He's much better than Arteta sadly. 27m is overpriced though.

May be we were never seriously in for him?

He's not better than Luiz Gustavo and we passed on that guy too. They're not elite midfielders and we'll only spend money on elite.

I think Schneiderlin is equal to or better than Arteta and will get even better. That's elite enough for me.

He is not a guy to pay over the odds for anyway. It was rumored we bid £15m for him in January, and I think it is in that ballpark Wenger was ever interested in signing him. The sums bandied about now are way too high, and I think we are absolutely right to not pursue him then.

Spurs have clearly learnt nothing from last season if they're paying 27m for him. Don't think a defensive centre mid will add much to their game either.

ludovic van zis wrote:

It's not elite enough for winning the CL.

Yes, it is. You don't need Real Madrid's squad to win the CL. Chelsea did it with a mediocre team, hard defensive work and a lot of luck.

By now I just hope we sign a midfielder and don't plan on using Chambers there. I'll be happy whether it's Khedira, Schneiderlin, Carvalho or someone else who's good.

otfgoon wrote:

Spurs have clearly learnt nothing from last season if they're paying 27m for him. Don't think a defensive centre mid will add much to their game either.

Indeedy. They should go for someone like Bernard

Timothy wrote:

Is this bloke actually better than Arteta, or just younger?

Younger, mostly. Not as much between them as some people like to make out though, and the development curve has been pointing in the right direction for the last two seasons. Schneiderlin can play a game every three days between January and March too.

Ultimately it's no big deal if we don't sign him. At £25 million I don't feel that he represent good value anymore (and neither does Lars Bender). We can get a readymade midfielder in his prime for a few million extra.

Your first para basically sums up my leanings there Klausie. I really like Schneiderlin, but not convinced he brings much more to the table than Arteta currently does. Also strongly suspect that from the outside we massively underplay Arteta's leadership and ability to organise. Don't get the impression we have many talkers in the team without him.

quote tweeted at 6:49 PM on Mon, Jul 28, 2014:
Arsenal's scouts & manager weren't convinced Schneiderlin delivered in the big games. Perfect for Spurs then as they don't have many of them[/quote]

otfgoon wrote:

Spurs have clearly learnt nothing from last season if they're paying 27m for him. Don't think a defensive centre mid will add much to their game either.

Last summer they bought players like a kid playing FM. With Schneiderlin Pochetino knows exactly what he's getting.

But it doesnt matter that he knows what he's doing. If they pay £25m for a player on a position where they already have Dembele, Sando and Capoue without actually upgrading the position by a huge margin then it really is just stupid. They are a nothing club.

Schneiderlin is a big upgrade on all of them though. It's not the quality of the player that is in question, only the price. For Spurs he's as good as it gets. It's not like they have the pulling power to attract German internationals.

For Spurs everything hinges on whether Pochettino can lift the performance of their misfit attacking players.

He'll do well for a while, much like Villas-Boas did. Eventually Levy will get tired of competing with Everton and fire him too.

Difference between Dembele, Sandro or Capoue vs Schneiderlin is definately not huge 😆

Belgian international (pretty much a starter), guy who has been called up to Brazil and was on shortlist for WC squad and a guy who has caps for France vs the guy who made France squad thanks to injuries.

Levy is the poor mans Abramovich.

Schneiderlin is a decent player, nothing outstanding though.