All season long Aubameyang has been giving interviews saying how happy he is in Dortmund and doesn't want to leave, how he isn't really interested in England and wants to play in Spain. It would be weird if suddenly a month later he turns around and leaves them for PL.

Klaus wrote:
jones wrote:

Players like Soldado failed in the EPL not because they are shit but because of mismanagement.

It's a bit of both in all honesty. Most players are capable of looking pretty good when the team plays to their strengths. Conversely, the hallmark of a good player is someone who finds a way to use their talent to contribute to the team rather than expecting the team to contribute to them.

No one will ever convince me that Aspas, even the version of him that is performing in Spain right now, is anything but a houseboat player. Absolute bullshit footballer. He's got about half the talent of some of the limited English strikers that receive a lot of stick from football hipsters for lacking a first touch.

I agree that it's a bit of both, just wanted to provide another angle to the whole "he couldn't hack it" etc pp thing that gets trotted out in these cases

Regarding Aspas I don't try to convince anyone, and I can 100% understand why you feel that way having watched him only for Liverpool. He had some of the most dreadful performances ever in the league. Then again it's all the more incredible seeing how he plays in an environment where he clearly feels more comfortable. Against Barcelona he looked like fat Ronaldo in his prime ffs, you wouldn't believe it's the same player who took the worst corner kick ever for Liverpool.

Art wrote:

All season long Aubameyang has been giving interviews saying how happy he is in Dortmund and doesn't want to leave, how he isn't really interested in England and wants to play in Spain. It would be weird if suddenly a month later he turns around and leaves them for PL.

Yep, would never happen in football.

kike tweeted then deleted that we've bid 60m euros for auba.

its a headscratcher that we didnt get him from st etienne for a few pennies back in 2012. he wasnt far behind giroud in the ligue scorers chart at the time

nobody was really talking about him in 2012. he was potentially just another Lacazette. it's hard. i know, for example, some on this forum attack Wenger for not signing Martial. again, a year ago, who the hell was this guy? we all watch so much football, yet not a single one of us called him out two summers ago or even fingered him as a danger man ahead of our Monaco games.
60m Euro is 45m Pound. Would be a fair valuation.

Gazza M wrote:

kike tweeted then deleted that we've bid 60m euros for auba.

And now it's back on his twitter.

Kike Marin** ‏@Kike_Marin
Confirmado: @Arsenal ofrece €60 M al Borussia Dortmund por Aubameyang, primero en la Bota de Oro con 18 goles.

time to stock up on Burt's Bees Baby Bee Nourishing Baby Oil

Claudius wrote:

nobody was really talking about him in 2012. he was potentially just another Lacazette. it's hard. i know, for example, some on this forum attack Wenger for not signing Martial. again, a year ago, who the hell was this guy? we all watch so much football, yet not a single one of us called him out two summers ago or even fingered him as a danger man ahead of our Monaco games.
60m Euro is 45m Pound. Would be a fair valuation.

no-one was talking about giroud either. ive never understood the 'well noone on the tolly was talking about him' line of thinking anyway. its the clubs job to spot these guys, not ours. aubameyang fit the profile of what wenger looks for in a striker moreso than giroud, so it just seems odd to me that we didnt go for him 2012 when he was cheap and showing signs of being prolific. not a major critcism really, just an observation that both him and olly were available in the same window with a similar goal scoring record but wenger went for olly who isnt exactly the archetypal arsenal striker.

Claudius wrote:

time to stock up on Burt's Bees Baby Bee Nourishing Baby Oil

Dafuq? Bit early for that isn't it? 😆

Fair points.
Giroud was 12m then and would not hit more than 20m now (particularly given his age). So he's a completely different kettle of fish. I think the Giroud we see now is more or less the Giroud Wenger saw 4 years ago. The Aubameyang we see now probably bears little resemblance to his former self. This is why scouting is so hard. This is why we sit here and debate about Ox. I'm sure he's headed nowhere, but I wouldn't be completely shocked if he was a reliable 15 goal scorer in 3 years.

Gazza M wrote:
Claudius wrote:

nobody was really talking about him in 2012. he was potentially just another Lacazette. it's hard. i know, for example, some on this forum attack Wenger for not signing Martial. again, a year ago, who the hell was this guy? we all watch so much football, yet not a single one of us called him out two summers ago or even fingered him as a danger man ahead of our Monaco games.
60m Euro is 45m Pound. Would be a fair valuation.

no-one was talking about giroud either. ive never understood the 'well noone on the tolly was talking about him' line of thinking anyway. its the clubs job to spot these guys, not ours. aubameyang fit the profile of what wenger looks for in a striker moreso than giroud, so it just seems odd to me that we didnt go for him 2012 when he was cheap and showing signs of being prolific. not a major critcism really, just an observation that both him and olly were available in the same window with a similar goal scoring record but wenger went for olly who isnt exactly the archetypal arsenal striker.

I think that's harsh to be fair, it's impossible to predict the progression curve for every player. Juventus had Thierry playing and training with them and they still had no idea how good he was going to become. 

When he was linked in the summer most including myself didn't want him.  

People didn't want him in the summer because the same Kike was linking Arsenal to Benzema and Vidal.

Think it is obvious we desperately wanted to sign Benzema though last summer. The lack of a proper back up plan is one of the things that irritates the hell out of me when it comes to how we conduct ourselves during transfer windows.

otfgoon wrote:
Gazza M wrote:

no-one was talking about giroud either. ive never understood the 'well noone on the tolly was talking about him' line of thinking anyway. its the clubs job to spot these guys, not ours. aubameyang fit the profile of what wenger looks for in a striker moreso than giroud, so it just seems odd to me that we didnt go for him 2012 when he was cheap and showing signs of being prolific. not a major critcism really, just an observation that both him and olly were available in the same window with a similar goal scoring record but wenger went for olly who isnt exactly the archetypal arsenal striker.

I think that's harsh to be fair, it's impossible to predict the progression curve for every player. Juventus had Thierry playing and training with them and they still had no idea how good he was going to become. 

When he was linked in the summer most including myself didn't want him.  

like i said its not a criticism really. its just an observation that were shopping in ligue 1 for a striker, and you had  PEA with pace, power, and roughly the same scoring record as olly at the time. seemed like a better fit for our team had we gone for him in the 2012 window. its not like he was a nobody - his reputation was the same level as olly in 2012 and i recall a few stories of him being on our radar back then

as for that PEA thread you posted from the summer, you'll find i was one of the people who rated him when many were writing him off a brainless pace merchant. however for the prices quoted lately, im not sure id spend so much of the budget on him

plus he rejected the scum

"Tottenham tried to sign me in June 2012,"

"But in the end everything became a bit weird. I didn't really like the way things were done.

"So, if Spurs ever came back in for me, I'd say no."

sounds like a gooner at heart  :opti:

otfgoon wrote:

Kike is full of crap, just jumping on the bandwagon.

What bandwagon, have more people said we've bid? 😃

Gazza M wrote:
otfgoon wrote:

I think that's harsh to be fair, it's impossible to predict the progression curve for every player. Juventus had Thierry playing and training with them and they still had no idea how good he was going to become. 

When he was linked in the summer most including myself didn't want him.  

like i said its not a criticism really. its just an observation that were shopping in ligue 1 for a striker, and you had  PEA with pace, power, and roughly the same scoring record as olly at the time. seemed like a better fit for our team had we gone for him in the 2012 window. its not like he was a nobody - his reputation was the same level as olly in 2012 and i recall a few stories of him being on our radar back then

as for that PEA thread you posted from the summer, you'll find i was one of the people who rated him when many were writing him off a brainless pace merchant. however for the prices quoted lately, im not sure id spend so much of the budget on him

Maybe, but there's also an element of the player himself surprising those around him by going up a level. There's no way of predicting that and, as long as we get it right more often than not, there's no problem in my eyes.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:
otfgoon wrote:

Kike is full of crap, just jumping on the bandwagon.

What bandwagon, have more people said we've bid? 😃

Story is originally from The Sun, which was then reported in Bild who translated the figure to, guess what? €57m. 

Well oft, you forgot about one thing.

Memz Dogi trusts Kike Marin and Jeinny has heard Arsenal is interested. What more do you need?