Unai Emery has hinted that a move for Sevilla star Steven N’Zonzi will not be taking place, as he is now happy with the current squad and is not planning on any more additions.
Former PSG boss Emery has already done some wonderful transfer business over the last few months, and has brought a bit more excitement back to the club after another disappointing campaign under Wenger.
Wenger admitted that ‘now was the perfect time’ to leave the club after seeing his side finish without a single trophy and well out a top four spot, meaning another season of Europa League football.
And although I was surprised by the acquisition of Emery, I am looking forward to seeing how Bernd Leno, Matteo Guendouzi and Lucas Torreira all adapt to the Premier League.
But reports suggested he was keen to add one more midfielder to his squad this summer, and N’Zonzi has become his top transfer target as he could be available.
The France international, who played under Emery at Sevilla, is keen to leave Sevilla this summer and seek a fresh challenge after helping his National side win another World Cup.
But even though Emery admitted he would only sign a new player ‘if its a good opportunity’ he suggested the clubs transfer business is now done!
He said: ‘At the moment I’m very happy with the players that are here with us.
‘We also have others still to come, like Nacho Monreal, Lucas [Torreira] and [Granit] Xhaka, who will start to get minutes on Saturday.
‘I am telling you that we’re speaking inside and we are okay. ‘There is only a possibility that we sign someone if it’s a good opportunity.’
Now we could all sit here and tell Emery who we believe will improve the squad, but the fact of the matter is this, too many signings will just disrupt the side and waste funds we do not want to spend right now.
Top managers buy quality rather than quantity and although I do rate N’Zonzi as a top-class player, we do not need another midfielder to come in and spend more of his time on the bench than on the pitch.
So unless a superstar becomes available at the very last minute, Emery is done.
I really hope we get one more winger. Zaha please
Look how Hudson tormented Bellerin. Zaha can cause much more damage to the to best full backs. All our top 4 opponents have wingers, let’s not make the mistake of not buying Zaha
Isn’t he going to the spuds??
Not a Problem, …us arsenal fans have grown to accustomed to long drawn out transfer windows where we check the transfer rumors day by day while the past coach was on a beach and smiling. for once we got the business done EARLY and clearly we saw where holes were intentionally plugged.
if we go into this season as is id be fine…everyone looks fitter and stronger.
in Unai i trust..COYG!
We are not done yet.. A winger is surely coming
Bro, u sound certain. Are u not Kev with a different moniker?.
I m just glad we got a DM in Torreira. Something Wenger failed to address….
Yes , and for a disgraceful ten years too. No wonder the fans turned on him in our tens of thousands.
The writer of this article fails to face the real fact by claiming as a fact that there will be no more signings yet the simple fact, in fact, is that we fans (bar kev ?) do not have any facts the status of Arsenal signings
I know nothing tbh?
However,we were interested in Nzonzi but the transfer was never on due to Sevilla’s stance on the price.
We are selling players to free up space and wages for a new winger.Joel Campbell will leave but as for Welbeck I can’t really tell but imo he will also follow suit.
You say you know nothing (good comment, I agree) but then you insist that ‘We are selling players to free up space and wages for a new winger’.
Who told you that? Where did you read that? Looking forward to your comment on this.
Kev I respect you for still commenting keep it up gooner, don’t get me wrong i take your rumours with a pinch of salt. but that doesn’t mean i don’t respect that your at it daily and not giving up 🙂
if bulletproof vests where made of your ego we would make millions!! with all sincerity you take it like a champ and you get slated every page, good on you kev! COYG
Perez, Campbell & Welbz all possibly leaving before deadline day,we could end up with a winger but not one we desire on a WC level…. again if the opportunity arose then we will make a move Unai was quoted.
Ramsey is another situation! We could still be busy in the market in the next week or so.
In Wenger’s era we were always two top players short of being real challengers. It was almost like at board level they were a bit deluded. It’s clear Emery is a top coach and Mislintat a good judge of players, but ever since ‘Greedy Stan’ had full control we have always been a couple of top players short. If the greedy man won’t release the funds how can we win the Premiership?
?
I almost cried of joy when we signed Torreira. That’s how much we needed a quality defensive midfielder. Wenger was stubborn as a mule for well over a decade.
Our attack is still missing one player imho
We really need a good quality Winger. He doesn’t need to be as good as Alexis but needs to be fast and score/assist. Someone who can trouble defenders. Preferably left winger or both.
I wish we had an upgrade to Xhaka/Ramsey similar to Cazorla quality but we can wait til next summer. If we sell Ramsey and don’t get a replacement I will be upset.
I think we will most likely sell 1 or 2 players
If we sell Ramsey and don’t get a replacement I will be very happy because either:
1) it gives our young players (AMN, Guendouzi, Smith Rowe) a chance or
2) it gives Miki a chance to move inside and take his place. If that happens I wouldn’t mind the addition of an excellent winger.
It’s clear from the Chelsea game that we need defenders. Firstly we need a left footed left back and we could do with a couple more central defenders.
We need to sell Mustafi asap. He is not up to the required standards.
I think Mustafi has played as well as any other of our defenders so far.
Having said that if he’s sold then I would absolutely love to ‘steal’ Yerry Mina from Mourinho. To clinch the deal with Barcelona we could offer Ramsey as a sweetener.
Ramsey out and a real tough guy CB in. As someone once said ‘Go ahead Unai, make my day!’
I would go so far as to say that it’s worth Emery & Mislinat taking the risk and insisting to Kroenke that the club needs to break the bank to buy defenders.
It’s the difference between winning trophies or loosing his job!
ARSENAL FOOTBALL CLUB
Thanks to all pundits and critics of Arsen Wenger who blew our chances in the wide air and left us in the despair we now found ourselves. Unai Emery and the new revolution of Arsenal, true Gunners must trust Emery and be confident in the current squad.
I have a philosophy that successful managers must be good tacticians and strong characters which subsequently affect the team, naturally very soft people hardly have any physical impact in terms of output. Arsenal Wenger knew the problems of Arsenal but failed to impact any real change because of the mentality he has, more often pundits criticized the team for lacking the spine to challenge big teams, presupposes that Arsenal under Wenger hadn’t some physical approach to respond adequately to the pace and physic of other big teams.
Unai’s revolution pinpointed the physical and tactical aspects of the team which has brought so much hope and enthusiasm to true Gunners. Sir Alex Ferguson won the last EPL with a weak but highly determined and tactical side under a manager with a very strong character, David Moys took over the same team and made few additions but couldn’t win the EPL. One of the approaches Unai successfully used in the preseason was to make all departments highly competitive for all players, the arduous physical training have erased the more widely used term “ARSENAL LACKS THE SPINE” even the players are now mentally challenged and are busy to do more… these new ingredients were completely lacking but with Unai all are now hopeful.
Our DM is now properly charged with the likes of Torreira, Guendozie and Emile Rowe-Smith, the beauty of it all is that no one No. one…
Arsenal beat Man City even at the Etihad prior to the arrival of Pep, we even did the same to him, with Unai I am hopeful, courageous and certain for EPL victory… Hala ARSENAL
our budget was 70m and we have hit it…6 players signed
unless someone leaves we may be able to sign another
We dont really know what our actual budget is. £70mil is based on rumours. It could be more. But I totally agree that we need to sell a few players to buy more.
surprisingly no one wants to sign meyer….
hes going to palace…
If Ramsey leaves we’re going to need another signing of equal quality. I think this is what Uni Emery is referring to when he says he is happy but mày need someone else of the right player turns up!
It’s obvious that Arsenal are not going to splash the cash and top 4 is looking like the target again. For now, at least. But, watching the game last, I just felt we were still jittery and exposed in defence. Ballerin is having a nightmare every time he’s one on one. He’s going backwards..We need defensive streanthening and we need it soon!
Moving back though risky but has always been a good tactic of slowing down an attack as the person on the ball tends to continue trying to move further instead of shooting or passing the ball. Its actually done by defenders as they expect support or cover from team mates.
You are all coaches on here. So ………
It is odd that Emery is being praised for doing (wonderful business) what Arsene Wenger was routinely panned for. Cue the protests and dneials, but if you look at the signings here, objectively, there is maybe one real difference maker. Maybe.
Arsenal fans demanded the Gunners ‘splash the cash’ and Wenger did, three years running. He bought well-regarded players; Alexis, Ozil, Aubameyang, Lacazette, Mustafi, and Xhaka and fans were not satisfied.
It is fair to be critical, because the club did not flourish after those buys, probably because if you go the route of buying finished articles, and you can only afford one or two, the club is always likely to be, as others have noted, one or two players short. Unai Emery came in and did what Wenger did for years; bought players well under-the-pundits radar for relatively low prices and everyone is excited. I am mystified. Is it because he added six players?
Toerreira is the only player bought that seems like he’ll be good enough to be in the starting XI on opening day; and he seems small for the role of holding midfield. He looks to be more of a N’Golo Kante than Nemanja Matic type, but very few small players excel in the role. Yes, I am aware of Arturo Vidal and yes he’s a small man who is an excellent holding midfielder. Hopefully Torreira works out, because he is the player bought this summer who has a chance to be a difference maker this season. The rest… not so much.
Bernd Leno has everyone excited and I cannot understand why. He has a different name than Ospina, but he’s a keeper with mixed form and a history of not living up to expectations from a midtable club who is not well regarded by German teams, including Bayern Munich, who really need a #2 and had no interest in Leno. He was not part of the Germany set up, so why the excitement?
I look at how many extra games he might win for Arsenal and based on his previous errors verus Cech, I’d say he’s a one to two game per season downgrade. I rate him as not much of an upgrade (if any upgrade at all) on Ospina. Change for change’s sake, IMO and a bid to make the team his own instead of Wenger’s.
Sokratis is seen as a physical player, but his history of rash challenges and being a bit slow of foot is sort of the worst of both worlds for Arsenal. Mertesacker was a fine tactician and reader of the game, but slow. Mustafi is skillful and a fine athlete, but rash. Sokratis, from what I’ve seen of himat Dortmund, is a step slow for the PL and rash. Physical, yes, a good player, yes, but he is not as good as Koscielny and he is not an upgrade on Mustafi. He’ll take time to get used to the PL, and his style will give away two or three penalties. The player Arsenal needed was Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly (or, shades of Sol. Campbell, Toby Alderweireld) and they whiffed.
Lichsteiner is my favorite signing of the summer to date. He’s a proven, top level, high quality player. He is on the down side of his career to be sure, but he was free and he’s been very good for a very long time. Quality cover at right back has been missing since it became obvious that Chambers cannot play right back at the top level. Lichsteiner can provide injury cover and allow for squad rotation. There is no downside to having him in the team as he’s not blocking the development of any of Arsenal’s good youth players and he’s a short-timer, so even if he’s making decent wages, if he does get hurt, he is not a budget crusher.
Guendozi is the kind of signing Arsene Wenger routinely got hammered for making. He’s young, unproven at the top level, not on any pundit’s radar, and he was expensive, considering his C.V. He’s had a couple of nice outings, (similar to Kolasinac, Chambers, Hoolding, Elneny, Coquelin, etc, etc. etc.) but it is impossible to make any kind of accurate assessment of a player (or the manger’s plans for him) based on preseason games. I hope he pans out; he could be the buy of the bunch, but it is difficult to get too gooey over a kid that will find it hard to find minutes with Xhaka and Toerreira, as well as Maitland Niles, and Ramsey playing in the center of the park.
As far as more signings go, Barcelona have said a dozen times they aren’t letting Dembele go and even if they were open to a loan, who of the front five sits for a rented player? Aubameyang? Ozil? Mhki? Lacazette? Ramsey? Replace any one of these players with a rented loanee and you have dressing room turmoil and the replaced player gone in January.
N’Zonzi is another 30 year old who’ll cost a ton, have no sell-on value, and was not good enough his last time in the league (at Stoke). He is a big, rangy, powerful midfielder in the holding role, and France rated him, but £35 million is about £15 million too much, expecially when Emery already invested £20+ million in Torreira.
Wow, love this comment. I don’t see this window as un-Arsenal like. The only thing that differed was the fact that we got the transfers in early, which makes sense now that we have a head of recruitment and got a new manager in that would want maximum time with the squad.
Under Emery, Xhaka, Chambers, Iwobi signed contract extensions, players that have come in for plenty of criticism under Wenger. We are tarrying on the Ramsey contract under Emery, something that Wenger was criticised for during the Ozil and Sanchez negotiations.
This is the same Arsenal under a new name, not much has changed I fear. I also don’t doubt that Wenger would have bolstered our defense during this window.
Our deadwood that Wenger accumulated either received new contracts or haven’t been sold, with the exception of Wilshere. That is business that should have been done early to free up money for improvements. Ramsey didn’t go to the WC, we got new signings in early, so why has his contract been allowed to drag this long? It is an unnecessary and avoidable disruption. A disruption that Wenger would have been crucified for as he had been in the past.
it is UN-Arsenal like !!unlike previous seaons we acually bought what we needed to start a season with, and we’ve done it all before pre-season.
you don’t start a season with no natural DM and you don’t do that for 4 years running that’s the huge difference, you don’t neglect the gk position for years before buying one just as he’s about to decline!!
you say splashed the cash but other than laca and sanchez which we needed( sanchez because we where lucky barca was dump enough to sell him), the rest where because they where quality and available after their clubs didn’t need them anymore. it’s not like its what we needed to compete during those past transfer windows. when ozil came we wanted a defender a goalie a striker and a dm not a CAM which we had plenty of, not balancing the team was the main problem as wenger loved his CAM if he could have had a team of 11 CAM he would have done so.
identifying what the team needs is the huge difference, we had to many of the same players!! so i would be ok with no more signings as we signed what the team was lacking last season, if they do well or no that’s up to them and the manager but we should at least be content with the 360 degree turn by the club as this is not what they got me used to in the past decade 🙂
same of the same. nothing’s changed except for the coaches and structure. the same kind of transfer winger makes routinely and is crucified for. we needed a defensive midfielder, Wenger brought in Xhaka, not living up to expectations is a different story. pls let’s stop giving a dog a bad name in other to hang it. All the players some fans termed deadwood and that Wenger should have sold are getting new contracts. eg Xhaka, Iwobi, Holding,, Chambers and if Wilshere had wanted, he would have gotten a new contract too. Wilshere left because he wasn’t guaranteed first team action .
Ramsey has been offered a new contract but had decided not to sign yet, if he decides to run down his contract and leave, whose fault would that be? Emery’s or still Wenger?