Re: The Official Winter Transfer Rumours Thread

[Sri]

40m€ for a 20yo striker when we have Danny and Yaya and a few good prospects behind them? Oh with Theo and Alexis and Giroud in there as well?

Metro, please leave!

[Raptorgunner]

I want the man in your avatar tbh

You can have all our bench players...we dont use any of them, Wenger, Podolski, Rosicky, Campbell, Flamini and Steve Bould all for €22.5.

Can't believe you'd even joke about selling our backup 4th CB.

[6unner]

According Di Marzio we're interested to Joel Campbell

Probably wouldn't take too much to get him. Definitely on loan.

€10million max #I-T-K

I call it good news on the basis that Arteta is miles better than Flamini in just about everything except running around a lot. Also, there's value to holding on to your experienced players. I can't see Arteta staying for another year being a bad thing at all.

Good thing this game does not require much running around then.

Good thing this game does not require the sole attribute of running around.

Don't think you'll find many who will disagree with the fact that we need a more athletic player there. But not keeping Arteta on just because he shouldn't be starting? Silly.

I can understand what you are saying. I would actually question having him play at all. Everyone in the league can either run past or around him. Then if he is on the ball and is pressured he becomes a liability.

With resources at Arsenal being a premium I would just question keeping him on wages when he is not really good for anything more than cameo appearances. He does not have the legs to start anymore or play long minutes.
Now with all that said, Maybe if I could figure out what it was that AFC was trying to do both on offense and defense this year it would become a little clearer. As this season has played out so far the vast majority of the team (including our English core) and manager has shown to be nothing more that Over-rated, Over priced mid-table players. With Alexis being a class well above all the rest. Is it good or bad everyone will have their own opinion. I just am at the point now where I believe that people are getting attached to certain players to a detriment of a winning mentality. There is no other top team in the world that would pick Artetta up! How about we not use the resources that might be needed to actually strengthen the squad until we have to. If we actually qualify for CL football next year, In the summer if Artetta still wants CL football he will probably still be available at 50% his current wages.

[MJ]

I can understand what you are saying. I would actually question having him play at all. Everyone in the league can either run past or around him. Then if he is on the ball and is pressured he becomes a liability.

With resources at Arsenal being a premium I would just question keeping him on wages when he is not really good for anything more than cameo appearances. He does not have the legs to start anymore or play long minutes.
Now with all that said, Maybe if I could figure out what it was that AFC was trying to do both on offense and defense this year it would become a little clearer. As this season has played out so far the vast majority of the team (including our English core) and manager has shown to be nothing more that Over-rated, Over priced mid-table players. With Alexis being a class well above all the rest. Is it good or bad everyone will have their own opinion. I just am at the point now where I believe that people are getting attached to certain players to a detriment of a winning mentality. There is no other top team in the world that would pick Artetta up! How about we not use the resources that might be needed to actually strengthen the squad until we have to. If we actually qualify for CL football next year, In the summer if Artetta still wants CL football he will probably still be available at 50% his current wages.

Then we just disagree about his quality. I think he's good enough to play a squad role at least, if I didn't then I wouldn't be happy about an extension. With a Schneiderlin (younger DM, more athletic etc.) then Arteta could be used even less and have more of an impact when he does play.

Plenty of top clubs keep older players around even when they're past their best, doesn't mean they're incompetent. They have valuable roles on and off of the pitch. Roma have Totti, Chelsea kept Lampard around, now City picked him up, Gerrard is 34 at Liverpool, Scholes and Giggs at United.

With Arteta currently a starter, it might be harder to see how useful he could be as a backup.

[Hapless_Hans]

problem with that Totti, Lampard, Gerrard, Scholes, Giggs argument is that both their overall quality and career importance for the club are not in the least comparable to Arteta.
The equivalent would be if you actually had kept your top players until they aged.
Like if you had Ashley Cole, Kolo Touré, Cesc and RvP in your squad right now as senior club legends.
But Arteta was from day one a downgrade replacement to Cesc, etc.

Not saying you shouldn't keep Arteta around, but the only player in your team that's somewhat comparable to the ones you name above is Rosicky. And even he hasn't amassed a very consistent career due to injuries.

That stunning fact is that Arsenal have no real senior players, who have played a central role for the club a long time, in the squad at all. Walcott would be the next in line, which pretty much says it all.

[Sri]

Seniority of a player doesn't come from how much time they have spent at their current club, but draws from how much experience they have amassed in their career till date.

The reason for not having senior players who have spent a vast majority of their careers at Arsenal is well explained in the economics of football in England in the 2005-13 period, without even going into lengthy discourses. There is nothing remotely stunning about it.

[Hapless_Hans]

sorry, I disagree. Not for the hierarchy of a team, it doesn't.

[Hapless_Hans]

The reason for not having senior players who have spent a vast majority of their careers at Arsenal is well explained in the economics of football in England in the 2005-13 period, without even going into lengthy discourses. There is nothing remotely stunning about it.

Unless there exists a special, separate history of football economics that exclusively pertains to Arsenal, I'd say that there's absolutely something, if not stunning, let's call it noticeable, to it.

[Sri]

The reason for not having senior players who have spent a vast majority of their careers at Arsenal is well explained in the economics of football in England in the 2005-13 period, without even going into lengthy discourses. There is nothing remotely stunning about it.

Unless there exists a special, separate history of football economics that exclusively pertains to Arsenal, I'd say that there's absolutely something, if not stunning, let's call it noticeable, to it.

Not saying there is nothing, just saying it isn't stunning. The explanation is simple: stadium and sustainability in finances. This is one horse I have beaten to death too many times on this forum, don't want to go all over that.

[MJ]

Don't remember comparing Arteta in terms of quality to Totti, Scholes, Giggs etc. but the impact an older player can have as a backup is what I'm getting at, obviously.

[Hapless_Hans]

understood, however then you could have used a slighty more diverse selection - not only the greatest of legends

sri, sorry, I wasn't around when that horse died, but I understand.

[Raptorgunner]

If the reports of Arsenal being offered Matija Nastasic for £5 million, we should be all over that.

[RealGunner]

5m lol? it was 15m in summer

[Sri]

I'd pay 15m and one of my two kidneys for a decent healthy defender.

[Sina]

Should have signed John Stones when we had a chance
now we will at best end up with someone Vermaelen level meh

[Jay29]

[Sri]

Wait, Flamini has one more year on his contract. He signed on a 3 year deal last summer.

Most of that list is old and past it players, but 1-2 could be interesting: Reid, Schär,Khedira of course, ...

Doesn't solve our immediate concerns anyway

[Jay29]

They might solve of our immediate concerns if their clubs are willing to sell for a knock-down price in January instead of letting them go for free.

[Sri]

They might solve of our immediate concerns if their clubs are willing to sell for a knock-down price in January instead of letting them go for free.

I thought about it. Then I decided we would rather try for a free transfer at the summer and lose the target in January in the process. Knowing how well we manage our transfer windows, that is MUCH likelier.

[RealGunner]

CHEILLINI ffs

Get him in.

[Sina]

i would take De Jong and still go for younger DM too
Would defo take Milner as well!

[urbaNRoots]

Sell Debuchy, sign Lichtsteiner

Schär in January and Khedira in the summer if Real Madrid want to get rid, would be beautiful.

[sportsczy]

Lichsteiner has been really poor this season... has lost a lot of pace. If he looks slow in Serie A, i can't imagine how he'd look in EPL.

[RealGunner]

Urban has some agenda against debuchy

[MJ]

Names that stand out are Chiellini, Khedira, Alves etc.

Chiellini will probably stay, Khedira is back and forth about it and has a dodgy fitness record + wages and is a questionable fit for what we need anyway. Alves already said he's PL-bound but I'd only advocate that if it meant Chambers was permanently moved to CB. Even then, we'd have 4 RBs in Debuchy, Bellerin, Jenko and it wouldn't make sense so nah.

Reid, Schar, De Jong, Khedira are worth a look.

Sign Gourcuff just to end the rumors.

Sign James Milner for RB to give Matt Law's career a push in the right direction.



Wenger says Podolski is "not for sale".

“He (Podolski) is not for sale. I am the one who fixes the prices.”

“He came back from the World Cup, he has had to recuperate a little behind everyone else. He plays in the position where I have the most players.”

[EL Patron]

Chiellini is the tough SOB we need at the back,
Proper nutcase.

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