Funny to see Arsenal try to get to Palace’s valuation of £80m for Zaha by offering £40m plus Chambers, Jenkinson and Elneny.
When you see prices for some players then those 4 could be worth £40m but the key will be their wages and the fact that there seems to be little interest in them.

The playing staff needs such a huge overhaul but yet we simply can’t shift any dud off our books without basically letting them go for free. I thought it would take 2-3 windows to properly overhaul the squad but it is looking like it will take 5-6 transfer windows with the success rate so far, and that will probably mean these players running down deals……again.

Arsenal made a rule for players with 2 years left on their deal to either offer a new deal or sell them, the only exception being players of a certain age nearing retirement. All sounds very sensible. Players with contracts up in 2 years are: Aubamayang, Özil, Mustafi, Mkhitaryan, Sokratis

Would you sell Aubamayang for £75m if it guaranteed we picked up £60m for Özil, Mustafi and Mkhitaryan and shifted them off the books?

I will take Kos' disrespect and tired 34 year old legs over Mustafi.

That's how low I rate Mustafi.

Pretty unsettling, isn't it? Oh well, that is the way Arsenal will be for a while now

Captain? Was he ever one?

Well I certainly didn’t see that Kos situation coming. Nothing that happens at our club inspires any confidence now.

Please don’t take what I’m saying as meaning I rate Mustafi highly. I don’t at all. All I’m saying is that at this point in Koscielny’s career, I would rather have Mustafi in the team than him. Koscielny is now even worse than him. He conclusively showed that towards the end of last season.

This seems very out of character for Kos. I reckon assurances or promises were made as to allowing him to leave in the summer which have been reneged on. Not that we should allow a player under contract to just walk out. I would still take him over Mustafi any day of the week Mustafi is supposedly at his peak and is dreadful. However I don’t think this changes things that much. We needed a CB and we still need a CB as most of us had assumed one of our CBs would be leaving.

Probably not, seeing that it’s very doubtful Stan would let us spend the money on new players.

Hi Darren.

I agree, very odd. Kos has always seemed a model professional.

Something must have gone on for him to behave this way.

No Amaechi on the tour. The player was already considering his future and has admirers elsewhere, great talent and more talented than some on the tour. Could risk losing him now

Why is Xavier Amaechi not on the US trip?

I thought he was one of our best prospects.

Edit. Sorry Rich, didn't see your post.

Got to love the way everyone seem to default to blaming the club for everything;
If we had just allowed Kos to leave for nothing, the same people who are blaming the club for not allowing it would be saying "we are always too soft, club A got £XM for player Y".
And just because Xavier isn't on the tour, he has suddenly become our best prospect......

None of these has anything to do with our real problem at the club.......our owner.

That's a little unfair Hodd, isn't Amaechi widely regarded as one of our best prospects? No one said the best.. And wasn't he linked with the likes of Bayern recently?

I think people are more concerned about the underlying reason for Kos's refusal to travel than the monetary aspect. It seems most unlike him.

Complaining about our owner is akin to complaining about the fog and rain in London. We are stuck with it. There are only two things that I can see with the ownership changing: 1. There is a complete supporter boycott on all fronts and 2. His financial situations becomes so bad he has to sell.

Thank you Dein.

Oh please

It’s money, he’s had a huge 3 year contract offered on the assumption he was going on a free that assumption was incorrect.

He’s paid a life changing amount of money every week to simply play football and now he doesn’t want any to because he’s had a slightly better offer

Laurent Kosielny is a multi millionaire because of arsenal football club, period

Anybody watching the cricket? Comprehensive arse kicking being handed out by England

If anybody offers £10m send him on his way, otherwise let him do his garden for a year.

Exactly.

It was Fiszman who made him the majority shareholder.

Your completely off your pickle aren’t you.

Totally schizophrenic. Reference tea and bowler hat too btw maybe a beefeater or 2

Hi Gaz from Oz -

https://untold-arsenal.com/archives/76032

That's an interesting way of looking at the Kos situation.

Let's see how this plays out.

The Kos "situation" is all about money though, that's the point. He's had a financially appealing offer, but it relies on him getting released from the last year of his contract.
He's been a model professional at the club and he, his agent and the club they have been talking to are relying on the type of response we are seeing to try force the club's hand.
If Arsenal had behaved in this manner, we know what would be being posted here.....
On Xavier, he is a great talent, but "more worthy of being on the tour than some who've gone"? based on what evidence? (And I know that wasn't your comment).

There’s literally no point in the comparison. That Turkish club summed up Mustafi’s plus points by saying that he’s got two legs. The fact he can’t stay on them or coordinate them means I never want to see him turn out for us again.

I see Holding is in the USA squad, is he back from injury?

At their peaks, there was no comparison. But Koscielny is so bad now I’d probably rather have Mustafi in the team. I’d rather have neither turn out for us again. But I think Koscielny is now even worse.

Fair point on Kos.

Do you think Amaechi should have gone on tour then? If we want to keep him it seems an odd way to go about it considering many of his counterparts are off to the US.

Interesting.

https://le-grove.co.uk/2019/07/11/arsen ... get-worse/

On Amaechi that was my comment, obviously it was slightly throwaway and not based on me watching 200 youth team games but based on the reports and reviews of people who do watch these games. Amaechi is meant to be one of our top talents, as Soc said, he’s been linked with Bayern, there are some on the tour who certainly haven’t been chased by big clubs. I’ve just heard a lot from level headed Srsenal writers who would be very frustrated if we lost him and that there was a cross roads with the contract and by him not going on the tour it could have been the tipping point for him not seeing a possibility to break through.

I mean if any young player is looking at the current quality of the first team squad and our lack of budget and still doesn’t think they can break through that certainly says a lot about something

For all the wrong reasons yes, hopefully KSE's asset value is affected badly by the desmise of AFC, then the parasites might bugger off.

Doubtful though, they will just drag the club down into the gutter.

I told you so.

Ran into the guy who writes this blog at a friendly in Barnet a few years back when he was taking snaps for his blogs (when they were all the rage)

Seemed a prick

His blogs would also suggest he’s a prick

..l remember Harlow stating he wanted to bash him because of his articles.

He works in media or marketing or something. Yeah I think he could be a prick

Vaguely recall sone of that. Yet still this piece not too far fetched actually.

Bought a new house today and my mum without seeing it phoned up to say it was a mistake and that we also needed to move our kids out of their school because of an ofsted report that wasn’t perfect.

You really can’t pick your family can you, aren’t they supposed to support you.

Read Kos considering buying out his contract to get his return back to France.

Has anyone heard a rumour about which French club it is that he wants to join? It’s probably me missing it, but I’ve not seen one mentioned.

It’s apparently Bordeaux

I read the article on the BBC website about it and there was a part were Ornstein said Emery and Kosielny had an argument and then Raul Sanelhi sent him a text saying he was in breach of contract.

Despite supporting Emery it just didn’t seem to read very arsenal ish in the process. We were always super professional, It sounds like Kosielny is bang out of order but we have no strength or savvy anymore. No Dein, even Gazidis would be better than our current lot.

I don’t blame him wanting to go then. Bordeaux is my favourite place in the world. Go there as often as possible.

Word on the street is that he was talking about leaving, and the contract we offered is partly appearance based. He, knowing that with the intensity of the EPL, he could do his calf again, is rather more attracted to a guaranteed 3 years in ligue un closer to home and in a league he can survive in more easily. Easy to see his point of view, but equally it shows how strong his feelings were last year when he talked about leaving at the same time as wenger - which had it not been for his injury, he may have done.

Can't help to see how far the club has slipped over the last few seasons.

Has taken Arsenal off his instagram apparently.

Very talented lad, but has had smoke blown up his arse by agents and overseas interest. For an 18 year old to be sulking because he wasn't on the bench for the Europa League final after half a season being injured in madness. The problem is, they've all seen Sancho and think they can be the next big thing in Germany. Forgetting of course that Sancho was an astounding talent that many thought Pep should have given game time to, who was comfortably the star at every age group for England.

Really ? I’ve never been. Must get there

I know their wine is excellent !

I take it you are talking about the cricket. I didn’t see any of the game because my wife was watching the tour de France. I may have mentioned it recently but I am pretty disconnected from cricket as the characters & players grit with me a fair bit. The fact Dave Warner was allowed to play for Australia again is a disgrace.