Why Arsenal MUST increase their bid for William Carvalho

Arsenal’s main objective this transfer window must be a young strong holding midfielder, and according to many pundits, the best of the more youthful ones available right now is Sporting Lisbon’s William Carvalho. Gareth Southgate took a classy experienced England U21 side to the World Cup, but Carvalho was the dominant player as Portugal outclassed the English in their opening game.

This must have been the final performance that convinced Arsene Wenger to bid a reported £28.5m bid for the Portugese international, who was actually born in Angola. Funnily enough Carvalho played for the senior team last week in a 3-2 win against Armenia but still wanted to go to this tournament with the Portugal U21 side. This was his reason as quoted on eufa.com: “I’ve played 52 matches this season but it could have been 100 and it wouldn’t make any difference,”

“You can never feel tired when you’re representing your country. I’m here with all my heart and soul.”

FIFTY-TWO matches! How many Arsenal players managed over 30? That makes him worth the reported £37m release clause on its own!

Another excellent reason for Wenger to go for him is the little-known fact that he is an Arsenal fan, and his hero when he was a youngster was our very own Thierry Henry. If you are unsure about his ability, let’s look at a quote from the supreme midfielder Thiago who played alongside Carvalho in a Portugal friendly against France last year. Thiago said: “He’s an amazing player with fantastic passing ability for such a strong holding midfielder.”

William himself made it clear where he wants to end up when he said in January: “My dream is to play in England,”

“I know some clubs are interested but my agent Jorge is looking after it and I am relaxed.”

So, he is brilliant, available, young, has already played 23 games for the Portugal senior side (and scored six goals!); We NEED a player in his position and he is an Arsenal fan and wants to play in the Premier League. Can anyone give me a reason why Wenger should not go all out to bring him to the Emirates?

Tags carvalho England U21 Thiago

43 Comments

  1. £37m for a completely unproven player? Ridiculous. Schneiderlin, Krychowiak and Kondogbia have all played at a higher level and none are that old. Plus each of those 3 would be below £25m.

    1. When we get Carvalho(!!!) for £37M when we could have gotten Kondogbia for 25-27.5, I will adopt an orphan, rename him Logic and have sexual intercourse with it. Because F*ck logic.

    2. Carvalho certainly looked a handy piece of kit the other night. You can never tell what Arsene’s about to do though. He loves springing it on us that’ for sure!

  2. Why arsenal should not sign him.

    1) he is a mendes client. next he will want mourinho or madrid. mendes and all his clients are all geared towards money.
    2) he is too expensive £37 m thats crazy
    3) I rate Schiniderlin Imbulla Knodogbia and Krchowiak all ahead of him.
    4) Coq is way better than Him.

    1. 1) Wanting Madrid and getting to Madrid is something different entirely, he’s now a Mendes client because the guy knows what he’s doing moving top young players from Portugal to Elite European teams /Leagues. Pretty pessimistic to say his only motivation is money, I doubt it.

      2) No chance this 37mil figure will come close to being paid….by anyone. Tabloid guff.

      3) Matter of opinion obviously, I like all those you named also but I’d lie if I knew which was THE best fit. All have merits, including Carvalho.

      4) Speculation at this point, think fans are playing a dangerous game elevating this lad to levels he’s not yet at. He had a good 4/5 months from January onwards, but let’s not fall into the same trap of thinking he’s the be all. He’s still raw, Arsenal need a more polished player.

      1. Arsenal need more polished player? I guess thats not carvalho then. he is far from polished. That said you have made some solid points. But £37 m for a slow Dm that is not mibile enough nah nah nah.

        1. Well that’s conjecture right now, I can’t claim to know the parameters of what a more polished player would be but Carvalho has been a constant in a top Portuguese team for a number of seasons, played in the CL, and has numerous caps for the Portuguese national side. As noted Coquelin has had a tremendous 5 months for Arsenal this last season, but before then? You sure Carvalho isn’t more polished on that basis?

          Like I said, I won’t claim to know what defines a player as such but I would think twice before holding Coquelin in the esteem he’s currently being held. At this stage Carvalho represents a possibility I’d welcome, but am I the only one making the link between his dominating performance a couple of days ago vs England U21’s and now this transfer story? Dubious to say the least, still think Vidal is being targeted.

      2. 2) “Tabloid guff”? I remember less than a month ago you telling us all that the oft quoted Raheem Sterling numbers (£40-50M) were “tabloid guff” or similar. You said he would go for £25-30M. Do you still think the same?

        4) I agree, but at no point have I heard you concede that he could improve massively next season. With 20 odd games under his belt after having been thrown in at a difficult time he did well as you say. But a full pre-season and a new found confidence may see him improving very quickly indeed. At some stage you have to accept what you see regardless of the circumstances of his rapid elevation. And “unpolished” and “raw” is fair comment, but applicable to both Coquelin AND Carvalho.

        1. Actually if you care to quote me correctly I said the 50-60mil being touted was nonsense and Sterling would likely go for 35-40mil. So perhaps you’d care to be accurate when trying to undermine me. On the face of it that still seems fair comment, only now are Man City sh1tting bricks about their homegrown quota and playing right into Liverpools hands…..I’ve still yet to see a bid between 50-60mil.

          Carvalho is not in the same boat at all, he does’t fit the homegrown quota all clubs are currently giddy for so I bet my house he doesn’t go for 37mil. Regarding the ‘polished’ quip I already stated it’s a fair shout to consider Carvalho polished when compared to Coquelin – Carvalho has been a mainstay in Sportings midfield the past few years, played in the CL, and has racked up numerous caps for Portugal including a World Cup VS Coquelin playing well for 5 months last season out of relative obscurity.

          Ok yea, I can concede Coquelin could improve next year but does that solve the DM position? No. Even if he improves next year there’s nobody competing for the role with him, and that’s NOT a risk worth taking for a club like Arsenal. You don’t win titles banking on a young player improving in such an important role, the question can be reversed just as easily. What if he doesn’t improve and instead gets comfortable thinking he has no threat to his place?

  3. I would be glad to see one of my fellow country men at Arsenal. Although realistically it may not happen unless Wenger is willing to meet the buyout clause. With Portuguese side’s there is a stubbornness to negotiate unless its within 1 million of the valuation. He is valued around 28.5 Million pounds. I Know Wenger doesn’t like to spend money on such a scale unless its a proven talent. I’m being honest here the Portuguese League isn’t anywhere near the standards of EPL, so although he has the potential, there would questions as to weather he would be able to meet his price tag (in my opinion he is one for the future). So i don’t think this would happen at all.

  4. Arsenal legend laurent Etame Mayer welcome Cech on twitter. I guess the deal is as good as done. Chelsea fans going mental. Now they know how it feels like when they signed cashly and rubbed it on us.

  5. Somebody is called vidal, and he can even play alongside our very own Le coq. In a double pivot, more especially against top teams.

    1. Vidal is the best option, he scores goals to and we should be able to sign him around 40 mil. I rather have Vidal but to be honest will settle for carvalho/kondogbia/wanayama,anyone will do

        1. I would prefer a new Attacking midfielder that can play on the left wing… would be useful. /s

          1. hahahahahaaha. are you serious. A new AM ? we have sanchez on the left. OX and Welbeck can play there too. Ozil anmd cazorla are number 10’s. You want a new AM? lol Soon you will tell us to buy Messi.

  6. I have reached that point of frustration that I will welcome just anyone of Morgan, krychowiak or carvalho (kondogbia seems to be heading at inter) into the team.

  7. A buyout clause doesn’t always reflect the true value of a player. Not seen him this season but he’s impressed me in the past. Don’t think he’s worth almost 30m tho and while he’s at sporting I don’t think he’ll ever become a 30m player. Surely they’d have to accept much less maybe reaching somewhere close ish with add ons or let them take a small % of any future sell on fee.

    1. @Alan Frank
      The pundits make it seem as if he boss’d that midfield against the England U21’s, when in fact they ran dude ragged.
      Every time I’ve seen him play he looks lethargic and out of shape…

  8. Geoffrey kondogbia to inter looks to be a done deal! He is to have a medical at inter milan on monday!

    1. Aye, for a reported fee of 40 million euros! Damn.. Apparently Kovasic will be sold to Looserpool.

      Inter have bought Kondogbia and Miranda now, they really mean to make comeback to CL!

  9. Now…This is a player I want to see at Arsenal.
    I don’t know about the price though. See.s quite high. However, I promise y’all that we’ll regret not getting him. The guy is awesome. And still growing.

  10. Don’t care, just gonna see what we end up with. I have faith after last two transfers to get at least one quality signing outside of Cech.

    Anyway that is a load of BS, if we get him it will be less than 20.

  11. I would love to see Arsenal sign a big, physical CDM. But 37 million for a raw player who will be Coq’s backup is insane. Krchowiak is a much better player and has a 21.2 million pound buyout clause.

  12. apart from sanchez, wenger has completely lost it in the transfer market of late….mikel, cahamackh, squillaccy, giroud, podolski,park, n that guy who played just a single game etc…
    No.4 nxt season, an early exit in champions league, no cup n of cos a new contract for mr wenger are just but a few things i expect…
    for god’s sake our main striker wont even make the starting 11 of everton…..be safe expect the worst

    1. Think you’ll find Wenger and Gazidis have got it bang on the last couple of years. Ozil and Alexis are incredible signings. Brought in a solid keeper in Ospina ( looks likely they will pick up a world class keeper in Cech this summer as well). Couple of young CBs with bags of potential in Gabriel and Chambers. Debuchy to replace Sagna. Welbeck adding to Alexis’s pressing game/work ethic and adding to the English core and Wenger has given a chance to Coquelin who has been a revelation at DM when he could’ve spunked 30M on Carvalho last summer and we would’ve never had the pleasure of seeing Coquelin flourish.
      Instead of bringing unintelligent remarks to the table, why don’t you simply support Arsenal and Wenger.
      Also, Giroud not making Everton’s starting 11 is simply ridiculous. He scored 5 more goals than Lukaku in the league last season and while he may not be world class, he does a great job in our current system. Given the current lack of world class strikers on the market, Giroud is alright with me at the minute.

      1. This is exactly why we will not win the EPL and CL. “Giroud is alright with me at the minute”…has been said for the past 4 seasons now. When will it sink in? He isn’t good enough for Arsenal because he isn’t good enough for Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern, PSG, Man City, Man Utd etc. He is not even close to Adebayor at his best for Arsenal and is not near RVP and Thierry Henry who were excellent for the Arsenal system.
        And speaking about systems….You don’t play a similar passing style to Barcelona and put in a CF/ST that does not have pace, trickery, doesn’t dribble and is not a very good finisher.
        I believe if Lukaku took Giroud’s place in the line up, he would score 25 to 30 league goals.

        1. I hadn’t appreciated that you had to be good enough to play for Bayern, Barca or Real Madrid before you can play for us? Doesn’t leave us with many players does it? I could sense your anger as I read your comment and thought “fair play, everyone entitled to an opinion” until I read your last line and then you just had me in stitches…….he only just reached 25 goals in 2 full seasons at Everton and that includes a few penalties.

          1. Only a handful of players I can think can try to get into those teams. Sanchez, Ozil, Cazorla, Ramsey, Koscielny can get into those teams.
            All of Real Madrid, Barca and Bayern etc. first team players can legitimately take the spot of every Arsenal first team player. But maybe you should look at it this way, it does not scare any of those teams when they know no one of the opposition players are better or equal to theirs.

            And your comment about Lukaku is weak. He is playing with Everton and West Brom’s midfielders not Cazorla, Ozil, Ramsey, Sanchez etc. It shows Lukaku’s quality if anything. If Lukaku was our ST/CF rather than Giroud, he would score 20+ in the league easily if he did 17 at West Brom, 15 and 10 at Everton.

  13. Arsene really does not understand the value of moving fast in the transfer market. The longer he waits the less players will be available and higher the prices will move.

    Unless he is somehow waiting for an opportune moment to buy someone like Vidal – even that needs to happen before Juve makes a deal for Pogba, so i really dont get this patient approach.

    1. @JimBeam
      He knows more about what he intends to do for the team than you…
      He knows who he wants and I’m pretty sure he’ll get them.

      1. Correction,
        he knows what he wants and NEVER gets them. It’s been 3 seasons now, where is the CF/ST that Arsenal need?

    2. I hate to be the one to break it to you, but Wenger has probably forgotten more in the last hour as to how the transfer market works than you could accumulate in a lifetime. Even if you hate the guy – you sound silly giving it large as to what he should do and how he should do it.

      Do you really think the key to getting someone like Vidal is sneaking in early and hope no-one is watching or that the selling club won’t have worked out a few things for themselves? Do you really not think that someone in Turin, whose day job, every day, is to think about these things, has worked out in precise detail how they will negotiate the transfer window regarding Pogba/Vidal?

  14. 37mil is just too much for Carvalho, I have seen him play and Coquelin is better.. now why would we spend that much money on a player is not as good as our own defensive midfielder. I would pay 20mil tops. I hope Cech is truly signing for us and i hope we get a striker too. How is Kondogbia signing for inter, its like we were not in for him and i rate him higher than Carvalho. I just hope Wenger makes the right signings and quick so they can settle with the team because we need to challenge for the premier league and champions league this season. No more excuses..

  15. Um! No.4 got me confused…….. Should we buy a replacement for Le coq?…..or should we buy a coq support?

    1. A better backup than Flamini would be nice but that is not easy to find since good players want to start.

  16. 52 matches. I would wager that 40+ of them have been played at a lower intensity than those Arsenal have been involved in this season. I understand the kid is proud and eager, but he’s not quite at the top yet.

    I’ve seen Carvalho boss matches in the Portuguese league and I’ve no doubt he’d have plenty to offer in the Premier League. But 37 million for someone who has a fair bit to offer — rather than proven, consistent, top-level talent — is a tad bit much by my estimations. Wenger would get slaughtered if he signed him for that price and he got a long term injury 3 matches into the season due to the elevated intensity of Premier League play.

  17. I wouldn’t mind getting Carvalho also he is a AFC fan and even thought he’s a Mendes client, the agent still has to go by his player wish. Thought a 37.5M seems a bit too much he certainly has the quality a true defensive holding midfielder requires. He brings physicality, height, can seemingly fit into AFC passing game and brings versatility (something Wenger likes) : he can play in a center back position or a bit up the field as well. On top of my list is Scheinderlin but with Coquelin’s emergence and how good he has been for us being one of our best player in the 2nd half of the season it could diminish his presence and slow down his growth as well as frustrate him when he’s finally getting his feet wet. Carvalho, Kondogbia are young, not injury prone which shows by there record and the physical specimen that they are (it would help Arsenal). Also they won’t ask as much as being a starter and would be happy to fight it out with Le Coq. Grzegorz Krychowiak would look really good too and cost less. But when you see how the demand for a guy like let’s say Kondogbia and the price associated; Carvalho supposed fee more so knowing we’re dealing with savy portuguese club doesn’t suprise me. At the end of the day we require quality in that area which means in today’s market money has to be spent sometimes more than the “real” value of the player. Whoever comes between those 4 names and Carvalho seems to be at the top of the list going by the rumors it would be a great plus to the squad either way.

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