Jed wrote:

We should add more aggression by signing the Greek beast Manolas. With him and Xhaka there would be no soft underbelly.

Love Manolas.

Gunner89 wrote:

Elneny's not putting his defensive work in if those stats are to go by.

His are worse than Cazorla's FFS.

I've been saying that since the start, he's a great passer, good cog in midfield but he does a lot less defensive work than Ramsey nevermind Coquelin. Thats why I like the idea of Xhaka, seems to combine elements of Coq and Elneny but can also win a header.

Sounds like this one's nearly over the line.

Good. Definitely will add something we're missing

otfgoon wrote:

http://news.arseblog.com/2016/05/report-arsenal-make-e43m-bid-for-granit-xhaka/

Definitely looks promising.

I know some have their doubts but personally I think Xhaka, Ramsey, Elneny, Coq and Wilshere is a strong pool of centre mids.

Santi as well.

I don't consider Ramsey a CM anymore. He doesn't play like one. He plays like a second striker playing in the middle.

Xhaka is a great start but we need more. Manolas and Higuain.

happening intensifies

looks good. i prefer this lad over kante. he's arteta with legs and bite, which is the type of player i've been begging for us to get

bild have also reported that BM are interested in rode as a replacement

they signed strobl as his replacement, didnt they?

mdgoonah41 wrote:

they signed strobl as his replacement, didnt they?

Don't think they have signed a replacement yet.

Good to see that we have wrapped this up so early before the window started. CM has been an extremely weak point this season other than our striking woes and it's previously unthinkable that we will sign 2 CM within a year.

I'd say we have so far wrapped this up early in the same way we wrapped up the Higuain transfer early.

Raphael HonigsteinVerified account
@honigstein
A change of tack from Wenger? After having earlier offer rebuffed, he's come back to pay full whack for Xhaka. (€50m, including add-ons)

Raphael HonigsteinVerified account
@honigstein
Gladbach are trying to get a replacement signed before announcing the deal.

I wonder how long this has been in the pipeline? Xhaka's comments, mentioning he'd spoken to le Coq about shirt numbers etc. On the surface it seems like a lot of ground work has gone in to this.

Xhaka & Wilshere in the same side, flying into tackles, causing havoc, proper cunts who would love intense atmospheres/hostile environments.

I do like the idea.

Good signing, but it may be our "big" signing, and CF will be left short on quality again.

Ray wrote:

Good signing, but it may be our "big" signing, and CF will be left short on quality again.

Think this signing is almost as important as signing a CF.  Our CM this season has been as dysfunctional as our strikers and we've had little to no control in most games we have played. 

Ray wrote:

Good signing, but it may be our "big" signing, and CF will be left short on quality again.

Thats my fear too. Arteta is gone, Flamini and Rosicky will likely go too, Cazorla has aged out a bit. This seems very much like Wenger just adding quality where he feels we are short. If he doesn't get a striker and probably a winger too it'll all be for nothing though. Our attack is the most dysfunctional part of the team. Sure a quality CM or CB would be useful but without sorting the attack its all in vain.

Sorry, this is a great bit of business but if we don't go for a striker next season's another scraping top four shitshow. Wenger owes us two marquee players in this upcoming window.

Looks like one is almost done, the striker one will be a lot more harder. Especially when you consider most of June is Copa America and mid June to Mid July is the Euros.

Lets hope they are doing the groundwork now, doubt many signings will happen during the tournaments but deals could be done.

Why would we have to limit ourselves to one big signing? £33m is a drop in the ocean. We spent 90m a couple of seasons ago and that was before the new TV deal.

Plus we hardly spent any money last summer.

No excuses for Wenger.

otfgoon wrote:

Why would we have to limit ourselves to one big signing? £33m is a drop in the ocean. We spent 90m a couple of seasons ago and that was before the new TV deal.

Exactly.

Plus we should be shifting a lot of the dead wood. 

Any other top club, and we would be looking at a monstrous summer, bearing in mind we spent nothing last year.

Gotze, a striker, and a CB is the bear minimum that should be done. Too be honest with the potential exits, that is nothing, and we should be looking for more.

otfgoon wrote:

Why would we have to limit ourselves to one big signing? £33m is a drop in the ocean. We spent 90m a couple of seasons ago and that was before the new TV deal.

Wenger is why.

He spent £90m a couple of seasons ago and out of that only one was a big signing and the rest were mediocre, shit or kids.

The ineptitude of Wenger and co might be why we don't sign a forward but that's true regardless of this transfer. Just saying this deal shouldn't have any bearing on whether or not we sign another big player or two.

50m euros is a lot, no way will Wenger spend big on another player.

Isn't the fee believed to be €42m which is £33m?

otfgoon wrote:

Why would we have to limit ourselves to one big signing? £33m is a drop in the ocean. We spent 90m a couple of seasons ago and that was before the new TV deal.

I do think we will spend big money this summer, also reckon there will be one if not two big departures which should free up more funds. 

How does one pronounce his name? Is it Haka? Shaka? Zhaka?

I think 'Jacka' is the closest correct pronunciation.

Gazza M wrote:

[video=vimeo]

sweet left peg

Phenomenal left foot, looks like he an do anything he wants with it.

What I like about him in all the videos and bits of matches I've seen is how smart he is in everything he does. He makes good decisions on the ball, he sees passes and opportunities quickly and he seems to make good decisions off the ball too; when to go in hard and when to position himself to nick it from an opponent.

I've been calling him chaka. Like Chaka Khan

I've been saying Chaka, like that thing from Stargate.

Gazza M wrote:

[video=vimeo]

sweet left peg

Those long lofted passes are going to be wasted on a player like Giroud or the likes of Ramsey on the wing.

Yeah we should play Ramsey in midfield with him.

Qwiss! wrote:

Yeah we should play Ramsey in midfield with him.

J(h/sh/ch)aka would two foot Ramsey for some of his mistakes if the reports of him being a nutter are true.

I was planning on celebrating goals like vintage NBA Jam:

"And it's Granit from outside! BOOM-Xhaka-laka!"

Oh that's good, Burnsy. Properly excited about this signing now.

I thought it was Haka! Like a South Pacific dance.

Kicker.de reporting that Man City showed an interest so we moved to wrap this one up quickly.  Surprisingly efficient which makes a welcome change!

That's also promising, if it's true, because it means Pep felt Xhaka would be a good fit for the type of football he likes to play.