Certainly the Telegraph has latched onto the “referendum” on Wenger notion big time, as they do with all stories that knock Arsenal’s chances of doing good transfer deals and that’s not making the transfer doings any easier. But hope remains.
The latest completed transfer, Elneny has been a huge success as have the youth development plans with the arrival of Iwobi adding to Bellerin and Coquelin. So who’s next? This is where you find out – or not, as the case may be.
1: Granit Xhaka – the deal is done
£34m offer accepted according to SoccerTransfers, for the Borussia Monchengladbach captain although having said that the deal is signed and sealed the site also says, “With Borussia Monchengladbach now ready to accept Arsenal’s offer, from all indication, it is only a matter of time before Xhaka becomes a Gunners.” What gives some thought that it might just be on the right track this time is that Bleacher Reports have run a similar story. Although on second thoughts.
2: Dominic Solanke
This is where the good name of Arsenal and Mr Wenger really helps – if it comes off. Chelsea have him, he’s demanding £50k a week, Chelsea have just won the Youth Cup for the third time running, but still they can’t find a way to move any of their youth players into the first team big time.
While the aforementioned Iwobi, Coquelin and Bellerin are there for all to see Chelsea just can’t bring themselves to push their young stars into the spotlight, so rather than tour the outposts of Europe on loan Solanke says he wants to go, after one appearance as a sub.
Solanke was the 2014 England Youth Player of the Year.
3: Alexis to leave
But the downside is that some of the star players are just getting fed up with the crowd, and Bayern are making louder and louder noises that they want him, they need him and by and large they absolutely must have him.
5: Rafinha
The Metro is absolutely certain about this one: Arsenal have offered a three year contract to the Bayern Munich right back. But it doesn’t look quite right in some ways. He’s 30 and he would be back up to Bellerin. He’s played 405 times and won nine trophies – so is he really ready to be back up to a youngster?
Well, Sport Bild says yes, apparently.
6: Santi Cazorla getting ready to go
This is the Metro, who love the turmoil they have invented for the club, and they’ve apparently heard Santi Caz say that he would love to go back to the peace and quiet of Villareal whom he left in 2011 before going to Malaga. The good news is that the story comes from AS best known for its reinterpretation of the meaning of DNA.
7: Kostas Mitroglou
But on the incoming side apparently there is Kostas Mitroglou of Benfica. He has scored 22 goals in 40 appearances for Benfica after not doing very well at Fulham. The story is that the deal will cost Arsenal £5.5m, but on the other hand there is talk that he is actually happy in Portugal and doesn’t really want to face the Arsenal crowd.
8: Kalidou Koulibaly
Now we have moved from the “signed and sealed” list to the “Arsenal are weighing up a move for” part of the agenda. This guy is a centre back playing for Napoli centre-back and the tale comes from the Metro. But Napoli play this game of putting £30m+ buy out clauses into contracts so the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, and Barcelona are a-sniffing.
9: Marquinhos
This gent is at Paris Saint-Germain and this time Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Bayern Munich all want him. He’s a defender, and his brother likes to talk to the media. He is quoted as saying ‘There are a lot of clubs who are interested in Marquinhos. They have already spoken with me. With the club, Marquinhos’ agent, myself and my father we will make a decision.’ That’s ok then.
10. Ben Chilwell
Now we have the Mirror, and using the eternal phrase of desperation because the column is empty they say, “Arsenal are monitoring the progress of Leicester’s city Defender according to report doing the rounds,” which is as vague as it gets.
He’s 19 and wants to leave to get more regular first team football – which makes the whole thing seem a bit…. unlikely. And with the “reports” saying “Kieran Gibbs is reportedly unhappy” people are getting excited, or at least making things up.
11: The Daily Star and elsewhere
Thierry Henry has agreed to coach the Arsenal under 18s next season. It’s not really a transfer but still…
12: Zlatan and the money
And this isn’t really a transfer either, but it keeps popping up. “According to the reports” (ah well) Arsenal are “set to battle Manchester United for the signature of Zlatan Ibrahimovic”
13: Carlos Bacca
He’s 29, and he is described as a “49 GOALS STRIKER” who “COULD JOIN ARSENAL”
Morata is “said to be the likeliest option” (for what we are not told because “it appears the Spaniard prefers to remain with Juventus despite rumours that Real Madrid may be activating his buy back clause this summer and then re-sell him elsewhere.”)
Sorry about that one. But. “If the Gunners do not get Morata, rumours have it that back up option is former Sevilla star Carlos Bacca who has always been linked with a move to Arsenal even before he signed for AC Milan last summer. The South American last season scored 49 goals for Sevilla in all competition but this season, he has only scored 17 goals in 37 appearances.”
But (and this really is a direct quote from the bloggetta in question, complete with the traditional spelling slip and grammatical whatnot) “anyone who has seen the Colombian play will aggree he is better than what Arsenal currently have and a move for him will make perfect sense for the Gunners especially if they are not able to get their more illustrious targets such as Morata, Cavani, Higuain and co.”
Yep, you just have to wait long enough, and there is Higuain.
Soccer Transfers, we thank you.
- When Saturday Comes the enquiry line is switched off.
- What the papers don’t want to say, what they can’t bring themselves to admit
- Be like Chelsea only more so? Is that what the lynch mob want?
Untold Arsenal has published five books on Arsenal – all are available as paperback and three are now available on Kindle. The books are
- The Arsenal Yankee by Danny Karbassiyoon with a foreword by Arsene Wenger.
- Arsenal: the long sleep 1953 – 1970; a view from the terrace. By John Sowman with an introduction by Bob Wilson.
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football. By Tony Attwood, Andy Kelly and Mark Andrews.
- Making the Arsenal: a novel by Tony Attwood.
- The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal by Mark Andrews.
You can find details of all five on our new Arsenal Books page
About the rumour about Szczesny this is what he had to say on his facebook account : “I get asked if I can stay on loan for one more year, I say its possible. Next thing you see, english media say “Szczesny wants permament transfer” You guys are proper ? ”
I don’t know if the emoticon will upload but on his facebook account you can see a pile of shit.
LOL I love him and hope he will be one day our future goalkeeper once again.
@ WalterBroeckx April 28, 2016 at 7:36 am – It didn’t at first , but once I clicked like – there it was !
Hmmmmm ….wonder what would happen if someone DISLIKES it ?
Ibra apart, despite his age, non of these are truly great signings – although Xhaka might well turn into one.
I take anything reported in The Metro and Bleacher with a pinch of salt.
We need to get real with transfers this summer. Manure are, by all accounts, going to spend £300 million, City will probably go big as well, and Chelsea will probably be close. So Arsenal spending “up to” £75 million is only going to widen the gap. Some of that MUST go on securing both Alexis and Mesut for the long term. We need at LEAST 3 more players of their calibre. We are NOT going to get them for £25 million each.
Despite retirements and people moving on, we still need to improve the squad. Selling Theo and Rambo would probably just about double our kitty, but then we would have to buy British to keep the home grown equation sweet.
One thing for sure, it’s going to be a long and frustrating summer for us supporters.
@norman14
April 28, 2016 at 9:01 am
“One thing for sure, it’s going to be a long and frustrating summer for us supporters.”
I am thinking of following cricket in order to bring respite to the frustration! 🙁
Sex and the speed of the internet –
( It used to be called monkey see , monkey do. I just don’t feel its fair to insult the monkeys !).
During sex, he suddenly stops and remains motionless.
He then starts again and after some time stops to remain motionless once again. This goes on for quite some time.
Wife: ” Bloody heck ! What the hell do you think you doing?”
He: ” I have seen this new technique on an internet porn site…”
Wife : Idiot …… it is called Buffering !
There is no doubt that during the coming summer transfer window, the Boss has to upgrade his 1st team squad with at least 4 top quality players who will be a top upgrade to the ones he already has in his squad.
The football which Arsenal had played this season is not strong enough as we would have wanted it to be. Hence, Arsenal have not made any sustainable impact in any of the major 4 competitions they’ve played in. Arsenal have tried, but their trying is not enough to win any trophy this season save the Charity Shield they’ve won on the opening day of the season.
4 new top quality of CB, LB, Striker & a new mid-RW are required at Arsenal to upgrade Rhino, Monreal, Giroud/Welbeck/Walcott positions in the squad for a successful titles campaign next season. In this wise, no Afc supporter should mind if the Boss signs Ibramovich for a 1 season deal since top top striker is difficult to get in the market save if a colossal amount of money will be used to get one. And Arsenal don’t have such money.
If the Boss will try by all available means to revamp his squad with 4 top quality players in the summer to upgrade those 5 players positions I’ve mentioned above, Arsenal could fly to uncatchable height in the first half of next season campaign. i.e. top the table from day one up to 20 League games played. It will then be left to Arsenal to say to themselves, WHAT AM I SEEING! It’s the title that I’ve seen dangling before my eyes. I’ll not allow you title to go away from my sight. Arsenal will grab and size the title with both hands by a continuous sustainable performance to the very end of the season just like Leicester are doing now.
Squawka’s one of the sites a compulsive rumour chaser like me (aye, sad- I can’t claim it’s for research either!) sees frequently.
Interesting that they’ve just signed a partnership with Doyen Global
Doyen who represent players and goodness knows what else. Presumably it’s some of the same people who used to be and maybe still are heavily into 3rd party funds, and work with ole Mendes extensively.
Hard to know what it means, other than that both parties feel they can help each other somehow.
http://www.squawka.com/squawka-partner-with-doyen
I am a bit worried about Granit Xhaka. He has topped the red card chart in Bundesliga this season. 3 red cards in Germany could become 12 red cards in Mike Riley’s hands. I know that our team need to become more granit but Riley’s xhakals would welcome him with both hands.
@colario,
No need to give up on Arsenal football completely, our ladies play throughout the summer (although not every week). I’ll do my best to keep Untolders posted. They won in the league last night and are now third behind Chelsea and Man Cith who have both beaten us once this season.
@ Josif – Nice one – sweet !
What the players now need is an incentive to go out and do their utmost . You know an offer that they couldn’t refuse .
It happens in all spheres of life .Here is a sweet and heart warming story from the files of The Medical Division of UA .
A classic example of effective communication, and incentive (implied or otherwise !)-
An older gentleman was on the operating table awaiting a complicated surgery on him and he insisted that his son-in-law, a renowned surgeon, perform the operation.
As he was about to get the anaesthesia, he spoke to his son-in-law.
‘Yes, Dad, what is it?’
‘Don’t be nervous son; do your best and just remember, if something happens to me………your mother-in-law will come and live with you.’
The surgery was a great success….
Sometimes ‘conversations’ on here are like this ……
Early morning Husband woke up his wife and asked her: “Honey would you like to join me for Yoga?”
She: “Ohh. So you mean to say I am fat?”
Hubby: “No. Yoga is good for health.”
She: “Oh.. that means I am sick.”
Hubby: “No no. If you don’t want to get up, then it’s OK.”…
She: “So now you think I am lazy, ha?”
Hubby: “Nooo. You are misunderstanding me. I didn’t mean….”
She: “Aha ! So I don’t understand you, right?”
Hubby: “Now look I didn’t say that.”
She: “So am I lying? ”
Hubby: “Arey yaar. Please don’t stretch it in the morning”
She: “Oh wow. So I am a quarrelsome lady.”
Hubby: “All right ! Its better that I also don’t go for Yoga.”
She: “See ? You never wanted to go. Just wanted to blame me.”
HUBBY: “Ok baba.. You go off to sleep. I am going alone.. happy?.”
SHE: “You always go alone everywhere and enjoy.”
Hubby: “Please, yaar. I am feeling giddy now ”
She: “See? You are so selfish. Always think of yourself only. Never think of my health.”
Grrrrrr…
Husband is sitting and thinking where he went wrong.
I do love the rumours for all teams but take it all with a pinch of salt. The amount of anger and hate directed at various clubs by their fans because they didn’t sign that player that the internet said WAS going to move there. I get my news from the BBC Sport website under the title Gossip, which is all it is. Just waiting for Messi wanting to join FC Halifax Town when they survive relegation this Saturday.
Don’t worry , Charles , this close season will quite an interesting one , what with all the clubs now awash with all that moola , bidding for new players . And busy, busy agents and new managers yet to come. Maybe new owners ?
And the EUROs , with the new England players from the surprise top clubs in the EPL.
And Rio games yet to come .
And I ‘ll be here laughing at ‘them’ and their antics . I cannot wait !
A doctor was addressing a large audience in Oxford on the subject of modern nutrition.
“The rubbish we put into our stomachs should have killed most of us sitting here, years ago.
Red meat is full of steroids and dye. Soft drinks corrode your stomach lining. Chinese food is loaded with MSG. High trans-fat diets can be disastrous, and none of us realize the long-term harm caused by the germs in our drinking water.
But, there is one thing that is the most dangerous of all and most of us have, or will eat it. Can anyone here tell me what food it is that causes the most grief and suffering for years after eating it?”
After several seconds of quiet, a 70-year-old man in the front row raised his hand, and softly said: “Wedding Cake?”
And here’s a sample of what you can look out for . A friend just introduced me to
Gonzales Gonzales .
This video shows where he got his start.
He innocently appeared as a contestant on ‘You Bet Your Life’ with Groucho Marx.
As the questioning continued, it got funnier and funnier.
Groucho took advantage of the situation based upon audience laughter.
John Wayne happened to be watching the show and contacted him after the event.
John Wayne insisted he play himself in the movies. Gonzales became a popular character in JW movies. He provided comedy in Rio Bravo, Hell-fighters, and several other Wayne movies.
http://www.chonday.com/Videos/funny-mexican-guy-with-groucho-marx#.UfVbmBN44
May 2017
After last season’s performance by Arsenal the media is killing themselves to congratulate Arsenal forgetting all the times they blasted the team.
Arsenal won the League cup, are now in the CL final, FA cup final and have virtually won the PL that they can afford to give many of their youth a 1st team start.
Then i woke up and realised it’s still May 2016. 🙂
Brickfields thanks for the Gonzales Gonzales link GG’s serious face at the beginning is perfect and makes it funnier than if he had laughed as he was talking.
Brilliant. Thanks.
But the downside is that some of the star players are just getting fed up with the crowd,
Actual quotes or just your assumption ?
Wonder if Granit is a decoy for someone else?
@Andrew Crawshaw
I never give up on Arsenal. 🙂
Brickfields – that would be a great signing for Arsenal, Gonzales & his brilliant footwork. Hilarious character.
Pleased to see that quote from Szczesny and especially the picture which came out very well!