Couldn't find a thread to stick this in;

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-pole-position-charlton-starlet-5598173

We're being strongly linked with 17 year old Charlton Athletic centreback, Joe Gomez. He's very highly rated in the England setup and we've been linked for ages, along with all the other big clubs. The figure being talked about is £8m so that tells you the esteem in which he's held. Played a fair bit for them this season, mainly at right back.

I know him, because he is a wonderkid in fm2015 😉

Glad we're buying more young defenders these days. It used to only be creative players.

7 days later
Ricky1985 wrote:

Couldn't find a thread to stick this in;

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-pole-position-charlton-starlet-5598173

We're being strongly linked with 17 year old Charlton Athletic centreback, Joe Gomez. He's very highly rated in the England setup and we've been linked for ages, along with all the other big clubs. The figure being talked about is £8m so that tells you the esteem in which he's held. Played a fair bit for them this season, mainly at right back.

Out of curiosity, how good is Patrick Roberts Ricky? I know the top 6 have been linked to him for a while.

Patrick Roberts is brilliant with the ball. Moves it past players like Cazorla, does that little one-two off each foot to good effect. Also has a great shot on him from what I've seen. Loves a mazy dribble. Great coming in off the right. Haven't seen him in person obviously, wonder if he'll kick on.

Arsenal face Borussia Dortmund transfer battle for Charlton youngster Joe Gomez
The Gunners are keen on the 17-year-old Addicks defender but Dortmund are hoping to steal a march on their rivals.

German giants Borussia Dortmund are trying to sign Charlton’s England prospect Joe Gomez. England under-19s defender Gomez, 17, has also been a target for Arsenal but now Dortmund are in the hunt for the versatile youngster. Dortmund are hoping to do a deal for around £1m with add-ons based on success and appearances. Both Manchester City and Manchester United have previously shown interest in the youngster. Gomez, who can play at right back or centre-back, made 24 appearances in his debut campaign.

German "giants" who are finishing 7th behind fucking Augsburg.

finishing 7th doesn't mean they aren't giants. just like them beating real madrid in the champions league didn't suddenly make them bigger than real. shit happens, it's how you respond.

I agree that finishing 7th doesn't remove your giant status, they never had it though even if their fans would like to think otherwise. They were on the brink of administration couple of years ago and regularly finished between 8th and 15th in the league, 'giants' on a domestic basis maybe, a European powerhouse not in a million years.

german giants is what was said. they have huge support in germany and they're the 2nd biggest revenue generators in the country. a european championship in their history, league titles, etc. there should be no questioning of dortmund's giant status on an arsenal forum.

Doesn't have anything to do with Arsenal, I'm questioning it as someone who lives in Germany. Their support was local until their recent resurgence when most 'fans' came out the woodwork, when the club was lounging in midtable nobody cared about them. Second biggest revenue generators doesn't mean shit in a one-horse race, had a quick look and they weren't even in the top 20 for revenue for all but two or three seasons in the last 15 years.

I'm actually not saying that they are a small club, maybe it's just semantics but I associate 'giants' with clubs like Real, Barca, United, Juventus or even Milan despite their fall from grace. Also the Dortmund fans around here are as arrogant as Bayern pricks and smug as shit and I still remember that Guardian article there was a running gag in the Dortmund dressing room about being linked with Arsenal as if they were a bigger club. Basically, fuck the lot of them.

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

Di Natale linked

37 year old Di Natale? Really?

Jones, i just wanted to say that i really appreciate your insight of the German league on this forum.

jones wrote:

Doesn't have anything to do with Arsenal, I'm questioning it as someone who lives in Germany. Their support was local until their recent resurgence when most 'fans' came out the woodwork, when the club was lounging in midtable nobody cared about them. Second biggest revenue generators doesn't mean shit in a one-horse race, had a quick look and they weren't even in the top 20 for revenue for all but two or three seasons in the last 15 years.

I'm actually not saying that they are a small club, maybe it's just semantics but I associate 'giants' with clubs like Real, Barca, United, Juventus or even Milan despite their fall from grace. Also the Dortmund fans around here are as arrogant as Bayern pricks and smug as shit and I still remember that Guardian article there was a running gag in the Dortmund dressing room about being linked with Arsenal as if they were a bigger club. Basically, fuck the lot of them.

i didn't know those teams were german. learn something new everyday.

Cheers marv3llous. Glad to be of help to you too Meatwad.

4 days later

Lens is a great academy

8 days later

http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2015/06/02/how-arsenal-could-beat-psg-to-defender-without-spending-any-m/page/1/

How Arsenal could potentially beat PSG to Raphael Guerreiro without spending any money
Arsenal could look at loaning a number of players out to Lorient in order to land Paris Saint-Germain-linked Raphael Guerreiro.
ccording to FranceTV, Paris Saint-Germain have offered £3.64million to sign exciting Lorient full-back Raphael Guerreiro, who is also, according to the Mail, a target for Arsenal.

The French giants are hoping their modest offer will be enough to prise away the young talent, who has two years left on his contract, before another club swoops in and steals him away.

The youngster has shown himself to be one of the most promising players in the French league and, with seven goals and five assists from 34 league appearances, it’s not hard to see why.

At just 21, he has shown that he has the potential to be one of the top defenders in Europe, so Arsene Wenger should be trying everything in his power to land the player before he goes elsewhere.

How Arsenal could land Guerreiro without spending any money at all

Lorient is a club with a modest budget, so manager Sylvain Ripoll will not want the player to leave without suitable ready-made replacements lined up.

If the Ligue 1 side do accept a relatively low offer from rivals PSG, it will be difficult for them to reinvest that money in order to bring in quality, especially if you take wages into account as well.

Guerreiro, despite his talent, is unlikely to be on a significant salary due to his age and a proven replacement may ask for double, perhaps even triple, what the youngster is on.

Therefore, the Gunners could look to utilise their squad strength to land the player this summer, by offering the likes of Gedion Zelalem and Chuba Akpom on loan instead of a payment.

Lorient would get a number of players in return for one of their own and it wouldn’t touch their wage budget as the Gunners would also cover the cost over the season.

For Arsenal, it means their top talents will get the chance of first-team football in a side that is renowned and respected for the style they play the game, as well as signing a very exciting defender without paying out a transfer fee.

Don't know much about the young left back in question, although his stats look good and he's played and scored for Portugal, the idea sounds interesting though. Could be a good opportunity, but I do think we need to improve the quality of domestic loans we're arranging for our youngsters before we start sending them abroad.

5 days later

Benzema's agent: "Karim wants to retire at @realmadrid. He's happy in Madrid." #rmcf

🙁

17 days later

http://sportwitness.ning.com/forum/topics/image-arsenal-sign-romanian-pictured-with-shirt-and-signing-deal

Arsenal have completed the signing of Vlad Dragomir from Romanian team Timisoara according to Sport.ro. The youngster had been the subject of Arsenal scouting and the Premier League club have gone ahead and got a deal completed, with the Romanian claim being that things were finalised this morning

Dragomir is Romania's U16 national team captain and subsequently very highly rated. He is a midfielder who can also be more flexible so perhaps his final position isn't know yet.

Arsenal have paid Timisoara €100,000 for the player and that will be a boost to the Romanian club although it's a shame they're losing him before he's had a chance to shine for their first team.

Yey, we got ourselves a vampire!

9 days later
a month later

In addition, we have won the race to sign midfielder Ismael Bennacer (17) from AC Arles-Avignon, on a 5-year deal according to L'Equipe.

Good, more young talents. We are lacking that desperately in the u18s. Jonkers doing his work well.

2 months later

Yep, the boy can do almost everything. Pace, engine, great touch and ball ball control, dribbling skills and high quality passing. A technician with great physical qualities in the mould of Yaya Toure, Pogba etc (although not that  tall compared to those 2).

Still prone to holding on to the ball for too long though (carrying the ball from A to B instead of passing it 1st time) but that's normal considering his age and experience. The good thing about a ball player like him is he was trained as a central defender and was converted into a midfielder only about 2 years ago.

Sign him up and loan him to Ajax till the end of the season. Going to be a high quality midfielder IMO.
33

Speaking of starlets, I've seen that we've been linked to Breel Embolo. Anyone know much about him?

I have seen highlights of him in Europa and UCL for Basel, looks good.

flobaba wrote:

That's a prodigy?

Definitely. One of the biggest talents in Holland.

Why does that video list balance as Riechedly's weakness?
Does he fall over a lot?

e:

47

Tactics wrote:

Yep, the boy can do almost everything.  

It really looks like that from this vid.
The boy's 18?  :gape: 

Even playing down the Dutch league demands, this is very special.
At times looked like a version of Joel or Ox that can't lose the ball, and can, well - do just about everything. 
Don't see why complain about the passes either. But what I really like most about him is the attitude -
Sanchezesq passion, this boy will always be there.

was trained as a central defender and was converted into a midfielder only about 2 years ago.

That's really amazing.  (can't resist): May have started as a CB, but the move Richedly deserved. 😃

Sign him up