Summer 2025 Transfer Window: Page 131 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Summer 2025 Transfer Window

Big Willie

flobaba Towards the end of the window teams will start getting desperate, considering the lack of options in the striking department. Someone on the top European leagues will take a shot, perhaps on loan or something where we pay a percentage of his wages. And if not, Saudi will likely throw us an offer. He should be as good as gone in our accounting if we are wise.

Yeah, that's not gonna happen. He's injured until September at least and probably won't be back to match fitness until October/November. No club is gonna buy him this summer knowing that, nor will any club be willing to loan him if they have to pay his wages so it's moot in any case.

Gazza M

flobaba

I think 1 is ok. arteta still has havertz as a big part of his plans im. I doubt he'd sign 2 forwards ahead of him

Klaus

Gazza M It won't happen but I really think Havertz should be one of the first names on the transfer list. There's good value in him still for a club like PSG or Real, but unlike most other Arsenal players with value he's not exactly crucial.

He's always been a bit of a poor man's Thomas Müller to me, a player of half-positions and half-spaces who gets by due to his good football intelligence. The difference of course being that while Müller was great no matter where you dropped him, Havertz isn't quite good enough in any position. Ultimately he just comes up a little short everywhere. A real shame it is, as I've always admired his unusual profile. But the money would be better spent on players who are good enough to start.

HomeSteak

He would be the best paid player in the team if they match what we are giving him. Not to be bad for a 5th left back in the rotation that is always injured.

lorddulaarsenal

The transfer window slams open today

Sicario2

lorddulaarsenal yes, can’t wait. Really looking forward to hearing about the latest on Sesko and Gyokeres. Its like waiting for the new season of cobra Kai - Fabrizo san.

Bernard Woolley

I wonder if there's a degree of inter-dependence in the minds of the club between LW and ST signings. For instance, if we were to get Rodrygo at LW, it would be easier to sign someone like Sesko since Rodrygo-Kai-Saka is a good starting frontline. Alternatively, if we end up with a Tier 2 / up-and-coming player like Semenyo or even Martinelli at LW, then we need Gyokeres who will have a more immediate impact. That calculus may also be delaying the striker recruitment based on what visibility the club has to an LW signing.

lorddulaarsenal

I recon we’ll sign a couple of players who haven’t really been linked with us in the press or on social media.

lorddulaarsenal

I recon we’ll sign a couple of players who haven’t really been linked with us in the press or on social media.

Qwiss

I recon we’ll sign a couple of players who haven’t really been linked with us in the press or on social media.

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

I recon we’ll sign a couple of players who haven’t really been linked with us in the press or on social media.

Sicario2

FEBravo

Sicario2 That's 180k a week. Sounds like bullshit

EDIT: Unless it's tax free then maybe

Bernard Woolley

Klaus Could not agree more. If we could make our money back, I'd sell him in a heartbeat. Same with Cala honestly. I spend way too much time bemoaning the value trapped in our backup FBs.

Mirth

Klaus I’d agree if money was the limiting factor for this window but it isn’t so I’d say we’re an overall better squad with Havertz in it (even as a bench option).

Say we got Gyokeres and Williams, we’d still be stuck with Martinelli and Trossard as our established options off the bench in attack. That isn’t enough.

Klaus

Bernard Woolley Is there no chance of Lewis-Skelly ending up in midfield? His skillset seems to be that of a central mid. On paper it would do in two birds with one stone: Skells takes Partey's spot, Calafiori gets the leftback position.

RowJimmy

Klaus
MLS's current role allows us to play a 442 defending and a 3223 attacking. If you start him in midfield you will need to:
1) have him play as a single pivot - we then need a different fullback to start inverting next to him
2) drop Rice, not going to happen
3) drop Odegaard - Rice would need to be playmaker as well as BTB, not his strength
4) drop an attacker

None of these seem to me an improvement. (NB 2-4 assume Zubimendi [backed by Partey] is playing as a 6)

Claudius

Our squad is actually deceptively small. And Havertz was one of our best players in our best recent run. You keep a guy like that. There are other areas where we can better monetise

CPM

If Lewis-Skelly moves into midfield, I don't think it would be as a holding 6. He is more a dynamic player than a positional one. I think he's too good at LB to mess with, at least right now, and with Rice, Ødegaard, Merino, and to an extent Havertz, we are pretty loaded at the 8.

Calafiori is a really compelling talent but he did not look great defending 1-v-1s out wide last season. I'm not totally sure that his future is at LB. He could end up an inverting LCB (with the LB tucking inside when he moves up). Links to Jorrel Hato are popping up again, and he may be a more natural defender on the outside, allowing Calafiori to play more centrally. I don't totally know.

I am predicting an absolutely mega start to the season for Havertz next year.

Glad to see reports we're making Nico Williams a serious offer. He is raw and not quite where we need on end product, but he is a natural fit tactically and he's as good as anyone in the world at beating his man and creating space for a shot/final ball.

samthegooner

I just can't agree with the Havertz slander on this thread. Neither Sesko or Gyokeres starts over him in our first choice XI. Add a goal scoring winger on the left to push Martinelli and goals off the bench and we are cooking. Signing both Sesko and Gyokeres would be the biggest waste of resources. We would be so much better off signing one of them and using the funds from the other to bring in a guy like Eze who would be perfect in this team either on the wing or in one of the 8's.

Sicario2

samthegooner what’s the point of signing a star striker if they don’t start ahead of Kai? We are not paying £60-80m for a squad player.

Kai is ok but possibly the strangest footballer I’ve ever seen - a complete enigma.

Claudius

Sicario2 we aren’t talking about signing Aguero or Saurez here. We are talking about a Bundesliga kid who is still developing or a guy who beat up on a league whose average wage is less than the Championship. Both excite me, but the idea that they just come in and easily replace Kai isn’t easy to ingest

samthegooner

Sicario2 The point would be bringing in someone like Sesko who ideally would develop this year and displace him by the end of the year, but at the very least he would provide another great option off the bench that isn't a CM playing striker like we had last year. Being able to bring in a Sesko like talent in the 70th minute of a game is something we haven't had in years and it clearly killed us this year. And then if he hits the ground running and continues to fulfill his immense potential, you've got a league winning CF emerging in the second half of this year.

Personally, I think we can win trophies with Kai as our CF and think he is very underrated on this forum with the work he does outside of simply finishing. The list of CF's in the league right now that start over him is very short IMO: Haaland and Isak.

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