- The great danager of having only one top striker in your team
- Do Arsenal really want Declan Rice or is it just a hoax?
By Sir Hardly Anyone
The main news is of course Rice, and whether Arsenal and West Ham can agree a deal. According to Goal.Com and some other sources, it seems that West Ham don’t fancy the idea of £100m being paid with another £5m in add-ons (which normally relate to the number of games played). Most sources are saying that Manchester City have pulled out of the transfer, presumably because they have done their bit in pushing the price up.
Obviously, Manchester City can afford any price that West Ham want to demand, and given the way they are fighting the rest of the League over their previous financial dealings, they know how to do it, but it looks in this case as if they were either never engaged in this transfer and it was all an invention by the media, or they were simply there to muddy the waters, and say to the rest of the league, “as you are making life difficult for us, we’ll make life difficult for you.”
Elsewhere, the Daily Star has given us their view of how Arsenal will look next season
Ramsdale
White Saliba Timber Zinchenko
Lavia Rice Odegaard
Martinelli Saka Havertez
That means we lose, among others, Kiwior, Xhaka, Jorginho, Partey, Trossard, Gabriel Jesus, Nelson, Smith Rowe, Vieira, Nkethiah, Nelson, Tomiyasu, and Holding from the first-choice starting XI.
In terms of transfers in we now have 36 players tipped to be coming to Arsenal….
| No | Player | Position | From | Sources | No of reports |
| 1 | Ilias Akhomach | Forward | Barcelona | Football Express | 1 |
| 2 | Marco Asensio | Right wing | Real Madrid | Metro, HITC | 2 |
| 3 | Nicolò Barella | Midfield | Inter Milan | An alternative to Rice FFC and again HITC | 3 |
| 4 | Harvey Barnes | Winger | Leicester | FoLo | 1 |
| 5 | Sacha Boey. | Defender | Galatasaray | HITC GMS | 2 |
| Update | Moises Caicedo | Def midfield | Brighton | Fo-Lo Give Me Sport Terms Agreed – Mirror Sports Bible, Arsenal Station Telegraph AFC pulled out FoLo – its now unlikely To Chelsea AFC still on | 10 |
| 7 | Joao Cancelo | Full back | Manchester City | On loan with Bayern. Sky Football Talk GiveMeSport – it will be difficult. FFC Football Talk “Agreed” FoLo HITC FFC | 8 |
| 8 | Timothy Castagne | Right back | Leicester City | Leicester having a fire sale Modest price | 2 |
| 9 | Federico Chiesa | Forward | Juventus | TBR | 1 |
| 10 | Moussa Diaby | Winger | Bayer Leverkusen | Football Talk Arsenal in the lead Team Talk | 3 |
| 11 | Serge Gnabry | Midfield | Bayern Munich | FoLo | 1 |
| 12 | Wilfried Gnonto | Winger | Leeds | FoLo | 1 |
| NEW | Arda Guler | Forward | Fenerbahce | Football Fan Cast | 1 |
| 14 | Ilkay Gundogan | Midfield | Manchester City | Evening Standard GivemeSport Hard Tackle TBR TBR (2) Telegraph | 7 |
| Update | Kai Havertz | Attacking midfield | Chelsea | TheRealChamps 3 Added Minutes, TBR HITC Henry says he’s worth it FoLo Football Fancat Bayern want him HITC Chelsea say no 90min EPL Index Team Talk HITC Chelsea want £70m Goal- he’s going to Bayern AFC leading Compared to Bergkamp Caught Offside (He chooses his number) It’s done and its weird (FFC) It would be a mistake (Last Word) Having a medical HITC Get Football FFC | 25 |
| NEW | Goncalo Iancio | Centre half | Sporting Lisbon | Metro F365 Metro (again) | 3 |
| 17 | Brennan Johnson | Wing | Nottingham Forest | HITC | 1 |
| 18 | N’Golo Kante | Defensive midfield | Chelsea | Telegraph | 1 |
| 19 | Romeo Lavia | Defensive midfield | Southampton | TBR Arseblog Team Talk FFC The Top Flight Deal done (Just Arsenal News) TBR | 7 |
| 20 | Maddison | Attacking midfield | Leicester | Mirror | 1 |
| 21 | Sergej Milinkovic-Savic | Midfield | Lazio | Goal | 1 |
| 22 | Mason Mount | Midfield | Chelsea | Telegraph | 1 |
| NEW | Ethan Nwaneri | Attacking midfield | EPLIndex (He played v Brentford aged 15) | 1 | |
| 24 | Amadou Onana | Defensive midfield | Everton | Telegraph | 1 |
| 25 | Benjamin Pavard | Defender | Bayern Munich | FFC | 1 |
| 26 | Adrian Rabiot | Midfield | Juventus | Sports Mole – no its Man U or Newcastle (Caught offside) | 3 |
| Update | Declan Rice | Defensive midfield | West Ham | Football London, Sun., Metro Football Talk. “Terms agreed” Football Transfers. Going to Man U, 4th Official Shoot Give Me Sport. Mirror (“it’s on”) It will happen soon (HITC) Bid Made (HITC) Going to Chelsea (TBR) Quick move to AFC (Give me sport) The Top Flight AFC offer too low Going to Man C. Not Arsenal Mailonline Going to AFC (TBR). WHU Unhappy (Le Grove) | 22 |
| 28 | Alexis Sanchez | Forward | Marseille | The Sun Football 365 (player has called Arteta) | 2 |
| 29 | Savio | Right Wing | Troyes | TBR | 1 |
| 30 | Xavi Simons | Forward | PSV | Hard Tackle TBR – it’s happening. Mirror | 3 |
| 31 | Dominik Szoboszla | Attacking midfield | RB Leipzig | Daily Canon | 1 |
| 32 | Youri Tielemans | Midfield | Leicester City | HITC Telegraph | 2 |
| Update | Jurrien Timber | Defender | Ajax | FFC ESPN Caught Offside FoLo TBR AFC have advantage (Sports Bible) Give me Sport | 7 |
| 34 | Dusan Vlahovic | Forward | Juventus | €80m Calciomercatoweb,Telegraph | 2 |
| 35 | Nico Williams | Forward | Athletic Bilbao | TBR | 1 |
| 36 | Wilfried Zaha | Wing | Crystal Palace | Football 365 | 1 |
And the 22 players that are said to be leaving Arsenal.
| No | Player | To | Notes |
| 1 | Balogun | Crystal Palace | TBR Just Arsenal |
| 2 | Gabriel | PSG | PSG Talk. Hard Tackle |
| 3 | Okonkwo or Hein | ? | FoLo; one of the keepers will go |
| 4 | Kaleel Green | ||
| 5 | Joel Ideho | ||
| 6 | Jorginho | AC Milan or Napoli | Sportsmole |
| 7 | George Lewis | ||
| 8 | Ainsley Maitland Niles | ||
| 9 | Marquinhos | Going on loan | TBR |
| 10 | Nketiah | West Ham | Hammers News He’s worried about his future (Just Arsenal). Questioning his future (Metro) and Mirror |
| 11 | Martin Odegaard | PSG | FoLo |
| NEW | Mazeed Ogungbo | Barrow | Transfer confirmed for 20 year old FL World |
| 13 | Okonkwo or Hein | ? | FoLo; one of the keepers will go |
| Update | Thomas Partey | Two undisclosed Serie A clubs | Just Arsenal Just Arsenal (again) |
| 15 | Pépé | ??? | TBR TeamTalk: AFC may terminate contract |
| 16 | Tino Quamina | ||
| 17 | Emile Smith Rowe | WHU | HITC |
| 18 | Mathaeus Roberts | ||
| 19 | Matt Smith | ||
| 20 | Tom Smith | ||
| Update | Tierney | Newcastle, Celtic | Mirror And Mirror again TBR Newcastle World. TeamTalk Not going anywhere |
| 22 | Xhaka | ?? | FoLo |
