Some in the Italian media are reporting that Arsenal have moved to official bid stage when it comes to Dusan Vlahovic.
Here is what I don’t understand: If AFC knew who they were targeting in October, why does it take until Jan 17 to place a bid?
I am just asking that, it’s not a criticism, I’m still in the ‘don’t know what you’re talking about’ dog house after thinking the Arsenal press release was too naive. We might not have even placed a bid here.
What does seem clear from factual evidence sourced in the FT is the agents of Dusan are the worst kind. They tried to extract £6.69m in fees from Fiorentina just to keep the player there. I read one random thread that stated there could be as many as 15 parties trying to extract fees from this transfer. Edu is more than comfortable running in those circles, the guy was shameless enough to put Willian, his agents player, on £250k a week and do the signing at the Kia’s house. Not sure he’s getting that sort of long leash these days. Certain clubs might indulge mega agents, but I don’t think Arsenal are rich enough to be adding 10-15% on top of a big fee… did I say rich? Stupid.
This is another total guess out here, but I’d imagine part of the push from Arsenal to the player will be, ‘fuck your agent, do what you need to do to go to the next level in your career.’ I really don’t understand why so many players are happy to let their agents extract so much cash from their deals. If I were the star and I knew 15 parties were leaching onto my deal, I’d put a stop to it. If an agent is slowing you down, creating a bad rep for you, and cratering your options, then you have the wrong agent. There’s a story doing the rounds in Spain that Ousmane Dembélé was set to sign with Xavi; his agent Moussa Sissokho held a meeting with the club, was very rude, demanded 200m euros over 4 years for the player, and 40m euros for himself. It’s amusing because who doesn’t like to see Barca getting rolled like that, but it does speak to a wider issue… some agents are poison. Going back to Fiorentina, their owner basically confirmed that Gattuso joined and told him which players to sign, and at what fees. The owner told him to go fuck himself and that was the end of that.
There will be a reckoning at some point, the money made around the edges of football is often far from clean, and no one ever seems to pay a price for wrongdoing. I suspect Italy will drop the first show with the price fixing scandal that’s engulfed a load of clubs, then we’ll see if the UK or Spain decide to move on it. No doubt an ex-Arsenal person is sweating about that somewhere in the French Riviera right now.
Arsenal fans took the banter to new levels yesterday, we’re all united online, which makes a nice change, and the misguided pundits looking for retweets and likes at our expense took a battering yesterday. There was a common feature amongst them all. Those that took jabs at Arsenal for postponing the game had NOTHING to say when Liverpool postponed in scandalous fashion. Absolutely zip.
Now, this is a kind of bias, and I won’t have anyone pretend it isn’t so. Jurgen Klopp is the new Alex Ferguson in the media. He has a lot of love from fans, he’s a winner, so journalists don’t want to cross him. They don’t want to lose access, get spanked by him in front of their friends, and it seems there’s a bit of an unwritten rule about criticising him. All is not well at camp Liverpool, but no one writes about it. The German rockstar drew 11 false positives, there was no Martin Lipton hit piece about it, the big journo Twitter accounts didn’t debate the moral bankruptcy of it all, no one questioned their sporting intent. Even when the EFL investigated, the story was written in an almost apologetic manner. Why? Because he has the power.
Arsenal are the whipping boys in the media still. Arteta doesn’t have enough credibility yet. In most lines of business, your reputation doesn’t update in real time, it takes a bit longer. Arsenal should be getting more respect, but we don’t, because we’re still seen as easy prey. Our time will come though, I think Arteta is doing a good job in his press conferences, and there will be a time when he has a bit more edge to him, and journalists have to think twice about whether they want to cross an Arsenal manager that might be around for a long time (or at another fancy club).
Arsene Wenger had the power in the media. Everyone wanted him to answer their question. The big journalists didn’t want to write about his clear demise or ask him tough questions. Every time our season crashed, they all ran to his defence with ‘the warchest is coming’ and ‘there have been internal meetings and Arsene really took this season’s failings hard, he’s going to fix it.’
We are all bias at heart. In our jobs, there is always an element of self-preservation. So when big names ignore bigger names doing bad things, it’s not an accident, it’s because no one wants to damage their career writing things that piss off the biggest names.
Onto other stories. The Arthur Melo story seems to have died a death. The player was subbed at halftime versus Juventus last night and the press in Italy is reporting the loan is off. I cannot say I will miss this rumour, it’s emergency cover at best, so if we have to look elsewhere, then that will work for me.
Miguel Azeez has been recalled from his loan with Portsmouth under the guidance of Dan Cowley. He had this to say.
“There are some areas of his game that are beyond this level and other areas that he needs to keep working at, as with any young player.”
“I have absolutely no doubt that he’ll go on to become a top player..” “We’ve been impressed with his focus and commitment to improve.
I’m not sure if we’ve recalled because we need him in our midfield or Ben Knapper has another loan move up his sleeve.
Auba is going to come back to Arsenal for further treatment. The Gabonese star has rumoured heart lesions. I have no idea what that’s related to, but there’s been a stint of athletes with heart issue post-covid. Good luck to the player, I hope whatever the problem is, it can be fixed.
Get a vaccination, people.
ALSO, watch and listen to our latest podcast.
Bankz is here for the tr4phy again
Tr4phy
Let’s do this!
4th
Amateurs
Oops
Hit the post!
I read the article first too. Bankz setting a trap
Gave you all a 3mins head start after my first post and you guys still couldn’t beat me?
Nah..:this has become too easy like Pep’s reign in the premier league
Jamie.
Excuses….excuses.
Bring your A-game tomorrow.
I will be here waiting.
Lol
I can’t wait for somebody to sign, the suspense is killing me. I watched the YouTube special for this striker and I have to say I wasn’t overly wowed, anybody else rate him?
I do like the possibility of Tielmans though, he’s definitely got something about him
Pedro, the Dusan Vlahovic deal just keeps getting murkier and murkier and I’m beginning to think he’ll be more trouble than he’s worth. I too am a little bit confused over the tardiness we’ve shown in the market. Like you, I was impressed with the Josh interview on Sky and came away thinking that we had all our recruitment ducks lined up. Apparently not. I always thought the Melo deal was far fetched. He’s played half a dozen games or so this season, some as a sub in a league that has all the pace of a three-legged race. There’s… Read more »
Alexander Isak has always been my first choice, after him I would look at Jonathan David. Both are young aspiring strikers who would fit well into our system.
Dusan would be a total statement and a coup but the collective is more important than an individual star; think back to Alexis, Mesut, and Andrei Arshavin. Three excellent players, and when in top form, unbelievably talented but in the end their individual brilliance wasn’t enough.
No use derailing our entire transfer strategy and wage structure on one player if we can’t back him up with an effective supporting cast.
Ahh mate stop giving medical advice on your blog. I’ve known people who’ve had the same injury post jab and people who’ve had the injury post covid. Really difficult to pinpoint what’s causing this issue so hold fire.
Haha it’s on Bankz!
What’s this sad news about Auba?
Never realised Youri was still only 24, he’s been an absolute baller his whole life. Would be a great addition but Leicester will be horrendously difficult as ever I am sure. Hate agents with a passion, they always seem to taint transfers and generally make the game a worse place by leeching of those with more talent than themselves. Read somewhere FIFA is looking into capping the fees they can receive so hopefully we will start to see them have less influence. Think we need / will go for one big name and one stop gap to cover CM/DCM &… Read more »
Shroom – Pedro’s medical advice is ‘get vaccinated people’ – what’s wrong with that? Quite right he should be saying it. We need to counter the damage that wankers like Djokovic are doing.
I can’t help but think a punt on Luka Jovic would give us exactly the type of striker that Vlahovic is for about half the fee and 0% of the attitude. Jovic has had a miserable time at RM but IMO is still a great striker. We have a history of succeeding with unloved former stars stuck in the wrong place and this would be a great continuation of that tradition. . That way maybe we can even afford Tielemans
Shroom, it’s not medical advice, is social responsibility advice.
Northbanker
Jović, I agree. Low risk, with a possible high return if he allowed him to rediscover his mojo…
If we could acquire him for something like £5m loan fee and £25m fee to make the loan permanent… it would be a steal.
Arthur Melo had his interosseous membrane removed from his leg in July and was out for 3 months, he has been eased back in since October.
Not sure we should be looking at someone with this type of injury anyway.
Sid, being a dickhead about vaccines is a banned practice. Do it again and you will be binned.
He should be binned for trolling anyway !
I honestly think Bankz is Pedro
“Shroom, it’s not medical advice, is social responsibility advice…”
Damn right. Well said.
How else is he first second third fourth every post ? Going back years too lol
Naija, I can tell you, unequivocally, I do no use multiple guises on here.
On to the post, Arthur Melo looks ill equipped for the Premier league so I m kind of glad the loan might be off. Too short, looks to struggle with stamina, and he looks a Cazorla lite.
Bruno G would be a better fit that Melo.
We really ought not to rely on the crap we read in the media. There’s more factual content in one of Tony the Bore’s self-admiring posts. You know the one, “My entire family are far superior intellectually to everyone else. I realised this when I dropped anchor in my 500-foot superyacht and rushed to pick my son up from golf, the one who asks all the intellectual questions. I was so proud when I heard he had hit 18 hole in ones, again. What a boy. Anyhow, he said to me:- Dad, I was deep in thought as I hit… Read more »
Boring without a weekend game
It’s still only Monday. Gonna be a long bloody week.
Hope we tank the mugsmashers this Thursday
Bergkamp63
I like Bruno G too. Getting in a CM and a striker would really improve our team play.
I ve been hearing the name Tchouameni for at least a year now. Dude’s name keeps popping up in all the cool stats in Europe. His name kept being mentioned so recently I decided to look him up.
Boy! a Vieira regen if you ve ever seen one. Boy is a monster in midfield. Thats who we should be getting
Unoni
“Come on mate. Surely it’s down to the individual to choose what they put in their body?”
My wife’s been saying that for over 30 years mate. So I let her get on with it just as long as she promises not to keep me awake.
Looking forward to the game, if Saka is out then we will have to play eother ESR Nketiah or martinelli on the right hand side.
Will Odegaard be fit? If so I’d go with ESR on the right Odegaard in the middle and martinelli on the left.
Got to be looking at white and lakonga in the middle now really. Who else is there?
it tells you when pedro has posted a new thread on certain devices bankz is just one of the four sados that keeps refreshing to see when it comes out, who cares anyway? its not as if they add to the conversation once they get the blog spot the covet, weirdos of the highest order
His game, talent and mentality is HUGE. And he is under 24. Fits right into our new transfer policy.
AFC
Hahaha. Walked into that one. Sounds like marital bliss
Naija+soccerJanuary 17, 2022 16:08:42
I ve been hearing the name Tchouameni for at least a year now. Dude’s name keeps popping up in all the cool stats in Europe. His name kept being mentioned so recently I decided to look him up.
Naija
De Jong
Nothing else will do. Best player on planet earth today. Kdb second
Thomas Partey is 29 in June, can’t see us hanging on to him for more than 18 months or so.
Sir Pedro
I was joking unequivocally sir.
Unoni – it really isn’t. It’s a social obligation on all of us to do everything we can to prevent the spread and vaccination is top of that list. Why should the health Service creak at the edge simply because most of the intake are unvaccinated?
I am all for individual choice in most walks of life IF it is does not harm other people – and that is where libertarians seem to struggle with their selfish views – this is a global crisis where those ‘own choice’ arguments have no place whatsoever
Northbanker
👍 You do you.
Unoni
I respectfully disagree sir. De Jong is extremely talented and certainly one of the best players at the moment.
But when I was watching Tchouameni I saw more than great talent. I saw huge mentality, I saw a guy that can transform a team from good to great. Think Kante, Vieira, Yaya tours those guys.
Thing is if he is managed right, I could see him reaching higher heights than those guys.
Unvaccinated = Cowardice !
Afraid of a little needle !
Test!
I don’t want Tielemans, gimme Tchouameni
And the best player in the world is Salah not De jong
Wooo hooo San Francisco off to sunny Green Bay
we see you sid
…Unfortunately.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-fan-tv-star-mr-25967813
“”Edu is more than comfortable running in those circles, the guy was shameless enough to put Willian, his agents player, on £250k a week and do the signing at the Kia’s house. “”
Pedro
You can’t blame Edu for Willian and praise Arteta for Tomi, White, Ramsdale and other 3 signings.
AFTV DT banged up for 3 years!
Why is he called DT when his real name is Liam Goodenough?
Haha. Sid has been told off. 😉
shame on you no medical knowledge whatsoever and you are telling people to go get an untested medicine which could be the cause of the heart lesions.
Go get jabbed all you like, but do not tell anyone else to do the same, unless you are prepared to tale responsibility for an unfavorable outcome.
you are in no way qualified to give out this sort of advice, stick to what you something about
Untested? In the UK vaccines need approval from MHRA. Which all available vaccines have.
Nice poem.
By not getting vaccinated, you are in no way harming others.
Vaccine DO NOT stop you from corona virus and in no way stops you in passing it to others.
It ‘may’ reduce your chances to require emergency services. Doesn’t it come down to individual choices then?
P.S. – I chose to get vaccinated. I don’t give a fuck if you chose not to.
If you aren’t vaccinated you are more likely to pass it on, say to a loved one.
Left
Do you have any reference stating vaccination stops spreads?
Afaik, you get a milder symptom since your body has already produced whatever the blood cells are needed. There is no study saying you are less likely to pass it on if you are vaccinated.
More than 3/4th of UK population is vaccinated, and the cases are all time high..going by it, if you get me a link, I will discard it anyways!
Being unvaccinated is a cop out and is disrespectful to those people that take their own and other’s lives seriously.
Those that are unvaccinated have to realise that rules are set in place for a reason. You don’t want to follow the rules, you suffer the consequences.
A la Novax Jokeovic!
Pretty sure that those folk who are antivax are anti most other things.
First they tell you to wear a mask to prevent the spread, then they ask you to take a vaccine to prevent the spread, then they tell you to take booster 1 to prevent the spread, then you go and take booster 2 to prevent the spread,……
See where I m going with this ?
Perhaps ain’t no beating the Virus no matter what you do. For now anyway.
Yep! It’s all out there…
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newscientist.com/article/2294250-how-much-less-likely-are-you-to-spread-covid-19-if-youre-vaccinated/amp/
I’d rather take the word of the worlds top scientists over the likes of Piers Corbyn.
I agree that Vlahovic and his camp are looking like potential trouble. As alternatives, DCL must want out of the shit show that is Everton. He is in less of a position of bargaining strength now than he was last year at this time last year plus he had an injury for most of the season. He would be a good fit for our system but if he were twice the cost of Isac or Jovic I would be tempted to take either of the latter.
Anyhoo,
If Conte stays longer than 4 years at the Totts, he would have taking them to the next level. Yea even Premier league title.
So here’s to hoping it doesn’t work out and he is out in the next year or so.
Mb
Are you are medical specialist?
By not getting vaccinated, you are disrespecting others and making yourself look like a total arse.
Mb
Drop it mate. You’ll end up binned. Not worth it on a football blog.
Sid. Don’t worry about the vaccine. You should be used to feeling a little prick. 😄
Sad to hear about DT getting banged up always enjoyed his rants
And the opposite is out there too
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00450-z
—
If that was true, you won’t have 1.7 lakh cases in first week when 75% of public are vaccinated. For reference at it’s peaks earlier, it was always around 60-70k when people were less vaccinated.
As I said, I’m vaccinated..but do not believe everything you read on the internet man. You will find articles proving earth is flat.
MB, you say that by not vaccinating you are in now way harming others. That’s silly. By not vaccinating you will be clogging up the hospital system as you rightly pointed out that you could get more sick. Therefore you are harming others granted in a more indirect way.
In my local town we have a scruffy guy holding a piece of cardboard on which he has scrawled ‘vaccine = murder’.
Hmm, should I take his opinion or the opinion of the world’s top scientists and medical experts.
Left testicle
Look up the world doctors alliance. Robert malone. There are two sides to the coin
Everyone should respect the choice of others.
That link is 11 months old.
Graham62
Nope, I’m not. Read that again…
“P.S. – I chose to get vaccinated. I don’t give a fuck if you chose not to.”
Are you a medical specialist? Lol.. I will go get a sports degree to analyse a football game next time..
—
I’m not debating whether it’s good or not. I’m fully vaccinated.. I’m saying it’s perfectly fine if you chose not to.. there’s a difference unless you don’t wanna put down that ‘you are arse’ goggles mate
for your information all the vaccines have been approved for emergency use only as they are all in phase 3 trials which do not end until the end of 2023.
Wattsy, fact is they are working so why does it matter what phase they are in?
Reject social pressure as a means of behavior regulation, do Not be programmed
Left
But that 170k cases in first week of January ain’t. I believe it don’t stop the spread. It might reduce hospitalization, that’s how vaccines work. If someone decides to not get vaccinated, and ultimately die – let it be.
Naija
This kid is better on the ball than de Jong? Better vision, passing, composure, reading of the game, touch, drop of shoulder? Why not both? Partey 29 in June as someone mentioned earlier.
Google Robert Malone. He’s not respected by his peers.
Thanks for the offer Sid, but she’s fully vaccinated. 😉
“If Conte stays longer than 4 years at the Totts, he would have taking them to the next level. Yea even Premier league title”
I’ll be surprised if he lasts 4 months.
Yes. They will be classed as exempt. Not ‘Novak Djokovic’ exempt though.
Hmmmm Sid is at the center of another vaccine debate …. shocker. That and slandering Partey’s playing ability, and discussing random dude’s manhood at any opportunity is your thing … I guess.
Strange niche to want to be a part of…on a blog dedicated to Arsenal football.. but ok..
I did think the poem was pretty good.. for what it’s worth..
I did try to get Haiku Thursday’s started on here once or twice… back in the day, but surprisingly it didn’t take off quite as well as Joke Fridays.
Djoker should have been allowed after a negative and few days of quarantine.
It’s a way to force vaccination on people, which is wrong. They are doing it just because they can.
Compare it to the footballer in PL. Apply this rule and you would have half the team unfit to play (thank god, if Xhaka is in that list). They won’t do it because they can’t.
Goonerb,
From yesterday’s comments, I thought the same thing about Aubameyang but felt guilty about it.
His heart health is all that matters at the moment.
There should’ve been no hesitation to get him back to London for some first world medical supervision and advice.
If it’s anything career threatening, the club is likely insured, so let’s just hope he’s OK.
All I’m saying is that it’s better to keep an open mind, always and to respect the personal choice of others.
+1.
I think the reason they are bringing Auba back.. is because they found the same heart condition in two other players. Seems pretty strange they would find a rare condition in 3 players from the same team…. Pretty weird. So I’d imagine they want to verify it and find out why they didn’t detect anything earlier with the Arsenal doctors. I do hope he is ok. obviously…
Mid
Two arsenal players?
100% of Flat Earthers are also anti-vaxxers. Nice group of free-thinkers whose ‘opinions should be respected’.
No two other Gabonian players.
Refreshing to see such a variety of opinions among normal people though.