He’s currently linked with Liverpool for £65m. Agreed though, he’s a classy player

Seems like the club want a home grown GK, linked with Ramsdale and Sam Johnstone. I hope Sheff Utd price us out of Ramsdale because they were meant to be asking £30-40m which is crazy. West Ham just had a £6m bid turned down for Johnstone. He only has 1 year left on his deal, that’s the guy we should be going for if we want a getable home grown GK.
At the time backing the more experienced Leno over Martinez seemed right, especially as it seemed we couldn’t really keep both. But now with Martinez as home grown, flourishing and Leno itching for a move it looks a disaster

If you believe various trusted journalists of the actual bids we’ve made we are ready to spend up to £45m on a centre back, up to £40m on a central mid and up to £30m on a creative mid. Those are the supposed bids for Ben White, Locatelli and Buendia.
It shouldn’t be a case of only being able to get 1 or 2 of those bids because all 3 play in very different positions.

Lokonga seems like it will be announced today, new home kit launch today as well.
Lokonga is the Ceballos replacement and Tavares is the back up left back. Neither improve the first team yet, and whilst depth is required we’re facing a season with maybe only 45 games rather than 60+ so a smaller squad with a quality first 11 is even more important

I agree. Indeed, I’ve pointed out a while back that next summer he’ll only be two years from the end of his contract and it’s hard to see why he would even think about renewing it. So I reckon the quote you highlighted and Edu’s stuff about Saliba going to Marseille on loan to develop as a player is little more than ‘politically correct’ (trying to say the right thing) nonsense, at least regarding any idea of keeping him at Arsenal.

My guess is the hope at the club is that Saliba will actually have a fine season with Marseille. Not so much to get him ready for Arsenal’s first team. But so he can be sold for a higher price next year than will be possible if he doesn’t do well at Marseille.

If I’m right about this, Saliba may become the answer to a quiz question in a few years when all this will be memorised less. Who is Arsenal’s most expensive signing who subsequently never played for their first team?

I think the acting can be cringeworthy but it probably just comes down to trying the gain a competitor advantage…..or errrr….cheating. Would they do it if it was a kickabout in a park with their mates?

New kit looks horrible. Looks more like Ajax than Arsenal. That much blue has no place on an Arsenal shirt.

In a months time we will play our first EPL game. Arteta has spent all his time chasing Ben White. He is a player, a number of guests on podcasts have suggested plays differently at the CB role. Already I think too much energy has been spent on this deal. At the prices quoted he needs to improve our defence significantly and be almost error free for the season. Arteta needs this deal otherwise the failure to keep Saliba will look very poor.

At the end of last season I believed we were chasing an attacking midfielder or midfielders. Now I see that unless we can find a new defensive midfielder we cannot sell Xhaka. I can only assume that Arteta is intending to push Partey further forward.

Money must be available as we have made a number of bids. I am struggling to see what Arteta is aiming to do.

The inability to sell players, will come back to haunt us. Many of the players in squad at Hibs are players we are supposedly looking to unload (Willian, Bellerin, Lacca and SK). How can this improve squad morale, establish partnerships in the team and generally lead to accord within the team.

There is a suggestion that after the Scottish tour a number of transfers will follow. I hope for our sake they do. We need to make some progress towards the start of the season. A well prepared start for the season is essential. We are a long way short at the moment.

Hi Rich. I’m afraid I don’t automatically believe trusted sources. Reports say we’ve bid £17m for Aouar. To me that sounds more realistic than offers up to £40m for a central midfielder or £30m for a creative midfielder.

If you saw it, you probably realised from my post to dec last night that I think the idea we bid £45m for White is most likely a nonsense. If we had I bet Brighton would have bitten our hands off and the deal would have been completed as soon as he passed a medical. If White does end up joining us, my guess is it will be for a damn site less than £45m, and so it should be.

As l’ve said before, I honestly think the huge majority of transfer gossip, both in terms of the alleged players and the amounts bid, should be seen as little more than attempts to sell newspapers or attract internet hits.

Trustworthy sources? I remember going to an Arsenal Supporters’ Trust (AST) meeting a few years back (to be honest, quite a lengthy period) and Ornstein was the guest speaker. The AST person introduced him as, words to the effect of, the reporter most likely to be right about Arsenal (I don’t recall the exact words used). I actually did some research on Ornstein the following day and it was clear he’d got loads of things wrong.

Perhaps he is more likely than most journalists to get things right? But whether that’s enough to make his reports what I’d define as ‘trustworthy’ is another question entirely, particularly for stuff not on the point of happening.

There can’t be many posts on the forum in July down the years that reek of the bitterness and agenda this one displays. The misery, the bed wetting, oh yes Congratulations!

Booo hooo Arteta and Edu are struggling to sell such obvious turds

Cheer up there’s a month and half left of the transfer window to go and I think you will see at least another 4 new players coming in.

Saliba will have a chance to showcase himself in the Europa League. It will be interesting should he excel in Ligue 1 and/or Europa. Believe he will give Arsenal the short shrift when that happens. Forget about extending his contract at that time.

I dunno, TG, there have been plenty of 'bitterness' and 'agenda' posts on the forum down the years, so I doubt that Gaz's latest would even scrape into the off-season Top 50. Still, I reckon it's a bit rich, Gaz, for you to suggest that 'Arteta has spent all his time chasing Ben White'. From the north of Queensland, your binoculars must be pretty good to be able to ascertain exactly how Arteta is whiling away his summer days. None of us has the slightest idea what squad we'll begin the new season with, so even a rabid anti-Artetite like yourself might consider waiting a week or three before passing judgement?

I had to google this. Thanks for the educational post, Decaf!

Thanks Rich. Read about the Liverpool link after my lost. Klopp rates him for £64M.

*post*

Hmm, Rich says 65 million - Zed says 64. This could get ugly.

Couldn't resist.....from Liverpool FC website.

Youri Tielemans 'is pushing for a move to Liverpool' but Leicester City are demanding at least £64million for the Belgian star.

Real Madrid now being reported as wanting to sell Ødegaard. They are trying to trim their wage bill. They are looking for offers, but I guess that they want more than he is worth in today’s market. Also he might well expect a mega salary.

I’d be happy to see us pay over the odds for Ødegaard. An amazing prospect who will only get better.

Ben White on his way it seems.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football ... -brighton/

We are going to have something of a British core to our side it seems under Arteta

We need the home grown core. With the restrictions on 17 non home grown players we need to find a way to have the best home grown players. Man U have consistently paid a lot of money for these sorts of players to ensure it gives them maximum flexibility when signing foreign players.
£50m is an awful lot of money but that English premium stays with the player. I’ve not watched him enough but I don’t think you desperately sign a young English CB for £50m from a club like Brighton if you haven’t really considered how he fits in the team and the quality he will bring. Seems like a modern CB and by that I mean a player who pretty m h has the technical and passing ability of a top level central midfielder. Plenty of pace as well

Could end up..

Ramsdale - Tierney, Holding, White, Chambers.

A defence littered with revolting English people

hmm....

How reassuring to know from 2 Artetarites that all is under control and it is all part of the process. At least he will have no invented excuses like last year.

I see that Tierney cut short his holidays and is back at training. Great effort in his behalf.

Invented ? You literally just wrote a post attacking him for literally *%^@ all to meet your daft and ridiculous agenda and narrative

He Maybe good, maybe bad all we are saying is your daft posts on the matter based on zero factual evidence are nonsense

I'm not going to be convinced till ltg says so. (joking)

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12357484/ben-white-arsenal-agree-50m-deal-to-sign-brighton-defender

I like him and hoped he'd stay for a reasonable fee. I wasn't overwhelmed by him. He was getting better as the season went on but I'm not sure of his upside potential. He's young and should have better years ahead of him.

That’s quite alright. I’m still not convinced. It will take an announcement by Arsenal to do that.

Similar feelings really. But personally I thought that his performance tailed off a bit as the season progressed. Perhaps I expected too much given all the huge hype.

No invented by fans like you : he didn't have a proper pre-season, while apparently every other club did

I am excited and intrigued to see Ben White play for us because, like others have said, £50m is a bonkers amount of money to pay unless there is something very special about this kid.

I have read very good things about his ability and composure on the ball and his pace but have also read slightly worrying things about his defending, specifically his ability (or lack of) in the air. He is premier league hardened which is a big bonus.

A ball playing CB may be exactly what we need to help us play quicker and more expansive football so it could be a stroke of genius.

I just hope that our scouting on this one has been spot-on because with players like Xhaka and Bellerin possibly leaving for less than £20m each it feels like a lot of money for a relative rookie defender in the post covid market. As I said the other day, though, if (and its a big if) he evolves into a worldclass ballplaying CB and stays with us for the next decade it would be seen as money very well spent.

Fingers crossed.

Hi ltg,

I am the same really, mixed feelings. He has the deftness of touch, undoubted technical ability and the vision and weight of pass reminiscent of Özil but is he dynamic enough for what we need.

He's very young so the potential is obviously there and I obviously wouldn't say no but I do wonder if the money it would take would be better spent elsewhere.

Probably falls into the Ben White category with the same amount of uncertainty.

Could be a totally brilliant signing with stunning performances, or could leave us wondering (once again) why we had spent so much money there. Especially given our dire financial position.

Fingers crossed that it all works out whichever route the club takes.

Depends on what the alternatives are.

If it’s between Ødegaard, Maddison and Aouar I’d prefer Ødegaard personally but I wouldn’t have anything againest signing those 3 players. We desperately need a player who can play as a 10 or attacking midfielder.

Something to consider if Luiz and Xhaka are effectively replaced by White and Lokonga is the experience we lose. Whatever fans think of Luiz and Xhaka they were clearly big respected personalities and leaders in the dressing room. You could add Bellerin in that category as well, and potentially Lacazette of he leaves.
Seems like a big drive to reduce the age of the squad which wasn’t actually a particularly aging squad.

Could pave the way for someone like Tierney to really step in to a more prominent leadership role and whilst I can’t see Arsenal removing the captaincy from Aubameyang it does feel like Tierney is a more natural fit for the role.

I'm not an Artetarite, Gaz, I just thought you were jumping the gun a bit with your criticism. I was also expressing some doubt as to your ability to know exactly how Arteta has been spending his summer.

On the white fee. Apparently Leeds offered 30m for him last season and chelsea were interested now hence we had to move quickly. As expensive as it seems it sounds the going rate

Understand and appreciate your comments about leadership but those 2 guys may have been good at pointing and shouting but were the biggest single liabilities in the team in recent years.

Luiz absolutely nailed on to give away 3-4 penalties a year and Xhaka responsible easily for 4 or 5 calamitous moments a season. Leadership goes beyond age and shouting and pointing. I’m rather looking forward to an injection of youth and chucking out some older players going through to motions just to get a wage. Please god somebody take Willian and Kolasinac off us too

100%. I would love him back at Arsenal. We looked a better team with both he and Emile Smith Rowe pulling strings.

I really like it actually.