Burnwinter wrote:

He's 30 in 6 months. He's 30. 😆

😆  I have to think this through. It's like being in the last 2 years of a contract. Everyone we have who is actually 28-29 is really counted as being 30. That sounds right yes?

Don't let Arseblog see this....

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

Hopefully just trying to get as good personal terms as possible.

Some reports that Napoli have offered him much higher wages than us.

He seems to be holding out for napoli, otherwise theirs no barrier to get this done. Not looking good. If anyone has a fake agent twitter account now is the time to post an exclusive that the deal is off.

If he is more interested in joining Napoli then let him go, they aren't even in the CL so not like they have that to offer either.

I think it is a case of his people & possibly Lille trying to play each party other off each other to get a better deal.

Or its a case of papers chatting shit. I know which one is more likely.

speedy wrote:

He seems to be holding out for napoli, otherwise theirs no barrier to get this done. Not looking good. If anyone has a fake agent twitter account now is the time to post an exclusive that the deal is off.

Why is there no barrier? If Napoli comes in with better terms, that might get us to improve our terms to compete with them. He literally doesn't have a single reason not to wait a couple of days if it can get him better terms.

Yup the most likely scenario, Arsenal fans generate plenty of cheap clicks on social media.

None of the local lille media has chimed in since last week, and they were pretty clear that we were frontrunners. Its just a waiting game

Why are Napoli and Arsenal always competeing for the same players?

Not sure what Napoli’s Brazil contingent is like but if Edu, Luiz, Willian, Martinelli and Tierney can’t convince him to move here there what’s the point of any of them.

Napoli wanted tierney last summer, and pepe for that matter

And Leno and Torreira. Basically whenever they are interested in anyone we will move in

Qwiss! wrote:

Tierney?

I was sure we had more than four and couldn’t be bothered to go back and reorganise the sentence. Tierney will do.

Have we signed this guy yet?

This transfer is getting more tiresome by the day.

By most accounts in France, he will make a decision today. So time to end your misery

God he’s really milking this isn’t he?

Lequipe breaking news, Gabriel all but done!

Rumoured to be signing on a 5 year deal.
So we seem set at the back. Gabriel, Saliba, Luiz, Mari + 1 (likely Mustafi )

Partey - Xhaka

Gabriel - Saliba

Everything can move around that box.

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

Yeah can’t see this not happening now

93%?

I swear we’ve seen a story that he’s chosen us (but with a retained interest from Napoli) every day for the past week or two.

Happy that this is done so we can move on to Partey, Aouar, Messi etc.

Messi will just get in the way of Saka and Pépé’s development. Pass

Too old.

Burt reporting this is done too.

Will be interesting to see who’s ahead in the pecking order, him or Saliba. I’d imagine they’ll get a similar amount of game time regardless, perhaps shared with Luiz.

Touch of Mustafi in him....goes to ground a little often for my liking.

It’s amazing how football has changed, at least in England. People used to love that about defenders in the olden days, the likes of Sol would do it all the time.

Exciting signing.

goon wrote:

It’s amazing how football has changed, at least in England. People used to love that about defenders in the olden days, the likes of Sol would do it all the time.

I like it, its riles up the crowd too which is always a good thing.

I think Saliba-Luiz-Gabriel to start the season gives both guys a few opportunities to make mistakes and settle in. Also gives us more time to sort out the midfield as it is looking more and more likely that our business in this department will not happen until later in the window based on the fact that there have been very few concrete links over the past few weeks for players in this position.

I reckon we will start the first few weeks of the season with:

-Saliba-Luiz-Gabriel-
---Xhaka--Willock---

That spine makes Willian very important in the early weeks as he will be the only creative component in the front five.

Hopefully as we progress through the window we are able to lock down either Partey or Ceballos (ideally both) and then transition to Arteta's favoured 433.

We'll have to start him next to luiz for the forseeable future, as he's still developing, but i think this will be a very good signing. Twin skyscrapers, word to tim duncan and david robinson

I don't think I've seen an example of him going to ground too rashly. Slide tackling is still part of the game, and there are umpteen examples of him standing tall and winning the ball anyway.

goon wrote:

It’s amazing how football has changed, at least in England. People used to love that about defenders in the olden days, the likes of Sol would do it all the time.

mustafi and his stubby legs has given slide tackling a bad rep at arsenal. if you have long legs like this guy (and Sol) it can be quite effective. but if you're sliding around and not even getting the ball you look ridiculous.