Deadline Day January 2021

[AberGooner]

Pleased we managed to get the majority of the clear out done this month, been much needed for years. I'm sure there will be more in the summer as well.

Good chance for the loanees to get big minutes till the end of the season, shame Nelson couldn't go somewhere to play as well as I can't see him getting much game time here at the moment.

I'm also glad we didn't just sign a LB for the sake of signing one as well, can have a better look for options to sign from now till the window opens again in the summer.

 

[Baguette]

How much of their respective contracts did the club pay to get Özil, Sokratis and Mustafi out the door?

 

[GoonerJeeves]

Yeah, we are gonna start privatizing our bank system again now in the summer, starting with 35% in the Íslandsbanki, the old Glitnir. Good times...

Some politicians here in Norway were clamouring for that we should take over the Icelandic debt during the Icelandic bank crisis. Fortunately, you had the good sense to simply not pay. ..

 

[Goonger]

Decent loan moves.

AMN in midfield at WBA is better for him.. Either it works and he gets to prove himself as a CM, or it doesn't and he accepts that full back is a better option. I also think fat Sam will be a good match for developing what AMN needs to...focus, on-pitch discipline, consistency within games and security on the ball. He has the athletic and technical skills to be to CM at EPL level, but lacks the mentality to make you feel safe selecting him there at the top level. If he can get more switched on, he could yet be an option for us there.

Willock going to Newcastle is good for all parties. He needs games desperately, Newcastle are desperate for an athletic central player with goal threat, and Steve Bruce has always done right by Arsenal when loaning players from us in the past, and though I'm not convinced he's a dynamic coach, he always comes across as a thoroughly decent guy to me. Was one of very few of the mid 90s United team to not be a massive ****.

Shame Nelson couldn't step out too, but I think for our quotas, letting more than 2 HG guys out the club was always going to be a problem, and it sounds like he didn't get any good offers.

And of course Mustafi going feels like one more step towards this club being a serious entity again. Seems like a decent guy, but just not one with the mentality for a club of Arsenal's size.

What gives me hope about Willock going to Newcastle now is the appointment of Graeme Jones as Bruce's assistant. He was assistant to Roberto Martinez for years so is well versed in coaching a good brand of football, & in his first game Utd adopted a 433 at Everton and looked a lot more positive & got a great result.

Wilson, Fraser, Almiron, ASM, Willock, Shelvey....thats some very decent options there from midfield forward to play a much more positive style without resorting to the hoofball for Carroll.

 

[Dutch D]

So we ultimately did get a small sum for Mustafi? I am glad to see him gone, but I just don't want to set precedent to give underperforming a full pay just so they'll leave.

Do we know (with a degree of certainty) whether we had to pay off the contracts of Sokratis, Özil and Mustafi for them to leave? I would like to make up the balance. Did we (1) buy off the contract, (2) let them go for free, (3) receive a small fee. What's the net balance here?

Also, any loan fees for Willock and AMN reported? I would imagine a €1-2m loan fee on top of wages paid would be offered for big talents going to a PL side.

 

[Mo Britain]

This window was more about finance than football. Apart from the Ødegaard punt we haven't brought anyone in, admittedly the squad was too big but mifield is one of the thinner areas in it and we're a man down now.

Main issue not addressed - no cover at left-back other than Cedric played on the wrong side or Saka (hugely wasted there now). Possible solution moving to a back three when Tierney isn't available.

 

[Taneruit]

This window was more about finance than football. Apart from the Ødegaard punt we haven't brought anyone in, admittedly the squad was too big but mifield is one of the thinner areas in it and we're a man down now.

Main issue not addressed - no cover at left-back other than Cedric played on the wrong side or Saka (hugely wasted there now). Possible solution moving to a back three when Tierney isn't available.

Considering he brought Lopez into first team training, he might at least try that once if the situation arises.

 

[TornadoTed]

Considering he brought Lopez into first team training, he might at least try that once if the situation arises.

I'm not sure what to make of Lopez now. I thought he was knocking on the door of the first team squad, he was included in the Europa squad ahead of Saliba and was highly rated as a youngster. However, someone on here who watches the U23's, apologies I can't remember who said he wasn't all that.

That has certainly raised concerns, anyone else watched much of him in the U23's?

 

[Lady_Gooner]

OK window. Most stuff should’ve been done ages ago but at least we got it all done finally.
Our decline wasn’t created in one window so it won’t take one to fix. We need at least 6 good windows (back to back, not one good window then next is dross) to get back to any sort of good level. Skeptical about Edu but fingers crossed.

 

[A_G]

 

[GDeep™]

The Alli situation at Sp**s is interesting. He wanted to go on loan, Mourinho was happy to let him go, but Levy blocked it - and I can see why, it makes no sense. You either sell him for a big fee or Jose must try and use him this season.

 

[lomekian]

Yet he (Mustafi) hasn’t featured much at all (3 starts out of 21 matches) whereas Xhaka starts pretty much week in week out (17 of 21 matches started) and Arsenal are 10th.

Xhaka started 31 of 38 last season. Mustafi started 15. Mustafi has been phased out yet we’ve still been underperforming overall. When you take a step back you see that since Xhaka’s arrival he’s been a mainstay in the side and each and every year we’ve failed to make the CL.

We are all happy Mustafi is gone but the biggest improvements in our fortunes will happen once Xhaka gets jettisoned out of the club.

Doesn't change the fact that Xhaka is better than Mustafi. We all know that long-term Xhaka is not the answer, but replacing him with an upgrade is harder than replacing Mustafi with an upgrade. Xhaka makes spectacular ****-ups and has obvious limitations, but he comes back from his worst times and has always been a good big game player. Mustafi's mistakes are almost as bad, but he crumbles for weeks after making one, and is bad news inbig games.

Ability wise, Mustafi is maybe better than Xhaka, but mentally he's simply not apt for the top level

 

[Taneruit]

Probably just doesn't want to get battered by a fan in the next protest.

 

[A_G]

In the end, the fragile prospect of an escape from Tottenham Hotspur was not even close to being realised for Dele Alli, once the best young English prospect in a crowded field, and now a footballer who counts the intervals between games in weeks rather than days.

There was an effort on the part of Paris Saint-Germain to reunite the one-time boy-wonder with his former manager Mauricio Pochettino but it lost, rather than gained, momentum in the last days of the transfer window that closed on Monday night. Daniel Levy, the Sp**s chairman, was never enthusiastic about the prospect and his mood only hardened as Sp**s’ injury problems worsened and their form in recent games offered cause for concern.

The club say Alli has been nursing a calf injury in the last week or so and perhaps he has, although weighing especially heavy on his mind is the faltering of a career that, by now, should have seen him one of Sp**s’ key starters. Five years ago he was hurtling through the levels of development in his rookie Premier League season, treating the obstacles in much the same way as he did Morgan Schneiderlin in the France midfield in an explosive first start for England at Wembley in November 2015.

It propelled him, having just turned 20, all the way into the England squad for Euro 2016. By 21, he had more combined Premier League goals and assists at that stage than a 21-year-old Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo, Frank Lampard or various other luminaries from the recent past. Five years on it would be an extraordinary turnaround were he to force his way into Gareth Southgate’s squad for the summer’s delayed Euro 2020. Yet on his early trajectory, Alli should be one of the core members of the England team.

It is hard to say what comes next. The greatest barrier to him leaving Sp**s has been Levy, who had a mixed summer transfer window and does not regard the revival of Alli’s career as his responsibility. Mourinho is as sympathetic as he can be but still unwilling to find a regular place for Alli in this new Sp**s era in which the defence-attack compromise seems to be defined more by the characteristics of a Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg rather than a Christian Eriksen or Mousa Dembele.

Alli would have played against Burnley on Sunday to give Tanguy Ndombele a rest as Sp**s hit their third game in seven days, but that was not an option at the time. The richly talented Frenchman is now ahead of Alli in the pecking order for the one place in the team where Mourinho is prepared to indulge a bit of flamboyance, dragbackery and occasional position-indiscipline swashbuckle. It feels hard to envisage a Mourinho Sp**s team with Ndombele and Alli both in it, but perhaps a lightning bolt revelation or just sheer necessity may force the manager’s hand.

With the window now closed, it will suit both manager and player for Alli to be successfully rehabilitated although that feels like a long, arduous road. The man himself saw the PSG move as his salvation and then it was taken away. Levy would not countenance the deal, especially once the extent of the injuries to Giovani Lo Celso and Harry Kane emerged. Somehow, from the basis of what once looked quite a promising season, Sp**s have conspired to have manager, chairman and famous player all in profound disagreement on certain aspects of Alli’s situation.

Even against the eighth-tier part-timers of Marine, in Alli’s last Sp**s appearance more than three weeks ago in the FA Cup third round, it was easy to see the quality of this prodigious young footballer.

There have been many questions posed about his levels of application – most of them, it should be said, by Mourinho in front of the Amazon Prime cameras – yet there is no doubting the ability.

His graduation from League One tyro to Premier League stand-out was so effortless as to be barely discernible. Much smoother and quicker than for instance, Gareth Bale’s relatively slow development into a bonafide star. Now, with his 25th birthday approaching in April, Alli faces a true reckoning to get his career back on track.

Harder than it was to step up from MK Dons to England international in the space of five months? He made that bit look easy.

 

[dashsnow17]

Alli should force a move to PSG in the summer, or maybe even Italy actually. Italy's always been a good destination for mercurial English midfielders.

I bet he'll try to stay in England as long as possible though to the detriment of his career, English footballers never want to leave. I reckon if Wilshere had left for Spain a few years ago he might still be playing good football.

 

[The_Playmaker]

OK window. Most stuff should’ve been done ages ago but at least we got it all done finally.
Our decline wasn’t created in one window so it won’t take one to fix. We need at least 6 good windows (back to back, not one good window then next is dross) to get back to any sort of good level. Skeptical about Edu but fingers crossed.

Arteta clearly has favourites. His favourites stay at the club whether they are good enough or not.

The ones that have gone are the obvious ones. However let's make not mistake about it. The reason we can't buy anyone in January is because we have paid all these ****ers off and have definitely bonded them to a contract to keep it quiet.

Özil half a year on 350k a week. That's 8 million plus whatever bonuses and whatever we paid him for the humiliation in terms of compensation.

Mustafi at 90k a week is around 2 million. Sokratis of the same so its 4 million. Then you consider that these guys have been flat out refusing to go anywhere and could have sat it out for 6 months and got a signing on bonus.

This was the case for all three of them. We paid them whatever signing bonus they would have got, plus their remaining wages + extra for the humiliation.

I wouldn't be surprised if it cost us 25 million to get rid of them all.

 

[dashsnow17]

Arteta clearly has favourites. His favourites stay at the club whether they are good enough or not.

The ones that have gone are the obvious ones. However let's make not mistake about it. The reason we can't buy anyone in January is because we have paid all these ****ers off and have definitely bonded them to a contract to keep it quiet.

Özil half a year on 350k a week. That's 8 million plus whatever bonuses and whatever we paid him for the humiliation in terms of compensation.

Mustafi at 90k a week is around 2 million. Sokratis of the same so its 4 million. Then you consider that these guys have been flat out refusing to go anywhere and could have sat it out for 6 months and got a signing on bonus.

This was the case for all three of them. We paid them whatever signing bonus they would have got, plus their remaining wages + extra for the humiliation.

I wouldn't be surprised if it cost us 25 million to get rid of them all.

You're veering into anti-Arteta conspiracy here. I've seen no evidence to suggest that we paid them signing on bonuses or hush money, how would we even know how much their signing on bonuses would be?

We took out a loan and used some of it to pay their remaining wages in a lump sum, that's it. We probably haven't saved any money in the grand scheme of things, but the difference is they're no longer at the training ground, and you gotta say that's a big positive.

And what do you mean 'the reasons we can't buy anyone in January'? No one bought anyone in January, there's no other reality where we'd have bought someone if only it wasn't pesky Arteta in charge.

I mean the jury's out on Arteta as a whole, most fans are giving him time, but you're in danger of being overly biased against him.

 

[The_Playmaker]

You're veering into anti-Arteta conspiracy here. I've seen no evidence to suggest that we paid them signing on bonuses or hush money, how would we even know how much their signing on bonuses would be?

We took out a loan and used some of it to pay their remaining wages in a lump sum, that's it. We probably haven't saved any money in the grand scheme of things, but the difference is they're no longer at the training ground, and you gotta say that's a big positive.

And what do you mean 'the reasons we can't buy anyone in January'? No one bought anyone in January, there's no other reality where we'd have bought someone if only it wasn't pesky Arteta in charge.

I mean the jury's out on Arteta as a whole, most fans are giving him time, but you're in danger of being overly biased against him.

Why would there be evidenced of they are hushed?

Sokratis, Mustafi, Kolasinac, Özil. That is a clique. They are a group of friends who are milking the club for what they can.

They have all been consistent in saying they are seeing out their contract. What changed? We obviously paid them off. We didn't sack them. The contracts were terminated mutually. Mutually, they came to an agreement. A settlement. And when you look at Ozils agent, there is absolutely no way that we didn't pay them off.

 

[RacingPhoton]

Why would there be evidenced of they are hushed?

Sokratis, Mustafi, Kolasinac, Özil. That is a clique. They are a group of friends who are milking the club for what they can.

They have all been consistent in saying they are seeing out their contract. What changed? We obviously paid them off. We didn't sack them. The contracts were terminated mutually. Mutually, they came to an agreement. A settlement. And when you look at Ozils agent, there is absolutely no way that we didn't pay them off.

I am pretty sure we paid them off. But I don't see a reason why we paid the entire amount that is left on the contract. There must have been some negotiations. These players are going to get salary from clubs where they moved to. We decided to give all the money in their contracts with us and let them join other clubs where they will get some extra salary too? What's the point of doing that? Just to make sure that they don't visit training ground? If we wanted to do that, we could have done it last summer.

My guess is that we dropped Özil and Sokratis from the squad to force them to negotiate a price for leaving. We probably paid half of the remaining money on the contract. In case of Özil, there were rumours that we paid only 5M. Not sure about Sokratis though.

 

[The_Playmaker]

I am pretty sure we paid them off. But I don't see a reason why we paid the entire amount that is left on the contract. There must have been some negotiations. These players are going to get salary from clubs where they moved to. We decided to give all the money in their contracts with us and let them join other clubs where they will get some extra salary too? What's the point of doing that? Just to make sure that they don't visit training ground? If we wanted to do that, we could have done it last summer.

My guess is that we dropped Özil and Sokratis from the squad to force them to negotiate a price for leaving. We probably paid half of the remaining money on the contract. In case of Özil, there were rumours that we paid only 5M. Not sure about Sokratis though.

You are talking about a club that paid £72 million for pepe and offered £90 million for Thomas Lemar. Handed out a 4 year deal to Cedric and somehow made David Luiz cost over £20 million.