If the Metro is correct the chance of us signing anyone is looking remote.

https://metro.co.uk/2019/06/21/arsenal- ... -10023975/

What is of concern to me is the fact there are few stories indicating we are flogging anyone off. Carl maybe and not much else mentioned as any interest to any other clubs.

Not sure the fans will cut the club much slack if there are no big changes.

If it’s true that Bournemouth won’t let Fraser go for less than £30m, they’re taking a big risk. They could lose him for nothing in twelve months. Are Bournemouth, who rightly or wrongly I’ve always seen as a smaller club than Southampton, Portsmouth and Brighton comparing the south coast clubs (bigger than Torquay though) really likely to take that risk? With the status I give them (which I accept could be unfair with their recent Premier League record), I don’t consider them a giant of south coast football let alone English football. So It just seems that for a club of their size, Bournemouth are playing with fire if the Metro story is right.

its only early in the window. Theres until the end of august, 2 whole months.

We will be making new signings trust me. Ospina has gone, and it sounds like Jenkinson is off with kosielny looking highly likely to pursue a new challenge too.

Like Fraser said with his transfer its likely to go to the final day of the window as Bournemouth will be unrealistic with the fee, I just can't see him at arsenal anyway and he will probably end up somewhere like watford or Villa

I would like to think that any new signings would be playing in a couple of our pre-season friendlies. Might make sense to try and get a few combinations going.

Plus the deadline date for the EPL is 5pm on 8 August not like other years the end of August.

I am not convinced that Fraser is good enough but you are correct they are taking a real risk. The amount of money we have in the transfer kitty is simply not enough and we need to sell some players to give us a bit more. It all seems pretty slow progress at the moment. May have to move to plan B in our want list.

As someone said the other day it is okay to agree terms with players but when it comes to the transfer fee we are struggling to be in the game.

If it turns out Man Utd is serious about going after Aubameyang, I want Martial coming the other way with some cash as well.

Metro?! That's the equivalent of getting your informed political reporting from the Daily Star

Agreed. There has been very little transfer activity anywhere, mainly because players are on holidays and the South Americans are involved in the Copa. I expect we will some moves from next week.

The Scotsman seem to be reasonably informed on where the Tiernay deal is.

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football ... -1-4952472

What about 85mil plus they loan us Sanchez for a year with a years option and they still pick up his wages.

AC Milan going after Torreira. Torreira has apparently said he and his girlfriend have struggled to adapt to living in England and may want to move back to Italy. Papers talking about Milan paying £35m but Arsenal wanted £45m. If he doesn’t want to be here and we can get £20m+ profit on our investment then sadly I’d say move him on.

I’m struggling to make up my mind about Torreira. He started so well but got worse as the season progressed. Hence I’m umming and ahhing about him. On reflection I’d probably rather him stay. But if he left I wouldn’t lose any sleep about it, as long as the transfer fee is added to Arsenal’s transfer kitty rather than it inflating Stan’s bank account.

The down side is that we get stuck with xhaka no matter what. Torreira is on my keep list. The only real interest even in the press appears to be for the players we need to keep . I think we may sell him but the squad looks even weaker then.

I’m not Xhaka’s biggest fan but I thought overall he was probably as good as Torreira last season. In fact if someone argued Xhaka was just about the better of the two, I wouldn’t consider it the maddest thing I’ve read here. After building my hopes up early on, Torreira ended up disappointing me.

Seems like losing Torreira is very likely... not irreplaceable, neither is Xhaka... plus Ramsey (and Elneny?) gone we lack numbers in midfield... we really need a quality signing in midfield, one that would star in our team. Don't think Guendouzi, AMN, Willock and Emile Smith Rowe are ready.

Yeah, if his heart is not in it, sell him. It will be a problem later.

I think we are stuck with Özil. Emery has to figure out a way to get the best of him. And Mkhitaryan - don't think we'd be able to sell him either... considering rumours surrounding Aubameyang and Torreira, our front 6 could look something like below.

Lacazette
Iwobi Özil Mkhitaryan
Xhaka Guendouzi

My problem with Xhaka is that he has been with us long enough to prove that he is too inconsistent over a season, too slow, panics at times making bad decisions when this happens and therefore not good enough for a key position in our team. He cost us a large amount of money and does not justify his price tag. I have very rarely ever seen him take control of a big match. I would give Torreira another season but if he wants to leave it is best to sell him.

Are we stuck with Özil because of his wages and/or we can't get enough for him to justify selling him or no one wants him (which I find quite improbable).

As for Mkhitaryan someone has to be interested him? It's plainly obvious why he didn't settle in with Man Utd. What are the reason(s) we are stuck with him? Copy and paste the same questions as to why from above.

I wouldn’t worry about the questions being answered. You’ve probably blocked most of the people who might have answered you.

Hi Bernard,

I agree but I don't think either were at the level required. Torreira made a promising start but tailed off, perhaps due to injury or fatigue, and was pretty mediocre towards the end. I thought he might be our Kante but he was a long way from that at the end of the season.

I hear noises that Xhaka could be made captain and if that's true my already wavering belief in Emery will waver even further. Xhaka is just not mobile enough for the fast and frantic nature of the PL and makes far too many silly unforced errors. I'd sell him and reinvest the money in someone more athletic and better suited to PL football.

I would give Lacazette the captaincy, in the absence of anyone more suitable at the moment.

£15m bid for Tierney from Celtic has been made very public and verified by David Ornstein. Celtic holding out for £25m. I’m definitely on board with this signing, fast, young, counts as home grown, experience in Europe and has already won things, good in defence and flying forward. He’s a full back we can play in a back 4, Neither of our current options are good enough for a back 4.
The record Scottish team transfer is £18m, the record for a Scot is £8m. Celtic usually sell once the price is close. Hope we can get this one done

My concern with Torreira is that he as much as Xhaka was caught out of position not covering the defence last season. He has those terrier like qualities to hunt the ball down and win it back but lacks a bit of positional sense - which isn’t about chasing after the man with the ball.

Not that it hinders his game too much but I’d love to see us buy a 6ft+, strong and quick central mid. Someone who can brush aside tackles and bulldoze through teams on the counter. I want another Vieira basically!

I've only seen him via youtube highlights but what I saw I liked. 25 mil? Too much I imagine. Hopefully a deal can be reached.

Torreira the terrier...lol. Aptly named, but if he doesn't want to be in London, even if we keep him, he'll not turn down a second chance to go abroad I fear.

WTF?!

Leno is 27, mature age, a starter, give the armband to him.

Anybody else see the England Cameroon women's game?
Cameroon an absolute disgrace and an embarrassment to themselves, their country and women's football in general.

Evening Socrates. Regarding the captaincy, I cannot see much captaincy material in Lacazette. Sure, I doubt he can be as bad a captain as Koscielny; off hand I struggle to think of one worse than him due to his lack of leadership skills. But that alone is not a reason to give it to Lacazette. I take your point about Xhaka as a player, even though I do not think he is as bad as you appear to. But captaincy has a lot to do with personality, and I get the impression Xhaka has a more suitable personality for the captaincy than Lacazette. Indeed, I would say the same about Mustafi’s personality although I don’t see him being a first choice regular next season, even if he stays. But while I’m not thrilled about it, I do expect Xhaka to be a first choice regular next season.

Due to his age it’s probably too early for Guendouzi to be made captain. But judging by the way he demands the ball and is central to our play when he’s in the side, it wouldn’t surprise me if he gets the job at some point. I think he may have a captain’s personality.

I saw bits of it Bromley without watching the whole game. One England player appeared to have a significant amount of spit on her arm. But it wasn’t really clarified how it got there. Did a Cameroon player gob at her? Watching games (or bits of games) in the women’s World Cup is showing how much injury time VAR will add to games.

Sadly I’m finding it hard not to like Philip Neville. Both from his work as a pundit on MOTD and his interviews as boss of the England women.

Reports of his injuries over the last few years suggest he is another crock. Has had everything from a cruciant to hip injuries and has missed a *%^@ load of matches. He plays in a league that is admittedly rough but also way sub-standard. He is only 22yo but the fact he is regularly picking up injuries is worrying for such a young person. Just because he looks okay in a few of their games is not enough for me to pay anything above the 15mil we have offered. I suppose we probably need someone to take over Ramsay's bed in the medical unit.

We continually look for players that have some major fault and hope that we can change them. In this case we would be gambling very scarce funds on the fact he would stay fit in the future unlike the last few years. Its like marrying someone and hoping they will change - they won't.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/kieran- ... ler/300716

No

The England player was spat at, although it's impossible to say if it was intentional. Apart from that there was an elbow in the face from a Cameroon player which was a clear red card, in the first few minutes. There was a really nasty tackle late on where the England player was fortunate not to get her ankle snapped in half. When VAR decisions went against them, Cameroon looked more than once as if they were going to walk off. They took an eternity to restart the game after the second England goal. The ref lost all control, and by the end, disgracefully, correct decisions were being avoided in order not to wind up the Cameroonians any more, including a clear England penalty shout turned down and the aforementioned leg breaker of a tackle being punished with a yellow instead of the red it deserved. And according to the BBC anchor, Cameroon were complaining of racism. Laughable.
Phil Neville to his credit was completely straight and to the point in his post match interview.

Palace want £55m for Zaha. Arsenal still keen but don’t have anything like that money. Considering you will pay a premium for a home grown player and for a player that is premier league ready I’d say that is probably the going rate for an attacking player like Zaha

Bellerin would be my choice for captain followed by Lacazette. Bellerin had to earn his stripes coming through the ranks.

You can’t give it to Xhaka, the captain has to be a guaranteed starter and can’t drop clangers every week

I agree about Guendouzi but he needs to be an automatic starter first.

Lacazette would be a lead by example captain, not your vocal Tony Adams type. I'd give it to him because he typifies the spirit needed to play for Arsenal more than anyone else at the moment (not that that is saying much).

I've nothing personal against Xhaka, he seems a nice fella and a decent pro. He is a lovely passer but it's his mobility (or lack of), his tendency to switch off and not track runners and the silly unforced errors that he frequently makes that are the issues for me. Putting it bluntly we need better.

I remember a few seasons back there was talk of a pot of money being available for exceptional opportunities in the transfer market, should they arise.

I'm not sure if that is still viable given FFP and the PL rules and I'm not even sure that Zaha would fit into that category though.

I’d love us to get Zaha. Precisely the player we need right now.

If we could only just shift Mustafi and Xhaka to shore up funds

I don't think Xhaka is all that, think we could improve on him but I can understand why he would be made captain. From the interviews and peices I've seen of him on social media/ Arsenal Media etc, he seems to get what it means to represent Arsenal. Being a captain is about responsibility as much as ability. We don;t know how strong an influence he is on the players in the dressing room, he may command the respect of his peers more than we realise.

I wouldn't have an issue if he was made captain tbh. But would also favour a Bellerin captaincy too.

Also, would prefer he stayed but if Torriera leaves, so be it. No one is irreplaceable in this side. The closest we have to it are the strikers, particularly Aubameyang.

Actually I forgot that Palace offered 16 million for Callum chambers
In 2016. We declined as we wanted 25 million

You could offer palace 50 million and chambers and dress it up as a 75 million transfer offer. That would make sense.

I like a captain to have a strong physical presence and a mildly threatening demeanour. I like him to be a shouter too. I like an occasional raised fist too. I think a captain should be a central defender or central midfielder - none of this goalkeeper or striker nonsense.

So, all things considered, it'd be Sokratis for me.