No, its 20 million divided amongst the English wantaways + 15 million each. Hardly even a slap on the wrist and unlikely to affect transfer plans.

Some reports that Guendouzi to Marseille and Xhaka to Roma are as good as done deals.

Some reports that Guendouzi to Marseille and Xhaka to Roma are as good as done deals.

I’ve got very mixed feelings about Xhaka. Lots of pluses and minuses in his game and you were never quite sure what you were going to get. He did eventually learn to rein in his mad impulses somewhat. Horribly one paced .

Right now though we’ll be weaker without him as we did seem to be more effective with him than without him. However we do need to improve both in qualities and in numbers there so fingers crossed that the incoming player(s) are a major step up.

Oh I missed that bit. Yeah not as bad although Kroenke will probably take out another Barclays loan to cover it.

Yo Bern - finally managed to renew my STs.

What a bleeding palaver! Even with a geeky bloke from Arse Ticket Office talking me through the processes, it still wouldn't bloody work. 6 email exchanges and 3 calls - last one was almost 90 mins!

Someone need to re-build that poxy website from bottom to top. Rog?

One thing that might make a difference in the Ødegaard situation is his salary. He was getting paid double with us what he was at Real Madrid and real now have to consider what to do as he has 2 years left on his contract. We could possibly offer him 135-160k a week and that would probably be unlikely there I’d have thought for a player who would mostly sit on their bench.

If we can get around 30 million for those 2 *%^@ puffins Xhaka and Guendouzi I could certainly see us meeting the 52 million asking price for Ødegaard.

Is he really what we need if money is tight though?

He’s a silky player with a lovely soft touch and nice passing range but he’s more Özil than Alexis and I want to see more pace, power and dynamism added to the side.

Plus he likes to drift to the right and he gets in the way a bit of Pépé or Saka or whoever is playing there.

He’s a top talent, no doubt, but is he what we need at this precise moment in time?

Is he really what we need if money is tight though?

He’s a silky player with a lovely soft touch and nice passing range but he’s more Özil than Alexis and I want to see more pace, power and dynamism added to the side.

Had a look at some clips of Ruben Neves. A player who takes a couple of touches before distributing. I am not sure he is a quick player. How is this an improvement. Arseblog made a joke about Arteta getting in players that were just like him as a player. Joke or no joke that maybe a truth. Arteta was never more than a very ordinary footballer and one of the reasons we never competed at the highest level.

When he was made manager he was given too much power. The Saliba situation is a case in point. He should have been told, integrate him into the team not decide not to play him. He should say I want a. Restive midfielder and they should come to him with a couple of names but purchase who is right for the future of the club.

On another issue, AMN has said he has not been spoken to at the end of the season. How is that possible. There should have been a total debrief on every player. The transfer window is open - how do players know if they should be negotiating transfers. Arteta’s man management is appalling.

Is he really what we need if money is tight though?

He’s a silky player with a lovely soft touch and nice passing range but he’s more Özil than Alexis and I want to see more pace, power and dynamism added to the side.

Plus he likes to drift to the right and he gets in the way a bit of Pépé or Saka or whoever is playing there.

He’s a top talent, no doubt, but is he what we need at this precise moment in time?

Angus Gunn moving from Southampton back to Norwich for £10m. This is Southampton’s 3rd choice GK for £10m, and we’re potentially selling Xhaka for just £15m.
Arsenal have made some good sales, Iwobi and ox, but we rarely seem to get anything like the market on so many of our sales. It can’t just be down to wages either because other top clubs are extracting proper fees. Ie Tomori going to Milan for £25m

Angus Gunn moving from Southampton back to Norwich for £10m. This is Southampton’s 3rd choice GK for £10m, and we’re potentially selling Xhaka for just £15m.
Arsenal have made some good sales, Iwobi and ox, but we rarely seem to get anything like the market on so many of our sales. It can’t just be down to wages either because other top clubs are extracting proper fees. Ie Tomori going to Milan for £25m

Maybe I'm remembering things differently but I've rarely seen us get full valuation for players, especially the last several years. Our big players would force a sale to be fair but still, peripheral players who are wanted we get less than the reported or suggested valuation prior.

Anelka and one or two others are only ones I recall my raising an eyebrow of how much we got. Really? They are willing to pay that?!

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At the end of the day there must be a reason nobody would take an 18 million punt on a player like this and only one club want him.

At the end of the day there must be a reason nobody would take an 18 million punt on a player like this and only one club want him.

Do you think the fact he single handedly costed his side 9 points last season is attractive to potential buyers.

It’s the housing market right. You can only attain what the property is actually worth.

There have been reports about other clubs being interested in Xhaka, but another way to look at it is that Mourinho is another top manager who rates Xhaka highly. So that's Wenger, Emery, Arteta, Mourinho, and add to that Hitzfeld and Petkovic for the national team. Think there's a fair bit of football knowledge between those six.

Many of those managers inherited him and have to keep nice right they can’t publicly announce they don’t rate him? At the end of the day Arteta is selling him for a knockdown price to the first club coming along. He can’t rate him that highly he is letting him go with Time in his contract!

Current house prices are routinely driven by what the housing market is at the time. A depressed housing market or buyer’s market will mean a property will be worth less than the figure that exactly the same house could have been sold for in a non-depressed or seller’s housing market. This should lead to good bargains being available to buyer’s. The same principle will often apply to the current transfer market in football.

They could do what managers do with players they don't rate; play others instead and try to get rid.

Many of those managers inherited him and have to keep nice right they can’t publicly announce they don’t rate him?

You don't knock him publically but why on earth pick him for every game if you don't rate him? By your logic, Arteta would have picked Özil and Mustafi for every game to 'keep nice right'.

That’s not how the top managers do it though. It’s the Ferguson method right ? Pat them on the back and tell them they did a good job, tell the media they are doing well and there’s no problem (when it’s bloody obvious there is!) then make a note of all their sins and bang they are gone at the first opportunity when someone shows interest.

Cause all our current midfielders are characters off Sesame Street and despite being dire he’s all we have.

But a) Özil. b) Your story about Ferguson is pure fantasy. Are you saying he would actually play someone he didn't rate in an important match simply to keep a player in the shop window. He did sing the praises of the likes of Veron and Forlan. They were seriously good player who just didn't fit at United. But there were many other player who turned out to be crap and just disappeared (Djemba Djemba? Tiabi?). He also didn't mind taking a financial loss if a player didn't work out.

It’s not going to be a depressed market this summer though. Expect 100 million transfer for Kane and potentially grealish, rice and others

If Saka was put up for sale what do you reckon he would fetch. 50 or 60 I’d suggest? More ?

Then how can it be depressed if he’s also our player

That’s not how the top managers do it though. It’s the Ferguson method right ? Pat them on the back and tell them they did a good job, tell the media they are doing well and there’s no problem (when it’s bloody obvious there is!) then make a note of all their sins and bang they are gone at the first opportunity when someone shows interest.

Great. So your plan would be to sell now for peanuts, create a huge hole in our squad on the principle that the grass is greener on the other side, and buy later when the big clubs have sprung and the like of W Ham, Spurs and Villa are looking to splurge?