It is being reported today that Granit Xhaka is wanted by Spanish giants Atletico Madrid, fine, another piece of gossip that one can take or leave but it was what was reported about a possible transfer fee that got me.
I will take this line from the Daily Star
Signed from Borussia Moenchengladbach for £35m in 2016, he is now valued at much more than that by Arsenal.
Really? how much more? because I personally value him less than that but that is just my personal opinion and maybe this is just a one-off but then I remembered Laurent Koscielny being valued at £10 Million
Now, no doubt some will say that is just the tabloids but if you think that the high brow papers or TV shows and so on are any different when reporting on these type of articles then you will be mistaken, as an example let’s take what Transfermarkt value the same players at.
Xhaka is valued at £40.5 Million and Koscielny at £7.2 Million.
I feel that if the club was offered anywhere near those sort of figures for those two then they should snap the buyer’s hands off but that is not the point I am making.
The point is that our players are actually worth more than it seems to a lot of people, Shkodran Mustafi at £22.50 Million, does anyone else think that is being generous? same price with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and so on.
Based on these valuations it has made me think that by selling the right players the club can actually top up their transfer budget significantly, as an example the four players mentioned in this article make a combined value of just under £100 Million and let’s be honest, would we miss any of them? could we not replace them with better with that sort of money?
– Xhaka: He is still young, has dazzling forward pass stats and long term contract, so I won’t be surprised if Atletico Madrid or Chelsea want him. Should be worth at least 30 M and could be more if he could score with his wasteful long shots
– Mustafi: Another player with impressive stats. His valuation must be around 20 M and theoritically it should be easy to find a buyer for him
– Mkhitaryan: Unlike the other two players, unfortunately he has failed at two big EPL clubs. Therefore I highly doubt any club would be interested, unless we set the price below 10 M
Bloody hell @gotanidea! I would pay Athletico to take Granit Xhaka!!
As good as the positive stats may be for him and for that muppet, Mustafi, they are equally negative for both too. The less said about Mkhitaryan the better.
gotanidea.. that wasn’t you on your hands & knees kissing Xhaka’s boot the other night in that charity match was it??!! ???
???
This is the right time to engage the deal of Thomas Partey.
Gotanidea, you seem to be obsessed with quoting stats when most of this computer producer drivel is misleading and should be consigned to the nearest bin.Mustafi and Xhaka are classic cases where they apparently have good stats in certain areas but can you not see for yourself the glaring deficiencies in these players who have been directly responsible for our conceding numerous goals in the season past.Please do not take my comments personally but as someone in his seventies I do not need to refer to stats to judge a player.Mustafi and Xhaka are at best bang average in fact many who contribute to this site would say I’m being generous.
I’m inspired by Ozil’s fans that used his past stats and his chances created statistic to defend him on this site
I agree with you that we shouldn’t use only stats to judge a player, but Arsenal purchased Mustafi for 35 M because of his excellent defending stats at Valencia. Arsenal directors, managers and scouts didn’t take Mustafi’s errors into account when purchasing and ignored the fact that Mustafi was one of the players that were responsible for Valencia’s demise at that time
I hope those highly paid executives would not repeat the same mistakes when acquiring new players, but I pray the other clubs are mesmerized by Xhaka’s and Mustafi’s stats in the last three seasons
I will like to know what your opinion of these players you speak so ill about before we bought them. Because all your blabbering is about the these players fooled the executives with their stats and not about how they all regress when they moved to Arsenal according to you. All this coming from some who used the whole season marketing Leon Bailey and multiple seasons telling us here how Adama is the second coming of Jesus Christ. Was Ozil this bad before he comes here? Was Xhaka this bad before he moved to Arsenal? I don’t know much about Mustafi before he came here so I’m interested. And pls don’t use stat to back up your opinion but what you saw with your eyes.
Mobella, well spotted regarding the executives.
I just wonder why”highly paid” executives would ignore the “facts” and buy a player?
Let’s hope that the executives from the other clubs aren’t as good and ignore gotanideas warnings.
Loved the way you squeezed Ozil’s name in there gotanidea, your like a ferret up a drainpipe with your quick slight of hand.
Sorry I was a bit late answering your last post to me Ken but I finally got there. Go to older posts and you’ll find it there. It was only this afternoon but already there’s half a dozen new articles. Can’t keep up with Matin at Admin.
Only three articles posted today since 3 am so saying half a dozen posts is very disingenuous but hey ho
Definitely agree with you Martin regarding the valuation of Xhaka and Kos. Unfortunately Kos’s time is up, we’ve had excellent service from him and it’s time to take whatever we can get. As far as Xhaka’s concerned, if we think we can recoup the money we paid for him then we’re in for a surprise, we’ll end up being stuck with another player that’s impossible to get rid of. Stick him in the reserves until his contract is up, better still let him leave for nothing.
Make that four articles Martin but I’m not criticising, you post good articles, just find it hard to keep up. It’s not the only thing at my age.
Well said Grandad … and now looking forward.
With the Xhaka and Bellerin news 3 good things COULD happen.
1) Xhaka COULD actually leave – Yippee!
2) AMN COULD take Xhaka’s place – about time. I remember both Pogba and Thierry saying how well he did and how that was his best position after the Man Utd match back in Jan. I think AW also believed that.
3) Jordi Osei-Tutu COULD actually start in the troublesome right back position for Emery. Then we could see if he’s ready and if so maybe he’ll not be lost to Hamburg without getting a chance. I remember reading somewhere that our academy players thought Emery’s decision to choose Lichsteiner and Jenks instead of Osei-Tutu didn’t make sense to any of them. So Emery is not exactly looked-up to by our youngsters.
Hopefully the appoinment of Freddie as assistant manager turns out well and he can advise Emery well. If he could help sort out some of Emery’s many failings it would be a great boost.
Grandad, you are one of the posters I look forward to read his post here because of your unbiased view. So I really want to now why you think stats are irrelevant in when talking about a player abilities when football itself is a stat sport. Every abilities of a player, every skills he has are translated in to stats. Speed bring about (ground covers, recovery)dribbles = (take on,) abilities to strike ball brings about goals, abilities to spot your teammates and pick out a pass= (passing accuracy, pass completions, passes per match, assists)abilities to mark= interception, tackles won, etc.
Mobella, speed, shooting power, passing the ball, tackling are not stats they’re simple observations when deciding whether a player is any good or not
Well said Kenny. And Mobella, the only so called ‘football’ that believes in a whole bunch of stats is the American kind. I remember reading that Mustafi was bought because he had good stats. That turned out well didn’t it? What about when a player sets up lots of chances with simple shots on goal and the strikers go and fluff them? No good ‘assist’ stats for him but those watching the game will CLEARLY SEE and KNOW that the passer is a good player even if the stats don’t back him up.
Well said Grandad. Like you , I too am irritated at the plain silly reliance by none too bright fans on stats , as if they are proof of being good or bad etc. All you need to be able to judge any player accurately are two working eyes and a half decent brain. Stats are for children, who think everything can be proved by stats , most of which are misleading at best and meaningless and worthless at worst. Frankly, It is just not very bright of those who live by stats alone. In plain speak, they are dullards! You just cannot teach those who are too arrogant to be taught.
It’s not called ‘damned lies and statistics’ for nothing eh Jon
Exactly!
Jon, people who rely on stats have no football brain. Sorry gotanidea, don’t mean to put you down but you’ll learn more about the game the older you get. I’ve never relied on stats even when I was kid.
Saying stats are for dullards is a bit harsh Jon, I work in a field we’re we use stats that can predict disease, can virtually simulate illness mutation. Computer scientists are lorded and very well paid because they can manipulate data to see things others can’t.
Stats are a simplified way of seeing the output of a footballer. It is not the be all and end all but in the right hands is a powerful thing.
Agree with every word you said Grandad.
Grandad, you are being too generous but I agree with you 100%
This is the right time to engage the deal of Thomas Partey. Our players did far much better than man utd and were not much far from spurs[ucl finalist] and chelsea[uel winners]. Injuries that led to risk that affected our season hope next season comes stronger and better for us.
No chance, because his release clause is 43.5 M and he is not a big name player like Ozil
Atletico Madrid wouldn’t sell him less than that, due to his status in their first team and his age
I suppose when you consider Liverpool got around £20 million for Solanke (who had literally done nothing at Liverpool) then I guess these valuations are pretty much spot on.
But no club is showing intrest in some ofthe said players. Especially Mustafi and Ozil.
I hope Chinese show up to grab him away soon. Apangu, How was regional league?
Can’t someone do us a favour and kidnap Ozil and hold him for ransom
The first problem with lists like this is whether the buyer wants to pay that figure and/or if the selling club want to sell and/or let him go at that figure.
The second problem, for us as a club, would be if we did sell Xhaka (as an example) would we be certain to get the money transferred from kronkie to UE?
I couldn’t find any dates on this fact sheet, but as they are still listing Welbeck and Ramsey as our players, the values may well have changed.
not the player i’d want to see go over others we have like ozil/mustafi/miki. If we get a good fee then I won’t complain. The guy is still rather error prone and just not good enough. But where we would invest this money, if at all, is a whole other very important question. You just dont know with this club.
Nice comments every body but you missing the main problem the manager and coaching staff I bet if remedy was the manager 4or 5 years ago he would get more out these players than Wenger did,not having a go at the players after a bad defeat or simply playing the same player’s when they are not performing we would have got better results and some hardwoods would have been shifted out sharpish
I think Xhaka, Ozil, and Miki are great offensively and thrive in possession, tactical, passing game. However English game is becoming more direct, as seen in Liverpool who relies on wingers and doesn’t use a number 10. Their lack of speed and agressiveness also affect the team defensively.
However as Unai likes to adapt to opponents (chameleon approach), they could be used in 4-2-3-1 formation (against opponents that defend deep). But away games I would rather see Iwobi, Auba, and Nelson in front three.
Sell Miki xhaka musta, Torreira, chambers, Sokratis and pick up 150M, add to 45M we got.
But useless if all players we really need are gone by then.
We need a beast in middle, Dembele is still available for 50M, lock him.
WE need a beast in central défense; Koulibaly will come with 100M offer, Naples want to keep Ospina, good terms can help as our squad, Auba Laca Kos are great for him to settle and human bound.
Lock Dembele will also show him ambition and great for Koulibaly to connect with.
We have 45M left 1LB and 1RB. We can Swap Jerkinson and get scotish kid cheaper.
We can then still have 40M remaining, get that kid Solibo CB from st etienne for 23 and use 17M on a young LB to compete Bellerin.
Team
Leno.
Bellerin, Kos, Kouli, Kolas.
Niles, Dombele, Gendouz, OZ.
Laca-Auba.
2 smart additions as Red did last year; ambitious team for top4.
Bench: Martinez, Mav, Bielik, new RB, New LB, Nelson, Iwobi, Nkethia.
A great young talented bench ready to burst on the field, who should be played often in rotation or from bench; grow.
Xhaka’s price is about dead on, he’s easily a forty mil player, could get slightly more depending on interested parties. I see Atletico being a fan of Xhaka, I also think B Munich would be a fan too, he’s confrontational and he dictates play very well, our biggest problem is that we have no competition for him nor can we rest him, he’s an influential player and so need to add to this area not start from scratch. Whoever comes in will have the same problems – so long as he is better than the other guys we have, like Torriera, Guendouzi, well Ramsey’s gone, Niles, Willock, so he will mentally and physically tire towards the last 1/4 season too.
Commits fouls often, can’t tackle, defends poorly, a bit slow.
Excellent vision, great passing, great shooting technique, has a strong right foot for a left-footed player.
Needs dynamic midfielders and wingers who can defend alongside him.
I value him 40-50, he is still young and he has potential to get better if less silly and has leadership attributes.
I would sell for 45+.
Get Rabiot instead ?
He’s off to Juve!