Hopefully we can get it done before the weekend.
el Janny Tranny
This could be a smokescreen too. Something is fishy about it. The timing of it is off unless we're actually inept at transfers. Why wait so long to make a bid and why today when Duran is known to be leaving. Something doesn't add up.
Could be we know it was going to be rejected and we're bluffing to get another target? Try to force another club or player's hand? This is such an odd bid and rumor.
Ollie Watkins is not a 60 million pound player also
Watkins doesn't need to be an elite player to make a huge impact for us. The question is whether he's past his prime, or he has another 2.5 years at the level he's shown recently.
Waiting years for a striker to come in and for that striker to be a second hand Ollie Watkins is most underwhelming.
He neither brings “are you mad?” pace, nor magic in his boots. He doesn’t even get close to maxing out on physical brutishness which would compliment our style.
Claudius Back to Watkins. He had 19 goals and 15 assists last season. When is the last time an Arsenal player pulled numbers close to that?
He's proven quality but he's the wrong profile. He's too old and this contract would be his big career payoff. The motivational risks are high, unless he's an unusual character we just end up with another overpaid passenger up front.
Gazza M perhaps. but i have not seen Gyokeres even linked with anyone. Hopefully after tonight tomorrow lunch time once teams know their European fates, we will see a lot more activity. What we know is
- Leipzig are out of Europe, but they are 5th in Germany and Sesko has 8 goals. So how do they balance that?
- Bayern are competing everywhere, but don't use Tel
- PSG are competing everywhere, and just got Kvara in Barcola's position
- Juve are through. They started Vlahovic yesterday, but he played 32 minutes in the 3 games before that
So there are options. But if it was my money, I would take Watkins of this lot right now based on him being an Arsenal fan who is the 3rd best forward in England last 2 seasons.
Burnwinter Those are serious numbers he put up last season, he is 29 and from an age point of view is the wrong profile. But his hold up play is excellent, he is good in transition and he fits right in from day 1.
He might only give us 2 or 3 top seasons so from that point of view £60m is steep. He probably wouldn't be my first choice for a striker but we don't know what is going on in the market. I know some desperately want Isak but I think Newcastle will sell Gordon and Bruno before they sell him and they are backed by the Saudis, even £150m they could laugh off. We do need to a sign a younger CF as well so I do understand the reservations of blowing our money on Watkins. Someone like Jhon Duran would have been more ideal imo.
JazzG Duran who just came from MLS and has 10 top class goals to his name total is going for 77m. That feels like an enormous risk at that price - but also highlights the lack of options at that position if these are the prices people are willing to pay.
I will admit, there is no particularly outstanding characteristic that Watkins brings. He is a guy who does everything 80% well, which makes him a great all rounder. So he is a bit underwhelming from that end. It's usually great to see someone who has an edge quality like speed, strength, dribbling. He just does everything well enough. But the numbers over a few seasons are good. And with all our injuries, I just like the idea that if I sit Havertz, I can have a veteran Watkins on the field next to Nwaneri, etc.
I didn't realise that uefa had changed its registration rules in 2018 to allow players to switch clubs for hte knockout stage. So we can register up to 3 players who have already participated in the contest. We can sign Gyokeres, Sesko and Watkins for the games. Thought we could only use them domestically
- Edited
Except, your interpretation is clearly wrong. We bid for Sesko in the summer and failed. We tried to convince him (apparently) to move in January and failed again. We also failed to sign Watkins.
Clearly, the club is aware of the need for a striker. Nothing has changed since the summer. This isn't some sudden u-turn. We are still in pursuit of a striker, the issue is we keep failing to convince/land our man.