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Willian

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Would you be happy with the Willian signing?


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field442

Hates Journalists Named James
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People are acting like we'd be signing some dud. He's been one of Chelsea's best players the last 2 years and he'd be adding experience to a position where all of our players apart from Pepe are 20 or younger. On top of that he can play behind the striker, a position where we have **** all apart from a mostly useless Özil.
 

truth_hurts

but Holding’s hair transplant was painless
Perhaps signing Willian is playing the long game?
Let's say you bought someone in their mid twenties and played him at LW- how many years would it be until saka/martinelli had a chance to be a regular in the team?

Or at AM- how many years until Smith-Rowe gets a chance to be a regular?

With Willian you get 2 years and then martinelli/saka/Smith-Rowe and others can then take over as starters- saving tens of millions on external transfers.

Willians just a placeholder until the youngsters are to speed

Exactly how I see it. We don't have an established wide man at the club. Pepe is obviously talented, but still has it to prove. At AM Özil and Mkhi aren't performing well enough.

Why not bring in one of the leagues best players over the past 5 seasons. The likes of Nelson, Saka, Martinelli, ESR and Nketiah could learn loads from players like Auba and Willian.
 

truth_hurts

but Holding’s hair transplant was painless
People are acting like we'd be signing some dud. He's been one of Chelsea's best players the last 2 years and he'd be adding experience to a position where all of our players apart from Pepe are 20 or younger. On top of that he can play behind the striker, a position where we have **** all apart from a mostly useless Özil.

Willian or Pepe could play behind the striker and be infinitely more dynamic and productive than Özil.

This isn't an Özil bashing exercise infect having Willian, Aubameyang and Özil in the squad would be a plus.
 

truth_hurts

but Holding’s hair transplant was painless
Chelsea losing the experience of Hazard, Pedro and Willian and replacing it with youth is crazy in my opinion.
 

Maybe

You're wrong, no?
Chelsea losing the experience of Hazard, Pedro and Willian and replacing it with youth is crazy in my opinion.
Crazy would be not to do it. Hazard is more focused on hamburgers currently than football, Mount already has better numbers than Pedro and I would expect Pulisic to be about the same as Willian.
Abraham is already repaying the investment in him, and Gilmour looks to be a very bright talent that will give them the option to sell Jorginho in a year and balance the midfield a bit.

There's so much to learn from Chelsea and calling their management "crazy" is crazy
 

truth_hurts

but Holding’s hair transplant was painless
Crazy would be not to do it. Hazard is more focused on hamburgers currently than football, Mount already has better numbers than Pedro and I would expect Pulisic to be about the same as Willian.
Abraham is already repaying the investment in him, and Gilmour looks to be a very bright talent that will give them the option to sell Jorginho in a year and balance the midfield a bit.

There's so much to learn from Chelsea and calling their management "crazy" is crazy

They've been amazing in going from 4th to 4th and falling further behind the league leaders. They have some talented young players, but they can't be relying on youth if they wish to challenge at the top again.
 

Red London

Anti-Simp Culture
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Crazy would be not to do it. Hazard is more focused on hamburgers currently than football, Mount already has better numbers than Pedro and I would expect Pulisic to be about the same as Willian.
Abraham is already repaying the investment in him, and Gilmour looks to be a very bright talent that will give them the option to sell Jorginho in a year and balance the midfield a bit.

There's so much to learn from Chelsea and calling their management "crazy" is crazy
Lets see how good Mount, Pulisic and Abraham are doing next season. Lampard gave them a big boost and got a reaction out of his players but I have reservations on how talented some of them actually are.

Reece James is the best out of the lot. Im yet to be fully convinced by Tomori, Mount, Abraham, Pulisic and Hudson-Odoi
 

Maybe

You're wrong, no?
They've been amazing in going from 4th to 4th and falling further behind the league leaders. They have some talented young players, but they can't be relying on youth if they wish to challenge at the top again.
No, they can't, but they are setting their team to compete with the best within 2 years.
As I said before, they were much smarter than us. They saw on time how the market has changed in recent years, and instead of buying the team, they decided to build one.

We are 2 years behind Chelsea because they've cleared their squad and now they have very good foundations to build on top of that without pressure, and that will reduce the number of mistakes they'll make on the market.
On the other hand, we didn't clear the squad, we haven't built solid foundations and we don't know yet which youngsters will play for us because they were mostly ignored by our managers instead of being tested.

Adding Willian or any player of his age on contract cost would be **** for Arsenal.
 

Tir Na Nog

Changes Opinion Every 5 Minutes

Country: Ireland
They've been amazing in going from 4th to 4th and falling further behind the league leaders. They have some talented young players, but they can't be relying on youth if they wish to challenge at the top again.

I don't think they expect to be challenging City and Liverpool in the next couple of years. It's part of the reason Lampard was brought in the first place. They're looking at a more long term approach. Pedro and Willian offer nothing going forward so for them its best to get them out the door, off the wage bill and focus on the players they have. Ziyech is coming in and he's not exactly a kid, he's also played in CL semis and has won the Dutch league. Pulisic is still a promising talent and they have high hopes for Hudson-Odoi. Mount an option both centrally and wide is boasting impressive numbers, Barkley was in decent form before the season stopped. I think the loss of what Willian and Pedro offered won't be that significant for them.
 

Maybe

You're wrong, no?
Lets see how good Mount, Pulisic and Abraham are doing next season. Lampard gave them a big boost and got a reaction out of his players but I have reservations on how talented some of them actually are.

Reece James is the best out of the lot. Im yet to be fully convinced by Tomori, Mount, Abraham, Pulisic and Hudson-Odoi
It doesn't matter really, they are established PL players now and even if it doesn't work out, they will get money for them and reinvest it. Something like we did with Iwobi.
We can't really do that currently because our strategy was to play average bums and players that have lost their motivation instead of forcing younger players and increasing the squad value.
I think with Saka, Saliba, ESR and Martinelli, we are going to turn things around, but we are behind Chelsea already.
 

truth_hurts

but Holding’s hair transplant was painless
No, they can't, but they are setting their team to compete with the best within 2 years.
As I said before, they were much smarter than us. They saw on time how the market has changed in recent years, and instead of buying the team, they decided to build one.

We are 2 years behind Chelsea because they've cleared their squad and now they have very good foundations to build on top of that without pressure, and that will reduce the number of mistakes they'll make on the market.
On the other hand, we didn't clear the squad, we haven't built solid foundations and we don't know yet which youngsters will play for us because they were mostly ignored by our managers instead of being tested.

Adding Willian or any player of his age on contract cost would be **** for Arsenal.

I agree with a huge need for us to clear our squad, but don't see Chelsea as a shining example. They sold their best player and sold him with a much lesser one in Pulisic. They are now about to lose their most consistent attacking player on a free.

Pulisic and Ziyech are good players, but it remains to be seen if they can get anywhere the heights of multi-time league winners Hazard and Willian.

If they're planning on Mount and Gilmour being long term replacements for Kante and Jorginho then God help them. Abraham needs upgrading.

For us, we need to trim the fat in our squad. I would want to see some experience retained and some more bought in to aid the likes of Salibah, Guendouzi, Willock, ESR, Saka, Martinelli, Nelson and Nketiah.

Luiz (as cb or cm), Aubameyang as a cf and Willian and Özil do that well imo. You bring in a top cm and sell the dress.

Our best defender is 31, our best CF is 31. It's not just a case of getting rid of the old guys!
 

truth_hurts

but Holding’s hair transplant was painless
Agree with the notion that only Reece-James looks top notch. Hudson-Odoi has impressed me and Abraham has done well.

Abrahimovic will need to get his chequebook back out.

Look at the top 2 teams in the country. Neither has under 21s who start. Extend that out across Europe and the amount of top class kids starting at top clubs is low. You'd come back with Mbappe, Sancho, Felix and DeLigt. Deligt doesn't even start and Atletico are having a shocking season.
 

truth_hurts

but Holding’s hair transplant was painless
It also shouldn't be ignored that it seems that Chelsea want to keep Willian!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Red London

Anti-Simp Culture
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We can't really do that currently because our strategy was to play average bums and players that have lost their motivation instead of forcing younger players and increasing the squad value.
I think with Saka, Saliba, ESR and Martinelli, we are going to turn things around, but we are behind Chelsea already.
I feel like you buy too much into what some of the biased English press tells you. I remember at around the half way point of the season I heard a journalist say on The Gurdian football podcast that we had fielded the youngest average team so far in the league. It may have changed since then but we are up there for playing young players. This was published in October as the season started: https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/LB-AVERAGE-AGE.jpg

Chelsea were forced into what they are doing, while Arsenal and United have voluntarily taken the young and talented player route. Yes Chelsea have done a better job of it but it doesnt mean they planned this nor does it mean their young players will turn out better. They are just more discussed and hyped over because a large proportion of their young players are English (as well as having a famous English legend as their manager).

Saliba, Tierney, Guendouzi, ESR, Willock, Saka, Martinelli, Nketiah, Nelson. Thats a lot of talent right there, and the ones you mentioned are high grade talent. In my opinion we are in a good position long term (i.e. after 5 years from now) but people dont see that because of how we are playing currently. I am much more worried about sliding down the table in the short term because our established players (25-33 year olds) arent good enough to do it without help from the youngsters.
 

roz

Fake News Merchant
Lets see how good Mount, Pulisic and Abraham are doing next season. Lampard gave them a big boost and got a reaction out of his players but I have reservations on how talented some of them actually are.

Reece James is the best out of the lot. Im yet to be fully convinced by Tomori, Mount, Abraham, Pulisic and Hudson-Odoi
This.

Mounts the most overrated of the lot. Nasty little player that should get sent off every game.
Hudson-Odoi and Reece James are decent though.
 

Shalmaneser V

Active Member
People are acting like we'd be signing some dud. He's been one of Chelsea's best players the last 2 years and he'd be adding experience to a position where all of our players apart from Pepe are 20 or younger. On top of that he can play behind the striker, a position where we have **** all apart from a mostly useless Özil.

We said the same about Cech and Luiz.

The guy is past it. Chelsea are letting us have a player they deem surplus to requirements and replacing him with a prime Ziyech ffs.

How are we supposed to move forward as a club when our rivals are improving and we’re just standing still or going backwards by taking their rejects?
 

truth_hurts

but Holding’s hair transplant was painless
I wonder how Gooners on here would react if we sold Auba, dropped Bellerin and Torreria/Xhaka in order to start Martinelli, AMN and Guendouzi.

Sprinkle in a bit of Özil outlasted so ESR can start more.

I don't want to see that next season.

If we sent Laca out with a loan with option to buy and we're fairly close to what Chelsea did in losing Hazard and Morata, whilst dropping Alonso/Aziplicuetta and giving Jorginho less game time.

Count me out. We haven't got United money, but I prefer their approach of bringing in players in or about to hit their peak whilst keeping their 2 biggest stars in DDG and Pogba.
 

field442

Hates Journalists Named James
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We said the same about Cech and Luiz.

The guy is past it. Chelsea are letting us have a player they deem surplus to requirements and replacing him with a prime Ziyech ffs.

How are we supposed to move forward as a club when our rivals are improving and we’re just standing still or going backwards by taking their rejects?

Wrong. Chelsea offered him a two year deal and he rejected it because he wants 3 years.
 

roz

Fake News Merchant
I wonder how Gooners on here would react if we sold Auba, dropped Bellerin and Torreria/Xhaka in order to start Martinelli, AMN and Guendouzi.

Sprinkle in a bit of Özil outlasted so ESR can start more.

I don't want to see that next season.

If we sent Laca out with a loan with option to buy and we're fairly close to what Chelsea did in losing Hazard and Morata, whilst dropping Alonso/Aziplicuetta and giving Jorginho less game time.

Count me out. We haven't got United money, but I prefer their approach of bringing in players in or about to hit their peak whilst keeping their 2 biggest stars in DDG and Pogba.
Id be up for that lol.
Martinelli and Doozy have the required mentality to go far. They need playing time now to develop. I know Doozy is a divisive character but I love his attitude on the pitch, to think he was playing in frech league 2 2 years ago shows how far hes come already. Patience needed.
 

Shalmaneser V

Active Member
Wrong. Chelsea offered him a two year deal and he rejected it because he wants 3 years.

Point is they didn’t see it as vitally important enough keep him. They likely offered him a 2 year deal to stay on as a squad player. They already have an upgrade lined up for next season.

Willian has been a good player down the years. But he’s not someone who will come in and significantly improve us.

You really want another washed up player on a 3 year deal and draining massive wages from the club?
 
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