• MistaT

  • Post #382
  • Edited

In hindsight missing out on Vlahavoic seems like a big mistake. There's enough smoke about him moving (now or in the summer) that we should be all over that.

Honestly, I'm as concerned about Top 4 as I am about winning the league, and FA/CL would be the cherry on top.

Trossard -- Vlahovic (Havertz) -- Martinelli (Nwaneri)

I also think we really need to spring Odegaard back into life. I'm left wondering if Partey and Rice, or Partey and Jorginho could play as a flat two, and let Odegaard play as a "true" 10. He's stalled out in his right 8 role, and I think he'd actually enjoy the central space more with Vlahovic and Martinelli nearby.

    Vlahovic I would still take with open arms. We should have got him 3 January’s ago.

      lorddulaarsenal If we sign another defender before addressing the attack at all, this fanbase will collectively lose it. Araujo is class for sure but we have much larger needs.

        Yup - get an attacker in first.

        Nico Williams, Vlahovic, Marmoush, or Delap this January

        • Qwiss

        • Post #386

        lorddulaarsenal would be a completely stupid signing at this point in time. Wouldn't even start for us anyway.

          • Qwiss

          • Post #387
          • Edited

          MistaT In hindsight missing out on Vlahavoic seems like a big mistake.

          Hardly a mistake. They tried to get him and he only wanted Juve, not much we could do about it. Especially at the time without CL football, etc The real mistake was signing Jesus instead of Isak who was actually attainable.

          If we can get Vlahovic now I'd take him though.

              • MistaT

              • Post #388

              Qwiss -- fair enough! ..... a "regret" if you may!

                Qwiss he’s asking £200k from United because he knows they’re beyond daft. Nobody else pays near that

                  • JazzG

                  • Post #393

                  Sicario2 - Tier 1 3 years ago he turned us down, we tried hard but he wasn't interested. Since then he's had a serious injury and since joining Juve his highest goal tally is 16 in the league, I'm not convinced this guy is going to elevate us. What we really need is a wide player this window and then go all out in the summer for a CF if needed.

                  lorddulaarsenal The Arsenal fanbase would go nuclear if we signed a defensive player this window over an attacker 😆

                        JazzG The Arsenal fanbase would go nuclear if we signed a defensive player this window over an attacker 😆

                        This is the thing that kills me with fans. This idea of equating transfers. That one transfer in one part of the field negates a transfer in another part of the field. If we find a defender, mid or goalie we like for the long term, we should buy him.
                        That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t put the majority of our effort into getting a forward.

                            PSR and limits on spending above your means say otherwise. We are not one of the top 3 or 4 teams in revenue and profits like we used to be in the late 00s and early 2010s. So prioritisation becomes crucial. We couldn't even sign Raya last season because of PSR and had to defer his signing to the summer.

                            • JazzG

                            • Post #396

                            Wasn't our net spend like £12m this summer? I think we are nowhere breaching and have good headroom to splash out. I honestly think in the summer we just put all our eggs in the Williams basket and ended up fucking ourselves over.

                            Ornstein mentioning City working to sign Marmoush as well, really like the guy and think he would be ideal for us.

                              Claudius this mentality is arguably why we've found ourselves in this situation. the budget is finite and now has to be laser focused on the clear and obvious part of the team that isn't performing

                                  Seems to be a lot of movement this January

                                  JazzG Wasn't our net spend like £12m this summer? I think we are nowhere breaching and have good headroom to splash out.

                                  Which makes you wonder why that was considering the amount of spending we did in the past years with no incoming funds, as well as the fact that we had to agree to a loan with obligation with Brentford for Raya in 2023 because we could not sign him outright then without having PSR issues. Otherwise what is the point of a loan with obligation if not to help manage PSR and FFP cashflow issues.

                                  The sales of ESR and Nketiah last summer have given us quite a bit in terms of PSR, compared to where we were at the end of the summer of 2023. However we need to be careful with future signings being in the right positions otherwise we'lll be in a position where we have to either sell our academy graduates like Saka/Nwaneri/MLS or our most valuable non academy players who did not come for big fees like Saliba/Gabriel.

                                  JazzG I honestly think in the summer we just put all our eggs in the Williams basket and ended up fucking ourselves over.

                                  Even if that is the case, if we had plenty of money we could have bought another player attacker and then went for Williams if it became possible. It's not like Arteta has any issues replacing someone even if he bought him a year or so ago. If we are in fact putting all our eggs into the Williams basket, that would mean it is all our eggs, with not much left to bake another signing.

                                        Gazza M obviously the budget is finite but you can eat and drink at the same time. That’s all I’m saying. If while you’re chasing your star striker, another required target becomes available you don’t sit there and say “oh I still don’t have my star striker, so I can’t solve the Zinchenko issue or the L8 issue”. You need to address the whole team. 22 places with a 4 year average contract, means you need to deal with 5-6 signings/renewals each summer. Quick math

                                            Claudius Quick math also tells me that with this approach you can't say later on that the forward signings you want are too expensive.