ARE ALL OUR DREAMS COMING TRUE?

by .

I heard a great bit of advice once.

‘Treat each transfer window like it was your last’

Ok, I never heard that, but it feels that’s the mindset Mikel and Edu are taking to this window.

Arsenal coaching staff LOVED David Luiz, so to see him go was shocking to me.

Today, we’re hearing rumours on three players.

Fabrizio Romano, transfer god to millions, was absolutely emphatic that Willian is going to exit the club this summer. I do NOT know how this is going to happen. He’s on a mega-deal, his powers have declined, and he has 2 years left on his deal. But maybe we’re just so used to players like Ozil not giving a shit about being disliked? Willian might want to put use to his final years. He might want to actually play. This might also be some dark arts from Edu and Kia. Edu knows he’s under massive pressure, the Brazilian posse gotta look out for their own, Willian taking a free transfer elsewhere protects the system.

Whatever it is, it has a big fat approval from Le Grove.

There are also stories linking Xhaka with a move out of Arsenal. Roma, under the guidance of Jose Mourinho, are apparently looking at him. The player has been excellent this season, he’s limited, no doubt, but behind the scenes he’s been a leader, and on the pitch his output has been to the level where you could honestly say you were regretful if he wasn’t in the lineup. A move away from Arsenal at 28 is smart. He’ll go to a league where he’ll thrive and he’ll live in a City that is simply one of the best. £30m for him would be excellent business and his exit would give us a chance to move on a player with a better athletic profile.

The last exit is Hector Bellerin. He’s apparently attracting interest from Real Betis. The right-back fell massively out of favour this season. He lost his pace post-injury, he’s not moved his delivery forward, and he’s just fallen right into the middle of the road. I still love him though, what a guy, what an example, what a fashion inspiration.

These are the moves that shift a club forward. We’ve been nibbling around the edges shifting on periphery players, when the hard facts dictate you have to address the fatal flaws in some of the first-teamers. Xhaka, Willian, Luiz, and Hector are all starting 11 players… but their ceiling is low and stinks of average.

Changing culture properly often needs big shocks. When you start in a new business, there’s often a section of people that are incapable of changing because they’re so wounded by the ways of the past. To truly move on, you need to scrub the decks. When the biggest leaders behind the scenes are average performers, you can’t claim to have a high-performance culture. That’s where we are. The leaders aren’t good enough on the pitch, so though the professionalism might be to a level behind the scenes, you’re never going to hit the elite letting average performers carry the message.

You thought I was going to ignore it, didn’t you?

UNAI EMERY WHAT A GUY.

Honestly, has there been a better final this year?

Don Unai put on a defensive masterclass. He leant into the complacency of United. He took the pace out of the game, he riled his players up to believe they were underdog heroes, he took the game to penalties and made those Villareal superstars feel the winds of winnertivity were with them.

Spectacular. The penalties were so unbelievable. United, a side that wins more penalties than anyone in the Premier League, lost when David De Gea fucked his kick. Stunning.

That’s Unai Emery in his element. Playing with an underdog side, instructing in his native tongue, terrorising the visuals with brutal spoiling tactics.

It’s amusing to see his fan club back in business. Someone said ‘he’d never play a midfielder as a false #9’ negating the Torreira as #10 experiment. People were celebrating his cup final win as a black mark on Arteta, forgetting we won the FA Cup beating better teams. People were celebrating the humiliation of Arteta, missing that Emery took down OGS in his third season at United after spending £290m on players. Losing to the winner has a lesser sting.

The gutting thing is that we’d have beaten United in the final as well. The most sackable offence of the season was the galaxy braining of the semi-final. We should have gone with Saka at leftback, we should have played a balanced midfield. We should have taken a simpler approach. We didn’t, Arteta will learn, we move on with life and hope next season is sharper.

Talking of managers. Galtier, Zizou and Conte all exited their jobs. Spurs are trying to bring Poch back. Allegri is rejoining Juve. We’re about to see quite the shake-up in management. Very interesting.

Ok, shorter one today. See you in the comments.

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grooveydaddy

Get in!

grooveydaddy

And

grooveydaddy

The

grooveydaddy

Tr4phy

grooveydaddy

Now to read about our dreams….

Mohap

Top 4?

Tom

Sixth since Emery won another EL title

grooveydaddy

Also seeing offers for Saliba…..surely not?

Can’t let a talent like that leave without ever kicking a ball for us.

Albert

Xhaka was injured for the second leg against Villarreal

grooveydaddy

Not losing any sleep over losing Luiz, Willian, Xhaka or Hector, but we seriously need to address our midfield.

We’ve got Partey and….that’s it.

Tom

True, Emery is in his element and has shown up OGS for the limited tactician that we all knew he was, but it’s easier to lose to an underdog in an one off than a two legged affair. Therefore Arteta’s failure to get past VR is harder to stomach than United’s, which is actually funny. There’s no escaping the fact Arteta has bombed in Europe twice of asking to two sides well below Arsenal in the pecking order. No amount of spin can ever whitewash that. We can all appreciate the FA cup win but if he can’t do it… Read more »

Globalgunner

Those 3 exits would be nirvana, but we need quality replacements. El Niny can do one too. We need a whole new midfield and pls enough of the CB talk. We need fullbacks 2 at least, on either side

Marc

Pedro

Well done for giving Emery the credit there.

Getting rid of Willian and Xhaka – Happy happy days. My only question is Bellerin to Betis? What sort of fee would we be looking at?

Not saying we shouldn’t sell Bellerin but the general thought has always been we’d get circa £25 – £30 million for him.

DivineSherlock

Conte to Madrid , Zizou to PSG , Poch to Spurs , Allegri to Inter . Now that is one hell of a shuffle , Arteta remains where he is though. Atleast dont screw up the summer , Just bring them all in nice and early before the Euros & Copa America.

Nelson

I am more worrying about Auba’s attitude. He is getting older. It is fanciful to believe that he can get back to his form too years ago.

Champagne Charlie

Pedro

Just heard we’re lining up Ruben Neves to replace Xhaka, club going hard at domestic talent this summer to hit the ground running.

Any word?

Rich

Marc

Nobody in their right mind is giving us £25-£30 mill for Bellerin, certainly not anyone who’s watched him play recently

Even at £15-£20 mill I’d be surprised if there were any takers, plenty of average right backs available for less, and who’s wages will be much lower

Signing a new right back will be difficult without moving on Niles, Bellerin, Soares

Our squad is bursting at the seams with dross, why we thought It’d be a good idea to add Soares + Runarsson to our collection of undesirables, is anyone’s guess

James

Didn’t Le Grove call Emery a bum? About 100 times if I recall.

Marc

Rich

I don’t disagree but you know what some are like on here X sold Y for Z amount why can’t we do the same.

Almuniasaynomore

Kroenkephobe
Well done,that was excellent, the bar is high!
Here’s another classic butchered in my response

“Bye bye baby” bay city rollers
Bye bye Unai, Unai goodbye
Bye bye Unai,you’ve made me cry
Well I know we shoulda treated you better
But now we’re stuck with Mikel Arteta
Geeeeeee……..
How bad can it beeeeee…
Shouldn’t have let Ozil linger
Should have given him the middle finger
Arteta’s killing me
I want Allegri
Bye bye Unai,Unai bye bye
Least you made all the manc cunts cry.

Valentin

The same Roma side who could not find 5 millions to pay for Mkhitaryan is now going to give £30 millions for Xhaka. I’ll believe that when the cheque clears.

Btw most of the Italians rumours talk about €30 millions including add-ons and signing on fees nowhere near the £30 millions banded here. Roma is just going to beg for a loan or a cheap purchase at £15~20 millions.

Nelson

Yesterday, Scott McTominay really impressed me. We need to find someone like that in our midfield.

NJ Gooner

Yesterday people were comparing OGS favorably to Arteta. But who do think will be the first of them to go? Hard to tell at this point but my money would be on OGS going first. Fine margins.

CG, where did you hear the Neves to Arsenal rumor? That would be a great signing.

D3SH

Did anyone read the 7amKickOff analysis of our “since Christmas” run?

https://7amkickoff.com/index.php/2021/05/24/was-it-really-that-good/

Worth a read for all those still puffing up Arteta’s galaxy brain.

Ernest Reed

“The gutting thing is that we’d have beaten United in the final as well.”

Interesting view, given that Arteta absolutely got his lineup wrong, not once but twice, against the same team that beat United.

The former regarding ManU never happened, so it’s here-say. The latter did happen and that is a fact and an indictable one at that.

Next season is either going to be something so very special, or is going to be the thorough dismantling of a great pretender. Going to be interesting.

Jim

Valentin, Roma have new owners who are about to embark on their first transfer window. Add to that JM is at the helm and they will be busy. Similar predicament to us domestically. Qualified for conference league, never beat the biggest teams, frequent poor performances against the lower clubs. Think the deal works for all, GX has been good for us and think now would be a good time to sell & replace. He will do well for Roma, I can see him being for the Giallorossi what Højberg was to Sp*rs. Let’s see, as a fan of both clubs… Read more »

Spanishdave

Tom
Arteta what is he good for?
Absolutely nothing.
Say it again

Ernest Reed

In this instance we will never truly know, Pedro. Got to the dance only to find out our girl was dancing with another guy, and enjoying it!

Ash79

Pedro… Wolves?

Any names?

Hopefully not Nuno

Marc

Pedro

Good against ManU? Both matches were piss poor, the result away was good but hardly a good performance.

I really wonder what you see when Arsenal play now.

DivineSherlock

The only Wolves player I am interested in is Pedro Neto . Skillful and can play anywhere up top.

Champagne Charlie

“CC, heard we’re after Prem level players and we were sniffing around Wolves.“ Interesting. Apparently we made contact with Neves at the beginning of this month and want a deal done before the Euro’s. Can’t see that, but loads can change in a week I guess. I was told months ago that we’re wielding a pretty significant axe this summer, can only imagine with players like Xhaka moving on that we’ll target ready made, league proven guys to avoid skipping a beat. Be too risky brining in half a dozen guys from overseas and expecting liftoff in September. See Bertrand… Read more »

Almuniasaynomore

Spanish Dave
You can’t sing,you can’t play, you look awful, you’ll go a long way………

Marc

“heard we’re after Prem level players and we were sniffing around Wolves.”

Wasn’t Wolves a terrible team because all of their transfer business was run by agents? Surely if we’re signing players from Wolves we’re dealing with those very same agents?

Geoffrey Avit

Galtier. Lol what a joke. Lyon fans are disgusted that they are linked with him.

Rich

Marc In all fairness, I’m not convinced we’ve got the players to go gung-ho against the better teams I quite like the increased discipline we’ve seen from Emery and now Arteta against the better teams, last season was the first time we’d won an away game against a top 6 team since 2016 Until we get some better balance and increased the quality, I’m all for playing the fine margins game and stealing the points at Old Trafford + Stamford Bridge like we did this season, rather than having any grandeur ideas about what our current level actually is, and… Read more »

MD-Gunner

What is happening here with posting

Marc

Pedro

I refer you to my earlier comment at 16.30.43.

I make comments in reaction to what’s happening or what others say.

Frost

Lol we want £21M for Xhaka, Roma want to pay £10M. They can do one with that figure as far as I’m concerned.

Accept anything below £20m for Xhaka & every single team + their granny will be low balling us for our players all summer.

TR7

10M is good money for Xhaka, it really is.

Elmo

Thanks for posting that link, D3SH. I thought there was a little wider context / nuance to the post-Christmas table. It’s fair enough as a fan to see only the positives, but it really does set you up for a fall if you’re heading into next season thinking we’re on track to finish 2nd. This is what a poster called Bill writes in the comments there, and I’m generally of the same opinion: “Great post Tim. I tend to agree with you that the last 1/2 of the season probably looks a little better then it was. Ultimately I think… Read more »

Champagne Charlie

Pedro Yea I’m not sure what to read into the apparent willingness, I think it’s a combination of ownership backing the manager, putting the onus on the players, and many of them being in important moments in their contract. Means they don’t have the option of outlasting anyone, and they need to guarantee their futures (or simply fuck off in Ozil’s case). But I’m very happy to see us actively looking to ring the changes. I think we’ve a lot of useable talent on the market to engineer swaps or simply raise a bit of capital. Guendouzi, Torreira, Eddie, Willian,… Read more »

Marc

Pedro

They have some good players. You should notice that I generally keep an open mind on incoming transfers – I didn’t go mental when we signed Willian, I didn’t go mental at selling Martinez – the manager is paid to make decisions my view is he lives and dies by them and I’ll make a judgement when the players had a period to adapt / show what they can do.

Sid

Diet Pep fanboys love to swing the positivity baton

Sid

Ruben Neves would be better than Bissouma

Dissenter

“10M is good money for Xhaka, it really is.”

No, it’s not enough. It’s not enough to buy the left foot of his replacement.
We are talking about a 28-29 year old international class player who is the captain of Switzerland.

Rich

Sid

Diet Pep haters love to swing the negativity baton

BacaryisGod

In the immortal words of Sid, I’m telling you this for free.

Arsenal fans expecting a major windfall from summer transfers will be bitterly disappointed. What we have is all the other teams gathering around a dumpster fire.

We have more players in the 2 year contract danger zone than any other major club (I use the word major in relation to our fan base, history etc) so prepare for a summer filled with angry comments about how we got less than we should have for our exiting players.

Valentin

Jim,

Make sense. Rich new owners hire Mourinho, while skint owners would not touch him with a barge pole.

Dream10

Bit meh on Ruben Neves. Not sure he is the progressive player we need. Are we planning to switch to a 3-4-3 with Partey and Neves?

Pedro Neto is the Wolves player I like. Another lefty to play down the sides like Pépé and Saka though

Marc

Dissenter

You’re right but for the wrong reasons. The reason £10 million isn’t enough for Xhaka is because we had a firm bid on the table 18 months ago reported to be between £23 and £27 million, so after Xhaka suddenly being less useless sorry I mean a good player and costing £7.8 million in salary it’s reported we’re going to sell him for less than half what we had on offer before.

Guns of SF

We get Neto and what does it mean for Martinelli?
Will we see him as striker more often? Laca off? who knows…
Wolves have some others that are quality tho

Dream10

Guns of SF

Not sure Arteta is keen on him long term. Martinelli is not precise enough for the manager.

Guns of SF

if ever Jimenez was available I would go for that. ( unlikely I know) Who knows how his injury will pan out… but that is a strong tall striker, who can cause all sorts of problems in the box. We need someone in that mold….

Thorough

We are broke.
We need a midfield part er for Partey.
Yet we’re letting Leicester have Soumare for fees rising to 18 million.
We are so shit at this thing called football both on the field and off it.

TR7

SSN : Mauricio Pochettino is in talks with #THFC over a return to the club that would see him leave Paris Saint-Germain after less than six months in charge.

Champagne Charlie

At what point has Xhaka ever earned £7.8 mil a year?

He’s on 100k a week according to numerous sources, who has him at 150k a week?

Marc

CC

Exactly he’s on £100k per week which equals £5.2 million a year we had an offer 18 months ago which is 1 and a half years salary.

Elmo

I heard from Sid that the template for the type of central midfielder the Arsenal manager is keen to bring in this summer is none other than former player Mikel Arteta.

Spanishdave

Xhaka for 20 mil is about right. Italian teams don’t like to pay the real value .
Bellerin the dedicated follower of fashion can go and prance around somewhere else, that’s a start.

Guns of SF

xhaka would do well in Serie A. more suited to him. Bell too.
All those players who generally lack pace… and need more time on the ball.
Ozil would have done well there too

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Now west man linked with saliba…

Beach bum deffo don’t fancy him init

englandsbest

Great to see Man U lose. Only one step down from seeing Spurs stuck in the Uefa Conference League. I’ll be glad to see the back of Bellerin, if he goes. A fullback who thought he was a winger. I”ll miss Xhaka and Luiz for their leadership qualities. And I’m sorry Willian proved a misfit. But off with the old, and on with the new. That leaves Auba, a captain with no leadership qualities. Something, I fancy, that Arteta will amend. Holding might suit the role better. He’s improved as a player year by year. Yeah, I can see him… Read more »

Bertie Mee

Pedro, That game last night was excruciating. It was anti-football . One of the least interesting games I’ve ever seen. The penalties were incredible . Emery probably practiced them for weeks . The Spanish Burnley won by playing like the English Burnley. Score from a set piece and hang on . United’s legs went in extra time . But Villareal are utter shit- seventh in a weaker league than ours . A good striker and a well-organised defence . But a very dodgy keeper and very little mobility in midfield . OGS will go to his grave wondering how they… Read more »

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

You watch those pesky Italians will only take him on loan… They are frauds

Frost

Betis director saying they’re not negotiating for Bellerin atm. However adds that he is a perfect fit & could be a candidate for the RB position.

Let’s start praying.

Marc

This is the problem with selling this summer – a decent number of fans wouldn’t have had a problem with selling Bellerin before his injury now most would agree he’s just not up to it for us but just how badly have clubs like Betis been hurt by COVID / how much will fees be reduced?

raptora

OGS will never forget last night’s spanking. In front of Sir Alex mind you. They were already planning their victory celebrations. But nope. Destroyer of dreams, mover of mountains, breaker of chains.

How hopeless and useless he was in changing the game in his team’s favor reminded me of our very own manager. Emery outsmarted them both with a vastly inferior squad.

Peckobill

I remember when Jose arrived at his first spell at Chelsea and he went on spending sprees he seemed to have a thing for seeing what targets other teams had especially arsenal were after and stepping in and pinching them ( wright- Phillips he bought and didn’t even need him but was a way of destabilising a rival ) somewhat seemed to not have his own ideas . Being as you can’t really trust our lot it could be a good idea and do the same to Leicester as they seem to do their homework on players . Let them… Read more »

Rich

Marc We’ve got a first team squad of 29, we might be able to move some players, particularly the youngsters into the domestic market Clubs know we’ve got too many players though, they’ll be waiting until the end of the window to get cheap deals and loans It’s what happened with Guendouzi + Torreira in October, we either loaned them out, or we kept them unregistered to play, kicking up a stink with Ozil, Sokratis + Saliba around the training ground Why give us money for something, that they know we don’t want, and don’t have a use for? Particularly… Read more »

raptora

OGS is going to have nightmares – complete silence and peace then out of the blue Emery says “goodebenin”. Forever scarred.

Nelson

Now that we are out of European games completely, not many good players would like to join us unless we overpay for them. That is a death spiral. So often, they become untradeable because of their high salary.

Kroenkephobe

Almunia Spanish Tom Next time we get a dodgy red card or pen against us it has to be VAR – good god – what is it good for? Absolutely fuck all. Sing it again. Almunia – I had you about 5-10 years too young for the BCRs but I can imagine you now in the tartan flares giving it the big one! I might try and pen some alternative lyrics to their other smash hit, S A T U R D A Y, given that we’ll be playing on said day a little more often next season. Here’s a… Read more »

Vintage Gun

Neves is a sensible replacement for Xhaka. One thing Xhaka has is a excellent passing range and Neves possesses the same skillset whilst being more mobile.

Regarding Xhaka to Roma, anything less than £20m and we’re selling ourselves short.

Kroenkephobe

Vintage
I tend not to watch non Arsenal players that closely. I’ve always thought of Neves as being pretty technical and a good deadball specialist. Does he put the running in, tackle well and do the cynical stuff when needed?

Rich

Nelson The thing going for us, is that very few clubs have money, there’s a lot of clubs in financial distress, including big ones playing in the CL Players will take being outside the Champions League, over being in the Champions League, but having their paycheques potentially bouncing Inter Milan players are currently ripe for picking, as are players from all clubs outside of a handful in mainland Europe If KSE back us, we’ll be in a strong position to capitalise on a weak market, and others misfortunes, not sure I trust us to identify talent though Failing to move… Read more »

Ishola70

We have heard this shit about Xhaka being wanted by other clubs so many times before and nothing ever materialises.

Since when has Mourinho been interested in registas that are physically limited.

You may say that the league itself may suit Xhaka but I have never known Mourinho himself to be interested in midfielders that are suspect defensively.

Ishola70

Guns of SF
“if ever Jimenez was available I would go for that”

This was a player that I always thought well of but we just don’t know how that injury will affect him in the long run.

Coco the Clown took him out with a reckless play.

Totally destroyed Wolves season.

Kroenkephobe

I’ll be glad to see the back of Bellerin, if he goes. A fullback who thought he was a winger.I”ll miss Xhaka and Luiz for their leadership qualities. And I’m sorry Willian proved a misfit. But off with the old, and on with the new. Englandsbest Are you high mate or have you had some kind of epiphany? That is proper heresy coming from you, the person I consider the biggest AFC Inc. Company loyalist. You’re right of course. You’ll be even more on point though when you can identify the weakness of a few other people at the club… Read more »

The Bard

BacaryisGod a good sensible post. There’s too much football manger on here. Only a few have the money to buy any decent players. The rest are broke or close to it so fees will be low. I dont believe we will buy anyone really decent. The best I hope for is to off load the deadwood ( no easy job ) and maybe get in a loan or two. Get ready for some proper fireworks at the Emirates next season. Kroenke’s neck is on the block.

Ishola70

Come on how serious is this rumour if it is being said Roma put in a bid of 10m for Xhaka.

Xhaka may be a nuisance for the team but that’s kiddies pocket money for sweets for a regular first team player from the EPL and at his age.

Dream10

Pedro

Are signings contingent upon sales?
We need a RB, CB, CM, LW who are first XI quality

Kroenkephobe

Pedro
The 04/05 final. Which we won of course!

Vintage Gun

@Kroenkephobe

Yep your right, Neves is a highly technical dead ball specialist He’s no defensive destroyer but does like to get a tackle in and is good at closing passing lanes.

As I’ve said IF Granit leaves i’d be confident that Neves could cover his attributes while adding mobility and a higher set piece threat

Almuniasaynomore

Kroenkephobe You have me right,before my time, but I love the music of the 60’s and 70’s. Pretty eclectic taste truth be told,so many different influences growing up,couldn’t even pick a favourite genre ,nevermind band/artist. I feel the same about football in some ways, love arsenal , hate utd,pool, but always admire good football no matter who plays it. Nearly got killed over here in 96 for cheering on Venables team,but I loved the way he had them playing Can’t answer your trivia question., you’ll have to tell me,if I was guessing I’d go for Bob Dylan, seemed to be… Read more »

Ishola70

For Xhaka to Roma read also Arteta to Barcelona.

This is all just pure spin to make us appreciate the player and manager more because it is spun that there is interest in them.

This is it’s purpose.

Roma may not be the best side around atm but they are still a big name in europe.

Eduardo

Good riddance to Xhaka Willian and Bellerin if true. Take what we can get and run.

Guendouzi too. Has there ever been a player with such a big ego, based on so little?

Dissenter

Nelson
“Now that we are out of European games completely, not many good players would like to join us unless we overpay for them. That is a death spiral. So often, they become untradeable because of their high salary.”
Excellent point as always

Which is why we need to go to talented youth with high ceilings
Instead we have a manager who’s averse to young players.

Vintage Gun

“For Xhaka to Roma read also Arteta to Barcelona.”

That was my first thought but thinking of it deeper something has to give.
Xhaka is in the last two years of his contract. Time to sign or sell.

Granit also said the other day that he’s happy here but will make a decision on his future soon. This would indicate that he has other options to consider.

Jim also made a good point that if Roma we’re broke Mou wouldn’t be there.

Ishola70

Well if it is true no wonder Mourinho is seen as an old has been washed up manager.

He is also losing his marbles as well if his first target for his midfield is Granit Xhaka.

Dissenter

“Every time we buy a player, without selling one, we just further decrease our negotiating position to potential suitors”

Great stuff Rich
Ruthlessness works both ways, getting rid of players has to be the first step or at least be done in tandem with bringing in new players.

Eduardo

Bellerin is actually best suited to MLS at this point. He’s past it due to injuries, and seems more interested in politics and fashion then anything else. His virtue signalling BS on social media is unlikely to go down well with most Continental fans; the only place he has an audience for that guff is in London or America.

Dissenter

Ishola
You really believe that Xhaka is so bad that he cannot be useful in Serie A?

I think he lights up Serie A, same way he lit up the Bundesliga.

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