The Monchi dreams were short-lived. Well, if you believe Roma Press.
‘RomaPress contacted today one director at Roma, who immediately rejected the notion of Monchi leaving. In addition, a member of the Spaniard’s entourage laughed off the idea of Monchi leaving the Italian capital after having just arrived, citing that he has finally settled into the club and culture of Rome after having needed an adjustment period. It is worth noting, though, that there is a buyout clause present in Monchi’s contract.’
Arsenal can’t afford to keep the heater on in the team bus at the minute, I can’t see them spunking out money on a Technical Director. The dark arts of PR might be at work here. Raul needs to keep stories around him bubbling in a positive way, so this link could be more about keeping the fans onside before we give Big Steve Rowley his old job back.
The only real hope we have are the following three things:
- Emery and Monchi know each other (though that means little if you like living in Rome and enjoy the project you’re in)
- Monchi lived in London when he was at Sevilla so he could learn the language. When you have ambitions to live in a place, a job in that place can make you do rash things
- Arsenal is a HUGE project. I know there are a lot of donuts that think Arsenal is a poverty job because there’s not a £200 billion pot of money at the end of the rainbow, but they’re so fucking wrong. You have literally everything at Arsenal you could want. Especially if your job is the sell the club to talent. We’re in London, there’s upwards of £200m in wages, the Premier League is the greatest test of football, we sell out every week (Italian football has Sunday League attendances outside Juve), we have incredible facilities, and we are a sleeping giant.
- The sub-point of this is that Monchi has always had to sell to exist. I’d imagine he’d quite fancy building an empire at some point. We have all the elements needed to take the course Liverpool has. He’d be perfect for enacting that in my opinion.
Anyway, we’ll see. Hopefully, Raul has something interesting lined up outside an internal promotion.
Hector Bellerin is out for the next 9 months. He dropped a picture that looked straight out of an ironic fashion shoot that tried to blend messages of Brexit, the failing NHS and the hopelessness of youth, whilst selling elite high street fashuuuun hungry label for a Gen Z audience.
There are no obstacles in life you can’t get over. Been a difficult couple of days but I’m positive and ready to take whatever challenge comes my way. Thank you so much for the love and messages, you are incredible ❤ pic.twitter.com/onwrMvIKui
— Héctor Bellerín (@HectorBellerin) January 22, 2019
Get well soon Hector, BIG love from all at Le Grove. You’re star.
The Denis Suarez deal looks to be off. This from Marca:
‘Initially, Barcelona wanted the London club to buy Suarez outright, but Arsenaldidn’t want to commit to a large financial deal. In fact, the Gunners were unwilling to agree to a loan with compulsory purchasing option.’
Really not sad about this one. Here are his numbers from Gambon in the comments.
He averages 3.8 goals per season as an attacking midfielder.
His best ever LaLiga season was 4 goals and 4 assists at Villareal. 4 goals and 4 assists in 33 games.
His best ever season, he averaged 3.7 combined shots, key passes and dribbles. Which is less than Iwobi and Mykhitaryan have ever managed.
Feels a little like the time we went really hard for Chamakh. Why go all out for a player if he is no better than what we have? I’d rather give a kid a chance than pay big money for a name that won’t give us anything extra outside being a friendly body for the manager.
Remember this: Barca are trying to force us to buy him as part of a loan deal. That’s a club with ZERO confidence he’s going to do a good job for us. No doubt they’ll be back with a last minute, ‘guys, we had a think and…’
The Independent are saying that Arsenal will sigh James Rodriguez on loan if we sell Aaron Ramsey for £10m this month to a team who already have him on a free. Their Arsenal reporting strategy is to wait in the bushes, see what others say, then add a layer of imagination over the rumour to drive clicks.
That said, the fact so many outlets keep reporting the rumour has me worried. Not because I don’t dream about peak Rodriguez, more because we’re hiring in Ozil MKII and our manager has zero ability to deal with man-children.
Right, I think that’s as much as I have today, we’ll start talking UNITED tomorrow… I’m in Ohio for the next two days. Chatting plenty of shit about Stan. The locals bloody love that chat.
Have a good one. x
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Bd
I am glad you can think of one non speakimg overseas coach who has done well -Poch
any others?
One!!!!!!
Glad you don’t work in risk/analysis!!
Merson is a c*nt.
You seriously think because someone is “elite” at something they have to be great at everything? Eh, ok then… Freddy I don’t expect him to be great at everything. I expect him to have a much better grasp of the language. It’s a basic requirement. And while we’re on the subject. What exactly IS he great at? Studying the opposition and preparing for big games I’d agree with. A marked improvement there. Man management? Defensive coaching? Attacking coaching? Fitness? All suspect so far. It’s a big change for him to get back on the map after a rough ride in… Read more »
Merson is not worth listening to, most fans across the country will tell you that.
The championship is unbelievably close at the top.
That’s going to have an exciting finish, no club has broken away yet.
fred
his legs are little. like Per M’s are big!
thats not a jibe – that is a fact.
three times -this season i have seen torreira head the ball on the turf.
he is cracking technician. A wonderful passer of the ball.
But Has he the stamina, endurance and dynamism to be consistent over a gruelling english season- i am not so sure.
i think a more athletic player would have been more suitable.
If he was up for sale? Who would buy him and for how much?
Arsenal is sinking fast, the latest figures show the Club has dropped from 6th to 9th in the wealthiest list, a mere £10m more than Spur at 10th, which suggests they will overtake when they finally enter the new stadium.
Oh, Stan, what have you done to us!
Un na Sure, keep telling yourself that that’s the only thing CG is saying, incessantly, 20 times a day. Whatever makes you feel better. Like I said, I wouldn’t mind some more british players, especially from the academy, if they’re good enough. That’s the issue though, not many are. And that’s not all.he’s saying, grow up and leave the political agenda aside, I’m not subscribing to the whole left right nonsense, although I know you’re a big fan of the orange clown so this is pretty pointless. And let’s be clear, you don’t have to be a “leftie” to think… Read more »
CG
That remains to be seen, I’m not coming to the conclusion that he can’t cut it after being beasted in his first season and is still one of our 3 best players.
He would probably cost twice what we paid for him if we sold him now, don’t know to whom and I’m not really interested since he should be kept at all cost if we want to get back among the top teams.
fred.
So you think he is worth £50 mill?
Name me the clubs – you THINK would pay £50 for him?
Pep Guardiola speaks: Catalan, Spanish, “English, German and Italian. … Guardiola has just taken up the job at Bayern Munich…he was not known for talking German – but in his first press conference – he was fluent.”
His German is better than his English.
Pointless exercise because we’re not selling him. I also don’t know who would need a player in his position and I’m not going to spend any time finding out just because you want it. With a long term contract and the way he’s been playing he’s absolutely a 50m player though.
Even if he wasn’t he’s still one of our best players, so again, totally pointless.
Are you saying he’s been bad or something, I don’t really get what the argument is to be honest.
englandsbest
I’m afraid that’s what happens when a chicken sits for too long on her egg.
Things tend to become stagnant or die off.
I.saw Guardiola many times on German TV speak German and his German is excellent.
Jesus Christ. Our revenues are what they are because we missed out on CL money again and because we have an uninspiring squad. This is entirely on Arsene Wenger, not Stan Kroenke. The only mistake Kroenke made was believing in Arsene Wenger for too long. We have a new regime now, brought to us in part by Kroenke. Let’s see what they can do to repair the problems.
Fred
“With a long term contract and the way he’s been playing he’s absolutely a 50m player though”
Surely he can only be a £50 million player- if there are potential buyers?
Its not pointless question Fred- Who would buy Torreira tomo for £50 mill?
After all – you said Merson was on the booze- are u on the weed?
Regarding transfers, we rely should be looking for a WC right back to replace Bellerin as I really don’t see anyone we currently have as anywhere near good enough. If it means Bellerin will have to fight for his place in the team once fit then so much the better for us. If we don’t go out and sign a right back this winter then that is gross negligence and dereliction of duty especially if we sign Suarez who we don’t need my defence of Emery will whittle away very quickly if our lack of a quality right back causes… Read more »
I wish I was “on the weed” after reading your clueless ramblings but sadly I’m not.
We bought him 6 months ago you lunatic why should I sit here and make up scenarios to sell him when we’re not going to? If you don’t rate him that’s up to you, it’s probably only because he’s not english though so I’ll take your opinions with a fuckton of salt if you don’t mind…
Benny
I agree we need a right-back — a left-back too — but I don’t know that January is the best time to be looking for first-XI-quality players. Signings like that may have to wait until the summer. I guess there’s a chance of finding someone, though.
It also looks like the Suarez deal is off. I think people were making too much of that, anyways. We are losing Ramsey, Ozil is Ozil, and Cazorla is gone; Emery probably sees Suarez as an opportunity to sign a technical, energetic, dribbling midfielder for relatively little money.
‘Stan Kroenke is all about the money”
Another myth confined to the false bin, just like the Deloitte money league confirmed.
Freddie Ll
You best avoid that fella
Redtruth
Is your German excellent?
I ask because you keep emphasizing that Pep was fluent in German. No way you know that unless you’re an excellent fluency in German.
Freddie L,
Snap.
Liverpool paid £35m for Salah but if they were to sell him now he’d easily be upwards of £80m just by going by market rate and what other players are trading for, but according to CG unless we can speculate who would but him we can t actually quantify an estimate for him?
Absolutely ludicrous.
Dissenter
I know, just tired of his bullshit not being checked but I’ll stop feeding the troll.
And by the way, the Denver Nuggets are now second in the Western Conference. So that’s the Rams in the Super Bowl and the Nuggets second in the much stronger of the two NBA conferences. Seems that Kroenke-owned teams can do quite well when the right men are running them.
B10
Correct.
Now Kroenke has to show us all that he can be more proactive and that he means business.
* BUY him, we CAN’T.
Fucking hell what is it with the comments box changing words around all the frigging time??
Sometimes I wish Charlie George was just another troll.
He’s deadly serious and that’s why he’s particularly dangerous. He believes all the rantings he drops here.
I liked Doucoure, but I like Torreira as well, and I don’t know that signing Doucoure instead of Torreira would have made all that much of a difference. Maybe. But we’d still be pairing Doucoure with Xhaka, so we’d still have a Xhaka problem. Even pairing Doucoure and Torreira wouldn’t be adequate. It reminds me of something I heard last night, though, which is that some people think Rakitic might be excess to requirements at Barcelona going forward. I have no idea what to make of that, but Rakitic is an excellent #8, IMO; pair him with a Doucoure-type, athletic… Read more »
Luke Shaw will be available for United tomorrow. That probably strengthens their back four a little. Chris Smalling will be available too, though I don’t know if that actually strengthens them. People seem not to rate him, but I feel like on his day he can be quite good. Perhaps I am remembering a younger, more promising Smalling, though.
Bamford
Yea Xhaka has flaws, but the thing he does better than any CM we have is passing into the final third. A Xhaka, Cazorla pairing was superb at that. Much better than any pairing we can put out now. Any CM we sign has to be able to do this.
Freddy Eh? Who mentioned trump? Cor blimey, someone’s suffering from delusion syndrome. For the record I’ve got no problem with non british lads in the side, if they’re good they’re good, I would echo yours and Charlie’s sentiments on having some top class academy additions though. I’d love to see the current crop step up alongside Torreira, guendouzi, Mavropanos and Bellerín and turn into top class players or at the least very good players who accentuate the strengths of our team and our best players. You never know, we could have a midfield quartet of guendouzi, Torreira, AMN and willock… Read more »
“we could have a midfield quartet of Guendouzi, Torreira, AMN and Willock”
No thank you. Not even close to good enough.
Barça want to rob us with this Denis Suarez.
They’re insistent on there being an obligatory purchase in the summer. Just tell them to fuck right off.
The money they raised from selling Mina, Gomes and Digne to Everton is paying for Frenkie de Jong’s transfer. Denis Suarez’s fee will probably lead to the same for a #9 for them.
Just tell them to fuck right off.
The advantage of having short legs is that you can move them with higher frequency. If you also have energy and the heart, you can tackle and win the ball more easily. Torr is the best tackler on our team. One thing he needs to learn is to know how to spend his energy wisely. Last game, not only he made the most tackles, he also pressed high up. He was exhausted in the final ten minutes.
I rather play W.illock than enrich Barcelona’s coffers. As I said the other day. It’s time we stood up and grew a pair. Suárez is nowhere good and if we were to buy him at the end of the loan we set the price not them.
If the situation was reversed do you think they would put up with it?
Exactly.
Tell them we’re not spending a penny on their trash.
Graham62
Wishful thinking, I fear.
Stan operates like a chain store owner. He sets the rules, puts in a manager, and hardly ever pops in. As long as it makes money, he doesn’t give a squawk. And so far Arsenal have laid golden eggs.
If it stops laying them for him, that might bring some action.
What prompted Stan to action and moved him to let Wenger go?
Empty stadiums and bad press.
*good enough
“Stan operates like a chain store owner. He sets the rules, puts in a manager, and hardly ever pops in. As long as it makes money, he doesn’t give a squawk. And so far Arsenal have laid golden eggs.If it stops laying them for him, that might bring some action.” This is exactly it. Some on here have lost sight of how investments are made. And that’s what Arsenal FC is to Kroenke – a European investment to add to his domestic sports portfolio. It makes 10% annual gains (cash and paper gains) and runs itself. An investor’s dream. The… Read more »
So freddie
I am a xenophobe, and lunatic
Merson is a drunk,
So your way of disagreeing with people – is to abort the conversation and label people with insults….
i have never reverted to calling you a nincompoop! I respect everyone’s opinion
I think Paul Merson ( and what is rare for a pundit, these days) – you probably prefer the banal observations of Alan Smith-says what he thinks.- regardless.
In your myopic world – he is a troll too ( whatever that is)
I’d say Charlie George is more crank than troll. He has one idea — and a dubious one at that — and he repeats it endlessly.
highbury Legend
Merson is a c*nt.
And I am the lunatic!
What made the first period of last game so successful was that our two strikers moved back and helped out the pressing when we didn’t have the ball. Along with pressing from Torr and Guen and Ramsey stopping Jorginho from playing, the whole team looked like a well managed team.Moving Xhaka to the back of the diamond was also a stroke of the genies. Xhaka is so slow, he is better used to dictate play from the back. We could replace Xhake with a faster and defensively aware DM next Summer.
Bamford
If I was a Chelsea fan- I would Be echoing my thoughts about the unsuitability about Sarri to his position, I would want Ancelloti though – Both are Italian!
I suggest you look at Poch s overnight comments about VAR/Spain/Italy/UK game and how different it all is and what types of players he favours.
Not even nearly good enough
Bamford
Oooh er. What like Harry Kane? Or is it more like benteke being better than Giroud? Forgive me for taking a pinch of salt with your assessments but your form here is patchy at best.
You were slating holding last year too and he’s turned out to be a great little centre half
Merson is a lunatic c*nt.
Happy ?? lol
Charlie George You come across as someone who is obsessed with the 80s/90s and is being dragged kicking and screaming into the modern era. There is nothing wrong with wanting a British core (or British/French core, whichever) but you dismiss any other solution out of hand because of your erroneous belief about certain nationalities not being able to adapt to this league. When you look across the Premier League there are multiple nationalities who are thriving. And more than likely some bargains to be found in these places too, yet judging from your posts you don’t believe that it is… Read more »
I’ve come here for an argument.
No you haven’t
^^^ lolol to the comment above Marc, where have all these looney tunes come from
Leftside
I’ll always enjoy the banter that goes with football but there’s a massive lack of a sense of humour on here most of the time.
CG
Never said Merson is a drunk, I said he was probably drunk when he said that, it’s a stupid statement. In general the new signings have been among our better players, especially Torreira.
You are a xenophobic lunatic though, that’s pretty obvious, nothing to do with me throwing insults, that’s a truth bomb right there.
Feel free calling me a nincompoop all you want, can I borrow your time machine when you’re done with it though?
“Never said Merson is a drunk”
He’s not ??
HL
He might have fallen off the wagon again, I don’t know, it’s just not what I said.
Hilarious that CG gets upset about that when he makes more controversial statements in nearly every post he makes.
I don’t expectthis article will make Pedro feel any better about the rams/afc situation
https://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-nfl-cities-granderson-20190123-story.html
A rumor from France : Emery would like to sign Nkunku, and the player seems to be interested – he likes Emery, and he’s unsatisfied to not playing more often with Paris.
Lol at Pep being fluent in German.
He had no more in his first press conference than your average English teenager taking classes in a secondary school, very rudimentary.
Red gets all hot and bothered over the mere mention of a ‘Guten Tag, wie gehts?’.
Achtung.
Rick,
I’ve come here for an argument
Marc,
No you haven’t.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
HighburyLegend
January 24, 2019 15:21:44
Achtung
Gesundheit
James Rodriguez to Arsenal will not happen..
Rodriguez is a quality footballer but not for one second could I imagine Emery signing him .
He is not Emery’s type of player , his game is about technique,skill and intelligence.
ah yes….technique,skill and intelligence …if only………Not exactly top of Emery’s list are they.
We’re linked to Nkunku and Juan Mata today
Yeah Nkunku wouldn’t be a bad shout much like Guendouzi and Adli he’s an up and coming prospect and the pros far outweigh the cons with these types of signings. Why’s that? Because they’re actually highly regarded and prospects unlike previous signings in the past like Eisfield, Bischoff, Wellington or Asano.
21 and has 65 appearences for PSG.
Talk of Eriksson being touted at 100 million or 60 million plus James Rodriguez. Meanwhile…
https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1077264/Arsenal-Mesut-Ozil-transfer-issue-Perry-Groves-rumours-gossip
Come to think of it , Perry Groves has all the right attributes to be an Emery signing.
Good one?
Groves’ autobiography was a hoot.
What Paul Merson said this morning- which makes it topical- is that he feels maybe Torreira is not as good as we think. And the Watford player is probably more suited to our needs. We have lacked athleticism in this area since the very unfortunate injuries to A. Diaby. So we are talking about seasons, now. Our midfield contingent of Xhaka, genduzi, Ozil, Torreira, and possibly with the additions of Suarez and Bangea will still have not solved this fundamental issue. torreira certainly has bite- but has he the power you need to be real success. On a side note… Read more »
You thinking Pierre now there’s a revelation.
You’d have to engage your brain, so no real chance of that happening.
Stick to trolling it’s your obvious best intellectual level requiring very few brain cells working at one time, which you would consider to be multi tasking.
Hopefully Emery will sign high class Wenger signings like £50m star postman pat Sonogo, Alex Song, Denilson, Bendtner, Gervinho, Stepanovs, players of that quality when Wenger was at his absolute best is what we definitely need right now.
Does UnDon know Rick is looking for an argument?
Pierre
I know you’re trolling as always but what makes you think Emery doesn’t value those qualities? Because he doesn’t fancy Ozil? He’s been going downhill for 2 seasons now and doesn’t even do his main job well enough anymore, not to mention he’s useless at anything else.
Because he fell out with the mega diva Neymar? Or the troublesome Ben Arfa?
Hardly conclusive evidence is it .
Give him a couple of flair players that are effective and also works for the team and I’m sure he’ll be very happy.
Charlie George
And yet a diminutive Portuguese midfielder playing at another club ending in City is having a stand out season, with his manger describing his performances as world class
It’s almost as if nationality doesn’t come into it
Tony
I do think occasionally, but it makes my brain hurt too much trying to understand you “intellectuals ” on here..
It is only a football blog after all …. Shame people don’t talk about what happens on the pitch a bit more instead of being pre occupied with all the fake news.
Bennydevito
“Hopefully Emery will sign high class Wenger signings like £50m star postman pat Sonogo, Alex Song, Denilson, Bendtner, Gervinho, Stepanovs, players of that quality when Wenger was at his absolute best is what we definitely need right now.”
You’ve changed your tune, you was singing wenger’s praises yesterday ….
Chris
he plays Man City (unlimited budget) As thus -he is probably more inclined to settle- £200k a week- normally focuses the mind.
We have no unlimited budget. We cant afford those wages.
That is a relevant point.
to me , anyway
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.sportbible.com/football/news-silva-ran-a-ridiculous-137km-in-manchester-citys-win-over-liverpool-20190104.amp.html
BuT hE oNLy hAs LIttLE LeGZs!!!!
Freddie
I think you answered your own question ….Neymar, Ben Arfa, ozil.
Pierre
I realise it must be a terrific strain on your mental resources. Try reading slowly and then process in bite size chunks.
Your thoughts on the game tomorrow? I think it could go either way. 🙂
Not really relevant though is it.
He originally moved to Monaco for around £14 million
If we are looking for those diamonds in the rough…..
the only reasons Aguero/Silva are producing the goods at Man City- is because they are on a million pound a month. They would not be at City -if you halved their money!
If we had Man Citys money- who cares where your players come from?
i would not a utter word about nationality,
but we are not. So we go back to basics.
And Anglo French players has served well time and time again!
I am sure Silva would not have left Monaco -if his wages were the same!
That’s the only reason? Are you being serious? If you are then you are more of a fool than I first took you for.
Money obviously has a part to play but the chance to play in England, what is claimed to be the best league in the world, and play under a world reknowned coach with the chances to win it all. Yeah…not so much….
well what do you think overseas players and managers come here for ?
the weather?
i thought i , naively, it was the cash?
Silly me
Everything I have already stated that you have just ignored. I said cash has a part to play, in the cases of some it is all they care about. But then you are tarnishing them all with that brush. Some players have that thing called……ambition.
I suppose they don’t fancy it on a wet Wednesday night in Stoke though….best just stay in the nice warm continent I guess….
Tony
Should be an open game , can see us starting strong again as we have done often recently but it may be difficult keeping the intensity up and that will allow United back into the game .
I really want to see us progress but I have my doubts that over the 90 minutes we will have the energy and concentration to win the game .
I don’t think United will be so weak up front as Chelsea were at the weekend.
2-2 draw….win on pens.
So pep is not here for the £15 mill per annum- and the guaranteed chance of success.?
So This proud Catalan has always wanted to live in the Moss Side and Sale and sample the famous Mancunian weather, instead
To be fair- to Emery -i do think he sees Arsenal as a challenge. And the cash is secondary.
Pep wants the cash. Plain and simple .If he wanted the real challenge – he would have taken the Everton job.
See how good he is then?
Pierre
Ok, thanks for confirming that you’re just on your usual troll spree.
Chris
Save your energy.
Would be absolutely sickening if spurs land Rabiot, would be a perfect Xhaka upgrade for us and is only going to cost 10-15m this window. Get rid of Ramsey and Elneny and go for it!
The Nkuku rumours are promising though, can apparently play all over the pitch, including right back and on the wing. Plenty of scope for improvement too.
Freddie
Rabiot wants to play as a CM not a DM. That was the cause of his problems with Emery. If we signed him, he’ll be competing with Torriera and not Xhaka.
That been said, we should be able to play Torriera and Rabiot together.
Duly noted Azed.
Can’t help myself sometimes though.
Wait, is Xhaka our DM? Holy shit he sucks at it then. Thought he was supposed to be this quarterback player and Torreira the one doing all his running for him.
I think a partnership of Rabiot and Torreira would be excellent, Rabiot is much better than Xhaka defensively and better on the ball, more athletic. Would give us a more stable base and more control in games. Would eradicate all those mistakes leading to goals too.
Sell Xhaka in the summer to add to the transfer pot
Azed
“Rabiot wants to play as a CM not a DM. That was the cause of his problems with Emery”
Problems with Emery.
That’s another one to add to the list
Neymar
Rabiot
Ben Arfa
Mesut Ozil.
Xhaka isn’t really. Torreira’s defensive stats suggest that he’s doing the job of two men honestly. I can see the need for a proper DM still needing to be signed especially if long term it’s going to be a 4-2-3-1
“Can’t help myself sometimes though.”
Chris I know but you would go insane with every post he makes if you reply him.
He would probably sign Jonjo Shelvey over Torriera.