Arsenal transfers 25/26

Zirkzee and hato in (hijack the contract) :raised_hands:

After seeing Zirkzees performance in 300, I’m not sure he is the right guy to lead our line against low-block teams who just bunch up

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Is he a good striker arsenal can get?

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Yep, but unfortunately it’s probably just tabloid tittle-tattle at this stage.

Thank you

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He somewhat of a Hoijlund-esyque gamble atm.

Showing a lot of promise but you never really know how it turns out in the end.

Imo looks a biger talent than Ferguson, similar type. Would rather go for him at any price.

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Who is Zirkee? Never heard of him, hope he’s decent.

Promising Dutch forward that plays for Bologna, who are doing very well this season and are challenging for a Top 4 spot.

He’s a big guy but he’s a great ball carrier. He’s got top, top balance and can use both feet. Think there is still more to be desired with his finishing and he’s a bit nonexistent in the air despite his physical profile.

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Is this a planned transfer to address our lack of goals from strikers or is it a Zirkzee reaction?

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Zirkzee would fit our system better and would be half the price of Toney. Leaving more cash for FDJ.

More of an all-rounder which, if we’re going to change our attacking formation every 10 mins to confuse the opposition, would be far better than the somewhat traditional Toney who I see as more of a ā€œtarget manā€. He’s also far better than Nketiah.

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Omg more Dutch players. Yes please.

Doubt any of it is true.

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I’ve only really caught a couple glimpses of Zirkzee when he was at Bayern but I’d be pretty excited about him just based on highlight videos and data. He is definitely pretty skilled and mobile for a guy that big and its not hard to imagine him as our CF but switching out to the wing or dropping deep and getting involved in lots of combination play. His heat map on sofascore is all over the attacking side of the field for a CF.

I don’t know if he is really a ā€œnaturalā€ 9 but he has scored 29 non-penalty goals over his career on a non-penalty xg of 23.5 so there’s no real statistical case that he is a Jesus/Kai level poor finisher and he might even be a good one.

I don’t think he’d cost dramatically more than we are capable of selling Nketiah for, so that would hopefully leave a lot of money to go big on midfield or maybe also bring in a winger like Neto.

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The world and its internet knows that we’re looking at forwards, a midfielder and heck maybe even a defender and a back-up goalie if Ramsdale goes. Expect a barrage of nonsense in the coming months.

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Personally, I wouldn’t mind not signing a pure striker. Especially if wae can only sign one forward.

I’d rather sign someone versatile instead that can play out wide and use Trossard mainly as a false 9 or an advanced #8.

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I agree, it’s not like we’ve struggled for goals and another versatile attacking player gives us loads of options upfront.
So Arteta can choose from Saka, Martinelli, Jesus, Trossard, Odegaard, Havertz and a new forward, as well as possibly Nketiah and ESR.

Strikers are way too expensive anyway so it’s likely that our biggest signing in the next window will be a Partey replacement.

I’m very interested to see how this whole FFP situation may have adjusted our plans.

Could that be partly what changed the situation with Toney?

Links with players like Hato also make me curious. Before that it was Lavia.

I do wonder if the club is in two minds on whether the next step would be to add those final pieces to make the squad more complete and even stronger in the short term or instead make us even more future proof by acquiring some blue chip talent out there like Nico Williams, Joao Neves and Jorrel Hato.

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Buy him, loan him.

Nketiah is at 193 min per goal. Zirkzee is at 251. Nketiah is also a more accurate passer and has a better aerial duel success. ā€œFar betterā€ is an exaggeration.

If we sign Zirkzee it’s because the scouts and Arteta have seen something we haven’t. Some skill (and Zirkzee certainly has plenty) that is not being utilized. If we get him, great, as he brings a broader skillset than Eddie even if Nketiah is better poacher.

Based on purely on his numbers at Chelsea we wouldn’t have bought Havertz and yet, 6 months later, he’s starting to show confidence and already seems to fit into our system more than he ever did at Chelsea.

At this stage, I have confidence in our scouting department.

I don’t think its a matter of scouts seeing something we haven’t. The guy is 6’4, fast, and very skilled. If he had already scored 25 goals in a season he would cost more than Osimhen. If you’re buying him its based on the idea that he has room to grow as a goal scorer and hasn’t been in the right side yet to hit big numbers.

Not hard at all to see why we would want this player or think he would be a good fit in the Jesus/Trossard roaming 9 role.

https://twitter.com/ClockEndH/status/1759694354535338068

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