That's because he was standing on tip-toes when Wiki measured him.

He looks strong in the sense that he knows how to use his body weight

He's built like a tank. Of the players in the Premier League, I reckon he'd send all but a few flying in a shoulder-to-shoulder.

dreamlord wrote:

Wiki says Xhaka is 6ft3 and that Vieira was 6ft4?

Wiki also says Daniel Sturridge is 6'2".

Most places I've seen Xhaka's height listed say he's 185cm or 6'1" and that looks about right to me

His height is less important that his strength and ability to win a header.

I just want an intelligent and technically accomplished footballer in the middle now. Every other attribute is a bonus

flobaba wrote:

I just want an intelligent and technically accomplished footballer in the middle now. Every other attribute is a bonus

That is Santi and that has proven other attributes are needed.

Yeah, I don't think the half measures do us any favours, but we missed his attributes a lot more than we missed the other attributes in my opinion.

Not really. Santi when fit gave us exactly what we needed in the midfield bar the physical aspect and aggressiveness. But he's getting into his Arteta years now and I guess we'd be foolish to expect him to play at top level for much longer.

I'm going to reserve judgement on Xhaka till I see him play for us, and see how he fits in with whatever we will be trying to do as a team next season

flobaba wrote:

I just want an intelligent and technically accomplished footballer in the middle now. Every other attribute is a bonus

Oliver Torres. Ping master.

Borussia mogeldywhatever have confirmed that they've received a bid for Xhaka. Can't be arsed looking for the link, it's on the news part of their site.

Link doesn't work and I can't find the story among their news updates. Did you check it before you posted it? If it was there it has been removed.

Forum cuts the link in half for some reason. Anyway, its here:

Cheers, I see it now. That's indeed what it says (although Eberl isn't quoted directly on the website).

I wonder if Mönchengladbach have an agreement with Xhaka to let him go this summer as long as they get properly compensated.

Arsenal move edging closer...

What number will he get? Will Coquelin give up 34?

Off the top of my head the numbers available are

7
8
20
22
26

I wonder how much we'd get for Coquelin if we tried to sell him. People assume that he's going to be here next season, but he just lost his place in the team, and he was never that good to begin with. He'd be my favourite pick to leave if we're really after Xhaka and Kante.

I was thinking closer to 15, but maybe I'm optimistic. Part payment for Kante maybe...?

Coq should be kept, he's a good lad and a good player.

He's nowhere near as good as Kante though. It makes him a bit pointless to keep if we sign the upgrade.

i think coq can be very useful as a squad player. i think ideally he starts 15-20 games a season in all comps, and we can use him as a closer in games where we want to go more defensive. i think its unlikely that we'd get more than £10m for him, so we might as well keep him

That's also down to wether Coquelin would like to be on the bench in his prime years.

Me neither. I also don't think we should bother with another central mid, provided we actually do sign Xhaka which is far from certain. Focus on a striker, winger and CB instead.

We're not in for Kante.

Xkaha and then a CF.

You spoke to Wenger again, have you? 🙂

He whatapp'd me earlier and told me.

I don't think we're after Kante either and frankly I wouldn't want him if we signed Xhaka.

Xhaka, Ramsey, Wilshere, Elneny, Santi and Coq is a very solid pool of midfielders to choose from in my opinion.

Rex wrote:

Me neither. I also don't think we should bother with another central mid, provided we actually do sign Xhaka which is far from certain. Focus on a striker, winger and CB instead.

Yeah and in that order too.

My main fear is that because of our large pool of centre mids Wenger will earmark a few of those (from Aaron, Jack and Santi) to play wide. I'd probably be ok with that if we signed a really top class centre forward but that seems unlikely at this time.

I don't think Kanté is necessarily better than Coquelin, they are very different in how they interpret their roles. Coquelin has had a stop start season but has had some very good performances in 2015, I don't think Kanté with his playing style would've done as well here.

Wouldn't the natural comparison be with Ramsey anyway? Who could quite easily fetch upwards of £35m, while Kante's release clause is said to be 15m less. Would Ramsey really give us proportionally better performances than Kante, if at all?

The transfer window is awful business it's all smoke and daggers. Agents have to drum up interest by convincing clubs that their club is the players preferred destination and a lot of the time it's to get a different move or better wages.

Kante is defiantly an option if the xhaka deal falls through

It's going to be melt down when man city or united sign xhaka. This just doesn't fit with Wenger, has Been discussed in advance as if our interest will get the other bidder going up.

looking like this is a done deal. can't say i'm disappointed, he ticks most of the boxes for what i've wanted from an arteta upgrade.

Talk that the fee will be agreed today

Excited about this one. He's physically strong. I noticed he can carry the ball well too. Covers ground well and doesn't get shrugged off the ball

Huh, if he makes the passes shown in the video regularly, even Theo might become a good player again.

Some of those passes are cray.