Arsenal Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2013/14

Pepe LeFrits

A £32m punt? We're not Real Madrid.

cathalio11

wandatowell wrote: »

http://football-talk.co.uk/87226/draxler-left-impressed-following-tour-of-arsenals-training-facilities/


Draxler shown around London Colney ahead of possible summer move.

Quotes in the link.

This really, really pisses me off.

I read that article, don't know what to think; get a little excited, begin to contain myself and then think about it for the rest of the day.

Thanks mate.

Spanish Johnny

wandatowell wrote: »

http://football-talk.co.uk/87226/draxler-left-impressed-following-tour-of-arsenals-training-facilities/


Draxler shown around London Colney ahead of possible summer move.

Quotes in the link.

Class player and all - surely not top priority though?

Cazorla, Ozil, Podolski, Ramsey, Rosicky, Walcott, Chamberlain, Wilshere and Gnarby doesn't exactly leave us short behind the striker does it?

Mr Blobby

Spanish Johnny wrote: »

Class player and all - surely not top priority though?

Cazorla, Ozil, Podolski, Ramsey, Rosicky, Walcott, Chamberlain, Wilshere and Gnarby doesn't exactly leave us short behind the striker does it?

I've a feeling Wenger will try and turn Draxler into a striker.

Spanish Johnny

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

A £32m punt? We're not Real Madrid.

Hear hear. It's not Football Manager. We may be in a better position financially but we still can't afford £32 million players flopping or even failing to make a massively significant impact. Only City and Chelsea have that luxury in the P'ship.

wandatowell

The Football Association will take no further action against Arsenal's Theo Walcott over his gesture to Tottenham fans in Sunday's FA Cup tie.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/25628803


Common sense has prevailed.

Spanish Johnny

Mr Blobby wrote: »

I've a feeling Wenger will try and turn Draxler into a striker.

Fair enough but for €45 million that's a big gamble! At least with Henry he only paid circa €10 million and succeeded. Are we not better off spending €45 million on a proven striker??

wandatowell

Spanish Johnny wrote: »

Class player and all - surely not top priority though?

Cazorla, Ozil, Podolski, Ramsey, Rosicky, Walcott, Chamberlain, Wilshere and Gnarby doesn't exactly leave us short behind the striker does it?

Its a weird one, though if we did spend that money on a young fella he's one I'd go for.


Could Draxler play as a striker anybody know?

cathalio11

wandatowell wrote: »

Could Draxler play as a striker anybody know?

Yes, I believe that he has the qualities to play the furthest up the park.

He would be effective but it remains to be seen how effective, you know?

Mr Blobby

wandatowell wrote: »

Could Draxler play as a striker anybody know?

Yes!
If anything he should be more suited there than LW.
He's fast,strong,two-footed and I think he's nearly 6'2.

Utopia Parkway

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Well if he has a release clause as is claimed in Marca it's only the player that matters.

Well there is no sign that he is pushing for a move. Obviously stick enough money in front of someone and they might decide to agitate for a move but I get the impression he's happy where he is for the time being.

cathalio11

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Well there is no sign that he is pushing for a move. Obviously stick enough money in front of someone and they might decide to agitate for a move but I get the impression he's happy where he is for the time being.

Well, a month ago he apparently voiced his anger at being played out of position for the majority of this season so that might be a sign of something.

Spanish Johnny

Mr Blobby wrote: »

Yes!
If anything he should be more suited there than LW.
He's fast,strong,two-footed and I think he's nearly 6'2.

Then why isn't he playing there? I think €45 million is a big gamble to pay on a player for a position he has never played in. Any of us saying he would make a great striker would be somewhat ridiculous I think.

astonaidan

Spanish Johnny wrote: »

Then why isn't he playing there? I think €45 million is a big gamble to pay on a player for a position he has never played in. Any of us saying he would make a great striker would be somewhat ridiculous I think.

Because the tactics in Germany dont really deal with two strikers and they all ready have Huntalear

Mr Blobby

Spanish Johnny wrote: »

Then why isn't he playing there? I think €45 million is a big gamble to pay on a player for a position he has never played in. Any of us saying he would make a great striker would be somewhat ridiculous I think.

He isn't playing Striker because Huntelaar is there... Pretty much the same reason Walcott doesn't play striker for us.

I'm not saying that Draxler would make an amazing striker, Just that with his build and play style we could mould him into one.
He would of course start out at LW but with Wenger helping him he could become another option.

Spanish Johnny

Mr Blobby wrote: »

He isn't playing Striker because Huntelaar is there... Pretty much the same reason Walcott doesn't play striker for us.

I'm not saying that Draxler would make an amazing striker, Just that with his build and play style we could mould him into one.
He would of course start out at LW but with Wenger helping him he could become another option.

Ok but where has the idea that he would all of a sudden become a striker come from? My argument is that €45 million is a huge invest in a player for a position we are not stuck for (attacking midfield).

So then it's proposed we could play him a striker when there is zero evidence that he would make a good one and never plays there?

Surely €45 million on a Costa, Cavani, or any other proven striker makes way more sense?

Spanish Johnny

astonaidan wrote: »

Because the tactics in Germany dont really deal with two strikers and they all ready have Huntalear

Neither does England??

cathalio11

Spanish Johnny wrote: »

Neither does England??

Yeah but to be honest, the question was why he doesn't play striker. The fact that tactics in England favour a set-up with 1 striker instead of 2 doesn't affect Draxler's position in Germany.

AdamD

I'd take him at LW, its a problem position for us, no matter who's fit.

cathalio11

I think the point people are missing is that Draxler is unhappy at LW and has expressed his frustration at being player their this season. Although, I only learned this an hour ago myself from using Google.

He prefers playing right behind the striker. It could affect his chances of joining us but if he's here, we all know that Wenger would have no hesitation putting him on the wing.

À la Arshavin, Walcott, Ramsey, Wilshere etc etc.

Spanish Johnny

cathalio11 wrote: »

Yeah but to be honest, the question was why he doesn't play striker. The fact that tactics in England favour a set-up with 1 striker instead of 2 doesn't affect Draxler's position in Germany.

True! But if you were the top striker in a team surely you would be played up there as first choice??

I'd take him as a left wing don't get me wrong. My point is the presumption that we would turn him into a striker seems silly to me given that he never plays there and has 1 League goal this season.

He'd definitely be our number 1 LW if he signed but I imagine that would see the end of Podolski at the Club.

cathalio11

Spanish Johnny wrote: »

True! But if you were the top striker in a team surely you would be played up there as first choice??

I'd take him as a left wing don't get me wrong. My point is the presumption that we would turn him into a striker seems silly to me given that he never plays there and has 1 League goal this season.

He'd definitely be our number 1 LW if he signed but I imagine that would see the end of Podolski at the Club.

Yeah, the top striker tends to play as the striker.
But let's create random rankings and assume Draxler is 85/100 as a LW and 80/100 as a CF.
And we will assume that Huntelaar is 78/100 (Although he's obviously higher, this is just an experiment) as a CF and 55/100 as a LW.

The more efficient allocation of resources would be to play Huntelaar up top and Draxler on the LW.
Now, football isn't as simple as that but I hope you get my point. All in all though, Huntelaar is a better CF than Draxler; no question for now.

Though, if the transformation worked for Thierry Henry; it might just work for another player sometime.

Mr Blobby

I think people are getting there wires crossed :pac:

There hasn't been any indication that Wenger would play Draxler as a Striker. I personally feel Wenger would try and change him.

Again... There hasn't been any indication that Wenger would play Draxler as a Striker. :pac:

dvemail

If we do manage to get him, he would be seen as the long term replacement for Rosicky i would imagine.
But i do hope Rosicky stays for another 2 or so years. Looks able for it when used sparingly.

Spanish Johnny

dvemail wrote: »

If we do manage to get him, he would be seen as the long term replacement for Rosicky i would imagine.
But i do hope Rosicky stays for another 2 or so years. Looks able for it when used sparingly.

Certainly hope he gets a well deserved years extension at least anyway. Maybe it's him that's holding out. Read somewhere that the option is there for him if he wants it but talk of the MLS too.

dvemail

Spanish Johnny wrote: »

Certainly hope he gets a well deserved years extension at least anyway. Maybe it's him that's holding out. Read somewhere that the option is there for him if he wants it but talk of the MLS too.

Vital we keep him, such a good player.
Also hearing Sagna is back having contract talks again. Another player we need to keep.

Mars Bar

The Club regrettably announces Theo Walcott has been ruled out for at least six months with a knee injury. Story: po.st/WBIvBd

Didn't think it was that bad an injury!

I hate to see any footballer have their chances of a WC severely diminished due to injury.

AdamD

Walcott's out for 6 months, wow. Madness to not sign anybody now.

dvemail

What a disaster

Mr Blobby

OH FFS!!!! :mad:

emergingstar

Terrible news about Walcott

Alfred Borden

Thats absolutely terrible news, has been our best player since he came back, have to spend big money now! Throw everything at Costa

Bobby Baccala

That's a serious blow, theo is the most dangerous forward we have imo, wenger needs to buy!!!

.jacksparrow.

I'm reading Theo out for the season?

cathalio11

This is terrible. It is a disaster and I trust Arsene Wenger to act with 100% efficiency on this news.

Also, it is a true testament to Theo Walcott that he could come off in so much pain, probably thinking the worst, and have a smile on his face and completely belittle the Spurs fans.



Get well soon.

Maire2009

Awful, awful news.

Hank Scorpio

jaysus 6 months, huge blow for you lot

greendom

Huge blow, he has improved so much over the last few seasons and he's been red hot since he came back for the City game;.the only consolation is that it happened at the beginning of the Transfer window. Need a pacy forward asap

.jacksparrow.

As soon as the ox comes back this happens, we
Never catch a break with injuries.

The long term ramifications of an ACL injury are terrible as well

Bollocks. Poor dude.

Alfred Borden

Feel sick for the lad, world cup year for him and all could have had a very good one.

Neeson

England's World Cup hopes blown!!

bad2dabone

Raf32 wrote: »

Feel sick for the lad, world cup year for him and all could have had a very good one.

gutted for him too.

does he have 10 league games under his belt this season? will he get his PL Winners medal?

Topbike77

I am literally crying right now.

Spanish Johnny

Jeez I am sick with that - absolutely sick. Massive loss. I know he frustrates us at times but he delivers goals, assists and danger.

Huge blow to us now. He is irreplacable for us. Sick

tayto lover

I still don't think Wenger will buy this month.
Who would he get on a par even if he was willing to buy?

efb

6 months feel gutted for him

.jacksparrow.

Its the type of injury too, complicated ans sometimes hard to get back to the way it was.

wandatowell

FU*K IT ANYWAYS!

Spanish Johnny

tayto lover wrote: »

I still don't think Wenger will buy this month.
Who would he get on a par even if he was willing to buy?

Very good question. I don't think it necessarily means a dive into the market either.