If his knees arent as dodgy as alleged, and we can get him for 40-50m, then do it

Koscielny considering leaving because we won't give him a new contract is what I read from that article. Fuck this club.

Edit: It also says that trying something new is tempting, so I guess the article is all over the place.

I'm not so keen on Umtitti now I know more about his ongoing knee problem. It sounds very likely he is going to need surgery at some point in the near future.

Too much of a risk.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

Koscielny considering leaving because we won't give him a new contract is what I read from that article. Fuck this club.

Edit: It also says that trying something new is tempting, so I guess the article is all over the place.

I'm not sure how I feel about Koscielny's situation. With the amount we need to sell, we might need him around. But he's going to drop off all of a sudden though and it could well be this summer that it happens.

It would be great to see him go out after lifting the Europa League trophy, rather than watch him lose another yard and become a player that fans want to see the back of.

Ricky1985 wrote:

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

Koscielny considering leaving because we won't give him a new contract is what I read from that article. Fuck this club.

Edit: It also says that trying something new is tempting, so I guess the article is all over the place.

I'm not sure how I feel about Koscielny's situation. With the amount we need to sell, we might need him around. But he's going to drop off all of a sudden though and it could well be this summer that it happens.

It would be great to see him go out after lifting the Europa League trophy, rather than watch him lose another yard and become a player that fans want to see the back of.

I think at some point a player has earned a new contract despite worries that he might drop a level soon. Nobody needs to promise him much playing time if that happens, he'd still be much needed backup.

I don't agree. For me, you're either good enough to earn a contract on merit or one shouldn't be offered. I don't think Koscielny would want the charity personally.

Also, he'd be a back-up on a captain and starter's wages. And it's very likely he would have dropped by the time we reach the period the new contract would be affecting: 2020/21 season.

Umtiti is so good. It's a chance very much worth taking.

Ricky1985 wrote:

I don't agree. For me, you're either good enough to earn a contract on merit

So for you "on merit" means how good he probably is in a year, not how good he is now? Or do you mean he hasn't deserved a new contract based on how he's been playing?

Eh? You can't just continue to give him a contract extension just because of what he's done. By the time his current deal is up he'll basically be 35. If he's still has value by then we can offer him an extension at that point. That's not harsh, that's just the reality of a player getting old. Bergkamp had to go through the same thing.

We give extensions to the Jenkinsons and Welbecks and a charity contract to Cazorla before letting him go. I wasn't suggesting he'd be a bench player with starter wages either.

Santi took up an option that was already there and either way, being out with a career threatening injury is very different to just getting old.

One year extensions on lower wages are fine, I just don't think we should wait until the contract runs out before we offer those.

If kos goes we need 2 new cbs minimum. Sokratis and holding would be our only worthwhile defenders

I wouldn't sell Kos this summer regardless of what we plan with his deal, it's not like you're going to get much if anything at all from selling him.

Saw links to Konate yesterday - that’s our boy

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

Saw links to Konate yesterday - that’s our boy

Yes! 

If we are to believe that we have [size=small][font=arial, sans-serif]£40m if we fail to qualify for Champions League, then Konate is the type of player we should pursue. I would like us to aim to to get the best possible player that we can find within that first [size=small][font=arial, sans-serif]£40m. If we have additional Champions League money, then we should look for other similar affordable but high quality players. If we can get them cheaper (e..g, Brandt pricing), even better, but we should not be stingy. If we need to sell players to get more such players, then we should do so. But that should be the aim - aim for Konate level talents as building blocks. [/font][/size][/font][/size]

[size=small][font=arial, sans-serif][size=small][font=arial, sans-serif]What I am against is adding more Mesut Frasers to the team. Every [size=small][font=arial, sans-serif]£20m spent on a Fraser is 20m that cannot go towards funding a Konate. That means we deny ourselves the chance to have outstanding players who can decide games and be legends. And instead fill the team with more Welbecks and Lucas Perez's who will not drive us forward. Get a Konate. 2 if you can. [/font][/size][/font][/size][/font][/size]

Cos they don’t need the money!