lorddulaarsenal This is definitely the way forward. In my opinion, MLS is already better than what Partey is giving us - better athlete, much more secure on the ball, just as press-resistant and has the eye for the line breaking pass. He can play next to Rice or Zubimendi and complement their strengths. My only concern with our midfield moving forward is just Odegaard's best role. I have said this before but I just really feel like his weaknesses (lack of elite athleticism, absolutely no weak foot ability whatsoever, and subpar ball striking and finishing) don't lend himself to the most advanced midfield role. I'd prefer we play a more traditional 10 there especially if we are going to be lining up with Rice and Zubimendi (with Merino and MLS as depth). None of those players are going to contribute many goals. Nwaneri fits the role better IMO and I'd also entertain bringing in someone like Eze/Gibbs-White to add some thrust to our attack. In a perfect world, Odegaard would work on his right foot all summer and come back with it being at least competent but it seems that time has passed.

    2 months later

    Hope this is just Spanish press stirring shit up…

    Really wouldn't make sense... they have Camavinga and Tchouameni.

      CPM they’re badly missing Kroos. Neither of those players is Kroos. Zubi will help stabilize midfield.

        CPM Completely different type of player to them. With Kroos gone and Modric probably retiring soon they need to fill that gap in.

          This would be so messed up. Lol

          Lol that tweet is quoting @COPE 😂

          Who by the way are quoting some random journalist. At least I assume it's some random journalist as he's only got 20k followers on twitter.

          Just gotta relax about it. Been saying we'll have to put up with a bunch of journalist bullshit about Madrid gazumping us on Zubimendi.

          It's like Rule 34 but for ITKs: if you can imagine a transfer, someone's claiming it's on.

            Burnwinter on the other hand, maybe this allows us to loook for a Bellingham/ Szoboszolai profile instead. I’m intrigued by that kind of athleticism. (Which we potentially have in Calafiori)

              Gazza M he’s actusllly one of the best passers in the world. It’s why every big team is linked to him. He’s a stat world king. Real, Liverpool, Arsenal, City all linked

                The leaking of how advanced the deal is will look silly if we fail to get him now.

                  QuincyAbeyie currently working on a couple of deals. A deal is only a deal once everything has been signed and the pre-conditions have been satisfied by all parties. Everything else is noise.

                      Claudius don't really agree. You usually have a pretty good idea of whether the deal is going to be signed earlier than the literal time of the signing.

                        Lol, you really don't. I mean you can have a feel for how things are progressing, but It can all come crashing down at any time for any reason, precipitated by either party for good, or no reason at all. Until the final docs are signed, all else is fluff.

                          flobaba that everything can come crashing down doesn't say anything about the likelyhood of a deal happening, it just says that the chance is less than 100 %.

                          For example, Ornstein has reported on plenty on our signings that they're close right before they happen. Either he's had an idea that the deals were going to happen, or he's just the luckiest guy in the world when it comes to guessing.

                              Luis Suarez, Yann M'Vila, Jamie Vardy, Gonzalo Higuain, Christiano etc. We could go on for arsenal specific signings that were extremely close. QuincyAbeyie how do they fit in your fait accompli deal framework?