RocktheCasbah Anyway, madness to sell him, unless we get a ”Godfather" offer. If Van Dijk was worth £75m to Liverpool 7 years ago, how much for Big Gabi now?

Not to detract from your general point, but the circumstances are quite different as well - the equivalent would be something like Branthwaite moving from Everton to Arsenal now, or Vidic moving from Man Utd to Saudi in his pomp. We're doing Gabriel a disservice to equate his potential move from Arsenal (flying high and 'challenging' for leagues) to that of Van Dijk to a club with title aspirations. Not only doing Gabriel a disservice, we're low balling ourselves in the process.

      Tam exactly - if they make us an offer that we actually consider, then it has to be stupid money. Jhon Duran who has done virtually nothing with his career moved there and fetched Villa allegedly over 60m. Maybe twice what the player is actually worth. We have a player that's actually worth about 100m on today's market, so let them make us an offer first. Let's hear the numbers and then we know if we have to have a proper sit down, let me pour you a drink situation.

        I don't think anyone who says irreplaceable/wouldn't sell at any price means it literally. It's easy to make up numbers - sure, I'd sell him for a billion pounds. But people are basically saying they wouldn't sell him at a price anyone will actually offer. If we're talking 150m, that's not money to go all "you wouldn't trade Gabriel for Wirtz and Isak?". It's possibly enough for one of them.

          QuincyAbeyie indeed Quince. And then we after we get Isak etc., we still need to solve the problem of replacing Gabriel in defense. It’s not like moving on from Pepe because we had discovered an internal upgrade in Saka.

              Claudius exactly. If you get, let's go mad and say £100m for Big Gab then you spending over half that to replace him with someone not as good and who needs to settle in. So that's less than £50m to your transfer kitty. Not to sniffed at but not money that suddenly gets you Wirtz and Isak.

                  Big Willie The post this thread needed and I agree with the rankings.

                  Reckon we might benefit psychologically from one or two big sales this summer, so long as it's a massive window for signings. It'd hurt, but time has come to feel the mortality of the whole project with Arteta.

                    Coombs a good test for this is name 4 to 5 better players globally in each position. That helps you understand where players rank. We actually have a fair few players who sit in this place. And then some positions will stick out as opportunities.

                    I will contribute what I think are the top 6 forwards based on their most common position (no particular order):
                    Top 6 right wingers: Salah, Saka, Dembele, Lamal, Rodrygo, Olise
                    Top 6 strikers: Kane, Lewandowski, Haaland, Mbappe, Isak, Osimhen
                    Top 6 left wingers: Kvaratshkelia, Vinny Jr., Son, Raphinha, Barcola, Williams

                        Claudius -- top 6 CBs?

                        Gabriel, Saliba, Rudiger, Van Djik, .... I actually think after those 4 the last 2 spots would be incredibly debatable.

                            Claudius a better test, though, is what makes for good football that wins trophies. I appreciate we have a magnificent defense, but we play to their strengths as well. There are other ways to get things done.

                                Coombs most opposition fans I talk to are very high on Saliba, Gabriel and especially Raya. There is a ton of respect for these players. Part of why we have the strengths you highlighted is exactly because of these players. Arteta started with Leno, Sokratis, Luis Mustafi, in these positions. He could not play his football perfectly with that group for various reasons.

                                  MistaT I would throw Bastoni, Militao, Dias, Kim and Araujo into the conversation behind that 4

                                    Panda not if they’ve got a release clause. See Dean Huijsen at Bournemouth. Very good young defender, only 19/20.