I wrote an article recently about my concerns that Arsene Wenger’s transfer business for Arsenal this summer could be at serious risk from our Premier League rivals Manchester United. I was mainly talking about the situation with David De Gea going to Real Madrid meaning that we would be after the same transfer targets but you can apply that to any of the positions we need to strengthen.
They need at least one top class striker, a central midfielder, a centre back and possibly a keeper, just as Arsenal do and it already looks as if they might beat Wenger to a couple of the players supposedly at the top of the Frenchman’s wish list.
The Daily Star reported yesterday that United had entered the race for Morgan Schneiderlin and as they are able to outspend Arsenal on wages and fees as well as offering the same Premier League and Champions League football. So the report claimed that we would miss out on that one.
And today Metro is reporting that United are confident of beating us to the France international striker Karim Benzema. The Real Madrid star has been a long term target for Wenger and most Arsenal fans were hoping that we could finally get him this summer. Those hopes now seem to be slipping away, however, and if United do get this pair of players it will be a real kick in the teeth for us. But what can you do?
I feel we will get our targets regardless if Man U are in the picture or not. Truth be told maybe we’ve already secured them just waiting for the right time to make the announcements…
Don’t belive the papers. yesterday the european media was all about Kondobia only for his agent to reject the views and say City are the only English club to have made a bid.
The media tries to put 1+ 1 together. They Know Arsenal want a keeper a DM and a striker. So we are linked with Every DM from Wanyama to Vidal to Imbula etc.
We are linked with every striker from Vietto to lacazette to martinez to Higuain.
At the end of the day Only Wenger alone together with Gladiz and dick law know what they need. The media can speculate and speculate But Arsene buys who he wants.
Arsenal.com is the only truth.
ARSENAL DON’T DO SKY SOURCES. WE ARE NOT LIVERPOOL.
ARSENAL DON’T DO SOURCES CLOSE TO THE MANAGER. Wenger has no friends.
We keep our business private and I like it that way. By the time it gets to the media its done deal signed and dusted.
Wenger said it himself when asked about sterling. ” the best deals have always been done in private”
Yes Arsenal is
heavy with talent.
Another DM is the
only real need and there
are many value priced DM available.
Another GK and striker are luxury buys.
So we can wait till August 31st
and still get what we need.
It will be blow to Arsenal if Utd gets these two but that also mean we can set our focus on other targets and utd will not poach them. We can sign Martinez\Lacazette and Vidal\Kondogbia if they are available. Wenger already mentioned that Utd is behind every player which he enquires and if he has finalized players then he has to act fast. No one likes last day drama including Wenger.
Don’t Fall for it mate. I cant imagine DiMaria (Benzema’s ex Real Madrid team mate) to be singing Van Gal’s praises anytime soon. He’s played him out of position, left him on the bench a couple of times and haven’t been anywhere near challenging for silverware. The only reason Falcao moved to United is because he knew it was going to be a huge payday and look how that played out……
Nothing ouch about it really they can have benzema ain’t much different to giroud we don’t really need him and Morgan would be ok but for arsenal I prefer waynama so if they get them 2 players I won’t feel like we missed out or be a kick in the teeth. COYG
Wanyama or Morgan. is a huge debate on this forum. I have asked loads of saints fans and even they not sure about who is better. I Like Morgan but i feel as if Wanyama would be better for us. To be honest i really don’t know.
One of the Dm to have impressed me the most this year is Gianelli IMbulla of marseille. El Loco beisla has taken his game to a who new level. madrid Chelsa Spurs have all been linked. This guy is just 22 and he is one of the most technicall gifted Dm’s in Europe. he is left footed and hard as fxxxxx. His passing is just unbelievable.
If you compare Imbula to Kongdobia on Squaka he is better at almost everything than kondobia. Funny enough they are both 22 years of age.
Watch out for the name Imbula am sure we shall be hearing alot of it. The last time i felt this way about a DM was when i watch a young Javi Martinez of Bilbao running circles around manchester United.
Watch out for Imbulla.
Imbula is a hidden secret, actually better than kondogbia and the main reason why folks talk about him so much is because we faced Monaco in the ECL. Shhhhhhh though let’s stop talking about him now or else Wenger won’t buy him lol…
I am a lil scared that Chelsea has signed him already. I am surprised that he is yet to be linked to us. H is just 22 years of age and his talent is just incredible. Like most talent he is born in belgium. Belgium is breeding players like Brasil use to do in the 90’s. I watched him agaist PSG and i was like wow wow wow. what a player. His passing his shooting his tackling and distribution. The kid got it all.
total bs.
we re linked to everyone. they just write utter guesses. i think i shld become a journalist, no idea why i m in uni getting a degree -.-
did you hear about ozil until it was done or nearly there? sanchez? etc
don’t ever attempt to second guess wenger – on formations or on transfers.
i trust AW with signings, i just hope he will make enough this time.
let’s take a moment to laugh at other clubs who spend and spend and still end up being shite.
united, spurs, loserfool, even city spend and a lot don’t work out, their squad is in need of serious amendment
City have still been winning EPL though. I think we’ve done okay in transfer windows, but lets not pretend AW has been perfect. This season could’ve been so much better if we bought a CB in the summer instead of winter. Having Koscielny out for the first few months absolutely killed our title challenge before it had a chance. I still think Arsenal need to be proactive and act a bit quicker. That said, its only June. Im not freaking out.
Shitty journalism but 10/10 for speculation you def covered every possible transfer target… Wenger will however come up with an entirely different player to shock us all. Cant wait…
Missing out on Benzema would only hurt because United would have him. I think Giroud and Benz on the same team is kind of pointless since they are so similar (and both compete for a spot on French team). Lets get somebody who can run in behind defenders. It’s the type of striker Arsenal are used to playing with, and the type of player Ozil is most effective with. Ozil always had a runner like Ronaldo at Madrid and thats how he got so many assists. When our front 3 is Alexis (who cuts in a lot), Giroud, and Ramsey, we tend to play infront of our opposition too much and just kick the ball around without any penetration. Lacazette, Bacca, Vietto would be great additions.
Giroud and benzema similar? Not eveb Biesla or Guadiola will convince me that Giroud and benzema are similar. What football do you guys watch on TV. American football or Hockey? Go to bed son Its kinda late now.
obviously benzema is better, but their roles in the team are the similar. large target men who link up play, provide support for their wingers (a simple way to describe it). Did going on some childish rant make you feel better?
Did u just call benzema a large target man? What ever you are smoking pal the mixture isn’t right. Benzema and Giroud are so different.
Benzema is a talented Center forward with great pace and good moverment. Due to his incredible technique he can also play as a number 10 and he is fantastic at moving into channels and roamning around the pitch there by making it difficult for center backs to mark him. he also creats loads of space for his teammates. His strength are his pace technique dribbles moverment and finishing.
Giroud is a target man. Giroud is the Old fashion British Center forward type of striker who plays with his back to goal. he has loads of physical battles with center backs and he is very good in the air. he is also left footed and relies greatly on his body strenth to link up play with his team mate.
Now son. Does that in any way or form look like thesame player to You????
oversimplified analysis of Giroud. Cant believe you are an arsenal fan and think he only serves as a targetman. There are expets that compare the two. Just admit you are wrong and that they have a lot of similar attrubutes. I’m not disputing that Benz is better but to say he plays as a no. 10 is just false. Benz has superior movement to Giroud but there arent too many differences. Not enough for Arsenal to spend an extroridinary amount when a striker with pace, who can break offside traps and interchange w/ our midfielders is a better alternative to Giroud.
linking up w/ Ronaldo does not make Benzema a No. 10
KB to United is an interesting one – for me LvG has his best CF option staring him in the face – Rooney. And KB notoriously doesn’t do competition for places that well. And KB musthave looked at the Falcao fiasco and be thinking WF. And Higuain to Chelsea also – not sure how he would mix and match Costa and Higuain and keep Remy. Even Mou couldn’t manage to pull of the trick of having 2 world class GKs, not sure this would fare much better. But Chelsea have always been pretty unimaginative and good at damaging striker’s reputations (Torres, Shevchenko, Eto’o etc).
In short, there aren’t too many teams I can think of with 2 proper world class CFs.
haha could not agree more. Rooney has been amazing in that position; much better than benzema can ever be
Lets stop believing rumours! When we see it on arsenal.com we know its official! Coyg!
Don’t want Benzema anyways. As for Schneiderlin, shame if we miss out but there’s other players out there just as good if not better, just hope Wenger finds them.
What we’re now seeing is the effect of not challenging for the title, and not being perceived as a big enough club as a result. Players want to win the league, the FA Cup is a nice addition, but the Premier League is the second or third most sought after trophy in Europe, it’s the big aim for anyone in English football.
Winning our next title is vital. It will restore us to being a club that players want to join as much as any. Right now if you’re a player with offers from United, Chelsea, Man City or Arsenal on the table, money and loyalties aside, would you choose Arsenal? That’s the decision faced by most players coming from abroad that don’t support any English teams.
Once we win the title again it will show that players have as much chance of winning the title here as with any other club, so as long as the offer is a good one they should join. We may not be able to compete with City or United on wages, but being a London team is a major pull too – being a rich man in London can get you a lot more than being a rich man in Manchester. Only Chelsea can match us on that.
With Coquelin, I don’t think Wenger will sign a pure DM unless it is Vidal. He will be looking Intl a Mascherano type, those players that can play both CB and DM. we have lots of players on CM so I don’t think Morgan is right one
Morgan and Coq partnership would be formidable…..
but then again we have to sacrifice Wishere, Ramsay and Carzola….at least 2 out of 3 have to go or constantly be in the reserves Rotting
We may be in contention for the PL title if we get two more players but it seems so will United with all the money they are spending. Chelsea and City will spend loads too.
It could be a 4 way fight for 1st.
If we don’t sign a top striker and top DM we may be back to fighting for 4 th again
The OG KB debate is a farking fiasco………….Real Madrid have won the champions league more times than we have even been in a final, Benzema will command a high fee and wages when and if he goes, there is a scramble already to purchase this player, I don’t see anyone knocking on our door for OG and that’s because despite the fact that he has improved and I like him as a player he is NOT as good a CF as Benzema. that’s a fact. Different styles different players yes but Benzema is an out and out goal scorer and OG is not!!!!
but we are either NOT in contention anyway or our lack of impetus at the early stages of the transfer window will ensure we don’t get any of the players we are after and only those that are the cheaper options at the end of the window. Apart From Mezut Ozil that’s how things have always been and I’m still not convinced that Ozil is able to be at his best ever again. the Sanchez deal WAS being spoken about by the press way before it happened.
It boils down to this
1)We have the money to spend…perhaps not as much as our rivals but we do have enough…we just don’t like spending it.
2)We essentially need two main players, a striker and a DM …but rather than go out and spend the money on the two perfect players for those positions we try to offer lower prices and to haggle ect and that just doesn’t work in todays market.
3)Wenger drops hints and plays the “Transfer business is private” ect but really what he’s doing is looking for the cheaper options hoping that he’s going to discover another Thierry Henry…look at the Sanogoals situation ect
4)The thing that really bothers me is that no one remembers the Duds that we’ve had in the past and its all AKB ect but is it really?? who remembers Igor Stepanovs and Oleg Luzhny?? who remembers the Brazilian leaft back that bombed a few years ago? who remembers the Korean (or was he Chinese) striker Park was it ?? what happened to him?? even more recently Podolski has failed to impress as has Cambell and lets be honest what other team would have kept Diaby on the books as long as we have??
its left till the last minuit as its all about the lesser cheaper option and AW thinks he can sometimes polish a turd and that’s not happening any more.
We should buy either Benzema or Lacazetta or Higuian or Martinez at a push. …we wont as the first three will go early in the window and the last is a shaky option in my opinion
We should buy Shnielderlin but we wont he’ll go to Manchester united and we MAY or may not bid for Kondogbia who will be by then over priced as everyone will know that AW is more desoerate.
Im sick of all this bullsh!t WE ALL KNOW WHAT WE NEED WE MAY NOT AGREE ON WHO WE NEED BUT WE ALSO ALL KNOW WHAT WE’LL GET!!!!
rant over Nuff said!!!
Oh and also Wellbeck who IMO in no more than a reasonable squad player and the tall French Morocan striker we laid off to palace?? oh and ect ect ect we’ll never have a better opportunity to move into that higher echelon slot but old tight Ar$ene wont spend and will quibble and the players will go elsewhere, I mean look at the Suarez fiasco…£40’000’000 and a POUND!!!!! how wellwas that handled ?? really ask yourselves what the Fark is really going on ????
Problem is your “out and out” goalscorer is worth an extra 3 or 4 goals across 100 games if the career goals for each player are to believed. KB has 50 more career goals and has played around 100 games more – both are a shade under a goal every other game strikers which ever way you want to cut it. Perhaps you are gonna tell me he will have more scoring opportunities at Arsenal than he does at Real Madrid and he is going to tear up the PL. I don’t know but to me doesn’t stack up to the best use of £40M.
First….medical staff keep the already gunners healthy
If I had some power to do the transfers, I would get all four (if we had the money) Kondogbia, Vidal, Cech and Higuain, but just dreaming on and get rid of the deadwood that we can pay their wages too…
This the thing though we have got the money, Not as much as the other oil funded teams but we can afford thee players with a bit of guile and some offloading of dead wood but noooo it wont happen
If UTD gor for Schnederlin then it could open the door for Gundogen, I honestly do feel he is a Wenger type of holding player, good with the ball at his feet.
Le Coq has been so good and if you watch him then you’ll know that tough tackles is just 1 part of his game, he is intelligent enough to position himself well to intercept and that is a quality I liked from Gilberto Silva many years ago.
Coquelin has also been confident enough to step past a player and then release the ball rather than letting himself get pushed back or play backward passes 100% of the time.
I honestly do think Gundogen could excell playing alongside our players, I think he is better at possession football currently than Coquelin and would offer more to the attack against teams that just sit back and defend… and I think that could also help Coquelin develop that part of his game, they would push each other as neither would be a clear 1st choice but both being capable.