Looks pretty good here.

Great minds think alike. Had no idea Lokonga was going to Palace on a loan.

I wish him well, he needs it. And no one better than Vieira.

I lost what little respect I had for the media when they never acknowledged that Chelsea's emergence was ONLY because Roman bought them. They were a good side before, so respect to them. A top 4 side. But those titles were bought and paid for. Man Utd at least made their money from the way you do traditionally. No problem with that. Chelsea and City (and now Newcastle), any trophies they got or will get is tainted in my opinion.

Willian was the biggest glaring mistake so far for Arteta. And truth be told, we didn't see it coming in terms of his non performance. He seemed a good buy at the time.

That said we (gooners as a collective) were proven wrong with Ramsdale and White. Lokonga was always a project hoping he'd develop into a better player and he could still become a good players. I'm willing to trust Arteta with this one and we'll see what happens.

Only it wasn’t ! He came on a free and left after 12 months so it was a punt and whilst he wasn’t good there was no major catastrophe

Wanna know who was a mistake ? Mustafi! 42 million quid for a defender who didn’t know he had to get goalside.

I think the nearest Arteta and Edu have come so far in terms of transfer mistakes looks to be Fabio Vieira who for 32 million looks very flaky and isn’t resistant to being pressed. For that money a footballer of 22 years old should look much better. You could also say lokonga as well but I have a feeling we will get our money back on him.

Spurs had to cancel Doherty’s contract 18 months early rather than send him on on loan to Atletico as they realised they already had the maximum 8 loans to other nation clubs

Chelsea didn’t send the paperwork in time/ sent the wrong paperwork (depending who you read) for Ziyech’s loan transfer to PSG. PSG are furious with Chelsea. Maybe an appeal today but looks likely a very unhappy Ziyech has to stay with Chelsea for the rest of the season likely not making any match days squads.

Similarly Omari Hutchinson (ex Arsenal) had a late loan deal to West Brom fall through at the last minute. He better get used to loan moves because he’s got no pathway to the Chelsea 1st team

I don’t really buy the notion that Declan Rice is going to just rock up at our place this summer I have to say

Some divvy owner is liable to bid 150 million and kroenke and Edu will run a mile. Honestly I’ll believe that one when I see it

Arsenal bench options when everyone is fit
Turner, Tierney, Tomiyasu, Kiwior, Holding, Jorginho, Emile Smith Rowe, Trossard, Nelson, Nketiah

Totally agree TG.

Player valuations have been so skewed by Chelsea's spending that West Ham must be thinking about £120m + for Declan Rice.

Don't see it happening personally and both he and Caicedo will probably end up at Chelsea.

Talking of Chelsea can anyone tell me if this kind of spending can go on indefinitely with payments amortised over 7 or 8 years, effectively kicking the FFP can down the road. Can they do exactly the same in the summer unless UEFA intervene?

UEFA are intervening

https://www.football365.com/news/opinio ... imitations

They are also bound to see some bad knock on effects surely. Players on long term deals that can’t be shifted and have to be paid off.

What if there is a wilshere type scenario and a player suffers an injury that halves his ability but is on an 8 year contract. It’s a disaster surely

Too little too late if Chelsea's spending pay's off (excuse the pun). They've literally bought a brand new side in a couple of windows.

I bet Chelsea are already exploring other loopholes.

What is does do is go against the spirit of the FFP rule but then City and PSG have already found ways to circumvent it in the past.

Looks pretty good...

Indeed. A penny for his thoughts. If he had stayed I'm guessing he would have played as much as he has done at Chelsea and in a title challenging team.

Legend in the making
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6tGRY4AQapI

For anyone having a meltdown over our January business, we bought 3 players and loaned out a youngster and a CM who has never convinced in the games he has played. We got vital cover across the front positions, cover at left-CB and cover for def-mid. Of course we'd have all liked Caicedo but it will have to wait. Meanwhile Man City lost their most reliable (until this season) and versatile defender because he fell out with the manager and there are rumours of more unrest in that City dressing room.. In their last game against us Stone also pulled a hamstring - so City's defence is down to Dias, Laporte, Akanji, Ake, Walker, Lewis. That is only 6 defenders and only 2 natural full-backs.

We're 5 points clear with a game in hand and we've got stronger whilst City have got weaker. Still all to do but we've done ok

The way Chelsea have mitigated it in the past is loan deals - that is reliant to some degree on the loaning club picking up the tab on the high wages - but that amortised fee is still being paid off as a negative on the accounting books each year until the player is officially no longer a chelsea player.

There is also the small matter of actually forging these players in to a winning team and having a manager good enough to do that whilst keeping all the players happy and motivated when at least maybe 6-7 of them aren;t even going to be in the match day squad each week. Also a 10 point gap to bridge and 6 teams to usurp to get in to the CL places and the money that brings

This has caused quite a furore here.

SA tourism is suffering because of electricity and water outages, crime, etc.

So what does the government do?

Sponsor Tottenham Hotspur to the tune of R1 billion! Obviously.

https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa ... 0218e10e9e

Vieira?

I remember Balderstone attempting Test cricket and being blown away by Michael Holding at The Oval in 1976. To be fair, he wasn't the only one.

Good luck Sambi

Yes, it seems he only played two Tests. Still, it's quite impressive that the bloke who scored the goal against Tottenham that put Carlisle top of the league (briefly) in 1974 also played Test cricket against the West Indies in 1976.

He was a fine County player and probably deserved his Test opportunity. Sad for him he had to face "Whispering Death" at his most fearsome.

At one time playing both football and cricket professionally was not at all unusual. Arsenal had several men who played first-class cricket - Dennis and Leslie Compton, Ted Drake, Andy Ducat, Wally Hardinge, Arthur Milton, Don Roper, Jim Standen, Harry Storer, Ray Swallow and Henry White. The indomitable Brian Close of Yorkshire and England was on our books as a young man, though he never made it to our first team.

Tis might have slipped unnoticed......Leicester chair Khun Top has relieved the club of debts to parent company King Power totaling over £194m.

That is still financial doping, rack up loads of debt and have your owner wipe it out so you can start again. We've seen how Chelsea circumnavigate the FFP rules, how do Leicester do it with this one?

As part of the deal that took Porro to Spurs, Spurs have sold 15% of their sell on rights to Marcus Edwards. No telling how much that 15% could be worth - right now it is probably £2-3m or so

I knew I'd forget someone

Chelsea can only select 3 of their January signings to be part of the Champions League squad - so 4 of the players below will have signed for Chelsea but be unable to play CL. Id say it is really 3 from 4 (Fofana, Santos and Madueke will almost certainly be left out)

David Datro Fofana
Benoit Badiashile
Andrey Santos
Joao Felix
Mykhailo Mudryk
Noni Madueke
Enzo Fernandez

"Relationship between Brighton & Arsenal,has been damaged. Brighton were left irritated and perplexed after the 2nd bid as they felt Arsenal did not get the message that the player is not for sale."

Haha, is that all it takes for Brighton to get a bit touchy. They'll sell when the price is right, you can't get upset if clubs make bids for your players (who want to leave).

If only all transfers worked this way.
Club A "We'd like to buy player X, we bid £xm for him"
Club B "We don't want to sell him"
Club A "Ok, thanks for your time, see you later"

Hi Rich,

Didn't Abramovich do pretty much the same thing, wrote off £1.3b in debt so Chelsea were effectively debt free.

What's the difference between an owner doing that or just giving a club a few hundred million to spend with no obligation to pay it back.

Madrid and Barca have been financial doping for years except now with the likes of City, PSG and Chelsea it has reached obscene levels. Actually City have reigned back their spending a bit in recent seasons but that's after spending a billion or so in the few years before.

European clubs are only going along with it because they can fleece english clubs for the kind of money they would never get selling within the rest of europe.

Benfica have just got £100m for a player they payed about £10m for a season ago. How mad is that.

Yep. Its bonkers

New Chelsea owner running rampant siphoning up any player he fancies that just winks in his direction with that 'come get me look'.

Zinchenko!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8Jzp6Mr30Bo

In this window Chelsea have outspent all the clubs in the Italian, German, Spain, French leagues - combined!

Chelsea have a fine midfielder in Fernandez, but imagine how much this magnifico would be worth today!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YsxnA6DXIY

Rich,
This bidding war between clubs smacks of a high tiered auction. Might as well just parade any players that clubs hope to get on a stage at Wembley ( a neutral ground) and let the bidding auction begin.

Balogun has just scored a hat trick for Reims, he’s now the top scorer in the French league with 14 goals

The balogun thing could create some difficult decisions this summer. His goals are insane you can’t ignore that. 3 strikers vying for 1 spot doesn’t work though. Who goes ? I wouldn’t like to be making that decision right now. He’s got to be given a run next season now.

The most goals scored in the five major leagues in Europe this season so far..

1- Erling Haaland (25 goals)
2- Harry Kane (16 goals)
3- florin Balogun (14 goals)


… if your selling then you have to ask for 70 million quid. In this market no way should you ask less. Find a 22 year old with similar record.

Look at his third. No player in our squad would have scored that.

Also you have to say like Nketiah it’s madness he hasn’t had an England call and surely needs to be in the next squad.

Totally bizarre situation coming up this summer and a decision that the management won’t win any way

For sure.
That's why I find it ridiculous and hilarious when we are continually linked with vlahovic or encouraged by some of our fans to sign another striker.
We have Jesus, Eddie showing what a quality striker he is and Balogun top scorer in France.
Difficult decision awaiting Edu and Arteta next season as they all are going to want regular football.
You can satisfy 2 but not 3.
You're right though.
Balogun has to be given a run.