Arsenal Thread

Latest word is that the 'total' fee is up to £22m. It's £15m now, and up to £7m of addons based on performance.

If that's true, it's highway robbery.
 
players like Falcao would never go to arsenal as we are not a big team anymore and cant offer 150k+ wages for these types of players
 
But last season he went from Porto to Atletico (who werent even in the CL), this season again Atletico are not in the CL. If only Arsenal alone went in for them then I could see him moving. I do agree that if say Real Madrid, Bayern, Chelsea etc went for Falcao then he would possibly go to those clubs ahead of Arsenal, but they could at least attempt to sign him.
 
cfdh_edmundo said:
But last season he went from Porto to Atletico (who werent even in the CL), this season again Atletico are not in the CL. If only Arsenal alone went in for them then I could see him moving. I do agree that if say Real Madrid, Bayern, Chelsea etc went for Falcao then he would possibly go to those clubs ahead of Arsenal, but they could at least attempt to sign him.
Click to expand...

We should go for Neymar but again cant afford him both transfer and wages
 
The fee agreed for RvP is £24m and that is a great deal for Arsenal.
Wenger has done it again, £24m for a 29-year-old injury prone player sounds like a good deal.

I wasn't expecting RvP to leave in this way, thought he was very loyal to the club being its captain. Arsenal seems to have issues with their own players cos' there were many other players who left the club in a similar way such as Adebayor, Nasri etc
 
Guilleme Ballachee (or however it's spelt) has now said that Barca have bid £15m for Song, and Arsenal want £20m, but Barca will apparently offer near to the £20m eventually. The board must be loving this, all those season tickets sold and now they sell two key players.

I think Ushmanov is right, the board need to come clean and admit that in their eyes Arsenal are purely in the business of buying cheap players and selling them on and winning trophies and growing a squad is a minor secondary aim for them.
 
United and Arsenal definetly are rivals, despite Arsenal not winning a lot last seasons.. This transfer is way more worse for fans than Torres from LFC to Chelsea in terms of emotions... in terms of money is not that bad, becouse Arsenal couldn´t realy do otherwise than sell, so i wouldn´t blame the club for letting him go now rather than later for free...

about RVP, he could have been Arsenal legend, no statue before Emirtes for him... the most sad thing for arsenal is that, i can´t think of other player they have who wouldn´t go if someone came knocking... Arsenal needed a leader since Viera and Henry were gone, i was sying this last season and now it´s the same... they miss Tony Adams type of player... without such player the whole team spirit is in danger...

I think Wenger should go, becouse Arsenal are at same place for years now..

as Liverpool supporter i feel positive becouse RVP lead Arsenal almost alone to many victories last season and i realy have no clue how united plan to play with him in squad... maybe the chances for TOP4 place rivalry are better for us..

but i realy feel sad for those who idolised him, LFC fans went through this when we lost Torres and i can feel you guys... however moving to United is a step further..he should move abroad and been remembered as a great player..this just proves he realy didn´t care about the fans at all..
 
Last edited:
BobbyBox said:
Selling Van Persie and getting in the 3 players we have could be a blessing as we will hopefully have more options of getting goals from more people this season.
Click to expand...

I really dont know about this idea that Cazorla, Podolski and Giroud can replace Van Persie. To me Podolski is more of a left winger than an out and out striker. A lot of the time at Köln Mili Novakovic was the tall target man that played and Podolski was playing off him. Cazorla is also more of a left winger, and only got 9 league goals last year at Malaga. The only true out and out striker you have signed is Giroud who has got 33 goals in 73 games in Ligue 1, but it's not a given he will be able to hit the ground running and he could flounder like Park and Chamack.

I remember Wenger saying that he couldnt have a 25 man squad overloaded with defenders when you had your injury crisis last season, but now a lot of your key players seem to be wingers or similarly small attackers. Gervinho, Wallcott, Cazorla, Rosicky, Podolski, Arshavin (if he stays), even André Santos looks more like a winger than a defender. Even ignoring the thinning of talent in your squad over the last few years, it's becoming the footballing equivalent of agricultural monoculture, and it's looking very lopsided.
 
Godotelli said:
Can't see it being that much.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Telegraph and Mirror (I think?) reporting it as £15m now, and potentially rising another £7m (presumably if he scores X goals or United win the league/CL etc).

It's interesting to see the different papers report the potential fee versus the fee paid. Happened with Rodwell and MCFC too.
 
cfdh_edmundo said:
Guilleme Ballachee (or however it's spelt) has now said that Barca have bid £15m for Song, and Arsenal want £20m, but Barca will apparently offer near to the £20m eventually. The board must be loving this, all those season tickets sold and now they sell two key players.

I think Ushmanov is right, the board need to come clean and admit that in their eyes Arsenal are purely in the business of buying cheap players and selling them on and winning trophies and growing a squad is a minor secondary aim for them.
Click to expand...

Arsenal are learning from the best... Milan. Board creates this hype around a new project.... Next thing you know, half the project is dismantled and we won't spend a dime. We don't hold on to stars anymore.
 
Yeah the deal is 15M rising to 22M depending on appearances and achievements, great deal for United personally. I think Arsenal could have got more if a City or PSG were in for him but he clearly pushed for a move here.

I honestly don't see the resentment for Van Persie choosing United, Yes he was a prick for deciding to move for Arsenal fans but its not like he's going to Spurs or the moneybags of City/PSG but were not really rivals, its not 1998/2005 anymore, even Wenger/SAF have been quite civil the last few years. Again if you can sell to Chelsea (Cole) Man City(Everyone), why not United?

cfdh_edmundo said:
You look at the Premier League and the ages of the teams and areas of weaknesses etc, and I can't really see any team being as strong as Manchester City and I think it would take some sort of implosion or massive crisis for them not to win it. Having won the league last season they will have banished the element of fear (and unfamiliarity) they had last season which saw them crumble occasionally near the end of away games (eg Swansea, Chelsea, Sunderland all had late goals).

Then in my opinion you have a gap to Chelsea, who this summer signed a lot of players. If those players settle then they have on paper a strong squad, with strength in defence, midfield and maybe if either they sign Falcao or Torres rediscovers his form a strong attack. Then maybe they could just about push City for the title race. If the players dont settle or there are doubts about Di Matteo's handling of the squad then they could slip down a little.

Man Utd have strength in some areas (Vidic, Rooney the wingers) but that central midfield is even older this season. I really dont think Scholes has the stamina for a whole season, and the same is probably true of Giggs and Fletcher (given his medical condition). I dont really see a genuine ball winner in there, Phil Jones is a bit like John O'Shea he seems to be more of a defender who might be forced into playing out of position. I still have doubts about the goalkeeper and from the European games (and indeed before his injury around winter time) Lindergart looked a more stable keeper than De Gea. Without Van Persie I would probably expect Man Utd to finish 3rd, but if say Vidic got injured then if Arsenal had a good season they might have the capacity to catch them. I think if Van Persie signs and stays injury free they will have a proven goalscorer and one who can take the pressure off Rooney, so in games like the Blackburn at home game, they will have a quality striker who can win the game for them even if they drop Rooney..
Click to expand...

Lolwut?

You seem to think City are much superior to United, OK. Personally I think there's really nothing between the two sides considering they won the title on GD but considering their champions I have no problem claiming their favorites but there squad certainly isn't without its flaws. not much cover at CB and without Kompany very iffy as we saw last year, Yaya Toure is a pivotal player for them IMO and will again miss games during the ACON.

Regarding Chelsea? Really? I think were much better as of right now, they've got so many holes in their squad IMO but do have a lot of potential which will improve over time but next season will be tough for them.
 
Yeah I do think City are significantly better than United at the moment in terms of player strength. In key areas I'd pick the City players over the United ones, Hart over Lindegart /De Gea. In the center Yaya Touré and Sliva/Nasri over 2 from Carrick, Scholes, Cleverly. I think full backs of Zabaleta and Clichy are better than United's options. Up front in Dzeko, Tevez, Balotelli and Aguero there are 4 world class strikers whove proved themselves in big European leagues. That might be true of Rooney and Van Persie (assuming he signs), but I think the jury is still out on Macheda/Bébé/Hernandez - maybe they will prove themselves in the long run but I think they still have a bit to prove in terms of regularly scoring lots of goals.

I'm glad that you think Yaya Touré's Cote D'Ivoire are already in the African Cup of Nations. You are obviously assuming that they will breeze past Senegal in the two legged tie in September and October. I'd say it's 60-40 - Senegal had a decent run in the Olympics with their U23 squad, add players like Demba Ba, Pappis Cisse, N'Doye, Sall and Moussa Sow and I can see it being far from a given that Cote D'Ivoire will win.
 
Hart vs Dea Gea, I don't think either keeper is World Class yet but I don't see one as being superior to the other. both very good but I don't see one having such an advantage over the other and in United's case strength in depth were superior with Lindegaard. CB wise were much better equipped then them, last season we were without Vidic who was out nearly the entirety of the season and managed to keep up, Ferdinand is better than Lescott, and Smalling/Jones two potential top defenders are clearly much better than Savic

I agree Yaya Toure is easily the best midfield option from both sides but I'd personally take Carrick over Barry who is his partner, not sure why you brought Nasri/Silva/Jonhson/Milner into comparisons with CMs when their AMs and should be compared to Nani/Valencia/Young/Kagawa and personally I think were pretty even their if not more us having more options.

upfront City have Aguero, Tevez, Balotelli and Dzeko. brilliant indeed but were not far off with Rooney, Van Persie, Welbeck and Hernandez, Again very marginal IMO when it comes to both sides.
 
YoungGun_UK said:
Hart vs Dea Gea, I don't think either keeper is World Class yet but I don't see one as being superior to the other. both very good but I don't see one having such an advantage over the other and in United's case strength in depth were superior with Lindegaard. CB wise were much better equipped then them, last season we were without Vidic who was out nearly the entirety of the season and managed to keep up, Ferdinand is better than Lescott, and Smalling/Jones two potential top defenders are clearly much better than Savic

I agree Yaya Toure is easily the best midfield option from both sides but I'd personally take Carrick over Barry who is his partner, not sure why you brought Nasri/Silva/Jonhson/Milner into comparisons with CMs when their AMs and should be compared to Nani/Valencia/Young/Kagawa and personally I think were pretty even their if not more us having more options.

upfront City have Aguero, Tevez, Balotelli and Dzeko. brilliant indeed but were not far off with Rooney, Van Persie, Welbeck and Hernandez, Again very marginal IMO when it comes to both sides.
Click to expand...


Hart > De Gea (De Gea has to improve his commandment of his area, and especially his handling of crosses, to even get close)

Lescott > Rio (Rio is past his best. Nowadays, Lescott is superior in almost everything bar technique and as a defender that's less important)

Carrick vs Barry is probably too close to call. They are both horribly underrated by neutrals tho.

I agree that Utd have better strength in depth in CB but almost every team in the PL could say that! :P

Anyway this is an arsenal thread lol :COAT:
 
Today was a reminder of why I stopped supporting the club financially. Football is a business when it suits the scum who now own our clubs, so I do as a dissatisfied consumer would, go elsewhere.
 
joeryan said:
Today was a reminder of why I stopped supporting the club financially. Football is a business when it suits the scum who now own our clubs, so I do as a dissatisfied consumer would, go elsewhere.
Click to expand...

I stopped supporting the club fashion wise as well because I don't like the new 3rd kit :ROLL:

Anyway, I love this selling club title we have now, really is great.

We have done what all other clubs have done when their players do not want to play for them and sold them, we can't keep the players at the club, well we can, but it would be pointless to do that.

Wenger made clear especially in the cases of Fabregas, Nasri and Van Persie that he wanted to keep all of those players, but they wanted to leave and there is not much you can do about that?

Spurs were all smug last season because they made Modric stay, but what did they really get out of that? they lost 15million pounds and didn't do anything of note anyway. If they would have let him go, they could of got a player that was 100% playing for Spurs and not disrupting the team for a second pre season in a row.

In my mind, these are the only 3 players (Nasri,Fab, Persie) we have sold in recent years that are really vital to our team (At the time) but none of them wanted to stay.

Toure, Clichy etc were not amazing players, Clichy in fact was playing quite shit for us at least for the last season he was with us if not more and City paid us silly amounts for them.

Adebayor held the club to ransom and wanted to get paid more than any other player that had played for the club before on the back of one good season.

But over the last 2 seasons we have spent 90 million so far on players, a lot of those with very good experience. So I would say based on the last two seasons we should be called a buying club if anything? apart from City, Chelsea and Liverpool, we have spent a lot of money.

People are dismissing our signings this year for some reason, but the fact is we have signed 3 quality players, that add much more to our attacking game, Cozorla will add to it with assists I am sure, maybe not an abundance of goals for him, but he will be crucial. Podolski and Giroud are two other quality outlets as well, that give us more options up front.

The key is that they are new signings, that want to play for Arsenal and do well for the club, so getting rid of players that do not want to be at Arsenal and replacing them with quality players that do want to be here is good business in my eyes.

Anyway arguing about this is futile, we will just have to see what happens over the season, hopefully we can do well and hopefully Man United don't win anything :DD
 
Well then, here we are now. Not a surprise by any means, but still a quite annoying reality.

Arsenal never discloses fees, and I don't know what they said from United's side, and the things we read on the news are conflicting. Some are saying here it's £15m + 7m add ons, but I read reports elsewhere saying it's £22m + 2m bonuses.

Anyways, what bothers us fans is being labelled as a selling club. Well the guy didn't want to play for Arsenal anymore and said so quite publicly! So there's no two ways about it, he had to be sold.

What I don't agree is selling once again to a stronger club inside the league. Cause worst than selling our best striker, is selling him to a club that finished 1 position above us last season. We've been feeding the team who became the Champion, and now we start feeding the one that came 2nd! Let's give them a boost and see if they can win the title back, shall we??

It's a really shitty state of affairs that Arsenal is seen now as the biggest shopping window in football. The next one, which is getting pretty clear will happen, is Song to Barcelona. This might happen this transfer window even.
Hey, Chelsea needs a right back, don't they? Why don't we sell them Bacary Sagna then?? FFS!

RvP isn't irreplaceable, no player is irreplaceable. I'm fretting about the situation as a whole, which has become quite annoying. The truth is, I will only start really worrying the day Arsene Wenger leaves.

To those saying Arsenal are no longer rivals to United, let's not forget Arsenal finished 3rd and United 2nd. And the big gap in points was obviously due to the horrendous start to the season we had. Give Wenger the proper tools to compete and see if he's off the mark?

Problem is, we want to narrow this gap in points between Arsenal and United, but I don't see how selling them our top striker helps.
Wantaway players should be sold overseas. Even if we got more money for RvP than we should, it's still not good football business because you make direct opponents stronger.
I was hoping the club would make a stand, put a stop to this and maybe sell him for cheaper to Juventus... I don't know.

What I do know is that this money should be reinvested straight away. It's time Arsenal makes a groundbreaking signing again, it will be the only way to appease the fans who pay for the most expensive ticket in the Prem and put 60,000 strong in the stadium every home fixture.
 
I agree completely. In terms of squad quality a significant gap is now growing between Arsenal and the top 3. 10 years ago you had a squad that could realistically win the league, 5 years ago it was one that could push for 2nd place, last year it could get 3rd place. The current squad in my opinion can only really go for 4th place, I can't see you catching City, Chelsea or United unless one of those three has a catastrophic problem. Even if the Arsenal squad plays to 100% of its potential, and eclipses Liverpool, Spurs and Newcastle and gets 4th, there is no guarentee 4th gets you to the group stage. Remember that the Udinese games a year ago were certainly not a breeze, 4th place could see you in a playoff place against a team like Atletico, Napoli, Schalke, Marseilles, Sporting Lisbon, Spartak or Zenit depending on how the other leagues finish, 4th place is still 180mins away from a place in the CL Group Stage.
 
cfdh_edmundo said:
I agree completely. In terms of squad quality a significant gap is now growing between Arsenal and the top 3. 10 years ago you had a squad that could realistically win the league, 5 years ago it was one that could push for 2nd place, last year it could get 3rd place. The current squad in my opinion can only really go for 4th place, I can't see you catching City, Chelsea or United unless one of those three has a catastrophic problem. Even if the Arsenal squad plays to 100% of its potential, and eclipses Liverpool, Spurs and Newcastle and gets 4th, there is no guarentee 4th gets you to the group stage. Remember that the Udinese games a year ago were certainly not a breeze, 4th place could see you in a playoff place against a team like Atletico, Napoli, Schalke, Marseilles, Sporting Lisbon, Spartak or Zenit depending on how the other leagues finish, 4th place is still 180mins away from a place in the CL Group Stage.
Click to expand...

We will see if it is a significant gap this season, when we see our new players playing and our new players from last year with a year under their belts.

I think our squad without Van Persie is looking much more healthy, we obviously need to replace Song if he goes this season, but apart from that I think we have a strong midfield and Attacking options. Individually we have quality in defence (And a strong enough squad now), we just need to see if collectively they can be a force, hopefully we can show that if our defence can stop being injured and play together for a long period.

Another right back would be great and also a out and out defensive midfielder, but I still think we have a great shot this year.

Every year people keep saying that we may struggle etc, but we always get into the champs league, I think for the last 4 years Spurs were supposed to take our top 4 spot, and Liverpool would come back up and now Newcastle (Lets see if they can have a season like the last one, lots of teams can have one good season).

I don't think Man United's squad is that much better than ours (They just have a magical something [Ferguson Probably] that makes them play very well or get results when they need them), we have to wait and see if Chelsea's new players come together. Man City do have an outstanding squad, but there is nothing we can do about that, we just have to hope something happens to them and they get too cocky.

Also out of Spurs, Liverpool and Newcastle I would argue we now have the better squad of players.

But as I said it is best to wait and see what happens.
 
cfdh_edmundo said:
I agree completely. In terms of squad quality a significant gap is now growing between Arsenal and the top 3. 10 years ago you had a squad that could realistically win the league, 5 years ago it was one that could push for 2nd place, last year it could get 3rd place. The current squad in my opinion can only really go for 4th place, I can't see you catching City, Chelsea or United unless one of those three has a catastrophic problem. Even if the Arsenal squad plays to 100% of its potential, and eclipses Liverpool, Spurs and Newcastle and gets 4th, there is no guarentee 4th gets you to the group stage. Remember that the Udinese games a year ago were certainly not a breeze, 4th place could see you in a playoff place against a team like Atletico, Napoli, Schalke, Marseilles, Sporting Lisbon, Spartak or Zenit depending on how the other leagues finish, 4th place is still 180mins away from a place in the CL Group Stage.
Click to expand...

I share the same concerns you pointed out and how the gap is widening, but I just have to make correct a few things:
1) There's no gap between us and the top 3, because the league standings show we are in it :)
2) 10 years ago we did win the league :)

I know many will say Chelsea should be considered the 3rd force, as they won the CL and all that. But I think they are a mess at the moment. An ageing core of players (Terry and Lampard) with players that cost a ridiculous sum and didn't quite settle, such as Torres... and finally, that manager of theirs doesn't convince me and I personally think he will get sacked during the season.

If Arsenal does things right in terms of reinvesting this money and having decent and solid performances with a strong start to the season, this team could have a surprisingly good performance and maybe upset the big spenders.

Only time will tell, but after what Arsene Wenger pulled off last season despite that terrible start, I still think a proper season could see us finally ending this damned trophy drought.
Now we don't have RvP, but it may be a blessing in diguise, since it will force us to play more as a team and we are once again spreading quality around the squad (Cazorla, Podolski, Giroud) and the responsibility and goal scoring burden will be shared much more evenly than last season.
 
A0axGf_CYAA9U5o.jpg:large
 
Godotelli said:
Hart > De Gea (De Gea has to improve his commandment of his area, and especially his handling of crosses, to even get close)

Lescott > Rio (Rio is past his best. Nowadays, Lescott is superior in almost everything bar technique and as a defender that's less important)

Carrick vs Barry is probably too close to call. They are both horribly underrated by neutrals tho.

I agree that Utd have better strength in depth in CB but almost every team in the PL could say that! :P

Anyway this is an arsenal thread lol :COAT:
Click to expand...

I agree with this until I read Carrick vs Barry...Carrick is far more classsy footballer, very clever.

Barry is good at breaking up opposition attacks and passing back to the keeper.
 
Duran Duran said:
I agree with this until I read Carrick vs Barry...Carrick is far more classsy footballer, very clever.

Barry is good at breaking up opposition attacks and passing back to the keeper.
Click to expand...

You obviously don't watch him week in week out. One of City's best players last season.
 
I have watch Barry a lot for Man City and he good player but Carrick is superior and much better passer of the ball.
 
So Arsene Wenger told the press openly that Song can leave to Barcelona and that he wants Sahin. What the hell is happening? The man never talked so openly about transfers like this.

I've got two considerations regarding this Song deal (or should I say Darren Dean deal):
1) £15m is a bloody steal for a player like Song, especially in this market so skewed by sugar daddies. And the Catalans still think it's expensive and are trying to bargain. F*ck right off!

2) Why on earth would Barcelona need a DMF like Song? They got Busquets, Mascherano, Keita. Where is Song gonna fit there? Is it really a need or is it like a fetiche? Do they have this fixation on Arsenal? Do they absolutely need to snatch 1 Arsenal player every season?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom