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.

C'mon Arsenal.com what are you waiting for?
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/57873034

I think the Aouar situation is quite interesting and shows how fans (including myself probably) get carried away when assassing players we don't watch regularly. Last summer he was seen as a can't miss signing after some really good performances in the CL - one of those players we'd only get one chance of getting before they inevitably went to a much bigger club. Had we paid 50-60m for him then a lot of fans would've been completely fine with it.

This summer many of the same fans seem annoyed by every article linking him to us, whethe it's reliable or not, and he's suddenly someone we shouldn't pay more than 20-25m for, if we should even bother signing him at all. And that's after one season at 23 years old that wasn't great but certainly not disastrous when looking from a statistical point of view - 7 goals and 3 assists from a central midfielder isn't that poor really.

Anyone know if the Rangers game is available free to Gold members or does everyone have to pay the £7.99 'match pass'?

Apparently, the 'going rate' for Macallan 1926 whiskey is £1.45m. But that doesn't mean you should cough up the £1.45m. First, you should bear in mind the following
a) can you afford it?
b) is it actually any good?
c) it's really pointless if you intend to mix it with coke.

Unless the intention is to buy White for £50m and then loan him out to Spata Prague for the next three seasons.

To be honest white is a good example of the loan system working well as he impressed during his time at Leeds when he was loaned at the same age as Saliba.

Balogun looks quality

Brilliant. An unexpected bonus.

How strange, two for one Balogun on both sides, same number subbed at same time?

Am I missing something?

How did our Balogun play? The one playing in Red

Good luck in Italy, Giroud. I've always liked you even when some gooners didn't.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/57873043

Most expensive Macallan whiskey I could find was their 55 year old which is £145,000 for a 70cl bottle. 55 years ago is obviously 1966. If the 1926 is £1.45m, does another 40 years really make a difference of £1,305,000 (£1,450,000 - £145,000)? Or did you put an m instead of a k?

I know little about whiskey and rarely drink it, unless I go to Jockland and am offered it and it would be rude not to. But I was once told that age makes little difference to its taste, unlike age can do with fine wine. I don’t know if that is true as I was either told it or saw it on a telly documentary (I can’t recall). But if it is true, I’m surprised if 40 years makes a difference of £1.3m+.