It does seem quite odd to have let Pépé go without having a replacement lined up, especially after we tried hard to sign Raphina.

Also it can’t be forgotten that the usual absurdity of the transfer window generally has been exacerbated by crazy inflation. Just seems absurd these sums of money.

I mean you have chelsea and man united alone who look like they are both going to unload half a billion quid on players yet some of their fans will be really concerned about inflation and the cost of energy this winter and what with Russia throttling gas supply and prices going through the roof I fear many people could have real problems in the country this winter.

I’m lucky enough to not have to worry about my energy bills much apart from a passing interest but this isn’t the case for many. Feels like for the first time in a long time this country has very serious problems coming and the transfer fee of Fofana maybe the least of Chelsea’s fans problems.

At the end of the day he’s on big wages so even assuming we don’t sign a replacement if nice are paying 75k ish a week of his wages the club saves itself about 4 million in one year. Very hard to justify that cost based on the amount of minutes he’s getting.

That said like I said yesterday he does offer something we don’t have in the squad bar saka which is a genuine winger who can attack his full back and have him on his heels.

It really is genuinely crazy, just when you thought transfer fees and wages could not get any more out of touch with reality they just spiral out of control. It's madness but where does it end.

It’s nuts. In particular what united are doing is just crazy.

30 year old Casemiro ok he’s never set the world alight but 35 million. No .. ok we’ll double it.

Ajax winger. 50 no ok will 85 do it ?

I read a rumour they are still trying to sign that Napoli striker for 130m euros and we’re mooting including ronaldo in the deal.

Just madness

They crazy part about that graph is that Arsenal have spent somewhere around £110-115m and we're not even in the top six of the biggest spenders. The money available for Premier League clubs is absolutely insane.

Cherries...err Bournemouth have sacked manager Scott Parker. It was was that 9-0 Liverpool mauling that did it.

When Man U sign Antony Eric ten Hag will have spent more in 1 transfer window than Arteta did in his first 5 transfer windows......

FabrizioRomano
“I would keep my eye on some surprising names until the end because Arsenal will work as always the names they ‘really’ want & not on players that they just want to sign as ‘one more’ & nothing else. They want to sign the perfect player.

Ornstein …


Mohamed Elneny suffered significant injury vs Fulham. Arsenal awaiting full extent but 30yo expected to miss considerable spell. Partey also nursing (relatively minor) muscle issue so #AFC may look to recruit in midfield. With @gunnerblog @TheAthleticUK

Bournemouth's first 4 games this season were Villa, City, Arsenal, Liverpool. What was the realistic expectation points wise after those 4 games? 4 if they could spring a surprise draw against one of the big boys possibly. They have 3 points.
Obviously they got hammered in each of the games against the big boys but I don't think that is a sacking based on just the results. Parker was quite critical of the owners for not backing him in the transfer market as he says the squad are ill equipped for this level. When you see Forrest make 18 new signings and spend well over £100m you can see Parker's point somewhat

Ouch, that is a must recruit then.

Can’t rely on lokonga.

I can’t see any way a new midfielder won’t turn up. Could even be a loan if this is true,

Remortgage the emirates Edu and buy neves please.

That is very bad news about Elneny, it means we have to spend now. Can't be scared of overpaying, just need to get it done.

Leicester just increased the price for Tielemans up to 70m.

No way can you get through such a long season with a World Cup bang in the middle with xhaka, lokonga and an injury prone Partey.

Funny but that injury had probably decided what the club need to do for them

We probably needed a CM more than a winger anyway, but we really need both to have a realistic pop at 3rd or even closing the gap big time on the top 2.

And it has to be prioritised over a right winger - even though I'd like both. We have other players who can play right wing and although the solutions aren't always ideal or can leave us thin elsewhere they don't disrupt the overall shape and plan of the team.

The following players could all feasibly play right wing and not upset the other 4 attacking positions: Jesus, Nketiah, Martinelli, Vieira, Nelson, Marquinos.

If Partey is out and we decide we have to play Xhaka or Lokonga there I don't think we can play them as a lone 6, I think you have to play both and Ødegaard as a 10. Or you play one of them plus Zinchenko.

Overall for me it is the position that always seemed the weakness in our squad if anything went wrong

Then it appears we both know eff all.

As I said yesterday when I left the ground Saturday I thought to myself make no mistake we need a midfielder to come in. The arc of doom was kind of back and our distribution wasn’t progressive enough. Every time Partey gets injured it really affects our style of play. He’s almost a single point of failure

It will be interesting to see what the club do. Edu said they didn’t want to go back to the days of signing players out of desperation as they only want the right characters and top quality but a compromise might need to be made here.

Another interesting dilemma is that if it’s Tielemans then he’s not a natural replacement for Elneny anyway as he’s a Aaron Ramsey type not a 6 who prefers to sit and dog chase the ball. I suppose you can shuffle and move xhaka and partey around but it’s not an obvious replacement

Join the club.

Only one thing for it, splurge £150m on Declan Rice.

If you can't beat 'em join 'em.

Oh just imagine that, how awesome would that be

“Kroenke to sell Wyoming ranch to fund signing Declan Rice for 150 million !”

Hype would go into overdrive and our fans wouldnt be satisfied with anything less than the title. Several million shirts sold and Arsenal getting investigated for breaking financial fair play. The irony

Just catching up on the posts. I didn’t see this one coming.

Now we are in deep do do’s.

Vieira?

Also, I cannot see how it makes sense to take into account how much time is left on a players contract. If we need a player we should get that player if the price is acceptable. Waiting until January to fill a potentially damaging hole could cost us a lot more that £10 or so million. Also, January transfer window is always very iffy.

But its not hard. Why can you lot never learn that whatever the problem, a 5'7 skilled midget who can play on both wings is always the solution?

To the unschooled, it does seem amazing that we didn't get a plausible Partey backup.

I saw it being suggested that we only signed Fabio Vieira to keep Jorge Mendes happy.

It does seem weird that we would sign a player who plays in the same position as Ødegaard and Smith-Rowe when we really have other areas that would be a greater priority. The kids not going to get much of a look in, Smithers is barely getting minutes as it is.

Elneny is meant to be a hamstring injury and Partey is supposedly out for 2 weeks (which could still be 4-5 games)

Vieira reminds me of David Silva when he first arrived at City, quite slight but with a silky touch, superb vision and a great range of passing. I think he will end up being a great signing but may need time to adapt to the physicality of the PL.

To keep Mendez happy? Sounds ridiculous enough to be true.

I no longer understand the transfer market.

Looks like Partey will miss the United game.

It's crazy, he just misses too many games.

I’m writing on my phone so please excuse any ytpos.
The potential silver lining to the Partey/El. Neney injuries is that they have occurred while the transfer window is still open. We would be feeling much worse if this happened on Friday morning.
Despite a great transfer window and start to the season, this team is still very much a work in progress. Despite our improvement we still are thin in our attack, midfield and right wing.

Only played 58% of games for us and never more than 9 in a row.

You feel that our next big purchase will be his replacement

Lokonga and xhaka combo at old Trafford.

Xhaka will probably get himself sent off tomorrow night to compound the problems and put a cherry on the cake. Honestly that would be so typical

So the options for the next few games are:

1.Bring in Lokonga as a direct Partey/Elneny replacement and change nothing else

2.Bring in Lokonga and move Xhaka back to play a double pivot midfield

3.Move Xhaka back as a direct Partey/Elneny replacement and bring a left sided 8 in, Zinchenko or even Lokonga played here in pre-season

1, gives the least upset to the balance of the side, especially if Zinchenko is fit to play his inverted left-back role to step inside to support Lokonga

2, is probably the safety first approach

3, moves too many parts around for me

You just know that Zinchenko will be rushed back tomorrow, make the original injury worse and be out for 2 months.

If we need to shift focus to a defensive mid and presumably put more money here then I wonder whether a cut price move for Zaha for a flexible wide forward is an interesting but sensible move. The downside would be his age as he's 30 in a couple of months - but perhaps we occasionally need to make a transfer that doesn't have a 10 year plan attached to it. He has 1 year left on his deal, would jump at the chance to play for us, is still quick and a nightmare for defenders and knows the league well. Other than his age the main downside is that he's used to operating in a Palace team that play well on the counter and he has space to run in to, he'd have less of that with us but possibly play him as a touchline winger and switch play early to give him as many 1 v 1's as possible and it could work.

I completely disagree. He only bounced the ball three times and didn't waste any time. Where exactly would you draw the line?

And if someone decides to take the law into his own hands they should be punished accordingly. Borderline red card.

But aren't we going to need Xhaka to play on the right wing when Saka gets injured?

I’m not sure. I think Rich was right and you will see some rotation and I expect he will save him for old Trafford

I would be surprised if Nketiah and Smithers don’t start tomorrow