Alexis Sanchez told the world he regretted his move to Manchester United from the very first training session.
“Sometimes there are things that you don’t realise until you get there, and I remember the first training session I had, I realised a lot of things.
“After the session I got home and I told my family and my agent ‘can you not rip up the contract to go back to Arsenal?’. They laughed, I told them there’s something that doesn’t sit right, it doesn’t seem good.
“But I already signed, I was already there. After the first few months I carried on having the same feeling, we weren’t united as a team in that moment.”
Hilarious.
The Chilean was a monster of a player for Arsenal. No doubt. But I feel no empathy for his plight after going to United in one of the most disastrous moves for BOTH clubs. We landed Mikhi, which was horrible. They landed a £400k a week dud. Unreal from his agent, you have to say.
Though I have to say, I’m shocked he didn’t like life under Mourinho. I can’t imagine why people don’t enjoy being called ‘soft cu*ts’ on the daily. Baffling. What is even more surprising is the amount of people online that aren’t willing to laugh at him. Grow up. This is football.
Transfer stories slowed a little bit yesterday, though it does appear that the smoke around some of the exits is accompanied by fire. Lucas Torreira is going to Fiorentina in a deal worth around £24m when it’s all fully executed. The Uruguayan looked like a decent on paper signing, but he didn’t quite have the physical attributes you need to rock it in the Premier League. He also didn’t seem to like the UK. Not a great combo, but at least we’ve dealt with the mistake quickly.
The second player likely to say goodbye is Sokratis. Again, not a terrible player, just not suited to what we’ve ever really needed. We have to have defenders that can cut it with the ball at their feet. Sokratis isn’t exactly a ball-playing centre back, and though he’s strong, he lacks the height you need. Filling out our centre back positions with two giants will go a long way to solving some of our problems, particularly from setpieces.
Stories around Aouar, Hector and Partey have died down… I wouldn’t be lying if I said I wasn’t a little worried about the midfield. Our biggest issue of last season hasn’t even put a bit of make-up on. We need some mobility, we need a creator, and we needed it yesterday. Let’s see if next week brings more exciting news.
A VERY short post today. I’m tidying up the new lick of paint for the site, hopefully, that’ll land with you next week!
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1st
2nd
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tr4phy
wow… That felt awesome
Chelsea are sniffing around Partey now… Thats worse than us not signing him
Tartan paint?
Adios Ben Sheaf! More departures are bubbling through under the surface I hope❤️
Hector Bellerin is more suited on the wings than as a Right back to be honest. He is excellent in overlapping and is fast. Would be a blow if we were to lose him, considering the fact that we dont have a better player for that position.
First 11.
Anywhere??
We really need to get something done with midfield, whatever our plans we need to push them harder. Right now chances are a new CM wouldn’t be available till the Liverpool match and then they’d have likely had limited time training with the squad.
Come on Marc, since when have AFC NOT had a gap in their squad at the start of the season? Must be at least a dozen seasons by now.
Yes managing the available players for the first couple of games with quarantine rules and getting transfers done is going to make the first few games chaotic. We are likely to be really short in midfield at Fulham even if Ceballos signed yesterday . I suspect we will retain Elneny for a while even if he goes before the deadline
AMN could be our Partey.
He can cover other positions too.
What we need is a creator.
England u21s playing later. Nketiah as captain, Nelson to show what he can do before the eventual deadline day loan and Saka. Love him! and finally got recognition he deserves from being on short list for young lad of last season. (this season, is melting into last. It hurts my brain)
Saka could still commit to Nigeria
Nelson – Jamaica
EDDIE – Ghana
Carl Jenkison could be a 42 capped Finland player by now. ❤️
Cebellos can solve our creativity problem if he plays a bit higher on the pitch and Xhaka sitting back.
We can also have our old horse (Ozil) back to solve that issue. Not sure if Ozil ever wants to play for Arsenal though
Alexis is just another on the long list of players sorry to leave mighty Arsenal. In his case his regret is rueful because he engineered his departure himself. Serves him right, one could say.
On transfers, at this time the emphasis must be on selling players, not buying them. By the end of the month the value of players for sale will have dropped, maybe by more than 50%. If Torreira fetches £20+ million now, that might be enough later to buy a top-ranked creative midfielder,
andy
Yeah I know I keep hoping we’re finally going to start getting our shit together.
This season is going to be chaotic with what’s going on we really don’t want to be adrift before things start or kicking ourselves because we let an opportunity to slip through our fingers.
Eddie 8 goals in 8 games England u21
Henry
Won’t Ceballos have to isolate for 14 days once signed?
If so he’s not going to be available for either of our first two matches.
has anybody seen Van De Beek playing. is he really worth 40 mil? seems a bit steep.
The most interesting aspect of the would be Partey Arsenal transfer for me is that he(if rumors are to be trusted) would be tripling his wages in what ,in all fairness , would otherwise be a lateral career move from a CL Atleti to the Europa league Arsenal.
How is a 27 year old La liga player of such a great talent( allegedly) on such low wages?
Sanchez wanted to leave, of that there is no doubt, but he didn’t want it to be to MU.
He ended up at OT because we cocked up.
His heart was set on MC.
That’s ok though, it only cost us £60m.
Never mind.
“has anybody seen Van De Beek playing. is he really worth 40 mil? seems a bit steep.“
Whenever I watched Ajax it was Ziyech who always stoke the show for me, Van De Beek looked less refined and more industrious a player.
Didn’t get me off my seat at all, but apparently there’s an expert view on here which scoffs at my lowly opinion so you’ll have to take it up with the European scouts present for an accurate picture.
But I’m not surprised we’re looking at Aouar instead of Van De Beek.
Van Beek is really good. In my honest opinion better than de Jong, and Barcelona paid 80 million last summer for him. Different players but the market is so confusing at the moment, with the crazy world. It’s probably a good deal for man shit. Although they won’t everyone into there midfield…. Pogba has a massive ego❤️
@Graham –
“That’s ok though, it only cost us £60m.Never mind.”
Probably saved us in the end, if I remember we were ready to turn around and throw 90m at Lemar.
Left testicle
September 4, 2020
Walcott was too ‘nice’ and lightweight for me.
A lot of players would have upped their level if they got a bit stronger. If messi wasn’t built the way he is, he would not be as good as he is.
Ceballos needs to do the same, if he wants to get to the next level as a player.
CC
Aoar, van der beek, doesn’t matter. We can’t afford both.
Get soumare and that’s the end of the window for us. We may get another cheap CM or stick with elneny.
But not much high hopes for cash strapped arsenal.
Pedro
From a personal perspective I would prefer to keep Bellerin. I don’t think that he is half as bad as some post on LG. Let’s judge him more at halfway point this season when he has completed a full 12 months after a serious injury.
Arsenal need to bring in another midfielder during this transfer window in
addition to Ceballos. I still think that it is more likely to be Partey than Aouar.
We should also not forget that Smith-Rowe could be playing for us next season. I think that he has the makings of a very good midfielder.
Jim Lahey
That was a PR stunt.
We weren’t going to “throw £90m at Lemar“
No frigging way.
It was all an act.
Graham
Got to agree with you there – that was one of Wenger’s we tried when he didn’t want to spend any money.
Gonsterous
You want Soumare? He’s far too green for me, has less minutes at the top level than Joe Willock – who isn’t close to being a starter.
Please don’t mention Mr Wenger. He had the best intentions. Nothing to do with the present world we live in.
What’s Auba waiting for?
Perhaps a creative mid before he commits.
Van de Beek is a very good modern 10 with a good nose for goal. 40mil for him is a fair price.
CC
‘But I’m not surprised we’re looking at Aouar instead of Van De Beek.’
VDB agent said we were really interested in him and couldn’t do the deal because we didn’t have the money and ManU acted fast.
Maybe its for the good as I believe Aoaur is a much better player and has a higher ceiling.
That’s the chavs & Psg both sniffing about Partey.*If we’re serious Wed better get a shift on before they throw their loose change at it.
Graham City’s 60mil bid arrived late in the TW. Wenger had agreed to let Sanchez leave to City and eyed Lemar as a replacement. Wenger had agreed a deal with Monaco for Lemar that’s 100% certain but nobody knows how much was the amount. Most reports at the time said the deal was above 90mil. Lemar tho rejected the move as he felt it was too rushed. He was with the National team at that time and reportedly the medicals was going to happen in France itself as there wasn’t enough time. This last minute U-turn made Sanchez react the… Read more »
I would like to think that Auba is holding our feet to the fire before he commits.
It is annoying, as I do think targets are ironically seeing if he commits or not as well.
But we do need a CM or 2 still….
Perhaps he has been given some inside info, and is just waiting for those players to be signed before he puts the pen to the paper
We are a club a nounch higher when it comes to class. Wenger typified and amplified class at Arsenal. We dwell and respect, dignity and value. Although, that took a lot away from us competitively on the pitch. But of pitch, the condusive environment at The Emirates and Cooney are really nice.
No wonder many a players who have left us struggle to find their feet else where. Alexis inclusive.
Atletico paid $77m for Lemar and his return so far has been 3 goals and 6 assists in 3800 total minutes of play over two seasons. Arsenal paid $88m for Pepe and his return so far has been 8 goals and 10 assists in 2700 total minutes of play in one topsy-turvy season. Lemar is 24 and value at $26m by transfermarkt. Pepe is 25 and valued at twice that by transfermarkt $50m. Here’s a question: if you had to bet your house on which of the two club’s fans bitched and moaned more about their respective transfer , what… Read more »
Won’t Ceballos have to isolate for 14 days once signed?If so he’s not going to be available for either of our first two matches.
Marc
You’re correct that was my point. Depending on when he signs ( ed) he will quarantine for two weeks from yesterday when he came back to England . So we have a bit of a problem putting a side together for Fulham
The more I read about Marina Granovskaia the more I can’t help applaud her.
Bear in mind that Hazard was entering the last year of his Chelsea deal. RM it appears paid £36 million up front, £50 million at the end of the 19/20 season and will pay a guaranteed £57 million at the end of this season. That’s £143 million.
Bloody mad
Captain
Not sure how much of that I buy, agents like to make it sound like their man is courted far and wide. Pretty sure he name dropped Barca and Real Madrid too, like if there was genuine interest I doubt 40 mil is a stickler for any of the clubs mentioned.
I agree with you though, Aouar to me seems the vastly superior fit for us. Truth be told not many of the talents from that Ajax side have done much outside their bubble. Expect Ziyech to take to the league well though.
Captain Tierney
When then do you think Sanchez decided he wanted out and for what reason?
My take was that Sanchez decided he wanted out January 2017, about 7 months before £90m Lemar bid and a year before he finally left the club.
Terraloon
The last marquee PL export to La Liga who was remotely worth the money paid was Suarez to Barca.
Chelsea took advantage of the Barca /Real arms race with the Hazard move and so far he’s been disappointing.
For 1 seconde, and one second only, Sanchez thought he was RVP.
“We need some mobility, we need a creator”
MESUT!! lol
CC The agent revealed we were interested after the signing was completed. Dont know what he’s got to gain there by lying. It was also heavily reported that Madrid want him too but they pulled out because of the impact of Covid. My guess is they would rather use that money + additional funds to get Camavinga next summer. Graham I cant say when Sanchez decided to leave but he most definitely downed his tools in the summer when Wenger made a U-turn and kept him against his wishes. Add to that Chile missed out on World cup due to… Read more »
Central midfielder;
Holding midfielder;
Defensive midfielder;
Central defensive midfielder;
Attacking midfielder;
Central attacking midfielder;
Front of the back four midfielder;
….
I think we are simply duplicating same roles with nomenclatures.
What do we really need in the middle of the pitch? Anyone remarkably close to PV4!
Is that available in this market?
A resounding NO!
So why spend a fortune on an empty promise? No reason!
DL can fit…
So can AMN…
Partey is not what we need. Wait for a more well rounded midfielder next TW.
Wow, Barcelona holding Messi hostage he’s just confirmed that he’s staying against his will.
Haha, what could go wrong? Going to be a toxic dressing room.
Chelsea have managed to whittle down Leverkusen’s asking price for Havertz to 62m with 8m in add ons from 100m, impressive work.
Never been blown away by Havertz tbh but he’s an excellent final third player and will add goals to the side. They’ll be a handful next season for the big boys.
Thought it would come to this in respect to Messi.
Would love to be a fly on the wall when the players all meet up again.
————————————
Captain Tierney
Bournemouth 3 Arsenal 3. January 2017.
Remember?
Graham
iirc We made a comeback after going 3-0 down with Sanchez scoring a header and 97th min pen.
Right?
“Wow, Barcelona holding Messi hostage he’s just confirmed that he’s staying against his will.”
I don’t get it.
Stan can’t pay the 700M euros for his release clause ??
With the Messi situation resolved, expect Man City to push hard for Aouar in the next couple of days.
Expect Citeh to push hard for any player available on the market.
Man United reportedly offering 30m for Reguilon, no way Real turn that down for a LB they don’t need.
They’re building a damn good side you have to admit. If they add a CB and somehow get Sancho over the line, I don’t like our chances for 4th barring a fw more big signings on our part.
I kind of feel Messi was probably never going to quit Barcrlona. The entire episode looks like a well scripted power play from Messi to get one over the Barca chief.
WE
Again it’s all about the negotiator.
I don’t know what to expect from Havertyz. He is after all only 21 .
Plenty of plaudits but time will tell
If Mesut is going to stay, we need to play him in the first team somewhere.? He can’t just be a body on the training. It would be bad for the squad if he was hanging around. He has to play some games
“He has to play some games”
He can play for the under 18’s or the ladies team.
I really can’t believe some of the stuff people come up with as answers to our problems. The answer to our lack of creativity will not be Ceballos playing further up the pitch. AMN cannot be our Partey + utility RB/LB defender.
You don’t get better by sticking the same players into new roles without any context. You get better by leveraging what you have into more valuable assets, like what we’re actually trying to do by selling what we have and getting better players.
TR7
I’d say there’s a few more moves to be played out in the Messi / Barca situation.
Here here luteo it’s not FIFA ffs we need 3 players in the middle of the park Dani being one of them
Luteo
It’s strange on here – over the last 2 seasons with a similar squad we’ve gone from good enough to player poverty to players we have who can’t even lock down a position are the solution to our problems.
I’m really not happy with where we are when you look at our position for next weekend – bad enough pre season’s been a mess (obviously not Arteta or anyone else’s fault at the club) but squad wise I think we’re a long way off being ready to compete for a top 4 spot.
Joke Friday A mother was walking down the hall when she heard a humming sound coming from her daughter’s bedroom. When she opened the door she found her daughter naked on the bed with a vibrator. What are you doing?” she exclaimed. The daughter replied, “I’m 35 and still living at home with my parents and this is the closest I’ll ever get to a husband.” Later that week the father was in the kitchen and heard a humming sound coming from the basement. When he went downstairs, he found his daughter naked on the sofa with her vibrator. “What… Read more »
Havertz will head back to bundesliga with tail between legs like Sahin
You heard it here 1st!
That’s quite good Luteo.
Marc If the moves that we’re supposedly talking about like Aouar and Partey plus one more like Coutinho loan, Edouard as a backup CF come off…then we’re challenging for top 4, just challenging, no guarantee by any stretch of the imagination. But if we keep the same midfield with just the addition of a Willian, if we’re being honest it’s gonna be tough to sniff the top 4 over the course of a season. Beating top 6 teams are great but the league is a marathon where quality usually comes out on top, and a midfield with so many questions… Read more »
The only teams that are ready to go at the opening of any season are those with bucket fulls of cash to chuck around. And even those rarely get it right.
So what if we don’t have the players we want in place for the first few games, or even if 14 days isolation extends that period. Most other teams will have the same issues.
It is what it is so we might as well stops beating ourselves up over it and accept the situation.
Luteo
Well I don’t think we’ll be doing deals for Partey, Aouar, a striker and Coutinho.
2 midfielders and another striker would be amazing but I think that’s pushing it. I’d settle for a couple of midfielders assuming the Ceballos loan is already done.
I just don’t think we have the money to do all these deals even with sales.
Karsa
When we’ve picked up 2 points from our first 3 matches could you remind me to accept the situation again?
When we’ve picked up 2 points from our first 3 matches could you remind me to accept the situation again?
You keep saying this and I find it pretty pessimistic tbh.
Our ‘crap’ midfield was too much for most of the top 6 last season and there’s no reason they can’t hold their own this season till reinforcements, hopefully, arrive.
Karsa
Our crap midfield got a couple of good results when it played on the edge of our own box and didn’t venture any further forward.
Post lockdown results in the league – 5 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses. We dropped points in 50% of our matches.
Well I don’t think we’ll be doing deals for Partey, Aouar, a striker and Coutinho. I don’t think so either, I’d be thrilled even if only two more players came in. And obviously that would mean some of the fringe players were sold and that’s half the battle. I was just trying to illustrate even with some improvement to the squad it’s going to be a continuous uphill battle to get to the top. Even if top 4 is achieved in the next two years then I want Arsenal to have the ambition to turn that into a title challenge… Read more »
Marc
If you can’t feel positivity going into a new season i”m not sure being a supporter is for you.
Havertz is not worth that amount. He’s just gonna end up an expensive bench player. Some of these young players are greedy and surround themselves with bad advisors. He should be staying in Leverkusen and possibly turning up at Bayern Munich for the next year or two before moving. Fat Frank isn’t turning him into a world beater that’s for sure.
No surprise Messi is staying tbh, but the club still looks to be in a bad way. Good.
Karsa
I don’t think you’re in any position to tell anyone else who should or how they should support the team.
New signing Salah Eddine (probably Salah-uddin). Just turned 17
Check this little clip.
https://mobile.twitter.com/MakhanyaBG_/status/1301929588537405441
He also trained with the first team today.
Come on Marc, you have to feel positive starting the season with Granit and Elneny. 🤪
Left
You’re really not cheering me up!
Hey Captain,
Nice. Instead of Elneny? 😁
What’s taking so long with the fooking midfield signings?
Marc
Dry your eyes and get behind the team.
This Salah kid plays CAM. Interesting. Those are some impressive close control skills. Can he play on cold night out at Stoke is the real question?
He is behind the team. Hence wanting a better midfield than Granny.
Left
I’m pleased we look like we’ve locked down what should be our starting CB’s for a decade but really the number 1 priority should’ve been at least 1 CM – lined up and ready to sign the moment the window opened.
The front line looks good, Arteta’s got a great problem choosing between 2 keepers, defence has the bodies but will be a bit mix and match for a while but I can live with that. Midfield is a dogs dinner and a shambles.
Our first match is 7 days and a few hours away.
Karsa,
We’re you one of those muppets still defending Wenger when the club was crumbling all around him?
Karsa
Fuck you – don’t tell me how to support my team.
Let’s hope this Salah wonderkid is not another Nacer Barazite. 😀
Er this kid is 17 – let’s not hype him too much just yet.
Add in the quarantine time and our starting midfield is a joke. Shows a complete lack of preparation. Weren’t we told that we have different transfer options? Wait for those people who said that Arteta didn’t have a pre season now state that the new midfielder(s) haven’t had enough time to settle in.
Is Arteta capable of drawing decent performances from Elneny?
From a guy who thinks Elneny is basement level, he does have some skill sets that are amenable to good coaching. Our situation isn’t as bad as some are suggesting.
I’m not dismayed by the signings United are making. They are still going to be beatable to 4th place over an entire season because of OGS.
Good thing we didn’t spend on that Joelson kid when we have our own Salah!!! LOL 😀 Our midfield will eaten alive this season if we don’t sign the right players. As things stand Arteta will have to continue this back five formation if no one is bought. Willian isn’t a creative enough force on the wing and i haven’t a clue what he can do as CAM. Should be an interesting start to the season though.
Nketiah hat trick for the U21s. Lovely stuff
Left
If we were going into a season in this situation with Emery and Sanllehi still at the club Pedro would be going fucking bananas.
Dissenter
“Is Arteta capable of drawing decent performances from Elneny?”
Well we’re going to find out because right now we’re not going to have too many other options.
I’m not saying I like the idea but I suppose we could roll with Luiz in midfield until we eventually sign a midfielder on 5 October.
Left
I can’t see Saliba starting the first match so with Mustafi and Mari injured, Sok on his way I don’t think we’ve got the bodies to move Luiz into midfield.