You just know that we are going to be bombarded with opinions from former Arsenal players over the transfers that have happened this summer and they are not letting us down.
Just today we have had Martin Keown give us his view on the upcoming signing of David Luiz from Chelsea and it was not flattering.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Keown said
‘If I was at Arsenal and had the ear of Unai Emery, I would be advising my manager not to sign David Luiz,’
‘Walk away from this deal. This is not the defender for you. It’s too high risk. ‘Yes, Arsenal want a centre back, but is Luiz the answer to their prayers? I don’t think so.
‘The way the 32-year-old plays, he would be exposed in that Arsenal defence. He would not get the same protection that he enjoys at Chelsea, where N’Golo Kante patrols in front of the back line.
‘In possession, Luiz is a wonderful passer, but he makes mistakes when playing as part of a back four. ‘He has a tendency to lose his marker and is one of those all-or-nothing players — if he doesn’t win the ball in a challenge, then congratulations because you’re in.’
Ouch, no holding back there from the former Arsenal defender and I am positive that a lot of Gooners will agree with Keown.
Then we have Charlie Nicholas commenting on Kieran Tierney shortly signing for Arsenal.
Speaking on Sky Sports News the former Celtic and Arsenal forward said
“He would be a better left-back than what Arsenal currently have,”
“My honest opinion is it’s quite a high price and I think Celtic have got a very good value with £25million.
“People might say he’s worth £40m because (Aaron) Wan-Bissaka went to Manchester United (for £50m). He’s played in the Premiership in Scotland, he’s been a treble Treble winner, he’s an absolute diehard Celtic fan.
“It’s been an awkward situation for young Tierney, but in saying that I think the time is right to move on. Celtic fans might sit and say, ‘Why doesn’t he stay for Nine-in-a-Row?’ That’s not guaranteed. Ten-in-a-Row is not guaranteed.
“As an Arsenal fan, I think Arsenal are signing a very good left-back who will get better and I think Arsenal had to make a statement of intent to be stronger because we look very exciting going forward.”
Fairly positive there from Nicholas though I suspect the Celtic fans will not be too pleased with his comments regarding the fee being too high.
This is just the start, trust me on that. Over the next few days, you will be inundated with comments from almost every former Arsenal player that uses a microphone or pen for a living.
Personally, most of the time I enjoy reading and listening to what they have to say, especially when it is not the normal negative Arsenal bashing.
It definitely is risky. I hope they can get another CB instead of Luiz but if we do get Luiz we need to hope that he will be better than Mustafi
Sound opinion from the pundit, Luiz is similar to Sokratis, both are very eager to win back possesion but exposed easily. The positives are he is no pushover and a strong tackler.
This. ??
How many of us forgot that we had to some cash to Sampdoria for Torreira for whom we were supposed to pay in installments
Luiz is decent and will be our best CB but that’s easy. Apart from holding no other CB knows basic defending. We need to not play Xhaka who is a liability and would cause Vvd palpitations.
A midfield 3 of Torriera,CAbelos and Willock is our best bet
With all. Front 3 of lacca Pepe and auba
@John0711 Watch the three players play together for some times first before you conclude, dont just guess.
Luis replaces Kos in many ways, his leadership makes him best captain.
But we did not sign a top CB as koulibaly nor a beast in front of CBs to beef up our defense.
If we do not bring a top CB; we in trouble
The best thing is to get a young good CB but I believe there is no plan for that now maybe due to low budget and that’s why getting an old experienced player is an option, and David Luiz remains the choosing one. However, Among the old experienced CB, there is no one arsenal brings that won’t generate debate. Though, Luiz transfer is risky, it may turn good or otherwise, he is a good player in his days, he scores, he plays free kick, he has long pass skill, he can play defensive midfield, but can he still maintain the level that’s the question. Well, is a risk worth taken with the price
You do NOT make it onto the ?? Selecao unless you are a ery good player.
That is what Luiz is..
Y’all will moan for anything.. I can recall people always saying any defender better than Mustafi is welcome.
So what? Luiz is not the solution, but is he a fair option? Yes he is. At least you get your wishes, no matter what you say, he’s better than Mustafi by a million miles, and that’s exactly what y’all asked for.
Still people have everything to complain about, it’s not a great signing yes. But it’s not like he’s signing four of five years, plus I think he’s a better leader than what we have in our squad?
Anybody should get the captain band, even if it’s Luiz, as long as it ain’t Xhaka we’ll be fine.
So RB lipzeig wants 75million for a kid not better than De Lift and y’all think the club didn’t do well by running away from that deal?.
Tell you one thing, even we had signed Maguire, most of you will find something to whine about, not getting a RB, not selling Iwobi, not Selling Ozil, not doing this or that.
Let it all go, the season is upon us, let’s cheer these guys up.
I’m a strong critic, so I’m saying fair play, well done to Raul for all he did this summer. Gazidis couldn’t do shít
I don’t intend to defend Gazidis
But let’s not forget that he managed to sell Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain for almost 60 M. In addition to that, he made Arsenal paid 110+ M for Lacazette and Aubameyang in one season
why are you surprised or thrilled we got 60 million for both of them? Were you expecting Chamberlain to be sold for 10-20 million? Chamberlain who we all know what he’s capable of but Wenger refused to play him in his natural position, Chamberlain was worth it and we should’ve gotten more from his sale.
Walcott left for that amount because despite how lazy he is he has a good record of goals playing from the wings, he made himself look useless when he started obsessing playing as a striker and he stopped working hard on the pitch. .Gazidis didn’t do shít for us, do I have to remind you how much we actually gained from player sales before making that 100million plus signing you mentioned? do I have to remind you our net spend?
Am with you Eddie, arsenal fans like to moarn seriously. Its a fair deal, a smart person will know arsenal is building a future defensive power house with the experience guys as stop gap to be understudied.
Belerin 25yo
Saliba 18yo
Tierney 22yo
The last spot is betwen chambers/mavro/holdin still we want the club to buy , how do we know the strenght of our players that were injured last season.
Had Kos stayed we wouldnt need to buy
? ? I agree with Eddie and Adajim. Some people would never be satisfied.
Well said Eddie
I HAVE WAITED FOR Tieney and Luiz announcements since mornings, arsenal is ggod at announcing outgoings fast but incomings……
I would have listened to Keown if I were in charge of transfers at Arsenal. Keown is an Arsenal legend that gave us several EPL titles with over two decade of experience and he was a world class CB, so the people at Arsenal should pay attention to his assessment on David Luiz
Rather than spending 8 M or 12 M on a 32 years old CB now, we had better keep the money to get a younger CB in January. Luiz’s arrival might not help our defense a lot, as long as our midfielders cannot control the game
However, his transfer seems to have been set in stone. At least he would push Mustafi and Sokratis to perform better
How hypocritical, yet you guys wanted another team to psy us 10million for our own 32 years old player, not just 32, a 33 years old injury probe player
How many young cb do you want us to get, the ones we have needs game time to settle in
We have 2 young CBs in Mavro and Holding, and a third one arriving 11 months from now.
I understand why we went for someone like Luiz.
And since he can play from the back and has good long passes, I also understand why Luiz rather than the cheaper Cahill.
H will do for now. I think he’s better than Sokratis, who is not as reliable as he’s made out to be at times. Nor is Luiz, but I still rate him higher. Arsenal to revisit this position next window surely.
So everyone here is going to act like Luiz is a bad signing? Yes he’s drawn to the ball, but that’s because he’s a number 4 naturally and not a 5. That aside, which arsenal defender including Keon himself can compare himself to Luiz? Which arsenal defender has played at the level that Luiz has? Won what Luiz has? Achieved as much?
Then to say he was protected by Kante, for how long was Luiz top notch before Kante showed up?
Let’s not act like there were many better options especially considering Holding, Chambers, Mavro, Saliba all cost the club money and it would make no sense to just burry them by signing younger talent without giving them an opportunity.
In my opinion, Sokratis and Luiz have played their careers at higher levels than most defenders we’ve been linked with or we’ve had. So they are an improvement to our last 3 defensive pairings
Agree, Joe. I don’t think Upamecano made much sense either. Luiz is far from my ideal EPL experienced CB, but our younger defenders need somebody experienced to play next to or they will struggle to develop. Is Upamecano going to learn much from Holding when Holding is still developing himself? Despite everybody wanting him, he is not the finished product yet. CB is the one position you need to have good mentors in, and Luiz has won a lot.
I more or less agree with all your points Joe. My only concern is that it is relatively short term because of his age but, if we can sign another experienced quality CB in January I would be well pleased.
Oh jeez Jim White is back on Sky Sports ? I guess at least Hayley McQueen isn’t.. as if there’s some exciting (?) news about United, she might possibly go into labour..and I’m not up for seeing that ?
why are you surprised or thrilled we got 60 million for both of them? Were you expecting Chamberlain to be sold for 10-20 million? Chamberlain who we all know what he’s capable of but Wenger refused to play him in his natural position, Chamberlain was worth it and we should’ve gotten more from his sale.
Walcott left for that amount because despite how lazy he is he has a good record of goals playing from the wings, he made himself look useless when he started obsessing playing as a striker and he stopped working hard on the pitch. .Gazidis didn’t do shít for us, do I have to remind you how much we actually gained from player sales before making that 100million plus signing you mentioned? do I have to remind you our net spend?
I’m hoping Stuart MacFarlane’s camera is being put to good use right now ?
Let’s welcome Luiz with open arms. He’s 32 but he is a class player. Let’s give him our support. We should now reach 4th place. That’s what matters. Welcome David.
?
Rumours on Talk Sport that Auba and Laca have signed new contracts now. What a summer!!!!
Anyone else absolutely buzzing for the season now? I know I am
Oh my goodness! Have Everton changed their minds about Iwobi? ?? Please just take him, please.
????? devastated!!!
Iwobinho is staying. Zaha not leaving CP. Iwobi will come in handy this season, so glad he is staying. Good player have in the squad 🙂
I cant believe Araenal turned down £30m for Iwobi.For a Club that obviously needs to free up cash-flow that’s a strange decision.Particularly for a player whose never going to be anyrhing more than a bench warmer.Just to add insult to injury it doesn’t now look like Everton are going to come back with a higher bid and Arsenal have another player to add to the “deadwood” pile.
I like the banter but cannot understand the logic of Arsenal. Let’s look at some of their business dealings, they sell Kos who was our best defender, and insult him with the value of 4.5M and replace him with Luiz for 8M. And considering they are supposedly hard up for cash, they don’t go for free agent Cahill who is arguably better than both of them and a leader to boot, so 8M down the drain. They let Ramsay go for free to a top club and bring in a 1 year loanee for 3M who is unproven in the EPL and probably not as good. Why did they not give Ramsey a contract and sell later for profit? another 3+M down the drain. And some gooners want to build a statue for these people because they bought in Pepe, which is a great pick up and I hope he delivers for the 72M they paid and could not afford outright which will eat 18M into the next 3 years budget. I they wonder why Kroenke doesn’t want to give them money, would you trust them with your money. Your thoughts welcome from Aussie gooner.
Low budget,we have already spent the 45M that orstein arsenal mister in the know was going on about, I’d love to know his sources inside the club!!
With Luiz we will have one of the very best ball playing defenders, who has excellent attacking skills. He can quickly reorganise from defence to attack.
He could in this way be an asset for Arsenal, giving us something that we have missed.
I understand the concern by fans, who think that we should have gone for a real tough physical defender. But I think Sokratis , Holding with Luiz will be a good combination, and I believe Chambers will come good this season.
I’m also of the opinion that Luiz is a better looking holding midf than a CB. If he tried to keep it simple more often and concentrated on his positioning with the other players, he can be dominant on his day. When in form he is one of the few players in this league that can be said to be similar to VVD. The height, the athleticism, the ball playing ability, at a glance they are similar players.
He’s played at the highest levels. He can be a horrible player to play against as Guendouzi found out last year. I am not surprised Emery likes him, a few people probably should’ve predicted as much.
I’m a little concerned by the signing but I hope he becomes a bit more no nonsense like VVD, try to keep a cool head without slowing down or switching off. Last thing we need is another player that can put the defence under unnecessary pressure.