Come on now Viking. If this guy, at 26, was a real quality player - we all would know who he is. You know that. I am not saying he can´t play, I am just saying, without knowingly having watched him once, that he is NOT someone I would be comfortable with leading our line for half a season. You don´t really have to "see him before you pass judgement" to figure that out. Statistically, that is roughly what we can expect from RVP. Neither this guy nor Chamakh does it for me.

Clrnc wrote:

Yes, Yes. I get what some of you guys are saying. People who expects Benzema will be very disappointed with Park. People who knows Wenger and was expecting the worst would be delighted with this deal. It's all about expectations. Get real, no matter how much Wenger have he will never overspend. It was always likely he was just going to replace Bendtner.

I think there's a lot of sense in that. Park is definitely better than the backups we currently have. I'm not sure about his goal record though, but it might improve. Admittedly I haven't seen much of him but I've been impressed with his workrate and technique every time.

I just hope this means that we're about to fork up big money for a central midfielder that isn't M'Vila.

Don Pacifico wrote:

Even for those that have seen him and/or rate him, how is this in any way acceptable? His record is poor and our striking options will still be far inferior to other top teams. Is he as good as Hernandez/Drogba/Anelka/Balotelli etc?

He doesn't play with Hazard, Gourcoff, Cesc, Lampard etc. He is the best player at his club by an absolute mile and spends every game being marked by 2-3 players because if he doesn't do 'it', nobody will.

He's good enough for Arsenal.

Okay but is he as good as the back-up at the other big clubs?

I have watched him a lot for his national team and to be honest i was expecting a bigger signing. I don't think he is a step up from Bendtner but having said that, one thing we will get from him is a lot of heart, he will not shirk a physical battle and won't hide. I think people will like him but he isn't special.

Wenger is clearly shifting to a different style of play and he probably fits that bill.

Don Pacifico wrote:

Okay but is he as good as the back-up at the other big clubs?

Yes.

Well if you genuinely think he is that good, then that's some praise. You know your beans Capi so that might persuade me to reserve judgement.

I've wanted a back up striker all along, one who could pop in towards the end of matches to be at the right spot at the right time.

I have no idea about Park, probably seen him a few times over the last few years, but don't remember being awestruck. But he'll do a job I'm sure, I have confidence in Wenger's judge of attacking talent.

Also, those who expect a striker in the 20-30 million bracket must surely realize that it would be tough finding anyone who would like to come in to sit on the bench for most of the season?

What games have you seen him in Captain?
Did you see him play against Lille, Marseille or Lyon?
Who would you compare him to?
Do you rate him as highly as Chamakh was rated when we signed him last season as back-up for van Persie?

haha, wenger pulling another random signing out his arse.. I love this.

For the sceptics, if we're signing this dude, then he MUST BE much better than what we have here already. . aka, he's a Super, super class player!

Ivansen wrote:

I've wanted a back up striker all along, one who could pop in towards the end of matches to be at the right spot at the right time.

I have no idea about Park, probably seen him a few times over the last few years, but don't remember being awestruck. But he'll do a job I'm sure, I have confidence in Wenger's judge of attacking talent.

Also, those who expect a striker in the 20-30 million bracket must surely realize that it would be tough finding anyone who would like to come in to sit on the bench for most of the season?

Ding ding ding we've got a winner!

Humble Rex wrote:

Come on now Viking. If this guy, at 26, was a real quality player - we all would know who he is. You know that. I am not saying he can´t play, I am just saying, without knowingly having watched him once, that he is NOT someone I would be comfortable with leading our line for half a season. You don´t really have to "see him before you pass judgement" to figure that out. Statistically, that is roughly what we can expect from RVP. Neither this guy nor Chamakh does it for me.

Did you know Freddie before we got him? Did you know Anelka? I know this guy is older but I think my point stands.
Besides, I'm in no way sure that every quality player out there is "known" to us. It's pretty arrogant to assume that, to be frank. I for instance didn't really know Vermaelen og Sagna before we bought them. Let's watch them play and see how they do before we decide that this guy is not good enough. And that'll be my last word on this. We'll have to wait and see whom of us gets proved right :-)

Well at least this guy isn't another Young player who's only ever kicked a ball around in the Park.

Part of the reason that I didn't want Robin to get the armband is because I didn't want him automatically starting irrespective of form if he's fit. Say what you will, but this dude is a backup striker. All said and done, I can't say I overly care about CF. I felt we over-stacked there if I'm honest. hence why Bendtner got so many games at RWF. What I want is marquee signings. The fans are owed one of those.

Curtis wrote:

Ivansen wrote:

I've wanted a back up striker all along, one who could pop in towards the end of matches to be at the right spot at the right time.

I have no idea about Park, probably seen him a few times over the last few years, but don't remember being awestruck. But he'll do a job I'm sure, I have confidence in Wenger's judge of attacking talent.

Also, those who expect a striker in the 20-30 million bracket must surely realize that it would be tough finding anyone who would like to come in to sit on the bench for most of the season?

Ding ding ding we've got a winner!

Chamakh had 29 league appearances last season to Robin's 25.
The only reason Chamakh didn't have more is because he was completely and utterly useless from December to May.

Instead of relying solely on van Persie's genius we could actually have another striker who could either challenge him or support him?

Is that too ambitious or unreasonable?

On the point of not knowing players, or signing lesser known players - less of a worry when you speak about defenders.
Quality attackers usually attract far more attention.

Sitting on the bench?! It´s not as if there are no better players than what we have in our strongest front 3. We should buy a player who is comfortable all across the forward line, and is a step up from Walcott, Gervinho, Arshavin etc. For me, the only player who is a nailed on starter for us among our forwards is RVP.

Instead of going for mediocre players we just might as well give Campbell, work permit permitting, or Afobe a shot. Hell, play Gervinho or Theo through the middle and give one of the top, top class players we have that are Ryo and AOC a game. Rather that than us buying another Chamakh.

For me, we shouldn´t spend a single pound on players that won´t go straight into our first XI, but that´s just me I guess.

It's not too ambitious Ya va, but when you look at the problems we have all over the squad having two world class players to compete for one position is a bit of a luxary.

We really are in trouble if our manager couldn´t fit two world class strikers into this team. We aren´t exactly Real Madrid here...

Yeah Y Va and when we were signing Gervinho people were moaning he wasn't some £30m player they were hugely aware of too. Lets just give this kid a chance, he might just be a decent footballer.

Humble Rex wrote:

We really are in trouble if our manager couldn´t fit two world class strikers into this team. We aren´t exactly Real Madrid here...

That makes no sense at all.

Its cool to have a Korean on the team, but we should've gotten the other Park years ago. We lost Fabregas and Nasri, we need exceptional players, not squad depth

otfgoon wrote:

It's not too ambitious Ya va, but when you look at the problems we have all over the squad having two world class players to compete for one position is a bit of a luxary.

So why isn't he adressing the problems with his signings then Otf?
I'm getting seriously worried that this might be it.
I thought we'd have Cahill wrapped up by now.

Deadline day is going to be crazy at this rate.

Who knows.

As Arsene said yesterday, all his efforts this summer have gone towards weakining the squad.

Nothing against this lad as I've no fucking idea who he is, but not a chance we're getting Hazard now. Hope this fella is worth missing out on that.

qs! wrote:

Yeah Y Va and when we were signing Gervinho people were moaning he wasn't some £30m player they were hugely aware of too. Lets just give this kid a chance, he might just be a decent footballer.

I had no problem with Gervinho or his signing, qs.
I was positive about him before I ever saw him play for us.
He was an integral part of a title winning team and the couple of Lille fans that I asked gave him a massive thumbs up.

I've got no such feedback on Park.

I'm skeptical as opposed to being dismissive.
If you have doubts this is the place for them.

qs! wrote:

Humble Rex wrote:

For me, we shouldn´t spend a single pound on players that won´t go straight into our first XI, but that´s just me I guess.

That's just stupid.

Yep considering how stingy is Wenger. He is never going to buy someone better than RVP, and never going to spend more than 10m on a benchwarmer.

Park is as good as you get for a 2nd or 3rd choice striker. If you think otherwise, feel free to name someone as cheap and as good who don't mind being 2nd or 3rd choice. Oh btw just realised Curtis is Viking, hi mate!

i like what i've seen on video. he shoots with POWER (i was starting to get scared that we weren't going to sign any forwards capable of that). has a good first touch, good technique which puts us way ahead in the bendtner vs new signing stakes on that alone. basically all i care about when judging bendtner's replacement as being better: would he have put away that chance against barca? and the answer for this guy is yes because he knows how to control a ball and that was 95% of the requirement for scoring that goal. fuck bendtner and fuck barca. he and cesc were working for them that day.

i like what i see. now we won't sign him so fuck it.

qs! wrote:

Humble Rex wrote:

For me, we shouldn´t spend a single pound on players that won´t go straight into our first XI, but that´s just me I guess.

That's just stupid.

i agree with him. we just lost fabregas and nasri, getting a backup CF isnt going to help.

bendy is leaving, but he rarely played CF for us. i see gervinho as his replacement. if we get rid of chamakh, then fine, i'm ok with park as his replacement. but otherwise, we still need 2 top, top players in the gotze, kagawa, kaka bracket.

Another thing I thought about in this case is how we negotiated the fee, presumably.

As everyone knows there is one fee for the top clubs, and another for regular clubs, a point which Wenger has publically bemoaned.

If what we've heard about this transfer is true then we've hijacked a regular clubs transfer at the very last minute, after a fee has been agreed. The fact that a fee has been agreed would probably make it a lot easier to either get the same deal, or one marginally more expensive. The selling club would hardly be in a position to refuse a bid from us if they've already agreed on a lesser deal with another club.

In comparison, if we'd have been the only club coming in for him I'm sure we would have had to pay twice what we will now.

Good business sense if true.

Meatwad wrote:

i like what i've seen on video. he shoots with POWER (i was starting to get scared that we weren't going to sign any forwards capable of that). has a good first touch, good technique which puts us way ahead in the bendtner vs new signing stakes on that alone. basically all i care about when judging bendtner's replacement as being better: would he have put away that chance against barca? and the answer for this guy is yes because he knows how to control a ball and that was 95% of the requirement for scoring that goal. fuck bendtner and fuck barca. he and cesc were working for them that day.

i like what i see. now we won't sign him so fuck it.

According to Youngguns he is having a medical so 99% signing him.

For you lazy bums

Clrnc wrote:

According to Youngguns he is having a medical so 99% signing him.

For you lazy bums

didn't see that video, this is the one i watched that showed how he scored his goals during his time at monaco.

Ivansen wrote:

Good business sense if true.

Wenger will be absolutely enraged if say, we were to agree a £ 8 Million deal for Cahill today and have him over at London Colney, only for him to rush to Manchester with Manchester United calling him seeing they could get him at such a low price.

let him be enraged. it would be his fault for letting us fall so far behind them that we would now be to them what lille is to us.

Whatever works I guess. I wasn't expecting us to get a cf anyway so any backup is good. As long as this doesn't affect our ability to sign other 'super quality' players in other positions then ii'm fine with giving him time before judging. From the looks of it he looks like a good player.

Everyone complaining wants a big name signing and cf is the last place we'll sign someone 'big' in.

it's no different from what other clubs do to us.

Pleasantly surprised to see us go in for a striker. If he knows how to kick a ball, he'll be an upgrade on Chamakh. Particularly if he takes a decent free kick as well.

Still want a playmaker.

I've never seen this guy, but if he's rated on Bendtner's level, I'm happy enough. I think a striker is a major area of need, and it's obvious that we were never going to sign a Benzema-caliber player.

However, I hope this isn't going to set the tone for the rest of transfer window. Role players are necessary given the state of our squad, but we are severely lacking quality at the moment, especially in the attack.

kamikaze wrote:

it's no different from what other clubs do to us.

no, they pay more to the club and player here we simply matched lille's offer and the upgrade in status won out. so if a player and another club wants to do that exact same thing to us then it's our own fault for letting it come to that.

Captain wrote:

He's good enough for Arsenal.

You got that right Capi!

It's amazing how quickly Wenger can move for some bargain bin rubbish when he wants to.

otfgoon wrote:

Humble Rex wrote:

We really are in trouble if our manager couldn´t fit two world class strikers into this team. We aren´t exactly Real Madrid here...

That makes no sense at all.

What is so difficult to understand that if you have 2 world class players, in this case strikers, you tweak your formation to make room for both of them? It really isn´t rocket science.