Atletico hot in pursuit of AMN now that Trippier has been banned for insider trading on transfer related sport bets.

Simeone will either murder AMN, or turn him into an unbelievable RB

I well and truly hope we sack Arteta and Edu before they go and do something stupid like selling Maitland-Niles.

MistaT wrote:

Simeone will either murder AMN, or turn him into an unbelievable RB

I’m betting on the latter. AMN is a specimen. I can imagine him just grinding for Simeone. That’s a manager we should get. He’d bury the stiffs like Xhaka where we can’t find them

IF the club want to try to maximise their return on the current squad they should sack Arteta and replace him with Tuchel, with the view to playing 4231 to get the maximum from the current squad over the last half of the season.

This would primarily include re-instating the likes of Ozil as CAM and retaining PEA as CF.
Next summer we would still need to go hard in the market to replace half the match day squad.

why reinstall Ozil? he has 5 months left. we need forward looking solutions now. what a mess up this has been. I wonder what the European player WhatsApp groups say about the Ozil and Saliba situations

Call me crazy, but AMN is exactly the sort of player we should be cashing in on if we can get a good fee.

Claudius wrote:

why reinstall Ozil? he has 5 months left. we need forward looking solutions now. what a mess up this has been. I wonder what the European player WhatsApp groups say about the Ozil and Saliba situations

IF Arteta remains I'd not want Ozil reinstated, but under a new manager for the remainder of the season it's a get out of jail free card in terms of addressing the creativity issues & buys time to keep the critics at bay.  IF it works then we can have a potential knock-on effect to increase player values for sale in the summer, including the likes of Laca and possibly PEA if we still finish outside UEFA qualification.  Regardless of this I do not want Ozil at the club any longer than possible.

goon wrote:

Call me crazy, but AMN is exactly the sort of player we should be cashing in on if we can get a good fee.

I'd wait another season until we have the squad better balanced / fit for purpose, and HG values should increase once post-COVID finances return closer to normal, let alone post-BREXIT.

goon wrote:

Call me crazy, but AMN is exactly the sort of player we should be cashing in on if we can get a good fee.

Don’t know why you’d say that is crazy. It’s a very reasonable opinion

goon wrote:

Call me crazy, but AMN is exactly the sort of player we should be cashing in on if we can get a good fee.

Agreed.

For me, either he very quickly becomes a serious footballer, and consequently takes Bellerin's spot at right back, or we sell him this summer.

goon wrote:

Call me crazy, but AMN is exactly the sort of player we should be cashing in on if we can get a good fee.

Sure but the offer has to be right, not €15m and I'd sooner sell one of the other 2 right backs I think.

Qwiss! wrote:

goon wrote:

Call me crazy, but AMN is exactly the sort of player we should be cashing in on if we can get a good fee.

Sure but the offer has to be right, not €15m and I'd sooner sell one of the other 2 right backs I think.

Pretty much. None of the 3 right backs are in the list of 6-7 untouchables in the squad. You can’t pretty much keep any 2, or keep 1 and take the chance to get a super quality right back.

I'd be happy with Hector or Ainsley in the first XI as long as we can get some of the larger issues sorted.

goon wrote:

Call me crazy, but AMN is exactly the sort of player we should be cashing in on if we can get a good fee.

you're not crazy. he should have been sold for the 20m wolves bid. but as arteta proved this summer when push comes to shove and they say "hey we have an offer for ..." he responds, "no let's keep him." and then the season starts and you don't see why he kept that player.

De Paul switches his agent to Mino Raiola. Juve and Inter are in for him.

Shame, he would've been a good player for us to have to link the midfield and attack.

would be fantastic. such a talent.

Qwiss! wrote:

goon wrote:

Call me crazy, but AMN is exactly the sort of player we should be cashing in on if we can get a good fee.

Sure but the offer has to be right, not €15m and I'd sooner sell one of the other 2 right backs I think.

I wouldn't sell for that amount either, but folks on here were up in arms in the summer when it looked like we were asking Wolves for 'only' £25m. 

I like Ainsley, he's a likeable kid from Hale End and he has a few strong qualities. But he's nothing special and as someone who's about to turn 24 it seems unlikely that he's about to explode. 

I blame that more on Arsenal than AMN. We need to play these kids. It’s why I would rather see Nketiah than Lacazette and Saliba than Mustafi. I want to know what we have. Maybe they’re really good. Maybe they’re shit. But we will never know if they don’t play. It’s seven years since AMN debuted for us. In that time he hasn’t had a good bloc of consistent game time at Arsenal or elsewhere. It’s bad personnel development. We don’t grow talents properly and it must be frustrating for the guys

Apart from Saka I do worry about a lot of the other English boys we have coming through. Probably need to sell ESR, Reiss, Willock, Eddie and look to reinvest. AMN probably better than them and someone I'd like to see have a run, he's a bit hit and miss but defensively in recent times his game looks a lot better.

Ideally bring more youth players through or invest in some British talent. Plenty coming through and also we need to meet our Home Grown requirements.

I think ESR will be as good as Saka if he can stay injury free. Nelson is probably technically the best of the lot, but without the footballing brain he needs to find a bit more power from somewhere to really make a difference.

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

Julian Brandt linked

I’d be happy enough with that

Okay, back to a highly skilled player in AM. He might be a bit frustrated since going to Dortmund. He was relegated to the bench a lot, and really only started getting play time with Håland injured, playing as false nine. He's versatile, having played as both a central mid and winger in his career. Very tidy on the ball, comfortable linking up with team-mates like ESR. This is possibly a good buy - a quality player at a low point. 

I really wanted us to get him before he went to Dortmund. Why has he started playing centrally, especially in CM? Wingers transitioning to CM is usually indicative of them having lost their speed / acceleration from injury.

Brandt has proven to be not of top level quality.

Do not want. We need to stop signing players like these and go for the best we can. We have ESR already, signing Brandt won't make any sense whatsoever.

FWIW, Aouar is no longer our main target according to Orny. We have moved on to others.

Clrnc wrote:

Brandt has proven to be not of top level quality.

Do not want. We need to stop signing players like these and go for the best we can. We have ESR already, signing Brandt won't make any sense whatsoever.

FWIW, Aouar is no longer our main target according to Orny. We have moved on to others.

I thought Brandt was decent last season? 

We need another 10 and he could provide good competition for ESR, but I've not really seen him enough to know if he's worth the gamble.

He doesn't create much, basically just a slightly above average pass and move player that has a good shot.

I'd take another pass and move player to be fair. We can look for a top shelf player to partner Partey instead.

goon wrote:

I'd take another pass and move player to be fair. We can look for a top shelf player to partner Partey instead.

Maybe Brandt is intended to be the new creative CM alongside Partey as per Cazorla?

Julian Brandt Football Statistics | WhoScored.com
all of those listed strengths are exactly what we are looking for in a creative CM.

I'd be on board with brandt if we weren't so creatively bankrupt. he can slot in as a supporting creative player, but not as the main creative hub

Gazza M wrote:

I'd be on board with brandt if we weren't so creatively bankrupt. he can slot in as a supporting creative player, but not as the main creative hub

If his defence is sound (unlike Xhaka), then IMO he'd be fine as either double pivot alongside Partey OR as a hybrid 8/10 alongside Partey in an inverted midfield3 with a more defensive CM behind them.
For that matter if his defence is good, then he and Partey could both press high with a mobile playmaker type behind them.

Point being we may not be looking towards an individual to be the creative hub (as seen previously with DB10/Fabregas/Ozil or even at MC re KdB & Co or MU re Fernandes/Pogba), but perhaps more about the system as seen with LFC, so long as we have the capability and quality to not only win possession but to also do something with it in broken play as much as passing out from the back.

Alternatively I'd still like this guy if we're going to stay with win pivot CMs in a 4231

Tottenham are interested in signing RB Leipzig midfielder Marcel Sabitzer, 26, with the German club unwilling to improve his current deal which expires in summer 2022. (Bild's Christian Falk on Twitter)

5 Players Arsenal Should Sign in January 2021
Statman Dave

recommendations to address creativity issue

Calhanoglu
https://www.whoscored.com/Players/110373/Show/Hakan-Calhanoglu
Buendia
https://www.whoscored.com/Players/260592/Show/Emiliano-Buend%C3%ADa
Kamada
https://www.whoscored.com/Players/344166/Show/Daichi-Kamada
De Paul
https://www.whoscored.com/Players/125547/Show/Rodrigo-de-Paul
Depay
https://www.whoscored.com/Players/110154/Show/Memphis-Depay

Some potential bargains to be had re Calhanoglu and Depay being in their last year, whilst Udinese were willing to sell De Paul last summer.
None are older than 26, and 2 offer genuine goal threats from open play, whilst 1 is a set piece threat and another can dictate tempo.

De Paul is the guy that pops out there. He’s a full level above everyone else there.

On Buendia, it’s actually worth reading what Norwich fans say about him. He really does not sound like the player you want to be throwing into the Arsenal mix...
https://forum.pinkun.com/index.php?/topic/139774-buendia-talented-but-frustrating/&tab=comments#comment-2416974