MistaT wrote:

This also feeds the elephant in the corner - that like RVP/Cesc they may want to leave once they're "world class".

Hmmmm........

Not all of our players need to be world class.

We need to surround the very good players with solid, dependable players who can give them a platform to thrive on.

The platform of supporting players is what has been lacking in the past.

Good players leave football clubs, it happens everywhere. Its only a drama with us cos we sell em and don't replace.

Thinking back to two summers ago when we sold Cesc and Nasri for around £55mill and the classiest player we bought was Arteta for around £10m! Really was pathetic.

Yup, that summer was where we starting losing the plot. Last summer was the end. Until then, we had been selling above average players and not superstars (other than an admittedly declining Thierry and Vieira). Then we got rid of arguably the two best players in England.

But we have to start from somewhere. We can be great again, but I think it will take bringing in a combination of guys like Jovetic/Eriksen and some older solid veterans (like Arteta and Podolski) to complement them. We can't just bring in solid veterans without getting players who can provide brilliance. It would mean another few years of building, but I'd be happy to sit through that if it meant we were bringing in some quality players that we could all get truly excited about.

Claudius wrote:

Yup, that summer was where we starting losing the plot. Last summer was the end. Until then, we had been selling above average players and not superstars (other than an admittedly declining Thierry and Vieira). Then we got rid of arguably the two best players in England.

But we have to start from somewhere. We can be great again, but I think it will take bringing in a combination of guys like Jovetic/Eriksen and some older solid veterans (like Arteta and Podolski) to complement them. We can't just bring in solid veterans without getting players who can provide brilliance. It would mean another few years of building, but I'd be happy to sit through that if it meant we were bringing in some quality players that we could all get truly excited about.

i think 2 are needed at a minimum. incoming players need to be convinced about the 'project' we have, and our current squad isnt very convincing. we need to bring in a group of top buys in one window to supercharge our credibility. word travels fast among pros/agents - once players get a whiff that arsenal are paying and recruiting seriously again, it will generate momentum for us. everything else - stadium, fanbase, location, history - is ready

Geoff and the other twitter "ITK" all says we are in discussions with him.

Would be delighted if we signed him, he has world class potential, but I am not sure if he will be the all round world class forward there score loads of goals that we need for now yet.

Criminal to miss out on him, yet also criminal to miss out on the other goalscorers available in the market.

this will 100% happen in my opinion.

I reckon we are 100% very interested. Just hope someone like City or Madrid doesn't gazump us cos they want a 6th choice striker.

That's the risk I guess but you'd hope those guys would go for lewandowski, cavani, bale, falcao n such like before

Juve's reps met his agent about a summer move according to this: http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/serie-a/juventus-jovetic-le-cifre-della-proposta-dopo-l-incontro-milanese-445631

Really hope we get him. Don't get the concerns here that he's not suited to a lone striker role. He has mostly played as a lone striker in the past 2 seasons. Second strikers are mostly the main strikers these days especially for possession based teams(great close control is far more important than brute force).

His goal tally is hardly impressive mind. 12 goals having played as the furthest forward for the majority of the season is quite mediocre. You can't deny his talent though but there's no guarantee he will be the goal scorer we desperate need.

Wenger is great at turning players into goalscorers though. Henry, Adebayor, Cesc, van Persie weren't exactly renown for their scoring when they signed/broke through, but became regular goalscorers at Arsenal.

A player like Jovetic would give us options. I still feel that Giroud may very well turn into a reliable 20 league goals a season striker. He has most of the ingredients for it. Way too early for him to have become first choice though. With Jovetic you would get a player who could operate behind Giroud, instead of Giroud, in tandem with Giroud or from a wide position. He also seems like a player who is about to take that final step into a top, top player.

Klaus wrote:

Can imagine the noise big Phil is making there

"Gnaaaawhh"

Jovetic looked well meh to me tonight. I like the idea of him, a dynamic nimble fleet footed striker, but everytime I've seen him he looks so raw and lacks physical presence

Anyone else feeling that

Yeah, he would be a great buy but would be a lot riskier than say someone like Higuain.

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

Jovetic looked well meh to me tonight. I like the idea of him, a dynamic nimble fleet footed striker, but everytime I've seen him he looks so raw and lacks physical presence

Anyone else feeling that

he's inconsistent for sure, but we'd mainly be buying his potential. most of the fully polished strikers out there are out of our price range. feels like a very wengerish signing

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

Jovetic looked well meh to me tonight. I like the idea of him, a dynamic nimble fleet footed striker, but everytime I've seen him he looks so raw and lacks physical presence

Anyone else feeling that

I am, also, still to be impressed but i defer judgement to the guys who watch him more regularly as i thought Arshavin would tear it up with us and couldn't have been more wrong.