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Looking closer to home players wise.

14Henry

Looking for receipts 👀
In my opinion for the team to actually improve (within budget reason) we need to be looking more at the teams around us and below us in the league and hunting for those players who have another level in them.

They have the experience of the league and wont be just joining Arsenal for the money or for London but to actually make a step up in their career and for them to prove themselves at a bigger team. Even stake their claim for national sides.

The below names are super unglamorous but what I believe is these players below could be affordable additions and 1 or 2 of them could help improve the team.

Jack Stephens (soton)
James Tarkwoski (burn)
John Egan (sheff)
Declan Rice (w ham)
Dwight McNeill (burn).

I get they may not appear world beaters but could they add and improve our structure and team. 1 or 2 of them yes. Would they come to Arsenal. Yes. Would they see it as a big challenge and to improve. I believe so.

Anyone else have any other names? I think we really need abit of toughness. I'm not going to say British-ness as but abit of identity. A different attitude maybe.

For me I would take Rice and Tarkowski all day over 2 obscure foreign players. Would they cost more? Yes. Maybe 60m would buy them both. But you gain valuable experience and they are good players. Better than what we have. Perfect ages and I believe they both have another level in them.

They also wouldnt be needing such high salaries as they would be recieving a lot less where they are.
 

GDeep™

League is very weak
I was thinking this, but the two players that came to my mind are ones that are not rated on AM - Mings and Ake. Probably sign both for 60-70M, both young, experienced in the PL, physically they’ll alongside Saliba add some dynamism at the back. Ake would probably have stopped Son or even chased that chip down before it crossed the line.

The ones who are better, like Rice, I see are rated at 80-100m. Story yesterday that he’s on the City radar.
 

GDeep™

League is very weak
The other issue I have is that foreign guys need time to adjust, and I’m not sure we have that time with this team. We need defenders to come in now and be decent.
 

OnlyOne

‘Donkeys don’t have a peak, they remain useless’
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
I was thinking this, but the two players that came to my mind are ones that are not rated on AM - Mings and Ake. Probably sign both for 60-70M, both young, experienced in the PL, physically they’ll alongside Saliba add some dynamism at the back. Ake would probably have stopped Son or even chased that chip down before it crossed the line.

The ones who are better, like Rice, I see are rated at 80-100m. Story yesterday that he’s on the City radar.

Was speaking to my barber yesterday who's a big Villa fan, says Mings has been average, says a lot of fans can't believe they spent 30M on him so I'd stay away.

I still think Ake should be our number 1 target.
 

14Henry

Looking for receipts 👀
I was thinking this, but the two players that came to my mind are ones that are not rated on AM - Mings and Ake. Probably sign both for 60-70M, both young, experienced in the PL, physically they’ll alongside Saliba add some dynamism at the back. Ake would probably have stopped Son or even chased that chip down before it crossed the line.

The ones who are better, like Rice, I see are rated at 80-100m. Story yesterday that he’s on the City radar.

What I dont get is when we talk about selling players people say. Oh no you wont get 40m for this as the market is down. However then people say to buy Declan Rice it would be 80m-100m. If the market is down for selling it is down for buying.

I think Rice could be got for 45-50m. Hes a good player but isnt an 80m player. When you consider Sancho will probably go for similar.

Ake is a solid enough player and his movement combined with Salibas height and strength may compliment each other well.

I just feel there has to be good players playing in the league who are easy to get. Rice may not be one but theres no way we cant attract others.
 

Tosker

Does Not Hate Foreigners
In my opinion for the team to actually improve (within budget reason) we need to be looking more at the teams around us and below us in the league and hunting for those players who have another level in them.

They have the experience of the league and wont be just joining Arsenal for the money or for London but to actually make a step up in their career and for them to prove themselves at a bigger team. Even stake their claim for national sides.

The below names are super unglamorous but what I believe is these players below could be affordable additions and 1 or 2 of them could help improve the team.

Jack Stephens (soton)
James Tarkwoski (burn)
John Egan (sheff)
Declan Rice (w ham)
Dwight McNeill (burn).

I get they may not appear world beaters but could they add and improve our structure and team. 1 or 2 of them yes. Would they come to Arsenal. Yes. Would they see it as a big challenge and to improve. I believe so.

Anyone else have any other names? I think we really need abit of toughness. I'm not going to say British-ness as but abit of identity. A different attitude maybe.

For me I would take Rice and Tarkowski all day over 2 obscure foreign players. Would they cost more? Yes. Maybe 60m would buy them both. But you gain valuable experience and they are good players. Better than what we have. Perfect ages and I believe they both have another level in them.

They also wouldnt be needing such high salaries as they would be recieving a lot less where they are.
without commenting on individual players, I totally agree with your sentiments - we have made a start with Tierney, and neither Holding or Chambers have been as bad as Mustafi, Kola or Sokratis, imo

I am guessing that agent fees are less too when taking clubs from below us?
 

14Henry

Looking for receipts 👀
Christ. We have better players than most of those coming out of Hale End. Declan Rice makes Xhaka look agile. Just need to give our youth more minutes.

What midfielder is better than Rice? Willock?

What defender is better than Tarkowski? Medley?

Willock and Medley are no use to us for maybe 4 years. By then we could be in a much bigger mess. We need players now.
 

Macho

In search of Pure Profit 💸
Dusted 🔻

Country: England
Yeah but some think he’s too small.
nah nonsense I'd love him here even though his injuries are a concern. I'd take Mings too. Rice also.

All expensive like said already sadly. I wouldn't be opposed to young players from the championship also.
 

OnlyOne

‘Donkeys don’t have a peak, they remain useless’
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
What I dont get is when we talk about selling players people say. Oh no you wont get 40m for this as the market is down. However then people say to buy Declan Rice it would be 80m-100m. If the market is down for selling it is down for buying.

I think Rice could be got for 45-50m. Hes a good player but isnt an 80m player. When you consider Sancho will probably go for similar.

Ake is a solid enough player and his movement combined with Salibas height and strength may compliment each other well.

I just feel there has to be good players playing in the league who are easy to get. Rice may not be one but theres no way we cant attract others.

You just have to be careful though, buying from the league already adds a premium so you have to be damn sure they'll hit the ground running. A lot of the guys you mentioned are very good in the cohesive teams you mentioned because the coach has them set up a particular way. I am not sure in Arteta's system whether these guys could cope, especially as we require them to be very good on the ball.

Ake however fits everything we need.
 

14Henry

Looking for receipts 👀
Let's clear something up. If we are saying the like of Ake, Rice etc are still going to cost what they would before CV we cant get say 10m for Holding or 10m for Kolasinac?
 

14Henry

Looking for receipts 👀
You just have to be careful though, buying from the league already adds a premium so you have to be damn sure they'll hit the ground running. A lot of the guys you mentioned are very good in the cohesive teams you mentioned because the coach has them set up a particular way. I am not sure in Arteta's system whether these guys could cope, especially as we require them to be very good on the ball.

Ake however fits everything we need.

But why do we need to play a system we arent good at. There is more than one way to win a football match. If we are only looking to buy ball playing centre backs then that limits the market.

I would much rather have a defender who can defend first. I'm sick of hearing Arteta wants to play this way or that way. He plays to his teams strengths not makes players do what they cant do to fit his ideas. You can do that at City with 400m. But if your a Burnley you play to your strengths. You dont see Dyche trying to make his team play expansive football. Its basic management.

We dropped 72m on a winger who has failed to really impress. In my opinion. We spent 70m on Mustafi and Xhaka. Because they have foreign names it's ok. It's an arrogance at this club.
 

OnlyOne

‘Donkeys don’t have a peak, they remain useless’
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
Let's clear something up. If we are saying the like of Ake, Rice etc are still going to cost what they would before CV we cant get say 10m for Holding or 10m for Kolasinac?

People are making things up mate. You're looking at around 40M for Ake especially if Bournemouth go down. Rice I'd say 50M along with guys like Grealish + John McGinn 35/40M.

I can't see many PL teams buying Kola and with his wages you're looking at 15M maybe, Holding around the same as well, maybe more.
 

DanDare

Emoji Merchant and Believer-In-Chief
Trusted ⭐

Player:Saliba
Very much behind this

We can't keep signing these high fee foreign players who aren't sure things
 

OnlyOne

‘Donkeys don’t have a peak, they remain useless’
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
But why do we need to play a system we arent good at. There is more than one way to win a football match. If we are only looking to buy ball playing centre backs then that limits the market.

I would much rather have a defender who can defend first. I'm sick of hearing Arteta wants to play this way or that way. He plays to his teams strengths not makes players do what they cant do to fit his ideas. You can do that at City with 400m. But if your a Burnley you play to your strengths. You dont see Dyche trying to make his team play expansive football. Its basic management.

We dropped 72m on a winger who has failed to really impress. In my opinion. We spent 70m on Mustafi and Xhaka. Because they have foreign names it's ok. It's an arrogance at this club.

That's how Mikel wants to play though and it's how we'll win more football matches, all the best teams have defenders who are great on the ball. Sure we can turn into a Burnley and buy guys who can defend well but we won't win as much.

Arteta has his ideas on what he wants to do with this team, he knows how to win football matches first hand, he's seen it with Pep, now we must buy the players that fit the way HE wants to play, which starts with defenders who are good on the ball.
 

14Henry

Looking for receipts 👀
People are making things up mate. You're looking at around 40M for Ake especially if Bournemouth go down. Rice I'd say 50M along with guys like Grealish + John McGinn 35/40M.

I can't see many PL teams buying Kola and with his wages you're looking at 15M maybe, Holding around the same as well, maybe more.

Yeah. It's like when it comes to selling our players no one will sign them because of CV however if we want to buy we cant because players are still 60m.

I just think theres decent value to be had in the league and in the championship. British players or foreign players who have played in the league. Weather isnt a problem, language, food, physicality nothing is a problem. Right now that's what we need.

Tierney for me is abit like that. Hes not world class. Nowhere near Ashley Cole. But hes got a mentality of work. He knows hes not Roberto Carlos despite have a cupboard full of silverware and he isnt worried about driving around London in his Ferrari. Hes here to play football.
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
Trusted ⭐
I like the sentiment - I wouldn't sign any of the guys you mentioned though. Not only would they cost a pretty penny but other than Rice, I don't think they are any good for us. Just because they are in the PL doesn't mean they're gonna slot in and do well for us, especially if they don't fit what we're trying to do.

But ideally, looking into the PL is something we should definitely consider doing, we just have to be smart about it IMO. I think if we were gonna spend money on a defender from the league, we should be looking at what the team wants to do and hence what we need. If we're gonna be seeing a lot of the ball, having a CB who isn't fiddlesticks with the ball at his feet will be important, regardless of whether it's better to become a kick and rush team because of where we are. Who in the league is good on the ball as well as defending? Ake is definitely arguable. Ben White is off the back of an excellent Championship campaign. Ben Godfrey has managed to look good individually in what's been a very poor season for Norwich. If I were taking a defender from Villa, I would rather take Konsa than Mings - Mings really isn't that good a defender, just tall. Konsa younger, mobile, more versatile.

EDIT: Here's another possible name - Jamal Lascelles. One of the more underrated CBs in the league.

In terms of midfield, I'd again look to the championship. One of the best #6s in England is Kalvin Phillips of Leeds, an excellent player who not only defends well but distributes the ball extremely well. It's doubtful he'll look to leave given Leeds have just been promoted so that will be big money aswell. I'd also consider bringing back Josh DaSilva from Brentford. He is big, powerful, a very solid technical player and can carry the ball. He should be a Partey alternative for sure.

In terms of attackers, I'm less sure. I'd rather we use our Hale End attackers as I think there's more potential there personally but I'd love us to get a Benrahma. Buendia is also a pretty good shout but I think he might be better from deep. Also, we're quite set at RB but we should absolutely sign Jayden Bogle from Derby before he goes to a PL team and balls.
 

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