By Sir Hardly Anyone
This summer is clearly going to come out with the all time record for the number of players tipped to be coming to Arsenal by the all-seeing, all-knowing media. And to be clear these are not the players that pundits are saying Arsenal “ought to sign” – if we included those we’d have a list twice as long. These are players that the pundits state Arsenal are actively trying to sign.
Which is quite extraordinary given that we have also had reports that Arsenal have sacked most of their talent spotters in Europe.
But the media have to excuse the failure of their predictions to come true, so they excuse themselves with the old issue of Arsenal just being too slow and unable to make up their mind
Thus Borussia Dortmund has beaten Arsenal to the free transfer of Belgian star, Thomas Meunier. That is in Just Arsenal News. But here’s the twist. We’ve been scouring places high and low looking for transfers but never once picked this up as an Arsenal possibility. It couldn’t be, could it, that the site has just picked a transfer that has gone through and thrown in the “has beaten Arsenal to.” But anyway, they reckon we were after him, so he has to be added to the list – for that is the point of the list. All the players Arsenal are alleged to have been after.
But still there are reports that we have no money and indeed Bleacher have claimed that Arsenal have to sell six players at the end of the season just to fund the second instalment on the Pépé deal of last year.
Mind you last summer Bleacher was the main protagonist telling us that this particular deal was never coming off. Now they are excusing themselves by saying we paid too much. If only the guys at Bleacher were running the club, everything would be ok.
Football London are telling us that Arsenal are ready to bring Atletico Madrid midfielder Thomas Partey to the Emirates Stadium but must sell a player first, according to reports. Those reports are apparently in Football 365, who blame…. Well you know how it goes.
Here’s the up to date list of the 115 players we are tipped to be trying to sign this summer – apparently without any money…
| Player | From | Details | Source | |
| NEW | Adil Aouchiche |
PSG | 17 year old | ESPN.. Saint-Etienne may be close to signing him |
| 2 | Kristoffer Ajer. | Celtic | 22-year-old centre-back | Gunnersphere; Scottish Daily |
| 3 | Rafinha Alcantara | Barcelona | Playmaker | One Arsenal, Just Football, Daily Canon |
| 4 | Thiago Almada | Vélez Sarsfield of the Argentine Primera División | 19 year old winger, midfielder, highly tipped by the Guardian | Teamtalk, Mund Deportivo. AS. Man City interested. Manchester Eve News |
| 5 | Miguel Almiron | Newcastle | Their top scorer | Media Referee |
| 6 | 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. |
| 7 | Adil Aouchiche. | PSG | 17 year old midfielder | Football London. HITC – he is ready to quite PSG |
| 8 | Sardar Azmoun | Zenit St. Petersburg | The 5th highest Iranian scorer of all time, and he’s still scoring | Leicester want him. 442, HITC, TBR. Star, Area Napoli |
| 9 | Ousseynou Ba | Olympiacos centre-back | HITC, Sport Time | |
| 10 | Leon Bailey | Bayer Leverkusen | Chelsea also want him. £85m fee. | Just Arsenal |
| 11 | Nicolo Barella | Inter Milan on loan from Cagliari | Midfielder | 23 year old. FC Inter News says Arteta is a great fan but the AFC bid was rejected. HITC and Whoscored report this is ongoing |
| 12 | Wissam Ben Yedder | Monaco; 29 years old | Centre forward to replace Auba | Sports Mole |
| 13 | Said Benrahma | Brentford | Palace want him.. 24 years old, a winger So do Leicester and Chelsea | Football London, FL World, Express. Foot Mercato he is going to cost €30-35m. Daily Canon reports everyone wants him |
| 14 | Jérôme Boateng | Bayern Munich | 31 years old, £13m, defender | Daily Mail. Read Arsenal says Bayern ready to sell |
| 15 | Giacomo Bonaventura | Milan | Midfielder | Out of contract at end of season Sun says Atalanta, Fiorentina, Roma and Lazio want him |
| 16 | Ugurcan Cakir |
Trabzonspor goalkeeper
|
Tottenham also interested | HITC. Do we need another keeper? |
| 17 | Mady Camara | Olympiacos | Defensive midfield | HITC |
| 18 | Dani Ceballos | Real Mad | Currently on loan | Express, SDNA |
| 19 | Chiesa | Fiorentina | Winger | Juventus, Inter, Chelsea and Manchester United all want him, Canon, Sun, Express all say we want him |
| 20 | Barcelona | Attacking midfielder on loan at Bayern. Being talked up as a near certainty | Talksport, Express. Daily Mirror says talks have opened. Express now says Arsenal can’t afford his wages. Latest is it would only be for one year. But Barce will let AFC have him at a discount (Metro) | |
| 21 | Marc Cucurella | Barcelona | Left back or wide midfield | FoLo £20.9m |
| NEW | Danilo | Porto | Midfield | ESPN |
| 23 | Jonathan David | Gent | Second striker | Football.London. Arsenal Fever say transfer is likely. Manchester United, Ajax, Everton, Inter Milan and FC Porto also want him. |
| 24 | Ousmane Dembélé | Barcelona | Forward; replacement for Lacazette. | AS, Sun. HITC says Arsenal have been given the go ahead to buy Dembele for £53m, or £37 (Sport). Deal going through |
| 25 | Emmanuel Dennis | Clubbe Brugge | 22 year old forward Man U, Newcastle, Everton, Leicester, Brighton, Sheffield U, Watford and Crystal Palace want him. | Talkport, HITC, Transfer market, sportsmole… Daily Mail says it is on for £22m. FoLo says definitely leaving. Manager reported as agreeing |
| 26 | Moussa Diaby | Bayer Leverkusen | 20 year old winger | TBR blaming Le10Sport. Signed for a “bargain £13.5million” from Paris Saint-Germain last summer. Teamtalk says talks have begun |
| 27 | Axel Disasi | Reims | Arsenal and Monaco both enquiring about centre back | TBR, L’Equippe, Sun. Reims manager says it is on – £13m. RMC Sport agrees. |
| 28 | Issa Diop | WHU | Centre back for £60m | Mirror, Metro, Read Arsenal, HITC, West Sussex Today, Sun |
| 29 | Julian Draxler | PSG | To replace Ozil. Tottenham also interested (although he is a winger) | Teamtalk. Daily Canon says it is on |
| 30 | Odsonne Edouard | Celtic | £12m; goalscoring forward (“Scored more than Messi”). Fo.Lo says we’ve been impressed | |
| 31 | Nebil Fekir | Real Betis | ||
| 32 | Nathan Ferguson | WBA | ||
| 33 | Joelson Fernandes | Sporting Lisbon | ||
| 34 | Marcelo Flores | |||
| 35 | Wesley Fofana | St Etienne | ||
| 36 | Fraser Forster | Celtic on loan at Southampton | ||
| 37 | Noah Francoise | Rennes | ||
| 38 | Ryan Fraser | Bournemouth, contract ends this year | ||
| 39 | Bruno Fuchs | Internacional | ||
| 40 | Gabriel |
Lille | Defender £40m | Everton also want him (Mirror) |
| 41 | César Gelabert | Palencia | ||
| 42 | Gerson | Flamingo midfielder |
||
| 43 | Serge Gnabry | Bayern Munich | Winger | Reports everywhere say he was seen in an Arsenal shirt |
| NEW | Ben Godfrey | Norwich | Centre back | Liverpool and Tottenham, Dortmund and RB Leipzig all after him according to the Sun |
| 45 | Antoine Griezmann | Barcelona | £90m for the forward. PSG Man Utd, Chelsea, also interested | |
| 46 | Pape Gueye, | Le Harvre | Defensive midfield | Liverpool also interested. Folo, World of Football. Was going to Watford, now isn’t (L’Equipe) Sportwitness say Arsenal have offered to treble his salary. HITC say “reportedly” |
| 47 | Serhou Guirassy | Amiens | 24 year old striker | Daily Mail. WHU and Bournemouth also interested |
| 48 | Dennis Gyfami | Leicester | 18 year old full back | Online Gooner |
| 49 | Achraf Hakimi | Borussia Dortmund, on loan from Real Madrid | Right wing back, can play as a winger. | TBR Football |
| 50 | Kai Havertz | Bayer Leverkusen midfielder | 20, and is an “exciting prospect”. Football London | Chelsea and Liverpool are also said to be after him, along with Bayern Munich. |
| 51 | Mauro Icardi | PSG striker | 27 year old | Swap deal for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Sun FoLo, Tuttosport and Media Referee |
| 52 | Ricky Jade-Jones | Peterborough Utd | James Vardy with pace | Arsenal, Man U and Liverpool are after this Peterborough Utd player. HITC, Sky |
| 53 | Raul Jimenez | Wolverhampton | 29 year old striker | BBC, NBC |
| 54 | Diogo Jota | Wolverhampton | He’s a 23 year old forward | Sport Review, 4th official, Mail, FoLo, Whoscored |
| 55 | Luca Jovic | Real Madrid | 30 year old striker; deal agreed. Going to AC Milan (TBR) | Daily Express / Starspost / Sport. Just Arsenal wonder if he is worth the risk. |
| 56 | Glen Kamara | Rangers | Finnish midfielder | France Football say, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Brighton and Marseille are interested |
| 57 | Calum Kavanagh | Middlesbrough | 16 year old ; forward | Lancs Post, The 72, Northern Echo |
| 58 | Jonjoe Kenny | Schalke 04 on loan from Everton | Right back | Tottenham want him |
| 59 | Franck Kessie | AC Milan | Midfielder, the next Yaya Torre | Calciomercato. Swap for Torreira (Transfer Tavern), Star, Hammernews. |
| 60 | Justin Kluivert | Roma | Winger, 21 year old | Daily Star say a swop deal is being arranged with Mkhitaryan. Sportwitness saw swap is most likely. Media Referee and Corriere dello Sport update. Mail says it is definite |
| 61 | Orkun Kocku | Feyenoord | 19 year old midfielder | Express, FoLo. Express now saying he is the new Ozil. Red London say£23m. |
| 62 | Tanguy Kouassi | Free agent | Centre back, was with PSG | HITC, Metro |
| 63 | Marash Kumbulla | Verona | Centre Back | Daily Mirror compared to young Chiellini. Sports Mole say Arsenal are considering… HITC says now very close |
| 64 | 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. Footy Extra says no chance | Express says he wants to go to Barcelona. Sport, HITC, Sport Witness, Daily Star say Arsenal. 4th official says “he’s signed |
| 65 | Thomas Lemar | Atlético Madrid | Winger and centre forward, 24 years old | Star, Sun reactivate major story in last window |
| 66 | George Lewis | Tromsø – out of contract. Deal close (Goal) | 19 year old winger | HITC, Cannon, Arsenal Youth, Kigalitoday, Arsenal Mania. Metro (done) Caught offside (not yet). Sports Mole (almost) |
| 67 | Jesse Lingard | Man U | £19.8m right winger | Caught offside say Celtic and Chelsea want him |
| 68 | 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 |
| 69 | Matty Longstaff | Newcastle | Central midfielder who will leave on a free | The |
| 70 | Dejan Lovren | Liverpool | Defender. Tottenham interested | Express, HITC, FoLo |
| 71 | Pablo Mari | Arsenal on loan from Flamengo | Left sided centre back | The Athletic – he’ll be made permanent |
| 72 | Gabriel Magalhaes | Centre back with Lille | Everton, Chelsea, Leicester in for him. Express says its Arsenal | HITC, Sports Mole, The Sun, LT Arsenal, le10Sport, Metro, Canon, Football London, TransferTavern |
| 73 | Dries Martens | Napoli, 32 year old forward | Inter Milan want him, | CalcioMercato, the Metro and on Football.London |
| 74 | ||||
| NEW | ||||
| 76 | Mykola Matviyenko | 24-year-old left-back. who plays for Saky in Ukraine. | Plays for Saky in Ukraine. | Daily Canon |
| 77 | Dwight McNeill | Burnley | Winger | Lancs Live. Apparently lots of clubs want him |
| 78 | Arkadiusz Milik | Napoli | Striker | 26 years old. Inside Football, HITC |
| 79 | Moreno | Valencia £50m | Valencia, forward | Metro, Mirror, replacement for Aubameygang. “A bad move” says Media Referee |
| 80 | Evan N’Dicka | Eintracht Frankfurt | €24m-rated France U21 international, He is left-footed, and 20-year-old | |
| 81 | Wilfred Ndidi | Leicester | Nigerian midfielder | |
| 82 | Neto | Barcelona | Goalkeeper | |
| 83 | Ruben Neves | Wolverhampton | Midfield | Sports Mole |
| 84 | Unai Nunez | Athletic Bilbao | Centre Back, 23, £18m | Daily Mail says WHU want him. Arsenal ready to meet price, Read Arsenal, Who Scored. Transfer Sport Witness says it is on. |
| 85 | Victor Osimhen | Lille (who say Arsenal have made an offer) | Nigerian Forward. £87m Now down to £50m for 18 year old | Le Quotidien du Foot, Bootroom. Replacement for Aubameyang. Express, Goal, Footy Extras. Boot Room |
| NEW | Danilo Pereira | Man U | Midfielder | We will get him if we don’t get Partey. ESPN |
| 87 | Thomas Partey | Atletico Madrid. (26 year old from Ghana) | Midfielder. Express saying this might involve a swap deal. Boot Room says Lacazette in exchange. Turned down PSG for Arsenal | Metro, Goal. Squawka quote €50m. HITC also. He’ll move if At Mad dont get Champs Lge Just £45m! Guardian. Metro now says Arsenal can’t afford him. Deal close. He’s expected at Arsenal for next season. HITC talking this up |
| 88 | Adrien Rabiot | Juventus | Midfield. Juve keen to sell according to media. | Just Arsenal, Standard. Torreira to be sold. TransferSport Witness says we are “leaning towards” getting them. Sports Mole says could happen. |
| 89 | Marc Roca | Espanyol | To replace Ceballos | Sport, 4th official. “Arsenal want to pay £13.5m less than what’s needed for midfielder” says |
| 90 | Declan Rice | West Ham | Holding midfielder in the style of Gilberto | Express (according to Arsenal “legend” P Merson) |
| 91 | Emil Roback | Hammarby, Sweden. | 17 year old forward | TBR, spotted at London Colney |
| Update | James Rodriguez | Real Madrid | He could leave on a free | Mail. Arsenal and Man U after him (Team Talk) |
| 93 | Kays Ruiz-Atil | PSG | ‘next Lionel Messi’, 17 year old, central midfield, on the left wing or an outright striker | L’Équipe |
| 94 | Mohammed Salisu | Real Valladolid; he’s a defender with a €12 million release clause. | Fiorentina, Atletico Madrid, Manchester United, Newcastle United and Napoli are also interested. | Mundo Deportivo has indeed said that Arsenal are among the clubs interested |
| 95 | Malang Sarr | Nice. Feb 2018: Football Observatory said “world’s fifth-most promising footballer under 20.” | 21 year old centre back | HITC: “Bargain of the summer,” Sun: “Skint Arsenal on hunt for free transfers”. Bleacher and Football Whispers also has this. |
| 96 | Patrik Schick | Roma on loan to RB Leipzig | 24 year old attacker, 9 goals in 18 games | Gazzetta dello Sport |
| 97 | Rafa Silva | Benfica | Attacking midfielder | £71.5m says the |
| 98 | 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) |
| 99 | Carlos Soler | Valencia | Central or right midfield | Sky Sports, Standard, FoLo, Agent says he’s happy to stay where he is Daily Star. |
| Update | John Stones | Man City | Centre back | Manchester Evening News, 90 mins. Arsenal and Everton in battle for him. Sun says he is leaving |
| 101 | Nicolás Tagliafico | Ajaz | £20m. 27 year old left back | Standard, Daily Mail |
| 102 | Malick Thiaw | Schalke 04. | 18 year old central defender | Sport Review; Daily Mail Liverpool and Man C also interested. |
| 103 | Corentin Tolisso | Bayern Munich, central midfield | Man U want him. Juventus, Atletico Madrid and Napoli monitoring him | Express, FootMercato. Just Arsenal News say it is between Arsenal and Man U |
| 104 | Ferran Torres | Villa 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) |
| 105 | Adama Traore | Wolverhampton | He’s 24, a wing back or midfield, or a winger | Daily Star. He started out with Barcelona. |
| 106 | Samuel Umtiti | Barcelona | Centre back | Express says he’s available at a discount as he’s always injured |
| 107 | Cengiz Under | Roma | Right wing, also plays for Turkey | Leggo: Arsenal could swap him for Mkhitaryan and some money HITC, the Boot Room and the Express. |
| 108 | Dayot Upamecano | RB Leipzig | Central defender. Was all the rage as a transfer a year ago | Football.London. “Arsenal have won the battle to sign him” Express. |
| 109 | Gabriel Veron | He’s a 17 year old forward | “The Brazilian wonderkid” Football London | |
| 110 | Domagoj Vida | Defender | Aksam | |
| 111 | Walce | Defender | Talk Sport, Sport Witness | |
| Update | Willian | Chelsea, winger, attacking midfield | Talks have broken down with Chelsea, Arsenal now favourites | Metro, Fo.Lo, Sun, ESPN, Whoscored. Mail and Sun say he’s the top target. Mail now saying he’s on the way. |
| 113 | Chris Wood | Burnley | Replacement for Aubameyang | |
| 114 | Freddie Woodman | Newcastle on loan at Swanse | Goalkeeper for Swansea City, on loan from Newcastle United. | Chronicle Live, TBR, 90 mins, Soccersouls, Teamtalk, HITC, BBC, Sports Lens, FL World |
| 115 | Wilfried Zaha | Crystal Palace | Winger | This old story has been brought back by Sky – so it is new this week for this window. Pain in the Arsenal, Bleacher |
Sorry to go OT but just watching the Liverpool Villa game and although they’ve already won the PL Sala’s still diving around like a dying swan, and SKY still refuse to say a word against them.
Despite the dive and Sala spreading his arms and looking at the referee imploringly:
Carragher: “No it’s not a penalty and Sala wasn’t really appealing for a penalty”
He dived and yes he was appealing for a penalty, but not a word of critisism.
Look I know it’s pretty irrelevant but it just p*$$’$ me off how criticising Liverpool in any way shape or form is simply not allowed.
Sir Hardly
Hilarious and a good Sunday evening chuckle. Thanks!
While I would never wish to be a wet blanket, what is the point of publishing the names of footballers who someone, somewhere associates them with joining Arsenal FC. With no real evidence that they will ever sign for us.
I know that UA have to provide daily info in order to retain our interest, but talk about “scraping the barrel”…….come on…..
@Nicky,
you’re overlooking that this is a piece of sarcasm aimed at the so-called press who pretend to know it all. What UA’s work on the subject has achieved is that it has proven over the last few seasons that all they publish except 3 % is just junk, lies, deceit, rubish. Worse they publish it pretending it is the truth.
At least someone is holding them to account.
My bet is that we will pass 150 players by end of this window, maybe even reaching 200.
@Chris,
Point taken. At 96, I’m surely allowed a beef at times.
Well I hope for you you can do that for many many more years then… !
Maybe UA ought to take bets on the number of players announced and number of players actually tranfering to and from Arsenal. !
How can football medias tell as much fake news without any repercussions?
I am baffled by the number of fans who believe these stories!
Some of these players have already been signed:
Pape Gueye by Olympique de Marseille
Isaac Lihadjy by Lille
Layvin Kurzawa has extended his contract with PSG
Tanguy Kouassi by Bayern Munich
Thomas Meunier by Borussia Dortmund
Mauro Icardi by PSG (loan from Inter Milan has been made permanent)
Thank you for putting all of that on the same page. It speaks for itself…
Keep up your great work Untold. What would I read if you were not there?