The biggest concern with Gyökeres is whether what he’s done in Portugal will translate to the harder premier league. I’ve seen many Darwin Nunez comparisons. Of course there is no real way to know for sure but the comparisons with Nunez miss a bit of context. Nunez scored 48 in 85 games in 2 seasons at Benfica, Gyökeres has scored 97 in 102 in his 2 seasons at Sporting. Even if Gyökeres regressed from a goal a game to a little over a goal every 2 games we’d have a striker capable of scoring 20 prem goals - last season not one player got in double figures in the prem.

If Gyökeres gets done for the rumoured £60m ish then it’s not inconceivable that we look to replace him in 3-4 years anyway without making much on the resale - that isn’t a financial disaster for us if it happens.

Nørgaard is done. Pictured at the training ground with Berta.

It will be interesting how many of our summer deals will end up feeling like a heavily Berta influenced one. Obviously Zubimendi wasn’t, he seemingly just crossed a few T’s and held the shirt with him. Kepa could well have been a fast moving Berta opportunity once Garcia went to Barca. Nørgaard, I’m not convinced that’s a Berta signing - maybe I’m doing Berta a disservice but I can’t think Nørgaard would have been in Berta’s black book for one to keep track of.

Mosquera of done would feel like it has some Berta fingerprints there.

In terms of Berta’s work I think I’d judge him this summer just as much on his sales and contract renewals as the players he signs

I await your official announcement.

I'm pretty confident that he'll do well. He'll be that out ball we often lack, and that player who keeps the opposition centrebacks honest.

I saw an interesting stat about us giving up one of the highest number of chances that followed mistakes. Our slow play allowed even mediocre teams to press high. Teams will be far less willing to risk that.

Add to that the prospect of Rice off the leash ahead of Zubimendi, and Raya ability to pick a pass, and it looks juicy.

Talk of City letting Nico Gonzalez go. This is a player they panic signed for £60m in January as they were sitting outside the CL spots and going nowhere fast. Now they can seemingly just ditch him…..but it’s Arteta and Arsenal who are under the most pressure to win the league and are being told we HAVE to win the league or Arteta should get sacked.

Of course there is pressure on us to do well but all those conversations need context and perspective

Are they saying that?

I think the feeling is more that Arteta has raised the level, and hence expectations. We're a top club now so that pressure is always going to be there.

Chelsea are an expensive mess. Nobody expected them to do well last season.

Heinze and Arteta have known each other since their playing days as teenagers at PSG. Makes sense.

Carragher is saying it
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football ... 200202.amp

Jens Lehmann is saying it
https://www.football365.com/news/arsena ... ck-warning

Plenty of others if you do a google search.

If Arteta doesn’t win a trophy and finishes 10th then yes maybe he deserves to be sacked, but if he gets 89 points again, another CL semi and semi’s in both other cups and a host of injuries to deal with then you have to weigh up the context of a season rather than just say 2nd again = sack.

Talk of us offering a young player to Palace as part of the Eze deal. Possibly Josh Nichols. If that helps sweeten the deal then go for it. We have White and Timber as right backs who will both be around for a while so there is no obvious pathway for Nichols right now. Also Palace have a sell on clause they owe to QPR, so there may be a way to reduce the fee we pay for Eze by accepting a player in exchange which reduces the fee they have to pay to QPR. All complicated stuff no doubt.

It seems to be that our remaining summer business for players coming in once Nørgaard is done is a CB and a striker - the two seemingly most likely to get done first and then two more attacking players - currently the most talked about are two from Rodrygo, Eze, Madueke

As an aside I find it hilarious that ;aid pundits talk about all transfers saying 'if club X really wanted player Y, then just pay the money, be decisive and go and get him' How you can skirt over so many complications of transfer dealings is beyond me, It feels like the way Chelsea and City do business with infinite money and having to worry less about negotiating on price and wages has people thinking this is the way every club should do business! Of course there are still cases of teams dragging their feet but the age of instant gratification and over simplification of football and transfers is definitely rife

Listen here smart guy!!

It's the voices in Rich's head.

As Rio Ferdinand rightly said he won't get the chances in England he got in Portugal so he'll score far less. But he is a rampaging type of player from what I have seen so he'll give defences something to think about. He might well create spaces for others to score.

Ferdinand talking nonsense about Gyökeres as usual then. Plug off the bash street kids is more confused than a blind Lesbian at a fish market.

A couple of seasons back we were playing a lot in transition because teams were not giving us any respect because they hadn’t realised how dangerous we had become under Arteta now they have cottoned on they are more defensive form low block etc etc and our players are still finding solutions. Footballers typically find solutions. This same thing was aimed at Jamie vardy if you remember. He could only play for teams on the break against high lines however he scored a ton of goals and not every side plays the same way.

I am more worried about the potential loss of Nwaneri
We cannot afford him leaving for another Premier club
Arteta, please promise him starts to more games. It makes sense to give Saka some rest during the season.

So Fabrizio Romano is saying we’ve initially bid 50 million for Madueke. Probably 45+5. That seems a lot.

Meanwhile Ornstein says the totts have agreed a 55 million pound deal for kudus with West Ham.

If our deal eventually goes through (probably at a higher fee) our fans will be questioning why we didn’t opt for Kudus ourselves and Madueke would be a signing that would divide opinion unlike any other I can remember. A proportion of the fanbase would be on his back before he even kicked a ball. Does remind me a bit of when our fans were giving Ramsdale grief on his instagram

It would be a piece of recruitment I would question at that price.

I’ve provided two examples of pundits saying exactly that, how many more examples would you like?

He played more minutes last year as an U18 player than anyone since Fabregas. No one has the real truth behind any player demands but my gut tells me I just don’t see Nwaneri saying he won’t sign a new deal unless he is guaranteed X number of starts. I don’t think even established players enter contract negotiations with that kind of ultimatum and clubs are even less likely to provide those kind of direct assurances to any player

Yes, some are, but I doubt that is a dominant viewpoint. It's hotheads and pundits/youtube merchants trying to get attention. Many fans were irritated at the striker situation ... but pressure to win the league or be sacked? Nah.

For example Carragher saying "But no one understands better than him that all the goodwill for creating an Arsenal team capable of winning is gone." That is a ridiculous exageration. There is still a huge amount of goodwill.

The examples were not saying what you think they said.

We tried to sign Raphinha from Leeds before he moved to Barca - fee was around £50m we bid. Statistically Madueke last season outplays Raphina’s last season at Leeds.
I’m not saying Madueke is suddenly going to perform like Raphinha at Barca last year but he’s clearly nowhere near as bad as some people are making out.

Madueke was in a much better team than Raphinha was.

These hate messages Arsenal fans have been sending to Madueke are a disgrace.

It just shows what social media has done to us and what society has become.

Madueke is a very good player with excellent pace and dribbling ability. I would say his weakness is that he can be a bit of a headless chicken and his decision-making can be poor. However, he can produce game-changing moments and that's what we need more of. He has the potential to become a top player.

If he is a back-up/competition for Saka then what's the problem? £50m is a bit steep but that's the going rate for a young england international.

My only gripe would be that he is not currently a level raiser like Rodrygo would probably be so if he comes in as the only winger signing it would feel a bit underwhelming given our desire to move up a level.

I still have hope for Martinelli if Gyorkeres evidentually arrives. A lot more of the play will go down that side. Martinelli and Saka starting with Madueke and Jesus as alternative seems decent to me.

Socrates spot on re Madueke and social media

Madueke would be great signing- being PL proven is big, Rodrygo would be more of a gamble both financially and in terms of adapting to a more physical league

Feels to me like it’s going to be Gyökeres, Madueke, Eze in addition to Zubimendi, Nørgaard and the squad fillers.

Would unquestionably make us stronger and better equipped for 4 competitions however does it have that superstar quality to win titles? I’m not sure.

If we get that done then it’s a showdown between us, Liverpool and City. Chelsea should be closer but they don’t have a gk or defence yet.
In terms of superstar quality the biggest difference is the ‘inevitability’ of a Salah or Haaland - for me that’s the only thing missing from us to them as I think other than that reliable 25 goal a season player we surpass them in all other areas.
There are very few guarantees for strikers who score bags of goals, and even fewer who are available, want to join us and are in our budget, so it’s difficult for us to sign a sure thing like a Haaland, so we have to do the best we can and hope we find a Salah like Liverpool - because he was very far from a sure thing. So if it’s Gyökeres I don’t know what more on paper the club could do, we sign the guy who has scored more goals than any player in Europe over the last 2 seasons.

For the rest of our team I’d put superstar status on Saka, Saliba and Gabriel in terms of them being top 5 in their position in Europe, Rice and Raya would be close to that in my view. Zubimendi is slightly unknown in that respect but I think he’ll prove to be a great signing. Eze is one of be really excited about, I think he could take off with us like Olise has with Bayern - a step to another level playing with better players.

Just as much top class talent as Liverpool or City, but we needled Gyökeres (if it his him) to bang the goals.

If the summer does end up as....

IN: Kepa, Mosquera, Zubimendi, Nørgaard, Eze, Madueke, Gyökeres
OUT: Neto, Zinchenko, Tomiyasu, Tierney, Partey, Jorginho, Sterling (plus ones like Tavares, Vieira, Lokonga, Nelson who didn't play for us last season)

Then we are undoubtedly stronger than last year. Every player coming in is an upgrade on the player going out, some like Eze and Gyökeres aren't really replacing an outgoing player - you could have an pro/con argument about strength of a Nørgaard v Jorginho if you want but if we did that for the summer and the fans aren't happy then they'll never be happy and the expectations on who and what we can sign would be too unrealistic. Its approx £270m of signings and probably barely over £50m coming back in.

Nørgaard officially done, £10M +£2m add ons. Wears no.16

One of the accusations aimed at us last year was we were not brave enough on the ball and didn’t take enough risks at times. I’d suggest if Eze and Madueke come in that’s about to change. Could be exciting.

Zubimendi is a full Spanish international. A fixture on what is arguably the best international team in the world. It's a question of hitting the ground running for him.

Yes - both a bundle of tricks. In the olden times we referred to these types as "flair players."

We're still in the 'if' phase, but ... yes, exciting is an understatement.

It feels like we have laying a seriously strong foundation and now brakes are off. This looks like being our most ambitious transfer window ever.

Spurs making moves. Kudus in, talented but inconsistent seems to be the West Ham fans verdict. Now getting Morgan Gibbs-White who I took a while to see, but that seems like a great signing. Some comments from Wolves and Nottingham Forest fans that he’s… talented but inconsistent. Hopefully that’s the outcome…

Seeing Utd struggle to make a signing they actually need in their team has been hilarious and losing the Europa final has set them back further, if that was even possible. But think the majority wanted Utd to win and we’re now seeing Spurs claw themselves back from the brink with some good signings with a good manager and I can see their point…

Madueke is a done deal for around £50m including add ons. It’s a signing that is really going to split the fan base, less so if he hadn’t come from Chelsea. Interesting one

I haven’t seen anything official yet. But if it happens. So we pay Chelsea, who are in financial bad place, top dollar for a player plus add ons. Let’s see if he is this great player people on here are raving about. But on the other hand argue over 5-10mill for the forward from Sporting. They would be taking the piss if they did this.

Romano has confirmed it

It’s the type of transfer that should get judged once all business is done. Fail to sign a striker or feel we miss out on a top target due to a few million and this will feel like a foolish unnecessary splurge. But sign everyone we need and Madueke is a bonus type market opportunity and it will be viewed differently. It would also be viewed differently if he wasn’t coming from Chelsea.
I’m on the fence with it, I think he’s better than his doubters think but wouldn’t have been a priority for me. Has pace and dribbling ability and has the ability to go inside and outside and gets shots off - all things we need. What he lacks is his composure and decision making. Let’s see

It's a strange one. It is a bit odd to complain about the asking price for Sesko and then spend £50m on a right winger who realistically does not make our first 11.

If you suggested Madueke to Arsenal for £50m at the start of the window not many fans of any club would have believed it. What’s interesting with these sorts of deals is how each club feels about it and what consideration they give to the other club.
By that I mean that this deal seemed to be done quickly with not much fuss and arguments.
Arsenal may think we’re happy we got our guy quite easy but do they also wonder why Chelsea let him go so easily
Chelsea will be happy to get a good fee for a player they weren’t hugely bothered about keeping but must also wonder what do Arsenal see that we might have missed, what might they get out of him that we didn’t?

This isn’t the dynamic with all transfers. Most transfers there is a clear small club to big club or vice versa. But as much as we do know we’re a bigger club than Chelsea when taking everything in to account it can be argued that the status of both clubs in modern times is quite even - transfers like this are quite rare…..but with the way Chelsea operates are becoming more common

Fee supposedly £42m with £10m add ons.

Debate whether this is the going rate or not for 23 year old wingers of his ability…..? Brennan Johnson to spurs cost more, Maddison was similar. Anthony Gordon was similar. Gibbs White to Forest was similar. Palmer similar. Elanga (Swedish I know) has just gone for £55m
All those players have varying degrees of success, some like Palmer make the fee look very cheap but he was very far from guaranteed hit when he joined. Others will make £40-50m look very unwise….some even more like Anthony, Sancho, Joao Felix etc