a sensible post at last. I'd say yes but the price would be important.

With Ribery and Robben so old now, I'll be surprised if Bayern don't go for him.

Would AW go for him and maybe the midfielder others previously mentioned in a deal for Sanchez? Mind you they're reported as having offered 35 million so maybe it's Sanchez's wage demands that is putting them off bidding more?

Surprised Bayern didn't go for him when he left shalke and when he left Wolfsburg. Exciting young player and scores goals unlike so many wide men who just chip in 4-5 goals a year. PSG will want their money back as a minimum and I'd hand them £30m immediately for him.

Carvalho West Ham offer rejected. He has a £40k buy out clause.

AW has gone after him before, at 25 must be worth a punt?

But do we need another DM surely we need to replace Santi Cazorla. Alternatively a world class CB or a winger but not a DM?

I would bite psg hands off if we could get draxler and rabiot for sanchez.
They are clearly looking to offload after their massive outlay on neymar and we should be driving this deal to make sure we come out on top.
If sanchez doesnt want to stay then surely rather than cash we should be looking to get 2 quality young players in return.
Draxler seems to be surplus to requirements. We should be in there sniffing around and offering sanchez but only if we get those 2 in return.
18m for matuidi as well. Absolute no brainer!

Interesting that Draxler is so quickly surplus to requirements. He was quite a popular choice just couple seasons back. Wenger should go get him. I believe the German connection at Arsenal, including Lehmann, should tempt him towards Arsenal. That is if Wenger would go for him.

The thing is Wenger wanted to make him a striker and I think long term he's better at striker but that wouldn't serve our needs. We can find better wingers. Lemar is a better winger. Draxler has size and pace and that is always a good asset in the EPL. Lastly, we need other positions filled like defense, maybe a playmaker like Santi as well (although that's what Özil should be doing).

I like his potential, always have. Also what wouild be the fee? At least recovery of their 30 mil.

Thought the same Rich on both parts of it. Man City with more money than sense.

There never seemed to be a specific system and reason for City. No plan for the most part. I love seeing that blatant buying of the game fail. I have always hated Man Utd more but now not sure which one I despise more. Historically Man Utd or the incarnation of City becoming a disgusting money pit.

Rabiot and Draxler fit the profile of player we should be looking at perfectly.
For years we had an experience imbalance in the squad, that has been addressed albeit we are still sometimes accused of lacking leadership.
For the long term prosperity of the club these talented 21-23 year olds in exchange for a player who doesn't want to be with us and is set to leave for nothing next year is the right aim.
I don't like the idea of taking a step back (and it's hard to see how losing Sanchez would be anything but a step back) but if it meant we could take two steps forward over the next 18 months then we should do it.

Morning Rich,

I don't see anything happening now apart from a couple of sales.

It would be very difficult to prise any top players away from their clubs with such little time for the selling clubs to find replacements.

PSG might be looking to offload a few but I suspect we will not be quick enough off the mark as per usual. I can't seem them offering both Draxler and Rabiot for Alexis.

People always talk about the hectic last few days of the transfer window but it always seems a bit of a damp squib.

Some rumours linking Mustafe with Inter. Bit of a strange one. Swap for Kondogbia anyone?

What's your evidence that "Wenger wanted to make him a striker"? I know you wanted him to be turned into a striker, but did Wenger ever say that's what he would have done if we signed Draxler? Perhaps you wanting something automatically means Wenger thinks the same way.

Also, what makes you think Lemar is a better wide player than Draxler? Myself, if Sanchez leaves, and I think he should this summer because it's very likely he will otherwise have to be replaced in a year with no income having been received via a transfer fee for him, then I would have thought that Draxler fits our needs very well.

He seems happy to play for any team - As long as it's not Arsenal ...

Arsenal striker Alexis Sanchez INCLUDED in Chile squad for World Cup qualifiers... despite missing Premier League opener with injury

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4801148/Arsenal-striker-Alexis-Sanchez-INCLUDED-Chile-squad.html

The Telegraph had a go at mapping the support of all the Premier League clubs.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk.football/201 ... s-support/

Link doesn't work Bernard

Just tried it and you're right, it doesn't. Sorry.

Try this one instead.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/201 ... s-support/

EDIT: Yes, it appears to be working now.

I see Bruce Forsyth has passed away. Did Ramsey score a hat-trick in training I wonder?

He was an Arsenal fan, despite coming from Edmonton which is predominantly a Tottenham area. Having said that, he has been described as a fan of both clubs but my dad used to go to a restaurant where he went, and the restaurant's owner who my dad knew quite well told my dad that Arsenal was Bruce Forsyth's main affinity in football.

RIP Brucie.

Arsenal was a popular club for that generation of show business and sports people. Highbury was far ahead of its London rivals as a place to go to watch football in relative comfort, especially in the VIP areas. I think they were rather generous with the refreshments too.

Gabriel Paulista departs



Arsenal have sold 26-year old Brazilian defender Gabriel Paulista to Valencia for a £10m initial fee.
He becomes player number 7 to leave the club this season, taking Arsenal's net spend to -£23.4m so far.

Disappointing seeing how well he played in a back three at the end of last season. Can't remember the game but he could easily have been my MOM.

I hope Wenger is selling the fringe players as quickly as he can, in order to make that one big marquee purchase before the window closes. Who he is, I have no idea. Just speculating and hoping.

Sebastian Frey

I think it is always interesting to hear other managers of top teams continually saying how they need to make additions to improve the squad. Poch today saying they would always try to make 3-4 signings every year to keep pushing to improve.
Wenger has the opposite view and must still be dining out on the invincible season when he just signed Lehman only. He still believes that too many signings ruin the equilibrium of the squad.

Kolasinac is a strong, fit guy but for me Vieira is the strongest, despite what Wenger says. Paddy's own teammates were scared of him..lol

Prediction time. 2-1 to us. Booking for Xhaka. They finish with 10 men.

I am afraid I have no idea why we are selling Paulista. Is he ideal no but he had a pretty good end to last year. I am hoping we will bring in a quality player. Kos and Mert are week to week propositions IMO. We will only know over the next couple of weeks if Holding is good enough or just another Wenger false dawn. Chambers was being touted as the greatest thing since sliced bread after 2 months and then he hit a red line.

Monreal, Mert and Kos are all over 30yo. Interesting times.

He's 26 and essentially 5th or 6th in the pecking order at this point. I can imagine him wanting to leave for regular football.

The Coutinho situation is interesting, £114m is a ridiculous amount of money. Liverpool could buy 3 x £40m players (each individually more than their record spend) - but how far does that go in today's market? And they would only have 2 weeks left to spend it. On the other hand Coutinho has handed in a transfer request - not many players wanting a move away actually hand in a formal transfer request.

Clubs have to be smarter in the market, extract better value. £118m for Liverpool could be wiped out buying Siggurdson, Sanchez (the new spurs CB), Harry McGuire and Jack Cork. It isn't hugely inspiring is it?

Clubs see an English team and bump the price up but I think there are still good deals to be had out there.

Tielmans going to Monaco for £20m, fantastic Belgian CM prospect. Coman to Bayern for £18m, Matuidi to Juve for £18m, Ricardo Rodriguez to Milan for £13m, Pablo Fornals to Villereal for £10m, Szczesny to Juve for £10m!!, Sandro to Everton for £5m.

Some of these are young and unproven but for the sums they are worth the risk

According to the BBC only(!) £80m of that was guaranteed and the rest dependent on winning 'multiple trophies' and the Ballon d'Or.

We also mustn't fall into the mindset that he was Beckenbauer reinvented. He was alright, and I've seen a lot who were worse but also seen a lot who were better. He was okay as a squad backup, having some decent games mixed in with some poor games. I think we'd have to have an extraordinary injury crisis with defenders for us to miss him too much or deeply regret his departure.

http://www.football365.com/news/merson- ... reth-barry
Oh dear Paul Merson

I disagree that he is number 5 or 6. At the moment there is nothing that seperates him from the unproven Holding. He is a long way ahead of Chambers. As I already pointed out Kos and Mert are unreliable with their injury situation.

Just seen Mickey Thomas while he was out jogging. Could not resist shouting "it's up for grabs"

No tragic loss in my book ...... 12 mill a reasonable price . and who was it said Chambers was the greatest ....probably you

Can't be arsed staying up for the Wallabies All Blacks I'll celebrate the win tomorrow ......... hopefully

Does he still live up your way then?

Lives in a place called Heswall. Fortunately to save my embarrassment he was jogging with headphones on. This is the second time in the last sixth months I have seen him jogging the same route. Last time I had a chat with him and thanked him for May 1989