By Sir Hardly Anyone
Yes this is it, this is true, and no one can tell you any different. In the past three days alone, websites, blogs and newspapers have mentioned 24 players in a grand total of 57 reports concerning who Arsenal are going to buy.
According to the consensus Arsenal need at least half a team replacing, hence the huge number of purchases. However at the same time there is not a single word about
a) how to balance the 25, remembering that only 17 players can be foreign grown
b) how to integrate such a huge number of incoming players all at once
c) what such purchasing would do to Arsenal’s image in the footballing world and whether any players of merit would want to come to a club that was going to turn itself so upside down on such a scale.
d) why anyone would think buying players en masse is going to work, when we have been bringing new players in by the shedload since Mr Wenger left, and all that has happened is that we have slipped further and further down the league.
e) how Mr Wenger, in his most succesful years with two doubles and an unbeaten championship plus a European cup final did this with modest levels of purchasing, and indeed a fair amount of selling of players at a profit.
f) why we should turn our defence inside out when we have the fifth best defence in the league and only conceded one goal more than Man U. If we need one thing it is the way to get the goalscoring up.
No none of that is talked about. Instead we are going to have an almighty list of players we are tipped to buy, so that the club can be criticised when it doesn’t happen.
Of course I can’t read every source to create this list, but these are the one’s I picked up in just a hour or so’s meander around the media.
And this season, for a change, instead of creating a list in order of the players I though we might do it in the order of the sources, just so we can see who, by the closing of the window (whenever that is, for as I mentioned before that hasn’t been sorted out yet) who has done the most to disrupt Arsenal and undermine support for the club.
| Source | Player | From |
| 101 Great Goals | Folarin Balogun | Will sign new contract |
| Caught Offside (2) | Orkun Kokcu | Feyenoord |
| Jesse Lingard |
Man U | |
| Express (5) | Yves Bissouma | Brighton and Hove |
| Sergio Aguero | Manchester City | |
| Lucas Vazquez | Real Madrid | |
| Julian Draxler | PSG | |
| Jesse Lingard | Mancheseter United | |
| Eye Football | Jesse Lingard | Manchester United |
| Football 365 | Jesse Lingard | Manchester United |
| Football League World | Emi Buendia | Norwich City |
| Football London (10) | Emi Buendia | Norwich City |
| David Alaba | Bayern Munich | |
| Yves Bissouma | Brighton and Hove | |
| Pedro Goncalves | Sporting Lisbon | |
| Julian Draxler | PSG | |
| Lucas Vazquez | Real Madrid | |
| Florian Thauvin | Marseille | |
| Hakan Calhanoglu | AC Milan | |
| Jesse Lingard | Manchester United | |
| Martin Odegaard | Real Madrid | |
| FourfourTwo (4) | Sergio Aguero | Manchester City |
| Achraf Hakimi | Inter | |
| Wilfred Zaha | Crystal Palace | |
| Ivan Toney | Brentford | |
| Give Me Sport | Hakan Calhanoglu | AC Milan |
| Hard Tackle (2) | Wilfred Zaha | Crystal Palace |
| Matheus Martinelli | Fuminese | |
| HITC (6) | Wilfred Zaha | Crystal Palace |
| Emi Buendia | Norwich City | |
| Nabil Fekir | Real Betis | |
| Tariq Lamptey | Brighton and Hove | |
| Yves Bissouma | Brighton and Hove | |
| Jesse Lingard | Manchester United | |
| Just Arsenal (2) | Bryan Gil | Seville |
| William Zaha | Crystal Palace | |
| Just Arsenal News | Matheus Martinelli | Fluminense |
| London Football News | Seny Dieng | QPR |
| Mail (3) | Achraf Hakimi’ | Inter Milan |
| Jerome Boateng | Bayern Munich | |
| Folarin Balogun | Will sign a new contract | |
| Manchester Evening News | Jesse Lingaard | Manchester United |
| Metro (2) | Dybala | Juventus |
| Jesse Lingaard | Manchester United | |
| Mirror (3) | Wilfried Zaha | Crystal Palace |
| Jesse Lingard | Manchester Untied | |
| Orkun Kokcu | Feyenoord | |
| Nottheoldfirm | Jack Ross | Hibs |
| Shoot | Wilfred Zaha | Crystal Palace |
| Sky Sports | Hakan Calhanoglu | AC Milan |
| Sports Lens (2) | Achraf Hakimi | Inter Milan |
| Seny Dieng | QPR | |
| Sports-View (2) | Achraf Hakimi | Inter Milan |
| Wilfred Zaha | Crystal Palace | |
| Sun (2) | Hakan Calhanoglu | AC Milan |
| Jesse Lingard | Manchester United | |
| This is Futbol | Emi Buendia | Norwich |
So there we have it. In the disruption stakes Football London, the obvious favourite, has, on its own, listed ten players that Arsenal are interested in signing.
And do remember, this is just the start.
Transforming the truth about Arsenal and football
- Arsenal in mega crisis
- How one journalist decided to turn the truth about Arsenal upside down.
- Arsenal’s results are on track for top four finishes – from next season.
- This is Arsenal’s worst position for over a quarter of a century
- If the media lie and bully about the news, what do you think they do about football?
- Arsenal’s financial woes and the media’s call for more spending.
Either Darren Wells or Darren Bent are being less than honest in the Mirror whose headline states “Mikel Arteta warned he could be sacked if Arsenal do not win Europa League”.
Reading the article is a total waste of time, as there is no mention of a warning within it, let alone the identity of the person issuing the aforementioned warning.
Darren Wells is a “Digital Football Writer”. Darren Bent is an Ex-Spud. Not much expertise in evidence here.