That paper is very reliable.

My uncle used to be a photographer there...

Reliable for bvb anyway.

Big Willie wrote:

According to Ruhrnachrichten, talks are still being held and that the deal has not been called off. Dunno how reliable they are personally but people seem to be suggesting that they are to Dortmund what Ornstein is to Arsenal and that they can be trusted.

https://www.ruhrnachrichten.de/Sport/BVB/Wenger-bezeichnet-Auba-Wechsel-als-weit-entfernt-1250174.html

Jones, please confirm that the content of the story is as claimed and whether they are reliable or not.

The paper is generally reliable but I think that article is from the German press agency ie not their own article. Technically you're right that it states the deal hasn't been called off but it quotes Wenger as being pessimistic and that an agreement is "far from being close". Not too hopeful tone overall but then again we were in a similar situation with Mustafi not too long ago where we kept negotiating for about a month or so before signing him. Complete toss up right now I'd say

Argh. Was hoping it was a bit more positive than that.

Thanks for the summary mate.

What a shambles if we mess this up.

On a scale of 1-10 how much self-awareness does Gazids actually have? Surely he knows he cannot come back empty handed or there will be outrage.

In a negotiation you have to show you are willing to walk away from the deal.

We're one step away from saying no deal is better than a bad deal.

Which is sensible. But you infer too much.

Think this one will go right to the wire, both clubs obviously looking to get the best deal for their club. A lot of the noise in the media is coming from Dortmund which suggests they want to get a deal done.

Just hope we don't decided to be smart arses and fuck things up.

Starts for Dortmund today.

Embarrassing. Heads must roll.

Doesn't mean that much. Nasri played for us v Liverpool two days before we sold him to City

No deal. This is another failure.

People getting carried away here, just because he starts doesn't mean they won't sell him. This is Dortmund's attempt to show they will sell at their terms, not ours.

Just seen this on Twitter

So basically like I said, them laying their marker down. It is up to us now to either match it or come to an amicable agreement.

This smells like transfer deadline day drama.

We're probably waiting to pull this off right at the end so it feels like a giant win for the fans, and diverts attention away from the circumstances in which we lost Sanchez.

For me losing Alexis and signing Auba + Mkhi improves our general play and our attack significantly. Finally could play with pace up top because a big reason we have to play to the feet of the strikers is we don't have pace in behind.

He's probably the best striker we could look to sign when you consider our current circumstances. Even if he only gives us 2 or 3 top seasons it will buy us time to find someone else.

It's a clever ploy by Dortmund, they know our fans are on edge after losing Alexis to Man Utd and the club need to respond. They have directly called us out and now it is up to us to respond. What they don't realise is the club have let the club down nearly every season for 15 years now and probably won't hesitate to do it again.....

We will buckle and present an increased offer on deadline day. Dortmund will scurry around but it will be too late for a replacement and the deal will not go through. We will say we ready to pay what was needed.

Meh. If Dortmund insist on 65m then leave them in their messy situation. No way he's worth that considering his age and his unwillingness to stay.

Would rather spend the money on a new GK and a new top class midfielder.

Closely following a football club is often very neat.

Other times it feels like you are in an abusive relationship.

Lately Arsenal have really gone all in with the latter.

Spot on Segway. Good news is they just now barely clawed a point in injury time at home to fucking Freiburg, can't be good for team morale

We should do another offer 45m + Welbeck just to fuck with them

Segway wrote:

Would rather spend the money on a new GK and a new top class midfielder.

I'd much rather a goal scorer.

We are talking about a manager who refused to cough out another 1.8m to get Arshavin over the line. In the end his own agent made up the difference from his own pockets to Zenit.

This deal is really in danger now.

Clrnc wrote:

We are talking about a manager who refused to cough out another 1.8m to get Arshavin over the line. In the end his own agent made up the difference from his own pockets to Zenit.

This deal is really in danger now.

Please, this is real life their is zero chance in the world his agent gave away £1.8m. He might have wanted 4M for the deal and eventually accepted 2.2M but nobody signs a contract that costs them £1.8M.

Clrnc wrote:

We are talking about a manager who refused to cough out another 1.8m to get Arshavin over the line. In the end his own agent made up the difference from his own pockets to Zenit.

This deal is really in danger now.

The same one who refused to get Xabi Alonso because of an extra 2m.

speedy wrote:

Clrnc wrote:

We are talking about a manager who refused to cough out another 1.8m to get Arshavin over the line. In the end his own agent made up the difference from his own pockets to Zenit.

This deal is really in danger now.

Please, this is real life their is zero chance in the world his agent gave away £1.8m. He might have wanted 4M for the deal and eventually accepted 2.2M but nobody signs a contract that costs them £1.8M.

I think it's clear that's what Clrnc meant speedy. Meaning he gave a portion of what he originally demanded from Arsenal to Zenit to make up the difference.

speedy wrote:

Clrnc wrote:

We are talking about a manager who refused to cough out another 1.8m to get Arshavin over the line. In the end his own agent made up the difference from his own pockets to Zenit.

This deal is really in danger now.

Please, this is real life their is zero chance in the world his agent gave away £1.8m. He might have wanted 4M for the deal and eventually accepted 2.2M but nobody signs a contract that costs them £1.8M.

Big Willie wrote:

speedy wrote:

Please, this is real life their is zero chance in the world his agent gave away £1.8m. He might have wanted 4M for the deal and eventually accepted 2.2M but nobody signs a contract that costs them £1.8M.

I think it's  clear that's what Clrnc meant speedy. Meaning he gave a portion of what he originally demanded from Arsenal to Zenit to make up the difference.

That's how a negotiation works. . . . you ask for a more settle for a bit less.

Agent fees werent as crazy back then. We got him for what 14M ish. How much did his agent want to settle for 1.8M less ? He must have expected an stupid 30%ish of the total fee that was never going to happen.

Yeah maybe. But even then Arsenal wpuld have either stumped up more to give Zenit what they wanted or Zenit would have had to lower their asking price. In the end Arsenal would not add anymore money and the agent had to forgo some of his fee to make the deal happen*.

*I don't remember anything about this agent and 1.8m from back then, just assuming what Clrnc said is what actually happened.

Apparently, Aubameyang was booed by some of the Dortmund faithful at today’s game. They’re readying themselves to lose him while you lot are resigned to not getting him. Where will he end up? Transfer purgatory?

Big Willie wrote:

Clrnc wrote:

We are talking about a manager who refused to cough out another 1.8m to get Arshavin over the line. In the end his own agent made up the difference from his own pockets to Zenit.

This deal is really in danger now.

The same one who refused to get Xabi Alonso because of an extra 2m.

I don’t think Wenger is very involved with negotiating fees and wages anymore.

Only if it doesn't work out apparently.

Wenger is definitely involved. The kind of power he has at the club doesn't just go away because Gazidis wants it to.

I'm more positive after Zorc's statement. I read it as "It's not too late for Arsenal", and that they'll still sell if we meet their valuation even though it's getting late.

Segway wrote:

Meh. If Dortmund insist on 65m then leave them in their messy situation. No way he's worth that considering his age and his unwillingness to stay.

Would rather spend the money on a new GK and a new top class midfielder.

No, we'll not make the top 4 by signing a midfielder and goal keeper instead of a striker. 

I thought these guys would try to wrap this up on the weekend to give Dortmund time to find a replacement. I imagine they will make their final offer Tuesday in the £50-53m range as a take it or leave it.
Perhaps what is holding up the deal is how to treat Giroud and the valuation thereof. I imagine Dortmund will want a loan, with the lowest possible loan fee- maybe even zero pounds. And if we want to sell, we will give the highest possible valuation, maybe £25m. There could be such a massive swing in values depending on what the teams eventually decide to do with the parties concerned.
I think Arsenal should do a reasonable offer for Aubameyang and accept a loan on Giroud. That should end this quickly. It’s important to get Aubameyang for his quality and in this moment to arrest the impression that we are selling club.

There is this kid on Twitter (jack) who is affilated on twitter who is adamant that Auba will sign for us by wed evening. Apparently he has a relative who works for Arsenal.