By Sir Hardly Anyone
One of the new games in town is for sites to set up headlines and then have articles that have no information on the story in the headline. Take for example “Brighton and Hove Albion star confirms departure as Arsenal ‘lodge’ bid for prime Everton target with free agent deal in doubt.”
That appeared on the site of the Brighton and Hove Independent with no information underneath as to what they were talking about. Of course that may well be updated now we’ve pointed it out, but it is a growing tendency. It is bad enough that the stories are all untrue, but when the articles don’t even cover the headline issue, until we point it out, it is getting very annoying.
Anyway, as ever we’ve tried to unravel all the clap and the trap and get rid of it.
And what turns up yet again is that most of the news concerns players from one part of the alphabet. This time it is primarily from N to S. It couldn’t be that these journalists and bloggers simply pick up a list of players and turn to one section and just slap down a few names could it?
Still, we have our all time summer record of 122 transfer rumours for Arsenal – and there is still a long way to go.
What is interesting is that normally only 3% of the transfers we list are the actual transfers Arsenal undertake – and mostly these names just emerge right at the end, just before the player is signed.
So this could be a list of all the players Arsenal are NOT going to sign!
Makes you think…
| New? | Player | From | Details | Source |
| Update | Adil Aouchiche |
PSG | 17 year old | ESPN.. Saint-Etienne may be close to signing him. Arsenal offer turned down. |
| 2 | Kristoffer Ajer | Celtic | 22-year-old centre-back | Gunnersphere; Scottish Daily |
| Update | Rafinha Alcantara | Celta on loan from Barcelona | Playmaker | One Arsenal, Just Football, Daily Canon. Brother of Thiago (see below) |
| NEW | Thiago Alcantara | Bayern Munich | Midfield. Replacement for Aubameyang. Brother of Rafinha (see above) | Independent.ie, Chatsports, Newsbreak, Liverpool Echo, Football Transfer Tavern, Sportslens, RedandWhiteKop, Kicknews, KE opera News, Football News Views, Soccerladuma, Ilovemancity, Fussbol, Weinfilm, GLBNews, VBET |
| 5 | 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 |
| 6 | Miguel Almiron | Newcastle | Their top scorer | Media Referee |
| 7 | 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. |
| 8 | Adil Aouchiche. | PSG | 17 year old midfielder | Football London. HITC – he is ready to quite PSG |
| 9 | 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 |
| 10 | Ousseynou Ba | Olympiacos centre-back | HITC, Sport Time | |
| 11 | Leon Bailey | Bayer Leverkusen | Chelsea also want him. £85m fee. | Just Arsenal |
| 12 | 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 |
| 13 | Wissam Ben Yedder | Monaco; 29 years old | Centre forward to replace Auba | Sports Mole |
| 14 | 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 |
| 15 | Jérôme Boateng | Bayern Munich | 31 years old, £13m, defender | Daily Mail. Read Arsenal says Bayern ready to sell |
| 16 | Giacomo Bonaventura | Milan | Midfielder | Out of contract at end of season Sun says Atalanta, Fiorentina, Roma and Lazio want him |
| 17 | Ugurcan Cakir |
Trabzonspor goalkeeper
|
Tottenham also interested | HITC. Do we need another keeper? |
| 18 | Mady Camara | Olympiacos | Defensive midfield | HITC |
| 19 | Dani Ceballos | Real Mad | Currently on loan | Express, SDNA |
| 20 | Chiesa | Fiorentina | Winger | Juventus, Inter, Chelsea and Manchester United all want him, Canon, Sun, Express all say we want him |
| 21 | 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) | |
| 22 | Marc Cucurella | Barcelona | Left back or wide midfield | FoLo £20.9m |
| 23 | Danilo | Porto | Midfield | ESPN |
| 24 | 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. |
| 25 | 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 |
| 26 | 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 |
| 27 | 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 |
| 28 | 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. |
| 29 | Issa Diop | WHU | Centre back for £60m | Mirror, Metro, Read Arsenal, HITC, West Sussex Today, Sun |
| 30 | Julian Draxler | PSG | To replace Ozil. Tottenham also interested (although he is a winger) | Teamtalk. Daily Canon says it is on |
| 31 | Odsonne Edouard | Celtic | £12m; goalscoring forward (“Scored more than Messi”). Fo.Lo says we’ve been impressed | |
| 32 | Nebil Fekir | Real Betis | ||
| 33 | Nathan Ferguson | WBA | ||
| 34 | Joelson Fernandes | Sporting Lisbon | ||
| 35 | Marcelo Flores | |||
| 36 | Wesley Fofana | St Etienne | ||
| 37 | Fraser Forster | Celtic on loan at Southampton | ||
| 38 | Noah Francoise | Rennes | ||
| 39 | Ryan Fraser | Bournemouth, contract ends this year | ||
| 40 | Bruno Fuchs | Internacional | ||
| 41 | Gabriel |
Lille | Defender £40m | Everton also want him (Mirror) |
| 42 | César Gelabert | Palencia | ||
| 43 | Gerson | Flamingo midfielder |
||
| NEW | Armin Gigovic | Sweden youth international | ||
| 45 | Serge Gnabry | Bayern Munich | Winger | Reports everywhere say he was seen in an Arsenal shirt |
| 46 | Ben Godfrey | Norwich | Centre back | Liverpool and Tottenham, Dortmund and RB Leipzig all after him according to the Sun |
| 47 | Antoine Griezmann | Barcelona | £90m for the forward. PSG Man Utd, Chelsea, also interested | |
| 48 | 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” |
| 49 | Serhou Guirassy | Amiens | 24 year old striker | Daily Mail. WHU and Bournemouth also interested |
| 50 | Dennis Gyfami | Leicester | 18 year old full back | Online Gooner |
| 51 | Achraf Hakimi | Borussia Dortmund, on loan from Real Madrid | Right wing back, can play as a winger. | TBR Football |
| 52 | 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. |
| 53 | Mauro Icardi | PSG striker | 27 year old | Swap deal for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Sun FoLo, Tuttosport and Media Referee |
| 54 | Ricky Jade-Jones | Peterborough Utd | James Vardy with pace | Arsenal, Man U and Liverpool are after this Peterborough Utd player. HITC, Sky |
| 55 | Raul Jimenez | Wolverhampton | 29 year old striker | BBC, NBC |
| 56 | Diogo Jota | Wolverhampton | He’s a 23 year old forward | Sport Review, 4th official, Mail, FoLo, Whoscored |
| 57 | 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. |
| 58 | Glen Kamara | Rangers | Finnish midfielder | France Football say, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Brighton and Marseille are interested |
| 59 | Calum Kavanagh | Middlesbrough | 16 year old ; forward | Lancs Post, The 72, Northern Echo |
| 60 | Jonjoe Kenny | Schalke 04 on loan from Everton | Right back | Tottenham want him |
| 61 | Franck Kessie | AC Milan | Midfielder, the next Yaya Torre | Calciomercato. Swap for Torreira (Transfer Tavern), Star, Hammernews. |
| 62 | 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 |
| 63 | Orkun Kocku | Feyenoord | 19 year old midfielder | Express, FoLo. Express now saying he is the new Ozil. Red London say£23m. |
| 64 | Tanguy Kouassi | Free agent | Centre back, was with PSG | HITC, Metro |
| 65 | Marash Kumbulla | Verona | Centre Back | Daily Mirror compared to young Chiellini. Sports Mole say Arsenal are considering… HITC says now very close |
| 66 | 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 |
| 67 | Thomas Lemar | Atlético Madrid | Winger and centre forward, 24 years old | Star, Sun reactivate major story in last window |
| 68 | 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) |
| 69 | Jesse Lingard | Man U | £19.8m right winger | Caught offside say Celtic and Chelsea want him |
| 70 | 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 |
| 71 | Matty Longstaff | Newcastle | Central midfielder who will leave on a free | The |
| 72 | Dejan Lovren | Liverpool | Defender. Tottenham interested | Express, HITC, FoLo |
| 73 | Pablo Mari | Arsenal on loan from Flamengo | Left sided centre back | The Athletic – he’ll be made permanent |
| 74 | 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 |
| 75 | Dries Martens | Napoli, 32 year old forward | Inter Milan want him, | CalcioMercato, the Metro and on Football.London |
| 76 | ||||
| 77 | ||||
| 78 | Mykola Matviyenko | 24-year-old left-back. who plays for Saky in Ukraine. | Plays for Saky in Ukraine. | Daily Canon |
| 79 | Dwight McNeill | Burnley | Winger | Lancs Live. Apparently lots of clubs want him |
| 80 | Arkadiusz Milik | Napoli | Striker | 26 years old. Inside Football, HITC |
| 81 | Moreno | Valencia £50m | Valencia, forward | Metro, Mirror, replacement for Aubameygang. “A bad move” says Media Referee |
| 82 | Evan N’Dicka | Eintracht Frankfurt | €24m-rated France U21 international, He is left-footed, and 20-year-old | |
| 83 | Wilfred Ndidi | Leicester | Nigerian midfielder | |
| 84 | Neto | Barcelona | Goalkeeper | |
| 85 | Ruben Neves | Wolverhampton | Midfield | Sports Mole |
| Update | Unai Nunez | Athletic Bilbao. £27m release fee. | Centre Back, 23, £18m Everton and WHU interested | Daily Mail says WHU want him. Arsenal ready to meet price, Read Arsenal, Who Scored. Transfer Sport Witness says it is on. Metro. AS. |
| 87 | 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 |
| 88 | Danilo Pereira | Man U | Midfielder | We will get him if we don’t get Partey. ESPN |
| 89 | 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 |
| NEW | Lorenzo Pellegrini | Roma | Midfielder | Teamtalk, Eurofootball Rumours, Bleacher, Sports Mole, Daily Cannon, Sky Sports all blame each other for the tale. |
| 91 | 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. |
| NEW | Chris Richards | Bayern Munich | Defender; HITC, TransferMarket | Chelsea, Valencia and one major Bundesliga side also interested. |
| Update | Marc Roca | Espanyol | To replace Ceballos | Sport, 4th official. “Arsenal want to pay £13.5m less than what’s needed for midfielder” says |
| 94 | Declan Rice | West Ham | Holding midfielder in the style of Gilberto | Express (according to Arsenal “legend” P Merson) |
| 95 | Emil Roback | Hammarby, Sweden. | 17 year old forward | TBR, spotted at London Colney |
| 96 | James Rodriguez | Real Madrid | He could leave on a free | Mail. Arsenal and Man U after him (Team Talk) |
| 97 | Kays Ruiz-Atil | PSG | ‘next Lionel Messi’, 17 year old, central midfield, on the left wing or an outright striker | L’Équipe |
| NEW | Allan Saint-Maximin | Newcastle | Winger | Express, Northern Echo |
| 99 | 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 |
| Update | Malang Sarr | Nice | 21 year old centre back. Feb 2018: Football Observatory said “world’s fifth-most promising footballer under 20.” | HITC: “Bargain of the summer,” Sun: “Skint Arsenal on hunt for free transfers”. Bleacher and Football Whispers also has this. |
| 101 | Patrik Schick | Roma on loan to RB Leipzig | 24 year old attacker, 9 goals in 18 games | Gazzetta dello Sport |
| 102 | Rafa Silva | Benfica | Attacking midfielder | £71.5m says the |
| 103 | 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) |
| 104 | Carlos Soler | Valencia | Central or right midfield | Sky Sports, Standard, FoLo, Agent says he’s happy to stay where he is Daily Star. |
| NEW | John Stones | Man City | Centre back | Manchester Evening News, 90 mins. Arsenal and Everton in battle for him. Sun says he is leaving. Carragher says he won’t play for Man C again. |
| NEW | Dominik Szoboszlai | Red Bull Salzburg | 19 year old central midfielder | He has played for them 44 times so far. Milan also want him as do PSG (Calciomercato.com) |
| 107 | Nicolás Tagliafico | Ajaz | £20m. 27 year old left back | Standard, Daily Mail |
| 108 | Malick Thiaw | Schalke 04. | 18 year old central defender | Sport Review; Daily Mail Liverpool and Man C also interested. |
| 109 | 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 |
| 110 | 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) |
| 111 | Adama Traore | Wolverhampton | He’s 24, a wing back or midfield, or a winger | Daily Star. He started out with Barcelona. |
| 112 | Samuel Umtiti | Barcelona | Centre back | Express says he’s available at a discount as he’s always injured |
| 113 | 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. |
| 114 | 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. |
| 115 | Gabriel Veron | He’s a 17 year old forward | “The Brazilian wonderkid” Football London | |
| 116 | Domagoj Vida | Defender | Aksam | |
| 117 | Walce | Defender | Talk Sport, Sport Witness | |
| NEW | Wout Weghorst | £32m | Team Talk, Express, Blid. Replacement for Aubameyang | |
| 119 | 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. |
| 120 | Chris Wood | Burnley | Replacement for Aubameyang | |
| 121 | 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 |
| 122 | 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 |
Quite true UA. Us Gooners can consider the above list of the 122 players that Arsenal are not going to sign during the next summer transfer deals. But maybe and just maybe, Arsenal could sign Danny Ceballos from Real Madrid on a permanent deal or take him again for another one season loan deal this summer window. This is because the Gunners head coach, Mikel Arteta has sounded to be keen at retaining the Spaniard at the Emirates Stadium beyond this current season’s campaign.
I believe us still are aware that Arsenal have for next season’s campaign signed the centreback William Saliba from St Entiem who will report to Arsenal this season. And already Arsenal are looking to be having an over bolted senior team specialist defenders on their books if the club decided to keep all of: Bellerin, Cedric, Chambers, Holding, Luiz, Mari, Sokratis, Mustafi, Mavropanos, Saliba, Kolasinac,Tierney. By my counting these are 12 specialist senior team defenders who are currently at Arsenal. And Mikel Arteta is looking to be very interested to retain all these 12 specialist defenders at Arsenal at least for next summer campaign as a platform for senior team squad solidity building. And I wouldn’t fault him if he does this as Tony Adams the former long term Gunners successful captain has highlighted the necessity for Arsenal to think of doing just that. However, 12 specialIst senior team defenders if they all remain in the first team squad next summer campaign could over scale the senior team specialist defenders slot in the 25 man senior team squad for the club that is being allowed by the FA. But if Arteta will limit the Arsenal midfield to have not more than 8 specialist senior team midfielders for next summer campaign and also have 4 senior team strikers, why not? For a start of a new innovation for Arsenal that could be very successful, he could keep all the 12 senior team specialist defenders who are currently at the club for next season’s summer campaign as the season campaign could demand to have such a strong number of senior team specialist defenders to help mitigate against having any senior injury crisis which could hamper to derail the club having a successful next season’s campaign in the Premier League.
Save, if the club offload any of their senior team specialist defenders this summer, I can’t see Arsenal signing any new senior team specialist defender for next summer campaign. But maybe the club could offload some senior team players in their midfield and striker’s departments and bring in some top rated ones as their replacements but I wouldn’t know.
UA, please allow me to edit my earlier comment posting as below.
It’s quite true UA. Us Gooners can consider the above list of the 122 players as the players who Arsenal are not going to sign during the next summer transfer deals. But maybe and just maybe, the club could sign Danny Ceballos from Real Madrid on a permanent deal or take him again for another long season’s loan deal this summer window. This is because the Gunners head coach, Mikel Arteta has sounded to be keen at retaining the Spaniard at the Emirates Stadium beyond this current season’s campaign.
I believe us still are aware that Arsenal have in advance for next season’s campaign signed the centreback William Saliba from St Entiem at the beginning of this season who will report to Arsenal for next season’s campaign. But already Arsenal are looking to be having an over bolted senior team specialist defenders on their books if the club decided to keep all of: Bellerin, Cedric, Chambers, Holding, Luiz, Mari, Sokratis, Mustafi, Mavropanos, Saliba, Kolasinac,Tierney who are the specialist defenders at the club. And Mikel Arteta is looking to be very interested to retain all these 12 specialist defenders currently at Arsenal at least for next summer campaign to use them as a platform for building a senior team squad defence consistent in lasting solidity. And I wouldn’t fault him if he does this as Tony Adams the former long term Gunners successful captain has highlighted the necessity for Arsenal to think of doing just that. However, 12 specialIst senior team defenders if they all remain in the first team squad for next summer campaign they could over scale their senior team specialist defenders slot in the 25 man senior team squad for the club that is allowed by the FA. But if Arteta will limit the Arsenal midfield to have not more than 8 specialist senior team midfielders for next summer campaign and also have 4 senior team specialist strikers, why not for a start of a new innovation for Arsenal that could be very successful? He could keep all the 12 senior team specialist defenders who are currently at the club for next season’s summer campaign as next summer campaign could demand to the chub have such a strong number of senior team specialist defenders in the senior team to help mitigate against any senior team injury crisis that could occurred to hamper the team efforts thereby derail Arsenal again from having a successful season’s campaign in the Premier League next season.
Save, if the club does offload any of their senior team specialist defenders this summer, I can’t see Arsenal signing any new senior team specialist defender for next summer campaign. But maybe the club could offload some senior team players in their midfield and striker’s departments to bring in some top rated ones as replacements but I wouldn’t know.