JESUS TERMS AGREED – WHO NEXT?

by .

Listen, who knows what is really true on the internet, but it sounds like Arsenal has made a breakthrough with Gabriel Jesus.  According to Ben Jacobs on The Done Deal show, the player is convinced, £220k a week is the number, and there are no viable suitors that can offer what we can. Interesting that Champions League qualified Spurs aren’t of interest to him because of Kane and Son. He wants to be the main man, he will at Arsenal.

If this is all true, bravo to Edu for getting this deal done nice and fast.

There also seems to be quite a strong indication in the various media outlets that Arsenal is leading the chase for Martinez because we are the most hungry for his signature. I really am excited about that defender because he’ll give us a different dimension in defence, as a full back, or as a deep-lying midfielder.

The Youri Tielemans link seems to be the one that is starting to lose a bit of steam, but I don’t think that means it’s dead, I just think it’ll take longer to get it over the line because I assume Leicester are going to try and create a bidding war for the player.

Arsenal are definitely in for Raphinha, we’ve already dropped an offensive bid for him, which sounds about right. I love all the Art of the Deal bores that think there’s a world in which you bid first time and get things sealed in one seamless move. If you get an accepted bid first time, you bid too much, it’s that simple. I don’t think the Brazilian is a £65m player in any market. The only way they get that is if Barcelona come bounding in with money I don’t think they have.

Leeds are in a bind, the ideal for them is there is a bidding war, but it doesn’t look like Chelsea want him and I’m not sure Spurs will be either. Even if Spurs are, where is the better destination? Arsenal, a team on the rise, with a collection of Brazilians to share steak and kidney empanadas with… or Spurs? The player has two years left on his deal, this summer is the peak price for him, so I suspect we’ll get him, but it might take a while to get the deal done.

The Youri Tielemans deal seems to have lost a bit of steam, but again, if there’s only one club with the £25m on hand, what are Leicester going to do… let him go on a free next year? Of course not. That doesn’t mean they won’t make it hard for us to move on him.

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Chrispy

Please

Chrispy

Don’t make

Chrispy

Me be the

Chrispy

Tw4t

Chrispy

If those players come in, I’m just worried we might have to move on a jem of our own.

Mr Serge

I am delighted jesus terms agreed next is Martinez I hope

Rich

Raphinha, Jesus, Tielemans and a top left back, would be an unbelievable summer

3 PL ready players, all 25, all about to enter their peak.

My only concern around our squad would be depth in the goalkeeping department, Hein or Turner could be brilliant? But we’d be stepping into the unknown

Deep lying midfield would also be a concern with Partey’s injuries.

Other than that, we’d be looking incredibly strong, particularly when we add Saliba into the mix

Mr Serge

Rich don’t forget Vieira also we have elneny who is a capable understudy to partey plus if we sign Martinez he can play there if KT stays fit so we won’t need him at LB

Chrispy

……’gem’ ….even. 🙄

Danny S

What would make this a spectacular window is if we went into the new season minus Xhaka. At worst I would take him being relegated to a squad player. I think if we go in with him as our main man in a CM pairing like we have done the last 5 or whatever seasons it will end like it has the past 5 or 6 seasons. In disappointment. You can’t really gauge how many points he gains you a season but you know 100% he will cost you points. And usually at vital times. Really don’t want to face… Read more »

Danny S

Chrispy

I think the money that Edu has shaved off of our enormously bloated wage bill is paying for all these transfers. We have taken on a new much more frugal operating model so it frees up a lot of wedge.

Would have been even better if we had got some actual money from the deals.

TheBayingMob

I’ll be livid if we move on ESR after this … livid … Tierney first and foremost; love the player, will never be fit for an entire season

Rich

Mr Serge Exciting times, we’ve got a good foundation in place We need to secure that foundation by extending the likes of Saka, Saliba, Martinelli, Gabriel Then if we get the 3 players mentioned, and a quality left back, we’ll be a real threat going forward. We’ve been in a dark place the last few years, but we’re quietly assembling a really competitive squad. There’s so much room for internal improvements, particularly if we supplement what we have with 3 players who can hit the ground running I can see Jesus + Nketiah scoring bucket loads if we pull this… Read more »

Danny S

We played last season with a very thin squad of kids on modest money. Probably saved us a fortune.

The roll of the dice this season will be making champs league and being able to support this seasons better stocked squad.

Habesha Gooner

220k a week for Jesus is setting the bar too high though. But I am glad it is going to get done. We need a CF. CM and LB the next priorities for me. Leeds are playing a game of chicken for Raphinha. Dembele is considering signing for Barcelona because he has no offers besides them and Chelsea want sterling even though they were rumored to be interested in Dembele. And they want sterling more than Raphinha. So either he will stay or he will go for a more reasonable price for 50 to 55 mil. That is even a… Read more »

andy1886

Yes £220k p/w is excessive. That’s the trouble with signings from moneybags clubs like City, players want compensating for stepping down as they see it even if their current club doesn’t want them anymore.

I’m not as sold on this one as many others are, hopefully not another Lacazette in the making.

DigitalBob

Great news if the Jesus deal is all but announced, I think we’ll have a real hungry player on our hands and if Eddie’s late season form was a sign of things to come…..well its key part of the summer completed with this. I’d really like to see new deals announced for Saka and Martinelli next or at least before we get into a prolonged bidding war for Raphinha and mind games with Leicester for Tielemens. Bringing quality players in should be key this summer, not selling the actual quality footballers we have at the club, injury prone or not.… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

https://youtu.be/Aija5Zh_cF4

Viera’s first day at London Colney. Per Mertesacker also there. And Edu giving Viera a history lesson. An insight in to the training facilities too.

Arsene Wenger was a genius back then though. Sold Anelka. Built this for half of the money and bought Thierry Henry with the other half. Too bad it ended in rough circumstances.

Wicked Willy

Rich, Re Goalkeeper, just remember we had Stuart Taylor as our backup keeper in the invincible season…not exactly a world-beater! And actually, our backup keeper is on a par with Man City backup, as they share goalkeeping duties for USA, so if that level is good enough for them, it should be for us. As for Partey, it is THE existential concern given that we appear to be addressing all the other potential gaps. I will admit I have been heartened by Vincent Kompany’s comments on Sambi – this is a guy who knows football. Knows Yaya inside out. And… Read more »

Nigel

Ok so let’s imagine we get Jesus, Raphina and viera. We have saliba coming in also and we make no sales of players where are we aiming for? At what point are we looking above top four and say making moves on that top 2? Been change at both Liverpool and Man City in important roles could it be possible they struggle? Could that give us an opportunity to apply some pressure? Can messi score in France as he did Spain? I believe if we sign These 3 players we are adding 25goals consider that..

Un

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PWXI24dO72g

I was in the audience when they first unveiled this gem
Tune

David Smith

Jesus is a good player, Arteta will make him a very good player for his system.
Winding up Spurs fans again on Twitter! They do bite!

Shaun

shouldn’t we call Leeds bluff if they want 60 mill for Raphinha and make a bid for Gnabry instead, thought he was being quoted as being available for £35 mill

DUIFG

In edu we trust

DUIFG

Let the man cook

Wicked Willy

Nigel, I think with these items in the shopping basket, we should be aiming for 3rd. We should also be aiming for Europa League. Cups are a lottery, but a nice run in at least one would be lovely. My feeling is then, to aim for the summit, we need a further 4 elite players next summer, so that we have rotational options in every position. They could be filled by giant leaps in progress from BNC, Sambi, Eddie, Patino…or maybe we have to get the credit card out and buy-in someone of sensational ability. If we do that, with… Read more »

stubertio

Feeling very unnervy, news all seems good and no dramas….. where’s the bad stuff lurking ><

Dissenter

Saka’s agent was wise to delay his contract negotiations past this summer.
If it’s true that were are paying Jesus anywhere near 220k weekly, then Saka will rightly ask for his wages to match that
Saka is still our best player, even with city IPO Jesus in the squad.

Ishola70

I’m sure Saka would see Jesus as a senior player in comparison to him just because of age difference and Jesus has been around the block longer than Saka.

And we don’t know how well Jesus will do at Arsenal. Jesus could become to be seen as the best player in the team.

This belittling of Jesus that I have seen from some is quite funny.

He is a Brazilian interntional and has already been through the wonderkid age when he was in Brazil nd has been part of the best team in europe.

Ishola70

Jesus was massive hot property when he was In Brazil as a younger player.

That’s why Pep signed him.

Why I Gunna

220k for Jesus, that’s crazy money but I suppose we must have a striker (apart from Eddie). Raphina is still crazy when centre midfield is much more urgent a fix

englandsbest

Edu is playing with cards close to his chest. If he tells us that the Club was never interested Gabriel J, it would not surprise me. He has learned his lesson.The open pursuit of players last summer and failed chase for a striker in Jan was a painful and expensive expeience.

andy1886

Ishola, being a Brazilian international is worth precisely zero points in the PL. He’s played in the for six seasons and that’s how he should be judged. Ignoring his first season with very limited appearances he’s scored 13, 7 14, 9, 8 which is pretty average. Laca type numbers. All very well to say that he’ll get 15-20 in the league for us but where’s the evidence to support that? Is Arteta going to get more from him than Pep? Why? Is he playing with better players? Nope. It’s just wishful thinking. At least accept that it’s perfectly reasonable to… Read more »

curse

“This belittling of Jesus that I have seen from some is quite funny”

And super weird like God’s son hasn’t been out here blessing Sodomites with football wine since genesis.

I can see why he wants to come here, hasn’t had the respect he deserves for what he’s capable of in a team like City.

Think I’m gonna put some money on him for the golden boot actually….

Rich

Jesus averages a goal contribution every 103 minutes in the PL Every 88 minutes in the CL A goal contribution every 101 minutes at City A goal contribution every 112 minutes for Brazil He’s just turned 25, coming into what should be his prime years, and he’s not been completely burned out at City Not sure about some of the reported wages + fees mentioned, particularly with 1 year left on his contract, and City having already secured his replacements Knows the league + language, we should be looking to get double figures goals + assists out of him Tactically… Read more »

Howard

The guy was being paid 91k a week and you offer 220k. That’s just too much. If he doesn’t perform we’ll have difficulty in offloading him.

Liverpool won’t pay that much.
Jesus rarely scores and is in Lacazette mould. Arsenal must watch out. After coming out of paying inflated and undeserving wages we seem to have relented.
.

Ishola70

Andy I have no surprise that you were the one to respond as you have been the one on here that can be seen as poo pooing the idea of signing him. The truth is he has already gone through the stage that Saka has recently gone through. He was seen as a wonderkid in Brazil and all the big hitters were interested in him before Man City nabbed him. Tbh any striker may not really shine in this Arsenal side because we have seen that Arteta can be quite conservative in his approach and needs to be more progressive… Read more »

Naija+soccer

Rich

“Is it fair if Arsenal have Jesus playing upfront?Or would it be discriminatory to ban him, just because of who his Dad is?…If he can walk on water, and feed 5,000 people with 5 loads of bread?…Then surely 35 goals this season can’t be too much to ask?”

Hahaha with both Manchester clubs’ unlimited warchest, Chelsea Abramovich before and Boehls now, and Liverpool’s gargantuan coach in Klopp, Jesus is the appropriate cheat code needed to keep things honest 😄

andy1886

Is Jesus a terrible player? Of course not. But some of the claims being made about what he will do are just daft. I don’t see why if someone has a different view they should simply fall into line and go along with the prevailing wisdom. After all wasn’t Pepe the second coming?

Let’s wait and see before we decide who was right and who was wrong shall we?

Ishola70

Who has been saying that Jesus is going to tear up trees at Arsenal Maybe he can do very well maybe he won’t.. I still don’t trust Arteta enough as a manager to sit here and say any signing is going to be really good I have heard more fuss made about Vieira who many didn’t even knew existed until last week. What people are not appreciating is that where Arsenal have been as a club for a good few years now getting in a player like Jesus who is actually established rather than maybe a good player who could… Read more »

Jonnygunner

Sideeq…. Do you want to say that to the 3 Ukrainians living in my house now..(no charge to them,and me and my wife feeding them?)…or must it suit your anti West agenda?

Jonnygunner

Fuck off with your anti West/white propeganda.

Jonnygunner

Propaganda ..

Goobergooner

Just a point on all the injuries. Some of the extended times out has to be put on artetas feet. He has rushed every first 11 player straight back into the team after an injury and doesn’t rotate enough at all, especially the injury prone players. Tavares has a decent start to the season, Tierney comes back and plays consistently, then goes away for international duty, then plays straight away and is injured. Partey literally flew back the same day from international duty to play, and guess what he got injured. Tierney, TWICE last season was thrown back in too… Read more »

Goobergooner

Woops meant tomiyasu thrown in twice

Nigel Tufnel

Howard

With doom about Jesus already.

Talking about how hard he will be to offload LOL the ink isn’t even dry yet.

I’m calling it now…..

HOWARD IS KILROY.

Goobergooner

Also AFCF

Partey didn’t cost us last season. Everybody except Arteta fanboys (and of course Arteta and Edu) said we needed actual quality competition for places in the midfield for the last 10 years.

Yes it was a shame he was out. As well as both Tierney and tomiyasu. But that shit happens.

The right decision was not to spend 50m on a CB and not in a position we are light in first 11 quality and also light in quality backup.

Goobergooner

So yep, Arteta and Edu cost us. Especially through the January window.

Goobergooner

*not spend 50m on a CB, but** in a position we were light

Nigel Tufnel

Can we go easy on the negativity about Gab Jesus in general? What is wrong with some people here? You read the stats from Pedro and Rich, player in the same league… experienced, in a very similar Pepteta system, with good creators around him in Ødegaard, Martinelli , Saka, now Vieira…. Even if the salary is a little over 200k (again those are always maximum or embellished figures for media) …. frikking Lacazette was on 180k and he was in long rapid decline. Thanks for the scoop Pedro, but I said the past 2 nights here that Jesus deal is… Read more »

Dark Hei

I honestly don’t know too much about Grabriel Jesus. His stats isn’t too exciting. But then again Lacazette, whom he has been compared to on Le Grove by the naysayers, came to Arsenal with very exciting stats. Pepe even more. At this point it is reductive to write him off. What we do know is that he is at least EPL ready and City don’t regard us rivals so they don’t mind selling to us. We are getting a guy with a point to prove and who wants to be the main guy. I think that works for us at… Read more »

FoxInTheBox

Jesus is overrated. Highly overrated. Gnabry any day ahead of Raphinha.

FoxInTheBox

Does anyone see a prolific goal-scorer in the Arsenal transfer mix? There was some news abt Raul De Tomas. That’s the type of striker Arsenal needs – strong, taller than both Laca and Jesus, form is peaking. scored 45% of Espanyol’s goals last season. Very few of those from penalties.

Pierre

Jesus is a very good player without a doubt , though he probably hasn’t reached the heights that many thought he would after exploding onto the scene with City.. Jesus has been competing first with aguero as strikerb who was a different class , and then with mahrez, Grealish and sterling , so it hasn’t been easy for him to cement a regular spot in the side. His goal contributions per 90 are exceptional, but one would expect any city offensive player to have pretty good stats, although Grealish are pretty average.. I have a feeling that jesus will play… Read more »

InsideRight

De Tomas is literally one inch taller than Lacazette and one and half inches taller than Jesus. So I don’t think there’s a height argument to be had. I really like what I’ve seen of De Tomas. Wherever he’s gone he’s scored goals at a consistent rate. He’s three years older than Jesus and we have no idea how De Tomas would settle in or whether he would fit into whatever system Arteta wants to play. I would think someone like De Tomas would do will with the kind of service that could be provided by Saka, ESR, Martinelli and… Read more »

Pierre

Wicked willy
“I haven’t felt this excited since 2007.”

Obviously this is a wind up ?

Emiratesstroller

Let’s get realistic Gabriel Jesus is an excellent footballer at the right age with experience of having played for Man City who have won the League Title three times in last four years. He will cost probably £45 million which is less than half what Chelsea paid for Lukaku who is now going back to Inter Milan on loan. Arsenal want to recruit two Brazilian International Footballers who collectively will probably cost less than £100 million. So we should have potentially 5 forwards on the books who are capable of scoring double digit goals. When you add in the creativity… Read more »

FoxInTheBox

“If Arteta persists with having wide players sky in their crosses to imaginary 6’3″ header merchants in the middle, then I think even De Tomas would struggle make a difference. ”

Well said.

In 2020, Arteta’s wide players were sending in all heights of crosses without a 6’3″. In 2021, the crosses were all low; hence largely and similarly and naturally ineffective.

Hence, we either have a 6’3″ to head in. Or, have a prolific ‘shootscorer’, which neither of Jesus and Eddie are.

Nigel Tufnel

I’m with Willy, and Pedro gets it. Things are looking up, in a big way. Our own homegrown players who are actually improving at a good pace… ESR, Nketiah, Saka, Martinelli.. then added recently Ødegaard. White, Gabriel, Tomiyasu, Tierney, Partey……Saliba incoming. Ramsdale making the job his own. Now just bought 2 more exciting players, Marquinos for the future, and in the running to add a couple more this summer. Owners trying to get us back in CL at least. Yeah we still have deficiencies, like every club, but no dark sarcasm necessary when things are getting exciting. Would you rather… Read more »

Bigper

Jesus is one of those players that will start well then over a couple of years will become ‘arsenalised’ and turn shit whilst taking a huge unwarranted salary

Kegunner

Iwobi and Chambo were sold for 40 million with one year left so if we get Jesus and Martinez at 35 million then the deals are not bad. Also it is easier to sell players at a premium when we are high up the table than lower down the table. Players will also be more willing to play for the club at lower wages. There is a premium for success. If Edu and Arteta manage to pull off the clubs ambitions, the club will reap dividends for years to come.

Wicked Willy

Stroller

I echo everything you say. I don’t doubt CM is a priority, I just think it takes time to get the right player sometimes. I can only think of two CMs that fit the bill (Ruiz, Tielemans) although that Nunes chap could be quite handy, but less of a known quantity.

The main thing for me is we are showing serious intent. Excited to see what our squad looks like in two months time.

Nigel Tufnel

Leeds trying to buy Gapko while they extort us. Maybe we should go in for Gapko ourselves, drive up the price and see if they want to be more reasonable about our generous opening offer for Raphina. Fek them and their 65£ mil valuation. He’s not such a unique player.

Wicked Willy

Nigel

Hat tip.

Gommit

How can so many on here be this negative? I haven’t been this excited about a transfer window for years and for the new season to start.

I even downloaded the old champman 0102 and added our potential transfers to the Arsenal and it is rocking! (this coming from a guy who hasn’t played computer games for roughly 20 years… This is how excited I am.

I can agree with someone that suggested a sneaky bid for Gnabry as an alternative to Raphina

Wicked Willy

Gommit

Gnabry would indeed be proper stellar. I for one might just wet myself if it got announced, and I think it would be my happiest transfer news since we got Bergkamp. Alas, it feels like wishful thinking to me, but there’s no harm in moving heaven and earth to try and pull it off.

Here’s to a vintage summer

Un

Deffo Gnabry over Rafinha for me. Leeds are taking the piss.

Pascal Stepanovs

Having a good day? Come to Le Grove and have all the happiness drained out of you by doom mongers 🤣

Jesus is a great signing.
Raphinha for £65m is a joke
We never buy from Leicester they seem to have this weird complex when it comes to selling us players and I can see Tielemans staying there.
Martinez is my preferred cover for LB over Hickey as he can play LCB and cover Partey as well

I’m , for once, a little bit excited this early in silly season

andy1886

ES, I agree that we would have five players with a potential to score into double digits, the things is though we can only play three at a time. We do need that 15-20 goal striker that makes a difference. For me (and Pierre will like this) Eddie is the most likely to achieve that which leaves two of Martinelli, Saka, and ESR on the bench assuming that we sign and play Jesus. That’s not even considering Raphinha who we’ve actual bid for too.

Un

Andy
If we get a wide man then ESR will come back to the middle, where he belongs

Karsa

We’ll still sign Tielemans.

Leicester can’t afoord to let him run down his contract so the longer it goes without a bidding war the weaker their position.

andy1886

Also agree with those saying that we’re going to have to change our style of play to score more goals. We need fewer balls in from wide positions and to play more through the middle. Assuming that Vieira will be playing as an AM or even as a second striker we’ll need to make sure he gets enough ball to be effective. As already mentioned our striker isn’t going to be winning many headers and the vast majority of lower crosses will be cut out. See our home 0-0 draw with Burnley as an example of what to expect even… Read more »

Dark Hei

Kegunnar Actually players will fetch a better price if they did well during the season. When Iwobi was sold, he was fairly integral to Emery’s side and was someone Wenger relied upon. That counted for something. Same with the Ox. Those whom we are trying to sell right now, the situation is different. I think Pepe is an interesting punt for some EPL teams; his costs is likely prohibitive outside of UK. His situation is going to be where clubs will come in with loan offers. It will be similar to the Torreira deal, loan with an obligation to buy.… Read more »

andy1886

Un, yes maybe ESR will play more centrally sometimes in rotation with Vieira and Ode if we play with two 8’s. That leaves Partey or Xhaka as our ‘6’, not sure that I’d want to see Xhaka there though to be honest.

Un

Andy
If xakha stays he won’t be the lone anchor
Either double pivot behind a 10 or one of the 8s

Interestingly I heard on a podcast (think it was arseblog) that Lisandro’s profile is more similar to Fabinho than any other player in the top 5 leagues and that he may be brought in to play in midfield. I’m very intrigued to see (if he joins) how he would he used.

Wicked Willy

Andy

Man City just won the title with top scorers of 15, 13 and 11. It would seem there’s more than one way to skin the premier league cat, although I’m not going to complain if we had someone banging in 20 a season!

Wicked Willy

Un

I thought it was Fernandinho they referenced. Either way, would be a result!

Un

I am sure Jesus and Nketiah can add 25-30 goals between the this season

Un

WW

Sorry mate
You’re right. It was Fernandinho haha 🤦🏻‍♂️

Un

Pepe would be great at a side like West Ham or even Leeds. Palace could be a great shout for him too.

Un

If Napoli still want him then they’ve played a blinder
Would get him for under a third of what Lille were asking

Un

Andy

Have you seen how many goals Liverpool and city score from low balls across the box? A lot. I think that’s going to still be a feature but hopefully with more variety to out tool box
I’m not a huge fan of the current style of low wide balls
Miss the old days of playing through the middle

Doublethink

Is there a difference between Jesus choosing us because he wants to be the main man and Martinez wanting assurances that he’ll be first choice?

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andy1886

WW/Un, the main difference between us and City/Liverpool is the speed at which we attack. We’re very pedestrian getting the ball forwards so those crosses are usually aimed at a single attacker covered by several defenders. Probably the main reason why we don’t score enough. We’ve all been there when you can tell that we’re going to struggle because within the first five or ten minutes we’re playing the ball back and forth between the CB’s and CM’s multiple times while the opposition get set. The idea that somehow we’ll draw the opposition in and exploit the spaces never seems… Read more »

Pierre

From the limited highlights I’ve seen of Fabio , he looks like a player who is keen to play the ball inside the full back , something we have been missing for a couple of years. Last season the predictable pass was xhaka to martinelli standing on the touch line , or Odegaard to Saka standing on the touch line. Very rarely did we attempt the pass inside the full back and very rarely did our wide players make the run to enable the ball to be played inside the full back. Again it was predictable that when martinelli or… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Andy 1886

You are of course correct that we can play only three forwards on the pitch at any one time.
However, the new substitution rule plus the increased number of games allows us to rotate
and freshen the squad.

The point is not so much whether a player scores 20+ goals a season, but whether the position on the pitch can deliver let’s say 15-20 goals. I am pretty sure that both Jesus and
Nketiah can contribute 25 goals in the CF position over a season if on form and not injured.

Habesha Gooner

Spurs are selling Harry winks to Everton. I can see spurs going in for Tielemans at that price. He is a good opportunity and others will feel the same too. The longer the window goes, the more activity there will be. We would be fools to let Bissouma and Tielemans go to spurs for 25 mil each.

They will need a CM. And so will others. I like this Viera kid. And I like Raphinha. But we have our priorities mixed up. If we don’t sign a CM, Arteta will have made his bed if he fails.

Emiratesstroller

Habesha Gooner

I agree that Arsenal need a third central midfielder on the books. Partey is not going to play
50 games a season and Xhaka may be a decent work horse to have on the books, but we should be looking for an upgrade.

Clearly Tielemans and Ruiz would be two options. I made the point yesterday that Arsenal
should offer Torreira in part exchange for Ruiz to Napoli. Ruiz has refused to sign a new contract and Torreira wants to stay in Italy where he is clearly better suited.

Habesha Gooner

At the end of last season if you had asked me what positions were necessary for us I would have said this. ST 1st priority : (we don’t have enough) CM 2nd priority : (need an upgrade) DM & LB joint 3rd priority : both positions equal priorities because we have Partey and Tierney who have been injured frequently. RW/LW 5th priority : rotation option for Saka. Then anything on top would have been a bonus. Now we will have fixed the CF, LB, RW issue by the end of this summer. But I am not sure we will address… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

ES
Napoli are stubborn and they won’t sell easily. They will but not for Torreira. They will want cash in my opinion. But I would be happy with Fabian Ruiz. He is more offensive than Xhaka and has higher Ceiling to improve our team. Xhaka just needs to fight for his place against decent competition for once. Tielemans or Ruiz and I think he is benched.

Rich

Jesus, Nketiah, Martinelli, Odegaard, potentially Raphinha, would makes us much better pressers That’s a recipe for high octane football. Throw in the technical quality of Saka, Smith Rowe, and potentially Vieria, who from YouTube highlights looks technically excellent, but other than a few online clips, I know nothing about. If we sign Raphinha + Jesus? We’d have 7 players all capable, and who I’d expect to chip in with “at least” 10 goals each That’s a really healthy position to be in, not reliant upon one player for final third output We know Arteta prefers to focus on the collective,… Read more »

Nigel Tufnel

Habesha,

Tielemans to Spuds would really bother me, not just because I want him, but he’d be a big improvement for them. Surely Leicester see them as direct competition in the league as they do us.

Unfortunately, the player would probably go for the team with CL given the choice.

Colney Gooner

It will be interesting when we play Newcastle and Jesus scores against the Pope.

Wicked Willy

Rich

You keep voicing what I’m thinking. We are going to be a nightmare to play against next season, albeit, No doubt there’ll be the occasional dip due to age profile.

Habesha Gooner

I am not worried about us going forward if we sign Jesus and Raphinha on top of Viera. Even Jesus and Viera would improve us a lot offensively. What I am concerned about is we will still get overrun in midfield. We are one injury to Partey away from having Xhaka, Elneny and Sambi as the choices of the holding midfield positions. We weren’t let down because of our young attackers away to palace, away to Newcastle, away to Tottenham and at home to brighton. We were pressed relentlessly and Xhaka, Elneny, Partey (got injured half way though the palace… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

Nigel
Can you imagine spurs having Tielemans/Bentancur, Bissouma/Hoijberg/skipp as their options?

They have the best forward line out of all the top 4 competition. And if they sign Tielemans, they will have the best central midfield out of all of the competition. They would be a shoe in for third if that happens. Perisic/reguilon will be fine as LWB and Spence/Emerson or Dhorethy will be fine too. Conte used Victor fucking mosses to a high level. We will be in trouble if they have that much quality in their midfield on top of their forward line.

Un

Great observations Rich
I

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