Free transfer very likely

by .

I’ve penned this opening about 68 times.

Sincere? No

Advisory? Don’t be daft

Funny? Hmm… could age badly

I don’t know where to go with this.

So I’ll just jump in with some bland news. This summer, there’s no money to work with. So when you’re sitting there suggesting we should bring in superstar names like Thomas Partey, you’re off your damn rocker.

To buy, we’re going to have to sell. I think everyone is acutely aware that there’s not a lot of value in our squad. Contract issues, form problems, or players we just don’t want to lose at this stage are all adding up to an awkward window.

I think we’ll have to accept our lot. There will be some big names moving out this summer, and there will likely be an exit we really don’t like. There’s some hope though if we can sell smart.

  • Mikhi – £10m
  • Kola – £20m
  • Auba – £50m
  • Lacazette – £40m
  • Matteo – £40m
  • Xhaka – £35m
  • Hector – £35m (😞)
  • Mustafi – £20m
  • Sokratis – £8m
  • Torreira – £40m
  • AMN – £25m

People scoff at prices and I can’t hear it. We sold Alex Iwobi for £40m. Spurs sold Bentaleb for £19m. There’s a lot of money to be had up there… and Raul’s been doing some extremely questionable deals for his super-agent pals, so I fully expect to be reimbursed with some favours that work for Arsenal this summer.

We’re going to have to build from the ground up. We will have to become Dortmund 2.0. We’re going to have to rely on great coaching, unbelievable scouting, and an absolute change of tune when it comes to how our football operatives play the game.

We also have to hope that we’re not going to become a super-agent dumping ground again. One player I hear is almost a dead cert to join us is Willian. The 31-year-old Brazilian’s wife said she wants to stay in London and guess who that suits? Kia J. This is who we are right now and I really don’t like it. The only thing that stops this being a sleepless nights issue is his Arsenal fandom.

Willian is a great player, but Arsenal is a club under huge financial strain and we’re adding more players into the mixer that aren’t in the right age bracket for a business model that absolutely demands we find undervalued gems and flog them for huge amounts of money. We’ve spent 5 years trying and failing with more experienced players that are on the decline. I just don’t see how this sort of move represents a leap forward in thinking, outside keeping Kia happy.

Still, we’re also being linked to 19-year-old Orkun Kokcu. The Turkish creator is talked about as a Mesut Ozil successor. He has more energy than our German, he’s strong, likes to shoot and he’s an athlete. Exactly the sort of talent you hope we’re going to be interested in this window.

You bring in 5 players of his ilk, 3 of them make it, you sell one in 3 seasons time and have your Coutinho moment. What would Willian cost? £200k a week? That’s 4 young players with 2 seasons under their belt. I feel like we keep making the same mistakes over and over with senior players… but what can we do?

Stay safe, be good to your Roomba, treat your pets nicely, and don’t do anything stupid if you’re over 30… like get a TikTok account and start posting because you’re just ‘soooo zany.’ It’s embarrassing. That’s for the kids, not you. Put it away.

See you in the comments where we’ll keep it very much about football again. xx

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Marc

Un

That was fucking hysterical.

WengerEagle

Who are your favourite actors? I tend to go by performances more than body of work but for the latter it’s hard to look past De Niro, Pesci, Nicholson, Caine from the older school.

Denzel, Hanks, Samuel L, Gary Oldman, Spacey for nineties/early noughties and from the new school Christian Bale, Ed Norton, Leo DiCaprio, McConnaughey, Pitt, Hardy.

Marc

WE

Have you seen State of Grace?

Marc

Something different for any real film buffs. Michael Mann directed Heat with Pacino and De Niro etc in the mid 90’s but he also directed the same story in the late 80’s as a film called LA Takedown.

LA Takedown was a low budget, made for TV type movie which he revisited when he could demand a bigger budget.

Its quite interesting to watch the two in comparison.

Wasi

Smart by Pedro to write about transfers because it is something fans can talk about to lengths even when there is no football around. Lets get to it. Pedro you’ve listed 11 players there and somehow forgot about Elneny which would make it 12. It would be some task to sell and replace 12 players in one transfer window I think. Nearly Impossible imo. And even if it was possible,it probably wont have the desired effect. By replacing 12 players we are literally signing another team with a substitute. It will affect the team chemistry, friendships, etc etc. The squad… Read more »

Wasi

I forgot to mention. The squad building over the last 5-6 years has been very bad which is clear for all to see. Our squad value is very low if you compare it to the other big 6. That is due to poor squad planning and being complete idiots in the TW. We only really have Auba who can be sold for 50m and that is our best player and captain right there. Auba with 2 or 3 yrs on his deal is well worth 80m. That is poor planning. Compare that to Chelsea , Manu, Spurs. Kante easily 80m+… Read more »

Just Another Customer

any chance of one guy stuck somewhere in some big clubs to come here for redemption?

or are we through that stage too

Tony

China Been researching Locura by Yasmin Levy this morning and so far can’t find any reference to the instrument you’re looking to name:- Seems her songs are influenced from the middle 1500s including instruments: Darbuka, Oud, violin, cello and piano but so far no sign of any form of pipes have been named. As pipes were associated with early Greek music, which Yasmin also incorporates I’d hazard a guess that the instrument is either the following or a derivative: The ”diaulos” (double-aulos) “It was the most popular ancient Greek wind instrument. It consisted of two diverging pipes, suspended at their… Read more »

Tony

If Covid-19 is responsible for Arsenal to drop in value sufficiently I wonder if that would motivate Kroenke to sell?

Emiratesstroller

The most likely departures are: 1. MKHITARYAN who is out on loan and apparently wanted by Roma if price is right. They will probably want to pay £10 million or less for 30+ player. 2. ELNENY who is out on loan and unwanted. Turkish clubs will want him on loan rather than paying transfer fee. I doubt that he will fetch more than £10 million in current market. 3. SOKRATIS is no longer guaranteed starting X1 place. We are overloaded with mediocre centre backs. At his age would probably fetch less than £10 million. 4. AUBAMEYANG will be sold if… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

In the past it has been suggested that Kroenke never sells assets.

However, I do think that Arsenal could be the exception.

1. It is the only overseas sports franchise in his portfolio.

2. He has huge financial commitments in his US Franchises including building a new stadium.

3. Arsenal is now a diminishing assets due to the drop in value of sterling and
our declining performance. You need to factor in potential loss of sponsorship
and reduced gates as well.

4.It will require a huge investment to bring club back to level it was previously
at.

Moray

Have to agree with the above comments. The big money days of Football are gone. People will think twice about buying a season ticket next season, even if the grounds reopen. The sky subscriptions will be an extra expense for people who have lost their jobs as their companies close or their jobs become automated. People who lose half of their savings and pensions are not going to be shitting a grand a year to watch Football. Sponsorships will evaporate as marketing budgets are some of the first to dry up when cost-cutting measures are imposed. We get a chance… Read more »

Moray

Stroller, like other investors, Kroenke may look at this crisis and suppressed prices to make further deals. If so, he’s not going to get rid of his ballast (AFC), unless it starts to lose value. There will always be money in Football in the UK due to the National obsession.

Emiratesstroller

Moray

These are not normal situations.

Arsenal’s status has dropped like a tombstone under Kroenke’s ownership.

Leaving aside Coronavirus I don’t see the owner showing the requisite ambition and being prepared to make the requisite investment in what is
becoming a failing project under his stewardship.

Dissenter

My tupence about why Italy was especially hit the hardest. 1. Italy perfected the art if keeping their citizens very old, that gave corvid-19 the perfect substrate even though the health care system is just as good as anywhere in the western world. Italy has more beds per capita that the United States. 2. The industrial north of Italy had a special relationship with China’s “ belt and road memorandum” deal. That brought in a lot of Chinese tourists and factory workers, There were as much as 200,000 Chinese visitors to that part of Italy/monthly … big money because the… Read more »

Tony

More to the point with Kroenke is that how much Covid is going to affect his US sports franchises.

he could take a hit at home and abroad.

Will Dangote step in earlier the he anticipated?

Freddie Ljungberg

https://amp.sportsmole.co.uk/football/arsenal/transfer-talk/news/arsenal-weighing-up-odsonne-edouard-swoop_393761.html

Lots of reports linking us to Edouard today, yes please.

Selll Auba and Laca and get Edouard and a top notch CM like Partey or Soumare in and we’ll be better off overall.

Also links to Evan N’Dicka, would be a good Upamecano alternative for a decent chunk less money.

https://amp.sportsmole.co.uk/football/arsenal/transfer-talk/news/liverpool-arsenal-monitoring-evan-ndicka_393759.html

Exactly the kind of signings we need to make to progress.

Sid

Nobody will buy Mustafinovs in this market, Elneny and Mikhi max is 5 m each, xhakalson is at most 20 if we are lucky

Sid

A second dog with an infected owner has caught covid19

Wasi

Apparently we are interested in Coutinho and guess who his agent is?

Its Kiasoft.

Guns of Hackney

Lolz. There isn’t going to be any football. The money is gone.

Alexanderhenry

Tony and ES

Good points.
The silver lining to this Covid crisis could be Stan selling up.
He’s committed to building the new Rams stafium remember.
Fingers crossed

CG

Alex H

“””The silver lining to this Covid crisis could be Stan selling up.”””””

But he has to find a buyer.

And buying soccer clubs is not on any oligarchs current list of priorities.

As we all know- in order to sell something, you need to find a buyer first.

But there are no buyers in town for soccer clubs or indeed players.

There are people out there, who genuinely think we will be selling our dross for circa £300 million.

Are they mad or is it me?

Freddie Ljungberg

“Are they mad or is it me?”

Don’t fall for it, it’s a trick question.

Ishola70

The Womens Soap Soccer League is taking place.

Young ladies rolling around in soap suds.

You may be lucky enough to watch it here below:

https://1xzone24.ru/

Terraloon

Before the outbreak Arsenals finances were in a mess and things are just going to get a whole lot worse. To suggest that some of the dross listed will go for anything like being suggested is just fantasy. To those that think clubs are going to be paying monies on that sort when they too will be experiencing cash flow issues you need to get a grip. Bear in mind that Arsenal already have substantial commitments in terms of historical transfers which will have to be met and if the cash surplus is impacted by tens of million due to… Read more »

Ishola70

Brazil just about to play England in the soap soccer womens league.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

So today we are linked with Sean longstaff,
Out of contract in June…

Fact or fiction.

NEEG

There are those that doubt Silent Stan could find a buyer – wrong. Look no further than Alisher. He will not acquire any shares in Everton – his investment is purely sponsorship. He still owns a ‘double box’ at the Emirates and his loose change covers Stan’s wealth.

Marc

RSPC

It’s silly season gone mental – click bait into overdrive. You’ve got the perfect storm for journalists, thousands of fans with no football to watch who are also cooped up at home.

I’m waiting for it to be announced that Arsenal are going to sign the first extra terrestrial player.

Moray

If the club fails to remain self-sustaining then for sure there is an imperative for wiggy to sell. Even if the value is halved he will make a profit.

Football is very tight-wired: salaries, deferred payments, money spent one year based on the next year’s income. It will only take a few months’ disruption for many clubs to be in the shit.

Nelson

I read a report: ” Reports in Spain claim Serie A sides are on the brink of slashing player wages by between 20 and 30 per cent due to the coronavirus outbreak.”

Is a government allowed to do things like that?

CG

Moray “””If the club fails to remain self-sustaining then for sure there is an imperative for wiggy to sell. “”””” How can any club expect to be self sustaining, when it shells out £100 million on Pepe and Tiereny alone? What did The Dopes think these two were going to do? Recoup that outlay by selling them on for a profit or were they going to propel us to the Champions League later stages? ( where the big money is) Stan has allowed the lunatics to run the asylum. It will cost him and the fans big time. But the… Read more »

Nelson

I think that the government can come up with a special coronavirus tax on the football players since they are not working.

Micheal

Kroenke’s toy: Everyone and everything has a price and we could be reaching the trigger point for Sleazy Stan. Because he has, so far, not milked AFC by withdrawing huge sums from the business, he has relied largely on the vlaue of “asset” or “soccer-ball franchise” increasing in value. That has now changed. All clubs, big and small, are in severe danger and their intrinsic value is falling. Kroenke must now decide whether this is a temporary blip and that the value will rebound when normal service resumes. Or more likely in my opinion, the fundamentals of football finance have… Read more »

Just Another Customer

tfw footie only exist virtually now

need to plug the waya to experience the maya

Arteta’s Hair

Ummm Kroenke takes money out already, not vast sums but discreet payments under a different heading!!

He will not sell as we are a cash cow for him

Wasi

CG
Then what transfer strategy do you want to see.

Valentin

Looking at the rumour of the players Arsenal is linked with is getting funnier by the day. The summer where Raul insisted we went for experienced (Lichsteiner, Sokratis, …), I mentioned that we should go after younger CBs instead (Söyüncü, Todibo, N’Dicka). Of course the same usual trolls insisted that Raul knew what he was doing: Lichsteiner and Sokratis were great purchase. Like I said at the time if a player can’t cope with the physicality of the Italian league, there is no chance of he would be able to cope with the EPL. Lichsteiner legs were gone. Sokratis’s club… Read more »

Wasi

“Everybody was happy to congratulate each other on Arsenal winning the TW.”

This aged well.😭

Freddie Ljungberg

Val Wasn’t Gazidis still in charge when we signed Licht and Sok? And as far as I remember Sven was the head scout then. This is the same bullshit some people use against Raul when they blame him for hiring Emery. We bought Sokratis from Dortmund, which Turkish younger teammate are you thinking of? Because Soyuncu played for Freiburg before Leicester bought him. We didn’t address any of the flaws in the squad? Our whole squad was a flaw, except strikers. We didn’t have a DM, we didn’t have any real wingers, etc etc We bought a CF with world… Read more »

Spanishdave

Tomorrow all our civil liberties will be removed.
For this

Spanishdave

Football players values are in free fall.
Most teams in Europe are struggling at best to survive.
No income , no sales they cannot continue.
They will not be able to pay wages, and future contracts will not go up but down.
The golden age of extreme wages is over.
Mass unemployment is the next disaster, then riots.

Wengaball

So everything that was trashed is back in vogue again. Get back into top 4. For how many years we heard that was not good enough for Arsenal. Buy undervalued young players. We did that for 10 years but the constant clamour was spend on big names. David Dein once quoted Wenger as saying “David, the only certainty with a big name player is big money.” All through the frugal years he somehow still managed to have a team filled with talent and creativity who could play good football. And guarantee champions league. Wenger’s latter years were a disaster had… Read more »

Freddie Ljungberg

Wenga, Don

Who was the last great youngster Wenger bought with the potential of Martinelli or Saliba?

Or the ones we’re linked with like N’dicka, Edouard, pape Gueye etc?

Cesc? Maybe Bellerin 8 years ago? Far and few between in the last decade that’s for sure.

Do a lot of people want to see what we had in the early Wenger years? Sure, why the fuck not, it was great when we picked up fantastic players on the cheap/young. He completely lost his touch a long time ago though so harping on about it is useless.

Marc

Didn’t we sign Saliba (a young CB with huge potential) after Gazidis left and with Sanllehi in charge?

Marc

Un

Glad your keeping your sense of humour.

Apparently Greta Thunberg has made a statement to the UN saying Corona Virus has stolen her limelight.

Freddie Ljungberg

Marc

Get your stories straight, Sven has already got the credit for that one by Val.

Marc

Freddie

Sorry but with the goal posts moving so much I struggle to keep up!

Freddie Ljungberg

Marc

Ok, I’ll help you out, it’s pretty simple actually.

Good signing – Sven (doesn’t matter if it was before or after his time)

Bad signing – Raul

Good signing now – Edu (possibly still working off Svens list)

Man, that Sven seems like a wonderful guy with the world at his feet, wonder what he’s doing now…………………………….

Marc

Freddie

Yeah but surely if Edu makes a good signing then Sanllehi should get some credit for hiring Edu?

Freddie Ljungberg

Marc

No, no, you’re not getting it.

Raul can’t get credit, Sven is controlling him with a voodoo doll, but only for the successful decisions. The rest is his own fault.

CG

Wasi “”””CG Then what transfer strategy do you want to see.””” Exactly the type our Wenger used to enact. Buying players that fit into his system or what we require to strengthen the team within the budget set. That’s why we ALWAYS balanced the books under him. We didn’t need Pepe, Tierney, Cedric, Mari, Luiz, Lich, Sok to name a few. But if it suits Don Raul, Edu and their despicable chums, that’s who we are getting in now. We have fans like you ( and you are wonderful by the way) that actually think transfer windows are won or… Read more »

Marc

Freddie

OK – Sanllehi = bad, Sven = good and everyone else is ignored unless we can blame Sanllehi for something they did.

Have I got it now?

Freddie Ljungberg

Marc

Yep, that seems to be the deal. You got it bang on now.

Valentin

Marc, Raul realised that despite his best effort, he was out of his depth with regard to transfer at Arsenal. He tried his connection approach and all he got to show for is Suarez and Ceballos. Hardly great successes. He is now hiding behind Edu and Arteta. The main difference as well is that while he was able to push his agenda on Emery who did not had final say, Arteta has final say. So he is able to push back on players. Any failure was seen as Emery’s failure while now any failure will be seen as Raul’s failure.… Read more »

Freddie Ljungberg

“The main difference as well is that while he was able to push his agenda on Emery who did not had final say, Arteta has final say. So he is able to push back on players. Any failure was seen as Emery’s failure while now any failure will be seen as Raul’s failure.”

I tried to run that paragraph through my logicbot3000 and it exploded.

Val, you owe me a new logicbot.

Valentin

Marc, Again Sven purchased some players who I did not agree with and I made those points clear. I don’t consider him infallible. Leno at the price we paid was a mistake for me. Sven was hired to spot untapped talent but outside of Mavrapanos, Guendouzi and Saliba he was never able to do so. Asking him to scout Lichsteiner, Sokratis was a waste. However you seem to consider that Raul has done no wrong. In my opinion he has done more wrong than right for this club. Last summer it was obvious we needed a central defensive midfielder, a… Read more »

Marc

Valentin

You’re quite mad.

Arteta has final say now but any failure will be Sanllehi’s. However when Emery had no say it was his failure not Sanllehi’s.

Did you actually read what you typed?

jwl

Valentin – Arsenal employ more than one person, Edu is in charge of proper squad building, Raul is his boss and who also oversees many other departments.

CG

The G

“””””Arsenal needed a proper squad builder. Somebody who has a vision for the kind of players Arsenal needs: Young, hungry, willing to learn, talented but not yet spotted by the big clubs. Somebody who knows the players of lower teams in the top league or the top players of the lower league in France, Germany and England.””””””””

that sounds like Wengerism 2.0

And apart from a few wallies on here- surely no one would object to Wengerism 2.0.

Because Wengerism 1.0 was a magnificent chapter in Arsenal history.

Luteo Guenreira

Pretty much the entire world has changed but nice to see that the immutable Le Grove remains persisting with the same arguments of years past.

Don’t die people. Especially the old timers. See you on the other side.

jwl

I wonder if teams might trade players this summer, like North American leagues do, because of liquidity issues. It would make sense for teams to swap players, no transfer fees would have to be paid and still bring in new players.

Valentin

Freddie, Easy to understand, it was easy to push that Emery was solely responsible for the failure of Arsenal. However if the same thing repeat itself, then it would become very difficult for Raul to pretend that it had nothing to do with him. Emery never had the courage to rock the boat. Even when he disagreed with some recruitment he was never going to make it public. Raul was able to overrule any decision and people would still blame Emery. Emery has since made it clear that he wanted Zaha and not Pepe. Same thing he wanted a CB… Read more »

Marc

Valentin

We couldn’t get Zaha – what Emery wanted was irrelevant. I want a DB9 but I can’t afford one – end of.

We needed a wide player – we got a wide player.

Spanishdave

Un
Tomorrow the government are going to pass a bill that gives them power to stop freedom of movement. They will be able to without motive stop anyone being in public places that they have declared no go areas.
This is now madness of the highest degree and will do untold damage to this country for a whole generation.
Some doctors and scientists are starting to question this whole panic which they are saying is unnecessary.
There will be public disturbances when people go bust.

Chris Lambden

The big money days might be over short term
The game has to restart first