By Sir Hardly Anyone
With Arsenal having sacked their entire recruitment staff, the question arises, how are we going to find players any more?
And the answer is that they don’t need to: the journalists and the bloggers will do it for nothing.
When you think about it, it is obvious. The journalists spend all night in the Toppled Bollard public house coming up with the names of players Arsenal could sign. So all Arsenal have to do is put in a low offer for each one, and then if anyone bites one of the remaining management team can toddle off and watch the player on TV clips. No more trips abroad, no more watching a reputed master scorer in a tedious goalless draw.
It is a brilliant money saving scheme, and very much up Kroenke’s street. and it is how the club has managed to find no less than 125 potential signings for this eternal transfer window.
Indeed it is expected that with this new system the players will simply send a video of themselves playing to one of the directors (who it seems have not been culled) and he’ll have a look. If the player looks ok he’ll pass the phone around the room, they’ll have a vote and if it is a majority give the player a contract.
A brilliant system, and one guaranteed to save the Kroenke’s trillions.
Here is the full list of the 125 players that Arsenal have been linked with this window.
| 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. Star says it is back on. |
| 2 | Kristoffer Ajer | Celtic | 22-year-old centre-back | Gunnersphere; Scottish Daily |
| 3 | Rafinha Alcantara | Celta on loan from Barcelona | Playmaker | One Arsenal, Just Football, Daily Canon. Brother of Thiago (see below) |
| 4 | 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 |
| Update | Wissam Ben Yedder | Monaco; 29 years old | Centre forward to replace Auba | Sports Mole, Sun says its on |
| 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 |
| NEW | Federico Bernardeschi | Juventus | Juventus and Italy attacking midfield | Gazetta della Sport, TBR, Just Sport, 90 min, Football Whispers |
| 16 | Jérôme Boateng | Bayern Munich | 31 years old, £13m, defender | Daily Mail. Read Arsenal says Bayern ready to sell |
| 17 | Giacomo Bonaventura | Milan | Midfielder | Out of contract at end of season Sun says Atalanta, Fiorentina, Roma and Lazio want him |
| 18 | Ugurcan Cakir |
Trabzonspor goalkeeper
|
Tottenham also interested | HITC. Do we need another keeper? |
| 19 | Mady Camara | Olympiacos | Defensive midfield | HITC |
| 20 | Dani Ceballos | Real Mad | Currently on loan | Express, SDNA |
| 21 | Chiesa | Fiorentina | Winger | Juventus, Inter, Chelsea and Manchester United all want him, Canon, Sun, Express all say we want him |
| 22 | 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) | |
| 23 | Marc Cucurella | Barcelona | Left back or wide midfield | FoLo £20.9m |
| 24 | Danilo | Porto | Midfield | ESPN |
| 25 | 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. |
| 26 | 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 |
| 27 | 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 |
| 28 | 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 |
| 29 | 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. |
| 30 | Issa Diop | WHU | Centre back for £60m | Mirror, Metro, Read Arsenal, HITC, West Sussex Today, Sun |
| 31 | Julian Draxler | PSG | To replace Ozil. Tottenham also interested (although he is a winger) | Teamtalk. Daily Canon says it is on |
| 32 | Odsonne Edouard | Celtic | £12m; goalscoring forward (“Scored more than Messi”). Fo.Lo says we’ve been impressed | |
| 33 | Nebil Fekir | Real Betis | ||
| 34 | Nathan Ferguson | WBA | ||
| Update | Joelson Fernandes | Sporting Lisbon | ||
| 36 | Marcelo Flores | |||
| 37 | Wesley Fofana | St Etienne | ||
| 38 | Fraser Forster | Celtic on loan at Southampton | ||
| 39 | Noah Francoise | Rennes | ||
| Update | Ryan Fraser | Bournemouth, contract ends this year | ||
| 41 | Bruno Fuchs | Internacional | ||
| 42 | Gabriel |
Lille | Defender £40m | Everton also want him (Mirror) |
| 43 | César Gelabert | Palencia | ||
| 44 | Gerson | Flamingo midfielder |
||
| 45 | Armin Gigovic | Sweden youth international | ||
| 46 | Serge Gnabry | Bayern Munich | Winger | Reports everywhere say he was seen in an Arsenal shirt |
| 47 | Ben Godfrey | Norwich | Centre back | Liverpool and Tottenham, Dortmund and RB Leipzig all after him according to the Sun |
| 48 | Antoine Griezmann | Barcelona | £90m for the forward. PSG Man Utd, Chelsea, also interested | |
| Update | 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”, Sun says it is on |
| 50 | Serhou Guirassy | Amiens | 24 year old striker | Daily Mail. WHU and Bournemouth also interested |
| 51 | Dennis Gyfami | Leicester | 18 year old full back | Online Gooner |
| 52 | Achraf Hakimi | Borussia Dortmund, on loan from Real Madrid | Right wing back, can play as a winger. | TBR Football |
| 53 | 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. |
| 54 | Mauro Icardi | PSG striker | 27 year old | Swap deal for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Sun FoLo, Tuttosport and Media Referee |
| 55 | Ricky Jade-Jones | Peterborough Utd | James Vardy with pace | Arsenal, Man U and Liverpool are after this Peterborough Utd player. HITC, Sky |
| 56 | Raul Jimenez | Wolverhampton | 29 year old striker | BBC, NBC |
| 57 | Diogo Jota | Wolverhampton | He’s a 23 year old forward | Sport Review, 4th official, Mail, FoLo, Whoscored |
| 58 | 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. |
| 59 | Glen Kamara | Rangers | Finnish midfielder | France Football say, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Brighton and Marseille are interested |
| 60 | Calum Kavanagh | Middlesbrough | 16 year old ; forward | Lancs Post, The 72, Northern Echo |
| 61 | Jonjoe Kenny | Schalke 04 on loan from Everton | Right back | Tottenham want him |
| 62 | Franck Kessie | AC Milan | Midfielder, the next Yaya Torre | Calciomercato. Swap for Torreira (Transfer Tavern), Star, Hammernews. |
| 63 | 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 |
| Update | Orkun Kokcu | Feyenoord | 19 year old midfielder | Express, FoLo. Express now saying he is the new Ozil. Red London say£23m. Mirror says it is on |
| 65 | Tanguy Kouassi | Free agent | Centre back, was with PSG | HITC, Metro |
| 66 | Marash Kumbulla | Verona | Centre Back | Daily Mirror compared to young Chiellini. Sports Mole say Arsenal are considering… HITC says now very close |
| 67 | 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 |
| 68 | Thomas Lemar | Atlético Madrid | Winger and centre forward, 24 years old | Star, Sun reactivate major story in last window |
| 69 | 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) |
| 70 | Jesse Lingard | Man U | £19.8m right winger | Caught offside say Celtic and Chelsea want him |
| 71 | 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 |
| 72 | Matty Longstaff | Newcastle | Central midfielder who will leave on a free | The |
| 73 | Dejan Lovren | Liverpool | Defender. Tottenham interested | Express, HITC, FoLo |
| 74 | Pablo Mari | Arsenal on loan from Flamengo | Left sided centre back | The Athletic – he’ll be made permanent |
| Update | 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 |
| 76 | Dries Martens | Napoli, 32 year old forward | Inter Milan want him, | CalcioMercato, the Metro and on Football.London |
| 77 | ||||
| 78 | ||||
| 79 | Mykola Matviyenko | 24-year-old left-back. who plays for Saky in Ukraine. | Plays for Saky in Ukraine. | Daily Canon |
| 80 | Dwight McNeill | Burnley | Winger | Lancs Live. Apparently lots of clubs want him |
| 81 | Arkadiusz Milik | Napoli | Striker | 26 years old. Inside Football, HITC |
| 82 | Moreno | Valencia £50m | Valencia, forward | Metro, Mirror, replacement for Aubameygang. “A bad move” says Media Referee |
| 83 | Evan N’Dicka | Eintracht Frankfurt | €24m-rated France U21 international, He is left-footed, and 20-year-old | |
| 84 | Wilfred Ndidi | Leicester | Nigerian midfielder | |
| 85 | Neto | Barcelona | Goalkeeper | |
| 86 | Ruben Neves | Wolverhampton | Midfield | Sports Mole |
| 87 | 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. |
| Update | 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. Mail says it is back on |
| 89 | Danilo Pereira | Man U | Midfielder | We will get him if we don’t get Partey. ESPN |
| 90 | 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 |
| 91 | Lorenzo Pellegrini | Roma | Midfielder | Teamtalk, Eurofootball Rumours, Bleacher, Sports Mole, Daily Cannon, Sky Sports all blame each other for the tale. |
| Update | 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. Mirror says yes |
| 93 | Chris Richards | Bayern Munich | Defender; HITC, TransferMarket | Chelsea, Valencia and one major Bundesliga side also interested. |
| 94 | Marc Roca | Espanyol | To replace Ceballos | Sport, 4th official. “Arsenal want to pay £13.5m less than what’s needed for midfielder” says |
| 95 | Declan Rice | West Ham | Holding midfielder in the style of Gilberto | Express (according to Arsenal “legend” P Merson) |
| 96 | Emil Roback | Hammarby, Sweden. | 17 year old forward | TBR, spotted at London Colney |
| 97 | James Rodriguez | Real Madrid | He could leave on a free | Mail. Arsenal and Man U after him (Team Talk) |
| NEW | Daniele Rugani | Juventus | Arsenal find “The defensive solution” | Sports Mole, Express, Team Talk, Sun, Mirror, Mail |
| 99 | Kays Ruiz-Atil | PSG | ‘next Lionel Messi’, 17 year old, central midfield, on the left wing or an outright striker | L’Équipe |
| 100 | Allan Saint-Maximin | Newcastle | Winger | Express, Northern Echo |
| 101 | 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 |
| 102 | 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. |
| 103 | Patrik Schick | Roma on loan to RB Leipzig | 24 year old attacker, 9 goals in 18 games | Gazzetta dello Sport |
| 104 | Rafa Silva | Benfica | Attacking midfielder | £71.5m says the |
| NEW | Thiago Silva | PSG | Sun! | A 35 year old central defender! |
| 106 | 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) |
| 107 | Carlos Soler | Valencia | Central or right midfield | Sky Sports, Standard, FoLo, Agent says he’s happy to stay where he is Daily Star. |
| 108 | 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. |
| 109 | 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) |
| 110 | Nicolás Tagliafico | Ajaz | £20m. 27 year old left back | Standard, Daily Mail |
| 111 | Malick Thiaw | Schalke 04. | 18 year old central defender | Sport Review; Daily Mail Liverpool and Man C also interested. |
| 112 | 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 |
| 113 | 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) |
| 114 | Adama Traore | Wolverhampton | He’s 24, a wing back or midfield, or a winger | Daily Star. He started out with Barcelona. |
| 115 | Samuel Umtiti | Barcelona | Centre back | Express says he’s available at a discount as he’s always injured |
| 116 | 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. |
| 117 | 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. |
| 118 | Gabriel Veron | He’s a 17 year old forward | “The Brazilian wonderkid” Football London | |
| 119 | Domagoj Vida | Defender | Aksam | |
| 120 | Walce | Defender | Talk Sport, Sport Witness | |
| 121 | Wout Weghorst | £32m | Team Talk, Express, Blid. Replacement for Aubameyang | |
| Update | Willian | Chelsea, winger, attacking midfield | Talks have broken down with Chelsea, Arsenal now favourites | Metro, Fo.Lo, Sun, Whoscored. Mail and Sun say he’s the top target. Mail now saying he’s on the way. Telegraph / ESPN / Arsenal Station says its on. This is Futbol. Largely quoted as done deal |
| 123 | Chris Wood | Burnley | Replacement for Aubameyang | |
| 124 | Freddie Woodman | Newcastle on loan at Swansea | Goalkeeper for Swansea City, on loan from Newcastle United. | Chronicle Live, TBR, 90 mins, Soccersouls, Teamtalk, HITC, BBC, Sports Lens, FL World |
| 125 | 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 |
I think the will soon be a free agent Chelsea player Willian is the only one amongst the 125 media players rumoured to move to AFC this summer that could be said is likely to happen as Arsenal will not pay a fee to Chelsea for his moving to them. Although Willian is reported in the media to be 32 years old in age, but he should be a player that is looking to still have in him the necessary top quality footballing skill delivering at the top level of the game when operating from the wings that’s far ahead of the quality at the wings on ground at the club. And for this reason of his being far ahead in quality delivery from the wing as a specialist winger that mostly is operating from the wings than the quality wingers who Arsenal have on ground at the moment in their London Colney Training Ground must be the actual reason why Arsenal keenly want to sign him. And I hope if Arsenal succeeded to sign him this summer window, he’ll give us the Arsenals the kind of top quality skillful footballing deliveries from the wings or from the midfield area that us want to see the Gunners play next season especially in the Premier League games campaign. So that the team will accelerate to become strong, stronger and strongest in that department than the rest of their rival PL club sides.
But there are these media rumours that are rumouring that Arsenal want the Lille centreback Gabriel Magalhaes. Who I can say he’s at the correct age for Arsenal to invest their money on him. But the level of his footballing quality is what I don’t know but I believe Arsenal would have known before they’ll submit a bid for him if actually they want him this summer window but not just one of those Arsenal media rumours signing this summer.
How about the likely hood of Arsenal signing Philippe Courtinoh the Brazilian attacking midfielder at FC Barcelona who has been linked with Arsenal this summer? Will it be a remote chance to see Arsenal sign him this summer on a permanent deal rather than on loan deal which if they do, the latter could make the Brazilian to not perform optimally in games for Arsenal but reverse will be the case if he’s signed on a permanent deal. But do Arsenal even want to sign him this summer even if they have the required transfer fee to do his transfer to the Gunners with Barcelona? Well, I wouldn’t know all these issues. But I do know if his injury having has abated for Arsenal to sign him and they do, it should be a big player signing correct decision taken by Arsenal this window I should think. This is because as us all know, Philippe Courtinoh is a big player who if Arsenal sign him this summer could make a big difference for the club in both the changing room and on the field for Arsenal this summer in the Premier League where us are strongly expecting the Gunners to not only make the top-four table finish next season but seriously challenge for winning of the PL title outrightly from the onset.
I think Arsenal hierarchies should not underestimate nor underate the club chance to win the Premier League title next season. But become daringly ambitious this summer for the club by doing 4 important major signings of: Willian, Gabriel Magalhaes, Philippe Courtinoh and Danny Ings or any other proven 20 goals top League goals scoring per season striker as a 3rd specialist striker who will be partnering and complementing the efforts of Aubameyang and Lacazette in the Arsenal front line next season. Which if Arsenal do their signings this summer should make the Gunners frontline become very charged and devastating in the PL next season that could lead the club to win the title next season. Therefore, Arsenal hierarchy bosses should not put the chance of the club to win the PL title next season in jeopardy but enhance the chance of the Gunners to win it by doing those needful strong signings for the club this summer window. For, who knows, next season could be the season ordained for Arsenal to win the PL again. Therefore let the club bosses try as much as they could to complete 4 major signings this summer for the club. In doing this, I know that the club has to sell to recoup some of the money they would have spent to recruit the 4 major new ones. I don’t know who they’ll finally sell. But let them take care to be careful not to sell the Gunners they should have sold but only to start regretting later after selling them.