Morning Rich. I accept your point about new signings offering excitement to fans. They also offer hope that they will bring improvement. But I'm perhaps being over-cynical, but regardless of that I simply can't stop myself from viewing new signings with suspicion.

First, might not Wenger be able to use new signings that he is improving things, at least potentially? Moreover, could he use that to convince Kroenke he should get another contract so he can work towards the realisation of his changed side's potential? I honestly think Wenger is selfish enough to use the pontential of new players (the new signings) to do that.

Secondly, any new signings will eat into the transfer budget available to a new manager if we're lucky enough for Wenger to go. Do we really want that? A budget which, with the money to be lost over Sanchez and Özil, might not be particularly generous. Surely a new manger wouldn't want to have his transfer budget spent by Wenger, nor would he want the new signings chosen by Wenger?

Fanciful rumour that Rakotic may be surplus to requirements now Barca have Coutinho, he would be a great signing for us.

But is Coutinho not a Neymar replacement? Or was that dembele. Either way, if Rakatic becomes available he nailed on goes to Utd City or Chelsea.

The news is Wenger is keeping the Greek lad we signed rather than sending him out on loan. Good defensive cover and promising, I guess, that he’s impressed that much in training that he’s staying but still, he’s just signed and he’s 20. We’ve now got three young CB’s with potential and Mert retiring, Kos heading towards a Santi Achilles injury and Mustafi half-way out of the door last summer. You’d think we’d need to sign someone a bit more established there in the summer. Hands up who thinks we will..

A year ago I would probably have been more pessimistic, but now I actually wouldn’t rule it out. Even if Wenger does stay, there seems to be a bit of a power shift going on with regards to transfers. Wenger commented on how he first wanted to loan Mavropanos somewhere, but the first signs were so encouraging that he now wants to keep him until May – it’s clearly a player Wenger wasn’t familiar with at all, and how many Arsenal players have we been able to say that about in the last 20 years?

As long as we're doing rumours: Telegraph are reporting Everton are willing to pay £20m for Walcott, and according to Guardian Man Utd have bid £25m for Sanchez and are willing to include Mkhitaryan in the deal.

If we sold Coq, Theo and Sanchez this window without any replacements I think the team would struggle to win the Europa League and thus qualify for the champions league. The lack of champions league again next season would hamper any new signings. On the flip side, Wenger makes some signings, using up the budget for the next man - or he goes on to win the Europa League and uses it to convince himself that he is still relevant and stays for a while longer.
Do you get much worse to get better? The top table is so competitive that a few season out of the champions league (without limitless money from the owner) could lead to a stagnant team for a long time even with a new manager.
Catch 22 for Arsenal fans

Good joke Goonie. A 10/10 joke. Already a candidate for Best Joke for 2018!

We need a new manager more urgently than any other

If Wenger had a proper quality squad - and I mean quality- then I would be OK with him having a go with it. So, a batch of new quality players throughout the team would be enough for me to get excited again.

The first series of True Detective beats The Wire or even the Sopranos in quality



.. erm that's it.

Mkhitaryan + Malcolm + £25m for Sanchez. Hell yeah!

But Niall, Wenger is the man responsible for bringing this quality in and then managing it. He is no longer capable of doing either.

He has to go before we can move on and become contenders again. He has become bigger than the club, which I suspect is just the way he likes it.

It's absolutely what's needed. Yesterday had that same feeling of a bare wafer thin side that got beat by 8-2 at United before our trolley dash that year year. Maybe we could get Benayoun on loan.

I will probably always be hopeful whenever we sign a new player, but I no longer believe Wenger is capable of creating a title challenging team. Even if he did the highly unlikely thing and splashed the cash on some great players, I just don't think he would set them up in the most efficient way. I think it was Squillaci who said that its difficult being a defender in a Wenger team because you are left exposed by his attacking philosophy.

Iff they give us back David Herd it's a deal.

The Frenchman was placed in the press box, surrounded by assorted journalists, throughout the Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg stalemate.

The game was a low-key affair, characterised by more missed chances for Chelsea, as in their 2-2 Premier League draw earlier this month.

Morata was once more guilty of missing opportunities, but Wenger was more eager to point out his propensity for winning cheap free-kicks.

Sami Mokbel of the Daily Mail provided an insight into Wenger’s thoughts and actions throughout the match, and says the manager was overheard swearing at the Spaniard in the second half.

“Every time he [Alvaro Morata] goes down it’s a f***ing free-kick,” he is claimed to have said.

http://www.football365.com/news/wenger- ... -a-fing-fk

Francis Coquelin departs

Arsenal have sold 26-year old French midfielder Francis Coquelin to Valencia for a £12.4m initial fee.
He becomes player number 13 to leave the club this season, taking Arsenal's net spend to £34.9m so far.

Don't worry Tom, he'd have to buy at least 10 players so it ain't gonna happen.

Perhaps, I see and agree with your chain of reasoning, but what seems more likely is the players that come in are offset by better players leaving and we carry on from where we left off quality wise. Which has been the story of our transfers, more or less, for the last 10 years.

I don’t doubt the desire to bring in the quality the club needs, but I suspect that we might be beaten by the market again. And I’m not sure what the strategy is although, as you say, it seems like that has changed with different people in charge.

But I couldn’t tell you really what it was before, the Mbappe and Lemar stuff was just so bizarre. 180m potential spend!! And when that’s thwarted “Ok, a transfer profit that’ll do!”

But I’m with Niall, win the Europa cup (not a given) and exciting squad building and I’m gearing up to look forward to Arsene’s farewell season.

Sorry but while not impossible, I think it's highly unlikely we'll win the Europa League under Wenger, a manager who has never won a European trophy.

Should that be a net spend of negative £34.9m so far this season?

Arshavin was fabulously gifted but taking into account what he cost was in my view one of Wenger's worst two signings for Arsenal. I accept he started very well and played a big part in getting us into the top four his first season after arriving in January. Maybe that's what you're thinking of for this year. But remember, after that things went seriously downhill with Arshavin and I think the only other real candidate for his worst signing was Jeffers.

I don't know if you're thinking of Mkhitaryan but unfortunately if Wenger does sign him I can see things going the same way as it went with Arshavin.

Interesting who the forum thinks is wengers worst ever signing?
You’d have to weight up the cost, wages, performances, expectation v reality. It’s tough.

For example I had great expectations when we signed Baptista, albeit on loan, I thought he was exactly what we needed, pace, power, goals. Such a disappointment - but then it was a one year loan so very little damage done.

Lots of the disasters have been quite cheap. Silvestre, park etc.

I wonder where the current squad would rank?

If Sanchez leaves this January we will likely finish outside the top 4. Its as close to a guarantee as you can get. The only way that doesn't happen if he goes is if others step up. Maybe one of the younger players who look so good exceed expectations and have a break out season.

Walcott can go, even if we get a player exchange, a good player, for Sanchez it won't equal his contribution. Perhaps we have no financial choice, either he goes or we lose him for free and if he stays and we end up outside the top 4, very possible if not likely, then its all for nought in keeping him.

David Ornstein is tweeting that arsenal have accepted Sanchez will go in jan. city are at £20m but he thinks somewhere between £25-30m will seal it. Arsenal want the Brazilian Malcolm to replace him. He’s also said saints and Everton are in for Walcott, arsenal will only sell or keep no loan option even though lots of clubs interested in a loan.

I think Wengers worst signing is Granit Xhaka. If you consider his positive qualities but also remember his fee was 35 million quid and what that buys in the market. I mean at the time wanyama was 11 million and Kante was 32 and I would take either of those 2 instead in a heartbeat instead of Xhaka.

He was supposed to fix a pretty major flaw in the team and considering the size of fee, the importance of the role he was due to fill at the time he edges it. Also we won't get a decent chunk of that money back when he inevitably gets moved on.

2nd place goes to Andre Santos who at 7 million quid was a disasterous signing and nowhere near good enough to play for arsenal. A signing that stemmed from pure desperation and panic. The club couldn't have scouted him when we signed him as one look at him would have showed he wasnt good enough. He must have been bought off the back of you tube clips

Further honourable mentions go to Jeffers who came close but showed great form for Everton prior to joining, Chamakh who was free but cost huge wages and we waited for 2 seasons for him to run his contract down at Bordeaux only to find out he was *%^@.

Whilst not being a great signing I can't really count Arshavin because he clearly had talent and if I recall correctly Wenger kept playing him on the left hand side in a 4 4 2 .Wenger's reluctance to play him in his preferred position, as a classic No10 was confusing and never made sense.

Agree on both counts. A couple of minor crap home team calls, but no more than you'd expect in most games on most grounds. He handled a potentially tricky game rather well (though took longer than the last 3 refs vs Chavski this season to work out that Morata is willing to drop to the floor with the merest provocation).

Agreed. Great bounce back games from Chambers and Holding particularly after recent struggles.

Gotta be why Wenger was willing to let le Coq go. Hodd's boy could be a real star for us if he can keep fit and keep the focus and humility he has shown to date.

He just needs to find that confidence and focus he had when breaking into the squad or that he has with Nigeria in those key moments. His ability to break the lines and hold his own physically are both impressive. Also, worth noting that prior to the last 2 matches, he has actually created chances in his previous games, but they have been squandered. The finishing thing is bizarre though...he's capable of brilliant finishing, but is sometimes so poor in those situations. His career could go either way, but I still hope he can suddenly develop a calmness in front of goal as per Cesc or Rambo when they suddenly started scoring.

At £6-7M back in 2010, a few thought he was worth it. Then Fergie got his mitts on him. He's 29. Good for 3 more years maybe somewhere.

.
Here's my New Year wish list ......... For once I'm more eager to see people f*** off than us make new signings because any new signing would soon be programmed to play the same insipid Wengerball .

Have a major clean out Walcott , Sanchez , Bellerin , Özil , Coquelin , Čech , Ospina , Mertesacker , Cazorla , Wilshere

Promote the kids have a mediocre season , finish eighth ...Wenger f****s off ...... doesn't hang on as a scout , manager , director , advisor , tea boy ....... nothing ......and the new season we get a new manager , who makes his own signings , adopts much more direct style , learn to defend cohesively and I can get back to liking Arsenal Football Club .

If Walcott goes I'll be drunk for a week .

Well, he'll never be as bad as Chamakh or as good as Henry, but its worth remembering that Chamakh had the best first 3 1/2 months as an Arsenal striker since Ian Wright, and that Thierry had scored 5 goals by this date in his first season.

Hi Goonie,
That EL is just about all AW has left now to win, unless he makes the Carabao win a possibility. Oh Yeah, good luck with that. 4th place is still a remote chance.

are you kidding in his last couple of years that pasty faced Russian warming up on the sidelines filled me with as much gloom as Walcott does these days .

Not really...because although Wenger's coaching is suspect as hell in certain aspects, and his signings of defensive players uncertain, how many attackers has he actually spend money on and got wrong? We can complain about Chamakh & Bendtner, but they only cost signing on fees, gervinho was a punt who got us our money back, jeffers had glass ankles and a penchent for the marching powder which are both difficult to legislate for, Diawara made us a profit despite being pony....who else has he bought as an attacker that hasn't been very good or from the comparative bargain bucket? (sure I'm missing someone, but the point stands)

It would be rather hard to justify sacking him if he does! Gazidis wants him gone though, so it will be interesting...

At £15m Arshavin wasn't even that expensive by the transfers of the time. By playing a big part in getting us top 4 he repayed his transfer fee immediately. It ended badly, but for a couple of years he was rather good.

Jeffers. Barely played due to injury, only scored a couple of goals of any importance, and then had to be sold at a big loss. In terms of people who actually impacted significantly in the team, probably Kaba Diawara...the guy hit the post about 7 times without scoring, when any of the last 3 going in would have won us the title in '99, stopped Utd winning the treble and probably hastened Fergie's departure....

In more recent years, Silvestre was free so with limited expectations and Park was just too weird to even be bad. Played 3 times, scored one great goal, sold a lot of merchandise.

Wenger perseveres too long with mediocre players, but he seldom spends big bucks on bad ones.