Somebody on twitter made me chuckle.........in response to the rumours of our interest in Jorghino they said that knowing our lot they are probably offering Chelsea cash + Willian

Did Partey play today? If so and he was joining us, that sounds risky in case he got injured. Unlikely but players do get injured, so certainly possible. If he played what was the reaction of Atletico fans to him? Had he already signed for us I’d be surprised if there were no reports in Spain about it. From that, some sort of reaction from Atletico fans be it a positive ‘thanks for everything‘ or a negative ‘sod off you disloyal git’.

I’m not sure if announcements are delayed. Perhaps they are but Arsenal.com always seem to confirm them pretty quickly, as far as I’ve noticed anyway.

We made a £32m bid for Aouar, no excuse to not spend that on another centre mid. We’re not in the position to keep our money and wait for the preferred target.
Pellegrini, Zakaria, Soumare....something must be done.

We have maybe 6-7 players who will contribute barely anything this season and will eat up close to £1m a week in wages.

Not being able to shift these players is holding us back more than anything at the moment

Do you remember when Nasri played for us at the weekend and it was totally evident he was leaving for city on the Monday. Everyone knew. Possibly the same thing. I don’t know just a hunch.

Saliba potentially going on loan is a strange one. Looking at the Europa league draw there are game right there than he can play, use those to see if he’s ready. He’s not exactly some inexperienced kid, he’s still played at the top level in France against Neymar and Mbappe.

Right now the best back 3 for me is Mustafi, Luiz, Gabriel. Mari and Tierney May be more reliable than Mustafi but we’ve left ourselves unbalanced with better left sided CB now

I don’t expect much transfer work to be done today with a game on so it could all go to the last day. We’re ideally still looking at 5 or so out and at least 2 in. Right now this squad is still only a top 8 squad. We’re at the level of Leicester and Everton And Wolves for quality in the squad, our second 11 is probably stronger than those 3 but I’m not certain the first 11 is

As a club there is a undoubted feeling we are on the up again. We have have one of the most promising managers in the league, we’ve just won the FA cup, we have kept Aubameyang, and we are developing into a properly drilled team with tactics and fight. Yet annoyingly it’s all relative to what other clubs are doing. Unless we see some significant transfers in the next few days, it’s hard to argue that the team has been equipped to make up ground on our immediate rivals who have all strengthened. Perhaps Wolves and Sheffield Utd look the most vulnerable but then Leeds and Everton look very promising at this very early stage. Right now, on a very wet and gloomy Sunday, I would say the best we can hope for this season is to tread water. Hopefully a cup run and Europa League qualification, but with the team settling down and developing tactically and mentally. Hopefully by next summer we will finally get rid of some serious deadwood, whilst getting some serious money back into the club and rebuilding can continue.

having just re-read my previous post, perhaps I should have said I expect us to tread water this season, but my big hope is that we win a trophy and actually compete for a place in the top four.

In this mornings Arseblog he says that FFP has been relaxed and now is the moment for KSE to kick in with some extra £££ for team building.
Nobody expects them to do that as they clearly aren’t interested in Arsenal’s sporting performance. But it will be a massive statement of DISINTENT not to use this opportunity to push Arsenal forward.

No I don’t remember Nasri’s final game for Arsenal. But if Partey is joining Arsenal I still find it odd for Atletico to play him, and he did play yesterday, and risk him getting injured. Whether Wenger played Nasri or not. Wenger was a bit of a nutter in some respects, anyway.

What I find more supportive of your hunch is if Torreira goes to Atletico, whether it’s a loan or a permanent deal. Swaps are more difficult to conclude, but if they’re both defensive midfielders it seems strange for Arsenal to offload Torreira to Atletico without Partey coming the other way. Unless they know Aouar is arriving.

Well, all will be known tomorrow evening. But I am less confident than you.

Sums it up. Stan Kroenke: “I didn’t buy Arsenal stake to win trophies” and “If you want to win championships then you would never get involved”.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.standa ... html%3Famp

This is kind of why I think Socrates was right. We bid 38 million for Aour and we know that because they said. The club decided not to make any further offers for a reason and that might be that he was too expensive or it could mean that we have decided to go in a different direction. What hasn’t changed is we are desperate for midfield reinforcements so do we believe we have simply decided not to do anything and at the same time we’ve been locked in discussions with athletico. I wouldn’t be shocked if Partey turns up tomorrow

I think I heard there is a rule for Spanish clubs where they can only spend 25% of money coming in. Not sure if this is all Spanish clubs but it has been mentioned in relation to Atletico. Could suggest why they don’t want to do a swap or a linked deal. They want the most cash direct in to the club.
If Torriera is a £7m Liam with option to buy for a further £19m then that sounds ok as long as we replace him. Getting decent loan fees is a decent income, chelsea loaned Zouma to stoke and Everton for a combined £15m, so £15m in for a player who is still on your books and retains his transfer value to you

They’ll pick up for sure. But they have a very small squad so that will/could be their undoing.
Jimenez is very good but would be expensive and is 29 I think.

I wouldn't put any money on me being right but logically loaning out Torreira without even an obligation to buy makes little sense unless we have somebody else coming in. Infact, unless we are getting some massive loan fee it is a downright lousy deal even if we do have someone else coming in. If we don't then the Torreira deal should be called off immediately.

You are right that we have so many mediocre players on big wages who nobody wants because they can't pay them the wages they want. We can't even give them away.

Look at how many millions we have tied up in players who just aren't good enough. Its frightening.

Hi Bored,

Without the threat of FFP and with so many clubs hamstrung by Covid it is the perfect opportunity for Kroenke to show his ambition by throwing £150m or so at it but we all know that he won't because he is not a dyed-in-the-wool Arsenal fan or even a football fan for that matter.

I read somewhere that for Athletico to get Torreira they need to sell 2 players first. (Not sure the reason why could be financial or a homegrown type rule) so they must be aware they are about to let some go if we agreed for him to fly to Madrid already.

We have agreed to waive the obligation to buy Torriera we were insisting on because they have negotiated on Thomas Partey. Boom

Might seem a bit premature but I’m online on the arsenal store right now ordering Thomas Partey shirts for the whole family. I want to get in before the mad rush tomorrow.

I love your optimism TG, but I wouldn’t spend my money yet.

Pretty good draw in the Europa League. Travel not extensive and relatively easy games. Well they should be.

Or something based on the Beastie Boys fight for your right to Paaarrrtteeeeyyyy

Us taking Jorghino on loan to enable chavs to get Partey seems to fit our recent modus.

Some reports that Kolasinac isn't in the matchday squad indicating an impending transfer. Now if we only manage to make another 11 or 12 sales like that we'll have enough for Aouar and Partey.

Just watched MOTD and Jorginho seemed quite integral to them I thought. Scored twice and does spread the ball about

I think this is a more likely scenario than us paying Partey's release clause.

Interesting lineup. Is that a midfield three with Ceballos, Elneny and Saka?

Eddie starts ahead of Lacazette and Pépé, Saka ahead of Ainsley.

Saka left wing back I think.

Arteta seems to like elnenny. I would be interested if there’s a game we could play Saka in a central midfield role. He has the vision

Happy Hammers just gone 3 up at Leicester, that's 7 without reply following their 4 goal thrashing of Wolves. They look like a well balanced, committed and dangerous side, and that scratchy 2-1 win we picked up against them is looking like an excellent result.

So no Aour then.....
Are you trying to tell me that of all the creative players in europe we cannot find one and are now settling on Jorginho to rescue this window.
I can think of Cantwell and Buendia at Norwich.
David Brooks at Norwich.
Benrahma at Brentford to name but a few who have excellent potential.
Must be a few abroad as well.
Beggars belief......

Don’t panic

It’s quite evident that Thomas Partey will be signing for us tomorrow

Really worried about today.
Sheffield utd will be so up for this having lost their first 3 games and consistently troubled us last season. We really need to start well.
Really a must win with more tricky games coming up

Maybe this is one of those games we need to lose to get the club to snap out of it and strengthen the squad.

Is that a 4 at the back with Saka as a number 10?

Got away with one there. Shades of exploding clown car defence. I was concerned that VAR might hit us there.

I don't know ... A trolley dash resulting in a mixed bag of overpaid and declining players is not what we need.

Get the target player or accept that this is going be a season of consolidation and chances for fringe players.

Interesting watching us play, in possession it’s a 4-33 with Saka a wildcard almost like an inside forward.

Nketiah offers no hold up play, he’s only interested in coming alive around the box. Willian not done much here

That’s a straight red !!,,

At least with no spectators there’s no one to groan and get on the team’s back. That would be highly likely.

Got away with it didn’t he.

Terrible half.

Nketiah totally useless and should be dragged off. Willian ineffective, a showcase for why we need new midfield and creative reinforcement. On the basis of that performance you won’t convince me Pépé & Lacazette are that much worse than the players in their positions.