Re: The Official Summer Transfer Rumours Thread

[RealGunner]

Hmm

The only problem I am seeing is that Wenger has/had a great eye in the french league. Koscielny was in no one's radar.

Paulista has been playing in La liga for a year or so and with so many teams needing a CB, no one has gone for him but us.

Probably a stupid thing to consider but I am bit sceptic.

But then, any CB is a good addition to our squad I guess.

[Twoism]

Apparently at his club, Musacchio is rated higher. Maybe Wenger see a 2nd Kozz but 20m is no joke

[El Gunner]

Hmm

The only problem I am seeing is that Wenger has/had a great eye in the french league. Koscielny was in no one's radar.

Paulista has been playing in La liga for a year or so and with so many teams needing a CB, no one has gone for him but us.

Probably a stupid thing to consider but I am bit sceptic.

But then, any CB is a good addition to our squad I guess.

So true, the fact that we required the services of Squillaci and Silvestre not so long ago speaks volumes.

[MJ]

Read on Twitter that people were saying he's really raw but talented. Also, Man United were poking their heads at him and Otamendi who is extremely expensive.

Think Moreno is a better buy but I don't know much beyond what I've read about Paulista. Would be our most expensive defender along with/slightly below Calum Chambers.

[Sri]

The more I think of it, the more I think it makes sense if we do sell Cazorla to Barcelona if they come a calling. I know it sounds blasphemous but he's 30, and would be 32 when Barca would be able to deal again after their ban.

If we extend his contract now (it runs out in 2016 I think), we can get two years of Santi in his prime and then fleece about 25-30m pounds from Barcelona, given their fetish for Arsenal players. That'd be at a time when Rosicky is retired, Arteta is retired, Flamini is gone: ideal for Ox to move to his long touted central role, with Ramsey and Wilshere and Özil and (Coquelin/new DM/Zelalem/Crowley/Bielik/..) taking over the baton. Considering we bought him for 16m, that's also a healthy profit to reinvest.

I know it's long term stuff, but one can dream.

These week long breaks without football are rather conducive to imagination. I dreamt that I woke up to the news of us having completed 4 signings overnight: Bielik, Coquelin contract extension (a la LANS), MORGAN effin SCHNEIDERLEIN, and another midfielder - can't remember. My great grand aunt used to say that early morning dreams come true. Considering this woke me up at 0430 this morning

[Sri]

Rather strangely, there was no center back signing in my dream.

However, I do have a thing for midfield roles - my favorite position in both real life football and FIFA (also Be a pro mode) - which can explain a part of that

[MJ]

You dreamed that we could sell a 32-year-old Cazorla for £30m?

Go back to sleep m9.

[Sri]

You dreamed that we could sell a 32-year-old Cazorla for £30m?

Go back to sleep m9.

The dream was us signing 4 players overnight this January.

The other, unrelated, hypothesis is that we could fleece Barcelona's Arsenal-star-fetish if they want to buy Cazorla once their transfer ban is done, assuming we extend his contract and he keeps up his prime performances in the interim

[Hapless_Hans]

Did you by any chance dream anything about selling Bellerin to Bayern?

[Sri]

Nope. You are welcome to have (futile) dreams about it.

We could offer you Jenkinson if you like, he's doing pretty damn well at WHU. Him + 10m pounds for Javi Martinez sounds about fair to me

[Twoism]

The player that Barca will no doubt knock on our door again in 2 years time is Bellerin . Alves will be ancient at that point and they have the crook Adriano and the fraud Douglas. As for Paulista, it seems like the one for the future in January, l someone is better than no one though.

[Sri]

I thikn any club would pay an extra 5m quid for that celebration dance from Santi

We will have no issues with player retention if we continue winning things - holding on to the FA Cup this year and winning the BPL and CL in the coming year(s).

[Sri]

So. The Metro claims that we've slapped a 12m pound fee on Jenkinson, if WHU want to sign him up in the summer.

I don't like the idea of selling him tbh - just as I like everyone in that 'British core' group, including Theo. But it's hard to see him get ahead of Debuchy and Bellerin - even if we consider Chambers as a CB/DM who doesn't have a long term role at RB.

[Sina]

MARCA reporting as well that Gabriel Paulista is closer to Arsenal. Agent has shown Villarreal a formal offer.

Villarreal first answer was his release clause (€20m) now they're looking at the market for replacements, they will low their demands.
http://t.co/bSQnJoFW4l
via @ElSpanishGooner

[MJ]

I love Jenko, fantastic character and I love having a Gooner in the squad but if West Ham were willing to pay £12m for him, we wouldn't turn them down and I can't say it would be the wrong move with Debuchy and Bellerin preferred to him and Chambers capable of playing RB.

[Chumlum]

Agreed on Jenkinson. In an ideal world it'd be good to send him on, like, a two-year loan somewhere and he can come back to compete/rotate with Bellerin once Debuchy's time is up. But that's wishful thinking. Upwards of £10 million from any club would be very solid business, and best of luck to him elsewhere when & if he goes.

This Gabriel Paulista thing is confusing. A lot of more reputable sources are claiming/confirming that something is happening. But his work permit uncertainty and Euro cup-tied status (confirmed? debunked?) seem to be awfully big gambles if Arsenal are bidding anywhere close to the release clause or using Joel Campbell as a makeweight. I have to say, I don't know much about him at all because I haven't watched much of Villarreal in recent years. That video making the rounds does make him look good in a Koscielnyesque way. If that's how he plays overall, I'm ready to see him in the squad. Would be good competition for Kos while Chambers is a good "calm" CB understudy for 30-year-old Mertesacker.

Finally, welcome Krystian Bielik!

[Sri]

This whole Paulista stuff, with the work permit uncertainty for a 24 yo uncapped Brazilian, makes me pretty certain that it is drummed up. Anyway, let's be patient a few days, when this whole stuff will just die down

Doubt WHU can pay that money for him, but considering what we paid for Chambers or United paid for Shaw, it's a pretty fair price on Jenkinson. I hope we can find a better solution though - that two year loan deal sounds like a rather good solution. Or even a one year deal, so that he can come back and rotate with Debuchy while Bellerin goes out to gather regular first team football. Either way, when Debuchy is done, we would have 2 experienced and mature RBs to call on, similar to what we have with Monreal/Gibbs right now. With 50+ games, injuries, form and suspension factored in - we should be able to keep both happy.

[VendettaRed07]

We should sell Jenkinson to West ham. Hell have a much better career there. He'll never be a starter for us even though I think he is good enough to be :/

West Ham are on the up and up, moving into the Olympic stadium soon, has a chance to be a regular starter and apart of something special. Can even fight his way to be a starter for England. Would be such a waste if he just came back to rot on the bench with us instead

[Sina]

anything over 5M and we should Defo sell him
benefit of all parties

[Jay29]

Gabriel Paulista starts for Villareal tonight against Getafe. Likely a sign that nothing is imminent.

[Sina]

Gabriel Paulista (Villareal) :

not enough to judge
looks very quick but weak in the air and not good at defending crosses

*Edit*
this is good read as well
http://highburyclock.com/2015/01/21/an-introduction-to-gabriel-paulista/

[REWB]

Think we need a fast and skillful defender to replace merte for the big games, so we can actually play a high line and keep possession for once, win big games with style like we used to do in 07/08. Against the smaller teams away from home however, mertesacker may be more of use because of his height/heading, depends but he will give us more options if we get him that's for sure.

[Sri]

I'm wondering if 2 fast/pacy/ball-playing CBs will work though. I only vividly remember what a fail Vermaelen-Koscielny was, which gave Mertesacker a concerted run in the first place.

Mertesacker has his flaws, but it's more about the back four as a bunch - and with the right support, he performs impressively. His performance drops when he's overplayed, out of position, or exposed.

Heck it doesn't matter. We will at least have a more experienced option than Chambers, Debuchy and Monreal - none of whom have any CB experience prior to this season to speak of ffs.

[Sina]

Gabriel Paulista fee may hit £10m

Arsenal in a rush to get Gabriel Paulista deal done to beat new work-permit regulations

By Jeremy Wilson

Arsenal are locked in negotiations with Villarreal over a fee for Gabriel Paulista, although any deal below £10 million would almost certainly have to be concluded this month because of proposed new work-permit regulations.

With Villarreal demanding that a £15.25 million release clause is met, Arsenal may well still have to go beyond their initial suggestion of £6 million up front rising to around £10 million to get the deal done.

Yet the £10 million threshold may become significant as, under new Football Association proposals that could take affect this summer, any new player would receive a work permit at that price or above.

As things stands now, work permits are only given automatically to players without a European Union passport if they are an international from a country ranked in Fifa’s top 70 and have played 75 per cent of their country’s matches in the past two years. Beyond that, however, there is an appeals process run by the FA on behalf of the Home Office that makes a subjective judgment on the quality of a prospective signing.

Arsenal believe that there would be a strong immediate case for Paulista, 24, even though he has never represented Brazil. They could point to how West Bromwich Albion signed Brown Ideye from Dynamo Kiev for £10 million and succeeding in gaining a work permit despite his absence from Nigeria’s World Cup squad.

Last week, Andrej Kramaric was allowed to sign for Leicester City for £9.5 million despite having made only four appearances for Croatia.

Although Paulista has no international experience, Arsenal could argue that playing regularly for a team in the top six of La Liga offers more guarantee of quality than being relatively peripheral in the Croatia or Nigeria national teams.

The rather vague wording of the current FA regulations is that the appeals panel has to consider if “the player is of the highest calibre” and “able to contribute significantly to the development of the game at the top level in England”. The success rate at appeal is 79 per cent and Greg Dyke, the FA chairman, wants to tighten regulations and ensure they are no longer open to interpretation.

His concern is that the development of young English talent is being stifled by imports who are not of genuinely world-class quality. Dyke would like to scrap the appeals panels completely and permit only players who have played 30 per cent of international matches in the past two years for a nation in Fifa’s top 50. Players costing at least £10 million would be exempt.

In the case of Paulista, that would mean Arsenal could sign him beyond this January only if the fee was at or more than £10 million. Paulista played for Villarreal in the Copa del Rey last night and his manager, Marcelino, suggested that the deal could happen. “I hadn’t considered selling Gabriel, it’s bad news from a sporting point of view,” he said. “But if both Gabriel and the club believe that his sale to Arsenal is the best for all parties, we will accept.”

Arsenal have also formally confirmed the signing of the midfielder Krystian Bielik, 17, from Legia Warsaw and, should they sign Paulista, their January transfer business would almost certainly be complete.

Paulista has been ever present this season in a Villarreal team who have conceded only 17 goals in 19 league games. His contract expires in 2018 and, although he specialises at centre-back, he does also have experience at full-back

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/transfers/11361646/Arsenal-transfer-news-Gabriel-Paulista-fee-may-hit-10m.html

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More comps

Gabriel vs Atlético Madrid:

GABRIEL PAULISTA | Skills | Villarreal | 2014/2015 :

[RealGunner]

Couldn't watch more than 2 minutes of that atletico compilation

1) his first touch is poor. Most of the time heavy and inconsistent.

2) he isn't a ball playing defender. Tries to get rid of the ball every time it comes to him

3) he is weak in the air.

4) Positional sense is iffy at best.

I will cry if we offer anything more than 12m for him.

[Sina]

yeah im not convinced either
esp if he could be good partner for kos or not?!

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Wenger Knows Best @wengerknowsbest

There is little bit confusion over Gabriel Paulista. I only asked Gazidis to enquire about Gabrielle, Paul's sister.

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