HOUSEBOAT - Warning: tenuous links ahead!: Page 222 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

HOUSEBOAT - Warning: tenuous links ahead!

Ricky1985

If we get Mbappé... would be a joy to watch next season.

(I can't help but think we have a chance! )

lorddulaarsenal

It's the type of signing that would reinvigorate the place

Big Willie

Now that's a rumour I can get behind. Don't have too much hope but my word that would be amazing. Might even make me reconsider wanting Wenger gone immediately.

Ricky1985

And I reckon Gazidis knows that and he also knows he really needs the fans back on side. That's why I'm sure we'll go for him but whether we can convince him to come here over the 5 other clubs that also go for him is doubtful.

Monaco have confirmed he has a release clause though, didn't say how much, but if we're willing to cough up the money we'll get the chance to talk to him come what may.

Big Willie

Apparently release clauses in France are illegal and can not be enforced. I guess we'll see. We need to throw everything we have on this kid.

Irishgunner

Pires confirming on the sly that Arsène is staying 😆

Mbappé's the kind of signing that would make everyone stop moaning about Wenger, I could see the board going for it.

Ray

Could be a decade defining signing if pulled off.

Qwiss

😆 The desperation is strong, no way are signing Mbappe.

Anzac

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:
It's the type of signing that would reinvigorate the place

It'll take something of that magnitude to compensate for Sanchez departing and AW staying on.

Even then I'd not want him at CF because IMO atm he's best as SS/#10 behind a mobile CF - just like Sanchez.
This may change as his game matures but even if it doesn't he can still be as big a goal threat as Dybala is for Juve.

Anzac

Qwiss! wrote:
😆 The desperation is strong, no way are signing Mbappe.

I'd also suggest that there is no way that AW will get the best out of him unless Jardim has ensured that his development has been balanced.
I'm concerned that AW would end up doing as he has done with Rambo, Wilshere, Walcott & Ox = one dimensional jacks of all trades without a defined role or position.

Klaus

Like he did with Thierry Henry? I wouldn't worry. If there's one thing Wenger knows it's how to develop a good striker.

Wenger's problem has never been that he can't develop a player. I think he's done a pretty good job with Walcott too who's the embodiment of a one-note footballer. All he knew when he arrived was to run, which he can't even do to great effect anymore. Wenger actually turned him into a footballer while someone like Allardyce would have stuck him up front and have him run at long balls all day.

BWoolley

Wenger's player development skills are massively overrated, at least in the last 5 years. Look at all the players who have regressed at Arsenal- Szczesny, Ramsey, Wilshere, Chambers, Oxlade-Chamberlain and most recently, Xhaka. For every Walcott and Song, there are enough examples of talents who have regressed under Wenger.

Ray

My only reservation about signing Mbappe would be that Wenger could ruin his potential to be a Ronaldo level talent.

Klaus

Ramsey, Wilshere and Chamberlain have been i jured massively. The test were never that good to begin with.

goon

Player development is mostly just about giving players playing time in their best position in a system that suits them, there's no magic formula.

BWoolley

Nah - that's just the easy out. Ramsey's flaws are way deeper than his injuries. Wilshere is repeatedly injured in part precisely because Wenger hasn't been able to iron out his game. Wenger hasn't developed a player properly since Fabregas and there's nothing to suggest that a talent like that wouldn't have made it anyway.

Qwiss

Maybe Fabregas would be far worse if Wenger hadn't developed him? He's never been as good as when he played here so there is certainly something about what Wenger did for him.

BWoolley

Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. But that's certainly nowhere close enough to suggest that Wenger is far superior to other managers in developing youth talent. That's all my point.

Klaus

There's a truckload of evidence to be honest. The number of great players who credit him with their careers range from George Weah and Liliam Thuram to Thierry Henry. What's happened in the last 6-8 years is that he had lesser talents to work with, that's all. Wenger himself is partly to blame for that, so he gets no sympathy for sticking with halfwits. Said halfwits are still better footballers today than they would have been under most managers though.

Klaus

Qwiss! wrote:
Maybe Fabregas would be far worse if Wenger hadn't developed him? He's never been as good as when he played here so there is certainly something about what Wenger did for him.

I always thought that Cesc progressed naturally into that role too. It's not like Wenger decided to suddenly rewrite his game. Cesc was awful as a central midfielder in 2008, contrary to popular myth. Flamini was that season's Coquelin, a workhorse who could run for two, and when he got injured Cesc was disrobed as the lazy git he is. Pep wanted to use him in midfield at Barcelona but soon realised that he couldn't do it. You just can't teach someone who doesn't have lungs to run and cover spaces. He ended up in the same role he had at Arsenal and wrecked their system. Even at Chelsea under Mourinho they had to employ both Mikel and Matic to cover for Cesc's deficiencies.

I think this is one of those things that Arsenal fans like to remember in a different light, because Cesc was the only good thing about the team for the longest time. He was never a great midfielder though. He broke through in a team full of living legends and failed to step up to the plate when it was his turn. Most great things he did for us he did as a #10.

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