The choice is not actually between a Brentford player and a 32 year old Willian though.

About fivehundred different players who are on the market, give or take a few. It's not a binary pick between two piles of shit.

You think he’s that bad?

I’ve never been a fan of his but personally I think it’s clear to see what he’d add, and he’d do it without costing the Earth and allow is to focus on more pressing matters. Even someone average like Benrahma you’re talking about £30m+ transfer fee and a salary that isn’t too far off.

Signing Willian will be like signing Mhki. Only older.

That's exactly it, Qwiss.

I don't think he's useless, but I think he's well pointless. All our other forwards and attacking midfielders combined scored less league goals than Aubameyang did this season, and we're going to add a 32 year old bloke who almost never nets outside penalties and the early rounds of the FA Cup? I can think of at least three young players I'd rather give those minutes to in the current squad.

We're at a point where we either back the youth or we add genuine quality. What we don't need is in-between transfers that leave us stuck with unattractive old players on big wages for the next 3-4 years. It's so typical Arsenal to not commit to doing either thing properly.

Klaus wrote:

About fivehundred different players who are on the market, give or take a few. It's not a binary pick between two piles of shit.

I can sit here and Wishlist tons of players who aren't Willian. Hell, wide forward wasn't even one of the positions I had though we would be looking at. But I'm also a realist. Covid-19 has smacked us upside the head and we aren't in the Champions League, so we are going to see changes that deviate significantly from wish lists. 

Qwiss! wrote:

Signing Willian will be like signing Mhki. Only older.

To be honest I think we’ve missed Mkhi at times this season. Willian is a more consistent performer though. He’s a 5-7/10 performer every game. Mkhi is a 2-7/10 sort of guy.

Don't agree at all with that 5-7 thing, the guy goes missing for months at a time. I think a decent post covid spell has people thinking he's something he's not. Add to that we are talking about a 32 year old and I just don't see how people think this is a good move.

I've always liked Willian. Great player at times. Not sure what he's like these days though.

Qwiss! wrote:

Don't agree at all with that 5-7 thing, the guy goes missing for months at a time. I think a decent post covid spell has people thinking he's something he's not. Add to that we are talking about a 32 year old and I just don't see how people think this is a good move.

Him going missing and shying away from responsibility has been my main criticism of him because he has terrific ability and often uses it for the bare minimum. But at his worst he's still a functioning player in the team who does the basics effortlessly. Contrast that with Mkhi who'll range from world class passing ability to messing up a square 5 yard pass min to min within any given game. 

He's like rosicky in that he's an accelerator of the game, moves the ball quickly, or carries it forward quickly, but his input won't really show up on the stat sheet.

Until we get big revenue rolling again, i think there will be 1-2 deals in each window where we cut corners. Thats what ceballos was last summer, a shrewd cheap deal aimed at targeting a problem area.

The chronology is important to perception as well. If we do a deal for willian, but then sign gabriel, partey, extend auba, people won't be as miffed as they are now

100k is better, still not on board with this.

100k for 2 years would've been decent. Seems like he's taken a pay cut to get that 3rd year when he'll probably be useless

Am sure Roma will take him on a subsidised loan deal in year three if needed. In all seriousness though, that's a decent wage and not as bad as I thought it would be.

100k is what Welbeck was being paid.

Not bad at all.

Gazza M wrote:

100k for 2 years would've been decent. Seems like he's taken a pay cut to get that 3rd year when he'll probably be useless

Pretty much, £100k for 2 years would be a good deal.

I say we convert him into a fullback like Pool did with Milner

This means it would have been 15 M to sign him outright, without talking about wages. So while I'm not a big fan of this signing, it's a very shrewd move by us financially.

15m really isn't a bad deal all things considered - but he's going to be useless in a couple of seasons.

15m is actually ok. Not inclusive of sign on fee though

Is there a sign-on fee? If there isn't, you can almost afford to eat the final year of his contract, or hope that a Chinese club pays you £5m for him to go away.

We end up with

1) Willian - Aubameyang - Pépé
2) Saka - Nketiah - Nelson
3) Martinelli

Assuming we sell Lacazette. That is quite strong for next year. And then hopefully for 2021-22, one of Saka or Martinelli has moved ahead of Willian.

If he's on 100k we should be able to move/loan him in that 3rd year if need be.

Good signing. He's better than both Pepe and Saka.

Take away Kia and it's fine. I think Kia is what is getting people's backs up.

He wages probably dip in the last season and we can probably loan him to Italy then. even if his wgaes drop to 70K and we can loan him and someone plays 40k for the last season.

Chelsea fan on why he’s happy to see Willian go (from 3 min mark):

Romano says pretty much done for 3 years

Funny to see when we were linked with him in January everyone was less accepting

For me, that was before i viewed saka as a legit talent. His emergence coupled with more encouraging performances from pepe and to a lesser extent nelson have made me more amenable to an experienced stopgap coming in to ease the pressure on those guys development. The quoted 100k/pw changed my view as well. I assumed it would something in the 150k-200k band

Clrnc wrote:

Funny to see when we were linked with him in January everyone was less accepting

We tend to start rationalising moves like this when they begin looking like a reality. I remember it very clearly with Welbeck too and I was guilty of it myself with Luiz last summer.

Qwiss! wrote:
Clrnc wrote:

Funny to see when we were linked with him in January everyone was less accepting

We tend to start rationalising moves like this when they begin looking like a reality. I remember it very clearly with Welbeck too and I was guilty of it myself with Luiz last summer.

It's much less stressful mate. 

Willian >>> Luiz >= Welbeck

Qwiss! wrote:
Clrnc wrote:

Funny to see when we were linked with him in January everyone was less accepting

We tend to start rationalising moves like this when they begin looking like a reality. I remember it very clearly with Welbeck too and I was guilty of it myself with Luiz last summer.

It's true but I don't think there's anything wrong with that, once it gets serious you just look at all angles including the positives. 

I was against signing Sanchez, Pepe and fucking Auba too initially because of my initial perceptions of them but by the time we signed them I was all in.

You are against signing Alexis and Auba? Dafug 😆

Reminds me of when Rex is furious that we are in for Suarez

We mostly all had to evolve on Auba. I called him a weaker, shorter, quicker Adebayor...

That was before he came good for Dortmund though. The 2nd time he was linked with us after proving himself it was different.

flobaba wrote:

We mostly all had to evolve on Auba. I called him a weaker, shorter, quicker Adebayor...

I said "No thanks" 😆 . Fucking hell, do I know my stuff.