goon wrote:
flobaba wrote:

Wenger basically had no clue when it came to defensive talent.

It’s because there isn’t a lot of defensive talent out there. United paid £80m for a fridge, City have been dropping £50m a year on one for a decade, Liverpool have had to spend £70m to finally get one right.

There’s a lot of expectation on central defenders these days and I don’t think academies have caught up.

You're right, Goon. I actually sympathise with Guardiola on central defense. Largely due to men like him, football has become very offensive. So you end up with these 5 5 formations, and central defenders often find themselves exposed without fullbacks because those guys are off attacking. So central defenders need to be athletic to cover the large areas evacuated by fullbacks. 

At the same time, we want them to be much more capable on the ball to build out from the back. 

So they have to have this athleticism and ball-playing ability in addition to the original qualities of tackling, tracking and heading that were required before. Of course, if the team dominates possession, these are required less than from an elite centre back 10 years ago, but they're still building blocks. We are chasing defensive unicorns. 

Yep, I don’t even think Terry would look great in modern sides. Just look at how people view slide tackles these days compared to the Tony Adams era.

Claudius wrote:
goon wrote:

Big thing going for him is that he’s 6ft 3, strong and quick. It makes everything else easier.

He doesn’t look great on the ball though, looks more Holding level on that front.

Which feels like cross-talk between Edu and Arteta. How are we supposed to build from the back with a guy who has only one functional foot? When Sterling and Jesus charge him down, we're screwed. That rear triangle needs to be three guys who are very comfortable on the ball. If you want to be able to build out of the back and advance quickly, you need to upgrade there. That's why we also need to upgrade Xhaka. It enhances your ability to break out of the press, advance the ball and catch the opposition off guard. 

It also allows you to play a City type raptor press. Their press is very different from the Liverpool press. It is high up the field and forces the ball to be cleared and sent back to your own defenders. Thus those guys need to be good on the ball. 

I see this defender, and it leaves me wondering what will we be doing stylistically?

(it's a bit like the Coutinho rumour - where he's good offensively but could be like Ozil defensively. and even on offense, where he excels is actually in making space for himself versus others. so a really good player, but how does he fix the issues of creating chances for Aubameyang and Pépé?)

I mean, there’s not really much to be done. Even if you could find a two footed defender who can actually defend he’d probably cost a fortune. I don’t think it’s that limiting anyway, as long as you have a bit of composure you’re fine. I was watching that City goal again and there isn’t any great passing on display until Tierney fires it into Laca, it’s just lots of options and composure.

He's better than the other CB's we've been linked with Upamecano / Carlos

Sicario wrote:

Never seen this kid play but only advice would be don’t get too excited.

Mustafi and the original Gabriel were supposed to be the dogs bollocks too and they both ultimately failed. I think signing a top, top defender that fits our needs is one of the hardest things in football.

How many good out and out central defenders did Wenger sign not named Sol Campbell?

The clue is always on how many clubs interested in the defender. There was no hype on Mustafi. Only us and Chelsea are interested. The original Gabriel is literally an unknown plucked out by StatDNA since when did he become the dogs bollocks.

Clrnc wrote:
Sicario wrote:

Never seen this kid play but only advice would be don’t get too excited.

Mustafi and the original Gabriel were supposed to be the dogs bollocks too and they both ultimately failed. I think signing a top, top defender that fits our needs is one of the hardest things in football.

How many good out and out central defenders did Wenger sign not named Sol Campbell?

The clue is always on how many clubs interested in the defender. There was no hype on Mustafi. Only us and Chelsea are interested. The original Gabriel is literally an unknown plucked out by StatDNA since when did he become the dogs bollocks.

To be fair, Gabriel Paulista was very good at Villarreal in a defensive setup under Marcelino.

Kind of like Eric Bailly who also looked very good there prompting United to pay big money for him.

We deserve a break with our centrehalves. All the torment we've been through, gabriel and saliba should both turn out to be world class if karma exists in this world

Well I can categorically say it doesn't. Good deeds never go unpunished. That's why the new setup at Arsenal gives me hope that we might see some success for the red and white.

Lets go with the law of averages then

Rumours that UEFA's punishment could complicate the deal as Lille are no longer allowed to register new players. How has this club managed to make a loss over the last few years? They seem to consistently buy low and sell high.

I kinda hope we don't sign him to be honest. I'd much rather we put the money to use in the attacking end.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

Rumours that UEFA's punishment could complicate the deal as Lille are no longer allowed to register new players. How has this club managed to make a loss over the last few years? They seem to consistently buy low and sell high.

Apparently the damage was done in 2018 when they had a 100m loss, and have failed to reduce it to under the 30m figure required as a 3 season maximum average allowed.

Klaus wrote:

I kinda hope we don't sign him to be honest. I'd much rather we put the money to use in the attacking end.

We may yet. There's other areas it would be nice to address first, but the market dictates the order in which we do business. Defense is a major problem area, especially if we want to move away from 343 luiz-ball. We may have a pile of players there at the moment,  but id be happy if any of them left

Lille has signed Gabriel's replacement. Bruno Fuchs from Internacional, a young defender who only started 3 top flight matches so far. They are so quick with their signings, I remember they signed some Turkish winger even before selling Pepe to us.

Their scouting system is superb.

We were linked with him but our scouts nor management team didn’t give a Fuchs

Arsenal fans online are something else. They found his sister and found that she started following Arsenal on instagram over the weekend. They also found hist brother(or cousin, did not figure it out) who has started posting pictures of himself in a Arsenal shirt. Based on that, I don't even care about what the press are saying...looks done to me.

HomeSteak wrote:

Arsenal fans online are something else. They found his sister and found that she started following Arsenal on instagram over the weekend. They also found hist brother(or cousin, did not figure it out) who has started posting pictures of himself in a Arsenal shirt. Based on that, I don't even care about what the press are saying...looks done to me.

It's a so-called "tier 4" source, luckily. Where is Koulibaly supposed to be sold by the way?