Not sure you can gauge much from that compilation! A bloke and his dog walked past the camera at one stage

Suggestion is Roma have walked away from the Xhaka deal because they don’t want to meet the 20 million euro asking price even if its total peanuts. This will obviously mean Xhaka is a brilliant player to some on here

We will have to give him away in the end

Newcastle have offered 17 million plus 3 million in add ons for willock plus a 1.5 million loan fee for AMN for a season.

Not sure what to think about that. Doesn’t feel good enough

It is the actual name of the pub. AG has posted a photo of it awhile back. You make a good point though.

Nowhere near enough. We can’t be the only club who doesn’t get to charge the English premium

It’s gotta be 25 for Willock hasn’t it really. The club should dig its heels in otherwise or get him to sign a new contract then loan him out again.

Problem is we are so desperate to offload players we aren’t in a position of bargaining strength

It depends on the player. We are under no pressure to sell him. He is a young talented homegrown player. Contrast with Xhaka or Lacazette. Much older and far more likely to move outside the PL so potentially lower fee.

I was about to say more 'bull' than 'cock', but actually Terry makes a good point.

The trouble is the only way to “get him to sign a new contract then loan him out again” is presumably by paying Willock a massive amount. If we do, then to loan him out again we’ll have to pay much of his salary while he’s playing for another club. We’ve been in that scenario before.

Willock’s current contract expires in two years, 2023. That means now is arguably the right time to sell without giving him a huge rise to extend it. As you say in your second paragraph, “we aren’t in a position of bargaining strength”. As a general rule, players have much if not most of the power these days.

Many fans will, like you, have doubts about the reported Newcastle offer for him, if the figures are anything close to the truth. But if we don’t accept their offer, as outlined above we either:

(1) have to pay him so much he’ll renew his contract. And if that’s to send him out on loan again, presumably have much of his salary while playing for someone else around our necks.

(2) Or, with two years remaining on his contract, if we send him out on loan without signing a new contract with us, when he returns from his loan he’ll be a year from a free transfer. That really is the territory of letting him go for peanuts next summer.

(3) It’s a difficult one. But accepting Newcastle’s current offer could be a serious third option.

Goalscoring central midfielders are incredibly rare and everybody wants one. Just ask Chelsea how much difference Lampard made to them season after season.

The problem we have is that we don't yet know whether Willock's goalscoring streak last season was simply a purple patch or indicative of the kind of career he will have. There is no doubt he consistently gets himself into goalscoring positions so there is a chance he could evolve into a player who regularly bangs in 10+ goals a season.

If we sell Willock for £17m we are probably giving Newcastle a player with little downside and massive upside if he continues the way he did for them last season. English as well.

From what I saw of Willock's goalscoring run and general play at Newcastle last year it was a team set to play perfectly to his strengths and not ask him to do much that he's not so good at. Newcastle counter attacked very well at the back end of the season so it allowed Willock as a 'free' central midfielder with license to join the counter and arrive late in the box. Newcastle don't dominate possession and look for their most advanced central mid to link play and probe with creative passes.

As much as we need goals from midfield I'm not convinced Willock is our answer to that. I think we need to push for the sale this summer.

Lots of reports saying Ben White is done, will be official by Wednesday.

I read somewhere White was getting back from his holiday on 26th July, so today. If that was the case, it sounds logical that the deal will be confirmed by Wednesday.

Right back is an interesting position for us right now.
Bellerin, Cédric, Chambers

It seems Chambers is the first choice currently and the club are actively trying to sell Bellerin and Cédric is clearly the back up.

With the work we have to do signing another central mid and a creative mid it might be that a new right back might be too much work for us to do this summer or we don't ave the budget for it. If sacrificing getting a new right back meant we could get our first choice CM and creative mid then I'd be happy enough.

Chambers isn't spectacular but could be capable of doing a job that works with the managers plan and helps get the best out of others. He adds aerial ability to defending set pieces and crosses, has vastly improved his own crosses and his introduction to the team coincided with the best performances from Pépé.

In an ideal world we'd get rid of Bellerin and Cédric and be able to use the Bellerin money to buy a right footed Tierney and have Chambers as a back up RB and central defence cover.

Away from football I was pleased to see Tom Daley win Olympic gold in the diving this morning with his teammate Matty Lee.
Daley competed at his first Olympics amid much fanfare at 15 years old, lost his father at 17 years old and had to live his life and coming out very much in the public eye. He won 2 bronzes in previous Olympics and kept going and now at 27 wins a gold. Fair play

I'm not a Chambers fan at RB or even as CB fill in. I like him personally and wish him well but I think we can do better. Didn't he play a sweeper type role in the midfield on loan at one time? I could have gotten him mixed up with someone else we had on loan, but for some reason Chambers comes to mind, if so, and he did decently at it, perhaps as a back up for Partey perhaps?

As for Willock, I have always liked him and when he came on in some of those Europa games I cheered for him to do well. For whatever reason, he doesn't seem to be in Arteta's plans so we may as well get the most we can for him and wish him well. He knows how to get in dangerous positions either for a pass or a rebound. That's a rare knack. Freddie, sometimes Pires had that about them. Jeffers should have done that for us but injuries and a hot head getting a red card sealed his fate.

Ben White isn't done till ltg says it is. lol... at ltg. I'm excited about him coming though. I've long wanted to us have 2 quality CBs. No experiments and rolls of the dice that sometimes work (Kos) but usually doesn't (take your pick of a long list). I wish Arsenal had a bit of George Graham and buy quality defenders and not on the cheap hoping they will step up and do well.

I was hoping Willian would be gone, even more than Xhaka and its no secret how I feel about him. Although not more than some on here. And Guendouzi and Torreira still on the books, as well as Kols (who I actually like) and Elneny (who may have a place....maybe). You would think we'd have had deals set up just waiting for the first day of the window to finalize.

It will be interesting what kind of season Pépé will have. Will he continue to do well and get better or regress? Could be a make or break season for him. I want to see more of Martinelli as well. Lacazette knows he's not wanted and so far he's been a good professional. He works hard when he's in the game. I just hope he doesn't run out his contract with uninspired performances. I don't think so but you never know. Your club doesn't want you, you want to stay healthy for the next contract. Of course, doing well increases his contract but carries risk for injuries as well.

Hi all.

Somewhere between 24 and 72 hours from now, the Forum will be moved to another webhost.

The current webhost is ceasing operations.

The new webhost people is the parent company of our current one.

There will almost certainly be migration problems and/or the forum might be unaccesable for a period of time.

Have to see what happens when they do it.

Rog

Jinx.

Yeah I'd be comfortable with that. He's done reasonably well during his time (at times the only scorer) but often seemed a little bit off top form and mis kicking things. I think that fine margin prevented him from being a really top striker and he's only going to go one way in the next year or 2.

Thanks warrior. Tirelessly working and unfortunately seemingly thankless at times I have to think. It's not lost on us.

Lucky that we’ve got an ace technician to deal with it all.

Sure isn’t.

Oh thank Christ. Can you call him then please ?

I'm in way over my head here. ;-)

Actually, I agree. It's been 'done and dusted' in the press for a few days now but no appearance at Colney. It may very well happen, but its been 'finalized' for a few too many days for my liking. I hope it happens, I think it will happen, but then again, we've all seen a list of very good players that were 'done and dusted'.

Just had a look at Arsenal.com. It lists the squad by grouping players as either goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, and forwards. Willian is included with the forwards. Myself, I think Smith Rowe should have been too, but anyway the nine midfielders listed were Partey, Saka, Smith Rowe, Torreira, Maitland-Niles, Lokongo, Elneny, Willock and Xhaka.

I still think of Saka as more of a free role wide player rather than someone I associate with a traditional central midfield role. Also, for me Smith Rowe is a deep lying number 10 forward or a wider player.

If I’m right, that leaves seven central midfielders: Partey, Torreira, Maitland-Niles, Lokongo, Elneny, Willock and Xhaka. Of them, I see Partey as the only automatic starter. Torreira appears desperate to leave, and Xhaka seems eager to. I’ve read Maitland-Niles would prefer to move. Willock seems likely to go to Newcastle, either on a permanent transfer or another loan. I’ve never seen Lokongo and for all I know could be absolutely brilliant or totally useless. Realistically he’s probably somewhere in between. Elneny is okay as a squad back-up, but I’m not sure about him being a first team regular.

But that doesn’t look a strong central midfield to me. Hence I agree with those who say strengthening central midfield has to be the priority this summer.

Matchoi Djalo, 18 year old wonderkid. Supposed Portuguese target, a winger, at £1M.

That’s some flip flop Considering you were saying last year our midfield was fine and you wouldn’t be againest signing Ceballos permanently

If Xhaka, Torreira, Maitland-Niles and Willock all leave, we’re obviously short on numbers. Especially having already lost Ødegaard, the better than you say Ceballos and stupidly getting rid of Guendouzi, one assumes for good next summer.

If we’re left with Partey, the unknown Lokongo and the ordinary Elneny, we clearly need players in central midfield. an area of the pitch that’s short of numbers. Saying that doesn’t contradict what I’v said before.

No idea if he can but perhaps Arteta can persuade Xhaka to stay. That’ll cheer you up.

Looks like Man U will sign Varane for around £40m very soon. That’s not great timing for us if we sign Ben White for £50m because there will be instant reaction comparing the two, particularly what Varane has won in the game.
The context is age, White is 5 years younger, a premium for English players (which Man U know a lot about), Varane has only 1 year left on his deal which must trim 20-30% off the price and the wages difference over the length of their respective contracts must be huge. White is rumoured to be offered £100k per week with us, Varane will be on £300k per week easily considering that De Gea is on £375k a week.

That also misses he point that there is no chance we could even sign Varane. Won’t stop the pi$$ taking though

Hi Rich,

I wasn't impressed at all with Varane in the euros. He looked slow, ponderous and made some stupid mistakes. That said he will probably be brilliant at United.

I am surprisingly excited and optimistic for the new season. For once I see some sort of plan in motion with young, talented, athletic, hungry players being brought in.

People are mocking us for paying £50m for White but I've a funny feeling it could turn out be be a stroke of genius. Very excited to see him play.

I have been critical of Arteta in the past because I feel some of his man management has been detrimental to the interests of Arsenal but there was a definite improvement post Christmas and if we recruit two or three more high calibre players his masterplan must begin to take shape or he will be out the door because there will be no more excuses.

Soc, have a look at this piece of analysis on white ...

https://youtu.be/eTJzF3KOEfI

After watching that it makes complete sense of why we have gone after him specifically. Clearly there’s a plan in place

He has been one of the best centre backs in Europe for years. The bedrock of the French defence that won the world cup, multiple Champions League and La Liga winner. Absolutely cracking player and if he and Maguire turn out to be a good fit, Man Utd will have an excellent core to their defence.

When you list them like that, we are very short indeed. We clearly will sign one first 11 midfielder but we really need a second signing in that area. Also, Partey and Elneny will be going to the African Cup of Nations in January. Looking at the numbers, it would make sense to keep AMN.

One thing that will be worth watching with Man U is how much protection the back 4 get from the midfield. Ole often played two of McTominey/Matic/Fred, clearly any pair from that trio is nowhere near the quality of the rest of their team. I think they play 2 of them because the centre of defence doesn’t have huge pace - Maguire is a fine footballer but he can’t push up to the halfway line and defend 50 yards of space behind him, I’m not sure whether Varane can (Soc said he looked slow at the euros) if you’re defences line doesn’t push up you won’t dominate possession and will rely on individual moments from your attackers - which certainly fits with Bruno and Pogba, and Rashford to some extent.
A whole host of big names and high transfer fees does not always make the best team. Ole has no excuse to not make a proper title challenge this season though

Hi TG,

I think White is a progressive, multi-dimensional CB who will add massively to our build-up play and our ability to transition quickly from defence to attack. His ability to bring the ball out of defence will allow to to break opposition presses more easily and his passing range is more that of a midfielder than a CB. Add pace and athleticism to that mix and it's quite intoxicating and you can see why we want him.

That said, he is not without his weaknesses and will need to improve some apects of his game.

Hi Dec,

He undoubtedly has been but he's had his injuries and the last couple of seasons, from admittedly the little I have seen of him, I have not been particularly impressed. I am not sure he is the player he once was.

Hi Rich,

He looked slow and ponderous to me and made some unchararteristic mistakes. Whether he just wasn't fully fit, fully switched on or injuries have deprived him of that yard of pace I don't know.

AMN has rarely looked like a central midfielder in the PL though. He didn't even impress for West Brom there.

Agreed with regards to how much they've spent, but it would take a monumental managerial effort from Ole to get a title challenge out of his squad. That team has flaws all over; even if Varane turns out to be a success they've a weak goalkeeper and a terrible central midfield. Lots of attacking quality, but it's very difficult to see them compete with City and Liverpool.