With regards to the potential goalkeeper signing, I think the debate has become a bit warped to where people are overestimating the importance of a backup. Having someone with the quality of Martinez or Leno on the bench is probably not sustainable for more than a very short period of time. Again, I struggle to think of any great team I've seen that had a backup keeper of such quality that they wouldn't miss their starter greatly if he got injured.

Only thing I don't really understand about Runarsson is why we'd waste a non-homegrown squad place for a backup keeper. We need to get rid of a few non-homegrown players as it is, we already have 18 and are looking to sign one or two more.

I agree on the back up GK not needing to be a superstar. It is pointless to have a £20m player there when we could do with that money in midfield.
Adrian, Bravo, Romero/Henderson, Cabellero, Hart is the list of back up GK's for the other big 6. Man U clearly have 3 decent GK's but their money can support that, and even then I think one of De Gea or Henderson will be sold for big money soon enough.

I also agree on the home grown space, so many clubs have gone for the 'washed up' english GK as their reserve or third choice so that it doesn't take up a non-home grown space in the squad. City had Scott Carson for a while, Chelsea have Rob Green as 3rd choice, and Man U signed Lee Grant a while back..... and Stuart Taylor make his career as a sub GK. Spurs snapped up Joe Hart for that very reason this season. The problem we have is that the home grown GK who are available either cost a fair bit of money, or if they are free agents they really aren't very good. Raya would cost £10m, we'd have to pay for GK like Jack Butland. I'd take someone like Ben Foster but Watford would want a decent fee for him. Interestingly Gulasci at leipzig would count as home grown, but he's first choice at Leipzig so would cost as much as Martinez I reckon.

If we wanted a cheap home grown decent back up GK Joe Hart was the one to get this summer and Spurs beat everyone to him

As I was reading your and Hazuki’s posts I was thinking exactly the same thing. No idea what Tottenham are supposed to be paying Hart, but at this stage of his career it presumably won’t be comparable to what he was on when City’s first choice.

EDIT: A Daily Telegraph reporter says he’s getting £27.5k per week for the next two seasons. A little over £1.4m a year for a 33 year old who was once England’s first choice keeper (75 caps in total) sounds quite reasonable to me.

https://www.spurs-web.com/spurs-news/jo ... tottenham/

I think people were more advocating selling Leno instead. Personally I’d be for promoting Hein who is highly rated (aren’t they all) as you say it’s backup plus a few cup games. But I can see the logic in getting someone a bit older and more experienced.

Edit: Having checked Hein is 18, yes I can see the need for someone if Macey is out on loan.

I often see the 'error leading to a goal' stat bought out for defenders and gk's. It is incredibly subjective and 2 instances show why. Apparently Van Dijk has made more errors leading to a goal (3) than any other defender in 2020 and Kepa who is generally awful and has conceded a league high 19 goals from outside the box was attributed with his first error leading to a goal since he started in england for the brighton goal yesterday.
It is a nonsense stat

We play Liverpool, City and Man U away from home over our next 6 league games. At first I thought that is a pretty horrible run but as all those games will certainly be behind closed doors I think it is an advantage to play them now, especially if fans are allowed back in later in the season. We've traditionally frozen and often lost at all 3 of those grounds, would we freeze without the crowd? I certainly think it is a big factor for us mentally. Although I'd be more confident even if the crowd were there given the tactical tweaks Arteta has made with the team and our ability to perform the low block and counter attack tactic.

Arsenal have rejected a £3m offer from Sheff Utd for Balogun. Lots of clubs interested. If we push for a high fee we won't get much if anything in the way of % sell on or buy-back. Arsenal want anywhere between £8-15m depending what outlet you read

If it is the difference of a £2million or so I'd rather take the lower cash offer but put some clauses in. However, if the extra few million makes the difference in us getting our first choice central mid or not then go for the biggest cash offer.

https://www.planetfootball.com/quizzes/ ... t-arsenal/

41 out of 44 to beat

Aubameyang confirms it.......................................

They won on a very dodgy call. Conspiracy theorists are saying they HAD to win to add to the opening so the fix was in.

£400,000 per week.

Expect Özil to be banging on MA's door.....

I've always preferred to play the big clubs away first.

And after that Super Bowl loss couldn't be avoided.

3 more years of Aubameyang - excellent. It would have been difficult to contemplate this season without him or with the prospect of losing him for free next season. Considering some of the high profile players who have either run their contract down or forced the clubs hand in to selling them, there must be a great level of belief in what Arteta and Edu and others are doing at the club. I wonder also if Aubameyang had some assurances over ambitions in the transfer market, because it is one thing to say we've won the FA Cup and our manager has this great style of play that has us competing, but we know we're not ready to win the league and aren't even in the Champions League.

£400k a week? Is that right? £20.8m a year for a player who’s 31 so is already past his peak, and will leave his peak further behind as each year of the contract passes? Three years on that will cost £62.4m in wages for a player who will be 34 when the contact expires.

Look, I’m pleased he’s renewed. But his agent has done a good job in getting that big a commitment on wages from Arsenal for a 31 year old.

So with Aubameyang signed what are the realistic ambitions for the club this season?

Top 4? Liverpool and City are ahead of us. I feel Man U could crumble if they lost a few of their very good starting 11 and I'm still not convinced Solksjaer is actually having a huge influence on results. Chelsea look very top heavy and their defence could cost them. Spurs look stuck in the mud with Mourinho. Leicester will struggle to repeat last year. Wolves look the best of the rest.

Domestic trophy?

Europa League? The strongest teams in it currently are the 3 english and 3 italian teams I think. Obviously some drop in from the Champions League but after last season's cup run there is renewed optimism in me that we can be a good cup team and beat anyone.

Great news about Aubameyang. I assume there must have been assurances about strengthening the team, and if so whether they go beyond what signings we’ve already made. I’m assuming two more signings will be made. A Martínez replacement and a quality midfielder.

Rumors Bale to go to Man Utd on loan. During my time as a fan (relatively short compared to everyone on this forum) seems like every good Tottenham player eventually ends up at Man Utd (Sol excepted).

£400k p/w seems a little steep

Supposedly coming to us. Who knows these days. Cheap price though if the rumors are true. Probably the one position that never looks bad on youtube highlights must be GK...lol

Relieved that Aubameyang has signed the contract. Had a quick Google and the independent website is saying in the region of £250k per week, which seems more realistic than £400k. Possibly bonus payments for big success might take it up to the higher figure.
Has anybody got a link where £400k is quoted?

£250k sounds a way more logical deal for the club than £400k bromley. It was DHD who said £400k. No idea where he saw it.

[quote="Bernard"][quote="bromley gooner"]Relieved that Aubameyang has signed the contract. Had a quick Google and the independent website is saying in the region of £250k per week, which seems more realistic than £400k. Possibly bonus payments for big success might take it up to the higher figure.
Has anybody got a link where £400k is quoted?[/quote]
£250k sounds a way more logical deal for the club than £400k bromley. It was DHD who said £400k. No idea where he saw it.[/quote]
This from Spotrac.

https://www.spotrac.com/epl/arsenal-fc/ ... ang-24963/

It was a radio report I think Bern. I’ve been listening to Times Radio recently so it might have been them. But I don’t doubt that the £400k number was lazily sourced. Looking around the links, I think it’s agreed that PEA will be our highest earner, as you’d expect I suppose. I think the logic would be that everyone knows (or seems to) that Özil is on £350k so the next step up would be £400k.

QED.

I read it was £250k but with potential to become the highest earner (ie: top Özil's £350k) by way of a generous bonus structure. If he's paid extra for goals, assists, champ league qualification and trophies then it is money well spent

Thanks.

Sky says £250k. https://www.skysports.com/share/12044560

I can’t remember feeling this excited about a contract since Özil extended his stay with us. Here’s hoping for a better outcome eh.

Looking at his performance, are you sure he's past his peak? I think he's at his peak, and could remain there for a couple more seasons, well into his 30s like Wrighty or Drogba.

No doubt his agent got him a good deal, mind you! I have to think we got a good deal too.

Yes I am. Human beings decline in pace as they get older and as he’s in his thirties he will not have the same pace now as he once did. It’s inevitable. Totally unavoidable and it’s pointless to pretend otherwise. There is no reason for thinking Aubameyang will be able to run as quickly as he could in his twenties. I would say he even looks a bit slower than when he first joined. The same goes for Theo Walcott, also 31. There’s no way he looks anything like as quick for Everton as he did when at his fastest at Arsenal.

Do you know how old Usain Bolt was when he did his fastest time for the 100m? He was actually 22, although it was only a few days away from his 23rd birthday. So Usain Bolt was at his physical peak around the age of 23. Nobody has been able to beat that world record since, and he continued to win loads of gold medals and so on after that because nobody could run as fast as him even when he was past his peak.

That’s what I meant by ‘peak’, his physical peak, particularly for pace. And Aubameyang will be past his peak for pace and will get further past it as he gets older. However, I wholeheartedly agree it’s a good signing though as I doubt we could afford to lose him, even though he’s past his physical peak in terms of pace.

That’s kind of a truism for most people though, I was in better shape at 22 than I was at 31. You can be a better footballer at 31 than 23. 400k does seem like too much for anyone, other than say a generational talent entering his peak who would be transformational to the club. 250+bonuses seems like a good deal for both parties tbh and I’m glad (in my detached football fan brain that doesn’t see all of these numbers as obscene) that he’s being rewarded for staying at a non champions league club.

Oh man, lovely video from Martinez saying goodbye to the fans. Shows the power of fans getting behind players too and not on their backs. Well worth a watch

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFK0JwsnC9f/

The amount of alcohol I was drinking at 22 meant I was physically a lot better at 30 as I started running and curbed my drinking considerably. I could have survived on 250 k per week if anyone had offered it. 250 is just okay but anywhere higher is a bit silly. I suppose if bonuses for winning the EPL or CL were included I could understand some decent bonuses. But not for making top 4 or any other cups. But he had our balls in a tough grip so what else could we do.

What a lovely video. Top man.

I think there is a lot of variation. The fact that Bolt's peak may have been 23 simply proves the point that there is considerable variation, even in a discipline like sprinting, where you also have example like Frankie Fredericks, who was still breaking 20 second for the 200 m at the age of 34.

In football you just have to look to the 33 year old Jamie Vardy's perfomance last season so see that your argument is too rigid.

I'm relieved that it isn't 400k, which is a bit obscene. Of course, so it 250k but in today's market, he is undoubtedly worth it.

400 was a stretch but considering how badly we need stability and a talisman to build around, it didn't seem an absurd number.

Spurs are pushing hard to bring Bale back, even potentially offering Alli in a swap deal. Seems strange to swap a 24 year old for a 31 year old. Bringing Bale back seems a bit posturing from Spurs, a bit similar to hiring Mourinho. Does anyone even know if Bale is any good at football any more? He's spent the last year and a half getting his handicap down

I certainly accept that there will be some variation between individuals concerning when they’ll be at the quickest. But do you seriously think that had Vardy been at Leicester rather that wherever he was in his early twenties, was it Fleetwood Town or somewhere like that, he wouldn’t be able to run quicker then than he does now? Leicester, a Premiership club, will have better training regimes for their players than a non-league outfit like Fleetwood. I think that’s a perfectly reasonable suggestion. If Vardy is now 33, I bet he won’t have the pace he did after he’d be training with Leicester for a while. I bet he doesn’t have the pace now that he had in their title season. I just think your trying to support your argument with little consideration of what happens to human bodies in their thirties.

Gaz made a good point about his drinking in his early twenties. I would make similar points about things like drug addiction and heavy smoking in one’s early twenties. If they give up whatever they abused in their twenties, they should be able to get fitter in their thirties and run quicker than then.

In Aubameyang’s case I would assume the training and indeed dietary regime at Dortmund will be at a similar sort of level to Arsenal’s. I’ve also heard nothing about him abusing any substance in his early twenties. If my assumptions with those factors are correct, Aubameyang not only won’t have the pace he did at his physical peak, there is only one direction his pace will go over the next three years. Downhill.

Ash did make a very good point about experience, though I don’t recall him using the word ‘experience’. I assumed that was the point he was making. Experience of what to do when can improve players’ performance. From this, a player of 31 could well make better decisions about what to do with the ball when in possession than he did at 21, even if he can’t run as fast. But that wasn’t what I meant by ‘peak’. I was talking about physical peak and from that pace, and Aubameyang’s speed will inevitably decline over the course of his three year contract.

Aubameyang signing is great news, simply because replacing his goals would have been a nightmare, at least in the short term. We may have had to take a gamble on the lad Edouard at Celtic or someone like that.

Vardy still seems to be at the peak of his powers and I think these days players receive much better medical treatment etc and can prolong their careers well into their thirties, barring any significant injuries.

That said, we cannot rely on Aubameyang's goals. We need to get goals from elsewhere and share the burden around the team. We've been lucky in that Aubameyang seems a remarkable athlete who rarely misses games but that may not go on forever.

You would assume that Aubameyang was given guarantees about signings before he signed his deal so I hope we see a couple more topclass players come in. However, with Kroenke in charge who knows, we might have to make do and mend again.

As we are I think we might flirt with 4th place but ultimately fall short. With a couple of classy signings we could genuinely compete for 3rd or 4th.

Morning socrates. A few others have said that he would have received assurances about future signings being made. I wish I was convinced as the rest of you. Surely the club can’t guarantee named signings. How can they promise they’ll sign, say Partey? Another club, and maybe a bigger one, could come in for him and offer him more money. My guess is that all Arsenal could do is assure him that they hope or intend strengthening the team across whatever positions. But that’s not a promise they will.