Arsenal transfer news is light on juice.
There’s a great big monstrous elephant in the room that we can’t talk about, but at a base level, what you can say is our best player, for whatever reason, is not with the squad on tour in Germany. Our season collapsed on his long-term absence last year and it’s arguably why we finished 8th in Arteta’s first full season.
As it stands, Mo Elneny is single pivoting for us, as Matt said on the podcast, that’s the difference from looking distinctly West Ham, to looking like we can compete with Manchester City at home.
There does appear to be movement on Youri Tielemans. If I were to guess why things have been slow, it’s fewfold:
- The player would be due back on July 14th with the rest of the international players. Clubs tend not to want to take on wages until players are working.
- Tielemans only wants Arsenal, so there’s not much chance of being gazumped by Todd Boehly, Newcastle, or Manchester United.
- Arsenal don’t want to pay Leicester a massive fee.
Frenkie De Jong is rumoured to be costing about £65m with bonuses going up to £80m. The wild part of the story is the deal is being held up because Barca owe him £17m in deferred payments. Quite something for a player that tanked.
Anyway, this is from Crab Stats.
We’re getting Youri T for less than half the price, less than half the salary, and we know he’s Premier League proven. I’ll take that sort of business all day long. He’s going to be much better than some of the miserable chatter that’s followed him after a bad season at Leicester.
We’ve been linked with Lille winger Edon Zhegrova. A Bosnian journalist has leaked that we’re in for the Kosovan. Have we had a Kosovan play for us before? I can’t think of one?
#AFC | If reports of a bid for Lille Edon Zhegrova are correct, It’s very clear that Arteta and Edu are looking for a specific type of LW with:
– Dribbling
– Ball striking
– Early crossing abilityAs aspects we SHOULD have but currently lack with Pepe.pic.twitter.com/hEQqbDHPGL
— The Arsenal Tom (@TheArsenalTom) July 7, 2022
Anyway, it’s bit of a weird link. The player spent half his season in the Jupiler League with Basel, he moved to Lille, now we’re being asked to believe he’s being flipped again? What do we know about him? Not a lot. He’s fast, he’s direct, he looks like he has a mean cross, and he does have a penchant for a thunderbolt.
We bid £40m for Raphinha last week, now we’re turning to a player with half a season in Ligue One? It makes little sense unless accounting dynamics shifted because we have to account for an extra signing this window.
Still, I’m not sure anyone really expected a £55m winger to rotate with Saka, we just wanted someone capable of doing a job when they come on. Nico Pepe that ain’t…
Talking of the elusive Ivorian, Mr Galtier has taken over at PSG. He once said Pepe is a natural talent like Benzema. If he truly believes that, would he really let the boy sit on the bench at Arsenal? SURELY PSG WANT A PIECE WITH A £40M FEE?
We haven’t really done much moving on players. Hector Bellerin is staying in a hotel in London right now and wants out. Don’t pay attention to publications suggesting he’ll be here day one, the player, as it stands, does not want to be back-up right-back for Arsenal.
Lucas Torreira feels like the unpopular kid at the school disco sitting on the seats while everyone else makes moves. Why can’t he get a club to love him? Spurs just sold Steven B for £25m, why can’t we sell Bernd Leno for more than £2m? We are TERRIBLE at selling players.
Loans might be interesting this year.
Folarin Balogun, I love him, but he needs to get some development minutes. No doubt, he’s an outrageous talent, but he needs to bulk up, get bullied in the showers by a Welsh 36 yr old called Huw, and he needs to live in a place where the best place for a night out is a Sainsbury’s car park next to a burning recycling bin.
Who else leaves? Charlie Patino has been on a pure meat diet, but he’s still very green, and he looked off the pace when he debuted. Can he make a Saka-like jump this season or does he need the Saliba treatment?
Europa League IS a great place to learn about young players, so hopefully, we get a bit of excitement there, but at the same time, I hope the best young players don’t lose out because they stayed for the 6 European games, versus opting for the 4500 minutes they might get elsewhere.
Gabi Jesus dropped his first interview with Charles Watts at Goal.
Then I was pretty sure I would come to Arsenal. But after I talked to Mikel, I was 100 per cent sure. Because I trust in him. Because I trust in this big club. And I trust in myself and the players as well.
It is a big club with a big project. When Edu explained to me what they want for the future, I was so excited to join Arsenal because I love the project.
I want to win trophies. I want to win everything.
I love it.
He’s not here for 4th, he wants to win something big, and he’s going to help our young players set new standards.
Very exciting.
Right, that’s me done. We have a NEW Patreon up. If you like secret content, being part of a club, and hearing us talk Arsenal… get involved.
Me?
Woohoo!
Trophy
Yup
DM and Bankz where you at?
damn, shouldn’t have read the article
Kosovan? Lolz. Where’s the Ukrainian token east European player?
Get someone fucking good.
Not to be Debbie Downer but William also gave a nice interview that made Pedro purr
Said it on the last thread, Zhegrova sounds like a Partey contingency plan being investigated to me.
Pedro
I am assuming that there are still a maximum of 3 potential vacancies in our squad assuming
1. Pepe is unsold
2. We do not lose any other squad member due to events outside the control of the club.
It is beginning to look like Arsenal are focussing recruitment of Tielemans and Martinez,
which might bring our transfer spend this summer to around £150 million.
I honestly think we need to drop the Martinez chase, I’m still not convinced by a 5’9 CB in the prem, and at 40m it’s a huge risk we couldn’t make before the errr other issue came about, and one we REALLY cannot make now. If I had my way, grab Grimaldo at a ridiculous -10m figure, get Tielemans through the door ASAP. And then likely look at another midfielder such as Onana for some height in CM. Same outlay, slightly more in wages but more options. I like versatile players but too many eggs with our injury record is… Read more »
This is more to Xhaka’s liking this Kosovan rather than the Serb Savic.
Also they have the Basel link.
Get it done.
For Granit’s sake.
why oh why are we being any more wingers from lille 😂
TomJuly 7, 2022 17:41:03
Posters talking about the legrove curse…………Im starting to believe it.
Pedro spent entire season making a case a Conte type manager would never consider Arsenal.
He went to Spurs.
Then Pedro spent months making the case Conte would destroy them from within.
They pipped us to the CL.
Then Pedro got busy poo pooing Bissouma for his alleged reputation and within a month the Partey case dropped(still a rumor).
Someone needs to have a word with Pedro for the sake of the Arsenal.
Hahahaha!
Tom,
Firstly, I also made the case that we should never hire a manager like Antonio Conte.
Secondly, Conte turned down Spurs because they weren’t good enough for him, until he realised no major club would go near him.
Thirdly, Conte will burn Spurs to the ground, like he does every club along the way, so that one is still going.
Can’t argue on Bissouma. That one is on me.
Ggooner
That’s what I’d do as well, just switch Tielemans for Savic if we have the cash for it. Could use some PL experience though so he has that going for him.
Maybe add some potential like Carney to the mix too. Even if we get in 2 new starters in CM our backup options are so bad that we can’t really rotate without a massive drop in quality but that’s unavoidable if Parety won’t be available. Doubt we’re buying 3 top CMs in one window.
Apparently Fulham have a verbal agreement with Leno, Arsenal want £10-£11 million
We’ve got too many goalkeepers, if this one goes through, let’s hope Turner has the quality to keep Ramsdale on his toes and challenge him.
Rich, that’s a massive W for me over WE who said we shouldn’t expect a fee like that.
Where you at WE?
Pedro
Arsenal “want” £10-£11 million, apparently it’s done on the players side, but not between the clubs.
Fulham will likely negotiate that downwards, we’ll be lucky to get a double quarter pounder meal with our negotiators
I am sure that Arsenal will receive £8-10 million for Leno albeit that he is on high wages at
Arsenal. You are not going to buy a goalkeeper of his calibre for less and he is someone who
has adapted to EPL
Where we are going to struggle getting decent transfer fees are those players like Pepe, Bellerin
and Torreira who do not want to move to English Clubs and are on similarly high wages.
Why are we so rubbish at selling players? Probably the buying clubs reading all the negative le groove comments about our excess players. Think we need some new marketing people, Pedro surely you know someone
Rich, they are defo shy at asking for real money
Why are we so awful at selling players??! Liverpool just raked in another 17 million for Neco Williams. I know some of it is attributed to the high wages we have given players for last few years but we need to be better at extracting fees. If Martinez prefers Utd or we won’t go that high then get Tielemans in and Grimaldo at left back. Going very cheap when a few windows ago he was being talked about in the 30m to 40m bracket. And on top of that show a bit of faith in Lokonga too or get a… Read more »
*around europe
Anyone not wanting to see Xhaka in a arsenal shirt next season CAN FORGET IT. He will be needed, no way can we get 3 quality midfielders in
Our season collapsed on his long-term absence last year and it’s arguably why we finished 8th in Arteta’s first full season.
Come on…
Why can’t we never have a perfect preparation to a new season.
This awful cloud hanging over the cloud because of these rape allegations.
If true the nameless should be thrown out the club
*over the club
Zhegrova sounds like a Partey contingency plan being investigated to me.
Sal they don’t play the same position
Bigger picture Marko I know its difficult, instead of a Raphina type splurge on flanks we reallocate the bulk to potential Partey cover. A player we can’t live without sacrificing the marquee out wide.
As Pedro suggests Zhegrova could be a cut price right wing cover which would free up cash for midfield,.
If we improve the distribution from our defenders, there’s less reliance on our deep lying midfielder to get the ball up the pitch.
Saliba should help with that, and hopefully Martinez as well if we can edge United for his signature.
Also need to see improvements from Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel
Arteta has to show he can improve players, same with Sambi.
“As Pedro suggests Zhegrova could be a cut price right wing cover which would free up cash for midfield,.”
Indeed Pedro nailed with “It makes little sense unless accounting dynamics shifted because we have to account for an extra signing this window.”
“Firstly, I also made the case that we should never hire a manager like Antonio Conte. Secondly, Conte turned down Spurs because they weren’t good enough for him, until he realised no major club would go near him. Thirdly, Conte will burn Spurs to the ground, like he does every club along the way, so that one is still going.” Pedro, I can give you firstly because that’s a solid case to make. Secondly is just a guess on your part since no one knows why he turned them down in the first place. The fact he even picked up… Read more »
Selling unwanted players for more than a stake ham sandwich hinges mostly on not letting everyone know they are unwanted.
Something Arteta needs to get better at.
stale
Tom,
Great idea. How would you be packaging Torreira, Leno and Ainsley as wanted?
Pedro, for starters saying at any point you need 6-8 new players is the wrong thing to say for any manager whether it’s true or nor. I’ve criticized RR after his United pressers for the same very thing so you can’t say I’m inconsistent on this because some anti Arteta agenda bs. Klopp never did that, or even the evil Conte. Secondly, you give Leno more than one start (he played very well btw) to keep his value up. Ainsley should’ve been sold when the offer for him came but Arteta passed. Torreira is the only lost cause here because… Read more »
Pedro, maybe by not making noises about them being not wanted thus allowing their agents to do their jobs and throw some BS about but it seems the whole world knows our business
Pedro “How would you be packaging Torreira, Leno and Ainsley as wanted” 1. The whole torreira thing absolutely baffles me, perhaps more than any other player. He was GOOD for us! For half a season, excellent. For the second half, less remarkable but still good. And that was his first season in the Prem so likelihood is he only gets better. Now I know he was homesick yadda yadda but how has it come to this? Spectacularly poor management from the whole club here. This should be a 40m+ player now, and to be honest I’d still quite like him… Read more »
Surely the silver tongued Edu can convince LT that he has a place in the club, like DM said, he was a decent player for us before Dick Emery decided to play him as the new Ozil
Torreira will be playing in Italy next season.
No news of him being involved or reporting for training.
We will let him go for around 8-10m euro near the end of the window.
Option to buy with Italian clubs a complete waste of time.
John,
Do you think if the club kept super silent about Bernd Leno, and gave him 10 games… clubs around Europe would think he was really wanted and offer us 20m?
DM, it’s the clubs fault for signing him, for sure, but would love to know how it’s out fault he failed at Atleti and can’t get a bid from anyone after a year in Italy? Is that on us? I assume we could have managed it better by putting a weak player into our starting 11? Seems like a bad approach tbh.
Justice system in this country is a sick joke.
Mother of that poor child Baby P released from prison.
What a fucking horrific disgrace that is.
Shameful.
People on that parole board are imbeciles.
She should rot in hell.
Outgoings.
Leno 8-10m
Bellerin 5m euro
LT 8-10m euro
Mari 4m euro
AMN 5m
Nelson 2m
I can’t see us generating much more than those fees give or take 35-40m combined.
Our squad players are way overpaid and have been for many years.
Pedro, surely we have more chance that way, the Chelsea’s and Liverpool’s of this world seem to get decent money for their squad players, re Leno, we don’t know if we are going to end up selling the better keeper, we do not know how the new keeper is going to pan out yet
Pedro, maybe Fiorentina looked at our recent history and took a gamble on reneging on the original arrangement hoping we won’t call their bluff and let LT go at half of what was agreed.
Not like they didn’t get €140m from Vlahovic and Chiesa sale, so offering 7m instead of 15m was quite embarrassing for everyone involved.
They must’ve figured Arsenal pay their players to leave so 7m should do the trick.
While Torreira leaving this summer is preferable for both parties, he’s a player in a position we might need an extra body.
We might have to try and extract another season out of him under certain circumstances
Lucas Paqueta on the radar? WTF?
“Do you think if the club kept super silent about Bernd Leno, and gave him 10 games… clubs around Europe would think he was really wanted and offer us 20m?”
Isn’t that how most players move club?
Not like Ramsdale, whom I like , was having blinders all the way through either.
In fact if Arteta couldn’t guarantee Emi the starting spot because that was against his policy, continuing starting Ramsdale when he was shaky flies in the face of that policy.
Tom, Fiorentina just bought someone else for the same money they said they didn’t have for Lucas. Maybe, just maybe, your talent ID is weaker than Arsenal, Atleti, and Fiorentina.
John, Liverpool weren’t pretending Neco Williams was a starter and Chelsea tend to sell better players than us. They’re also a lot better at it in general, but it’s not because they pretend their players are first-team… and always remember, they bought Lukaku for 90m and loaned him back for 6m.
Topside, the wage problem is no doubt a factor but 3 on that list were youngsters that had shown promise and the other 3 were bought to compete for a first team place so were paid what their agents were wanting.
We would make piss-poor financiers as we buy high and sell low
Pedro, that’s the point isn’t it ,Liverpool can get good money for a squad player. Let’s big our players up, we full for everyone else’s bluffs
*Big up
*fall not full
Pepe either stays to sit on the bench or a few Europa games or he goes out on a straight loan.
72m down the drain it seems little or no links to any concrete interest.
Lukaku in the Chelsea system simply a awful fit for nigh on 100m.
Goes back to the club that sold him for less than a tenth of the price on loan fee.
Two awful bits of business but sadly we are a club that simply cannot afford to keep writing off huge fees unlike others.
John, bigging up doesn’t change the reality mate. They all have the data.
Pretty hilarious strategy w regards to showing out unwanted players are wanted. Im sure theres a liverpool supporter somewhere who had similar ideas of how to get a solid fee out of loris karius transfer.
-the whole world knows where ainsleys at after west brom and roma
-the whole world knows where leno, on 100k/wk, is at after last season
-fuck me are we really trying to package torreira? Fiore had a VERY reasonable option they passed on that by all measures shook lucas…
But by all means keep up the good LG vibez boyz
Man City, Liverpool to a lesser extent Chelsea all bring in good fees for unwanted or players that simply are currently not good enough to feature in the first team or squad.
Man City have sold players I doubt many of us have heard of for excellent fees
Bazuna 12m, Itakura 4,2m, Lavia 14m, Porro 7.5m, Gyabi 5m.
I only jnow Bazuna out of that list and Lavia.
The new Snickers advert is brilliant, the best advert for many years
I’m sure it’ll offend someone, but really funny
Just seen we are trying to get Lucus Paqueta, could he be the reason why Youri teiliemans is still waiting for us to put a bid in
Im going to take the the obvious line here and think Edu awoke and realised Tielemans just wasn’t Brasilian enough.
Topside
Arent those all youth players? Do you have info they havent put sell on clauses or buy back clauses? Not commensurate at all w a player like leno who earns a substantial wage
“Pretty hilarious strategy w regards to showing out unwanted players are wanted. Im sure theres a liverpool supporter somewhere who had similar ideas of how to get a solid fee out of loris karius transfer.”
I’m pretty sure there wasn’t one after he cost them the CL final, and they were all glad to see him out the door at a whopping £3m loss from the original £5m they paid for him.
“John, bigging up doesn’t change the reality mate. They all have the data.”
Yes they do, Pedro.
Zero starts is one.
So Tom, you think playing inferior players to put them in the shop window is more important than actually trying to win games?
Matt B
No, but rotating your squad to its advantages while giving some minutes to players you might want to move on is.
Tom,
It does appear that you think Arteta should give inferior players minutes to pump prices.
2500 minutes didn’t work for Lucas Torreira so far this summer. Not sure this idea of yours is well thought through.
Not with Leno — good keeper, but he cannot play the way Arteta wants.. Our defence shat the bed as soon as he had the ball at his feet.
Point taken with some of the other squad players…
Inferior is a relative term anyway.
Eight games before the seasons end most on here were saying Laca was doing an irreplaceable job of linking play up with Rich comparing him to Firmino, while the inferior Eddie was warming the bench
Tom, Eddie isn’t an inferior player and the ‘most’ you refer to is ‘fans on the internet,’ not clubs with analytics departments designed to tell them about a player and their worth.
Maybe so, but most sane posters know that Leno was a liability with the ball at his feet
Matt B
“Our defence shat the bed as soon as he had the ball at his feet.”
Let’s not forget also dodgy on the physical aspect of keeping. Dominating your six yard box and being confident in going for corners, crosses.
So more than one fault.
Excellent shot stopper though.
Matt B,
Leno is weak with his feet but Ramsdale hit a rough patch for awhile when he was poor commanding the area and his kicking game took a nose dive then as well.
You can give your No one a breather without tanking his confidence if you put it to him the right way.
Jury is out on Ramsdale now for sure.
Nose-dived from previous.
Looked very average in the later part of the season.
Ish, I’ll never forget Bernd letting himself get pinned by a Brentford player. So meek.
Pedro, I don’t comment every day but I do read your work and most comments daily and Pierre was the only one singing Eddie’s praise before he got the run of games.
Lets not rewrite the history.
Pedro
“I’ll never forget Bernd letting himself get pinned by a Brentford player. So meek.”
Yeah that was the most obvious one but there were plenty of other problems for him as well in this aspect.
Just didn’t seem to have that real authority when bodies were around him.
Ish: Yes agreed about Leno — Ramsdale was a breath of fresh air but dipped in the final third of the season. And yet, did’nt make one mistake that led to a goal.
He’ll improve— I hope — with better competition and we’ve seen the potential, so for me, he’s the better keeper
Ramsdale isn’t going to have problems in continuing being better than Leno in the areas he was weak in.
His overall character is just stronger than Leno’s and of course better with the ball at his feet.
It’s Leno strength as a keeper that Ramsdale has to again prove himself.
“Nadal withdraws from Wimbledon due to abdominal injury”
Fuck.. Another Rafa Vs Nole would have been such a spectacle. I hope Kyrgios gives Nole a run for it but as it stands it’s Nole’s title to lose.
Can’t believe that Nadal played something like 4 sets in the quarter final with such a serious injury. What a freakin warrior!
Ish, totally agree. You have to be brilliant dealing with crosses in the Prem. Ramsdale struggled the second half, but he was always confident enough to dominate and command his box.
Gnarley ❤️ Gnabry
Looks like Martinez going to Man Utd flying in possibly for medical tomorrow
gnarley, you took me down memory lane when I googled “Gnarley ❤️ Gnabry” and I ended here: gnarleygeorge9 January 6, 2014 02:42:55 Gnarley Loves Gnabry 🙂 And the post goes: Back in your box Spurs | Gnabry emerges as superstar | Rosicky, the golden oldie! January 5th, 2014 by Pedro. Gnabry was the star of the first half for me. I can’t remember the last time we had two pace demons in the team. But having both he and Theo in the front line made for a tough night for the Spurs backline. Gnabry is comfortable with the ball at… Read more »
Matt B “Maybe so, but most sane posters know that Leno was a liability with the ball at his feet” That is true. Season before last he was a nightmare, the backline was simply dreadful against the press. That’s why we profiled players like Ramsdale, White and Tomi. Straight away it improved us against the press and bought a calmness. The sideways passes stopped because we could get through teams quickly before they could get set. I will never forget those games where Leno would pass the ball with no pace on it so they could be intercepted, behind our… Read more »
It is a big club with a big project. When Edu explained to me what they want for the future, I was so excited to join Arsenal because I love the project.
>>>>>>>>>>>
This reminds me of Arteta telling Willian the plan to win the Champions League within three years! 🤣
AFC: Agreed — the fact we conceded more goals this season than last does not mean our defence was worse — to the contrary, finishing three places higher is proof that it improved
Well that’s how I see it anyway 😃
We can’t be complaining about how hard it is to shift players and their high wages when we’re putting Jesus on over 200k a week on a double your money deal.
Whilst I hope Jesus works out big time, *if* for any reason he doesn’t we find ourselves right back in the Laca type situation. He will be unsellable
Ramsdale is fine. He has a couple of bad games and a few average ones in the second half of the season and the 20+ great games he had have gone out the window. Let’s not overreact.
For a first season it was overall very good and a big improvement on what we’re used to.
Like I get it that it’s frustrating and highly visible when a keeper has an off game, but let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water Ramsdale won us a lot of points last year and for periods was putting the team on his back to the extent a keeper can If you want a keeper who plays that well 100% of the time we can sign Neuer or one of the 5 or so other keepers in the world capable of that consistency. Unless we’re buying one of those, that you are not world class every single… Read more »
China: Agree about Ramsdale, on the fence over Jesus — is he really on £200k pw? Nuts if he is…
Rap
Fond memories when Serge did his thing. BTW, it could be a Clown v Joker Wimbledon final
Some on here were even calling for Leno in the second half of last season
Short memories you guys have. The same Leno who was flapping at crosses, getting bullied in his area and making poor decisions with his pass on the regular throughout all of 2020-2021? The same one who then started making noises about wanting to leave despite us selling a superior keeper the summer before so let Leno wrongly retain the #1 jersey?
A few decent performances from Leno last season and all was suddenly forgotten…
Pedro has it ever crept into your thoughts that city are short on wide players after selling Jesus and soon to be sterling. That maybe just maybe a £50 million bid for Saka will happen. I ponder this sometimes
Matt B various reports suggesting 200-270 per week depending on what you believe and if you include CL qualification related bonuses
Even if he’s on 200 that’s a 100% increase and puts his wages firmly in the ‘unsellable if flops unless you pay him to leave’ category. We have to hope more than ever that he delivers
My biggest worry for the new season is our goalkeeper. In his last 10 matches , Ramsdale conceded 17 goals from 35 shots on target. Compare this to his first ten matches in which he conceded 8 goals from 43 attempts on target. If Ramsdale replicates his last ten matches in goal at the start of next season then we are in deep shit I’m afraid . Conceding nigh on 50% of attempts on target is not sustainable for any team if they want to be compete in the league.. Defend Ramsdale as much as you like but unless he… Read more »
The only reason we are paying jesus 200k a week is blatantly obvious , pay him the money or he wouldn’t sign.
All this talk about Arteta and the process is bullshit , we made him the best financial offer and that is why he signed…
Will just point out that i rate jesus highly and my preference would be for jesus to play on the right , saka on the left and Eddie up top
“Pedro has it ever crept into your thoughts that city are short on wide players after selling Jesus and soon to be sterling. That maybe just maybe a £50 million bid for Saka will happen. I ponder this sometimes”
We are not compelled to sell Saka.
Pierre at it again. His biggest fear is our goalkeeper.
Tee
Ramsdale = alarm bells