Arsenal Transfer Rumours And General Chat

Peyton Manning

Foster, Pique, Evans, Wellbeck, Cathcart, Rossi, Nani, Anderson, Ronaldo, Rooney.....

Yup United sure dont have a team for the next 5-6 years...

Nalz

Archimedes wrote:

Foster, Pique, Evans, Wellbeck, Cathcart, Rossi, Nani, Anderson, Ronaldo, Rooney.....

Yup United sure dont have a team for the next 5-6 years...

Yeah, and you left out Gibson, Richie Jones, Fletcher, Evra, Vidic and Bardsley. Who will all probably be around then

PDN

I'm sad to see our greatest ever player leave - but it may be the right time anyway. In the past I've wondered why Wenger let my favourite players go (Overmars, Petit, Viera) but his judgement has been proved correct.

AnCapaillMor

At 25M he'd have been insane not to let Overmars go. Sad, i don't know why but i was more worried when vieira left. Well i'm tempted to go into hibernation until the transfer window closes.

~Rebel~

Even as a liverpool fan im pretty sad about this. With Van Nist gone and now Henry the 2 great examples of the different styles of strikers are gone. Love watching him play. Will have to tune into Barcelona more often now!

Surely one of Ronaldinho and Eto'o wil leave now. Couldnt see any of Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Henry and Messi being very dropable..

Zapp Brannigan

~Rebel~ wrote:

Surely one of Ronaldinho and Eto'o wil leave now. Couldnt see any of Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Henry and Messi being very dropable..

Aye but Edmilson is. Drop him, move Xavi and Deco back and put Ronnie in the hole. Messi wide right, Henry/Eto'o wide left, Henry/Eto'o up front. F*ckin scary!

PHB

I look forward to the Ruud vs. Henry who's a better player debate being had again next season in the Spanish league

cson

Archimedes wrote:

Foster, Pique, Evans, Wellbeck, Cathcart, Rossi, Nani, Anderson, Ronaldo, Rooney.....

Yup United sure dont have a team for the next 5-6 years...

Take out the last four who Utd paid serious oney for, in the region of £90 million combined and how many of those are getting a game? As opposed to the youngsters at Arsenal.

This argument is petty anyway to say the least. We need that American to take over and put Dein back in, the future of the club is very dodge at the minute.

Little-Devil

cson wrote:

Take out the last four who Utd paid serious oney for, in the region of £90 million combined and how many of those are getting a game? As opposed to the youngsters at Arsenal.

I think you would find Arsenal have paid big money for a lot of there younger players, i dont recall any current player in the Arsenal squad they developed themselfs, could be wrong. I remember Arsenal paid £4.5million for Diaby, liverpool where favourites at the time, but wouldn't pay the asking fee.

I'm sure PHB has all the info that would prove me right :rolleyes:

Pepe LeFrits

Zapp Brannigan wrote:

Aye but Edmilson is. Drop him, move Xavi and Deco back and put Ronnie in the hole. Messi wide right, Henry/Eto'o wide left, Henry/Eto'o up front. F*ckin scary!

lol, a midfield of Ronaldinho, Xavi and Deco? La Liga teams would be quaking in their boots I'm sure (this is sarcasm).

Anyway, can we leave Man United and other teams out of this thread please...

beer enigma

I'm devastated tbh - not just because of Henry leaving, but over the decline of the team over the past few years.

I went to my first match in 1973 watching Malcom McDonald scoring a hat trick - two of them deflections - but he hit them hard & generally they went in !!

We've a great team of youngsters - but thats what they are - youngsters -bloody good youngsters under Wenger...but what if Wenger goes (as I suspect next summer). A new manager with a team of youngsters is a recipe for disaster.

We've lost Vieira, Pires, Bergkamp, Cole, Henry...........

We've replaced by youngsters - YOU NEED SENIORITY in the team

Tell me what World class player is going to join the Arsenal squad given their current members....NONE - With the exception of Gilberto, we have NO senior experienced players left at the club.

It's fine for the board to say that we are happy to stay private, but personally id rather be in the top three & owned by a consortium that bottom half of the table & privately owned. Football has moved on & its time they realised that buying cheap & building isnt always the best option.

Andi

Galvasean

Little-Devil wrote:

I think you would find Arsenal have paid big money for a lot of there younger players, i dont recall any current player in the Arsenal squad they developed themselfs, could be wrong.

Justin Hoyte (will probably become 1st choice right back next season ahead of Eboue). Fabregas should probably count too cosidering they signed him from Barcelona (who were letting him rot in the youth teams) aged 15 and all they had to do was buy out his contract. i think it was only 50grand too.

beer enigma

Galvasean wrote:

Justin Hoyte (will probably become 1st choice right back next season ahead of Eboue). Fabregas should probably count too cosidering they signed him from Barcelona (who were letting him rot in the youth teams) aged 15 and all they had to do was buy out his contract. i think it was only 50grand too.

Fabregas is very dependent on Wenger....my guess is that he'll be unsettled - he's already said that he'd go if Wenger goes

gosplan

Archimedes wrote:

Foster, Pique, Evans, Wellbeck, Cathcart, Rossi, Nani, Anderson, Ronaldo, Rooney.....

Yup United sure dont have a team for the next 5-6 years...

Not really the place for it but my point was:

if you take the first teamers (ronaldo & rooney) out of that and the new signings (nani, anderson) you'd see united's future, including backup, as the mighty list of:

foster, pique, welbek, carthcart, & rossi.

This is why united needed to strengthen. Don't take it so personally.

Aside, I bet you 100 quid per player that none of these get 8 premiership starts!!

gosplan

Andip wrote:

It's fine for the board to say that we are happy to stay private, but personally id rather be in the top three & owned by a consortium that bottom half of the table & privately owned. Football has moved on & its time they realised that buying cheap & building isnt always the best option.

Andi

I agree Arsenal need investment but to be honest I can see anyone available that I'd like in the team at the moment. I want Arsenal to have the funds to compete for top players but in my own opinion, the only player who I would like, that also looks like going somewhere, is Tevez. Apart from that, the market is rubbish at the moment.

gandalf

Henry is not a surprise and tbh in the long term it may do the team good as I believe they got lazy and were relying on Thierry to win the games for them. Now they have to step up to the plate. I agree I do not see anyone available that will improve the team but I am hoping Wenger proves me wrong.

The main issue at the moment is Wengers future. The board need to ensure he is locked in before the year is out.

Pepe LeFrits

More links to Anelka today.

Personally I think we'll sign two strikers, one who can play on the wings too.

spareman

Heres the situation as I see it, Henry was always going to barcelona, he would have went last year only he felt it would have been a kick in the teeth for arsenal fans having just lost the champions league final to them, and he didn't want to leave on bad terms, as proved by the goodbye video he made yesterday, The only reason he signed a 4 year deal last year was so arsenal can make a few quid on him, What he say's about Mr. Dein leaving is just a convienent excuse at this time, If he really loved arsenal it wouldn't matter who was on the board, Wenger will begin talks this week on a new contract and I would be surprised if he walked away from all he has set up for the future at this stage, I believe he will sign a new deal sooner rather than later, And I believe Mr. Dein will be back at Arsenal before the kick off of the new season with or without the American money. There is no crisis at Arsenal, Henry will be forgotten about quickly when Theo and VP step up to the plate, Henry has created this smoke screen to make it easier for him to leave. And in doing so has created unrest among the remaining player's, Hopefully Wenger will sign a new deal soon and Arsenal can get back to normal asap.

gosplan

Pepe LeFrits wrote:

lol, a midfield of Ronaldinho, Xavi and Deco? La Liga teams would be quaking in their boots I'm sure (this is sarcasm).

There's no way on earth that Barca will win la liga, or more importantly the champions league, with a front five of Henry, Eto, Messi, Ronaldinho and Deco.

I mean that's half your outfield players that will never ever defend.

A low scoring Liverpool team exposed their defensive frailties this year and you could expect ManU, Milan, Inter or Real to do the same at that level.

I'd imagine that if they play the big front four you could expect to see Deco dropped for a Xavi/Marquez/Edmilsion defensive midfield pair in any tough games. They don't really need to play Deco for his attacking threat if they've got those 4 in front of him.

Wouldn't be surprised if they bought a new defensive midfielder simply to sit back and break up play but there's no one really good available at the moment.

One thing for sure though is that their games will be entertaining.

gosplan

So the Henry thing aside, any idea who's coming in...or rather what type of players are coming in?

(Pepe, I'm looking at you in particular.)

Heard anything about what positions Arsenal will be strengthening in?

Today the papers are all saying two new strikers but tbh a lot of that is just filling column inches. One striker in addition to VanP & Ade would do fine.

The sales of Henry & Reyes should add 25 million or so to the transfer budget but I really can't see how Arsenal could spend that at the moment.

I'd love to see a new player come into the RMF position as I wouldn't like to be reliant on Hleb for another year. Problem is I can't think of a single person who could slot straight in. Guily is leaving Barca and I've always liked him but I dunno if he fits the mould.

As per usual we'll probably find out about the big signings about 10 mins before they happen. Sending out rumours doesn't seem to be Wenger's way of doing business, principally because his interest can add to a players cost.

Pepe LeFrits

I felt before Henry was sold that Wenger would sign 2 attacking players and now I think he'll sign three. A senior striker, a striker/winger and a young South American winger. The senior striker is obviously now a necessity, and I wouldn't be surprised if it is Anelka. Someone will be coming in very soon I think, so we won't have to wait long to find out. Personally I wouldn't mind Anelka - he'd be a very good fit.

Having been seemingly priced out of moving for Ribery and Malouda, I'm not sure who the striker/winger will be. Tevez will probably be too expensive. It may be a case of another cheaper option - so Babel or Gouffran. There is plenty of money to spend now though, so we may be surprised and have a blockbuster summer.

There have been constant suggestions that we'll be signing one or two young players from South America, and we've been linked to Renato Augusto, Angel DiMaria, Pedro, Andres Guardado and others. Take your pick!

By the way, Kolbeinn Sigthorsson rejected us for AZ Alkmaar, while Kyle Bartley seemingly turned us down for Man City. Disappointing.

PHB

Anyone else think now that Henry is gone that Reyes could come back and make his name for Arsenal? There is no denying the guy has talent, but his natural position was quite similar to Henry and I always he had to play somewhat out of position for Arsenal. With Henry gone, he could make it at United. There's no denying that he can do, just look at the month where he got player of the month.

gosplan

Pepe LeFrits wrote:

There have been constant suggestions that we'll be signing one or two young players from South America, and we've been linked to Renato Augusto, Angel DiMaria, Pedro, Andres Guardado and others..

I've heard the Augusto links. Spanish press are saying that Arsenal are signing/have signed a young Brazilian attacking player but they'll print anything.
Some speculation seems to be around Robinho.

As an aside, the article was actually one linking Torres and Arsenal.

redspider

Just to comment on the Henry transfer. Its all a bit strange. Its very unusual to have a player so dedicated, at least claiming they are, to a partial owner of a club such as Dein is. Henry wasnt 100% happy before Dein and the other board members had their 'spat' and seemingly irreconcilable differences, and Dein is still a partial owner. But Henry does seem genuine with his grievances over how Dein has been handled.

Also Henry claiming that Wenger wouldnt commit past June 2008 is an unusual factor to bring up. All players who are self-standing know that owners and managers come and go, the club prevails. That's what playing for your club, short and badge are about, even in this modern age of mercenary-ism. And there was nothing to say that Wenger wouldnt sign, unless Henry knows more than us, which is highly probable.

In Henry's case however, he has only been happy under 1 manager, and thats Arsene Wenger, at Monaco and then at Arsenal. Wenger is more than a father figure, he literally is like a father to him and the relationship and body language you see between them is not that of professional footballer and manager, or good buddies, but a father-son thing. Its uncanny really.

Wenger could go to Barcelona perhaps next year, or even before. With only 1 season left on his contract he could have that easily bought out/compensated for if he quits. He is also uncannily and publicly tied to Dein, again somewhat unusual for a Manager who should be able to live with owners coming and going and get on with things, and happily at that.

Henry leaving is not a surprise in itself, but the manner, what he said, the use of the fallout from the Dein 'affair' and even the low price all make this a sorry saga for Arsenal fans. It taints Henry as well.

spareman wrote:

Henry was always going to barcelona .... What he say's about Mr. Dein leaving is just a convienent excuse at this time, If he really loved arsenal it wouldn't matter who was on the board, Wenger will begin talks this week on a new contract and I would be surprised if he walked away from all he has set up for the future at this stage.

I dont think Henry is using it as an excuse. He seems to geuinely feel that way, and that is peculiar.

Wenger has been at Arsenal now for a long time. He sees that with the new stadium, the cost of financing that, there is only so much the club can invest. He has spent wisely and has built a young team, but whether that is enough to keep him there is another story. A lot depends on Dein's situation. Many people think that Dein can just walz back in, with Kronke's money and takeover the club. But its not that easy. The majority owners and potential sellers dont want to sell at this point in time, especially to Dein and Kronke. Its a personal thing.

Also, lets put 2 and 2 together and pick apart what the boardroom spat is really about. Effectively, it would seem that behind the scenes, Dein was angling to make a wad and more than his fellow shareholders by getting preferential teatment in the sale. He was effectively trying to convince his current co-shareholders to sell at a certain lower price, he would do likewise, but at the far side of it Dein would have come out with Kronke 'hand-in-hand'. It also sounded like he had Wenger convinced to be in on it somehow as well, in terms of supporting such a deal and giving it his blessing.

Somehow, the other co-shareholders got wind of this shenanigan or set-up, call it what you will, they got more than upset which is understandable and kicked their former good buddy Dein out. This is a deep personal spat. No-one likes being crossed. Dein wasnt kicked out for good behaviour, that's for sure. So, was it a case of him being too greedy on the back of Arsenal? Perhaps.

Of course I have no proof of this, so it is just a mere theory, a conjecture, but a very plausible one fom reading between the lines I would think. I'm not saying that the other board members are saints either.

Overall, a major transition time for Arsenal FC and the fans .....

Redspider

gosplan

So today the three bits of possibly fabricated news seem are:

Tevez is a possibility. To be honest I'd say he is at this stage. Henry, Reyes & Aliadi will net us enough cash to bid for him.
Would be good, based on last year, him plus RVP, if fully fit, would both bag you 20 per season, Ade as backup/other option....I like.
To be honest this is the first possible transfer that I really like the look of. He's fast, skillful, is tested in the premiership and is ever so direct.
Only problem is if Inter or Real come in for him, I can't see him coming to Arsenal.

Babel has said he's staying in Ajax for another year but that he wants play at Arsenal afterwards. This sounds to me like Arsenal made a bid for him and he decided that he doesn't want to leave just yet but was interested.

Lastly, depending on who you listen to, Wenger is being offered a new contract or having a sit down with the board or something like that.
More pay and larger transfer budget if he commits, option to leave after a while if he wants, some say he may demand Dein's return.

Raskolnikov

gosplan wrote:

Tevez is a possibility.

I can't see it to be honest. Not when there are clubs like Real Madrid, Juventus and AC Milan knocking at the door.

AnCapaillMor

Can't see Tevez, not with who owns him. I heard Arse were interested last year but the minute they heard about the agent status, they ran away very very fast.

Galvasean

According to Tevez Inter are his top priority followed by Madrid

LostinBlanch

PHB wrote:

Anyone else think now that Henry is gone that Reyes could come back and make his name for Arsenal? There is no denying the guy has talent, but his natural position was quite similar to Henry and I always he had to play somewhat out of position for Arsenal. With Henry gone, he could make it at United. There's no denying that he can do, just look at the month where he got player of the month.

Do you mean Arsenal instead of United?

Personally speaking as a United supporter, I'm not sure Arsenal imploding like they could if Wenger left and wasn't replaced by a good manager would be good for the premiership tbh.

PHB

Arsenal yeh

AnCapaillMor

Can't find the link and definately not cut and pasting the Arseblog filtered story. But the story goes on about how Wenger going to go for martins for 13M, through a buyout clause(13M, 9M for owen, has ridsdale taken over at newc?). Cool i like Martins, but we lose him for a month in jan\Feb, and worst of all i just heard he's changed agents and is now with Barnetts group.

gosplan

I like Martins.

He's a bit out of the usual Arsenal mold but then so is Anelka.

Also Martins is only 22, so provided he doesn't flop at Arsenal(which I can't see happening), any transfer fee will be received back whenever he's sold on.

Good move.

gosplan

Also I don't think we'd lose him for the African Cup.

Following some no shows or something for the Nigerian team, the last time he was home, someone tried to kill him.

I think that may be that as far as he and Nigeria are concerned.

PHB

I'd be extremely surprised if Martins played for Nigeria again, considering how close he came to death last time.
Martins would be an interesting player for Arsenal, without Henry they will lose a bit of pace up front (as while Van Persie is fast, he isn't Henry fast, Martins however is)

gosplan

Also Martins can finish really well.

When RVP is out will Arsenal sorely lack a great finisher, all to well displayed last year when we had the most number of shots on target in the premiership(I think).

Curious to see what everyones opinion of this is.

Galvasean

If Martins truly is available at 13million I would definitely want Arsenal to sign him. He is an excellent finisher, something we sorely missed up front last season and very quick. Since he's only 22 he fits in with Wenger's buy young players and nurture them into superstars philosophy.

kronsington

while i think martins would be a good, not great, signing, i still think the most important thing is to get more experience into the team.. i know its not wenger's style but maybe even one or two experienced loan signings, maybe someone like ludovic guily.. this wont happen though.. realistically, i would love to see them go for the likes of gamst pedersen, arteta, anelka, yobo, richards, matt taylor, tevez( thats just from england) knowing arsene, he will opt for some relative unknowns who will prosper into gems which is fine, but for the immediate future i would hope for some players would experience at a high level to help our progressively youthful side.

Raskolnikov

gosplan wrote:

Also Martins can finish really well.

I think he's quite erratic in terms of finishing ability.

kronsington

according to skysports.com inter have dropped their interest in tevez... how much would he cost? 15-20m?

while tevez is not an out-and-out "striker", signing the argentine would go a long way to filling the henry shaped hole in the front line... oba and tevez 30m

Pepe LeFrits

kronsington wrote:

according to skysports.com inter have dropped their interest in tevez... how much would he cost? 15-20m?

while tevez is not an out-and-out "striker", signing the argentine would go a long way to filling the henry shaped hole in the front line... oba and tevez 30m

That'd do me! Either could plug a gap at left midfield too if required. Would prefer Tevez and Anelka though to be honest.

Mr Alan

think tevez is meant to be valued closer to 30million, insane money

PHB

Tevez is gona cost 30 million I think, but I also think nobody will pay it, in which case, he could be loaned again for a year, in which case, there'll be a big fight to get him between the big clubs.

ErinGoBrath

Bent to Spurs for 16.5m

Looks like Defoe will definitely be leaving now. Possibly to Arsenal? Would be a great signing IMHO.

Also, reports have it that Tevez has turned down a move to Inter.

gosplan

ErinGoBrath wrote:

Looks like Defoe will definitely be leaving now. Possibly to Arsenal? Would be a great signing IMHO.

??? I really fail to see how. Defoe has impressed me in one or maybe two games I've seen him in his career. Generally though he seems to be on the ok side of rubbish.

Mr Alan

are you for real?! you've seen him play once, maybe twice and you've come to the conclusion he is on the ok side of rubbish?!!?

Ya cant judge a player after seeing him once! lol

He is a quality player. Not a lot between him and Keane IMO, in actual fact i think he is a considerably better finisher than Keane

Pepe LeFrits

Defoe? **** off!

Mitch Connor

millersangel wrote:

are you for real?! you've seen him play once, maybe twice and you've come to the conclusion he is on the ok side of rubbish?!!?

Ya cant judge a player after seeing him once! lol

He is a quality player. Not a lot between him and Keane IMO, in actual fact i think he is a considerably better finisher than Keane

no no, defoe has only impressed him in one or two games he has seen him in, not that he has only seen defoe in 1 or 2 games.

Defoe could be Arsenals 'fox in the box'

Mr Alan

oops, my apologies!

really need to catch up on my sleep, this copa america is doing me no good!

still think he is an excellent finisher though and a very good player

Mitch Connor

millersangel wrote:

oops, my apologies!

really need to catch up on my sleep, this copa america is doing me no good!

still think he is an excellent finisher though and a very good player

He is a good player, and he is a good finisher (some of the goals he has scored have had a real touch of class) But there is something i am just not sure about. He doesn't seem, to me, to have the mindset of a great striker, sometimes he simply makes the wrong run, such as hanging far post instead of nipping goal side on the near post. I'm not sure he'd be the right signing for Arsenal - i think they need someone better. I think he could be a good signing for Liverpool or Man United though, in that he could be signed as a backup striker (backup to Saha/Torres) whereas arsenal need a first choice. Don't know if he'd accept a rotation role at United or Liverpool though - but the discussion would be for the United/Liverpool threads.

wardie

Dont agree with signing Defoe. He is an ok striker but nothing exceptional. I would rate Keane a lot higher than him.

Martins was good last year when I saw him and his pace would be a great asset.