By Tony Attwood
Every summer for the last few years we have charted the names of players who are touted by the newspapers and radio stations to be coming to Arsenal, and those who are leaving. Each year the total has got to over 100, with on average no more than 3% of the predictions being right.
You might think that with such a poor record the websites and newspapers might think of something else to do – or at least admit how utterly useless they are at this sort of thing, but no, on they go year on year.
In case you have missed our look at this in the past, it is important to note that most papers and websites don’t claim the insight that player x is coming to Arsenal for themselves. Rather they blame some foreign website. But most of the time the foreign website itself is quoting somewhere else, that quotes somewhere else, until you get to one that says “Reports in England suggest…” In short it is totally made up and totally circular.
Our aim is simply to expose their stupidity and the contempt with which they hold their readership.
| No | Player | Current club | Source | Notes |
| 1 | Toby Alderweireld | Tottenham H | TBR Football, Sun | He’s 30 years old |
| NEW | Joachim Anderson | Sampdoria | Calciomeracto and Tuttosport | £37m for him and Praet. Anderson is a centre back. |
| 3 | Antony | Sao Paulo | Media Ref (they say it would be a waste of money) | Ajax, PSV Eindhoven, Lyon and Monaco are also interested |
| 4 | Gareth Bale | Real Madrid | She wore a yellow | 87% of RM fans want him out |
| NEW | Eric Bailly | Man U | Transfer Market | £27m, for 25 year old centre back |
| 6 | Ismael Bennacer | Empoli | HITC, Pain in the Arsenal | Ex Arsenal youth player |
| 7 | Jerome Boateng | Bayern | Foot Lond, Talk Sport | “He’s played his last game for us” |
| 8 | Marcelo Brozociv | Inter Milan | Transfer Tavern citing CalcioMercato | £40.5m; a “tough midfielder” |
| 9 | Samuel Chukwueze | Villareal | Foot Lond | Nigerian forward |
| 10 | Alexis Claude-Maurice | Lorient | Arsenal have made a £6m bid. FootLond, Sun | France under 20 forward and friend of Guendouzi |
| 11 | Djene Dakonam | Getafe | Daily Express | Central defender / RB. Will cost £13.5m |
| NEW | En-Nesyri | Leganes | Fox Sports Asia, HITC. Borussia Dortmund and Schalke also want him | He will be the first signing and will cost £10m |
| 13 | Bruno Fernandes | Sporting | O Jogo, Sport Witness | Chelsea, Man C, Juventus want him, £100m release clause |
| 14 | James Forest | Celtic | Media Referee | We should sell Iwobi and get him. |
| 15 | Ryan Fraser | Bournemouth | Express, Mirror | One year left on contract |
| 16 | Jean Philippee Gbamain | Mainz | Read Arsenal; Soccer Souls | On his way |
| 17 | Ander Herrera | Man U | Express | PSG also interested |
| NEW | Isco | Real Mad | Transfer Market. | Attacking midfield. Price is £54m |
| NEW | Danny Loader | Reading | FootballLeagueWorld | Chelsea want the 18 year old striker. |
| NEW | Marcos Llorente | Real Mad | Transfer Market, HITC | 24 year old defensive midfield. £13.5m |
| 20 | Malcolm | Barcelona | Sport Witness, FootLond | Totts, Milan, Inter and Lille also after him |
| NEW | Ruslan Malinovskyi | Genk | Daily Canon | Ukraine Midfielder |
| 22 | Kostas Manolas | Roma | FootLond | He’s a centre back |
| NEW | Thomas Meunier | PSG right back | TBR Football, Arsenal Station, Mail, Sports Review | Arsenal fans don’t want him (TBR) |
| 24 | Gabrielle Martinelli | Ituano | Metro according to reports in Brazil, also Express | 17 year old winger, equivalent of Son Heung-min FootLond |
| 25 | Harry Maguire | Leicester | HITC | 26 year old centre back |
| 26 | Paul Mitchell | Leipzig | Sports Mole; 90 min, Football 365, Sky; Talksport | Man U and Chelsea interested |
| 27 | N’Zonzi | Roma | HITC | £19m; he’s considered a flop at Roma where he plays midfield |
| 28 | David Neres | Everton | Telegraph, Foot Lond | £34.5m; talks held. Liverpool want him |
| 29 | Christopher Nkunku | PSG | Foot Lond, Le Parisien, Star | Midfield; he’s turned down a contract renewal. We tried in Jan |
| 30 | Thomas Partey | Atletico Madrid | Talk Sport | Midfield with a £43.5m release clause |
| 31 | Nicolas Pepe | Lille | 101 Great Goals, Telefoot, FootLond | Star striker. Man U also interested. “He’s on the way” (FL) |
| 32 | Ayoze Perez | Newcastle | Mad about EPL | Inter also want him; forward or attacking midfield |
| 33 | Ivan Perisic | Inter Milan | Spursweb, Gazzetta dello sport | Tots and WHU interested |
| Update | Dennis Praet | Sampdoria | Corriere dello Sport , Sport Witness, Calciomeracto and Tuttosport | Midfielder or winger; package deal with Anderson |
| 35 | Benito Raman | Fortna Dusseldorf | Express | WHU, Burnley, Everton interested |
| 36 | Ismaila Sarr | Stade Rennais | Metro | He will cost over £40m. A 21 year old winger |
| 37 | William Saliba | Saint Etienne | Le 10 sport says he’s off to Man U. Shoot, Sport Witness and Metro say Arsenal | Centre back |
| 38 | Nicolas Tagliafico | Ajax | Mirror – “he’s a target for Arsenal” | £17.3million release clause and he gets half! |
| 39 | Samuel Umtiti | Barcelona | Foot Lond running just about the most unlikely story of them all. | The most expensive centre back in the world! |
| NEW | Upamecano | Leipzig | Daily Express – who say we will sign him and Anderson! | Central defender |
| 41 | Jordon Veretout | Fiorentina | Metro | 25m euros for Ramsey II |
| 42 | Wesley | Club Brugges | Sun, Calciomercato, Daily Cannon, LaLazio | Forward, 22 years old |
| 43 | Wilfried Zaha | Crystal Palace | Sun, FootLond | Palace want £80m; plays right wing |
| 44 | Hakim Ziyech | Ajax | Foot Lond | Attacking midfielder |
Coaching
Arseblog has Freddie Ljungberg leaving the under 23s and joining the first team coaching staff for the coming season.
And the players leaving Arsenal
Everyone is off: “Stars may exit if Arsenal fail to make the Champions League this summer” said the Guardian before the Europa final, but really I think that is cheating. At least the writers ought to be putting a bit of energy into their make-believe and giving us some names. So ignoring that generality here are those who are leaving…
| No | Player | Going to | Source | Notes |
| Update | Aubameyang | Real Madrid; China | FootLond; Playing for 90 Caught Offside | FL cite Calciomercato. The China story cites Guangzhou Evergrande and Shanghai SIPG. Caught offside say he has removed all traces of Arsenal from his social media sites |
| 2 | Chambers | ??? | FoodLond | Off to Tottenham (HITC) no Everton (TBR) |
| 3 | Elneny | Roma | Daily Cannon | |
| 4 | Jenkinson | FootLond | “He’s up for sale” | |
| 5 | Kolasinac | FootLond | No explanation – just Arsenal want to get rid of him | |
| Update | Lacazette | Barcelona At Madrid | Express; The Week, Ev Standard | He has admitted he is flattered to have been linked with a switch to Barcelona this summer.” Metro says he’s being offered a new deal. Foot Lond says no it is not happening. |
| 7 | Mkhitaryan | Star, Mail | Star blames the Mail for the story. | |
| 8 | Mustafi | Roma | Daily Cannon, | “He’s up for sale” Express |
| 9 | Eddie Nketiah | Star | He will go on loan if we buy another forward | |
| Update | Ospina | FootLond; Caught offside | “He’s up for sale” HITC says player himself says he wants to go. Napoli want to keep him | |
| 11 | Ozil | FootLond | “He’s up for sale” | |
| 12 | Smith Rowe | Leipzig | Foot Lond | “He’s staying” exclusive from FL, but others say he’s off. |
| 13 | Sokratis | Foot Lond | He wants Champs Lge football | |
| 14 | Suarez | Chelsea | Read Arsenal | He’s not really an Arsenal player but he was on loan |
| Update | Welbeck | Daily Cannon | Now recovered from injury but out of contract, although Foot Lond had him as a possible player in the Uefa Cup Final | |
| Update | Xhaka | Inter Milan | Sund Express, BT Sport, Caught offside | Player says he wants to move. Inter wants him. But Suburban Gooners say he is going nowhere. |
More soon!
