Napoli presidents says they are working on signing Sokratis. You'd have to think this one is going to happen. We're talking very low transfer fee numbers so the clubs can't be miles apart. He's clearly the first CB that needs to move on from the collection we have and will get his £5m a season wages of the books.

Suggestion that there is agreement between Fiorentina and Arsenal for the transfer of Torreira. A loan fee of €8m with obligation to buy at €16m. Player already agreed terms with the Italian team.

So Torreira and Sokratis sales would cancel out the outlay for Gabriel.

Then a case of selling and loaning enough players to buy a couple of midfielders

Hi Haz, yes completely agree, I think I meant to allude to that point before I got distracted on my rant. Also as a young defender positional sense is often set aside, sort of by design, as playing with older CB’s you look to them to set the line and are often expected to cover those same players with pace. That’s partly what I think about the comments saying he had to make too many last ditch tackles and giving all the credit to 35 year old Jose Fonte.

Edit: Fonte is 36, he was 35 when the season started... there must be a few players who aged two years during the extended season by virtue of their d.o.b. being in August!!

Sounds good, but I’m exhausted by the thought of it. Transfers team earning their bread.

Who said “for once!!’ ??

24m euros doesn't seem like enough for Torreira who I assume would still have plenty of time left on his current deal with us and is very young. I read he had 3 offers from Italy on the table.

I'm the first to criticise the club for poor sales but if accepting deals slightly less than we ideally want facilitates a move from our preferred midfield target and means we get things done now and not at the close of the window when we'll have already player 3-4 matches then it is worth the sacrifice on a couple of million.

Also heard Kolasinac is nearing the exit door for a fee of around £10m

Ceballos is a done deal, back with us for the year, no loan fee but we pay all his wages. You'd think if he had a strong season we'd be in a strong position to make it permanent next season, he'd still only be about 25 I think

If we stick with the 3 at the back for most of this season I can envisage a team that has AMN and Saka as the two wing backs against the teams who just sit back and we need to break down. Tierney still providing the overlap on the left. With the two wing backs alternating between staying wide and drifting in to the midfield you could allow the 3 forwards to get in the box a lot more. Beating these packed defences is so much about getting players in the box.

When I saw the title of this video, I thought it must be a typo. Interesting, a bit long but understandable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb9NTCXrwwY&list=WL

10M for Kolasinac??

No loan fee for Ceballos??

You can't see but I'm raising my eyebrows. I'm more shocked by the no loan fee, I'd assumed we paid his wages last season too?

Apparently only a portion of his wages

9 clubs meant to be interested in Balogun. 3 in germany, 2 in Italy, 2 in Holland and Brighton and Saints.
When you have that sort of interest you just need to invite bids, no point setting a fee we'd like to receive. The competition for his signature should drive up the price.

He's only got 1 year left on his deal and refuses to sign a new one. He's highly rated so we need to ensure we negotiate a buy back or sell on clause

Looking at the squad on arsenal.com we currently have 31 players there. Pretty solid rumours that we're about to get rid of Torreira, Sokratis, Holding and Kolasinac, with PSG interested in Bellerin. Subtract those five and we're at 26 players, but then Ceballos is coming back, and we're probably going to sign at least one, maybe two, midfielders. That would leave us at 28-29 first team players, which still seems a bit bloated. I would expect us to offload at least two more, via loan or permanent transfer, but with most clubs struggling financially this is really the worst summer in a long time for a team looking to do a big rebuild.

Hi Haz,

Great for those with money (eg Chelsea) who can get players they might no ordinarily be able too (Havertz) because this summer the likes of Barca, Madrid etc may not be big spenders.

Elneny is listed so would expect him to go somewhere once Ceballos and another midfielder come in.
Matt Macey is listed but the reality is the 3rd choice GK just sits on the bench for cup games at best
I could see Chambers possibly leaving on loan or permanently
Possibly a loan for Smith-Rowe
Özil hardly counts as a player nowadays
Guendouzi is being pushed out the door

So if it is 27 players including Cebellos + 1 Mid is 28. Even taking out 4 of the 6 of those I've listed and you're down to a squad of 24 which seems about right considering we'll have a lot of games.

Arsenal looks promising for the new season. If we get another established midfielder, we will be a complete team after more than a decade.

Alexis Sanchez has just said on his live video that after signing for United, after the first week he went home and told his family, “Can I break this contract and move back to Arsenal?” He admits he wasn’t aware of his decision at the time and regrets it

F Sanchez
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... e-day.html
Alexis Sanchez hits out at Manchester United in extraordinary rant after ending nightmare spell: 'After my first training session, I got home and asked my agent if I could tear up the contract and go back to Arsenal'

Is it worth it?

https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2020/09/03/report-arsenal-offered-chance-to-take-felipe-anderson-on-loan-for-5m/
According to The Mirror, Arsenal have been offered the chance to sign West Ham United playmaker Felipe Anderson – but for a £5million loan fee.

It’s claimed Anderson is looking to get out of West Ham, and his name was put forward to Arsenal as they look for new signings.

The report doesn’t state what Arsenal’s response to this offer was, but that the loan fee is described as ‘staggering’ suggests they may not be so keen.

zero sympathy

No thanks. Don't think we need a player in the wide positions and I don't think he's any better than what we have. Put the money and squad place to better use in areas we do need.
Aubameyang, Pépé, Willian, Saka, Martinelli, Nelson can all play the two wide positions for us, we're not short of options.

i assume RvP still thinks it was worth it. He pretty much only had 1 good season, a continuation of the great season he had with us. He got a title out of it and money. All those years and goodwill at Arsenal gone. Still pissed off he went to Man Utd. Had he left the league, I'd still not like it but understand.

At least Henry, Vieria, Fabregas, Pires, all had enough decency and respect to leave the league.

I am urging all Britain’s to stand firm and keep Tony Abbott in the UK - we don’t want him back here.

For some reason I had confused his name and George Pell. I've had a confusing 5 minutes. Tony Abbott is here? Nobody's mentioned it...

Maybe not news to some or most, but was surprised by this Suarez transfer to Juve. Didn't realize he's 33. Suarez, Messi, they need to overhaul that squad I guess.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/54024393

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54027762

Tony Abbott: Ex-Australian PM to be appointed UK trade adviser

looks like you got your wish!

It’s like a competition now to see who can do the most damaging thing.

All these decisions are involving people from far right think tanks now. These aren’t being made by government

Nketiah perfect hat trick for Eng U21’s tonight. Nelson got a goal as well.

8 goals in 4 qualifiers for Nketiah

Sanchez's weekly wage of £560K a week makes Özil's £350K a week look a bit paltry.

Boubakary Soumaré from Lille.

Slightly subdued highlights, terrible defending, but good showing, Nelsons goal is nice but Jude Bellingham, who’s at Dortmund, scoring with a nice strike. He really, really is going to be one to watch. Potentially a midfielder England haven’t had the likes of for a few generations. So long as no one overhypes him

Arsenal.com reporting that Ceballos is back for another loan spell.

Good news.

I apologise in advance for this cretin. Sir Les Paterson would have been a better choice- he is more tolerant. Everything they say about him would understate how obnoxious and discrimatory he is.

About as popular

So, Messi decided to stay. I thought it might have been in the heat of the moment but he said he was talking to the president about leaving all last season.
Messi should have been working with his representatives on an exit strategy is that was the case. Logially, the Barca president isn't going to make it easy for him to leave.
Even at the end of his contract he'll command a huge fee on name alone even if his skills have diminished.

He is being picked to do a job and his political views are neither here nor there.

obviously

For example Hitler never got enough credit for Germany’s efficient public transport in the 40s.

Of course his views are relevant. They influence his thinking (obviously), but more importantly they influence what our intended trading partners think of us. It would be daft and outright naïve to think otherwise.

I'm happy we are the beneficiaries but something is obviously wrong with how they come up with these coefficients.
How the hell are we ahead of Tottenham and Chelsea? I see they use previous seasons but I'd be pissed off were I a fan of the other 2 London sides. It could happen to us one day. It doesn't seem fair, looks designed to keep big clubs in it but I'm not mathematician.

https://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/club/#/yr/2020

Messi at 12. An Argentinian team called Newell's Old Boys sounds a bit strange and I when Argentina football was on the spanish language stations in LA, why it would be so. Then i read the history of football and how British sailors introduced it around the world as well as Brit expats.

There is a poise about his play and of course his touch which is better than all of the other bigger kids. But if i'm honest the other thing I found most interesting was how the referee didnt seem to talk to the kids let alone book them when they are indulging in good old South American *%^@ housery.


Here's a good clip of Rodri and Thiago showing exceptional control:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/vi ... ning-video