Asano actually happened?
Well just when you thought that it couldn’t be true, the unthinkable happens. In fact, in all honesty we should have expected the signing of Asano to be pulled through. We all joked, laughed, and thought that it was just another silly rumour pulled out of a magic hat. But no, the signing is in typical Arsenal style and reeks of Arsene Wenger all over.
Arsenal have today confirmed the signing of Takuma Asano, a young, unknown Japanese striker on a long term deal.
Asano scored nine goals in 34 appearances last year in the Japanse J1 league, which I think is really concerning for a player supposedly expected to be a top talent, according to Wenger anyway. On the signing of Asano, Wenger said: “Takuma is a talented young striker and very much one for the future. He has had an impressive start to his career in Japan and we look forward to him developing over the next couple of years.”
The other concern is that although Wenger mentions that he is a player for the future, Asano is already 21 years old. With the player unlikely to make too many appearances next season and an expected while to adapt to a much harder league than Japan’s J1 league, I can see Asano going the same way as Yaya Sanogo. It’s uncertain what Arsenal have paid for the striker, or what wages he will be on in North London.
Asano may turn out to be a great player some day in the future, and if he does then I’m sure we will all look back and think what rash judgments were made on this young man. But in a period of time when the fans are calling for experienced, world class players, players that will make us title contenders once again, the signing of Asano is nothing but disappointing. Let’s not judge the prodigy striker just yet, we must support the signing of him, but you cannot help but feel so so furstrated by Arsenal, especially with some of the signings our rivals are making.
By AH
Giroud 1-0
Pogba 2-0
Payet 3:0 and Griezmann 4:0
OG12 strikes for the hosts in the 12th minute!
Give us Higuain so we can be wrong about him…
Asano is one for the future, i wish him well.
Now for the present and our striker requirements. There is another older striker on the market with vast PL experience. He has scored 30 goals in the PL on one season. He has had a very unhappy 2015/16 season but still scored 16 goals in his league, 3 of which were penalties having been used as a substitute a lot and only played 1767 minutes. That is 136 minutes per non penalty goal. That is aguerro standard, albeit in a lesser league.
So what do we think, 32 years old, looking to return to PL, does have a poor injury record but apparently fit at the moment and available for a few million pounds. Is it a possibility or can we never forgive him. On the other hand a move to west ham is a possibility, do we want to face him again?
Personally I would take him back if he is fit and can still do a job for us. What do you think
I understand the thumbs down however fabregas and nasri were sold and not replaced. RVP then scored 30 goals in the PL and still we did not win the PL. He asked for reassurances that the team would be strengthened but did not get them. Basically he left because Arsenal were not showing ambition to win things. Precisely the complaints us fans have. We have an owner who is not “involved” to win championships. Fourth place is good enough. RVP had one FA cup win so moved to a team of winners and won the PL.
As I said, if he is fit and capable of doing a job for us then I would be happy to see him back.
I make a comment about RVP being a possible signing with factual information about his time at fenerbache and get so many thumbs down that the comment is hidden.
I then make a comment about RVP leaving because arsenal were showing lack of ambition and suggest he could be a possible signing and I get more thumbs up than thumbs down.
Amazing, said the same thing two different ways and get completely different response? It is not what you say but the way that you say it that is important.
Normally I don’t like all the thumbs down for little reason.
But fans simply don’t want an old striker to serve as backup – especially one who was an in-your-face traitor like RVP.
This one deserves thumbs down.
I am confused. Is Arsenal in the market for a very old back-up striker? We have one of those already. His name is Giroud.
Rvp! Nooooooo! I can’t his celebration for multiple against us out of my head. Don’t think he’d come back but an apology and on wengers terms could we swallow it? I’d still love chicarito. Odds on payet being a wh player still next year?
@Ronny331
I agree with you on Chicarito. He is the quick, explosive type player we need up front. Giroud is our targetman, which is not meant to pacy or even a prolific shooter. He’s the focal point for a quick attack by pacy wingmen. Our attack falls short when we put Jack or Aaron on the wings and we try to quickly hit teams on the break…
France what a team of talent!
@Ronny331……yea…. And playing against the minnows
if you are gonna make em look extraordinary, pls do it against a more established side like say Germany or spain (unfortunately, spain’s out already)
In the winter window, We are forced to buy into the excuse of not finding quality in the market
Then comes the summer window , and its almost the same story……inactivity…..laziness…..unseriousness or we end of signing cr*p!
This has to end oneday……it has to end!!
Asano is one for the future, he may turn out to be useless or world class or anywhere in between. We have to support the player, it is not his fault that us fans want a top PL ready world class guaranteed 30 PL goals man and Wenger buys one for the future.
In fact the only way we will get our WC striker is to develop one ourselves.
Why should we develop a player when we have 200 millions sitting in the bank? If Barcelona with its famous La Masia Academy buys ready made strikers like Suarez, Neymar, Ronaldinho, Heny and Ibrahimovic..who are we to pretend we can develop players! Spend spend spend and just get who we need for now! Not some “future” that never comes.
You don’t have money in the bank if you spend spend spend like a stupid idiot, look how much LvG spent at UTD and all he got was a single FA cup and then removed from his job.
This kind of penny-pinching, small-team mentality will get us nowhere in the modern world. How much money would you like us to have in the bank inorder for you to say its ok to spend? 1 billion? 2 billion? Well then, lets see how many trophies you win with your self-made Asanu Takamo or whatever his name is!
Quantic dream, to buy the likes of lewandowski or similar would probably be something like £70m. Then there are wages, sat £300 000 per week, say £15m per year. So for a five year contract we are talking about a commitment to pay about £150m (transfer costs plus wages)
Kroenke is not “involved” to win championships, it is the fourth place business model. There is no way arsenal are going to pay this sort of money. Hopefully we will sign a striker but it will be around the £20 million mark.
Who said anything about being penny pinching? I said you do not have to spend spend spend… There is a difference, paying to get your top target is different to throwing money at any signing just to make a signing, you do not get such a nice account if you are going to waste it.
I am happy with the Xhaka signing, it was a player that Wenger wanted and it seems to be his top CM target so I am happy about that. I am also over the moon we have Bellerin, are you not happy that we have Bellerin? How much did we spend to get him?
So I am right, you do not have to spend spend spend, you have to spend it wisely. How much did Leicester spend to win the EPL?
Oh and you used Henry as an example of how Barca buy ready made players, who the heck do you think developed TH14? Moving him out to the wing at Monaco and then bringing him back to the CF role when he later signed him for Arsenal?
“who are we to pretend we can develop players! ”
No pretending when you say a top player bought came from Arsenal, now STFU and crawl back into your hole.
France is making England look even worse
We lose 2-1 to Iceland and Fran ce is up 4-0 @ half time
Guys let’s wait and see what happens. Transfer window recently opened. We don’t know if a deal is in principle for a big striker hence the reason y money bag team hasn’t bid yet
@Robertthegooner
England made England look bad…
It is because France have a lamp post for a striker.
The thing is… the lamp post actually made a good run for the pass which lead to his goal. I just missed his 2nd of the game as well… damn need for milk from shops 🙁
If only he could put that effort into EVERY one of his games, I still don’t trust him to turn into the lazy Giroud once the transfer window has slammed shut.
Midkemma, i agree, no matter what the stats show, and how many good games, there is this feeling that Giroud is not quite good enough to lead the line for arsenal.
@midkemma
No. The thing is, Olivier does what he does best, play the targetman. Just as he does for us. France has clinical pacy runners, running off him.
@ny_gunner,,,someone gets it
Hmm. That makes sense. But don’t we also have pacy runners at Arsenal?
@Twig
We have pacy runners, but not too clinical ones. Then there are those who AW plays out wide like Aaron and Jack. Who are neither pacy, nor clinical…
No. The thing is, OG is inconsistent.
He made a run and he scored.
Didn’t stop him from being a target man.
TH14 was our target man and he had no problem with moving.
Do you even watch Arsenal? I ask because people who do tend to recognize he isn’t consistent and when his form drops they can point out his static quality, when playing good he moves… He isn’t as static.
If you watch only highlights or YouTube then it is easy to not see his pathetic moments.
@midkemma
Henry was the “focal point” of our attack. Our play was centered around him. Not the same as being a targetman…
Yeah O.G. can be inconsistent. Name a player in our squad who hasn’t been. I just don’t think we need a Giroud replacement. I think we need a striker who is the complete opposite of him, agile and pacy…
Don’t think we’ll start the season without a big name player whether a striker or a goal scoring winger
@soopaaeon. A team of minnows they may be but they are usually organised and resolute minnows. I hope France go on to win it.
Giroud has scored a second goal and been substituted to save him for the semi finals. He received a standing ovation.
This is a positive comment about giroud. A few months ago any positive but factually correct comment about Giroud would be thumbed down. Lets see what happens to this comme nt
Arsenal fans are almost always wrong about every signing. Go back and look at the complaints about the following player signings;
Laurent Koscielny
Santo Cazorla
Thierry Henry
Nacho Monreal
All were greeted with deafening silence or constant whining. Fan were wrong. As usualy. In Arsene We Trust. In fans we ignore.
You say Koscielny..but he coated us the league cup and to some extent the premier league when he joined. We has a perfect team with zero weaknesses..just the CB position..if Wenger had bought Samba who was available at the time instead of Koscielny we would have won trophies. Koscielny is good now yes, but let’s not pretend he wasn’t rubbish for the first 2-3 seasons he was at Arsenal.
Imagine if Mourinho wins the league again with a different team and we’re still waiting for our first title since the invincibles.
And you get the feeling that’s exactly what will happen 🙂
@Twig
Thats what he and a few others think. Not me…
Hahahahahahahahahahah Keep dreaming for WC striker! Is Arsene Wenger Pep Guardiola or morinho?
Arsenal are just a joke. There’s no way Wenger will ever lead us to glory again. Buckle up your belts till he leaves.
@gilo
Then move on and support someone else.
Newcastle 5 Spurs 2 and Arsenal move into 2nd spot. How lucky can you get? No wonder Arsene
Wenger is known as the man with the golden balls.
@JAmerican: There`s every chance Mourinho will take the title with United, and it seems to be a safe bet he`ll go to the wire with Guardiola, but hell, the season hasn`t even started as yet, it`1s just where I`d be putting my money. Arsenal? Fourth at best.