I’m hitting you with a DOUBLE today because that’s just how free content can and sometimes WILL roll.
The reason is, I forgot to talk about the most boring transfer saga since we nearly tried to sign Higuain. Or Suarez. Or Alonso.
It’s been reported that we’ve bid for Wilfried Zaha. £40m + Chambers.
That’s a pretty sweet deal, but I would say somewhat derisory if you are Palace and you expect £100m.
I think the move has been made to look even more pitiful because we are cutting up the monies like we’re trying to pay off 5 years worth of credit cards at 23 years old with one helpful manageable payment.
Here’s what we don’t know…
What is the truth of this bid?
Is it for real?
Or are we back in the, ‘meh, we tried’ phase of transfers?
The numbers from Swiss Ramble are bleak.
Our wage bill is hideous. Our revenue is regressing. We’re having to sell players to pad the numbers. We only just stopped paying Wenger. Things are not moving positively.
It’s quite staggering the largesse that has gone on to allow that… Ivan Gazidis looks like and 80s corporate raider when you see the money he was extracting from the club towards the end.
But we are where we are… this is Arsenal, it needs to be reset in a big way and it’s questionable whether we’re going to do that buying in 27-year-olds that have limited resale value.
The very notion of Zaha is short termist and we’ve seen time and time again that short-termism on less than elite players is not a smart way of climbing back into the big time when the 4th best team in the league just bought the best young midfielder in the world.
Arsenal need to think about the future, we need to start being strategic and we need to move away from buying second-tier players and giving them monster deals we can’t escape a year later.
My point being, even if the Zaha bid is real, is it moving the needle? Is it doing anything to prove that we’re serious about Champions League? Not for me.
Right, that’s me done.
P.S. Look at how cute my niece is in her new Arsenal shirt.
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Trofee
Fifth is the new 4th
I don’t think we should bother with Zaha. Where is the 22 year old version of him – that’s who we should be in for. I like the links with Tierney, Saliba, Zaghadou, Bowen. And id like to see us use the academy players – Willock, Nelson & Nketiah.
Wtf is happening with Saliba?
All gone quiet about him….
Babies in Arsenal jerseys. If only they knew that they were unwillingly contributing to a monster called stan Kroenke. No jerseys no showing up that’s how you get rid of him. Nah I’m only kidding he ain’t going anywhere
We need at minimum x2 CM’s one being Ramsey’s replacement, x2 CB one being Mustafi’s replacement, x2 widemen one which looks like possibly being Brahimi on a free transfer, a LB which looks like Tierney and another CF as an understudy to Aubameyang if we do opt to sell Lacazette. I’m still not confident that we get that all done but I had no hope whatsoever only a week ago. Zaha, Brahimi and Tierney have all been concretely linked and the subject of bids/personal terms in Brahimi’s case. If we can bring those 3 players in and in addition add… Read more »
Zaha is not a 100 mil player never was and never will be if the club starts to panic and caves in to extortion it will be a complete disgrace Palace are sniffing that they could make an obscene amount of money on Zaha but 100 mil is far to greedy for a one season wonder.There are far better wingers out there but how the hell do we go from being the English Bayern Munich to having less money then some nationwide sides are we this mismanaged.
Oh and Martinelli – https://www.arsenal.com/news/gabriel-martinelli-join-club
I really ,really hope Martinelli is not the new Denilson but i have this very bad feeling we signed another stinker.
another transfer that went under the radar is kostas manolas to napoli £32m
i am surprised we didnt even bother signing him, he would be a good replacement for kos and mustafi
Martinelli…saves our summer
Saliba will end up at Spurs, you know it, I know it, we all know it.
£8.5m for Jack Clarke has pissed me right off big time. Why the fuck are we chasing after Zaha when you’ve got players like Clarke and Grealish available for a fraction of the cost and a way higher ceiling and resale value? Especially when our utmost priority is a fucking CB or 2, plus a left back?
I fucking despair I really do.
Mustafi, Kos, Monreal, Jenkinson, Chambers, Elneny, Xhaka, Ozil and Mkhitaryan still fucking here.
We are an absolute joke.
I really don’t get the anti Zaha sentiment. I’ve always been worried when we play against him and for me he is one of the most proven, dangerous players in the league outside the top clubs. If you forget about his ill-fated spell at United, this is exactly the kind of move our competition have been making, mostly with great success, for years.
United spaffing their load on English defenders with Bissaka for 50m and now Maguire for 70m potentially.
Could work out pretty shrewd business if they are both starters and form a unit for the 5-10 years. Both powerful athletes and solid defenders.
Let’s hope that they go the way of the rest of their expensive purchases.
Gabriel Martinelli sounds good on paper, call up to the brazil squad so thats good potential
you lot think he will be ready for the first team??
i would like to think so, hopefully we found a gem here
fingers crossed
Koscielny pushing for a move to Bordeaux it seems. Why we’re not using him to try to get Kounde before he goes to Sevilla is confusing to me. I can only assume that they’ve got specific targets in mind defensively
“Mustafi, Kos, Monreal, Jenkinson, Chambers, Elneny, Xhaka, Ozil and Mkhitaryan still fucking here.”
Would things be so bad if we keep them ??
I mean, let the boat sink for good, so we can rebuild everything from the base.
Jack Clarke does fuck all for us now Benny. The guy wasn’t even a starter for Leeds and has played literally only 800 mins of senior football.
Aubameyang will be sitting in a retirement home with his slippers on before Clarke makes a meaningful impact on a PL team. Spurs will loan him straight back out to the Championship.
Saliba will end up at Spurs, you know it, I know it, we all know it.
I fucking hope so. The way his signing was met by some genuine fucksticks around here a week ago we don’t deserve him. Let him go to Spurs said fucksticks do a complete 180 and spend a week moaning and pretend they always wanted him.
So we are in for a shite season then.
As expected.
Roll on the circus.
Who cares about Jack Clarke what has he done? Nothing. The lad from Hull at least scored 22 in the championship.
“Aubameyang will be sitting in a retirement home with his slippers on before Clarke makes a meaningful impact on a PL team. Spurs will loan him straight back out to the Championship.”
Oh dearie me
That was some good stuff there Wenger eagle
i think that lad from hull city jared brown i think his name is a good shout for english potential
£13m will be okay
Spending over 20m on a defender that literally wasn’t going to lace up for us for a year when our defensive unit are made of wet bog roll and conceded 102 PL goals over 2 seasons makes us fucksticks now Marko?
We’re nursing PTSD from watching Mustafi and Sokratis fall over each other, forgive us for being sceptical you scrotum.
Toulouse have developed some decent talent and Ibrahim Sangaré looks to be next on the list – get in there Raul – 15 mil now or double that next season
makes us fucksticks now Marko?
Yep complaining about a highly regarded signing while he ends up going to a better rival would be the definition of a fuckstick. Don’t take it personal though the Arsenal fanbase is littered with them
I missed the scrotum comment fair play.
Signing Saliba isn’t really the issue here, i mean we can sign him or Spurs can who really cares??
People will only care if he actually does go on to fulfill his potential (from the way Marko puts it any team that signs him will not be conceding a goal ever again). As it stands he is a punt. Funny you do not see the benefits of a ready to terrorize defenses Wilf Zaha but you are okay with handing St Etienne 30m pounds and walking away hoping Saliba morphs into VVD in a years time
Danish Gooner
Incompetence comes to mind but I like to think of it more along the lines of “we have been right royally screwed”.
We know the score this summer, will take too long to sell those who need selling, leaving us not sufficient time to buy anyone in.
Just hope the team stay fit and injury free post Burgess, with the size of the squad for next season, they will need to.
What Ivan was doing was shocking, if no real surprise, but I would imagine its a mistake Stan is more than capable of repeating
Context is everything. Calling for Lacazette to be sold as you have done when he’s literally only one of two players for us that can reliably stick the ball in the net makes you a fuckstick to those unfamiliar with this Arsenal. In 2012/13 we conceded 37 PL goals, in 2014/15 and 2015/16 we conceded 36 goals each season, in 2013/14 we conceded 41 PL goals although 17 of these were in three matches away at Anfield, Etihad and Stamford Bridge which massively distorts the number. In other words, our defence during these seasons was pretty solid and miles better… Read more »
If Dunk is being talked about at £40m, then Maguire’s value is realistically £70m+, as ridiculous as it sounds, and Zaha is also £70m+. We’re all just mad that we’ve been left shut out from the new world of massive CL prize money, huge commercial deals, and crazy re-sale value on players, because we’re probably only 2/3rds of the way through enduring the inevitable costs that were always going to result after 5+ years of appalling mismanagement of the club. We have to look to cheaper markets abroad, and less prestigious clubs, for our new crop of talent that can… Read more »
(from the way Marko puts it any team that signs him will not be conceding a goal ever again) Yes that’s exactly what I was saying. Like I said I really hope he goes to Spurs and in a few years he ends up being another Alderweirald or Verthongan and even further down the line he’s being linked with a move away for something ridiculous and then they start all over again. As for the Zaha stuff I’m only sceptical about paying so much for someone when better and cheaper options exist elsewhere. To be honest the fanbase kind of… Read more »
The players we have to shif out are really royally shite, lets be frank about that before we start lobbing grenades at Raul. They are all digging in to get the most of their lucrative contracts. On eway to do it is to bring in their replacements and completely banish them until they check out. We don’t have the funds for this approach – we have to sell to buy.
Why have Spurs been better than Arsenal for a good few seasons now? It’s because they have improved very much on the defensive side. Their squad and players have better defensive players than Arsenal’s. Forget Harry Kane. Arsenal have Aubameyang. A Spurs bench CB in Sanchez would walk into the first team as CB at Arsenal. They have midfielders that can actually defend when required. Over three seasons Arsenal have conceded 44 more goals than Spurs. 44. Back in the day you would get laughed out of town if it was ever suggested that Spurs would become a much better… Read more »
After the confusion, Pedro gives a post I can fully understand.
Martinelli in. These pundits are disgusting. Seem to educated illiterates. Don’t they know the meaning of opening bid?
How far with Tierney and Saliba?
” Like I said I really hope he goes to Spurs and in a few years he ends up being another Alderweirald or Verthongan and even further down the line he’s being linked with a move away for something ridiculous and then they start all over again.”
What happens if they do sign him and he turns out to be a flop?? One of those kids overrated at a tender age. I mean 16 games is not much of a games sample to declare one a future world beater
Haven’t you heard Ishola, Saliba aka VVD 2.0 is coming to rescue us in 2020.
Elmo ‘We have to look to cheaper markets abroad, and less prestigious clubs, for our new crop of talent that can re-build our status.” This is it in a nutshell. People lamenting about the past 5 years of mismanagement seem to want us to keep doing the same freaking thing. Keep throwing mega money at short term fixes. Had Zaha been a normal order purchase- 35 million with no Palace inspired drama…then let’s go. But spending even 50 million on him at a time when we have Mustafi around, Xhaka still irreplaceable, no replacement for Ramsey.. etc is rather dim.… Read more »
Calling for Lacazette to be sold as you have done when he’s literally only one of two players for us that can reliably stick the ball in the net makes you a fuckstick to those unfamiliar with this Arsenal. You’ll have to elaborate on this. How does justifying selling what is effectively our second choice striker so we can buy up a much needed player or two in other important areas make me a fuckstick? Compared to a person who complains incessantly about the club signing up a highly rated prospect for the future and then watches him sign up… Read more »
Absolutely shocking that Spurs now piss all over Arsenal defensively.
Shocking.
And I’ve got no faith that this present set-up is going to address this.
Not when they keep on about so-called Arsenal values which include on the pitch Wenger values such as defending is second rate and not noteworthy.
Marko For a guy so adamant the squad needs an overhaul, it’s really queer to see you champion a signing that won’t do a thing for us this season. Not a poke either, 25 mil is real cash for someone who can only give us scouting reports for 12 months. I’m all for some long-termism in our transfer strategy, but there’s a limit and the same as paying good cash for a 13 year old is going a bit too far, Saliba is a bit of a stretch for our current predicament. We should be working our way towards the… Read more »
Dont want Zaha, failed at United when he had a chance and not consistent enough . How can palace say he’s worth the same or more than Ronaldo, Salah, Mane and Aubameyang. Prices have not inflated that much in 3 years for example PSG will lose money when they sell Neymar same with Mbappe. Not because they have gotten worse but PSG were stupid. If its true weve been offered Fekir for 30m then bite their hand off. 40m is around the right value for Zaha because he’s got prem exp. Not the over inflated value Utd seem to pay… Read more »
I mean selling Laca to fund Zaha, giving a substantial part of it to United is reminiscent of the RVP deal.
Aren’t we better taking a risk on 30 million on Fekir [dodgy knees and all] who has good chemistry with Laca already? – that way we still keep Laca.
Is Zaha that good, that we are willing to go that far?
This is like trading up three starters to get a first round draft pick in American sports.
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/11755187/wilfried-zaha-offers-chaos-factor-arsenal-lack-but-crystal-palace-will-fight-to-keep-him
Exactly as has been said, it’s not about extrapolating goal/assist tallies. It’s the sheer chaos he brings to any opposition defence, and the knock on effect that would have for our ‘classy’ players who lack that unsettling quality. Zaha could even get a tune out of Ozil and Mkhi, let alone give Laca/Auba grounds to excel. Handful
mean 16 games is not much of a games sample to declare one a future world beater
Varane had made 24 appearences before United and Madrid tried to sign him. Sometimes smart people who work in football and know what their doing just know you know. The fact that Saliba after 16 appearences has interested Arsenal, Spurs, City and United should tell you something about his potential. But I’m going off point a little forget it we should just look elsewhere and let him join Spurs.
Holding had 20 minutes of first team football for Bolton before we bought him. This is what scouts are for – spotting the talent whilst it’s still potential.
If you read between the lines you’d realise that I never said you were wrong for wanting to sell Laca to fund other moves Marko, said that from an outsider looking in you’d look a prat because he’s our second best player and literally the last player on paper that we should entertain selling given his age over Auba. Same goes for Saliba, on paper could be a decent move sure albeit a punt but would be like giving a paraplegic an expensive new bike for their birthday. Not much use to him now, is it? I also haven’t seen… Read more »
We should absolutely sign Fekir over Zaha even if they were the same price, for 30 mil Fekir is a no brainer.
Not sure his knees are that dodgy either, I mean he has had 2 full seasons of football after his recovery and the first one was brilliant, last season not at the same standard but probably understandable after the way his transfer to Liverpool fell through and the fact he wanted out. Still a far better player than Zaha though.
I’m also sick of all these no-nothing pundits that don’t understand what an opening bid is.
Even in ancient times people understood what an opening bid was;
Fisherman displays fish for 20 cowries
Buyer- will you take 10 cowries?
…they will probably settle for 14-16 cowries.
These pundits want us to start negotiations for an overly inflated transfer at 79.9 million!
I’m sick of Arsenal being mocked for no reason by no-gooders.
When Mr Levi makes low ball offer, they called it playing hard-ball.
I wouldn’t touch Fekir, not the same player after his injury.
Had a massive dip performances last season.
Freddie
When in doubt boil the problem down to the basics.
English scumbag vs decent foreign chap?
I will add that I’m English and don’t think all other English people are scumbags – just the vast majority of English footballers.
Ndombele set to join the Spuds for a base fee of 55m pounds ffs. Top teams around Europe should all have been in for him at that price. Fantastic player.
Not qualifying for the CL has fucked our summer. Multiple opportunities to do so thru the PL. Pépé and Ndombele would have been in play. Even more so, if Lacazette and Torreira sales were added to the CL money. Very painful
Anyone know who is the driving force behind the Zaha interest, Raul or Emery?
I’m thinking Emery, since Zaha had two good games against us this season.
it’s really queer to see you champion a signing that won’t do a thing for us this season. It’s long term planning and thinking of the future Charles it’s the kind of thing that we should be doing but for some reason people have an issue with the idea and some are now trying to be smart arses about it (not you). You think Spurs give a toss about the 40 million they spent for Sanchez? Or what they could end up paying for Saliba? If it gets them a good defender for a few years and a sellable asset… Read more »
‘The fact that Saliba after 16 appearences has interested Arsenal, Spurs, City and United should tell you something about his potential’
It’s not a fact though is it?
Dissenter
Don’t be daft – If Palace want £80 million we should just offer £85 to get it done quickly.
We’d also be showing them massive respect!
40mill for one of the best wingers in the league.
Has Arsene even left the building?
from an outsider looking in you’d look a prat because he’s our second best player
What do I care what a non Arsenal fan thinks they’re filth anyway. A proper Arsenal fan knows the trouble we’re in and that hard decisions are necessary
“I’m thinking Emery, since Zaha had two good games against us this season.”
good games? are u serious?
He fu..king pasted us
We made the same mistake last season too
Signing Sokrates instead of Issa Diop for roughly the same range of transfer fees …”oh we want an experienced defender”
Which one is inviting 60 million transfer request already?
It sickens me that the likes Champagne Charlie is already referring to Martinelli as the “budget Robinho”
The new DoF who has a good knowledge of south American football is already making astute signings yet you want us to keep doing the same damn stuff that has gotten us into the ditch.
‘Varane had made 24 appearences before United and Madrid tried to sign him.’
Mamadou Sakho captained PSG at 17 years old, by your metric he should have gone on to be the next Baresi.
Varane was genuinely sought after by all of Europe’s top clubs. Zidane played a massive role in landing him.
The first post today was the sound of Pedro finally giving up… There is finally the understanding that nothing matters for the next two years. We can try, but we’re utterly hamstrung and Swiss Ramble broke it down with numbers. The takeaway points are that our terrible buying and contract management has led to the lack of success and our lack of success has meant terrible revenues and our terrible revenues means we can’t easily reverse this decline. Quite frankly we need to just forget about the next two years. We’ve already trimmed £422k a week from our wage bill… Read more »
It’s not a fact though is it?
You’re right without transparency and or any official document or statement from a club we just don’t know. We’ll just have to go on reports that some of the biggest clubs are wanting to sign him up after just 16 appearences. I wonder why that is? Surely they must be sceptical like some posters on le-grove.
Wenger Eagle
I trust your scouting. You are the one who banged Firminho’s drum long before he was on the radar.
Don’t you think there’s a reason this Saliba kid is so highly rated?
If it were possible to sign him this year in a manner that does not take away a penny from 2019’s spending, wouldn’t you think it was worthy of that risk?
‘You think Spurs give a toss about the 40 million they spent for Sanchez?’
Apples and bowling balls. Sanchez had made 43 apps for Ajax, even scoring 6 times. He also had already broke into the Colombia NT. And he was able to come in immediately and impact the first team, no loans needed.
@Wenger Eagle – i still would like to see Fekir – remember Overmars – bad injury, some doubts but he was superb for us. Although we would be better off getting Aouar (plays slightly deeper) or Cornet (right winger)
Marko You think we could land Saliba without touching this years budget? Seems fanciful. People question it because we wouldn’t get the player this season and it would eat into the shillings for actual recruits that will impact us next year. You’re apples to oranges offering Sanchez as a comparison. I doubt anyone would mind buying Saliba if he rocks up here next season like Sanchez did for Spurs. But we’re fighting for top 4 and the Saliba move is a level above us for our current needs and resources imo. He won’t be the last fantastic talent going about,… Read more »
Lol Marko gets his transfer information from… the Sun and Talksport, the two sources that I could find for interest in Saliba past Arsenal.
Saliba is inexperienced, but he has ability you can’t teach. Speed and size. He’s the type of CB we will unlikely be able to sign if he plays 50 league matches. We missed out on Issa Diop last summer for 20m. Now West Ham won’t sell him for less than 50m. He’s PL proven with top performances against Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal and Utd. Leipzig will sell Upamecano, Konaté for around the same price. Mukiele perhaps still available for a reasonable fee (20-30m) because of lack of game time this past season.
Dissenter
Sure, if it doesn’t affect us bringing in 2 CB’s in the current window then I’m all for it.
Was plenty of noise that our budget was just 45m hence I wasn’t crazy on the idea of spending a hefty enough fee on an 18 year old that has made 16 apps and we wouldn’t be able to even use for a year.
With the Zaha news it’s looking increasingly clear that the 45m figure was in fact bollocks.
What people don’t quite get is there is a reason why we can never quite seal the deals over the years , unlike Chelsea ,city and United …..it’s quite simple really ..to make the big deals happen a club needs a bottomless pit of money. To seal the big deals a club almost always has to pay over the odds for the player , very rarely will United , City or Chelsea pay under the odds . Look at Liverpool last season , they paid the maximum for a centre back and keeper …one could never imagine Arsenal competing at… Read more »
“Holding had 20 minutes of first team football for Bolton before we bought him. This is what scouts are for – spotting the talent whilst it’s still potential.”
Rob Holding cost 2m pounds. Tell me about Saliba at a cost of 8m and i wouldn’t even notice his loan deal. Varane did not cost Madrid 26m and didn’t really turn out to be that good a defender if we are being honest, being classy on the ball easily gets mistaken with good defending these days.
WE
Really, still with the injury nonsense on Fekir?
The season after his injury he scored 18 and assisted 8 in the league, last season his goalscoring was down to 9 and 7 assists but that could be because of positional changes and demotivation after the failed move.
Hardly because of any lingering injury effects though.
If you rate Zaha through the narrow perspective of statistics (goals, assists, cha. Ed created etc.) he’s a bit meh.
If you’ve watched him play and seen the panic he creates for opponents’ defences then he’s pretty awesome.
Mamadou Sakho captained PSG at 17 years old, by your metric he should have gone on to be the next Baresi.
Ah makes sense cause that’s the argument I’m making. I know you probably thought you were being clever with bringing up Sahko but he still made 200 appearences for PSG played for France at a world cup and ended up costing clubs close to 50 million in transfer fees. Even if Saliba went the way of Sahko we can still sell him on for a likely profit
Receding
Can I make a suggestion?
If we sign Saliba then can we worry about whether it’s good, bad, long term, would be good but under current circumstances is actually bad etc etc?
“If you’ve watched him play and seen the panic he creates for opponents’ defences then he’s pretty awesome”
Every defense in England is petrified by him, he is a diver too, skillful and cunning is a dangerous combo,away matches will not be so much of a hassle for us anymore, we will finally have someone who can take the game to the opposition.
But he is 26 heading to 27, retirement age that on here now.
You think we could land Saliba without touching this years budget? Seems fanciful.
Even more fanciful perhaps borderline stupid would be thinking that we’d be spending half our budget on a player and then loaning him out for the season
Marc i am actually worried because there are no talks of actual defenders who can help us next season. We cannot afford to be a Europa league at the end of the 2019/2020 season. I need people who will help us now not ones who will grow into it in the future and then we sell them for mega money later We are a football club not a farm. All player Dortmund have ever bought played for them immediately after they bought them. If Saliba is good enough to cost us 30m euros at 18 then it should be safe… Read more »
TBC
More cases of players never returning to form then Overmars’ case mate, off the top of my head Fernando Torres, Kaka, Michael Essien, Arturo Vidal, Falcao, Khedira, Gotze, Bale, list goes on.
Fekir’s numbers took a pretty significant hit last season, only scored 9 goals and half the amount of dribbles as to the previous season.
Maybe Cahill is being signed on a free to cover for Saliba who is going to come and join us next year. So is Cahill this year’s version of Lichsteiner?
If we are signing Cahill AND Saliba fair enough but I think most people are afraid we will stop at Cahill… although we need a veteran RB more than CB on present information… are we going to play Chambers there then until Bellerin comes back?
Or are we going to persist with AMN as his understudy? Personally I think he’s best position is DM…
Lol Marko gets his transfer information from… the Sun and Talksport, the two sources that I could find for interest in Saliba past Arsenal.
Very good. And your misgivings are coming from where exactly? Creditable sources I suppose. Half our budget on a player we can’t use for a year and we won’t sign anyone else. Very good. Listen it’s my fault I’ve gotten sucked in again like I said I hope that he does sign for Spurs I really do. They deserve him
“Has Arsene even left the building?”
Yep, but before that he had make sure to curse us for ever.
Many have been saying that our best bet is to get these solid talents before they have a break-out season. We need younger players with a high ceiling. So why is this Saliba stuff causing some much drama here? Getting him now is in line with the time proven strategy. What we are doing here is playing whack-a -mole, trying to take short cuts, so far these have not worked. The Martinelli deal is in the same spirit. Personally, I’ve written off this season… and possibly the next as rebuilding time. We’ve made too many errors to just bounce back… Read more »
How can you say that FL? Liverpool pulled the plug last minute for a reason.
Nippy and mobile players in particular are usually damaged goods after lingering knee injury problems like Fekir has suffered sorry to say. There’s been far more evidence to suggest it would be a foolhardy risk than a masterstroke.
Where is this Cahill talk coming from??
*his best position… If we were going to sign Zaha, we should have never let Alexis go. Zaha brings the same unpredictability that Sanchez did but at twice the price. Hindsight is perfect but as time passes on it looks more and more that we should have kept Sanchez and let Özil go. Wenger chose Özil because he was less of a threat to his authority and more of a easy figure to handle than Samchez was. Wenger was never good handling players with big personalities post Invincibles… it’s as if he wanted the easy life surrounded by players who… Read more »
Varane did not cost Madrid 26m and didn’t really turn out to be that good a defender if we are being honest
This is what you’re dealing with honestly. No wonder you’re sceptical about Saliba Receding and don’t rate Varane. It’s because you do not have a clue. Not one single clue.
“So why is this Saliba stuff causing some much drama here?”
He will cost 26m pounds after 16 games with St Etienne.
Receding
If Zaha was a no-drama 40 million signing, we will all be in board.
However you know it’s not. He’s Palace’s key to staying in the premier league and they don’t wan’t to sell him. They want to prove to him how much he means to them by publicly ridiculing our every move. He signed a deal with a verbal assurance but nothing in writing.
At the end of the window, he will sign an extension with a 200k weekly wage. That’s how it will end.
Marko
Diaby also played for France in a World Cup. And PSG were shite back then hence he racked up so many apps.
The point was Saliba could just as easily go on to be Sakho 2.0 then Varane, in fact that is the more likely outcome. And tell that to Liverpool fans who had to watch Sakho and Skrtel cost them a PL title in spite of Suarez’s superhuman effort.
You could be right WengersEagle – Lyon seem willing to sell and for 30 – they usually aint – so perhaps the doctors dont see him returning to what he was. Or maybe the presence of Aouar impacted somewhat also. Still rather him than Zaha though!
WE
Ok, so the injury only started to become a problem for his performances after 1 full season back? Remember he scored 18 goals the first season after his recovery.
For 30 mil he’s a far better option than anyone else we have been linked with imo, and tested on the highest level unlike Zaha and Fraser for example.
Marko a defender whose strengths are known as passing and aerial duels and has tackling as one of his weaknesses isn’t really that good a central defender
Real Madrid have conceded 47,44, and 41 goals in the past three seasons, they even conceded the most goals in the top three season they won the league. Varane is tall, looks elegant and is pretty fast but all in all is a woeful defender like his senior Ramos. They have their moments for youtube scouting but even Mustafi has that.
At least you admit it Marko, nice one lad. Get your daily scoop from Durham and the boyos over at Talksport, and you’re calling people fucksticks.
Hilarious really.
FL
He’s damaged goods, his knees are fucked if Liverpool’s medical team are anything to go by.
Steep season decline, Lyon far more willing to listen to offers even at a much lower price, that not add up to you as something smelling?
The point was Saliba could just as easily go on to be Sakho 2.0 then Varane, in fact that is the more likely outcome
What makes you think that is the nore likely outcome? This should be genuinely interesting