If Edu and Kia ever make this come true you'll find Klaus with a stroke under the coffee table

Me with a broken hand and a smashed coffee table next to it mind. Fuck Coutimgo

Absolutely hilarious that Barcelona paid €160m and gave this guy close to €400k a week. They deserve everything that's happened to them since.

Let Newcastle have him.

He has barely looked a footballer this season when played.

Who we go for next in midfield is as interesting as the striker option. There seem to be an abundance of players out there who we can go for:-

De Jong - elite talent costs mega bucks
Neves - Prem proven, previously linked, good passer
Bruno G - similar in style to Neves but perhaps a bit more suited to dominating possession
Renato Sanches - more dynamic midfielder with huge talent but concerns over previous form
Tyler Adams - really dynamic player who is very versatile
Aouar - clearly liked by our management team perhaps one to get at a bargain price and revive his career
Kessie - powerful yet skilled - free agent in the summer but unfortunately looks like going to Spurs
Svanberg - my preference - seems a great all rounder
Ceballos - you never know!
Plus others I can’t recall!

Tchouameni is my first choice, but pretty unlikely since all the big clubs are after him. Failing that, Bellingham or Graveberg or Renato Sanches if he is over his injury issues.

Arthur is a very good player but Arteta can't handle his discipline. De Jong is probably another league from us and won't fancy dropping levels to join us. Caqueret is never linked with us but I like him more than Aouar or Bruno G.

Last intersting option will be Kamara on a free transfer.

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

Who we go for next in midfield is as interesting as the striker option. There seem to be an abundance of players out there who we can go for:-

De Jong - elite talent costs mega bucks
Neves - Prem proven, previously linked, good passer
Bruno G - similar in style to Neves but perhaps a bit more suited to dominating possession
Renato Sanches - more dynamic midfielder with huge talent but concerns over previous form
Tyler Adams - really dynamic player who is very versatile
Aouar - clearly liked by our management team perhaps one to get at a bargain price and revive his career
Kessie - powerful yet skilled - free agent in the summer but unfortunately looks like going to Spurs
Svanberg - my preference - seems a great all rounder
Ceballos - you never know!
Plus others I can’t recall!

Kamara on a free would be a cracking deal.

I would take Aouar in a cut price deal, is versatile and could improve here.

Personally De Jong, would be sensational, and his passing would bring us up a level or two. Especially as teams here leave gaps to exploit, he would be really impactful.

Arthur would help us retain possession better than we currently do, but I wonder how he would adapt to the pace of the league. Likely he would take up to a season and half to get used to it.

Guimaraes is a player I really wanted to sign in the summer. His intensity is fantastic, and has good technique and passing.

The one player who I would go all out for, is Kalvin Phillips. His intensity is something you cannot teach, you are born with it. He covers every blade of grass, and his tackling is immense. I think with him pressing in midfield, you could let the handbrake go. In front of Saliba/Gabriel/White and the Tomiyasu and Tierney as full backs, Phillips would really add to the compete level of the team. His passing is decent as well. 

The only thing is, you will still need to buy a tempo setter for variation.

Clrnc wrote:

Tchouameni is my first choice, but pretty unlikely since all the big clubs are after him. Failing that, Bellingham or Graveberg or Renato Sanches if he is over his injury issues.

I think Lokonga is a factor in this. If you rate the kid and think he can become a top class player then signing someone of a similar age and profile is not going to work. For that reason, you've got discount Tchouameni.

Bellingham is a totally different type of player. I would suggest he's much more of an attacking midfielder - more of a more technically sound Joe Willock - than a holding midfielder or even a two way midfielder.

Clrnc wrote:

Arthur is a very good player but Arteta can't handle his discipline.

You say like it's a bad thing or an Arteta problem! 😆 Why would you even want us to sign a guy that is pissing away his career because he likes to party? I love that we fans can't even consider his signing because Arteta and Arsenal won't tolerate that shit. That's a good thing.

Clrnc wrote:

De Jong is probably another league from us and won't fancy dropping levels to join us. .

I wonder if it's actually possible? Can you imagine!

Ricky1985 wrote:
Clrnc wrote:

Tchouameni is my first choice, but pretty unlikely since all the big clubs are after him. Failing that, Bellingham or Graveberg or Renato Sanches if he is over his injury issues.

I think Lokonga is a factor in this. If you rate the kid and think he can become a top class player then signing someone of a similar age and profile is not going to work. For that reason, you've got discount Tchouameni.

Don't forget Patino and maybe Azeez coming through in the next couple of years. We should be going for someone in their prime (De Jong?/Sanches) to get the balance of that midfield right.

I mean sure, but if Tschouameni is already as good as Sanches it definitely shouldn't count against him that he's younger.

Maybe but Very few central midfielders are ready at 21. Look at Ndombele, heavily hyped but has struggled after his big move. Soumare wasn't hyped up quite so much but has still really underwhelmed.

Hell look and Sanches and De Jong and their early struggles after impressing in their comfort zones. Even now both would pose a bit of a risk but the chances of them making the necessary step up now are much higher than before.

Point is you don't really want a midfield that's completely wet behind the ears, especially in a team that's already very young.

Ricky1985 wrote:
Clrnc wrote:

Tchouameni is my first choice, but pretty unlikely since all the big clubs are after him. Failing that, Bellingham or Graveberg or Renato Sanches if he is over his injury issues.

I think Lokonga is a factor in this. If you rate the kid and think he can become a top class player then signing someone of a similar age and profile is not going to work. For that reason, you've got discount Tchouameni.

Bellingham is a totally different type of player. I would suggest he's much more of an attacking midfielder - more of a more technically sound Joe Willock - than a holding midfielder or even a two way midfielder.

Bellingham is a classic two way midfielder, he's added a lot more end product to his game but he's no more an attacking midfielder than Ramsey was, I'd even argue he's already a bit more disciplined than the latter. When Dortmund play with a two man midfield he's in it, even when they play 433 he's not the most advanced midfielder.

On topic De Jong would be a perfect fit and dream signing, exactly the type of player you want in place of Xhaka. Always the first one to drop deep and carry the ball forward, his burst of pace and playing style are much more suited to England - where you have less time on the ball but more space to exploit - than to Spain anyway. He also said a couple of times that he wanted to follow Overmars' career path, now that he's seen Barca at their lowest we could even keep him for a minute if we play it right. Would be some statement if we pulled it off

I remember the links now to Arsenal because of that Overmars thing. If we could pull that off...

I'm not sure how much I see in Bellingham outside the goals? And you mention Ramsey, but for a good chunk of his career he basically played as a second striker and was a bit of a liability defensively when tried deeper. I reckon at the top level, Bellingham might be similar, but I need to see a more of him.

I was talking more about the Ramsey up until around 2016. You're right that he abandoned his defensive duties more and more once he got a knack of scoring in 2013 but until later in his career he was always played as a CM.

Bellingham has added goals to his game but so far is not a defensive liability (or at least not more than every other Dortmund player). Early days especially for English players who start to shine very young and burn out early but so far he's the biggest English midfield talent for me ahead of Foden, wasn't all that convinced when he moved but you can see the improvement every weekend.

Throw our transfer kitty at De Jong , get it done .

Don’t even want to consider the possibility of a de Jong. That’s the missing piece to the midfield puzzle. Profile, style and all.

One can dream.

Looks like atleast three Bundesliga starters will be available for free in Summer.

Zakaria and Ginter from Mochengladbach, Sule from Bayern.

Jones/Kurt Eisner, do you reckon any of them will be useful pickups ?

Don't know why anyone asks jones' opinion on anything. He made us sign Ceballos. The player real madrid and Barcelona had been fighting to sign since he was 3 years old...

GooneriC wrote:

Throw our transfer kitty at De Jong , get it done .

I'm not sure the transfer fee would be the biggest hurdle to that deal. If Arteta/Edu can convince him to come here, they are bona fide Svengalis.