I think AMN and Hector both fit into the maybes, there's been talk that the latter wants a new challenge.

We defo need to get rid of more than one centre back if we're getting Gabriel. I think all three of Holding, Sokratis and Mustafi need to leave one way or another, and that would still leave us with 5 centre backs.

I also think we firmly intend to sell Laca but are playing it cool. From a financial perspective, he has to go. Two years left on his deal, wrong age and poor performances.

Bin them all!
We need to sell all of them and maybe more.
Only challenge is going to be trying to sell during the COVID-19 crisis. Kia needs to get on the phone with Jorge and start working out 3 or 4 team deals to get the market going.

We need to sell AMN and buy Willian? That's what improves us as a team? Really? What kind of horror summer are you planning here?

Klaus wrote:

We need to sell AMN and buy Willian? That's what improves us as a team? Really? What kind of horror summer are you planning here?

In theory it's AMN for Willian and Gabriel at break even. 

Yeah it was directed to Claude. I'm sure we'll end up selling him too (AMN, not Claude). Arteta doesn't seem to have much say when it comes to transfers.

Klaus wrote:

Yeah it was directed to Claude. I'm sure we'll end up selling him too (AMN, not Claude). Arteta doesn't seem to have much say when it comes to transfers.

I'm worried if we keep Claude we won't be able to give any minutes to youngsters like Sicario

Klaus wrote:

We need to sell AMN and buy Willian? That's what improves us as a team? Really? What kind of horror summer are you planning here?

Go back to my comments on the 55 released staff.
If you think Arsenal is cutting costs on 55 staff only, then you’re mistaken. They represent 1% of our total cost bill. Our main cost cutting is going to come from the squad. The staff are an on top. Ie, if we take out a bunch of cost in the squad, the staff cost saving might be 5-10% of what end up saving in total. So it looks like a small number versus the overall cost, but it ends being a being part of the overall saving. Accept that reality very quickly. And your stress levels will be managed this summer.

The club cannot report it in the way I have explained it above because it will sound like we are not trying to compete, and going backwards after the FA cup. But that is what will happen in practice. So expect sales. And expect free transfers and loan deals, as we try to manage costs against lower and unpredictable revenue.

AMN's agent is now the same on sterling has

What happened to Kolasinac? He used to look good offensively even if he was a bit of a klutz in defense.

All of a sudden his entire game went to poo.

Hanging out with Mesut too long?

I just think people confuse assists with general quality. When you overload the flanks, route all your moves through them and let a player bomb forward unhindered it stands to reason that he'll be involved in some final touches. The question - and I think Emery's Arsenal tenure answered that one convincingly - is what you stand to lose in other places when you set up a team that way. It should have been a sign of weakness when someone who's incapable of looking up before crossing a ball became our most creative player on paper.

To be fair he Kola has a fantastic first touch and ability to take the ball in his stride, good overlapping runs and I think people are overly critical of his final ball too, it's not very accurate but usually into a dangerous area.

But that's a pretty limited skill set. Ok for a mid table side but not enough at a bigger club. Tons off formerly highly rated full backs fall into that category, Mendy, Aurier, Shaw etc.

Kolasinic mostly worked with Iwobi - wasn't too hot when anyone else was in that position.

I still do think Kolasinac is useful as an attacking LB, but I have also similarly had enough of his stupidity on the ball. It's better than Gibbs but he always have a knack of fucking things up whenever its important. Basically Bosnia's Andre Santos

Iwobi was a progressive player who drew players to him and Kola ate well on that dynamic. It was a bit like Hleb with Sagna, I suppose. But kola is nowhere near the defensive monster that Sagna was, so when you stick a 'walcott' in front of him, he is useless.

Come on now, Santos had very short shelf life left when we signed him but he was a full order of magnitude better than Kolasinac. Completely different animal.

Can we get the money we invested?

Can't we sell him to the rich Milan instead of the broke ass Gazidis run one?

Apparently Fiorentina and Torino are also after him so hopefully one of them will cough up.

We need to load up on money and blow it on a big hairy midfielder.
I know these lean times are going to yield a bunch of loans but it would be nice to see a versatile Aouar or SMS come in. I know people think we can't get these guys without Champions League, but money talks.

Clrnc wrote:

I still do think Kolasinac is useful as an attacking LB, but I have also similarly had enough of his stupidity on the ball...... Basically Bosnia's Andre Santos

Spot on

Only difference is Kola has muscle, while Santos was all flub

Claudius wrote:

We need to load up on money and blow it on a big hairy midfielder.
I know these lean times are going to yield a bunch of loans but it would be nice to see a versatile Aouar or SMS come in. I know people think we can't get these guys without Champions League, but money talks.

Money talks but I actually think it's more about timing than anything else. If the timing is right, then we might catch someone like Aouar in a time where Lyon need to sell, bigger clubs have other priorities and we offer a good wage, a good city and a good vision.

goon wrote:

Claudius wrote:

We need to load up on money and blow it on a big hairy midfielder.
I know these lean times are going to yield a bunch of loans but it would be nice to see a versatile Aouar or SMS come in. I know people think we can't get these guys without Champions League, but money talks.

Money talks but I actually think it's more about timing than anything else. If the timing is right, then we might catch someone like Aouar in a time where Lyon need to sell, bigger clubs have other priorities and we offer a good wage, a good city and a good vision.

This is about as good a time as any. Big clubs have tons of midfielders. Aouar, Partey, SMS are all out there to be bought. We have to play this market intelligently. 
That's why it's tough to see us go through financial restrictions. Because I would've hoped we'd get an elite midfielder in there. An Aouar or SMS would be great given the age profile. There has to be a financial entity that can create a structure that allows us to fund a purchase inexpensively given current interest rates and the expectation that players tend to appreciate in value faster than the market (assuming it's possible given that Kroenke increased our debt load). 

Mustafi will stay. Not much of a market for him and it seems Arteta rates him. Probably because he's our only cb that can sort of run.

Kel Varnsen wrote:

Mustafi will stay. Not much of a market for him and it seems Arteta rates him. Probably because he's our only cb that can sort of run.

That was the day I fell in love with Mus.

Torreira clearly never settled in England. Ship him back to Italy for as much money as we can get. Best move for all Parteys.

Klaus wrote:

Yeah it was directed to Claude. I'm sure we'll end up selling him too (AMN, not Claude). Arteta doesn't seem to have much say when it comes to transfers.

I think it's more likely to be about priorities.  
As was said some time earlier when discussing the possible need to sell youngsters to raise funding - we will likely need to sell some players we don't want to sell.
As you rightly alluded to the quality of the recruiting and the season outcomes then determines the correctness of those decisions, or not. 

Kel Varnsen wrote:

Mustafi will stay. Not much of a market for him and it seems Arteta rates him. Probably because he's our only cb that can sort of run.

Isn't he a free agent at the end of the season & same for Sokratis?

Yes.

Jed wrote:

Torreira clearly never settled in England. Ship him back to Italy for as much money as we can get. Best move for all Parteys.

Nice.

found this on the BBC web site

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/arsenal-lacazette-aubameyang-transfer-exclusive-22490504
Laca to Atleti for 30m once PEA signs the new deal.

Think we need a central striker in if Laca leaves. Willian can't possibly be an option there, and having only Eddie and Auba, who 'can' play there, seems a huge risk.

Coombs wrote:

Think we need a central striker in if Laca leaves. Willian can't possibly be an option there, and having only Eddie and Auba, who 'can' play there, seems a huge risk.

I'd agree, but we need to acknowledge strikers are generally super expensive. Gabi can defo put in a shift there for a bit aswell depending when he's fit that might be a better option that signkng a perez that offers hardly anything and takes up transfer fee and wages. When hes fit I'd start gabi him ahead of eddie. He just has to much more in his locker not to.  

It's a little thin, but it's the same number of options we started this season with, and the one before that too unless you count Welbeck who played like four games.

The biggest issue is that Eddie is unproven and raw, but you have to think he'll do better than Laca did this season is he gets an extended run. Getting a proper season out of Pepe would help a lot in terms of spreading goals around too.

The worry I have with Arsenal's technical setup is pretty much totally based on the Pepe/Zaha affair. We know that Raul and Edu will move players (in or out) even if Arteta isn't on board. When Arteta says he wants people to stay, I believe him, but generally all coaches want their players to stay and then they want more. It's a natural kind of desire. That's why technical directors need to be able to make those medium-term decisions that take resources into consideration.

Thing is, Arsenal has proven that it is willing to leave the team short. It's become a norm. I think it started with Wenger, who seemed to like "reinventing" players and coming up with creative solutions. Arteta strikes me as someone who wants 3 players in every position, and then some. Similar to Pep in that sense, I guess. He's got to be careful that he doesn't fall into the trap of "well, you got another backup winger so you can't ask for a backup striker, too" kind of relationship with higher-ups, because they'll cut him off at some point. He's got to pick his battles.

Klaus wrote:

It's a little thin, but it's the same number of options we started this season with, and the one before that too unless you count Welbeck who played like four games.

The biggest issue is that Eddie is unproven and raw, but you have to think he'll do better than Laca did this season is he gets an extended run. Getting a proper season out of Pepe would help a lot in terms of spreading goals around too.

You'd also think that the CF role would change if Laca is sold (as PEA isn't effective playing back to goal), which is why we need to change to a 3 man midfield with someone to sit between the lines in the final 3rd - not just as in a 4231 but even in a 433.