• The Houseboat

  • Other clubs transfer thread Summer 2017 ( Barcelona sign Dembele)

This has been the most active thread this summer.

Claudius wrote:
Klaus wrote:

Only Arsenal can finish 5th and then go on and have a worse transfer window than all the other clubs in the top 6.

nothing can explain what has transpired this summer 

Don't worry, Wenger will reveal this in his book afterwards.

Herbas wrote:
Claudius wrote:

nothing can explain what has transpired this summer 

Don't worry, Wenger will reveal this in his book afterwards.

Want him to explain our banter era teams

I don't know what's saddest, that we fielded that team or that we aren't doing any better now.

What a horrible, horrible team.

As horrible as that team is and as much as I like a good Wenger bashing every now and again, surely that lineup is from a 6th matchday when we were already qualified.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

I don't know what's saddest, that we fielded that team or that we aren't doing any better now.

At least that squad got 4th 😆

Coombs wrote:

No, the club is operated at a smaller scale than it has to be. Bit different.

Can you elaborate a little? 

Simples! We are one of the richest clubs in the world, but nothing we do reflects that.

It's all relative. We are rich, yes, but now lag further than ever behind the richest clubs.

It's not all about the money, but rather how we use our resources well. We can't compete with City, United, the Spanish clubs, PSG and Bayern but we are clearly at Juve level. They have reached 2 European finals and signed players turned into superstars while after 4 years we are still trying to clear out dross. We have a nett spend as much as Chelsea in recent years but they have won more than us. Others are simply smarter and have more ambitions when they spend.

Of course, it also helps to have a manager who knows what he is doing. Spurs and Liverpool have far lesser resources as compared to us, but have been doing better on the pitch with what they have.

Qwiss! wrote:
@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

Begins with W...

Harsh. Even I don't blame Welbeck for everything.

Bud dum pisssh!

Ibrahimovic rejoins United on a 1-year deal.

Klaus wrote:

Ibrahimovic rejoins United on a 1-year deal.

You've got to be kidding.

🙁

Smart purchasing from United. They have a squad to compete for the title.

Eugh... That's pretty decent backup.

Honestly, he's no Olivier Giroud.

Good player, but Barca saw their asses in their desperation. Can't we give them Ox?

I've only really seen him in the games against Monaco and England but as talented as he may be he seemed like he was far from being a sure thing to me. Stinks of desperation.

Dembele is a better signing for Barcelona than Coutinho. Higher ceiling as well. 150m euros a tad pricey though.

They had money, and desperate need to get a starting forward. So they went all in on the boy. They overpaid if you think about his talent relative to Neymar, but the alternative is to go into the season with an undermanned squad. They're not Arsenal.

That's a bad deal no matter what way you look at it. They've essentially traded Neymar for Dembele plus £50m. If that was an offer made to Barcelona at the start of the summer by Dortmund (assuming Neymar was desperate to go there) they would have laughed it off. Obviously the change in circumstances need to considered but even then it looks like a bad deal. Even worse when you consider that a large chunk of that £50m went towards mother fucking Paulinho. Barca have stuffed up big time. Liverpool will come to regret no cashing in on Barcelona's stupidity.

This market is insane. Football is so dead to me, never felt so disconnected before. The only reason I even watch Arsenal is to see Özil do some tricks.

You don't get annoyed when we concede or do something stupid or excited when we score or do something brilliant?

Football is shit these days. You might as well just watch someone playing FIFA on the Xbox

Dembele has joined barca, 105m Euros + 42m addons.

Have only seen Dembele play a few times, but every time he's looked bang average. But, he'll look ok in that Barca side. Most players would.

Tambourine Man wrote:

That's a bad deal no matter what way you look at it. They've essentially traded Neymar for Dembele plus £50m. If that was an offer made to Barcelona at the start of the summer by Dortmund (assuming Neymar was desperate to go there) they would have laughed it off. Obviously the change in  circumstances need to considered but even then it looks like a bad deal. Even worse when you consider that a large chunk of that £50m went towards mother fucking Paulinho. Barca have stuffed up big time. Liverpool will come to regret no cashing in on Barcelona's stupidity.

It's unreal how much they've degraded their squad with that donkey.
Dembele will have to tighten up his dribbling as he will be needed to replicate Neymar's transitioning of the ball from the back.
His leg work allowed Messi/Suarez to receive the ball closer to goal and it made up for the loss of Xavi-Iniesta build-up play.

More and more news coming out about this.

Think Barca will be better for it, Dembele really is a rare talent.

Bryant wrote:

More and more news coming out about this.

'kin ell!
Who next?
CRonaldo followed by Messi?

e: this keeper?

Kel Varnsen wrote:

Have only seen Dembele play a few times, but every time he's looked bang average. But, he'll look ok in that Barca side. Most players would.

Really? Better players than Dembele have struggled to fit into Barcelona's system.

Granted their no where near the level they were when Xavi and Iniesta were around but I find Barcelona can make attacking players - like Fabregas or Ibrahamovic look worse than they really are.

Isn't Dembele the same player type as Neymar though? Far inferior of course, but at least he should fit in.

Although he hasn't got the pure skill or goals, he has many of the ingredients to replicate what Neymar brought.
It still leaves Barca far behind Real who are, by a long way, the best team in Europe.
Another advantage is his game doesn't encroach into Messi/Suarez area as much as Neymar's whose natural inclination is to go for goal.

He's a bit of a playmaker and a goalscorer - basically the new breed of (wing) forwards that dominate world football at the moment. He reminds me a bit of Alexis in that he can be both exciting and frustrating at the same time. I think he'll be a hit at Barca. Still developing though , so a dip in form like he had in the 2nd half of last season can he expected.

Had the Barca board not been useless, they'd have used this opportunity to restructure their squad (add more quality in midfield and defence) and they could have ended up with a much better team than  they had last season.

[size=large] Neymar is a rare talent but he only had one top class (consistent) season at Barca IMO.[/size]

He's ridiculously two footed and quick footed too.