knows no one makes more than Wenger, so he’s forcing us to sell. My money is on after we sell, he signs for City at 325k pw or Bayern at 250k pw
Two good signings for Leicester in two days, Iheanacho and Iborra. Could work out very nicely for them.
Cesc
Is that the city striker?
“Leicester signing Iheanacho for 25mil is interesting, looking at Troy Deeney too…”
If Leicester is in the market for strikers why don’t we offer them Walcott plus £10m for Mahrez?
Sell it to them that they are getting a EPL proven player who is quicker and younger than Deeny…. and a little money too!
RSPCA
Yeah, and then a midfielder from Sevilla. Decent signings I think for Leicester.
Follow the money
July 6, 2017 20:48:25
Sanchez has asked for 400k pw. Shrewd. He knows no one makes more than Wenger, so he’s forcing us to sell. My money is on after we sell, he signs for City at 325k pw or Bayern at 250k pw
Arsenal have made it clear that he’s not going to city and Bayern don’t have any player close 300k on their list. It’s a case of signing on a huge wage or he leave free next season.
Leeds
Do you want Mahrez here?
http://talksport.com/football/deal-close-leicester-winning-race-sign-manchester-citys-kelechi-iheanacho-170706245709
Iheanacho would have been a good buy for us if Man city wasn’t sniffing around Alexis so much. I’m sure if we were interested they would have wanted Alexis mixed into the bargain. Any deal that involves Alexis moving to a direct rival is bad for Arsenal.
Cesc
He isn’t my first choice but I think he is a step up from Walcott for sure in my opinion.
I know Lemar is the flavour of the month and a higher ceiling but I think Monaco won’t sell him now unless we pay Pogbaesque money and I don’t think Wenger will want to do that after buying Lacazette for £52m
*and he has a higher ceiling…
Think you need to remember the players have significant say in where they go, we might want rid but Theo has no incentive to move to Leicester. He plays for Arsenal, lives in London, and earns over a hundred grand.
Joe
Try and get a win at Bastia when the whole team is trying to break your leg half an hour after the ” fans ” actually got on the pitch during warm-up and were running for you.
Pierre
Lacazette had Fekir, Valbuena, Ghezzal, all excellent players.
Cesc
By asking the question I’m assuming that you don’t? Who would you have who is realistically available?
“Think you need to remember the players have significant say in where they go, we might want rid but Theo has no incentive to move to Leicester. He plays for Arsenal, lives in London, and earns over a hundred grand.”
Champagne, of course you’re right… but Theo would have taken it personally that he’s been frozen out of England set up and with the WC on the horizon next year he will want to play and be a regular starter.
Leeds
I’m struggling with why, if Lemar was the player Wenger wanted which he seems to be, we were so slow off the blocks for him. Did not exactly take a genius to work out Monaco were going to be the club that the elite were looking to pick clean. So why weren’t we doing what City did then, wrapping a deal up at the opening of the window before Monaco looked like losing Bakayoko, Fabinho, Mendy and potentially Mbappe as well?
I really would not want Mahrez. Sure he is an upgrade on Walcott, but that really is not saying much and I do not really want us to use that as a barometre for success. If we pay big money for him and stick him on a deal that will no doubt be very lucrative for him we might get lumbered with him unless he rediscovers what he had the season before last. And again, I worry about him and Ozil in the same team.
Personally, I would rather look at an interesting young talent, Bernardeschi, Keita Balde Diao (particularaly if Sanchez is off), Brandt someone like that. Like I say my first pick is Lemar and I would have sold Ozil to facilitate that move and tired everything to get Sanchez to stay.
I get what people in support of Mahrez are saying, but with Ozil around I just do not want him. If Ozil goes by all means take punt.
I read Leicester want £50 Million for him though and they can f**k right off with that bullshit. I am all for Wenger and Arsenal spending big, but there needs to be an ounce of common.
Karim
Agreed, Fekir and ghezzel good young players but probably at least a level below David silva, ya ya toure, Kevin debruyne and Sane but still have time on their side…
Always rated Valbuena especially at Marseille, but again probably a level below…
Pierre
Exactly. Just like the French league is a level below, as China subtly mentioned.
My point is they were good enough to make him shine.
Forgot about Tolisso also.
Valbuena at his peak was top qualidee, scored great winning goals at Anfield or Dortmund in the CL and was France best player for at least 2 years, never disappointed at international level.
Ligue 1 is a bit less physical, a bit less technical than the Prem and too many teams clearly lack talent upfront, partly because of lack of money and the way so many youngsters are playing regularly.
Now, that doesn’t make it a shite league, that’s lazy.
Take St Etienne for example when they played United at Old Trafford this year, lost 2 or 3 nil with 2 Zlatan’s bad dives costing 2 goals.
Reality is St-Etienne outplayed United during the first half, created a million chances but failed to capitalise for the reasons I mentioned earlier.
Really, it was embarrassing for United at home.
Cesc
A very good point about not taking an improvement on Walcott as an appropriate yardstick… my bad. Interesting names as suggestions too. Although what we should have done was sign Sadio Mane from Southampton last year. What a beast of a player!
I don’t follow Ligue Un so I know very little about Lemar
What is his backstory? Was he developed by Monaco?
Leeds
Karim is the man to ask about Lemar’s back story.
But I remember watching Monaco in the UCL this year, might have been the City game, and I said on here that I thought Lemar might actually be a better option for us than Silva (he was the one being raved about quite rightfully) because of his more physical game, higher work rate and ability to come into the middle when necessary.
Was not having a go at you with the Walcott thing at all, it is a fair point and would mean an improvement by anyone’s definition. Just that I want us to take a long view, not buy Mahrez because he is there, begging for us and there is not that much concrete interest from anyone else. Leciester fans I have seen on comments boards seem to want shot of him.
Dont know if anyone already spoke about this but, lady on twitter gave a good reason why sanchez is worth 400k pw.
Using this season as a starting point, not including his past wages and transfer fee.
(I’m not a mathematician so bare with me)
Ok so 400,000 x 52 weeks = 20,800,000 x 3 years = 62,400,000
If we sell Sanchez, all the WC players that could replace Sanchez (Hig, PEA, Hazard, Ect) will cost around 60-65M Transfer Fee to replace him. Plus the wages of those players on top.
We’ve already got him so it’ll cost around the same to keep him vs replace him, but.. to keep him presents less risk because we know he can perform in the Premier League.
So its probably better to just give him 400k pw for 3 years.
Thoughts?
Cesc
Chill mate, I didn’t feel got at.
If truth be told Walcott and Wilshere are so disappointing– if we could sell them to buy someone actually good they would have served their purpose.
Leeds
Agreed.
Walcott, Wilshere, Gibbs and Jenkinson actually irritate me with their just being at the club. If we could get £30-40 Million for all of them combined I would be very happy.
You are cutting about £340 000 a week off the wage bill as well.
Reality
I heard someone discussing Rooney’s and Ibra’s wages on the radio the other week, they said basically that United agreed to the high salaries but took control of the players’ image rights as part of the deal so recouped about £50K for Rooney and £70k for Ibra A WEEK.
Makes you realise just how batshit crazy British football is at the moment with so much money flowing betweens clubs, sponsors and the players. But if does also mean that by structuring Alexis’ deal the same way, signing him back on at £400k a week would make financial sense….if we can drive him lower, even better.
Wenger would no longer be the highest paid Arsenal emplyee, which would really be hard for him to take, and that’s why I just can’t see it happening. We should have tied this up a long, long time ago. This will be a massive call for the club.
Leeds
Lemar was bought from Caen for peanuts while Arsene apparently dithered…
Was playing with Kante there.
Karim
Dithered? Wenger? Are we talking about the same man, tall, skinny, ageing before our eyes, zip botherer?
That’s the man !
Why is it that every time this club spends some money and signs a player it’s usually followed by a story about how we can’t buy anymore players we’ve too many non home grown players we need to sell. It’s gotta be PR bollox right? Every time City or United sign a player there’s no word of them having to sell a foreign player before bringing in another one.
Always some excuse for not kicking on it seems
Wenger would no longer be the highest paid Arsenal emplyee, which would really be hard for him to take, and that’s why I just can’t see it happening. We should have tied this up a long, long time ago. This will be a massive call for the club.
\
Completely agree. I’m just worried The club think Laca coming and Sanchez leaving is a like for like.
If they do, then they won’t spend 60-65M to replace Sanchez.
Basically their thought process is, hes not worth 400k
We don’t need to replace him with a £60M player
Lacazette is enough.
Europa league could be a disaster
The plethora of talent Wenger and CO have missed from Ligue 1 in past 5 years is mental.
L’Equipe is reporting that Arsenal have made a new and improved £40m bid for Lemar. First offer was apparently £30m.
‘L’Equipe is reporting that Arsenal have made a new and improved £40m bid for Lemar. First offer was apparently £30m.’
This would be great news. If we managed Lacazette and Lemar in the same week we are really talking.
£40 Million is a better offer, I still think it will be closer to £50 Million. I do not believe for a second that Monaco genuinely will only take £80 Million. PSG are in talks with Fabinho, City are in talks with Mendy, of course Monaco are going to posture, they do not want to become some cattle market, but for the ‘right price’ I am pretty confident Monaco will do business. The opportunity will be too great not to.
Wonder if we have anything to offer them in part exchange that is not complete crap to sweeten the deal for them? Coq, Elneny, I mean pretty slap in the face stuff after they have dined out on Fabinho and Bakayoko.
Come on Wenger, do it ffs !
I would give 50 million for lemar.
The kids shits all over Raheem Sterling. He’s the real deal, dribble, pace, shooting from distance, football engine, football brain and is a dead ball specialist.
He won’t stay at Arsenal for long because Barca or Real will come for him.
He’s the best talent I’ve watched in a long time.
Karim, am I going too far.
The first time I saw him play in September 2017 he stood out like a rose in a field of sunflowers. If we don’t get him now he will be playing in bigger club that Arsenal after the summer of 2018.
**The first time I saw him play in September 2016 he stood out like a rose in a field of sunflowers***
Anyone saw the youtube vid of Gelson Martins from Sporting?
Spuriously linked to us by bait clicks and greedy agents.
Anyway, he looked like the 2nd coming of Messi. Youtube vids can make people look great, but the extended vids of this guy is just incredible.
BH: Anyway, he looked like the 2nd coming of Messi. Youtube vids can make people look great, but the extended vids of this guy is just incredible.
Yeah he looks good. Would love to get that double deal with Carvahlo done. Have to assume its made up but its one of the few rumours that I really hope is true. Not sure what impact Gelson can make this season but that is exactly when you have to buy them and play them.
Also runour that we went back for Lemar at €40m or £40m. Either way that wont get it done because they dont need to sell. That offer is market price but only if they want to sell him. We wont get Lemar, I am pretty sure about that but hope to be wrong.
Apparently, according to one of the red tops, we are ready to listen to bids to let Bellerin go to Barça.
Why?
Didn’t he just sign a new contract with us?
Why is our club so weak when it comes to Barça? Even when all the cards are in our favour? We should tell Barça unless they want to pay a world record transfer fee for a right back tell them to stuff it. They need to see that they can’t push us around anymore. If we take less than £70m it would be annoying… goodness knows they took us to the cleaners for Fabregas– we need make some of that money back!
Otherwise we are no better than the English finishing school for the Catalans.
Do we need Bellerin in a 3-4-3? I prefer Ox there.
Leeds
I don’t think Wenger is making a “bad” decision because there are some factors involved here.
1. Bellerin wants to be first option for the Spanish team, not the U23s. He probably feels that he gets a better shot at Barcelona.
2. On our side, I get this feeling that Ox is not going to sign unless he gets a path to the first team. His future is uncertain as long as Bellerin is there to challenge him for the wing-back position.
3. Bellerin might also feel that in the long run, he does not want to be a wing-back. He wants to be a proper RB since that is the formation Spain plays.
4. In a perfect world, Ox signs and Bellerin stays. But Ox’s agent Ward ain’t stupid and he will not let his “assets” diminish in value as long as they still have bargaining power.
5. Quality-wise, there is little to choose between Ox and Bellerin cept maybe Ox is a tat more prone to injury. In this situation, perhaps it is better to cash in on Bellerin for a bigger sum which paves the way for Ox to sign on.
qna
I am excited about Gelson Martins + Carvalho combo. Only problem is that he plays on the right, exactly where Ozil is. Same situation with Mahrez.
Think if things go according to plan,
we’ll end up with
Cech
Bellerín Mustafi Koscielny Kolasinac
Ramsey Xhaka
Mahrez Özil Lemar
Lacazette
I expect Alexis to be sold by the end of the month. Bellerín is there for the taking for Barça if they don’t lowball us.
IN Lacazette 50m, Lemar & Mahrez ~40m
each
OUT Sanchez 50m, Bellerín 35-40m, Ospina, Szczesny, Debuchy, Jenkinson, Chambers, Gibbs, Wilshere, Campbell, Perez, Sanogo, (Walcott)
Space to sign a GK, RB, CB, CM then
You just said Bellerin is there for the taking if they don’t lowball us then proceed to suggest a figure of 35-40 mil is good.
How’s that for a 21/22 year old with his potential tied to a 6 year deal?
Absolutely nothing below 50 million.
Champagne Charlie
Sorry, I meant 45-50m pounds. If he wants out, I don’t think AW will force him to stay
Cech
Mustafi Koceilny Sead
Oxlaide Xhaka Carvalho Lemar
Ozil/Gelson Lacazette Sanchez
Spend: £225m: (Lac 50m, Carv+Gels £100m, Lemar £75m)
Sell: £135m: Bellerin (£50m), Giroud (£30m), Perez (£10m), Schezeny (£15m), Wilshere (£20m), Gibbs (£10m), Debuchy (?), Gabriel (?)
Net: less than £90m
qna
Is Gelson Martin a typical winger or one that can become a goalscorer? He was Liverpool’s backup option to Salah
Arsenal superstar Alexis Sanchez targeted by super rich Inter Milan as “poster boy” of new era at San Siro.
—————————————-
This might be beneficial for all parties involved.
Arsenal are a disgrace. How is it that Pickford can be sold for 30 million but the best offer we’ve got for Szczesny is 5 million?
Arsenal recruit goalkeeping coach Sal Bibbo as Arsene Wenger continues his backroom staff reshuffle. Bibbo was pictured with No.1 keeper Petr Cech in training on Thursday, just a day after former Gunners No.1 Jens Lehmann oversaw a session.
—————————————-
Lol Wtf? How many coaches are we gonna pay?
Till they convince everybody theyve made enough changes, even though the likely bet is not much at all changes!
Rambo
“Arsenal are a disgrace. How is it that Pickford can be sold for 30 million but the best offer we’ve got for Szczesny is 5 million?”
prob best to hold fire and just wait to see what we get for him. can’t see how two good years in Italy results in a drop in his value.
Dream10
Just watch Gelson Martin’s Youtube vids.
Boy spins around like my kid’s Beyblade. Awesome.
I refrained from commenting on Bellerin situation, because frankly the story published yesterday sounded like just another piece of Spanish Press BS, being repeated by the English Red Top Press.
There were two elements of article which did not ring true.
1. The suggestion that Arsenal and Barcelona enjoy ‘good relations’.
2. That Arsenal have asked Barcelona to come up with offer and the suggestion that they are likely to make an offer in region of £25 million + add ons.
So my reaction to this is as follows:
1. Arsenal’s relationship with Barcelona is far from good in view of constant destabilisation of our players by this club over many years. Also the fact that
most of the players who left us had poor careers in Spain.
2. Bellerin’s contract expires in 2023. There is absolutely no necessity for us
to sell him or accept a low offer particularly when you see how much Man
Utd spent on Shaw and the supposed fee for Sandro.
3. Arsenal has at moment enough uncertainty over contract renewals with
Sanchez, Ozil and Ox without adding another one.
4. Are we going to demonstrate once again that Arsenal are a ‘selling’ club?
Whilst some might argue that Ox can play in RB position if he stays he does not have experience there. Arsenal need to offload Debuchy and Jenkinson neither of are fit for purpose so we would be compelled to buy a new RB in any
event if Bellerin leaves.
Rambo Ramsey
Arsenal have not accepted either offer for Szczesny and Ospina, but in case of
former he is in last year of contract which will impact on transfer fee.
Frankly I don’t think that Pickford was worth remotely £30 million, whilst I do
agree that Szczesny is worth more than Juventus are offering.
At the moment there seems to be a huge gulf between what Continental Clubs
are willing to spend on transfer fees and wages and what business is being done in EPL.
Sell Bellerin if we get at least £40M for him. I prefer Ox in the RWB position and we can sign a decent back up for £20M tops. £20M saved in the process can be used to strengthen other areas or meet Alexis’ higher wages demand.
So Wenger spends year after year picking up prospects from La Masia hoping that they come good — one finally does in Bellerin and now we want to sell him back to Barcelona? Just because he feels a bit homesick?
Oh please.
As for Ox playing RWB, I’m not convinced… I’m not saying he won’t be good in that position but what I’m saying is I would like to see him play there more than 10 minutes before selling our first choice RB.
If need to sell him, it cannot be for less than £70m plus. For goodness sake if Swansea can quote £40m for their star player why can’t we overvalue for one of ours?
I know it’s a bit novel for Wenger and this Board but it’s time we demonstrated some backbone.
Leedsgunner
Agreed.
The source of the news story circulating originates from Spain so I would take
the story at moment with pinch of salt.
The only concern for me is that Wenger has a history for being a ‘soft touch’
when it comes to sob stories..