I think we need to reserve judgement there. It could be Mari is a very solid buy. I like to think Arteta studied the player at City and he thinks that he’s the stud these videos portrays him to be
I’m not sure about Holding, although he is certainly good cover but, like you say, if Arteta can get another top CB next season, then we might start to see quality rather than quantity in that position.
Our defence has been a shambles since Wenger was here and not only inadequate players but poorly organised as well.
If Arteta can sort this out, then we can stop throwing games away through avoidable defensive mistakes and another top, experienced CB and DM, would go a long way to doing this.
So the transfer window closes 11pm next Monday night ?
I think it does for international buying. I think there’s another week or two to do domestic deals.
Basically on Tuesday get ready for Zaha to Arsenal to miraculously become a thing again in the tabloids 
8 Likes
I’d better get an early night Monday then.
1 Like
Everything seems to have gone pretty quiet regarding our potential outgoings - Sokratis, Mustafi, Kolasinac, Chambers, Balogun, Torreira, Guendouzi.
How many of those seven will be at different clubs when they window closes (either permanently or on loan)?
I’m going to guess 3-4, with Sokratis, Torreira, and Balogun the most likely.
We can’t even give players away for free successfully it seems.
Don’t hold your breath
1 Like
We may as well close this thread now.
Lyon probably just slapped another 5m on Aouar after watching how shitty our midfield looked tonight. Partey is almost certainly out of reach if we can’t make any sales…and like @Darkseid said, we can’t even give players away.
If the window ends with just Willian and Gabriel in, and no real significant departures there should be serious questions for Edu. That’s absolutely ridiculous.
1 Like
So looks like Kolasinac is out the door. Hopefully get a few quid for Torreira too. Really important for our potential incomings.
There’s still so many players left that we would sell if possible too - Guendouzi, Sokratis, Mustafi, Chambers, Özil, Lacazette and maybe Nelson. Good thing that 3 of them will be out of contract next season anyway.
Hopefully a lot more activity before the window shuts next Monday (I think).
Ideal scenario.
Out:
- Kola
- Torreira
- Papastathopoulos
- Mustafi
- Nelson (loan)
- Emile Smith-Rowe (loan)
In:
- Aouar
- Partey
The thing with Partey is that the RC is there.
I think the club has conceded that’s the only way to get him.
Let’s get Aouar over the line and see if the board goes a step further and makes it a brilliant window and getting aouar partey going.
3 Likes
I’d say there’s about a 20% chance we get one midfielder and about a 0.01% chance we get both. Honestly tho we don’t need both. If we had a midfield 3 of Dani, Aouar, and Guendo we’d be pretty damn good. If we can make the purchase happen and Arteta gets his head out of his ass we might have an exciting season.
11m for Kola? Christ, I thought we would have to give him away.
We started this transfer window knowing we had to get rid of at least five or six players that were taking up places and wages.
We also knew that our midfield needed a serious overhaul.
What have we achieved in our window so far to sort this out?
Almost nothing.
What we have, if this isn’t sorted out, is no urgency, no ambition and no chance of a top four place.
2 Likes
You try to sell people too quick, and you end up giving them away for nothing, which would do absolutely fuck all to help us buy players.
Negotiating for the best price possible is exactly what we need to be doing in order to bring in reinforcements.
That’s true but plenty of other clubs seem to get their business done a lot quicker than us.
Every window is the same.
We haggle endlessly, don’t get what we need and spend a load of money on a position we’re not so weak in.
We then go into the new season with the same underwhelming players we had before and expect to succeed.
Our transfer windows are a joke.
We’re absolutely clueless.
2 Likes
If we are already offering 40m for Aouar maybe that means with this extra 10m from Kola we can just trigger the Partey release clause or whatever.
1 Like
I agree, that’s exactly what we need to happen but when have we ever had a transfer window where we get what we need?
2 Likes
I’m still not panicking.
Keep your eyes on the prize, long-term return to challenging for the title. Unfortunately we’re not going to rid ourselves of all the deadwood in this window and we’re not going to be able to build anything more than a side that will keep us in Europe this season.
So talk of the club being clueless may have applied up until a month or so ago, but we have to have trust that Arteta and Edu can improve us. I’m happy with what’s been done so far. If we’re still buying shite and not in the Champions League in 3 years then we have every right to be fed-up.
1 Like