63 players tipped for Arsenal! Pre-window transfers reach an all time record

By Sir Hardly Anyone

I think I am right in saying that never before in the history of never before, have so many players been tipped by so few to go to the Arsenal before the window swings open.

There are 42 days before the window swings open (do remember if writing about transfers the window swings open (although creaks open is also allowed) and at the end it slams shut (no alternative is available, it slams shut, it always slams shut).

Swings and slams (not swings and roundabouts, although given the lunatic inventiveness of some of these stories roundabouts should be part of the equation).  Got it?  Swings and slams.

And here’s something to look forward to.  We are going to try going back through all these stories ahead of the next publication of the list, to find how many of these players have been listed in the media along with the word “reportedly”.  Remembering that “reportedly” means

“According to what some say (used to express the speaker’s belief that the information given is not necessarily true)”

63 Players in total, seven of whom have appeared since we last ran the list… most of them “reportedly”.

No Player From Details Source
1 Kristoffer Ajer. Celtic 22-year-old centre-back Gunnersphere; Scottish Daily
2 Miguel Almiron Newcastle Their top scorer Media Referee
3 Houssem Aouar Lyon Midfielder.  Man C want him as do Liverpool! The Sun tells us he is 25 and the price is £65m. 4th official agree. Gunnersphere also.
NEW Sardar Azmoun Zenit St. Petersburg The 5th highest Iranian scorer of all time, and he’s still scoring Leicester want him.  442, HITC, TBR
5 Leon Bailey Bayer Leverkusen Chelsea also want him. £85m fee. Just Arsenal
6 Jérôme Boateng Bayern Munich 31 years old, £13m, defender Daily Mail. Read Arsenal says Bayern ready to sell
7 Ugurcan Cakir
Trabzonspor goalkeeper
Tottenham also interested HITC.  Do we need another keeper?
8 Mady Camara Olympiacos Defensive midfield HITC
9 Dani Ceballos Real Mad Currently on loan Express, SDNA
10 Philippe Coutinho Barcelona Attacking midfielder on loan at Bayern.  Being talked up as a near certainty Talksport, Express
11 Marc Cucurella Barcelona Left back or wide midfield FoLo £20.9m
12 Jonathan David Gent Second striker Football.London
13 Ousmane Dembélé Barcelona Forward AS, Sun
14 Axel Disasi Reims Arsenal and Monaco both enquiring about defender TBR, L’Equippe, Sun.
15 Issa Diop WHU Centre back for £60m Mirror, Metro, Read Arsenal, HITC, West Sussex Today, Sun
16 Julian Draxler PSG To replace Ozil.  Tottenham also interested Teamtalk
17 Odsonne Edouard Celtic £50m; goalscoring forward (“Scored more than Messi”) Glasgow Live, Evening Standard, Caught offside, Scotsman, Who Scored, and Celtic Star. Borussia Dortmund no longer interested (TBR)
18 Nebil Fekir Real Betis Forward, 26 years old, injury prone
Read Arsenal
19 Noah Francoise Rennes Midfielder
HITC; TBR – he’s available on a free.  PSG interested
20 Ryan Fraser Bournemouth Scotland International, winger, £12m turned down last window
Metro; was hot topic last year as well.
21 Bruno Fuchs Internacional Centre back
Zero Hora, TBC
NEW César Gelabert Palencia He’s 19
Star, Folo, the Mole and 90 mins. Real Mad want him also.
23 Antoine Griezmann Barcelona £90m for the forward.  PSG Man Utd, Chelsea, also interested Express, the Star and Mirror, Last Word on Football
24 Diogo Jota Wolverhampton He’s a 23 year old forward Sport Review, 4th official, Mail, FoLo, Whoscored
25 Gabriel
Lille Defender  £40m Everton also want him (Mirror)
26 Serge Gnabry Bayern Munich Winger Reports everywhere say he was seen in an Arsenal shirt
27 Pape Gueye, Le Harvre Defensive midfield Liverpool also interested.  Folo, World of Football.
28 Jovic Real Madrid 30 year old striker; deal agreed Daily Express / Starspost / Sport
29 Calum Kavanagh Middlesbrough 16 year old ; forward Lancs Post, The 72, Northern Echo
30 Jonjoe Kenny Schalke 04 on loan from Everton Right back Tottenham want him
NEW Franck Kessie AC Milan Midfielder, the next Yaya Torre Calciomercato
32 Orkun Kokcu Feyenoord 19 year old midfielder Express, FoLo
33 Layvin Kurzawa PSG (out of contract). Media Ref says he would bring confidence 27 years old Polish left back “has agreed a 5 year deal” Standard. Express says he wants to go to Barcelona. Sport, HITC, Sport Witness, Daily Star say Arsenal. 4th official says “he’s signed
34 George Lewis Tromsø – out of contract 19 year old winger HITC, Cannon, Arsenal Youth, Kigalitoday, Arsenal Mania
35 Jesse Lingard Man U £19.8m right winger Caught offside say Celtic and Chelsea want him
36 Isaac Lihadji Marseille, 17 year old winger 17 year old.  Man U and Dortmund want him The Boot Room,  Foot Mercato, TBR Football and the Sun all have this, Discussions begun
37 Matty Longstaff Newcastle Central midfielder who will leave on a free The Mirror; Team Talk
38 Dejan Lovren Liverpool Defender. Tottenham interested Express, HITC, FoLo
39 Pablo Mari Arsenal on loan from Flamengo Left sided centre back The Athletic – he’ll be made permanent
40 Dwight McNeill Burnley Winger Lancs Live.  Apparently lots of clubs want him
41 Moreno Valencia £50m Valencia, forward Metro, Mirror, replacement for Aubameygang. “A bad move” says Media Referee
42 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.
N£W Wilfred Ndidi Leicester Nigerian midfielder Bleacher. Mail, Teamtalk, Sun
44 Ruben Neves Wolverhampton Midfield Sports Mole
45 Unai Nunez Athletic Bilbao Centre Back, 23, £18m Daily Mail says WHU want him.  Arsenal ready to meet price, Read Arsenal, Who Scored
46 Victor Osimhen Lille Nigerian Forward.  £87m Le Quotidien du Foot, Bootroom. Replacement for Aubameyang
47 Thomas Partey Atletico Madrid Midfielder.  Express saying this might involve a swap deal. Boot Room says Lacazette in exchange. Metro, Goal.  Squawka quote €50m.  HITC also.  He’ll move if At Mad dont get Champs Lge  Just £45m!  Guardian.
48 Adrien Rabiot Juventus Midfield Just Arsenal, Standard.  Torreira to be sold.
49 Marc Roca Espanyol To replace Ceballos Sport, 4th official.
50 Declan Rice West Ham Holding midfielder in the style of Gilberto Express (according to Arsenal “legend” P Merson)
NEW Kays Ruiz-Atil PSG ‘next Lionel Messi’, 17 year old, central midfield, on the left wing or an outright striker L’Équipe
52 Chris Smalling Roma on loan from Man U; Roma pulled out of deal for him Centre back.  Tottenham, Liverpool on alert (Express) Just Arsenal News; Arsenal launch £25m bid; Mirror.  HITC, Express, Standard.  Only if Man U get Koulibaly (Just Arsenal)
53 Carlos Soler Valencia Central or right midfield Sky Sports, Standard, FoLo,  Agent says he’s happy to stay where he is  Daily Star.
54 Malick Thiaw Schalke 04. 18 year old central defender Sport Review; Daily Mail Liverpool and Man C also interested.
55 Corentin Tolisso Bayern Munich, central midfield Man U want him.  Juventus, Atletico Madrid and Napoli monitoring him Express, FootMercato
56 Pau Torres Vailla Real 23 years old, Centra back Santi Caz is talking him up. Sun £43m.  Santi Caz is talking him up. He’s learning English! (Just Arsenal)
NEW Adama Traore Wolverhampton He’s 24, a wing back or midfield, or a winger Daily Star.  He started out with Barcelona.
58 Samuel Umtiti Barcelona Centre back Express says he’s available at a discount as he’s always injured
59 Dayot Upamecano RB Leipzig Central defender.  Was all the rage as a transfer a year ago Football.London
NEW Gabriel Veron Palmeiras He’s a 17 year old forward “The Brazilian wonderkid” Football London
Update Willian Chelsea, winger, attacking midfield Talks have broken down with Chelsea, Arsenal now favourites Metro, Fo.Lo, Sun, ESPN, Whoscored
62 Chris Wood Burnley Replacement for Aubameyang Lancs Live, Who Scored, Up the clarets and Team Talk
63 Freddie Woodman Newcastle on loan at Swansea Goalkeeper, 23 years Chronicle Live, TBR, HITC

The transfer window opens on 10 June and will close at 5pm on 1 September.  Don’t hold your breath.

3 Replies to “63 players tipped for Arsenal! Pre-window transfers reach an all time record”

  1. We get the idea that most transfer speculation is a figment of a limited media imagination. In reality there will be virtually no serious transfer activity this summer with most clubs struggling to survive .let alone splash huge transfer fees .Most deals will be loans The game is in serious trouble and future articles about transfers won’t be humorous

  2. Henry my view is that football journalists have become so used to writing stories that are so clearly utterly untrue, and have got away with it for so long, they don’t know anything else to write about. And since journalists also don’t know how to shut up they will keep going.

  3. Henry Root

    “We get the idea that most transfer speculation is a figment of a limited media imagination.”

    But that’s the point right there, if the media had credibility, scruples or a real desire to actually ‘report’ on the serious issues affecting football, they wouldn’t need an ‘imagination’.

    So rather than ‘imagining’ 100’s of none existent transfers why not try actually reporting on some ‘real’ news, such as the corruption case that is occupying the European media, mentioned in Tony’s next article ?

    Obviously by your “we get the idea” you feel it all a bit crass to keep banging on about these none existent transfers, when looming on the horizon is the possible demise of football as we know it, with the real possibility of seeing the disappearance of some clubs all together.

    But isn’t that the exact point Untold is making?

    We have all these issues in football, from child trafficking, to possible on going corruption and not a word. All we get is this constant stream of ‘imaginary’ transfers filling page after page.

    There is plenty of ‘real’ news out there that doesn’t take any ‘imagination’ at all, but despite having what must be hours and hours of spare time on their hands, given the non existence of any actual sport for the sporting hacks to report on, our media point blank refuse to report on any of it, in any significant way what so ever.

    Why is that that?

    It’s certainly not due to a lack of imagination as you suggest, as ‘imagining’ is all they seem to do.

    Reporting on ACTUAL news seems to be something they actively avoid at all costs.

    As far as I’m concerned the medias relentless obsession regarding non existent transfers whilst ignoring some very real issues is an utter disgrace, and exposes the media for the pathetic rabble of ignorant self serving hacks they are.

    Just look back at the numerous high quality, investigative articles Untold has put out over the last few weeks. It’s amazing actually.

    But the point is, if Untold, with it’s limited resources can do it, why cant the ‘media’?

    Well the answer is they can, they just don’t want to, and that is a worry.

    Day after day Untold put the media to shame.

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