There has been all sorts of versions of Gnabry leaving us. I recall Lomekian saying with a lot of certainty the move was orchestrated via Bayern Munich I think, if memory serves me right but it often doesn't.
It's over but there will always be different sides. The surprising thing I got from the article was Pulis not rating him....lol.

https://www.goal.com/en-us/news/why-did-arsenal-sell-super-serge-gnabry/1bxp1lxuxs1s71u3elgym97zen#:~:text=Arsene%20Wenger%20has%20since%20made,on%20to%20become%20a%20star.

Did Arsenal sign him from Feyenoord or was he released and we picked him up? It’s hard to tell from the wording of the articles I’ve read, and the few sudden youth signings we’ve made recently have all been released from the clubs they were at.

I think people like Ivan “We’re going to compete with Bayern Munich” Gazidis, have left people wary of talk of literally the most success the club could have.

Also crucially Klopp didn’t say anything like that. I wonder why that is?

But like you say, all power to Arteta, you get the sense he intends to back up his words.

Wish Freddie the best. One of my faves. But he was in over his head as interim manager. I wish him the best in in his endeavors.

As you may imagine I disagree. Part of the problem with Wengers later reign was he was always making promises to players about next season, new signings and where we may get to next season. A series of players ultimately left because he never delivered. Willian on a 3 year deal was not my idea of the club being rebuilt. It was a manager buying experience to try and protect his job. A 26yo creative midfielder would have been the buy we should make to rebuild.

I would much prefer Arteta to be realistic as to where we will be by the time Willian departs. If he truly believes we will win the CL then let him make it his PKI of his period at the club. Any bonuses to be based on this. I am waiting to see how the transfer period ends and what players we still have in order to fully judge Arteta. He appears to be the person picking the signings now (Mari, Luiz, Willian).

If he has expectations players will up and leave voluntarily he is dreaming, particularly if it means taking a pay cut. People would be silly to move for less money in the COVID world unless they really were at the start of their careers and wanted just game time.

If I was Özil there is no way in the world I would agree to a transfer to take less wages. And the same goes for Sokrates. Make it worthwhile with a large aftertax payment and I might think differently.

Hi Gaz,

It's not impossible to win the CL within a 3 year period, it is a cup competition after all and Liverpool won it when they were far from the best team in europe. Highly unlikely, but not impossible.

The biggest hurdle to get over is to actually quyalify for it. We are miles away from City and Liverpool which leaves us, realistically, with only two places to go for. Chelsea look to be strengthening big time and doubtless United will spend big this summer. It's going to be tough.

We have to sell the club to players with an ambitious project because we do not have the lure of CL football to entice them with. It appears we have done that with Gabriel, let's see who else we can get on board.

Fabrizio Romano (very accurate journalist) has said Gabriel to Arsenal is done. 30m euros including add ons and will be concluded on Monday. That doesn’t necessarily mean that’s when the club will announce it.

Incidentally, three years before Liverpool won the Champions League with Klopp they came off a season where they finished...8th. So it seems the stars are aligned! All kidding aside, it's obviously a monumental task. But it's not like Arteta has made a public statement about it, he's just trying to instill belief in a potential signing. If he doesn't believe we can win, then why should any player believe it?

With Chelsea, their transfers baffle me a little. Werner, Ziyeh and Havertz are all highly rated players, but they don't have a good keeper, their collection of central defenders are abysmal (much worse than ours) and Jorginho, Kante and Barkley are all rumoured to be leaving.

He refused to extend his contract en then choose to join Arsenal. Make of that what you will. I don't blame Arsenal, it's how big clubs operate.

I'm hoping the Gabriel deal being done is true. For me at least, the most important signing. The central defense is the one area that I personally considered the most urgent. I don't expect either him or Saliba to start obviously, but some time this year, I'd expect to see them pair up. Maybe in a cup game against a lower division side and then in weak opposition, but at some point this year. Ease them in, let them get mentored, adjusted and if things go according to plan, will be our preferred central defense at some point.

I assume the bookies have BM favored but all the best to PSG.

Back in the day we used to be seeded in pot 1 due to our UEFA coefficient. I am guessing that if we ever get back in we will be in a much lower pot and thus have a harder job.

I'd be surprised if Tottenham didn't have a higher coefficient rating than us. Definitely Liverpool, City, Chelsea, Man Utd..Tottenham and even Leicester maybe.

Stories we are trying to wrest Thiago from Liverpool. As if that's ever going to happen. Reporters must be bored and decided to write that after a pint too many at lunch.

Arsenal (11th) are ahead of both Tottenham (14th) and Chelsea (16th). Leicester are ranked at number 70.

C'mon Gabriel, sign already.

I forgot we had a Gabriel already. (I am not responsible for the music )

Supposedly a deal has been struck and Gabriel arrives tomorrow. I'll believe when it happens.

Leeds supposedly interested in Holding. He better not go too cheaply if he does.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8655887/Leeds-United-free-sign-Arsenal-defender-Rob-Holding.html

We’ve apparently poached a very highly rated set piece coach from Brentford. I like how Arteta is addressing our weak spots.

That is quite remarkable. I guess that the Europa League results are keeping us hanging in. Surprising that Chelsea aren’t higher than that.

I assume being out of Europe altogether for a season is a big hit to the coefficient.
It may be that making semi final and final of europa adds more to your coefficient that knocked out of the last 16 of the CL

Bayern Munich is probably one of my least favorite teams, but I'll always prefer them to the oil teams. Hope they win tonight.

Chances at both ends, two quality teams, compelling game. Paris have a mouth watering front three.

Jeez. That second half was dire stuff.

No surprise but I thoroughly enjoyed it dec. To be fair I thought Bayern deserved the win. It wasn’t the free scoring game some may have expected. But I genuinely feel Bayern deserved the win, and I think I’d have said that with no affinity to them.

Bayern took control in the second half and deserved their win. I thought the game was very promising for the first half an hour or so but after that it wasn't much of a spectacle.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football ... placement/

This would be great to see

Bergkamp made a mess of it at ajax. He was thoroughly disliked by the players and got sacked. Hope he learned some valuable lessons, at ajax he was grumpy and distanced himself.

Amazing individual talent at PSG, but Bayern is just a better team, more cohesive and a clearer idea of how they want to play. PSG rely on Neymar and Mbappe just making things happen, and while they're world class players that approach makes it more difficult to turn things around when it's not working. Anyway, the commentators mentioned Bayern won every single game they played in the tournament this season so it's hard to say they didn't deserve the trophy. Just wished they had more players you could dislike, like in the good old days.

For sentimental value, it certainly would. But the more relevant question is surely how good a coach is Bergkamp? Opening your link (I didn’t read the whole report as I just wanted to see what it was about) I didn’t realise he was no longer at Ajax, who it says axed him three years ago. Why did they sack him and if he’s so good, why hasn’t he moved on to another significant club?

On the Ljungberg departure, I’m also hearing he was ‘moved on’. Look, I’ve no idea if it’s true but it was what I’ve been told. The polite remarks from people like Fred himself, Edu and Arteta were no more than the type of window dressing we also saw when Emery and Sanllehi left (from the club and the individuals concerned). I suppose one consideration is how realistic is it that he would leave to ‘progress’ his managerial experience (what Freddie implied) without moving onto another job straight away? Maybe we should wait and see how quickly he joins another club and who they are?

I’m confident he will get another job. But let’s see where it is, whenever it happens. With Bergkamp’s move from Ajax, Top Gun’s link said he has been working at an Amsterdam club who are so small I’ve never heard of them. If Fred goes to Barnet or somewhere like that, to what extent will that ‘progress’ his managerial experience and be a valid reason why he left Arsenal as part of a mutual decision?

EDIT: Regarding Bergkamp’s sacking from Ajax, I hadn’t seen Rotterdam’s comments before I posted the above.

Apparently Bayern won every single game they player in the CL this season. Easier to do if you only play 1 legged knock out games but they were by far and away the dominant team this year. They also have a spine of a squad that is young and will be around for some time to come.

I also think it is ridiculous that the Balon D'Or isn't being awarded this year. I know some leagues suspended their league but surely something like 95-97% of all schedules games in Europe were played this year. Lewandowski has had the season of his life and deserves the highest individual award going to celebrate it. 55 goals this season I think I read

Rumor mill, Leeds to sign Sam Greenwood from us. I don't know much about any youth who don't play in the first team from time to time.

Exactly. Pretty obvious we won't do much without revamping the central defense.
https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1326395/Arsenal-transfer-news-Mikel-Arteta-William-Saliba-Gabriel-Magalhaes

Some interesting goings in in the U23's. Some signings from other clubs we might not usually be signings players from and some firm interest from Leeds in Sam Greenwood a talented striker. Looks like John-Jules will go on loan again and Balogun is meant to be wanting out, leaving not that many strikers in that age group.

There is a difficult balance to be struck between giving the very best talent the promotion and opportunity to make it to first team level, whilst also ensuring we generate as much fee as we can from those who don't make the grade.....and crucially add in sell on clauses or buy back clauses.

Chelsea have been masters at keeping a very large youth set up relatively happy and profitable by using the loan system, making sure contracts don't run down and getting the right fees at the right time. Of course there will be mistakes but we're not getting the benefit of our youth system fully at all.

Even ignoring Gnabry, we have Bennecer, Jeff and Malen who all left Arsenal for pennies but would be worth a collective £75m or so now.

If Gabriel is seemingly done we need to turn attention to midfield if we want to actually dominate games, as I can't recall the last time we actually dominated a game. Yes we've won a few games comfortably but in most games the opposition are still having lots of the ball in dangerous areas and lots of shots.
Aouar from Lyon is going to be leaving, he's exactly the sort of central mid I'd like for the ability to move and pass through the lines. There will be a lot of competition for him and he won't be cheap. Partey is apparently ours as long as we pay the release clause. We're looking at £90m for the pair. Which we surely don't have. So how do we generate something from the squad to help?

Willian and Gabriel is a good start to the window for me.

Tierney on David Luiz. Shows his impact on the team

“He is a winner, a born winner.” Tierney said. “He was saying to me during the season when we were doing bad ‘we are going to win silverware this season, believe me.'”

“He is a legend, the biggest legend ever and I love him. He is so good with all the young boys, everybody loves him,” Tierney added. “He is a proper leader, even if he hasn’t got the armband he still leads.”

“He said to me one game when I hadn’t had my best game,” Tierney said. “We drew, we should have been winning as it was a home game, he was like ‘don’t worry, I’m the big name and I will take the pressure’. I was just sitting there, one of my first games it all went wrong, the fans were on us and we weren’t doing well. He just went: ‘don’t worry about it, you just keep playing your football and I will take the heat’.”

Luiz is clearly adding a lot to Arsenal in all the areas we fans don't see. He also seems so incredibly mentally tough. He takes a lot more stick than he deserves from the fans and from the media. He's going to be very important to help Saliba and Gabriel bed in at Arsenal.

Tierney is not going anywhere anytime soon.

https://www.ibtimes.com/arsenal-star-fa ... ys-3033563

Chelsea is close to completing the signing of Leicester City star Ben Chilwell
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers is targeting Arsenal star Kieran Tierney as Chilwell's replacement, a report says

My highly placed sources within Arsenal has confirmed Gabriel has landed. Please don't PM me for the names of these sources. I have it on the strictest confidence. Code name: eagle

Sky Sports reporting Maitland-Niles is close to signing for Wolves.