HOUSEBOAT - Warning: tenuous links ahead!: Page 231 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

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Klaus

Then again people are complaining that we couldn't locate Mbappe before he broke through, that we couldn't pull the trigger on Griezmann early, and so forth. Each signing has to be evaluated on its own merits. The problem isn't that we're signing youngsters; it's that they're mostly useless. This guy doesn't look crap to me though.

Ricky1985

The problem is that we consistently sign young players that turn out to not be very good or that we can't get a deal done for the ones that do turn out to be good.

Based on almost nothing, this kid looks a bit underwhelming to me. And having seen the list of other clubs that are reportedly in for him, I'm just more underwhelmed.

But, as you say, I'd much rather we take a punt than we don't. Hopefully we sign him and he's fantastic.

Gazza M

it's also about filling in gaps in the squad. there isn't a powerful dribbler in our team that beats players and they 'stay beat'. alexis is ok in short bursts but after that he tends to get reeled in and jostled by defenders. oxlade is primarily push and go. this guy looks like a natural dribbler

Anzac

Diaby KungFu wrote:
Gazza M wrote:
looks iike a raw mane. doesnt actually seem to play centre forward either

He plays left wing. Which makes all the shouts that this 19 year old left winger who finished as the league's top scorer playing for a mid-table team is a poor finisher based off of a 10 minute highlight clip all the more bizarre to me.

IMO he looks like the sort of player needed against teams that sit deep and compact - someone to beat the defence on the ball rather than looking to pass.
That said I wonder how long it will take AW to coach that out of him.

TambourineMan

Ricky1985 wrote:
The problem is that we consistently sign young players that turn out to not be very good or that we can't get a deal done for the ones that do turn out to be good.

Based on almost nothing, this kid looks a bit underwhelming to me. And having seen the list of other clubs that are reportedly in for him, I'm just more underwhelmed.

But, as you say, I'd much rather we take a punt than we don't. Hopefully we sign him and he's fantastic.

That is exactly it. Apart from Holding all our recent youth signing have been shit.

Also, no one is expecting Wenger to pick up Mbappe, Griezmann, Dembele before they surface but to move on them before they make a move to the second tier club and then be out of reach (Atletico, Dortmund etc). In Mbappe's case he'll probably skip tier 2 entirely and end up in a tier 1 club and we can't blame Wenger for missing out. We can however blame him for not moving on Griezmann before he went to Atletico, Dembele before he moved to Dortmund etc. Those are the profile of young players we need to be pursuing, not a 19 year old from the Belgian league no one of note wants.

Gazza M

Klaus wrote:
Then again people are complaining that we couldn't locate Mbappe before he broke through, that we couldn't pull the trigger on Griezmann early, and so forth. Each signing has to be evaluated on its own merits. The problem isn't that we're signing youngsters; it's that they're mostly useless. This guy doesn't look crap to me though.

it's also comes down to what we do with them once they're here. are we giving them a platform to grow or putting them into a low-expectation environment that stagnates them? there's also question marks over how we've handled injuries to developing players

@ tambourine man - sometimes there are circumstances where the timing doesn't work. for example, we chose sanchez over griezmann in 2014, and i'm sure if iwobi hadn't broken through we'd have been in for dembele. what isn't forgivable is loading up on filler like welbeck who block up key positions in the squad and make wenger passive about making improvements in those areas

TambourineMan

Gazza M wrote:
Klaus wrote:
Then again people are complaining that we couldn't locate Mbappe before he broke through, that we couldn't pull the trigger on Griezmann early, and so forth. Each signing has to be evaluated on its own merits. The problem isn't that we're signing youngsters; it's that they're mostly useless. This guy doesn't look crap to me though.

it's also comes down to what we do with them once they're here. are we giving them a platform to grow or putting them into a low-expectation environment that stagnates them? there's also question marks over how we've handled injuries to developing players

@ tambourine man - sometimes there are circumstances where the timing doesn't work. for example, we chose sanchez over griezmann in 2014, and i'm sure if iwobi hadn't broken through we'd have been in for dembele. what isn't forgivable is loading up on filler like welbeck who block up key positions in the squad and make wenger passive about making improvements in those areas

I get what you're saying but there is no reason we couldn't have picked both players up that summer. Sanchez played mostly on the left for us that season and we were woefully short up front and tracking a number of strikers if I remember correctly although granted Griezmann was mostly a winger then. Also, we can't be protecting our young players in that way. Iwobi is a great talent but we can't ignore better talent when it's out there. City's signing of Gabriel Jesus being the case in point, they had Iheanacho already but still still pick a superior talent up in the same position. If the roles were reversed, we would have stuck with Iheanacho and watched Jesus move out of reach at a different club.

Now assuming this move goes trough and this Nigerian kid we sign shows some promise we'll sit back and let better talents go by as we aim to "protect" him. The club has been doing it wrong for ages and have not changed their strategy. That's what baffles me. This summer will be like all others and next season like the last 10 or so. We can't do the same things over and over again hoping for a different outcome each time.

Anzac

My recollection was that going into the WC all the talk was linking us with Insigne, and then Griezmann after Insigne was injured.
I didn't think Sanchez came on the market until after Griezmann said he wanted to stay in La Liga and signed for Athletico.

Anzac

'Linked' with Hulk.

http://dailycannon.com/2017/05/hulk-says-he-likes-arsenal-now-hes-replacing-alexis-sanchez/

Bold Tone

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/10889179/arsenal-in-talks-to-sign-henry-onyekuru-from-belgian-side-kas-eupen
"Lots of clubs in for Onyekuru but Arsenal 1st choice: Everton, Southampton, WBA, Swansea, West Ham, Anderlecht, Brugge, Borussia Dortmund."

Oh wow!
I have to adjust my brain to Europa-level players.

Gazza M

Tambourine Man wrote:
Gazza M wrote:
it's also comes down to what we do with them once they're here. are we giving them a platform to grow or putting them into a low-expectation environment that stagnates them? there's also question marks over how we've handled injuries to developing players

@ tambourine man - sometimes there are circumstances where the timing doesn't work. for example, we chose sanchez over griezmann in 2014, and i'm sure if iwobi hadn't broken through we'd have been in for dembele. what isn't forgivable is loading up on filler like welbeck who block up key positions in the squad and make wenger passive about making improvements in those areas

I get what you're saying but there is no reason we couldn't have picked both players up that summer. Sanchez played mostly on the left for us that season and we were woefully short up front and tracking a number of strikers if I remember correctly although granted Griezmann was mostly a winger then. Also, we can't be protecting our young players in that way. Iwobi is a great talent but we can't ignore better talent when it's out there. City's signing of Gabriel Jesus being the case in point, they had Iheanacho already but still still pick a superior talent up in the same position. If the roles were reversed, we would have stuck with Iheanacho and watched Jesus move out of reach at a different club.

Now assuming this move goes trough and this Nigerian kid we sign shows some promise we'll sit back and let better talents go by as we aim to "protect" him. The club has been doing it wrong for ages and have not changed their strategy. That's what baffles me. This summer will be like all others and next season like the last 10 or so. We can't do the same things over and over again hoping for a different outcome each time.

totally agree. we should've been consistently hoovering up promising young strikers in the last few years, since the market for established strikers had somewhat frozen up

Claudius

We had Walcott. Who needs Jesus?

Qwiss

Bold Tone wrote:
I have to adjust my brain to Europa-level players.

Well we've got Sanogo and Welbeck at the moment so Europa level players might be a step up.

speedy

Mbappe might have come here last season if we were in the Europa. We couldn't guarantee youngsters games. Now we can so its a great option that henry kid looks decent in his decision making.

Anzac

speedy wrote:
Mbappe might have come here last season if we were in the Europa. We couldn't guarantee youngsters games. Now we can so its a great option that henry kid looks decent in his decision making.

Agree - Golden opportunity to put together a young vibrant team as seen at Monaco.

Claudius

Anzac wrote:
speedy wrote:
Mbappe might have come here last season if we were in the Europa. We couldn't guarantee youngsters games. Now we can so its a great option that henry kid looks decent in his decision making.

Agree - Golden opportunity to put together a young vibrant team as seen at Monaco.

Sean Spicer much?
There is no golden opportunity. We are going down. Only nice thing about Europa is not getting spanked by big boys

est

Claudius wrote:
There is no golden opportunity. We are going down.

😆

Love the optimism, Claude!

speedy

The negatives are obvious, but it doesn't mean their arent any positives.

Tam

Claudius wrote:
Anzac wrote:
Agree - Golden opportunity to put together a young vibrant team as seen at Monaco.

Sean Spicer much?
There is no golden opportunity. We are going down. Only nice thing about Europa is not getting spanked by big boys

It's going to be even worse when we rest a few and get spanked by the little boys instead.

Clrnc

Never heard of that Henry lad but from the clips he looks good.

These are the kind of signings we need to make tons of per season. We can loan them out if need be.

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