Clrnc wrote:
Captain wrote:

I said ages ago that their stated strategy is to accept any good offer.

I wasn't bluffing; it's just a matter of survival for them. They are a small, poorly supported provincial team, without a proper sugar daddy, in an unattractive, non cash rich league.

They are well funded from their mega sales past few seasons, as well as properly bankrolled by their Russian Billionaires.

But their policy has been to sell if the players want to leave, as long as you pay up. Wenger is desperate, so he will pay up no problems.

I may be remembering incorrectly but didn't he basically pull all funding after getting screwed over in a divorce?

Yet, I think it went down as the most expensive divorce settlement in history 😆

Though he's still rich. More likely it was the settlement agreement they reached with UEFA with regards to FFP that triggered the change in model.

They've specifically said they're taking the emotion out of transfers and thinking strategically. This is a club which has limited income from other means so if they get big offers and the players want to go they'll most likely take it unless they think they can get more out of them in future, and re-invest it back into a new crop of young players (like Tielemans) who they can cash in on in a year or two.

Ironically it's probably a model that will work for them on the pitch as the best young talents will look at the club as a great spring board.

Coombs wrote:

So Monaco will only sell two of their decent players in Silva and Bakayoko? Give me a break. Martial wasn't for sale either, remember?

As the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase once said, everyone's got a price.

Claudius wrote:

Put in a proper offer. Give them £10m more and an option for more if he hits 20 French caps or top 30 in the world player of the year. His stats are nuts for a 21 year old

Define proper offer?

I saw that but what makes that offer proper in comparison to the one we put in before? More often than not the club will always reject the first offer anyway

Yeah, I agree with Jazz. What is a proper offer and how do you calculate it, as a fan?

dreamlord wrote:

Yeah, I agree with Jazz. What is a proper offer and how do you calculate it, as a fan?

1 - an actual offer being tabled (as opposed to discussed)

2 - market value in regards to the circumstances re age, club & international status, any other criteria such as HG compliant

3 - Need to buy v need to sell 

4 - player's appetite to leave / join

5 - player's potential for improvement / decline over the duration of the initial contract

6 - impacts in regards to fee & wages v marketing, amortisation

7 - likely level of club competition currently v during initial contract period

Really hope we get this guy rather than Mahrez.

I'm much prefer the lemur, such an lovely player to watch I can see Wenger moving him inside to replace ozil if he leaves.

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

Yeah sign both. Ship out Lucas and Theo

TBH I'd rather keep Lucas as cover for Lacazette than any of Giroud, Walcott & Welbeck so long as HG is not an issue.

Lucas and Welbeck. That's 35m pounds. Would've been enough to buy Lacazette a year or two ago. And then this year we would put the Lacazette money into someone else. It's reckless use of club resources by Wenger, Gazidis and Law. We should claw back the waste from their salaries and Kroenke's board fees.

We missed the opportunity to rebuild BIG when we had our new deals and Cash Reserves before the new TC revenues came in = 2 summers ago.
IMO the club has actually been quite wasteful with it's money re wages, transfers, amortisation & missed opportunities.

Mirror saying that Monaco are asking for £80m for him, which means they are open to selling him and just need to agree on a price. That price won't be £80m either!

i suspect this will be another "we almost signed him" two years from now when hes at real madrid

There are some articles claiming that Lemar wants to play for AW next season.
If so then tell him to make a transfer request if Monaco keep playing hard ball.
If Monaco refuse to do business for anything under 50m then sign the alternative iif we haven't done so already.

one of the big things i like about lemar over mahrez is his workrate. if we play with this line-up

lemar-laca-alexis
--------ozil

that's a hard-working front 3 that can press high, and can also tuck in and help the midfield. it'd be worth the extra 15-20m that mahrez would cost

mdgoonah41 wrote:

i suspect this will be another "we almost signed him" two years from now when hes at real madrid

Maybe so but in this case and Mbappe we look to be going all out to buy the player. If despite that Monaco don't sell then there isn't much you can do about it.

In the past we have dithered and then let players slip past us, that I find frustrating. When you try to sign someone and can't get it done that's easier to take.

JazzG wrote:
mdgoonah41 wrote:

i suspect this will be another "we almost signed him" two years from now when hes at real madrid

Maybe so but in this case and Mbappe we look to be going all out to buy the player. If despite that Monaco don't sell then there isn't much you can do about it.

In the past we have dithered and then let players slip past us, that I find frustrating. When you try to sign someone and can't get it done that's easier to take.

I agree. I don't expect this to happen but clearly Wenger has done all he can to sign him this summer. The fact we have managed to get Laca at the same time is positive too as in other summers we'd have only moved onto that deal once this one was dead.

I think we can sign Lemar if we really go for it. I doubt Monaco would turn down 60m for example. I personally haven't seen anything to suggest he's worth that sort of money, but if Wenger really thinks he's going to be the shitz then we may as well go for it as we don't have much else to spend on this summer anyway with Mbappe looking dead. After player sales our net spend will probably end up being pretty small, relatively speaking.

goon wrote:

After player sales our net spend will probably end up being pretty small, relatively speaking.

After what player sales?

There will be plenty.

Meanwhile...

these repeated bids would suggest we've been encouraged by lemars reps. i do wonder if the monaco guys are just leveraging all these clubs interest into monaco giving them bigger contracts

reckon monaco will crack at around 50-55m. we'll see how much wenger wants him

As well as talking about our new €45m bid  for Lemar, tomorrow's L'Equipe also says that a few Monaco players: Lemar, Sidibe, Glik and Fabinho specifically, are unhappy at being kept at the club in the face of offers from other clubs in order to keep Mbappé happy.

Monaco's sporting director, Antonio Cordon, has also asked to leave and is going off to do that same job for AC Milan.

[Twitter]

Either they're going to shut up shop and keep everyone or one of those four players will push hard to leave and the whole thing will come crashing down.

You'd have to think this all plays well for us.

Would hate to be a Monaco fan right about now.

Yeah all 23 of their supporters must be shitting bricks right now.

I'm surprised they don't have more glory hunters.

flobaba wrote:

Would hate to be a Monaco fan right about now.

They must be feeling utterly dejected lying there on their super yachts.

We get this guy and I'm like #donesummertransfers

He's a left winger who works hard though, he could definitely perform on the left flank in our 343.

Lemar's no less defensively capable than Oxlade-Chamberlain, although a lot smaller and weaker in fairness.

Whether or not he could play the position Chamberlain played in the FA Cup final would depend on exactly what Wenger wants to do with those positions. If he sees it as just a slightly more advanced version of a fullback then Lemar would get crucified, on the other hand, if Wenger thinks can get away with players that act more as wide midfielders with a high work rate and still stay defensively stable then Lemar would be a very good choice, in my opinion.

Based on the admittedly little I've seen he would do much better in the Sanchez/Özil role in our current formation. Lemar, Sanchez, Özil and Lacazette would never be fit at the same time anyway, so it's not like that's a problem.

Don't need to be worrying ourselves about a problem that will never happen as those 4 will never be at Arsenal at the same time.