Matias Suarez

Klaus

Might as well make a thread since there are rumours saying we've made a bid in the region of £10 million. Philippe Auclaire seems to think it's legit. Which means fuckall, frankly. But still.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2083232/Arsenal-target-Matias-Suarez.html

Arsenal are lining up a January swoop to land Argentina forward Matias Suarez.

The Anderlecht star has caught the eye of Arsene Wenger's team of scouts and they are ready to make a bid.

Suarez is rated at just under £10million by the Belgian side but it is unlikely that the Gunners would be prepared to pay that much.

Wenger has tempted legendary striker Thierry Henry back on loan to the Emirates but he is still on the look-out for fresh creativity.

Arsenal are losing Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh to the Africa Cup of Nations and desperately need new bodies as they bid to stay in the hunt for a place in the top four of the Barclays Premier League.

Suarez, who arrived at Anderlecht from Argentina's Belgrano in 2008, has scored 14 goals in 24 games this season.

On moving away, he recently said: 'I do dream of a big transfer, but at the moment it is quiet. I want to be champions with Anderlecht.'

Klaus

Mandatory youtube clip, courtesy of Captain:

lorddulaarsenal

You just need to look at the look on his face to tell he's good

redstar

Looks quite interesting from that clip. What position does he normally play for anderlecht?

Clrnc

Looks like he plays in Luis Suarez position. Winger forward.

Wouldn't complain, better than nothing and its only 10m.

Gazza M

6'0 argie wide striker. sounds good to me

Mello

wide forwards are exactly what we need. gimme.

y va marquer

Better than nothing? Possibly, but we're only in for him because he's relatively cheap?
He only scored six goals in the Belgian league last year.
His form is good this year but even he admits that he doesn't see himself as a goalscorer.

I know precious little about him really apart from what everyone's being piecing together around here, but somehow I don't think he's the standard we should be looking at when we're desperate for reliable goalscorers and in real danger of falling out of the top four.

lorddulaarsenal

10 mill bought us a vermaelen, another 10 mill bought us a koscielny. This guy may not make the greatest impact now, but we'll need good players next season whether we re in the champions league or not

y va marquer

I don't know..
£10 million is maybe more likely to buy a good defender Dula?
I just think we're targetting him not because he's really the player that we truly want, but because he's within Wenger's measly budget.
From what I've read about him he'll need as long an adaptation period as Park.
It's been heralded as an achievement that he now scores even when it's cold.

Instinctively not impressed by this potential signing.
Hope I'm completely wrong.

Klaus

y va marquer wrote:
I just think we're targetting him not because he's really the player that we truly want, but because he's within Wenger's measly budget.

We usually don't operate that way though. If we're interested and willing to bid more than peanuts it's more likely because we've scouted him for a long time and want to secure him before he's had his international breakthrough. I'm getting Eduardo vibes from this rumour, but we'll see.

Sirius

Looks interesting.

lorddulaarsenal

Klaus wrote:
y va marquer wrote:
I just think we're targetting him not because he's really the player that we truly want, but because he's within Wenger's measly budget.

We usually don't operate that way though. If we're interested and willing to bid more than peanuts it's more likely because we've scouted him for a long time and want to secure him before he's had his international breakthrough. I'm getting Eduardo vibes from this rumour, but we'll see.

Absolutely. Wenger only bids when he's really sure on a player. More often than not he gets it right, he just never buys enough!

Y va, you can by his technique he has something there. Way more comfortable with the ball than theo and has a much better strike thn gervinho and chamakh

Timbob

Most of the time when Wenger pays money for someone there's proper talent there. Doesn't always work out obviously, but it's usually not for lack of ability.

Mello

anyone else reminded of reyes?

y va marquer

Hmmm. I hear you guys 🙂

If last summer's disastrous transfer window were not so fresh in my mind, and if Wenger had shown trust and actually played the less experienced players that he did buy, I might have some faith in this move.

I don't really doubt his technique or that he has talent but
for me this is yet again another player for the future who may or may not give us a cutting edge.
I suppose we at least know that he's currently good enough for the Europa league.

Like I said, I hope I'm wrong and that Klaus' Eduardo vibes are correct.

Timbob

Cant shake the feeling that Wenger will pour cold water on this pretty soon and say he's never bid for the player.

y va marquer

True, but only after we've generated another five or six pages of posts deliberating on a player few of us have ever seen play 🙂

Mirth

If he's an exciting talent I'd rather we signed him even if it means he may not contribute instantly, rather than an average player that does enough during the next six months but ends up being a burden to the squad over the next few seasons.

I have faith in most players Wenger outlines for the first team, the disappointments are usually the likes of Chamakh, Park and Squillaci who were never expected to be anything more than bit part players.

He does tick the boxes on paper: winger/forward, quick, tall, technique and good recent form in front of goal.

Timbob

Y'know what, I'm gonna say that we've not bid. Just one journo on twitter saying we have. I think he's been fed this story to generate some interest in Saurez, who pretty much nobody had heard of before this broke.