When you have a restricted transfer budget and have to spend wisely you need to make sure that whatever player you sign ticks all the boxes and that is exactly what Arsenal must do before they acquire any player.
One of those boxes is that whoever you are targeting wants to actually join you and that does not appear to be the case with Barcelona’s Samuel Umtiti.
According to the media, the defender has made it clear to Barca that he does not want to leave and has apparently instructed them to reject all offers.
If this is true then Arsenal needs to move on to other targets, there is no point signing the 25-year-old if he does not really want to be an Arsenal player.
The France international is a good player and I am sure he would do a good job for us but we need to be signing players that would die for the badge not players that are only here because they had no other choice.
It does make a difference because too often in the past players have joined us for the wrong reasons and as soon as a club with more opportunities of winning silverware come along they will jump ship, take Robin van Persie or Alexis Sanchez as prime examples.
Imagine another scenario, he leaves Barcelona plays brilliantly for us then the Spanish giants realise their mistake and want him back, a little bit like Cesc Fabregas, though I do accept he joined us under different circumstances, my point is that when Fabregas was made aware that Barca wanted him back he agitated for a move.
For me, there is simply too much risk signing a player that really does not want to sign for us and while it can be an acceptable risk to sign such a player when you have a bank full of money it is not when you have a smaller transfer budget and have to be careful with how you spend that money.
Bit of a ridiculous article really. Why would a player sign for us if he really doesn’t want to sign for us? How do we sign someone who doesn’t want to come here, hold his hand and make him write his signature? You mention RVP joining us “for the wrong reasons” and leaving when the opportunity arises, he was with us for 8 years for fùck sake! How is he a prime example? Players move on to both better themselves and earn more money. If Umtiti doesn’t fancy playing for Arsenal he won’t sign for us. Never have I read such a stupid article.
I think Umtiti just mentioned his unwillingness to leave to appease the Cules. I believe he would budge if Arsenal offer him huge salary
But it’s better if they don’t do it, because usually highly decorated players like him would have no more spirit to chase major trophies at another club. An example for this type of complacent player is Ozil
I bet Barcelona realize some of their players don’t want to put in extra effort anymore after winning the World Cup and multiple La Liga/ Champions League trophies, hence they plan to sell Dembele and Umtiti (according to rumors)
? Declan
Adding to your absolutely spot on post Declan. How does the writer knows he is even our target. Was he got told by the Arsenal or buy him. Someone said, those who know don’t speak and those who speak don’t know
Umtiti is a world class ball-playing CB that has sadly been struck by a grave injury and too small to be the most dominant CB at Arsenal. But if Arsenal are chasing a towering CB to be his partner and if they can ignore his injury history, he would be an excellent addition due to his quality
However, his contract will only end in 2023, hence his price tag would be exorbitant due to his trophy collection at such young age. I suggest Arsenal pour all their resources and connections to get De Ligt, because this boy could be a real bargain due to his age, stats and contract time (will expire in 2021, therefore the price tag should be reasonable)
If De Ligt is out of our budget, they had better chase the taller Ibrahima Konate that has just recently brought Leipzig into Champions League at such young age
Any chance of us selling Koscielny to Marseille and they sending Kamara in return + cash? He’s on his contracts last year.
Please get rid of Özil, Xhaka, Mustafi! They should command few dozen mils in fees and they are on almost 500k a week!
If Mkhi, Monreal, Jenkinson and Elneny can follow, it’s a bonus!
? Declan
especially for getting rid of OZIL, Mkhitaryan, Xhaka, Mustafi
I think Monreal would still be useful though as backup LB
Umtiti is a player I like but he will not come to Arsenal and will have his sights on Bigger clubs because at the moment we are a mediocre team with a huge amount of surgery needed,yes you need to start somewhere and with the current regime in place anything could happen I am sure there are some little gems out there and it is for Emery to unearth them and put a well balanced team with a proven leader in place for next season,defence is our main weakness and hopefully he will address this and the players mental attitude by getting rid of the bad eggs in the squad and keeping those that want the shirt and are willing to sweat blood for Arsenal.
Cech out -> Ospina as 2nd
Welbeck out -> Nketiah can replace him (or En Nesyri we are linked with)
Ramsey out -> Hector Herrera in
Lichsteiner out -> Max Aarons in (10-15 mils)
There, we have replaced our outgoing freebies quite cheaply. Those 4 free up approx 370k weekly wages, which should be enough to lure Herrera and maybe even Rabiot in. Also, we should sign that German GK Schubert on a free, he could be valuable in the future.
Sell at least:
Xhaka £20m (90k off wages)
Özil £20m (300k off wages)
Mustafi £15-20m (90k off wages)
Elneny £10m (55k off wages)
And we have over doubled our budget, leaving us to sign:
Ozan Kabak, 19, £13m – brilliant young CB. Great stats at tackling, interceptions and aerial ability. Relegated Stuttgart will probably be forced to sell.
Alejandro Grimaldo, 23, £25m – probably one of the most sought LB’s at the moment. I’m certain he will leave Benfica, but can we lure him in? Depends on who’s after him. We can offer him 70-100k a week immediately. 7 goals, 13 assists last aseason was an amazing feat for a fullback. But he’s great at defending too!
Kostas Manolas, 28 or Willi Orban, 26 – Manolas would cost £31m with his release clause and he doesn’t need introduction. Orban was statistically the best CB in Bundesliga last season. For 4 seasons he’s been the best aerial presence there – decent tackler and intercepter as well. He has gone under the radar because Leipzig got Upamecano and Konate so his price won’t be higher than £20m. This CB signing should be one to hit the ground running, so an experienced one. Manolas has over 150 apps for Roma, Orban over 100 for Leipzig.
Hakim Ziyech, 26, £25m – I think most of here know him already at Ajax. Winger who scored 21, assisted another 24 last season. Allagedly has an affordable release clause!
Just few names to throw in there.
All this talk about Rabiot, forget it he will want CL we cannot attract a player of his quality at the moment.
There’s no doubt Umtiti would be a fine addition to our team but right now Our priorities I think should be signing a winger above all. I was very happy with the Frazer news but it’s starting to loose pace and is dying down gradually.
whispers just updated their rumors meter and throw a shock departure news.
arrivals rumors: praet(Mid) and anderson(Def) are high
departure rumor: New xhaka to inter is high
Hmmmm…what can i say?
Umtiti will be a very good signing for us but presently that’s not what we need because he is too injury prone and does not possess the physical and aerial presence to excel in the premiership. What we need presently is a defensive general that can marshal and command our defense with great leadership skills and the physical presence to match the rigorous nature of the premiership.
The foreseeable future is really dim for us… Have been gutted for a number of years at the way Arsenal was, and is still being run.. Shit is just messed up from top to bottom.. I was a staunch WENGER out member but even I wasn’t oblivious of the fact that our problems is deep rooted. Wenger was just a meagre part of our problem.
Having an absentee Owner is the bedrock of our problems.. Personally, I think it isn’t just logical to invest in a brand worth billions and then show such “laissez faire” approach towards it’s affairs.. How on earth can an owner have such ludicrously minimum or even Zero intervention in a major investment? it’s really baffling… The recipe for success isn’t rocket science… The cold hard fact is that it will be very hard for Arsenal to be successful if that doesn’t change.. our fellow elite clubs (Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Man utd, city, Liverpool, PSG, Chelsea, Bayern) all have the luxury of having dedicated and committed owners/Presidents.. even Spuds, Atletico, Napoli and Inter are better than us in this aspect..
Secondly, our boardroom is just appalling.. In every sense of the word… From the failures of those in charge of the footballing section (i.e on the pitch success, our scouting network, contract renewal decisions etc), to those at the commercial section (success on this front is not parallel to the huge brand that is Arsenal.. Although one could argue that Kroenke takes whatever little turnover they make) The decision makers has made a litany of bad and catastrophic decisions over the years..How can a club of Arsenal size have a 45mil transfer budget? even without champions league football..that players of 30mil are now deemed out of our reach is really traumatising.. United are a prime example of how the commercial side of a football club arguments it’s footballing side(especially if the team is struggling on the pitch)
Now to the team itself (where do I start from)… Average players, some on hefty wages with very bad attitudes.. Monreal, Kos, the German calamity, the Greek wrestler, Elneny, xhaka, Micki, Ozil, are frankly not good enough if we want to be successful(some are old, others lack the mental fortitude while some shouldn’t just be footballers)… Jerkinson should go with the guys leaving for free)…am betting most Arsenal fans have a longer list of deadwoods that needs jettisoning… but the truth is that it won’t happen.. there is no way arsenal is letting go of 13+ first team players.. it’s not Ideal business wise even with a 200mil transfer kitty(not to mention the breadcrumbs we have as transfer Kitty)… Now factor in the fact that 95% of them don’t have a decent market value… My heart really bleeds..
So let’s bring things into perspective,
An absentee owner+An owner that couldn’t care less about the fans+An appalling boardroom+A badly run club+Terrible executives in both commercial and footballing sector+An average and struggling team on the pitch… Wow!….just Wow!!!
Liverpool bought a defender for 75mil, An expensive Allison, keita,fabinho, cus they want trophies..
Man united got Pogba, took Sanchez, lukaku, cus the want trophies (it hasn’t worked out for them but guess what, they are ready to do it all over again) they have the money and it’s just a matter of time before they get it right..
Man city with their super strong squad still want Rodrigo and Harry Maguire for a combined 150mil
Chelsea won’t stop at 58mil Pulisic
Across Europe, Madrid will spend Hundreds of millions, As will Barca, Bayern got Pavard And Lucas for more than a 110million Euros..they still want Sane.. Juventus and PSG are doing same.. This fellow elite clubs are universes ahead of us, still they are spending hundreds of millions to get stronger.. The drive being led by their various owners and presidents..
And Arsenal are expected to compete with them, fight for trophies with them with..And our weapon is 45mil, an average squad, a poorly ran club and a nonexistent owner… That’s not a fair fight, is it?
Do they even care about us the fans?
I cry for the future…
You are right about most of the things you say. However, a little research will show you that Kreonke has not taken any money (dividend) for the last few years. Also Arsenal are not repaying any part of the loan Kroenke entered into with the bank to buy the remaining shares to complete the takeover of the Club.So he is not taking anything out but not putting anything in. You may be right when you say that the commercial side of the business is poor as it seems we are likely to have to service 60+ million of debt this year up quite bit from previous years. Also you are right when you say the brand has been severely undervalued and poorly managed and exploited.
We have a new football management in place, recruited by Kreonke and paid very well. To be fair to kroenke he does not run the football club,(why keep a dog and bark yourself) At this point I think we should give the football side of the management team time to work and this transfer window should give us some indication of their ability.
You are also correct, in my opinion,saying that clearing 13 players, from the books will not happen. What is critical is reducing the wage bill because until we do I think we will only be able to buy new players who wil not demand a large salary.You only get what you can afford and it does not matter if we have 40 million or 200 million wages are key and Arsenal are honourable club and will not break the FFP rules.