Arsenal rumour mill in full flow thanks to FA Cup exclusion – Round-up

It is FA Cup weekend, also known as the weekend for us Arsenal fans, and the fact that we have no match means that the transfer speculation has increased with little else to discuss.

Thanks to a thoroughly disappointing display against Nottingham Forest, we will be enjoying a weekend of being a neutral, although I will be hoping all of our rivals actually win their matches.

I’m sure the majority of you want nothing more than to see the top six sides lose to minorities over the weekend, and give us a reason to stick the knife into our friends, but I want them all to make it as far as possible in the competition (albeit through extra time) with the hope that the added fatigue could help us in our top-four hopes.

Looking through the sources, there is little talk about Arsenal for obvious reasons, but there are a few regurgitated transfer rumours doing the rounds.

The believable ones come in the form of Malcolm from Bordeaux and Jonny Evans from West Brom. The latter we have failed to sign over the past two transfer windows supposedly, but is expected to become available for a lowly £3 Million should his side become relegated this term.

The Brazilian winger however has confirmed that he intends to leave his club come the summer, and we were as short as 1/10 (1.1) to sign the wonderkid during the January transfer window.

As much as I would like to see any of the following add to our options this summer, I find it hard to believe that we could beat our rivals for any of their signatures unless we turn our season around and qualify for next season’s Champions League.

Nabil Fekir, Timo Werner and Ousmane Dembele are all said to be lined up for bids of £45-53 Million, but the problem is that not only have our club regularly refused to pay such prices, but the three players will no doubt have a number of options next summer, and I just don’t believe that we could persuade them to come to the Emirates at present.

Could you see Arsenal signing any of the above? Who would be your first choice if you had a magic wand?

Pat J

Tags Arsenal fekir Jonny Evans Malcolm Ousmane Dembele Timo Werner

20 Comments

  1. Evans: Why would Arsenal want to get a central defender from a relegating team? They have already got Mustafi from the bottom-table Valencia, who was almost offloaded before this season started

    Malcom: Apart from pace and stamina, if he has excellent first touches like Salah and Sanchez, they should get him ASAP

    Fekir: Same as Malcom

    Werner: Where will Arsenal put Aubameyang and Lacazette? Unless they plan a swap

    Dembele: I don’t think Barcelona would sell a hot prospect like him

    If I could select from them, I would get Dembele and Fekir. Otherwise I would try to bid for Adama Traore, because I think he would be much cheaper than those attackers

    1. Koulibaly looks good, because he brought Napoli into a Serie A title contender this season

      About Rodriguez, isn’t his playing style similar to Ozil and Mkhitaryan? Arsenal need someone like Salah or Sane that can penetrate from the wings

      1. When Koulibaly nudges people off with his shoulder before taking strides forward, he reminds me of P Vieira in his prime. The strength he has is excellent but I can’t say if he’s got the nous where it matters. He is a specimen for sure, a monster athlete.

  2. I think £3 Million is too much Johnny Evans, City were willing to buy him just as back up, Wenger wants him for the first team, not good enough. Go out and get a top central defender or two, plus, as we all know, a goalkeeper, holding midfieder and even a right full back. Let Bellerin get he’s dream, sell him to Barca, sell Ramsey, brings in £60 Million, help pay for others.

      1. We have Koscielny, Mustafi, Movrapanos, Chambers and Holding…no new CB is coming. As for DM Wenger’s experiment with Xhaka will continue till the day he comes good, just ask Ramsey. We might get a winger though…we don’t really have much of those.

          1. @QD
            Ramsey’s case is nothing like Xhaka’s case. Ramsey began on fire, he was blitzing Gerard chasing Lampard numbers and had a huge influence in CM with his engine work. He got injured, badly, and then every afterward season he’d pick up injuries before he could get any rhythm going. Arsene waited and stood by him hoping that he would be that player again. Xhaka came in and threw a spanner in the works almost immediately, his games are not only bad they are match throwing bad, like someone has taken a bung. Ramsey still gets some assists each season, he’s been doing well in the cup wins scoring big goals, so he’s adding something along the way. He helps take pressure away from Ozil and our striker also helps Bellerin when he plays. I don’t know how anyone can compare these two scenario’s.

            1. ramsey is british and homegrown the latter isn’t that’s the difference as i rate granit as a better player than ramsey at cm. ramsey is one of the main reason why protection is lacking at ther back, good going forward and arriving late useless in position, stopping the passing lanes, or tracking the runner also he rarely disposesses an opposing player, used as cam he would do well as he got stamina to track back but as cm he is a liability like wilshire. the reality is wenger loves those players so we stock pile them and we try to adjust them in positions who aren’t their own hoping to achieve the cazorla effect. we got ozil miki ramsey wilshire who’s best position is no 10 and now we are linked wth fekir and guess what his best position is !? so anyone who wants a attacking player that isn’t a winger or a young striker to replace welbeck if he leaves, doesn’t seem to realized who we have in our books. we should only be linked with defensive players and loads of them dm gk rb cm and cd’s that’s it. any other attacking link is not needed at the moment and won’t help us solve our prolems.

  3. To be honest Nabil Fekir can play in the Santi Role, as he did v psg this season & was sensational, though an out n out CDM is needed to play to his best features of pushing forward to help the other 4 attackers in Laca, Auba, Ozil & Mhiki! We have missed Santi, Coquelin was great there at the time because he had Santi there so it would work.

    Would have to drop to a 4-2-2-2 for all to play in same team, Barca/Bayern all have AMs that can drift n play outwide as they have a super defence & CDM to let them express themselves going forward. So CDM along with Fekir would only work along with a beast of a CB in Koulibaly to Partner Boss/Mustafi, Mavropnas is still young but can learn as season goes on. Sell/Loan Chambers & Holding.

    1. Wilshere & Ramsey both will play games over contracts but tbh dont really care if either go as they can be replaced along with Welbz! Iwobi still young & learning bt hes a no10 & average on that atm.

    2. I like Fekir pushed up, he knows how to score and also has an eye for assists, he is an asset in the attack as a AM.

      I wouldn’t go for Fekir yet, aim to get him in 18 months time when he will have 1 year left on his contract and if he keeps up his form, he could be a ready made replacement for Mkhi.

      I would look at Jorginho instead, a mobile deep lying playmaker with defensive qualities… Real def qualities, someone who does sit deep and defend while making himself available to pass to and make good forward passes.

      I’ve been paying more attention to Napoli since Sarri has been linked to replace Wenger and Jorginho has impressed me XD

      So part of me is thinking we should raid Napoli hard, get their manager along with Koulibaly and Hysaj (RB) for the def and Jorginho for the def mid, he has them working well for Napoli and if AFC could get that solid backline with Auba and Co upfront…. It’s a hard dream not to want 😛

  4. Neither of those three makes sense being at Arsenal. We need a Vidal a like kind players, or someone like mousa dembele

  5. Fekir would be a very good buy. He can play a number of positions like Cazorla and we have a shot at getting him because he’s not yet at a giant club and Arsenal are a stepping stone for the best youngish players. We need a link player between CBs to playmakers and I can’t think of many that might do better than Fekir. Fekir can play in the last third as well as most hopefuls so how easy would he find the whole of CM. He reminds me a bit of Cazorla in the sense that I thought Caz would be wasted further back, but it’s such an important position for a team that likes to play the passing game, can’t overestimate how important as we’ve seen with Cazorla absence. We go from a purring Rolls Royce to a Volkswagen such is the difference. I like Aaron Ramsey, allot, prob more so than anyone else on here, but am not stupid. Sometimes we need an extra man unsettling defences and taking pokes at goal, more of the time however we need a link between defence and attack but giving the best possible ball not just rolling it for rolling’s sake. Thirdly would be the DM position, but that’s of a different matter.

  6. I would be putting more time and effort into looking at DMs and CBs.

    IMO aim to get De Vrij on a free, get Luke Shaw on a free, that is 2 new defenders and even though Shaw isn’t needed right now… Monreal isn’t getting younger. Sead and Shaw in 2 seasons time fighting for LB could be ideal. Also gives us Sead to potentially play DM from time to time, I don’t want to see him risked in DM though while Monreal is the only other LB…

    Splash the cash on Koulibaly, after 2 freebie signings we could afford to push the boat out a bit… and then we will have 2 top CB signings and can sell Mustafi while letting Per retire.

    If Stoke go down then go for Butland and do it fast.

    Last thing needed is a DM… a top DM would be covered by both AMN and Kola. This means that AMN isn’t the only cover and he can get some gametime at RB to cover Bellerin and to give Bellerin breaks. Only for 12 months though… as Monreal isn’t going to last forever and Kola will be playing more LB in 12 months and also that time allows for AFC to have an extra years income to spend on a RB that has quality.

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