Don’t want Nabil Fekir

Odegaard set to stay at Madrid according to the Athletic. Hope we don’t end up regretting missing out on Buendia but hopefully there’s plenty of other options.

Gazetta Dello Sport : Arsenal are ready to put 40 million€ on the table for Manuel Locatelli who prefers Juventus for the moment, Giovanni Carnevali, the Sassuolo president, has confirmed that the interest from abroad for Manuel is concrete.

https://www.gazzetta.it/Calciomercato/14-06-2021/calciomercato-florenzi-locatelli-quanti-azzurri-si-muoveranno-l-europeo-4101970971414.shtml

Gazzetta not as reliable as before but there is nothing there about us. Nothing....Edu will get the sack by the end of the summer, bet money.

At the end there is a write up about our interest in Locatelli and Chelsea’s in Hakimi.

Locatelli would be amazing and a show of real intent.............can’t see it happening.

HomeSteak wrote:

Gazetta Dello Sport : Arsenal are ready to put 40 million€ on the table for Manuel Locatelli who prefers Juventus for the moment, Giovanni Carnevali, the Sassuolo president, has confirmed that the interest from abroad for Manuel is concrete.

https://www.gazzetta.it/Calciomercato/14-06-2021/calciomercato-florenzi-locatelli-quanti-azzurri-si-muoveranno-l-europeo-4101970971414.shtml

Gazzetta not as reliable as before but there is nothing there about us. Nothing....Edu will get the sack by the end of the summer, bet money.

I'd rather he's sacked today but yeah, as long as he's gone soon.

doesn't locatelli move the needle about as much as neves all things considered? partey has already lost a season adapting, I'd rather we didn't sign someone from serie a who will take a season to bed in

Gazza M wrote:

doesn't locatelli move the needle about as much as neves all things considered? partey has already lost a season adapting, I'd rather we didn't sign someone from serie a who will take a season to bed in

Locatelli is a high quality player who can do a B2B role and be perfect in the Guardiola role of advancing attack.

I think we need to contextualise Partey’s first season. He was signed extremely late, and didn’t have a chance to ramp up with the team in the summer / early season. This contributed to his slow start and probably him being injured. We can avoid this by signing Loca early.

Get Saul to find someone who'll hit the ground running with Partey. Had a shit season which is the only reason he might be available, he signed a ridiculous eight or nine year contract some four years ago. He's as driven as any player in Europe, think it'll have hurt him Atletico won the title with him not being a nailed on starter. Still only 26 and with a point to prove after missing out on the Euros

Imagine

I thought contracts that long were against Uefa rules?

Gazza M wrote:

doesn't locatelli move the needle about as much as neves all things considered? partey has already lost a season adapting, I'd rather we didn't sign someone from serie a who will take a season to bed in

Yeah thats a big issue. I suppose you need to balance it with other signings. We aren't going to only sign players with PL experience. As long as the balance of PL and non-PL signings is good we should be ok.

Qwiss! wrote:

I thought contracts that long were against Uefa rules?

Normally they are but those rules are easy to circumvent, a couple of players do it every now and then. Remember Fabregas had an eight year contract with us back in the day. Inaki Williams signed a nine or ten year contract a while ago and Kepa hilariously got one over seven years with Chelsea.

That’s why it’s not your job to think of such things Clrnc.

I’m big on letting the folks who get paid to do stuff do stuff. We knew this would likely be the case when we picked him up on loans last term, and so like any half reasonable organization, we already had our back up plans a b and c in place in case the likely scenario played out. Amiright or amiright?

i dont understand the neves interest i guess. is our goal to finish 7th instead of 9th next season? we have no europe to focus on, just the tinpoint cup and then the FA cup in january. we do not need a lot of squad filler for this season. if we are going to spend, we should be looking to spend on elite talent, and overpay if we have to since we dont have european football. of course the player needs to want to come here, and i honestly wouldnt be jumping at the chance to play for a manager who is probably 6 weeks of bad results away from getting sacked.

the kid from anderlecht makes more sense, since we'd be buying him before hes really made a name for himself.

That should be the approach, MD. Either proven super quality, or kids who potentially have tons of upside

100% that. We need either someone who raises our level now or someone with the potential too. Not just filling holes with more players of a similar level.

Agree with above.

The lack of games, is a great thing and one we should look to exploit.

I would even completely forsake the cups if it meant one game a week, using our best players.

If we sign super quality, we will not regret it.

Clrnc wrote:

Gazza M wrote:

doesn't locatelli move the needle about as much as neves all things considered? partey has already lost a season adapting, I'd rather we didn't sign someone from serie a who will take a season to bed in

Much higher ceiling than Neves and more rounded. If we have a chance to get him we must, even considering the adaptation period.

Yup. Something definitely puts me off about Locatelli but this guy has so much upside.

jones wrote:

Qwiss! wrote:

I thought contracts that long were against Uefa rules?

Normally they are but those rules are easy to circumvent, a couple of players do it every now and then. Remember Fabregas had an eight year contract with us back in the day. Inaki Williams signed a nine or ten year contract a while ago and Kepa hilariously got one over seven years with Chelsea.

With cesc it was a 5 year deal and a 3 year deal. With one due to start after the other and be signed both. 

Think we’ll wait to see what the big boys do and get their cast offs

If you watch Poca, you see a player who influences games. The ball likes to travel through him and he moves it quickly. And he’s constantly active across the entire pitch. Never resting. The other thing that stands out is how good he is in the air as well. He will add a much needed physicality to our team while also possessing the technical ability on the ball.

Xhaka + Guendouzi should fund most of this transfer, so I can't see that money is the reason to hold back. Must be something else (Edu's incompetence comes to mind).

BWooley wrote:

Xhaka + Guendouzi should fund most of this transfer, so I can't see that money is the reason to hold back. Must be something else (Edu's incompetence comes to mind).

I suspect they're holding tight to see if they can negotiate a deal for the likes of MO before they spend anything of what little money they have.

jones wrote:

Get Saul to find someone who'll hit the ground running with Partey. Had a shit season which is the only reason he might be available, he signed a ridiculous eight or nine year contract some four years ago. He's as driven as any player in Europe, think it'll have hurt him Atletico won the title with him not being a nailed on starter. Still only 26 and with a point to prove after missing out on the Euros

Imagine

 
Good choice. Superb player. 

The deal is not so sure to happen now, the sun are saying we are moving for Aaron Ramsdale. But ... it's the Sun.

Ramsdale is another good option too. Class keeper

Ramsdales good but he'd be very expensive.

If we go for a keeper who can’t kick, then go for Pope.

If we want to play out from the back, then we have to make sure to land Onana

Clrnc wrote:

Nah don't rate Ramsdale at all. Bang average. Was laughing at SHU who got him and promptly got relegated, when Villa got Martinez for similar price who is 5 times the keeper. Rather Sam Jonstone but he can't kick a ball for nuts.

Yeah haven't seen too many games but he's never impressed me, caught a bunch of poor games of his too. Laughed at Sheffield mostly for selling him for next to nothing and buying him back for literally 20 times the amount three years later.

We have had a 40 million £ opening bid turned down for Ben White.

Source - BBC, Guardian and Sky Sports

A lot will be talking about twisted priorities at this news, but I'm actually very hopeful that this means we'll do a madness on a few occasions this summer.

goon wrote:

A lot will be talking about twisted priorities at this news, but I'm actually very hopeful that this means we'll do a madness on a few occasions this summer.

That's the hope for me too, but I'm scared it's just the priorities thing.

Just seems bit crazy to me. Unless we are spending something like 250m this window, feel like it could be utilized better elsewhere

goon wrote:

A lot will be talking about twisted priorities at this news, but I'm actually very hopeful that this means we'll do a madness on a few occasions this summer.

Yes, I think so too and to be be fair we haven't been shy to spend recently. It's all about choices and ultimately proving that the choices were right. 

goon wrote:

A lot will be talking about twisted priorities at this news, but I'm actually very hopeful that this means we'll do a madness on a few occasions this summer.

We have Gabriel who's looked promising and who's also very young, Saliba who's been impressive out on loan, Mari who looked reliable enough and Chambers and Holding who are not bad and English I guess. Why do we see serious links with two very young centre backs first?

I don't think timing is always an indicator of priorities, Brighton and Wight might be far more willing to get this done than other targets, so it naturally comes to a head quicker.

That's my hope anyway. Reports from most Arsenal journalists, including ones who've maintained for a long time that we're after another RCB, have indicated that we're after players in half a dozen positions and none of them have thrown in the usual caveats that you hear about selling first or limited funds.

You're not bidding 40m at the start of the window because they're "more willing" come on. There are three scenarios I can think of where this makes sense

• we're looking to spend ridiculous money this summer (which you hope but is not very likely)
• Arteta thinks centre back is a priority (which you think is not the case but is likely)
• we don't know what the fuck we're doing, there's no plan and agents are running the club