By Sir Hardly Anyone
OK here we go. Some stories that you have heard, plus a new name. How exciting!
1: According to Ozil, Arsenal is still the club he wants to play for. “Massive boost for Wenger: Highly-rated star confirms he wants to play for Arsenal”. That’s pretty much doing the rounds these days.
2: Arsene Wenger keen to sign Lyon star Nabil Fekir for Arsenal, as partner for Lacazette. This is the new-ish one and the one that EVERYONE is getting very uppity about. There is more …
3: “Such a good signing!” – Arsenal fans react to links with £18million-rated international
According to football.london, “Arsenal are back in the race to sign Nabil Fekir after his scintillating start to the season. Fekir, who is valued at £18million by Transfermarkt, has been in incredible form so far this campaign, netting 12 times in just 15 games and proving why he one of the most dangerous players in Ligue 1.”
Yipee.
4: Arsene Wenger to use Alexis Sanchez in deal to sign Paris Saint-Germain star Julian Draxler
Nor sure what Alexis, PSG or Draxler think about this. Besides this must be old news since all the new news is about Fekir.
5: Arsenal urged to complete transfer move for £140,000-a-week star “Tony Adams has urged his old club to sanction a transfer move for a player who no longer appears to be interested in remaining at the Emirates stadium.” I got bored at that point but you can guess who it is.
6: Spanish outlet accuse Arsenal of trying to ‘steal’ exciting 24-year-old Nabil Fekir. I told you he would be back.
Who cares what the Spanish outlet is, we’ve probably never heard of it, and quite likely it doesn’t exist except in the mind of the Daily Express. Besides what has Spain got to do with this?
So let us take a saunter down Reality Street.
Nabil Fekir was born 18 July 1993. He is a French professional footballer. (You with me so far? Good). He plays for Lyon and is the captain of Lyon. Which means they are not likely to let him go. He can play as an attacking midfielder or as a striker. So that suggests he will replace either Ozil or Alexis or both or neither.
Lyon has been his one and only club. He entered the senior squad in 2013, and then was named Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year. I think he played for Algeria as a kiddie, but switched to France in 2015.
Didier Deschamps said of him in 2015, “Fekir is a player with great potential. I consider that he can bring us something different. He plays in a different role to the others. He can score and set up others to score.”
Meanwhile Zinedine Zidane said in 2015 “Nabil is an incredible player. He impressed me technically. But he then decided not to sign him.
So what are the stats like, I hear you cry. This is the Wiki response to that demand… I have left out the “Other column” as it is rather boring, but there is a game and a goal in there. All the games are for Lyon.
| Season | League | Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| 2013–14 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 17 | 1 | |
| 2014–15 | 34 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 39 | 15 | |
| 2015–16 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 4 | |
| 2016–17 | 32 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 4 | 49 | 14 | |
| 2017–18 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 15 | 12 | |
| Total | 97 | 38 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 23 | 5 | 129 | 46 | |
Not too bad by and large.
- How to knock the Arsenal without bothering to check a single fact
- Fake News Index: Ozil staying, Wilshere to Palace for the sake of the country, Wenger grip loss.
- You will not believe how much PL referees are paid. No wonder they want secrecy in all their dealings
SHA, I mentioned Fekir back in August.
“Josif
18/08/2017 at 12:07 pm
Draxler is too injury prone for my taste. He is a top talent but what’s use of it if he’ll spend three or four months per season on the sidelines?
We’ll see what will happen with Nabil Fekir. He was my favourite Lyon talent but got a serious injury as well. He’s had a great start as the Lyon captain this season but it’s only August.”
If it’s true that Arsenal want to sign Nabil Fekir, I advise they should sign him during the next winter transfer window if possible and not wait till during the next summer window before they do it. Because by then his signing fee may likely have gone up than it would have been to pay for him if he was signed during the next winter window due to the likely competition for his signature which may come up from other top five Premier League clubs.
e.g. Liverpool unexpectedly entering the race last summer window to bid for Arsenal target Thomas Lemar’s signature had his transfer asking fee by his parent club skyrocketed beyond comprehensible marketing imagination. But right now, I don’t think Arsenal are in players transfer mode generally, until maybe as from 15 December when they could switch on to transfer mode from which they’ve switched off at the end of the last summer transfer deadline day.