mdgoonah41 wrote:

I'm gonna be pissed if this ruins our pursuit of Fellaini.

Now we need to sell Xhaka.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

Wenger really seemed to have an issue with Serie A.

Yeah, I think it was personal for him. Wenger used to speak all the time about how we had signed players from 'other countries' who had unusually high blood values when they arrived here. I think he was speaking about Henry, Kanu and Vieira among others. I have nothing concrete to back this up with, but Henry arrived at Juventus right at the peak of Agricola's doping program, and many of the players didn't have a clue what they took. Milan being dirty was an open secret too. We've signed remarkably few players from Italy ever since. I'm not sure I can recall anyone else except Viviano. I think that was the main reason. Wenger was furious that they had sold him jacked up players, regardless of their class.

Diaby KungFu wrote:

I'm gonna be pissed if this ruins our pursuit of Fellaini.

Gnarrfff

Good one diaby Kung fu

Delighted this looks like it’s going to be true. Partly because this signing, along with AMN’s comments, suggest we are really going to commit to the high press.

Despite what others have said on here, I’d keep Xhaka in the team to sit deep and give this guy more freedom to press and play. Something like this:

—————— Xhaka

—— Ramsey ——— Torreira

Ozil ———— Auba ———— Mkhi

If Emery can bring Xhaka and Ramsey’s pressing game up to a more consistent level I reckon that midfield will turn out to be a lot more combative than folks will expect.

Xhaka has not shown that he's ready to be starting XI material with us. He has poor instincts - he's not in the right spaces and he's slow with the ball. You might as well buy a good B2B player and play a proper 4-3-3 with Torreira/Ramsey/whoever else.

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

He’s willy shakingly good. He’s got a great shot on him. Got that knuckleball in his locker

He really does look a brilliant player. He seems to be able to do pretty much anything he wants with the ball, and his agression in the tackle is glorious.

Really exciting. Can't wait to see him in an Arsenal shirt!

Love this love this love this!

Looking like a club that’s actually thinking now.

Early days, but I’m hoping some of you guys are starting to see just how much of our time (and money) Wenger basically threw away with his signings/non signings.

Claudius wrote:

Tambourine Man wrote:

We can quite easily conduct the medical in Russia. Am pretty sure similar arrangements have been made in the past under similar circumstances.

So if you're Tabarez, you're going to disturb your detailed planning for the World Cup in the week before the opening game by allowing one of your key players to leave camp to go do a physical that is out of sync with your training schedule? Okay. 

I'm pretty sure we either send a medical team out to Russia to do the medical there, or the deal is based upon him passing a medical after the World Cup.

finish this up.. and then focus on a CB and perhaps a GK..

USArsenal wrote:

finish this up.. and then focus on a CB and perhaps a GK..

Cb is done already-Sokratis

Sicario wrote:

USArsenal wrote:

finish this up..  and then focus on a CB and perhaps a GK..

Cb is done already-Sokratis

wait, did we sign him already and i wasn't aware?

Funny how shit happens much faster in the new era innit?

USArsenal wrote:

Sicario wrote:

Cb is done already-Sokratis

wait, did we sign him already and i wasn't aware?

It's been done for a week or two but it's not going to be formally announced until July, not entirely sure why. The contract has been signed according to insider sources though and Ornstein just confirmed it with his tweet.

flobaba wrote:

Love this love this love this!

Looking like a club that’s actually thinking now.

Early days, but I’m hoping some of you guys are starting to see just how much of our time (and money) Wenger basically threw away with his signings/non signings.

Too early to say tbh. Torreira fits the profile of players we've been signing for ages. Only difference is that he's from the Serie A. There was way more hype around Xhaka and Mustafi when they were signed for instance. 

Not the midfielder we all wishlisted but could be every bit as good as those. 26m pounds is a good deal as well for someone of his potential. Been crying out for a santi replacement and this guy is more tenacious as well

I've seen Torreira very little, but he's not a Cazorla type of player, I know that much. People would do well to abandon that comparison. Kanté might be the best equivalent in Premier League.

I think he's a little similar to Amadou Diawara, if anyone's seen him. Which is probably why Napoli didn't buy Torreira despite tracking him for some time. They already have a young guy like that in their squad.

Feel so much better reading all these confirmations. Amazing player and will make a huge difference to our MF.

Jed wrote:

flobaba wrote:

Funny how shit happens much faster in the new era innit?

No ditherer Wenger around to haggle over 1m.

Helps when the head coach is surrounded by transfer specialists

Arsenal agree £26.4m deal to sign Sampdoria’s Lucas Torreira

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jun/12/arsenal-sampdoria-lucas-torreira-agree-deal-transfer

ANSA: After days of negotiations, Lucas Torreira has been sold to #AFC for €30m. The news is confirmed in the club of President Ferrero.

Gianluca Di Marzio - Agreement Reached between Arsenal and Torreira.

Gazzetta dello sport: #AFC have secured the signing of Torreira today, a €30m offer & a final ‘ok’ from the agent in a meeting this afternoon, the finer details are being finalised then Lucas will sign a 5yr contract.

Sky Italy are saying 30 mil as well. So we payed over the release clause like they wanted, and we are gonna pay over a few years. Great deal. 5 year contract is good as well.

Also this:

From Uruguay camp...two/three players in the national team will be allowed to finalise their moves to new clubs between today & tomorrow.

So we might see him on arse.com this week.

Is it me or have the ITK's and random foreign journalists got better with this signings malarkey?

Hit rates are much better and twitter seems like a lot more realiable place these days.

If we sign Torrerria, Sokratis, Litchenstier, Leno and keep hold of Ramsey and Jack, is this seen as a good transfer window?

I'm not completely sold on Torreira from what little I seen of him, but I'll take the enthusiasm in this thread as a massive positive.

Alfonso wrote:

If we sign Torrerria, Sokratis, Litchenstier, Leno and keep hold of Ramsey and Jack, is this seen as a good transfer window?

I'd say 6/10. Leno and Sokratis are both middling, Lichtsteiner is a squad player at best. If we bring in a high quality young CB to replace Mustafi and a WF (Malcom / Martins / equivalent), I'd upgrade that to an 8/10. Wilshere is an irrelevance to me - probably better to get him off the wage bill.

A high quality centre back plus a 50m rated winger on top of this business and you'd upgrade to a 8/10? You're seriously hard to please mate.

For me the announcement of Wenger retiring and Emery taking over alone made this window a 8/10 at least. Signing an experienced veteran in a position where we had the least depth, an organiser/leader type of centre back when we haven't had one since Mertesacker around 2014, an extremely exciting midfielder in the mould of which we've never had and even what's possibly the most arguable signing would be a massive upgrade on Cech and with lots of room to improve with the new GK coach and the rest of the backroom staff - and still as mentioned in the beginning the most exciting prospect is to see Emery getting to work with this squad. Forget window ratings I'm absolutely buzzing for the new season.

Agreed re: Emery and definitely re: Torreira (I've probably been the most excited about this signing on this forum). Leno, Sokratis and Lichtsteiner are all underwhelming to me. Sokratis is an average defender with a terrible injury track record, Lichtsteiner is a backup squaddie who won't really make a huge change and Leno is an unknown (at least to me) but his record looks super-shaky. The way I look at it is that we could easily have a GK who was as bad as last season, Sokratis and Mustafi (instead of Kos and Mustafi) as a CB pairing which doesn't feel like an upgrade over last season and very limited backup to Ozil/Mkhi in the frontline. Feels like a lot of holes.
Edit: Btw, the other thing I definitely agree with you on is the buzzing for the new season. Wenger leaving is enough reason for that in itself.

I agree that we need a winger, now that becomes a priority.

Add in a GK and it will be a very good window.

I want to see who we can sell as well, as then we may be able to add another sneaky signing.

Proper buzz transfer this

We should play with energy and intensity next season

No more Xhaka strolling around picking his nose whilst Chris brunt and the likes help themselves to goals

Definitely.

[Twitter][/Twitter]

He Really is quality. Loved it when he knocked Nainggolan flying! Can't help but see Gary Medel when I watch him flying into tackles with guys twice his size. Definitely more than a touch of Cazorla about him though with his quality on the ball and ability to use both feet.

His technical quality is top class. Love it.

That video has me much more interested. He looks a very complete CM.

Being the size he is makes him very springy hence a lot of the quick interceptions

Yep dynamic

Klaus wrote:

USArsenal wrote:

wait, did we sign him already and i wasn't aware?

It's been done for a week or two but it's not going to be formally announced until July, not entirely sure why. The contract has been signed according to insider sources though and Ornstein just confirmed it with his tweet.

call me Wenger-Cynical, but until it's announced by the club, I don't trust it

They have announced it, via Ornstein.

Ornstein > Arsenal.com

Could be delayed by full medicals, agent fees, or simply pushing the transfer expenses into 2018-19 financial year.

jones wrote:

A high quality centre back plus a 50m rated winger on top of this business and you'd upgrade to a 8/10? You're seriously hard to please mate.

For me the announcement of Wenger retiring and Emery taking over alone made this window a 8/10 at least. Signing an experienced veteran in a position where we had the least depth, an organiser/leader type of centre back when we haven't had one since Mertesacker around 2014, an extremely exciting midfielder in the mould of which we've never had and even what's possibly the most arguable signing would be a massive upgrade on Cech and with lots of room to improve with the new GK coach and the rest of the backroom staff - and still as mentioned in the beginning the most exciting prospect is to see Emery getting to work with this squad. Forget window ratings I'm absolutely buzzing for the new season.

Yep, never mind the fact that we've finalised most of this before the World Cup kicked off. When Wenger announced his departure all I really expected was to have his replacement announced by this stage but the club have been delightfully proactive.

Couple that with a complete re-organisation of the senior and youth team coaching staff and a more pragmatic approach to transfers and I'd say this is been an extremely productive summer so far.

Sure in terms of player acquisitions we've not signed anyone at the level of Ozil, Sanchez or Auba from windows past but the reality of the situation is we're not a CL team right now and therefore options are limited and any available options will also come at a premium. But we've clearly gone out and added solid, sensible signings to positions that need them such that we've at least addressed the key weaknesses in the squad.