By Sir Hardly Anyone
According to the Great Transfer Index that Untold is once again running this season with the latest additions we have now got 19 players leaving the club. This is of course not as bad as last summer when the total got to 22 by the end of the transfer window. So the bloggetta boys and their chums in the Daily Mail, Sun, Express and the like have only got to find three more player to equal last season’s total.
But since the window isn’t actually open yet it looks like this will certainly happen.
The latest “details” (and I use the word lightly) most recently emerging are these…
1: Joel Campbell
Poor Joel will be going back to Greece according to the Daily Mail sponsored Le Grove, who claim Arsenal’s big failures are “coaching, scouting, keeping.”
And I think we need say nothing more on that point.
2: Calum Chambers
This one is in the Standard and so must be true. “Reports” have “linked him with” Everton and Newcastle. The cost is £15m.
3: Santi Cazorla
Thisisfutbol says Arsenal must sell Santi Caz, claiming that “By saying farewell to the former Malaga star, Wenger would open up the opportunity for a younger and fresher face to step into the centre of his midfield, perhaps for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who has always expressed the desire to play in the position.”
4: The OX. Or if he moves to Spain “El buey”
Either there are no talks between Arsenal and Alex and he is frustrated by that, or there are loads of talks but they have broken down and he’s off. It really makes me think that if only the Arsenal employed some of the bloggetta writers we would have everyone we need, everyone would stay and we would all be very happy. Read Chelsea says Chelsea are keen to buy him, but they would, wouldn’t they?
The Ox situation reminds me a lot of the Bellerin situation which Billy “the dog” covered yesterday. But in case you missed it…
5. Bellerin
It seems that it is written in the constitution of Comitatus Barcinonensis that every week the local football club (Barcelona) must put in a bid for an Arsenal player. So now “Give me sprouts” tells us that Bellerin has forgotten this is all make-believe and actually wants to go there. And now there is an “exclusive” in the Spanish website “Sport”.
According to their article “Confidencial: La familia Bellerín se muda a Barcelona” the player and his family have bought a house in Barcelona. Now given the money he earns that is probably a wise investment, what with the UK pound now down to 0.35 against the Flavian Pobble Bead after the Brextremists once more took over negotiations for the UK to leave the universe and start out on their own in an alternative reality.
But Barcelona are sympathetic to Arsenal’s need for a full back especially as everyone else is leaving the club so Marca – a newspaper of serious disrepute – claim they will offer Rafinha in part exchange plus some spare plastic tokens that were left in the cathedral by impoverished tourists.
There is however other news of significance here as the Metro tells us Arsenal fans fear Hector Bellerin is growing a new knee cap at the Euro U21 Championships. Honest I kid you not. Try searching for it.
6. Takuma Asano
We are told that Arsenal have reached an agreement with Stuttgart over another loan deal for Takuma Asano for the 2017/18 campaign. This is being presented in some quarters as a shock horror story as he has not been granted a work-permit but I don’t think a work-permit was ever expected yet.
The problem the player will have, along with every foreign national playing for a UK club, is what happens when the UK drops out of the EU. Given the immense amount of detail that needs to be negotiated surround that event, and given that the number of nurses coming to the UK from the EU is currently running at 5% of the level it was before the Brextremists took over reality, and that as a result hospital waiting times have doubled and the district nursing facility in most major cities has collapsed, I can’t see that football is going to be much of a priority in the discussions. In fact I rather suspect the Index in the summer of 2018 is going to be about every foreign player actually leaving and a dreadful scramble for men with UK passports.
Anyway, just to remind you of how the exit index now looks
| No | Player | Club | Notes |
| 1a | Alexis | Man C | Guardiola making £50m offer his summer priority. £50m. Talk Sprout says it is done. Mirror says he is finalising. |
| 1b | Alexis | Chelsea | Will play out contract and go on a free to Chelsea. |
| 1c | Alexis | Man U | Has already agreed deal |
| 1d | Alexis | Nowhere | Mr Wenger has said “he is staying” |
| 1e | Alexis | Real Mad | |
| NEW | Takuma Asano | Stuggart | He’s staying put as there is no work permit yet. |
| 3 | Krystian Bielik | Birmingham | City keen to extend loan for another year. Norwich keen. Also Nottm Forest |
| 4 | Bellerin | Barcelona | Barce will sign him; no, he is happy to stay. No Barce are getting him on a cut price deal (details of which are unclear). He’s bought a house in Barcelona. |
| 5 | Campbell | Fenerbahce | Currently in talks to sign. No its Greece. Easy mistake. |
| NEW | Chambers | Newcastle | Or it could be Everton. There seems some uncertainty |
| 7 | Francis Coquelin | Valencia | This story has been going on and on and on and… |
| 8a | Olivier Giroud | Marseille | He wants to play more games. |
| 8b | Giroud | West Ham | They really want him as they need more pace! |
| 9 | Jenkinson | Newcastle | Just promoted, need players |
| 10 | Koscielny | Marseille | He’s just had enough |
| 11 | Ospina | Fenerbahce | Some are just saying “to Turkey” |
| 12 | Oxlade Chamb | Liverpool! | They have offered £40m and made it a priority, no its Chelsea; either way the player is angry and wants to go. |
| 13 | Özil | Real Mad | They realise they should have kept him. Mr Wenger says, he is staying |
| 14 | Lucas Perez | PSG | He’s an “outcast” according to “reports” |
| 15 | Sanogo | Released | |
| NEW | Santi Caz | Not so much that he is going but that Arsenal must send him packing. | |
| 17 | Wojciech Szczesny | Napoli | Every newspaper seems to have this one. He doesn’t want to be here. Yes he does, the club doesn’t want him. Confusing! |
| 18 | Nathan Tella | Southampton | Deal done and completed – he was released |
| 19 | Theo Walcott | West Ham | Ray Wilkins says he must leave to protect his career |
I am upset each time I read a piece linking Ox to Liverpool. Even if he want to leave Arsenal ,not to Liverpool please, because of the Suarez saga and the attitude of Liverpool board to Arsenal.
We ought to tell them there is a 100 million release clause
Given that we are constantly being told by the media that Arsenal are crap and how none of our players bar Sanchez would get into any of the other top sides I find it somewhat surprising that our players appear to be so coveted by other teams.
Aproppos of nothing, I saw that the reason why so few nurses are coming has nothing to do with the Brexit,m but more to the fact that they now have to pass an English test.
The next thing is a requirement that people working in call centres have to take a test in English.
The problem with that is then we will have to actually listen to what they have to say. rather than just put the phone down because we can’t understand what they are talking about.
Apparently, members of Kylian Mbappe’s family (?) claim that, if Mbappe signs for Arsenal, it will be because of Arsene Wenger as they recall what he had done for Nicolas Anelka and Thierry Henry.
Personally, I’d be thrilled with Mbappe, not so much with Lacazette. Signing Mbappe would be a masterstroke, a long-term purchase with a significant resale value, but also a statement that Arsenal can sign the most exciting players in the world even when other giants want them.
I’ve following Arsenal since the late days of George Graham. I remember when we were connected with Ronaldo (the Brazilian one) for a world transfer record. It didn’t happen, Ronaldo left Barcelona for Inter Milan but we got ourselves the Ajax invincible Marc Overmars (one of players on Manchester United’s short-list that included Darren Anderton but emergence of David Beckham had helped us getting our man) and two crowned French champions Manu Petit and Gilles Grimandi from AS Monaco.
Maybe it’s time to get another recently crowned AS Monaco player.