Arsenal Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2014 - Mod Warning Linked in OP

Gringo180

dvemail wrote: »

Judging by Ivans Q&A last night Arsenal seem to be working on bringing in at least one big name

Its probably "Jan Venegoor of Hesselink"

Gringo180

dvemail wrote: »

Judging by Ivans Q&A last night Arsenal seem to be working on bringing in at least one big name

Its probably "Jan Venegoor of Hesselink"

Mr Blobby

So Barcelona are set to sign Ivan Rakitic for around 20M. I think that all but confirms that Cesc won't be staying.

kronsington

Was Ivan pressed about the clubs transfer plans or did he just spout out the same drivel and rhetoric we heard last year? The January window was a farce and we all know the reaction last summer after the villa game and before Ozil. Please get it right this summer? Sickened to see Fab on the verge of Chelsea move

Awesomeness

If he does go to Chelsea it will be interesting to see his reactions to Mourinhos weekly wenger insult

gosplan

I'm still wondering about this.

Do people think that if we were to sign two outfield players in midfield or attack of the quality to go into the starting lineup, there would still be room for Febregas?

I really don't see it.

It's basically 30 million to shunt Ozil out to the wing and drop Cazorla.

I'll be perfectly happy if he comes but that is not a wise investment as it will not make much of a difference to our points total at the end of the season.

The three things that will in my mind are

1: Speed (another winger)
2: Striking options (a genuine option to go 4-4-2)
3: Cover in the big games (a top level DMF)

I get that people have a love for him but we have the best player in the PL in one of his positions last year (Ramsey), and we spend 42 million on a player for his other position (Ozil).

Fabregas cannot play anywhere else.

It's not about Chelsea and what they might do next year. It's about taking our total and adding another 7 points to it because that's the average premiership winning total. I guarantee you, Fabregas will not do that for us.

When you've Ozil, Cazorla, Wilshire, Ramsey, Ox, Rosicky, you do not need backup in attacking midfield.

I get that there were games for him last year but that's because we were often playing with Arteta, a striker and four attacking midfielders.

The solution to that isn't to make sure we're even better stocked in AMF's but to get another striker or a winger.

We should be spending big on a viable alternative to Podolski so when there's an injury crisis in midfield, Cazorla moves in there. Not spending big on Fabregas so we can keep Cazorla on the wing.

We should be spending big on a second striker so when Giroud and a host of AMF's can't trick and flick their way through a defence, we have a viable alternative to that tactic rather than just reinforcing it with more of the same.

I really do get the love for Fabregas and like i said, he's welcome back but he is absolutely NOT a priority.



BTW: I can't see us getting Cavani. Happy or not at PSG, they're paying hm a bucketload and Ibra is 33 this year so he won't be out on the wing for too much longer.

Wonda-Boy

I think the "WHOLE" forum would be in agreement that if Wenger does not buy a top class striker this summer his position would be untenable. No?

It has to be the absolute up most priority for him....I mean if you do not learn from your past mistakes how can you move the club forward.

Awesomeness

Wonda-Boy wrote: »

I think the "WHOLE" forum would be in agreement that if Wenger does not buy a top class striker this summer his position would be untenable. No?

It has to be the absolute up most priority for him....

No. Not when there are not any top class strikers available

keano_afc

Awesomeness wrote: »

No. Not when there are not any top class strikers available

Diego Costa was available.

Wonda-Boy

Awesomeness wrote: »

No. Not when there are not any top class strikers available

There are/is many a top class striker available, weather they would come to Arsenal is the key. Everyone is available at a price......

Awesomeness

keano_afc wrote: »

Diego Costa was available.

And we were never gonna get him agead of Chelsea

2ndcoming

On Fabregas, it's pure heart over head stuff when you think about it, but it will be absolutely sickening if he ends up at Chelsea. If it was me I would buy him even if he wouldn't play, just to stop them getting him. They sure as **** would do that to us if the roles were reversed. Wenger is just too economical and shrewd in this regard though, so the more I think about it, the more I realise it's going to happen. Ugh

Awesomeness

Wonda-Boy wrote: »

There are many a top class striker available, weather they would come to Arsenal is the key. Everyone is available at a price......

There really isnt. For me ther are about 8 Top class forwards in the world and most of them wont be going anywhere.

We are not a club who can afford to throw the whatever it takes type of money around and thats fine by me I dont wanna be bankrolled by a sugar daddy. It means though we cant afford 50 mil on a torres, 35 million on a carroll or some of the other ridiculous fees that get thrown around now.

I want to win, I want us to spend but to do it wisely and thats the difference with Wenger. Hes not gonna blow everything we have and walk away with maybe a medal or 2 and the club in **** like other managers would. He has the club at heart and that goes a long way in my book

greendom

There was a small twitter frenzy about Hulk to Arsenal recently and I know that ended up being a spoof, but that's the level of striker available. Not a huge upgrade on Giroud but someone who can at least take some of the burden off the Frenchman.

Ditto Remy who has the added advantage of Premier League experience so won't need adjustment time.

keano_afc

Awesomeness wrote: »

And we were never gonna get him agead of Chelsea

Unfortunately that seems to be the attitude of the club as well.

gosplan

Awesomeness wrote: »

There really isnt. For me ther are about 8 Top class forwards in the world and most of them wont be going anywhere.

We are not a club who can afford to throw the whatever it takes type of money around and thats fine by me I dont wanna be bankrolled by a sugar daddy. It means though we cant afford 50 mil on a torres, 35 million on a carroll or some of the other ridiculous fees that get thrown around now.

I want to win, I want us to spend but to do it wisely and thats the difference with Wenger. Hes not gonna blow everything we have and walk away with maybe a medal or 2 and the club in **** like other managers would. He has the club at heart and that goes a long way in my book

Very much agreed.

One thing Wenger has consistently done throughout his career is developed players to a very high standard.

Given where the club's been and where it currently is now that we won't be selling those players and we can add an Ozil every transfer window, would we not really be better just trusting in Wenger on this?

I can't see the development of this young group of players reaching a plateau right now so let him just add what he feels the team needs.

I'm pretty confidant he's going to get it right ... though I do accept that a bit of impatience on the part of the fans is fair enough.

Roaster

I cannot believe that we will not get a % of any sell-on fee. Sure we let him go for peanuts. I'd be very very surprised if the club agreed to a % above a certain fee.

Godge

Wonda-Boy wrote: »

I think the "WHOLE" forum would be in agreement that if Wenger does not buy a top class striker this summer his position would be untenable. No?

It has to be the absolute up most priority for him....I mean if you do not learn from your past mistakes how can you move the club forward.

Not necessarily, if he was to buy Draxler, Di Maria or Alexis Sanchez, they are not strictly strikers but would address the issue.

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

Wonda-Boy

Lads 10 yrs ago we could afford to bring in players that were rough diamonds and mould them into top players over a period of 2-3 yrs and we were very successful at that. But the game has evolved so much now. We cant implement this method anymore when all around us are buying top quality for instant success. Its a model that will no longer work......

What we need is a large investment now into the squad with high quality players in their prime (25-28) we already have a rock solid nucleus there with young talent. Then we can look at bringing in younger players to gain experience from the established players.

CatInABox

keano_afc wrote: »

Unfortunately that seems to be the attitude of the club as well.

It's not really an attitude though, it's more reality than anything else.

Our club balances it's books by earning money, Chelsea balance their books by having their owner print money.

The only thing that we could have done with a Chelsea target is drive the price up for them.

tayto lover

Awesomeness wrote: »

And we were never gonna get him agead of Chelsea

Stop talking like that. We are not in their shadow, never were.
We are as big as Chelsea and more successful.
We can also afford the players that they can afford right now.

Kirby

tayto lover wrote: »

Stop talking like that. We are not in their shadow, never were.
We are as big as Chelsea and more successful.
We can also afford the players that they can afford right now.

Chelsea have won the league three times, the FA cup three times, the league cup twice and the champions league in the last ten years during which time Arsenal won nothing.

Winning the FA cup might jump start an era of prosperity for Arsenal in the future....but there can be no denying who's had more success recently. It's foolish to suggest otherwise. "History" is just that. Would you have accepted a Liverpool fan claiming they were a bigger club than Arsenal when they repeatedly finished mid table because of their history? Of course not.

And you can't afford the same type of players as them. Arsenal operate responsibly, Chelsea do not. They can waste 50 million on a striker.

tayto lover

Kirby wrote: »

Chelsea have won the league three times, the FA cup three times, the league cup twice and the champions league in the last ten years during which time Arsenal won nothing.

Winning the FA cup might jump start an era of prosperity for Arsenal in the future....but there can be no denying who's had more success recently. It's foolish to suggest otherwise.

And you can't afford the same type of players as them. Arsenal operate responsibly, Chelsea do not. They can waste 50 million on a striker.

Football didn't begin 10 years ago.
I used to look back to see where they were and couldn't even see their dust.
What they achieved in the last number of years was bought by a billionaire.
They are a business, we are a club.

greendom

tayto lover wrote: »

Stop talking like that. We are not in their shadow, never were.
We are as big as Chelsea and more successful.
We can also afford the players that they can afford right now.

That is called setting yourself (and Arsenal) up for a fall.

since when have we been able to afford the players they can. Certainly not for the last 5 - 10 years

Kirby

tayto lover wrote: »

Football didn't begin 10 years ago.
I used to look back to see where they were and couldn't even see their dust.
What they achieved in the last number of years was bought by a billionaire.
They are a business, we are a club.

Which is all completely irrelevant. Bought success is still success. You can't just ignore it because you don't like how they did it. "Doesn't count! Doesn't count!"

Besides, there is no asterisk beside they trophy cabinet. If Ozil had scored 20 goals and assisted 30 more and you had won the league would you have bought it because you spent 40 million on him? Of course not.

Wonda-Boy

I would love to see the amount of people on here reminiscing past glories if we had lost the FA CUP :rolleyes:

It would have been like ANGRY BIRDS

Awesomeness

tayto lover wrote: »

Football didn't begin 10 years ago.
I used to look back to see where they were and couldn't even see their dust.
What they achieved in the last number of years was bought by a billionaire.
They are a business, we are a club.

They are not a business - if they were they would be bankrupt.

They are a toy for their rich owner.

Arsenal are a club ( and a business) who are run sensibly and dont take stupid risks

tayto lover

greendom wrote: »

That is called setting yourself (and Arsenal) up for a fall.

since when have we been able to afford the players they can. Certainly not for the last 5 - 10 years

Nonsense.
We bid 40 million for Suarez and spent 43 on Ozil.
Our lack of success recently has been down to an unwillingness to spend even what we had. We were always told that there was 70m or 100m even when paying off the stadium debt but until Ozil we never spent it.

greendom

tayto lover wrote: »

Nonsense.
We bid 40 million for Suarez and spent 43 on Ozil.
Our lack of success recently has been down to an unwillingness to spend even what we had. We were always told that there was 70m or 100m even when paying off the stadium debt but until Ozil we never spent it.

That was cash reserves. Spend it and its gone. We don't have a money tree (or an Oil well, gas fields) to keep replenishing it. Admittedly financially we are now in a better place than we were before but we can't compete with City or Chelsea for players they want. Don't kid yourself that we can.

farna_boy

The one factor that most people seem to be ignoring about transfers at the moment is wages. Yes we did well to bring in Ozil for £40 odd million but his wage demands apparently were not astronomical. The thing about buying a striker of similar quality will be that they will expect a ridiculous wage i.e. we might be able to afford to buy Cavani for £60 million but can we afford to pay him £150k net per week? Or rather can we afford to break our wage structure to do so, because if we do I would imagine most of the other players would expect a significant pay increase if he is getting that much more than them.

tayto lover

greendom wrote: »

That was cash reserves. Spend it and its gone. We don't have a money tree (or an Oil well, gas fields) to keep replenishing it. Admittedly financially we are now in a better place than we were before but we can't compete with City or Chelsea for players they want. Don't kid yourself that we can.

When the Russian decides to spend his money elsewhere then Chelsea will go back down to their previous level.
We will always hover around where we are now but we are in a better state financially of late and can now compete. We could have bought Costa if we were interested. They won't always be able to do that.

greendom

tayto lover wrote: »

When the Russian decides to spend his money elsewhere then Chelsea will go back down to their previous level.
We will always hover around where we are now but we are in a better state financially of late and can now compete. We could have bought Costa if we were interested. They won't always be able to do that.

Agreed, I'm not saying it will always be the case but we have to be honest as to our current situation.

tayto lover

greendom wrote: »

Agreed, I'm not saying it will always be the case but we have to be honest as to our current situation.

I was not just talking of a current situation though.
We have far more success in our history. We are a bigger club.

CatInABox

Had to go back and find the draw, I got Brazil, nice.

Here's a link to it, as it's already miles back.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=90702152&postcount=5594

Pepe LeFrits

greendom wrote: »

That was cash reserves. Spend it and its gone. We don't have a money tree (or an Oil well, gas fields) to keep replenishing it. Admittedly financially we are now in a better place than we were before but we can't compete with City or Chelsea for players they want. Don't kid yourself that we can.

It remains to be seen what City's financial might is but we can compete with Chelsea now. They're operating under the same FFP restrictions that we are and our revenue is likely to pass theirs this year.

Our annual turnover is likely to break the £300m mark this year. That's a replenishing well.

emergingstar

The one thing about transfers and people saying were loaded need to think for a minute
We have 100m too spend and were loaded in arsenal terms
But Chelsea and city are spending 100m+ every window no questions asked, we still can't compete
We can't afford to spend 30m on a player we don't really need just to stop him going else where

We need to concentrate on our team and make what improvements we need and not be worrying about other teams

emergingstar

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

It remains to be seen what City's financial might is but we can compete with Chelsea now. They're operating under the same FFP restrictions that we are and our revenue is likely to pass theirs this year.

Our annual turnover is likely to break the £300m mark this year. That's a replenishing well.

They only reason there gonna come close to FFP is PSG and UTD overplaying for players

greendom

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

It remains to be seen what City's financial might is but we can compete with Chelsea now. They're operating under the same FFP restrictions that we are and our revenue is likely to pass theirs this year.

Our annual turnover is likely to break the £300m mark this year. That's a replenishing well.

Agreed. it was the talk every year of having X millions in the bank that was annoying. Admittedly we could have spent more of it than we did, but it was never a true or realistic figure

greendom

emergingstar wrote: »

The one thing about transfers and people saying were loaded need to think for a minute
We have 100m too spend and were loaded in arsenal terms
But Chelsea and city are spending 100m+ every window no questions asked, we still can't compete
We can't afford to spend 30m on a player we don't really need just to stop him going else where

We need to concentrate on our team and make what improvements we need and not be worrying about other teams

Absolutely. And that's the reason why the right decision seems to have been made with Cesc. Would have been brilliant to have him back and seeing him at Chelsea will be a nightmare but we can't spend 30 million on a position that doesn't need strengthening.

Pepe LeFrits

emergingstar wrote: »

They only reason there gonna come close to FFP is PSG and UTD overplaying for players

Doesn't matter, they're playing within the same rules we are now.

Maybe if we had better fringe players, other clubs would covet them and make us big offers too.

gosplan

tayto lover wrote: »

Stop talking like that. We are not in their shadow, never were.
We are as big as Chelsea and more successful.
We can also afford the players that they can afford right now.

Yes but they can afford to get it wrong more often. And tbh, I don't see a huge amount of world class talent on their team for the times they get it right.

Hazard
Terry once
Cheh once
Cole once

I think the fact we passed up on Higuain but chased Suarez a bit more, the way we went in for Ozil means that Wenger's looking to spend on big big talent.

I don't know that there's a huge amount of that out there. I think Costa was the only really credible striking option up for purchase this year and with Chelsea's issues there, they were always going to get him because they could just fire him up their wage structure. Sure we could increase ours - and we did hugely when Ozil was signed. Maybe Wenger feels Costa's not worth it? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure he's great but maybe he's not world class?

I think you're right in saying that we are as big as Chelsea but we'll go after the players that we want, not just the players that they're getting.

Because let's face it every time they buy a 20 million plus player, they'll arrive with a big splash on the internet, a youtube clip, and the overriding belief that they're going to strengthen Chelsea hugely. And they often do strengthen Chelsea but they're usually the Ramieres type of player as opposed to the Essien.

But if we compete properly for the players that Wenger is also interested and extend wages for players like Hazard and Mata, maybe we can take some of the really decisive players away from them and to us.

The invincibles were a team that contained a core of about 6 or 7 fantastic players who rivaled everyone across the world in their positions - Henry, Pires, Vieira, Bergkamp, Cole, Silva.

We have two world class players - Ozil and Ramsey, and then I'd personally have a lot of faith in Walcott if he can come back strong and get a good run of games.

There are no world class players up for grabs so far this year apart from Fabregas who happens to play where our other two world class players play.

I think the shackles are off in terms of what we can spend and we can match clubs like Chelsea but it'll be for truly outstanding players.

I think that now that he can spend, Wenger is going to deliver. He won't go out and plug gaps immediatly with the best player available. He doesn't work that way. It frustrates because it's slower and more methodical but I'm really confidant that it will deliver the results in serious style.

emergingstar

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Doesn't matter, they're playing within the same rules we are now.

Maybe if we had better fringe players, other clubs would covet them and make us big offers too.

Maybe if we had the money to spend 20m+ on these fringe players a few seasons ago it would be different

It's still by no means a level playing field

wonga77

We are all such typical arsenal fans, we must be the only set of supporters who are so interested or worried about the bank balance.
Wenger's mentality has certainly rubbed off on us over the last few years

gnfnrhead

wonga77 wrote: »

We are all such typical arsenal fans, we must be the only set of supporters who are so interested or worried about the bank balance.
Wenger's mentality has certainly rubbed off on us over the last few years

I'd rather worry about the bank balance than end up like Portsmouth, for example, did.

Panthro

gosplan wrote: »

Yes but they can afford to get it wrong more often. And tbh, I don't see a huge amount of world class talent on their team for the times they get it right.

Hazard
Terry once
Cheh once
Cole once

Look harder.

Coutrois doesn't look half bad though, does he?:pac:
Azpilequeta was one of the best FB's in the premier league this season, and he spent most of the season playing out of his natural position and kept Cole (arguably one of the best FB's around at his peak and still well capable of putting in a good shift) out of the team week in, week out.
Oscar is pretty established, not a great second half tot he season admittedly, but lets see how he fares with Brazil,Ditto with Willian.
Lukaku....well..I've socks older than him but he's looking more and more likely to be a beast of a striker. Successful loan periods in the EPL is surely testament to that.

.jacksparrow.

gnfnrhead wrote: »

I'd rather worry about the bank balance than end up like Portsmouth, for example, did.

No fear of that when you're charging the dearest ticket prices in the country.

gosplan

Panthro wrote: »

Look harder.

Coutrois doesn't look half bad though, does he?:pac:
Azpilequeta was one of the best FB's in the premier league this season, and he spent most of the season playing out of his natural position and kept Cole (arguably one of the best FB's around at his peak and still well capable of putting in a good shift) out of the team week in, week out.
Oscar is pretty established, not a great second half tot he season admittedly, but lets see how he fares with Brazil,Ditto with Willian.
Lukaku....well..I've socks older than him but he's looking more and more likely to be a beast of a striker. Successful loan periods in the EPL is surely testament to that.

I'm not knocking them, but you can see the difference when chelsea had terry, cheh, cole at their peak plus drogba, lampard, essien, makelele, robben - all world class players.

My point initially was that Chelsea purchased an awful lot of players to find that talent.

I'm not complaining about that, I'm not knocking it. Chelsea are free to do what they want and if their aim was to build a formidable squad really quickly, then they succeeded pretty well.

All I'm saying is that if Wenger doesn't compete for a player Chelsea are buying, then maybe that's OK.

greendom

greendom wrote: »

That was cash reserves. Spend it and its gone. We don't have a money tree (or an Oil well, gas fields) to keep replenishing it. Admittedly financially we are now in a better place than we were before but we can't compete with City or Chelsea for players they want. Don't kid yourself that we can.

So just leave it there and never spend it?

greendom

Deleted User wrote: »

So just leave it there and never spend it?

No I said somewhere else that we should have spent more than we did but the figures quoted were wild exaggerations.