USER1999
Grand Slam Winner
Absolutely gets my vote. It's run by a bunch of charlatans.
Absolutely gets my vote. It's run by a bunch of charlatans.
Pin-seeker
Well-known member
Imagine making out that you come from the city of the club you “support” and talking down to other “internet fans” ????
Orikoru
Tour Winner
I'm surprised at that. Surely he gets less minutes there than he does with us?? In one report they said Pep might be interested because he's a "Spanish style player". Translated as he can hit a 5 yard pass??
I guess it depends whether Hojbjerg is here to replace him. I figured Ndombele would be the one moving on after it hasn't worked out for him with José.Edit: I should point out he's obviously a lot better than Tom Cleverley. He does have a very good eye for a pass and covers a lot of ground. I would not say he's City level though. I would like to see him make it in our team. When he's on form he's very good and keeps the whole team ticking over, he probably has too many anonymous games though, where you'd think he was still 20 but he's 24 now.
fundy
Ryder Cup Winner
Sanhelli gone, its a start I guess. Wonder if he got to sign off the Willian deal as his parting gift
need_my_wedge
Has Now Found His Wedgie
Is it a coincidence after the club launched an investigation in to the Pepe transfer costs.....? That's the first question that came to my mind when I read it. Was he George Graham in disguise with a brown paper bag?
Sheffield United have just signed the Bournemouth keeper for £18.5m. You have to assume that means Henderson is back at Man United next season. I'm not sure Sheffield have the cash to spend that on a back up.
USER1999
Grand Slam Winner
Hopefully that will end the obsession with Kia, although he is also Edu's agent.
It seems the Kroenkes lawyer is getting stuck in. Hopefully more to come.
HomerJSimpson
Hall of Famer
I wonder what his price will end up being after a few seasons with a good side in Dortmund. If he's as good as predicted surely he'll eclipse Sancho and his price tag https://www.skysports.com/football/...dfielder-says-price-tag-does-not-add-pressure
3-off-the-tee
Member
It’s good to see the odd English player trying their hand abroad at a young age. Hopefully Bellingham/Sancho have set a bit of a trend in doing so and in Sancho’s case doing very well out of it.
On next season I am a Villa fan and can see us going down if we don’t spend wisely on players. Recruitment has been terrible for the last decade with very little quality coming in bar a few outliers.
Orikoru
Tour Winner
So Spurs have signed Joe Hart. Originally I was unimpressed of course, but I think it makes more sense for us than him. Third choice goalie on a free and ticks a home grown box - no problem. I'm surprised he didn't want to go somewhere where he could get a game and potentially have a last chance at proving himself though. Obviously content now to earn a wage sitting in the stands. Or maybe he's still confident enough that he reckons he can push past Gaza and Hugo?? Wouldn't put it past him to think that.
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Deleted member 1740
Guest
He's probably better than Gazzaniga, and Lloris is on the wane so it could be a good free signing if he knuckles down and improves under Mourinho.
Orikoru
Tour Winner
I don't know if he's better than Gaza, but the competition could do both of them a bit of good anyway. Never hurts as a bit of a kick up the arse - a Prem winning goalie coming into the club.
Grant85
Head Pro
huge problem for Arsenal is that it's almost impossible for the team to compete without getting absolutely everything correct.
We need to get 100% out of all players in the squad, they need to be the correct players and paid the correct amount of money.
We need to have the correct manager and coaching team (personally happy with what is in place).
We need the off field part to have great synergy with the on field part, as well as with the fans.
It took quite a few years for FSG to get things correct at Liverpool, but with a similar business model and similar potential budget that Arsenal have, they have achieved great things. It's going to be very difficult to compete financially with other clubs in England & Europe so we can't afford dodgy dealings and poor leadership in the boardroom.
We also need to capitalise on outgoing players who can generate the right fees.
Part of the success of Liverpool was built on the huge fees for Suarez and Coutinho. They realised that the players wanted to move on and got as much out of them as they could, giving them £100m or so each time to reinvest into the team. Arsenal have massively failed with that in terms of Sanchez, Ozil and Ramsey. Aubameyang not quite the correct age any more to get a huge fee.
Also, lets not gloss over the fact that an FA Cup salvaged a dreadful season in the league. 8th place and 56 points is miles off where the team needs to be. The same squad might do better next season and there were signs towards the end of the season that we have more steel, but ultimately some very astute business has to be done to have at least a shot at top 4. I'm not sure Willian quite counts as that, but at least it is a player with title winning experience.
Orikoru
Tour Winner
Confirming what we already knew, Paul Ince is an idiot: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...naming-Arsenal-legends-statues-pair-them.html
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Deleted member 1740
Guest
Coutinho probably but certainly not Suarez. Rodgers spunked a lot of the suarez money on rubbish like Benteke, Borini etc.
Kellfire
Blackballed
Or your recruitment team did?
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Deleted member 1740
Guest
Rodgers was part of the committee at that time and according to him, he had the final say.
A totally different model now.
Grant85
Head Pro
That's fair enough, but if they'd kept him an extra year he'd have left for next to nothing and they'd still need / want to spend money on the squad.
And Benteke came a year after the Suarez transfer.
These are the transfers in the window Suarez left. Ok, so prices have massively inflated since then, but effectively this is a 'free' window for them and some decent long term acquisitions. Not going to get every transfer correct but they'd probably have spent similar kind of money even if Suarez had stayed and ended up leaving for free after a year of upsetting the squad.
Rickie Lambert – Forward – Southampton – £4m
Emre Can – Midfielder – Bayer Leverkusen – £10m
Adam Lallana – Midfielder – Southampton – £25m
Lazar Markovic – Forward – Benfica – £20m
Dejan Lovren – Defender – Southampton – £20m
Divock Origi – Forward – Lille – £10m
Javier Manquillo – Right-back – Atletico Madrid – Loan
Alberto Moreno – Left-back – Sevilla – £12m
Mario Balotelli – Forward – AC Milan – £16m
Kellfire
Blackballed
Fair enough, didn’t realise that. How antiquated!
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Deleted member 1740
Guest
A lot of money pished up against the wall.
Upsetting the squad?? Suarez carried that side for 2 seasons and by all accounts he was well respected by the squad. Anyway the point stands, Rodgers and the transfer committee wasted money.
Since klopp came I think theres only 3 players left of Rodgers squad. Henderson,Milner, Origi.
Moreno,Lallana and Lovren rarely featured, Origi doesnt get much time neither.
