By Sir Hardly Anyone
One might have imagined that with over 100 players now having been strongly linked with Arsenal transfers this summer just about every name has been used up. But now we have no name players arriving via a source known as @AFCArsenalHorse which is said by bloggettas to be a reliable Arsenal source.
Although that reliability took a little knock yesterday when the source announced “Arsenal will complete a signing for ‘x’ player on Monday with a full medical”. But then apparently things changed and we were told that “The arrival has moved from Monday to ‘maybe’ Tuesday or Wednesday”.
So who is it? Here’s the list of options
1: Mustafi
The Daily Mirror that despite his club claiming otherwise, “talks are still ongoing and Arsenal remain in the market for Mustafi but the deal is becoming more complicated.”
The Telegraph also runs the story that there are ongoing talks with Valencia for Shkodran Mustafi but repeat the old mantra that Arsenal and Valencia remain apart in their valuations for Mustafi, who was part of the Germany squads at Euro 2016 and the 2014 World Cup.
However Sky Sports “understand” Mustafi has agreed personal terms but the clubs have yet to agree a fee.
This shows that the media is now suggesting that what the clubs say is not true but that only the media who have highlighted 100 transfers into Arsenal this summer are the people to be believed. An interesting and bold statement.
2: Omer Toprak
Sky Sports also tell us that Arsenal have widened their centre-back search to include Turkey international Omer Toprak of Bayer Leverkusen
3: Simon Kjær
He is a 27 year old centre back with Fenerbahce and has played over 50 times with Denmark
| Years | Team | Games | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007–2008 | FC Midtjylland | 19 | 0 |
| 2008–2010 | Palermo | 62 | 5 |
| 2010–2013 | VfL Wolfsburg | 57 | 3 |
| 2011–2012 | Roma (loan) | 22 | 0 |
| 2013–2015 | Lille | 66 | 1 |
| 2015– | Fenerbahçe | 27 | 2 |
4: Mario Lemina
He is a 22 year old central midfielder with Juventus, and I would have thought we didn’t actually need on of them. So probably the story was made up so as to suggest “Arsenal have had a €16m (£13.8m) bid rejected by Juventus for midfielder Mario Lemina, according to reports in Italy,” which is where the story is today.
Except it is worth noting that the Telegraph hardly Arsenal’s friend at the best of times have stopped running stories about Arsenal bids and now run stories about Arsenal bids that have failed. I suspect they think this is safer – how can anyone disprove a failed bid except in the unlikely circumstance of the invented story actually mirroring a real transfer? I anticipate this will soon become the order of the day.
This is what the Telegraph says, “The same report states that Arsenal’s offer was fell below Juventus’ €20m (£17.3m) valuation of the player, and that Schalke are also interested in the midfielder.” That typo makes it look like a story invented as it went along.
A bit like the Guardian putting Gnabry on the bench while he was playing at the Olympics. A trifle unlikely.
5: Ethan Ampadu
He plays for Exeter City and is the 15-year-old son of Arsenal academy coach Kwame Ampadu. When he made his debut for Exeter one week ago he was their youngest ever player – and his position is… centre back.
Apparently “a host of top flight clubs, including north London rivals Tottenham, are tracking him.”
6: Guess who
According to Canal (that is the TV channel not to waterway) Alexandre Lacazette, 25, says he might leave Lyon this summer.
7: Jeremy Mathieu
“Arsenal are reportedly interested in signing Jeremy Mathieu from Barcelona in a bid to ease their defensive injury crisis”, according to Don Balon (which translates as… oh well, you can work it out). He’s 32 and so could be used just until the injured recover.
| Years | Club | Games | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002–2005 | Sochaux | 86 | 9 |
| 2005–2009 | Toulouse | 86 | 5 |
| 2009–2014 | Valencia | 126 | 6 |
| 2014– | Barcelona | 49 | 2 |
It is claimed Barcelona will accept an offer of 12 million euros (£10.4million) for the 32-year-old Frenchman. He would then play in the team as a defender with Gabriel or Chambers alongside Koscielny, and ensure that there is a standby if Kos gets injured. If the plan works out he would then leave the club as Holding begins to put in a long term claim for a place.
8: Aymen Abdennour
According to reports “There has been difficulty in dealing with agents while Valencia do not want to lose Mustafi and their other centre-half, Aymen Abdennour, who is wanted by Everton.”
But then Abdennour has been offered to Arsenal, according to other reports but Mr Wenger wants Mustafi as his No.1 choice. Jonny Evans from WBA is still on the radar according to the same reports.
9: Rachid Ghezzal
Arsenal have now set their sights on another Lyon man and it isn’t Nabil Fekir. Oh no, not at all, it is his teammates Rachid Ghezzal.
He has been part of the Lyon side from 2012 having been in the youth team from 2010 when he signed an elite contract with the Ligue 1 side and was brought through by our old pal Remi Garde. However the problem is he is a winger who gets injured – including a six month lay off in 2014. He has also been linked with Everton and his record doesn’t suggest there is much there Arsenal would be after. He’s not that physical nor a goalscorer.
Anyway a few new names to add to the list for the Index.
- Exclusive: the complete list of 105 players who have been tipped to be signing for Arsenal this summer.
- It’s that déjà vu thing all over again; why Kos was not rushed back.
- Arsenal – Liverpool 3 – 4
Comments – – if you want to comment please do read our commentary rules first.
Until we have an official notice from the Ems, all this speculation about signings is a waste of time and an unnecessary burden on the blood pressure of many gullible followers of our great Club and patrons of the internet.
If only we could hibernate until 1st September when all will be revealed! 😉
Getting fed up and disheartened and we’ve only played 90 mins
It really doesn’t matter who is bought as long as Wenger remains in charge
According to Valencia, they are not in talks with anyone over Mustaffi.
With all the previous “Sky Sources” (ie their click feed affiliates), proving WRONG, why should we even contemplate anything they say?
As “nicky” says, best wait till it’s on the official site before believing anything.
https://youtu.be/uadTGAtBNZ8
https://youtu.be/CAzCq4DXJ8Y
Good job AFC didnt ever lose during the GG days on the first day of the season….did Wenger inherit this situation like the GG defence? 🙂
(cheers to Eddy at PA)
I dont look headlines
I read the source….and i dont find much disaggrement with BBC.
Lucky our players don’t display the mentality some of our fans display….
We gave up Highbury and 10 years of potential success with the intention to
be able to “compete with the biggest clubs” one day. Now our CEO tells us we don’t
have the means to do so.
This is actually a horrible story.
What has happened to Arsenal?
Norman 14 – I record them because I was fascinated to see how many such stories there are for players. Over 100 players are implicated now, and we will probably end up with four of those listed.
I think that is interesting evidence against the journalists for the people who still go on believing that because a story is in the press it is true. We all know they make it up, but I wanted to know just how much they were making it up.
Laughing again at the clickbait. Fair enough its bizarre.
However I hope at least one of the rumours is correct. We desperately need a quality experienced CB to play alongside Kos. The sooner the better. The two young lads had a rude awakening on Sunday and struggled with the pace and intensity of the second half. I don’t blame them but they should neer have been put in that situation.
After Mert got Mert got injured weeks ago. Knowing he was out until the new year we should have brought a CB in. Now we appear to be scrambling about looking for one.
We have a stong squad (though we’ve already lost another two players for a month) and we just need two players to complete. Please Arsene make it happen 🙂
As David Ornstein tweeted yesterday, we’re haggling with Valencia over Mustafi’s fee
in order to afford a – possible (!) – striker purchase.
What has happened to Arsenal’s money?!
Revenue last year was *at least £345m, according to official records, while total salaries amounted
to £192m. (*The new TV deal this year gives clubs considerably more revenue.)
Subtract other general expenses of £30m (?) from this, and you get 345 – 192 – 30 = some £120m to spend on
transfers. (If someone has an accurate figure of Arsenal’s expenses outside of salaries, e.g. debt, I’d be happy to
know of it.)
Add to this our nearly £200m in cash reserves (official figures), some of which >could< be used as well.
Having spent approx £35m on transfers this summer, we thus have £85m left, without factoring in the cash reserves.
If you purchase Mustafi for £35m, that leaves £50m for a striker.
Should that striker cost £60-70m, however, Arsenal could make just the one exception and use a small part of the
cash reserves. (Although, of course, one doubts that Wenger would pay that much for a player.)
So, it seems to me we can, in fact, very nearly compete with ManU, ManC, Chelsea etc.
For ex., ManU have spent approx £150m this summer; now Mourinho wants another CB (and/or wing back) – but in order to be able to buy that player, the official ManU line is that he needs to sell player(s) first to free up money. Not even ManU have endless resources.
So, it DOES seem we CAN compete with the biggest clubs – if I'm not mistaken…
It's just that we're not doing it.
@Walter,
Well said. Some of the comments on this and another site are repeated every August, word for word.
There is no patience or faith these days…..only premature doom and gloom. 😉
Let me first and foremost apologize to the Boss and Jack Wilshere for the bobo comment(beat about the bush comment) I made on this site last 3 days ago. I had commented in response to an UA posited article on Arsenal lose of goals 3-4 at the Ems last Sunday saying, since we were looking for to score more goals, the Boss should have brought on striker Chuba Akpom instead of bringing on Jack Wilshere. But the Boss didn’t bring on Jack at all during the match as I checked Arsenal line- up and subs for the match. Infact, the Boss 3 sub’s were in order with the starts he had on the field and the replacements we’re in line for the injured Ramsey with Cazorla and Oxchambo for Iwobi while Xhaka who should have been started according to many and me was brought on for Elneny..
How did the bobo I committed came about? I couldn’t watch the match live on my TV due to the lack of light in my locality. And I wasn’t even sure the match will be shown by my 2 cable providers on any of my 2 decoders as I didn’t see the telecast of match being advertised by them a head of the match which is usually the case. So on match time I switched on to Radio United Kingdom App on my mobile for Radio commentaries. But TalkSports, BBC Radio 5 live and BBC World Service were all not running the commentaries of the match as they said they won’t run it due to right restrictions. So I went to Arsenal digital audio on my Android for the match commentaries which they were already running 10 minutes into the matchh when I logon to the App. But the commentaries was intermittently breaking. During the 2nd half commentaries on the Arsenal digital audio and past the hour mark into the match, the commentators said Jacko has been sent on for whoever I didn’t catch. And they kept mentioning Jacko during the running of the commentaries up to the end of the match. So Arsenal digital audio commentator’s are the ones that mislead me into believing Jack played in the match. Master Tony, please rewind into the half hour mark of the match of the audio commentaries on the Arsenal digital audio and listen to it to a test the truthiness of my claims.
Thanks.
@Kenneth Widmerpool
The fans’ recent outrage is not simply about ONE season start loss. It’s about Arsenal having won only
1 season opener since 2009 (I personally don’t think this is a massive thing) and our not being physically ready
(which I do think is VERY SERIOUS).
How come other teams with players at the Euros were ready but not us?
@nicky
We’ve just been patient for 12 years… I think that deserves some credit 😉
And if the fans’ words are repeated word for word, year after year, it’s because the manager’s mistakes are
repeated, step by step, year after year… 😉
Rob
I’m with you. Our squad is nearly there. We need a couple of players to complete it.
It’ll be a long season if we don’t get them. The crowd turned on Sunday. Sadly this could well continue after every loss or draw unless a couple of players are brought in. It’s not great for players to hear all that. It’s bound to affect them but it’s where we’re at
Arsene says Ramsey wasn’t ready and rushed back. Why wasn’t he ready ? If he wasn’t why was he played? What is he thinking ?
90 minutes of football and we already have 5 injuries keeping players out for a month or more. It’s unbelievable.
The creation of the Ems stadium has made a huge difference in term of financial balance against other clubs. What has nullified & surpassed that growth is the oil & other laundered money that has entered the game. There are very few checks if any to ensure clean competition both on & off the field of play. There are many very wealthy leeches growing on the game without ever kicking a ball.
It is the way it is. Enjoy the fact that the football Arsenal play is beautiful to watch.
Let me first and foremost apologize to the Boss and Jack Wilshere for the bobo comment(beat about the bush comment) I made on this site last 3 days ago. I had commented in response to an UA posited article on the Arsenal lose by 3 goals to 4 at the Ems last Sunday saying, since we were looking for to score more goals, the Boss should have brought on striker Chuba Akpom instead of bringing on Jack Wilshere. But the Boss didn’t bring on Jack at all during the match as I checked Arsenal line- up and subs for the match again as I got skeptical Arsenal can’t make 4 sub’s but only 3 that are allowed. Infact, the Boss 3 sub’s were in order with the starts he had on the field and the replacements we’re in line for the injured Ramsey with Cazorla and Oxchambo for Iwobi while Xhaka who should have been started according to many and me was brought on for Elneny..
How did the bobo I committed came about? I couldn’t watch the match live on my TV due to the lack of light in my locality. And I wasn’t even sure the match will be shown by my 2 cable providers on any of my 2 decoders as I didn’t see the telecast of match being advertised by them a head of the match which is usually the case. So on match time I switched on to Radio United Kingdom App on my mobile for Radio commentaries. But TalkSports, BBC Radio 5 live and BBC World Service were all not running the commentaries of the match as they said they won’t run it due to right restrictions. So I went to Arsenal digital audio on my Android for the match commentaries which they were already running 10 minutes into the match when I logon to the App. But the commentaries were intermittently breaking. During the 2nd half commentaries on the Arsenal digital audio and past the hour mark into the match, the commentators said Jacko has been sent on for whoever I didn’t catch. And they kept mentioning Jacko during the running of the commentaries up to the end of the match. So Arsenal digital audio commentators were the ones that mislead me into believing Jack played in the match. Master Tony, please rewind into the half hour mark of the match of the audio commentaries on the Arsenal digital audio and listen to it to a test to the truthiness of my claims.
Thanks.
I did some corrections on my 1st comment posting. My Android sometimes pick words for me which wasn’t what I intended to type or have typed.
Rob, your comment is in order but I think according to reports, Arsenal must have spent more than the £35m you have quoted. Xhaka £34m, Holding £2.5m Asano not disclosed and Nwakali close to £3m. And besides, assuming Arsenal have the £120m earmarked for this summer transfer, the Boss will not use all that amount for his summer transfers. Would he? He’ll reserve some if it for the winter window. Because you can never tell what will happen. At any rate, we are all expecting Arsenal to make 2 senior signings this summer. But will those signings be, is what we can’t say. We can only speculate and make our wishes known to the Boss to consider.
Menace
Is it really that beautiful anymore ?
I’m not convinced it is. Sure we have our moments but all told it’s not like it was.
Ramsey – it is not unbelievable if you look at the context. If you think 5 injuries is a lot, you now have to look at how many injuries other teams have. This is exactly the argument we developed against the Guardian with the “Arsenal have only two players whose goals reached double figures.” The statement is only interesting and informative if you look at what other teams have achieved. In the Guardian’s case the figures showed Arsenal were quite remarkable with goalscorers rather than being at the bottom of everything as the Guardian replied. In terms of injuries we are above mid table but not exceptional.
Rob – and indeed everyone – this is getting ridiculous. You are making a point which has been answered in detail. I really don’t have the time to go back, over and over and over repeating the same points. If you had a logical or evidence based against the points made on this site, fair enough, but just to come back with a sentence like “How come other teams with players at the Euros were ready but not us?” without even bothering to check on this site, is just not on, simply because I don’t have the time to repeat myself.
Ramsey, before using the term “clickbait” or other phrases you should learn the definition. Clickbait is always defined by people in the business as an approach which tricks people into going onto a site, in order to get them into an advert. Just putting up a headline which makes fun of the press’ headline, or which is misleading, is not clickbait. It is journalism, or taking the piss.
Why is this site mocking transfers as if there is something wrong with them? Fans today love a bit of transfer speculation as it’s possible there club could be looking to improve the squad that the fans pay to watch play.
It’s only really Arsenal and Wenger who don’t seem interested in what’s become part of the game if you like it or not.
Wenger is being left behind on current methods and already the fans in the stadium are bored and upset with the state of affairs. Supporting a football club is supposed to be exciting and enjoyable at least some of the time, Wenger is strangling the excitement at Arsenal.
Well, Eddie, if you cared to read what we have been publishing through the summer you’d know. And quite amazingly it was based on evidence, statistics and data, not on personal opinion. Really, you should know a little about a site before you ask a question like that.
Everything you posts is apparently based on Evidence which is fine. You seem to have evidence which is linked to conformation bias though and a preconceived point of view so they are not real facts but facts according to you.
I can see you have been mocking all the players we have linked to through the summer which happens at all clubs. Journalists have papers to sell.
It is not unfair for fans of the club to want and expect the club to sign some players in positions they fill we need.
Nobody wants us to bankrupt the club just to give us a bit of hope. If you at the Emirates last year you will know there was a fair amount of discontent then and nothing has changed this year as of yet.
Hey Tony, Have been reading the recent posts but haven’t found an answer to
“How come other teams with players at the Euros were ready but not us?”
Please direct me to it? (when/if you have the time…)
I dont know what is more desperate Arsene and arsenals transfer dealings or tony , walter and a few of his faithful followers trying to defend their beloved leader.We have been shown up in front of the whole footballing world to be cheapskates and pennypinchers whilst we try to hang on the tag of a top club.Everyone can see it exept those that say they deal in evidence based stats and facts.what utter rubbish.
Wenger goes on about it being crazy the way transfer prices have gone through the roofand that he wouldnt pay silly money for players.Pogba being an 3xample at 90 million.Heres a fact for you all since we last won the league ARSENE WENGER HAS BEEN PAID OVER 100 MILLION POUNDS IN WAGES!!
@Rob,
And we finished runners-up last season in the toughest league in the world AND in Europe again……an achievement envied by 99% of our rivals.
I would wait until the season’s end before offering any criticism.
😉
@nicky – yes we finished 2nd last season but at no point did we challenge for the title.
When Wenger took over at Arsenal we were the 3rd most successful club in English football and had won 10 league titles in 60 years.
Wenger in the last 12 years he has managed Arsenal has not once challenged for the title. A sad decline of a once great club.
Let it be known that I will now and forever more …..
Always
Respect
Support &
Encourage
Noble
Arsene’s
Legacy.
WOO HOO , HOO !
Up the Gunners !
Top Guns – were we not first after first half of the season? were we not the only challenge left for Chelsea the previous season (until the 0-0 draw at Emirates)? were we not the top team for most of the previous to that season?
who the fuck else did challenge for the title then in those seasons except the team that won it? tottenham?
@OlegYch sorry to break it to you but Arsenal have never led the Premier League in April or May since 2005.
Last season we never got within 10 points of Leicester towards the end of the season. That is not challenging.
Yes we might have eventually overtaken Spurs last season but yes they did provide more of a challenge than us towards the end. Their pathetic collapse merely papered over the cracks which are now once more reopening at the Emirates.
From the Medical Division of Untold Arsenal-
Cyberchondria – that is a condition where people look up health concerns online and then end up getting overly anxious over the results which usually indicates that they suffer from a deadly condition. With a glut of dubious material that is available online and in social media, patients are unable to differentiate between what is real and what is not.
With this in mind , I am carefully monitoring , identifying , researching and studying ‘them’ closely here , so as to publish my findings on their stupidity and gullibility , on some respected medical publication. Or maybe even on this website . Everybody seems to be clicking merrily on here!
Over the last few weeks , I have discovered at least three main conditions – Arsenemustgocyberchondria , IhatetheArsenalchondria and IhatetheAKBsevenmorecyberchondria .
Spendsomefuckingmoneycyberchondria is not really a proper, nor even a recognised condition.
That’s just a manifestation of stupidity !
Top Guns,
ah if you allow yourself to define what is and what isn’t competing then it is easy of course.
It also might have been different of course if the refs would have given us and Leicester a better treatment decision wise. And no this isn’t an exclusive Untold Arsenal line. Hell, even the Sun and another website (lost the name for a second) had us winning the league if refs would have made no “errors”.
@ Top Gun,
‘When Wenger took over at Arsenal we were the 3rd most successful club in English football and had won 10 league titles in 60 years.’
Isn’t Arsenal still the 3rd most successful club according to league titles or has history changed and another club has 14 league titles? Isn’t Everton the next closest on 9 league titles? Or are we talking about Premier League? Guess what? Arsenal is 3rd.
10 titles in 60 years = 1 title in 6 years. AW won 3 titles in 19 years = 1 title in 6.33 years, wow massive difference, give him 60 years and he will probably win more than 10 titles.
Walter we can always rely on the referees excuse to save wenger …It’s sad really to see the demise of our once great manager and the few blind Faithfull desperately trying to protect him.Cant any of you see what everyone else from the press ,pundits,ex players as well as most fans ,internet sites and the world can see that our great Club is being torn apart by Wenger ,Gazidis and Stan kronke who are fleecing the fans and destroying the reputation of a once great and top club in world football.
‘the few blind Faithfull desperately trying to protect him.Cant any of you see what everyone else from the press ,pundits,ex players as well as most fans ,internet sites and the world can see that our great Club is being torn apart by Wenger ,Gazidis and Stan kronke who are fleecing the fans and destroying the reputation of a once great and top club in world football.’
Sure, I’m blind really blind. Are yes those ‘experts’ on the Internet they do know everything until they are in the job.
Remember this guy? I guess he’s no longer considered as an ‘expert’ now?
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/29326/10536967/gary-neville-arsene-wenger-should-stay-as-arsenal-manager
Rob, concerning bringing players back after the Euros, there are two factors. One is when they were knocked out of the Euros – we had three who trained right up to the final, other clubs didn’t. The other is the decision whether players should get 3 or 4 weeks or be rushed back. You can rush players back earlier, and indeed it can work, but it is a gamble because they can do a lot more damage to themselves – not just in week 1 but maybe in week 10. The body just hasn’t recovered enough.
So with part 2, if you have players who trained up to the final, you can take the cautious route and give them four weeks, and possibly have a weakened team for the opening fixture, or you can bring them back quicker, and risk them being injured more readily later in the season. It is judgement. One can go either way.
Eddie, we analysed the spend of clubs over three years and compared with the league positions. There is no direct correlation. We used the work of others in terms of big money transfers and the impact in year 1 – only 25% make a big impact. I took the top scoring players in the top division over a number of years to see how often they played for the league champions. This is not confirmation bias. Confirmation bias involves having an idea and finding a bit of evidence to support it, but ignoring the key evidence. It is saying “Arsenal always have terrible injuries – look they have six players injured now” without looking to see the injury levels of other teams. It is the Guardian doing a knocking piece against Wenger and saying “only two” players got 10+ goals while hiding the fact that only 25% of clubs had two players with 10+ goals.
Walter – I accept that my definition of being able to compete for the title may differ to yours.
Please let me know what your definition is.
@Top Guns by your logic, if Arsenal who came 2nd last season didn’t compete because we were 10 points off the winner, it means only Leicester City competed for the league last season! That’s genius!
Actually Damilare, I think you will find Tottenham made a pretty good fist of competing for the title last year with many Arsenal fans fearing that not only would there be no St Totterinham day but the spectre of Tottenham winning the league was a very real one until that explosive match at Chelsea. If you recall, Tottenham were 2-0 up in that match until Chelsea started roughing them up and they lost their collective cool and lead. That match had a strong psychological effect on them and once the final whistle went they knew they had blown their chance and proceeded to collapse spectacularly in their last few games.
Up until that point Tottenham had a real momentum and who knows – had they clung on to win at Chelsea they would have been supremely confident they could go all the way. More significantly, if Tottenham had won that game more pressure would have been heaped on Leicester who, as a result of that result at Chelsea, then had the cushion of being able to drop a couple of points and still go on to win the title. A Tottenham win at Chelsea would have made for an incredibly interesting final few games.
On the face of it the final PL table shows that Tottenham finished behind us therefore one could deduce that Arsenal were the nearest challengers, but that only goes to show that statistics can be misleading. At no point during the run in to the end of the season could anyone have thought Arsenal were serious contenders for the title – Tottenham were – and for your comment above to insinuate otherwise is ridiculous.