It is still early days in the transfer window and after finishing last season outside the European places one would expect Arsenal to have got a few signings done by now.
That is one way to prepare well for a new campaign and the likes of Aston Villa and Leicester City have shown us so far how it is done.
As Gooners, the media has almost bored us with reports of links between our club and multiple players. It is looking like a joke now.
We lost Emi Buendia to Aston Villa (Sky Sports) and we have just lost Patson Daka to Leicester City (Todofichajes).
On top of that, we’re facing the threat of losing Emile Smith Rowe to the highly ambitious Villa (Daily Mail).
It is still hard to believe that Villa will beat us to the signature of a player and attempt to sign one of our jewels in the same summer.
But that is exactly what has happened recently and it shows that we no longer command as much respect as we used to.
I don’t honestly care about what other clubs are doing, but why are we ball-watching?
The best news we get nowadays is that “Arsenal has opened talks” on signing a player, but nothing gets done at the end of the day. It is hard to remain positive in the face of these developments and I worry that we might have a terrible summer just as we had a bad 2020/2021 season.
An article from Ime
Grow a pair of Balls
What a stupid article,go and watch cricket! You know nothing about football
Ditto. Cricket would be perfect for this guy!
Chelsea, Everton, Man Utd, Man City, Spurs and many others have bought nobody yet. If you werent aware, players are either at the Euros or on holiday. And ESR getting a bid means he is leaving I guess?There are more than 2 months to go in the transfer window. All of your articles are either naiive or uninformed and are very negative towards your club,.
We should not compare our situation to that of top 4 clubs. They are not in a hurry. After all we are always told our squad is weak so it is reasonable to think we should be the busiest in the window.
I think it should have been nice to wrap up our targets earlier before the other teams have started shopping because if the likes of Aston Villa with all due respect are beating us to sign players, can we compete with the top 4 clubs when they start shopping?
One of the things the great Arsene was usually slated for was late signings. Don’t you think it is better to have signings early so that by the time the season start they will be integrated and form some sort of understanding with the current players? It is always better ealry than late and end up paying over the odds because the window is closing.
Ime while your concern is understandable I too think it is a bit ealry and you should give them time to act on their targets and departures. The cabinet of excuses is full of files and they know it. This time the sack is real if they fail to improve.
No way Emr will be sold unless 90m bid being offered.
Aston Villa must be drunk.
EMR He’s our Arsenal n Future Star.
Arsenal will be great in a year or two.
the articlw makes perfect sense. Arsenal is everywhere and nowhere. There’s some wind of poor scouting because you can’t just jump at every player.
The scounting is supposed to have commenced a long time ago. You don’t see the other top four almost everywhere. They have pointed targets they’re interested in even if they too haven’t closed any deals.
The scouting team were let go long time ago. Sorry, Edu is the scout now😂🤣 and he didn’t think Buender was worth the price Villa got him. So let’s just wait. We are stuck with them😂😂
Atangana, Arsenal are not jumping at every player – the media are. With the possible exception of White and Lokonga which appear live there may be no truth at all in any other rumours. Has anybody directly employed by Arsenal declared interest in anyone?
Exactly guy, people falling for and getting upset over Media bait so easily, hook line and sinker.
Far too early. Players are at the Euros and there’s plenty of time.
OT: Netherlands’ game showed the importance of a striker that’s excellent in possessing the ball. They usually play with two strikers, with Depay-Weghorst or Depay-Mallen
Depay is tricky and Weghorst is dominant in aerial duels, but both of them can’t keep the ball consistently like Mallen. Our academy graduate Mallen is like the faster version of Lacazette, so selling him was a bad decision
Holland went out and looked poor why would you use them as an example?
Just wanna point out that we need to find a better CF, if possible the taller one with Lacazette‘s abilities
GAI, with a decent midfield, Arsenal’s forward line would be deadly. The problem in the last two seasons and more, has been service and transition from defense to attack.
Too often Arsenal’s midfield has been overwhelmed and bullied out of games. Thomas Partey helps bur he can’t do it on his own. Arsenal are short a quality DM and an ACM to take the pressure off ESR, otherwise he will risk being played into the ground.
Spot on.
With you on that Oz. To little few qualty players dotted throughout the team but primarilly short in AM/DM. Partey is a box to box player NOT a DM and I think a large part of his slow start was forcing him to play outside his best position and with little or no real support.
Not saying any of our strikers are great finishers, at least atm, but they get so few chances anyway talk of poor finishing is a red herring.
Netherlands’ midfielders are of high quality, such as Wijnaldum and De Jong. Yet the team struggled to link up in the final third
This was because Depay/ Weghorst were inconsistent in linking-up and often lost the ball. It’s similar to Aubameyang’s misunderstanding and ball dispossession, when he played as CF
Partey is a true old school midfielder, not DM or AM. We need more mods for the reasons stated by others.
You said it showed us the importance? They barely created a single chance?
That was because Depay/ Weghorst were inconsistent in linking-up and often lost the ball
Despite having technically gifted midfielders like Wijnaldum and De Jong, Netherlands often lost the ball in the final third. It’s similar to Aubameyang’s misunderstanding and ball dispossession, when he played as CF
Agree with the idea of the need for a taller CF. Auba is best suited to attack from the left wing when the ball is released into his path quickly without a delay from the deep lying players.
But, Arsenal lack central midfield players who have a genuine shot in them. We had to wait for the ultimate game of the season for the world-class, box-to-box midfield maestro Partey to ACTUALLY HIT THE TARGET for the first time in the entire season. Ignoring Willock (who found the net more frequently in half a season at a NEW club than the more ambitious, Champions-League-With-Arsenal dreaming and more Premier League experienced Willian ), only Elneny (who seems to have no future at the club) scored from open play last season.
Based on statistics (which the fans unanimously agree), the club is only behind a couple of clubs based on their results after Christmas in the league table. This is partly due to the water-tight defense than the free-scoring attack.
So, why the club is hell-bent on spending some 50 million quid on a defender when they have more pressing issues elsewhere?
Spot on👌
Ideally, we buy a CF like Benzema, Lukaku or Kane, but skillful tall CFs like them are rare and usually very expensive
So at least we get someone taller and faster than Lacazette. Doesn’t have to be 6.2 feet tall, but should be good in aerial duels and possesses all Lacazette’s abilities
About Ben White, I guess Arteta wants a ball-playing defender that can change his positions frequently, has excellent passing skill and has great vision
Ya I agree we need a new Center Forward with Lacazette ability. But then what happens to FBalogun and Martinelli?
I don’t think Martinelli can be consistent in CF position. About Balogun, I hope he’s better than Donyell Mallen
Chillax, Ime! 64 days to go..
Another cry baby article, get something doing and keep off Twitter & ITK blogs for health reason during the transfer period to avoid heart attacks cause can’t see where your disaster war cry is coming from and leading to.
What makes u think buying payers early make it easy to bound together with team mates and buying late not performing at the peak form?
Most teams are going to shop late due to the Euros going on and also the Olympics coming after, buying now does not mean we get ahead of them teams my also delay selling hoping to get more bids for their players to generate biding war process.
Take the Ben White deal for example news flirting around is that thou many clubs are of interest to Ben White but it’s only Arsenal that has made concrete bid for him and yet they have not accepted intentionally delaying for other to come in and start biding wars, Lonkonga is also in same boat his team delaying to see if others will be able to come around and bid higher.
Whoever buys early won’t win the league nor will those who buy late be relegated.
So chill, get chair, get a drink and an extra life saving machine cause it’s gonna be a surprise ride all through the transfer period either for Best, Good, Frustration or utterly Disappointment.
lol
Crashing out of European football, sinking to eighth place, horrible buys/loans like Willian, Cedric, Ceballos, letting your best keeper to go is not enough for all those commenting on this site to begin being cautious with that type of management Arsenal has?
Ripping into an author that is trying to raise awareness about the situation. May be our position in the league table is what we deserve.
So finally, why should we buy players if we are satisfied with the current situation. may be the author also should align his point of view and accept the mediocrity everyone here is eager to defend.
lol again for the analytics displayed through all these comments here.
None of us want or accept mediocrity
Ime has written lots of articles. Perhaps you didn’t read the one yesterday about EN?
Quote: What makes you(meaning Ime) think buying players… etc”!
What makes YOU, Seroti, think that Ime thinks at all?
I SEE NO “THOUGHT” WHATSOEVER IN HIS NONSENSE ARTICLE!
No need to hurry and panic, lots of time left for the transfer window to close. Proper planning and strategic thinking of which players to buy, in what position which player would suit best, back ups for each position and which players to sell must all be sorted out before buying. And of course no way ESR is leaving us, he represents the Arsenal of the future, no chance Arsenal is selling him, Villa is day dreaming.
👍 GFL, so far I have faith in Richard Garlick, given his experience.
Arsenal as the old crusader knight said must “choose wisely”.
There’s still time for the window to end. And maybe the players you listed were one of our targets/ not our targets that you say we lost. Understand the concern but honestly it is just way too early to reach a conclusion.
Renato Sanchez, James Maddison, Czech GK for free to compete with Leno or Onana, an Aerial syriker who can link up (I will leave that to Arsenal scouts, but Bamford seems affordable and good enough for me, but there are others to look at including P. Schick , and all others that were linked to Arsenal before), van Aanholt for free.
I am trying to be realistic with most targets because Maddison would cost a fortune, Renato 25£ I guess. So we will have limited budget for positions where we need backup like GK and LB.
In my opinion, we need two midfielders AM and DM/CM, and a striker for our starting 11. LB and GK for backup/competition.
And ofc, a replacement for anyone who would leave and was a regular starter.
What on earth has “respect” got to do with anything.
Are we disrespecting Brighton by trying to sign White?
No, of course not.
Declan it is time for you to come to terms whether you like it or not with the fact that we no longer command the respect we used to and bringing up Brighton into the equation to try and make your point says it all not only that but Brighton are playing hard ball with us some would even say holding us to ransom 50M plus adds on even Leeds wouldn’t pay more that 28M last summer for White i don’t see Villa making derisory bids for players from City Utd ….their opening offer to Chelsea for Tammy Abraham is 40M what does that say to you?only recently you commented that you didn’t get the gist of my comment concerning how as a club we were now being perceived well others clubs know we are desperate to offload players so that now we are paying the wages of our players on loans(MO and probably MG LT..) buy their contracts out or sell them for peanuts like Mavros for 5M we have no bargaining power and the same thing when we’re trying to buy players we are being quoted inflated fees and players don’t put transfer requests to join us either the way they used to.
“But that is exactly what has happened recently and it shows that we no longer command as much respect as we used to.”
Difficult to argue with that.
Siamois, that may be your opinion and the article writer Ime’s opinion but it isn’t mine. No one goes straight in and offers the “asking” price, you start low and negotiate to possibly a compromise, but sometimes up to the asking price if necessary and of course if you agree that is the correct price. Are we not playing hard ball with Roma? I spent 30 years negotiating high value contracts , sometimes valued in millions. Regarding the respect aspect, I really do not understand your argument on this as whilst respecting someone’s stance on something, it is not disrespectful to assert your own views. The Tammy offer quoted is frankly BS and has not been offered as confirmed in recent denials. Finally, of course Arsenal are a big club with a big draw to bring players in. Our status as a big 6 club, (obviously not top 6 at present), our history, standing in the game, location, training facilities, stadium and huge fan base are massive incentives for players wanting to come to us.
You have me confused now Declan I’m not sure what to think you could be right this is probably “just” bussiness and i am the one who can’t separate bussiness & sentiments and feels offended by it as you said it’s all about perceptions.
I am sincerely sorry if I offended you @Siamois and it certainly was not my intention. Any confusion is due to my poor explanation of my view and I apologise my friend 🤝
👍
Appreciate what you are trying to say Siam. The market generally has changed hugely lately though.
But its still human nature to put your price up if you think the buyer will still pay it and put your offer down if they either dont want the player or they need money.
Its not a sign of respect per se – everybody knows that MC & Chelsea have huge financial backing but already have great squads, so can walk away if the maths are ridiculous.
With the exception of truly elite players, in Covid it is a buyers market so its difficult to GIVE substandard players away atm. Thats true for all clubs. Except for elite players (especially English ones) fees are as little as 50% of normal mv. It works both ways though – we can BUY good players for much less, as can be seen for much proposed interest in foreign players.
It’s the market now, it’s not about Arsenal. We have too much dross to clear out, need too many players, in particular British to meet squad rules. Not quick and not always Arsenal being slow here. Selling clubs delay hoping for other clubs to gazump (Brighton), clubs delay waiting for price to fall (Roma).
Very well put @guy.
True!
Something is wrong somewhere within the Board (I believe Wenger has spoilt the economic senses of Arsenal). Villa bought our best keeper, snatched our numb.1 target Buendia and is back for ESR within 10 months… What development has Arteta brought for us. Maintaining table 8th for two seasons and unforgiveness granted to Ozo & Guendoz or poor formation like Emery?
Another terrifying episode is of Kroenke inattention and lack of support for the club.
we were shouting transfer window should this, transfer window should that… Now we are prizing players as if they won’t be useful to us. Any, time wait for no one.
Ridiculous article! The transfer window has been open barely 5 minutes, and the Euros are still on. Hardly any clubs have made signings anyway, so it’s been a terrible start for everyone then!
As always, judgements can only been made once the window shuts.
Agree as ever TMJW!
Head hear TM.
It is way beyond ridiculous!
The article has a good point. Most of Arsenals new players are bought just about the transfer window is closed.
At earliest, they are fit for some minutes play in november-december. By then Arsenal have lost many many points.
New players should be ready before third-fourth game
I am guessing that when a player signs a contract the club would have to start paying him straight away.If that is the case then any delay in transfers is possibly saving the club thousands a week for this financial year .
Fantasy: Camavinga, Maddison
Reality: Odegaard, random LB, Ruben Neves.
PAIN
Will our managerial team turn out to be sharp, incisive and bring us the players we need, or do we have a bungling ‘Laurel and Hardy’ managerial team? My great worry is last day signings, no real pre-season and early dropped points. It’s an old Arsenal story that may be more to do with board and owner being on another planet, watching while the football world goes by. As much as I am not impressed by Arteta and Edu, there does not seem to be much enthusiasm from above them. I do appreciate we have the Euros and the Copa on, but I hope as teams are eliminated that we get into action very quickly. Otherwise…….Groundhog Day.
Sean
We have been a laughing stock for buying and selling players for decades
Even b4 AW times we were giving our best players for nothing
We buy players late, not sure why.. is it to safe on wages ?
Funds have been limited for a long time or have they.. between aubes, lacca and pepe we have shelled out over £180m. Did we need to buy all three in the space of 3 to 4 years?
Our biggest sale was in 2000
It makes me mad and embarrassed to think we must be one of the worst clubs when it comes to buying and selling players and I dont mean just now but for the past 30 years
We got some gems in on the cheap over the years but boy did we take a hammering in the market by paying over the odds for some duff players
It feels like arsenal fans nowadays only dare to dream about having 2nd rate players. Honestly tho, with 250M warchest we should be talking about someone like dybala
Why Dybala? I believe building with the players they’re eyeing now is the right thing to do. Fetching first in the PL and then adding other quality players. The team needs about 5 to 6 quality players including a goal keeper like Onana to be competitive.
Willock has PL experience with a huge potential for improvement. Keep him.
WHAT A NONSENSE ARTICLE FROM PANICKY IME!
THIS SORT OF RUBBISH – POSING AS A SERIOUS ARTICLE – SHOULD NOT ALLOWED ON JA, AS IT IS UNTHINKING AND COMPLETE NONSENSE.
SOME FANS HAVE A VERY TENUOUS GRASP OF REALITY AND IME HAS NONE AT ALL.
I actually look forward to IME’s articles because they are all so ourageous.
He manages to regularly unite almost all of the Arsenal fanbase, which is some achievement. Unfortunately it’s united against him.
He also manages to make me feel quite smart (in comparison), again some achievement.
If he could resist the unnecessary anti-Arteta barbs in every piece I wouldn’t be publicly criticising his work so much, to be honest.
But to his credit, he clearly states in each case that it is an “opinion”, not necessarily a fact.
YES HE DOES STATE ITS HIS OPINION, I AGREE. But when his opinions are so relentlessly foolish, then unlike you Guy, I become frustrated at the sheer lack of thought that goes into them and do not need to feel “smarter than him”, as that is blindingly obvious anyway.
I like his urge and passion to write but if only he could put some PROPER THOUGHT, into his articles . Sigh!
A writer should either have something of interest and intelligence to say OR should keep silent, IMO.