By Sir Hardly Anyone
Yes I know, the market doesn’t open for months and months but the journalistas and their bloggetta chums down the pub are busy making up stories as if anyone still believed them.
Plus we have tales of the next Arsenal manager, the departures (including one forced because of money problems) and a big tax avoidance scam that Arsenal just managed to avoid.
First off we have the new transfers, and these are
- Lautaro Martinez
- Max Meyer
- Daniele Rugani
giving us 13 players in all coming to Arsenal in the late spring or early summer (not forgetting the dates of the transfer window are changing). Here is the list…
| No. | Player | From | Source | Information |
| 1 | Karim Benzema | Real Mad | EPR Scouts, Football Transfer Tavern | Deal agreed £35m |
| 2 | Kerem Demirbay | Hoffenheim | TalkSport. Liga Financial, Star, AFC Fever | Midfielder, AFC price agreed, Liverpool want him. Price agreed |
| 3 | Fred | Shakhtar | Gibfootballshow | Arsenal to get him for £30m |
| 4 | Goncalo Guedes | PSG | Liga Financial | PSG must sell because of FFP, Arsenal have announced interest |
| 5 | Thomas Lemar | Monaco | ArsenalNewsHQ; Mirror; TalkSport | Deal confirmed; has rejected a new contract |
| 6 | Malcolm | Bordeaux | FootballBible, Sport Review, Gunnerspheree | Winger; everyone is interested; he says he goes in the summer. But might go to China |
| NEW | Lautaro Martinez | Racing Club de Avellaneda | Gunnersphere | Striker. Inter have offered €20million |
| NEW | Max Meyer | Schalke 04. | Football London, The Guardian, Talk Sport | Attacking midfield or playmaker |
| 9 | Jan Oblak | Atletico Mad | FootballBible; Gibfootballshow | Goalkeeper also wanted by Chelsea and Liverpool. 100m euros. |
| 10 | Richarlison | Watford | EPL Scouts | Midfield, Chels & Tots also; Arsenal miss out & Arsenal to hijack deal, both on same site!!! |
| NEW | Daniele Rugani | Juventus | Whoscored | Defender. Agent confirms |
| 12 | Wilfried Zaha | Crystal Palace | Liga Financial | Arsenal making a bid of £25m |
| 13 | Andrija Zivkovic | Benfica | Football Facts, EatSleepSports ArsenalStation, Telegraph, Giants, Tribal Football | 21 year old striker |
Arsenal’s new manager
According to our old friend “Reports” it is current Napoli boss Maurizio Sarri who is lined up for the Arsenal top job and who is certainly not going to Chelsea. That is according to his agent Federico Pastorello. The Express, Football Italia, Mail, Daily Cannon and all the hangers on are peeking into this one.
The departure list.
Looks like our second table – the one listing all the players who are leaving – needs to be started, and what with it being this early we could have a repeat of last summer in which every single first team player was said to be leaving, one way or another.
Still at least we have not had Hector Bellerin going off yet, which we had every single day of the summer last year. Indeed not only was he going, you will recall that he had gone, and bought a house in Spain. Interesting then that he gave a talk to the Oxford Union in which he compared the training programme at Barcelona with that of Arsenal, very much showing the Barcelona approach in a bad light.
So it won’t be long before he is going again, since all the evidence is against it.
Also on the way out is Jack Wilshere because there is no new contract for him. But now it seems he is being joined by Aaron Ramsey – the pair being forced to leave because Arsenal cannot afford them, what with the cost of Ozil’s new contract.
And finally the approach of summer would not be the approach of summer without a footballer being hauled up in court for tax fraud. This time it was Alexis Sanchez, which might explain why Arsenal didn’t actually offer him a new contract, for fear he might not be able to see it through.
The story (and of course none of us were there to witness it – but it is in the Standard) is that Sanchez has admitted to tax avoidance of more than 18 million euros dating from his time at Barcelona between 2012 and 2013 after appearing in a Barcelona court
As we reported quite a while back, several footballers were using companies in Malta as a way to get around the issue – but we said back then it didn’t look a very safe bet. However who takes any notice of Untold Arsenal?
Sanchez got two eight-month sentences it seems which he will have to serve if he is caught again. Messi, Neymar, and Dani Alves, are among the many others who have been prosecuted in the same way. I wonder if anyone ever told him that the UK courts are a little less lenient on tax defrauders. But then I am sure he behaved himself while he was with Arsenal.
- Despite Tottenham penalties fiasco referees’ hyper-secrecy still not being questioned by media
- Five things that have gone wrong for Arsenal this season
- The managerial musical chairs. Where does it get anyone?
this from a blogetta whose writings would barely make it to toilet paper where they in physical form
“While Arsenal under Wenger have historically been a club that are always willing to hand opportunities to their young players, there has been a school of thought that they have lost that identity in recent years.”
A school of thought ? Lost the identity when we are one a the few clubs who has had years with full home grown squad and numerous youngsters being given a chance ?- and taking it ?!?
Get a life kid !
There is not doubt about it, Arsenal will revamp it’s first team squad during the next summer players transfer window by signing one or two top quality players for their first team and at the same time will sell some first teamers they will deemed are surplus to requirements. But as to who and who the Gunners they’ll sell will be is open to debate because a Gunner who is currently viwed as on the verge of his way out of Arsenal due his poor form and for his being an injury case also could have a turnaround and hits top form for Arsenal to help the club win games and trophies this season.
But by and large, Arsenal are not in the transfer mode now generally. And that’s because the next window is far away from being open as the last one has just closed a week ago.
What is of paramount to Arsenal now on which they are focusing with keen interest is to beat Tottenham Hotspur unfailingly in the Premier League week 26 match encounter at Wembley on Saturday. If Arsenal want the Gooners to be happy and elated, then, they MUST win this match by whatever means whatsoever. And in this regard, I Strongly ascribed to tthe general believe and talks in the Gooners camp saying that, the Gunners will put Spurs to the butts of their guns and make a mincemeat of them emphatically in the game by beating them, THFC 0-4 AFC @FT + the added tme.
I am not sure how undeclared income of £888k, can result in a tax avoidance of 18m euros.
However, if the latter figure is anywhere near correct, that might explain why he needed such a large signing on fee, although would he not have topay tax on that here?
Mmmmmmm. All the players “coming to Arsenal” are the bulk of the players that will more than likely be on many European Football Clubs wishlists in the summer. Now, if you believed every transfer rumour being thrown out by the media, world football would be bankrupt. The only true way to know if your Club has bought a new player? When you see him in a photo with a club shirt on. Until then, rumours are just that, a way to make you buy or read an article.
Haribo, I am not quite sure that you have fully understood the nature of the article that you have read, but your comment seems to suggest that you are taking it seriously.
Perhaps if you look at the name of the author again you might get a clue what is going on. And the comment we oft repeat, that having done this exercise last season and the season before we found only 3% were true.