Arsenal has been busy in this transfer window as they look to bolster their first team ahead of the new season.
The Gunners want to return to the Premier League’s top four and Mikel Arteta has shown that he is capable of taking them back there with the right players.
The Gunners have landed Willian on a free transfer from Chelsea and they are also set to sign Lille defender, Gabriel anytime now.
Those two won’t be the only addition to their team this summer and one player that has been linked with a move to the Emirates all year is Thomas Partey.
The Ghanaian is one of the finest midfielders in the world and signing him will improve Arsenal greatly, but the latest report claims that they face competition from Barcelona and former Gunner Nigel Winterburn thinks that it is not good news that the Catalans also want him.
“I’m always a little bit worried when the likes of Barcelona are also interested in your target – even when they’re in disarray – because they’re a huge club and you don’t want to be fighting them for a player, because most clubs would lose out in that situation,” former Arsenal defender Nigel Winterburn said as quoted by Goal.
“From my point of view, I’ve always said the structure right through the centre of the team is so pivotal to how a team plays.
“You need strong players straight through the middle – centre-halves, central midfielders and your centre-forwards – they really need to be of a very high standard at this level.
“Arsenal need to look at those areas and Thomas Partey has been linked with a host of clubs, including Arsenal. If Barcelona’s interest is genuine, then I think it’s going to be very difficult for Arsenal to sign him.”
we are too slow.we need to be ruthless wth transfer.lets brace ourselvs for panic buys
Too slow, too clumsy and – too poor. Good-bye Mr Partey. But maybe Atleti don’t want to sell to a big rival, maybe they prefer to ship Partey abroad. Maybe…
This is just one of the many aftershocks from the recent Lionel Messi earthquake at Barcelona. Even more important, we should be on the look-out for a massive tsunami in the transfer market, if greedy Barcelona get their hands on the disputed 630M buy-out fee for Messi.
Agree with the above posters. You only have to compare the apparent incompetence of Arsenal to Chelsea down the road. They have now signed four players with the minimum of fuss, while Arsenal procrastinates and drags everything out.
So Barcelona are now reported to be in for Thomas Partey, who has a buy out clause of €50 million. Atletico Madrid would not want to sell to a direct rival and why would Partey want to go to Barcelona when players like Messi want out? Therefore, if Arsenal want the player (and both Arteta does and Emery did) then stop mucking about and pay the money.
If not stop raising the hopes of the fan base that Arsenal has any ambition and move on for lesser players at discount prices.
Sell proven players with potential like AMN and keep overpaid non performers, probably do a swap deal with Lacazette to Atletico Madrid for someone we don’t need instead of Partey. Unfortunately mediocrity beckons.
It’s so stupid. About that “CL in three years” – I wonder if not Willian misunderstood Arteta, he didn’t mean Champions League in three years, he ment Championship… Ooops!
…he meant Championship… Sorry.
i said it before and will say it again !! Arsenal should have never got involved in this Transfer the minute Aletico said they wanted 45 million and were not budging we should have walked away !! and looked else where !! I have been highlighting this fact since it began and i would have gone to Roma and said ok 27 million for Diawara here you are thank you very much !! or even offered them the chance of a loam deal if they so wished for either Guendouzi or Torriera and also offered them Kolasinac and Sokartis on loan and buys or even the two together for Diawara !! any of the above to get this over the line !! Diawara is a better defensive midfielder and far cheaper and at 22 yrs old has a sell on price !! 27 million against 45 million for a 28 yr old who isnt the best defensive midfielder out of the 2 its a no brainer !! Diawara loves to defend he loves to cover his back four and is very very good at it and doesnt roam forawrd leaving massive gaps like Partey does !! Dont get me wrong Partey is a brilliant player without doubt and if i was to buy him i would make sure i brought someone to play directly behind him ie Diawara !!
I have always stated that Partey and Diawara are two different players. I also like Diawara as a DM; however Partey is the closest available player to a tall physically commanding box to box midfielder in the Viera mold that I have seen. They would be complementary and combined with a Ceballos type CAM, Arsenal’s midfield would be right to go.
I simply would have walked from this and gone to roma and said here is your 27 million for Diawara or do you want a swap deal for either Torriera or Guendouzi for Diawara .. or do you want sokratis and Kolasinac together for Diawara or do you want Torriera straight swap and Koslasinac on loan and we pay 2 million of his wages !! or you can have Sokratis on loan and we pay 2 million of his wages anything that would get this over the line !! Diawara is a brilliant player and at 22 yrs old will only get better !! and will have a sell on price diawara will want a massive wage as he is 28 yrs old and its his last real pay day deal ! diawara is 22 you can negotiate a good wage deal and as him being so young he will take less and wait for his 27 th birth to get the pay day package on his last deal !!
I meant Partey will want a massive wage package being it being he last real big deal at 28 yrs old !! and he will want Champions league football with it !! that was as clear as day. why edu etc couldnt see that is beyond me… While Diawara is only 22 yrs old and has his best years infront of him and at 27 yrs old he would one cost the earth to is young enough to not want champions league football or need it and would sign a wage package that fitted our costs, Knowing he can wait til 25 or 27 to get a better higher wage package deal…. and Diawara is a brilliant defensive midfielder that will only get better and at 28 yrs old will be worth double or even treble what he is now !! its a no brainer !! wake up Arsenal we are not in the champions league and we cannot offer 28 yr olds the earth in salaries and the promise of champions league when we clearly do not have the ability of either…
Too expensive not needed. Xhaka and Ceballos have done a good job plus keep Guendozi and develop him further. He will be much better then Partey in year or two. We need a CM. Why everyone at Arsenal is obsessed with having a DM all the time. We have torriera , Guendozi and Xhaka plays mostly as DM as well. The issue is with team of not having a proper midfield general and link player like cazorla was, we have improved massively at the back since MA took over and it will get even better with the more talented defenders coming in. It’s the link play and creative part we are struggling with in this team but fans have to jump on the boat of DM all the time. I don’t know which DM they want, pretty sure no matter even if we sign the best DM in world they will still be complaining and want club to sign a new DM next season.
Name a quality DM we’ve had since viera and Gilberto silva. To think those current crop of arsenal players are DMs shows you have no knowledge of football.
Mohsan, you must be joking when you state that the current midfielders are good enough for Arsenal. Every club in the EPL knows that Arsenal can be bullied in midfield. This situation has existed since Wenger went away from physically commanding midfielders like Viera, Gilberto and Petit to smaller midfielders.
As Nigel Winter burn states, a strong spine from goalkeeper, CB’s, midfield and striker is critical. Arsenal has the goal keepers, 3 new CB’s in Mari, Saliba and Gabriel and forwards sorted. Now the midfield remains and if Partey (box to box) and either Diawara or Mark Roca as DM were bought in, the team would be transformed for the better.
Winterburn hit the nail on the head when he highlighted the importance of a strong spine through the team and there is no doubt Partey would go some way towards strengthening that area.I can understand the frustrations of our fans at the apparent lack of progress in signing him, but we simply do not have the financial resources of rivals like Chelsea and basically we are not in a position to buy again, until we sell.That is where the problems start because our recruitment over the past 5/6 years has been so poor we are now unable to sell on our mediocre performers but may have to unload the talented AMN to generate cash.A sad state of affairs but that is where we are and as fans we will need to be patient and continue to support MA as he attempts to strengthen the team.
I thought we had 100million to spend.? That including the 40million from the FA Cup. Have we actually spent any of this? No. William was brought in on a free transfer, we don’t even know if the Gabriel deal is true anymore. We must be one of the slowest clubs in football history. We are slow to everything. We know how to bottle things alot. We should be bottlers FC. What are these people actually doing behind the scenes? Who’s in charge of transfers and we have no clue if Auba has signed or not. Vardy signing an extension for Leicester didn’t drag as long as our extension for Auba, Vardy has signed, maddison as signed. We still don’t know if Auba will be with us next season. Seriously, this is not about anxiety over transfers but what the hell is wrong with Arsenal FC. Why are we different in a negative way? Only reason we signed Willian early was because he was free.
Grandad, as much as I agree with you about the mismanagement of Arsenal’s financial and player assets by the Board and various senior executives you are being too kind.
I support Kstix in the facts that this situation has been exacerbated by the procrastination and ineptitude shown in the Club’s dealings in the transfer market: buying players for positions Arsenal don’t need, buying players on a free and over compensating with wages, such that players can’t be sold, paying too high wages to under performing players so they are comfortable not playing, keeping and not selling players that don’t want to play for this Club, allowing players to run down their contracts to leave on a free, not tying down young prospects with renewed upgraded contracts, then selling them without buy back and sell on clauses.
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