Despite financial fears, Arsenal to sign 42 players

By Sir Hardly Anyone

To be fair to the termites who write this stuff, the volume of transfer rumours is down considerably on the last three years.  But since the grown ups are spending their days simply wondering which club is going into liquidation first, it all seems a bit odd.

Arsenal of course are highly unlikely to go down financially, but since all Mr Kroenke’s investments are now haemorrhaging cash he would seem to be unlikely to authorise big payments out.   But we shall see in time.

Meanwhile here are the ramblings…

1: Arsenal ready to meet star’s release clause in a deal that could be a great long-term move by the Gunners  (Read Arsenal)

This concerns Athletic Bilbao centre-back Unai Nunez whom the Daily Mail says is a priority.  Although Hammers News says WHU are going to get him.  He is 23, Spanish and valued at £18m.

2: Striker With More Goals Than Messi, Ronaldo Could Go To Arsenal (IBTimes)

He is a French striker from Leicester Celtic who has apparently scored more goals than Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.  He is Odsonne Edouard. We’ve mentioned him before but his name does seem to be popping up all over the place.

3:  What Arsenal target Layvin Kurzawa thinks about Gunners’ contract offer (Express)

Not a lot, it seems, since Layvin Kurzawa now wants to join Barcelona instead of Arsenal, allegedly although Barcelona are in worse financial shape than Arsenal, everyone there has had their pay cut, and no one at Barcelona has said anything about signing him.  Arsenal have apparently offered a contract to the Paris Saint-Germain defender.

Does this make any sense at all?  He’s 27, he’s Polish and worth about £13.5m.  No, probably not, but it is another way to knock Arsenal, just in case we were thinking a bit positively about them.

4:  Houssem Aouar 

He’s a 25 year old midfielder quoted at a valuation of £65m by the Sun.

Manchester City had reportedly entered the race to sign Houssem Aouar from Lyon. Now it appears Arsenal are also in the running for the France international.  Transfermarket says £49.5m which shows how inflationary the Sun is.
“Lyon make decision on Aouar & Dembele transfers after Arsenal & Chelsea register interest” say the Metro while “Man City to compete with Liverpool FC and Arsenal for Houssem Aouar” is in the Manchester Evening News.   “Liverpool ‘to battle Arsenal and Man City’ for £65m Houssem Aouar transfer” is the Mirror’s headline.

5:  Jesse Lingard

“Chelsea and Arsenal face competition from Celtic to sign talented striker” says CaughtOffside.  He’s with Man U and said to be worth £19.8m as a right winger.

6: Boateng had a year to forget with Man City but would offer Chelsea or Arsenal a wealth of… (Daily Mail)

Well, you can guess the rest of the headline.  Anyway he was with Man C for a year and played 16 games for them before going to Bayern where he has now clocked up 192 games.  He is now 31 and valued at around £13m.

8:  “Please sign him” – These Arsenal fans react as rumoured Gunners target starts learning English ahead of potential… (Read Arsenal) 

And the cause of the excitement?   Well Pau Torres is said to be taking English lessons ahead of the summer transfer window – which will probably be held in October.   The Sun has the story and says he will cost £43m.   He is with Villa Real he is 23 and he is a centre back.  Apparently Santi Cazorla is talking him up.

9: Mikel Arteta planning to make three summer signings from Spain (Just Arsenal News)

And the three are Athletic Bilbao’s Unai Nunez, Carlos Soler of Valencia and Marc Roca of Espanyol.  All of whom we’ve already got.  Bit disappointing when even three names don’t give us a single new transfer to boost the excitement.

10. Raw and devastating (The Boot Room)

“Arsenal and Tottenham made contact with the representatives of Marseille winger Isaac Lihadji” is the headline.  He is 17, he plays for Marseille, and Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund also said to have displayed an interest.  Mind you it was said by the Sun, but they blame Foot Mercato.

So there we are.  Football is suspended, there is no restart in sight, clubs are reportedly going bust, and we are going to sign 42 players.  There is some fake news in there somewhere.

No Player From Details Source
1 Miguel Almiron Newcastle Their top scorer Media Referee
NEW Houssem Aouar  Lyon Midfielder.  Man C want him as do Liverpool! The Sun tells us he is 25 and the price is £65m
3 Leon Bailey Bayer Leverkusen Chelsea also want him. £85m fee. Just Arsenal
NEW Jérôme Boateng Bayern Munich 31 years old, £13m, defender Daily Mail
4 Dani Ceballos Real Mad Currently on loan Express
5 Philippe Coutinho Barcelona Attacking midfielder on loan at Bayern.  Being talked up as a near certainty Talksport, Express
6 Marc Cucurella Barcelona Left back or wide midfield FoLo £20.9m
7 Jonathan David Gent Second striker Football.London
8 Ousmane Dembélé Barcelona Forward AS, Sun
9 Issa Diop WHU Centre back for £60m Mirror, Metro, Read Arsenal, HITC, West Sussex Today, Sun
Update Odsonne Edouard Celtic £50m; goalscoring forward (“Scored more than Messi”) Glasgow Live, the Evening Standard, Caught offside, the Scotsman, Who scored, and Celtic Star
11 Nebil Fekir Real Betis Forward, 26 years old, injury prone
Read Arsenal
12 Ryan Fraser Bournemouth Scotland International, winger, £12m turned down last window
Metro; was hot topic last year as well.
13 Bruno Fuchs Internacional Centre back
Zero Hora, TBC
14 Antoine Griezmann Barcelona £90m for the forward.  PSG Man Utd, Chelsea, also interested Express, the Star and Mirror, Last Word on Football
15 Diogo Jota Wolverhampton He’s a 23 year old forward Sport Review, 4th official, Mail, FoLo, Whoscored
16 Gabriel
Lille Defender  £40m Everton also want him (Mirror)
17 Serge Gnabry Bayern Munich Winger Reports everywhere say he was seen in an Arsenal shirt
18 Pape Gueye, Le Harvre Defensive midfield Liverpool also interested.  Folo, World of Football.
19 Calum Kavanagh Middlesbrough 16 year old ; forward Lancs Post, The 72, Northern Echo
20 Jonjoe Kenny Schalke 04 on loan from Everton Right back Tottenham want him
21 Orkun Kokcu Feyenoord 19 year old midfielder Express, FoLo
NEW Layvin Kurzawa PSG 27 years old Polish defender Express says he wants to go to Barcelona
NEW Jesse Lingard
Man U £19.8m right winger Caught offside say Celtic and Chelsea want him
NEW Isaac Lihadji Marseille 17 year old.  Man U and Dortmund want him The Boot Room,  Foot Mercato and the Sun all have this
25 Matty Longstaff Newcastle Central midfielder who will leave on a free The Mirror; Team Talk
26 Dejan Lovren Liverpool Defender. Tottenham interested Express, HITC, FoLo
27 Evan N’Dicka Eintracht Frankfurt €24m-rated France U21 international, He is left-footed, and 20-year-old Sempre Milan, Daily Canon and Sky, Star.  Liverpool also interested.
28 Ruben Neves Wolverhampton Midfield Sports Mole
NEW Unai Nunez Athletic Bilbao Centre Back, 23, £18m Daily Mail says WHU want him
30 Victor Osimhen Lille Nigerian Forward Le Quotidien du Foot, Bootroom
31 Thomas Partey Atletico Madrid Midfielder Metro, Goal.  Squawka quote €50m.  HITC also
32 Marc Roca Espanyol To replace Ceballos Sport, 4th official.
33 Declan Rice West Ham Holding midfielder in the style of Gilberto Express (according to Arsenal “legend” P Merson)
34 Chris Smalling Roma on loan from Man U Centre back Just Arsenal News; Arsenal lauch £25m bid; Mirror
35 Carlos Soler Valencia Central or right midfield Sky Sports, Standard, FoLo
36 Malick Thiaw Schalke 04. 18 year old central defender Sport Review; Daily Mail Liverpool and Man C also interested.
NEW Pau Torres Vailla Real 23 years old, Centra back Santi Caz is talking him up. Sun £43m.  Santi Caz is talking him up.
38 Samuel Umtiti Barcelona Centre back Express says he’s available at a discount as he’s always injured
39 Dayot Upamecano RB Leipzig Central defender.  Was all the rage as a transfer a year ago Football.London
40 Willian Chelsea, winger, attacking midfield Talks have broken down with Chelsea Metro, Fo.Lo, Sun
41 Chris Wood Burnley Replacement for Aubameyang Lancs Live, Who Scored, Up the clarets and Team Talk
42 Freddie Woodman Newcastle on loan at Swansea Goalkeeper, 23 years old Chronicle, Sun, Wales online. Totts and Everton interested
More anon…

3 Replies to “Despite financial fears, Arsenal to sign 42 players”

  1. Heads in the sand…. LOL they still haven’t got the idea that football has stopped in the way it has existed in the last 20 years or so…

  2. Stories mean clicks and clicks mean money

    If the intelligent fans stopped clicking on stories that are clearly nonsense, then they will stop, surely?

  3. The Washington Post has some news on the news medja. Apparently the news medja is laying off staff, and it is felt that many news outlets (aka drainpipes) will not survive. And these are people that are trying to be useful; not like the dorks doing the sports.

    Now, if the EPL and The (sweet) FA would recognize that most of PGMO needs to be replaced; we could see improvements there in the future.

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