Zinchenko would be a fabulous signing.
There were rumours earlier in the window but then we went all in on Martinez.
Zinchenko fully adapted to the league and just as good.
Am i wrong in thinking that buying Zinchenko negates the need for Tielemans aor Paqueta as Zinchenko can play the left 8 role??

I don't think you're wrong in terms of position, Zinchenko can play there. My question would be whether he represents the upgrade in quality we need. I can see the sense in signing him as a squad player as he's both good and versatile, but we need a quality boost in midfield, not just options.

Blimey. That’s a leap of faith - if we strengthen what you consider our three weakest positions you consider our starting eleven better than theirs. What if Manchester United strengthen their three weakest positions?

Well that was based on Man U getting their signings over the line as well as us.
Man U get Martinez and de jong and we get the LB/LCB and a CM and I’d back is over Man U. Just as I’d back our current side as it stands over Man Us squad as it stands

I’d like to think we need a left sided defender AND and central mid. And the fact that Zinchenko is versatile enough to do both roles would be a bonus

Scored a lot of goals and got a lot of assists for a full back!

You would assume with our pursuit of Martinez and Raphina it means we have the budget for further 2 big signings.

I’d say if zinchenko joins we would definitely see the arrival of another midfield player also but that might be all she wrote.

I’m fed up with Italian clubs. They bend over backwards to sell to Juve, and low ball ridiculous fees for players. Or do what Fiorentina did and agree a deal for Torreira and then back out of it to only come back with a smaller offer. Just don’t deal with them.

Gabriel for £60m, no thanks. What defender can we buy who would slot straight in for that price and the wages Gabriel is on?

Gabriel does have the odd mistake in him but he was quality last season and is only going to get better.
I really hope we are not entertaining juventus.
I share my utter dislike with rich of Italian clubs.
Want to buy for peanuts but sell for a ransom.
If we want to build a top 4 and beyond team we have to keep our core spinal players otherwise we will always be in transition.
The only reason I can countenance us selling him is to make a profit on him and clear a pathway for saliba.
But we need at least 3 quality central defenders.
Don't do it Arsenal!

Juve apart, they are nowhere near as wealthy as English clubs. We can out-spend every Italian club except for Juve and by miles too. It's a bit rich to be crying about them playing hardball when we have the financial advantages.

There is playing hard ball and there is ridiculously low bids. Juve thinking they can get Gabriel for £25m. That’s what we signed him for.
Fiorentina agreeing an option to buy on Torreira for £12m and then coming back with a much lower offer
I can’t recall the team but when we were in for Locatelli, they gave him to Juve on a 2 year loan with option to buy for cheap at the end. It feels like Italian clubs like to keep the money in Italy.

I hope you’re right but unless I’ve forgotten someone so far we’ve bought a new forward who will surely be a first choice (Jesus), a creative midfielder (Vieira) who may well end up a back up to probably the new club captain (Ødegaard), a back up keeper (Turner) who I’ll be very surprised if he’s as good as last season’s back up, assuming he goes (Leno), and a back up attacker (Marquinhos) to wider players (Martinelli and hopefully Smith Rowe).

Once again I’ll say we need to wait until the transfer window closes on 1st September to ascertain our strength relative to others competing for a top four place. But as things stand I think it’s way too early to write off Manchester United as weaker than us, particularly with their new manager who I fully expect to improve things for them quite significantly.

So what if Juve made a low bid. All we have to do is reject it. It's not as if we haven't done the same.

Any Italian club we deal with will be in it for their own best interests just as we are. Also, it stands to reason that there would be a preference to deal directly with other Italian clubs as it is easier to do. It is the same currency for a start. The biggest factor in any transfer will be the player's preferences. That more than anything will decide where the player ends up and I'm sure many players would rather stay in Italy than move to England.

Exactly right dec. in post 549344 Rich went as far as saying about Italian clubs “Just don’t deal with them.” What? All Italian clubs? Just because he’s particularly got the hump about Juventus making a low offer for Gabriel while others sell cheaply to them, and Fiorentina coming back with a low bid for Torreira?

Good grief. I’ve heard it all now.

The one thing that gives me comfort for the remainder of the window is that according to a lot of trusted sourced we did make sizable bids for Raphinha and Martinez - committing in the region of £90m to try to get them. Ultimately we were priced out of both moves, and/or the players preferred somewhere else. But it still means that money is still there that we were willing to spend.

I think there look like there are plenty of good options for both the left sided defender and central midfielder - there does seem to be a lack of quality right wingers who could make in impact right now though

Think there’s some very odd choices amongst that lot. How do Alex Iwobi and Keira Gibbs get in but Charlie George and Frank Stapleton don’t? What about Martin Keown?

I think you're taking what I say far too literally. 'just don't deal with them', of course that is a flippant remark, I don't think Arsenal will listen to me or have the same opinion to block anything coming from them. If some Italian club comes in and offers what we want for a player then sure do a deal, but I'd rather sell to english clubs as it is easier.

Valencia are supposedly interested in Torreira, if they came in with a suitable bid and then in panic Fiorentina matched it, and Torreira was happy to go to either I'd give valencia the first chance to sign him because Fiorentina messed us around after we had a deal agreed with them - yes I'm sure plenty of clubs do it, but when it is done to you then you need to make a point. Don't send players on loan there if you have a choice etc

We all complain about selling for low figures and being pushed too high for incoming players - it is all a big game of poker and you have to show strength and dominance in as many negotiations as you can

Hi Haz,

I think Zinchenko would be an excellent signing, mainly for his versatility but also he is very gifted technically. Would give us lots of options but, as you point out, probably not the gamechanging signing in midfield we'd all like to see.

I thought Zinchenko was excellent last year. Skilful, disciplined and physical. I thought he more than held his own in the best team we've seen for years.

Some strange things going on at Citeh. I would snap their hand off for Zinchenko, but why on earth would they sell him? Why sell Sterling?

They are apparently after Marc Cucurella from Brighton. Did you watch him last season ? Class full back, always available, tireless worker. Skilful. Destined to end up at a massive club.

Sterling feels like at the players request after a falling out. It only leaves them with foden, mahrez and grealish who can play there. Poverty of options

Yes TG I did see Cucurella - difficult to miss him with that barnet. Agree he was very impressive.

I have to say though city’s new found love for us does concern me regarding Saka. Ie you do me and I do you in return

Looks like we've lost Omari Hutchinson to Chelsea. He's a seriously talented 18 year old. Not sure why we couldn't tie him down to a new deal.

ergh that's a horrible but entirely probable thought.

Spurs are signing that Djed Spence from Boro, deal could rise to £20m. He looked very good against us in the cup and has been linked to a number of teams. 21, english, seems a decent purchase. Must make Spurs the biggest spenders in the league by some distance?

Also I think Spurs have 3 left wing backs (Perisic, Reguillon, Sesegnon) and 3 right wing backs (Doherty, Emerson Royal, Spence) Huge (some might say unnecessary) depth. Not sure who you keep all those players happy. Conte has an absolutely massive squad at his disposal now

Gnabry close to a new deal with Bayern. Most of the time the rumours linking high profile players elsewhere is brinkmanship from the agent to push through a new and better deal for their client.

This is bad news. Rated very highly and many saw him as the natural Saka successor.

It seems Chelsea have offered him a lot more money. It is a strange one because surely he doesn't have a better chance of breaking in to their first team than ours. And we have a better recent history of giving young players a go (Chelsea only did when they had a transfer ban).

I can see this going the standard Chelsea route right now, he'll get loaned out a few times, then will get sold to a mid-table prem club for a fee around £15m and Chelsea will include a buy-back clause

Talk of Zinchenko fee being around £35m. He has 2 years left on his current deal.

I get the feeling that Guardiola has a bit of Wenger in him, in the way he kind of cares about the career of his players and is willing to let players leave if he can't give them enough football and they are eager to move. It is surprising that he has sanctioned the sales of Jesus, Sterling and now maybe Zinchenko

It is disturbing. If we lose Saka in a year through him not extending his contract, which is an unpleasant thought but entirely feasible, losing Hutchinson (if it happens) will look an even bigger setback.

Hutchinson looked very good in the youth teams but there are others who play in those attacking midfield positions who are very good as well. Kido Taylor-Hart and Marcelo Flores to name two. We've also just bought Marquinos who is only a year older than Hutchinson and seems to be a lot closer to being ready for the first team if we read in to the tour party etc.

Always frustrating to lose a highly rated youngster to a rival but it happens to most teams. Man City lost Sancho for peanuts.

Also the reality is that any of our young players being good enough for our first team is rare, thats not to say the academy isn't pulling its weight its more that the level you need to be to play for Arsenal's first team is very high. I always think if we managed to bring through just a single academy player each year (or even 1 every two years) who is good enough for the first team (Saka, Emile Smith Rowe level) then we're doing absolutely exceptionally well

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... berth.html

Looks like Saliba is forcing himself in to a corner if true.
I felt that he was unfairly treated by being sent out on loan again and that his Arsenal career should have started a lot sooner.
But that very loan which he was obviously pissed off about has now increased his profile and given him a taste for more plus international recognition so it has bitten us in the arse in a way.
I was very much on his side.
However now i wish he would just shut the **** up, knuckle down and fight for his place.
How on earth can he expect to be guaranteed a starting spot???
The last player to do that was sold to Villa.....
I think we all know how this is going to pan out unfortunately.

Got a bad feeling about this now. Probably adding 2 and 2 and coming up with 800

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... erest.html

If we sign a serious winger it will fuel my concerns

Every player has his price and if City offer £100m there aren't many clubs who would or could turn that sort of money down.

Has anyone seen any rumours on twitter etc about how Marquinhos is looking in training?

You usually get a few off-the-record comments from players to journalists etc but I've seen nothing, other than a few photos that suggest he looks physically ready.

DHDs comment earlier had me thinking. They have sold 128million quids worth of players if they sell us zinchenko. Only signed Haaland. They definitely have enough scope for another seriously big signing, dunno just would feel surprising if they only made that one signing. Until he signs that contract there’s always a possibility

David, can't blame him wanting a starting place really. No it's not guaranteed, but at least he's not shy about what he wants. And...he's not exactly fighting for a place/start in a CL club right now. Yes, he is at higher profile now since being at Marseille. See how he plays during the US tour just might show what he's made of.

Key word of that article is reportedly - no direct quotes from Saliba. I doubt he's rash enough to demand a starting spot without earning it.

Contracts mean nothing these days. How many times have we seen players who 'want' to leave, leave, regardless of contract length left?

The only thing that would change if he signed a new contract would be a few extra ££££s on the transfer fee.