If we exit the window without bringing anyone in what will it mean for us ?

I suppose we will have players back soon so we won’t be down to the bare bones still.

Probably we will be poorly equipped for a top 4 finish but top 6 sure and with several players leaving the wage bill this summer we can rebuild further.

This season to me feels to me as usual Christmas has totally derailed us. I guess it’s the usual pragmatic approach is required with Arsenal

When those players like Lacazette, el nenny and possibly Aubameyang leave the club this summer wengers shadow over the club will have gone and my feeling will be the club can then be judged entirely from its new position.

No, a serious suggestion - this guy is a Premiership level player with great self-confidence. I am surprised nobody has been in for him - though I imagine Fulham would not let him go easily.

27 goals in the championship with games still to go is some haul for the guy.

I suppose the other option is the lad at Blackburn brereton

A few striker names picked up from those arsenal fans online who take scouting and stats seriously….Scamacca from Sassulo and Cabral from Basel, Fiorentina have bid £14m for the later as their Vlahovic replacement

Scamacca is 6ft 5, looks like he’s part of a drugs cartel but has some decent skills and pace for a man of that size.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/mehdi-t ... ler/307058
Or this guy on loan with Aubameyang going on loan in the opposite direction!

Just reading a few baseless rumours for those who like the tittle tattle

Matt Turner, the back up GK from MLS might be the only signing when the transfer window closes.
Now that most deals have fallen through.

Would have been an earful to hear what Stan/KSE and Arteta discussed at or before-after that hockey game.

By all accounts Pépé had a very good AFCON tournament. Ivory Coast were KO by Egypt on pens tonight. Would be great for Pépé to have a strong end to the season for us. With our lack of strikers we might end up in a 4-6-0 formation. Guardiola style

Irrespective of signings one of the most important thing for us is getting Partey and Xhaka playing every game together. They’ve only started 7 games together this season, won 5 of them and scored 20 goals.

Reports about Victor Osimhen although I doubt Napoli would want to let him go at this stage of the season given they're in the hunt for the title. Seems to have a lots of good attributes and would fit into Arteta's style of play but would also likely cost around €70m+

https://totalfootballanalysis.com/playe ... is-tactics

That's up to Xhaka.

and what style is that exactly ... ?

Ahhh yes .... the ability to execute laser accurate sideways / backwards passes

........ but going forward ; couldn't hit a bull in the arse with a handful of wheat from three paces .

I'm curious how French clubs seem to keep getting the cream of the crop when it comes to young talent before turning them into the next big thing and offloading for huge fees.

Is it simply a matter of being able to make them seem like world beaters in a weaker league which is much harder than for young potential in the PL?

Bit hard to fire laser accurate forward passes when there's no-one to pass it to.

I know the hard arses from back in the day would have tried it but I personally wouldn't want to try hitting a bull in the arse from three passes with a handful of wheat.



and for those who may be mystified by the recurrence of some good Aussie slang, here's a guide to a few sayings... a few of which I will see if I can slot into my next boring meeting.

https://www.theland.com.au/story/512202 ... sie-slang/

That’s true. If he gets another straight red this season it will hand him a 5 game ban.

Few rumours linking us to Douglas Luiz from Villa. He only has 18 months left on his contract.

He’s clearly not as glamorous as other names we’ve been linked with but after the summer when nearly all the players we bought were less glamorous than other names maybe we need to trust the club if it happens

The guy Edu should be signing is this 15 year old Brazilian kid Endrick. Touted to be the next big thing.

Sadly, it looks like Madrid are at the front of the queue.

Why is Edu not snapping up young brazilian and south american talent. I thought his experience and contacts in Brazil was going to give up the edge in this market.

Think he's a good player, and cerainly fits the profile age wise. Would be a big step up moving to Arsenal, but he is proven in the league and probably wouldn't need much time to adapt.

To be honest I can’t really dig the guy out about anything. Apparently he wanted to sign Neto and Emerson but arteta wanted Ramsdale and Tommy. Can’t argue with that Decision.

I think the inclusion of white and Ramsdale has added focus and determination to the side. I think it helps that there’s now quite a few British based players in the squad so it means there’s more of a cost to losing. If he wanted to sign that Brazilian fella from Lyon though I wouldn’t complain.

Please god put us out of our misery ..


Says we are interested in Ruben Neves as well



https://www.corrieredellosport.it/news/ ... er_gennaio

I don’t think many Brazilian or other Sth American youth would dream of playing for Arsenal. Very similar culture in Spain would also make the transition for a young player much much easier. Martinelli I think is a bit of an exception.

Who was our left back? He got owned.

Flint

Top Gun here, borrowing Bernard’s computer. I’m sure Xhaka was our left back for that game in 1965.

Always a great game to watch again.

Flint got skinned. Other than this match, was he any good?

ltg's link says McCullough

Was Flint a nickname? We’ve never had a player with the surname Flint.

Billy McCullough was from from Norn Irn. Pretty average fullback even to my young eyes. I first saw him in the Reserves a few years earlier. I heard him speak - like you do when you're down the front and the ground's mostly empty. He didn't speak like anyone I knew. Confusing to me since I honestly thought all our players came from the streets around the ground.

Got nicknamed 'Flint' after a character in Wagon Train - popular TV programme of the time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Horton_(actor)

Strange thing is that despite having seen him play I had no recollection of him whatsoever.

That's hilarious ltg. But I believe it. There are players from my childhood teams that I don't recall at all.

He was substitute in my Drought Years team: "At one time there were lots of Mc’s at Arsenal and one of my favourites was Billy McCullough from Woodburn, Northern Ireland. He was the sort of attacking left-back fans love, often seen way beyond the halfway line looking for something he rarely found. It made for great adventure. Billy was not the best defender Arsenal ever had but he was fun. How we enjoyed the aggression in him too. ‘He won’t eat you’ was a commonplace phrase of my youth. In Billy’s case a winger could not be sure of the truth of the statement. The McCullough was a man of strength. His crooked nose was indisputable evidence of how he was willing to put himself in harm’s way. Acres of power lay within his robust body, and it may not be myth that the north wind was tattooed on his chest."

Cheers, omoh.

Even weirder when I can clearly recall Ian Ure on Quiz Ball.

I have to say that the impending failure to land Guimaraes is really depressing.

We seem to spend forever checking players out only for them to not want to come or to be seduced elsewhere. The fact that it is Newcastle waving their dosh about adds hugely to the sense of desolation.

And the end of the transfer window is accelerating towards us.

I think the list of players we’re linked to must be huge, the list of players the club is genuinely interested in and actively following wouldn’t be as big but would also be very big. And from that list we’re looking to make one signing in a particular position so naturally there are going to be huge numbers of players we move on from or decide aren’t as good for us as the one we do go for/get.
£33m for Guimaraes doesn’t seem like that much money and I would hope and expect that if he was our No.1 midfield target we’d be in there matching the bid and then if the player still wanted Newcastle it would be simply due to the extortionate wages we wouldn’t be willing to match - and then we’d say do we really want a player with that sort of priority?

We seem to be unable to attract because we aren’t at the pointy end anymore, or unable to attract because some clubs seem to have inexhaustible pockets.

And most players would have that sort of priority. It’s their job.

Can't really see anyone of note coming in now unless we do a Partey and trigger someone's release clause. That would mean paying the whole amount upfront, though.

More chance of a squadfilling loan.