Arsenal are claimed to have been offered the chance to sign Valencia defender Aymen Abdennour, instead of defensive partner Shkodran Mustafi.
The Gunners were forced to field an inexperienced pairing at centre-back this week, and were severely punished by Liverpool, who in turn put four goals past us.
We will be expected to have Laurent Koscielny back to start in our next league encounter on Saturday, when we travel to take on last year’s surprise Premier League winners Leicester City.
A defensive addition is still necessary however, with Per Mertesacker ruled out until the new year, and with Rob Holding and Calum Chambers not ready to be relied upon as we look to try and mount a title challenge this season.
A deal was said to be in the pipeline to bring the German international to the Emirates early this week, having held talks about his signing last week, but the deal appears to have stalled.
Valencia are now claimed to have offered Arsenal another option in Abdennour instead, who has been linked with a move to the club previously.
The Tunisian defender joined only last summer following the sale of Nicolas Otamendi to Manchester City, and despite signing a five-year deal, is claimed to be a possible departure in the current window.
Everton have also been linked with a possible move to bring in the 27 year-old, but they have already completed a signing for Ashley Williams this week, and may no longer be looking at defensive arrivals.
Could Abdennour do a job for our club? Is the Mustafi deal dead?
No….. According to BBC , it’s Omer Toprak and simon Kjaer both 27 who are considered options to the mustafi deal
my question is…..do they meet wenger’s 3rd criteria (Resale-value) ?
I guess not….. But i wouldn’t understand why any manager on earth would pass on Mustafi to consider these two?
Simon Kjaer is bang average but Toprak was the real deal few seasons ago. I think he was injured or something after that and lost some momentum. I would be okay with Toprak to be honest.. Mustafi I still would prefer though.
Any news on striker front? Yeah, we’re not getting anyone..
Giroud as main striker for 5th season straight..
I can’t believe I’m checking my phone every five minutes to see if we have made any progress on signing a defender! If we were trying to sign boatengs or someone of that calibre I would understand the hold up. But this should just be business as usual.
This is why I’m really not hopeful of signing a meaningful forwards. You would think the amount of time this is taking we would be going in for Messi or Ronaldo only to find out it would be some unheard of youngster!
It keeps getting better and better..Get this..as per transfermarket dot com Cazorla,Koscielny and Mertesacker are all in the final year of their contracts. So if we dont win any trophy of significance this year, Wenger will step down and we will lose Cazorla,Koscielny,Mertesacker,Ozil,Sanchez all in one window…Congratulations on destroying this club Wenger.
Wenger is purely at the heart of every single Arsenal problem, because of his stubbornness and lack of ambition, but I also blame those fans who always protect him no matter how badly he treats this team. AKB’s are also arsenal’s problem, they are scared of change.
Believe me I was one of those AKB’s but after seeing the same thing happen the last 3 years I have now awoken. 3 years ago when we needed a striker(and still do) Wenger refuses to pay more than 40 mil for Higuain or Suarez and then spends 42 mil on Ozil, a CAM we did not need. Don’t get me wrong I’m happy we got Ozil but did we need him more than a Suarez or a Higuain?? No…Next season we signed Alexis and I thought things will be better now but no I was wrong. Last season too we needed a striker and who did we sign,Petr Cech..a GK when Ospina was statistically the best GK in the league the prev. season..Again was Cech needed more than s striker??? No..This season again we signed a CM when we had enough already and ignored a striker..This is pure negligence and arrogance on Wenger’s part. I don’t know any club in the world that starts their season with only one fit recognised striker..
Wow you have a crystal ball! Please send me next week’s lotto numbers!
So instead of putting up valid arguments, you chose to mock me. Good job Admin..Very mature of you..Expected no less from from an AKB..
From your attitude I have to assume that you are absolutely ok with the turmoil our club is in..It is good being all optimistic and positive but a wise man said ” Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.” Have you not considered what happens if things go down south..Do you expect guys like Koscielny,Ozil,Cazorla,Alex,Mert to stay at the club when that happens..And don’t behave like this hasn’t happened before..Isn’t this how we lost the likes of Henry,Nasri,Hleb,Cesc,RVP,Song,Sagna ??? I do still support the team and will forever but that doesn’t mean I will turn a blind eye to the quite obvious problems we are in..Awaiting your response..
you will not get it.
Trust Arsenal to under bid even when we are desperate and other selling clubs know of our desperation so whatever defender or striker we want we must pay up,Wenger needs to accept that he must pay the cash and stop messing around!
I am becoming less passionate about this team I love, and I think I have enough reasons to feel that.
HINT: Arsene Wenger etc.
Wenger. I need 20 mill Sir.
Kroenke. Whaaaaat?
Wenger. I need another CB.
Kroenke. Another CB? You crazy?
I already gave you 16 mill for Chambers and
16 mill for Gabriel whats wrong with them?
Wenger. Well ones injury prone and useless the
other one is just useless.
kroenke. Long as we still in the EPL I don’t really care a rats arz.
Any way Koscielny is back and you also got Holding and Bielik.
Get out of here before I slash your salary.
Wenger. Your right we are fine at CB but what should I tell the fans?
Kroenke. Just tell them the same old BS you tell them every week.
Guys we need a reality check!
Stan Kroenke owns a sporting enterprise in US and teams across different sporting spectrum!
The dude is a pure business man, he owns Nuggets of NBA, Avalanche of NHL, Rapids of MLS, Mammoth of National Lacrosse League, Rams of NFL and Arsenal. No person can love so many sports / sporting franchises at the same time, or do people actually believe Arsenal is somehow special in Korenke eye? The reality is simple, we are no different in the eyes of Kroenke from all the other sporting franchises he own.
If Kroenke is not an Arsenal or football fan, then the only reason for him to purchase Arsenal is because he sees Arsenal as a profitable business. This explains the lack of transfer activities we are currently seeing.
Currently Arsenal is running on the perfect business model for Kroenke, we already have a good manager and a top 4 squad, so by spending a little bit of money each year he can boost the chance of us finishing in the top 4. To him, aiming top 4 is ideal as there are only 7 teams (6 in previous years) that have a realistic chance of finishing inside top 4. That is more than 50% probability for Arsenal, it’s not as risky as aiming for the champion and pays good dividends… Sure to be crowned champion have it’s financial rewards, but he would need to spend over 100M to even CHALLENGE for the title, this does not make any business sense for him.
Lets look at the other clubs under Kroenke ownership
Nuggets 2000: Championship 0, Conference title 0
Avalanche 2000: Conference title 0, cup title 0
I suggest arsenal fans go look at the wiki page for Avalanche and take a look at their individual season positions after Kroenke takover (2000) you guys will find a similar pattern.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Colorado_Avalanche_seasons
Rapids 2004: 1 MLS playoff champions.
Colorado Mammoth 2004: 1 Division title and 1 championship
Non of his teams regularly challenges for the title…. why do you guys think he will treat us differently?
@Davidnz, I see it the other way round.
Satan Kronke: Arsene even though I don’t know F about football I think we need a defender.
Use that blank check and sign anyone defender you want since they normally cost much like forwards.
Wenger: No sir, but we already have so many defenders Bielik, chambers and Holding can do the job until per is back, beside he won’t stay long its just 4-5months, + we have monreal debuchy and coquelin for emergency landing, Sir with that defender’s money you buy madam a new car and or two, and I guarantee you 4th or even 3rd.
Satan kronke: Wow, you are intelligent Arsene that’s why I will never sack you, you know how to save money. But how about the fans??
Wenger: I will handle those fools, beside they love this team so much so they will always be there no matter what, but I will pretend I care, never mind sir. You pay well remember?? Haha..
FANS:
AOB’s: Arsene this, Arsene that, we need so and so and so to challenge.
AKB’s: Nope, Arsene has been here for long, in fact he even won us unbeaten title 12years ago, etc. Who are you to questions him??
After match: Aob’s keep moaning , Akb’s keep silent.
Rinse and repeat on different subjects.
sorry you can criticise wenger but its incredibly stupid to assume that kroenke is the good one and that an employee! dictates the employer/boss…
Before I make you manager of my company, I have to trust your judgments.
If you know what I mean.
I don’t care what arsenal do anymore. Am just gonna be a fan. A very die hard fan but I don’t give a fck what Wenger does anymore. It will save me from getting heart attack one day. We are now a joke , just accepted that.
@evans
My sentiments exactly…
I seconded that, but the thing is you can’t live with Arsenal or you can’t live with out football.
YAWN…….
Wenger want Mustafi and not the replacement BUT wont pay the meagre asking price of 30 million Wenger values him at 20 million
WELL, if Wenger values him at 20 million he’s not that bloody good is he??
another deal down the tube cos AW is mentally deficient
its disgusting how the club is currently being run and just when you think it cant get any worse it does !!!!!
Actually, Wenger doesn’t know the value of any player. He is living in the past. The value of the player determined by the demand and the current market inflation. Wenger is looking for a player for 10mil or less, and looking for resale value.
Of I were in London, I must organise a protest against the club owner, club board and the manager. Guys dont you remember what Man Utd fans did some few years back.. They protested against the club owner due to lack of transfer activities.. What have happened to us? Our transfer activities are worse than the then Man Utd transfer but you can still keep your mouth shut.. Our transfer ralks are stalled looking for panic buy… See the revenues from TV, ticket price and other sponsors… The club board must have gone all out to bail out the club’s poor performance for years…