Would take Silva in a heartbeat. Excellent player who gets lost in the shuffle a bit at City, but could shine in a bigger role for us. Of the players listed above I'd take both him and Ødegaard ahead of Maddison, and possibly Aouar too considering the price tag.

I am worried about that Brentford game.
Promoted team back in the big league for the first time in ages.
Decent playing football team.
Confident striker in Toney out to make a name for himself.
Full capacity partisan crowd.
Promoted team looking for a big scalp.
Not ideal game to start with with Chelsea and city to follow.
Dont even want to think about the possibility of having no points after 3 games.. .
We have to be on it from the first whistle.
I’d be starting with Lokonga and Xhaka in midfield.
I know the presence of Tierney makes the right back position look pale in comparison but I dont think it’s that urgent a position.
Got Cédric and Chambers who are good professionals.
I really wish Maitland Niles had knuckled down and really tried to make right back his own position. He would have been ideal.
We cannot afford to lose that Brentford game.
Whole country will we cheering Brentford on.

You can nab Onana , Bissouma and Aouor for a combined 60 to 65 million for the price you would spend on Madduson.
Value for money on those 3 , all quality players and all relatively young.
It’s a *%^@*** no brainer.!!
What’s wrong with us!!!

Totally agree Haz.
Maddison would be bottom of the 4 for me.
Silva is a brilliant player.
We should be all over him.
So in order of preference
Silva
Aouor
Ødegaard
Maddison.
I think Silva is definitely gettable considering the history between him and Arteta at City.

That would be three lots of wages though.

Actually the way that the transfer market is it seems difficult for any club to ‘nab’ a player.

Partey confirmed out for 3 weeks
Nketiah out injured for 4 weeks
Gabriel back in a couple of weeks

Nevertheless, I do think AG's apology is warranted. Poor old Benny would be turning in his grave, or at least his toes would be curling.

So ... let's see
Hypothesis A
1) You're joking (having a laugh) or as Trump put it-- 'being sarcastic' ... anyone who doesn't see that is a humourless jerk ... you can say whatever you like about anything no matter how foul or hateful because of course you don't mean it ha ha ha
2) you're not joking, you are standing up for your position. Everyone who disagrees with you (especially Gaz) is stupid or willful pushing a false narrative to have a go at you ... Gaz only comes on here to have a go at Arsenal or have a go at you when you are having a go at Arsenal
3) you're not joking and don't really believe what you are arguing. You are a 'psychologist', trying to study our reactions, i.e. rather like one of those Trumpers who love it that their troll in chief 'riles up the libtards'.

Hypothesis B. You are just full of it? You say things without thinking them through and then defend you positions to the bitter end.

And I do reserve the right to come into arguments on the forum started by others. If you want to have a private argument with someone, pm them. If you want to express foul nonsense about one of our players or ex players, go an do it on Twitter or somewhere else. If you do it here, don't expect it to be consequence free.

Chelsea not fully happy with £50m Werner after 1 season so go for £100m Lukaku.

Reading a few things online about Inter Milan being on the brink of liquidation and therefore every player is effectively up for sale. There certainly wasn’t a huge fight to keep Hakimi (£60m) and now Lukaku (£100m). Perhaps we’re seeing an opportunity with Martinez

Assuming White plays the friendly I will be interested in his performance. All the highlights appear to show his ability to push out and spray some really good passes. He does appear to go to ground a little too often IMO. But it is his abilities to marshall a defence, keep an eye on his man and deal with set pieces that are probably more important. It is a big job for a 23yo who has been purchased for a club record. I am just not sure the 50mil buys us 10-15 more points per season.

Defence is always about combinations and ability to read the game. The fact his other central partner is not available is a real disadvantage. The defence was in a mess against Chelsea so everything should be an improvement from here.

Regardless of what players they sell, if that’s true I think it’s really sad. I hope they survive. Inter Milan are one of the great names in European football, not just Italian football.

I’ve never had any affinity with Inter myself, though I certainly find them less dislikable than Juventus, or further afield Barcelona.

I didn’t watch the whole Leicester vs Manchester City game earlier but saw a decent part of it. I thought Maddison’s performance was thoroughly underwhelming. On the rare occasions he wasn’t achieving invisibility, he looked no more technically gifted than Ceballos and passes the ball forward less than Xhaka. If he wasn’t dramatically better in the bits of the match I didn’t see, should we sign him I hope he’ll be a lot better than he was today.

On a number of different podcasts, most people appear to share your views.

Look, it’s fairly easy to find stuff about Maddison being grossly overrated as well as far more positive stuff (I’m sure it’s not only here you get exaggerations about players’ shortcomings and strengths). The most thoughtful analysis of Maddison I came across was the one in the link below. The overall judgment is that he’s good but not great.

It talks of his suitability for other teams, including Arsenal. The judgement is he wouldn’t provide what we need, even in terms of creativity. The idea of Arsenal spending £70m to get Maddison looks crazy, especially if suspicions he is close to (or at) his ceiling are right. That sort of money for someone good but not great, arguably without much potential for radical improvement (considering his age the ‘already at his ceiling’ possibility looks entirely feasible)? As the article appears to suggest, perhaps he’s already at the right club for him: Leicester?

Another point not really discussed in the article is Maddison’s work rate. In my view one of Arsenal’s problems is we can lack energy (a reason I don’t support getting rid of Guendouzi, as people here know). Watching yesterday’s game (or at least much of it), that is an issue I don’t see Maddison solving. Talk about static. I’ve seen more running from Alan Hudson when he played (not the hardest working Arsenal player I’ve ever seen). Maddison also doesn’t have anything like the skill or creativity that Hudson had.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theroa ... -real/amp/

Willock to Newcastle is picking up pace. Reports are Newcastle have a limited budget (not surprising), if so then any loss we make on initial fee should go in to % sell on clauses. I read that Liverpool had a 20% sell on clause for Ings netting them another £6m. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that Willock is sold on by Newcastle in 3-4 years time for £30-40m

I hope the links with Trippier are just paper talk. He's a decent RB (not great) and he's almost 31. It would make no sense to spend a lot of money on an ageing RB whose best days are probably behind him.

Hi Rich,

First option to buy him back and a decent sell-on clause has to be the way to go.

Hi Bernard,

Maddison is a really good PL player, his goals and assists stats back that up.

It's a weird market where many clubs are broke but elite players still go for massive money and there is a huge premium for homegrown players.

Would I spend £70m on Maddison. Well, we paid £50m for a homegrown defender of a similar age so its not an outrageous fee in that respect. Are there better players/deals out there?......there probably are but for one reason or another we seem to be having a problem getting any over the line. I'd rather have Maddison than no one else, put it that way.

Also Brighton are looking at Nketiah. A move that makes sense for all parties. Nketiah has actually looked pretty sharp in pre season but I just can’t see any way he starts for us or even gets anything other than very limited minutes this season.

Another tricky one. I think he's looked very sharp in pre-season and Aubameyang hasn't.

I can't see us challenging for top four with an out-of-form Aubameyang and a goal-shy Lacazette. Balogun is a unknown quantity.

What do people make of the snaps of Edu on holiday?

I have to say, for a guy who is probably earning a few 100k a year would it not have made sense for him to enjoy a break after the transfer window has closed?. Posting holiday snaps online in the midst of one of the club's most important transfer windows in years (well since last year anyway) is not a good look.

I know communications are such that you can still work anywhere in the world but this is a pivotal transfer window with loads to do (and loads still not done). Personally, I would have put off holidays until September, kept my head down and concentrated fully on getting deals over the line, both ins and outs.

Morning socrates. If we spend anything like £70m on Maddison after spending £50m on White and we don’t get into the Champions League, I strongly suspect Arteta or Edu might be getting their P45s. Perhaps even both of them.

After authorising expenditure like that, one assumes on Arteta and Edu’s advice, I’m pretty damn certain Stan won’t be happy if we don’t qualify for it. I wouldn’t expect him to be. He’s a multi billionaire businessman after all.

Did you read my link? It didn’t discuss work rate, but as I said a lack of energy is one of our problems. I just don’t see Maddison solving that. Let’s face it, he isn’t another Bergkamp, Hudson, Brady or Fabregas in terms of creativity. I’m not sure he’s even another Williams or Davis and they used to compete and work their socks off. Is another relatively immobile player really what we need?

Yes, by their acount he's very good but not special and for £70m you want special.

I understand what you, and they, are saying but who would you sign? We need some creative spark, someone to provide some goals and assists from midfield. I don't really see Ødegaard as that (not that he's available anyway). Presumably we've scoured europe for attacking midfielders and found very few who can provide what we want and be willing to join us. It seems there are limited options out there for us.

I am not a huge Maddison fan but then again I'm not a huge Ødegaard fan either (not at £50m based on what we saw from him during his loan spell).

Well written analysis

That's exactly the problem for me; Maddison is very good, but I don't see him developing into that special player. White isn't a 50m player right now, but I think he has the potential to become one. If Maddison is our only option left I'd rather we keep our powder dry, because I can imagine the Ødegaard situation changing quickly if he's not a starter for Real Madrid during the first half of the season. Would much rather see us strengthening our midfield further and go with the attacking options we have at our disposal now than splurge on Maddison.

I would certainly rather spend £50m on Ødegaard than £70m on Maddison. At least he has a higher ceiling considering his age.

How about Aouar? By all accounts he’s available and would cost nothing remotely like £70m, or £50m for that matter. The highest price I’ve seen for him is £25m and the lowest is £17m. A happy medium is £21m. That seems a far more sensible option.

There was some mention in a newspaper article or podcast that there had been some issues with him but I had no understanding of what they meant and they did not elaborate enough for me to understand it.

I can’t believe we’d seriously go for him when everything has been about targeting players in the 21-24 age range. Probably more likely that someone at Man U or Atletico is getting itchy feet and wants to speed along that transfer between those two clubs

Hi Gaz,

I think we have gone a bot cold on him despite his lower price tag. He had a fairly indifferent season last year, by all accounts, and there are suggestions that both Lyon and his agent brother were difficult to deal with when we tried to buy him last summer.

I’ve just read that Atletico are ‘demanding’ £34m for Trippier.

Really! I wouldn’t want him for free. All these values being quoted for the likes of Maddison et al are truly bonkers. We’d be better off with a hungry lower league prospect.

I see that Fofana is now out until next year.

Given what happened against Chelsea I shall be relieved if we get to the end of today’s match with no more injuries. These high profile ‘friendlies’ are more trouble than they are worth.

Agreed. Ødegaard is not worth 50 million. Neat and tidy but not a special player.

And he’s getting cheaper by the hour https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/ ... SOq8IzQEyo

Bar chambers in for Bellerin that line up for the friendly v Spurs looks like the team that will start the season. Pleasing at least to see Lokonga in next to Xhaka, but I’m still fearful Arteta will fall back to Elneny for the first game.

Aubameyang wide left and Lacazette up front shows that Arsenal are still a long way from solving this problem.

Makes sense for us to wait a few more weeks then.

Anyone got a live stream for the game?

I went against my better judgement and decided to buy a £7.99 match pass from Arsenal.com. But the system just keeps falling over in a heap. Hopefully the team is in better shape that the IT systems.

At least I’ve saved my money.

Heard Leno went down injured but is ok after a bit of treatment. But that puts in to focus how precarious our GK situation is right now with the first match of the season just over 5 days away!

Leno's save from Son