ARSENAL INVESTING IN EXPLOSIVE FOOTBALL

by .

The plan for Arsenal next season seems to be shaping up and I think we’re going to see some forceful shifts in how we play.

Two things stand out from some of our style last season:

  1. We’re very buttoned-up structurally, everything was very orderly, everyone knew where to be, there weren’t gaping holes in our setup that were easily brutalized like they were under Unai Emery.
  2. Sometimes that structure can make us a little robotic and overstructured
  3. We came back from going behind in 1 game last season, part of that will be experience, part of that will be down to having no striker, part of that will be that we didn’t have enough flair or BANG BANG in the squad

Mikel Arteta seems to be shifting the side towards a single pivot midfielder. At the moment, that looks like we’re be rolling with Big Mo, Sambi Lokonga, and Thomas Partey there. We’re going full on City here.

It looks like he’s going to counter some of the concerns about exposing our defence by creating one of the most youthful and brutal attacking forces in the Premier League.

We’ve leaned heavy into seek-and-destroy players.

Gabriel Jesus has 76 goal contributions from 99 games, he’s explosive in attack, he can make something from nothing, and he’s a league-winning difference-maker. He’s signing his deal today and having his pictures taken. He’s in, this is huge, 6 other clubs compete for his signature. Do you think we’d be signing him if Arteta didn’t spend time with him for 3 years at City? No chance. He’s coming to Arsenal because he likes the coaching and he knows he’ll fit the vision.

Fabio Vieira gives you total control of the ball, his footballing intelligence is off the scale, and he can pick a lock with something ridiculous in the same way Mesut Ozil could. Again, one of the best producers of end-product last season, with the least minutes.

All the reports seem to be indicating that Raphinha is close to Arsenal because we’re basically the only option left with Barca having no money and Spurs being the least attractive club in the world. This is a player that is direct, incredibly aggressive, as well as being loaded with flair for a final ball, PLUS, he has the guts to score goals.

We tied Eddie down to a long-term deal, he’s explosive, he’s added Lacazette connective play to his game, his movement is sharp, and he is all about end product. Eddie will always, always finish.

Then look at our defence. We’re moving hard on Lisandro Martinez. This is a lock-picker from deep, this is someone that can connect attack and defence like a regista, he will form part of our build-up play and offer us variety from deep.

You put a Tielemans into the mixer and you have our version of Thiago. Elite setpieces, accurate diagonal balls, and a better final pass than Granit Xhaka can offer. He also scores goals.

This new Arsenal team is NOT about power, it’s about control, delivery, and goals. All the players are going to be hard pressing, all are going to be comfortable moving the ball around, every single player has extreme levels of football IQ, and now we’re going to add some locomotion to the goal count.

Arteta isn’t relying on individuals like Spurs will have to. He’s building a machine in which every component piece is finely tuned to the system. You won’t be able to man-mark Arsenal out of game next season because everyone is a threat. You won’t be able to press us out of a 90 like Newcastle did because we have press-resistant players that can find agents of punishment in the forward line.

Arsenal will have a deep squad of players that have swiss army knife elements to their game. There’s balance, but also a huge variety of tactical options available for any situation.

Deepblock? We have pickpockets.

High press? We’ll destroy your players with our fast frontline players.

Thug battles? We have big characters that can ride that bullshit.

This could be a team that runs teams so hard and punishes so quickly… teams are beaten before kickoff.

If this Arsenal side delivers a good August, who knows what we can do this season, but we should be looking at dethroning Chelsea in 3rd place.

We need to use this season as a platform to make a charge at the top 2 next season.

The Europa League campaign needs to be seen as an opportunity for the fringe players to ask questions of the first team. I want to see Charlie Patino, all ripped and fit, dominating that competition. I want to see Big Mo, Omari Hutchinson, Flores, Matt Turner, and William Saliba absolutely dominating proceedings.

Next season can’t be about 14 players, it needs to be about 20 players all giving it their best and stepping up when called upon.

This transfer window is fucking wild.

It’s the one we thought Newcastle in their green and white shirts were going to have.

This is how big clubs operate when they know who they are, what the vision is, who is accountable for executing it.

… and just think, this time last year, we were debating if Aston Villa were a better prospect for Emi Buendia than Arsenal?

Emi Martinez my man, what did you do to your friend?

Ok, that’s all I have today. Get into the latest Patreon where Johnny gives his FINAL views on his top 25 players.

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Thierry Martinelli

Diss,
I agree with you 100% that our priority should be midfield. The order in which these signing happen is immaterial – bottom line is we address the midfield issue. We can land a winger tomorrow,can be Raphinha or whoever, but at the end of the day they should be a value for money AND MUST NOT HINDER US FROM UPGRADING THE MIDFIELD.

DivineSherlock

Bring Serge Gnabry to his home in London !

Tom

Weagle, I’m only going by what Englandsbest said…….6 new players for 215m this TW.
His judgment has been impeccable aside from a minor Haaland to Arsenal hiccup.

If Kroenke’s willing to bankroll Arteta’s spending spree while ignoring his having trashed the value of undesirables then so be it.
I’m all for it.
Let Andy and Terraloon worry about the financial aftermath.

raptora

I was up for Raphinha only if we buy the other pieces missing in our squad. Interesting to see if we go for another winger at all or it was more about the right player being available than the position being a priority one.

WengerEagle

”why don’t we prioritise our pressing needs first (left back and central/defensive midfielder).”

Because we’re Arsenal mate and that’s just not what we do, is it?

Haven’t had a complete team since the Invincibles. Always a dollar short a day late.

Dissenter

DivineSherlock
…and Raphina is the only player in the footballing universe to play that role
You’re suggesting we sign a 60 million player to add depth at a time when our midfield is centered around a crock-able Partey?

Raphina plays on the right and so does Saka, who’s far better even though he’s 5 years younger
Saka would have had to move to the left to make room for 60-million Raphina , which would obstruct Martinelli’s development.
Comprende?

Mulerise14

A beautiful post, alas you should have waited for Mr BBQ to present the full menu that includes Tieleman and Martinez(of course Gabby J is done and dusted) at the end of the transfer window, b4 shouting eureka!…😎

NW9 gunner

Happy we are not getting Rafinha – we can get Martinez and Tielman for almost the same money

Un

Thank god Raphinha has gone to Chelsea
Now we can focus on what we actually need

Dissenter

Thierry
‘AND MUST NOT HINDER US FROM UPGRADING THE MIDFIELD.”

Do you really think we would still have that much money left for the midfield, if we splurged 60 million on Raphina…and Leeds would have wanted lots of cash upfront.
Once we spent that 60 million for Raphina and then paid 35-40 million, for Lisandro
We would enter the sell-to spend mode to fix the midfield.

That’s what seemed to happen last summer; we didn’t sell Xhaka because Roma’s valuation was not enough to replace him.

DivineSherlock

Dissenter

Its called a squad for fucks sake , Saka cannot play every single game and so cant Raphina or Martinelli . Ever heard of rotation ? without the drop in quality . Raphina is a full fledged Brazilian International , that in itself is an acheivement . I am not saying Raphina is the only answer , but to scoff at a quality player being added to our squad is just plain stupid. Anyways he chose Chelsea so fuck him , I hope we bring someone else . Jarrod Bowen maybe.

Mr Serge

Divine we will go for another winger obviously we have identified a need for one

InsideRight

“You won’t be able to man-mark Arsenal out of game next season because everyone is a threat. You won’t be able to press us out of a 90 like Newcastle did because we have press-resistant players that can find agents of punishment in the forward line.” It’s true. The players mentioned, if we sign the ones we’ve been linked with, give us that capability. It’s exciting that we may have that wealth of talent. The note of caution is all this depends on how Arteta has them playing. If he has the team playing the slow, methodical, rigid and fairly… Read more »

Tom

“Thank god Raphinha has gone to Chelsea”

Barca would’ve been the better outcome.
Top four contender getting more talent not exactly anything to be happy about.

Jonko

Blah blah blah…this is a big loss for us…the window suddenly seems very oridnary for us

NW9 gunner

Agreed Dis – our need is much more in midfield, someone in place of Xhaka / backup for Partey . Rafinha’s nos. are not so great either – both Saka’s and Marinelli’s numbers are better or similar and they will get better this year -we also have ESR

Dissenter

Divine
It’s a squad but you still need to balance out the squad.
Honestly, I’m confident with us finding the best talent from the academy and giving that player a chance this season, same way Emery bloodied Saka
I would rather tackle the gaping wounds that caused septic shock for us last season; the central midfield when Partey ain’t there and crocked Tierney’s competition.

60 million for a player less than Saka, who’s 5 years younger for depth isn’t great squad planning.

Is there a reason why we can’t keep that money until January to see how Martinelli kicks off?

Samesong

Raphinha clearly wanted CL

Un

Divine

Yes, a squad. We currently have the following players who can be used wide
Saka
Martinelli
ESR
Jesus
Vieira
Marquinhos
Pepe
Hutchinson

We don’t need to be spending 55-60m on a squad player

Leftside

We need additions in midfield but I would still be all for a goal scoring winger. Its not going to be Raphina but needs to be someone.

Un

Tom
Raphinha will just join the long list of players who ended up in the famous Chelsea attacker grave yard

WengerEagle

Do people not trust Vieira as an able back up RW to Saka? Why drop £35m on him if that’s the case.

Un

Last year chelsea signed
Lukaku, Werner, Havertz, Ziyech and pulisic.
Everyone here lost their shit
They bombed

WengerEagle

Un

Well they did win the CL. That alone nearly justifies the splurge as it was pre £100m Lukaku. But you are right, the former trio have been underwhelming/poor and Lukaku a disaster.

Un

Dissenter beat me to it

Chika

I really hope we go for another winger like Raphinha, we need players like that to elevate the quality of our squad. Even Saka would want a player like that!

Tom

“Last year chelsea signed
Lukaku, Werner, Havertz, Ziyech and pulisic.
Everyone here lost their shit
They bombed”

Un, the PL table:
City
Pool
Chelsea
Spurs

As far as Arsenal are concerned they didn’t bomb.

Un

Eagle
Yeah my point is that chelsea have spent fortunes on attackers since 2013 and they very rarely produce. It’s a club built on pragmatism. Outside of robben duff and hazard, I struggle to think of any flair players who have really produced at Chelsea in the last 18-19 years since they became an oil club

Un

I don’t expect Raphinha will be too happy there

Thierry Martinelli

Diss,
Like I said , if we can AFFORD a quality players to boost the squad and whose purchase won’t affect our addressing of the midfield issue, why not go for them?

Leftside

I don’’t know enough about Fabio, but I think if we go into the season with just him and Jesus as our attacking additions we will struggle to score the amount of goals required to get into the CL and deep in the Europa.

Thats why I was so on board with Raphina. Speaking of Chelsea and this new owner turned DOF, why are they after wingers when there is much work to be done in defence?

Tom

Some on here need to recalibrate their views vis a vis Chelsea or Spurs.
Neither are winning the league and anything they do transfer-wise is only of immediate concern in the top four fight.

Un

Leftside

Eddie is an attacking addition. Marquinhos is.

Thierry Martinelli

Does the order in which signings happen depict what the club is doing? This is not a supermarket where you go isle by isle picking what you want. So many deals are happening and some deals take shorter time than others.
All in all, once the TW is closed, we’ll see if we did a good job or not.

Moe

There’s been talk of seeing Raphinha as a left wingback at Chelsea. Not sure if that means they move Reece James to Centre back or something but that could be their thinking. Ben Chilwell, Reece James, Chabolah, Raphinha?

DivineSherlock

Jesus is frankly gonna be the CF , Hutchinson and Marquinhos arent ready yet . And if you compare with the top3 of last season our attacking depth is just Saka ESR Martinelli Nketiah , now Jesus is swap for Lacazette and Viera , who else will bring the goals ? We still havent replaced Aubameyang . Its why we sucked in attack , our attack needs an upgrade . To be the best we need to score 20 more goals than last season .

Samesong

Eagle
Yeah my point is that chelsea have spent fortunes on attackers since 2013 and they very rarely produce. It’s a club built on pragmatism. Outside of robben duff and hazard, I struggle to think of any flair players who have really produced at Chelsea in the last 18-19 years since they became an oil club

Zola
Joel Cole

Br0wnie

There’s no arguing that Raphina is quality but Arsenal are pretty strong on the wing. Don’t forget we have a player on the cusp in Omari Hutchison, also Reiss Nelson. Money could be better spent on a target man ( (Tammy, Scamacca) or some MF help. If Cedric is our best option behind Tommy that’s a problem. Unless we move White to RB we need a replacement.

azed

“Thank god Raphinha has gone to Chelsea
Now we can focus on what we actually need”

I seem to be agreeing more with UN recently.

Something is definitely wrong in the universe.

Raphina is a good player but we have important priorities to solve first.

Samesong

“Do people not trust Vieira as an able back up RW to Saka? Why drop £35m on him if that’s the case.”

Very hard to tell with this type of player he could come in and hit the ground running or he also can struggle with the physicality of the EPL

Leftside

Un

Marquinhos potentially isn’t someone who will be relied on this season, and Pepe certainly won’t although I’m a fan of him. Eddie had a good run towards the end of the season but we’re yet to see whether he can produce for a season in its entirety.

We have had goal scoring issues since Arteta got here, so for me the more goal scoring threats we have, the better.

WengerEagle

Malouda was a top player for Chelsea too Un. He’s well worth a mention.

Willian was also a very good player for them for a long spell, he was beyond washed by the time we signed him. Oscar was quality too before he decided to chuck it all in for those Chinese millions.

You’re correct though, not too many of them over the 15+ years, same with strikers. Is the main reason they have not won more PL titles.

Samesong

Paulinha DM for 20M is a bargain. Remember I told you all this.

Br0wnie

Divine
“Hutchinson and Marquinhos arent ready yet”

Are we certain neither could play Cup games or Europe?

Markymark

Raphina appears a good player for a certain price . You go beyond that and you start thinking is it worth the risk against reward? As others have said our wing play is reasonable and his goal record, though stacking up against out current team is not crushing it
Move onto other targets. I’m not sure that Chelsea spending 110-120 million on Raphina and Sterling feels me with a dread fear.
Spurs spending the cash on Dejan Kulusevski is more of a threat

WengerEagle

True Samesong but that is what being a back-up is all about. He can feel his way into the PL because we have Saka as the starter for RW and he can play Cup games too.

Most teams are an injury away from a key player from being in crisis. What would Real Madrid do if Benzema got injured? Or Pool Salah/Van Dijk?

Or Chavs Mason Mount, etc. City are the only team that are about as close to being removed from this and that’s because they have spent £50m a piece on back-ups.

azed

If Tieleman is on the list, now is the time to get him.

Pedro was so sure it was only Arsenal and Barcelona interested in Raphina and now he’s about to be a Chav.

raptora

I can see why Eduteta tried to go for Raphinha is what I’m saying. We can’t look at our attack last season and be like “with Jesus and Vieira we’ll definitely score 30 more goals”. No way. Now add a high quality winger to the equation and we’re talking. We would have upgraded not only our starting 11 as Raphinha is currently better than Martinelli, but also in case Saka gets injured, who could really say how good will Vieira do with his 3 games in his professional career in that position. It’s not #1 priority position but it’s actually… Read more »

Samesong

WE

I’m not filling myself with too much expectation from Viera in his first season.

I

WengerEagle

”Pedro was so sure it was only Arsenal and Barcelona interested in Raphina and now he’s about to be a Chav.”

Shows that ITK’s only know so much. Neither Ornstein nor Romano had any kind of read on this one.

Samesong

Pierre mentioned this the other day but I worry about teams like the Palaces and Brightons and Newcastles against us. The teams that are physical and press all game. How do we cope with this type of games when Partey isn;t available?

Thierry Martinelli

“Most teams are an injury away from a key player from being in crisis” #WE – Fact 100%
If Saka goes out for a long period, who’ll bring in the 3/4 goals and assists he’d have provided? Keeping in mind we have a possible 50+ games this season.

raptora

We can’t be happy about the Raphinha to Arsenal failing then talk about Omari and Marquinhos. In couple of years maybe yes, but right now? No way.

It’s like comparing Nelson to Sane dafug with the notion that Reiss was considered super talented and look what’s happened to him.

raptora

WE: “Shows that ITK’s only know so much. Neither Ornstein nor Romano had any kind of read on this one.”

How are they supposed to know about it if Chavs literally entered the conversations today? lol?

Thierry Martinelli

How are they supposed to know about it if Chavs literally entered the conversations today? lol?

Savage🤣🤣🤣

Samesong

I am also not as confident as others with reaching top 4

City, Liverpool and Chelsea will still be up there. United think will be much better than last season especially with De Jong. Spurs will be fighting in an around top 4. Think it will be much harder to get CL next season unless we win the EL

WengerEagle

You don’t know that Raptora, I highly doubt Chelsea’s agreement came today out of nowhere with zero prior interest or talks.

These guys like Orny and Romano aren’t Gospel like they are treated by some.

Leftside

Samesong

United will need a lot more than De Jong for me. I’ve always maintained that their squad is grossly overrated too.

Dissenter

Wenger eagle
The ITKs weren’t far though
They said the player wanted CL football, was desperate for Barca, Chelsea was listed as second and then Arsenal was third.
Chelsea was second because of Deco, the agent’s connection with the club.

That’s what I read from many sources all weekend.

They were right that Raphinha was never keen on Arsenal.

Cheney10

I’m not going to lose it over Raph going to Chelsea… On the face of it, a RW wasn’t really what we need. Let’s get the Ajax boy in and if we really need a winger (once Pepe has gone) then surely bringing our boy home from Munich would be a better bet? How much more than 50m would he be with a year left on his contract? I Cm would take priority for me…

Samesong

United will need a lot more than De Jong for me. I’ve always maintained that their squad is grossly overrated too.

They will buy more players. They have a capable manager with a style of play.

WengerEagle

Diss

No doubting that Ornstein and Romano are about as close to elite sources as you can get. My point being they sometimes drop the ball and talk some shite.

Adams

Do chelsea really know their priority. Looking forward to seeing a back three of chaloboah, silva, sarr lol

Chika

The joke is on you for believing signings must come in a certain order..lol

Tom

Not sure how important the agent connection (Deco) is in player deciding his destination.
Chelsea most likely offered better wages plus the CL play.

InsideRight

Does this news about Raphinha mean people are going to stop posting Arsenal line ups that include him?

Reports are that the Chavs have been working on this deal since January according to Gianluigi Longari. This hasn’t just come out of nowhere.

Un

Jesus is frankly gonna be the CF , Hutchinson and Marquinhos arent ready yet . A Divine Just like martinelli ESR and Saka right? Just like Eddie wasn’t god enough right? Those players add depth for cup games. We don’t need them starting at Stamford bridge in the league, we need them to pick up mums in th cups and the main guys a rest Jesus is being brought in to play 9 but he adds depth in wide positions should he be needed £55m on a back up wide player would be stupid given that we really need to… Read more »

Johnno

Raphinha to Chelsea. Because they paid the asking price. Shock tactic. Same one that got us Ramsdale Partey and white.

I was optimistic that things had changed. I seem to be wrong. Plus sa change.

We’ve allowed the best EPL player available in this window to go to a direct rival over 10 mio quid..

Thursday nights forever ……

Redbearer

Imo our project is much more exciting than the Chavs so if Raphinha does decide to go to them over us then that’s his decision. Surely there are others wingers out there which as Pedro says have Bang Bang! There was always the risk of us being trumped by them or Spurs but I’d like to believe that in 2-3 years time we will much better placed by then, What’s essential here is that we are showing so much more ambition (particularly after the late Wenger years) and we will have to expect a few bumps on the road but… Read more »

Johnno

I will remind anyone that says “right wing is not a priority” that they said it when Saka breaks in January.

Also – why is it whenever we lose a player to a rival – see Vlahovic and Juve – we say “it’s been done for ages … was never coming to us “

If that’s true then that’s not consolation because it means we are the worlds biggest cucks

Guns of Hackney

Have we sold anyone yet? Actually signed anyone?

Guns of Hackney

Also, why have a wide player when literally zero goals come from the wide areas or crosses?

The last goal we scored from a wide area, with a header was back in 1993 when Limpar crossed to Alan Smith.

30 years, not a single goal since.

Adams

It seems like chelsea have 300m to spend this season.

Nigel Tufnel

To some recent comments…. Why get so negative so quickly? Fine, it would’ve been nice to get Raphinha, but easy on the doom and gloom.

The club is trying, and many of us were slightly uncomfortable with the upper range of the asking price.

Of course we wanted him, because it’s not our money and it would’ve been an exciting add on to Vieira and Jesus.

Relax, breathe.

Guns of Hackney

Ah, that word ‘try’.

Love that.

Ernest Reed

“ARSENAL INVESTING IN EXPLOSIVE FOOTBALL”

Gotta say, the headlines alone are full on for entertainment value. Whether there is even a shred of any actual fact that can be gleaned away from the sensationalized opinions, only time will actually tell. As it stands, you’d think that Arsenal are an offensive juggernaut from Pedro’s descriptions, and adding Eddie and Jesus will, gee shucks, propel the team to record breaking levels.

Don’t honestly know whether to laugh or…laugh? This stuff just keeps on perpetuating the myth of Arteta the footballing God to levels never imagined.

Nigel Tufnel

Ornstein and Romano didn’t ever say we had a deal done. They reported the status of the negotiations and our efforts. They’re pretty careful not to jump the gun when any team can throw in a surprise.

You need to be wise enough to understand that about life.

I posted here about 5 hours ago that telegraph and Lawton wrote of Chelsea coming into the picture.

These things happen.

Adams

Martinelli| Jesus| Saka and smith rowe| nketiah| Jesus. this is good enough even without considering the academy lads. I repeat raphina is just a luxury signing.

rollen

Solid transfer window. No excuses next season.
Now sign is Saka and Martinelli to long term deals.

Habesha Gooner

Well Raphinha joining Chelsea came out of nowhere. The fee though is extortionate. I wouldn’t have minded paying that for him on the basis that we still get a CM and a LB. There is positives to this as well as negative. Chelsea have got one of the top wingers in the league now. On the positive side, Tielemans and Martinez will be fast deals now because we missed out on Raphinha seeing how fast we have been moving this summer. We can cope without another winger considering Viera can play there too. But if we have funds, we should… Read more »

Samesong

“but I’d like to believe that in 2-3 years time we will much better placed by then, ”

In terms of winning the league?
Winning the Champions league?
Top 4?

Better placed in what exactly?

Redbearer

I’d be happier to see us get Martinez over the line. Without a doubt we do need a player like him to give us options at the back and generally tidy things up. If other offensive players become available and can add value to the project i.e. must be better / an upgrade on what we have then that’s where our finances should go.

Ernest Reed

Next significant signing for the club MUST be Saka. Sends a very clear message to all of the clubs long term intentions.

Thorough

What the fuck is a ‘Raphina’
I’ll blame ya’al unpedantic folks if we don’t get him
It’s Raphinha ffs.
Now queue the next person call hm Rohypnol.

Mulerise14

Divine Sherlock, Dissenter another way to look at is that having signed Viera,he could be copted to play d RW when we need to rest Saka or play in the stead of Ødegaard…. that’s quality depth right there.
I won’t cry over this Brazilian split milk…. Martinelli and ESR can hold down RW for sure.
Let’s focus on CM(top pick:Tieleman)LB/LCB(top pick: Martinez)….then it would be the best transfer window since I started growing beard…😎

Redbearer

Samesong – In response to your questions, I believe we will be better placed in all of the above. We are finally showing some serious ambition and it seems Arteta and Edu have a vision for us to step up into the ring (and potentially go toe to toe) with the likes of Liverpool and Man City. Chelsea are undergoing a culture change so their project may not be all it seems. Man U seem to be about individuals whereas we are building a team.

Thierry Martinelli

Martinelli| Jesus| Saka and smith rowe| nketiah| Jesus. this is good enough
Are they good enough to keep the goals coming for a potential 50+ games season?

Samesong

Thorough

Raphael

WengerEagle

Better effort at least than ‘Rafiinha’ which I saw on here before.

azed

“Imo our project is much more exciting than the Chavs so if Raphinha does decide to go to them over us then that’s his decision” Redbearer I see you’ve fallen for Pedro’s sales pitch. Always remember the job of a salesman is to get you into buying whatever they are selling either by hook or crook. Raphina is 25 and from Brazil, this is probably his last big contract and he would only be interested in a project that fills his pocket with money. For the football side of things, the Chavs are in the Champions League and have won… Read more »

InsideRight

Ben Jacobs a few minutes ago:

“Arsenal sources are still not ruling out making another bid but their latest offer fell short of Leeds’ valuation. Nothing totally certain just yet but Chelsea do think they have ‘hijacked’ the deal. Once again, Raphinha has made no final decision at this point…”

WengerEagle

It will be interesting if we match the Chav bid to see if our fabled project stands up to Chelsea for comparison to a neutral player.

Bob N16

Raphinha not coming and various posters appear to show delight in the ‘failure’ that Arsenal have f*caked up somehow.
I, like many, didn’t consider him a priority. Would be far more concerned if we don’t get an addition in CM and LB cover.

Habesha Gooner

I honestly didn’t think Arteta would go this hard for Raphinha considering we have Saka. I understand why he wanted him though. He doesn’t want any dropoff from Saka to the next player. But we can get away with it if we go on to the next target in our list. This will also give us more room to get a CM and a LB. There are plenty of very good wingers that we can get for half that. Chelsea going for both Sterling and Raphinha though makes them dangerous going forward. But it also means they will have no… Read more »

Redbearer

Azed – Agree not to get too ahead on the optimism side but for years we have been having shit windows. Jesus was not my first choice, I’d have rather we went for someone like Calvert-Lewin (who Perry Groves was raving about when I spoke to him earlier this year), however I suppose it comes down to who is available and which agents are playing smoke and mirrors to boost their clients profiles!

I’m just glad that we are seeming making moves. Let’s analysis this when this window concludes.

Habesha Gooner

Weagle
It’s done. He will definitely start for Chelsea on the right. Plus they have CL football and they are offering him huge wages. We aren’t getting him now. We need to get CL football to be in fair ground to these teams.

Pulisic, Sterling, Raphinha, CHO, Mount, Gallagher is filthy though. They will be difficult to stop going forward.

Danny S

‘76 goal contributions from 99 games‘

Errr pretty sure it’s 141 in 236 but I suppose when you write actual facts then it doesn’t sound as impressive.

Also, 55/60m for Raphinha is insane and there isn’t a great deal of stats to back up this ‘end product’ claim.

Also, Eddie had a little purple patch at the end of the season playing for his new deal (over 100k I might add!). I seem to remember when Willock had the same you were slagging it off Pedro.

InsideRight

Fabrizio says:

“Chelsea have already sent an official proposal to Raphinha and his agent Deco to discuss personal terms as Boehly wants to be fast to avoid problems. Work in progress.”

See that? Boehly wants to be fast to avoid problems. I do wish Arsenal would learn to do the same. This is the same Chavski we were told would not be able to splash the cash because the new owners would be more careful about spending.

Un

Eagle
That was me and I was very drunk (rafinha)

Samesong

I can see Raphinha having a great season. Good age. Some of those goals he scored and dribbles are world class.