Arsenal is set to put in a bid for Real Madrid midfielder, Isco as Mikel Arteta remains keen to work with him.
The Gunners are working to add new quality players to their squad this summer to prepare for a top-four challenge.
They would need to do better in the coming campaign after they failed to qualify for Europe at the end of last season.
The Gunners have become thin in midfield after Dani Ceballos and Martin Odegaard left them to return to Real Madrid at the expiry of their loan spells.
They could still lose Granit Xhaka in this transfer window and have been looking to add new midfielders to their squad.
Todofichajes says they are set to make a bid for Isco. The Spaniard has fallen down the pecking order at Madrid and they will listen to offers for his signature.
Arsenal has been linked with him repeatedly over the last few transfer windows and the report says this is because he is still a player that Arteta regards highly.
Because of this, the midfielder could move to the Emirates with Arsenal now set to offer Madrid €15M in the coming days to sign him.
Unlikely at that fee but worth a tilt as long as wages and contract length not too high.. Never really lived up to his promise but he was tipped for the very top a few years ago and still has something both to offer and prove. Not like we don’t need midfielders! Probably just paper talk though…
So we are apparently going to sign “Jamie Redknapps double”! He was certainly a top player once. But right now?
Who can tell but at a club like RM and now getting on in years, we cannot possibly afford any more Willians or Ozils who were only here for the dosh and had no work ethic at all.
Of course he may prove to be an exception , IF he even comes at all, though personally I much doubt he will arrive.
Simply by the law of averages he is unlikely to come, as simply one more rumour among the countless dozen other ones, makes it statistically VERY unlikely, I suggest.
Arteta may be keen to work with him ,but is he keen to work with Arteta ,and that’s the question we should be asking for every player we are linked with ,a top player is going to look how Arteta as performed over his 18 months here and they are not going to excited I would imagine ,gone are the days when players would come here to play exciting attacking football and that was what made us stand out from the crowd the last 20 years ,it’s A very worrying time for Arsenal with this manager in charge .
We’ve got our agent Double-One Odegaard to take care of it, right? Remember how he waxed lyrical about working under our manager during his loan spell last season!!!
If I was ESR I’d let the extension sit until the window closed. After all he showed last year, only to possibly get benched by 29 year old Isco with no long term future at Arsenal; if the rumor is true.
At best ESR will get shuffled out to the wing like with Odegaard where he was less effective.
At worst he’s rewarded by getting benched behind Isco.
Hope this rumor is false; another player on massive wages with little or no love for Arsenal.
I like the “If I was ESR” role play.
ESR will be losing more, than gaining anything, by delaying his extension with the club.
Not sure how he would “lose” anything. He would only be looking for assurances from the manager who first played him due to injuries, not Arteta’s eye for talent.
2nd he already was bumped out wide for a loan player, nothing wrong asking where things stand.
He clearly is best as a 10 or in midfield as opposed to a winger, based on his productivity.
With only domestic matches game time is even more important.
What you’ve said is 100% true. Wondering why the fans are against selling ESR, while making noise to sign Aoaur. With our current system, there can be only one 10 on the pitch. And games are not gonna come thick and fast like previous seasons when we were involved in Europe.
Would prefer Pereira from West Brom. He’s proved that he can do it in the epl.
We continue to go for players that have had there best days. Hoping it’s just paper talk!
Pco, it will surprise me also if a player of Matheus Pereira’s quality is allowed to drop to the Championship with West Bromwich Albion.
Agree Ozziegunner
Pereira showed his talent at West Brom, imagine how much more effective he could be with the talent at Arsenal.
Quality player, versatile, good price, surprised we aren’t after him honestly.
I concur with you, mate. Guess he values starting games in Championship more than playing second fiddle to someone else in PL’s top clubs. And mid-table teams will be priced out by WBA’s valuation of the player.
No thanks no more old players
I thought arsenal were only going to buy players with a resale value,please don’t go down this route again. Will we never learn.
@Bryan.
That’s how I thought we were approaching this window.
My reading of our window was that we would be looking at players of a certain demographic, having read ;
“It is claimed that Arsenal are looking to target young, high-potential players with the ability to develop into more expensive assets, which is said to be a significant factor in Kroenke’s willingness to spend”.
Can’t believe everything you read (” It is claimed”), but given our ” low asset” base in terms of playing staff the above seemed to have a ring of truth about it.
Lokonga
Tavares
White (can we increase on outlay of 50M ?)
Seem to fit so far, but balance is crucial with two of our leading lights being 19 (Saka) & 20 (ESR).
Balance is key, and the way we approach windows seems far from “balanced” !
We continue to watch this “space”.
Perhaps if “the process” or “the project” was explained or details made known, things would be clear.
Then again, lacking details leaves room to claim “progress” and continually shift the goalposts.
Thought Arteta and Edu had a “plan” that list they went on about.
Hopefully just rumor and paper talk, we don’t need another player on massive wages with little or no love for Arsenal with their best days behind them.
No doubt Durand…for a manager who’s constantly flapping his gums, you would think clarity would be the least of our concerns
I believe that Arteta’s infatuation with “big” clubs stems from the inferiority complex he developed as a player…he always felt he was tipped for great things, like his good Barca B buddy, Xabi Alonso, yet that never materialized…of course he had successful spells at PSG, Rangers and of course Everton, but even at peak he always despaired at being overlooked by the National squad
he was so desperate to play at a club of some consequence, that he actually took a pay cut to come to our club…who takes a pay cut to come to North London?? Wenger didn’t even want him, he wanted Jagielka, but Arteta even convinced Moyes to allow him to leave for a vastly decreased transfer fee
so now that he’s in the managerial chair, he seems somewhat consumed with the notion that if he can convince anyone who has plied their trades in a “big” club to come and play under his tutelage, that this somehow helps to alleviate some of the sting from his longstanding “underappreciated” tag, even if these moves don’t make long-term sense…as we saw with the shoehorning of ESR out wide after Ode’s arrival
I thoughtWenger had ear marked him as a future Arsenal manager?
In any case I take the view that Arteta wanted to be a success and if joining Arsenal on less money gave him a route in then good luck to him. That was not passive. Like him or not, he has given his career a lot of thought
SueP, this wasn’t meant as an indictment on his career choices, far from it, as I always felt he was underappreciated, both League-wise and on the international scene, so I applaud him for keeping his foot in the door even if it cost him financially…my primary concern is how the chip on his shoulder might impact his managerial decisions…some have found it incredibly motivating, as many of the best managers are “failed” or “flawed” players, while others simply never find a way to compartmentalize the “wannabe” gene, which in turn is then reflected in their unbalanced and inconsistent approach to an already complicated craft…so far, the latter better reflects his relatively short tenure
Interesting idea RVL. Could well be an element of that in some of his dealings, or at least his belief that he can both attract and improve any player. At least the loans are usually attempted from elite clubs. Or it could also be that they are the clubs with the biggest squads so the most unused ie available players, and they are currently struggling financially. You can hardly accuse his purchases as all being from Harrods though!
I have the feeling that with RM finances and the fact that he has one year left in his contract we could get him for less than 15M just few days ago “he” twitted that he would leave RM when his contract ends but it was deleted soon after.
Why would a serial Champions League winner come to us with no European football to offer this season?
If it’s just to work with our manager, then our manager can, instead of signing, insist on a loan deal for a year with no obligation to buy. Maybe, we’ll very much appreciate, if Real Madrid are willing to cover at least 50% of the player’s salary during the loan spell.
With too many uncertainties regarding the future of the club, it’d be wise not to invest in permanent signings of any player above the age of 25-26.
Just rumours
Also I’m surprised that MA is not looking towards Barca they’ve sold young very promising players for very reasonable fees they still have to sell few more before they can register their new signings they had to cut Depay wages by 30% same with PSG who also need to sell and have some decent players available not old ones closed to retirement.
Even before a ball is kicked in the new season, Barca and PSG can be assured of Champions League qualification for the next season. Their squad players are on Champions League wages right now. Can we afford to pay that without European football this season?
Plus, Barca are selling players for a reasonable fee because of two factors.
1. Most of those players were promoted from their youth ranks. They didn’t pay a princely sum to acquire their services.
2. Clauses favourable to Barca have been inserted in any such deal to protect themselves in the future.
Contrary to what I’ve said above, I’m not against the idea of finding a real gem among their garage sale, as long as we are not taken for a ride.
I agree we don’t want deadwood old players but like you said we could take advantage of their situation there must be a few gems/young promising players at reasonable fees look at Brendan Rodgers while at Celtic he got players from the PSG academy and now at Leicester he is targeting Ligue 1 again.
Brendan Rodgers learned club management in relatively smaller clubs before his stint at Liverpool, Celtic and Leicester. So, he must know about proper utilization of every available resources better than ours.
We need not an old player again. We need a youngster like Saka and Smith, likewise Martinelli. Any player above the age of 28 or just 30 mustn’t be given 2years contract again. It’s affecting Auba now.
Would prefer Pereira from West Brom. premeir league proven.
My pick too. Better than Ødegaard for me.
awesome, another old guy past his prime, that sounds like a good strategy to try – we haven’t ever done it before….I think 3 years and a bunch of cash would be good…
I guess if he is keen to come here and he isn’t expensive (but once you get a RM shirt the price jumps a lot) and is meant to work with ESR to help him develop then that might be okay.
Or it could work like Willian last year where we stubbornly try to show what a great investment we made.
Do we need Isco? No! Would he make us better? No! We have no plan and we are just drifting and getting over the hill or failed players to fill gaps. I get less and less excited about us as the days go on. Our once great team is dying.
I am really scared of Arteta and his love for ageing players. I was amazed that Arsenal even tried signing Sergio Ramos. These players will just use arsenal as a retirement home with less pressure to perform.
this one is another impact to the club