Arsenal are supposedly offering any of Nketiah, AMN, Nelson or Willock to Leicester in a player plus cash deal to try to get Maddison. No surprise that Leicester don't want any players who can't get in a team that finished below them for the past 2 seasons. They want straight cash and it would be £60-70m. I'd walk away from that, the cost is too high.

If City sign Grealish then maybe Arteta could tempt Bernardo Silva away with a bid. I really like him as a player

Years of poor recruitment and excessive wages has come back to bite us on the arse big time.

What I don't get about this whole situation is that I don't think all of the players we're looking to sell this summer are that bad, or on massive wages. Willian, Bellerin and Kolasinac are the three players we're looking to get rid off whose wages are probably making it difficult, but Maitland-Niles, Willock, Nketiah and Nelson are all talented, young and I think all of them make less than 40k per week.

Torreira's reported wage is something like 75k per week, and even though his career hasn't panned out at Arsenal he's still a good player and only 25 years old. We definitely should be able to sell at least those five.

Fofana of Leicester has a suspected leg break in a friendly tonight. Awful tackle from the Villarreal player. It is a pre season friendly!

Not as bad but the tackle on Partey was a bit naughty and it will likely keep him out for the start of the season

Fofana of Leicester has a suspected leg break in a friendly tonight. Awful tackle from the Villarreal player. It is a pre season friendly!

Not as bad but the tackle on Partey was a bit naughty and it will likely keep him out for the start of the season

Someone made a good point on twitter........the transfer window has been open 57 days are we are yet to receive a single penny in actual transfer fees during what is supposed to be the biggest clear-out in years.

We can't get rid, nobody is able or willing to pay the combination of transfer fees and wages it would take to buy the deadwood we want rid of.

Years of poor recruitment and excessive wages has come back to bite us on the arse big time.

Not sure there is anything Edu can do, he can't magic up buyers where there are none unless he drops the asking prices to absurdly low levels where clubs would be foolish to turn it down.

Someone made a good point on twitter........the transfer window has been open 57 days are we are yet to receive a single penny in actual transfer fees during what is supposed to be the biggest clear-out in years.

We can't get rid, nobody is able or willing to pay the combination of transfer fees and wages it would take to buy the deadwood we want rid of.

Years of poor recruitment and excessive wages has come back to bite us on the arse big time.

Not sure there is anything Edu can do, he can't magic up buyers where there are none unless he drops the asking prices to absurdly low levels where clubs would be foolish to turn it down.

It is scandalous.

Bellerin is on 110k a week

That’s 20 grand a week more than Wan Bissaka at United
30k more a week than Trippier
And staggeringly 35k a week more than Alexander Arnold.

What *%^@*** idiot gave these players these contracts. The funniest thing is that the players want to leave anyway despite being in no way worth their weekly wages with zero realisation they won’t get it elsewhere.

We are paying super money for very average players.

That is based on contract TAA signed when he was 20 years old. He signed a new deal in the last week which will be around the £200pw mark.

This is far from unique to Arsenal. It is a PL issue. Richest league in the world pays the highest wages. Joel Matip is on £100k and contracted to 2024. James Milner on £140k. Sqyad players. Man U are paying out c£400k pw to DeGea and £100k to Henderson. That's some outlay on keepers. Fred was a £50m transfer and over £100k pw. Martial is on a staggering £250k pw.

Willian's contract is a far far worse piece of business than the extension Bellerin got a couple of years ago.

I know what you mean but your referencing players who are in the champions league and winning titles and European cups. United accepted but even they are in Europe.

It’s not a problem if you are in the champions league. With some of our losers ? No chance mate,

That's a disgrace and presumably Leicester will be forced into the market for a CB for next season. That's probably a £20m+ outlay because of one reckless and premeditated tackle in a meaningless friendly.

I think the comparison with Man Utd is relevant actually. They haven't been more successful than us in recent years - their last title was Europa League in 2016/2017 when the best team they faced that entire campaign was Ajax in the final. With the amount of money they've spent they should be challenging for big titles but they're not even close.

The main difference between them and us is they have more financial power to absorb bad contracts, but just like us they're stuck paying big wages to useless plodders like Fred and Matic, and decent but not great players like De Gea and Wan-Bissaka. I'm sure they'd like to get rid of all four if they could.

If they are socrates, will that increase Leicester’s eagerness to sell Maddison? If so, for perhaps a more realistic price than the £70m I’ve seen quoted recently?

I know what you mean but your referencing players who are in the champions league and winning titles and European cups. United accepted but even they are in Europe.

It’s not a problem if you are in the champions league. With some of our losers ? No chance mate,

Someone made a good point on twitter........the transfer window has been open 57 days are we are yet to receive a single penny in actual transfer fees during what is supposed to be the biggest clear-out in years.

We can't get rid, nobody is able or willing to pay the combination of transfer fees and wages it would take to buy the deadwood we want rid of.

Years of poor recruitment and excessive wages has come back to bite us on the arse big time.

Not sure there is anything Edu can do, he can't magic up buyers where there are none unless he drops the asking prices to absurdly low levels where clubs would be foolish to turn it down.

I am so angry watching this. That Villareal player should be banned. Not just the tackle, but the follow through also showed intent to injure.

But you agree that we are not likely to have much chance of getting back into the CL unless we compete with the wages and transfers the big four are paying? And if you do pay big, you are bound to have expensive, hard to move on, flops. Its a dope or die world.

You can get the balance right. If you sign obvious talents they will command a big wage but it can be balanced. Leicester have only 3 players on over 100k a week.

Arsenal is a much bigger club. Leicester with the possibility of CL or even if they had CL qualification doesn't trump Arsenal. We are a very big name and a wealthy club. It stands to reason that we would pay higher wages than everyone except for the two Manchester clubs, Liverpool and Chelsea. We are on a par with Liverpool and Chelsea and well behind the other two. City are the only ones who seem to be CL guaranteed these days.

.

They regularly consecutively qualify for the champions league which can net them anything up to what 40-70 million if you go on a decent run beyond the group stages.

The glory of our recent fa cup win (which let’s be honest was something of an anomaly) excluded I’d probably swap places with them and I bet our manager would in a heartbeat and board 1 million percent. Which all takes you back to the original point. We are paying champions league money to average players.

Also it was totally premeditated. It’s basically assault.

Would be totally forgiven if a Leicester player put one on him after that.

Current news is Messi will NOT sign his new deal with Barcelona. Messi is currently a free agent….but with the wages he’s being paid you’d have to form out the thick end of £25m a season for him. Only City and PSG can really afford that. Maybe he wants to go to America - which would be a cop out.

Not correct. Look how regularly United have qualified for europe.

Kinda diverting from the original point again. We are paying champions league wages for players not good enough to qualify for it. Anywhere near, you will find better right backs getting paid half of what bellerin does.

Man Utd finished 6th as recently as 2019. Behind us.

We have gone backwards in the last two seasons and it isn't down to wages. Even with Özil on his monstrous wage, we broke our transfer record. We are still very competitive in the transfer market. Not so on the pitch, though.

The final days of the window will be interesting. I think a lot of interested clubs are waiting for the panic-discounts Arsenal will offer.

You can get the balance right. If you sign obvious talents they will command a big wage but it can be balanced. Leicester have only 3 players on over 100k a week.

They are in the champions league this year and we weren’t good enough to get a Europa place, I can’t contain all the glory we are experiencing.

If you can’t see how damaging it was for the club paying 350 k a week for Özil to sit on the bench then I’m speechless.

Silent Stan could afford it Got to be worth it for the marketing alone.

Current news is Messi will NOT sign his new deal with Barcelona. Messi is currently a free agent….but with the wages he’s being paid you’d have to form out the thick end of £25m a season for him. Only City and PSG can really afford that. Maybe he wants to go to America - which would be a cop out.

Current news is Messi will NOT sign his new deal with Barcelona. Messi is currently a free agent….but with the wages he’s being paid you’d have to form out the thick end of £25m a season for him. Only City and PSG can really afford that. Maybe he wants to go to America - which would be a cop out.

Nobody is saying that having expensive players who aren't pulling their weight isn't a problem. Cherry picking the ignominous end to Özil's Arsenal career proves nothing. All of the big clubs have flops.

And our form in the second half of the season wasn't that bad at all. So that is another non-argument.

Eh ? Who mentioned our form in the 2nd half of the season. Not me.

If Messi goes to America I’ll be happy enough. It’ll keep him outside the news more than staying at Barcelona or joining City would.

On another site the first fake photo of Messi in an Arsenal shirt has already appeared.