Agree, absurd to try this when a major win is so near.

Last week it was Coquelin. Apparently he was very happy Sir Alex was at the final. Ferguson apparently mentioned him in his book about our 8-2 defeat and said that he had disappeared and never did anything in football (paraphrasing). Well disappeared until he took a penalty.

I'm very happy for Giroud. I've always thought he got the short end of the stick with Arsenal fans. He came as an RvP replacement and he was never, ever going to live up to that. Ever. He was blamed for shortcomings that were simply not in his locker (pace for example). He was not an established player that came in with a great CV. He was a roll of a dice. He had to move up to a big club as an unproven player for a big club. When he came on as a super sub, he got goals. He needed the right system around him. He's a 6 yard box striker. Chelsea knew they were getting a gem and he became popular with their fans. He came off the bench for them and did the same, score when needed more often than not.

He always respected us after how he left and never maligned the club like some players like Clichy he owes his whole senior career at the top level because of Wenger despite him being an error prone player that has cost us more goals than a left back should.

I hate Chelsea with a passion and was hoping City would win but at least Giroud got a CL medal on his CV and so did the American player.

Hi TG,

It was, although I thought Chelsea were very impressive. A mix of defensive solidity, midfield tenacity and counter-attacking threat.

Kante is an exceptional footballer. To think we preferred Xhaka over him when he was available from Leicester.

One of the ironies is that for all Timo Werner's woeful misses he is an absolute handful with his pace and movement, a right menace. If he learns to finish he could be a worldbeater.

I'm sure the Liverpool tarts missed him as well.

Reports in l'equipe that Marseille are interested in taking Saliba on loan.
Seems very strange they are even trying when Arteta himself has said he will be coming back for pre season training.
Something just not right here.
Have a horrible feeling Saliba could go this summer.
Just this nagging feeling Arteta just doesnt fancy him.
Also fact we are being linked with other centre backs doesnt bode well.
Hope I'm wrong.

Anyone heard anything about Miguel Azeez.
I'm sure his contract runs out june this year

? What did Pépé do? What did I miss?

although I wish it could have been someone other than Chelsea *&*$%& More like two *%^@ sandwiches, one with mayo and the other without a clue.

Oh yes, Coquelin is a winner as well. Forgot he is in the Villareal team. Congratulations Le Coq!

I think Arseblog said If Arteta goes to Edu (Or whoever is in charge of these things??!!) and says I want a CB he should be told firmly no, use what you’ve got let’s focus on getting a working bloody midfield this summer!!

The CBS we’ve got hardly seem like the main problem in this team and chasing after a new one when we’ve got other priorities seems like a strange vanity project.

Well I missed Clichy maligning Arsenal, which according to our friend from across the Atlantic he did.

I think I’d be fine with a back 4 of Chambers - Holding -Gabriel - Tierney with Saliba and Mari as back ups. Anyone particularly upset with if we went into this season with that? Frankly I’m delighted Luiz is gone. The constant encouragement he gave to every opposition forward line wasn’t worth his distribution IMO.

If anything we need backup Right and Left backs. If Bellerin doesn’t go he can back up chambers who can also play at CB. Defo need a left footed LB to cover Tierney, that’s it as far as I can see. We need two central midfielders as a priority.

I agree it isn't a priority for next season, the question is of course how much we'll be able to spend this summer. And I do think we'll see a fair amount of spending, considering how many players are likely to leave. Xhaka and Guendouzi look like they're gone soon, Torreira, Bellerin and Kolasinac aren't staying, Willian is heavily rumoured to be leaving, and there has been no indication Mavropanos will stay at Arsenal next season. Add to that the likes of Maitland-Niles, Nketiah, Nelson and possibly Willock and we can probably afford at least 3-4 signings.

The flip side of the argument is that we must be looking further ahead than just the coming season. The four centre backs we have are all good in my opinion - but have they got the potential to be truly elite? It's possible with Saliba, though he just turned 20 so that's probably a number of years down the line. Gabriel has shown in glimpses that he can turn into a top class defender. I don't see Holding and Pablo Mari ever being more than 3rd/4th choice at a club aiming for top four. So if there's a chance to get another player with elite potential in, I think we should go for it.

There have been some solid rumours about Edmond Tapsoba at Bayer Leverkusen for example. Can't say I've ever watched him play, but he seems extremely highly rated in Germany. 22 years old, 6ft4, physically strong and very good on the ball, with a couple of good seasons in Germany and Portugal behind him, to me he fits the exact profile of what we should be looking for. We're not getting a 28-year old top class defender, so I think our best chance is getting them in at this age and hoping they'll fulfill their potential.

Hi Haz,

I agree.

It seems the extent of our ambition this summer may rely on the numbers we can get out the door and for what prices.

The thing is, if we have any ambitions of competing at the very top you could argue we need upgrades in several positions, notably CB, RB, DM, AM and you could even make the case for another CF and winger.

As you say, Tapsoba seems like the perfect profile.

No idea why I keep hearing whispers about Saliba leaving. I am yet to be convinced by Arteta's judgement and player development. Working with Pep has given him a reputation he is yet to justify. That said, we were one of the best teams results-wise over the last few weeks despite Arteta's disastrous management of he EL semis so I am open to changing my mind.

https://talksport.com/football/888514/

Former Arsenal transfer negotiator Dick Law told The Athletic that a move for Kante was on the table until they pulled the plug because of the agents’ fees involved.

Discussing the Kante deal, Law said: “When things reached an extreme, we tended to back away.”

An investigation by Football Leaks detailed how the two agents involved in setting up Kante’s transfer to Chelsea pocketed a combined total of £10.6million.

Gregory Dakad earned the bigger share of £6.4m, while Abdelkarim Douis collected £4.2m.

Just a few weeks later, the Gunners completed their move for Granit Xhaka, who has not had quite the same impact at the club as Kante has had at Chelsea.

I've realised that Top Gun must have been talking about Pep Guardiola, not our Pépé.

Guendouzi to Marseilles is going speed. Potential fee between £12-15m.

There was a time when he first broke through when you could easily have put a £30m+ price tag on Guendouzi. But poor form, ill discipline, not a hugely successful loan and only having a year left of his deal accounts for the decline in fee.

BUT, even with all this factors if we sell him for £15m we’ll have doubled our original investment. The benefit of buying young players are lesser wages.

Hi Rich,

He's still captain of the French u21 team which is no mean feat given the talent at their disposal.

£15m is the absolute minimum we should get and even then I fear it is a mistake selling him but clearly Arteta wants him gone.

You know Tuchel was a man with a plan. Came to a CL final, with a strong attitude, shoved it up Pep with a you won the PL title, but I've got this one. It showed loud and clear in Tuchel's body language, motivation of players, tactics. It worked like like fine oiled machine.

David,
Here's more on Azeez.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hitc.c ... eez/%3famp

May not matter to some, but Xhaka's playing in a Switzerlad v US friendly tonight. Switzerland currently ahead, but really not surprising.

Thank you Zed.
Good news if true

He is actually quite likeable Tuchel.
Done a really good job since he arrived.

Glad to oblige.

He's refined in his style. Now he just needs to keep a few steps ahead of Abramovich. Rom doesn't like slip ups.

I think the last manager who won them CL lasted about 5 months afterwards.

Chelsea other CL win was a bona-fide fluke. They jammed their way past superior opponents. Both Barca in the semis and Bayern in the final missed penalties. Chelsea scored their only shot on target in the final.

At least this time they were deserved winners, our players Real in the semi and had City at arms length in the final.

The way I look at the first stage of rebuilding the squad is look at all those players who contributed zero or close to zero to our season. Let’s see what money we can get in for those and spend that and in theory you’re only getting better.
In a win/lose way of looking at it:
Guendouzi, Torreira, nketiah - whatever these guys are sold for is a benefit for the squad that doesn’t take us backwards before we go forwards.

Hi Rich,

I hear Chelsea are about to splurge £200m on transfers. City and United will spend big and Liverpool will likely add quality to a squad that is already top two and have VVD coming back as well.

This season was probably our best chance to get back in the top 4, Covid created a more level playing field and we really threw away so many games with indifferent performances. Everyone else did as well but we really did lose stupidly at times.

I don't know what to make of the stories I am hearing about this transfer window.......we need to sell before we can buy, Kroenke will bankroll a big window etc, etc. So much positive and negative speculation.

I am sure we will have lost the chance of some of our main targets by not qualifying for europe so this has to be a sensational window for us to regain much of the ground we have lost in recent seasons.

It's football. Man Utd clearly second best, BM hit the post after being up 1-0, in 1999. Arsenal clearly the better side in 2001 FA cup final against Liverpool.

All the giants killed off for Porto in 2004, they caught Man Utd when they were sinking, weeks after Man Utd losing to lowly Wolves at the time, going to from 1st in the league in January to 3rd by the time the CL game was played.

If we are honest we were thoroughly outplayed in the FA cup against the Mancs that went to penalties. Chelsea's money got them 2 CLs and 5 league titles.

It's just how things are. The record books don't come with asterisks for that.

Your idea is okay but I suspect in a COVID world that money is in short supply. I suspect other than a couple of players, most buying clubs will not have funds or will likely propose a loan deal, with us still picking up a good whack of the players salary.

However when it comes to us buying players, clubs will want a silly sum of money unless they are almost in liquidation.

Still scratching my head at Mourinho's interest in Xhaka. Serie A operates at a slower pace so that's to Xhaka's benefit. 3 Arsenal managers see fit to start him despite many fans trying to figure out why he's starting and why we haven't bought better.

https://tbrfootball.com/what-mahrez-sai ... -interest/

Please let this be more useless reporting from lazy writers.
We need to learn from the unfortunate Willian episode.

I think Arsenal keep hiring the type of execs who only look at the very short term because by the time it all goes ass up, they've buggered off to their next gig. This is one of the reasons why we always over pay and under sell. It's going to be someone else's problem.

Late to the party but thought the Champions league final was a good match. Also highlighted how boring the Guardiola style is. Barely had a shot on goal and really hope Arteta has his own ideas.
.

Whoever is doing the scouting for Leicester, we need to hire that guy. They always seem to get talent.

You are hard to please! City played 61 games this season and scored 131 goals - failed to score on only six occasions. Boring they were not.

Tomori, the slightly forgotten Chelsea XB is going to sign for AC Milan for 28 million euros. How do Chelsea consistently sell players they don’t want for such high fees? That is a huge amount of money.

The Norwich chief exec has hinted that Buendia will be for sale and his ‘price will start with a 3’. His price was meant to be £40m, so for £30m I think it is a deal we should be pushing for

Kroenke related