It wasn’t the player I was questioning our interest in this time, although it sometimes is. It was the fee.

I certainly take an interest in the transfer gossip - but there are certain pieces of information from certain journalists that I wouldn't class as 'gossip'. As far as fees are concerned the £50m has been mentioned at the end of last season but my post was not whether I believed in any fee being bandied around more what I would see as a good deal for us to get him.

I know you're sceptical on the £50m Ben White fee but it has been reported as that my numerous outlets so I doubt it is actually far off £50m.

I'd be very pleased if we signed Ødegaard. Madrid are desperate for funds so perhaps this rumour is more feasable than signing Locatelli.

Sometime between now and the next 24 hours, the forum may become unavailable.

I'll have to see what happens to it to see what action needs taking.

Sounds suspiciously like a cull. Why am I reminded of the Hitchhikers Guide book about the space ships to get rid of the useless third of the population?

Perhaps when it returns we will have bought White and Ødegaard.

Made me laugh. What an unfortunate bit of ‘management’ by Rooney. http://www.skysports.com/share/12365188

The good news is, the forum should be even faster afterwards as the new company (the parent company of who we are with now) uses all the latest SSD drives, enterprise class equipment and interfaces, etc.

At least Ødegaard may actually want to play for us, everything I've read about Locatelli is we're chasing a pipe dream as the player only has eyes for Juve. Juve don't have money but it seems they will structure a loan with obligation to buy for payments once the coffers have swelled a bit following the return of fans

Good grief!

Is that Tavares?

Edit: quick google my second guess Miguel Azeez with a haircut???

Bodes well for a young midfielder looking for minutes that he looks physically prepared for men’s football. If this is Miguel...

Good spot. It is Azeez. Legs of oak.

He’s got a great shot from distance - no wonder looking at those tanks holding him up. I’d put him just behind Lokonga then in getting some minutes this season. I wish if only for the sake of players like him, Willock Balogun and Martinez we were in the Europa. Players who seem good enough for some minutes but I can’t see really apart from injuries where they might get them.

That's only a smaller part of his current probs lately.

Looks more like Gabriel Magalhaes.

Really?

Well no maybe not Gabriel. Azeez got a haircut.

If you mean Ornstein as one of them, I’ve explained here that some years ago I went to an AST where he was the guest speaker. Ornstein was introduced in glowing terms with regards the accuracy of what he said. The following day I did some research on this and found many reports showing what he had said was hopelessly wrong. The examples weren’t few and far between. Really they weren’t.

From what I’ve seen of Ornstein his speciality seems to be getting things right the day they actually happen. Any earlier than that and I’m less convinced.

Agreeing to this would be really stupid on our part. It’s sell him or play him now. Hope this isn’t true


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... -deal.html

I can see where people who are skeptical of Ødegaard are coming from. Truth be told, he probably had more anonymous games than good ones for us, but that's to be expected considering his age, and coming into a new, very demanding league in a team that's struggling. There weren't a lot of Arsenal players who played consistently well last season.

For me, it's all about the good games he did have, which was quite a few. Especially the really good ones, like West Ham. He showed qualities that we lack, skill on the ball and great will to drive the team forward. I would be very excited to see what he can do over a full season with us, and he's still just 22 years old. At 22 Bruno Fernandes was playing for Sampdoria, and wasn't exactly setting the world alight, still a few years away from his big breakthrough at Sporting. It wasn't until he was 25 that he went to Man Utd. A future attacking lineup including Ødegaard, Saka and Smith-Rowe looks really exciting to me.

I was thinking more about Fabrizio Romano. It’s rare a journalist is going to get everything spot on because last minute changes can happen. But Romano is regularly ahead of the crowd on transfer news.

We keep being linked with very good players, the latest in a long line being Lautaro Martinez from Inter.

Obviously the Martinez one is unlikely given our lack of CL football but I just wonder if there is something else going on, in that the Kroenkes are prepared to do something big this summer.

The only way someone like Martinez comes is if he is sold a project that is incredibly persuasive.

One thing we do have going for us is that some of the usual suspects who bid for these kind of players are out of the running due to financial pressures. Madrid, Barca, the italian clubs, maybe even Bayern are unable or unwilling to spend big. I even read that Liverpool are not going to be signing any more players this summer, though I take that with a pinch of salt.

This may be a real opportunity for clubs who do have money to get players they might normally face too much competition for.

There are rumours Chelsea and Man City are in for him, and if that's true we don't have a chance I'd assume. But in general, I think people tend to underestimate just how big a draw the Premier League is. CL football is a draw too obviously, but Arsenal are still considered a big club. We managed to sign Partey after finishing 8th in the league, and he was a starter for an Atletico Madrid side that have challenged for, and won, big titles in recent seasons.

I've defended Ole in the past, but I would be less surprised if Arsenal finished above United, than if United finished above both City and Liverpool. I think that Solsjaer has his strengths and is a decent manager, but that Arteta has a much clearer footballing vision, and a much higher ceiling.

I think there is something going on with how Arteta and Edu are able to convince players of the 'project' we have here. Lokonga talked about buying in to it and being told we're building around younger players and giving them a platform. The Partey deal you mentioned really shouldn't have been able to be done considering his status and our immediate position at the time. Also convincing Smith-Rowe, Tierney, Saka and Balogun to all sign long term deals with the club.
Of course, money talks and I'm sure all these players are being richly rewarded for committing to us but you would like to think there is still something big about the Arsenal name. Two 8th placed finishes, but the stadium and fan base is still huge and we still have won trophies even in our lowest moments.

Two possibilities. One is the Stan isn't quite the tightwad people think, and can see that Arsenal are a good investment and that market conditions are excellent for strengthening the squad.

The other is that quite a few players are looking at Arsenal and thinking we are a bit of a sleeping giant that is showing signs of waking up, and thinking they'd like to be part of that. As you say, an interesting project.

Both are a bit tenuous, particular given how competitive the league is and how hard it will be to get back into the Champions league, let alone win the EPL, but not beyond the realms of possibility.

I agree it feels like we are having quite a progressive summer.

I’ve said previously I thought Kroenke would have have a decent summer to deflect from the mismanagement of the club over the last few years, it’s *%^@ or bust for him with the fans who now know we are in the wilderness.

Also it’s similar with his own relationship with Arteta. How could Kroenke say to Arteta he was given every opportunity with the state of the squad last year. Totally inadequate, patched up with loans, no reserve keeper for half, no attacking midfielder for half. Wouldn’t surprise me if the manger hit the owner with an ultimatum that you fix this or I’m off.

We spent £75m last summer and £130m the summer before. It's amazing that the "we won't spend money" narrative still persists.

The problem has never been spending money, it’s always been signing the totally wrong players, TOTALLY mismanaging contracts and selling poorly.

People tend to read a lot from what is in fact a rather meagre supply of tea-leaves, that they do.

Yes, you are making an important distinction. And I think you have also pointed to the issue being not so much Stan as Jr. Also, Arteta finding his feet. Hopefully we are starting to get it right now. More Pepes and fewer Willians, and more reliance on the younger players coming though.

Arsenal should be one of the richest clubs in the world. I see people suggest we’re hard up. We shouldn’t be. Arsenal have one of the biggest fan bases in world football. We also have one of the biggest grounds with the highest (as far as I’m aware) ticket prices. We also have one of the wealthiest owners, but that’s not a factor as I believe he won’t spend his own money on it.

But the last thing Arsenal should be is hard up. We should be big spenders.

I'm wondering out loud how lack of European football has affected our transfer targets. I'm guessing they will see it as temporary. Lack of CL football is significant but we have gotten players interested with just Europa Cup football.

But why wouldn't he? Even if he has absolutely no regard for the club (which is an unknown), he is a business man. As you note, we are a huge club (Arsenal shirts are almost as popular as any other around here, for example), our stadium is one of the best located stadiums in the world, etc. But our brand will diminish quickly if we don't do something fairly soon to attract new fans in markets like the US, China, India, etc.

I think we are looking like a very good investment at the moment. Furthermore it is a bit of a buyers market transfer wise. If I was an owner, I would feel that Arteta is worth taking a punt on.

Whether or not it's temporary is the big question. That is not an independent variable. It is absolutely up to us to make the necessary investment. The return would be huge, although the risk is pretty big considering how intense the competition for CL places is in the EPL.

But Kronke is getting a good return on his investment by just sitting back and doing nothing. He’s got plenty of other business and sports interests so perhaps he sees Arsenal as the steady one that ticks over, why go for even more riches when it could also mean losing.

The really hard thing with the Prem is toppling one of Man U, City, Chelsea or Liverpool to get back in the Champions League.
We’ve had good seasons and got 70+ points and still finished 5th.
In theory Liverpool are the easiest to catch because they are where they are down to incredibly smart transfer business and a top class coach, to maintain both of those things over a long time is tough. The other 3 have so much money they don’t really even need to be particularly smart with their business or have the best coach to still finish top 4. They may have the odd very poor season when we certainly need to capitalise but then another few hundred million and a new manager have proven to correct that pretty quickly.

Pogba has only 1 year left on his deal, it would be quite funny if he sat it out and moved for free next year, so Man U will have lost a player they paid £80m for for free twice!

I believe the value of kroenkes shareholding has increased in value something like 70 million per annum since his involvement in Arsenal. Don’t quote me on that I’m no Swiss ramble but I think that’s correct. It’s a good little earner for him.

If his priority is his investment whilst that amount is impressive I don’t think we will see him putting his hand in his pocket to fund the building of the team much due to the inflation of modern transfer pricing. Once in a blue moon it might make sense for him to sign a lower value player if it helps things tick along with his relationship with the fans and to preserve the value of his shareholding

His biggest problem is actually the fans of the club who see that he does nothing for his 70 million profit per year now.

The thing is Arteta has a good record in games againest the 4 sides you mentioned. If we can get more consistent in games where we should be winning easily then we are on a good track. Despite all the criticism he seems to be a good tactical big game manager. We aren’t getting bullied in those games anymore