A spokesperson for a bookmakers firm has claimed that Arsenal have emerged as likely suitors for Barcelona’s Jeremy Mathieu.
An employee at Betstars has claimed that he is likely to arrive at Arsenal this summer, with odds as short as 5/4 for him to complete the move from Barca.
“There’s been a lot of talk about Shkodran Mustafi moving to Arsenal but our odds suggest another defender could also be on his way to the Emirates,” said a BetStars spokesman.
“Arsenal have emerged as the 5/4 frontrunners to sign Jeremy Mathieu from Barcelona and, with the French defender deemed surplus to requirements at the Nou Camp, we wouldn’t be surprised to see this deal go through before the window closes.”
The French defender is believed not to be needed this season, and with the Gunners desperate to bolster their defence, a deal could be struck between the sides.
Mathieu is a versatile player, having been fielded in central midfield, defensive midfield, full-back and centre-half at various stages of his career, and could provide more than just cover for Gabriel and Per Mertesacker’s absense through injury.
They do not rule out the signing of Mustafi also, but surely with the Frenchman coming in there would be no need for the German international, especially with Calum Chambers and Rob Holding looking for action during the season.
Laurent Koscielny will likely be back in action after this weekend, having returned to training on Wednesday, and there would certainly be no need for two central additions before the window closes.
Which option sounds best for us, Mathieu who can bring winning experience as well as versatility to our squad, or a 24 year-old German defender who could form a part of our defence for years to come?
Already got injured in today’s match
Seriously ?? Another overaged CB ?? Wenger and his unwillingness o buy quality will always be our downfall
That’s not the only issue here mate and to be honest, even if Wenger did sign a quality striker and CB, He would still find away to mess things up with the starting lineup, tactics and substitutions! ?
He proved that today by leaving Xhaka on the bench for most of the game And Starting with Ramsey was another mistake, he is sooooooo overrated it’s beyond a joke! ? At one point I thought that Giroud was playing, with bleached hair, the way he was getting on the end of things in the box, only to mess it up and poke his tongue out! ?
The Ox has transformed himself over the summer, okay his passing isn’t all that but his dribbling and strength getting pass defenders and shooting has improved alot and it was him that kick started the mini revival at 4-1 down.
My point being, why didn’t he start the game, surely wenger must be able to see his improvement during training? ? Or could it be that there isn’t any productive training going on at Arsenal ? ?? Well it wouldn’t surprise me, since wenger is trying to avoid injuries at all costs! But still no joy for the old boy! ? with Ramsey (a blessing) and Iwobi out!
The bettings on player’s joining certain club’s, used to be a good indication, in the past.
And this year, it has been terribly wrong! It makes me wonder if our gambling manager is setting off the rumours that spark off these betting frenzys and then he goes and bets on the player to either stay at his present club or move elsewhere! Obviously, only with the players that have been heavily backed to join Arsenal. ?
Not what we need specially after that poor performance at the back. That 4-3 scoreline is flattering and Liverpool got comfy simple as that! He knew that this pair of CB where inexperience. You talk about it in your post game so why not address it before the game?!
On 1 side you have Chambers who wasn’t trusted last year and on the other Holding who never played at that level and fared against players like Coutinho & Mané. What do you expect?
Now Gabriel & BFG didn’t get injured like 24 or 48 hours before the game Wenger had a genuine 2 weeks to get some business and focus everything on a CB. To top it all of Mustafi seems keen & flattered to be linked to Arsenal all that seems to be blocking this deal is the club not willing to pay the fee asked. It is an inflated market and as the time before the window closes gets less & less the fees asked are gonna be even more jacked up!! Now in his post-game he talks about time issues…you had a full summer to get business done early instead you went & enjoyed your time at the euro while Mourinho & Guardiola were shaping up there squad!
Frustrating!!
The Euro’s was the best place for Wenger to be! ?
He had a front row view of Europe’s finest talent, on show.
But unfortunately, his just a blagging window shopper!
But you don’t need to be there to see & make things happen…Mourinho wasn’t there and look at how many players he brought in (hate to take the man as an example but facts are facts), clearly the circumstances are different as a new manager you want to shape your squad and Mourinho has always been a big spender wherever he went but in our case you know the areas where you need to add the most (CB,DM, ST & RW debatable but wouldn’t hurt).
You know who is out there, what they’re capable of and who could make your squad better than it is a matter of agreeing personal terms than a fee with the other club…and we seem to fail at the last hurdle and drag the deal so long that somebody comes in and make it simple & quick for all involve. Because that’s who they want & will not settle for less most of the time.
Shows that a sporting director is important in most of the time!
Hands up if you have had to defend this sorry team with your Liverpool mates making out they beat our best 11 arsenal.
Our defense will be in low confidence ahead of Leicester, Cech should be fine despite the crash, he is a true professional.
If Mustafi cant be done, Mathiu will do really, its better than Chambers for now!
When you score 3 but still lose, it’s a problem in defense. Xhaka, Elneny, Coq in the squad we still fail to concede less, its the CBs Wenger!
Arsenal fans need to support thr club regardless of result or Wenger delusioness, abandoning season ticket will only help your rivals. Afterall Wenger has not sign his extension.
Hey Gunners – is there anyone left in there who thinks that Arsenal is on the right path? Does anyone think the team even with Mustafi (if it happens) is good enough to challenge? are we playing with the right tactics to fit the players we have?
I think its alls sh&t but i would love to be proven wrong – I want to believe again and actually give a damn but after years of blatantly disregarding the needs of the team i cant see Arsene making it work. How is it that he is still our manager? How is it that we are no longer a top team? How is it that all of a sudden again we cant compete on monetary matters? i thought we could now that the stadium was paid for? I just dont understand –
This is what happens when something you love slowly dies infront of your eyes, you always believe in a miracle to happen but it just gets worse year after year.
I think the fact that our last sub was xkaka summed everything up for me. Instead of putting anotherattacking player to try and score wenger plays a DM because that was our best player on the bench. We have no one on the bench that can turn a game around.
I was not impressed with Arsenal today and to me we probably deserves that loss since the manager has been very stubborn. I think credit should be given to Liverpool though.There’s one thing. I didn’t like today with some naive comments over here.Some people said Coutinho,Firminho,Lallana and Mane are all average players.You know with this kind of comment you wonder if some of the fans aren’t more delusional than Wenger. In Liverpool Coutinho,Lallana,Sturridge(if he avoids injuries),Mane ,Clyne,Wijnaldum,Can and even Mignolet(with highest concentration)are the players who have potential to be world class.Don’t even deny it.Listen I fear Klopp bringing Liverpool to its best because he’s selling a lot of the average players and by next season with some world class additions they are gonna spell disaster.
The “Klopp factor” is beginning to find its way into the players and last season is a testament to that .The downfall of Liverpool this season is that some average players will prevent them from going far.Plopped is selling the average players and to me by next season we must all watch out for them .I just pray Arsenal do what is needed because we can also win the league if we take the right steps.
That chambers recked my head far to many mistakes today and to be fair he wasn’t at fault for all the goals because the goals came from the runners running into the box you have to have people picking these runners When I am on the pitch playing I get annoyed because defenders are very close to me so i seat back and wait for that moment to run into the space with a goal no one would even see me but that is on the local field and not on professional level come on seriously I can except cotinou free kick but elanas goal and cotinou second even mane the way he ran in for goal as if he was a hot knife cutting through butter unacceptable these mistakes are school errors 3 errors on the same match to much to digest
I don’t blame holding and chambers one bit. This was an issue that should of been addressed as soon as mert got injured. Should’ve planned to loan chambers for weekly football since he won’t learn from the bench. When did they start preparing for this game? Friday? They shouldn’t be allowed to pass it back to mignolet then come all the way back with not a single attempted tackle. Coq was on a yellow, why not take him off for xhaka? Hopefully we’ll see someone come in this week. I’m not holding my breath.
Exactly. Holding and Chambers were thrown into the deep end of the pool. They both need more experience
We needed a Top CB even before Mert got injured
Poor transfer dealings, planning and preparation by Wenger
Absolutely! Ive got a tremendous amount of respect for Wenger and I want him to succeed so bad. But he’s not making it easy for himself is he?! At least show some ambition and passion on the touch line. Kind of sick of him just sitting there, screwing around with zippers….
Holding did ok but Chambers was very cocky how many miss passes in dangerous areas did he miss place why didn’t he booted the ball way down the field and take the pressure off at the first half the commentator spook of the inexperience of the defense and that liverpool didnt put enough pressure klopp rectified that straight away bang bang bang while wenger face went all red with nothing to say the only thing that saved us really was the injuries for the game to take a change MR is far to slow to fix things what is wrong with him he most not be in good health cause after all he is the manager his got to have a fast thinking brain smell danger and act fast not seat and debate the issue with bold
i think you made an important point with coquelin who get a yellow card, which caused him to cool down with is break up play tackles ( i thought he did well) but we needed another player to take up that role of breaking up play.
earlier changes and we could have stop that liverpool flow for that 20 minutes, also learning to foul at the right spots will slow down a team, thats a tactics used by the best teams i the world, but unfortunately not arsenal
I’d prefer Mustafi to be honest, Mathieu is like a second hand car that you don’t really want to buy but look at it because it’s cheaper. Then realise its a mistake.
why are you guys writting us off so early. Arsenal fans are pathetic. Its the first match against a well managed liverpool,take note they had one of the best pre season records among EPL teams. We finished second after losing to Villa on the opening day, I think we have improved the team compare to last year even though we are still short of major signings.
No one is writing us off. I won’t right them off until it’s obvious. There really isnt an excuse for Being on the first day of the season is there? I think arsenal fans have a reason to be pissed off. We’re fed up of not winning a major trophy for a decade. I’m proud to support arsenal and want nothing more than to win, I think most of the people here agree with me. Today’s loss was nothing but poor preparation and poor decision making.
Signing a 32 year old Frenchman? Is he going to be a Squillaci or Silvestre MKII? *face palm*
As much as I want us to sign top quality players whenever possible I think it won’t actually matter because Wenger is just going to continue playing people out of position or making tactical errors like leaving Cazorla, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Xhaka on the bench yesterday, or playing Alexis up front on his own.
When I saw the team yesterday I instantly thought that we’d struggle to break Liverpool down. I think Ramsey’s best position in as an attacking midfielder but he can’t create chances like Ozil or Cazorla.
In central defence there wasn’t a lot Wenger could have done differently because he royally screwed up in not signing a centre back weeks ago, I hope that Chambers and Holding (especially) don’t suffer a loss of confidence as a result of that game because they’re quite possibly going to play against Leicester.