Compared to the Wenger era, this has been an extremely positive transfer window so far given the initial pessimism that accompanied the earlier £45m quoted budget. Defence was always going to take time to sort out, but with the likely signing of Tierney and Saliba (for next season), we are getting there. If we get Luiz as well, I'm more confident than last about the team's chances of finishing top 4. I'm also guessing we have one more surprise transfer in the pipeline.

Praet to Leicester and Alexis Claude Maurice to Norwich doing the rounds. Two we were linked with

GooneriC wrote:

Could be an insurance signing with Kos gone. I think we are still after a CB.

with the edu/kia relationship, luiz is an easy deal to get done.

i still hold a small flickering candle for an iwobi sale and an upamecano hail mary

If reports earlier are accurate that we will consider bids for Iwobi, I wouldn't put it past Arsenal to make a late bid to sign Zaha offering him and Chambers in part exchange.

Tambourine Man wrote:

Assuming we get Luiz across the line painlessly I would not be surprised to see us pull of a madness in the last few hours of the window - cautiously optimistic that we will hear something about Upamecano in the next 16 hours.

[font=Source Sans Pro]Why would you be less surprised if we signed Upamecano if we signed Luiz first than if we didn't?[/font]

My overriding image of Luiz is the 7-1 against Germany when he was the CB and not even in the frame for any of the goals. Feel a bit sick about the prospect having been so excited after Pepe. Almost feels like we shouldn't have bothered with spending that amount on Pepe if it means we have to bolster the defence by adding a crocked left back who sounds like another Rosicky and Luiz.

i dont know why people are worried about tiereny's health. this seems like it was a bad injury and one that takes a long time to recover from, but i dont think its chronic, like problems with a knee or back. hes not even in his prime yet, and hes already better than the other 2 LBs we have. even if he isnt amazing from day 1 and needs to be slowly worked in, when you add him to saliba, we have 60% of our back 4 + keeper locked in for the next decade.

Our budget after signing Tierney seemed to be 60m for a CB, so maybe it's more like we didn't find anyone that we considered good value.

As expected Tierney is ours. Never worried about that, makes too much sense. Luiz is close as well and if we get Luiz over the line I would give this window a 9. Any higher score is dependant on Mustafi leaving.

Overall delighted with our window considering how it started, never expected we could do so much and Raul contacts is really helping. I'm actually kind of a little greedy and hoping Everton bid high for Iwobi so we can get a new wide man in as well

Martin Keown believes Unai Emery will be making a huge mistake if he signs David Luiz for Arsenal.
‘He has a tendency to lose his marker and is one of those all-or-nothing players — if he doesn’t win the ball in a challenge, then congratulations because you’re in.’
https://metro.co.uk/2019/08/07/martin-keown-warns-unai-emery-signing-chelsea-outcast-david-luiz-arsenal-10536974/

Edit: I don't like how the prices quoted are £5m, £8m, £10m and £20m?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/08/07/david-luiz-refuses-train-chelsea-attempt-force-move-arsenal/ (Wed, 22:30hrs)
https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1163016/Arsenal-Chelsea-David-Luiz-explosive-row-transfer-news (Thur, 00:30hrs)
https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/transfer-news/david-luiz-to-arsenal-transfer-16717814 (Wed, 22:30hrs)

i think it's the other way around. i first saw 20m, but now i'm seeing 5m - 8m. someone deserves a firing squad if we sign him for 20m

he's already cumulatively one of the most expensive players of all time, by dint of the fact that he's been transferred around so much

Papers saying Spurs have reached agreements with both Le Celso and Dybala

If not for pocch, I'd have dybala down for a sure flop in the EPL.

Utter clown defender. I just hope our attack can make up for the horror movie that our defense is going to be this season.

I predict we concede even more goals this term than we did last. Easily.

That would be horrible. Son, Lo Celso, Dybala, NDombele and Kane. That's some team.

I thought spurs didn't have any money. How the heck are they getting player after player? Ugh.

I don't like Luiz. He is poor when he has protection from midfield, he will be no better than Mustafi if we continue to throw men forward and expose our center halves. We have had a good window but the serious link to Upamecano has changed expectation a bit.

Claudius wrote:

Papers saying Spurs have reached agreements with both Le Celso and Dybala

pochs temper tantrums might've worked

lo celso, ndombele, dybala, + keeping everyone at the club gives them a huge boost going into their new stadium cycle. was hoping they'd crater horribly

flobaba wrote:

Utter clown defender. I just hope our attack can make up for the horror movie that our defense is going to be this season.

I predict we concede even more goals this term than we did last. Easily.

Absolutely. Our attack will be more exciting but we can't win every game 6-5. This defence is not going to be enough to get 4th.

i think our strategy this season needs to be very clear: we play our best XI in all 38 premier league games, barring injury, and we use the two cups and the europa league to rest our starters and give our kids game time. getting in to the top 4 is the only thing that should matter right now, and trying to win the europa league to do that is a bad strategy.

assuming bellerin and holding will be back soon, a back four of bellerin, sokratis, holding and tierney is good enough to get us top 4. if we have to rely on mustafi, luiz, monreal/kola and AMN to play lots of league matches, we're fucked.

Don't forget Ozil coming off the bench to collect balls between the lines from Luiz and Ceballos next to tired midfielders. Slipping it through to Aubameyang.

Luiz is not the best defender but from what I read of Chelsea fans opinions of him hes a great leader and a great character in the dressing room to have. Will help our young defenders and perfect if we switch to back 3 anytime. He is more mature now and has tried to move to us for a few windows now finally getting his wish. Good relationship with Edu and Emery is a plus.

Spurs is signing Sessesgnon for 30m and Lo Celso for 60m. They kept all their key players so it's a pretty good window for them, 3 very good players. Will anyone swap our window for theirs? I wont.

I won't but if they add Dybala I would.

Not going to pretend to be pleased about Luiz. He's shit and an absolute clown. Would rather settle for Rugani.

We've had a remarkable window but this one would put a dampener on it for me.

I think Luiz will surprise a few people.

Gazza M wrote:

Claudius wrote:

Papers saying Spurs have reached agreements with both Le Celso and Dybala

pochs temper tantrums might've worked

lo celso, ndombele, dybala, + keeping everyone at the club gives them a huge boost going into their new stadium cycle. was hoping they'd crater horribly

Blame Dortmund for letting them go on that run

Luiz is an upgrade on Mustafi. He’s not top tier, but he’s enough to give Holding space to recuperate properly. That said, we open the league with Xhaka and an imperfect backline against many big teams. Emery might be tempted to go negative and field 3 at the back.

Clrnc wrote:

Luiz is not the best defender but from what I read of Chelsea fans opinions of him hes a great leader and a great character in the dressing room to have. Will help our young defenders and perfect if we switch to back 3 anytime. He is more mature now and has tried to move to us for a few windows now finally getting his wish. Good relationship with Edu and Emery is a plus.

Spurs is signing Sessesgnon for 30m and Lo Celso for 60m. They kept all their key players so it's a pretty good window for them, 3 very good players. Will anyone swap our window for theirs? I wont.

if they get dybala on top of those, then yes i'd say they'd outperformed us. the fuckers

if they don't, i'd rate our window higher. but then again, we had to have a huge window, and we'll need to have at least 1 more of this magnitude in order to move ahead of them

also, am i the only one that thinks lo celso doesn't look that good? he seems pretty bland, like ander herrera. poch might have his albiceleste tinted glasses on

I don’t think Spurs’ window is anywhere near as good as ours.

Honestly Pepe is going to take our attack to the next level.

Plus the Tierney and Saliba deals are excellent long term investments

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

I don’t think Spurs’ window is anywhere near as good as ours.

Honestly Pepe is going to take our attack to the next level.

Tierns will improve us massively as well defensively. I'm just praying Holding and Bellerin come back strong. Then we're set. Luiz can ride the bench. Next year Saliba comes in and takes over.

Pepe will help defensively too as his presence means teams will be wary of coming on to us

Ceballos will be more efficient in possession and I have a feeling Willock will have a break out season

Lots to look forward to

Been a good window in an attacking sense, though I'm still not happy with the temporary nature of Ceballos. But Luiz would put a real dampener on it for me too. Feel like the area that needed the most improvement has got worse with Koscielny out and Luiz in and we're set to lineup with Xhaka in front of Mustafi and Luiz.

[Twitter]

I'm on my knees Raul please make this happen

invisibleman18 wrote:

Been a good window in an attacking sense, though I'm still not happy with the temporary nature of Ceballos. But Luiz would put a real dampener on it for me too. Feel like the area that needed the most improvement has got worse with Koscielny out and Luiz in and we're set to lineup with Xhaka in front of Mustafi and Luiz.

Put it this way.

Kos + Monreal <<<< Luiz + Tierney

And if he costs 5-8m it's a good deal. Chelsea fans are absolutely livid at that price suggestion 

By the way Lequipe says Rugani and Upamecano no go, Luiz priority with Umtiti as backup option.

I would have gone for the other way round.

Musti our Luiz and Upa in would be insane. I’d be so full of happies