As much as I would really like Mbappe, I can't help but think with that sort of fee 110+ we could also get 3 great players to strengthen the team.

So.............are we going to make a massive statement in this transfer window or will it be a case of what ifs and missed opportunities ?

Not trying to add any fuel to the flames of the Bayern controversy as I am fairly indifferent to them but I thought you might like this, Bernard.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40348557

You and a number of others have some difficulty understanding that all they need to do is see out their contract. It is a 'çontract' - that is an agreement of minds at the time it was entered into. Because the club might want to ask them to enter a new contract does not mean they have to sign it. They are not holding anyone to ransome. They can take less pay for another year and then chose who employs them. This is a basic human right.

The uncomfortable fact is that then the club gets nothing for them. So it is the club who has the problem and want to make money out of them by selling before their contract ends..

Will the Ox, Özil or Sanchez put in less effort if they do not extend. It is WC year - they will all give 100% to ensure they get to go to the WC. I back all of them to put in a greater work effort than Theo has ever done or some of the other passengers we have at the club.

Interesting to hear the alleged quotes from Mbappe's family/advisor - basically saying Mbappe has a choice whether to go to a super club or to an intermediate club (presumably to get more playing time and then move to the super club). Reading between the lines - if we manage to be that intermediate club I wouldn't mind at all! 4 years of Mbappe and then sell him to Real Madrid for a profit.

I think he'll still go straight to Madrid and they may loan him back to Monaco for another season

Rumours of us buying likes of Kjaer and Onyekuru are more likely to happen.

Guys, just want to plug my new book "The Little book of Hoy".

Essentially it's a guide to mild-manneredness tm and how even when you think catastrophe is staring you in the face it's time to just let things crinkle out, whittle yourself a kipper, and maybe hum The Surrey with the fringe on top while musing over that wonderful double-winning Tottenham side and just take things sunny-side up because in the end it don't add up to a whole hill of beans in this crazy world of ours.

What will be will be, all in good time, the time to cut a stick is when you've considered it for a while, somebody will come along to make the old onion bag bulge again, keep them doggies moving etc.

The manage may move. He may not move. And that's fine because tectonic shifts do not happen overnight.

Its a bit like Brexit. All this caterwauling from fancy-dan experts about shafting the economy and unleashing xenophobia yet I think they'll be sneering on the other side of their metro-faces when we unveil the big bilateral bad boy of a new trade deal with St Vincent and the Grenadines.

So read my book for an introduction to fun relaxing games like "Tweak the Bern" and "D'ye ken Ted Drake?' as well as songs to sing with the family round the old Joanna like "My Sanchez lies over the Penines" and "Bobby Pires went to sea"

Now turn off that hosepipe don't you know there's a heatwave on!!!

As much as I would really like Mbappe, I can't help but think with that sort of fee 110+ we could also get 3 great players to strengthen the team.

I was shocked to find out post Grenfall, that Britain has 5m experts in Cladding.

IMO, the news had all been nothing more but media made up hype, or, Arsenal/Arsene is simply posturing and bluffing. They know Mbappe would not come to Arsenal.

So.............are we going to make a massive statement in this transfer window or will it be a case of what ifs and missed opportunities?

Answers on a postcard please.

Waiting to see whether Alexis and or Özil sign

I'd be doing cartwheels if mbappe came to us, chances are incredibly slim so I won't get my hopes up. Also £110m sounds like most of if not all our budget so I can completely get on board with the idea of spreading that £110m around 3 players. For example, Aubamayang's price has been set at £63m. Then another couple of £25m players (who would still both be in our top 6-7 most expensive signings of all time, completes a more rounded squad. The key with it all is retaining Sanchez, Özil and to a lesser extent ox (although I've seen figures of £40m banded about for him)
Keep everyone we want to keep, cut the deadwood and get a new striker and new santi and some competition for Bellerin and the squad is ok. Then we've just got to worry about tactics and coaching!

Morning Soc
Whole situation is ridiculous. Why say you want to keep a player and want to make him the future of the club before the cup final then don't even offer him a new contract to the point where he has a year left in reference to Oxlade Chamberlain. If I was him I'd be proper p***** off. Its like say one thing or do another.
Getting sick and tired of this Özil and Sanchez saga. Don't let them hold us to ransom. If they wont stay then sell them. That 80 to 90 million can further go to strengthening the squad. They are not bigger than the club. Cant afford to let whole saga drag on at the whim of these 2.
We just seem to come across as so amateur sometimes.

Wasn't it other people (media, anti-Wenger supporters) making his contract a distraction? I can't recall him or the club making it a big issue. Between them they surely knew all along he would sign a new one. It must have been what the club and he wanted, otherwise he would be gone. The media and the anti brigade whipped up a storm in a tea cup.

Come on OMOH you're implying that a bloke who earns 8 million a year doesn't have time to hire a lawyer to advise/negotiate a contract on his behalf?. If Arsenal had offered then it could and should have been sorted out 6 months ago. Might as well, the rest of the team were on their mid season holiday so he could have taken a break along with them and negotiated then.

Germany v Chili on ITV4 Now
...

Got an annoying ache in my wrist

Come on OMOH you're implying that a bloke who earns 8 million a year doesn't have time to hire a lawyer to advise/negotiate a contract on his behalf?. If Arsenal had offered then it could and should have been sorted out 6 months ago. Might as well, the rest of the team were on their mid season holiday so he could have taken a break along with them and negotiated then.

My point is that it was only the minority anti-Wenger lot,

Actually I thought I was implying the opposite! That signing a new contract was always on the cards and so was not really an issue. Short of a relegation disaster or some serious wrong doing by the manager, it was surely always going to happen? Arsenaal FC clearly rate Arsene Wenger highly and want him to stay. My point is that it was only the minority anti-Wenger lot, spurred on by a story-seeking media who ever thought any different. It was a non-story in the end, but I suppose it kept a few pilots in work for a little while.

A majority who care want the fraud out.
Problem = the thousands of worthless old farts who are subsidising this has-been.
You should do the real fans a favor and kill yourselves.

Being you didn't qualify your comment with 'apparently', what's your evidence that the Arsenal fans wanting Wenger out was a minority? Just reading comments on social media sites didn't strike me that a majority of Arsenal fans wanted him to stay, although I'd accept fans of bigger other clubs generally want him to stay in order to make Arsenal less competitive against their own. I'm not sure why the membership of the AST wouldn't be generally representative of Arsenal fans as a whole? 78% wanted him out, 15% wanted him to stay, and 7% couldn't make their minds up one way or the other.

...I suspect that had we lost the FA cup in embarassing fashion it would have been hard for Wenger to stay.

A majority who care want the fraud out.
Problem = the thousands of worthless old farts who are subsidising this has-been.
You should do the real fans a favor and kill yourselves.

But we didn't. Much to the annoyance of some 'fans' of course. How dare he bring his players to Wembley in the right condition to play the league champions off the park. Did he not read the script, silly old fart?

Storm in a cup for cha in my view.

Actually I thought I was implying the opposite! That signing a new contract was always on the cards and so was not really an issue. Short of a relegation disaster or some serious wrong doing by the manager, it was surely always going to happen? Arsenaal FC clearly rate Arsene Wenger highly and want him to stay. My point is that it was only the minority anti-Wenger lot, spurred on by a story-seeking media who ever thought any different. It was a non-story in the end, but I suppose it kept a few pilots in work for a little while.

A majority who care want the fraud out.
Problem = the thousands of worthless old farts who are subsidising this has-been.
You should do the real fans a favor and kill yourselves.

But we didn't. Much to the annoyance of some 'fans' of course. How dare he bring his players to Wembley in the right condition to play the league champions off the park. Did he not read the script, silly old fart?

I see we are now being quite strongly linked with Lacazette. His goal record in France is very impressive but I still don't get the bit where he's not a nailed on starter for France, not even in the squad sometimes.

Could it just be tht he isn't better than Antoine Griezmann?

I was one of the many who absolutely loved the Wembley performance and most certainly did not want us to lose beforehand, so don't tar me with that brush.

However, I do think that it partially papered over the cracks of what had been a very poor season littered with some very poor and embarassing performances. It gave the club just enough wriggle room to announce Wenger staying without a huge outcry from fans.