By Tony Attwood
This has been the week of the full back – any past full backs who have been mentioned before as possible transfers have had their stories picked up again while the nation’s “journalists” have been scouring the countryside (or the pubs) for new ones.
Which is odd because a) we already have lots of full backs and some of them are quite good and b) we currently have eight more players than we can register in the “25”
Of course the selling list of Arsenal has been quite full for a while and some of the “25” who can go are players just moving up to 21 years old, who will count on the list for the first time and haven’t quite made it. But even so, it’s a funny business.
TalkSprout who have pushed loads of names around for comins and goins and other doins, have published their version of next season’s line up, which looks like this…
Cech
Bellerin Mert Kos Monreal
Ramsey Xhaka
Alexis Ozil Draxler
Lacazette or Giroud
And here’s the thing. Thing straight from the mouth of the horse: “Giroud has been great for France….” Honest that is a direct quote from the Sprout.
Anyway here’s the latest ramblings from a bunch of guys making money from being in a pub… New entries and amendments in bold.
- Total incoming: 77 (six new in the last five days)
- Total outcoming: 19 (two new in last five days)
Other lists remain unchanged. And thus once again after 12 days of the transfer window being open I bring you THE GREAT ARSENAL TRANSFER INDEX
Part One: Players coming in. (New entries in bold)
Player | Position | From | Current status | Also interested | ||
1 | Takuma Asano (浅野拓磨) | Forward | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | is 21 and has played 50 times | Signed | |
2 | Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang | Forward | B. Dortmund | Being urged to leave | Man U | |
3 | Carlos Bacca | Forward | Juventus | 49 goal striker | Real Mad buy back clause | |
4 | Michy Batshuayi | Striker | Marseille | £22m asking price | Chelsea | |
5 | Riechedly Bazoer | Cen mid. | Ajax | Barcelona, Chelsea, Man U, Tottenham | ||
6 | Medhi Benatia | Centre back | Bayern | 29 years old prone to injury | ||
7 | Christian Benteke | Striker | Liverpool? | Only done one year at Liverpool? | ||
8 | Gabriel Barbosa | Santos | 54 goals in 148 appearances | |||
9 | Rodrigo Bentancur | Midfield | Boca Juniors | Real Mad, Juve | ||
10 | Karim Benzema | Striker | Real Mad | Involved in court case | ||
11 | Daley Blind | Defence | Man U | |||
12 | Sofiane Boufal | Forward | Lille | £25m after one year in France | Barcelona, Chelsea and Atletico Madrid | |
11 | William Carvalho | Def mid | Sporting Lisbon | |||
12 | Edinson Cavani | Striker | PSG | He’d like to come | ||
13 | Jeison Fabián Murillo Cerón | Central defence | Inter Milan | He’s Columbian! | ||
14 | Ben Chilwell | Left-back | Leicester | “Arsenal monitoring” | ||
15 | Troy Deeney | Striker | Watford | WFC captain | ||
16 | Julian Draxler | Left wing | Wolfburg | £43m offer made | Liverpool sniffing | |
17 | Mario Götze | Attack midfield | Bayern Munich | Flopped after Dortmund | Liverpool | |
18 | Goncalo Guedas | Wing | Benfica | Next C Ronaldo | Chelsea | |
19 | Raphaël Guerreiro | Left-backmidfield | Lorient | |||
20 | Alen Halilovic. | Attack midfield | Barcelona | Last season loan to Sporting Gijon, | ||
21 | Rico Henry | Full back | Walsall | Next Ashley Cole | ||
22 | Gonzalo Higuain | Striker | Napoli | Man U, Liverpool? | ||
23 | Rob Holding | Winger | Bolton | £1.5m already signed | Still suggested as a future signing in June | |
24 | Elseid Hysaj | Right back | Napoli | Staying at Napoli | ||
25 | Zlatan Ibrahimovic | Striker | PSG | Self proclaimed God | Went to Man U | |
26 | Mauro Icardi | Striker | Inter | £32m big made | Man C Man U | |
27 | Odion Ighalo | Striker | Watford | |||
28 | Chiori Johnson | Defender | Aged 18, | Signed pro forms | ||
29 | Stevan Jovetic | 2nd striker | Inter | 1st mooted two years ago | ||
30 | N’Golo Kante | Midfield | Leicester | Won the most tackles | ||
31 | Naby Keita | Central mid | Red Bull Salzburg | |||
32 | Toni Kroos | No 10 | Real Madrid | £45m | ||
33 | Grzegorz Krychowiak | Midfield destroyer | Sevilla | |||
34 | Kalidou Koulibaly | centre back | Napoli | Signed and Sealed but… | Dependent on Chambers going | |
35 | Alexandre Lacazette | Forward | Lyon | French League top scorer 2014.15 | To WHU but suddenly Arsenal | |
36 | Robert Lewandowski | Striker | Bayern | About to break the bank | ||
37 | Jordon Lukaku | Left back | Oostende | Told Mr Wenger how to manage! | ||
38 | Romelu Lukaku | Striker | Everton | Broke Everton’s PL scoring record | Offer of £38m made | |
39 | Sadio Mane | Winger | Southampton | BBC say he’s gone to Liverpool | ||
40 | Maycon | Midfield | Corinthians | new Ronaldo or Neymar or both. Or neither. | ||
41 | Marquinhos | Defender | PSG | His brother says AFC want him | Man U Man C Chelsea and Bayern Munich | |
42 | Riyad Mahrez | Wing | Leicester | £25m Considered him while at Le Havre | ||
43 | Kostas Mitroglou | Striker | Benfica | “Happy in Portugal” | ||
44 | Arkadiusz Milik | Striker | Ajax | |||
45 | Henrikh Mkhitaryan | Midfield | B Dortmund | Went to Man U | Liverpool! Chelsea, Tottenham | |
46 | Alvaro Morata | Striker | Juventus (loan) Real Mad | “About to happen” | Snubbing Chelsea for Arsenal | |
47 | Murillo | Central defender | Inter | Columbian | Bayern Munich and Zenit St Petersburg | |
48 | Ruben Neves | Defend midfield | Porto | |||
49 | Nolito | Striker | Celta Vigo | £13.8m buy out clause | ||
50 | Kelechi Nwakali | Midfield | Diamond Academy | Already joined for £3m | WHU, Bayern, Chelsea, Man U Liverpool? | |
51 | Quincy Promes | Winger | Spartak Moscow | |||
52 | Domingos Quina | Midfield | Chelsea | |||
53 | Adrien Rabiot | Midfield | PSG | Asked for a move, not liked by fans | Chelsea, Man U | |
54 | Rafinha | RB | Bayern Munich | Metro utterly certain | ||
55 | Jese Rodriguez | Forward | Real Mad | Surplus to requirements | ||
56 | Ricardo Rodriguez | Left back | Wolfsburg | £20m | ||
57 | Maxi Romero | Forward | All Boys, Argentina | The new Messi | We were going to sign him last year but he got injured | |
58 | Daniele Rugani | Centre back | Juventus | Can’t get a game. | Man U | |
59 | Riccardo Saponara | Attack midfield | Empoli | Liverpool? | ||
60 | Ryan Sessegnon | Winger | Fulham | Liverpool? | ||
61 | Djibril Sidibé | Full back & midfield | Lille | Cover at full back | ||
62 | Moussa Sissoko | midfield | Newcastle | £35m | ||
63 | Islam Slimani | Striker | £23.25m Sporting Lisbon | £23.25m | Tottenham, Leicester | |
64 | Dominic Solanke | striker | Chelsea | Chelsea want to keep him | Arsenal preparing to steal him | |
65 | John Stones | CB | Everton | |||
66 | Daniel Sturridge | Striker | Liverpool? | “Will reportedly…” | “Tried last year” | |
67 | Neven Subotic | Defender | Borussia Dortmund | Has left training to talk to Arsenal | ||
68 | Yaya Toure | C Mid | Man City | |||
69 | Arda Turan | Attack midfield | Barcelona | Struggled at Barca | ||
70 | Robin van Persie | Forward | Fenerbahce | “We’re waiting for buyers” | ||
71 | Jamie Vardy | Forward | Leicester | £20m | Signed but kept it a secret or he’s off to Liverpool | |
72 | Victor Wanyama | Def. midf. | Southampton | |||
73 | Julian Weigl | Midf. | Borussia Dortmund | £20 million | ||
74 | Granit Xhaka | Defend/ midfield | Monchengladbac | “Deal done” He signed. | Chelsea. | |
75 | Andriy Yarmolenko | Winger | Dynamo Kiev | Tottenham Liverpool | ||
76 | Simone Zaza | Forward | Juventus | |||
77 | Karl Zouma | Keeper | Chelsea | |||
Part Two Departures | ||||||
1 | Alexis | Forward | Asking for transfer | Going to Juventus | ||
2 | Arteta | End of career | ||||
3 | Bellerin | Full back | Barcelona | Looks certain to go | But also denied | |
4 | Joel Campbell | West Ham | ||||
5 | Chambers | Centre back | Southampton or Watford? | 1 year loan | ||
6 | Debuchy | Been on loan | ||||
7 | Mat Flamini | midfield | End of contract | The last Highbury player to leave AFC | ||
8 | Kieran Gibbs | Defend | Unhappy | |||
9 | Isaac Hayden | Centre back | Newcastle | |||
10 | Laurent Koscielny | Defend | Bayern | End of contract | Not end of contract | |
11 | Per Mertesacker | Defend | Considering his future | |||
12 | David Ospina | Goal | Besiktas | |||
13 | Rosicky | End of contract | ||||
14 | Santi Cazorla | Mid/For | Back to Villareal | |||
15 | Mesut Ozil | Midfield | Delayed talks | |||
16 | Jon Toral | Midfield | To Granada | |||
17 | W. Szczesny | Goal | Roma | Happy in Rome | Returning to AFC. No, staying in Rome | |
18 | Walcott | Wing | State Aid Utd or Liverpool? | £20m | On the verge; or maybe not going | |
19 | Jack Wilshere | Midfield | Man U | They will build the team around him | ||
Part Three: Coaching | ||||||
Thierry Henry | Under 18 | Accepted post | ||||
Tony Adams | Under 18 | |||||
Part Four: Up from the youth | ||||||
1 | Stefan O’Conner | Defender | was with York | To Maastricht | ||
2 | Gedion Zelalem | Attack mid | Arsenal | Loaned to Rangers | ||
3 | Chris Willock | Attack midf. | Arsenal | Played in U21s. | ||
4 | Jeff Reine-Adélaïde | Wing | Arsenal | Moving into first team | ||
5: Players going on loan | ||||||
Dan Crowley | Midfield | Arsenal | Coventry | Actually gone to Oxford | ||
6: Young Players leaving | ||||||
Ilias Chatzitheodoridis | U-18 no new contract | |||||
7: Players signing pro forms | ||||||
Donyell Malen | ||||||
Tyrell Robinson | West Ham | |||||
Joshua DaSilva |
And that’s about it for another week. 77 coming in, 19 departing. Just another 50 days to go before the window, broken, battered and beaten, slowly creaks shut and everyone settles down to the inevitable recriminations.
————-
Recent Posts
- How Man City has weaved its around the anti-child-trafficking laws, and what Fifa are doing about it.
- The transfer debate: just a few of the transfers that were utter disasters
- One “Deal close” arriving, one “deal close” to leave, one midfielder to sign this week
Anniversary of the day
12 July 1998 Emmanuel Petit and Patrick Vieira (along with Thierry Henry and Robert Pires who did not play in the final but were in the squad) became the first Arsenal players to win the World Cup; Petit the first Arsenal player to score in a WC final. Dennis Bergkamp won World Cup Goal of the Tournament.
All the anniversaries each day are published on the home page.
It appears Henry will be leaving his coaching role. Apparently Wenger feels the role is incompatible with Henry’s work as a Sky pundit.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/theirry-henry-set-quit-arsenal-8401832?
The ‘Mirror’
The rich man’s thinking newspaper. The rich man, the poor man thinks ‘Only an idiot would read this paper’.
The English newspapers. Written by idiots for idiots to believe.
My proof for my claim see the Sir Hardly anyone pieces here
The point in my first comment is not clear.
What I meant to say was that the content of the Sir Hardly one that is the reviews of the media on Arsenal transfers is proof of my claim about the Eglish Media.
Not the writer of the review
https://youtu.be/suFzznCHjko
Kenneth – awesome link.
By the way, has the Boss jettisoned his plot to acquire Kelechi Nwakali and Rod Holding for Arsenal, but instead has gone after the signing of Takuma Asano?
Would Moussa Sissoko be a valuable asset to Arsenal midfield as an attacking midfielder if they sign him, but not at that outrageous overpriced fee by his agent? And why can’t the Boss forget about signing one those overrated and overpriced strikers in the transfer market, and sign Hal Robson-Kanu for free. Giroud & him could score many goals for Arsenal to win the title and other titles too.
I think if the Boss can sign Sissoko, Robson-Kanu, a capable CHB and a great LB, Arsenal will be more than okay to put Man Utd and Man City challenging for the EPL title to Out of Order.
Two contrasting reports:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/07/12/thierry-henry-to-leave-coaching-role-at-arsenal-after-arsene-wen/
http://m.bbc.com/sport/football/36774864
The Telegraph must really hate AW.
OT
Doping stories of the week? From S&M Steroid Weekley, story by raving frothing reporter An Arse: “Nani wins a trophy whilst his teammate throws up at the final whistle. Staam returns to the UK as a manager?”
Sure am glad that WADA has been constantly worried by the doping tests (lack of) in Football, almost as reassuring at the ease with which the AAA can be trolled by the funny papers.
How did Carlos Quieroz lose the Portugal job?
Oh yeah. I rememeber now.
@Tony,
Amazing how many players are getting linked with Arsenal this summer! One correction from the list, I think Murillo is mentioned twice on the list (#13 and 47 unless Inter has two different Murillos)
@Polo,
yeah, the Telegraph article really does their best to take as many digs as they can at Arsene Wenger. One important piece they forgot to mention is that Henry’s Under-18 role is expected to be replaced by The Captain Tony Adams per Fox Sports:
http://www.foxsports.com.au/football/thierry-henry-opts-to-pursue-burgeoning-media-career-at-the-expense-of-arsenal-coaching-role/news-story/3ae17dc839b8f8db2707b5699a4be155
I think their quote from sports TV critic Giles Smith was hilarious: “One puzzle we’re nowhere nearer solving: how can the same Thierry Henry who is so open and engaging on the BBC be such a lump of wet wool on Sky Sports?”
Glad the traitor is leaving our club.
Soon it will be ‘Higuain is spotted at the airport-o’clock time’ again.
There are reports saying AW to meet Napoli representative about a bid for Higuain, the report suggest Arsenal to offer £50 million plus Giroud. That’s just crazy if true. Giroud’s agent on one of the radio station said Giroud would not mind going to Napoli if Arsenal sold him. I hope Arsenal keep Giroud and try to sign another striker, Lyon said they will sell Lacazzette for £42 million or there about. As much as some fans berate Giroud I personally think he is a top class striker who Arsenal should try to keep.