I.missed that. Switched off straight away as I couldn't take anymore. You are right. It was definite penalty.

Patrick Kluivert's son Justin is not too shabby for an 18 yo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRAzIlLiJu8

Alexis Sanchez edges closer to £50m Arsenal exit after agreeing terms with Manchester City

http://metro.co.uk/2017/07/08/alexis-sanchez-edges-closer-to-50m-arsenal-exit-after-agreeing-terms-with-manchester-city-6764703/

If Lukaku is worth £75m then surely Sanchez is worth more than that.

Should Wenger/Arsenal hold out for more?

Lukaku's four years younger, which will come into the equation. Having said that, Sanchez can control the ball which also comes into the equation.

If we get £50m for Sanchez, I don't think it's a bad price for a 28 year old who's only twelve months from a Bosman. I wonder if most big clubs would rather wait a season to get him for nothing. City are an exception because they're so stinking rich. By the way, on that very issue what happened to FFP? Looks like I was right when years ago I said it wouldn't have a material impact when many were hopeful about its long-term effects.

£50m now or nothing next summer? Too risky to delay. There is only one way to go - and I say Geronimo.

Yes, if it comes off not a bad deal at all in the circumstances. We can't force him to sign a new contract, and the rumoured 400k a week to get him to do so is obscene, so we let him go and make about £18m profit. His replacement Lacazette is a younger, quicker guy, who scores a goal roughly every other game. Seems good to me.

We're the City feeder club now. Nasri, Clichy, Adebayor? Wasn't sure if he went there first, he's been everywhere.

We should get money and a player. If not Aguero, then perhaps another player from a position we could stand to
strengthen.

yeah Dec ... I did as you rightly say very underwhelming ... a huge damp sqib of a series . refereeing decisions off the wall . The penalty to hand you guys the second test , the non penalty last night but that is no excuse ; we played very very poorly .
The amount of idiot flat passes thrown so our player collected the ball and two Lions at the same time was amazing .

Gidday Daz , totally agree on all counts ... our idiot commentators were saying what an exciting series .... really I thought it was f**&^ awful .
We made so many collective errors , a lack of brain cells was evident , the sending off , too much aimless kicking .

Last I couldn't help reflecting the loss of Carter , Mc Caw , Nonu and Conrad Smith all at the same time has finally come back to haunt us .

It went out the window when UEFA allowed both City and PSG to basically get sponsored by their owners, PSG's commercial revenue is up there with United and Real Madrid, when they have a fan base of probably one twentieth the size but apparently that is normal..

Anyway if it had gone to court the lawyers would have tied UEFA up in knots in fairness, this is why I said all along the self sustaining model was flawed in the modern game, Usmanov all the way!.

The whole " will he wont he " drama is similar to watching the same episode of Coronation St fifty times .

... just please f***^ off you greedy little Chilean egg , and take your llama , vicuna and guanacos with you .

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/ ... z-10761010 .....30 million more here

Now that we know its not working, what does the club do to compete in this kind of environment?

When you ask what 'does' the club do, the answer for some or even many probably depends on whether you mean what 'will' the club do or what 'should' it do? I suspect loads of fans would suggest different options for either. If you mean 'will', so what one expects to occur, my guess would be nothing very different to what's happening at the moment, which a good number of fans will be happy about. If you mean 'should', so changes anyone wants to see, Wilts and others would clearly give an alternative response.

Arsenal demanding £80million from Manchester City to seal Alexis Sanchez transfer

http://metro.co.uk/2017/07/08/arsenal-demanding-80million-from-manchester-city-to-seal-alexis-sanchez-transfer-6765263/

Negotiating ploy. AW will settle for £60m.

He is after all the hottest target in the current transfer market.

I still think he'll make them a worse team........

Asking £80m for a 28 year old with thus a rapidly decreasing resale value over the course of the contract he'll sign has to be a negotiating ploy. I'd be surprised if even City would pay that for a player they could get for nothing (in terms of a transfer fee) next summer.

80 million is a nice number. I'd rather keep him but even if we managed to keep him, I'm a little cool on him. I do sympathize with one of the possible reasons being the squad lacks fight. But at least leave the league instead of going to a direct rival.

80 mil gives us enough time to afford almost anyone.

I'm a huge Game of Thrones fan. The new season starts and on one of the American forums, we were discussing the accents. I was saying how the same family has different British accents .Of course others disagreed, but I'm sure of it. Anyway, one guy who claims to know accents and said he traveled to Britain (I have my doubts), we were tyring to guess this accent. Its Lady Mormont

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9crLAPvJQEo[/youtube]

I think your right, it's quite clear we are going to sell now. I can't imagine him and sterling in the same team, play similar roles.

I think we should sell, having got into this situation with his contract we haven't really got much choice. But I disagree that he'll make them a worse team - he's a world class player on a different level to the likes of Sterling. He'll make them better.

With regards to transfers Wengers comment about only bringing 2 in is clearly wrong. We've got lacazette and clearly want Lemar but if look at the following.

Ox and jack will need to sign new deals now or leave the club
Debuchy is in Leicester this weekend joining them on a free.
Jenkinson is being let go
Giroud looks to be off to Everton.
Chesney and ospina look likely to go?
What's going to happen with chambers?
Gibbs has been left off the tour to find a new club.

So as a bare minimum in addition to the 2 players in Lacazette and lemar I'd expect a new goalkeeper and a player who can cover right back coming in at the very least. I think the ox situation will resolve itself but if it doesn't we will need to also bring in a versatile midfielder.

Don't be surprised if there's another 3 new signings.

along the lines of your first post will Lukaku make Rashford better or Martial?

Will anyone in the man city forwards appreciate the arrival of the child Sanchez?

Are you serious?

The cricket is shaping up interestingly. 331 to win. 50/50?

Lemar also in!

Latest news I've seen news saying we put in a 3rd bid and but the Sun says he will sign. Not sure what the exact news is but it seems we are serious and think we will get him. I like him a lot. A wee bit more than Mahrez as I've noted earlier. A bit more pace and power than Mahrez. But I'd love to have either.

The question is has AW learnt his lesson and is now a new man. Will anything be any different on Friday 11th August?

Will we all be thinking wow what a team or will we all be wondering when we're going to lose our first game and what will then follow?

Interesting times ahead.......................

Really? Like City have been tigers over the last few seasons! Its nothing to do with fight, but all about money. Give him his reputed demand of 400k a week and see how he'll kiss that Arsenal badge.

Paddy Power here, borrowing Bernard's computer. I've just made a note never to employ Decaf as one of my odds-setters.

One things for sure we should be top of the league after we thrash Leicester on the opening day of the season.

I'm unsure how sure it is we'll thrash Leicester. I'd be happy with a one goal win.

Indeed. His wage demands were too much for Bayern. If it was about anything apart from.money he would be with them now.

Me too. In the Premier League the idea that we should thrash anybody is fanciful.

I thought England might need a 400 lead to be certain of the win, but it quite literally turned out easier than that. Although most of the good fortune went to Root's team, South Africa were well short. And they weren't even playing with ze handbrake on.

City probably need him more than we do, so maybe they will cough up the appalling salary and a juicy transfer fee. I hope so anyway.

Alrighty then....

Stick to the dominoes in the church hall , high stakes poker is never going to be your forte .

I reckon there is a bit of wriggle room , they haven't quite got us over the barrel .

Talks stall and we have Sanchez for another year not ideal ; but Citee with the biggest budget in the world are also going nowhere if they don't strengthen so their need to buy is on a par with our need to offload .

They offer 50 ...we say 80 ...and settle for 58 .... think of it with that extra 8 million we can search for a replacement for Sanogo .

Yes, for 8 mil we could even get the young French midfield maestro, Ouesta Monet.