Wenger's Transfer Targets: Summer 2017

[rich 1990]

I reckon every player who can hack it at a top 4 team wants out meanwhile the club have also realised that they've amassed a load of crap. There's no other way to explain a club of our stature with the crazy number of soon to expire contracts that we do have.

Wenger's last years at this club are going to be nasty.

My poison has corrupted you.

 

[Trilly]

Any new links?

Probably one of the stupidest posts I've ever seen on any forum ever.

Any links, pahahaha.

 

[rich 1990]

 

[OnlyOne]

Any new links?

Reported.

 

[TakeChillPill]

koulibaly reminds me so much of Sol. Absolutely dominating Balotelli. Would love him here.

 

[Sniper Mik]

Again, there's more to winning than simply who has the most "quality." You brought up Leicester City. That's a good example. But again I'll go back to Chelsea's title in 2014-15 (since last year they had the advantage of not having to worry about playing in Europe). Their back four consisted of Terry (who turned 35 mid-season) , Cahill, Ivanovic and Azpilicueta. Their only experienced backup was Felipe Luis, who started 9 games. In that same season, Arsenal didn't have a single defender who started more than 26 games (only two players in the entire squad did -- Chelsea had 10). Flamini played back there. He was 9th choice. Coquelin may have as well.

Arsenal finished in 3rd place that season, eight points behind Chelsea. But what if the injury situation had been reversed? I don't even know where Chelsea would have found that many defenders without calling kids back from loans. And this isn't an excuse. It's just a fact. There was something terribly wrong with Arsenal's fitness program (albeit some would have been more a case of bad luck). But there was nothing wrong with the quality in comparison to Chelsea. There still isn't. That's why we should wait and see if Burgess can make a difference in keeping players on the pitch and out of the training room.



First of all, all three of the players you picked out (leaving out the others) are probably going to be backups most of the time. Mertesacker was coming back from an injury and probably not ready to play 90 just yet. Chambers was still lacking a bit of fitness. Holding was replaced in the lineup by Mustafi. And whether or not somebody said the words "world class player in every position," a lot of y'all act like it. Everybody Arsenal has is crap and everybody who plays for the other clubs is better quality in your estimation. The grass is always greener. A lot of times Arsenal gets linked to players most of the posters no nothing about, but because there's a big price tag they clamor to get them signed.



I seem to be able to interact without acting like I know more than the managers. So do a lot of others. So obviously there is a point besides slagging off every decision the manager makes, even when he has no other options. That doesn't mean you can't criticize things, but you don't have to find something in everything to criticize and you might work in some praise among all the negativity. You'd think Wenger was just brought in from some Under-6 league to manage the team.



Yet you're judging the whole season based on what's happened in two games and determining that Arsenal is inferior to clubs that have also dropped points in those first two games (and who have problems and imperfections of their own which they are trying to address). Who does City fall back on if Kompany is out again and, say, Otamendi gets hurt? Who do they fall back on if Fernandinho is out? 34-year-old Yaya Toure? That's living in the past. Are they really any better off, depth-wise, than Arsenal (even with all the money they've spent)? None of the other top clubs have the sort of depth you're expecting Arsenal to have. Yet, you say "What if there are injuries? What if Elneny and Coquelin have to play?" So again -- and you're actually saying it yourself, even if you don't realize it -- it comes down more to fitness than quality.

As for spending, you don't spend just for the sake of spending. That's what Sp**s did with their Bale money. Arsenal has tried to buy some very expensive players, but it's not always easy. You don't just walk up to a market stall and pick out a new midfielder. The other club has to be willing to sell. The player has to choose to move to Arsenal.

Have you been paying attention to Barcelona's efforts to get Dembele and Coutinho? Even they can't just snap their fingers. They did manage to bring in Paulinho from China. They got slagged off mercilessly for doing it, but they spent some money. Arsenal could easily just take whoever is available, but what would be the point? Didn't you say you wanted quality? Well, quality is expensive, in demand and not always easily available. Arséne Wenger isn't going to buy players who aren't the players he wants just to get it done quickly. If he did, you'd be complaining about that too.

Besides, there's still 9 days left in the window. Everybody is still shopping. Why not wait and see what happens? I don't see the point of making yourself miserable over all this stuff.

Alright there's so much that I don't agree with you on this but I can't keep on writing essays any more.
But on this -

First of all, all three of the players you picked out (leaving out the others) are probably going to be backups most of the time. Mertesacker was coming back from an injury and probably not ready to play 90 just yet. Chambers was still lacking a bit of fitness. Holding was replaced in the lineup by Mustafi.

Mertesacker only had a cut above his eyes. And that happened 2 weeks ago. He surely could've played with a face mask or something. I fail to see how that has anything to do with not being able to play 90 minutes. How come Chambers is 'lacking bit of fitness' when Bellerin and Mustafi also had long tournament duties but managed to play? Bellerin even played the first game. Why wasn't Chambers made to play in a few U-21 or U-23 games to build up his fitness? Why didn't he play last night against City? Why did Holding need to be replaced by Mustafi? Why couldn't they play together along with Monreal which would've allowed Kolasinac to play in his preferred LWB role where he's at his best? Was all of this done so that both Bellerin and Ox could be played together?(And I'm not alone in thinking along these lines. A lot of more prominent Arsenal fans than me do as well) I mean there are just so many baffling questions about the Stoke game that I can't seem to figure out.

 

[pikey2000]

Southampton have signed a CB - expect VVD movement off the back of that now......unfortunately I just don't see us going to market for a CB unless there is some truth in the Mustafi Inter rumours.

To be brutally honest I can see Wenger being content to use the rest of this window to ship out players and wait until January to make new signings.

I'm not saying this is correct but you just know he will be thinking something along the lines of;

We have Merte, Kos, Mustafi, Holding, Monreal as CB's

We have Xhaka, Ramsey, Coq, Elneny, with potential for Wilshere, Cazorla and AMN as backup

If we keep Sanchez with have Sanchez, Özil, Iwobi, Welbeck.....with potential for Ramsey / Wilshere to fill these roles if we are desperate

We have Lacazette, Giroud, Welbeck & Walcott who can all play our 1 CF position

We have Kolasinac, Bellerin, Ox who can all play WB....

Even if we sale Gibbs, Debuchy, Perez and Chambers on top of Jenko, Szcesney, Gabriel he will still feel he has the right "numbers" and I for one can see him going with what we have without any more additions.

I'm not suggesting I agree but I just have that feeling he is more focused on getting the right number of players rather than focusing on getting the requisite quality.

 

[YeahBee]

there must be other Mbappes out there. Unknown gems waiting to be unearthed. It is just a question of whether Wenger still has it in him to find them.

that is the problem with Wenger today

deal after deal from Wenger seems to fall apart because of an extra 5 or 10 m extra because he thinks he plays moneyball or something, and fails miserably to because we have utter **** making bank here

There are no gems anymore, even a guy living in a hut has a cellphone these days almost

and it is big business nowadays, 7 years olds have agents

 

[Artisan]

Imagine making Bellerin with 4 year left on his contract deputize for a wasteman that wants out and won't be here after a year. Another brilliant tactic by the manager.

 

[Fawwaz Ahmed]

Can't understand why we can't go for someone like Piotr Zielinski from Napoli. He is a CM, two footed, good close control, can dribble and run / pass and shoot. Would be absolutely ideal beside Xhaka.

He isn't always a starter at Napoli as well. I have only seen him play a few times but he always looked good. Can anyone who has watched Napoli more give an idea about his defensive game.

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

Any new links?

Go support City.

 

[grunger]

Southampton have signed a CB - expect VVD movement off the back of that now......unfortunately I just don't see us going to market for a CB unless there is some truth in the Mustafi Inter rumours.

To be brutally honest I can see Wenger being content to use the rest of this window to ship out players and wait until January to make new signings.

I'm not saying this is correct but you just know he will be thinking something along the lines of;

We have Merte, Kos, Mustafi, Holding, Monreal as CB's

We have Xhaka, Ramsey, Coq, Elneny, with potential for Wilshere, Cazorla and AMN as backup

If we keep Sanchez with have Sanchez, Özil, Iwobi, Welbeck.....with potential for Ramsey / Wilshere to fill these roles if we are desperate

We have Lacazette, Giroud, Welbeck & Walcott who can all play our 1 CF position

We have Kolasinac, Bellerin, Ox who can all play WB....

Even if we sale Gibbs, Debuchy, Perez and Chambers on top of Jenko, Szcesney, Gabriel he will still feel he has the right "numbers" and I for one can see him going with what we have without any more additions.

I'm not suggesting I agree but I just have that feeling he is more focused on getting the right number of players rather than focusing on getting the requisite quality.

Yes on paper we have plenty of cover at c/h but going through them one at a time it's not as strong as you would think they all have discrepancies against them which had been mentioned ad naseum,so we do need another big strong domineering player at no 5.

 

[grunger]

Just over a week before the window slams shut, are we going to have another last days of panic buying, or have we got plans already in progress?

 

[gunner4lyfe]

Since Nice are surely out of the CL we're gonna bid for Seri right? I mean it's a no brainer........oh crap........it's a no-brainer which means its not gonna happen.

 

[Enz__]

To be fair we've made some decent signings on the last day of the window, and one fantastic one. I'll take you all back to a window many summers ago. As is usually the case with us, things weren't looking great and the fans had had enough, again. We were missing that spark, that difference, that bit of magic. Then we pull it out of the fecking bag. Out of nowhere.

Danny 'Dat Guy' Welbeck. What a signing. Still can't believe we managed it.

Can't wait for deadline day.

 

[A_G]

Can't wait for deadline day.

It's all fun and games until Ornstein's 11am tweet "no further incomings expected at #AFC".

 

[Furious]

It will be dead. We're not signing anyone, sadly.

We've the worst set of CB's and CM's for ages, yet Wenger is content. Unbelievable stuff.

 

[Gooner Zig]

Alright there's so much that I don't agree with you on this but I can't keep on writing essays any more.
But on this -



Mertesacker only had a cut above his eyes. And that happened 2 weeks ago. He surely could've played with a face mask or something. I fail to see how that has anything to do with not being able to play 90 minutes. How come Chambers is 'lacking bit of fitness' when Bellerin and Mustafi also had long tournament duties but managed to play? Bellerin even played the first game. Why wasn't Chambers made to play in a few U-21 or U-23 games to build up his fitness? Why didn't he play last night against City? Why did Holding need to be replaced by Mustafi? Why couldn't they play together along with Monreal which would've allowed Kolasinac to play in his preferred LWB role where he's at his best? Was all of this done so that both Bellerin and Ox could be played together?(And I'm not alone in thinking along these lines. A lot of more prominent Arsenal fans than me do as well) I mean there are just so many baffling questions about the Stoke game that I can't seem to figure out.

Wenger was clearly shoehorning both Oxlade and Bellerin into the side because he hasn't got the gumption to drop one.

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

So glad we did everything in our power to convince Sanchez to stay with us... Not. He is gonna come back and have to play with exactly same line up as he did last year. But tbf this time it is a little bit more french rather than more english.

 

[WakeupCall]

Catlyst of Change. Spend less than Watford