Shocker if so I think at this point, we have to sell him. If we decide to keep him and use him sparsely, it may be the worst thing.

I have a toon supporting friend who has been saying its done and dusted for a while now and asking why is Arsenal delaying things. And peaks on here once in a while to see if we know something

[I know you are reading this buddy....lol... ]

We had 2 very good GKs at one time but had to make a hard choice. Almost like the season we had 3 great defensive/sweeping center mids and after the season lost all of them I think.

Ødegaard we will miss to some extent. We can survive with one quality GK as long as we wrap Leno in bubble wrap. The not so up to snuff back ups can play league cup rounds.

What formation and position would you play Willock in with the current Arsenal team?
One of the big reasons he thrived at Newcastle is they played him in a position and with a set of tactics that absolutely makes the most of his strengths and masks his weaknesses.
If you play 4-2-3-1 then Willock either plays as one of the 2 central mids, or plays as the most advanced mid
Willock is not suited to being the No.10 position with how we play because we need huge creativity from that position because our wide men are finishers and not creators and our central mids tend to stay deeper and try to dictate play from there.
Then you have to ask can we play Willock alongside Partey with Emile Smith Rowe in front of them both in that formation? Which is effectively a bit like playing........4-3-3...... then Willock can be one of 3 central mids, usually 1 holding and 2 'No. 8' types who are box to box. The role might suit him but does it suit Arsenal to try to set up like Man City? I think we'd be too exposed.

At Newcastle Willock was given licence to break forward from a midfield 3 but didn't have to shoulder the creative burden because Newcastle didn't face packed defences they had to break down. Newcastle were based around counter attacks, crosses, set pieces where Willock could arrive late at the right time and place

An interesting read.

I find the examples of mismanagement used here a little harsh. White ? I mean he’s not kicked a ball yet and highly rated. Pépé whilst expensive is a good player and Willian was a bit of a punt. Admittedly a bad one.

If you want real examples if mis management I refer you to our ridiculous summer of 2016 when we spent 90 million quid on absolutely bog average players. I mean to provide some perspective, mustafi is currently a free agent after his spell at Schalke. People on this forum thought he was great! Complete delusion

You can’t simply sign such crap players. Would any other club offer Kolasinac 100 grand a week. 23 million quid on Torreira? (Will we get even half of that back)

Hi Rich,

I think Willock is a great player to have in any squad, particularly ours, because he adds something different, namely an energy and a goal threat from central midfield. He's actually a throwback to the days of goalscoring central midfielders like Lampard and Scholes. He's not as good as two obviously but he has that uncanny knack and willingness to arrive in the box and get on the end of things.

A great option to have from the bench when needing a goal or needing to inject some added energy and box-to-box capability.

I'd keep him but it looks like we may have no choice but to sell as he's one of the few players we have who are in demand at a decent fee.

Lukaku to Chelsea for £100m looks like its going to happen. Wow.

On the bright side, at least it gives us a free run at Haaland

I wouldn’t be so sure on Saka he strikes me as a grounded type.If the club can show some intent he might stay as a London boy.

Otherwise agree though, I don’t see how we are in a good shape to start the season. We are One injury away from absolute disaster if Leno or Emile Smith Rowe got a long term one. We have so many problems that can’t be fixed.

As a player who sits on the bench every game available to come on and add something different and that knack of pinching a goal - I agree he’s a very useful player. But would Willock be satisfied with that? Where does he fit in a starting 11 though?
And can Arsenal have a £25m player sitting on the bench for the Hail Mary opportunity we might have when that £25m could be used on a top class first choice right back for example.
If I had the choice between keeping Willock and our set of right backs or selling Willock and getting a right footed Tierney I’d choose the later

Ings to Villa for £30m. 29 years old, bad injury history and 1 year left on his deal. Southampton couldn’t refuse that deal. On the flip side Villa get a proven goalscorer in this league.

Villa certainly spending like a team who is just about to sell their captain for £100m, and better to spend first than go after players when teams know you have £100m burning a hole in your pocket.

Buendia £40m, Bailey £30m, ings £30m

This might have been one of the reasons we managed to get Mesut in the end


“When Özil came to Madrid, he replaced his girlfriend with a model from Milan, until Mourinho told him that that model was f****d by the entire Inter and AC Milan squads, and the technical staffs of both teams as well,” Florentino is quoted as saying.

https://www.football-espana.net/2021/07 ... y-in-milan

That’s the thing, though, we are selling one of our most promising players simply because we can’t shift the dross we have on high wages.

If Lukaku goes to Chelsea then presumably Inter keep Martinez.

Lukaku comes full circle. Chelsea player for about 10 mil or so, but spent a lot of his time on their books out on loan. No one in the EPL wanted after a while, goes to Italy, does well, now coming back to Chelsea for about 10 times what they originally paid for him or thereabouts...amazing.

Sounds like willock is going, not really happy but the club will have to sell someone. Can’t contemplate starting the season without a backup keeper.

Willock will be this season’s Martínez won’t he. Everytime he scores or does something remotely good we will have the bed wetters moaning he shouldn’t have been sold bloody Arteta blah blah blah

The conundrum with Willock is that we're just not in a position to keep a valuable asset on the bench seeing how much work is needed with our starting eleven. For a club like Liverpool that has a top class first eleven and only need to add squad depth Willock would be perfect to develop in the squad as a back-up, but I'd be scared we're making the same mistake as we did last summer with Maitland-Niles when we should've taken the money for a player that wouldn't play a big role for us.

We need another central midfielder, a new right back, probably a creative midfielder as well. Then there's the striker situation with Lacazette in all likelihood playing his last season for us, and Aubameyang possibly being in decline. Just too much work to be done for us to say no to 20-25m.

That's the sad part, because I think Martinez could've been an excellent signing. But Lukaku for 100m has all the hallmarks of a big mistake - very good player no doubt, but I'm not sure his increased goal rate in Italy is because he's become a better player rather than the league just being easier and better suited for him. In 7 seasons in the PL he's reached 20 goals once, and his average is 15 goals per season. For 100m you want a hell of a lot more than that.

Quadruple

Fofana of Leicester has a suspected leg break in a friendly tonight. Awful tackle from the Villarreal player. It is a pre season friendly!

Not as bad but the tackle on Partey was a bit naughty and it will likely keep him out for the start of the season

Oh *%^@ that is just horrible. Only saving grace is he’s young enough to take the time to recover really well and have a long successful career as a CB. Didn’t think anything could make me think we got off lightly with Partey.

Just for fun, if anyone's seen this. Be excited.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mirror ... 680096.amp

Plus you just never know.

I think Grealish is a bit like Willock in that his style of play and positioning does not suit every team. I assume that Pep can mould him to his style. It is a lot of money to pay if he does not immediately play really well. I always think back to that year Man City looked like winning the title and then purchased Rodney Marsh. Kane - just not sure his best is not in the past. No doubt he will now have a brilliant season for Man City. There is no guarantee in football. Willock does not suit how Arteta sets up the team. Last year when he got a chance it appeared that Arteta did not see him in the same role as Newcastle were able to exploit.

Arsenal are supposedly offering any of Nketiah, AMN, Nelson or Willock to Leicester in a player plus cash deal to try to get Maddison. No surprise that Leicester don't want any players who can't get in a team that finished below them for the past 2 seasons. They want straight cash and it would be £60-70m. I'd walk away from that, the cost is too high.

If City sign Grealish then maybe Arteta could tempt Bernardo Silva away with a bid. I really like him as a player

Someone made a good point on twitter........the transfer window has been open 57 days are we are yet to receive a single penny in actual transfer fees during what is supposed to be the biggest clear-out in years.

We can't get rid, nobody is able or willing to pay the combination of transfer fees and wages it would take to buy the deadwood we want rid of.

Years of poor recruitment and excessive wages has come back to bite us on the arse big time.

Not sure there is anything Edu can do, he can't magic up buyers where there are none unless he drops the asking prices to absurdly low levels where clubs would be foolish to turn it down.

Hi Rich,

Who do we go after then? Martinez seems like it's gone (if it was ever even an option), Ødegaard is staying at Real. Aouar is available but we seem to have lost interest after last years protracted negotiotions (plus his brother and entourage feel like something we could do with out).

I read that Edu is trying to do a double deal for Sander Berge and Aaron Ramsdale, which feels a tad underwhelming.

It's getting late in the window and we've signed 1 actual upgrade on a first teamer.

It seems to have gone quiet on the Camavinga front, would he be an option or are we too far below his required level?

What I don't get about this whole situation is that I don't think all of the players we're looking to sell this summer are that bad, or on massive wages. Willian, Bellerin and Kolasinac are the three players we're looking to get rid off whose wages are probably making it difficult, but Maitland-Niles, Willock, Nketiah and Nelson are all talented, young and I think all of them make less than 40k per week.

Torreira's reported wage is something like 75k per week, and even though his career hasn't panned out at Arsenal he's still a good player and only 25 years old. We definitely should be able to sell at least those five.

Hi Haz,

It seems that few teams want to do anything much more than loans with an option to buy because its obviously the least risk option for clubs with financial worries.

The market for the very best players is still there because many top clubs still have money, especially those being bankrolled, but I guess to many smaller clubs even a 40k pw salary and £15m transfer fee is a stretch in the current climate.

That's a disgrace and presumably Leicester will be forced into the market for a CB for next season. That's probably a £20m+ outlay because of one reckless and premeditated tackle in a meaningless friendly.

It’s an impossible scenario for Arsenal. A policy needs to be put in place that they won’t offer a weekly wage over 100k unless the player is absolutely exceptional. The player will never agree to a pay cut to move and will sit on their excessive contracts causing problems.

I can’t see Kolasinac, Torreira or Willian leaving unless we terminate their contracts or agree to cover a solid proportion of their wages at their new club.

I’m a little surprised nobody is interested in Lacazette who on his day can be a decent player and connect play well. His contract is 182 k a week which is pretty huge money though. I’m surprised Arsenal haven’t considered offering him a 12 month extension like Xhaka. Would suit all parties.

But have we learnt our lesson about excessive wages. The talk of offering Xhaka a contract extension with increased wages is a case in point. Every contract change should not be offering CL wages but reveal the reality of our situation. You can make bonuses if they achieve CL status. Helps focus the mind on what is required.

It is scandalous.

Bellerin is on 110k a week

That’s 20 grand a week more than Wan Bissaka at United
30k more a week than Trippier
And staggeringly 35k a week more than Alexander Arnold.

What *%^@*** idiot gave these players these contracts. The funniest thing is that the players want to leave anyway despite being in no way worth their weekly wages with zero realisation they won’t get it elsewhere.

We are paying super money for very average players.

That is based on contract TAA signed when he was 20 years old. He signed a new deal in the last week which will be around the £200pw mark.

This is far from unique to Arsenal. It is a PL issue. Richest league in the world pays the highest wages. Joel Matip is on £100k and contracted to 2024. James Milner on £140k. Sqyad players. Man U are paying out c£400k pw to DeGea and £100k to Henderson. That's some outlay on keepers. Fred was a £50m transfer and over £100k pw. Martial is on a staggering £250k pw.

Willian's contract is a far far worse piece of business than the extension Bellerin got a couple of years ago.

I know what you mean but your referencing players who are in the champions league and winning titles and European cups. United accepted but even they are in Europe.

It’s not a problem if you are in the champions league. With some of our losers ? No chance mate,

I think the comparison with Man Utd is relevant actually. They haven't been more successful than us in recent years - their last title was Europa League in 2016/2017 when the best team they faced that entire campaign was Ajax in the final. With the amount of money they've spent they should be challenging for big titles but they're not even close.

The main difference between them and us is they have more financial power to absorb bad contracts, but just like us they're stuck paying big wages to useless plodders like Fred and Matic, and decent but not great players like De Gea and Wan-Bissaka. I'm sure they'd like to get rid of all four if they could.

If they are socrates, will that increase Leicester’s eagerness to sell Maddison? If so, for perhaps a more realistic price than the £70m I’ve seen quoted recently?

They regularly consecutively qualify for the champions league which can net them anything up to what 40-70 million if you go on a decent run beyond the group stages.

The glory of our recent fa cup win (which let’s be honest was something of an anomaly) excluded I’d probably swap places with them and I bet our manager would in a heartbeat and board 1 million percent. Which all takes you back to the original point. We are paying champions league money to average players.

Not necessarily. Leicester are reported to be looking for a loan (and are taking into account what happens when Fofana and Evans return).