Arsenal transfer rumour round-up – Van Dijk, Dembele, Benzema, Kosc exit?

Arsenal’s campaign took a harsh blow on Sunday when losing to neighbours Tottenham, so we thought we’d distract ourselves by looking at possible incomings instead…

The Gunners are expected to have a busy summer, whether Arsene Wenger decides to extend his stay in North-London or not, and rumour has it the work has already begun.

Virgil Van Dijk is wanted by a host of top clubs, including Manchester City and Chelsea, but we are supposedly moving early in an attempt to snipe our target. We are claimed to have held preliminary talks with the player’s representatives in hopes of beating their rivals to his signature.

Karim Benzema is a player who is ALWAYS linked with us every summer without fail, and he has SUPPOSEDLY told Real Madrid that he wants to quit the club. He has come under fire this term after an average turnover of goals, and now seems to be willing to let Alvaro Morata take his role as first-choice as he looks to leave. The 29 year-old is said to likely be available for a £50 Million fee.

Owen Hargreaves has urged Arsenal to invest in signing Borussia Dortmund’s Ousmane Dembele, who is claimed to be one of the best players in the Bundesliga. The former England international claims he is ‘exactly what they need’.

Laurent Koscielny is apparently wanted by Manchester City and Marseille this summer. The 31 year-old has been the Gunners most consistent defender this season, and possibly even our most consistent player overall. He only signed a new contract in January, and would surely not be available for transfer, but who knows what will happen come the summer…

Could we finally land Benzema? Would Kosc want to leave?

Pat J

Tags Arsenal Benzema Koscielny van dijk

19 Comments

  1. Players out, wenger out, board out

    Full overhaul required

    Whats the point having an article of signing this and that player when the board dont authorise and release and the existing 4th grade players still exist?

  2. Benzema is not a wise Decision because 50 Millions for 29 year old is good for nothing instead of Benzema I would pay some more Millions say 65 Millions and I would try Aubameyang from Borussia…. We also need her rid of fringe players like Walcott and now a days Giroud…. Biggest Concern is with Arsenal that they cannot spend on transfers the way City, Chelsea and United can… And if Ozil and Sanchez leaves this summer then we would Require 3 players in squad including 1 striker but certainly we don’t that much Financial strength to spend 150 Millions for buying 3 players… We would only able to replace either Ozil or Sanchez or none of them if buy any striker…

  3. – Van Dijk : Would be a great addition, because he is not just tall and strong, but very quick and good marking.

    – Ousmane Dembele : Would be great replacement for one of our forward.

    – Benzema : Too old.

    – Koscielny : A good defender, but he also has made a lot of blunders in the last two seasons. If he leaves, there should be someone like Van Dijk to replace him.

    I think Arsenal also need to chase Verratti, Isco, Lacazette, Mahrez, Munir El Haddadi, Sigurdsson, Joe Allen. Players that have good vision, also able to possess the ball longer and pass the ball better then the current Arsenal players.

    Lastly, Arsenal should also look for manager like Pochettino, Conte, Simeone and Guardiola. A manager that was successful as a player in top European competition and in his national football club. Wenger, Mourinho, Ranieri and Ferguson era has passed, they will not be able to win against hungry young managers like the above-mentioned people from an open play, unless they use “parking the bus” tactic, or helped by penalties, set pieces and luck. In the past, there were rarely managers like Pochettino, Conte, Simeone and Guardiola, former successful players, that’s why Wenger and Ferguson could dominate. If you replace Wenger with the likes of Mourinho, Eddie Howe, Martinez, Brendan Rogers, etc, the result could be worse.

    Arsenal should look for managers with philosophy like this:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauricio_Pochettino#Managerial_style

    “Where did I get the idea we had to (press)? It’s about your personality, who you are. You show on the pitch who you are. If you are brave in your life, you cannot behave in a different way on the pitch. I don’t understand how to play in a different way. Always, be brave. I like to be brave.”

    ” — Pochettino on his coaching philosophy.[42]
    Pochettino favours a very high-pressing, attacking style of football. He often employs a 4–2–3–1 formation at the clubs he manages. While doing so, he instructs his team to build from the back, intimidate and unsettle opponents with a quick press system and work the ball into the box.”

    “Pochettino’s team selection tends to include quick players with excellent stamina, likely due to those players having the attributes to excel in a high press system. He is also hailed by many pundits for his focus on developing local players from the clubs’ youth academies.”

    How can the likes of Ozil, Koscielny, Ramsey, Giroud, Gabriel, etc play with the the top managers’ philosophies, if they always play with the basics of football? To increase Arsenal’s level, they have to find players that are able to possess the ball for at least three touches consistently and have good passing skill.

  4. – Van Dijk : Would be a great addition, because he is not just tall and strong, but very quick and good marking.

    – Ousmane Dembele : Would be great replacement for one of our forward.

    – Benzema : Too old.

    – Koscielny : A good defender, but he also has made a lot of blunders in the last two seasons. If he leaves, there should be someone like Van Dijk to replace him.

    I think Arsenal also need to chase Verratti, Isco, Lacazette, Mahrez, Munir El Haddadi, Sigurdsson, Joe Allen. Players that have good vision, also able to possess the ball longer and pass the ball better then the current Arsenal players.

    Lastly, Arsenal should also look for manager like Pochettino, Conte, Simeone and Guardiola. A manager that was successful as a player in top European competition and in his national football club. Wenger, Mourinho, Ranieri and Ferguson era has passed, they will not be able to win against hungry young managers like the above-mentioned people from an open play, unless they use “parking the bus” tactic, or helped by penalties, set pieces and luck. In the past, there were rarely managers like Pochettino, Conte, Simeone and Guardiola, former successful players, that’s why Wenger and Ferguson could dominate. If you replace Wenger with the likes of Mourinho, Eddie Howe, Martinez, Brendan Rogers, etc, the result could be worse.

    Arsenal should look for managers with philosophy like this:

    “en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauricio_Pochettino#Managerial_style”

    “Where did I get the idea we had to (press)? It’s about your personality, who you are. You show on the pitch who you are. If you are brave in your life, you cannot behave in a different way on the pitch. I don’t understand how to play in a different way. Always, be brave. I like to be brave.”

    ” — Pochettino on his coaching philosophy.[42]
    Pochettino favours a very high-pressing, attacking style of football. He often employs a 4–2–3–1 formation at the clubs he manages. While doing so, he instructs his team to build from the back, intimidate and unsettle opponents with a quick press system and work the ball into the box.”

    “Pochettino’s team selection tends to include quick players with excellent stamina, likely due to those players having the attributes to excel in a high press system. He is also hailed by many pundits for his focus on developing local players from the clubs’ youth academies.”

    How can the likes of Ozil, Koscielny, Ramsey, Giroud, Gabriel, etc play with the the top managers’ philosophies, if they always play with the basics of football? To increase Arsenal’s level, they have to find players that are able to possess the ball for at least three touches consistently and have good passing skill.

  5. We need to build our team around Sanchez,to convince him of staying, I still think players like Ozil, Bellerin, Koscielny still flourish under the right team mates.

    I still think Ramsey, Chambo has what it takes to step up. However, fans need to be realistic, a complete overhaul is very unlikely. Most i can imagine is 3-4 major signing

    1. Never build a team around one person – look at what happened when Bale left Tottenham and van Persie left us.

  6. The first and most important need of Arsenal is a manager with Passion, Drive, Dogged Mentality, Like Diego Simeone.
    .
    all others (VvDijk,..etc) can follow, cos even if Wenger has Neymar,Ronaldo,Messi he ll still bench them for Giroud n Ramsey n make poor subs

  7. Giroud, Walcott, Welbeck, Gabriel, Coquelin, Gibbs, Metesacker, Ramsey, even Ozil all need to leave Arsenal. they are not good enough.

  8. The best thing is Wenger to quite the club to create space for the best managers to lead the club. It’s so shameful to be competing for position 4 every season instead of trophies.

  9. It’s been said already. Doesn’t matter about what players are brought in it’s WHO manages them. Whilst AW is still at the helm, expect more mediocrity.

  10. According to the BBC, Van Dijk has turned down our offer as he would prefer to join Chelsea. I can’t think why can you?

  11. Players that we need won’t come because they can see the ship is sinking. When there’s a change of manager it brings new life into a club….then the top players will join, and our under achieving players will step up a level in case they get axed…….thats when change will happen. I guess we need to study what Kroenke does with the American teams he owns to predict what he will do here…hopefully he’ll sell up to Usemanov who we know will invest..

    1. That’s a good point. Would be interesting to see what Kroenke’s M.O is when the ships start sinking. His reputation would suggest that he’d do nothing whilst the clubs are still making money, but I say that without actually doing any proper investigation. As you say MANTAK that would be the best way to assess his likely approach to the situation at Arsenal.

      If Kroenke sold his controlling stake to Usmanov, it would be Gooner Heaven and the fans would get exactly what we all want. However I think that’s “Pie in the sky” until the profitability of AFC looks threated, or unless Silent Stan needs to cash to finance some other venture.

  12. Hahaha Benzema wouldn’t be rebuilding though he would be the perfect Wenger signing, overrated, overpriced and French.

  13. I’ve never wanted that bean head Benzena!! I don’t get why he (along with M’villa, Gourcuff, Morata, and some others I can’t think of atm) are always linked to us?! Prob just lazy journalism I guess. At 50m for Benz you must be crazy!!! I bet the dude that came up with that rumour was laughing when he (made it up and) wrote it

  14. I’d love Van Dijk/any top CB to come in and sure up our defence: VvD-Boss-Mustafi is a pretty solid trio. I have a lot of faith/hope in Chambers and Holding but I’m not sure if they’re ready to step up next season and play regularly? Although I can see Kos doing a Cazorla/Wilshere and getting either a big injury/lots of little injuries next season and beyond.
    As for transfer rumours I can’t really see AW letting him go, nor would I want him to! But if (and it’s a pretty big and wishful if) Chambers and/or Holding were to step up in his place then I wouldn’t mind, as the circle of (football) life would be complete lol

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