- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would like to leave Borussia this winter.
- His transfer depends on several other players in the Premier League.
- If a deal does not materialize, a whole pack of transfers fail.
In this analysis Borussia Dortmund would go for an exchange or part exchange for Giroud because they would get a highly motivated player and get rid of one who is causing them lots of trouble. The downside is that Giroud is 31 and this will be his last big foray into internationals so if that is his motivation, then that motivation will partly vanish.
Personally I don’t see Giroud like this – as a man needing an outside motivation. Aubameyang on the other hand could be a different kettle of fish.
Now we have to be very careful in all this, especially as I made a mistake in the previous article over the amount of money Chelsea has spent. At least here I have managed to spot that the comment that “Theo Walcott made 63 appearances this season” in the German paper is not quite the case (although something may have got lost in translation), although the paper might be right when it says that Arsenal have received 22.5 million euros from Everton for him.
But let’s go back to this Raiola character. He is not the adviser to Sanchez, and yet he seems to have managed to get himself pretty much involved in Manchester United’s bid for Alexis, saying that Alexis could not go to Man U without first the situation concerning Mkhitaryan being sorted out.
And then one has to remember that Railoa is has Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and substitute goalkeeper Sergio Romero under contract – so if he really is pulling the strings for all these players he has an undeniable influence on the club. The transfer movement of players is still maybe poker, but one guy seems to be holding a lot of the cards.
But of course although the media love to focus on Arsenal and its real and imaginary issues, they do occasionally like to give a dig at other clubs, as with the Give Me Sport website that says
“Steve McClaren has warned Alexis Sanchez’s wages could create dressing-room disharmony at Manchester United.”
And the Mail has a new twist on the “spotted at the airport” theme. Traditionally that headline was used for the arrivals lounge, where it is easy to hang about and watch people coming through from the first class lounge or the private jet and being whisked away. But the Mail team of reporters have been watching the departures lounge (allegedly) and say, “Arsenal and Tottenham target Malcom seen on a plane with his girlfriend… but where is the Bordeaux star going?”
Sadly we are not told.
Plus after weeks and weeks of knocking Arsenal, the Star suddenly changes its position and tells us today that “Alexis Sanchez To Man Utd: Arsenal Star Is Wrong To Play For Jose Mourinho”. Talk about an “about face”.
Now as I mentioned I know that today I have been seriously criticised for getting my figures wrong in terms of Chelsea’s transfers, but when it comes to saying “Arsene Wenger to seal £50m record Arsenal transfer for second January signing” I do think I can say that we have now signed two people – although since both have names, the spelling of which I have to look up each time I want to write them – maybe others have the same problem.
But for Shoot.co.uk one transfer it is, and their second transfer is going to be Aubameyang, and that will be two or three unspellable names in one transfer window. No wonder I make mistakes.
Anyway, one more for now.
“Manchester United and Arsenal may be finalising the swap deal for Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alexis Sanchez, but the two clubs will be on opposite sides as they battle for FC Porto midfielder, Danilo Pereira’s signature.” That’s from Sports Keeda. Is it true? I leave that up to you.
From Arsenal History Society.
I love this
By the way, just a reminder….Arsenal get all the negative headlines about 2 players out of contract (in fact it is 3 if we count Wilshere…) but what about the 107 other players our of contract ?!?!
Where is all the drama, the fall-out, the calls for dismissal of coaches and managers ?
Sure looks like the only team of interest our there is Arsenal. How about M. Gazidis ask for some royalties as Arsenal is the main character of the daily football-soap-opera millions are watching and paying for (via adverts) ? I mean we need to overcome Manure in terms of revenue, so why do we not monetize that….and maybe have a Big Brother Arsenal (where all participants want to leave but have to stay….)
Chris – as I have pointed out many times on here before, every club is targeted. You naturally only concentrate on the negative press that Arsenal attracts because you are an Arsenal fan.
Of course, there is also the fact that, as one of England’s biggest clubs, Arsenal is a more newsworthy club that will attract a higher audience / readership and will therefore be of more value to media outlets. Not forgetting the old media adage that “bad news sells”.
By all means, be unhappy that the coverage of Arsenal is unfairly negative but please don’t fall into the trap of believing that your club is especially victimised in this respect.
Jim B, to complete that argument you need to incorporate a broader picture. All teams do get some negative coverage, yes, but that is not the issue. The issue is, is there a tendency to give Arsenal more negative coverage than other teams.
I know from the evidence of a few friends in the media business that Arsenal comments generate far more response from readers than comments on most other clubs. There is therefore a tendency to create more stories about Arsenal – and since negative stories get more comments than positive stories, the tendency is to generate more negative stories about Arsenal.
To prove or disprove this one would have to count the number of new stories that appear per day about various clubs. I did this before launching Untold and found that yes, at that time over 10 years back arsenal got more stories written about them. I suspect it is still true, but don’t have the time to do the research again.
I’ve posted evidence/links loads of times Tony. JimB just ignores it and says the same thing again.
He’s not worth wasting your time bothering with mate.
Tony – I think I pretty much made the same points in my original post. As one of the biggest clubs in England, stories about Arsenal generate more traffic than stories for any but a few other clubs. And, yes, bad news sells.
There is one further factor which is almost certain to have influenced the tone and angle of the stories surrounding any club at any particular time. Namely, that the media is attuned to how the fan base of each club feels about their club at that time and their stories tend to reflect that feeling. And there can be little doubt that, the denizens of this site excepted, Arsenal fans as a whole have been largely disaffected for quite a few years now.
Nitram – as I have said to you on numerous occasions, you are the one who persistently makes wild claims about Arsenal being outrageously victimised by the media as part of an organised agenda. It is therefore up to you to prove your claim, not for me to disprove it. Thus far, all you have done in response to my scepticism is to provide links for a few negative stories about Arsenal. In return, I pointed out that such evidence is woefully inadequate. It doesn’t remotely begin to prove the point that you want it to prove. I could just as easily provide links to a few positive stories about Arsenal or a few negative stories about other clubs. They wouldn’t prove anything either.
In order to prove your point, you would have to conduct exhaustive research of every item of media coverage of every club over an extended period (to take in times during which each club was deemed to be doing comparatively well and badly).
The ball, as it has always been, is in your court……..
Let’s forget about arguing with ourselves on matters and issues that’ll will be of no use and benefit to Arsenal FC during this winter transfer window. But put our efforts and focus on related matters and issues that’ll be of advantage to Arsenal during the ongoing winter transfer market window as Arsenal summit bidding to sign their targets just as they are now looking to tie up any loose end and sign up Henrikh Mkhitaryan and announce the signing tomorrow Monday I perceive. And also start hoping that Arsenal will not stumble on any stubbornness and high handedness from the Borussia Dortmund CEO, Hans Joachim Watzke and his co-lieutenants as he spearheaded negotiations with Arsenal CEO, Ivan Gasidiz and 2 other Arsenal officials who are reported to have arrived in Germany today’s morning to begin negotiations with their Dortmund counterparts for the transfer of Pierre Emerick Aubameyang to Arsenal this week all things being equal.
But after Arsenal might have put the signings of their 2 latest targets of Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang to bed this week, will they switch their incoming transfer signing attention to another of their target, Malcolm at Bordauex to deny Tottenham Hotspur getting hold on this player who could potentially develop to become world class at Arsenal and to also make the Gunners of Iwobi, Nelson and Willock to be challenged and come out from their comfort zone footballing at Arsenal to start working very hard seriously so as to improve on the quality of their football at Arsenal? Or would Arsenal instead switch their attention to the finish article, Lucas Moura at PSG to either sign him on permanent basis this window or take him on loan instead with an agreement with PSG to make the loan signing permanent during the summer if he impressed at Arsenal and PSG will not back tract on the agreement reached after seen that Arsenal have improved him?
I think you’re being a bit greedy here Samuel. We’ve already got the young defender who looks promising. It looks like we will get Mkhitaryan in exchange for Sanchez – even Arsene Wenger has talked about this pretty definitely. We may or may not get Aubameyang. How many more do you want in a January transfer window?
OT: Disabled Football
https://thesefootballtimes.co/2018/01/22/how-amputee-football-in-japan-is-slowly-changing-societal-attitudes/
Nice story. If only the PGMO employees put in half the effort these people.
I don’t know if there is any Arsenal tie in to this.
I would love to see Giroud and Lacazette playing together , in font of Özil and Jack Wilshere . For me that is a mouth watering prospect .
Tony Attwood – Thanks as usual for your objective writing and reporting. It is good to set the records straight for many of us who would otherwise be carried away by sentiment.
JimB – I concede that the burden of proof lies with whomsoever to show that Arsenal has been focused on more in the media, but any extensive research is pointless. It is fair to say with all the articles out there that Arsenal commands a significant lead in terms of stories generated, especially the ”fake news” a la Trump. Arsenal seems to be the designated club of choice for a great deal of speculations, particularly about transfers. Seems every third player mentioned is an Arsenal target. Nitram, don’t leave your day job yet; we know the truth is out there.
Pat – I’m not sure if I’d say Samuel is being greedy in his expectations or hopes. Almost every Arsenal fan would want all efforts aimed at strengthening the team and push for a Champions League spot or win the Europa League Cup. Lord knows Arsene Wneger would be flayed in the media and the fan base if he doesn’t exhaust all options. People would scream bloody murder if Malcom or Fekir went to Tottenham, Moura to Manchester United, Jonny Evans to Manchester City, and all our other supposed or confirmed targets. Besides, Mkhitaryan wasn’t essentially a target; he got railroaded into the deal. So it’s fair game to expect a CF, AMF, RWF, and a DMF 🙂
JimB
I was lucky enough to be in a box for the Hull game last year and one of the perks of seeing a game that way is you get an ex-Arsenal player come in to meet and greet.
We had Perry Groves and I asked him about the negative attitude to Arsenal on Talksport, (and I think we all know which presenters I’m talking about). He said quite plainly, you make a negative comment about Arsenal and the switchboards light up …. you do the same about City, Spurs or Chelsea and the response is a fraction of that. So they do it again and again …
And for what it’s worth, it’s not for me to try and hold the media to account for negative stories about other clubs, they have their own fans for that …
Minesy
As I said earlier to Tony, you’re wasting your breath.
Present evidence and he either:
1) Disappears
2) Claims what you present isn’t evidence when it clearly is.
3) Insists you provide another 25 yerars of evidence.
All this whilst insisting he is under no obligation at all to provide any evidence of his own.
The guys a time waster.
once again we get the use of a phrase that no one really knows the meaning of. ‘A different kettle of fish’. What sort of fish, what sort of kettle? I’m thinking its a bit like a roasting pan in which you boil your poisson, but how des it get applied to all sorts of other things?
One thought (from 1811) “When a person has perplexed his affairs in general, or any particular business, he is said to have made a fine kettle of fish of it.” a ‘different kettle of fish’ means, well, something different altogether (which I suppose is what Tony means here. Potentially of course, given his difficult history, Mr A Boomerang could be both
Firstly have to remark on a very good win against Palace. An explosive start from the team for a change. Hope that can be replicated against Chelsea.
If we don’t get Aubameyang I imagine there will be plenty of negative media. Rightly so in my opinion. A straight swap with Manu for Miki seems poor business unless we can also get ourselves a decent goalscorer. Manu fans have been pretty underwhelmed with Miki but of course that doesn’t mean he won’t flourish at Arsenal. I must admit I’d rather we kept Giroud, we can surely afford to buy Aubameyang without losing Giroud in the deal. Maybe Malcolm would be an even better purchase. Young, a possible future star who we might cash in on in the future when he get’s disillusioned with the club, as so many seem to do.
As for negative media I think it also stems from a so-called big team failing to behave like one. Maybe the press are as confused as I am by modern Arsenal. As I’ve said before back in the 20th century the Arsenal would not have stuck with a manager who hasn’t won a title in 14 years. I guess I’m an anachronism. You’ll have to forgive me for living in the past.
Well back in the 20th century we appointed a whole stream of managers who had never managed before, and stuck with a manager who took us down to 16th and 17th in two successive seasons before giving up, and allowed us to go through 16 years without winning anything at all, not even a diddly cup, so I am not too sure about that.
Actually Rupert I wouldn’t recommend living in the past; I was there too and those 16 years were not that pleasant really. Well, at least they weren’t for me. 16 years of torment as I recall. At least we’ve had two runs of three FA Cups in four years. I quite enjoyed that.
JimB is worthy of one sentence, so here it is.