By Tony Attwood
The headline reads
Arsenal’s failure to sign Jamie Vardy highlights their naivety in the transfer market
Misleading information – part 1
The story starts with the phrase “What is it with Arsenal, strikers and contract clauses?” And if Arsenal had been involved in a fair number of failed transfers which had hinged on contract clauses there might be a point in this. But in fact they are only able to cite two examples: the Vardy case and the 2013 Suarez case.
Misleading information – part 2
“In 2013, Luis Suarez decided that he wanted to join them and Arsenal thought their bid of £40 million, plus £1, would make Liverpool powerless to resist. They messed up. The clause was not binding and Liverpool said no, both to Arsenal and their player.”
This is completely untrue. As some newspapers, although not the Telegraph, reported, Mr Henry, the owner of Liverpool denied that there was a buy out clause. He then, at a sports conference in the US openly admitted from the platform that he lied, lied, and lied again over the issue. There was indeed such a clause and it was binding. If the Telegraph still don’t know about it, the article in the Guardian revealing it might be worth reading.
Misleading information – part 3
Arsenal “placed a bid that met his £20 million buyout clause at Leicester City, except that this time they appear to have had no definite idea of what the player would do.”
That is true, as far as it goes. But since the rules of the Premier League clearly state that direct communication by one club of another club’s player is “tapping up” and is illegal under PL rules, Arsenal did not ask the player. They did the correct thing and made an offer to the club.
Now the Telegraph might accuse Arsenal of being naive through abiding by the rules but if that is their claim they ought to say that. All the author says is “Arsenal are at least not going to be accused of tapping up anytime soon but there will be a strong feeling in football today that they have been just a little naïve.”
That might be so – maybe there is that feeling, but building a whole case against a club on the grounds that it is honest, is really not much of a case at all. They then say, “Either Arsenal have been misled by intermediaries and simply used to ensure that Vardy gets a better deal at Leicester or they have not completed what is common due-diligence in football.”
In other words, Arsenal are not as bent as other clubs. That really isn’t much of a case on which to build a whole article in a national newspaper attacking a club.
“The timing of their offer also raises questions.”
Not really, because if the buy out clauses put into players’ contracts were well known, Arsenal knew that others could opt to put in a bid. But there is also the issue of the phantom transfer and vapour transfer.
Untold set out the mechanisms of the Vapour Transfer in August 2012 and cited the origins of it, and it was obvious from the off that newspapers which live on transfer rumours hated the revelations. Just to rub it in, in September last year we ran the story Transfers: once again we made a laughing stock of the journalists, but they won’t ever admit it which I was told one or two journalists didn’t really like very much (although I can’t think why).
Of course the papers don’t relate to this, any more than they will acknowledge the existence of the Arsenal Transfer Index which we run each week and which currently shows a success rate in predicting transfers of about 1 in 70.
Misleading information 5
“It has all ensured that the best part of a month has been potentially lost in Arsenal’s search for a striker. It has also advertised one of their key priorities for the summer ahead of a recruitment process that will now widen across Europe but probably start with a call to Real Madrid about Alvaro Morata.”
This assumes three things. One is that Arsenal put in the bid for Vardy and then sat back and did nothing. But we know (and indeed the Telegraph has reported) that Arsenal has its own company analysing players all day and all night. The notion that they did nothing after bidding for Vardy is just inane.
But also the papers know that the transfer of Ozil and Alexis came out of nothing – the Ozil one especially so. So for this Telegraph paragraph above to be accurate you now have to believe that Arsenal are not bidding for anyone in secret, and that they told everyone in the player analysis company to do nothing “because we have Vardy.”
Remember this is the club which negotiated in secret with Real Madrid for Ozil at a time Tottenham were trying to persuade Real Mad that if they wanted Bale they must not sell Ozil to Arsenal. Does that accord with all the unfounded tittle tattle the Telegraph is now reporting?
Finally there is the notion that Arsenal advertised its interest in strikers. This is bizarre given that the Telegraph has been shouting all year that Arsenal needs to ditch Giroud and buy a striker.
Misleading information 6
Wenger, though, must now wonder if he has been jinxed in his striker search ever since Robin van Persie was sold to Manchester United four years ago.
Must he? I doubt it very much. I have never seen anything from Mr Wenger that suggests he is a believer in fate.
Misleading information 7
“Arsenal also gave up on Suarez once their £40 million, plus £1 offer, was knocked back. Suarez’s subsequent performances have again vindicated Wenger’s initial judgment (sic) about his vast potential but exposed an over-caution about upping an offer.”
Oh isn’t it easy to spot a transfer two years later? No one knew at the time whether Suarez would fulfil his promise as a striker, or get so bogged down in his own psychiatric issues that he would never be allowed out of doors let alone on a pitch again. This man was known to assault players, so £40m was a huge gamble for a club with Arsenal’s resources. Barcelona, supported by an oil state, was under pressure to deliver by its sponsor and so risked other people’s money.
Misleading information 8
“An economics graduate, Wenger frequently cites the supply side of the equation as a reason for inactivity in the transfer market but then seems reluctant to accept that this reality does drive prices up.”
Again this ignores that Arsenal paid £42m for Ozil. It seems an odd thing to forget.
Misleading information 9
“This is not evidence of some great, wider shift that means they can never sign a player again from a club bigger than Leicester City, but it will still all be seen as embarrassing.”
In a sense this isn’t quite so misleading, because some people will see it as embarrassing, but only because they have been told to do so by the papers. What is embarrassing for all newspapers is the existence of the Arsenal Transfer Index
Including Balotelli.
Misleading information 10
“The global market for strikers will again be hugely competitive this summer and, if Wenger is not now prepared to take what might be a costly gamble on an alternative, the greater risk is surely going into what might be his final season as manager with only Olivier Giroud as a true specialist in the No 9 role.”
This is just odd. Admitting that buying a player could be a “costly gamble” after saying what a failure Wenger is throughout for not buying that player and this player is strange. All transfers are gambles, which is why Arsenal’s policy of bringing through players from their academy is so superb. More can be tried, the losses are far less when it goes wrong.
In the USA this month, Alexis Sanchez has shown he is 100% back to his very best and then some. He is taking defences apart and scoring. Giroud knocks in the odd goal in France. Iwobi hasn’t even started yet. Theo went right off the boil last season, but that doesn’t mean he is lost forever. Go back and watch the way he started the roll to the second successive cup final victory and you’ll see what he is capable of. Just because this last season was a disappointment doesn’t mean everything is lost for him. Joel Campbell showed some brilliant touches when he had the chance.
But reading the Telegraph you’d think we didn’t have anyone who had ever scored a goal. So let’s examine this notion…
| Pos | Team | Goals | Behind Man C | Scoring position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leicester City | 68 | 3 | 3 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 65 | 6 | 4 |
| 3 | Tiny Totts | 69 | 2 | 2 |
| 4 | Manchester Airport | 71 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | Manchester United | 49 | 22 | 9 |
| 6 | Southampton | 59 | 12 | 8 |
| 7 | State Aid United | 65 | 6 | 4 |
| 8 | Liverpool? | 63 | 9 | 7 |
| 9 | Stoke City | 41 | 30 | 10 |
| 10 | Chelsea | 59 | 6 | 4 |
In this table there are the top ten teams in the Premier League. If you just read the Telegraph Tale about Arsenal and Vardy you’d assume Arsenal must be what, 20, 30 goals behind the top scoring club. In fact we were six goals behind Man City. An on form Theo or Alexis would have had that sorted during the season.
That really is the key point. We were six goals behind the top scorers and two of our players who normally go round knocking goals in, lost it for a while.
I am not sure we ever seriously wanted Vardy.
The Untold Preview of the Under 18, Under 19, and Under 21 squads.
- Part one – Overview and summary
- Part two – Goalkeepers and defenders
- Part three – Midfield
- Part four – Attackers
I didn’t want Vardy, not my kind of player although I stated I would support him if he came. I also thought he was using Arsenal’s offer to just get more money from his club, which he did. If AW is going to play a 4-2-3-1 we still need a proper CF to bolster the ranks or lead the line. Being a supporter, not a pundit, I don’t know who’s available, affordable and wants to come. I’m hoping we get another viable scorer because I worry about retaining Sanchez and the sublime Mesut Ozil. There is no one in football I’d rather watch and yes I really mean it. So before anyone names another, it’s subjective. He’s my choice and I’d be more than put out if he left for lack of a scorer on the end of his exquisite passes.
Newspaper and rumours.. .they are all always on the lookout to bash arsenal
I think Vardy was scared of the competition with Giroud and backed out.
In a way I admire him for staying at Leicester.
He could have tried it at a real top club and now his final chance has gone. But with a massive extra pay check from Leicester.
I wouldn’t be surprised if other Leicester players now suddenly would wake up and think: hey, if he gets so much more so should I.
Will Leicester be able to pay that?
And to be honest I’m not interested in who we don’t have but am more interested in the players we do have.
Fantastic analysis. Spot on on all fronts
Finally this is over. This looked just that, vapour. Possibly used by Vardy and co to get more out of LCFC or to see if anyone at all is interested in him.
I wonder if Mr Wenger would look at a player aged 29 who had a season of freak conversion rate….
Vardy would not have been a guaranteed starter at Arsenal so a new offer of something like £20m in wages over four years to stay at Leicester is probably a better bet as far as he is concerned. As you say Arsenal (as usual) have played this one strictly in accordance with the rules and it is cheeky, but typical, of the Telegraph amongst other papers to use this as a stick to beat us with.
I have a sneaky feeling that we will see another breakout from our U21s this season; maybe Gnabry will rediscover his form from two years ago, maybe Reine-Adelaide or maybe Kele hi will be able to live up to his hype. Whilst I would love us to sign a ready made top striker this summer, the likely cost will be £60m plus and I’m not sure that we will necessarily be prepared to go that far.
I’m not sure we have a left back in the juniors who will be ready to step up and challenge Nacho in the next couple of years, so I fully understand our rumoured interest in an external signing for that position. At centre back I was quite impressed with Chambers when he played last year so I’m a little surprised at our links to others in that position. The Bolton youngster does seem to be ahead of our U21 players and would make sense as a player for the future.
I think we are now sorted for midfielders with a number of youngsters still showing promise for the future. Indeed it is difficult to see quite how we can fit in all of our current players. Certainly more than enough competition to keep everyone sharp.
As for the press they will continue with their agendas, oblivious to the realities. Best ignored.
Tony
See, there you go again printing facts !
I don`t want facts I want sensation, sensation is what sells newspapers
P.S. I hear the proposed game we were due to play on Venus has been cancelled.
See, its Wenger. Can`t even check his own schedules, we`ll probably find the game on Mars will be cancelled also
PPS
keep it coming lads, it helps the sanity
I too am someone who was very wary of signing Vardy not least due to his age. To pay £20m just for a short term stop-gap until someone younger comes through, even for a Club as rich as Arsenal, seems completely out of character and therefore suspicious. Just as with Suarez, the outcome (he goes to Barcelona and Sanchez comes to us) will not be seen until a way down the track. Robin van Persie did not go to the highest bidder (who were Man City according to their previous manager Roberto Mancini) but to the club who were happy to get just one, Championship winning, season out of him and see their manager retire at the end of it. Did that suit Arsenal better? You bet it did.
Leicester, who are already under investigation for FFP irregularities, have been forced into giving one of their star players a much better contract and that will lead to other players’ agents forming a queue at the CEO’s door demanding improvements for their men. Leicesters resources are already stretched and European matches and more injuries/tiredness as a result will stretch them even further.
Our goal scoring record by position on the pitch shows that centre-forward isn’t where the problem lies – it’s out on the right wing where, between them, Walcott, Chamberlain, Ramsey and Campbell didn’t contribute enough. Injuries were disproportionately responsible for that and who is to say that Iwobi won’t be the solution?
I read the Telegraph article before turning to UA for some sanity. Their behaviour is bordering on mental illness. They have the audacity to criticise us for playing by the rules whilst at the same time demonstrating a complete lack of knowledge about the transfer market of which they claim to be experts. Shambolic in the extreme.
Arsenal were interested in Vardy but not so interested that they were willing to offer a striker who’ll reach his 30th birthday a 4 year contract as Leicester have apparently done. On top of a £20m transfer fee his wages over 4 years would be a hell of a financial commitment for a player who may not have more than a season at this level left in him. ManU only got one season out of RvP at a similar age before career at this level was deemed over – and he is a far more talented player than Vardy. It seems to me that this more a signal of Arsenal’s pragmatism which may be frustrating for those wishing us to chase rainbows but it does offer the greater chance of enduring success.
I am happy Vardy isn’t coming. I believe he decided to stay with the Foxes after Wenger said that he wont make the 3 Lions first 11. That must have butressed to him how Wenger values him.
As for the press, most of them always look for a reason to belittle Arsenal. Vardy not coming is a blessing to us once it gives the opportunity to a striker that is an upgrade on OG.
Tony
” I’m not sure we ever wanted Vardy”
If by ” we” you mean Untold then perhaps no, but from Arsenal stand point, no one activates a £20m release clause for shits and giggles, much the same as with the Suarez clause before which you seemed to have difficulty accepting as fact.
Personally, I don’t get the whole indignation about this Vardy saga.
Leicester have more than matched Arsenal offer by virtue of an extra year on his contract. He gets to play every game as the main striker.
Leicester are in the CL proper so he will get his chance in Europe’s prime competition.
And lastly, he gets to keep his status as the club’s legend, something he would be very unlikely to achieve at Arsenal.
No big deal, we move on.
We can now predict the general media line with some certainty, – (eg Roy Hodgson blamed for including Wilshere, no mention of Ozil or Ramsey in selections of best players to date in Euro)-so no surprises about the treatment of the Vardy story.
None of this will spoil my delight that Vardy is not coming to Arsenal.
someone help me delete telegraph, daily mail, daily star from the searches I do for arsenal news.
How would Vardy do when facing a packed defence? He might be the excellent counter attacker but don’t know if he could do the same when playing teams who park the bus. And in 10 matches we face at least 7-8 such teams.
But he might have been useful on the counter at times.
I’ve read a few of the articles before heading here. The world of journalists seems to be heading on borderline madness, so many of them saying we were naive to follow the rules, not doing our research and how Leicester and Vardy have said It is not over for them yet. Arsenal seem to be the club every one wants to take a dig at. For what reason I just can not fathom. We attempted to sign a player who has turned us down. He has all the rights in the world and it is called choice. Wise or foolish only time will tell. But why should it reflect poorly on us. They are many other fish in the sea. We may get somebody unheard of, and pull a Vardy off next season. Will these papers call a spade a spade then or make up stories about how it’s time for lady luck to smile at us abundantly. I think they will go with the later. The worse is yet to come from other Arsenal blogger’s taking cue from their favourite tabloids. At a time when they should all print counter points showing the club in good light, it will be the extended version of the tabloids version. The official transfer season will start by July 1 I believe. By the time next game kicks off august 13th, whoever starts for the Gooners, will be the ones I cheer for. Good luck to the rest.
Am I the only Arsenal supporter who can’t understand why we haven’t offered £30 for Lukaku? In a struggling team he was only outscored by Kane, Vardy and Aguerro. He’s younger than Vardy, knows EPL so little adjustment needed, would have a decent resale value and wants to leave Everton and return to London. Wages would be less than what we offered Vardy. Scores a goal roughly every other game and is good in the air and mobile on the ground. Does Wenger really want another striker or was the Vardy Saga another Luis Suarez hoax?
On protocol..
1. Has Ramsey got a buy out clause?
2. Have The Filth made an offer of that clause amount plus ONE POUND?
3. If, so, have we rejected it?
4. If not, are they illegally “tapping up our contracted player”?
Or is that all right because it’s Arsenal and the fucking self appointed Special One?
As a result you can be sure that in the next days the transfer rumour inventors will work extra hours to come up with the most ludicrous players certain to sign, seen at the airport, at the real estate agency,….medicals done and dusted…. Brace yourselves those who read and follow the media and blogettas. 1 in 70? That will now rise quickly to 1 in 100.
Benteke will be on of the first names. You read it here first… 🙂
Brickfields we need a proper ‘joke’ please come to our aid.
Unlike previous seasons with the money that all PL teams have thanks to the generosity/stupidity of television companies (delete as appropriate) no team financially has to sell players unless they want to do so. If a player wants to move to another club and request a a transfer then that is a different scenario and one where the majority of clubs would have little choice but to sell the player.
With Vardy, Arsenal seem to have acted entirely in accordance with the rules. He had a release clause which we agreed to meet. Leicester were then obliged to let us talk to Vardy and we made an offer which he declined. All in accordance with the rules and all parties can come out of this with their heads held high.
As far as I am aware, Arsenal contracts do not include a ‘buy out’ clause, at least I’ve never heard of one. If Manure want to speak to Ramsey they should approach the Club first. If Ramsey (or any other player) wants to leave Arsenal they should submit a written transfer request to the Club. Outside those two scenarios any other contact between a club and one of our players is tapping up which is simply not legal. I wouldn’t hold out much hope of the PL or FA doing much about it though.
As far as I am concerned Ramsey i(as with all of our other squad) is under contract to Arsenal and will form part of our plans for next season. Any approach should be met with a firm but polite answer – NO..
Should any of our present squad submit a transfer request them their availability should be discretely announced to other clubs both in Uk and abroad and the player should be invited to talk to the clubs offering acceptable transfer fee to Arsenal.
To be truthful and to be kindid with ourselves, Vardy has disappointed us(me) as he has snubbed Arsenal advances by refusing to accept coming to us this summer to trade his skills amongst the rest of the Gunners for Arsenal in next season campaign.
It’s a big disappointment for Arsenal and for us their fans to have been snubbed and embarrassed in the matter Vardy had treated to us. We don’t deserve that, do we? But what can Arsenal and we do other than to take it on our chins and accept the disappointments.
There’s no need we continuing crying over split milk or remain on the particular place on the ground where we fell down. We’ve got to get up, stop lamenting, walk away and move on. The important matter that has been confronting or had confronted Arsenal in the past 5 seasons is the issue of finding a top graded marquee striker who’s capable of scoring many many goals(40 in all competitions per season?) for Arsenal. And consequently give proper competition to good Giroud for his money and also serves as an option and top cover to him. That competitive competition could also make Giroud to improve on his intermittent switching-off in his goal scoring form for Arsenal in every season campaign since he has joined them.
We all know that, this kind of a striker will be difficult to get. But the Boss may not have any option other than to get him by allmeans for Arsenal this summer wherever he is found. The continuing dependence on Walcott who the Boss has depended upon to deliver the title to Arsenal for the past 10 years and yet he hasn’t, may continue to remain in that same state if the Boss still counts on him again to deliver it in next season campaign.
Nonetheless, a tree cannot make a forest, can it? Even if Arsenal got the top graded marquee striker, is it only that top graded marquee striker Arsenal need for a successful next season campaign that will see them capture the quadrupled or at least the treble titles that will unfailingly includes the much craved after, the Barclays Premier League title which Leicester have in their history won for the 1st time last season and are bragging to Arsenal and us with it on the internet media? I think the Boss should bring in another top body to the 3 he originally intended to bring in to make them 4 after his signing of Xhaka and the top graded marquee striker.
what all this football journalist fail to understand that Arsenal made a bid cos it was included in Vardy contract but only can be activate by the club that playing in the CL. don’t understand what the fuss is all about, player turning down offer from other club is a normal thing in football world and without Arsenal bid, for sure Leicester will not give Vardy his new 100 grand per week contract in a hurry. did we saw the media run the story about Vardy was very thankful to Arsenal cos without their bid no way he will get that new lucrative contract from Leicester that fast. of cos not, we know how the media works. when a club did the right thing and made an offer instead of going behind the player’s club back is being call naive, its obvious football journalists aware that the illegal tapping up is normal thing among football club. and
as Tony mention above, if the Telegraph might accuse Arsenal of being naive through abiding by the rules but if that is their claim’ they will not gonna say that cos they realize Arsenal is not bent as other clubs and that secret must be preserve among the football journalists. it amaze me how the football journalists keep treating us like an idiot and blind person who cannot see what’s right and what’s wrong in front of our eyes. keep exposing them Tony.
no Vardy……complete and utter lack of concern on this one I’m afraid.
Walter, re your point “How would Vardy do when facing a packed defence?” – I suspect we will find out next season. No team goes to the reigning champions and pushes up. Next season, everyone will see what Leicester have done – lowest possession stats, lowest passing accuracy – siit back and say “right, you have the ball…’. Vardy knows he has had his 15 minutes of fame I suspect. He’ll sign the contract with Leicester, take the money and not take a risk and moving to that there Lobdon with its smog and its streets paved with gold. He does come across as a walking northern stereotype.
Right for him. Right for us. Only the scum press are left disappointed, hence all the nonsense articles.
Vardy knew he would never get away with the behaviour on the pitch he has at Leicester and he loves his Red Bull and nicotine to much to give it up. I don’t give a rats ass about him to be honest and if it’s true that Arsenal were in for him then this is one transfer I’m glad did not go through.
meh…no Vardy…I think he would have helped our team and Wenger agrees or he wouldn’t have made a bid but I think there are other strikers out there, too.
I think i was the first person at UA to openly condemn Arsenal for going for vardy. Tks Goodness it didnt happen.
We dont need a cheat.Let him stay at Leicester and face relegation next season.
“In other words, Arsenal are not as bent as other clubs. That really isn’t much of a case on which to build a whole article in a national newspaper attacking a club.”
Or it is ?
Which is the club that don’t appear to deal in third party transfers (even though the funny papers continue to clock up the clicks from the gullible there) AKA RICO scale bungs? The club that have had a transfer policy that pre-dates the current manager a simple understanding that is circumnavigated by all who attack this long standing policy especially the hack hounds and their hangers on in the AAA. Sad ‘innit ?
Yunus Ramadan…………how do you KNOW Arsene hasn’t made a bid for Lukaku? It would be a typically Wengerian slight of hand to distract everyone with a Vardy bid and actually target someone else. We know that he rates Lukaku but doesn’t want to pay over the odds,so he’s waiting for the Euros to end and then he’ll seal the deal or a deal.
Learn how the Arsenal works and then make a statement that is not based on ignorance!
Okay, after signing Xhaka, for which 2 remaining positions in the Arsenal squad will the Boss now sign 2 more players this summer to mann these 2 positions?
Will these 2 remaining signings be a CB and a striker? Or a striker and a LB? Or a striker and a CAMF? The Boss has said he won’t go beyond 3 total signings this summer so as not to unbalanced his squad. As too many signings can cause his 1st team squad not to be balanced according to the Boss.
Definitely, Arsenal didn’t have a prolific central attacking midfielder last season who could contribute up to 15 match winning goals and provide at least 12 match winning assisted ones for Arsenal which could have seen Arsenal offset the imbalance or the shortage of goals contributed by the Arsenal 2 main attacking or deep lying midfielders of Aaron Ramsey and Santi Carzola who didn’t score a single goal for Arsenal before he got injured last season. This was where Arsenal lost the title to Leicester last season. And also the Arsenal defense-line were fait accomplices to Arsenal failure to win the title last season as they too failed to significantly contribute any match winning goals for Arsenal, save the ones by Koscielny.
A top graded CAMF is reported to be now available for transfer at a moderate fee after his club had initially touted with the idea of forcing him to rundown his deal and allow him to go for free next season. But would the Boss go for him for Arsenal? I hope so and also hope he’ll succeed at bringing him to Arsenal if he wants him there.
A top striker is also reported to have been bought back from the club he was sold to last 2 seasons. The parent club of this players is reported to have exercised their buy-back clause in the player’s contract at the club he was sold to. And it has been said the player’s parent club now might sell him on for a profit to any club that is interested in buying him. Would the Boss be interested in this top graded young striker and buy him for Arsenal to compensate us for the disappointment Arsenal and we have suffered by the snubbing of Vardy?
Great article, Tony.
It is disappointing to see Jeremy Wilson, a journalist who is capable of writing very good and very informative articles, writing such rubbish. It just shows what dishonest nonsense journalists are forced to write by their employers to earn a crust these days.
A bit like Clattenburg and the PGMOL. Something is rotten in the state of England, to misquote Hamlet.
I still think our current squad is as good as any. The cost of injuries and PGMOL to our league ambitions has been well documented.
I am not bothered about new signings and I will not be fooled by the media into believing their criticisms of Arsenal and Arsene.
If we get a good new signing, that’s great – Arsene has a brilliant record in transfers.
I would not have wished to see Vardy playing in an Arsenal shirt.
Yunus Ramadan
You never can tell. He’s often discussed as a possible, and might be on Arsene’s list of worthy strikers, and an offer even made.
Don’t give up on it.
I fail to understand why ‘competition’ to Giroud or a ‘better’ striker wouldnt come from within?
Have we forgotten Toral, he had a good season on loan. Akpom, though had a not so impressive season, is a huge potential.
I feel the next great ARSENAL striker will rise up the ARSENAL ranks…
Timo
You want to exclude the telegraph, mail, etc, from your search results? Just do the below in the search bar (assuming you use Google);
arsenal -site:telegraph.co.uk, -site:dailymail.co.uk
You can just add the sites you don’t want to see in that list, as above.
Hope this helps you preserve your sanity 🙂
goonersince72
“There is no one in football I’d rather watch and yes I really mean it.”
I am like you too on this; I get filled with trepidation at the thought Ozil could leave one day. I absolutely adore watching this guy. I think the only other player I enjoy watching in world football at the same level is Messi (forget his tax trouble). These two are, in my view, football geniuses. I’m sure if there was a way of measuring football IQ these guys would be at the very top of that list.
Again, the same accusation. If Mr Wenger hadn’t wanted Vardy and made an offer under false pretences of engaging into a business with Leicester City, that would have put him in the same basket with Harry R. who signed Van der Vaart by making a false bid for Babel. When he pulled out of the deal for Babel, Liverpool couldn’t fund VdV’s transfer and the path for Redknapp was clear.
Andrew’s resume of this case seems to be the realistic one. We made a bid for the player, Leicester had to accept it, Vardy got offers from both clubs and picked the Leicester one.
Alan Shearer rejected United in 1996 to join Newcastle and nobody laughed at United. That’s how media darlings get a better treatment.
Personally, I’m happy Vardy said no to us. I have never liked him as I believe players with racist incidents in their CV don’t belong at Arsenal FC. I had said it when we were after Suarez who is 50 times better player than Vardy and I stick by that opinion today as well.
I do want Arsenal to sign a better striker than either of those (Giroud/Walcott) we have but Vardy is not the guy.
To be honest, I do like Vardy, the way he smashed his chances home last year was very refreshing. And you know what? I think there actually is an element of human emotion behind his decision to stay at Leicester. He has an affinity with the club, they believed in him and we all know how that story ended. You can’t buy that.
Fair play to the bloke, not often you see that in today’s game. Like Arsene said, you have to respect his decision. We didn’t embarrass ourselves, we weren’t humiliated and I don’t think there should be any hard feelings from either party.
Kante would be far more open to a move, I don’t think he will have the same connection to Leicester as Vardy, but my gut tells me it doesn’t make sense. We’d be so cluttered in that midfield, is it really necessary? Who do you leave out?
I dunno, or shall we sign him just to be difficult? He’s not playing for anyone else then is he, that would be properly ruthless if we did.
Very intrigued as to what the rest of the summer holds, Arsene will be working hard to make something happen, no doubt.
I won’t be surprise if the media say it’s Wengers fault for the Brexit result. Somehow they will link it.
I would have liked for us to get an established goal scorer, to keep Giroud on his toes, but Vardy was a surprise as a target and I won’t miss him doing a ‘remain’. In the absence of a buy, what we need is cover for Welbeck and for me, Chuba Akpom fits the bill.
Could happen,Polo, just like trump blamed Obama! ?