I would say it is a good example of how screwed up football has become. A young unproven footballer guaranteed to play or the club that won't benefit from him long term incurs a large fine.

I read that Vieira had a release clause slightly higher than what we ended up paying and it was one of the reasons we moved fast (and quietly) because we thought other clubs would just come in and pay his release clause

In all time Prem rankings Jesus is 3rd to Henry and Aguero for goals and assists per minute of football played.

Vieira has signed. It’s only the announcement as TG says. He was in London over the weekend for the medical etc. His latest Instagram
Posting has him in Greece relaxing. He is an Arsenal
Player. Relax.

Alex Lacazette:

“I’ll keep in contact with my team-mates, with the coaches, with the club. I supported #Arsenal since I was young, so obviously I’m going to keep supporting them. I know I will come back to the stadium as well.

"Like we say, ‘Once a Gunner, always a Gunner.’”

I recall Sol saying how impressed he was 'top drawer' I believe was the term he used about the facilities, staff, etc.
I also have no idea if former Tottenham or Chelsea players feel the same or say the same about their time with those respective clubs, but all I know is that we are a classy club. When players that left with animosity (RvP, Anelka, Fabregas) try to come back, there is something special.

I haven't been following the transfer talk much, but is Jesus and Martinez pretty much a done deal? Are we really building a 'beast of a squad'? Or is that statement based on us getting all 3 players? (1 down 2 to go). I am not going to consider Gnabry...unless something happened while I was away from following football news.

https://www.justarsenal.com/arsenal-are-building-a-beast-of-a-squad-but-we-dont-need-tielemans/312858
Arsenal Are Building A Beast Of A Squad -- But We Don't Need Tielemans

So, with Vieira, Jeśus and Martinez for around 120 million which seems imminent, that would be some business with cash to spare. We can sign Gnabry too if we want to, then we would have a beast of a squad.

Arteta has said he wants 22 outfield players in his squad:
Tomiyasu/Cédric
Tierney/Tavares
Gabriel/Holding
White/Saliba
Partey/Elneny
Xhaka/Lokonga
Ødegaard/Vieira
Saka/Pépé
Martinelli/Emile Smith Rowe
Nketiah/Balogun

That's 22 players. The rumours are Jesus (who replaces Balogun), Raphinha (who replaces Pépé), Tielemans (who might replace Xhaka?), and Martinez (who might replace Tavares) It would be a huge statement of intent and would really only leave maybe 3 areas of small weakness with Cédric and Elneny first reserves in their positions and the need for a more powerful and tall CF

Very encouraging and useful. But that doesn’t quite my view of a ‘true’ centre forward. Having said that they do seem to be a dying breed.

It is going to be interesting what happens at Chelsea. Roman has gone, Marina Granovskaia their transfer guru has gone, they've already lost Rudiger and Christensen (I think) on a free, Alonso is desperate to leave and the defence is then being pretty much held up by 37 year old Thiago Silva and Azpilicueta. Last season they sold Guehi and Tomori who are both now England Internationals. They're also looking at sending £100m Lukaku back to Inter Milan on loan.

If we think it is too soon for us to properly challenge City and Liverpool over the season I can't see any reason why we shouldn't be looking at overtaking Chelsea this year

Hey Rich,

You would know way better than I do what is Chelsea's current financial situation. I recall hearing this and that about Roman and his money regarding Chelsea. They were being sold, have been sold? No idea and don't care to research it.

Anyway, does Chelsea still have the financial might to buy big names, great players? They also have a great cadre of young players they have been buying off for years. They challenged for a short span last season. Yes, they seem vulnerable based on the fact that had we played better down the stretch we could have beaten them to third place fairly easily I think.

Even if they aren't as good next season, Man Utd seemed weak as well and I can see why people would continue to think they are very vulnerable, especially since we finished ahead of them. Tottenham played well sporadically and are over-reliant on Song and Kane.

All that said, the aforementioned can easily see us with the same views. The way it seems to me 3rd is up for grabs. I haven't even brought up West Ham who are now very tough at home and are looking more solid as time goes on.

Basically, other than Liverpool and City, 3rd to 6th is wide open. There are no clear cut favorites to finish after City and 'pool. Obviously we hope its us but we are as inconsistent as the rest of the clubs.

Vieira has been announced on Arsenal Direct of all places. Go to the first page of it and there he is in the no.21 shirt.

I see Nick pope is going to Newcastle for 12 m

Surely under no circumstances Leno should be sold for less then that.

Club expecting massive shirt sales to follow now.

I’m concerned Vieira might have signed for Tottenham

Fabio Vieira’s English is very good

Surprised Pope is going for that little. Seems like a good deal

This should do it.

I think our new signing needs to spend his summer in the gym. He looks like someone with a youtube channel who teaches acoustic guitar.

I’m still concerned

Edu comes across well in his interview on arsenal player and the website at the moment I thought.

An actual footballer making decisions not some corporate d******* like Sanelhi making decisions off ego and finance only

Yes. Definitely needs to hit the brick lane Beigel shop for several salt beefs too. He’s a match stick

Is Arsenal Direct an official club website? He’s confirmed on Arsenal.com anyway. Not sure when as I’ve not had a chance to be on the internet since early this morning. Be interesting to see what his official date of joining is given as.

Him being on holiday in Greece would not make any difference. Like being on holiday in Greece wouldn’t have stopped Arteta choosing the shortlist for player of the season.

Don’t suppose we can hope he’s a Billy Bremner type? Less physical presence than Warwick Davis but violent enough to head up a Glasgow Razor Gang.

Would you mind posting the site to look up. If he’s that good why is he so cheap?

The thing with stats like this is they routinely ignore the number of games played. For example, if Charlie Patino’s scoring debut as a fairly late sub in a cup game against Sunderland had been a Premier League game, at that point he would presumably have been top. Above Henry, Aguero, Salah, De Bruyne and every other great player with loads of Premier League games.

https://www.givemesport.com/1565113-the ... ue-history

Gabriel Jesus has 159 appearances, but only 9304 premier league minutes for City, which is about 58 minutes per appearance. You may explain his high ranking because he scores the icing on the cake goal when coming off the bench, giving him a good goal to minute ratio but I saw a set of stats that showed he's actually more prolific when starting rather than coming off the bench.

Jesus has 20 goals and 5 assists in 38 CL appearances, where again he averages 58 minutes per appearance

Going out on a limb here, but I reckon he won't be a hard man. In fact, I'd say he would make Theo Walcott look tough as nails.

Replicates that next season ( for us) :he will be a great signing. Thanks for the link

Surely there had to be a trade off on shirt numbers so Vieira got to wear number 4.

Instantly a best seller and PR win for the club.

I’m not trying to explain anything about Jesus, although I do think it’s worth pointing out that his time at City has coincided with being a teammate of De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and apart from the last two years David Silva. Also, that he might not change our frustration that so many of our crosses in open play end up wasted. His stats are more than decent but as I say, had Charlie Patino’s first goal as a late sub debut come in the Premier League, he’d presumably be first above all the players I mentioned above. The legitimacy of stats as an explanation should always be monitored.

You yourself have said you’d be underwhelmed if Jesus is our only new forward signed this window, which Darren thinks will be the case. So will I be. I think we need a different type of striker to Jesus and Nketiah and feel we’d be better off diverting funds to that than other areas of the squad. I hope I’m wrong but if our only forwards next season are Jesus, Nketiah and Balogun, to me that looks even weaker on paper than starting last season with Aubameyang, Lacazette and Nketiah.

Just read that Gabriel Jesus offer from us provides a wage per week of 280k quid ish. This makes him our best paid player by miles on more than Kane per week.

No way he isn’t turning up at Arsenal now. It makes other transfers unfeasible. If it’s right or wrong is another thing

I know this sounds a little crazy as a signing but what about 34yo Luis Suarez on a free for a season. Play more in the cups and off the bench. A bit like Eddie this season. Put a bit more bite into our forwards.

Apparently Jesus was on £90k a week at Manchester City. So if Arsenal are going to pay him £280k per week, that’s more than three times the salary he was on there? £190k (£280k - £90k) a week is nearly £10m (£9.88m) a year more than he was on City, the Premier League’s big spenders in recent years. Like you I can’t see him turning that down, if your figures are correct.

Harry Kane is on £200k a week, so we’ll be paying Gabriel Jesus £80k a week more than Tottenham pay Kane. That’s nearly £4.2m (£4.16m) a year more than Kane gets, who is arguably the best centre forward in the world.

If he isn’t a rip roaring success, Jesus will be another player we’ll struggle to get rid of. Let’s hope he is or Arteta and Edu will surely have questions to answer.

Apparently GJ"s agent is still in Sao Paulo amid transfer talks, links. He's not in London according to some reports.

Arsenal Direct is an official website for Arsenal apparel.

With a name like Vieira can he be any good though ?

I suggest you not ask a question about a name like Jesus. Because there is a history of that story not going well.

Well at 22....