I can't believe we allowed Gnabry to leave for £4m when average players like Jordan Ibe moved for nearly four times that amount.

Hi DD, I just can't see this happening but if they are interested then tell them Aguero or no deal. Guardiola obviously doesn't rate Aguero as highly as others. He's a brilliant striker and I'd prefer him over Sanchez but in reality there's very little chance of a swap deal happening.

Really pathetic fee from Arsenal. If the player wanted to leave then sometimes you have to let them go but ensure you get a fee that at a minimum represents their value.
I fear that Wenger has too much loyalty and emotion attached to 'his' players, and so when they want a move or he can't give them minutes he seems to see it as his responsibility to get the player the best move, extracting a big fee doesn't seem to come i to it beca De it might make the move more difficult for the player.
Arsenal have a history of this, too many players leaving for free and reduced fees. Vieira and Henry only moved for £13-16m, Fabregas for £30m was a joke, even only getting £7m out of city for clichy was poor - city were paying £15-20m for every player at the time.
Ok we got decent money for adebayor but only considering he flopped afterwards.
I think we'll see it again this summer. Would it surprise anyone if the fees we got for players leaving this summer was in the region of: Ospina £3m, jenkinson £2m, Gibbs £5m, Perez £10m

What a pathetic, childish post. Bayern have paid £8m for him, and Arsenal sold him to Bremen for £4.25m according to your link. So if my mental arithmetic isn't too unsound, that's a £3.75m difference. Big bloody deal. Aren't there slightly bigger or more important issues to get your knickers in a twist about, especially considering I suspect Arsenal would have bitten the hand off Bayern to get the £8m direct from them last season being a then unproven Gnabry had told us he would not renew his contract?

As you say, Bayern did nothing illegal, so what's the problem? If Gnabry had failed at Bremen last season, I don't suppose Bayern would be interested now. But he did well so they've signed him. It's called Bayern looking after their own interests. If Arsenal were half as good at looking after our own interests as them, I've little doubt we would be a stronger club. Try growing up and acting your age when you write about one of, if not the, greatest club(s) in the world. Bayern Munich are a credit to world football.

Dortmund being one of your little clubs down the leagues I suppose.

Id call Alexis bluff and force him to see out his contract if it's city. He'll be 29 next summer and wouldn't command the same wages. Would force him towards a new contract

England winning 1-0 did our boy Maitland-Niles score? It's on BBC2 if anyone wants to watch. 20 mins of the game left...................

I can understand your point but are Arsenal really going to be competing with City for the title next season with Wenger staying? If we'd get £50m from City this summer, I can also understand why he would be sold there now rather than lose him to exactly the same club for zilch in a year. Especially if nobody at Arsenal thinks we can win the league, and despite Wenger's lying to placate fans I suspect that could be the case.

Cor, really. £8m is currently worth €7m. That makes all the difference, doesn't it?

Is this a bonafide story re Alexis agreeing to stay?. Does it come from a legitimate source?

https://shewore.com/2017/06/11/alexis-s ... -contract/

Dortmund were always a potential threat to Bayern, and Bayern enabled them to continue being a threat. Manchester United wanted Lewandowski when he was nearing the end of his contract at Dortmund, and I'm sure they'd have paid him more which shows how weak your point about him is. Regarding your point about Gotze, do you genuinely believe the garbage you come out with or is it simply a wind-up? Dortmund had Real Madrid in the semi-final. Considering that Bayern finished 25 points ahead of Dortmund in the Bundesliga that season so were way better than them, don't you think it might just be possible they'd rather have played Dortmund in the final than Real?

EDIT: By the way, Gotze did play against Real Madrid. So maybe it wasn't that difficult?

Reminiscent of the kind of cheating indulged in on Football Manager back in the day. Which they're able to I suppose because they rule the roost. I think we've had similar sort of occurrences but you never remember them because they don't cause the same outrage. I am SORT of with Bernard in that you wish Arsenal were able to garner the same sort of advantages within the rules. The last advantage we had was the knowledge of the potential of young French players which lasted for a time.

Okay, I was careless and put pounds instead of Euros. As a percentage it matters, you say? It's a practically meaningless amount in professional football at the upper level, and that's the important issue. If I lend someone a pound and they only give me 1p back, percentage wise that's an even bigger shortfall. But it's such a meaningless sum I wouldn't give a damn in terms of the difference it would make to my standard of living.

It's strange how Gnabry is now at Bayern when in the season before last he couldn't even get into WBA's matchday squad. I know he got injured the year before when he was with us but he did look decent in the few showings he had for us that season. He used the Olympics to his advantage very well and has risen quicker than most of us thought. Could be one that we regret. I remember Wenger saying that he wanted to keep him last summer and Gnabry saying similar, only to change his mind within weeks. It is a bit fishy but if he was coming to the end of his contract, it's his prerogative to negotiate the best possible deal for himself. I reckon if he did better at WBA we would have made more of an attempt to sign him up earlier.

The majority of ex players love Wenger partly due to this loyalty which is a great quality. However if it costs the club money when selling players then that's not so great. And I'd say the loyalty is a bit missplaced if it potentially impacts on the team negatively, ie playing Ospina over Čech which weakened us in the final.

I just think you're overstating things. It's less than a million quid.

Also if there was a prior agreement with Bayern, I don't see what the Bremen president has to be hopping mad about as he was in post when it would have been agreed last year (Fischer has been the president since 2014).

I genuinely don't know. Perhaps the press had got hold of the story and were going to release it? But I very much doubt Bayern did it to lower Dortmund's chances against Real Madrid, as you claimed with next to no evidence, as I strongly suggest they would rather have played Dortmund in the final than Real. I don't remember how Gotze played in the game, do you? However, the other ten players must have been sensational if Gotze "stunk the game out", as you put it, considering the result.

I don't see "pretty quiet" being the same as stinking the game out. I still say Bayern would have preferred to play Dortmund instead of Real Madrid in the final, so I write off your accusation that they did it to undermine Dortmund's chances against Real as extremely far-fetched, to say the least.

Didn't Ospina make important saves in the final? So long ago now I've forgotten...

I always find that when there are unproven rumours supporting what you want to think happened you seem more than willing to accept them. But if unproven rumours contradict what you want to think happened you seem far more willing to question their reliability. Perhaps Wenger didn't know exactly what happened, whatever he chooses to suggest. Who knows how reliable the speculation of others is, as well?

To be honest, I think you're making too much fuss over very little. The money it cost Arsenal was pretty minimal considering the finances of the upper levels in modern football. Also, as I've heard rumours that Arsenal would much prefer to sell Sanchez to Bayern than a domestic rival (a rumour, but a highly logical one), even if there's truth in your accusations perhaps it hasn't annoyed Arsenal enough to make them unwilling to do business with them?

Ospina's time-wasting was pretty effective but I doubt Čech would have let Chelsea's goal in.

Fifa investigate transfers from time to time where illegality or breach of their own rules is suspected. I'd investigate the hell out of this one. You're falling into the opposite error that you're saying lomekian is, don't you think Bernard??

He did make important saves and we won so it vindicated Wenger's decision to stick with him. And loyalty is a great quality overall. My point is though we started the game weaker and sometimes this loyalty can be to our detriment. If you go back there have been examples where Wenger has no doubt stuck with players in big games because of his policy to play certain players and we've lost important games due to squad players being chosen ahead of our first choice. Several times we threw away top spot in Champions league by fielding youngsters in the penultimate group stage games only for the regulars coming back in the final game to try and salvage top spot. There was also the final against Chavski in 2007 and that embarrassment against Tottenham in the league cup. And when you look at the list of some of those players who were given a chance, many didn't even make it, yet we more or less sacrificed the cup a couple of times so that they could play.

If they want to investigate it, fine. Whether they will is, I suppose, dependent on whether they suspect any wrongdoing has been done, or is significant.

You don't recall Ospina's four excellent saves from Costa twice, Kante and Moses, but do the deflected goal he let in! That is the lot of the keeper I guess.

Thinking back though, were any of Ospina's saves in the final those you wouldn't have expected him to have kept out? I'm just trying to be fair. How many saves did he have to make, and were any of those he did keep out those where you wouldn't have expected him to save? That's why I mentioned his time-wasting, which was top notch.

Yes it happens, but every manager has to address the issue of keeping all the players in a squad match fit and motivated?

Do you really think any of those he kept out were really beyond the kind of shots any good keeper should have kept out? You use the word excellent. I think they were shots you would expect your keeper to save, much like the one he let in.

Of the four I mentioned I would say he did brilliantly to cut down Costa's space and stop his powerful first-half hit at a crucial stage of Chelsea pressure. Then in their dominant post-break period he made Kante's deflected shot look routine and also parried Moses drive very well. The other save from Costa at reasonably close range was all about his agility. OK you might say he was doing his job, but I think you rather damn him with faint praise by talking about his time wasting. I do prefer Čech in goal but in that final Ospina was no weak link at all.

Let us disagree!

Hi Lom,

Ospina is a brilliant shotstopper with great reactions, speed and bravery but he's on the short side for a PL keeper and does not fill the goal in the way that Čech does or have the presence. He is also far weaker on crosses and punching which unfortunately are not the weaknesses to have in the PL.

That said, he is ideally suited to the Spanish or Italian leagues where his weaknesses are less of an issue and a keeper of his calibre should be fetching a fee of £8-10m.

If the rumours of a fee of £3m are true then its ridiculous, we might as well gift wrap him with a pretty little bow.

I genuinely try to not make out that unproven rumours are anything other than that. I suspect I make far more of an attempt in that respect than you, considering the level of times you strike me as doing it - apart from when they contradict what you have chosen to believe.

You appear to be suggesting that my idea based on rumours I've heard that Arsenal would rather sell to Bayern than a domestic rival is meaningless because he's still an Arsenal player, but then you go on to say they would despite the Gnabry issue because it would be in their best issues. Why not play it both ways? Oh sorry, you already are. I thought I said clearly that I've heard Arsenal would rather sell to Bayern than another English club, but it was only hearsay (or whatever words I used to make that point because it wasn't hearsay). I stand by it, and it appears logical, as you yourself now seem to think it's probably true. If you want to see an example of irony, try looking at your own posts on this. After all the fuss you've made about Bayern, you now seem to be saying that they bent rather than broke the rules. That's why I've said you were or are making too much of something fairly minor. If it happened it doesn't matter that much. as Gnabry presumably wanted to get away and you reckon it cost Arsenal a million quid, or was it Euros? Big deal. I simply don't think it deserved the reaction it got from you about Bayern. I won't call your reaction hysterical, just way over the top.

Perhaps you shouldn't have tried to claim it was to damage Dortmund's chances against Real Madrid then, which is what you did say. Whatever Dortmund's record at the time against Bayern was, and that season Dortmund hadn't beaten Bayern in the Bundesliga, I still cannot accept Bayern did it to increase their chances of facing Real Madrid in the final.

I was away for some holidays so did not look at the internet. Thanks to OMOH and Lom for that wonderful feedback regarding 'top top players incoming'. Lost the impetus to bother arguing it now because obviously I am correct in my views.

OMOH I agree with your views on Ospina in the Cup final. Čech made more than a few mistakes this year and to me looks like he his age is catching up as he is just that split second slower at reaction time. I back Wenger on Ospina in the cup final. He was obviously promised the cup games. It is not Ospinas fault the EPL challenge faded and it should not be presumed that Čech should fill in for the final.

I went to Melbourne to watch Brazil v Argentina. I was impressed by Messi as he just glides around the field.

Good luck to you Brits with negotiating a good deal in the Britexit after the election result. Do pollies not get it that going to the polls early to satisfy their personal ego does not go down well with the electors?

OH before I go what has Wenger done about signing those top top players. Have we had anyone confirm that we bid 150mil for Mbappe or was just that a dream. In case you are wondering WENGER OUT.

We know everything you say and think. There is no privacy. welcome to the way most pollies would like it.

If anyone's not watching the new season of house of cards I recommend it. Spacey is excellent as usual but it seems to be raising the point i said on here the other day which is that we are getting the governments in which we deserve. Moan about trump, the tories, climate change denial etc but we choose these people and give them power. Spacey raises this in an excellent monologue.

Worth a watch

I know we may end up 5th or worse next season but as a football fan I'm anxiously anticipating the upcoming season. It may be the most competitive I've ever seen since I started watching the league. I've never seen more than 3 clubs who could win the title. Back in '99/'00 Man Utd, Arsenal and Leeds. '02, Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool. Since Roman and City arrived it was either of those two or Man Utd. Yeah, us and Liverpool flattered a few times but generally it was no more than 3 clubs.

This season. Chelsea, Tottenaham, City for sure, Liverpool, Man Utd could challenge. We round that out. Week to week all the clubs will have to keep pace. Any prolonged slump and you are out. Mourinho will spend big this summer. No doubt about that. The real questions are going to be us and Liverpool. The others have a squad that doesn't need much tinkering. Klopp has to come good. I got a feeling if he doesn't start looking like he can win things the Anfield faithful will start asking questions.

What a wind up that was on Arsenal Twitter earlier, said Arsenal were signing Cent Turan from Beksitas, even quoted Sky Sports news and John Cross, now been removed!

Superb series. I thought it was how one would imagine a Trump Presidency. So many dodgy dealing going on in background, is this too far from the truth?