Good player= costs a ton of money
Bad player = depressed market

Indeed. A good point that is spoiled by the cheap and nasty joke at the expense not only of Pépé but on our other 'dunderhead' forwards.

No, the depressed market is a fact. But some clubs still have financial muscles to flex. It's really not that complicated.

There was a lot of snow here in Sweden in February. I therefore call nonsense on this whole climate change business.

Sweden finished top of their group, thereby proving once and for all that they are a thrilling and brilliant football team.

Good argument = priceless
Bad argument = rinse and repeat

It's all about what teams are interested in a certain player. Premier League teams generally have a lot more money to spend because of the amount of money that's in the league. That's why Nat Phillips is reported to be leaving Liverpool for about the same we're getting for Xhaka - and he's going to a side that was fighting relegation last season. Meanwhile Lazio are reported to be struggling scrounging together 15-20m euros for Torreira. And we're supposed to be selling Mavropanos after an impressive season in Bundesliga to Stuttgart for £7m.

This is nothing new, but has been amplified by the pandemic - we got Tierney for roughly the same fee as Sheffield United paid for Rhian Brewster.

Pogba is a different player entirely for France.

Expecting Germany to turn this around, but I've been well impressed with Hungary this tournament. They had an impossible task with that group, but they've given it everything they have.

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Wow. 2-1 Hungary.

Busy fella wasn’t he

10 minutes left for Germany to save themselves. One thing you can be sure of they’ll keep going to the end. Either way, an epic game and an epic performance by Hungary who as Haz said have done themselves proud.

Edit - and there it is Goretzka 2-2

Has to be seen as a failure on Man Utds part not getting more out of him. He's obviously not without fault there, but in terms of talent he's a top 3-5 midfielder in the world.

25 minutes away from advancing from that group, more than anyone could've asked of them.

Well as an Arsenal fan we know a fair bit about posturing bids. Suarez and Mbappe just off the top of my head.

Flicking back and forth between the two games and, good grief, what has happened to Leroy Sane since he left City. He looks complete garbage.

Germany bang average on tonight's performance. No out-and-out striker, very slow in their build-up, Hummels very slow on the turn. Just lacking quality really.

England have been pretty average too so it could be an interesting game. England must fancy theiur chances.

Yeh. Apparentntly wanted to avoid extradition to the US to face his crimes.

Will have to keep reminding TG he's a lying get as he appears to ignore postsc that challenge him directly on what he says and does.

I've not seen such a fantasist since I last read AG's earlier posts. Strange how he goes quiet for long periods then bounces back with more repetitive quotes than TG.

Hmm AG TG are they the Jekel and Hyde of this forum?

What are you harping on about now? ? Because I pointed out your covid denial nonsense. It’s clearly wound you up.

How many signatures you up to on your awesome petition ? You managed to reach the landmark figure of 2!

Spending your time creating the petitions and telling people it’s an over reaction. I’d suggest taking a long hard look at yourself.

However you did think the EU owned transport for London in a secret conspiracy so what do we expect ?

Southgate will be crazy not to play Saka againest Germany. His ability to win the ball in midfield and drive forward would be effective againest kroos and gundogan who are older legs.

It’s a massive call but he’s got to Drop Foden. I’m not expecting him to as the city contingent seem to have a massive sway over the national set up.

Strangely optimistic on the game, likely shortlived before an inevitable exit on penalties

I'm wondering whether conservative Southgate will go back to a back 5 with wing backs to match up with Germany.
I think it would be a mistake. I'd keep the same front 4, it seemed to have a nice balance of Kane as the primary striker - and make sure he doesn't drop too deep and gets in the box, grealish floating and committing defenders, saka picking it up and driving forward and sterling to add a pace threat on the shoulder.

I was disappointed, once we’d got it back to 2-2, that Germany didn’t go all out for the winner last night. Had we got it, that would have put England against France in the next round. Many people see France as the favourites and therefore would probably be more likely to knock England out than Germany are.

Sorry, but while I’m relatively patriotic when it comes to issues like politics and economics, I am another Kim Philby when it comes to sport. Particularly with football, but also cricket to a lesser extent.

Fabrizio Romano on Lokonga: "He would love to join Arsenal, he was contacted by Italian clubs, Napoli & Atalanta, but he said ‘my priority is Arsenal’, so let’s see if Arsenal will decide to complete the deal in the next days"

So, you're criticising someone because their petition didn't get enough likes? Are you 12 years old?

Nope just someone who hates covid denial freaks because it took someone close to me.

Sorry to hear that, but that isn't what your post addressed. You were criticising him for his lack of likes, chuckling at the 'landmark figure of 2' for his 'awesome petition'. Literally.

Well yes, I find it funny.

Any preposterous idiots pretending this horrendous thing isn’t serious are a complete joke to me and watching these clowns make total pricks of themselves is a source of continual amusement.

Do you need any more clarification or for me to be more specific or does this answer your question sufficiently ?

You were chuckling at someone for their lack of popularity - ('landmark figure of 2' - tee hee) that's what your smiley face was about. It's called punching down. And it isn't as hilarious as you think it is.

It’s not a popularity contest if your cause is *%^@*** rancid and that’s what the comment was about not anything else.

However interpret as you wish.

David Ornstein reporting Arsenal and Brighton are getting close to an agreement over Ben White, with personal terms already agreed. A Brighton journalist are claiming a bid has been accepted. Think this one might be done fairly soon. It will cost a lot of money, but that's unfortunately always the case when buying English players.

50 odd million ? Seems an awful lot of money

Where was this petition anyway? If bubblechris put it here, I missed it. Let me clarify that I avoid political petitions like the plague, so I wouldn’t have signed it anyway, just like I wouldn’t have signed a petition suggesting the opposite to bubblechris’ petition. I do, however, have doubts as to how reliable the number of signatories on a petition is on the strength of feeling, one way or the other, on an issue.

It does, but if we get 5-6 years from him it's probably worth it. I know very little of him but from what I have read since our interest emerged, he is very highly thought of.

There’s not many centre backs worth more than 50 million in world football right now surely. That kind of money brings lots of options.

Like yourself I know nothing about the player at all but heard good things however I consider the current England centre backs pretty average and they are getting in the side ahead of him.

I also do find it a little bizarre we are signing another centre back when we have so many and are desperate for midfield reinforcement

I saw maybe 6-7 Brighton games last season, and I really liked what I saw of White. A very modern defender, good on the ball and agile. Arteta is clearly eyeing him as a Luiz replacement in my opinion, someone who will help our build-up and maybe allow our midfielders not to drop too deep when we're in possession.

As for the fee, he's clearly not worth it at this point in his career. It's just the way it is with English players. Maguire isn't worth half of 80m, Wan-Bissaka isn't worth 50m and neither is Chilwell. To me this looks like a sign that we have significant money to spend this summer, which is a welcome surprise.

I think we have depth at the centre back position, but are lacking quality. Gabriel is really the only one we have with the quality to start for a club chasing top 4, and he only showed it in patches last season. Holding and Mari are good players but definitely shouldn't be more than 3rd/4th choice for where we're aiming.

https://www.arsenal.com/news/dinos-mavr ... tgart-loan

Mavropanos joins Stuttgart on loan with option/obligation to buy depending on if they stay up.

Edit: https://theathletic.com/news/arsenal-tr ... dod0UHpfNE This is the article with the details about the deal. Like the part about a sell-on clause, Mavropanos is a talented player and if he performs he might attract interest elsewhere.

Quite a few reports saying we've moved very close to securing Ben White for £45-50m.

I can;t believe we'd spend that much on a single player without also investing heavily in the other areas of the team that need players - most notably central midfield and attacking midfield.

So either Arsenal are going to spend £50m on a CB and spend pennies and leave gaps elsewhere, or we're also going to spend big on other areas of the team. Because doing the first option is absolute madness and the fans won't be happy.

If you have a £60m budget and need 6 players do you
a) sign 1 player for £50m and then 5 players for £2m each
b) sign 6 players for £10m (or similar spreading round of funds)

I can't believe any club would go for option a) - which makes me optimistically think we might see some serious spending this summer.

Obviously with a sell on clause you take a bit of a hit on the initial fee, but what I've seen (can't open the athletic article) is £500k loan fee and obligation to buy for £3m if they stay in the top flight, and £1.5m if they get relegated. £3.5m seems like absolute pennies and virtually giving the player away irrespective of sell on clause.