If we get someone I hope it's Schär. I can see Basel letting him go for a decent fee since he's only got 6 months left. They need him for Champions League on one hand, but it's pretty likely that their tournament will end after the next two games anyway.

qs! wrote:
Herbas wrote:

In the end of this season Mertesacker will be almost 31, Koscielny - almost 30, Flamini - 31, Arteta - 33. Wenger is leaving himself A LOT of job to do in the central defensive area.

Debuchy will be 30 in the summer too.

Another reason we shouldn't have signed him. He's practically over the hill already and we've gotten 12 starts out of him.

Wenger probably has genuine plans for Jenkinson and only signed buchie as a stopgap while the Jenx develops

That'd be fine Flobs if he hadn't also decided Chambers was now a centre half.

Jenks and Bellerin for RB in 2 years time, could be decent.

Lots of rumors we have a deal accepted by Cruzeiro for Lucas Silva. Can't say that I follow the Brazilian league, but after having watched a few youtube clips I think this story may have legs. He looks very much like a player Wenger would like. 


Basically, he looks like how I imagine a young Arteta who started playing the defensive midfield role early would look. But faster and quicker... 21 years old, looks to have a terrific passing range, looks positionally good (from youtube remember), very much prefers to defend standing up, as opposed to going to ground time and again. He also looks to be packing a bomb in his right foot. Looks interesting, especially at the reported £12m...

Not sure how he'd get a work permit though, only has 4 U20 caps.

The boy looks very comfortable on the ball, which probably is expected since he is Brazilian, and I personally also like that he looks to play the ball forward all the time. Should suit players like Chambo, Walcott, Alexis and Welbeck.

Rex wrote:

Basically, he looks like how I imagine a young Arteta who started playing the defensive midfield role early would look.

14 wasn't early enough for Arteta?

Irish gunner wrote:

Not sure how he'd get a work permit though, only has 4 U20 caps.

Special talent visa. It's a lottery, basically, but we'd have a shot. I imagine any deal would hinge on this arrangement.

You know what I mean, Klaus. As a senior player he was played higher up the pitch until late in his Everton days.

Just looked at that clip. Something nervous about his style on the ball. Passing range seems good though, but it's hard to say anything about his ability. Jesus, the standard of the Campeonato is fucking awful.

I was sold when he said "First the marking. When you have space and the ball, you can play with freedom". None of our players seem to know this at all.

There's definitely something weird about the way he handles the ball, but doesn't seem too bad. Even though he's a young player, he's 22 in a couple of months, no longer a "wonderkid" age.

Looks like we're in for a Brazilian defensive midfielder but nobody really knows who the fuck it is 😆

Eh the Romulo guy is apparently highly rated few years ago.

Express is dodgy as fuck though

I think his name has been mentioned before. Looks like he is very injury prone though?

That price is what we got for Vermaelen, isn't it? It's like losing nobody and getting a really good CB in return. And he can play LB when Gibbs and Monreal inevitably get injured at the same time.

Wonder if we'd make another bid for Sokratis, we should have just paid up what Dortmund wanted in the summer.

im all for benny hebrides. affordable, solid and versatile

marv3llous wrote:

Imbula looks immense ...

amazing comp

first time I ever seen him.

That Imbula guy looks magnificent. Ligue 2 PotY last season and seems to have taken Ligue 1 by storm. Checked out a Marseille forum, they absolutely love him.

so then.. no chance of us gettin him on the cheap

Probably not. I wish we could sign more players right before they turn into super stars. This is a perfect example. Dortmund with Reus, Atletico with Agüero, United with De Gea, Chelsea with Zouma, Real Madrid with Varane etc.. All players who were nailed on to be worth at least twice their transfer values eventually.

We never do that ever. The closest being Reyes who somehow despite being good here failed elsewhere and went nowhere near fulfilling his potential. It's irritating enough yeah, I agree.

Didn't that Imbula guy play against us in the UCL? I somehow remember him being lanky and raw, but lots of potential there.

I think he did. So it was in 12/13 he was voted PotY in Ligue 2, not 13/14 as I said previously.

Agree with your point, Quincy - we tried to do that with Ox, Ramsey and most recently, Chambers. Let's see where that gets us.

We should just offer Dortmund £80 million for Reus and Hummels in january. Their season is already screwed and Reus will leave for £25 million in the summer otherwise. Give them an incentive to sell him earlier to us. We'll land neither of those players in the summer, but a cheeky bid here could just do the trick.

I don't see what Imbula does that Sanogo doesn't, by the way.

I can see the comparison. If you ignore that he's a CM, you can see that they score approximately the same amount of goals.

Klaus wrote:

We should just offer Dortmund £80 million for Reus and Hummels in january. Their season is already screwed and Reus will leave for £25 million in the summer otherwise. Give them an incentive to sell him earlier to us. We'll land neither of those players in the summer, but a cheeky bid here could just do the trick.

Not sure we have that kind of money after our summer spending.

Also, Hummels and Reus seem to be crocks. Quality players, but we really don't need any more additions to our physio room.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

I can see the comparison. If you ignore that he's a CM, you can see that they score approximately the same amount of goals.

Well, exactly.

est wrote:

Not sure we have that kind of money after our summer spending.

It's not like we would offer everything in cash up front anyway. I'd be totally fine with those two now and picking up scraps in the following two windows.

marv3llous wrote:

Imbula looks immense ...

My French uncle is a huge OM fan and acts like he is the second coming. Haven't watched them much, but that compilation is  :drool: worthy.