By Sir Hardly Anyone
Of course nothing in the crazy world of transfers is done until the details are confirmed by the club, and there seems to be no sign of anyone at the airport or the training centre or even getting lost on the Underground.
One mover is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (1) who is going on loan to Barcelona. That seems to be moving through the gears, as it were.
So we have been shifting out players with three going on loan and two departing permanently, all of which helps save a spot of cash, but doesn’t give the media what it craves.
What it all seems to mean is Eddie Nketiah (2) won’t get the departure that he wants as he and Alexandre Lacazette are the only two out and out strikers in what remains of the squad.
The third player being talked about is Swedish forward Alexander Isak (3) of Real Sociedad who seemingly came to London, had a look and then went back to Spain. The story from the Telegraph is that he “expects his team to resist offers for him until his £76million buyout clause is met.”
The Telegraph reckons the trip to London was a shopping trip, and not football related.
We also know our old boy Aaron Ramsey (4) is looking for a new club, and the Guardian is suggesting he is going to Rangers.
The Guardian is also running the “Álvaro Morata (5) to Arsenal on deadline day?” with a question mark story. He is on loan at Juventus from Atlético Madrid, and “has emerged as a potential goal-getting option for Arsenal. The Gunners coach Miguel Molina reportedly got on the blower to Morata over the weekend to try and convince him to sign. Arsenal have not completely given up hope of taking Alexander Isak (3) from Real Sociedad, but the Spanish club remain fixated on the 22-year-old’s £75m release clause.”
Just Arsenal also have “Arsenal assistant Miguel Molina is claimed to have spoken directly to Alvaro Morata (5) ahead of a proposed move from Juventus.”
Arsenal are today also linked with Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin (6). But the Guardian says, “It seems unlikely the Merseyside club would part with a key player.”
HITC are saying, “Arsenal will reportedly move to sign Espanyol striker Raul de Tomas (7) once Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s move to FC Barcelona is wrapped up.”
The Daily Star (part of the Mirror / Football London conglomerate) says, “USA and New England Revolution goalkeeper Matt Turner (8) has been seen signing Arsenal tops for fervent fans ahead of his move to north London – with his coach saying the move is a “great story”.”
Football 365 is running the old “Arsenal are rudderless” story and talking about being “without a plan” which is a pretty dumb way to talk about a club that uniquely took on the PGMO and transformed themselves from being the most yellow carded to one of the least yellow carded in the course of a season. One might be better off saying Football 365 is without a story.
Caught Offside have Nic Pepe (9) going to a Spanish club but won’t tell us the name (oh they do like to tease) and they blame 90 min for the story. The Daily Cannon says he is going on loan.
The Express tell us that eight Arsenal under 23s will get called into the squad as a result of our not buying more players and particularly mention Omari Hutchinson, Salah-Eddine Oulad M’Hand and Mika Biereth. But they are such teases they don’t name the rest of them. Or perhaps they just don’t know. Or maybe they do know but won’t tell us. Now there’s a thing.
Arsenal Stadion tell us that , Arsenal have submitted a formal £58.2m [€70m] offer for Alexander Isak (3) from Mundo Deportivo, which means £6m has just been knocked off his value since I started writing this.
And the Herald in Scotland tell us that Dundee United are ‘closing in’ on signing of Arsenal starlet Tim Akinola. (10).
But what, I hear you cry, about the “spotted at the airport.” Well we had to wait but it turned up at the end. Sport Witness spotted Aubameyang in Barce.
And just one more for the fun of it. AS is saying that Arsenal are not only dropping off Aubameyang in Barcelona, but while there are going to sign Espanyol striker, Raul de Tomas. (11)
That’s about it for the chitter-chatter. Except for a word of warning. Not all the above will turn out to be true. Some will be revealed as just the over-heated imaginations emanating from an unbalanced mind. The trick of course is to work out which bits.
We will be checking what happened to those 11 characters, tomorrow.
- How Arsenal bought a new defence and conceded more goals, but it’s ok
- Why can’t Arsenal sign some more players? Here’s the answer.
- Who (or what) is to blame for Arsenal’s failure to sign players this window?
What about Houssem aour transfer? we need a skillful striker.
It is being said Barcelona need to move out a player – or at least one if Aubameyang is to join them.
Fact is that Barcelona are in such dire financial straits that they cannot just get a player.
They need to keep the wages bill below a threshold and you can bet that Aubameyang’s wages are not at the level where they fit below it.
So maybe we’ll see Dembele in red and white by tomoroow ?!!?
Phil McNulty certainly didn’t seem happy for Duncan Ferguson to stay at Everton 🤣
How has got to this?
Lots of Man. City fans jumping to Newcastle United’s defence on social media today.
I think it is called journalism.
Arsenal fans moaning on social media about the lack of signings forget that not only did we spend nigh on 150 mil last summer, but that the club made no revenue from the stadium for the whole of last season and part of the previous season.I fully anticipate that if they stay up Newcastle will try and gazump any future signings, offering higher transfer fees and wages than we could ever afford. We are going to have to accept that we have fallen even further on the attractive destination scale. Development of young players is the only way I can see any hopes of success moving forward. I suggest those fans that only seem to care what happens during transfer windows switch their allegiance to Newcastle where they can be assured of winning every window for the next five years.
SWF. PIF. WTF?
A lot of “journalists” were linking us to Greenwood quite recently. That could have been awkward.
17 games for our trimmed squad to show what they can do. None of the players who left or went on loan have been featuring regularly in the team recently, so things may not be as desperate as some seem to think.
We only have 2 central strikers to call on (Laca and Eddie), but I think Martinelli and Pepe should be able to fill in when required.
Of course, if we get hit by another Covid outbreak, things could become quite difficult, with the new PL rules (which appear to have been devised specifically to hinder Arsenal).