The Arsenal loans department is cranking through the gears as they race to move players out of the club so they can free some space for inbound players.
William Saliba has moved to France, picking Nice as his go-to. He’ll certainly land minutes due to their injuries, and hopefully he’ll play well so we can have him in the first-team squad next season, or sell him in the summer. I’ve never known an entire country to get so angry at a 19-year-old centre back not making it in the Premier League. The French media and their pundits have been nothing short of embarrassing when it comes to Big Will. L’Équipe claimed we were looking to sell him this month, untrue. Then, after we loaned him with no options to sell, they’re pushing that we’re maybe, possibly, loaning him the whole of next season. Why would Nice commit to that now? Why would Arsenal? Embarrassing carry-on.
What also has to be put down on the record is the abysmal handling of this. It was almost more boring than the Mesut stuff. Saliba might not be it, and that is fine, we’ve all fallen in love with Youtube super comp videos only to be disappointed. What is outrageous is that we didn’t make a decision on him until very, very late in the day, and it was so late we didn’t have a loan option for him. By price-tag alone, he is a generational talent. That is the message the world needs to know and believe. He should have been sent back to France or given a chance in the Championship so we could build him up to either start or sell. Instead, we soiled his name, and put a big BUYER BEWARE sticker on him. Very, very silly.
It’s also kind of baffling that Mikel Arteta has been sold as a top coach, but he chose not to coach William Saliba? Too rough for our Europa League squad, but Runarsson is our second choice keeper? Stronger technical leadership would not have allowed that to happen. Hopefully, the player takes his chance at Nice and we do get to see him next season.
I think the next big moves out the door will be for Mustafi and Sokratis. Those two need some game time in their legs to ensure the next deals they land are suitable. Liverpool lost last night, they could do with a center-back? There should be plenty of clubs interested in two very seasoned professionals that have both won trophies. That’d be another £180k a week off the wage bill.
There are also some rumblings that Eddie might find himself a loan move to somewhere like Leeds United. Not sure of the veracity, but it’s hard to see him landing minutes in this current moment. There are at least three players you’d rather see in that position, maybe 4 if you LOVE the Balogun hype.
I really hope that we find loans for the youngsters that aren’t finding minutes. What’s the point in keeping Willock if he doesn’t play in the Premier League? Same for Reiss and Cal Chambers. If they aren’t playing here, send them on loan, pump their value, then sell them in the summer.
The inbound rumblings mostly focus on Emi Buendia. The creative midfielder is way better than the Championship, but is, according to reports, happy in Norwich. Come on people, really? I’ve stayed with friends up there and I am simply not having that an Argentinian is buzzing about pints at The Fat Cat, elite as those pints might be.
If Arsenal comes a-knocking, he’d have to take the move. We’d just have to hope that he’s a Jack Grealish over a Saïd Benrahma. He created 83 chances in the league last season, those numbers can’t be ignored. ESR has made a huge impact at 19 years old, if you were a betting man, you’d say that Emi could at the very least offer what he has to the side.
We’ll see though…
Finally, LIVERPOOL lost to Southampton last night. The league is very, very tight this season. 5 wins on the bounce and you can make serious moves up the table. I think we have to accept that Hassenhutl’s side might be top 4 contenders this season. Our clash with them at the end of the month is going to be absolutely huge. We simply cannot afford to drop points against Newcastle or Palace.
Right, listen to the podcast, then, and ONLY then, can you go.
Ozil is getting into a bidding war – hahaha
DC v Fener
Pedro Smith Rowe is 20 btw
Please leave ozil just so Pierre can cry in his pillow
Buendia rumours are a total scam.
1) Norwich looking good for promotion
2) Arsenal are not going to spend much in January
3) He is under contract until 2024.
Do the hands count for offside ?
If Ozil leaves it’ll be a miracle.
The League Cup semis is only one leg this season?
Pedro’s getting really worried: if Ozil leaves then that would cause a 40% reduction in overall posts and traffic on Le Grove.
Pierre’s Ozil posts alone contribute to 30% of total traffic on here.
Bacary
We could always buy Buendia for £30 million or so and loan him back to Norwich for the next couple of years….that might work for Norwich…
Words – are you serious? why would we buy a player to loan out for 2 years. I get doing it to the end of the season for a reduced or deferred fee. But 2 years? we might as well burn £30 million in notes in the centre circle
Sad news on Colin Bell RIP – one of the greats whose career cruelly cut short by that animal Martin Buchan
Apparently City named one of their stands after him but it became known as the Bell End so they changed it! True story so my mate tells me
Northbanker
😀 not being serious mate
We could always buy Buendia for £30 million or so and loan him back to Norwich for the next couple of years….that might work for Norwich…
________
Hahaha Exactly Words… Trust the Process.
How is Le Grove doing today? Saliba situation is just plain weird. .. add it to the list of bizarre Arsenal dealings over the years. Looks like we are going all Park Chu- Young on Saliba. Or Joel Campbell… Fight like hell to get a highly rated young player then never or barely ever play them or send them off to loan purgatory. Pedro did say … Arteta should do like Wenger.
The current winning run has alleviated pressure for new signings. The way things are shaping the only pressing need is a decent back-up GK. In any case it would have been a sell-to-buy policy
The main focus will be to get rid of unwanted players. They clutter-up the dressing-room and are bad for morale. I hope Ozil heads the list of departers. Right now, who wants to get rid of Laca? Nobody. And Auba will hit form again. And those who doubt Nketiah will be proven wrong.He is a natural instinctive goal poacher.
Middy
I fear even Sherlock Holmes wouldn’t be able to truly understand Arsenal even
after years of forensic analysis of the Park Chu Young mystery.
Ozil is eligible to negotiate with any team now. I bet he is setting up his new contract for Summer. MLS won’t resume until Summer anyway.
Since Solskjaer isn’t dropping De Gea for Henderson, and Henderson wants first team football to become England’s number 1, I’d test United’s resolve with a £20m offer.
Performed wonders for newly promoted Sheffield Utd last season and he has significant potential.
Why would Henderson leave man U as second gk and come to us as second gk?
Pedro
All for getting rid of Musti/Sok and actually did think of Liverpool taking one of them. They are desperate for a CB and whatever else you can say about them they are experienced and PL adapted. Just depends if we would feel like doing a favor to a rival? Could we overtake Liverpool in this weird season?? Either way, hope they are out the door soon enough and take Mesut with them. Can’t get on board with loaning out Chambers though. With Saliba, Kola, Musti and Sok all gone that would leave only Holding as a natural right sided CB if we dumped Chambers too. Way too risky, we need to keep him around as a squad option.
Also no need for a backup LB, Cedric and AMN can cover there adequately if needed.
This whole no game for 7 days thing is a bit boring isn’t it? :/
For me he is more reliable than Leno and maybe would come to Arsenal if he was first choice, and sometimes if you want to be back amongst the best you have to take a punt.
It’s not even a risky signing, he is homegrown and PL quality.
We could at least enquire, the worst that happens is they say no, but Henderson isn’t going to sit on the bench forever.
Isn’t Henderson supposedly on 100k weekly?
He’s United starting goal keeper in waiting . There’s no way he’s leaving them to come to us.
Henderson was performing well but was also guilty of some awful clanger last season. I am not convinced that he would be an upgrade to Leno.
Between the high price, the high salary and not the huge increase in quality (if any), getting him would not make sense.
I like Henderson but assuming our funds are limited due to previous catastrophic transfer decisions, I would rather us spend 3-5m on an experienced back-up keeper, preferably one with some Premier League experience.
It’s only an idea.
Let’s just rule out the notion that Arsenal ever show any real ambition, as illustrated by you all rubbishing the buying of a talented young English goalkeeper.
De Gea has shown United a lot of loyalty and doesn’t look like he is being dropped any time soon, which is a reflection of his quality, not a slight on Henderson’s ability.
He practically kept Sheffield Utd out of a relegation scrap last season.
Henderson probably wouldn’t even entertain a move to Arsenal, but it’s probably the only thing that would compensate selling Martinez.
“De Gea has shown United a lot of loyalty”
… in exchange for the highest goalie wages
De Gea isn’t among the top 5 goal keepers in the league.
“It’s also kind of baffling that Mikel Arteta has been sold as a top coach, but he chose not to coach William Saliba?”
Most people (well at least here) bought that off you Pedro
It’s much harder to teach shit players to be great than world class players like Sterling who was already near the top of the game.
Now I’m not saying Saliba is shit, but there are definitely some players in our squad that are, hence our worst start to the season with a man who can’t coach to the required level at the helm.
Dissenter
Based on your opinion.
He was United’s player of the year three or four years running, and he’s still Spain’s first choice so he’s got a few miles on the clock yet.
United would have to sell De Gea for Henderson to become first choice, and I doubt Ole would be brave enough to chance those consequences. It would be brave of any manager to sanction the sale of De Gea.
Jp,
“We’ve not handled the situation well so far but we paid the money because we thought he was a generational talent. Someone who can be a mainstay in the team for the next 10-12 years. As long as he maximises his potential what does it matter if he breaks into our first team now or in a years time?”
The thing with this is that it wasn’t this regime that purchased him. It was Raul (as well as Emery most likely being on board bringing him into the team when we returned from loan).
Arteta just doesn’t rate him which is fine, but they way they fucked up loaning him out and not even giving him a sniff of first team football even in cups really is disgraceful
Herbs Army
De Gea hasn’t been a top goalie for at least three seasons
All we do here is render opinion that are all subjective of course.
Zacharse
“I hope to see some smart moves in the window and that if hes the real deal he’ll show that his promotion has effectively ended the backroom incompetence- or at least is phasing it out”
I’ve posted the link so many times here of Vinai saying on Arteta’s promotion that in fact Arteta was working above his pay grade from when he first came to the club.
I don’t think his promotion changed jack shit apart from the fact he’s now technically on par with edu in title.
Dissenter
It doesn’t really bother me whether De Gea is rated, I just see a situation at Utd where a potentially top quality English goalkeeper wants first team football, and even after a really good season on loan in the PL where his performances got rave reviews, he is still behind De Gea in the pecking order.
If they can buy RvP from us, we should buy Henderson from them.
But of course, I’m painfully aware it will never happen.
Herbs Army
We both know it won’t happen so there’s that.
We just need to get an older premier league goalie on the way out just like Spuds got Joe Hart as back up goalie.
There has been a lot of discussion about Saliba most of which is frankly opinion with little
substance.
Let’s be totally honest he has yet to play in the first team and by all accounts his performance level even when playing for the U23s was not exactly overwhelming.
This may be down to a variety of reasons including reference to mother’s death and not settling in quickly to a strange country.
The fact is that selecting a young Centre Back when he is not playing particularly well in the
first team would be “high risk”.
We have a lot of Centre Backs on the books at the moment. Most are frankly pretty average at best, but if Arsenal and manager in particular have made the decision not to register him
then you have to conclude that Saliba was not up to scratch when the decision was made.
The idea that Arteta is prejudiced or a poor judge of young players is ridiculous when most
who post on here have not seen him play in England and don’t know the facts.
Arsenal will be shifting out of club a lot of CBs in next two transfer windows. My guess is
that there will be plenty of opportunity for Saliba to come back next season and prove his
ability. If not then Arsenal will go out on market and find a replacement.
“The idea that Arteta is prejudiced or a poor judge of young players is ridiculous when most”
Is this the same guy who benched Martinelli for Eddie we’re talking about?
Not exactly the only example of poor judgement of player ability either.
Saliba has by all accounts been much better than Mari when they played together in the u23s and he’s been doing ok thus far. From any angle you look at it it’s been poorly handled. He faced teams like PSG and Lyon the last 2 years and played in Europa last year, no way he couldn’t have played in at least the cups for us.
ES
” There has been a lot of discussion about Saliba most of which is frankly opinion with little
substance. …”
Quote from Ursea Nice manager below;
“William is a player with a lot of personality, a personality that didn’t waste any time in revealing himself. With what he showed before leaving for England, honestly, talk about his age, I don’t even take that into account. Either a player is good or not, that is what interests me. It is not easy to succeed in St Étienne’s defence, no matter your age.”
He might have seen him play a few times before , so I guess some people’s opinions Carry more weight than others.
Fred
for sure there was something weird going on with this Saliba thing.
Seems vendetta ish to me, but who knows.
maybe Saliba was caught talking shit about mike and Xhaka ratted him out?
Xhaka being Mikes pet and all….
No seriously, its just weird
Words on a Blog
We could always buy Buendia for £30 million or so and loan him back to Norwich for the next couple of years….that might work for Norwich…”
Looks likely scenario with our Ketchup Sauce , thinking how American chop souyey originated with all all left overs scrapped from plates and Arteta brand dollops mixed in.
Why is that we talk about someone like Nicolas Pepe after his arrival and suggest he might need time to adapt to English football, yet expect Saliba to be ready when he’s far less experienced in terms of top flight appearances? Especially when he’s a defender and, like it not, their mistakes are scrutinised more heavily because they’re usually much more costly. A winger fluffs a chance or fails to beat a man, he’s given encouragement to do it again and try again. A centre-half who cocks up the offside trap, doesn’t win a header or mark his man costs his team a goal at this level, and there’s very little forgiveness or understanding when that happens.
Don’t worry, we’ll all be able to see for ourselves sooner or later, just how bad he is. Now that he’s been freed from prison. 😆
Which will help us see how good a judge of talent Mikel actually is, cos so far ;
” There has been a lot of discussion about Arteta’s ability most of which is frankly opinion with little
substance. …”
Freddie L
Totally agree. Looks there are lot of blinkered opinions who make judgement based on what Arteta says. In banana Republic too mis – information too is served consistently and the lemmings think like how their Tin Pot Dictator would want them to think.
Yes we saw Saliba for few minutes in pre season friendly immediately after he joined and ,yes he gave away the ball in headers. Not enough to judge considering circumstances and he was in mourning. But more than enough to serve as an alibi for Our Tin Pot dictator after Saliba differs with him.
Chi
Pepe will never make it in England or at least with us.
He is a one trick pony incapable of changing his style of play to suit the team needs.
Pepe always does a Pepe.
Sell this summer please
Chi
Hard to adapt if you never play, at all. Not even in the cups.
No one would have complained if he didn’t get much playing time in the PL but were playing fa, league and Europa games.
It’s the complete omission of someone labeled a generational talent, with decent senior experience, that’s so baffling.
also a big NO to brandt this window. Just not impressed with him and fail to see how he can help us and in what position too
Surely Saliba is a better goalkeeper than Runarsson? I reckon I probably am. Should we not keep Saliba around the club in case of injury to Leno?
Seems like a good time to be doubling Saliba’s salary too…
lets hope Saliba has some storming performances with Nice. However good he is or not, Arteta has dealt with the matter incompetently by simply not including him and then leaving him to languish in u23s. This was totally disrespectful.
It’s probably another irreparable relationship with the Despot in charge. Stan should be asking questions of MA as to why he treated his £28m investment in this way.
Northbanker
For sure, that is a lot of money to let sit and do nothing with, especially with the Ozil debaucle.
Mike certainly has his favorites. Seems he doesnt care much for young French players
Buendia is not mbappe, he has a price which if met will get him
It’s only Norwich lol. If they say 40m, you offer 25m + players and there’s every chance a deal is possible. Not saying it’s going to happen but it’s hardly some long shot. It only matters if arsenal have the will to make it happen, nothing else
Even if ozil leaves for free, that’s how much saved off our expenses? Add kola, sok and mustafi to whatever our existing available cash is and you can probably afford buendia outright, let alone if we included a player to sweeten the deal
Also if we make a bid buendia will ask to leave and push for it. Norwich don’t have much serious leverage
China
Ive been saying all along, money talks. Who cares where Norwich stand in the table.
The player also has some say, dont they? I mean he is 24 and not a spring chicken. This could be a career defining move in so many ways.
He will sit quietly? Please….
Some one this board think that there is no way we get him but I agree, lets chase hard in the beginning and make a strong bid versus the late in the window nickle and diming
Haha its Norwich. sheesh
Great story!
Im so proud of Arsenal!
Giving opportunities for Indians or Asians …. I never knew this fella ever existed until I just read this.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/55536025
Freddie Ljungberg
No-one disputes that Saliba showed great potential in French Ligue, which is why he was recruited and we paid £28 million.
However, the physical demands of EPL are quite different and it does not follow that an overseas player makes the same impact here.
For the record I have spoken to a journalist who watched 2 of the games played by Saliba in
U23s and he suggested that his performance level and attitude on pitch was not great.
In the game you referred to Mari was returning to fitness following a long term injury. So I
would not judge that performance too hastily. Personally I don’t consider Mari a great CB.
He has in my book similar ability to Holding ie a useful “squad player”
ES
So why isn’t he playing in the Europa league or the domestic cups? Fine if he’s not ready for the PL yet but no way he’s u23 level.
Wonder why his attitude on the pitch wasn’t great when he’s been cast aside without a chance to prove himself. Would piss me off too.
I don’t think Mari is a great CB either, but he’s at least getting chances to prove himself.
Get Angelino. Oh! what a beast of 24 years he is. Sell Pepe. Get him.
I’ve also spoken to 3 other journalists who say he looks head and shoulders better than most of the defenders we currently have on our books bar Gabriel.
See we all have our own sources in football.
Fact is Arteta mismanaged the situation, can’t tell me even Arsene Wenger wouldn’t have found a way to maybe even over play the lad at some point, sane with Freddie and even Emery who gave a bucket load of chances to the youngsters before he left. anyway you try to spin it, Arteta was wrong and badly managed William Saliba, might come off as vindictive too if you ask me. See Fofana’s Instagram post referring to the lad now being “free” like he’s just been released from Guam
We’ve seen Xhaka at CB in the Europa and even El Neny there at some point and a returning Mari drafted right in, can’t tell me we couldn’t have found a way to give the lad some game time against Molde and Rapid Vienna… If he’s bad then we’d know it maybe was a wrong investment and we’d maybe have to loan him out, if he’s good then good for us, either way we’d have a good look of what the lad can do. Weren’t there reports Mari was struggling too in the under 23s when he got back from injury? But he’s been drafted in and have to say last two games has looked steady.
Simply dumb and irresponsible not to give the lad a proper chance at all especially considering how much we paid for him
ET it’s true we don’t know the exact specifics but we can reasonably guess this has been political re saliba
Sok, mustafi, holding, Mari, chambers, Gabriel, Luiz, xhaka, Kola (LCB) and someone mentioned el Neny have all had chances to play CB under arteta since he came in
How many of those have covered themselves in glory? Gabriel is popular for his generally very good performances. Holding divides people (I like him but he should be a rotation option rather than starting 11 imo). Pretty much all the rest have either been varying degrees of bad or the jury is still out (Mari)
So Saliba is literally the odd one out. It’s incredibly suspicious
I’m just glad he’s on loan and not sold. He may or may not go on to become an important player for us in the future but if we sell him already just because arteta has beef with him we could live to regret it very easily
Emirates trolley. Totally agree with your post. I cant get my head around why there is so much hot air around the Saliba situation. We don’t see him training every day or know his attitude around the squad. If he was at Baresi levels he would be playing.
He is a kid and they go through bad patches. His situation is the least of our worries.
I hope he lands a lot of minutes now and guen keeps on doing well
I’m not actually a fan of guen but in the summer he either comes back to us an improved player with his head screwed on and he could be of use next season or we can flog him for useful money
Either scenario works for me
Also as much as anything re saliba the point is many of us are not willing to simply give arteta the benefit of the doubt because he has repeatedly demonstrated poor form with team selections and man management
If saliba was signed by wenger in 2000 then got binned out of the squad and sent packing after 6 months you’d be like ok whatever he must be a twat – but this is arteta in 2021 and he has shown time and time again that his team selection and man management is extremely dubious and that’s being generous
“William is a player with a lot of personality, a personality that didn’t waste any time in revealing himself.”
Clearly we have another Guendozi situation.
China 1
We can criticise Arteta for how he has handled Saliba, but not on his judgment of the youngster’s performance level.
The coaching staff at a club are the final arbiters of any player’s readiness to be selected.
As I posted CB is strategic and most exposed position on pitch. If you select a player whose
form is poor or not good enough to play at the level required you don’t take a risk and play him.
My instinct is that next season Arsenal will retain three CBs [Holding, Gabriel and Mari].
Most of the other CBs on our books namely Mustafi, Luiz, Sokratis, Chambers and Mavropanos will be offloaded. Saliba will be assessed after return to club pre-season.
ET it’s not a risk to put Saliba in the EL squad and play him against dundalk ffs lol
And again, yes you’re right that arteta gets the final say to judge performances and he demonstrated time again he wasn’t good at that. Willian lasted how long whilst drinking the Emirates out?
You can defend artetas player selection judgment when he demonstrates he is good at judging performances and players. He’s demonstrated the complete opposite this season
‘ For the record I have spoken to a journalist who watched 2 of the games played by Saliba in
U23s and he suggested that his performance level and attitude on pitch was not great.’
Someone is full of you know what
The kid was a starter for a Ligue Un club at the age of 18. Did that “journalists” ever see him play in Ligue Un?
Even Bebe was given chances by SAF.
All these huffing and puffing just to deny that the situation wasn’t handled proper;ly?
*handled properly
If Luiz and Willian hasn’t been out for blood, Mari and ESR would be quietly twiddling their thumbs in the reserves right now
Half of artetas smartest moves have been when his hands were forced and he fell up the stairs onto a better formula
You can be 90% sure if Willian hadn’t stuck his neck out ESR would’ve been given absolutely fuck all this season and would’ve ended up being loaned out or sold next summer as a fringe talent no better than someone like willock or Nelson
Speaking of Nelson, he too might be good if arteta is forced to use him. We’ll likely never know and he’ll be gone and we’ll find out years from now if he’s good at his next club
Guns of SF
Very interesting story – I must admit I had forgotten about Carter at Arsenal and was not aware of his racial origins – didn’t really make much of an impression on me to be honest!
I grew up in South East London and most of my friends were of Indian origin, mostly Sikhs kicked out of the Punjab. Most of them were excellent footballers, the problem was that none progressed from the U18 stage because their parents were determined that they would go on to further education or start a business – no time for sports. I had friends that owned shops while they were still at school and another who is a Professor of Genetic Engineering! All from humble beginnings. Their parents valued education and commerce above sporting achievements! Hence, I believe, the limited number of Indians playing professional football today!
Out of curiosity what does one do with the turban when playing football?
‘Out of curiosity what does one do with the turban when playing football?’
I guess that’s why the Taliban hate football
not only was Arteta disrespectful to Saliba, but also to the fans. We have a right to see what we got for £28m. I dont mean we can pick the team but at least let us see the guy play. There were some obviously easy matches in our EL league (Dundalk ffs) that he could have played him.
MAs attitude just stinks
Fenerbahce & Mesut Özil have come to a conclusion over a transfer & Özil’s ‘dream’ move to the ‘yellow & blue team’ will come true. Fenerbahce have agreed a three-and-a-half year contract with the player. [Sabah] #afc
Yesterday it was DC United and today it’s Fenerbahce.
China1January 6, 2021 07:47:03
‘Half of artetas smartest moves have been when his hands were forced and he fell up the stairs onto a better formula’
The truth, …just replace ‘half’ with ‘almost all’
Dissenter and China 1
You have an opinion based on what! Neither of you have seen Saliba play this season and yet
you believe that he should be selected ahead of five or six other players on our books.
As I said Arteta may have handled the situation badly as he himself acknowledged, but that
does not mean that Saliba should have been registered or picked for games.
Emirates
When did Arteta acknowledge that he handled the Saliba situation badly?
So Saliba ain’t good enough to play against Dundalk and Molde but an outgoing Mustafi was considered more worthy of starts after all the shit he’s pulled at Arsenal over 4 seasons?
We are talking about the same manager that didn’t know Runnarson wasn’t fit for purpose and was picking Eddie above Martinelli before the Brazilian got crocked.
SAF gave Bebe chances to swim or sink before he binned himself, just consider that before you go an another name dropping exercise.
Guns of SF
Brandt is primarily a N10. He plays Left wing too. He has all the qualities to play there. He is a quick thinker. He is a really good passer. I think people under estimate the amount of quality he has. The only issue here is if he can adapt to the league. I would have taken him before he went to Dortmund. I would now too. But I feel Buendia is the better player and he already knows the league. But I wouldnt give up Nelson in a player plus cash deal either. May be 20 mil+ willock + Nelson on loan would be okay but 40 mil is a bit over the top no matter whether we like the player. He was a bargain last summer. And at a maximum 30 mil he would be a good purchase.
Dissenter
Arteta most certainly did so. He acknowledged that he had to make decisions on who to register and that in hindsight he could have included Saliba in the U21 list. Also he acknowledged that he had anticipated that both Chambers and Mari were out injured a lot
longer than anticipated.
As I posted there were 5-6 CBs registered + Tierney who could also cover in position. That
meant that 2 CBs were not registered. Sokratis a seasoned international was also excluded.
China1
You are 100% correct.
Arteta’s hands were forced in respect to the introduction of both ESR and Mari.
No one can convince me otherwise.
Looks like Ozil to Fenerbahce for 3.5 year. Happy days!!
Sid
Out of curiosity what does one do with the turban when playing football?
Good question! I only knew of a few turban wearing Sihks who played sports. Some wore a kind of hankie over what today we would call a man bun, others (mainly cricketers) wore a strap over the turban fastened under the chin!
the fact dortmund want to sell brandt only 6 months after his transfer to them tells you all you need to know
Regarding a decent back up GK (vital ), maybe the best option (dare I say this?) would be an oldster looking for a final contract. The Club has a history of this (latest Cech) and also one of our very best, the Irish guy we swapped with Spurs.
Maybe we could swap one of our unwanted?
The first indications are that Mesut Ozil will leave Arsenal this month, an agreement in principle on a contract that extends for three and a half years, a salary estimated at five million euros, and a signature bonus of up to two and a half million euros. Player camp.
From TheAFCBell; very reliable.
The Europa league squad was confirmed at the beginning of October and Saliba wasn’t in it because he was planned to go on loan.
International loans had to be concluded by the 5th October and domestic by the 16th October. There was an issue on the loan to St Etienne (both parties at fault) and we messed up with the domestic loan.
Most people stated how poor the teams were in our Europa league group and when others bigged up the performances of Willock and Pepe they were shot down due to the quality of opposition. Yet are saying this would really aid the development of Saliba. The mind boggles
If anyone thinks Ozil leaving will stop Pierre posting about him they are drunk.
Every time he creates a chance Pierre will be on wanki g about him. Every time we draw a game he will bleat about how we could have used him. We will hear about Ozil until the next controversial player comes along that Pierre can latch on to and educate us all about
“Looks like Ozil to Fenerbahce for 3.5 year. Happy days!!”
💉💉💉💉💉
Good to see Ozil moving to Turkey. It’s the best place for him and ofcourse Erdogan will always be there to protect him.
I am going to pose a simple question to those critics of Arteta’s decision not to register Saliba
this season.
How many Centre Backs registered in EPL and have played in that competition or in Europe are teenagers?
The answer for the record is just two Garcia [Man City] who is full international and Williams [Liverpool].There are two or three more like Fofana [Leicester] in early 20s.
The vast majority who play in our League are in mid 20s or a lot older.This is the one position on pitch which requires experience.
Emiratesstroller
I agree, sometimes throwing in a young player before they’re ready, can cause more harm than good.
Football fans loving building young players up, before ripping them back down again, and declaring them:
“Never going to be good enough”
Before their 23 birthday……
Luiz will make mistakes, but has the experience to brush them off.
Young players in central positions are quite rare.
I think the most logical explanation for Saliba is, he isn’t quite ready, and maybe we messed up a loan back to France in October, and couldn’t convince him to take a move to the Championship.
Hopefully the relationship isn’t irreparable, he picks up half a season in Ligue 1, and he comes back more prepared to replace Luiz in the squad next season
Rich
Agree with both points.
What a wonderful news day.
Ozil off, Mustafi and Sok potentially off too.
Dems taking control of the senate.
It is increasingly clear that Arsenal are organising in January a mass clear out of unwanted
or not needed players.
I think that Arsenal are likely to bring in a midfielder plus perhaps an experienced goalkeeper.
”
…However, the physical demands of EPL are quite different and it does not follow that an overseas player makes the same impact here.
For the record I have spoken to a journalist who watched 2 of the games played by Saliba in U23s and he suggested that his performance level and attitude on pitch was not great”
The physical argument applies to all playera coming from outside the PL and therefore a moot point. Ligue 1 isn’t exactly rubbish either. It wasn’t a random purchase also.
On the two U23 games, oh please. So if players , especially new ones, don’t exactly wow in ome pre season snd/or practice games , the clubs should freeze them out in the manner that our so called generational coach-manager, Arteta, does ??
What’s more, if we go by the “performance level and attitude ” yardstick, Willian and a few of our senior non UK players should go on loan or back to whereever they came from…
Bisouma now linked with us
On a different topic I read last night an interview about Charlie Patino an Academy player aged 16 who is rated the best midfield talent at Arsenal since Fabregas.
He is considered a better talent than Wilshere. He is apparently intelligent with an excellent
work ethic and technical ability. He is 1.78m tall and growing.
Apparently during his career at Arsenal as well as England he has been playing in teams for
players at least 2 years older.
It is anticipated that he will be playing in first team at Arsenal by season 2021/22.
ES
I’ve also read a handful of great stuff on Patino. He must be really good for his age.
Do you think Lopez would be ready to step up as backup LB next season?
saliba was sidelined out of the spite and loathing of arteta, he didn’t like the guys personality so instead of trying to work with him and understand this young cb like a good manager would he takes out his spiteful vengeance on a 19 year old whose lost both his parents and is desperate to play football.
let’s remember that when saliba joined the club he sat and watched the Watford game in the fans section this is a guy who loved the club he isnt a trouble maker and is certainly good enough to play for the club. This wasn’t done for footballing reasons but because arteta had a grudge his treatment of saliba is born out of malice.
let’s hope arteta can learn from this. He will never apologise publicly for his actions but hopefully he can grow up and give an internal apology to saliba when he comes back at the end of his loan spell.
So Ozil wants to go to Turkey! Building a mansion next door to Erdogan’s. As always a man of the people! Good luck in Instanbul – not quite like north London – probably safer! However rumour has it that Arsenal are to pay up his last six month of wages to sweeten the deal!
Chelsea have discovered the hard way that buying top players from the bundesliga does not translate into immediate success in the Prem so if Brandt can’t start for Dortmund questions need to be asked. Also just because Guen looks ok so far with Hertha no way does that make him immediately now good enough to partner Party like some suggest.
When emery came in. I said the FIRST thing he needs to do is get rid of the duds and start fresh with youth. He didn’t. They failed him. Same scenario with Arteta. Get rid of duds. Play youth. The duds won him an Fa cup. He was fooled by that achievement. Now the duds have reverted to type. Landing Arteta 15th now 11th. 6 points behind Anchelotti (my pick). They’ve failed him. Now Arteta has no choice but to use the youth. We’ll see how well Duds & Youth do. But so far. Its still not looking good.
This has gotta be some kinda joke.
Arsenal to pay The German parasite’s wages
so he could play for another club?
Nah not buying that.
Not the Great club known as AFC!
A statistic
2.5 of those who post /write on this blog are Arteta – in defending a lost cause like a masochist defends his/ her abuser.
The rest are normal humans, deeply upset by the obduracy of those Two and Half Men
Bisouma now linked with us
Yes please.
😂😂 s Asoa.
If Ozil is gone hallelujah!!!
Looks like the club is being proactive for a change. There is still q few outgoings looking to happen yet.
Hopefully we can make some smart inwards business too! Knowing this club though it won’t be til deadline day, so won’t be getting my hopes up too soon haha
Fenerbahce will be Paying Ozil approx £90K per week until the end of the season. AFC will continue to pay a larger amount during that period..
Dear Mr Ozil
Good riddance.
Regards.
Graham62.
I’m worried about Pierre.
He’ll be beyond devastated right now. Let’s pray for him.
Graham, might have been too nice a sendoff mate 😂.
Norg, 90k is still a hell of a lot of money over 6 months. Coupled with all the other outgoings, it’s looking like a decent clearout if ozil actually leaves and we get a few more wages off the books whether for good or at least on loan to prove themselves worthy of a better wage (and more importantly a fee for the club) when we try to sell in the summer.
And by better wage I mean better then what they’d get if they were sitting on the bench or in reserves for us the next 6 months then sold.
Pierre is already preordering his fenerbache ozil poster and shirt
GooberG
It leaves a huge amount still being paid weekly to Ozil – I imagine his agent is trying to squeeze as much as possible. His job was made easy when negotiating the current deal as Gazidis was feeding rope to Wenger to hang himself – Ozil’s agent took full advantage.
Hopefully Tim Lewis will now earn his corn and reduce the wage as much as possible.
Norg, yep I can’t believe they gave that deal to Ozil just to compensate for losing Sanchez for an absolutely horrendous swap deal.
I hope tim Lewis can get the best out of it. But 90k less per week is better than nothing considering he contributes 0 to the team.
And I can’t stand agents in this day and age. Making preposterous amounts of money for not a great deal. Just greedy cunts who are ruining transfers and making it all about them rather than the players/clubs
“Dems taking control of the senate.”
I thought Trump phoned up those Georgia folks promising jobs for everyone voting for him…
Update from TheAFCBell:
Close people around Mesut Ozil tell #جرس_أرسنال technically, Fenerbahce’s offer is a six-month loan (the merits of which will be discussed shortly with Arsenal officials) and then a free transfer by the summer. The player’s camp did not deny the news of Masoud’s approval when asked by our staff, but he did not confirm it on either side. Rather, it was satisfied with the offer.
Also, Arsenal keeper Matt Macey set to join Hibs. Medical planned for later today.
OZIL GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRN GET THE FUCK IN!!!
I’d take Bissouma over any of our targets at Cam. Getting Xhaka out of that starting 11 is going to be fucking glorious. I can live with Willian or Saka as understudy to ESR for 5 months if that happens.
Rumoured price tag of 30m, could maybe be had a tad cheaper. Chuck one of the youngsters that are not top level at them for a loan or permanent to sweeten the deal.
He’s apparently a gooner as well and would be up for a move. Get it done Edu!
Yep Freddie
They are exactly my sentiments. Xhaka out of the team, Partey and bissouma taking control of the midfield and letting the front 4 do their thing.
Will take us up another level defensively so we can take that damn handbrake off on the attack.
So if this winning run has alleviated pressure to buy, then surely that means the squad is capable of top 4 (still) in the minds of management and some fans.
Which in itself means Arteta isn’t up to scratch as a coach considering results so far.
If the squad isn’t top 4 quality, then half the folk on here are massive hypocrites saying that Emery’s squad was.
Now I don’t give a shit about Emery.
It’s just the blatantly obvious goal post shifting that’s hard to stomach.
And if the board are happy for Arteta to miss top 4 again, considering another good outlay on players, then they lied to us big time (which we already knew when they said we were going to be playing proper ball with the likes of Bayern).
How did we end up with such a shit owner?
And how does he not see the board are totally incompetent? And how did we end up with a rookie manager and tech director?
We were meant to be aiming for the top, not mediocrity.
I do understand Arteta needs time to grow. But why the fuck did he deserve that time at Arsenal?
“Also just because Guen looks ok so far with Hertha no way does that make him immediately now good enough to partner Party like some suggest.”
It does if the alternatives are Xhaka, Elneny, Ceballos, and Willock.
BTW, keep dreaming of Bissouma and Buendia, you gullible cucks.
None of the two teams need to sell them soon, and if you think we’ll overpay by 100% to get them in January, you’re living in dream world.
Survival (Brighton) or promotion (Norwich) are worth at least 3 times more than what the 2 clubs can get from Arsenal ATM.
But yeah, keep dreaming, fools.
“Arsenal are monitoring the progress of QPR goalkeeper Seny Dieng, according to the Sunday Mirror”
Anyone know anything about Dieng?
what a nice person Kris is lol
Yeah Kris. Bissouma is definitely a dream.
But that position, cam and backup keeper are all in desperate need of upgrades.
Hell ya
Now theres a cuck guy on LG
The best that a 32 yo Ozil can get is DC United and Fenerbahce.
No comment, really.
You fools
Ozil to Turkey is part of the post Brexit UK – Turkey $25b trade deal!
Pierre was the sole architect of this
Happy days
Can’t wait for the bug eyed little parasite to fuck off!
Maybe Pierre will go with him, what’s the Turkish version of Le Grove, I’ll have to dig it out.
Wher3 are these links to Bissouma.? News to me?
You people should give pierre a breathing space. If some of you Emery goon or guen goon didn’t follow them out of Arsenal then why should pierre?
Anyone know anything about Dieng?
Well he isn’t Runarsson so that’s a positive.
Ozil leaving feels like a LANS.
Not to say this situation was all of his making but something had to give before he engaged in full blown twitterlogical warfare with the club in his final few contracted months.
As for incoming, if we can’t get/afford our main target(s) for the CAM position then i would take a Draxler on a 6month loan deal. Still young, still good. I prefer Buendia but £40m+ does seem a little steep. But Norwich need him for promotion so i get it.
So we can’t sign any players from teams that could possibly be relegated, and not from any that could possibly be promoted, guess we just have to look in the trash bin again then for discarded players.
Hope the club doesn’t have the same mentality….
Player power is a thing too.
“Anyone know anything about Dieng?”
Not much. Other than he doesn’t try and catch the ball with his knuckles
All together now: “Fuck off Ozil, Fuck off Ozil, Fuck Ozil.
Spudnik
“All together now: “Fuck off Ozil, Fuck off Ozil, Fuck Ozil.”
That last time was so Pierre can join in too right?
‘He doesn’t try to catch the ball with his knuckles’
Knuckle catches are Underrated and swag as fook
Guys please don’t get excited about ozil until there is ink on the damned paper
Until he’s photographed standing outside erdogans bedroom holding up a pair of fener branded tighty whities I won’t believe a damned thing about this transfer
Just imagine how fucking tedious Pierre would be if we all get excited then the deal falls through. Everybody breathe! Wait and see!!!
China – you have a vivid imagination. Erdogan supports Basaksehir and they wanted Ozil for this season as it is the first time in the ECL. His other team is Kasimpasa.
To be honest, I don’t think Arteta should be given any money to invest in this window.
Get rid of some of the dross first and maybe a few cunning loan deals (
both in and out).
Ozil going would be a massive bonus but as China1 points out, let’s not get ahead of ourselves on this one.
Emiratestroller.
Stop talking rubbish.
On an EPl weekend Arteta thought Gabriel couldn’t handle Liverpool, played the oldies like Luiz and we got our asses handed to us.
By midweek, the same Gabriel played Liverpool, pocketed Salah and we won our round of the Carabao Cup.
Arteta is malicious and a terrible man manager. He can’t be right and every other coach that’s handled Saliba be wrong.
All of them are even of the opinion he’s not on Fofana’s level. And Fofana has been decent for Leicester and is up for international call.
Arteta is dumb re Saliba.
It seems the Fernabache offer on the table for Ozil doesn’t save Arsenal any money. I’s essentially a fee-less 6 month loan where Arsenal continues to pay his full wages until he moves there permanently in July on a Bosman.
Surely we cant be that desperate.
we are paying him regardless….. so its about getting him away from the club mostly
Thorough
Saliba may end up being a very good defender but at moment in the two Arsenal U23s he featured in, was red carded in latter and would of easily been sent off in first with last man challenge had VAR been in effect.
Might want to consider a loan move is exactly whats required for him, regardless of how club landed on it after bottling first attempt.
Sal paradise.
Gnabry was shite in West Bron see where that led us.
Give the boy a run out and let him be judged fairly. You can’t base his jettisoning on Arteta’s suppositions which is against that of every single coach that Saliba, has been through.
Someone needs to have a word with the archetypal Ozil obsessive, Piers Morgan..
If anyone is giving Ozil a reason for staying put it’s Morgan with his juvenile reaction to the news that Ozil may be leaving.
Piers Morgan and the Le Grove obsessives, a match made in heaven.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/piers-morgan-sends-mesut-ozil-23272204.amp&ved=2ahUKEwibvISV24fuAhUfSBUIHWbKCEoQFjABegQICRAC&usg=AOvVaw2eJgWjT3sLV5BMe-E3V7Q8&cf=1
Puers Morgan tweeted: “BOOM! Finally, some good news in 2021! “If you need a (covid-secure) lift to the airport @MesutOzil1088, let me know.”
See what i mean ….juvenile.
The question of whether Saliba is better than and herefore should start ahead of the six CBs we have…
Well, many of us would say… hell YES, barring Gabriel.
Look at it the other way, would transfer value of any of the six CBs the market values be close to £28m, at the time we bought Saliba?
Saliba wasn’t exactly a “potential” in Ligue 1 even at 18. He was a starting 11 and did very well. After the buy and loan back deal, his team did well the following season until he got injured, and got better again when he returned….
BTW, the few YT clips on Saliba in an Arsenal shirt don’t wow but aren’t bad at all. So it should have followed the usual PROCESS of integrating a £28m, exciting 19yo CB, like the welcomr and warnth Arteta has extended to William. Sadly, nothing of the sort happened(that we’d see). Also, unlike Pepe, that wasn’t an inflated transfer fee either.
The rumored Ozil 6mo loan plus free transfer, if materialized, just means Arsenal would save a messy £90k pw x 26 weeks, or c.. £2.2m.
Better than nothing but too little too late.
Anyway I wouldn’t pop the Champagne until he signs da thing in Turkey.
*measy *