Well, it would appear that the Raphinha story might not smell of Vlahovic, it looks increasingly like Arsenal are going to go all out this window and bring in all the technical wide players.
Did anyone see Arsenal investing £60m on a player to replace Nicolas Pepe?
I did not.
But do I welcome it?
You are damn right I do.
Ornstein says this chatter is the real deal.
“Interest in him (Raphinha) is clear and firm. Mikel Arteta and a number of others at Arsenal really like him. Admiration not fresh, goes back a little way. I think that is the player they would like to bring in.”
Raphinha would be a monster show of ambition. He can play on the left, he can play on the right, I suspect he has the frame and profile to play as a false #9 if we needed him to do that job.
What do I like about him? He has power, speed, and brilliant control. There is a lot of end product and directness in his game… and we know he has the right character because he survived Bielsa.
FABIO VIEIRA IS IN THE DOOR. Mikel and Edu had this to say.
EDU: “We’re so pleased to have completed the signing of Fabio from FC Porto. Fabio is a player with special qualities who is comfortable with the ball in the final third of the pitch. We are all looking forward to working with him and enjoying his future contribution to Arsenal. We will now continue to work hard and are looking forward to finishing this transfer window as strongly possible.”
MIKEL: ”I am very excited that we have identified and signed such a special talent. Fabio is a very creative player that will bring high quality and versatility to our attacking play. We welcome Fabio and his family to our club and are looking forward to starting work with him ahead of the new season.”
This is a banger of a signing, we’re trying to get a Bernado or KDB before they are a thing. The club moved in silence on this one, they did the deal with Jorge Mendes. They jumped the queue ahead of other top clubs. I am thrilled. Who knows how we’ll use him, but he has so many characteristics I like… tight control, deadly accuracy with his passes, bravery, elite creativity, and the character to force his way into a good Porto side. He’s also the U21 Champion and a league winner. This is a baller move from the club and I AM EXCITED.
The player had this to say:
I’m an attacking player who looks to find space between the lines to be able to finish off moves either with assists or by scoring goals. I think those are the main attributes that Arsenal fans can expect from me. I’ll always give my all for the team.
… and as I’ve been saying, young players see us the hot club to ply their trade, this is who he’s looking forward to playing with.
I’m a fan of Bukayo Saka and Smith Rowe, too. I really like the way they play. Odegaard is quite similar to me.
Zach Lowy for the win on the Odegaard piece. Check out that video here.
The delicious story doing the rounds on United Twitter is that Ten Hag is a big fan of Nicolas Pepe. Now there’s a move I didn’t see coming, but really, we all know there’s a player in Nico, it’s just not going to be unearthed in this Mikel Arteta system. You have guaranteed goals with Nico, but there’s no consistency, and I don’t think he has the control in his game to really bang at Arsenal.
We haven’t spoken about it, but someone is going to have to tell Edu that yes, the rumours are true, you can sell players.
Here is the list of potential names that could go and some speculative fees:
- Nico: £20m (if it’s United, why not?)
- Bernd Leno: £15m
- Bob Holding: £10m
- Granit Xhaka: £15m
- Ainsley: £5m
- Hector: £5m
- Torreira £15m
- Ballard £5m
That’s £90m in there plus the £15m we’ve already received from Guendouzi and Mavropanos.
Now, we know the chances of getting near that numbers are very low, but there’s no reason to believe we can’t make a dent.
- Marquinhos £3m
- Tielemans £25m
- Raphinha £50m
- Jesus £45m
- Fabio £30m
- Martinez £35m
If all the names drop that are on the list quite firmly, we’re looking at a £188m.
My guess is that Arsenal are probably looking to get to a similar net spend as last season, which was around £130m.
Again, I go back to the January transfer window and the potency of not doing anything fucking mad because Twitter said so.
We reduced the wage bill, we’ve gone from £190m when Arteta took over, to about £85m 2.5 years later. That’s a monster reduction by any standards. These players we’re bringing in aren’t coming in on huge cash, I saw that Vieira would be earning about £46k a week to start with, I suspect Raphinha, Tielemans and Jesus will come on more cash, but we’re not looking at the dark days of £350k a week.
Part of our problem with the selling story has always been the salary. The increasingly muted misery crowd loves to throw around the story about Mustafi being offered a new deal at Arsenal, which wasn’t true, and here’s how you know why… He was on £90k a week under Arsene Wenger, no one was going to pick him up on that deal, the players knew that, but he left, was booted from Schalke, and even on a free transfer, he couldn’t get more than £38k a week. Yep, Arsenal paid Mustafi over double his market rate, that’s why we couldn’t get rid of him, and that’s why he was absolutely not offered a new deal by Arsenal.
The difficulty of rebuilding any organization is that pain is part of the process. In football though, you have 10 million critics demanding the change come with no bumps in the road. Out the backend of this rebuild, we have an average squad age of 23.5, loads of Hale-End products, a better culture, a clear idea of how to play, a recruitment team that aren’t banter, and a manager that has enough sway to drive change through every aspect of the club.
It’s dream stuff. We are moving like a proper club again. The whiners are being put in their place, this club is moving away from the negative voices. The fans in the stadium are falling in love with their team again. All the doubters that said we’d move nowhere under this regime are starting to double-take because Arsenal are powering at the dream of being major trophy winners in a really smart way.
Right, before I exit the building, it’s my birthday today, so sign up for my Patreon OR watch the latest podcast we put out.
One of our best and most-watched live shows of ALL TIME. Xxx
Fowler’s
Habesha
Of course he’s bloody African?? Wtf. He was literally born and raised in Senegal to Senegalese parents and grandparents.
Bellerin is an Englishman…
So is cesc
They moved to England by the time they were 15
Tony Adams’ book ‘Addicted’ was a decent read. Warts and all.
Sure he has Senegalese ancestors but he is called the French Midfielder. And he speaks French like a native. You can say the Senegal born French midfielder but he is French.
According to his passport he’s French, Un. In every legal way he’s French. Of African origins for sure, but he is French.
Andy 1886. IsAdams African?distant relative perhaps?
Un
What a stupid argument. Bellerin and Cesc chose to play for Spain. Viera chose France. That is why he is French. Choice matters.
Zaha is Ivorian now. And Jorginho is Italian because they chose their Nationality even though they are English and Brazil raised.
Habesha He is genetically African. His family are all Senegalese. He was born there and grew up there. He could have moved anywhere in the world. Japan. Would that make him Japanese if he’d gone there at 8 years old? I lived in Oz. I could have citizenship. Am I an Aussie? Anyway, this conversation ends here or I’ll end up in trouble so I’ll stop Vieira qualified to play for France as he gained citizenship as an African boy. He’s not French. Anelka is French. Henry is French. Aubameyang and Pepe are actually French. Patrick Vieira is African with… Read more »
Habesha
I choose to Martian…. Now I’m from Mars
Un “I choose to Martian…. Now I’m from Mars”
On the plus side I’d say that you have a better than average chance of getting into their first XI !!
Andy
I can chop my balls off and legally become a woman…
Legalities don’t change who you are and where you are from. Anyway
I say vieira is the best premier league midfielder of all time whatever passport he holds.
Positive Pete: We’re all African if you go back far enough. Cradle of humanity and all that. Unless you’re a Garden of Eden sort of guy/girl.
Un, I know you have strong feelings on such things but I wouldn’t go to that extreme! Personally I don’t let it bother me, there’re much bigger issues to worry about. But yes, PV4 shits all over other PL midfielders IMO.
Un
Is Saka English then? His parents are clearly from Nigeria. And Nigerians raised him. Do you have to come out from a Vagina in France or England to be called French or English? What age do you have to move to be French or English?
If you know the Martian culture and you live there since you were 8 then you can choose to be Martian too.
Zaha is Ivorian
Jorginho is Brazilian with some Italian blood
Martinelli has some Italian blood
Vieira has no french blood.
Genetically he is African. But he isn’t African perse. A nationality is a choice if you are born or raised in different countries. That’s how I see it anyway.
Un
June 22, 2022 14:20:34
Zaha is Ivorian
Jorginho is Brazilian with some Italian blood
Martinelli has some Italian blood
Vieira has no french blood
😂😂😂 That is enough internet today.
Saka was born and raised here.
Anyway. Let’s leave it at that
I can’t just choose to be Cambodian
I can adopt Cambodian culture and citizenship but I can never be Cambodian.
Boris Johnson was born in New York. Probably a good idea of he packed his bags and f*cked off back there too.
Un, in his autobiography, Vieira states that he hardly has any memories of his childhood in Senegal.
He is French.
Stick to the football guy.
andy1886
I thought it was wrong to wish people would f off back to their own country? Is it okay because BoJo is white? Or maybe okay because you don’t like him? I bet you wouldn’t have the guts to say that about a box ticker.
I don’t mind either way, but it’s hard to keep up with the hypocrisy.
“genetically African”
WTF does that mean?
…tsking..shrugging…head shale
Un na
Stick to the football man.
Diss
I was sticking to football
We were telling best African players and I offered vieira
So wind the neck in
Un…I’m completely with you. He was born and raised(until 8 years of age) in Senegal. He’s 100% African.
He just chose French citizenship..
Andy 1886- funny enough I do like apples.😉
Gooner Dave….that’s how Andy rolls.
He dishes it out,but doesn’t like it back..as left as you can get.
Dave, correct, can’t stand the bloke and I’ll happily admit it. Of course I’m being funny about it (funny difficult not funny ha ha). Am I going to put him on a plane to the US? No of course not. Which is ironic considering that he’s happy to shove people on a plane to Rwanda. What I do think is this country and the world in general would be better off if he and his ilk weren’t running the UK.
Also Dave, what is a ‘Box Ticker’ exactly?
lol a Boris hater.
They are all shite including Boris.
Really Johnny? Do give examples by all means.
No problem having a sensible debate on left/right whatever. I’m all for equality hadn’t you noticed?
Ishola, it’s probably fair to say that if someone seeks power then they’re probably not the person that should be gaining it. The very traits that enable people to reach the top of the political pile are the same ones that make them terrible leaders and awful advocates for the average voter.
Here here Andy.
Andy…we had certain debates on ACLF years ago. You always stuck to left of centre even if it wasn’t correct- because of principle. There’s mo point in going over all that again as life’s too short…Stuart that ran that site should’ve taught you that. My point is that you are,and for as many years that I read ACLF,have always been pretty spikey about anything that doesn’t suit your agenda(certainly on the political front). It came as no surprise to me that you’d made that remark about Boris. I’m neither left or right politically- but one things for sure Andy…Socialism is… Read more »
I blame the French philosophers.
If in doubt blame the French.
Jonny, absolutely, everyone is entitled to their beliefs of course. And if someone is ‘wrong’ or ‘right’ is usually just an opinion. But even if you take the emotion out of it Boris has been found to be legally ‘wrong’ on several occasions. There are plenty in his own party that don’t believe he’s fit to run the country as we’ve seen so it’s not just my opinion.
Still interested to know what a ‘Box Ticker’ is though if Dave would care to enlighten me….
Happy birthday Pedro. Many happy returns for you and Le Grove!
”Still interested to know what a ‘Box Ticker’ is though”
I read that on first glance as a Box Licker and if that expertise is what you’re after then Sid is your man to consult.
Free consultations at that, marvelous.
WEagle, for goodness sake don’t encourage him!
Having visited the Cradle of Humankind a few months ago … it’s still a pretty poor attempt at explaining the origin of life. Basically the secularists are pretty desperate to find something other than a theistic explanation and they’re pinning all their hopes to something with ridiculously small odds of actually happening.
But yes, the tribalist nature of football nationalities is a bit arbitrary.
Savage, I would be very interested to understand more about the alternative origin of man hypotheses you are referring to, for any links or suggestions you can share?9
Hahahaha weagle that was gold.
Andy I also here here to that comment ishola did too 😂
@Savage, my biggest frustration is that we’re all going to spend our lives never knowing the answer to the very ultimate questions. Some take comfort in faith, some in logic and science, but ultimately we will never truly know. Bit of a bummer really…
Goober, they’re all feckers the lot of them. Maybe I should take up meditation…
Andy,
The answer is Liam Brady………
Andy, I’m a meditation teacher by trade…you know where I am if you fancy it!
“you know where I am if you fancy it!”
Sounds like something that Sid could have said….
Almunia, yes the Almighty himself (waits for the inevitable backlash from those with no sense of humour).
Pogba is more of an entertainer than a footballer
Anyone seen clips of the silly “Pogmentary” documentary on amazon prime? where he calls a 300k weekly offer ” nothing?’
He’s every despisable character.
“🚨 BREAKING: Arsenal star defender Kieran Tierney has become Manchester City’s new top priority as they prepare to launch a £65m bid for the left back.”
Just saw this, high chance it’s bullshit but if it isn’t I can see why we’re in for Lisandro. That’s him and Vieira paid for.
As much as I love Tierney he’s a crock and 65m would be a ridiculous price for him.
Can’t really see Man C paying that much though.
Im laughing as I read people here still talking about Bissouma. He’s not available any more, and we are not looking for his player profile. Let it go. He plays for Spurs now, so it’s time to hate him like the rest of the scum. The mentality of pining for players that our club didn’t want is strange. Grovers talking about Buffouna in the same conversations as Patrick Vieira and Yaya. Don’t you realize how silly that is? The obsession with the guy is the same as it was here with Chris Samba, MVila, Serge Aurier, Benteke, Capoue. I asked… Read more »
Meanwhile back with the football where Kompany says that Sambi is ‘the new Yaya Toure’.
I like the kid but that’s one hell of a statement.
Freddie, how about a swap deal Jesus for Tierney?
Nigel
“I admit I thought Aurier was an incredible physical talent, but hated him when he went to the lily white dark side.”
Aurier was a classic example that you need more than high physical attributes to be a truly good player.
Ishola
True. He might have been an Arsenal fan, but his mentality didn’t seem that stable. He was such an awesome talent when he was younger. And yes, I wanted him too, along with that other Arsenal fan Rudiger. Hey ho.
If the rumours are true that City want Tierney and will cough up £60m+ to get him, the club should do all it can to get it done. That would be good business for us and Tierney’s fragility can be someone else’s problem.
Andy
Did Kompany really say that? If so, that gives me a major footballing hard-on. I rate Kompany’s opinion, and don’t believe he is prone to be Ming overly emphatic. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if he started showing signs of that next season?!
Lisandro + Zinchenko for Tierney?
WW, yes he really did say that. Here’s the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVnTNjPW-ds
🍆
This made me laugh…
“William Saliba and Gabriel Martinelli will now become “Home-Grown” players as they were registered for 3 years before becoming 21.”
Saliba has never played in England, never played for Arsenal, but now he’s a Home Grown player. The rules sometimes are absolute nonsense.
What have I missed?
Two weeks away and are we any closer to finding our ID?
Tierney wanted out long ago.
Just an opinion.
If Man City is really in for Cuccurella, shouldn’t we be trying to get Zinchenko?
I think he fits us better than Lisandro, and there shouldn’t be a bidding war.
Nigel Tufnel
Bissouma would have been a massive addition.
Never mind, we’ll make do with Xhaka instead.
Graham, what were you hoping for in two weeks?
Just an opinion= just an agenda
Nigel Tufnel
What makes me laugh on here is that folk like yourself really believe that Arteta knows what he’s doing.
“Just an opinion= just an agenda”
Hence the fence sitting eh Bob?
Come on, you did ask for that one.
Bob N16
Not a rail strike, that’s for sure.
Bloody unions!
If you say so Andy but you know Graham usually has the same angle on most of his posts.
So unions are the issue Graham? I’m very happy to be a member of a union.
If City want Tierney, we should get Cucurella for ourselves!
Andy
Wouldn’t mind that, that’s the only scenario where Jesus is worth 50m, we’d still get 15m left over. Excellent deal for us.
Again, not very likely but something like that would explain why we’re linked with so many players, would take our sales well over 100m.
Still, if we don’t upgrade on Xhaka it’s all for nothing.
I can’t believe the club is sitting there, watching us fall to pieces whenever Partey is out and not think we need to strengthen that area.
At least we’re being linked to Fabian Ruiz now, would be decent I think.
If thats at me Sid- I didn’t say that.
That may have been how you interpreted it.
So that would make you the clueless one- and always looking for some keyboard trouble. Clown.
How many 21yr olds come over from the Belgian league, and bang in their first season? Sambi needs minutes, interesting that Kompany reportedly wants him on loan at Burnley for the season, 40 games in the Championship would be useful for his development, I suppose it’ll depend on how we juggle our central midfield options Partey’s muscle injuries are a concern, he was playing his best football at Arsenal before his injury, but we need to be able to extract 40-45 games out of him. He’s 29 and one of our most important players, but any type of offer around… Read more »
That’s why Elneny extended.
He is the cover for Partey lol.
Teflon Xhaka of course not a problem in that regard.
Andy, too bad you’re not the real Scarlett in disguise, if you were I’d let you get away with that cold take. few facts…. Saka has been plying his trade in a team that has been out of the CL for 5 years… Jesus has been plying his trade in the best team in the UK for the last few years… I could go into detail in terms of numbers but I’m assuming no one here is that dim… fyi…politics are for those who think they are intelligent plus, we’re not supposed to know all the answers, that’s the whole… Read more »
It’s not about have Elneny as cover for Partey It’s whether we want to gamble on Partey staying fit, or seeing if we can sell him to Juventus, and put those resources into a first choice who we believe can play 40-45 games We don’t want to end up in a Wilshere, Rosicky, Diaby, Ramsey situation, where the same players are perpetually injured, and that see’s our season go up in smoke I suspect had Partey + Tierney stayed fit, we’d have got the points to get over the line into 4th If we want to have a squad capable… Read more »
It’s very much about Elneny extending.
If he had sodded off as he should then that would have been the obvious signal that we were going to go to action on the central midfield.
Partey is going nowhere.
“but he has so many characteristics I like… tight control, deadly accuracy with his passes, bravery, elite creativity, and the character to force his way into a good Porto side. He’s also the U21 Champion and a league winner”
You forgot to mention the frame of a 10 year old girl; honestly how is this going to work in the PL?
So Bob, you’re a teacher!
oh and I do think Saka will be better than Jesus sooner rather than later. I’d go as far to say he’ll be competing with Haarland for the golden boot in a few years.
If we get an offer for Partey from Juventus, we should seriously consider it. He’s a top player who was playing some excellent football before his injury, but his muscular injuries are a concern: 21/22 Unknown Injury Apr 4, 2022 – 79 days 21/22 Ankle Injury Aug 1, 2021 Aug 29, 2021 28 days 20/21 Hamstring Injury Feb 7, 2021 Feb 22, 2021 15 days 20/21 Knock Jan 28, 2021 Jan 29, 2021 1 days – 20/21 Hip Injury Dec 6, 2020 Jan 11, 2021 36 days 20/21 Muscle Injury Nov 9, 2020 Dec 5, 2020 26 days His fitness… Read more »
Thanks RP7… I’d take Zinchenko over Xhaka if we can’t get Tielemans, Ruiz or someone we haven’t heard about yet…
Can’t imagine Arteta doesn’t realize that even if Xhaka performed above normal last season… that there’s so much room for improvement in that position.
Even if he has Vieira in mind for 8, it’s a risk to depend on a wirey kid with no premier league experience.
The bloody Colney training pitch I tells ya
I wouldn’t argue against Partey even if he is our best CM leaving but if he did then we need to bring in two CMs. We would need to take big action there in such an eventuality.
Partey is very unlikely to leave Arsenal at this time that’s all I’m saying.
And if you still can’t see that Elneny extending wasn’t a good sign in regards other CM(s) coming in then I can’t help you.
Loan out lakonga to Burnley (?) With Kompany.
And then get in the cm we need to be pushing xhaka to the bench. Then next season Sambi comes back channeling his inner yaya and replacing xhaka or elneny
Even Vieira himself in that first Arsenal interview admitted that a weakness of his and which he is looking to improve is his lack of physicality. So it doesn’t seem a good idea to stick him central. You may get away with it if he was an advanced central attacking midfielder a bit more out of the way of the traffic. I can see him playing as an inverted winger flank player that is always looking to come inside and as said before I don’t even know if he is coming in to be a regular first team starter straight… Read more »
Curse, it’s all about opinions of course. I could counter with the fact that Saka has achieved what he has against the background of all the turmoil at Arsenal whereas Jesus as you correctly point out had the luxury of playing in one of the top three sides in the world with all the benefits that this entails. And that Pep is happy to sell Jesus but is reportedly interested in Saka. Anyway we’ll see if we sign him, or indeed if Saka signs a new contract (which I expect and hope for but nothing is ever guaranteed). And you’re… Read more »
Rih “I suspect had Partey + Tierney stayed fit, we’d have got the points to get over the line into 4th” Definitely. In fact, they both missed the Spuds game too, along with White; a different game with them all playing. So we probably didn’t need three extra points if we take points in that game with 11 players. Of course, it’s auntie and bollocks, but the numbers tell a pretty damning story for them both. 2021-22 Tierney: 22 games Partey: 24 games 2020-21 Tierney: 27 Partey: 24 That’s without considering the extra games next season. Big players for other… Read more »
Anyway, onto something less controversial.
Who’s looking forwards to Euro 2022?
*Hoijbjerg played 36 games this season and 38 the season before. Declan Rice 36 games this season
*Premier League games.
It’s true that the best ability is availability.
Selling Partey would be madness though. He is a brilliant player and he is our only good experienced player. Feel the best is yet to come from him too.
Elneny is the perfect squad player, he’ll likely play 6 Europa league group games, the easier knock out games, the early rounds of the domestic cups, maybe 10-12 league starts, and he’s an experienced player to bring off the bench to shore up a game, because his passing is very neat + tidy. He’s an excellent professional, who’s happy to play a secondary role, and won’t kick up a fuss Every squad needs a few Mo Elneny’s who are happy to play second fiddle, without kicking up a stink…. The issue is that if Partey misses half the season again,… Read more »
WengerEagle
Yep, he is a top player. We badly missed him and that was reflected in our results.
Do you trust him though?
Certainly trying to teach you a few things Graham but you need to engage!
Oh for gods sake Rich lol.
Forget about Elneny being a lovely squad player that is happy to sit on the bench all the time.
The fact that he didn’t leave was not a good sign in regards getting body bodies for central midfield.
It’s quite a simple concept.
You clear decks to bring in new.
We decided not to clear out Elneny.
Rich already labelling Tomiyasu a crock? Talk of patience. If you were a coach you would dump any player who dares get injured? And expect to attract talent into your team?
How many seasons had Tomi befn with us? How many different injuries has he had?