Let’s take a temperature check in the summer. Arteta could help stabilize things. If he can’t add a good vibe to the group then we need Jesus to come back.

Claudius wrote:

Let’s take a temperature check in the summer. Arteta could help stabilize things. If he can’t add a good vibe to the group then we need Jesus to come back.

Hopefully I'd assume xhaka will be considering a move rather than more years of abuse. 

where are these rumours coming from? I've not seen any outside the compilation vids.

Mid tier french journo said milan and arsenal were in talks for him. That's the only independent link I've seen

banduan wrote:

where are these rumours coming from? I've not seen any outside the compilation vids.

This is what I found that link us with him. - shit links only.

ARSENAL are reportedly in advanced negotiations over a deal to bring Red Bull Salzburg midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai to the Emirates.
The 19-year-old is understood to be a long-term target of the Gunners, with the club said to be interested in signing him last summer.(Sun Sport)

Arsenal and PSG are interested in Dominik Szoboszlai . The Hungarian remains a target of Milan, but competition for his signature is clearly increasing. [calcio mercato]

@Manulonjon - goal ( great for french link, don't know about this.)
Arsenal and Milan are well advanced in the negotiation to sign RB Salzburg’s gem, Dominik Szoboszlai.

Get french football.
https://www.getfootballnewsfrance.com/2020/psg-have-enquired-for-dominik-szoboszlai-ac-milan-arsenal-also-in-for-him/

His agent said this:

Matyas Esterhazy (The agent of Dominik Szoboszlai):

“I can confirm a number of the top Premier League clubs are interested in Dominik but at this point I can not confirm or deny specific clubs.”

But to be honest, today all the news from Italy and Austria are that it's done, he will sign for Milan.

Manu was on point for Pépé and Saliba. He was wrong for other stuff like our interest in Benatia (or maybe we did bid). So let’s see.

Our club is in a pretty bad state, but almost every player would still prefer us to Milan. Not sure about the Ragnick connection either, why would you choose a club because of a sporting director? He won't have much impact on Szobo's everyday life.

I don't buy the Ragnick connection either. He's being linked to every player in the Red Bull stable anyway.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

Our club is in a pretty bad state, but almost every player would still prefer us to Milan.

I'm not so sure that's the case, especially in Eastern Europe where Italian football has always been very popular.

Dimarzio says napoli are meeting his agents as well. Seems most noise is coming out of italy

a month later

No news. Just interesting stats.

[Twitter]

The kid looks really good on video. From his stats, trying to discern how much of where he shines is due to RB being such a high territory team with a large volume of chances that put him in favorable positions. He dribbles well, does like to get in the box. That’s consistent with what I’ve seen. Can step up his passing though, which is critical because one of our weaknesses is simple balls into the box to forwards.

But I would imagine Arteta would like his physical package and positional fluidity which seems to be a big feature of how he’s using Tierney, AMN, Pépé. Szobo can play at 7, 8, and 10.

If Arteta is under pressure to deliver top 4 under budget constraints, maybe not the guy. If he has time to build a title team under less constraint, a good punt.

a month later

Depending on who comes in this window, we might still be able to get him next year. He has that midfield dynamo quality about him

Don't think anyone is seriously linked to Szoboszlai at this point. Milan's interest seemingly died once Rangnick didn't come.

If there's a time for us to remember who he is, now's the time to snap him for a cheap price. If he was a different nationality, the hype would be much more insane for him.

Exactly. I wish we'd get him this summer - rather him than Aouar for that advanced MF position to be honest.

He’s not as developed as Aouar. Just look for Salzburg games. There are some he drifts out of games, especially the earlier ones where he had Minamino / Haaland. He also has a habit of committing turnovers either by taking on folks or sometimes being adventurous with passes. Again, these things can be coached out. I think the issue we have with players like him and Camavinga is that our midfield is in such dire straits, our main purchase needs to be somebody who definitely accelerates the whole team, not a kid who is 2 years away. If we have money for 2, then it makes sense, but if we have money for one, then you have to take a more established name

Bryant wrote:

Don't think anyone is seriously linked to Szoboszlai at this point. Milan's interest seemingly died once Rangnick didn't come.

If there's a time for us to remember who he is, now's the time to snap him for a cheap price. If he was a different nationality, the hype would be much more insane for him.

What does this mean?

BWoolley wrote:

Exactly. I wish we'd get him this summer - rather him than Aouar for that advanced MF position to be honest.

He's already said he's not leaving this summer

Claudius wrote:

He’s not as developed as Aouar. Just look for Salzburg games. There are some he drifts out of games, especially the earlier ones where he had Minamino / Haaland. He also has a habit of committing turnovers either by taking on folks or sometimes being adventurous with passes. Again, these things can be coached out. I think the issue we have with players like him and Camavinga is that our midfield is in such dire straits, our main purchase needs to be somebody who definitely accelerates the whole team, not a kid who is 2 years away. If we have money for 2, then it makes sense, but if we have money for one, then you have to take a more established name

I agree Claude. My only thinking here is that Aouar is a year away as well. He doesn't seem like the kind of player who will adapt to the PL in a hurry. I just think, given where our team is, that signing someone like Szoboslai who will be lower cost and has a higher physical ceiling is better than a big money move for Aouar. Both are all potential right now, even if Aouar is a year ahead.

BW, you make good points.
Possibly a better Capex spend of the Partey money is Szoboszlai and Thiago together. They're each rated at €25m, which is equivalent to the €50m Partey release clause. Thiago immediately gives the team the type of playmaking fluidity and structure Fabregas provided, while Szoboszlai can grow into that powerful Milinkovic-Savic 8/10 role up front.
Szoboszlai will move - that nonsense he said about Champions League doesn't make sense. Would he rather play 6 games in Champions League and then spend 32 games pounding teams like Sturm Graz 6-0, or play in the Premier League and Europa League?

I wonder if we could do some kind of Saliba-type deal where we sign him and loan him back for a year. If we can get Felipe Anderson on loan for a season meanwhile it would be a decent punt.

Which is basically the type of deal the Red Bull group struck with Liverpool for Keita.

That would be ideal for all parties.

BWoolley wrote:

That would be ideal for all parties.

Except for Partey

2 months later

We’d better not fuck it up.
But here’s the thing. If we get him, we need to just go for it with youth now. It’s time to retire all these old farts. If you aren’t Aubameyang/ Luiz, you should be told you aren’t needed for mentoring Pépé and the babies, and given your knapsack

If we can't afford Aouar we won't be able to afford Grealish.

Anzac, we were able to afford Pépé.
Look at my matrix. We have capital tied up in the the bottom left quadrant. There are so many players who can be released and sold. We need to aggressively move towards playing the players in the other 3 quadrants and monetize the players in the that bottom left quadrant. That’s how you get Grealish. When you add all those salaries and potential transfer fees, you are easily able to create a path to getting a Grealish.

The problem is simple. We are still over-investing in over-the-hill players. We need to learn to let go and take the risk of moving forward with younger players. It might fail but we will never know til we try

Claudius wrote:

Look at my matrix. We have capital tied up in the the bottom left quadrant. There are so many players who can be released and sold.

You talk about capital, Claude, but consider these two questions: 1) How many players across Europe managed to move for good fees in the summer of 2020? 2) Do you think football clubs generally will be better or worse off economically next summer than they were back in June?

You could maybe sell Auba and Partey and Saka, and Gabriel perhaps, but that's the only sort of realistic value we have in a post corona world where no one has any money. The only capital we have is tied up in players we don't want to lose. We spent this summer trying to push all the deadwood out the door but there were no takers, not even for blokes like Torreira who we easily could have gotten £20-25 million for normally. If you want a big check your only current option is to sell your good players to your direct competition in Premier League instead, and that road just leads to decline and heartbreak.

Five years ago we could maybe have done with Pepe what United did with Di Maria and flipped him to a newly rich club for £20 million less than we bought him for to recuperate most of our loss. That market is gone now. We're not going to get many cents for old players on big wages either, nor for young and unproven players.

Premier League has taken longer to feel the effect than the rest of Europe, but La Liga actually sold players for £142 million more than they bought this summer. Serie A similarly made £16 million on transfers, Bundesliga around £20 million. English clubs spent a billion more than they raked in by contrast, which tells you two things: they couldn't sell anyone unwanted, and they had outgoing spendings that are unsustainable when you factor in another 12 months of pandemic football.

Claudius wrote:

Anzac, we were able to afford Pépé.
Look at my matrix. We have capital tied up in the the bottom left quadrant. There are so many players who can be released and sold. We need to aggressively move towards playing the players in the other 3 quadrants and monetize the players in the that bottom left quadrant. That’s how you get Grealish. When you add all those salaries and potential transfer fees, you are easily able to create a path to getting a Grealish.

The problem is simple. We are still over-investing in over-the-hill players. We need to learn to let go and take the risk of moving forward with younger players. It might fail but we will never know til we try

I don't think we could other than by spreading his transfer fee out across the duration of his contract in order to reduce his upfront fee.  The problem with the likes of Aouar is likely that OL are unwilling to reduce the amount they want up front in the post-COVID financial reality where everyone is struggling to generate revenue and cash flow.
That said I am not adverse to the idea of doing so again if it was to secure our primary targets, but I don't think that model fits in our financial strategy.

IMO we have minimal potential transfer fees in that group of players, and the greater 'value' is in the 50m it 'saves' in wages when half of them will depart as free agents.  Again this does nothing for our cash flow but does open the door for Pepe type deals with minimal payment up front but higher annual costs.

EDIT - Worst case scenario it favours player loans rather than transfers - hence my comment in another thread about compromised transfers based upon finances & more value tied up with older 'affordable' players.

It does a lot for your cash flow though. Assume you received minimal transfer fees. Just letting go of Sokratis, Lacazette, Kolasinac (and not bringing Willian on board) this season probably frees up about £25m in free cash flow in wages alone. That right there is your Grealish down payment and maybe even his first year salary. We don’t even need these players. One Grealish would’ve been worth 2x all of them this season.

This kid is exactly what we need. Him in the team would get the best out of Auba playing as a sole man upfront.

Yep he’d be a solid signing - physical, technically able and can thread a pass or shoot from distance with great effect. Should appreciate in value too

Claudius wrote:

It does a lot for your cash flow though. Assume you received minimal transfer fees. Just letting go of Sokratis, Lacazette, Kolasinac (and not bringing Willian on board) this season probably frees up about £25m in free cash flow in wages alone. That right there is your Grealish down payment and maybe even his first year salary. We don’t even need these players. One Grealish would’ve been worth 2x all of them this season.

The only problem is that 25m saving in wages is accumulated over the season and is not available as a lump sum able to be used too make an up front payment on a transfer.  What we can do is then use that known saving to then take a loan for that amount and then pay it off through the season as those savings are made - instead of paying the players each week/fortnight/month we pay the loan - only issue is our financial policy does not allow for us to do so as it effectively increases our debt, and the only debt we are willing to accept is that related to the stadium.

IMO it is the lack of on hand Cash and poor cash flow that hampers us in being able to make such payments more than once during a transfer window.  As a club we are rich enough in terms of revenues, but we can't use them to our advantage when we need to because of our financial strategy/policy.

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

I have a feeling we’ll sign Do Szo in January

We'll have to move fast as the latest talk is Bayern have declared an interest.

Anzac wrote:
Claudius wrote:

It does a lot for your cash flow though. Assume you received minimal transfer fees. Just letting go of Sokratis, Lacazette, Kolasinac (and not bringing Willian on board) this season probably frees up about £25m in free cash flow in wages alone. That right there is your Grealish down payment and maybe even his first year salary. We don’t even need these players. One Grealish would’ve been worth 2x all of them this season.

The only problem is that 25m saving in wages is accumulated over the season and is not available as a lump sum able to be used too make an up front payment on a transfer.  What we can do is then use that known saving to then take a loan for that amount and then pay it off through the season as those savings are made - instead of paying the players each week/fortnight/month we pay the loan - only issue is our financial policy does not allow for us to do so as it effectively increases our debt, and the only debt we are willing to accept is that related to the stadium.

IMO it is the lack of on hand Cash and poor cash flow that hampers us in being able to make such payments more than once during a transfer window.  As a club we are rich enough in terms of revenues, but we can't use them to our advantage when we need to because of our financial strategy/policy.

Exactly. Cash flow can be managed with a simple facility at the bank. But the bank is smart enough to see that you have a bunch of paperweights off your books and can give you the cash up front for the next 12 months. We still have a top 4 wage bill. After all these years of playing in Baku.