Yeah, there's no real sources on the Inter end. All their fans are talking about trying to get Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and dreaming for Eriksen.

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

Was he one of the three captains named?

Yep, along with Özil and Monreal. But Monreal is likely off to Sociedad in the next few weeks, so being one of the captains wouldn't stop this if it was genuine.

I doubt it is though.

I wonder if we're keeping Monreal since Tierney is farther away than we initially thought. Could be that we want him as a centreback too if we get Mustafi out the door.

I think Medley would be viewed as being capable to provide cover if it came to that

Team is thin. The lack of a aligned transfer window is problematic. If the bid is real we would have had no choice but to get rid of him earlier in the summer. That money would have paid into an Ndombele.

Rodri looked so good today. City will walk it again this season

if a team offered us £50m+ for xhaka, we'd be insane to turn that down. a slow, error prone CM who is neither elite in attacking or defense and constantly loses focus. yes, please, move him. we can manage until january

I would sell for that amount, easily. Play David Luiz or Chambers there if needed

I'd agree to sell him in January and start working on a replacement right away.

The knock-on effects of selling Xhaka could be catastrophic. If we have a 433, we would only have

  • 4 experienced forwards for 3 spots (Auba, Laca, Mkhi, Pepe)
  • 4 experienced mids for 3 spots (Ozil, Ceb, Tor, Gue)
  • 3 experienced centre backs for 2 spots (Sok, Luiz, Mon)
  • 3 experienced fullbacks for 2 spots (Bell, Tier, Kola)

It would leave us highly dependent on kids, particularly in central midfield and defense. I want to transition from Xhaka, but this is a sale that needed to be done earlier in the summer so we could replace with a top midfielder. An injury to Torreira or Guendouzi would leave us with heavy lifting. If we can find a replacement, I agree we should sell in Jan

im okay with playing douzi, ceballos, and torreria in a midfield 3 and relying on kids as backups for 4.5 months.

if xhaka gets off to a poor start, the amount we can recoup from his sale is going to drop precipitously. we're not winning the title this season. next year is the year we will have a more complete squad ready to compete. i wouldnt risk losing £20m of a potential xhaka sale because we were afraid of playing willock for a few months if someone gets hurt

mdgoonah41 wrote:

im okay with playing douzi, ceballos, and torreria in a midfield 3 and relying on kids as backups for 4.5 months.

if xhaka gets off to a poor start, the amount we can recoup from his sale is going to drop precipitously. we're not winning the title this season. next year is the year we will have a more complete squad ready to compete. i wouldnt risk losing £20m of a potential xhaka sale because we were afraid of playing willock for a few months if someone gets hurt

We need to guarantee we finish top 4. I’d rather have the option of Xhaka, knowing I can play him and if he’s doing well ride him; and if he’s below par, rotate him. That £20m will be meaningless if we hit an injury crisis and endanger our top 4 hopes

Too late to sell Xhaka as we'd be short in midfield without a replacement. Sell him in Jan if need be.

Klaus wrote:

I'd agree to sell him in January and start working on a replacement right away.

 Sell for a few million less, but agree for the transfer to happen next season.  We still need him this season

We have no backup striker this season. Scary.

flobaba wrote:

We have no backup striker this season. Scary.

John-Jules.

flobaba wrote:

We have no backup striker this season. Scary.

The hope is that we have upto 4 players who can do a job in the striker role. 2 strikers in Auba an Lacazette, someone who cuts in often in Pépé and a 10 in Nelson. The frontline is light but I think Emery must have a lot of faith in his kids stepping up in League Cup and Europa

flobaba wrote:

We have no backup striker this season. Scary.

Martinelli.

Even if Nekitah stayed it would have been light as he is no different to the Brazilian in terms of experience.

It is a bit of a risk but the management team must rate the likes of Nelson, the aforementioned Brazilian, ESR and Saka.

Remember Raul’s Interview at the beginning of the summer? He did say a lot of emphasis would be on our younger players. It you are good enough, you are old enough.

What would have been the alternative? Have a injury prone has been striker like Welbeck on the bench?

Anyway, before our spending spree this summer, I’m sure a lot of ppl on here were happy to play youngsters (as they were so fed up of some of the senior players following the end of last season collapse we had).

flobaba wrote:

We have no backup striker this season. Scary.

TJJ and Flo Balogun.

flobaba wrote:

We have no backup striker this season. Scary.

Neither do Pool, Utd and Spuds.

On Xhaka if that bid is real just sell and get someone on a free, maybe even Khedira if Juve agree.

Sell Xhaka by any means. I don't care if it leaves us light. Get through it and reinforce the midfield in January.

Xhaka is a shocking Premier League player.

Yes sell him. Rotate Torriera, Luiz or Guendouzi

Just get rid

I'm not as keen to push Xhaka out as some but for £50ish you just can't turn that down.

If we sell him we should have a replacement lined up for January 1st,abd even then we'll probably have a non-functioning midfield for half a season before that.

Its certainly a bad time to sell him and would hurt us so the price has to take that into account. I'm not hoping this happens but if it did I'd be ok with it as long as signed an improvement in January. Although I do think getting the ideal Xhaka replacement will be a tough task.

The time to have got rid was this summer with a much better upgrade, Ndombele, available. As it is, spurs got him and strengthened by the looks of things. No nonsense about taking a season to adapt. First touch in pre-season was an assist followed by the all important first goal in the first game of the season. Compare that to Xhaka who has taken 3 years to just become adequate (if that!).

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

I think Medley would be viewed as being capable to provide cover if it came to that

Jesus Christ! Can we keep Mustafi in that case?

Qwiss! wrote:

Its certainly a bad time to sell him and would hurt us so the price has to take that into account. I'm not hoping this happens but if it did I'd be ok with it as long as signed an improvement in January. Although I do think getting the ideal Xhaka replacement will be a tough task.

Could potentially get Neves as a like for like at that price.

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

Please accept! We have to move him on

that belongs in the houseboat thread.

he cites posting some translation of luiz talking about his lowest moment as proof of his credibility because DiMarzio posted the same story in italian.

that kinda logic reduces his credibility, even if he wasn't posting unbelievable nonsense in the first place.

Muswell Hill Gooner wrote:

The time to have got rid was this summer with a much better upgrade, Ndombele, available. As it is, spurs got him and strengthened by the looks of things. No nonsense about taking a season to adapt. First touch in pre-season was an assist followed by the all important first goal in the first game of the season. Compare that to Xhaka who has taken 3 years to just become adequate (if that!).

Painful to see. He struck that goal beautifully. There is absolutely no question he will be a top midfielder. And they probably bought Ndombele for about the same price as Xhaka if you look at overall football price inflation since we bought Xhaka.

The way we rotated Iwobi is how we should’ve dealt with Xhaka and Mustafi long ago. A competitive organization recognizes recruiting mistakes quickly and acts decisively

We should expect the possibility that talents of the calibre of Xhaka or Iwobi might be leaving every summer.

We don’t have many players of that profile now though. The dross is already out for the most part. Maybe AMN, don’t think he’ll ever be first team starting material but he can make a decent cover player and we need to keep that type of player around.

Completely agree. But that's just a sign we need to be bringing in players at or above that level—the Salibas and Upamecanos and Ruganis of this world. To consistently bring in elite level players we need to expect to be turning over top level players.

If Ceballos is more a like for like re Cazorla, then we already have our replacement for Xhaka.

Links? I've been hearing that he has impressed the gaffer and Sarri is going to keep him. The guy is a survivor.

Burnwinter wrote:

Completely agree. But that's just a sign we need to be bringing in players at or above that level—the Salibas and Upamecanos and Ruganis of this world. To consistently bring in elite level players we need to expect to be turning over top level players.

None of those players are currently playing at a higher level though, maybe Upamecanos but even then he's probably not at the level Xhaka was in Germany. You bring in players like Saliba in the hope they realise their potential and hit the top level but every squad carries a few mid tier players.

so what is the rule on transfers? you cant bring anyone in on an actual transfer, but you can sign free agents? what about loans?