Hopefully not Mhki as we need cover.

Rohit wrote:

I could easily get behind that grudgingly if we had replaced Iwobi. At the start of the window we needed a quality wide player to supplement our options because Mkhitaryan and Ozil weren't playing like stars nor were they grafters. We have added Pepe for Iwobi, not sure I am on board with that. 

The kids aren't ready in my opinion. We needed a player like Iwobi on the bench, not a frustrating has been like Mkhitaryan.

You either sell him for £40m now, has another average season and then potentially his price goes down to £25m. We've lost out too much already on either clinging onto players too long or giving them.

I'd to like to see some of his minutes given to some youngsters, see if they can make the step up. Players like Reiss Nelson & maybe even Saka. We have options on the wings anyway in Ozil. Mkhi and can play Auba there sometimes as well.

Ultimately it boils down to how much you rate the kid. I thought there was another level in him so didn't worry about a drop in value. Either ways, gone now, hope he can build on his experience here and have a top career.

Two positives from the Iwobi sale
1) we have 40m pounds - more than what I would’ve expected from selling Iwobi right now. If you had said sell Iwobi, I would have been nervous to do it, because I would have feared that the market would undervalue his potential. The price received is good relative to where he is on his development path.
2) competitiveness - it should create a sense of urgency in the squad. That there is a bar our starters need to reach as we aim to compete with Liverpool and City. This creates space for fresh blood to grow into the space. Guys like Nelson and Martinelli will not grow without minutes. This gives them minutes but also lets them know that there is countdown timer.

Claudius wrote:

2) competitiveness - it should create a sense of urgency in the squad. That there is a bar our starters need to reach as we aim to compete with Liverpool and City.

Except there isn't. The guys starting his place will be worse than Iwobi.

Yep, weird point to make. We had one able left winger last season, and now we've sold him, and not even for a particularly good fee judging by the £28 million plus some addons that BBC reported yesterday. Big clubs don't behave that way.

We could push another season of Iwobi or clear the way for Nelson. Iwobi will likely be a sub, not a starter, so why not give those minutes to Nelson and accelerate his development. With our starting front 3 and the experienced AMs, we have enough of a safety net for him to develop properly.

Our experienced AMs are woeful.

I don't think the fanbase is ready to bear with the development pains that come along with blooding talent in the first team. Iwobi himself had come a long way and yet there is very little patience for a promising player that turned 23 this May. He in my opinion was our best option of the left side, our best option off the bench when the game is stretched. He was 22 for the whole of last season.

Everyone has watched enough Premier League football to understand how much of a step up it is. We will know soon.

We spent a ton of games blooding Iwobi and just as he reached a stage in his development where could possibly break through, we sold him. We will begin the entire process again with Nelson who is a good 150+ games away from becoming a credible option. We will realise just how shit our squad has become, when the games come thick and fast and we have no players to rotate our first XI with.

We only have two strikers in the entire squad and they will both start. We have no wide options to rotate Pepe with, except Mkhitaryan who is certifiably shit and Nelson who is more raw than a can of tuna fish.

If Emery plans to throw the cups, then fair enough. It could work. But if we're starting Aubameyang in a EL game with Mkhi and Ozil behind him. We're going to run out hitman into the ground and for no good reason.

Ooh, so we really are trying to ship him out. It's not just talk. Great to see Emery making it clear to him that he's well down the pecking order.

I've not been the biggest Iwobi fan but I agree that selling him and hoping either one of the kids (Nelson) or one of the vets (Ozil/Mkhi) steps up is a pretty big risk, especially when none are specialist left wingers. I said in another thread that I thought signing Pepe for the right wing would allow Iwobi to focus more on what he is good at too. Hopefully the risk pays off.

Brutal from Emery:

Daz wrote:

I've not been the biggest Iwobi fan but I agree that selling him and hoping either one of the kids (Nelson) or one of the vets (Ozil/Mkhi) steps up is a pretty big risk, especially when none are specialist left wingers. I said in another thread that I thought signing Pepe for the right wing would allow Iwobi to focus more on what he is good at too. Hopefully the risk pays off.

The way I look at it is were talking about a sub/rotation spot.  Worst case scenario if the kids struggle we can still revisit the market in Jan and get a specialist, which 
Iwobi wasn't.

I know the domestic window has 'closed', but was just reading an article that indicates that free agents can still be signed. This may be another reason as to why we were prepared to sell Iwobi and why we are still likely to look to sell Elneny and Mustafi, so as to make room in the squad for some free agents on short term deals as cover - RB, LW & CF/ST?

goon wrote:

Brutal from Emery:

😆

I like Emery's approach to the transfer window. We got ruthless savages running the show now, no more of the sentimental friendly environment bullshit.

Jed wrote:
goon wrote:

Brutal from Emery:

😆

I like Emery's approach to the transfer window. We got ruthless savages running the show now, no more of the sentimental friendly environment bullshit.

Was reading something that made the same point = no more mollycoddling and no more passengers on or off the pitch.
Just as importantly this also now applies to staff as well, and none more so than Emery this season as he can have no excuses regarding the options he now has.

The club can be as performance-driven as they want to be on the inside. I see no point in Emery announcing to the public that Mustafi is up for sale. Stupid if you ask me.

It seems that Mustafi is refusing to leave though. So maybe this is Emery's tactic to get him out of here - tell him to sod off publicly.

Seems like he has tried everything to force him to leave. The booing hasn't escaped the coaches and directors obviously.

Mustafi is having it easy. Imagine the Madrid or Barca fans, he will be having eggs on his car.

Nah, he just wouldn't play there so it wouldn't be an issue. They have a number of duds on their books every given season.

If we can't ship him then we can't ship him, no big deal as long as we've got better players in front of him. Maybe he will reconsider in January if he can't get playing time.

Klaus wrote:

Nah, he just wouldn't play there so it wouldn't be an issue. They have a number of duds on their books every given season.

If we can't ship him then we can't ship him, no big deal as long as we've got better players in front of him. Maybe he will reconsider in January if he can't get playing time.

Correct.

Mustafi just would not play. Both Wenger and then Emery have infuriated me with this issues. The defence is not good, so instead of hoping to limit mistakes and play to your strengths, they went with the idea of playing even more defenders 😆

Mustafi is probably thinking he can just wait, and when we play three at the back again he will get his chance.

Just drop him completely.

Cringe worthy to think about the amount we spent on him and what we could have got with that money.

Mustafi is proper deluded. Never willing to accept responsibility for his errors

Comforting knowing the management don’t favour him

Just a matter of time

They always play at some point. And it always costs you.

Jenkinson, Mavropanos, Mustafi and Elneny all starting against Crystal Palace comes to mind. Yuck!

The game that turned Zaha into an £80m winger.

[Twitter]

Downgrade from signing Sané.

I don't understand what the likes of Bayern, Madrid and Barca are doing. Horrible rebuilding jobs.

Ricky1985 wrote:

[Twitter]

Downgrade from signing Sané.

We offered them exactly the same deal last Jan and it got rejected

I think they were willing to accept it now because he was of no use to Inter anymore. Conte tried to convert Perisic to a wingback and then experimented with him as a second striker in preseason, but he didn't fit either role. He's a classical winger.

Tambourine Man wrote:

They need to come for Poch and Klopp.

Don't think Klopp would move.

Would be silly to sell him at this point in the window. Anyway, I dont think he will be sold this summer after being named first captain. Emery wouldn’t make him captain and sell him 2 weeks later.

Inter are too late with their bid. Try again in january though. Please

£61m is too good to turn down.

Sounds like BS to me but I would have sold him for half of that amount.

It would probably leave us short to sell but as a player he pisses me off so much I'd seriously consider it.