Exclusive: the complete list of 105 players who have been tipped to be signing for Arsenal this summer.

Posted on by Tony Attwood

By Ima Counter, Professor of Numerological Sciences, University of UnCertain Things, Shetland.

Two winners from last week’s Chelsea competition.  OMG Arsenal gave us

Calamitously Hopeless Eccentric Lackees Slavishly Enduring Abramovich

While Jerry supplied

Couldn’t  Help Eden Lost Seeing Eva Around

This week the competition is Man Utd – just think of a six word phrase where the letters start with the six letters M A N U T D.   Post them below in the comments.  Or don’t as the mood takes you.

Thanks to everyone’s grand efforts we have now exceeded the magical 100 mark of players who have seriously been linked by bloggettas and/or the mainstream media to Arsenal this summer.  All new transfers and those with significant updates are listed in bold. 

And although he doesn’t fit in our list, a special mention for Serge Gnabry who is currently playing for Germany in Brazil.  He has scored six goals, but that didn’t stop the Guardian listing him as a possible substitute for the Liverpool game.  I guess they thought he could nip over and help Arsenal out, due to the time difference and then sneak back in unnoticed.  They really are getting a bit odd at the Guardian.

Part One: Players coming in.  New entries and significant changes are in bold.

Player Position From Current status Also interested
1 Takuma Asano (浅野拓磨) Forward Sanfrecce Hiroshima is 21 and has played 50 times Signed, but Guardian says no work permit.  
2 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Forward B. Dortmund Being urged to leave Man U
3 Carlos Bacca 49 goal striker Milan We’re hijacking the deal! Arsenal seen off WHU
4 Michy Batshuayi Striker Marseille £22m asking price Chelsea
5 Riechedly Bazoer Cen mid. Ajax Barcelona, Chelsea, Man U, Tottenham
6 Medhi Benatia Centre back Bayern 29 years old prone to injury
7 Christian Benteke Striker Liverpool? Only done one year at Liverpool?
8 Gabriel Barbosa Santos 54 goals in 148 appearances
9 Rodrigo Bentancur Midfield Boca Juniors Real Mad, Juve
10 Karim Benzema Striker Real Mad Involved in court case
11 Daley Blind Defence Man U
12 Sofiane Boufal Forward Lille £25m after one year in France Barcelona, Chelsea and Atletico Madrid
13 Marcelo Brozovic Box to box midfielder Inter Not quite sure why we need a box to box midfielder at this moment.
 14 Wilfred Bony Striker Man City
15  Sam Byram RB or midfield WHU Previously of Leeds
16 William Carvalho Def mid Sporting Lisbon
17 Edinson Cavani Striker PSG He’d like to come
18 Ben Chilwell Left-back Leicester “Arsenal monitoring”
19 Troy Deeney Striker Watford WFC captain
20 Jason Denayer Defender Man C £10m
21 Julian Draxler Left wing Wolfsburg who say he’s going nowhere £43m offer made. No, £54m Liverpool sniffing but that’s what they do
22 Jonny Evans Defender Was Man U, now WBA £15m offer made
23 Frederico Fernandez Defender Swansea A double swoop from Swansea
24 Matthias Ginter centre back Borussia Dortmund
25 Mario Götze Attack midfield Bayern Munich Flopped after Dortmund Liverpool.  Gone to BvB
26  Antoine Griezmann Forward Atletico Madrid
27 Goncalo Guedas Wing Benfica Next C Ronaldo Chelsea
28 Raphaël Guerreiro Left-back midfield Lorient
29 Alen Halilovic. Attack midfield Barcelona Last season loan to Sporting Gijon,
30 Marek Hamsik Attack midfield Napoli His father is demanding more money
31 Rico Henry Full back Walsall Next Ashley Cole
32 Gonzalo Higuain Striker Napoli £79m but no offer made Man U, Liverpool?  Went to Juve
33 Rob Holding Winger Bolton £1.5m already signed He signed
34 Elseid Hysaj Right back Napoli Staying at Napoli
35 Zlatan Ibrahimovic Striker PSG Self proclaimed God Went to Man U
36 Mauro Icardi Striker Inter £32m bid made deal very close Wife says they need the money.  Club says it wants €60 million.  Arsenal offering ££££££ plus Giroud
37 Odion Ighalo Striker Watford
38 

Lorenzo Insigne’s

Striker

Napoli
39 Chiori Johnson Defender Aged 18, Signed pro forms
40 Jorginho “Strongest midfielder” Napoli Neil Banfield likes him
41 Stevan Jovetic 2nd striker Inter 1st mooted two years ago
42 N’Golo Kante Midfield Leicester Won the most tackles  Done Deal but not with AFC
43 Naby Keita Central mid Red Bull Salzburg
44 Lukas Klostermann Defender Red Bull Leipzig
45 Toni Kroos No 10 Real Madrid £45m
46 Grzegorz Krychowiak Midfield destroyer Sevilla Another done deal elsewhere
47 Kalidou Koulibaly centre back Napoli Signed and Sealed but… Dependent on Chambers going.  Arsenal at the front of the queue
48 Alexandre Lacazette Forward Lyon – now injured French League top scorer 2014.15 Said he wanted to leave and come to AFC and then immediately got injured
49  Mario Lemina Juventus Watford interested
50 Robert Lewandowski Striker Bayern About to break the bank
51 Ademola Lookman Striker Charlton “Cant stop scoring” 18 years old
52 Jordon Lukaku Left back Oostende Told Mr Wenger how to manage!
53 Romelu Lukaku Striker Everton Broke Everton’s PL scoring record Offer of £38m made
54 Mario Mandzukic Forward Juventus He has emerged as an option
55 Sadio Mane Winger Southampton BBC say he’s gone to Liverpool
56 Kostas Manolas Centre back Roma for £38m deal agreed? Maybe to Chelsea
57 Maycon Midfield Corinthians new Ronaldo or Neymar or both.  Or neither.
58 Marquinhos Defender PSG His brother says AFC want him Man U Man C  Chelsea and Bayern Munich
59 Riyad Mahrez Wing Leicester £25m Considered him while at Le Havre Has now agreed to join Arsenal according to reports from Algeria
60 Kostas Mitroglou Striker Benfica “Happy in Portugal”
61 Arkadiusz Milik Striker Ajax  Gone to Napoli
62 Henrikh Mkhitaryan Midfield B Dortmund Went to Man U Liverpool! Chelsea, Tottenham
63 Alvaro Morata Striker Juventus (loan) Real Mad “About to happen” Snubbing Chelsea for Arsenal.  Really, really wants Arsenal.
64 Jeison Murillo Central defender Inter Columbian Talks have started Bayern Munich and Zenit
65 Shkodran Mustafi . Defender Valencia Anything between £20m and £33m  Arsenal have made an offer.  Now the firm favourite to be signed.  “Deal done”
66 Ruben Neves Defend midfield Porto
67 Nolito Striker Celta Vigo £13.8m buy out clause.  Done deal elsewhere
68 Kelechi Nwakali Midfield Diamond  Academy Already joined for £3m WHU, Bayern, Chelsea, Man U Liverpool?
69 Gaston Pereiro Midfield PSV Played 30 scored 12 this last season
70 Philipp Ochs Midfield Hoffenheim 19 year old
71 Oguzhan Ozyakup Midfield Besiktas In the 2009 AFC Youth Cup side Won the Turkish league in 2016; will cost £16.8m
72 Bruno Peres Full back Torino £16.9m
73 Quincy Promes Winger Spartak Moscow
74 Domingos Quina Midfield Chelsea
75 Adrien Rabiot Midfield PSG Asked for a move, not liked by fans Chelsea, Man U
76 Rafinha RB Bayern Munich Metro utterly certain
77 Jese Rodriguez Forward Real Mad Surplus to requirements Now at PSG
78 Ricardo Rodriguez Left back Wolfsburg £20m
79 Maxi Romero Forward All Boys, Argentina The new Messi We were going to sign him last year but he got injured
80 Daniele Rugani Centre back Juventus Can’t get a game. Man U, Everton, Napoli
81 Erik Tobias Sandberg Defender Norwegian schoolboy Under 17 Man U
82  Douglas Santos Left back Atlético Mineiro
83 Riccardo Saponara Attack midfield Empoli Liverpool?
 84 Fabian Schar Defender Hoffenheim
85 Ryan Sessegnon Winger Fulham Liverpool?
86 Djibril Sidibé Full back & midfield Lille Cover at full back “Now gone to Monaco, Arsenal too slow”
87 Moussa Sissoko midfield Newcastle £35m  Sun now says “very likely”
88 Islam Slimani Striker £23.25m Sporting Lisbon £23.25m Tottenham, Leicester
89 Dominic Solanke striker Chelsea Chelsea want to keep him Arsenal preparing to steal him
90 John Stones CB Everton  Now Man City
91 Daniel Sturridge Striker Liverpool? “Will reportedly…” “Tried last year”
92 Neven Subotic Defender Borussia Dortmund Has left training to talk to Arsenal
93 Yaya Toure C Mid Man City
94 Arda Turan Attack midfield Barcelona 29, and wants to stay Struggled at Barca.  Telegraph celebrated fake coverage of transfer
95 Robin van Persie Forward Fenerbache “We’re waiting for buyers”
96 Jamie Vardy Forward Leicester £20m Signed but kept it a secret or he’s off to Liverpool.
97 Thomas Vermaelen Centre defence Barcelona   He’s fit again.  Barcelona seriously considering Arsenal’s offer.  Oh, Gone to Roma
98 Victor Wanyama Def. midf. Southampton  Done deal elsewhere.
99 Julian Weigl Midf. Borussia Dortmund £20 million
100 Ashley Williams Defender Swansea But heading for Everton To replace the voice left by Per.
101 Granit Xhaka Defend/ midfield Monchengladbac “Deal done”  He signed. Chelsea were rivals but failed.
102 Andriy Yarmolenko Winger Dynamo Kiev Tottenham Liverpool
103 Wissam Ben Yedder Striker Sevilla  “Could have joined Arsenal”: manager  WHAM, Totts, Leicester
104 Simone Zaza Forward Juventus
105 Karl Zouma Keeper Chelsea
Part Two Departures
1 Alexis Forward Juventus bids made Asking for transfer Agent trying to get move
2 Arteta End of  career
3 Bellerin Full back Barcelona Now mulling over Man C deal But also denied
4 Joel Campbell West Ham But he wants to stay and fight for his place
5 Chambers Centre back Southampton or Watford? 1 year loan?
6 Debuchy Been on loan
7 Mat Flamini midfield End of contract The last Highbury player to leave AFC
8 Kieran Gibbs Defend Unhappy  WHU offer rejected
9 Olivier Giroud Forward Napoli Part exchange “We’ve never talked to Napoli”
10 Isaac Hayden Centre back Newcastle
11 Laurent Koscielny Defend Bayern Contract talks stalled? End of contract? Not end of contract
12 Per Mertesacker Defend Considering his future But got injured in pre-season
13 David Ospina Goal Besiktas
 14 Alex Oxlade-Chamberlaine Attack midf. Manchester City Currently in the best form of his life
15 Rosicky End of contract
16 Santi Cazorla Mid/For Back to Villareal
17 Mesut Ozil Midfield Delayed talks
18 Jon Toral Midfield To Granada
19 W. Szczesny Goal Roma Happy in Rome Returning to AFC.  No, staying as part of Manolas deal.  No staying on loan
20 Theo Walcott Wing State Aid Utd or Liverpool? £20m On the verge; or maybe not going
21 Wellington Silva Fluminense on four-year deal
22 Jack Wilshere Midfield Man U They will build the team around him
  Part Three: Coaching
1 Adam Birchall Lead Development Phase coach  Works with under 16s
2 Thierry Henry Under 18 Left over TV issue
3 Tony Adams Under 18 5 week trial  He left after a couple of weeks.
4 Arsene Wenger Manager In one year… Will be replaced by …
5 Eddie Howe Manager In one year… Replacing AW
Part Four: Up from the youth
 1 Krystian Bielik Defender Arsenal Given no 37
2 Stefan O’Conner Defender was with York To Maastricht
3 Gedion Zelalem Attack mid Arsenal Loaned to Rangers
4 Chris Willock Attack midf. Arsenal Played in U21s.  Given no 59
5 Jeff Reine-Adélaïde Wing Arsenal Moving into first team
 6  Matt Macey  Goal Arsenal Moving into first team squad?  Allocated no 49
5: Players going on loan
 1 Dan Crowley Midfield Arsenal Coventry Actually gone to Oxford
2  Julio Pleguezuelo Defender RCD Mallorca
3 Stefan O’Connor MVV Maastricht, Was at York City last season.
6: Young Players leaving  
Ilias Chatzitheodoridis U-18 no new contract
7: Players signing pro forms
 1 Donyell Malen
 2 Tyrell Robinson West Ham
 3 Joshua DaSilva

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27 Replies to “Exclusive: the complete list of 105 players who have been tipped to be signing for Arsenal this summer.”

  1. Tony

    The frightening thing is that there are still two weeks to go, whereby we will probably sign another 60 players !!
    Your halo is shining doing all this recording of nonsense
    It aint going to change though
    The really annoying thing is that so many wallies get on the anti Wenger bandwagon because he hasn`t signed some of the players mentioned
    When we all know there was never a snowballs chance in hell, that he or the club would even be interested

    Just think of all the mega bucks players signed last year by other clubs, and where did we come?, 2nd !
    One report i read was a re jigging of the final table whereby all the “strange” Ref decisions were neutralised
    After this, we would have come first, Leicester second

    I think this is something both you and Walter have alluded to many times
    As always, thanks for a grown up column
    Whatever the outcome of the season, my club loyalties aint going to change

  5. I just wonder iTony is Arsene keeping his powder dry till the last day of the window and produce an Ozilesque on us . I always believe Arsenal will challenge , a bit more luck yesterday and we could have got a result . Long way to go COYG

  7. Hmm, the signings of a top class CB and a marquee striker by Arsenal this summer have since been reverberating around the football World before the commencement of this new season more than ever. I too is not against these signings. If at all anything, I am totally in support of it.

    However, those 2 signings must be the kind of signings that must improve the quality of the Gunners game on the field of play. Should that be the case then, the Boss can no longer for now sign the 2 players on the basis of having the potential to do well for Arsenal.

    We are fortunate to get the potentially good Rob Holding 20, who due to the unfortunate injury problem at our centre- back positions has seized his chance and broke in into the 1st team and has started to start. I wouldn’t want to see any CB signing that’ll block the rapid growth of Holding at CB became he has shown the potential he can rapidly grow for Arsenal. And that’s very important.

    The same thing is the case for Akpom. He has proved in the preseason that he is ready to strike for Arsenal. But unfortunately, the Boss didn’t bring in on in the Liverpool match to node in the equaliser for us. Now that he’s ready, no new striker signing should hinder his growth as centre- forward for Arsenal. He shouldn’t be forced to the loan market again.

    Notwithstanding, for top option and cover, the Boss will still need to sign those 2 signings of a top class CB and a marquee striker now at the transfer market. And who are those 2 the Boss should sign for Arsenal despite the fact that he wouldn’t be forced to pay above the odds for any player’ transfer to Arsenal? I don’t blame the Boss for looking out for the bargain signings because Ivan Gazidis has said, Arsenal cannot financially compete in the transfer market with the big marketing club and big money sponsored club as Arsenal don’t have the huge kind of money at their disposal.

    Well, I wouldn’t know. But I am trying to know as I have learnt by watching matches on TV, read about players performances in the media as they are being rated by accredited football pundits and browse their profiles on Google to know their stats.

    In this wise, Lacasette has been widely linked with Arsenal by the media. But I don’t know if the Boss is still keen on signing him as he weigh in his options. But since the forward/winger Aubameyang is rated higher than Lacasette in the World strikers’ ranking, and since the Boss ought to sign the two top class players who are already finished articles and not the potential ones again this summer as he has already singed Asano, Holding and Nwakali. Auba is my own striker signing for Arsenal this summer. But I’ll not complain if he signs Lacasette after all. And Mustafi has been touted to be a top CB who Arsenal could sign. Well, if the Boss rates him so, he can go ahead and sign him then.

  8. Hmm, the signings of a top class CB and a marquee striker by Arsenal this summer have since been reverberating around the football World before the commencement of this new season more than ever. I too is not against these signings. If at all anything, I am totally in support of it.

    However, those 2 signings must be the kind of signings that must improve the quality of the Gunners game on the field of play. Should that be the case then, the Boss can no longer for now sign the 2 players on the basis of having the potential to do well for Arsenal.

    We are fortunate to get the potentially good Rob Holding 20, who due to the unfortunate injury problem at our centre- back positions has seized his chance and broke in into the 1st team and has started to start. I wouldn’t want to see any CB signing that’ll block the rapid growth of Holding at CB because he has shown the potential he can rapidly grow for Arsenal. And that’s very important.

    The same thing is the case for Akpom. He has proved in the preseason that he is ready to strike for Arsenal. But unfortunately, the Boss didn’t bring him on in the Liverpool match to node in the equaliser for us. Now that he’s ready, no new striker signing should hinder his growth as centre- forward for Arsenal. He shouldn’t be forced to the loan market again.

    Notwithstanding, for top option and cover, the Boss will still need to sign those 2 signings of a top class CB and a marquee striker now at the transfer market. And who are those 2 the Boss should sign for Arsenal despite the fact that he wouldn’t be forced to pay above the odds for any player transferring to Arsenal? I don’t blame the Boss for looking out for the bargain signings because Ivan Gazidis has said, Arsenal cannot financially compete in the transfer market with the big marketing club and the big money sponsored clubs as Arsenal don’t have the huge kind of money at their disposal.

    Well, I wouldn’t know. But I am trying to know as I have learnt by watching matches on TV, read about players performances in the media as they are being rated by accredited football pundits and browse their profiles on Google to know their stats.

    In this wise, Lacasette has been widely linked with Arsenal for signing by the media. But I don’t know if the Boss is still keen to sign him as he weigh in his options. But since the forward/winger Aubameyang is rated higher than Lacasette in the World strikers’ ranking, and since the Boss ought to sign the two top class players who should already be finished articles and not the potential ones again this summer as he has already singed Asano, Holding and Nwakali. Auba is my own striker signing for Arsenal this summer. But I’ll not complain if he signs Lacasette after all. And Mustafi has been touted to be a top CB who Arsenal should sign. Well, if the Boss rates him so, he can go ahead and sign him then.

  11. Mildly
    Abusive
    Nitwits
    Untidily
    Trailing
    Diapers

    Marginal
    Aberrations
    Needlessly
    Usurping
    Traditional
    Deviants

    Multiple
    Assholes
    Never
    Understanding
    True
    Dedication

    Misfits
    AND
    Nihilists
    Ubiquitously
    Trampling
    Decency

  12. Manchester
    Almost
    Never
    United
    Till
    Death

    Midfielders
    Are
    Needed
    Understudying
    Timid
    Defenders

  20. There is sure only one word that best fits Man u and that is ‘manure’.

    Red nose and now Maureen – manure.

  23. OMG,Florian,AC,Mick and Brickfields-classic stuff lads! Gave me a massive laugh.Cheers!

  24. I’ve supported Arsene for many years while some of my gooner mates have said they want him to go. Ithought that with the extra money we now have post stadium move he would build a really strong side

    However the last 3 years has seen this not to be the case . We always leave the squad a couple of players light leaving certain positions with no depth

    I was excited when we bout Xhaka and made a bid for Vardy. I thought that he’s really going to kill it and fill the areas we need strengthening. I can even understand signing Holding to bring him through to replace Mert eventually even though I would have liked a more established CB but I was ok with Holding and saw the plan.

    However, post Vardy no striker has been bought even though Wenger spoke about us needing one at the end of the last season. Mert got injured a month ago leaving us with two experienced CB and two rookies. No CB was brought in then Gabriel got injured

    The result of this was us going into the opening game of the season with a defence containing 3 u21 players. Not acceptable

    Wenger said we weren’t ready physically for the game and we suffered due to lack of experience. It’s not good enough for a man earning 8million pounds a season to put a team out in that site. On top of this he admitted Ramsey wasn’t ready and now he’s done his hamstring again

    The top 7 or 8 clubs have young or high quality managers with new ideas full of drive and the will to win. They have added quality players to their squads. The players of those clubs are enthused and the fans bristli g with excitement for the new season

    Arsenal on the other hand have a split fan base with a growing number becoming more disillusioned. I know how they feel because I am starting to be one

    Lastly any player we are looking to buy will probably cost us an extra £10 million as they now we are desperate. It really is a sad state of affairs.

  25. Ramsey’s haircut,
    and yet only one will win it in the end. Despite all of them buying like mad and having young and quality managers…. there will be more losers than winners in the end.

  26. Walter

    Of course only one will win it. I’d just like us to give ourselves every possibility to win it. We aren’t at the moment, we have holes in our squad that need to be filled as Arsene has said himself.

  27. Ramseyshaircut,

    “a growing number becoming more disillusioned”, the higher we finish in the standings. I wonder what it would be like if we were to win the league. Would all our fans start flee? Or is it a case of “perception is reality in my small unhappy world”?

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