As I understand it Spurs don't have to pay for Kulusevski until next summer. Romero I'm not sure.

I think this is a concern. At Newcastle our midfield 2 were overpowered and outplayed. Even after the summers transfer prospective activity right now it looks we will have the same players Partey, xhaka and Lokonga there. Not sure this helps us

Yeah, I'm not giving up yet. Might just be that it's an easier deal to make, with less competition, so we're focusing on the bigger deals first. If we really want Tielemans I think we'll get him. That being said, I'm not sure he's in that 'top' category I was talking about either, though he does have some interesting qualities that we lack.

Both Ornstein and Fabrizio Romano are now saying full agreement between City and Arsenal for Gabriel Jesus, £45m.

Maybe mine didn't refresh because until I posted that was the first day it came up. But as for internet, our neighbourhood did not get the same system (NBN) as other parts of Australia and it is really poor with dropouts regular and slow speeds.

I'm hugely impressed with his ability to time his jumps to head in so powerfully.
Fantastic mobility to get free of defenders.
Definite a 1000% better than Pépé's dribbling. Stays on his feet well.

Get him!

Vieira’s signing was formally confirmed on Arsenal.com last Tuesday, the 21st June 2022. Although I’ve never looked at it, apparently the transfer was also confirmed on Arsenal Direct, another official site for selling shirts and merchandise, the very same day.

Thanks - missed it . Checked Arsenal.com a couple of times but maybe it was an open tab and I didn't refresh it.

Never knew Rapinha and Gabriel started their careers at the same club at 18. Now both in the national squad together with Martinelli. That’s gotta have a pull along with Edu.

Hi Haz,

Totally agree, Haz, in the unlikely event that we do get Jesus, Raphina and Martinez over the line you would have to say its a real statement of intent. However, so many games in the PL, especially away from home, are dictated by who wins the midfield battle and generally that involves a large degree of physicality and athleticism. Without Partey I don't feel we are well equipped to win those battles, as the Newcastle game showed and also the fact that we lost 13 games last season.

It feels like we had two choices this summer, try and sign an out and out no.9 who could get 20+ goals a season (not many around and even fewer available to a side without CL football) with a massive cash outlay or sign two or more top forwards/wingers who are not really no.9s but can each get a decent number of goals and thus spread the goals around the side.

Jesus, should be get him, feels like a compromise. He might well explode as a no.9 but more likely he will score say 15 goals and hence the desire to add someone else like Raphina to add more goals to the equation.

If/when the Jesus deal goes through he’ll be just the second player Arteta has signed for the front 3 positions and the first one we’ve actually paid a transfer fee for.

Turner, Vieira, Jesus, Raphinha, Martinez would be a tremendous summer

For me that would just leave 3 areas of the squad to make it feel like a truly elite level squad
1. Additional physicality and athleticism in central midfield
2. Additional physicality and height at centre forward
3. A better right back back up than Cédric

We’ve certainly splashed the cash last summer and look like doing the same this summer. We’ve transformed the quality of the squad. Shows you what can be achieved with money and we’re still miles off what the likes of City, Chelsea and Man U have spent on their squads

Just looking at schedules for Europa League and EPL in October and November.

I know the EPL will be fiddled with but assume they are the same date as listed we will have

October
2 Spurs
6 Europa
9 Liverpool
13 Europa
16 Leeds
19 Man City
23 Southampton
27 Europa
30 Notts forest

Novemeber
3 Europa
6 Chelsea
13 Wolves

Interesting times ahead.

Any further news on Zinchenko and Hickey?

Morning socrates. If Jesus, Raphina and Martinez are the only arrivals still to come, doesn’t it mean Arteta must feel deeper midfield is already strong enough with Partey, Xhaka, Lokonga and Elneny? Perhaps Maitland-Niles can be added to the mix too? Or at least strong enough to prioritise other parts of the side?

If the list of aforementioned possible arrivals are the case, we spent an absolute fortune in the transfer market in the last couple of years or so. I find it hard to believe the money hasn’t been spent on those positions that Arteta wanted prioritised and the players he desired? For example, why did we sign Vieira, a creative skilful talent, and not go for Bissouma? After months of clickbait linking us with Bissouma, we apparently leave Tottenham to sign him dirt cheap without even being turned down after going for him.

If the reports of us going off the idea of buying Tielemans are true, which I accept may not be, why is that? I am quite certain that the players Edu signs are those guys Arteta wants and approves us recruiting. I reckon the days of Sanllehi buying Pépé when Emery wanted Zaha are long gone.

I’ve said before it’s probably best to sit back and wait until the transfer window expires (11pm 1st September) to assess the strength of the squad. If our options in deep midfield are Partey, Xhaka, Lokonga and Elneny (possibly Maitland-Niles also) while we spend big bucks on other areas of the team, then I believe the most rational conclusion to draw is that Arteta is comfortable with those four or five options for deep midfield.

Both have gone very quiet

Jesus would be the 12th Brazilian to play for us in the Prem. can anyone name the other 11 without google?

Martinelli, Willian, Gabriel, Gilberto, Edu, Baptista, Sylvinho, David Luiz, Andre Santos, Gabriel Paulista...blanking on the last one.

I largely agree with this, but I think it should be noted that Martinez is a genuine option in central midfield. He's not just a centre back who can do a job in midfield, he spent the majority of the 19/20 season at Ajax as a DM before being moved to CB which then became his primary position.

Martinelli, Edu, Gilberto, Gabriel, David Luiz, Willian, the other Gabriel, Wellington (I think), Andre Santos.... that's 9, now I'm stuck.

Ah, Haz - how could I forget Silvinho and the Beast.

Denilson?

Of course.

Saka isn't but he plays like one.

Seems we are meeting a lof of our transfer goals. If we get most if not all our targets, that will obviously raise the expectations for the squad. If we get all our targets save 1, whomever that 1 is, what place is the minimum for us to finish?

Good work on getting 10 straight off the bat....

....and Denilson makes it 11

We kick off on the 5th of August. I think we should all transfers in place by then. Too often we engage in last minute dashes after we have lost a few of the opening games and end up on the back foot for the season.

I certainly wouldn’t argue with that. It’s just after the window closes, we finally know what we’ve got to work with until the mid-season window.

England is better than Spain and Netherlands? Ok

While I am thinking of Brazilians and I can only think of maybe a handful, would Eduardo count?

Well, yes. Quite clearly so at the moment.

Good riddance. Was he pushed?

https://theathletic.com/news/mike-riley ... Cl22WBSZk/

99 starts in the Premier League

CF: 78 starts, 40 goals, 14 assists
RW: 15 starts, 9 goals, 8 assists
LW: 6 starts, 4 goals, 1 assist

A player with those stats, who has won 4 titles and is still only 25 is very good and would normally be worth double what we’re paying

Why do you think Guardiola’s getting rid of him then? Okay he’s getting a huge pay rise at Arsenal, but the idea City can’t match, let alone exceed, what Arsenal will pay him opens up the possibility Guardiola doesn’t feel he’s worth well over £200k a week.

City have bought Haaland but Jesus was a squad back up to Aguero, so why not Haaland too?

If you think City are selling him cheap, doesn’t that support the idea Guardiola wants rid, or at least doesn’t give a damn about his departure? After all, I very much doubt City are being charitable to Arsenal by selling him cheaply.

Furthermore he’s scored 58 Premier League goals for City in total. So only 5 goals have come when in the 58 appearances he hasn’t started?

Didn’t know that.

He’s 1 in every 2 starts at CF in the premier league. That’s wrighty and aubameyang type stats. That’s very good

Jesus is reportedly the one pushing for a move, as he wants to be a starter. He only has one year left on his contract, so they either sell him now for £45m or lose him for free in a year. With Haaland and Julian Alvarez arriving, they don't really need Jesus. Not being a nailed on starter for City isn't necessarily a sign that a player isn't quality, players like Sterling, Bernardo Silva, Grealish and Mahrez have had long periods of being rotational players.

Juan - who could forget that young lad! Edit - he only played in cups.

Raphinha feels like the least talked about of our three signings that look the most likely. It's probably because we already have good options for his position, but I'm really excited about the prospect of signing him. 25 years old, with several years of experience from the PL, Ligue 1 and Portugese league, he's at that age where he could be an immediate improvement, but still have several good years left in him.

He has an interesting set of qualities too; pacey, great dribbler, very direct and with good end product, but also good defensively for a winger, a tireless worker, and very good in the press. He will cost a lot, but if the club can afford it I don't really care. The way he's been playing for Leeds in the last two years, it's hard not to see him as an immediate improvement on Pépé.

Good point! And, amazingly, seven years after his only two appearances for Arsenal, Juan made it into the Brazilian national team.

The 14th amendment:
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

has been used to rule on cases making abortion legal as well as gay marriage legal. The recent ruling led by Justice Clarence Thomas led the unprecedented act of the court to reverse a previous ruling arbitrarily. It's a stunning act. Something no court has attempted. Chief Justice Roberts, who would personally like to see legal abortion end, was not only completely against taking such actions but voted with the minority against the act. Why? He valued the legitimacy of the court more than his personal views. The Supreme Court, the last real bastion of fairness now has an approval rating lower than Biden, 25%, and has seemingly lost its legitimacy.

Justice Thomas has not only written an opinion supporting ending abortion but also took the extreme and also completely unprecedented act of hinting at ending other rulings that legalized gay marriage citing the 14th amendment.

What makes his comments particularly hypocritical is that the same 14th amendment was used to end, or more precisely, make illegal, a case where the state of Virginia (similar to other former slave states) outlawed interracial marriage. Thomas, a black justice is married to a white woman. His marriage could and should be made illegal by the same reason(s) [14th amendment] if he was consistent.

I've long said America is no longer a functioning republic. All of its federal institutions have ceased to have any legitimacy. My guess? America will be balkanized eventually the way the far right envisions it to become. Have its own version of Iraq where it operates like Kurdistan. Technically part of the country but in reality runs its own area any way it deems fit. They no longer have the numbers and are losing numbers. On the other side, the Democrats are completely incompetent, corporate owned and have neither the will to fight and seemingly the intellect. Parts of its base are either voting more and more for Republicans (Asians, Latinos, some Gays) or not voting at all (Blacks). We will likely see a functioning 3rd (or even 4th party). Possibly the Green party.

When the dollar is no longer the world's reserve currency and the country suffers a massive economic crash that is now regarded as a matter of when not if, the veneer will be gone and America will be exposed fully as facade. The empire (as opposed to emperor) will truly have no clothes.