The Zaha smokescreen?

by .

… so… to cut a long story short… THEY DIDN’T EVEN WANT HIM!

*the bar roars with laughter*

So funny, right? Milan didn’t even want Lucas Torreira.

What a charade.

Well, at least that’s one boring story laid to rest.

The Tierney rumours appear to be ramping up again, the deal looking like it’ll go through for £25m when all the add-ons and bonuses are stacked up.

That’ll be a great piece of transferring if he can stay fit. Having a rapid outlet to make the overlap will be beneficial, it’ll also be nice if he can defend as well.

… also, Jenks going the other way? Incredible biz if it happens. I appreciate the guy likes earning good cash money, but when do you start looking out for your career? When do you demand to play on the regular? When do you decide you want to be an icon in Scotland?

Now Jenks. Go, be free.

The Zaha stories are totally mental, Palace apparently has a £100m release clause in his contract. As an agent, when you’re sitting there with a broken player a few years ago, and Steve Parish asks to put that clause in your deal… how do you let that slide?

No one is going to £100m. No one is paying £80m for him. That would be an absurd amount of money to drop on someone that is 27 and yet to be proven at the highest level. I think all the bluster is because they ARE going to sell him, and obviously want to create the impression he’s way better than he is… a bit like putting Ferrari badges and a clip-on-bad-boy exhaust on your Ford KA back in the day. But I think I’d be a touch horrified if we dropped that much of a non-existent budget on him. It doesn’t feel clever, it doesn’t feel long-term and it doesn’t look anything like value.

I was hoping we’d be looking at making smarter buys. It is absolutely no coincidence we’re now being linked with Malcolm of Barcelona. We were in for him when the choice was him or Auba, Raul is apparently a huge fan of Malcolm, and the player kind of fits the bill. He’s a talent, he’s found himself on the outside at Barca, and Raul probably smokes cigars with his agent.

Would make sense as well… because he’d cost less and likely has a higher ceiling, more career longevity and Brazilians are way cool.

Right, that’s me done.

Happy Pride Day everyone! 🌈🌈🌈

 

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Marko

Vieira has ruled himself out of the Newcastle job. I’m calling it now he’ll be the Arsenal manager next summer.

CG

Englands Best

“””””It’s tedious, so many on here repeating the same old wearisome stuff about Wenger and Gazidis, Haven’t they noticed, the pair have gone.”””””

Long Gone
Well said.

Wenger was winning Doubles in his first season.

The team he inherited came 5th and the season before that 12th!

the more posters focus on the past- the more the new regime are floundering are unable to deal with the present.

Vinny , emery and Raul and Edu…… good luck with that!

Marko

TR7 I get the reasoning but my point was that it’s not a surprise that Mustafi got played so much given the options available

Receding Hairline

With Mustafi in the team we are actually competent defensively when it comes to aerial balls, play Mustafi who i believe was suspended in place of a returning Kos against Saints and we probably do not lose. It’s when the ball is on the grass Mustafi becomes useless

Receding Hairline

Yacine Brahimi is actually a far better footballer than many on here seem to be giving him credit for …seems 29 is a death sentence in football now.

TR7

Okay, did not know Jack Clarke was being loaned back.

Elmo

Receding

What about the several examples of Mustafi conceding penalties due to needlessly shoving opponents in the box when the ball is in the air?

TR7

Brahimi is not available on cheap either – hefty wages and signing on fee

Receding Hairline

“What about the several examples of Mustafi conceding penalties due to needlessly shoving opponents in the box when the ball is in the air?”

He panics when badly positioned, what’s new?? Doesn’t remove the fact he is good in the air, actually a selling point we can use to flog him of

Dissenter

Brahimi won’t get anyone to pay him what he’s asking for
75k weekly and 3 million Euros sign on fee.
He was injury riddled at Leicester.

Marko

Can’t criticize the wage bill if you’re then giving a 29 year old 100,000 for 3 years. Not that worst deal let’s be honest though. Again my problem is the signing on fee. Cause we’re fucking skint mate

TheBoyCornelius

@Receding Hairline – Normally a tricky experienced winger like Brahimi would be a decent signing. But in our current state, with Mikki and Ozil on the books i dont think adding a similar aged player is the way to go. We need to be looking longer term, when those 2 are gone – with one being gone this summer if possible

englandsbest

Someone mentioned Benitez as manager. Derisively. Well, nobody is going to fire Emery/Raul, but let’s imagine that they resign. Tomorrow. And let’s further imagine that Stan rides in on a white charger to save the day. And he calls Benitez into Josh’s office in the Emirates and lays it on the line. ‘You can do whatever you please, senor, but no financial help from me.’ After his Newcastle U experience, Benitez would weigh the possibilities carefully. And he would doubtless see that Arsenal, with their revenue and fan-base, are eminently self-sustainable. I can see him taking out his bits of… Read more »

China1

Tr7 I agree

I’m not sure what the advantages are of sending out a bad player to cost you points knowing this full well.

Mav might not be great but we don’t really know. We know mustafi is ass. What’s to lose?

englandsbest

That’s it from until August.

Marko

Love to know what Rashford is on now. I bet its too much

TR7

China

Holding was struggling a bit early on but within 2 months of playing time he became an important member of our starting 11. I don’t rate Chambers but Holding and Mav always looked like they had potential. Perhaps like Dissenter , Emery has something against Mav. Heck I would play even Elneny ahead of Mustafi as CB.

China1

I rate holding based on last season. A little shaken at the start as you said but settled and brought a lot to the team until his injury

His injury coincided with arsenal turning shit and I don’t think it was a big coincidence, whilst not the only factor

Holding has genuine potential and is already pretty good, though I fear injuries might ruin him before he realizes his potential

Marko

Mavropanos was injured for about 4 months last season

Ghana

200k per week

Paulinho

“Brahimi won’t get anyone to pay him what he’s asking for
75k weekly and 3 million Euros sign on fee.
He was injury riddled at Leicester.”

When did he play for Leicester?

Receding Hairline

“When did he play for Leicester?”

Never

Don’t know who Dissenter is confusing him with

Marko

Yeah I noticed that earlier. He never played for Leicester but he tore them a new arsehole in a champions league game before

Receding Hairline

A north African playmaker played on loan at Leicester sometime back, the name escapes him, i am certain the mistake is coming from there

Champagne Charlie

Paulinho He didn’t, but when did facts get in the way of a good dribbly comment? Receding I’m not sure it can be served up any simpler than stating when a team “fails” the first person responsible is the manager. For you to duck that and offer Auba on a plate because he missed some chances and a pen against Spurs totally encompasses all you stand for when Emery is discussed. If the seasons were dismantled in such nuance then next to no player would come out with any praise. Lemme guess, the first time finish and other superb efforts… Read more »

Dissenter

United just announced that Rashford’s deal has been extended, tabloids have the new deal as 300k weekly. That Sanchez deal set off a nasty cascade.
Football has gone mental

Marko

I think he thought of Slimani

Receding Hairline

“his gaping arse” whatever that means but childishness never leaves you i guess, you are always spoiling for a spat. Must have been made fun of growing up or something. If a manager who has spent one year in a new league, at a new club can manage to fight for top four against “celebrated” mangers like Pochettino(top three in the world or something) and Sarri (now off to Juventus because he plays Sarri ball) and all you can say is you were “embarrassed” by failure to make top four and then gaping arse and other such nonsense, i wonder… Read more »

Receding Hairline

“I think he thought of Slimani”

Yep that’s the dude

Dissenter

🙂 🙂 🙂
I had Yacine Brahmani confused for Islam Slimani
He’s the one who played for Leicester

Marko

I don’t get the gaping arse stuff. Is Charlie suggesting that Emery is into pegging?

Receding Hairline

Slimani was a striker though so me too got it wrong

Receding Hairline

Marko must be some silly reference to our defense, an inherited issue mind you. he would have gone to war if anyone on here called Wenger “gaping arse”

Champagne Charlie

That’s Sky Sauces had Zaha, Balde, now Brahimi on our radar inside a week.

I’m calling bullshit, yet again, on their reliability.

Dissenter

Really I get the principle that the buck stops at the manager’s table
That said individual errors contributed to why we lost out. When the margins are tight then individual errors do matter. Auba missed some key chances that would have turned one point to three in two games- glaring misses that a striker of his calibre should never miss.
Emery has his mistakes too. His choices and instincts let the club down too at the tail end of the season. . Hopefully he’s a quick learner, if not he’s gone at the end of the season.

Biggles

United have just handed Rashford £200k a week. Mental.

I don’t watch enough United to be sure, but my understanding is that Rashford normally plays either on the left as part of a front 3 (like Mane at Liverpool), or through the middle. 111 league games, 27 league goals, 4 seasons. Not exactly prolific!

Receding Hairline

“That said individual errors contributed to why we lost out. When the margins are tight then individual errors do matter. Auba missed some key chances that would have turned one point to three in two games- glaring misses that a striker of his calibre should never miss.
Emery has his mistakes too. His choices and instincts let the club down too at the tail end of the season. . Hopefully he’s a quick learner, if not he’s gone at the end of the season.”

Simply put. Stating one does not absolve the other.

Marko

That is very true. But maybe he is talking about something else entirely. I ask because I never heard him reference Arsene’s horrendously gaped arsehole after every humiliating defeat he suffered. In fact he’s never commented publicly on his butthole.

Biggles

BBC said £200k, Sun says £300k. To be honest, once it hit six figures a week for a less than 1-in-4 goals to games ration, it was stupid.

Champagne Charlie

Receding

You familiar with the idea of a guy’s arse going? Squeaky bum time? Shitting the bed?

All arse related. Emery having a gaping arse come crunch time (3rd with 6 games left, missing top 4) is the exact same thing. Nothing childish despite your insistence on it you ignorant twat.

Receding Hairline

Sky were actually quite late on the Brahimi talks

It originated from Algeria, i guess Sky just confirmed it

The Zaha thing isn’t really an exclusive, well known that we admire him but the fee makes it a non starter

As for Balde hope its bull…can’t stand the dude

Champagne Charlie

Sky used to be a beacon of exclusivity with respected contacts. “Sky sources understands” was a hallmark of trust and reliably correct info.

But now they’re very much hit with the accusations of driving the SkyBet market on players moving to various clubs and plugging pure speculation to juice gambling.

Their rep is veering quickly towards the toilet.

Receding Hairline

So its perfectly acceptable to throw the season away early like Wenger, play the last two months with nothing at stake, than compete and fall short in the end

Beat Brighton and we finish top four, Xhaka pulls a man down for a penalty, but you will not have a bad word said about him, the manger on the sidelines who should be furious though is “gaping arse” wonder what that makes the 11 men fielded who failed to do their jobs

Gotcha Charles ..now run along

Receding Hairline

Philip Cocu is Derby’s top choice to replace Lampard

They are not conservative when it comes to appointing coaches, don’t do the whole recycling them bit

Champagne charlie

“So its perfectly acceptable to throw the season away early like Wenger, play the last two months with nothing at stake, than compete and fall short in the end” Classic case of ‘quick, Emery is getting criticised throw some Wenger stuff out there’. I’m not sure how you land at it being “acceptable”, the man was sacked you fucking melon. “Beat Brighton and we finish top four, Xhaka pulls a man down for a penalty, but you will not have a bad word said about him” Really, I won’t? Called him a donut a few times the past season, but… Read more »

Champagne charlie

NEW POST

Marko

Also, if you want to analyse that particular dull Xhaka moment how about you include the full picture of Mkhi missing a bread and butter pass to put Licht in behind which left Xhaka having to sprint half the length of the pitch to deal with a counter. You sure you called him a donut last season. Seems like another example of an excuse for poor auld Xhaka. Had to sprint half the length of the field oh the poor petal perhaps if he wasn’t so stupid to get continually caught out of position. Even still the actual challenge that… Read more »

Receding Hairline

How exactly does one mastermind a goal???

Lol

You just mentioned Mhki messing up a simple pass to Litch…..should Emery mastermind a pass for a man earning a kings ransom a month

Sussexgooner

CG sounds like that diet coke box head on YouTube that Wally the arsenal guvnor the sounds are uncanny .🤔