Like him, obviously. Haven't seen much of him this season but I watched a lot of Ligue 1 last year. Not sure he'll turn out the next Cristiano Ronaldo like Ricky imagines, but the guy has skills and I think we lack some at the moment. He's got pace and acceleration to burn too and we've seen what someone like Gervinho does to Premier League defences with those qualities. I think I'd rather have one of the Dortmund players but I'm not picky.

If we were to buy one big 25-30 million player I'd want it to be a proper forward, not a winger or playmaker.

I'd love to sign Goetze but the thoughts of us playing with Goetze, Theo, Gervinho and then Park or Chamakh in front of them is still too worrying. We need a striker first and foremost.

Podolski's that guy, QS. Proven finisher, very experienced and, along with Per, gives us a nice basis to go after some German players in the summer.
Forget the players whose teams are top 3 in their leagues. It would be like Spurs selling Modric in January.

You're confusing proven finisher with great goalscorer, Cali. I like Podolski too but I have to ask - did you watch him at Bayern Munich? If so, why do you think his spell at the club was so difficult?

Podolski would have to start regularly for us to contribute to the team. I'm pretty sure of it. He's a good player who thrives on continuity and regresses without it. We have a couple of similar ones in the current squad and they frustrate us to no end. He's better from the left than he is up front too. He's not a centreforward and I'm not sure he can play like one. He would potentially make a very good wide forward though, and we need those too. Love to sign him for that reason alone.

Realistically, 1 of Hazard, Gotze, Reus, Eriksen

and 1 of Podolski, Moussa Sow, Damiao, E. Vargas etc

would make us title contenders imo.

They wouldn't improve us much. Would help us improve to 3rd place contenders perhaps.

I´d be extatic with one of Götze and Hazard period. That alone would improve us plenty IMO.

flobaba wrote:

They wouldn't improve us much. Would help us improve to 3rd place contenders perhaps.

In the context of this season's PL that would be a significant improvement.

Shrugs

I don't know y va, As far as I'm concerned, we were only in danger of missing out of fourth place in the first place because of Wenger's inability/unwillingness to tie up deals for our experienced new boys on time for the beginning of the season, and his unnecessary shillyshallying on the Fabregas and Nasri transfers. Once we got them in, and flushed the rats out, it was only a matter of time before the team gelled and I've always been relatively confident of us hanging on to "the prize", regardless of Tottenham/Newcastle/Liverpool's form. It's probably going to be ManU, City, Chelsea, and us up there at the end of the day.

So, for me, We either win the league, or we get one of the Champions League qualifying spots. Be it 2nd, 3rd, or 4th, doesn't matter much to me. 2nd might be satisfactory maybe, but only if we are beaten to first place in the last week or two of the league, or on goal difference or something like that.

To get us up to proper title contenders, we'll need some extra, extra, which I'm not sure a Hazard or Goetze, or even both can provide. This is why sometimes I don't get on Arsene for not making some signings. I'm sure the questions he always asks himself are:

1) by how much will this person improve us?
2) Can we afford him?

If we get a Hazard/Goetze for 40 mill each or whatever prices are being bandied about for those two, does this guarantee us being able to compete (in the true sense of the word) with City and United all season long? As well as for the next 3 or 4 years? Also, what about VanPersie's back up (which I think is a much more pertinent matter than our wing/midfield creativity issues)? Who are we looking at, and how much will that cost us?

So, in my opinion, the only improvement that would really be significant is one which will get us back to the top of the premiership. We can't/won't make those changes under the current management, so we might as well stay in our comefourth zone and look on with admiration/disgust/envy whilst those around us who can, do.

7 days later

😆 Stopped reading after this sentence: "Arsene Wenger has promised a star signing in January"...

Agree though Dules. Just pay them what they want. 30m plus Diaby? Do it.

Why would they sell him for £30m in january when they are pretty much guaranteed that sort of money in the summer anyway, and they can keep him for the next 6 months and win another league title?

Fifa and Uefa need to get rid of the January transfer window. It's additional heartache for the Arsenal fan.

If I were a betting man, I'd put 100 on Alex Ferguson signing Goetze next summer.

Noooooo.
I could not stand it if he ended up there.

I don't think United's style appeals very much to Götze.

definitely will not be sold in jan though, that much is clear. the best we could realistically hope for is someone like di natale as a stopgap/van persie insurance.

would di Natale move now? he's old enough to be a granddad and part of the Udine fabric. it would be an odd step for him.