By Sir Hardly Anyone with special thanks to Ruud the Driver.
The total number of players tipped as coming to Arsenal by the all-knowing media is now 134! The signings so far are
- Salah-Eddine
- Pablo Marí (£14m)
- Cédric Soares
- Willian
- Tim Akinola
- Marcelo Flores
- George Lewis
That makes
- 7 Signed
- 8 Updated rumours this week
- 5 New names added this week
The full list (below) contains 134 names – the largest number of players touted as coming to Arsenal since we started this annual trawl six years ago. Every player listed has been suggested as coming to Arsenal since 1 May.
You missed Jonathan Dinzeyi, free from Spurs, not confirmed yet
Player | From | Details | Source | |
1 | Adil Aouchiche | PSG | 17 year old | ESPN. Saint-Etienne may be close to signing him. Arsenal offer turned down. Football London. HITC – he is ready to quite PSG |
2 | Kristoffer Ajer | Celtic | 22-year-old centre-back | Gunnersphere; Scottish Daily |
Signed | Tim Akinola | Huddersfield | Under 23 player | Signed |
4 | Rafinha Alcantara | Celta on loan from Barcelona | Playmaker | One Arsenal, Just Football, Daily Canon. Brother of Thiago (see below). Express say deal being prepared. |
Update | 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. Metro – Arsenal have enquired |
6 | 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 |
7 | Miguel Almiron | Newcastle | Their top scorer | Media Referee |
Update | 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. Express says it is on, compares him to Nasri |
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 |
NEW | Federico Bernadeschi | Juventus | Striker | To replace Lacazette; Just Arsenal |
15 | 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 |
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 | Edinson Cavani | PSG | Striker | Metro |
21 | Dani Ceballos | Real Mad | Currently on loan | Express, SDNA |
22 | Chiesa | Fiorentina | Winger | Juventus, Inter, Chelsea and Manchester United all want him, Canon, Sun, Express all say we want him |
Update | 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). Mirror says it is on. But now says no it isn’t! | |
24 | Marc Cucurella | Barcelona | Left back or wide midfield | FoLo £20.9m |
25 | Danilo | Porto | Midfield | ESPN |
26 | 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. |
27 | 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 |
28 | 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 |
29 | 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 |
30 | Amadou Diawara | Roma | Holding Midfielder | Talks have begun (TBR football, Telegraph). Swap deal for Torreira? |
31 | 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. |
NEW | Jonathan Dinzeyi | Tottenham | 20 year old centre half | Reputed to be about to happen. Talksport |
33 | Issa Diop | WHU | Centre back for £60m | Mirror, Metro, Read Arsenal, HITC, West Sussex Today, Sun |
34 | Julian Draxler | PSG | To replace Ozil. Tottenham also interested (although he is a winger) | Teamtalk. Daily Canon says it is on |
35 | Odsonne Edouard | Celtic | £12m; goalscoring forward (“Scored more than Messi”). Fo.Lo says we’ve been impressed | |
36 | Eberechi Eze | QPR | Midfielder | |
37 | Nebil Fekir | Real Betis | ||
38 | Nathan Ferguson | WBA | ||
39 | Joelson Fernandes | Sporting Lisbon | ||
SIGNED | Marcelo Flores | |||
41 | Wesley Fofana | St Etienne | ||
42 | Fraser Forster | Celtic on loan at Southampton | ||
43 | Noah Francoise | Rennes | ||
44 | Ryan Fraser | Bournemouth, contract ends this year | ||
45 | Bruno Fuchs | Internacional | ||
46 | César Gelabert | Palencia | ||
47 | Gerson | Flamingo midfielder |
||
48 | Armin Gigovic | Sweden youth international | ||
49 | Serge Gnabry | Bayern Munich | Winger | Reports everywhere say he was seen in an Arsenal shirt |
50 | Ben Godfrey | Norwich | Centre back | Liverpool and Tottenham, Dortmund and RB Leipzig all after him according to the Sun |
NEW | Jack Grealish | Aston Villa | Winger, attacking midfield | FoLo say Arsenal making late bid |
52 | Antoine Griezmann | Barcelona | £90m for the forward. PSG Man Utd, Chelsea, also interested | |
53 | 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” |
54 | Serhou Guirassy | Amiens | 24 year old striker | Daily Mail. WHU and Bournemouth also interested |
55 | Dennis Gyfami | Leicester | 18 year old full back | Online Gooner |
56 | Achraf Hakimi | Borussia Dortmund, on loan from Real Madrid | Right wing back, can play as a winger. | TBR Football |
57 | 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. |
58 | Mauro Icardi | PSG striker | 27 year old | Swap deal for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Sun FoLo, Tuttosport and Media Referee |
59 | Ricky Jade-Jones | Peterborough Utd | James Vardy with pace | Arsenal, Man U and Liverpool are after this Peterborough Utd player. HITC, Sky |
60 | Raul Jimenez | Wolverhampton | 29 year old striker | BBC, NBC |
61 | Diogo Jota | Wolverhampton | He’s a 23 year old forward | Sport Review, 4th official, Mail, FoLo, Whoscored |
62 | 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. |
63 | Glen Kamara | Rangers | Finnish midfielder | France Football say, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Brighton and Marseille are interested |
64 | Calum Kavanagh | Middlesbrough | 16 year old ; forward | Lancs Post, The 72, Northern Echo |
65 | Jonjoe Kenny | Schalke 04 on loan from Everton | Right back | Tottenham want him |
66 | Franck Kessie | AC Milan | Midfielder, the next Yaya Torre | Calciomercato. Swap for Torreira (Transfer Tavern), Star, Hammernews. |
67 | 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 |
68 | Orkun Kocku | Feyenoord | 19 year old midfielder | Express, FoLo. Express now saying he is the new Ozil. Red London say£23m. |
69 | Tanguy Kouassi | Free agent | Centre back, was with PSG | HITC, Metro |
70 | Marash Kumbulla | Verona | Centre Back | Daily Mirror compared to young Chiellini. Sports Mole say Arsenal are considering… HITC says now very close |
71 | 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 |
Update | Thomas Lemar | Atlético Madrid | Winger and centre forward, 24 years old | Star, Sun reactivate major story in last window. Marca and HITC say his wages make him impossible to sell |
SIGNED | 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). Done – shirt number 78. |
74 | Jesse Lingard | Man U | £19.8m right winger | Caught offside say Celtic and Chelsea want him |
75 | 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 |
76 | Matty Longstaff | Newcastle | Central midfielder who will leave on a free | The |
77 | Dejan Lovren | Liverpool | Defender. Tottenham interested | Express, HITC, FoLo |
SIGNED | 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. Going to Napoli? “Ask Ornstein” talking AFC up. Fresharsenal says it is happening. Star says deal is done |
80 | Dries Martens | Napoli, 32 year old forward | Inter Milan want him, | CalcioMercato, the Metro and on Football.London |
NEW | Nikola Maksimovic | Napoli, centre back | Everton and Roma also want the “£13 million contract-rebel” | HITC, The12thman, HITC, Flipboard and Daily Canon, while The Sun, Express and Talk Sport |
82 | ||||
83 | ||||
84 | Mykola Matviyenko | 24-year-old left-back. who plays for Saky in Ukraine. | Plays for Saky in Ukraine. | Daily Canon |
85 | Dwight McNeill | Burnley | Winger | Lancs Live. Apparently lots of clubs want him |
86 | Arkadiusz Milik | Napoli | Striker | 26 years old. Inside Football, HITC |
87 | Moreno | Valencia £50m | Valencia, forward | Metro, Mirror, replacement for Aubameygang. “A bad move” says Media Referee |
88 | Evan N’Dicka | Eintracht Frankfurt | €24m-rated France U21 international, He is left-footed, and 20-year-old | |
89 | Wilfred Ndidi | Leicester | Nigerian midfielder | |
90 | Neto | Barcelona | Goalkeeper | |
91 | Ruben Neves | Wolverhampton | Midfield | Sports Mole |
92 | 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. |
93 | 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 |
94 | Danilo Pereira | Man U | Midfielder | We will get him if we don’t get Partey. ESPN |
95 | 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 |
96 | Lorenzo Pellegrini | Roma | Midfielder | Teamtalk, Eurofootball Rumours, Bleacher, Sports Mole, Daily Cannon, Sky Sports all blame each other for the tale. |
97 | 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. |
98 | Sergio Reguilon | Sevilla on loan from Read Mad | Left back | Sun, Talksport, Goonernews, Just Arsenal, Arsenalmania, media referee |
99 | Chris Richards | Bayern Munich | Defender; HITC, TransferMarket | Chelsea, Valencia and one major Bundesliga side also interested. |
100 | Marc Roca | Espanyol | To replace Ceballos | Sport, 4th official. “Arsenal want to pay £13.5m less than what’s needed for midfielder” says |
101 | Declan Rice | West Ham | Holding midfielder in the style of Gilberto | Express (according to Arsenal “legend” P Merson) |
102 | 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). Marca say Arsenal still interested |
104 | Kays Ruiz-Atil | PSG | 17 year old, central midfield, on the left wing or an outright striker | L’Équipe: ‘next Lionel Messi’, |
105 | Allan Saint-Maximin | Newcastle | Winger | Express, Northern Echo |
SIGNED | Salah-Eddine | Feyenoord | Young midfielder | Free transfer |
107 | 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 |
NEW | Morgan Sanson | Marseille Midfielder | 26 years old | Football London. He’s played 110 games for Marseille |
109 | 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. |
110 | Patrik Schick | Roma on loan to RB Leipzig | 24 year old attacker, 9 goals in 18 games | Gazzetta dello Sport |
111 | Rafa Silva | Benfica | Attacking midfielder | £71.5m says the |
112 | 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) |
SIGNED | Cédric Soares | Southampton | Right back | Free transfer |
114 | Everton Soares | Grêmio | 24 year old forward | Edu said not to be keen |
115 | 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. Carragher says he won’t play for Man C again. Fo Lo say it is possible |
117 | 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) |
118 | Nicolás Tagliafico | Ajaz | £20m. 27 year old left back | Standard, Daily Mail |
119 | Malick Thiaw | Schalke 04. | 18 year old central defender | Sport Review; Daily Mail Liverpool and Man C also interested. |
120 | 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 |
121 | 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) |
122 | Adama Traore | Wolverhampton | He’s 24, a wing back or midfield, or a winger | Daily Star. He started out with Barcelona. |
123 | Samuel Umtiti | Barcelona | Centre back | Express says he’s available at a discount as he’s always injured |
124 | 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. |
Update | 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. Touted again 23 Aug. |
126 | Gabriel Veron | He’s a 17 year old forward | “The Brazilian wonderkid” Football London | |
127 | Domagoj Vida | Defender | Aksam | |
128 | Walce | Defender | Talk Sport, Sport Witness | |
129 | Wout Weghorst | £32m | Team Talk, Express, Blid. Replacement for Aubameyang | |
SIGNED | 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. Imminent transfer (TBR) Medical passed (Sportslens) |
131 | Chris Wood | Burnley | Replacement for Aubameyang | |
132 | 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 |
133 | 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 |
134 | Hakim Ziych | Ajax | Attacking midfielder or winger tipped by Tribuna. | Was selected as one of the 20 best players in the Champions League for 2018/19 season. Also tipped for Jan window. |
- Is Fifa now threatening the media’s future access to the world cup?
- Insane TV decision for new season should be knocking transfers off the back pages
- Arsenal in financial chaos
- Signing Gabriel Magalhães: what’s the delay?
Adil Aouchiche is on the list twice, #1 & #8
Gabriel Magalhaes is on the list twice, #45 & #79
#39 Marcelo Flores is already signed, in U18 squad and has shirt #82
#73 George Lewis is already signed, in U23 squad and has shirt #48
You missed Tim Akinola, already signed in U23
You missed Jonathan Dinzeyi, free from Spurs, not confirmed yet
Thanks Ruud. Although I included a youth signing today, we haven’t been keeping up with those so far, but thanks I will put those in, and take out the duplicates. At least that keeps the numbers equal!
Appreciate your studying the list – it is quite a difficult thing to keep track of. Don’t know how you spotted those duplicates!
Marcello Flores is interesting, both he and his sisters have been with the academy for some time. Both sisters left this summer to join Chelsea whilst he has decided o remain with Arsenal. I sat in front of the family at Borehamwood this last season as big sister Silvia was on the bench for a Women’s game but failed to get any game time.
Marcello has already featured at U18 level for Arsenal when he was just 16. I hope he continues to progress.
RE: Article about Gnabry in The Mail On Sunday written by Rob Draper.
Sorry to go OT but I just wanted to point out yet again how the media try to mislead and create a negative, or in this case continue a negative narrative against Arsenal, when in actual fact there isn’t one, as you discover when you read in full what is in truth a reasonable article.
BUT the question is why does Draper feel he HAS to put a negative slight in the headline, despite actually saying the complete opposite in the article.
The Article begins with this utterly misleading headline:
“Power Serge! He was a flop at West Brom and a player who felt unwanted at Arsenal… but now Gnabry can become the king of Europe with Bayern Munich in the Champions League final against PSG”
The salient point being: HE WAS……..A PLAYER WHO FELT UNWANTED AT ARSENAL. Wasn’t he ???
Let’s see, because when you read the article you get:
“In the summer of 2016, with one year left on his deal, Arsenal tried to get him to sign a new contract. He would be representing Germany at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the club wanted him tied down before he went.
But he left for Brazil with the deal not quite signed and returned as one of the stars of the tournament, a silver medal and with offers from across Europe. ‘After the Olympics, I could have stayed but I said I just want to play regularly for a club,’ he said. ‘We had so many wingers. I said there is no way here for me to start playing regularly, so I just had to go. Sadly.’
Accepting he would leave either then or for a free in 2017, Arsenal cut their losses and sold him to Werder Bremen for £5million. Eleven goals that season and a hat-trick for the German national team, albeit against San Marino, earned him the move to Bayern Munich.”
The salient points being:
“ARSENAL TRIED TO GET HIM TO SIGN A NEW CONTRACT” “I JUST WANTED TO PLAY REGULARLY FOR A CLUB. WE (ARSENAL) HAD SO MANY WINGERS. I SAID THERE IS NO WAY HERE FOR ME TO START PLAYING REGULARLY, SO I JUST HAD TO GO, SADDLY”
So how does Arsenal trying to sign him, but Gnabry himself saying I just had to go, sadly.” equate to Drapers assertion that he was “feeling unwanted at Arsenal”.
So back to my initial question, why has Draper done that? Why at the top of an otherwise decent article does he feel compelled to put a negative Arsenal spin in the headline?
-Is it because he’s simply a poor journalist? Possibly.
-Is it because he just doesn’t like Arsenal? Almost certainly.
Is it because that’s just what is expected of him when he talks about Arsenal? 100%
It could be all of the above and more, either way it’s f***ing annoying.
Anyway if you want to read the article in full you can find it here:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8654397/He-flop-West-Brom-felt-unwanted-Arsenal-Gnabry-king-Europe.html
Nitram, you havn’t stated the obvious ‘Draper is a tool!!!’ 😉 😉
Menace
Oh yeah, that as well !
Gabriel has signed.
Guardian can not stop itself and close the whole story by writing they are having an expensive summer and laid off 55 people….
So now that Arsenal are spending, they ought not.
Anyway whichever way Arsenal deal, play, win, they will always find a negative angle.