Some noise about Sanchez to City today which is probably almost certainly bs. But if he does go to a rival, maybe we could flog him off to Man U in exchange for Martial and some money.

mdgoonah41 wrote:

here is the list of fullbacks who have been sold for more than £35m:

the end.

😆

Seriously though, didn't Barca pay over £30m for Alves which must be equivalent to more than double that in today's money?
Also players like Lahm, in his prime, would have commanded similarly astronomical price tags as Barca tagged a £90m buy-out clause on Alves.

according to wikipedia, alves cost £23m up front and £7m in add-ons when he went from sevilla to barca. he went on a free to juve.

luke shaw cost about £30m i believe. supposedly mendy is moving for big money. point is, no fullback has ever cost more than £35m, which might change this summer, but to assume we'd just get £50m for bellerin is a bit of a fantasy given his "down" season he just had.

And Barcelona loathe to pay us anything for players that they consider we stole from them.

(Although in Bellerin's case they gave him to us, along with Jon Toral, as part of the Fabregas deal)

Bold Tone wrote:
mdgoonah41 wrote:

here is the list of fullbacks who have been sold for more than £35m:

the end.

😆

Seriously though, didn't Barca pay over £30m for Alves which must be equivalent to more than double that in today's money?
Also players like Lahm, in his prime, would have commanded similarly astronomical price tags as Barca tagged a £90m buy-out clause on Alves.

You can't really compare with Alves though. At one point he was the second best player at Barcelona after Messi. We're not even sure whether it's Bellerin or Ox who deserves the RWB spot the most. And the ridiculously high buy-out clauses in Spain can be ignored. Let's put it this way: We don't have a buy-out clause on Bellerin. If we had a buy-out clause on Bellerin for £1000 million, the situation would be the same, it'd still be like not having a clause. Since buy-out clauses are obligatory in Spain, they try to make them as big as possible so they can act if they aren't there.

Transfer fees tend to be as much about opportunity as quality though. Raheem Sterling is still the 4th most expensive Premier League transfer of all time. You can't really compare the market 10 years ago with the market today where transfer fees are heavily inflated across the board. If a fullback in demand would move it would be for more than £35 million. Mendy, who has played a whopping 25 league games for Monaco so far, looks like he's going to be the first.

mdgoonah41 wrote:

here is the list of fullbacks who have been sold for more than £35m:

the end.

So you are saying no one is stupid enough to sell top class full backs.

The transfer market has obviously changed in the past year. Spuds are demanding £60m for Kyle Walker.

Qwiss! wrote:
mdgoonah41 wrote:

here is the list of fullbacks who have been sold for more than £35m:

the end.

So you are saying no one is stupid enough to sell top class full backs.

😃 That's it in a nutshell.

Just saw that Giroud has three years left on his contract. We shouldn't sell him no matter if he wants out, he can go on a free after those three years.

Maybe true aboht the rumours but can the newspapers make up actual quotes?

They do often enough. He's not exactly clearing things up with that shitty tweet though

Bellers aint going anywhere this summer

5 days later

Wouldn't swap Sanchez for Aguero. For Jesus/Sane, maybe.

[Twitter]

I can understand why Giroud might want to go if we spend big on a striker, but I can't see us selling him without that happening - as L'Equipe seem to be suggesting. I'd still love him as the go-to man off the bench and in rotation but I don't see that as realistic personally.

Would be a mistake to let him leave permanently imo, not until he's been given a proper chache.

A loan would be the safer option but I'm reasonably sure Chambers not good enough for Arsenal.

[Twitter]

More stories cropping up about Oxlade-Chamberlain wanting out. Might be his agent with one last push to get every penny we're prepared to pay. Wouldn't like to see him leave, he really can become a very good weapon if we're sticking with 3-4-3.

Saw Cross suggest that he wants out because we haven't actually offered him a new deal. Wonder what the plan is here, a major clearout? Seems very un-Wenger like to sanction such a major clearout for so many of his projects, Jack, Gibbs and now Ox and allegedly Giroud.

There are others amongst the British project I'd get rid before Chamberlain and Chambers, but getting rid of those two wouldn't be too bad. Would be refreshing to bin couple of average Wenger projects for a change. Would also probably secure Bellerin's place in the team, in the short term at least.

lequipe also suggested that wenger told him he wasnt part of his plans for next season. 

Wenger needs to sign some strikers before he decides to let Giroud go.

I'm going to be mighty annoyed if we sell Giroud but keep Welbeck. Giroud scores 20 goals every season. Welbeck has scored 20 goals in the last four years.

It would be a nutty thing to do. I would actually be loathe to sell Giroud. He's a 30 year old guy who gets you 20 goals. You're going to get 20m pounds for him and then need to spend 2-3x that to bring in a suitable replacement, if we find one. More likely, we will be watching lots of Welbeck and Walcott. He's also the best plan B I've seen

Klaus wrote:

I'm going to be mighty annoyed if we sell Giroud but keep Welbeck. Giroud scores 20 goals every season. Welbeck has scored 20 goals in the last four years.

I've said it before but if we sell Giroud we need 2 strikers because Welbeck is way below that required standard for second choice striker.

To be honest, I wouldn't care who our second striker was if we got someone like Aubameyang.

You'd care as soon as he got injured. Girouds a perfect back up, I just don't understand why we would sell him. No one is better coming off the bench.

You're not going to get the value. Just milk Giroud for what you can these next two seasons. Giroud would sit on the bench and shut up if he was sitting behind an Aubameyang, etc. I would be equally agitated if I was being overlooked for Dat Guy, a man who scores goals so infrequently one has to wonder if he is playing for or against us at times.

Don't sell Giroud. Sign a 1st choice striker and have him as plan B.

Sell Feo instead.

mohan wrote:

Sell wellbeck instead

Exactly. He's a forward who scores fuck all. He's pointless.

I really don't think he's pointless, but obviously Giroud is a much better player and backup.

Do you guys not think we benefitted from starting him over Giroud in the cup final? I don't think it's any coincidence that a lot of our best performances as a team come with either him or Theo up top despite how limited they are.

Don't get me wrong, I think Giroud is a far better striker than both, but I don't think he remotely suits out style of play except for when he's coming off the bench against tired legs and bigger gaps and that's not enough of a reason to keep him around. Frankly, I don't want him starting games for us.

goon wrote:

Don't get me wrong, I think Giroud is a far better striker than both, but I don't think he remotely suits out style of play except for when he's coming off the bench against tired legs and bigger gaps and that's not enough of a reason to keep him around. Frankly, I don't want him starting games for us.

I don't think we have a single striker who fits the way we play. We still have three guys who are better than Welbeck on any given day. He completely screwed up the big chance he got in that finale, and it was a lucky coincidence more than anything that we ended up scoring anyway. He has a few of the basic skills we're looking for, but it doesn't help much when his level is closer to Sunderland than to Arsenal. Added to that he's always, always injured too. Just get rid of him already.