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The Wish List

Taylor Gang Gunners

Say Yeh or You're Making The List
Trusted ⭐
I reckon with Bayern signing Benatia and Xabi Alonso in the summer, Javi Martinez may be available for the right price when he returns from injury. Proper DM, not got the range of passing of a Xabi Alonso but more steely and is fantastic positionally, I'd LOVE him here.
 

Iceman10

Established Member
Taylor Gang Gunners said:
I reckon with Bayern signing Benatia and Xabi Alonso in the summer, Javi Martinez may be available for the right price when he returns from injury. Proper DM, not got the range of passing of a Xabi Alonso but more steely and is fantastic positionally, I'd LOVE him here.

Difficult now simply based on the injuries and high cost of securing the transfer, I assume still north of 20m easily. It would be a risk (not just injury recurrence but how his overall level of play has been affected) and I'm not sure we would take it. Personally I'd go for Schneiderlin right now if spending that money but it looks like we could bring in a combo of something like Khedira and van Dijk (who can play CB & CDM). Yes, Khedira has his injury issues, but of course AW will look past that because he will be cut price with his contract running down.
 

DanAust

Active Member
I think we are all pretty much on the same page - a tall powerful physically imposing DM and CB, be it any combination of Khedira, Martinez, Schniederlin, Bender or Carvalho; and Varane, Howedes, Schar, van Dijk or alike

I could definitely see Wenger going for a free (or low fee) young, Swiss international CB to compliment our German and French CBs in Schar
 

thedon5

Well-Known Member
Khedira
Rabiot
Reid
Schar

A total of £0 for this lot in the summer. We could do a lot worse. Something like this should be the bare minimum.
 

Hunta

Established Member
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
CB: Reid (January)
DM: Martinez
ST: Benzema
LB: Rodriguez

Then anything else that we might need after players leave.
 

Jasard

Forum Issue Troubleshooter
Moderator

Country: England
God I'd love us to sign a new left back... bet its years before we do
 

GDeep™

League is very weak
Think Benzema and Real are in happy situation, he's always been desperate to stay. He'll stick around for a couple of more years.

How do people feel about not signing a striker? I don't see it, Welbeck came here to play, Wenger likes Giroud and we now even have a promising young English guy like Chuba coming through.

Rodriguez is quality, I didn't buy the hype at first, thought he was much older than what he is, bloke looks 30. Im up for making Gibbs a squaddy.
 

Anzac

Established Member
Looking at some of the players we are being linked to & I wonder if there is some move to look at players better suited to this possession based 4141 system.
For mind it looks like AW wants to keep the ball at feet rather than relying more upon our passing as under the Fabregas Era style, and to be able to create opportunities on the ball in the final 3rd.

IMO Higuain is better suited than Welbeck and provides more mobility and goal threat than Giroud;
Pedro is another Sanchez type with pace on the ball, an eye for goal and can make runs on & off the ball;
Romulo and Krychowiak seem more physical DM types;
Schneiderlin is an upgrade as DLP;
Brozovic is described as another B2B capable type;
Wijnaldum seems like another CM/AM who likes to run on the ball;
Reid, van Djik have height and pace, Schar is more mobile and can cover at FB.

All of these players could be available in Jan, and unlike Khedira & Illaramendi only Pedro is likely to be CL Cup tied.

Also note that the likes of BMG & Wolfsburg are playing Europa so the likes of Gustavo & Kramer would also not be Cup tied.
 

Iceman10

Established Member
I'm sceptical as to links with attacking players, esp. for the Jan window, would think that CB and CDM are the priorities, or at least I would hope so. Previously I was thinking of a lower cost young talent opportunity such as Munir (release clause approx. 10m) as a possible attacking addition but I think he will stay at Barca now.

For me defensive solidity is critical whereas the attacking unit will get better over time anyway as Sanchez and Welbeck bed in with each other and the rest of the team, and Theo also works his way back in also. Nevertheless, I would expect an attacking addition next summer, coinciding with a likely exit of Podolski and quite possibly also Rosicky. We are supposedly in a new era of spending but an attacking player, the likes of which we are being linked to would not be cheap, and bringing one of them in on top of defensive reinforcement(s) in the Jan window would still be something of a surprise. Our board is always thinking of the cash reserve pile, and their conservative nature will mean they will play it safe until our cash reserves go back up again in the summer.

DanAust mentioned players considered for CDM and CB on the previous page, won't repeat them, also there is a new name in the mix in terms of Krychowiak for CDM, and Laporte would be in a personal wishlist for CB (although I doubt we will spend the money required). We do need a blend of top level youth with experience in the bigger picture of squad management, we've focused more on experienced players in recent years but there are a number of players approaching 30 that need to be balanced out, with succession planning built in. Chambers was a good start on that front.
 

DanAust

Active Member
While I don't se us getting Hummels. I think if Wenger continued his german trend and went with Khedira on a minimal fee, Reus for his buyout clause and Hummels we'd have one amazing squad.

1140532_Arsenal.jpg
 

Iceman10

Established Member
I suppose that would work assuming Hummels could possibly fill in CDM if required (and of course if we spend the required money to sign him), am still a bit wary of Khedira only to plug CDM when there are worries about injuries which could leave us back with Arteta/Flamini for lengthy spells. Nevertheless there is short term and long term; longer term there should be an additional CDM brought in as Arteta and/or Flamini move on, due to age if nothing else in the case of Arteta.
 

DanAust

Active Member
You're right, there does need to be a long term replacement, Im interested to see if Chambers could grow into that role over the next 2/3 years
 

Anzac

Established Member
Iceman10 said:
Good point re. Chambers, totally forgot his potential to play CDM.

I think that whilst AW remains as manager then we'll see a continuation of his policy of developing youth players in the 'cover' role/s.
We may sign a #3 CB and a starting CMD, but the likes of Chambers will be the designated 'cover' off the bench so as to get the playing time required to develop 'player intelligence' via AW's methodology.
As such we're unlikely to see a 'proper' 25 man squad.
 

Iceman10

Established Member
Anzac said:
Iceman10 said:
Good point re. Chambers, totally forgot his potential to play CDM.

I think that whilst AW remains as manager then we'll see a continuation of his policy of developing youth players in the 'cover' role/s.
We may sign a #3 CB and a starting CMD, but the likes of Chambers will be the designated 'cover' off the bench so as to get the playing time required to develop 'player intelligence' via AW's methodology.
As such we're unlikely to see a 'proper' 25 man squad.

I agree he will be moved around this season to give him as much match time as possible. Currently Debuchy's injury has provided an opportunity for him at RB, but next season I see him starting to lock down one of RB/CB/CDM. I personally still see CDM/CM as his optimal position long term, but what would need to happen is whichever of the three positions it is decided he will lock down on the other two positions must be addressed in terms of squad depth, so if he is to focus on and flourish at CDM/CM he would need to be shunted down to 3rd choice RB and 4th choice CB, i.e. nothing more than emergency cover for the two other positions. In terms of CB we should be bringing in a player, hopefully in the Jan window. RB, I'm not sure, that is where there are more question marks around who will be backup to Debuchy. Anyway, these are my thoughts and I don't know what AW is planning exactly, indeed if he has firm plans right now.

Focusing on the last line of your comment and what appears to be an identified negative I don't have a problem with the purchase of Chambers this summer. He wasn't a bargain signing that generally is more of a risk, we paid a fair premium for him, obviously believing in his talent. He may be a bit rough round the edges still but I've seen enough in terms of temperament and personality on the pitch to suggest he can ultimately perform at the highest level of the game. I'm not sure if you do or not (have a problem with his signing), or whether your issue is more to do with us not bringing in additional players, which doesn't have to be blamed on the purchase of Chambers necessarily. We had the money to buy those players as well, and hopefully will spend for CB shortly.
 

fabo

6.51 / 10
How do you see his optimal position as a centre-mid? Sounds like more fluff talk from Wenger that won't happen.
 

Iceman10

Established Member
That's already been gone over on the Chambers thread itself and it's best just to park the previous discussion as agree to disagree, time will tell, we all have our individual opinions. Really don't want to retread old ground on this wish list thread and it wasn't the main focus of my comment anyway, was just trying to get some clarity on where Anzac was coming from with the final line of his comment above, i.e. whether his issue is with the signing of Chambers itself or more to do with a bigger picture.
 

CurryFlavoured

Established Member
He looks a CB through and through to me. I'd prefer we kept him there as often as possible to minimise any chance of him turning out like Phil Jones. Alright, at present we don't really have a choice (although I think Bellerin looks interesting) but in future I'd prefer to see him as backup CB primarily and only used elsewhere if a crisis comes about.
 

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