Are Arsenal closing in on our PERFECT DM signing?

Although Arsene Wenger has already made two new signings to boost the Arsenal squad during the January transfer window, there could still be more to come. For one thing, the Frenchman always seems to have something planned for transfer deadline day and for another, the young Polish midfielder Krystian Bielik is just 17-years old and was not expected to come straight in to help the team out this season.

The Gunners have been linked with a keeper or two to add to the concerns of our under fire Poland international Wojciech Szczesny. We have also been linked with a few strikers and the imminent departure of Joel Campbell on loan to Villarreal in La Liga together with the deals taking Lukas Podolski to Inter Milan and Yaya Sanogo to Crystal Palace have left some room for another forward or winger.

The most likely, however, is the move for a top quality central midfielder that Arsenal fans and the football media have been banging on about for years. There were reports in recent weeks suggesting that Wenger had settled on the Southampton star Morgan Schneiderlin for the role but would not move until the summer, and that may still be the case.

But a report by The Mirror claims that Ronald Koeman is planning a transfer swoop on his former club Feyenoord for Jordy Clasie as a direct replacement for our transfer target. Could this mean, if the Saints get Clasie, that they are preparing for a bid for their midfielder from Arsenal? Now that really would give us Gooners something to shout about.

Tags Koeman Southampton Wenger

28 Comments

      1. who is this “we” you speak about? pretty sure it’s the British immigration authority that is holding it up.

  1. considering Coquelin is leaving in the summer….and hes not good enough

    if we were to sign only 1 DM say Schnederlein….

    Considering our track record…..what would happen if our only DM gets injured??

  2. Another defensive player?!! πŸ™ πŸ™ πŸ™
    we have enough of that now πŸ™ πŸ™
    but I wont mind Wanyama since Hafiz says he can fly from one end to the other n have 1000% tackles n 1000% pass accuracy, take setpieces n fly n score from the same setpiece πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€

    1. This makes absolutely no sense. Have u even watched Morgan Schneiderlin the past 2.5 seasons? Been leading the league for multiple seasons on interceptions and is definitely a player that WILL improve our personnel on the 2 pivot positions.

    2. Pi a great team is built firstly around a strong defensive unit. How many clean sheets have we had this season? Too few. We have sufficient attacking players, except for maybe 1 top striker, so AW is addressing the weakness-defenders. Hope we go all out for Schneiderlin then we can focus on a quality finisher in summer. We won’t need much more. Grosskreutz is another option as he is a Wenger versatile player, but would prefer Schneiderlin.

  3. Come this summer Arsenal in’s and outs:

    1. OUT – Diaby ………. IN – schneiderlin
    2. OUT – Flamini……… IN – Le Coq (contract extension)
    3. OUT – Wellington……… IN – some new prospect???
    4. OUT – Poldi……………… IN – lacazette
    5. OUT – Campbell……….. IN – Super Tom (1 year contract extension)

    Loan
    1. Sanogo
    2Hayden
    3. Zalalem
    4. Toral
    5. Maitland-Niles
    6.Iwobe
    7. Crowley

    Aint too sure where to put Arteta and Jenkinson at the moment.

    1. Akpom? Surely he gets a new deal and a season loan.he will be afobe replacement.

      Campbell : seems to be going down the vela path, but maybe next season he will be more prepared to challenge for a place. I think he is a ready made replacement for podolski.with santi moving in of the wings asΕ΅ell more oppurtunity will be available.

      Gnabry also needs a loan at a low prem team eg c palace took sanogoo

      Arteta could also be replaced by santi cazorla who has been excellent in the deep playmaker role.

  4. Someone needs to exorcise some fans from this buy buy disease. It is making reading sports news boring and an insult to people’s intelligence. There is no chance that Arsenal will buy another player in the January transfer window after the acquisition of Gab. Wenger stated clearly that the club wanted to bring in one or two players, and two players have been brought in. So our January transfer window is closed, except for loan outs for some academy players.

    At no point has Arsenal ever stated that they wanted schneiderlin. After one writer here referred us to Squarka statistics, the defensive stats of Schneirderlin confirm what I have been seeing when watching the Saints. He is a good player not exceptional as fans here want us to believe. He is far behind Francis in all defensive factors captured by Squarka statistics. So why would Arsenal bring in a player who is not better than what they have? Based on statistics and Arsenal’s approach to buying players, there is no chance under the sun that Arsenal will buy Schneiderlin let alone Wanyama.

    Wenger will be looking at bringing in a player with Arteta attributes: intelligence, ability to read the game, focus over the whole 90 minutes, and ability to convert defence into attack through accurate passing from the deep. Not many defensive midfield players are blessed with these attributes. At Baryen Pep had to convert Lahm, a right back, into a defensive midfielder because according to him he is the most intelligent player he has ever worked with. A player who has a chance of being brought in for that role is Khedira of Real Madrid, provided he has age on his side. He is not an out and out defensive midfielder but on the occasion I watched him play for both Madrid and Germany I always felt he possess the quality to be a Wenger type defensive midfielder.

    1. I agree with everything you’ve said other than Schneiderlin. This is (Arsenal scout) Giles Grimadi on statistics β€œThis job has evolved a lot. Data is taking a stronger and stronger place. You have to really argue to be against data. In a club, statistics give people the chance to exist who have little knowledge. And these numbers act as a safety guard for decision-makers who lack courage. That, yes, that annoys me. The other problem, is that the players are aware of this trend. I ask myself to what extent they’re playing to make their numbers good, the duels they have won, the amount of kilometres they have run. It is not particularly positive: I can win 100% of my duels if I refuse to accept everything that I am risking to lose. We see more and more players fleeing the duel and I think that there is a risk that this continues until statistics count this refusal of a player to engage himself. Among very talented youngsters, the duel is a missing weapon.”

      1. @Analyzer, the third paragraph you describe the type player we are after, you have described Schneiderlin. Coq may well have better defensive stats like you mention but Schneiderlin is the all round better player and i only need look at them play to realize this. Also when comparing Coqs stats he is immediately at an advantage with him – first of all not having nearly as much games – secondly his games this season will mainly have been in the championship where loose passing and bad play is the norm.

    2. @the analyzer
      Coquelin has not played as many games as schneiderlin. Therefore, you can’t compare them. Because the more games one plays the more actual and acurate the stats are.
      I think it is too early to judge coq.

  5. OT: Congratulations and a very happy 22nd birthday to Yaya Sanogo!

    Score more goals, stay focused and healthy lad.

  6. β€œAs a goalkeeper you try to help the team by giving them confidence from the back and keeping a clean sheet”. David Ospina

  7. We should be competing for the likes of Paul Pogba, Khedira, Carvalho, Wanyama or Moussa Cissoko. Schneiderlin isn’t the CDM we need, he only looks like he pulls it off at Southampton because Wanyama is their true CDM, at Arsenal, he wouldn’t have Wanyama beside him so I don’t think he’d pull it off, we need much better than Schneiderlin I believe.

  8. Also, Schneielin is only 5 feet 11 inches, that’s no way the physical presence we need in the defensive midfield position, we need a big powerhouse and no nonsense tough guy in that part of the field. I will be pretty damn dissapointed if we sign Schneiderlin if I’m honest.

  9. Thank you for that comment bro @Analizer,looks like you are the only sensible person on this site.I’m really fedup reading “Schneiderlin this Schneiderlin that,Wanyama,Kondogbia nonsense”. Fans fail to see that we are blessed to have a DM like coquelin,I mean look at how solid our team has become when he plays.His defensive qualities are what please me the most.Coquelin reads the game really well and knows exactly where an opponent is going to drop the next pass that is why you see him making so many interceptions because he reads the game well and he is not afraid to challenge for the ball.He is also very desciplined withe ball and passes the ball quick enough to start a counter attack.So for me,I couldn’t ask for another DM than Coquelin please let’s learn to appreciate what we have.Schneiderlin,Wanyama,Kondogbia etc are highly rated because they play for other clubs if they were playing for Arsenal we would have branded them “average players”,we would be crying for Wenger to sign “world class DMs”.

    1. Thanks mate. The problem people have is that they think buying players is a contest where a team should enter no matter what its needs are. Pogba they want is not a defensive midfielder but a box to box player yet they want him to come and play DM. Wanyama and Matic only have physical presence as their asset. In other aspects of defensive play the perform dismally. If they were to come to Arsenal they would hardly finish games after being red carded. Unfortunately eclick fans do not see that.

  10. I’m really excited about Paulista. We needed him badly. I’m sick of seeing Monreal as CB. Monreal as excellent as LB. It makes sense to keep CB as CB, LB as LB and RB as RB, because of team consistency. Unfortunately due to lack of CB we had no choice.

    With Debuchy, Bellerin and Chambers as RB
    Koscielny, Mertsacker and Paulista as CB
    I think we could use another dedicated LB to join Gibbs and Monreal. But that isn’t a priority

    Priority this summer should be replacing Flamini with an excellent DM (2 if Coquelin doesn’t sign an extension) and a Top striker.

    Hopefully Wenger sees it that way too

  11. Paulista and Chambers the future central pairing? In any case we need a monster DM like all teams doing well at the moment.

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