White for £45m and Maddison for £60m are one thing but I'm really concerned with the rumours linking us to Aaron Ramsdale for £20m!! Surely everyone can see that is utterly ridiculous. That is far too much to pay for a GK who is at best 5th best English GK and has had 2 back to back relegations and shown nothing in either of those two sides to warrant that fee or playing for us. We'll be a laughing stock if we sign him for the same amount we sold Martinez for. Ryan for peanuts or Onana for £5-10m are clearly far better purchases. If we're picking up relegated GK I'd rather have Sam Johnstone from West Brom.

Also if we're desperate for a home grown GK go down the road to Brentford and go for David Raya who is maybe half the price.

Where did you read that Rich?

Wasnt the goalkeeping coach the one that recommended Runarsson.
If he has done the same with Ramsdale then quite frankly he doesnt have a *%^@*** clue!
Agreed
Sam Johnstone much better.
But really Onana is an absolute no brainer at the reported price.

Watched one of the Ben White compilations going around and I must admit he does look very classy on the ball.

Of course compilations can be deceiving because they tend not to show the mistakes and difficult moments but I was surprisingly impressed by his technical ability.

On the downside there are whispers that other clubs are waiting in the wings for a fee to be agreed before pouncing.

I think it's inevitable that we will be gazumped by one of the top 4

Another thing about White is that he seems very durable - played the most minutes of any Brighton player this season, just a few minutes shy of 36 full 90 minute games. Last season he played every single minute for Leeds in the league, that's 46 90 minute games in a row.

https://twitter.com/GurjitAFC/status/14 ... 2808847367
Nice video of some of Ben White's best bits. Nothing like a good highlights video to warm to a potential signing.....and to mask any deficiencies in any players game! Everyone looks good on youtube of course

I read it on twitter, I'm afraid I cant recall who but it was an informed Arsenal journalist not just some fan. I remember reading it with interest because I also thought Azeez contract was up this summer

Fabrizio Romano saying Leicester are in talks with Patson Daka the RB Salzburg striker. Absolutely no surprise there.
22 years old, 34 goals in 42 games last year, 27 in 45 the year before. Supposedly available for £17m, he's a classic Leicester signing. Good chance he's worth double in 2 years time. I don't understand why more clubs aren't doing the same even supposedly bigger clubs like us.

Soumare at £20m and Daka at £17m are really no brainer signings with very little downside. I predict by Christmas we'll be moaning about how both would walk in to our starting 11.

No!!!!

https://newsjust24all.com/real-madrid-r ... alKNS6-1wo


Unless they give us a load of money as well.

Surely stuff Smith Rowes agent has just fed to the press to get his client a better contract offer.

That said I’d probably say no too but it would be tempting

Spurs search for a new manager goes on. All talks with 5th Fonseca are now off. Rumours are they’ve approached Gattusso

So Tierney is ‘fit’ for Scotland tomorrow. Hope that he doesn’t end up crocked.

Mavropanos close to a £7m move to Stuttgart. Once again the fee feels low or at best totally reasonable.
It’ll be annoying if I’m a depressed market we manage to do a classic Arsenal and sell all our players on the cheap and get fleeced and over pay for our signings.
Mavropanos is 23, a full international and had a full season of top level German football last year. £7m just feels far too measly.
Ask yourself if for some reason we wanted a Mavropanos replacement who at his level could we get for £7m?

No. Just no.

I think it's his injury record combined with him only wanting to move to Stuttgart that lowers the fee. As good as he seems to have been when playing, he only started 19 out of 34 league games last season, and he's had trouble with other injuries in the past too.

Seems a reasonable fee. He never impressed at all for us really.

I think because we had to give away Sokratis, Özil and mustafi to get their wages off the books our fans now think we are making an error not getting more for these players.

I think also the club need to Aggressively move some of these non contributors on to rebuild so may consider lower offers than they usually would.

I posted this on Azeez awhile back for David's benefit. Seen nothing on a new contract yet.

https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2021/05/14/r ... azeez/?amp

Guess there isn't another lamb up for the slaughter instead of Emile Smith Rowe then Los Blancos might want instead.

Likely nonsense writing. If true, hope Arsenal don't make the dumb decision to agree on this.

Emile Smith Rowe home grown, and has established himself as a trusted first-teamer. Much more driven player than almost the entire squad (something we need in abundance).

Ødegaard, I'm still not convinced he can make it happen for us. Pulls away from tackles too quickly. Not anywhere close to Özil, Cesc or Carzola level to warrant this swap.

I agree, it’s probably nonsense journalism and I wouldn’t want to lose Smith Rowe for Ødegaard either. But can’t you find ways to say that without slagging Ødegaard off? Ødegaard is an elite talent and potentially a truly elite player. I suspect that’s why Real Madrid, in my view the world’s biggest club, not only bought him but probably want to keep him. I bet he ends up achieving more in the game than Cazorla, sadly as I don’t see it being with Arsenal.

Just to clarify, my last sentence was relevant to club careers, not international football.

Spurs hunt for a new manager goes on
Nagelsmann, Rodgers, Flick, Ten Hag, Pochettino, Conte, Fonseca, Gattuso.....on to the next one. Scott Parker?

It is interesting that last year we had the 3rd best defence but 9th best attack. Creating chances and scoring goals was our problem (alongside a number of individual errors in defence) So most people would think we need more attackers. I read an interesting article about how actually better defenders can help the attacking output if those defenders bring the right skillset. The defenders themselves aren't creating or scoring goals but they are progressing the ball forward more quickly and more accurately and are more press resistant. Quite simply, get the ball forward quicker and retain possession better to keep up the intensity of attacks and we present our forward players with better opportunities to create chances.

I was certainly someone amongst many who bemoaned the lack of creativity in our side particularly at the start of last season, but have seen more to the argument than a solution being the simple option of buying more creative players.

A comparison was made to Pep and City in his second season, Pep went from 4th to Champions, conceding fewer and scoring more on the back of the summer business being a full defensive revamp. The big signings that summer for City were Ederson, Walker, Mendy, Danillo, and Laporte following in the winter. The only major attacking signing was Bernardo Silva.

At the top level these centre backs who do all the good things defenders do but also have the technique and passing range of a central midfielder are absolutely crucial

I am not sure I take much pleasure in this as if it all goes wrong before Christmas we will have a number of the same names on our shopping list.

Spurs built a credible team with Pochettino, gradually improving so much so they made the CL final and were over achieving - the slightest hint of that over achieving diminishing and they sacked him and got in Jose Mourinho. They deserve every problem they have.

Our situation is a bit more different for a number of reasons. Without being arrogant I think managers are less likely to turn Arsenal down than they are to turn Spurs down - no matter that they've finished above us in the league for 4-5 years now, on a global scale we're simply a bigger team. Also, I don't really get the impression Arsenal will move Arteta on in a hurry, especially if there isn't a credible candidate available.
Someone like Rodgers - I don't blame him staying at Leicester, but they've had champions league football snatched away in the last two seasons, yes they won the FA Cup and continue to punch above their weight but Rodgers will surely be tempted by another chance at a really big club - I don't know if he'd see us as big enough but my bet is he might.

One should take one's pleasure where one can, Gaz

Slightly daft and maybe naïve question, but I'll ask it anyway.

In modern football, what's the essential difference between the number 10 role and the number 8 role?

I’ve always seen the number 10 role as the deep creative central forward role. A sort of Cantona or Bergkamp player. I’ve always seen the number 8 as the creative central midfielder role. A sort of Cazorla or Fabregas type of player, even if they don’t have the 8 shirt.

Depends on the coach and the set up.

generally accepted the number 8 has more defensive duties than the 10. The suggestion is Partey is best played as an 8

Thanks Bern & TG. I see what you're both saying and I wouldn't disagree. Tricky one.

In terms of 8 or 10, how should we view Saka and Smith-Rowe?

Traditionally I’ve always seen the number 4 as the defensive midfielder.

Emile Smith Rowe is a 10 who can also play wide left if the coach wants to retain possession a bit more (maybe in a big game) . Ødegaard is clearly a 10 and likewise Maddison. The type of player we need to invest in this summer in my opinion

Saka is neither and looks best wide left or right i think.

Cazorla and Fàbregas we’re good enough to be played in either position. Actually cazorla was so good he could play anywhere apart from defence or striker I reckon

Saka number 11 and Smith Rowe 7 maybe, as I see those as the wide midfielder numbers which is probably a decent description of them?

In sum, I’ve always seen the numbers as closest to these roles. 1 goalkeeper, 2 right back, 3 left back, 4 defensive midfielder, 5 strong in the air central defender, 6 ball playing central defender, 7 right midfield, 8 creative central midfield, 9 centre forward, 10 creative central forward, 11 left midfield.

EDIT: The numbers above have lost relevance to modern formations (for example, many teams don’t play with a traditional centre forward these days). Squad numbers have made them even less relevant as well. I wonder when the last time was that Arsenal’s starting eleven had the shirt numbers 1-11?

It’s not really numerical anymore as squad numbers have chucked all that out the window but people refer to 8 and 10 as numbers still for some reason to determine the roles of the 2 more attacking midfielders. Just a form of terminology people use for some reason

Agreed. Reported as being bought for £1.9m, so if this sale happens a £5m profit does not seem too shabby.

I think I'd agree with this TG, and with your last 'Edit' Bern. The numbers and their designations haven't made a great deal of sense to me for a while.

2?

Historically some of the time at Arsenal some of the more defensive midfielders wore 8 a lot. Paul Davis (a favourite of mine) and Kevin Richardson for example.

Ian Wright certainly broke that and made the number his own.