All the same monies were shifted around, let alone having inflated prices. Smacks of a cover up as well.

Hey Zed,
Yeah, aware of his stint there. I actually made a post on here that I wouldn't mind him to replace Wenger when he was managing Soton.

I wish him well, but Barca go for currently successful managers. I can't help think they see him as a stop gap. Holland manager is a big job, him being Dutch helped but prior to that, Everton and and Soton? Hmmm....maybe they do see him as a permanent manger but I'm guessing no.

We'll have to wait and see.

...who Messi wants!

Apparently Arsenal has signed a young Totts reject. Jonathan Dinzeyi, 20, a centre-half.
This according to The Athletic and Talksport.

[Edit: Dinzeyi will join the U23s]

Apparently we have hired a new negotiator with a great track record. Messi will be a gooner.

Please note, I had no say in selecting any music that accompanies these videos

It'll be interesting to see what happens with Lacazette this window. He's got 2 years left on his deal so this summer is really decision time if we want to learn from past mistakes. Which means new contract or sell. Only players nearing retirement or with zero value should be exempt.

There were some murmurs of Juve being interested and a potential price of £30m which would seem fair (ish). Lacazette actually did a lot of good work in the last 10 or so games of the season and probably found his feet better in Arteta's system so if we keep him I wouldn't be unhappy. But I'm not sure how we can offer him a new deal on what I assume would be a wage increase.

Perhaps if the opportunity came along to sell a 29 year old Lacazette on £150k a week and replace him with (for example) 22 year old Edouard from Celtic for a similar budget but smaller wages

I'll be surprised if we see Lacazette in an Arsenal kit when the window closes. How do you think we are gonna pay for these players? lol.
I'm reading 30 mil to Juve which is a decent amount. Okay, its The Sun, you paper train the puppy on it but still rumors are he's going from other sources.

Every worldie Gnabry scores makes my heart weep. Although less chance he becomes this player with us through our blunder years than with Bayern, perhaps...

I've read a lot about how Gnabry came to leave Arsenal. I think there is a huge amount of circumstance, timing and (bad) luck.
His progression was good, he'd broken in to the first team becoming our second youngest player to play in the league for us. At 18 he made 10 appearances and scored and got a few assists - everything going well and on target. Then at 19 he got a serious knee injury and missed the entire season. The next season Arsenal probably quite correctly thought a loan for a 20 year old with only 10 senior games and a big knee injury would be the right thing to do. He went to Pulis at West Brom and never played. He came back to Arsenal we wanted to extend his deal but he wouldn't sign as he wanted more first team opportunties, so Arsenal sold him for £5m.

The mistakes Arsenal made were:
Sending him to West Brom without some clause or penalty for them if he didn't play
Not extending his deal earlier (but that is a tough call considering his injury and lack of games)
Not insisting on a buy-back or sell on clause when he left

I think Arsenal are a lot more careful and considered in where players go on loan now.

I agree I doubt he'd be the player he is now if he'd stayed with us. Of all the regrets we'd had over players leaving or leaving too cheap Gnabry is seemingly the one who is currently absolutely world class. I don't see many better attacking wide players in the world right now considering his goals, assists and doing it in the best team in Europe on the biggest stage. Also 13 goals in 13 games for Germeny.

Painful

Gnabry is the player some (misguided) people think Sterling is. Astonishing player. His left foot alone this evening was lethal.

Most big clubs have players they’ve let go and been reminded of ever after so there’s some solace there for us. Chelsea alone with De Bruyne and Salah is a laugh a minute, but even City and Barca have their high profile fair share, and Pogba at Utd - ridiculous debacle.

German clubs seem to be winning at transfers recently, and suddenly the place to go for young English players, Jude Bellingham at Dortmund is one I’ll be keeping my eye on.

New signing, youngster. George Lewis

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football ... s-22110981

I recall watching Gnabry in one of his first starts for us and he looked good from the onset. I recall specifically posting about it and even exiled stop trolling me to agree...haha.

I don't think he would have stayed with us long though, he would have had his head turned eventually. I can't think of many top class players who would have stayed through our post Invincible years.

Partey or a similar type of player, a sweeper type of quality (covers a lot of ground, good instincts) comes in we are near (playmaker questions) complete. Not the finished article by any stretch but a nice solid foundation to start with. There is a question of everyone playing as a team. You never know about injuries. New players adapt at different paces and some never quite do. On paper though, we would seem to be a lot tougher to beat than we were last season.

The amount of business we have been doing is way above expectations. I'm also very excited about Martinelli coming back from injury at some point. I think he is going to be very, very good.

The new defender we seem to be signing from Lille looks interesting. A different type of player who is more of an Athlete and has a decent left foot rather than a stopper type.

So it looks like

Mari, Luiz, Magalhaes, saliba for next season.


Leaving chambers, Holding, Mustafi and Sokratis a little surplus to requirements. I’d expect us to keep one maybe and try and sell the rest.

My guess would be Mustafi stays, and we try to get rid of the rest. He's the highest earner, doesn't have the best reputation and is currently injured, and let's face it - with the way he's been playing under Arteta he's better than Sokratis, Chambers and Holding.

Think Gabriel looks like an excellent signing on paper. 25-30m euro for a 22-year old is a good deal. Like any young player there's a risk, but if he has another good season in Ligue 1 his value could've doubled. Better to get him in now.

Central defense looks sorted in numbers at least, but I wonder what the plan is for our midfield. It's widely believed that Arteta wants to play some version of 4-3-3 rather than persisting with five at the back (which I agree with, we shouldn't be starting with five defenders most games) but we seem to be lacking in numbers. Torreira is rumoured to be leaving, we all know the story with Guendozi, the situation with Ceballos seems unclear...as things stand we're looking at Xhaka as the only player we know is staying and has experience playing in central midfield.

Maitland-Niles could play there in theory, but hasn't looked convincing to me the few times he's been tested there. Willian could probably play in a midfield three. It looks to me like we need to sign at least two central midfielders.

The top of the site says Liverpool in the CS. Any confirmations? The rumour is they were going to opt out.
It will be interesting to see who emerges this season. City was way off pace but its tough to have back to back seasons like they did. They didn't even crack 90 points. The big shock for me is that Liverpool didn't crack 100 points.

As usual, I'll be taking my anxiety meds if there are any undefeated teams going into November. This will sound crazy and perhaps it is but I'd like to see another club get the treble just so it won't be as special. I hate Man Utd that much. I've heard more than a few debates on which was the harder to do, unbeaten in a season (and I'd include all 49 matches) or the treble. A case can be made either way. Had we just had a decent 2nd half against Chelsea, and Wenger didn't panic substitute against the Mancs in the FA cup (Cygan at left wing anyone?) I think we would have done it. Then again, if my aunt had a....

I'm thrilled at the defenders coming in. They will need some experienced heads to acclimated. I'd take Luiz over Mustafi in a heartbeat if one of them has to go. I'd like to keep Holding and hopes he gets back to some semblance of form as he had at one time. But he can't live on one great cup final performance. If we get a good price, he'll have to go.

Somebody who is not on AGs ignore list is welcome to quote this post.

https://www.arsenal.com/news/details-co ... ity-shield

First game on 12 Sept of new season against Fulham.

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/footbal ... -Liverpool

First big game, if you ignore West Ham, against Liverpool on 26th September.

Our next 3 away after the Fulham game are:
Liverpool
City
Man U

We always seem to play Liverpool really early. I'd have loved us to have had the first 6 against none of the top 6 but it never seems to happen for us. I know everyone plays everyone but those are 3 very tough away games in your first 6 fixtures

That’s brutal. If we get much there then we will have done well.

Not a bad run in for us

fulham (h)
Everton(h)
newcastle (a)
west brom (h)
chelsea (a)
palace (a)
brighton (h)

That's really good. One match out of the last seven that isn't a definite win on paper.

Maybe it's a good thing to have more of the difficult away games early in the season? Who knows how things are come spring, we might see crowds return by then, making away games a whole different experience.

Being you’re the biggest troll on here, you’re also a hypocrite.

That’s the way I’m thinking. Get as many difficult away games out the way before crowds are allowed in the ground.

He's not well mate. There's something there, maybe issues with bi-polar or something else. I have real sympathy for people with these issues.

There's been something wrong since the start.

I think your right and Mustafi will stay and we will have 5.

We just don't need all these centre backs with 2 new ones coming in. I'll be a little disappointed if Chambers leaves though as he looked very good before his injury.

Signing Cédric soares then doing this would make no sense what so ever so there’s probably a lot of truth in this

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... senal.html

I hope it isn’t true. Look, I’m not saying AMN will ever be world class but in my view as a squad player he’s way better than merely adequate. It’s not even him going to Tottenham that will bother me, if it happens. I would be disappointed if he went to Fulham or Crystal Palace.

The modern game is no longer about having eleven top level first choice regulars. It’s about having players who are good enough to cover them. Even if nobody ever got injured (about as likely at Arsenal as Stan Kroenke giving me a brand new Ferrari for my birthday present), outfield players are rested these days. AMN is easily good enough to have a big and important role in the squad.

Has it changed?
This one says Fulham, West Ham, Liverpool then Sheffield United.

https://www.premierleague.com/clubs/1/Arsenal/fixtures

I posted the FINAL 7 games of the season

I saw another report this morning that AMN had decided to stay or been persuaded to stay by Arteta. I agree it would be silly to sell him unless an absolutely ridiculous offer came in, I don't want £20m for him. If it was double that then we'd have to think about it. But given his performances in the semi and cup final there is no doubt he can play at the top level, he needs to bring consistency and find a spot in this team

I've said before with the way Arteta seems to overload or purposely unbalance the side to one side - often the left, it means the right back can tuck in and play a more central role, that seems to suit AMN down to the ground. With his ability to play multiple positions and the fact we could play 55 odd games next year I don't doubt that AMN could get 25+ starts based on current ability, more if he improves. Will that be enough for him?

Thanks...oops.

I'm very wary of Chelsea this season. Lampard is doing a much better job than I thought he would. Hate him but must admit he's doing well. I don't think OGS is the man for Man Utd but he's got the resources to make something out of them and they aren't half bad. He's got a good young front attack. The one on the hot seat will be Mourinho. They could have gotten their table position with Poch. They got rid of Poch and got Mourinho to take them to the next level. It's been a while since Mourinho had to work with limited resources. I actually pity him. He's been taken down a peg or two.

Clubs are going to count us out a little perhaps in spite of our cup win. I am trying to manage my emotions but I think we are going to do well. A few rough patches in the first half of the season while we incorporate new players and everyone learns Arteta's system but we have a very decent team that will be difficult to beat. My other hope is that we finally make the stadium a fortress like Highbury was.

What report was that Rich?
I'd be delighted if he is staying.

Ah Sorry David, I din't take note of the source. To be honest when I see various reports saying completely the opposite thing I don't give much credence to either. The club nor the player, nor his agent have formally commented.
I still read all these Arsenal articles but during the transfer window I would wager 90% of what is out there is basically made up, 5% might be people in the game trying to push stories in the media to benefit them, their player, the club, 3% might be made up but based on some knowledge and the final 2% has a degree of truth, and even that may be generous