By Sir Hardly Anyone
With the list of players we are about to lose (according to “reports”) now bigger than two teams the growth of the leavers list has slowed right down. Virtually everyone has been named. But we are still getting some good comments.
HITC tell us Arsenal will make £60m in sales, but they forget to tell us which players!!!
Football.London is ragingly negative as ever with, “Gunners fans will not need reminding of the contractual mismanagement that went into the departures of the likes of Robin Van Persie, Alexis Sanchez and Aaron Ramsey to name but a few.”
And the general point is that Arsenal always fail to get new players because they are too slow and fail to hold onto good players because they can’t make a solid offer quickly enough.
Unless of course that media take against a player and then say that Arsenal were stupid to offer the player a contract and now can’t get rid of him.
Having the entire first team squad and a lot of the under 23s tipped to leave is pretty much the norm, so there is nothing new going on here, except this year the list has filled up far faster than usual. But the window only squeaked open on 9 June, so it is not surprising nothing much has actually happened.
And besides, by listing players early, the media has something to write about when nothing is happening.
In fact only two player moves have been noted that involve a fee, Buendía from Norwich to Villa and Juan Foyth from Tottenham to Villreal. So tales of Arsenal slowness (which are how the media fill up their columns each summer) are a little premature.
Here are the leaving rumours.
No | Player | Going to | Reported by… |
1 | Aubameyang | Chelsea | Telegraph: Arsenal can’t afford to keep him. Teamtalk & TBR say yes |
NEW | Daniel Ballard | Blackpool | One season loan – he was at Blackpool last season |
3 | Hector Bellerin | Real Betis | Sport Witness (now running story again), Just Arsenal. TBR say its Atletico Madrid. Man U (Just Arsenal). Caught Offside says going to Villa Real. 101 says Villareal. TBR now says Villareal (changed their minds!!!) Mirror says swap for Aaron Ramsey and cash. Sports Lens say Sevilla. £20m says Mirror. |
4 | Dani Ceballos | Real Madrid | Daily Express |
5 | Matteo Guendouzi. | Brighton | Daily Express. Just Arsenal say Olympique Marseille. FoLo & TBR (suddenly picking up on the Brighton story) & Hard Tackle agree. HITC have Brighton. TBR outraged. OM, for Sports Lens. Deal done with Marseille (Cannon) |
6 | Sead Kolasinac | Not staying at Schalke | Football London. Confirmed on 3 June. “Terminate his contract” is the illegal suggestion in HITC |
7 | Alexandre Lacazette | Daily Express | |
8 | Bernd Leno | HITC says he wants to leave; lots of clubs asking about him | |
9 | David Luiz | Daily Express | |
10 | Ainsley Maitland-Niles | Daily Express. Mrror suggessts swap for Neves | |
11 | Konstantinos Mavropanos | Stuttgart | Daily Express, Kicker |
12 | Reiss Nelson | Olympiacos | Daily Express, Sport Witness. TBR urging Arsenal to sell him |
NEW | Eddie Nketiah | Brighton or Watford or Leeds | Sports Lens, Sussex Live, HITC. TBR talking up Watford. Football Insider says Leeds. Football Insider says don’t do it. FoLo says Arsenal have offered a contract extension |
14 | Martin Odegaard | Real Madrid | Daily Express. Just Arsenal News say he can stay for €60 Million. HITC says going back to Real Mad. TBR – he’s going on loan again. Star says he likes new manager |
15 | Samuele Ricci | Empoli | Leicester also interested. Central midfield |
16 | Mat Ryan | Brighton | Daily Express |
17 | Runar Alex Runarsson | Daily Express | |
17 | Bukayo Saka | Liverpool | Anfield Central suggesting he’ll jump at the chance of Champions League football and Liverpool are after him. |
18 | William Saliba | West Ham, Bayer Leverkusen | Hammers New, Daily Canon |
19 | Emile Smith Rowe | Aston Villa | Caught offside who blame the Telegraph. Also Birmingham Mail. SR allegedly refusing to sign new contract. Being repeated. Now HITC say he is signing new contract |
NEW | Kieran Tierney | Manchester City | FoLo. No real explanation, they just say he’s off. |
21 | Lucas Torreira | Atletico Madrid | Daily Express |
22 | Willian | MLS or Chelsea | Givemesport HITC says not going to happen |
23 | Joe Willock | Newcastle | Daily Express. Going to Liverpool – Anfield Central. Star says definitely staying |
Update | Granit Xhaka | Roma | Sports Witness, Sky Sports, cultofcalcio.com, Mirror, Athletic (he just wants to leave). HITC – he’s agreed to go. TBR Arsenal reject bid. Inside futbul – it’s on. TBR – Roma. getting impatient. CaughtOffside: leaving by 14 June. TBR – it is def. Roma. Sport Wit says “nearly done”. Express says no agreement on fee. |
And finally the loanees list
From the Daily Cannon: Nikolaj Moller, Ben Cottrell, Ryan Alebiosu, George Lewis, Jonathan Dinzeyi, Tim Akinola, Harry Clarke, and Zak Swanson.
Players tipped to come to Arsenal reaches 66: the full list
While we all know the media desperately struggle around trying to make up stories to sell there particular type of shit the ARSENAL should really be above that but that shows how much they don’t give a shit about your average fan
The loan list has been stolen from Jeorge Bird. The daily cannon proving they are just as lazy as most of the other hacks. The sort of behaviour you would expect from a spud.