Should Arsenal take the hint on Anthony Martial?

The French winger Anthony Martial has not been happy at Man United ever since his arrival three years ago. The arrival of Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal in January put the 22 year old even further down the pecking order, and now his agent has made it perfectly clear that he has had enough of Old Trafford. Philippe Lamboley says that contract talks prove that United don’t want him either. “We have not reached an agreement for several months.” the agent said.

“After thinking about all the factors and possibilities, Anthony wants to leave Manchester United,”

“There are lots of factors, and right now it’s too early to talk about them.

“I think that when United, the most powerful club in the world, do not find an agreement after eight months of negotiations then they do not really want to keep such an important player in their squad. That’s why this decision has come – it’s a well-thought-out decision.

“Everyone will have their opinion but I think he needs to resume his career. The time has come.”

It would appear that the time came quite a long time ago, as according to a report in the Times earlier this year, the Gunners were keen on taking the French striker in the swap for Sanchez, rather than Mhkitaryan: “It is understood that Martial was disappointed at not having the chance to discuss a move to Arsenal in January, when the London club raised the possibility of including the forward in the swap deal that led to Henrikh Mkhitaryan leaving Old Trafford instead.” wrote Paul Hirst.

So he was obviously keen on moving to the Emirates then, so why don’t we go back and get him now? He is French, young, and would take no time to settle. Should we go back and get him now?

Admin

107 Comments

  1. As good as Martial is (nobody doubts that he has great potential for the future), we have other players in that position who favour the same right foot.

    I know that Martial is technically miles ahead of players like Iwobi, but I dont feel the price that he will cost us will justify the addition at another players expense. That money will be better spent on players in positions which have been a problem for us in the past (i.e. CB, DM, GK).

    If Arsenal was to sell a winger or had some extra money from another source to spend willingly on another attacker, it is not like I will be upset about it, I just don’t feel it necessary. Particularly with Auba, Laca, Ozil, Mkhi already present in the starting XI.

    1. None of the aforementioned are natural wingers ,so stop deceiving yourself. We need two natural winger at least for arsenal to be competitive

      1. What I was trying to say is we can’t exactly waste our whole transfer budget on a single winger who already has others playing in the same position. Other positions are of higher priority as things stand. IF we get rid of players, then sure why not, I don’t think anybody will be against bringing Martial in provided the deal makes sense (i.e. fair price from ManU and fair wage demands from player)

        1. Was about to make the exact same comment.
          Martial is a left sided striker that can operate on the left wing. He is not and has never been a winger.

      2. martial isn’t it either more of sanchez, henry mold than a winger who hugs the line and delivers crosses, and that’s what we are actually missing but i don’t think we will be using or needing that type of winger. i see our wingers tucking in the middle with the full backs overlapping providing width so martial would actually be suited for our style of play, and with no target man it would be money wasted to buy a winger at all, i think that type of winger is a dying breed and we won’t be seeing it unless your team plays direct football or long ball whatever you want to call it the stoke way!

        so to stay relevant would have loved to have him in the swap instead of miki but that wasn’t meant to be. so as mertinho said lets just focus on getting those targets that are all over the news and then we can see after the WC if we need a star signing!!

    2. Martial is not happening. Luiz is not happening. No truth to these rumours. Clickbait as usual by admin. Sokratis, soyuncu, torreira done deals as of now. Will be revealing my source in the next few days.
      #rememberresource

      1. There is no source dont be daft. Go to twitter and read Arsenic or Arsenalnexus which is probably what you’re doing. Torreira and Sokratis are done deals, It looks like Leno is too. Soyuncu still has a ways to go but highly possible.
        I will reveal my source soon….

        What the hell, I’ll give you a hint now…

        Starts with a T and ends with an R. That’s all I can reveal at the moment.

        1. The same source that told Kev our opening match of the season is against Brighton. The guy is a fraud.

      2. Soyuncu is not done! And ur source is the same as me and every other fan! If u really know inside info then u can tell us about what’s really going on with yacine adli bcoz so far goal.com has made up a story after RMC was told they “no nothing” and his picture in London don’t mean anything when his agent lives there so u most know more with ur “sources” lol
        Sources:
        Tweeter
        News now
        And anything else u find on google lol

  2. Martial , Ozil and Mkhitaryan behind PEA or Laca means speed , skill, vision , flair. Perfectly weighted and balanced,,, terror for the opposition. Goals Goals Goals.

    1. Ozil must be eager to play with Sanchez again, after getting many assists from Sanchez at Arsenal, and to play under Mourinho’s guidance

      If Martial comes and Ozil leaves, Emery can use his 4-3-3 which would strengthen the midfield:

      …………………….Leno
      Lichtsteiner . Sokratis . Soyuncu . Monreal
      …………………….Torreira
      ………….Mkhitaryan……… Ramsey
      Lacazette ………….………………….… Martial
      …………………..Aubameyang

  3. No, because we already have too many attackers that can play in his position. Unless he is available at a very cheap price, like Gelson Martins

    Arsenal should chase a left-footed right winger like Bale, Bailey, Mahrez, Neres, Malcom, Janujaz, Draxler, El Haddadi or Shaqiri

    We don’t have an attacker like them and Perez doesn’t seem to perform well at Deportivo

    1. Since when did Draxler changed his prefered foot?
      Last time i saw him play, he still used his right foot predominantly.

      Anyways leaving that aside…
      I am hearing arsenal have tabled a £17.6mil bid for david luiz and chelsea rejected it.

      What are they smoking at the emirates.We already have 30+year old defenders including sokratis(subject to announcement). And reports suggest even Soyuncu is a done deal. And why are we still after defenders? And that too a 31year old. On top he is the kind of defender who abandons the defense just to take a shot at the goal every now and then.

      I know many dont rate Mustafi as even an average defender. But i feel the mistakes he did is not entirely down to him , but the system that was in place was at fault.coz even the ever dependent Kosc made many errors.
      Just 2 seasons ago Kosc and per were formidable defensive partners in the PL.
      That is because we had a def midfielder who has pace and could recover quickly for counters. Be it coq or flam. Once xhaka has been introduced the system broke as he is slow.

      Wenger never drilled the defence as per the strengths of the players. Xhaka needs a mobile and quick player along side him to track back. Not a ramsey who would vacate his position and occupy forward postions making it difficult for strikers,wingers and att midfielders to find space.

      I think mustafi needs to be given a chance under the new system and new coach.

      Even if he is to be sold , replacement should be a younger defender but not a 31year old luiz.
      If it happens we will be searching for defenders agaim after just 1 or 2 seasons as we will have to replace kosc, sokratis and luiz.

    2. And no we should not be looking for wingers with left foot and play in right wing or vice versa.

      I think we need wingers who would hug the touch line more than cut inside to take a shot.

      The real problem for our poor boring never ending sideways passing game for the past 2 seasons is the unavailable space for strikers to operate in the opposition third. All our players like to cut inside which used to clog the central area of the opposition third i.e. just outside the D.

      We need players who would run along the touchline so that they can drag the defenders wide towards then so thatvour strikers can make runs into the open spaces vacated by the defenders while tracking our wingers.

      I feel Martial has too many similarites to Henry in the way he dribbles and gets past players. It will be the best business if we can but martial. As he is still young and explosive. And arsenal have been lacking such wingers for many years now. The last half decent winger at arsenal i can remember is Ox.

      The best way to deal with this situation is to swap ozil with martial. Coz
      1. Though ozil is world class on his day, he is too inconsistent.

      2. He is not suitable for Emery’s philosophy of high pressing. For the high pressing game to work the most important playersvare the strikers and central att midfielders. They need to press hard to provoke the oppositions to make silly misplaced passes.

      3. He is 30years old come this oct. Can you imagine he joined us almost 5years ago. I really wished wenger would build the team around ozil and sanchez before they are past their prime age. But now we have no sanchez and a aged ozil.

      4. Central midfield is the only postion that we have surplus. Assuming Torriera comes in. Then Mkhi,Ramsey,wilshere,iwobi all can play in the role ozil is playing and may be do better than him in terms of work rate.

      5. Martial is likely to be commanding atleast 50mil. Including the inflated market.
      keep in mind they only paid an odd 35mil to monaco with performance bonuses of 20mil spanning the length of his contract. Since they wont be paying the bonuses anymore 50 odd mil should be a profitable deal for them. And i believe Ozil is worth the same in todays market for a 30 year old world cup winner.

      I really wish arsenal buy martial. But i highly doubt Manu will strenghten us as they wil also be wary of the signings we already made and will be concerned if martial becomes the game changer for us.

      1. I agree, we rarely see our wingers on the outside and whipping a ball across the face of the goal. Too many just play it behind the striker and in front of defenders, that’s if Bellerin hasn’t played it back in the direction of centre circle. Bellerin was the last one I seen whipping a ball across goal all the same. Auba too I think done it recently but our players aren’t used to it.

  4. For people moaning about Torreira’s height and physique,,, they would also find complaints with Messi and his height…. Don’t mind em ,, Bring the hunter to the Emirates.
    #TerrorA

  5. Martial is a top- player and would be great for us. BUT he is clearly never coming to us this summer. Our summer business is being currently negotiated and we would never pay the fee United would want. It won’t happen. That is obvious to anyone who really THINKS about it.

    1. Don’t think Martial is that good at all.. shocked you think hes top draw after your normally quite insightful reasoning ?!?!?
      Watched him for manu … lacks goal threat, touch, technique.. in fact anything but pace, that which runs him in to nowhere positions really.
      Not a player we will miss by not having !!

  6. Sell some players to make room for him. Welbz, Perez can go. Promote Nketiah who can play out wide as well. Winger should be the last position we fill though. CDM/CB/GK are priority positions.

    1. Martial would definitely be affordable if Emery
      and co. were willing to sell the likes of Perez,
      Welbeck, Xhaka and even Ramsey however I
      just cant see Jose EVER letting the Frenchmen
      apply his trade at the Emirates. WTS said
      any of Martins, Bailey, Draxler, Mahrez could
      be signed if the big three reach a consensus
      and deem the beforementioned players to be
      surplus for the requirements.

      Personally I would love to see the following:

      Sell:
      Welbeck–£15M
      Xhaka–£25M
      Perez—£10M
      Ramsey—£40M
      Bellerin–£35M
      El Neny–£10M

      £135M recouped

      Buy:
      Bailey–€65M
      Ndombele—£25M
      Klosterman–£20M
      Doucoure–£25M

      £135M spent

      Auba/Laca
      Bailey…Ozil…Miki
      Torreria…Ndombele/Doucoure
      Nacho…Socratis…Sonyuncu…Klosternan
      Leno

      1. Are you releasing your FIFA18 Career Mode on YouTube soon? Would love to catch it!

        Highly unrealistic transfers.

      2. Ramsey is offered a 200K a week deal. Not only is he not going anywhere, Emery believes that he is one of the most important cogs in his machine.
        Now we can sell Perez, Ospina, Mustafi, Welbeck and even Iwobi to get in a class player like Martial but Ramsey is here to stay so is Xhaka, Bellerin and Elneny.
        But like Jon Fox said we are not getting Martial from Mourinho, we might get Draxler from PSG though as they have to sell players to sign Mbappe.

        1. He will it seems have to learn the hard way that Ramsey is not a first eleven player if the goal is competing at the top and 200k is locking him in as no other club will take him later … Walcott all over again sadly …

      3. With the price you quoted for our players, why don’t you give them away for free. You are one of the fans that undervalue everything we have and overvalue what is not ours. I bet you have not seen or watch Bailey played. Because his name be thrown around you watch a YouTube clips of him and you suddenly think he worth 60m. Hector with 4 years contract only worth 35m to you at just 22yrs in this overinflated market price for players. It will be better everyone if you air your opinion and stop quoting prices for players because it is ridiculous.

        1. plays for Leverkusen, 20 yrs old from Jamacia,
          one of the best young players in Europe.
          Yeah never heard of him. You do realize that
          FS1 and 2 cover the Bundelisga season and
          the product in Germany is at times more
          entertaining than the EPL.

          And if you honesly think Arsenal can fetch more
          than £35M for HB @ the moment than mate
          your the one living in a red and white tainted
          futbol dreamland. The dude may still be only
          22 but he isnt a top ten EPL RB atm. Hell SL
          might even start over him.

          Thx again for your incredible insight.

        2. I agree..
          He lost me when he said hector for 35mil.
          Even walker was bought for 50+ mil.
          Hector though had a poor season has massive potential. Having a better manager would have definitely developed him much faster.

          Just 2 seasons ago he was one of the best defemder in the league and even looked to challege Carvajal for the spain RB spot.
          I personally feel xhaka, mustafi amd hector will all be good tp very good players with our new coach(if they shut their mouths and implement what the coach says rather than moaning).

          I really feel bad for mustafi. Almost 99% people here , abuse him and really consider him the worst defender. But i blame the team shape,system and that stupid zonal marking which compelled all our defenders to make mistakes.
          If not why would Kosc who was one of the top defenders in the world just a season ago make same mistakes as that of mustafi. Dont forget even bayern wanted Kosc a season or 2 ago.

          Anyways.. Hope all the so called kev signings become official arsenal sigings soon.

          1. Emry makes players better wenger makes players poor, plz can u back it up with statistics,

            1. Uchman, there are no stats as yet, let’s compare at the end of the coming season.
              The only other yardstick is trophies won and I leave that for everyone else to compare as I am a tad biased!

            2. Oh you need statistics to prove that the sun rises in the east?

              Cant you see that quite a few players have indirectly said that things have become too comfortable at arsenal?

              What was Ox’s reason to leave? “I needed a kick up his backside to get to the next level of my career”.
              More recently… Sagna made it very clear what was wrong with Arsenal since many years.

              “Everything is too good at arsenal… Nobody hurts nobody in the dressing room…everyone is too goood to each other…there is no confrontation among the players when things are going wrong on the pitch…to improve as a team sometimes we need to be bad as well…fight among ourselves to get fired up” and so on.

              He even said “wenger is the nicest guy ever coz he comes to training amd shakes evey single players hand while other managers just say “hi guys”.”
              As i previously mentioned wenger definitely is a very good human being but as a manager he has been at the bottom of the list for many years now.
              For all those who are more Arsene fans than Arsenal fans.. Why did he not get the Madrid job? He has many times and even very recently stated that he jas turned the world down for arsenal. Where are the rumpurs of him being linked with managerial positons across europe?
              Let me give you a few names of the clubs that are changing managers this coming season ..
              Everton,Chelsea,Westham,Psg,Nice,Bayern,Borussia,Frankfurt,Hamburg, Napoli,Real Madrid etc.
              Of these clubs Psg is the only club that have signed a manager even before wenger’s annoucement of leaving.

              And yet all other clubs have a new manager now except chelsea.
              FFS even Napoli prefered ancelotti over wenger. They both are of the same age group and belong similar footballing era.

              Why is it so hard to believe for everyone that wemger was done many years ago?
              May be 10-15 years ago he was wanted by every half decent club in the world. So you cant bring that up now and brag about yourself. That would be like me saying to my manager “look at my scores in school to judge my work”.

              1. So then, after all your ramblings, where are the facts?
                You really are selective in your players quotes aren’t you?

                I could ask you to look up Mpabbis latest quotes on our ex manager, but what is the point?
                The original question was where are the stats that prove one manager is better than the other.
                So I said there wasn’t any and we should wait until the end of the season before trying to draw comparisons.
                Are you worried about that?
                I’m not.

      4. Wow 40mil for ramsey?
        And Welbeck for 15mil?
        For players who has just 1 year left on his contract?

        In that case, had ramsey’s contract been of 3more years with us , would he fetch 80mil?
        And would welbeck fetch 35mil with 3years still left in his contract?
        Stop playing fifa18 dude.

  7. If we have the chance to him we should snap him off their hands. Martial is the confident and dangerous winger we have lacked for years. He isnt built for mourinho all defence approach but would prosper in our system which favours attacking flair. Yes he would have to adapt to emery system pressing but emery also favours lightning fast attacks upon winning the ball.

  8. Massive fan of Martial and a front four of Martial, Ozil, Laca and Auba is a mouth watering prospect. If we have the opportunity to sign him we should do whatever it takes to get it done!

    1. Will, You and several others posting above yours all totally ignore reality. Why? You must surely realise Martia, talented though he certainly is, will NOT be coming to Arsenal. You all choose to ignore all the cost restrictions plus Mourinhos certain resistance to helping a direct rival. A moments proper thought SHOULD tell you he has NO CHANCE of being an Arsenal player. Sheer cost is the main reason. We can all dream but I personally look for intelligent insights on here , not clildish wishful thinking.

      1. I respect your opinions on this board John but
        saying unequivocally that Martial is simply to expensive for Arsenal is a little short sighted
        imho. Will AFC cut a check for £60+M to
        Jose and company for the Frenchman? HELL
        NO!!. Could Arsenal afford to acquire his
        services if they sold Welbeck, Perez, Xhaka
        and El Neny? HELL YES!! I agree with you
        that this transfer will never happen( More Jose
        and Manures refusal to strengthen a rival) but players such as Martial, Draxler, Bailey, Isco
        can be affordable to AFC if they simply would
        be more aggressive and cut throat in moving on
        average squad players.

        1. Ace, Then you agree with me that this transfer will never happen. Surely that is what my post was mainly about? What I am trying to do is suggest that certain people, not you in particular , think more deeply before posting just a wish list of players that , probably 95%+ of us, including myself would like, but who we surely realise will never happen. I try to live my own life, not merely as a fan, but in general as someone who is realstic and I try not to idly dream and say “if only”. We have probably all spent a huge Lottery win in our minds but not won it. That is really ALL I am trying to suggest to some naive folks on here, in order to elevate the debate we all like to have into real debate, which must exclude idle dreamers. Or at least marginalise them . Sorry if that seems cruel ; I do not mean to be but some posts are so puerile, saying nothing but “Oh , I wish”, etc. REALISM , EVERY TIME , PLEASE! Also there is so much more , Arsenal wise we could also discuss , not always just who is coming in or leaving. I am not a bad guy , honest guv!

          1. No worries John and I do look forward to
            reading your future posts. You are without
            question an asset to this board. WTS I have
            been an Arsenal fan since my introduction
            to the Premier league in the late 90’s and
            truly cemented my passion for the club
            (like so many others) during the Invincibles
            historic campaign. We have all been spoiled
            by the amazing collection of talent that have
            proudly worn the crest at both Highbury and
            the Emirates over the years and I am genuinely
            excited about the the radical changes that
            have been made recently at the club during
            this historical transition. My question to you
            is If AFC is truly embracing a remodeling job
            and the three Musketers are genuinely
            interested in placing there personal stamp on
            the new Arsenal than why is it so difficult to
            comprehend that MAJOR changes SHOULD
            and COULD be made to the 1st team. Last I
            checked the folliwing players simply arent
            good enough to feature in a team expecting
            to finish in the top 4.
            Xhaka…
            Mustafi
            Welbeck
            El Neny
            Perez
            Ospina

            Thats roughly £85-90M that could EASILY be
            recouped in this window and immediately
            reinvested to acquire better players such as
            Sonyuncu, Ndombele and Leno and Martins.

            Ambitous perhaps, but why shouldnt we expect
            our new Arsenal to be anything less?

            1. Ace, Nice comments and so thanks. I return the compliment to you. As to your question the simple answer is that Kroenke will never release big money and we all know of the many holes to fill that Wenger left esp in defence and at DM. We are going to make several changes , I feel sure but major money(35mill plus) signings are not coming this summer. Your list is a well chosen one, and I would add Bellerin to it.There are just too many new players needed and too little money to go round. Even our selling players for decent money cannot be swiftly done with the WC upon us and clubs attention elsewhere. Yes, we needed Wenger gone BUT we also need Kroenke gone and that will be a long battle before we ever win it. I am old and want titles before I fall off my perch. But I will not blame the new regime for the ineptness of the old one, that would not be fair. Some on here want everything done overnight and it just cannot happen that way.

            2. Ace,
              Can I ask you about the players you want out and the valuation you put on them?
              If your thoughts are correct about both, do you suggest we sell them first and then hope the players you want to replace them with are still available?
              Of course that would leave our squad very short of players.
              So, if we do it the other way and sign those players on your wishlist, where is the money coming from?
              Then, after purchasing these players, we have to offload the list of your unwanted players.
              What if we can’t do that?
              The new regime needs time to implement the project that AFC have now put into place and we should also give them time to assess the potential of our players. On this site alone, their are differing views on every player including every single one that you have mentioned!
              In my view, we should wait and see who actually signs for the club and then see how it pans out from there.
              Don’t get too frustrated yet, the best is yet to come!!!!

              1. Ken, Ah, The wisdom of age! This is meant as a compliment(being older , I mean) and not an impertinence.

          2. That is why i look out for your insightful comments on this medium. So many of our fans here are from Neverland. Once a player is linked to us by the media, they start dreaming and when the link do materialize they call the clubs all sort of name. They will never accept the fault is theirs like our recently departed coach. Sometimes i think JA is infested with teenagers.

                1. Yep, seven fa cup wins, three double winning seasons, twenty consecutive champion league qualifications, top four for the same consecutive years as the champions league run, new 60,000 plus stadium, architect of the Invincibles, most successful manager in the history of our famous club, made millions of pounds from his transfer dealings for the club and yet a tw@t like you tries to ridicule him.
                  Just go and digest what Mbappe has said about him and then, perhaps,you might just grow up and start to recognise his achievements rather than posting silly little one liners that you think are clever.

                  1. With all due respect to you ken1945 and also wenger.

                    Let me ask you something..

                    Lets say wenger left Arsenal in 2006.
                    How many statistics that you metioned would change?

                    Only the number of FA cups would change to 4 and consecutive CL qualifications would reduce to 12 or 13.

                    All other trophies remain the same.

                    So in 12 years Arsenal won 3 FA cups. And 10 CL qualifications(personally which really doesnt matter as long as we dont fight to get past last 16).

                    And no Arsene is not the architect for the emirates…stop propogating such senseless falsifications of the facts. A new stadium was being planned right from 2001 or even before. By then Arsene was not the most happening manager in football. So nobody expected him to be there for next 17years.
                    Yes the banks lending money did want arsene to stay at club for longer period for surity purposes. But he did not billuild the stadium. Yes, he did manage to provide funds for building it by selling players i.e. compromise the on feild performace.

                    Look at spurs… Just like us even Pochetino was asked to stay for banking surity reasons. they are building their stadium and yet are signing thier stars on long term contracts. May he they will sell in the future to recoup but for now they have been strong enough to reject all offers for their stars. Additionally most of them are young.

                    Though all of us hate Spurs to the core, i believe we are not animals just to hate them unconditionally like dogs hate cats or cats hate rats. It would be gracefull as humans to accept our rivals are better placed than us as of now.
                    Can you imagine that spurs are 12/1 odds to win the title while we ste 40/1?

                    That is how low we have fallen. Yet people still think Arsene is the best manager in the clubs history. Yes he was coz he stayed for 22years. Had been here for just 10 years even then he would have been the best manager in our history ….so what has he changed in the last 12years?
                    Hope people get my point and start afresh with our new manager.

                    1. Remind me again, How many trophies Spurs have won in the last 12 years?
                      So you rely on bookies to decide who will do better between Arsenal and Spurs.

                    2. Great perspective , I feel! Your facts are correct too. Clearly Wenger had a great decade(roughly) and a lean decade(also roughly). He should have left circa 2008 and then his memory would be untarnished in all minds, not merely some folks.

                    3. shekar233,
                      My respect to you also.
                      I am not arguing that Arsene Wenger should still be in the managers role.
                      In fact, I believe that the time was right for a change and in fact, should have happened after we beat the premier league champions, Chelsea, at Wembley.
                      However, the owner and board offered another contract and he accepted.
                      Wrong decision by all parties and the supporters.
                      We now have a new set up that I support 100% and have already renewed my season ticket as I know we will prosper under Elmeny.
                      What I will not stand idly by and not respond to is the failure by so called fans who, for whatever reason, refuse to acknowledge the contribution Wenger has made to the club.
                      One of your comments regarding the building of the Emirates is a classic example.
                      Do you think I’m so stupid as to believe that Arsene laid each brick himself?
                      He was part of the team that designed the place and, if you go on the stadium tour, that will be explained in detail.
                      For example, the changing rooms differ and are designed as Wenger requested…. that is what I meant. By the way, if you check the facts, Wenger, amongst many others of course, were involved from the very beginning.
                      I’m not the least bit interested in any other club and how they compare against us.
                      Finally, you cannot reinvent history just to prove a point.
                      The record books will show what was and what was not achieved during Wenger’s years,
                      I hope Emery will better it, that’s what any supporter would wish for.
                      The last twelve years!
                      Top four during ten of them.
                      Champions league for ten of them.
                      Achieved the record for the most wins in the oldest cup competition in the world.
                      Let’s hope the club improves on that factual summing up for the ‘failures’ of the unproductive years!!!

      2. How about you get off your high horse and stop wasting your time responding if apparently I lack ‘intelligent insight’ ?

        I said if we have the opportunity of signing him we should do everything we can to try and get a deal done. Not sure what is wishful thinking about this or should we as a club just not bother ourselves trying to attract top talent?

        1. Will, I know your posting wasn’t intended for me, but I understand the feelings of your reply.
          My problem with the current situation is that the media are linking us with anybody who has two legs and can run!!!
          If we signed everyone who send name has been linked with the club, we would have a playing staff of hundreds of players.
          At the same time, the only player that seems to be leaving us is Jack the lad
          My take on this situation is that the new regime is taking a sensible concerted look at all our current players before starting to shift those out who don’t fit into their plans.
          Then, in January and if needed, we could start looking at players like Martial if the money is available.
          Everyone’s opinion counts on here and that’s what makes it a gooner forum for discussion.

          1. Yeah I agree with this and I do think it is great that Emery is going to review what we currently have. However, in my opinion there are players here that are obviously below standard and should be moved on. On the other hand a talent like Martial does not become available everyday and if it is true that he was keen on joining in winter why shouldn’t we make a move and look to offload a few whilst we can still make money on them?

            I have not once mentioned or commented on any other transfer rumours as I realise that Arsenal transfer rumours make easy column inches for journalists. I just don’t agree with some random guy on the internet such a Mr Fox getting his knickers in a twist because he doesn’t agree with me ??‍♂️

  9. As far as wingers are concerned, we are currently being linked with Martins from Sporting SL who is a right winger. But I think our more urgent position is the left wing position. Remember, we lost Sanchez who was our defector left winger and instead got Mkhitaryan. Though he can play on the right wing, he is more of a No. 10 and we already have Ozil and Iwobi for that position. Wenger may have had his faults but he was right on wanting Martial instead of Mkhitaryan this time IMHO.

    Ozil can play on the left wing in a 4-3-3 formation as is used by the German national team but Unai’s preferred formation is 4-2-3-1 and Ozil flourishes best in the middle of the midfield 3 behind the striker in this formation.

    Therefore, news of Martial wanting to leave Man Utd as stated by his agent came as great news to me as I feel he is the left winger we can fit into our formation. On top of that, we can still get Martins as he’ll probably be free anyway and ultimately solve our wingers problem.

    The new look team would look like this:

    ————————— Leno ———————————-

    Bellerin ——– Soynacu ——— Sokatris ——— Monreal

    ————— Ramsey ———- Torreira ———————–

    ——- Martins ——– Ozil ——— Martial—————-

    ————————- Aubameyang ——————————

    Subs:
    Cech
    Holding or Mavropanos until Kos returns (one has to go out on loan)
    Litchsteiner/Kolasinac (plus he can play LWB if need be)
    Ainsley Maitland-Niles (sub for Torreira or Ramsey)
    Reiss Nelson (sub for Martins)
    Mkhitaryan (sub for Ozil)
    Lacazette (sub for Aubameyang)

    Other squad players/loaned out:
    Elneny
    Iwobi (if not loaned)
    Willock
    Bielek
    Holding or Mavropanos (if not loaned)
    Litchsteiner or Kolasinac (depending on game tactics)
    Martinez
    Macey
    Lopez

    How it will be financed:

    INITIAL BUDGET = 70 mil

    SELL:
    Ospina 5 mil (only has 1 year left on contract)
    Chambers 18 mil
    Welbeck 20mil
    Perez 10 mil
    Xhaka 20 mil
    Mustafi 20 mil
    Wilshere (released)
    Campbell (released)
    Cazorla (released)
    Mertesacker (released)

    TOTAL TRANSFER KITTY = 163 mil

    PURCHASES:

    Leno 22 mil
    Sokatris 16 mil
    Soynacu 35 mil
    Torreira 26mil
    Martins (free)
    Martial 60 mil (Man Utd won’t sell him cheap, especially to us)

    TOTAL SPEND = 159 mil

    As you can see we can afford to build the team above plus Martial would become our marquee signing and we can build from there for the next 2-3 seasons the Liverpool way – 1 marquee signing per season (only if necessary).

    NB: Not sure how Lacazette and Mkhitaryan would react to sitting on the bench but if Lacazette demands to leave then we cannot sell Welbeck but we can get more for Lacazette meaning we can actually sell both of them and get a better second striker and still be left with change to buy some other young prospects. As for Mkhitaryan, he’s injury prone and so is Ozil of late so they can share the spot (when one is injured, the other plays)

    WHO NEEDS GAZIDIS WHEN YOU HAVE ME!!!!

    1. 04,

      I do like the way you think and would be elated if
      Arsenal were able to field this first 11. The only
      small nit I have predictably revolves around the
      Ramsey/Ozil dynamic in midfield. If the mercurial
      German is destined to be 1st choice #10 by
      Emery than the Welshman imho should be
      moved on for a more athletic, disciplined B2B player. A Doucoure, Ndombele type paired with
      the feisty Uruguyain would be a sight to behold
      in the middle of the pitch and allow Ozi/Miki the
      freedom to find his preferred pockets of space
      to work his magic.

      Auba
      Martial…Ozil..Martins
      Torreria…Ndombele
      Nacho…Sonyuncu..Socratis…HB
      Leno

      1. We might need to keep Ramsey for continuity unfortunately because that line-up up there is like a totally new team save for Monreal, Bellerin & Ozil given we sell Ramsey.

        We don’t want to do what Tottenham did under AVB a fews years back when they bought wholesome players but the team couldnt gel.

    2. Who indeed? NAIVE, DREAMER, LITTLE YOU! Try living in reality land , where almost all you propose will clearly not happen. I don’t say it should not, just that it won’t! Of those you think will be sold and fetch a fee, I see only Mustafi, Perez and Ospina leaving. I would love to lose all of your list(bar Chambers), plus Bellerin, Cech(once replaced) and Elneny too but you cannot change so wholesale over just one summer. Unlike you , I have been a Gooner attending since 1958 and my experience tells me your dreamlike thinking has not a prayer of happening as you wish. Oh, if only it were that easy. But most of us live in the real world,.

      1. Jon Fox,

        Most of those players in that line up are already in-bound anyway (Sokatris, Soyuncu, Torrera basically confirmed). All I added was we could get Martins a RW possibly for free but would have to cough up for Martial a LW. Our attack may be decent for now but it can still improve. I mean, Liverpool have a decent midfield but they still keen on adding better players to it. We shouldn’t aim to be good but to be great plus I did the maths for you as far as the finances are concerned.

        And what’s this about not having players to sell?? People said Gariel Paulista couldnt fetch any money but he was sold. Same for Cocquelin, Walcott & Gibbs despite their below par performances.

        So how am I NAIVE & DREAMING???? It’s people like you who have been the supporting the club since “1958” who prevent us from moving forward because you have that Wenger mentality.

        1958 huh

        1. I agree with a lot of what you said apart from the very end, Jon was a champion in campaigning for Wenger to go, even to the point of blaming Wenger for faults which wasn’t his.

          Jon wasn’t showing the unwavering loyalty that Wenger shown, clear difference.

        2. You have clearly never ever read even one of my hudreds of posts before Wenger was asacked, as I have been actively calling for his sacking for a decade , on many other sites aas well as this. So foryou to say I , OF ALL PEOPLE , have that Wenger mentality, shows how little you know of me. Snortingly laughable mistake made by someone who knows nothing of what you say. Moving to the crux of the matter, it is totally clear to any one who cares to think, before posting, that Martial is NEVER coming to to Arsenal , not while he costs huge money and while Mourinho is their manager. Yet, still you fool yourself. Why? I would like lots of top playrs and I have no doubt the trio in charge would also but KROENKE and his meanness stops that. Why don’t you see what the whole football world also knows full well? And you accuse ME of being behind the times. LAUGHABLE, AS THAT CAP FITS YOU SO WELL!

        3. GunnerSince2004, I have been supporting our famous club even longer than Jon, and he and I have had many different opinions on mainly one subject.
          Age is just a number whilst one is of sound mind and body, and with it comes life experiences.
          What you and your generation bring to the table is enthusiasm, excitement, no boundaries and new passion.
          You are the lifeblood of our club, Just as us oldies were so many years ago.
          Like you, I sometimes get frustrated with Jon’s way of putting things, but it is only the same passion that you also feel for our club.
          I really do hope you don’t see us as holding the club back, we all really want the same on this site, a successful football club.
          I really do hope that you have the same wonderful memories as Jon and I have of our club when you get to seventy plus, it’s been an incredible journey and one I have loved every minute of, oh to be a Gooner!

      2. We have a new board with a new structure and a new manager.
        If you want to assume AFC will run exactly the same as if Wenger was here then why was you championing for him to go? For us to be the same old same old?

        New structure being formed and this means changes, how much of a change is up for debate but to assume we will not change is mind boggling.

        Going since 1958 means NOTHING in predicting the future after such changes are happening. Respect for sticking to The Arsenal and I bet you have a wealth of knowledge of things back then… but to assume the future based on a DIFFERENT scenario is folly.

        People who live in glass houses should be careful of throwing stones.
        Calling people Naive when you have made such a naive mistake…. Broken one of your own glass panes yet?

  10. quote ” He is French, young, and would take no time to settle. Should we go back and get him now?
    because the board are as rgick as 2 short planks

    1. Wenger is gone dude and so has his french policy. Now it’s something like this – hes young and he’s German and won’t take long to settle.

      1. Abu,and one the first things the new regime try and do is sign the younger french superkid from PSG.
        Yes indeedy, he’s young, he’s german and he knows that France have some wonderful talent, just like Wenger did (Henry, vieria, pires, petit etc etc),so he’s following a great example wouldn’t you say?

    1. Just some stats as a CF per 90 mins (match length) from the 16/17 season.
      Laca – Auba will be the order.

      Total passes: 31.18 – 16.74
      Successful passes: 24.18 – 11.66
      Assists: 0.11 – 0.06
      Key Passes: 1.63 – 0.74
      Chances created: 1.75 – 0.81
      Goals scored: 1.03 – 1
      Total shots: 3.16 – 3.76
      Shot Accuracy: 65% – 63%

      For a CF who brings in the wide forwards, I would argue that Laca is the better CF for that and Auba can be the one who arrives at the right time in the right place to bang in the goals. If we play with more traditional wingers and rely heavily on a CF to grab ALL the goals then Auba would be my choice, if it is to bring other strikers into play while also being a threat, Laca all the way for me.

  11. My concerns about Martial are his price and his mental toughness. Word from Man U is that he feels he should be an automatic starter and not have to fight for his place.

    1. To be fair to Martial, he was scoring and doing well until Alexis joined them and took his spot without earning it.
      BBC reported in Jan that he had a 63% shot accuracy and a conversion rate of 40%, this is impressive and if he was given more freedom to attack instead of Jose then how many more shots and goals could he have had?

      Martial appears to have been willing to stay and fight for his place but missing out on the WC because Alexis walked into the team and failed to get the stats that Martial did… Also how long UTD have tried to get him to sign a new deal which appears to be as insulting to him as our contract to Cole all those years ago…

      Respect goes both ways, the player needs to respect the club and the club needs to respect the player.

      1. Midkemma, I don’t disagree with your assessment. As we all know Mourinho has failed to identify talent in a number of players, who have thrived at other clubs.
        Arsenal would have happily taken Martial from France if we could have competed financially with Man U. There is no doubt he would be a success at Arsenal, if Mourinho would let him go to us; as stated by others above probably no chance.
        It will be interesting to see how long Sanchez gets the free ride he has had so far. At Arsenal he was given freedom to “express himself” and in my opinion stifled Arsenal’s play by being self centred.

  12. Nothing wrong with dreaming. That’s our right as fans – particularly in off season – what else we gonna do?

    I for one would love to see Martial in Arsenal colours.

    Happy to sell Welbeck, Iwobi to make it more achievable – and ease the financial burden.

    All seems very unlikely – but financially sure we could make it happen if we wanted too

    1. How about Ozil?
      Jose might even go for this as he worked with him at RM and UTD need that creative spark, Ozil being a BIG name would also be a marquee signing.

      Now a bigger price to pay but one I have considered…

      Welbroke AND Ozil for Martial?

      Might sound like a bad deal to start with but my thinking was that Welbroke is chatting up the physios every other week while Ozil blows hot and cold while rumors of him picking and choosing games he wants to play in… Then I add in the wages for those 2 players into the thought, around £370k a week according to totalsportek. Martial is only on 65k a week according to the same site, we could DOUBLE his wages and still be saving a whopping £240k a week, this is a marquee signings wage or close to a million a month in the bank for next transfer window.

      Iwobi and Martial can fight it out for the left sided forward role (Emery appears to use inside forwards more than wingers), Martial would obviously be starting as our 1st choice but if Iwobi can bring his international form to club level then we would be blessed on the left hand side while the wages for them both (assuming Martial given 130k week) would be around £160k a week, that is a bargain in wages!

      Iwobi might become a great footballer with someone like Emery developing him… He may continue to disappoint at club level, I would be happy to give him 12 months to find out as long as he isn’t the 1st choice without earning it.

      1. There isn’t a market for Ozil. High wages not backed up by his performances. Arsenal messed up giving him a contract. Doubt he’ll have any significant resale value ever again. United wont go for Ozil after seeing how badly the Sanchez deal has turned out for them

        1. Therefore RSH following your thinking, we wouldn’t go for Martial, because of the way some fans think the Welbeck deal has turned out for us?
          Not a very professional way of looking at transfer dealings I would suggest?
          Ozils salary is another point of hindsight being all powerful isn’t it?
          I clearly remember fans on here berrating the board and Wenger when Ozil hadn’t signed a new contract?
          After selling Sanchez, the cry was ‘if we don’t keep Ozil, that will show how far this club has fallen’.
          He was offered and accepted a new lucrative contact and everyone then started bleating about how the board and Wenger got it all wrong!
          We now have a world class player in our ranks and some of you are still moaning and spouting off how the club should be run.
          Just go and read Ozils stats then pray he stays for the length of his contract so that the likes of Lacs and Abu can feed off the man’s footballing brain.
          As for Martial, we need to ensure that all the rumoured signings are actual signings before we can even think about this.
          If I, as a Wenger man, can see the need for a defensive plan, surely those of you who continually quote his lack of defensive planning, must see this as number one priority??

      2. I’d probably go for that. I e not been an Ozil hater – but I do think getting rid of him would send a big loud positive message to whole team.

        And I really rate Martial. Let’s do it 🙂

  13. Go all out for him, get him at any cost, this guy will be hot in a few years time while already being a very good player.

    I know Auba got moved into the CF role and he excelled at it, he was no slough at scoring from the right either, 21 goals in 45 games as his last seasons for St Etienne. Auba has the pace and the ability to get himself in the right place at the right time, this he has done from the right prior to BvB, as a CF for BvB and from the left for us, getting 10 goals in 14 games. He is a special player who can be deadly from anywhere upfront, this shouldn’t be forgotten.

    I do believe that Laca has the qualities in him to potentially drop deep in play and let the inside forwards act as CFs from time to time, to keep the attack fluid, more so than Auba. He is just as deadly in the CF role since coming back from knee issue, why would we not want this deadly hitman as a CF considering that Auba is a special talent and can score from the left or right…

    Martial has some impressive numbers and the BBC did a little stat attack during the Jan window, who got the better deal in the UTD/Arsenal fiasco.
    “Bonus stat – Martial’s shot conversion rate of 40.9% is the highest of any forward in the Premier League this season ”

    I think Martial could do really well for us, the mix in our attack means teams can not lock down all 3 deadly strikers along with CMs like Rambo and Mkhi who are also goalscoring threats…

    For counterplay we would have one of the fastest attacks in the EPL, making us a deadly counter attacking team, more so when you think of how deadly all 3 strikers can be in front of goal mixed in with the nice long passes that our creative players can do. For the build up play then we have winbacks who can overlap and put crosses in, inside forwards to get between the gaps of CBs and Fullbacks, a CF who has proven to bang in the goals given half a chance along with mobility to pull CBs around and create gaps for the other 2 wide forwards. We have CM players who can be a goalscoring threat by arriving late (Rambo good at this), Mkhi looks like he could be a force in CM… reminding me of Cazorla kinda thing.

    Cech(Leno)
    Bellerin(Lichtsteiner)/Sokratis(Chambers)/Mavrop(Holding)/Monreal(Sead)
    Torreira(ElNeny)
    Rambo(Mkhi)/Xhaka(AMN)
    Auba(Nelson)/Laca(Nketiah)/Martial(Iwobi)

    Xhaka could be revitalized with someone like Torreira behind him and strikers who can make the most out of his long passes, he is a big lad and if Emery gets him pressing smart then he can be difficult to get past, not saying a DM but all CM should have def responsibilities.

  14. What I found amusing was the fact that Emery wanted to build a team for Aub and Ramsay, not Aub and Oil, therefore he considers the role of Ramsay as the utmost importance. If this is so I guess he would see Ozil as an obstacle to the style of play he wishes to implement at Arsenal. Pressing game sounds nothing g like Ozil when playing for arsenal.

    Mou definitely will not sell Martial to arsenal. That would be like giving us a loaded gun pointed in Many direction, I think Martin’s would be a fabulous fit and would become the complete article at Arsenal.

    I really think we need a winger to give arsenal a new look and Martin’s seem like a hard worker.

  15. We don’t need Martial., and to be honest we need better keeper than Leno. Emery clearly has no saying in transfer dealings. If he did he would of tried to get players from his former club. Sergio Rico is a top quality GK. If we were to get him it would bode really well for us. Leno may turn out to be good later but at the moment he is like how Scszesny is when he left us.

    1. It could be Ospina that he’s replacing and his job is to push Cech for supremacy.

  16. We don’t need him if we don’t want to compete for the PL Title

    If we do want to compete for the title we need to strengthen attack as well as defense and central midfield because the top 5 teams who are already stronger than us will strengthen even further.

    But we can’t do all that this summer imo

  17. Looks like Jean M Seri is going to Napoli, as he prefers warmer climes to UK, given his muscle issues.
    Given Sven Mislintat’s connections to Dortmund, what are the chances of gaining Mario Goetze for an amount in the order of £18 million. He missed out on the final German World Cup squad (as did Sane!) and apparently his form was affected by myopia last season

  18. Manure ain’t like us before! Selling quality players to rival is surely a no-no.

    Not to mention, Jose is still around.

    Dun even dream about it.

  19. Allot of traffic for Martial. It seems allot of people agreed with Wenger that Martial is maybe the one we should have demanded, they would’ve gave in because Alexis took his place. Personally, I believe Mkhit is a better ball player, better on the ball with control and seeing the right pass. He looks like he’ll weigh in with end product. Martial, some people just love speed merchants, he’s not a bad player at all but maybe a little over-hyped, it’s still allot about potential for him. He looked to be doing ok last season but then they brought in Alexis the not so great. If Emery and Mislintat want him then I’d be happy to get him, but I agree with others we’ve had too many players out wide that want to come inside rather than being a real team player. Martins looks a team player, he show boats a little with his dribbling ability and step over but he looks like a winger who knows his area well.

  20. wenger is gone so its time to move on…..

    time for a new era…its Emery’s team now

    lets support and stay focus….

    signings will come and may not be your favourite player

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