Would rather Zubi than Kimmixh. Think both would be a poor allocation of resources.

JazzG Watch him for Spain last summer when Rodri went off injured, put in a clinic. There is a reason why Barca, Real Madrid, Liverpool and Arsenal are pushing for him

Yeah. I have seen it. Don't get me wrong, he is a very good player but its more about who he will be playing with, if we are going to continue to play with Rice at 8, I feel like we should be playing someone there that can add a lot more to our attack. looks like he is a good allrounder with nothing really that stands out.

Having said that, I do think this type of player is the kind you need to see week in week out to fully appreciate, maybe he has insane positioning and tempo setting abilities that I have just not seen yet.

Zubimendi looks very boring to me. Will just be a younger Jorginho without the first time lobbed through balls.

Zubimendi definitely does not stand out on any compilations or highlights videos. However, like @JazzG said, he was immense for Spain when Rodri went off last summer and looked like the best player on the pitch - just intercepted everything and dictated the pace of the game. Personally, I'm a big believer in the idea that if the biggest clubs/managers in the world are after him, there's a reason. I do have concerns on how the rest of our midfield looks with him but I also think there's a world where we look back at his signing and realize how his profile completely changed the responsibilities (or lack thereof) that guys like Rice have and allowed him to be a disruptive and more attacking force. I see it working really well out of possession but my wonder is how it will look in possession.

Qwiss get both!

Let’s not dick about this summer. Spend pretty much all the budget on attackers. I’d rather have too many talents to choose from than next to none

Kimmich's wages alone would be over 300k per week so there's no way we should be getting both. I think we should be looking at Zubimendi more since he will be less expensive wage-wise and is younger. We need to be spending the bulk of our funds on marquee attackers and then ideally finding a few younger squad players with higher ceilings like Nypan to fill out the squad and avoid being in a spot like we are now.

Kimmich is 30 too - just not a great gamble at the wages and age IMO, especially when he's only played in the Bundesliga. You're betting on him to keep up his form on the wrong side of 30 as he adjusts to a new league - that's not what I would want to do when we are this close to being a title winning team. Seems like much more of a United type signing, despite him being in great form this year.

Wirtz is phenomenal. If we have a chance to get him, we should be all over it. Now, I'd be concerned that we would then not have many funds to strengthen the attack but if you can get a player like Wirtz, you have to get him. Hard to imagine Bayern having more buying power than us and Leverkusen is going to want to get as much as they can for him. I'd even be fine taking less established attackers if it meant bringing in Wirtz - he would transform our attack. However, I don't know what that would mean for Odegaard or Rice's roles or our pursuit of Zubimendi. And this is all just hypothetical since I haven't seen any links to Wirtz for us.

Basically go out get Wirtz, Williams and Sesko. Fixes all our issues

JazzG yes, but with Rice next to him and this version of Ødegaard it's nowhere near enough.

Midfield needs an overhaul.

JazzG that's a done deal then if they're talking like that.

JazzG bit of an elephant in the room, that.

JazzG I mean, I’d rather we address the our attacking issue and slowness by improving the players around him, rather than moving on one of the top players in the league, a two time player of the season, and someone who would walk into almost any other team in Europe.

His form this year is one thing, it can’t be ignored that he’s not been to his usual standards but he’s also playing in a disjointed team and seemingly his body doesn’t seem to be at 100%. If the disjointed team excuse is used to excuse Arteta and the team our misfortunes this season then it Odegaard should also get the benefit of the doubt.

The issue doesn’t lie with Odegaard being slow. It lies with Arteta wanting to be protagonists; to play sharp, quick, technical football, but surrounding players suited to it like Odegaard and Saka, with players not to the same standard technically but valued more for their physical traits in Martinelli, Havertz and Rice.

We’ve ended up with an orchestra full of unusual musicians who can play great music and jam together when on form. Unfortunately this season we’re missing the rhythm section, the few available replacements are buskers, the conductor (Odegaard) has lost his baton, and we’re seeing the effects of Arteta hoping they can make great music without giving them sheet music to work from.

Amy Lawrence was talking on Handbrake Off this week about our jobs as supporters. Are we supposed to get behind the team when they need us, or not? Obviously, we're supposed to - the lack of support being given to Odegaard right now as an online fan base is something I find genuinely staggering.

All the factors which have clearly affected his form brushed away as excuses rather than the reasons they actually are. Obviously, that injury he had had a huge impact on him - does anyone remember that he came back and put in a huge shift at Stamford Bridge his first game back? He gives everything to this team and what he needs is, as Tam says - help, better players around him. And a decent rest now and again. Someone else who can do what he does when he's not around to do it himself.

He's as much a victim of this summer's clusterfuck as we all are.