Does Torreira to Milan make sense?

by .

Well, well, well… the ‘YOU TOOK THAT OUT OF CONTEXT’ police back-peddling hard as the Lucas T rumours kick it up another gear… again.

Of all the players I was hoping we’d ditch this summer, I have to be honest, he wasn’t up there… but the rumours keep persisting with a slightly different twist on them.

Now, we do have to remember, he came out in the press and said everything about England is shite. Hard to brush that under the carpet, whichever internet translator you use. There’s a history of South American’s not quite liking the vibes in the UK, and right now, he’s in the shop window of The Copa America. All these rumours have started for a reason, and my take is they’re there to make sure scouts are paying attention to him over the next month.

Question here is this: the second half of the season fade we saw from LT, is that just a first season thing? Or is it something deeper. He’s a very small player that lacks power, he’s not exactly built for war like Kante, is he? Mesut Ozil always fades in the second half of the season because he’s not fit enough for the league. Is there a chance that’s LT? Just playing devil’s advocate here…

Whatever the deal is, it’s not good news that over a month into the close season, the hottest exit rumour out of the club is a player we all think is a bit of a future star.

As I said a couple of weeks ago, I think we have a very big problem mounting. Everyone in Europe knows who we want to sell. Xhaka, Ozil, Kola and Mustafi are all very well paid players, and it’s pretty clear that Arsenal are VERY keen to move them on. We have absolutely no leverage. Why would anyone go big now? Wait until we’re desperate to move them on at the end of the transfer window and see if you can nab a deal.

It’s a horrible thing to have to write, but be honest, you’d bet your house that all 4 of those players will be lining up in preseason this summer in that sweet Adidas training gear. That is going to be VERY disruptive if Emery dropped 1 out of 5 stars in their end of season reviews.

I’d like to think that we’re going to have some good news on the player front by preseason, but even that side of things appears to be moving slowly. My hope here is that we’re getting hard balled by clubs hoping to start a bidding war for their players. Celtic certainly appear to be quite firm about not losing another great player for fuck all. Maybe that’s the same across the board? Maybe small clubs are waiting to see where the first £200m signing goes before pricing their players?

I’d heard from a good place that the Zaha deal was very close with the player before the Europa League Final, the question is whether we’re still able to play in price ranges like that now we’re back in the poverty cup again.

Rumours elsewhere appear to be the same stories recycled. Saliba for £30m. Carrasco if he can escape. Whatever is going on, it’s a slow summer so far and it’s very hard not to fall into the doom trap thinking that if you don’t have the right people in place, it’s very hard to make the right decisions.

Also worth noting that almost no journalist is good with transfer rumours, so all these muppets on twitter highlighting great sources don’t know what they’re talking about. The whole transfer game is about deceit. Clubs try to move players on and attract buyers via the press. Agents constantly gas to anyone that will listen. Journalists and bloggers alike are desperate for hits so will go big without checking the veracity of the rumours. Even players are part of the game.

You can also have the most elite piece of information you can imagine… then BANG, you look like an idiot because a manager had a change of heart.

It’s a minefield out there… but one thing is for sure, it’s not good news when you’re a month into a rebuild and no one has been bought or sold.

Right, see you in the comments.

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WengerEagle

‘Anyway hopefully it’s not true hopefully he goes elsewhere and we buy another near 30 year old for 17 million instead’ Ah, the hyperbole is refreshing. Yep, I was metaphorically spaffing all over the shop last summer when we signed Sokratis wasn’t I? Top of my wishlist. ‘Imagine signing up an 18 year old for 20 odd million instead of waiting for him to be 20 whatever and priced at god knows what.’ Yeah fuck me, how much do you think Soyuncu will fetch in a year? 50m easy I say. Smalling and Phil Jones will probably break the Neymar… Read more »

WengerEagle

Dream

You’d imagine that he would be more static at that age though.

Hard to envisage him still being a golden boot contender by then imo.

Marko

It’s surprising you do not see anything wrong in handing a team 26m pounds and walking home to a leaking defense while the asset you just paid for continues helping the team you just handed a tonne of money

Again we don’t know the price. We don’t even know how it’d be structured. People are just pissing and moaning for the sake of it. It’s actually embarrassing yeah we’re just giving St Etienne half our budget and we’ll see him in a year. Upfront too and for a really shit player too

Dream10

Wenger Eagle

I can still see him being a golden boot contender in the PL. However, in two years time, I think he’ll be banging them in China followed by a stint in Serie A.

Valentin

Marko, Wenger did try for Varane. But hé had no chance against the attraction of Real Madrid and Zidane personally coming to see you and guaranteeing to your parent that he is going to look after you. Once Zidane came to visit, that was it, the decision had been made. He stayed an extra year to pass his baccalaureat and then join Real Madrid. Umtiti was already a starter at his local club Lyon a Champion’s League club. He had no interest in moving until Barcelona made it known they were interested. When I look back 5 years ago at… Read more »

Marko

Yeah fuck me, how much do you think Soyuncu will fetch in a year? 50m easy I say. Dunno why you keep bringing up him. But you’re right you’re absolutely write why even bother to sign up an 18 year old ahead of City, United and Spurs we should just not do it. Leave him. WE I’ll be honest with you I can’t see you ever getting any enjoyment from Arsenal. The criteria of total transparency with regards to the buying and selling of players and the club actually buying a player that you like doesn’t seem likely does it.… Read more »

HighburyLegend

“Wenger did try for Varane.”

You can replace Varane with Zlatan, CR7, Messi, all those whom “he almost signed”.

Valentin is an akb, no surprise…

Batistuta

Yea imagine if it was Wenger and Gazidis messing around spending all summer chasing a player we’ll most likely loan back, the absolute Armageddon that this place would be. We have to be honest and actually judge this guys with the same scope Wenger and co got towards the end. No explaining away spending all that money on a player who won’t play for us considering we barely have any good enough CBs

Marko

You’re right Val there’s really nothing more Wenger could have done. He was basically left with no choice than to sign up Bischoff, Eisfeld, Miyachi, Wellington, Sanogo, Asano, Campbell etc etc.

Dissenter

Valentin
You really amuse me but you’re too minuscule to be the focus of an obsession
However some of the laughable things you’ve written are etched in stone by now so you can’t walk them back. You explicitly stated that Ossei-Tutu should have started in the final – no ifs, ands or buts.

The kid is so good that only Bochum will take him on loan. The same player you used as a cudgel all season long.

Marko

Osei Tutu is 20 and has never made a senior debut at Arsenal and has now been loaned to a team in division two in Germany. Just assume that he’s not good enough in the slightest. At a time when German clubs are queuing up for young English players to end up at Bochum is embarrassing really.

Cesc Appeal

‘No explaining away spending all that money on a player who won’t play for us considering we barely have any good enough CBs’ Only needs explaining away if we’ve fucked up by August. Great signing. This is exactly the type of deal fans would be winging about us not doing if City or Spurs did it and he arrived there looking a real prospect. ‘Why didn’t Arsenal sign him for £26 Million? He’s worth £60 Million now…these are the types of deals we should be doing’. Arsenal probably don’t want to loan him back, in fact it seems highly likely… Read more »

Cesc Appeal

*whinging

Marc

Problem on here with some is you moan no matter what Arsenal do. Sign a young highly rated defender and loan him back (assuming that does happen) and the toys go flying. Same player gets signed by Tottenham and loaned back and look at their ambition yada yada yada.

The very fact that the press is reporting that we’ve agreed personal terms with this player – something completely illegal before you’ve agreed a fee with the club should be enough to tell everyone to see what actually happens.

WengerEagle

You keep skirting around the question Marko, what do you suspect that our budget is and what’s the plan for our shambolic defence next season if we don’t bring Saliba home with us? If you see us bringing in Tierney and Saliba in addition to about 6 players then fair enough, wish that I shared your blind faith. You’re the one who was most vocal on here that it was all down to how pathetic the players were in the business end of the season and absolved Emery from taking blame. Ramsey has left the building since then too, adding… Read more »

MidwestGun

No explaining away spending all that money on a player who won’t play for us considering we barely have any good enough CBs ________ Bat- Not saying I completely agree with strategy but it’s pretty clear the explanation is that we are focusing on youth and building for the future. We are being linked to almost every hot youth prospect the latest being Bilel Hassaini. Couple that along with promoting Freddie and bringing in Edu and you can see that part of the plan pretty clearly. It goes back to what you and I were discussing before though about Arsenal… Read more »

Marc

Cesc

Great minds think alike!

Freddie Ljungberg

Can’t imagine any deal that requires us to loan Saliba back will be front heavy with the payment, probably a small sum now and the majority of the fee next summer, nothing that should affect our “war chest” much this window. I have no problem with signing up a potentially world class CB for the future, but we need to bring in 1 CB for the now as well. Sok, Holding, new CB, Mavro should be enough if we don’t play 3 at the back which we probably won’t if we can get some decent fullbacks in. Bielik can cover… Read more »

Marko

‘Why didn’t Arsenal sign him for £26 Million? He’s worth £60 Million now…these are the types of deals we should be doing’.

Pretty much. You could also add in wah wah why don’t we have a plan wah why can’t we be more like Dortmund wah.

Marc

Marko

You can also change Dortmund for any of a dozen clubs who are the current darlings of the “anything Arsenal do is wrong club”

Batistuta

Mid

Let’s just hope we do actually get in CBs who’ll put on the red and white immediately. GFFN are saying St Etienne won’t budge about the whole loaning him back.

Again if we go into the new season without any defensive reinforcements because we’ve loaned out the only one we managed to get, then it would all be pointless and no one would have the right to moan if our results don’t improve. We’ll see though

Marko

You keep skirting around the question Marko, what do you suspect that our budget is and what’s the plan for our shambolic defence next season if we don’t bring Saliba home with us?

Oh there was a question in there? Eh I suspect that our budget is more than 40 million and I don’t know what the plan is with regards to our defence. I’ll point out though that you don’t know either but it hasn’t stopped you complaining about us potentially signing up a highly regarded 18 year old. You’re basically preemptive complaining.

WengerEagle

‘You could also add in wah wah why don’t we have a plan wah why can’t we be more like Dortmund wah.’

You miss the post pointing out that Dortmund this summer have signed Hummels, Brandt, Schulz and Hazard?

Batistuta

Also I think people who keep saying oh chill let’s see how the window goes forget a large number of Arsenal fans have PTSD with the transfer window…. 2015 still rings around in our minds so maybe just allow people vent their anger and frustration without making them seem like they’re not genuine reasons to be

Marko

You’re the one who was most vocal on here that it was all down to how pathetic the players were in the business end of the season and absolved Emery from taking blame.

Good point I guess. Anyway the Saliba and Tierney signings look like the club is actively looking at the future and that’s a good thing I think.

Marko

You miss the post pointing out that Dortmund this summer have signed Hummels, Brandt, Schulz and Hazard?

Yeah but we’re year two into copying the Dortmund playbook it’s going to take time.

Marc

Baty

We have an entirely new management set up compared to 2015 so when people say let’s wait and see it’s because the current set up does not have a PTR in going the entire summer and then buying a three legged donkey.

Marc

Marko

Are you saying someone is suffering from premature complaining?

WengerEagle

CA Have you watched Saliba play meaningful minutes? Not having a dig but genuinely find it strange people are saying with such conviction that this kid is an up and coming defensive colossus when he’s made 13 starts in Ligue 1. 26m to 60m mark up? Yeah, that’s assuming that he comes in and absolutely smashes it out of the park which is incredibly unlikely to happen in his first season overseas as an 18 year old with a handful of first team apps behind him. We were hearing similar things about Guendouzi when he had a decent couple of… Read more »

Marko

Bati Arsene Wenger is gone long gone. The days of predicting a bad transfer window and being right are over. Not saying that the new guys are infallible or deserving of total trust just yet but they’re far more active than the previous regime. I would think that Saliba is such an obvious promising sign of the potential/improvement that we’re making in the transfer market. Imagine Arsene Wenger signing up an 18 year old CB who’s interesting City United and Spurs? Yeah I can’t see it either. Not to mention signing up a highly regarded 22 year old LB no… Read more »

MidwestGun

Bat-
Yep.. I got no problem with people venting.. they definitely have cause. Silly small budget(allegedly), focus on youth players who won’t help us now, and inability to move out some old players and Wenger/ Gazidis ptsd ,along with end of season collapse. All good enough reasons for me to be concerned.

China1

Cesc I’m all for buying for the future and all that but we are going to end up starting next season with mustafi and koscielny still in the squad, and very possibly mustafi in the starting 11 It’s lovely to imagine that saliba turns out a fabulous long term signing but next season is going down the absolute pan if we are playing mustafi every week. That simple We play holding – ok fine by me – but i have a nagging feeling he is going to be injury prone and if he is we will be left with old… Read more »

Marko

People also have to factor in this is how the transfer market is these days.

Marko

We were hearing similar things about Guendouzi when he had a decent couple of games back last year and how he’d be worth 50m by seasons end, look how that turned out.

Actually love this comment. Worth noting that…he could probably do with being on loan somewhere for a season

Dissenter

Batistuta
Have you considered the fact that our budget may not be as low as is being reported?
We may have put that number out there to make negotiations with selling clubs easier [or more awkward]. Don’t forget that we are the same club with the highest bank balance on the planet.

terraloon

Dissenter If it’s not written in Latin why are you struggling to read what it says? Or did you just plan to ignore this bit? “This estimated £88m of residual cash is balanced by a further £92m of net future payments still due on players in 19/20 and beyond.” So it doesn’t remotely say there is £88 million available. Next you say this …sorry mate but this is quality BS. First you say there is no money, then you say… ‘even if”…which is it? This is money earned already, idling away, not a give away from anybody. Why do you… Read more »

Marc

I actually think the only thing some on here are more upset about than Arsenal not spending is that the Spud’s haven’t blown a shit load of cash either – then they’d have even more reason to complain.

Marko

No one’s saying that you can’t vent I’m just having a problem with an Arsenal fan having a problem specifically with the Saliba deal. The upside is so obvious it’s literally the kind of move that we should be doing and should have been doing years ago. And yet people are complaining about it they’re only thinking here and now but they’ll complain later about us not thinking of the future. No surprise that Spurs are interested in him they’ve a decent track record of defensive signings the last few years.

WengerEagle

Ah yes, anyone that’s not bowled over with us likely heading into next season with Mustafi, AMN, one of Ozil/Miki and Xhaka still in the XI must be Spud fans, of course.

Funny how some have became superfans that accuse anyone criticising the club’s performance on the pitch and in the market of being Spurs or Chav supporters when they’d be ripping the old regime for a similar output.

WengerEagle

‘And yet people are complaining about it they’re only thinking here and now but they’ll complain later about us not thinking of the future. ‘

Mate we literally need 5-6 first team signings, what part of that are you struggling with?

This isn’t the Arsenal side of 2010/11 just missing a few pieces.

MidwestGun

Well besides Man U.. out of the top 6 we have the most work to do.. to me Pool, City and Spuds could pretty much do nothing and still be ahead of us by miles. They all have saleable assets as well if they wanted to. So I factor that in to my complaining about inactivity.

Marko

I’m well aware of what we need WE but that shouldn’t mean that we don’t think about the future. I think people are complaining because they think that we’re about to waste half our budget on someone we’ll see in a years time. Yeah I wouldn’t even bother trying to explain how wrong those people are.

Marc

WE

If that’s directed at me I’ve been vocal about wanting certain players out. I’d love to see Ozil go but I can’t see it this summer, Mikki not sure about but the two I want to see gone most of all are Xhaka and Mustafi.

My previous comment was about the predilection of some posters on here who look to find fault with anything. There are genuinely people of here who would complain about a blowjob from a supermodel.

Marc

“Mate we literally need 5-6 first team signings, what part of that are you struggling with?”

What part are you struggling with – the fact that the market isn’t moving yet, that we have a seriously impeded budget or the fact that we’re not going to get this done in one summer?

WengerEagle

I’d argue that we have more to do than United. Yes we finished above them but they have more pieces that they can sell off. Pogba alone would bring in 100m and then the likes of Martial, Rashford, Lukaku, De Gea on top of that. Even Alexis isn’t doing his value any harm by playing a stormer at the Copa America, I would be surprised to see him there next season even with the wage problem because unlike Ozil he seems a lad that lives for his football. Then you also remember that they are United, they will always spend… Read more »

Marko

There are genuinely people of here who would complain about a blowjob from a supermodel.

I can see that. What’s she doing that for when my nipples need pinching and my arsehole wants a licking. Oh and carass my head and tell me everything’s going to be alright

WengerEagle

Wrong about what Marko?

MidwestGun

Pffft everyone knows Supermodels are shit at Blowies….. because they have never had to work for anything sexually in their lives. Give me a closing time girl any day. 😀

Marko

We do need to do more work than United. Here look I’d like it if Saliba was coming in to do a job next season but I’ll accept it if it means he comes in next season. To me his signing is a serious signal of intent. It means going forward that when we’re linked with highly regarded teenagers that we have an actual chance of signing up the highly regarded teenager. It also shows that we are in fact scouting for young talent. It’s a good sign I think going forward even if we won’t feel the benefits of… Read more »

WengerEagle

Marc

Forget a year, that’s more like a 3-5 year plan. Incrementally adding a couple of pieces each summer, Aubameyang will only get older as will Lacazette and then we’ll need to replace them too.

Meanwhile our rivals aren’t going to standstill. City and Liverpool will keep on adding players and improving and you’d expect Spurs and United won’t rest on their laurels either with Spurs already having a strong side and United will keep chucking money at it until they get it right.

Marko

Give me a closing time girl any day.

Brilliant.

WE wrong about us blowing half our budget on Saliba. Structured payments probably some of it deferred being likely.

Kay

WE, you are reasonable usually. But comparing our situation now with Dortmund signing the 4 players is not acceptable.

Dortmund is the 2nd best in bundesliga and are in CL next season. Cant say the same about us.

Marc

WE

There was a story last week about the Glazer’s wanting to reign in some of the transfer fee’s paid out by ManU – they don’t see where the value is.

Fuck knows why – Fred for £50 million – hardly plays, Pogba – world record fee and has fallen out with two managers in 3 years and wants a move, Sanchez on silly wages which means any player who’s offered a new contract now wants £250k per week minimum.

Kay

If we want us to be Dortmund ++ we have to wait for 3 more seasons and pray each and every saliba and tierney we sign turns out to be a Jadon sancho.

With teams such as City, United who can spend 100 mil a season, Liverpool who hit gold with Coutinho and Suarez, Chelsea who already have a decent enough squad, Spuds who hit gold with Kane I have serious doubts we will get top 3 next season by spending 45 mil.

I am just not optimistic.

WengerEagle

Kay

That was in response to Marko saying that we were all clamouring for us to be more like Dortmund, which I wasn’t but even if I was wouldn’t have made much sense given their business.

WengerEagle

Marc

That’s to do with Woodward’s incompetency not to mention the raft of shitty gaffers they’ve had between Moyesy, LVG and a Mourinho nearly as far past his sell-by date as AW was.

OGS hire was a mistake on their part though so I have hopes that they aren’t going places anytime soon.

But yeah, they’ve spent more than Liverpool and Spurs combined and close to Citeh and have a squad comparable with ours, comical isn’t it.

Kay

WE,
I actually think he is just taking the piss just like Arteta and his mystery sauce.

I am not sure this Dortmund++ is going to help us challenge for PL. We need to be extremely lucky and we are always short of it historically.

Marko

wouldn’t have made much sense given their business.

Sure. Even though they’ve signed up Diallo, Akanji, Zagadou young and will likely make a profit when they sell.

Marko

It’s been a week so of course Arsene is back talking absolute nonsense. Something about learning from your defeats or not acknowledging defeats. Some waffle

MidwestGun

Kay I agree.
Dortmund got Pulisic on a free when he was 16 and sold him for 70mill to Chelsea 4 years later.. If we were like that Dortmund then yes.. we need to be like them. I think that’s the Pedro dream. Not sure how realistic that dream is at AFC though competing with who we have to compete against. Pulisic got starting time at Dortmund first team when he was 17 and 18. And not just a little bit of time here and there.

Marc

WE It’s worse than you think for ManU – the sponsorship deal with Chrysler runs out in 2 – 3 seasons. This is a deal who got a senior Chrysler exec fired for doing it and that was when ManU were competing. They desperately need to get back to being in the top 2 / 3 or they’ll start seeing the money pot shrink. I can’t see Woodward lasting more than another season – 18 months at a push. Right now if you had to put a bet on a sure thing it’d be OGS getting the bullet circa Christmas… Read more »

Wasi

Pedro
Isnt David Ornstein of a BBC a very reliable journalist. Tbf i think he’s the best one when it comes to news about Arsenal football club.

Gentlebris

Look at it this way re Saliba, the selling party insist they want him back on loan. You are now left with two options: accept or walk.
Do you walk and allow another fella to grab the deal with both hands?

I don’t really know the kid, but if he’s good…. really good, then he’s worth the wait.

Like someone mentioned here, the £45m budget is total dogshit.
The newspapers are the originators and they are probably the only people who believe the crap.

TR7

I take it Marko, Cesc and Marc won’t blame Koss or Mustafi when we concede a goal next season due to their mistake. At least we are planning well for the future.

Marko

I take it Marko, Cesc and Marc won’t blame Koss or Mustafi when we concede a goal next season due to their mistake

Yes exactly. Cause planning for the future means that we now give players a pass for a mistake. The correlation between wanting to sign up a promising defender and whatever point you’re trying to make is really quite brilliant.

Kay

@Mid

Exactly my sentiments. Its more important to understand who we compete against.
Market has gone bonkers and even shite teams in EPL are spending 50mil easily nowadays.

I have resigned to the fact that the ownership want us to be successful but not do it City or Chelsea way. If its self sustain bullshit I think we have to wait longer for the 14th one. We may have a better chance of winning CL than EPL as things stand provided we get into CL in the first place in the next 2 or 3 seasons.

TR7

Marko

‘ wrong about us blowing half our budget on Saliba. Structured payments probably some of it deferred being likely.’

Again that hackneyed albeit flawed logic of deferred payment. We will be paying instalments for signings made in the past too even as we make deferred payment for signings in the current summer.

Dissenter

Terraloon No club needs to have that much cash at hand or in the bank…nd no other club does it that way. In your post, you tried to have it both ways… you suggested that we don’t have cash and then you stated that “even if” we had it. Truth is going by the AST review we are carrying too much cash at hand at a time when the footballing product is stagnating. There’s no basis for keeping amount of cash to run a football club. Liverpool are the prime example of a well run club that does not rely… Read more »

Marc

TR7

How many times have I said I want to see Mustafi and Xhaka gone? Two cardboard cut outs would be better than those two.

TR7

‘Yes exactly. Cause planning for the future means that we now give players a pass for a mistake. The correlation between wanting to sign up a promising defender and whatever point you’re trying to make is really quite brilliant.’ It’s very simple really. If we spend 25 M on a defender who can come in and replace Mustafi straightway we gain a few points which could be decisive for our future especially in terms of CL qualification. What’s the point in spunking half of our budget for a player we can’t even use in the coming season. As Kaynes said… Read more »

LeMassiveCoq

I’m sureIt’s been said before but this 40 million transfer budget is probably bollocks, Kroenke and co areNot stupid enough to tell everyone we have 200 million in the coffers. Surely though, with Chavs transfer ban and spuds needing all their dough for their stadium, this is the season to splash a bit of dough to get back in the top 4? City and pool will be shopping for a few top level additions. We should be able to find a few gems out there?

Marko

Very true TR7. Could be that there’s no money at all in fact. Deferred payment installments sure what’s a club to do. Certainly sounds like you know what’s going on

TR7

Dissneter

AST’s logic is totally flawed.

Marko

What’s the point in spunking half of our budget for a player we can’t even use in the coming season

Ah yes. So we are spunking half our budget as well as paying installments for players bought years ago and deferred salary for the janitor. We’ve basically got nothing left. I agree only a fool would sanction a deal we might as well let him go to Spurs or City

TR7

Marko

You think other clubs don’t have contract negotiators ? There’s only so much you can defer payments of a signing made. Invariably a club pays the transfer money in approximately 3 years. So if we pay say 8M only for Saliba that doesn’t mean we have saved a lot of money to be spent on other signings. There are instalments for past signings as well which fall due.

Kay

Tbh if we are really serious we should have got rid of mustafi by now, should be looking for his replacement and bid for saliba as well.

Its july in 5 days ffs.

Marko

So if we pay say 8M only for Saliba that doesn’t mean we have saved a lot of money to be spent on other signings. There are instalments for past signings as well which fall due. I thought we were spunking half our budget on him? Installments for past signings? It sounds like to me now this is just me but it sounds like you actually don’t know what is going on. You don’t know how much we’ve got available or how much he’s going to cost or how it would be structured. So basically when you say that we’re… Read more »

TR7

Marko ‘Ah yes. So we are spunking half our budget as well as paying installments for players bought years ago and deferred salary for the janitor. We’ve basically got nothing left. I agree only a fool would sanction a deal we might as well let him go to Spurs or City’ Sorry mate you don’t get it but I will try again. Either you look at all the spendings on cost basis or on payment basis. If we look at cost basis, we will be spending half of our budget on Saliba. If we look at signings from payment perspective,… Read more »

TR7

‘So basically when you say that we’re spunking half our budget you are in fact just talking out your backside’

All you need to do is pause for a minute and think.

terraloon

Dissenter First off you are right that no other clubs operates the same model but therein is the problem that’s the model that Arsenals owners want to operate by. That could change in a blink of an eye but isn’t likely is it? Once you acknowledge that basic fact then just as night follows day you have to accept that the club can’t spend most of the supposed cash on-hand. As for me wanting it both ways are you real? The basic point I was trying to make and it’s something that you clearly don’t grasp is those cash reserves… Read more »

Guns of Hackney

If anyone could be bothered, I can’t…but I said sell Torrier to anyone now, about two weeks ago!!! The son of a bitch is short, lightweight and too unskilled for this league. Sure he came in, ran about and scored a peach…so did the AIDS riddled Eboue.

If Milan want this prick, sell him. There has to be better out there than him. And if we can make £10m on the deal…I will actually applaud The Gunners for the first time in about 17 years.

Piss off.

Marko

If we look at cost basis, we will be spending half of our budget on Saliba. If we look at signings from payment perspective, we probably will be spending merely 8M this season but at the same time we will be paying installments for Laca and Auba signings which will also amount to say some odd 20M. So eventually whichever way you look at it, it’s all.the same. Ah yes all the same. Like I said before you don’t know what our budget is you don’t know how much Saliba would cost and you don’t know what structured payments we… Read more »

MidwestGun

Yep.. if Saliba is a limiting factor in our transfer business then we are fucked already. I don’t think he is.. I think the limiting factor is inability to move some of the veteran mistake prone and unproductive players out who are on higher wages. So at the moment we are signing players who won’t command bigger wages ..Saliba, Martinelli, Tierney. Hence why I’m more upset at lack of outgoing. As for FFP… it’s on a 3 year rolling cycle… so at some point we need to take a chance and take a bigger loss to achieve something… Although you… Read more »

englandsbest

Holding is a marker, a pointer, for what Emery/Raul should be doing. The Club cannot compete for the best players, it does not have the dough. The guy cost, I believe, £4m. Sell Auba and the Club has the money for fifteen players at £4m apiece. And the total wage bill would be far less than Ozil’s salary (and probably less than Auba’s salary.) Buying second-best players will not return the Club to top 4. And all the players mentioned as possible targets strike me as second-besters. Far better to rebuild, starting from the bottom. Down there in the lower… Read more »

TR7

‘Like I said before you don’t know what our budget is you don’t know how much Saliba would cost and you don’t know what structured payments we have this summer. ‘ You are talking as if Raul has deployed you for finalizing the terms of Saliba’s transfer. If Saliba costs some 20M plus, then we will be spending approximately half of our budget (£50M) on him. I am.making my arguments based on rumored price for him. Did not know that one had to know exact details of each transfer for him to comment on it. Instead of trying to at… Read more »

Dissenter

Teraloon “Once you acknowledge that basic fact then just as night follows day you have to accept that the club can’t spend most of the supposed cash on-hand.” No one is asking that we spend most of the cash. All I’m saying that there’s something fishy about a club that’s living from hand-to mouth when their end product is getting worse by the day, We should keep what the bank requires us to keep – money to service the stadium debt and then a bit more for emergencies. My point is that is we invest all the unnecessary cash hoard… Read more »

Dissenter

This Saliba argument is flawed though
Would anyone object to signing him and loaning him back if we were assured the transfer fee wasn’t from this year’s budget?
That’s where bravery comes in. Our conservatism is going to reduce us to a perpetual mid table club pretty soon.

Guns of Hackney

England’s best While I applaud your idea, alas it just doesn’t have legs. Arsenal are rich. Period. Forget the BS about transfer budget, we are bankrolled by a billionaire and everyone knows it. We also have a monster wage bill and everyone knows it. We also have the highest tickets in Europe…and yes, everyone knows it. We’re not pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes. Unless we go down Hackney Marshes and offer heroin and a salmon to a scumbag who is plodding on a Sunday, we are paying what the selling club wants. Because of our awful rep in the… Read more »

Pierre

Talk all you like about who’s coming in and who’s going out and how much our transfer budget is ….nothing will change until we employ the correct manager for Arsenal football club. Maybe the club are reluctant to give Emery sufficient funds ( as in the January window) because they are not convinced by his management style and his handling of certain players. I’m sure there must be people within the club who are questioning his tactics and his approach to the game . The number one priority should have been the defence , this has clearly not been the… Read more »

Dissenter

There’s talk that Spirs are about to grab Saliba from us …to loan him back to St Ettiene until next season.

I can just see the likes of TR7 escalating their Pochettino hype in 2021 because Saliba was dominating the league.

Guns of Hackney

Can this saliva, dribble?

Marko

Did not know that one had to know exact details of each transfer for him to comment on it No but if you say that we’re spunking half our budget on the player you have to at least be able to argue better than guess work. I mentioned that we could be deferring payment while he’s on loan for the season and you answer with instalments on Aubameyang. Basically you’re guessing. You don’t know our budget or how much he’d cost or anything about what installments we have this summer. I too am tired of arguing with someone that doesn’t… Read more »

Marko

Anyone hopefully Saliba ends up at Spurs. The deal is all kinds of wrong for us it seems

Pierre

I am not against a buying Saliba and loaning him back , would be pointless signing him and having him in the bench when he could be getting important minutes somewhere else.

Any signing is a gamble , there are rarely any 100% certainties so buying for the future is fine.

The most important person at a football club is the manager and my concern is that Emery will not progress the club …….the opposite in fact.

Dissenter

Marko
“Anyone hopefully Saliba ends up at Spurs. The deal is all kinds of wrong for us it seems”

That’s what is going to happen…then the Poch-lovers will use him to show how badly Arsenal are run when the lad starts to dominate the league.
There’s a reason why many big clubs are sniffing around the lad. We can sign him now or wait until he’s 22 to marvel at how good he is while he’s playing for someone else.
I want to she Arsenal moving away from this short term fire-extinguishing mode to actually doing some medium term planning.

Marc

Pierre

“nothing will change until we employ the correct manager for Arsenal football club.”

And when were you struck by this revelation? I’m guessing in the last 12 or so months.

I would ask who this manager should be but I won’t get an answer beyond Wenger & Ozil good – Emery bad.

bennydevito

Evening Grovers, good post Pedro. Haven’t gone through all the comments yet so sorry if this has alre been discussed, but according to Sky sports, Spurs are in advanced talks to sign Jack Clarke from Leeds for as little as £8.5m! That is an absolute steal and we should be all over that because at 17 that represents way better value for money than what we might pay for Carassco or Fraser and after 1 good season at Spurs he will be worth around £30m anyway at 18 yrs old. If Spurs get Clarke for £8.5m and we fork out… Read more »

Marc

benny

Aren’t the rumours that the Spud’s are going to loan him back for a season?

Dissenter

Pierre
“The most important person at a football club is the manager and my concern is that Emery will not progress the club …….the opposite in fact.”

You could very well be right, who knows?
I only hope you found this clarity of expression when Wenger was stinking up the place for 5-8 years.
Where was this Pierre then?
a] in the cecum of Wenger?
b] in the ascending colon of Wenger?
c] in the transverse colon of Wenger?
d] in the descending colon of Wenger?
e] in the rectum of Wenger?

MidwestGun

nothing will change until we employ the correct manager for Arsenal football club. _____ Don’t really disagree with this.. But Emery is on last chance saloon.. second year of a two year deal. So that doesn’t give the upper management an excuse to screw the fans over by screwing up a transfer window. We still have to build for the future regardless of who the manager is in 2020/2021. If they don’t trust him with management skills as you speculate then I doubt he has the final say in transfers either, Why would you give somebody you don’t trust final… Read more »