They’re players of similar quality, but Zaha is a Londoner, homegrown and proven in the Premier League. Arsenal isn’t going to value Pepe at twice what they value Zaha.
That’s pure speculation on your part though.
I prefer to think of it as common sense.
It’s a very typical Arsenal move, throw a huge bid at a player you know you won’t land, that way you can appease the fans.
We know we can get Zaha so we lowball, if we were to throw 60-80 million at him we’d get him, and then we’d shit ourselves that we actually have to spend money.
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Except it doesn’t really appease anybody.
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It certainly doesn’t appease you or me or most fans on here but you’d be surprised how naive the majority can be at times. I don’t know how many times I’ve read “we only have a budget of 45 million.”
The more shit gets retweeted and regurgitated the more people just start taking it as gospel.
I dunno. Maybe I’m giving most cunts too much credit but it just doesn’t feel like “at least we tried” will fly anymore.
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Zaha is 27 in November and if we spend that much on him, the chances are we’ll never recoup anything like the £80m spent. None of the big clubs abroad would ever buy him, and a top English side would likely buy him now if they wanted to as he’s agitating for a move. Pepe is a rising star and is far more likely to have resale value as he isn’t close to his peak yet.
There’s one common sense reason why the club might be willing to spend that amount on Pepe but not Zaha.
FWIW, I don’t think we have bid that for Pepe. I just don’t agree with the logic behind the initial statement I quoted. Willingness to spend a certain amount on one player does not mean the club will necessarily be willing to spend that same amount on a different player.
My point is did it ever? Does turning up to negotiations pretending we have no money ever fool the selling party? Does insulting people during negotiations like during the Suarez transfer strengthen our position. Of course not but we keep doing this stupid shit over and over again and there has to be a reason.
I’m not saying I don’t agree with you, I absolutely do, I’m just saying that our club will see it this way, and have been doing so for years and years just the same as those other backhanded power plays I mentioned. None of which make any sense to me but then again I can’t say anything has with this club in the last ten plus years, and as you say the majority of fans have caught onto it in the last 5 or so years, and it’s just driving a wedge between the fanbase and the club.
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I agree. Woudl rather spend big money on Pepe than Zaha. Zaha’s limit is around the £60m mark IMO. Any more than that and we are overpaying for the player. £40m plus players in swap deal would be good. Happy for us to throw Chambers or Elneny or Jenkinson in as part of the deal.
Both deals seem unlikely however but that doesn’t mean I stop dreaming of both!
I think you’re right. Maybe the “we tried” excuse worked five or six years ago but I don’t think it works anymore.
Fans are too savvy and too tired of hearing the type of corporate spin that we got from Ivan.
I get all that, but bringing that comment back into the context of my previous comments, Arsenal is not going to value Pepe at twice what they value Zaha (who has been hailed as Arsenal’s No. 1 target). They might or might not value Pepe more, but they’re not bidding £80 million on either of them.
I agree.
The club isn’t interested in buying the best players, they are interested in spending as little as possible and buying the bare minimum to keep us in the top six.
This transfer window will be no different.
Towards the end of the window I expect us to maybe spend around 50m and, because the supporters are so desperate to see signings, they will think the window will have been ok.
With the 45m budget the club said we had and the 40m or more from Adidas, as well as around 30-40m we have saved in wages from players leaving, we should see at least two or three top quality players and some squad players coming in but we obviously won’t get anything like what we need.
Of the big clubs we will be the lowest spenders, apart from Chelsea, and possibly some mid table clubs as well.
This is why Kroenke is useless, even spurs are going to have a better transfer window than us because they have an owner that cares.
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£40m was out opening bid, it doesn’t mean that we necessarily think that that’s his actual value. We’re playing a game here.
Exactly and it does work to some extent as by the end of the window fans are so desperate for anything they lower their expectations.
I saw someone say the other day they’d be ecstatic with Tierney, Everton and Saliba, like fuck off you’d probably never heard of any of those players before summer and now you’re elated over signing them.
We play such stupid games during the transfer window and all they really seem to do is count down the clock, if you can bid 80 million for Pepe then bid 60 for Zaha, everything we do is so disingenuous you really wonder how often we make an approach for a player and genuinely want to sign them.
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Pepe is younger and has far more end product. Zaha is a better athlete but Pepe looks the greater talent
Zaha would score loads in the French league
Zaha is better all around player but Pepe has become more direct. Theoretically, Pepe wins you more matches than Zaha atm. Zaha can blow up though under the right circumstances and manager.
Exactly.
I don’t believe we have any intention of buying Zaha or Pepe.
The fact supporters will celebrate Tierney, not only shows how far our expectations have dropped but also that the level of players we are after are adequate rather than top quality.
Most top clubs would view a player like Tierney as a squad player but after how long these endless negotiations have taken I wouldn’t be surprised if our board organise an open top bus parade when they announce his signing.
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You’re seriously underrating him.
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