Arsenal has joined a whole host of clubs including Everton, Roma, Inter Milan and bitter local rivals Tottenham, in the race to sign Barcelona midfielder Andre Gomes, according to the latest transfer gossip.
The Portuguese midfielder is currently on loan with the Toffees and has had a standout season with the Merseysiders which has prompted the widespread interest in the 25-year-old.
Everton remains his most likely destination and are said to be very keen on making his loan move permanent, however, participation in next seasons European competitions is the one thing that he will not get at Goodison Park and may yet influence his decision.
It is almost certain that he will not be returning to the Nou Camp in the summer and so he will be signing for a new club, it is just a question of which one.
Gomes would be a good signing for us, he now has experience of the Premier League and that is invaluable.
He is clearly talented, I have seen him on a number of occasions this season and have been impressed. No fee has been mentioned but I doubt he would cost a kings ranson, probably between £15-£20 Million but that is just guesswork.
A lot was expected from him when he joined Barcelona but it never really worked out and he was voted the worst signing of the season by readers of Marca.
That all changed when he moved to Everton and rebuilt his reputation following a stellar season.
If we can sign him we should, he would certainly be an upgrade on some of the midfielders we have on our books.
Nahhh….. Rabiot or Tielemens or Doucoure is a better signing
Please tell me this is a joke. the guy is one of the most overrated players in Europe.
Rabiot every day of the week.
The Arsenal board is a joke, so I guess they might be pretty serious about this
We now can’t keep going on about how Spuds can’t talk crap until they reach the CL Final like we did in 2006.
Wow. Imagine since 2006 we have been bottlers. For more than 10 years
?♂️
Barca want £35 million for him.
Just imagine spuds winning the CL for the first time and parading it in their brand new stadium.
Chelsea became the first ever london club to win the CL.
Tottenham become the second ever London club to win the CL.
The more I think about Liverpool or Spuds winning the CL the more I get angry, frustrated and infuriated with Wenger and Kroenke. They had no vision, hunger or ambition for more than a decade. Wenger wasting thr available sweaty transfer funds on deadwood and massively overrated players not compatible to his team ?
Come on you scouse victims. Win this rubbish.
Someone shoot me now.
?
If we screw this up tonight.. omg it’ll be unforgivable
I thought it would be unforgivable to lose 3 games in a row and draw the 4th to effectively rule us out of the champions league. It happened anyway. I expect us to go through but even if we don’t, I won’t be surprised. This squad simply does not care much about anything.
It has been an awful end to the season, but tonight is our only hope of salvaging something (although there is the final too, I know)
But yes you’re right, they don’t seem to care less, then you listen to their interviews saying we know we haven’t played very well lately & must step up etc.. then what happens? They play even worse…
What a crap week this has been…..
Sue, we will forgive them and some will even defend the coach while I will point out his flaw. Everton, Wolves, Crystal P, Watford and Brighton and here we are hoping they get it right against Valencia. If you love someone or something truly and dearly forgiveness becomes the easiest you give them. But I think Valencia won’t be that difficult and we are entering final tonight.
I’m as nervous as hell, Mobella ?
I would love it if we got Doucoure. If I am to speculate, he would probably cost about £30-35M leaving us with £10-5M to play with from our supposed £40M budget. If we could get rid of Xhaka for £15M and get an equal amount for Mustafi (optimistic I know, more likely £10M each for the dross), add £5M for El Neny and £3M for Jenkinson, that’s about £48-38M to cover 3 positions RW, CB and back up CM. We could promote a youngster for CM, Mavropanos and Chambers could replace Mustafi then we’d have £48M for a quality winger. Just speculating.
Like your way of thinking, QD ?
Weren’t we supposed to get an additional 60 Million from the Adidas deal?
I do like your way of thinking too but information on the press don’t include Xhaka as one the players we are cashing in on. I love the guy but if we are any serious as a club he should be the first we show the door even before Chech, Ramsey, and Welbeck
We need to get Zaha over anyone else. He is homegrown, a natural winger, very talented, and already proven in the EPL. That’s what we need to get. I don’t want any Spanish or South American players. In my opinion, those players style isn’t best suited for what Arsenal need. We need grit, strength, and determination. Zaha is al of this and needs no adjustment period for the PL. my two bits
Zaha is a Maverick… He’s fast , strong, brilliant dribbler , can’t tear through teams on his own… And also defends pretty decent… But since he’s such an incredible player, Arsenal will hand in a new contract to Mkhitaryan, Bye
His decision making can be very poor as can his final ball.
Has any one watched Wilfred Ndidi this season? That boy is good! At only 22. Sell Xhaka and get him. A Ndidi-Torreira combo would be out of this world.
Xhaka playing for Arsenal week in week out…can’t run ? can’t tackle can’t dribble can’t make a simple one two pass and can’t even make a simple pass with out putting his face down……locomotive midfielder.
I have seen enough mess in Arsenal football club…
Please EU take a look at this boy Rodrigo Javier Da Pual.
Was anyone watching Hakem Ziyach last night ?! this is how good players go under the radial, we keep talking about zaha, malcom, pepe but this guy play very effective football and no one is seeing and tomorrow when someone comes and sign him and he comes in the lime light, we blame our coaches and scouting team for not doing their job. We come here and talk so much about who to blame for everything but even us the fans are not helping because we don’t see some of the things we need to see or say here. Perhaps if a dozens fans here were pointing out Ziyach, I am sure the technical crew would go and find him out even if they miss out on him during the match
Yes.. he was good
Thanks Sue, I know you are one hell pf a fan and you are Arsenal through and through. Its sad we won’t be seeing more of him in the finals, I was really hoping to see more of him and have one last look.. I think he will be a good signing and he gets a lot of goals (21 this season) already
I just saw am article, claiming we’re interested in him (43m) he played really well in both legs & his goal last night, was a beauty! So unfortunate though, losing in the last few seconds!
Yes i agree, it is a shame we won’t see him in the final!.I think a lot of teams will be sniffing round a lot of their players – they’ve been excellent!
Onto tonight Bobby – I’m nervous! Can we do it? What do you think?
We need a Ramseyesque type midfielder. James Maddison is the man. Why not pay good money for Harry Maguire too. He is 26 and has six top years ahead of him. Wilf Zaha is ready made and in his prime. Over the last few years the Spuds bought Moura, Eriksen, Wanyama, Alderweireld, Trippier and others. We bought shit like Mustafi, Xhaka and took freebies like Kolasinac. Wenger did not want to ‘unbalance’ the team and bought ‘little names’. We sold the Ox, Walcott, Giroud, Coquelin, and Sanchez to buy nobody and we let Cazorla go. Now we don’t have a winger. What a bunch of tossers our management team are. We are just a forward line of two great players like Auba and Laca. They have more chance of getting a church service than a midfield service. We need top players, not hopeful possibilities. We are in danger of being the laughing stock of the UK premier league and an ordinary poor team.
Expect the worst tonight, this week has that sort of feel to it as an Arsenal fan. This week is giving me bad vibes.
Thanks Kroenke – thanks a lot mate!
sell iwobi kolasinac mikhi mustaphi elneny n buy valuable players like zaha
Apologies I only contribute every so often but I do enjoy reading through these forums, so sorry for the long message. Like everyone else, I’m not sure how we have ended up with a Liverpool v spurs final. Both were up against it in the 2nd legs.
But what has been confirmed for me is that both squads have a group of players who are passionate about their club. These players are are grafters and fighters. Not just tactics and talent etc. The players as a group want to do well for each other and they have a great spirit about them. This is the huge difference from our current Arsenal squad. Yes we have some similar type of players but not near enough unfortunately.
A prime example is Sissoko from spurs. He has an engine and determination that we are lacking big time in our midfield. Another example is Fabinho’s passion with Liverpool on Tuesday night. These 2 players are not world class or they weren’t hugely expensive but they do a very good job for their clubs.
From my viewpoint the traits above need to be priority when recruiting this summer throughout the spine of our team
Some thoughts on what needs to happen this summer. its not exactly a fifa style wishlist but maybe some of this can happen
Goalkeepers:
leno (1st choice), Martinez (backup- cups etc), macey / Iliev(3rd choice)
Sell ospina. Cech leaving for free. With budget constraints we cant really afford to sign a back up keeper to Leno
Defence:
Leicsteiner leaving for free. Sell jenkinson (not good enough), mustafi (not good enough), Kolasinac (not good enough), koscielny (prob time to move on and thank him for his efforts).
We should just about keep Sokratis & Monreal for experience and leadership. Bellerin, Holding, Mavropanos, Chambers ok to keep. Promote Medley/bielek for cup games to gain experience. Sign a reasonable priced backup right back (chambers not an option). Would love Max Aarons from Norwich but probably too pricey. Sign at least 1 dominating centre half if not 2 depending on chambers leaving or not. My preference would be Zouma, Dejene. Jonathan Tah out of our reach I reckon. Sign left back with significant investment, Tierney or chillwell the preference.
Midfield:
Ramsey leaving for free. Sell Xhaka (cant stand his passive nature and attitude). signing Rabiot not for me. similar in style and his attitude doesn’t seem great at previous club, sell elneny(not good enough), sell Mikitaryan (hopeless). Iwobi, Willock – loan out. Sign 2 wingers as we currently have none and Emery needs wingers to enforce his style of play. Preference would be Pepe (go all out for him) and Lozano from PSV (hard working and direct). Sign box to box midfielder (doumbele from lyon out of our reach but Doucoure could be ok and aggressive/energetic enough). We also have Guendozi, Torreira, maitland Niles and Chambers potentially here. Smith rowe and nelson drafted back into first squad to provide cover and challenge for starts along with more first team action for Saka. Ozil conundrum is difficult. Personally I would sell to help fund transfer of Pepe. But selling both Miki and Ozil is unlikely. From an attacking midfielder sense I don’t really know what options are within the club. is smith rowe ready? Without Ozil and Ramsey, a huge gap is created here. Maddison is not realistic and if signing 2 wingers and a box to box midfielder, maybe the need to a no.10 lessens.
Attack: Auba and laca are great. consider sending Eddie on loan to gain some experience. if that happens we must consider a back up striker with a presence.
4 leaving on a free. selling another 8 with Ozil also going if there is a taker for his wages. promoting 6 or so internally. Signing 6 – 7 players.