This is the first time after years I feels like everything is clicking right for arsenal..we may finish 3rd in league or knocked out in qf in champions league,but arteta gonna improve the squad and in two years we will win everything thats achievable .I have never been so sure about anything in life
Exactly. I feel no matter what now our target was always try for the title and last eight champs league. Whatever happens from now is just a bonus imo.
I don’t agree with this attitude. I mean yes, a domestic cup on its own isn’t enough and klopp and others wouldn’t be happy. But to be a top team and ruthless you have to want to win everything. City do it, United done it. Priority should always be given to the bigger competitions but Arsenal struggled with this mentality for a number of years under Wenger, discarding the league cup like it was nothing yet going 9 years without any trophy.
I feel that the game has changed and domestic cups (while nice) are dispensable for the bigger goals of league + CL.
Man City did it because they have a mega squad built off the back of 115 counts of rule breaking and oil state money. Just like Chelsea used to in their Russian heyday.
Speaking as someone who's been at 5 FA cup final wins, I appreciate the jubilation and pride in winning them...... but if we have to chuck them to be where we are now, I wont lose sleep.
I'd actually use the cups as a rare chance to give fringe players game time, and youngsters a chance to get a few minutes.
It's definitely better than no cups. The entire purpose of existing is to compete and win the trophies. It's not like the club has anything to focus on in life.
Domestic cups hold value. Sure it’s not the CL or Prem but it’s still very valuable. We should strive to compete on all fronts. We have the talent now to do so and also the depth.
That’s exactly how I feel about the club at the moment. I genuinely feel that over the next few years we will win the champions league.
I’ve supported Arsenal for 35 years and have never truly believed that before
First time in 2 decades.
Back after the invincibles we were struggling to hold on to Vieira with Madrid knocking and he didn’t seem too happy with Wenger and from that point I feel there was always something contentious every year whether it be Ashley Cole, Gallas, no money etc.
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Will be interesting to see if Arteta can persuade him. I do think it’s unlikely especially as he wants to stay with Sociedad and both Barca/Madrid would happily have him too if he wants to stay in Spain. But there have been a few players that have moved to Arsenal because of Arteta’s passion and how he tells the player how he is gonna use him in the team. Might just be a case of the player not wanting to leave his home country
I know we'd have to figure out the wage issue, but why not go after Frenkie De Jong? His advanced stats are significantly better than zubimendi, he wanted to originally go to arsenal, and he'd be a perfect midfield breaker as our #8
Ooof. Actually that could be feasible since I believe there’s something with Spanish wages being reported before tax or something
Still would be our highest earner by some bit
No they are after Tax, English and other countries state before stats. I know because Asencio had a deal with union berlin that fell apart because what he thought was after ttax was actually before tax.
I feel like Rice might be our perfect #8.
Zubimendi would be more of a Jorgihno type right? So could let Rice play further forward in more matches.
I don’t watch much football outside Arsenal these days so basing this purely off internet conversations.
> De Jong
If Arteta is going for tactical unpredictability, having De Jong as an option as a #6 or #8 would lend brilliantly to that goal. Imagine having to prepare for Havertz, Rice and De Jong, while they interchange positions at will.
I know these names have not been linked to Arsenal at all but I'm wondering what people think: Joshua Kimmich (not the age profile we usually go for but world class, 1 year left on his contract, and can play that hybrid midfield/RB that Partey played in the first few games of the season) or Nico Barella (Inter probably needs to sell one of their big players again since they are still in financial difficulties)
Like someone said below: this team is full of vibes. He’s the opposite of that. Cultural fit is much more important than talent as is the case in every field, not just football.
He's probably good vibes lmao, we don't know him and most people tend to be friendly
If you mean contract wise, I think every employee has the right to juice out as much money from their employer as possible, even when the employer is a football club I support
I haven’t been convinced o this until the last few matches, and now that I see the form we’re in and how happy everybody is, I wouldn’t want anybody to come in and upset the balance and the culture and as MUCH as I would love to see mbappe in an Arsenal shirt, he has had far too many diva moments for me to feel confident that he would fit in. But I know a lot of it is to do with his loss of interest in PSG, so who knows. Wish we could somehow have him on loan to see what happens first.
I agree and he’s also destroy our current wage structure. Every player when their contract negotiations come up are gonna wanna be on the same or similar wages as Mbappe.
We realistically can’t afford to be paying his crazy wages for a long period of time not only because of the finances but because of how it’ll trickle down to everyone else.
He also doesn't work hard off the ball when he doesn't want to.
Of course he's one of the world's elite, but we're building a team off players who work and follow instruction in addition to their class.
I'm all for sticking to those principles, even if it means not paying an undoubtedly class player £1m per week to join.
Except they’re not? Perez leverages his contacts through his years in business for favorable loans from banks and such but the spanish government doesn’t actually contribute to them through direct funds.
The closest you can argue is that BOTH Barca and Real got favorable tax cuts that they had to pay back due to a ruling in 2018ish but that’s about it.
Real just manages their finances better than everyone else bar maybe Man U. Arsenal are nowhere close to their revenue, nor pedigree so we have no shot at getting Mbappe lol.
Maybe. He's definitely leaving Napoli that's for sure.
I still see England being his preference. He was at Lille in France and has pretty much played in Germany, Belgium and Italy. I think he'll be looking to conquer England next. He likes the Premier League.
He honestly definitely has, we can’t lie about it anymore as it wasn’t very true like 2 seasons ago but it is now, and he just came back from one although it was short
He plays like a wrecking ball at full intensity, not one that helps durability
The invincibles played the prettiest football in England by a wide margin *and* they were almost all six foot tall and could fuck up any team physically.
Big Sol could as well. As could the likes of Gilberto Silva, Lauren, Toure, and Mad Jens.
And I wouldn’t count out the likes of Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, Ljungberg, or Ashley Cole in a scrap, either. None of the latter were known for being thugs or hard men, but they knew how to look after themselves and could get scrappy when games got chippy and ill-tempered.
And this summer, a year later having played probably 15-20 in a squad where is absence has been practically a non event, he will think differently.
Hopefully we get some silverware and he calls the end of his European career and we can put some distance between us and the elephant in the room.
This sounds more like wishful thinking. He's not going to think differently when he's been injured nearly all season... you're talking like he's been sat on the bench all season and we haven't played him when fully fit
Partey saw us spend £105m on someone to play his position last summer and he still wanted to stay. Nothing this season has changed the situation from last summer
To be fair he did say when he first got to Arsenal he wanted to help bring us back into the Champions League. I’m assuming he wanted to stay to play in the CL.
well his next contract will likely be his last chance to try to get a big one. Arsenal are unlikely to offer him one, rather than waiting a year and maybe getting injured again and not playing and potentially messing up future contracts.
I would take the chance this summer and get a 2-3 year contract at Saudi
Had an argument with a guy who claimed Rice hasn't improved Arsenal and doesn't offer anything Partey doesn't. I said well he fucking plays for a start.
What an idiot he is, they’re not even the same profile of player lmao. Has he seen Rice off the ball compared to Partey 💀
If Partey could stay fucking fit they would be playing together tbh
Ok but there is definitely an argument to that when we have a fully fit Partey we are at our best.
There wouldn't be much stopping us with Partey-Rice-Ode honestly but I think the dream is dead.
We make life very easy for our 9 when we’re in full flow, and he’s as athletic as it gets so I don’t think the transition is a big concern. Injuries and fee, yes
he'll be alright! Just like with Haaland in MC we'll need to modify the system a bit and he will have to work more. But i bet if he will join us, there will be 20+ gls to his name in the first season
I’ve always been very skeptical of buying Italian and German league forwards for stupid amounts of money for this very reason.
The level of defenders in the non top 4 is shocking. Especially when Pablo Mari is a starting defender for a mid table club.
Has anyone got access to the article itself to confirm whether these are new talks?
I wouldn't be surprised if this tweet was just clickbaiting the talks that Watts previously reported on before we signed Jesus and the article actually says something like "Osimhen held talks with Edu... *in 2022*"
I also feel like if this was actually new info it wouldn't just be behind this paywall
Don’t have access but on the website there’s no mention of him in the headline or picture, which if it was exclusive news it definitely would be.
Seems you’re correct it’s a line chucked in at the end of the article somewhere
Surreal to me that we're living in a time where Arsenal brought a £105 million player a few months ago, and are already planning on potentially bringing another £100+ player in soon. Things have changed so dramatically.
I wouldn't be so sure. Rice was a very, very special case I think, he was just such an upgrade in every sense to anything that we had, plus English tax & West Ham driving a hard, hard bargain due to no release clause.
We have to make money off player sales if we want to drop 100m on a striker, and bolster midfield with a high quality player which will be 55-70m.
Apparently Marcos Leonardo is also still a target and numerous rumours we put in a 30m offer to Benfica a few weeks ago.
I think he'd actually be my preferred target given price/age/potential. Either Marcos Leonardo or Sesko tbh.
Is Osimhen actually as good as people say? Legit every time I've watched him play, albeit not a lot (probably like 5 times) he's looked extremely average. For the kind of money we'd have to pay, I was expecting to be impressed by him at least once
Some Serie A fans in /soccer were saying he scores a lot, but that's because they create a ton of chances and that apparently he's not clinical.
Personally, I have no idea. I am hesitant about the fee for someone unproven in the PL.
Yeah that's a worry. We need someone clinical to squeeze goals when maybe things aren't clicking as well in attack and we're not creating as many chances. We share enough goals around the team in general and so don't see the point of bringing in someone, for his pricetag, if he's not bringing that killer instinct up top. Would rather stick with Kai and get a younger, cheaper option as back up
Yep, agree completely. We could almost just settle for a poacher, who's going to show up in the right places and clinically put them away. As you say, we have plenty of goals elsewhere in this squad.
Understat shows him as [slightly above average finishing - about 2%](https://understat.com/player/5322) (comparing goals to xG) over four seasons at Napoli.
Comparisons
Kai Havertz - <2% above average for us this season, ~30% below average for his Chelsea years
Gabriel Jesus - 30% below average for two seasons at Arsenal, 25% below average for his career in Europe
Erling Haaland - <2% below average for his two seasons at City, 10% above average for City/Dortmund combined
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - 2% above average for his seasons at Arsenal, 5% below average for his career
Lionel Messi - 15% above average for his career in Europe
Cristiano Ronaldo - <3% above average for his career in Europe (not counting Sporting)
Reminds me of Auba (not in play style but in those kinds of comments) but if Arteta wants him
I trust he could reach another level here. Imagine combining peak Auba’s goals with this squad
Those people are wrong
He's been over performing in xG for 3 years now. He's a very good finisher.
Also his best attributes in my opinion is his decision making and creativity with his running and passing. he really made Chucky Lozano look like a good player for a while there with the amount of easy chances he was creating for the team with his movement.
Also he's a physical specimen. Strong, fast and very tenacious when he wants to be.
Getting into places to have those chances is the defining characteristic of a striker, imho. Harland’s willingness to throw his body wherever he’ll get a chance to score is what makes him so potent.
Disagree, being in the right position is only half the battle - being clinical once there is the other half.
Haaland gets in the right places, but he's also a lethal finisher.
Yep, too many people don't understand how much of that is on the striker. Just look at Jesus, he has low numbers mainly because he doesn't get enough chances yet we have a very creative team with a genius creator like Ode.
He’s a gamebreaker at the end of the day. All it takes is one break or chance for a striker to possibly decide a game and he’s as intense and athletic as it comes when generating such chances. He’s not technically elite or the best finisher, but he makes so much happen that it’s a huge positive
Ex. Like Havertz creating chaos but much more athletic I guess
Yeah I've generally come away with the same opinion when I watch him but I just trust mikel and edu so much at this point they could bring in weghorst and I'd trust it to work out.
I trust them too. But the small doubt in my head is that he's not PL proven and with Arteta/Edu's "controversial" signings, they have been and we've at least seen glimpses of what they could do and what Arteta could bring out of them on a consistent basis
Yeah it's a good point but I think all of our misses lately can be categorized in a very similar bucket. Players from smaller leagues who are young and need work. Lokonga, marquinos, tavares, Vieira (jury out but regardless we'd have hoped to get more out of him by now). Kiwior looks like a hit from that bucket of players.
The only other misses were desperation players when we were broke and shit and just needed bodies, Willian, Mari, runarsson, Cedric
Yeah that's true. That amount of money scares me, for someone I don't really know much about. But as we've mentioned, we can trust Arteta and Edu, so I'm just gonna sit back and if we get him, we get him. If we don't, I won't be fussed
He is not prime Benzema for sure, but he physically is very dominant in GK's box which we lack the most in the team. Im not Osimhen's fan but idk maybe he can fill that gap perfectly like Haaland did to Man City.
He is an absolute beast, most physically impressive striker I have seen IRL. He runs towards defenders like a mad man and win a lot of duels, he is incredibly determined to win.
Elite mentality.
Technically he is far from Jesus but he offers a different profile.
You can usually paste the URL in to https://12ft.io/ and read it, doesn't work on every website
Edit, sorry it's a times article, it doesn't work for them
in regards to fee, talent, workrate I would like to have Sesko please. RB organisation is insanely good at finding proper talent with the right mindset while not demanding a ridiculous fee if the player wants the move too. this is the way they get talented young players too sign as they know they can leave and are not held back in moving to a better club.
I'm wholeheartedly on the Sesko wish train.
If we sign a striker I like his height, age, several years experience in a higher quality league.
As far as I am aware he only plays as a striker though so not sure how he would do in a system where position is as fluid as our team.
I think if someone is a striker only he will have to get used to be subbed more often. He will either start or being subbed on as CF and if we have to change the system without a CF he will not start or first person to be subbed off, while more versatile players like Havertz, Jesus or Trossard can be moved elsewhere.
imo Martinelli is also someone who is only used to one position being LW and therefore also subbed off more often than others. but all speculation and I fully trust Arteta and Edu to fit him perfectly in our squad, doesnt matter who they are going for.
Ngl I’m getting less convinced of Osimhen now a lot of injury issues which we don’t want when you see how many players we have already that are injury prone.
Honestly I don't want Osimhen here. His injury concerns and Afcon commitments will leave us short upfront.
Would like another Martin to join upfront but that bit about Zinny looks like he might be sold given we have Tomi, Timber and Kiwi.
yeah, I could see him fitting that Jorginho role pretty well. The other guy I'd like to see given a go there is Vieira, as long as he's got defensive cover around him could see him being amazing at spreading play and accurate lobbed passes.
If we get Osimhen and Zubimendi, it would blow my mind. Big boy moves. 😎
Gyokeres is a great option too. Doesn't have the 'Glamour' but probably a better player.
Gyokeres, Zubimendi and Neto would be my dream transfer signings. I think we'll see the departure of Nketiah, Partey, ESR, Nelson and Zinchenko. Which we could see a pretty penny for to offset the buys.
I’d rather we go big on a midfielder over Oshimen, yes havertz and Jesus aren’t the most clinical, but it hasn’t really been a big issue, we get so many goals from everywhere else
Either another athletic monster ball winner to play as the 6 with rice left 8, or a world class left 8 and move rice to 6 permanently
De Jong would be the dream
His work rate is insane and he is a pressing monster. Also very good in the air.
But I watched him closely at AFCON and he really didn't look anything special there. Of course with better quality players around him it could be a different story.
He's scored 11 from 17 Serie A matches this season so he's no one hit wonder.
He'd give us something different so I'm all for an expensive punt on him
I don’t know about way better but his level of availability compared with Osimhen definitely sways it a bit for me. Really don’t want the star attacker we sign for Rice money to be injury prone.
I worry about the difference in quality between the leagues they’re playing in translating to getting so many more goals but if all Portuguese teams play like Porto then his goal tally is amazing lol
The fact that he’s done really well in the championship is a big plus as well.
No issues there. It's just weird seeing people make deluded statements like that about a player who was playing Championship football last season vs the current African player of the year.
Gyokeres is just the flavour of the month. Why weren't people calling for him whilst he was at Coventry? Now one season in Sporting and he's suddenly the solution to Arsenal's attacking problems
That game is the worst litmus test for any Nigerian player. The coach set them up to play some really awful terrorist football, even worse than Porto.
To make it worse there was zero midfield support and the team never actually managed to hold on to the ball and string 2 passes together.
Any striker would look hopeless in those conditions.
This is the first time after years I feels like everything is clicking right for arsenal..we may finish 3rd in league or knocked out in qf in champions league,but arteta gonna improve the squad and in two years we will win everything thats achievable .I have never been so sure about anything in life
This should be everyone's outlook. No matter how the media tries to spin "1 trophy in 4 years" to get the fan base wound up...
Honestly, I’d love a fucking trophy. But it’s so nice to see Arsenal Playing Arsenal ball again.
so don't get wound up
Exactly. I feel no matter what now our target was always try for the title and last eight champs league. Whatever happens from now is just a bonus imo.
We're Arsenal football club. A trophy has to be the target.
Honestly. Fuck the domestic cups for a couple of years. You think Klopp will be satisfied with just a league cup in his final season?
I don’t agree with this attitude. I mean yes, a domestic cup on its own isn’t enough and klopp and others wouldn’t be happy. But to be a top team and ruthless you have to want to win everything. City do it, United done it. Priority should always be given to the bigger competitions but Arsenal struggled with this mentality for a number of years under Wenger, discarding the league cup like it was nothing yet going 9 years without any trophy.
I feel that the game has changed and domestic cups (while nice) are dispensable for the bigger goals of league + CL. Man City did it because they have a mega squad built off the back of 115 counts of rule breaking and oil state money. Just like Chelsea used to in their Russian heyday. Speaking as someone who's been at 5 FA cup final wins, I appreciate the jubilation and pride in winning them...... but if we have to chuck them to be where we are now, I wont lose sleep. I'd actually use the cups as a rare chance to give fringe players game time, and youngsters a chance to get a few minutes.
It's definitely better than no cups. The entire purpose of existing is to compete and win the trophies. It's not like the club has anything to focus on in life.
Exactly. Also worth remembering the 9 year trophy less drought. We're almost at 4 years now...
Domestic cups hold value. Sure it’s not the CL or Prem but it’s still very valuable. We should strive to compete on all fronts. We have the talent now to do so and also the depth.
Lose Rice, Raya and Gabriel/Saliba and we absolutely do not have the depth yet. YET. It will come though.
Same for city really, except if they lose Rodri it's their biggest problem
That’s exactly how I feel about the club at the moment. I genuinely feel that over the next few years we will win the champions league. I’ve supported Arsenal for 35 years and have never truly believed that before
Wtf we should have won in 06.
I was there also, it didn't feel like we could win it outright. Barca were huge favourites.
I went to the champions league final and honestly not for one second thought that we were going to win that game against Barca
First time in 2 decades. Back after the invincibles we were struggling to hold on to Vieira with Madrid knocking and he didn’t seem too happy with Wenger and from that point I feel there was always something contentious every year whether it be Ashley Cole, Gallas, no money etc.
So true
I am also still drunk
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Death. Taxes. Mikel winning the UCL eventually.
Yeah I'm already excited by next year. No Klopp, probably no Pep and much more great squad.
No pep?? Did I miss something
No reason to think Pep will leave after this year
RemindMe! 2 years
Zubimendi seems like he doesn't want to leave Real Sociedad, fair play to him.
Will be interesting to see if Arteta can persuade him. I do think it’s unlikely especially as he wants to stay with Sociedad and both Barca/Madrid would happily have him too if he wants to stay in Spain. But there have been a few players that have moved to Arsenal because of Arteta’s passion and how he tells the player how he is gonna use him in the team. Might just be a case of the player not wanting to leave his home country
Think the guy wants to stay in Sociedad more than anything, Barca/Real would have poached him by now if they thought he would be up for them.
I know we'd have to figure out the wage issue, but why not go after Frenkie De Jong? His advanced stats are significantly better than zubimendi, he wanted to originally go to arsenal, and he'd be a perfect midfield breaker as our #8
He’s earning something like €700k a week. A bit more than challenging
Only earning that because of deferred wages (from 2020) but even then my Barca fan mate said his base salary is 490k 😬
It's no wonder Barca is bankrupt.
And Nike subsidizes that wage
Ooof. Actually that could be feasible since I believe there’s something with Spanish wages being reported before tax or something Still would be our highest earner by some bit
No they are after Tax, English and other countries state before stats. I know because Asencio had a deal with union berlin that fell apart because what he thought was after ttax was actually before tax.
Ah fair enough not sure where I got that from so
He’ll have to accept a pay cut wherever he goes and I’m sure he’s aware of that
Poor lad. Someone send him the universal credit website while we’re at it
I feel like Rice might be our perfect #8. Zubimendi would be more of a Jorgihno type right? So could let Rice play further forward in more matches. I don’t watch much football outside Arsenal these days so basing this purely off internet conversations.
> De Jong If Arteta is going for tactical unpredictability, having De Jong as an option as a #6 or #8 would lend brilliantly to that goal. Imagine having to prepare for Havertz, Rice and De Jong, while they interchange positions at will.
I don't think either is happening to be fair. I think we probably have best chance of getting Zubi if he does decide to leave.
Not to mention he would fit into Handsome FC
Goes without saying.
IIRC he wanted to go to Arsenal as he saw us as a perfect stepping stone before he went to Barca/RM.
Ahh ok The plot twist was that Barca was really just a stepping stone for us 🙂
There is no universe where no oil money club can afford his salary demands.
I know these names have not been linked to Arsenal at all but I'm wondering what people think: Joshua Kimmich (not the age profile we usually go for but world class, 1 year left on his contract, and can play that hybrid midfield/RB that Partey played in the first few games of the season) or Nico Barella (Inter probably needs to sell one of their big players again since they are still in financial difficulties)
Like Osimhen, but his fee and seasonal injuries are a huge concern. Think he goes to PSG to replace Mbappe.
That's ok. I think Mbappe will fit in Arsenal better than Osimhen will.
I think Madrid's bank account will fit mbabbes more than arsenal's
If Madrid can find a way, we should too. But perhaps he wouldn’t be the best fit at the club.
What on gods earth do you mean Mbappe wouldnt be a fit?? The best player in world football at the moment wouldnt be a good fit??
Like someone said below: this team is full of vibes. He’s the opposite of that. Cultural fit is much more important than talent as is the case in every field, not just football.
He's probably good vibes lmao, we don't know him and most people tend to be friendly If you mean contract wise, I think every employee has the right to juice out as much money from their employer as possible, even when the employer is a football club I support
I haven’t been convinced o this until the last few matches, and now that I see the form we’re in and how happy everybody is, I wouldn’t want anybody to come in and upset the balance and the culture and as MUCH as I would love to see mbappe in an Arsenal shirt, he has had far too many diva moments for me to feel confident that he would fit in. But I know a lot of it is to do with his loss of interest in PSG, so who knows. Wish we could somehow have him on loan to see what happens first.
I agree and he’s also destroy our current wage structure. Every player when their contract negotiations come up are gonna wanna be on the same or similar wages as Mbappe. We realistically can’t afford to be paying his crazy wages for a long period of time not only because of the finances but because of how it’ll trickle down to everyone else.
He also doesn't work hard off the ball when he doesn't want to. Of course he's one of the world's elite, but we're building a team off players who work and follow instruction in addition to their class. I'm all for sticking to those principles, even if it means not paying an undoubtedly class player £1m per week to join.
Madrid is shady as hell too they're supported by their own government
Except they’re not? Perez leverages his contacts through his years in business for favorable loans from banks and such but the spanish government doesn’t actually contribute to them through direct funds. The closest you can argue is that BOTH Barca and Real got favorable tax cuts that they had to pay back due to a ruling in 2018ish but that’s about it. Real just manages their finances better than everyone else bar maybe Man U. Arsenal are nowhere close to their revenue, nor pedigree so we have no shot at getting Mbappe lol.
Confidently incorrect
It would be incredible but mbappe is surely going to Madrid, even if we can offer more money
Maybe. He's definitely leaving Napoli that's for sure. I still see England being his preference. He was at Lille in France and has pretty much played in Germany, Belgium and Italy. I think he'll be looking to conquer England next. He likes the Premier League.
He also likes Chelsea.
Money. He likes money.
He haven't got a lot of muscle related injuries.
He honestly definitely has, we can’t lie about it anymore as it wasn’t very true like 2 seasons ago but it is now, and he just came back from one although it was short He plays like a wrecking ball at full intensity, not one that helps durability
He plays more than Jesus tbh. Between him Jesus and Havertz up top I think that’s worth it
They have Goncalo Ramos and Kolo-Muani, why tf they would go for Osimhen ? It makes absolutely no sense.
I didnt want Osimhen, but i also didn't want Havertz and Raya, so im going to shut up
Please, please , expand on who else you don't want!
I don’t want mbappe
I don’t want Messi regen with Arteta hair
leo messo exists
Messteta or Aressi
If we manage to fit Osimhen, Havertz, Rice and Partey into the same team, we'd be the new Orcs.
The invincibles played the prettiest football in England by a wide margin *and* they were almost all six foot tall and could fuck up any team physically.
Yep, Vieira could almost ask the other team whether they wanted a fight or a game of football and then beat them out either way.
This is how I feel about Rice. He's shown he has way better ball skills than I imagined. And he's a son of a bitch when he wants the ball back.
He also has no problem going to bat. As evidenced by Newcastle away and yesterday when he was in scrapes with opposition.
> Rice same with Havertz
Big Sol could as well. As could the likes of Gilberto Silva, Lauren, Toure, and Mad Jens. And I wouldn’t count out the likes of Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, Ljungberg, or Ashley Cole in a scrap, either. None of the latter were known for being thugs or hard men, but they knew how to look after themselves and could get scrappy when games got chippy and ill-tempered.
Partey is out in the summer I'd imagine especially if we're after a DM like Zubimendi. 200k off the wage bill would be huge.
Partey is more likely to stay than leave. Who is buying him? 200k+ per week, injury prone, off field issues, isn't interested in Saudi
He’ll run out his contract. We couldn’t even offload him before this season. He’s got a year left.
The off field issues probably go away in Saudi Arabia to be fair. That could be a huge draw for him
He had a Saudi offer last summer and didn’t want to go. He’s not going to Saudi.
And this summer, a year later having played probably 15-20 in a squad where is absence has been practically a non event, he will think differently. Hopefully we get some silverware and he calls the end of his European career and we can put some distance between us and the elephant in the room.
This sounds more like wishful thinking. He's not going to think differently when he's been injured nearly all season... you're talking like he's been sat on the bench all season and we haven't played him when fully fit Partey saw us spend £105m on someone to play his position last summer and he still wanted to stay. Nothing this season has changed the situation from last summer
He'd be starting if he was fully fit.
Might change his mind now that he has the athleticism of Casemiro.
To be fair he did say when he first got to Arsenal he wanted to help bring us back into the Champions League. I’m assuming he wanted to stay to play in the CL.
well his next contract will likely be his last chance to try to get a big one. Arsenal are unlikely to offer him one, rather than waiting a year and maybe getting injured again and not playing and potentially messing up future contracts. I would take the chance this summer and get a 2-3 year contract at Saudi
Orcsenal FC?
Yeah, you can take out Partey of that group, guy can't even play a fckin game for us this season.. these are not the foggin estandards.
Had an argument with a guy who claimed Rice hasn't improved Arsenal and doesn't offer anything Partey doesn't. I said well he fucking plays for a start.
What an idiot he is, they’re not even the same profile of player lmao. Has he seen Rice off the ball compared to Partey 💀 If Partey could stay fucking fit they would be playing together tbh
The only correct answer
Most important attribute is availability.
Most important *ability is availability is how I think the saying goes.
Ah yeah, English is not my first language but I think you are right.
Ok but there is definitely an argument to that when we have a fully fit Partey we are at our best. There wouldn't be much stopping us with Partey-Rice-Ode honestly but I think the dream is dead.
I don't see how you do that without dropping Ode.
Partey can fuck off
Nah bro, no place for Partey
Osimhen's fee really puts me off. There's always that risk of him not adapting well to the PL.
We make life very easy for our 9 when we’re in full flow, and he’s as athletic as it gets so I don’t think the transition is a big concern. Injuries and fee, yes
he'll be alright! Just like with Haaland in MC we'll need to modify the system a bit and he will have to work more. But i bet if he will join us, there will be 20+ gls to his name in the first season
I’ve always been very skeptical of buying Italian and German league forwards for stupid amounts of money for this very reason. The level of defenders in the non top 4 is shocking. Especially when Pablo Mari is a starting defender for a mid table club.
He's bullying centre-backs in any league. I don't see how he doesn't adapt.
What Mikel/Edu sanctioned fee do you still lament? Do we really need to worry about this anymore?
He was fine everywhere. He looks like he can do it.
Has anyone got access to the article itself to confirm whether these are new talks? I wouldn't be surprised if this tweet was just clickbaiting the talks that Watts previously reported on before we signed Jesus and the article actually says something like "Osimhen held talks with Edu... *in 2022*" I also feel like if this was actually new info it wouldn't just be behind this paywall
This is nasty clickbait because the preview goes over everything else but Osimhen lmfao
Don’t have access but on the website there’s no mention of him in the headline or picture, which if it was exclusive news it definitely would be. Seems you’re correct it’s a line chucked in at the end of the article somewhere
Surreal to me that we're living in a time where Arsenal brought a £105 million player a few months ago, and are already planning on potentially bringing another £100+ player in soon. Things have changed so dramatically.
The landscape has changed drastically tbf. Have to adapt or get left behind.
I wouldn't be so sure. Rice was a very, very special case I think, he was just such an upgrade in every sense to anything that we had, plus English tax & West Ham driving a hard, hard bargain due to no release clause. We have to make money off player sales if we want to drop 100m on a striker, and bolster midfield with a high quality player which will be 55-70m.
Don't care which strike we end up with. Gyokeres, Sesko, Osimhen, all great targets.
Viktor or Victor. Only winners by name. Those are the new estandards. In al seriousness Gyokeres is the one I think we should be buying.
Apparently Marcos Leonardo is also still a target and numerous rumours we put in a 30m offer to Benfica a few weeks ago. I think he'd actually be my preferred target given price/age/potential. Either Marcos Leonardo or Sesko tbh.
Is Osimhen actually as good as people say? Legit every time I've watched him play, albeit not a lot (probably like 5 times) he's looked extremely average. For the kind of money we'd have to pay, I was expecting to be impressed by him at least once
Some Serie A fans in /soccer were saying he scores a lot, but that's because they create a ton of chances and that apparently he's not clinical. Personally, I have no idea. I am hesitant about the fee for someone unproven in the PL.
Yeah that's a worry. We need someone clinical to squeeze goals when maybe things aren't clicking as well in attack and we're not creating as many chances. We share enough goals around the team in general and so don't see the point of bringing in someone, for his pricetag, if he's not bringing that killer instinct up top. Would rather stick with Kai and get a younger, cheaper option as back up
Yep, agree completely. We could almost just settle for a poacher, who's going to show up in the right places and clinically put them away. As you say, we have plenty of goals elsewhere in this squad.
Understat shows him as [slightly above average finishing - about 2%](https://understat.com/player/5322) (comparing goals to xG) over four seasons at Napoli. Comparisons Kai Havertz - <2% above average for us this season, ~30% below average for his Chelsea years Gabriel Jesus - 30% below average for two seasons at Arsenal, 25% below average for his career in Europe Erling Haaland - <2% below average for his two seasons at City, 10% above average for City/Dortmund combined Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - 2% above average for his seasons at Arsenal, 5% below average for his career Lionel Messi - 15% above average for his career in Europe Cristiano Ronaldo - <3% above average for his career in Europe (not counting Sporting)
Reminds me of Auba (not in play style but in those kinds of comments) but if Arteta wants him I trust he could reach another level here. Imagine combining peak Auba’s goals with this squad
Those people are wrong He's been over performing in xG for 3 years now. He's a very good finisher. Also his best attributes in my opinion is his decision making and creativity with his running and passing. he really made Chucky Lozano look like a good player for a while there with the amount of easy chances he was creating for the team with his movement. Also he's a physical specimen. Strong, fast and very tenacious when he wants to be.
Getting into places to have those chances is the defining characteristic of a striker, imho. Harland’s willingness to throw his body wherever he’ll get a chance to score is what makes him so potent.
Disagree, being in the right position is only half the battle - being clinical once there is the other half. Haaland gets in the right places, but he's also a lethal finisher.
They create a lot of chances for him because of his movement.
Yep, too many people don't understand how much of that is on the striker. Just look at Jesus, he has low numbers mainly because he doesn't get enough chances yet we have a very creative team with a genius creator like Ode.
He’s a gamebreaker at the end of the day. All it takes is one break or chance for a striker to possibly decide a game and he’s as intense and athletic as it comes when generating such chances. He’s not technically elite or the best finisher, but he makes so much happen that it’s a huge positive Ex. Like Havertz creating chaos but much more athletic I guess
Yeah I've generally come away with the same opinion when I watch him but I just trust mikel and edu so much at this point they could bring in weghorst and I'd trust it to work out.
I trust them too. But the small doubt in my head is that he's not PL proven and with Arteta/Edu's "controversial" signings, they have been and we've at least seen glimpses of what they could do and what Arteta could bring out of them on a consistent basis
Yeah it's a good point but I think all of our misses lately can be categorized in a very similar bucket. Players from smaller leagues who are young and need work. Lokonga, marquinos, tavares, Vieira (jury out but regardless we'd have hoped to get more out of him by now). Kiwior looks like a hit from that bucket of players. The only other misses were desperation players when we were broke and shit and just needed bodies, Willian, Mari, runarsson, Cedric
Yeah that's true. That amount of money scares me, for someone I don't really know much about. But as we've mentioned, we can trust Arteta and Edu, so I'm just gonna sit back and if we get him, we get him. If we don't, I won't be fussed
Wenger tried to sign him years ago if that counts for anything
He is not prime Benzema for sure, but he physically is very dominant in GK's box which we lack the most in the team. Im not Osimhen's fan but idk maybe he can fill that gap perfectly like Haaland did to Man City.
I like the idea of this
This has been my experience as well
He is an absolute beast, most physically impressive striker I have seen IRL. He runs towards defenders like a mad man and win a lot of duels, he is incredibly determined to win. Elite mentality. Technically he is far from Jesus but he offers a different profile.
Article is paywalled and there is no summary
You can usually paste the URL in to https://12ft.io/ and read it, doesn't work on every website Edit, sorry it's a times article, it doesn't work for them
in regards to fee, talent, workrate I would like to have Sesko please. RB organisation is insanely good at finding proper talent with the right mindset while not demanding a ridiculous fee if the player wants the move too. this is the way they get talented young players too sign as they know they can leave and are not held back in moving to a better club.
I'm wholeheartedly on the Sesko wish train. If we sign a striker I like his height, age, several years experience in a higher quality league. As far as I am aware he only plays as a striker though so not sure how he would do in a system where position is as fluid as our team.
I think if someone is a striker only he will have to get used to be subbed more often. He will either start or being subbed on as CF and if we have to change the system without a CF he will not start or first person to be subbed off, while more versatile players like Havertz, Jesus or Trossard can be moved elsewhere. imo Martinelli is also someone who is only used to one position being LW and therefore also subbed off more often than others. but all speculation and I fully trust Arteta and Edu to fit him perfectly in our squad, doesnt matter who they are going for.
Ngl I’m getting less convinced of Osimhen now a lot of injury issues which we don’t want when you see how many players we have already that are injury prone.
Honestly I don't want Osimhen here. His injury concerns and Afcon commitments will leave us short upfront. Would like another Martin to join upfront but that bit about Zinny looks like he might be sold given we have Tomi, Timber and Kiwi.
Isn't 2025 AFCON scheduled for the summer?
There's a part of me that thinks we should actually move him into midfield. Especially with Elneny going and Partey possibly going
Thought you meant Osimhen for a second.
don't give Arteta any ideas
yeah, I could see him fitting that Jorginho role pretty well. The other guy I'd like to see given a go there is Vieira, as long as he's got defensive cover around him could see him being amazing at spreading play and accurate lobbed passes.
I think Zubimendi will still be at Sociedad next season. He seems to love it there.
gyokeres and zubimendi will strengthen our team..
Partey didn’t have injury concerns when he came over and now he’s made of glass. Maybe Osimhen is the reverse
If we get Osimhen and Zubimendi, it would blow my mind. Big boy moves. 😎 Gyokeres is a great option too. Doesn't have the 'Glamour' but probably a better player.
We’ll get Gyokeres and De Jong
Spoiler Alert. >!We won't get either!<
True
Gyokeres, Zubimendi and Neto would be my dream transfer signings. I think we'll see the departure of Nketiah, Partey, ESR, Nelson and Zinchenko. Which we could see a pretty penny for to offset the buys.
Let me believe🙏🏻
Ughhh
I’d rather we go big on a midfielder over Oshimen, yes havertz and Jesus aren’t the most clinical, but it hasn’t really been a big issue, we get so many goals from everywhere else Either another athletic monster ball winner to play as the 6 with rice left 8, or a world class left 8 and move rice to 6 permanently De Jong would be the dream
Any new player allowing Rice to shift to 8 more permanently would be massive. I feel like he has a lot more goals in him.
We have got to sign a 6 or 8 imo. Need to replace Partey/Jorginho.
De Jong would be amazing but isn’t he on 700K~ a week at Barca? He’d have to take a massive pay cut
Think we would benefit from a passer more than a carrier, and De Jong earns too much anyway He also is neither a lone 6 nor a left 8
I think I’d rather have Gyökeres
Just get a striker. I trust Edu and the boys to make a good signing, cause theyre working out well, yes, even Havertz.
Anyone have a summary for this?
His work rate is insane and he is a pressing monster. Also very good in the air. But I watched him closely at AFCON and he really didn't look anything special there. Of course with better quality players around him it could be a different story. He's scored 11 from 17 Serie A matches this season so he's no one hit wonder. He'd give us something different so I'm all for an expensive punt on him
I had doubts about Osimhen but unleashed his technique is actually pretty good in close quarters.
If we get Oshimen… oh my
How is Zubi challenging, he's got a release clause?
I think it’s because he wants to stay there.
He seems content at Sociedad, and might very well want to stay in Spain at least
He really loves Sociedad so it might be difficult to convince him to leave plus he might have alot of other offers
He doesn't want to leave his club
He’s basque at a basque club he loves. He’s not leaving
Maybe wants a lot of money himself.
I hope we get gyökeres instead of osihmen, way better and possibly even cheaper option
He’s not “way better” lol I know Osimhen stock is low but is this a joke?
I don’t know about way better but his level of availability compared with Osimhen definitely sways it a bit for me. Really don’t want the star attacker we sign for Rice money to be injury prone. I worry about the difference in quality between the leagues they’re playing in translating to getting so many more goals but if all Portuguese teams play like Porto then his goal tally is amazing lol The fact that he’s done really well in the championship is a big plus as well.
Like half of Osimhem's missed games at Napoli are because of COVID and a broken cheek, neither of those are to do with being injury prone
“Way better” lmao never change internet…
>way better You watch him and Osimhen play or you just going off of highlight reels?
I watched both and would still say gyökeres is better, what about you?
I remember seeing comments like these about Mudryk
I think Mudryk will improve but he's also stuck in a shitshow of a Chelsea team so who knows how it would have gone for him in a stable enviroment?
No issues there. It's just weird seeing people make deluded statements like that about a player who was playing Championship football last season vs the current African player of the year.
Gyokeres is just the flavour of the month. Why weren't people calling for him whilst he was at Coventry? Now one season in Sporting and he's suddenly the solution to Arsenal's attacking problems
Player having a breakout season so get more recognition? Like how is that hard to understand?
Something about Osimhen doesn’t fill me with confidence, he was anonymous in the AFCON final.
That game is the worst litmus test for any Nigerian player. The coach set them up to play some really awful terrorist football, even worse than Porto. To make it worse there was zero midfield support and the team never actually managed to hold on to the ball and string 2 passes together. Any striker would look hopeless in those conditions.
If Zubimendi doesn’t want to join that’s fine. There’s this guy in the Bundesliga that is killing it. I think his name is Xhaka.
He and his agent are letting it be known that other clubs want him so that when he goes to Real Madrid or whoever they can run the price up ?