He screws over his own home town and people may wonder why I have always said you don't want him as an owner.

He was never going to stay in St. Louis. The city jumped spent money trying to accommodate his demands, spending a considerable amount of money from a city that is struggling economically. Then he leaves. Knowing he was leaving all along. They could have used that time and resources in attracting a team.

The rise and fall of Ronaldinho. I had a Brazilian coworker years ago and he would say that Brazilian footballers often end up broke. He said it was primarily because many grew up in the favelas with no idea of money management and spend big, don't save, are often easy to convince to enter into dodgy deals.

I saw the same often with American athletes. At one time (not sure if the stats are the same) but about 70% of NBA and NFL athletes were broke within 5 years of retirement.

Football is a sport of the masses globally. I don't know if the British players who grew up in council estates in east London, or Toxteth, Liverpool suffer the same faith.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PoXhGOkh2A

Seems Juve are open to sending a player our way in a deal for Lacazette, I have no idea if the CB is good or not but we need CBs not more attackers.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football ... l-22506059

Hi Bernard,

I thought I read somewhere he is getting a £10m signing on fee. Whether that's true I don't know.

Lets for a moment assume Lacazette is gone. Willilan is here, where does he play? Does Aubameyang go central up top and Willian plays left and Pépé on the right?

Morning socrates. If it is true about the £10m signing on fee and he does get £150k a week for three years, that makes it a £33.4m investment. For somebody who is now 32, and as I said that inevitably means already past his best (a best he’ll leave further behind as the three year contract progresses), that represents a very heavy commitment on a player of his age with therefore little, or more likely no resale value in the transfer market.

I think he'll be on a three-year contract worth £100,000-a-week.

All I went by was the Mirror and Standard’s claim that he’ll be on £150k a week. If he is and what socrates heard about him getting a £10m signing on fee is right, that makes it a £33.4m investment on a player who has already had his 32nd birthday.

I think we do need to consider the injury history, general fitness and whether a player is showing signs of 'slowing down' rather than the age necessarily. I am not completely sold on spending what we're spending on Willian, but I think you'd struggle to find anyone in the world who can give us what he will on a lets say £10m signing on fee and £100k a week. Ryan Fraser would cost pretty much the same!
The issue for me is of balancing our ins and outs. We cant afford to spend lots of money on all our problem positions, equally we can't afford for all the areas we need signings to be teenagers with lots of potential and sell on value. If the balance is to buy older experienced players like Willian which allows us to buy younger more expensive players to fill CM and CB then it seems a sensible strategy.
The plan should be to improve the team year on year, we can't get to where we want to be in 1 transfer window but equally can't only add the pieces we really want for the long term as it would still leave gaps elsewhere in the squad.
If we judge transfers before a player kicks a ball then I feel we can only judge this one at the end of the transfer window.

Yeah I think it's 100 - and an optional 4th year.

The Mirror mentioned the optional fourth year but if it’s the club’s option would they take it up as he’ll the 35 then? Would he have left Chelsea for £100k at Arsenal, just for one more year? Chelsea must be very high payers.

Make it happen, Mikel! I loved this guy's work with Michael Prackson.

Pépé's highlight video reel was equally impressive.

Pepes a good player. We just paid too much for him

The one sad thing about this period in Arsenal is that any other owner with some knowledge and love for the sport would see the big upside potential in Arteta and seize the moment. He would do all he can to get us the money and players needed. We really shouldn't have been anywhere close to an FA cup judging by our form.

We have some pretty good players and if we sort out a few positions (CB, DM) we would be competitive. Unfortunately we don't have such an owner. He has left people in charge who presumably know what they are doing but if or when they come to him and say 'We are on the cusp on big things, we need x amount of pounds to get it done". Stan will only focus on the money and if he can afford it. The potential will be lost on him. He's not interested in trophies per se. Yes, every owner would like it but given the choice of Arsenal winning the league cup for example or the Rams going into the playoffs...I'd be interested to know which one he'd choose. It wouldn't be a cert.

My guess is the best way to entice him to come off funds is to show the potential revenue from the CL and that he'll get it back on the back end.

Agree he's a good player but he was so exasperating at times last year...I'll chalk it up to first year acclimatisation....I hope he becomes a great player with us....those highlight reels can be deceptive

These player exchange deals are always engineered by the club wanting to buy. See how we've approached Atletico for Partey, we won't pay his £45m clause but will pay a bit of it and give them a player we don't want as well. It's all very much have your cake and eat it.

If Juve have a player that was already on our transfer target wishlist then we could talk about it - otherwise just get the money and buy the player you really want. You may be able to negotiate down but you're sacrificing it for the player you want.

[Edit: Trial date is actually 25 Oct 2021, not this year]

Don't forget Amadou Diawara, 23. Another midfielder. Still in talks.

Valencia's entire squad has been put up for sale as they try to balance the books from the covid fall out. Can't believe they will be the only team doing this. Ultimately the gap between those who need to tighten their belts and those who can sail through this unaffected is just going to get wider as richer clubs pick off the better players of weaker clubs at knock down rates.

Shame to see it happen to such an old, esteemed club. Remember their great side from the early 00s, right as my interest in football hit its peak. They had some cracking players in Pablo Aimar, Vicente, Ruben Baraja and David Albelda, and won the league a couple of times if I'm not mistaken.

Gutted for Atalanta.

Have a slight soft spot for Valencia since theh beat us in1980.

If we get him and Partey, I think we may push for top 4. I'm still wondering why Musfafi isn't getting his Arsenal shirt at the gift shop like any non Arsenal player.

http://www.redlondon.net/david-ornstein ... -move-for/

It also looks like Ceballos is headed back to Spain. Özil is still in the air. Coutinho signing becomes a bit more important.

Some players aren't going to work out. You sell them. Take them off the books. Elneny is one of those players. No loans, just sell for whatever you can get.

http://dailycannon.com/2020/08/arsenal- ... idfielder/

I don't think it will happen and see him going to a big money club but rumor mill is we are trying to do a player and cash deal for Fernandes @ Sporting Lisbon. Very young but you can see the upside potential.

What? Next! Let's look elsewhere.

https://www.thesportreview.com/2020/08/ ... ey-salary/

Yep, it was Rafa Benitez who won those titles, I think they were twice runners up in the champions league at that time as well. More great players like David Silva, David Villa, Mendieta, Mata, Aimar Miguel Angulo who seemed to be linked to Arsenal every season......and scourge of Arsenal John Carew!

There's a big interview with Özil in the Athletic today, unfortunately it's only for subscribers but in the excerpt available Özil says he plans to see out his contract and fight his way back into the team. It's just such a mess of a situation, but it seems we're stuck with him for another year. The sad part is how much the team is crying out for a playmaker. Imagine Özil from 2015-2018, but instead of Giroud being the lead striker, he's supplying Aubameyang. It should've been a match made in heaven.

Thanks for that Haz.

Not often you see the words 'fight' and 'Özil' in the same sentence.

I hated him so much. I remember Wiltord giving up the ball and jumped around like my 3 year old nephew when its bedtime and gave away the goal that knocked us out I think.

It is a real shame for all concerned. Other clubs have players in similar situations and they just want to play football so go on loan, take a pay cut etc. Of course Özil can do whatever he likes, Arsenal gave him that money. I wonder what he'll do next year? Lets say he leaves on a free transfer with no competitive football for 18 months, who is going to want him and who is going to pay him even a 1/5th of what he's on. If he wanted to continue playing football it would make more sense to go on loan and keep his stock higher so he gets a better free transfer in 10 months time.

Others have also pointed out Özil's refusal to take the 12.5% pay cut on the basis it was rushed through. Özil may point to the supposed promise of no job losses, of which we know there were 55 as proof that he was right........but 12.5% of his salary, which is about £2.3m would keep 55 people in jobs for a year on an average £40k a year salary. So if he had taken the cut those people might still be in a job. Of course I'm playing devil's advocate as I know it isn't as simple as that and there are two sides to every story. Either way it is a messy situation that Arsenal need to find a resolution to.

And when you do it's often accompanied by words like 'no' or 'haven't got any'.

Özil is a special player in a special team. he's not the player who grabs the game by the scruff of the neck. In the last 2 or so years the game has changed in that classic No.10's are no longer required - and a lot of players who love playing that No.10 role have had to adapt to playing deeper or wider and have had to hugely change the defensive and off the ball side of their game. Not many teams can afford to carry a passenger when out of possession. The game is moving away from the pure skills and moving towards a fitness and athletic ability craze, and Özil hasn't moved with it.

There really is no hope. https://www.skysports.com/share/12048235