Business travel is all about projects, to yourself, the true person you want to be.
I downloaded 10 episodes worth of Ken Burns documentaries, packed a Christopher Hitchens memoir, a notebook with a mechanical pencil for jotting down semi-important musings, and I carried my laptop so I could catch up with admin.
You know what I achieved in 2.5 hours on a packed plane? 5 Stroopwafels, 2 bags of Cheetos, 1 Nesquik milkshake, 3 episodes of Rick and Morty, all whilst tearing through a gossip magazine that totally gave me the inside scoop on Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s ILLICIT courtship.
Such a sobering experience. I’m like that Chanel guy when he realised he wasn’t going to be who the people wanted him to be.
However, at least I wasn’t sitting on the internet like a transfer pervert like most of you lot were. You are fucking embarrassing, grown men, hoovering up content like it was the last line at a festival before the Klaxons arrive.
UPEMECANO PEOPLE.
I was literally on a podcast with Dan the day before pontificating on why we’d bother with Umtiti when players like the Leipzig man and Lewis Dunk would represent better value and lower risk.
Rumour has it we’re in for him for €60, but they want more… obviously.
This player is exactly what we need. He’s built like Sol Campbell. He’s a towering figure. He has everything we want, most notably, fitness. He’d be a great partner for Sokratis this season, and by the time he’s adapted to the league, we’d be bringing Saliba to town.
Wow, wow, wow… we’d have two of the best young centre backs in France powering our backline for ten years. Saliba is 19, Upemacano is 20… that would be unreal business.
I’m so excited at the prospect I don’t know what to do.
Every time there’s a problem, Raul and Edu just deal with.
THEY ARE PUTTING ME OUT OF BUSINESS.
The only thing I’ll have left to moan about is Emery… and if that doesn’t work out this season, they simply won’t renew his deal then that’ll be sorted.
At least I’m safe in the knowledge that if it all goes to shit here, I’ll be able to land a cheeky CHIEF FOOTBALL WRITER role at any of the major news publications… amirite?
No. I’m not. An Ebola outbreak isn’t getting me that coveted role at The Daily Star and that’s the brutal truth.
Anyway, not much from me today.
See me in the comments and tell me how you’ll celebrate if we buy Upemecano!
Also, listen to the damn Podcast. No Patreon bullshit here. Just free content on the proviso you do NOT criticise the work.
x
DM
2
tr4phy
Tr4phy
missed it
Cunt
Pedro – “Upamecannot believe it” would’ve been better 😉
Should be seeing some movement if we’re to do any remaining business.
Ha Ha Ha I love the no patreon comment. All the other bloggers seem to just want to reel people in with #free content and all it really is is simply an advert for their paid for content on the back end. Are people really still that unwise to marketing techniques in 2019? If you play your cards right your get a gig at the athletic and be able to use your podcast as an advert for new sign ups!
Pedro
I’ll celebrate when Mustafi is sold .
Accept the criticism you twat!
Koscielny is somewhere between good and the occasional outstanding level for me. Never world class. Always capable of a brain fart. Never quite a club legend. Fondest memory will be the equaliser in 2014 cup final.
His entitled behaviour this summer was disappointing and ultimately means I am glad he is going.
So Koscielny deal done
Fsaf We have had since January to find a suitable centre back or 2 .We needed defenders in January and we need defenders now whether Kosielny stayed or not . To blame Kosielny on our shortage of capable defenders is just a futile attempt to deflect the blame from the manager who obviously wanted a past his best Kosielny to stay. At the end of the day Kosielny has done the club a favour by taking this stance , it is the manager who’s judgement should be brought into question……again. If Kosielny was staying at the club we probably wouldn’t… Read more »
Upamecan we get it done?
who’s captain?
“There is interest in Juventus centre-back Daniele Rugani, but it is understood that the financial figures being quoted by the Italian club are out of Arsenal’s reach.
Reports in Italy have said that Juventus want around £50m for the 25-year-old, who has made seven appearances for the Italian national side.”
HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA
Didn’t know that crack is such a big thing in Italy. £50m for a reserve 25 yo CB with 7 apps for his NT. These guys are hella crazy.
Pedro Arsenal need to have at least 4 registered Centre Backs on our books to fulfil our demanding commitments both in EPL and Europe. The club should be aiming to have at least two CBs who are potentially at the very top level plus another two who are good enough to be included in squad. Personally I don’t know anything about the French player at Leipzig but if both he and Saliba are as good as being suggested then that is of course a good long term partnership. In short term he could play with Sokratis or Holding for this… Read more »
Pierre, Any idiot can see that if Kos didn’t force his move out we would have sold either Chambers or Mustafi, possibly both, and still buy a CB but with much more money at our disposal instead of the £5m pocket change “favor” that Kos forced on us. Kos would have played the minutes that Chambers and Mustafi are going to play. Instead now we’re going to have two CBs worth £40-50m in total stinking the place out in a club they aren’t even wanted. While Kos was wanted and better than both of them. But he forced a move… Read more »
Rap I think they’ve got that £50m figure out of thin air, I think these journos have been making things up as they go along all summer.
If Kos was to stay and we were to sell either Chambers or Mustafi we would have had more money to either buy a quality CB or buy/loan a decent CB and buy Tierney. But Kos threw his tantrum around and you want us to think he did it for the best of our club?! Okay.
To make the point about partnerships Arsenal’s famous backline in 1990s consisted of one outstanding player in Adams plus four other players in
Dixon, Winterburn, Bould and latterly Keown who were all good players, but
not exceptional.
What made them outstanding was they were able to play to each other’s strengths and weaknesses and worked fantastically well as a combination.
At the moment there is very little teamwork in our defence, which is why it is
so poor.
the fact that Kos is on his way out leads me to believe that we probably have an incoming lined up or are confident of getting a deal across the line.
“Only, and only, if we can improve.” How Emery thinks about our defense confuses me. We wanted to sign a CB back in the last January TW but was told that we should wait for the Summer TW. Now we are hearing this excuse. I am speechless.
Leftsidesanch,
It’s either that or Juve don’t want to sell. No club in the world would spend £50m on Rugani. I hope we don’t make a move for him. He’s literally Mertesaker and as much as we loved the guy, the EPL is not a right fit for slow defenders.
I love the Upamecano – Sol Campbell comparison. It’s spot on.
Fsaf
At the end of the day Kosielny should have been let go at the end of last season.
The chambers/ Mustafi situation has no relevance to Kosielny…we have had since January to find replacements and here we are with a couple of days to go and we are at panic stations similar to wenger’s dealings that so many on here were up in arms about.
“the fact that Kos is on his way out leads me to believe that we probably have an incoming lined up or are confident of getting a deal across the line.”
Trying to be optimistic and thinking along the same lines as this too.
GOB
It would literally make no sense otherwise, I’m not sure why it’s taken so long to get in any defenders.
Stroller
“What made them outstanding was they were able to play to each other’s strengths and weaknesses and worked fantastically well as a combination”
Correct.
You should have gone on to say that under this manager there appears to be no priority to build a defence with team work and understanding of eachothers strengths and weaknesses.
“I’m so excited at the prospect I don’t know what to do.
Every time there’s a problem, Raul and Edu just deal with.”
Summer window closing in 2 days,and we have no official news about Upemesomething, so maybe we should calm down a bit ??
“The only thing I’ll have left to moan about is Emery… ”
And I’m sure that you crave to do to it.
Good news is that we succeed to get rid of Kos, I would have prefer it was Mustardi instead, but whatever…
*to do it
(*lol)
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/11778471/arsenal-captain-laurent-koscielny-set-for-bordeaux-move
Leftsidesanch:“the fact that Kos is on his way out leads me to believe that we probably have an incoming lined up or are confident of getting a deal across the line.”
What’s worrying me is that we have the numbers. Compared to last season Kos is gone and Chambers is back. We have Chambers, Sokratis, Mustafi, Holding, Mavropanos as senior CBs, Monreal can cover this position, Medley in the cup games. I still feel we need to sell/loan a CB if we want to get another in. And time is running out.
Upemecano and Tierney in.
Koscielny and Jenkinson out.
Big improvement.
Now just ship the rest of the dross out.
It’s important if we’re going to play with 2 CBs or with 3. If the idea is to play with a pair of CBs then we have the required number. If not, then maybe 1 more is needed.
“I would advocate also that we retain both Holding and Chambers, because like
the French players they would make a good second tier combination. Sometimes a partnership is more important than the individual ability of the
players.”
My Memory of Chambers and Holding playing together was a 4-3 loss at home against the Scousers. Its a NO from me.
@Testicle : add Mustardi on the bench and we’re all good.
Arsenal hope to circumvent £70m fee with Pepe-style payments
Morning,
my worry is, still all the eggs in one basket for tierney.
why no plan B C or D.
mustafi can not stay, we just need to get shot even if its at a small loss
i see jenkinson is linked with Nottingham forest, 5 million euros for koscielny as well, at least the dead wood looks on its way out at last well done Raul!
“mustafi can not stay”
YES HE CAN.
Let’s say we are in for upemacano. Let’s say his club don’t want to sell unless they receive a ludicrous offer. We will have no choice but to pay possibly 20 million above his value as it is too late to find an alternative. Don’t get me wrong , I don’t give a toss how much we pay for him , if he is good enough then buy him . Hopefully this may put to bed the ridiculous assumption that Ozil’s wages have stopped us investing in players . Pepe..72 Salibas…27 Ceballos..15 Martinelli…7 Upemacano…..50 million at least as I can’t… Read more »
Rap, We have the numbers but on a whole we are lacking in competency. Holding put together a decent run of games before his injury but I think the injury (as is often the case with Gooners) has caused fans to rate him better than what he was. He also needs time to get used to playing again, play into form etc after such a big injury. Mustafi is a no at all costs, he’s progressively declining at an alarming rate, and there are question marks over Chambers over the course of a season. The only CB that I have… Read more »
Our defence should have been addressed by June end. It’s very frustrating to see the club stretch this priority to the close of the window. The only way this can be justified is , if the selling club is waiting to get a replacement in without paying exorbitant fees.
Ideally, we need a CB, LB and an utility player who is decent at RB and CB positions. Emery cannot drill a defence that is pretty clear. The last thing we need is players like AMN playing at RB.
Lets hope Raul waves some magic wand in these 2 days.
“Only, and only, if we can improve.” How Emery thinks about our defense confuses me. We wanted to sign a CB back in the last January TW but was told that we should wait for the Summer TW. Now we are hearing this excuse. I am speechless.”
It’s probably Emery telling the board that he doesn’t want any run of the mill defenders added to our existing list of run of the mill defenders as we already have five of those.
Leicester City won the League title by 9 points a few seasons back- all of their crusty back four- were over 30 years of age. If anyone thinks – its sensible spending over £100 000 000 on 2 teenage central defenders- they clearly know nothing ( I mean nothing) about soccer. How many times – have clubs paid out fortunes in young centre halves and realized they are not up to the task? Phil Jones- the next Duncan Edwards, they said Smalling Upson Mangala Stones The Young Turk Leicester bought last season for £20 million Etc You only know about… Read more »
Pedro – Lewis Dunk, that’s who we need. Excellent defender, good on-field leader. Great with his head in defence and attack. Please send email to Raul accordingly.
I predict that this coming season the Ozil obsessives will back off as the usual stick to beat him with ( his contract stopping us investing in p!ayers) has been proven to be totally unfounded.
It will now be all about how he performs on the pitch …and that’s how it should always be ( whoever it is).
I forgot to add Tierney …making a total of 200 million this window which , as far as I’m concerned , is great news for the fans.
https://twitter.com/bbcsport_david/status/1158668280699248641
“Phil Jones- the next Duncan Edwards, they said”
He’s fuck ugly.
“I thank PedRo for his post.”
I thank you for make us laugh on Le Grove.
Nketiah due for loan.
No takers for Mustafi.
Bravo Stew.
Dunk is a proper British Premier league defender.
200 games under his belt
Proper Calves
He would smash Kane and Son all the way into Edmonton Reservoir!
Lil’ P. talking about “Ozil obsessives” ?? You must be f*cking kidding…
Pierre + CG = Laurel & Hardy.
Frankly I will be very surprised if Arsenal buy Tierney in this transfer window
if as being discussed he is struggling with fitness and is unlikely to be match
fit much before late November at earliest.
Arsenal have already committed to buying Saliba who will not be playing for
us until next season. It is pointless committing money on two players who are
unlikely to play for a large chunk of this season.
From my perspective the Centre Back in those circumstances would be the
greater priority.
Pierre, it was always about how Ozil performed on the pitch. The contract just further compounded everyone’s misery. You really are the king of the straw-man.
Do you know Ozil personally, why do you take it so personal?
the inside scoop on Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s ILLICIT courtship.
That was a movie mate
“He’s built like Sol Campbell. He’s a towering figure.”
I hope we did our scouting homework because that can also be used to describe Chris Samba.
“Do you know Ozil personally”
Let’s just say that it’s… private.
(and that it’s not our business)
(lol)
Sending Eddie on a loan is great news. Here’s hoping he does well so we could cash in on him since I don’t rate him all that much.
Ornstein saying that we could still sell Mustafi to a European club is good news. We might take our chances and guess that we’re going to sell him in the next almost 4 weeks until the European market closes. And get a capable CB in.
Marko,
Until Bradley Cooper and his long time girlfriend that he has a daughter from, ex Ronaldo’s Irina Shayk split two months ago. Shiet became real then.
“Any idiot can see that if Kos didn’t force his move out we would have sold either Chambers or Mustafi”
If you are able to sell Mustafi, I will eat my Kos 6 shirt!
Kos was overplayed last season, even without Chambers on the books.
Signing Ozil was grotesque mismanagement by Wenger and Ivan. Absolute waste of money when we already had Santi (and when we needed a striker), and so useless in big games and ridiculously overpaid we can’t get five quid for him on the open market. Nothing player who we’re stuck with, and since no club will match his wages, it seems like the rest of the world agrees.
Would love to get rid of him and from in Coutinho on loan.
“Ornstein saying that we could still sell Mustafi to a European club”
Why not just simply give him to any club ?
Tierney is a decoy Raul will pull a Zaha on him
bring*, not from
(but far away as possible would be the better)
(is there football clubs in Groenland ??)
“Why not just simply give him to any club ?”
It would feel too much like a scam.
(which it is)
Kos was overplayed last season, even without Chambers on the books.
…………
What? A grand total of 29 games. That’s not even a game a week.
(which HE is)
The Clown ( dont laugh) actually intends to utilize Tierney as a centre half.
Hence – why Arsenal are persisting with this ludicrous saga.
If you dont believe me.
Source London Evening Standard.
The rumours amount for Kozz of £5-6 Million is good business and with Arsenal apparently chasing other targets it is now obvious, if for some unfathomable reason it wasn’t before, why you don’t let players like that walk for free.
Jenkinson apparently going for up to £5 Million is also very good business.
I think a loan for Nketiah is the best idea. Either he improves enough to play at Arsenal next year or his value improves and we sell him next year.
Getting really annoyed constantly reading ‘Mustafi wants to stay despite efforts to sell him’, just f**k off.
Well Paulinho wanted to hear something about us looking for a CB from Ornstein and he got it. Looks like something will be on there. Pretty clear Upamecano has always been our first choice. Worth noting though the price and remembering that Ruben Dias has a 55 odd million release clause
Sky Sports just copying-expandinh-pasting Ornstein’s tweets about #AFC is getting so boring now. Dont they have reporters with contacts of their own. Anyways expect to see a CB before the deadline . Upamecano is 20 and already looks better than all of our backline. Has been a starter for Leipzig since he’s 18 and right now every product coming out of Red Bull franchise looks like a gem.70mil would be too much for a 20 yr old imo but if Raul and Edu beleive he’s good enough than snap him up. Looks tough btw for a cash-strapped club still interested… Read more »
Carl Jenkinson to Forest? I could possibly start believing change @ The Arse is really gaining momentum!
LT
Even 29 games is overplayed for Kos as he returned to the first team mid season and has to nurse his achilles literally every day.
I’ve shat on Raul all summer and his previous form warranted it, but if we got upemecano, Saliba, martinelli, ceballos, Pepe in a single summer I will eat my own face as an apology for doubting him… and film it and put it on Instagram because that’s where all the cool kids are these days so I’m told
China1
Everybody had doubts but the Pepe deal just changed the game lol
Also very pleased that kos is out the door
He might not be the worst culprit but besides being way way past it, he’s part of the soft wenger crybaby furniture that desperately needs removing from the squad
Everybody went from nail raul to hail raul
Maybe we should go for Rico instead?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7326445/Arsenal-transfer-news-Kieran-Tierney-boost-Celtic-close-signing-new-left-back.html
#MustardiOut
#OzilOut
#CGout
#PierreOut
#XhakaOut… there’s still some pretty hard work to do.
Out of the players I wanted sold – Ozil, Mikki, Xhaka, Mustafi, Elneny, Jenkinson, I want to believe we’re going to sell the last 3 this transfer window, and the first 3 in the following Winter and Summer TW. This would be sooooo ideal.
not sure if anyone agrees but Upemacano is exactly what we need now .speed and power next to soc is what is required as that is not what he has and seems to get sent off for as we have no other cd even capable and the poor fella has to do it , Soc is a good defender but past his best physically but out of him KOS and mustaffi it is SOC all day long for me to pass on his grit and determination. Fuck Celtic off for the injured left back and concentrate on what is needed… Read more »
CG lots of the most impressive defenders in the last 2 years were young and many successful older CBs were bought at a young age because not all defenders have to be 28 before they start to get it
Pique and ramos were both bought by their respective clubs very early in their careers and went on to be mainstays in repeated CL winning teams
Rio Ferdinand was astronomically expensive for a defender when it’s bought him and was still very young at the time
Lennon speaking out about Tierney has worked wonders for him. If he gets sold ,celtic fans are convinced they sold a broken commodity. And if Arsenal dont buy him just because of an injury layoff which every player suffers , he gets to keep his best player for 1 more year . Anyways Tierney is gonna move sooner or later. There arent many good LB’s available for a paltry 25m now are there.
Wouldn’t give two shits about the price honestly. Liverpool needed a CB they spent 75 million. United needed a CB they spent 80 million. Whatever the price for Upamecano we need him. That whole picking them up when they cost chump change isn’t happening these days.
“I want to believe we’re going to sell the last 3 this transfer window”
Can I offer you some champagne if it happens ?
Finally, Arsenal have rediscovered that the missing piece of the jigsaw has been the African connection.
China: “not all defenders have to be 28 before they start to get it” 100% agreed. It’s a myth that defenders are good only after they become 25+ yo. Most if not all of the top class CBs were top talents and broke in to first team football as 19 yo, then went on to play for 14-16+ years at the highest of levels. At 19 yo Maldini played 27 league games for Milan. At 40 yo Maldini played 30 league games for Milan. You are either top talent at a youth age or you’re not a top talent at… Read more »
Celtic seemingly about to sign their second LB of the summer means there’s no way Tierney isn’t moving. And there’s no way he’s moving anywhere if he’s injured until November. Where the fuck did people get that from by the way? He’s actually training with the ball but apparently he’s out for 3 months.
Actually third didn’t they bring back Izaguirre as well as sign Boli and now Rico Henry?
HL: “Can I offer you some champagne if it happens ?”
1 bottle on you, 1 bottle on me, brother.
I had hopes that Mustafi will up his game but last season was a bad one for him personally. If we manage to get good money for him, Elneny and Jenks, we’d be looking so much better.
“the missing piece of the jigsaw” is someone who would be stupid enough to buy Mustardi.
Elneny is the new Jenks as far as I’m concerned. Has no desire to play professional football consistently and is happy to collect dust off the bench whilst collecting his paycheck. I’d be shocked if we moved him on.
CG dunk Yep ok 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
“Kieran is still feeling pain. He was out kicking a ball on Wednesday and just felt a lot of discomfort. I don’t know how far away he is.”
Yeah. One would think he’s a month away at most. Which would not be that long.
Well if we can get Upamecano over the line you can bin off the idea of a statue and renaming the stadium after Sanllehi – that just won’t be enough.
An added bonus would be that we can also use Chambers at RB if AMN is struggling.
Part of me just can’t help feeling that this is click bait – it might just be “Arsenal just don’t great summers” or “we’ve had out big signing and a bit more”
“He’s actually training with the ball but apparently he’s out for 3 months.”
Arsenal are likely aware of this current prognosis and return too.
Kos to Bordeaux for “up to 5 million euros” (you’d assume based on appearances, as his Achilles’ could go in the first game and force retirement), and Jenks for £2m to Forest. Mustafi unsellable.
Not great, but not terrible.
Yes, its about time Jenkinson left, been with us for far too long.
Good news also about Koscielny.
Let’s up we get more good news between today and Thursday’s TD in regards to more outgoings of the fringe players/deadwood and a CB and a LB/RB.
Marko – I want to hear we are in advanced negotiations with an Upamecano type signing; hearing we are “hoping” to sign a centre back doesn’t really cut it at this stage.