Arsenal pounce to hijack defender transfer from Man Utd

As well as Arsenal having to fight it out with Manchester United this season for a top four finish in the Premier League, we are also set for a collision course at some point in the FA cup as we are the two favourites to win the famous old trophy in May.

We also seem to be always linked with the same players in transfer rumours at the minute and will no doubt be competing in the market for new players once the next transfer window opens in the summer. Both clubs are run as a business, without the sugar daddy style owners propping up the likes of Chelsea and Man City but both of us have got quite big financial clout, especially now the FFP rules have reined in the extravagance of people like Abramovich.

So it is nice to hear that Arsenal have struck an early blow on United, according to a report in The Mirror, by swooping in and being set to seal the transfer of one of the best young defenders around. There were media reports that United were due to sign 16-year old Dayot Upamecano on transfer deadline day just over a week ago but it didn’t happen and that has allowed Arsene Wenger to move in.

It is no surprise if you have never heard of him and he is obviously one for the future, but he must be good if Wenger is willing to pay his current club Valenciennes around a million for the teenage defender.

But will Wenger still be around when he finally makes it to the first team?

Tags Upamecano Valenciennes

11 Comments

  1. Just watched the Leicester game. Don’t know what some of the twits on this site are on about about Walcott. He is absolutely hopeless, some of you want him to start because of his pace but he doesn’t use it simply because he doesnt have the skills , he has no positioning, unable to finish simple chances, very lucky with his goals so far AND most importantly doesnt help his team out nowhere to be seen during the opposing sides attacks. I think Giroud is hopeless but at least he helps out defensively and is a target man who doesnt hold the ball long enough for his teammates to support him but he is still a better start than walcott. Walcott is a start against the bottom 4 in the last 5 minutes not from the start. Another waste of space is Mertes…mertes… sack of s..t. He is hopeless as a defender watch how his clearances always goes to the opposing team and he is nowhere to be found at corners. How badly he has collapsed this season or is it simply because Koz covered so well for him lthe last few seasons that when he was away and now struggling back to get his prev form, has the sack been so exposed. Which manager would have him in the team let alone as the captain? Yes Mr Wenger, the master tactician who doesnt seem to watch the same games as 90% of his fans who knew against Spuds that Ramsey should have come off at half time but then what does he do, sub Santi instead. And to all you AKB twits who were boasting after Villa that we would smash Spuds, the true fans realise under Wenger, every game is a 50/50

    1. I am surprised by your assessment of Theo Walcot, enduring such an injury will cause a player to unsettle for a while before they can return to their usual form. Most fans will agree with me that when walcott was injured he was probably in Good form than most players.

      Most Fans make noise when we lose and they still make noise when we win, we might have our weakneses as Arsenal but we have our strenghts and that is we beat the wee teams like leceister -we collect points on those,

      1. Walcott is far from useless but I agree with some points. The thing with Walcott is he’s incredibly frustrating to watch. On one hand, he’s got the pace and the awareness to make darts behind the defence, a trait that no other Arsenal player possess. That’s why he’s so sorely missed as we were missing that extra dimension of play when he was out.

        On the other hand, he let himself (and everyone else) down when he does get into promising positions. His technical ability is just not there, and neither is his composure. If I made a video of situations where his first touch let him down or when he screws up sitters, it could go on for hours.

        I think Walcott is at a crucial stage of his career now. Either he needs to drastically improve his technical ability and decision making in the final third, or he may be cut loose in a few years time. He’s not young anymore at 25, and god knows how many years of blistering pace will he have left, especially coming back from such a serious injury. A Walcott without pace sadly has no place in our team. I think its best if we consider getting someone in a similar mould (with pace and runs behind defences) to replace him if he turns out not fulfilling expectations.

    2. Wow ozgunner thanks for that u really should be sat next to Gary neville with all that knowledge. Got all the answers ain’t you!!

    3. Dear @ozgunner, without Theo Walcot’s goal, we would have drawn that game and lost two points. Do you know your most valuable players in a team? They are the ones that will get you a result even when they are not at their best. Walcot had a major injury and was out for a year. If you don’t know what that means, nobody should even bother explaining it to you. When Rosicky had his major injury that took him over a year to recover and it affected him badly when he came back. Everybody called him deadwood. Look at him now. When Ramsey broke his leg and came back a year later, everybody wanted his head because he was poor at everything. But wenger stuck with him and last season, he was our best player.

      Football players are human beings and as they say, form maybe temporary but class is permanent. Theo will get you a goal every other game even if he is anonymous for 89 minutes. Goals win games. Sanchez has been hit with the usual arsenal injury bug. He may not be very reliable for some crucial weeks. That means we will have to rely on our other goal scorers and they are not many. Theo guarantees you goals and goals win games. Chew on that for a second.

    4. Theo has been injured for over a season. Before that he suffered injuries too. Yet, any prolonged period in the team and he starts to come good. 1 thing can be said – ever since the return spell Henry had with the club several seasons back, Theo’s finishing has improved immensely. He misses chances when he has too much time to think but in general he is now finishing a large percentage of chances. That finish yesterday was excellent.

      This said – the other aspects to his game are still coming back. He still needs to work on his technical passing and awareness, as well as his defending. Elements that will return as he plays more. The guy is smart and together – he’ll get the form back as long as he stays fit.

  2. Walcott will come good. He was our leading scorer a few seasons back. Sometimes it takes a while after injury. Anyway, he has scored goals since coming back.

    When Walcott is 100%, he and Sanchez with Ozil/Cazorla in centre will be lethal.

  3. Don’t know much about this defender. However, him being 16 means we won’t be seeing him for few years. Like Bielik, Crowley, Hayden, Zelalem. He is our future, hopefully. It’s always better to have homegrown quality players, then having to spend big money on older experienced players.

  4. Poles, Czechs French Germans
    Spaniards Ghanaiian Brazilian
    Home grown players. BSh#t.
    When Celtic won the European Cup in 1967
    90% of the players were from a 10 mile radius of the club.
    English clubs should have to carry 70% of players born
    and raised in England and play 7 English in every starting X1.

  5. Ozgunner,like your style, pull no punches. Agree entirely about Mertesacker. I don’t know how he can be playing for a so called top side and I can’t think of any club in PL or Championship who would welcome him. I think Kos has got fed up with covering his back. Afraid that I don’t agree about Walcott. I know that he can be exasperating but I think he’s worth waiting for. When he’s fully match fit he does get back and help his full back. He didn’t last night though, I agree.

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