If you had announced a signing at the start of June or July, it made little difference as most players were on their holidays.
Most Gooners were willing to stay patient until our tour of Asia begins.
To give yourself the best possible chance this season, you want to give your squad the majority of pre-season to adapt to changes.
Given that we have been looking for a striker at least since January, it would be disappointing if a new forward is not on the plane to Hong Kong.
This past weekend, Sporting Lisbon’s President was not talking like a man who was expecting Viktor Gyökeres to be on that Arsenal flight.
Frederico Varandas recently described the transfer as becoming “more complicated” and even spoke about how his best talent could still have a career in Portugal by apologising and accepting a hefty fine. The fine is for not returning to training this weekend.
It is increasingly looking like this was the final bluff from the Portuguese champions in a game of poker that has been played for months.
Berta Holding the Strongest Cards
The way Andrea Berta likes to negotiate is to collect as much detail as possible about the numerous names on his shortlist.
That was his policy at Atlético Madrid.
While there can be disadvantages to how long you haggle over every last penny (and the Gunners could do better not to leak so much information), there are equally advantages once you know a target is sold on your project.
The moment Gyökeres made it clear that the Emirates was his only choice, our director held some powerful cards in his hands.
The accusation from the player that his employers were breaking a verbal agreement from last summer was music to the Italian’s ears.
While it meant the 53-year-old was initially getting contrasting information, in the long term it meant the deal could potentially be cheaper than he thought.
Because as long as the Swede was adamant North London was his only destination, Mr Varandas was not going to get the bidding war he naturally hoped for.
The player’s agent maintains he has evidence that his client is telling the truth, that this time last year he was promised that if he gave another 12 months of service, he would not be priced out of a move away.
That is why the player feels vindicated in not returning to work.
Negotiation Reaches Final Stretch
Ironically, for a while it seemed that we were using Gyökeres as a pawn in our pursuit of Benjamin Šeško.
By clearly talking to both strikers at the same time, it unofficially told Sporting and Leipzig that we had alternatives and therefore did not have to pay over the odds in an act of desperation.
It was believed that Šeško started as Mikel Arteta’s first choice, but the 22-year-old may have talked himself out of a move, especially compared to how passionate Gyökeres has been over the possibility.
Football is no different to any business, if you can save a few million by not panicking and being patient, that is what you do.
This is where it becomes about who blinks first.
Mr Berta has been in Lisbon a couple of times in the last two weeks and was actually prepared to pay more than the asking price, but over a longer period and with some additional add-ons.
The Primeira Liga club were arguing for less, but with a larger payment made immediately.
At that point, neither party is going to walk away.
One knows it would be a PR disaster to waste months of energy by failing to get a goal scorer who is literally saying, “come and get me”.
While Sporting know a 27-year-old’s value will only reduce, and there is zero guarantee he repeats the stats of the last two years now he is unhappy.
It is the closest we have come at any point to Gyökeres flying to the Far East with Arsenal on 19th July, for the pre-season tour.
Dan Smith
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£55 million + another potential £8 million in add-ons is good business for a proven goal scorer. Sounds like a fair price for a 27 year old striker in todays crazy market. I think we spent close to £200 million now. A lot of money, but after some sales I think we can expect another one or two signings, just a feeling.
Yes, Berta’s doing a good job.
Great signing, and I am very happy with the fee.
Also what I really like now that Berta is in charge, is the commitment from players after agreeing terms with Arsenal. A few times I’ve already read that the players we are after, don’t want any other club to swoop in and seem to have their hearts set for Arsenal after showing the project. I think I’ve read that regarding Gyökeres, Mosquera and Kepa.
What I mean is the likes of Kepa and Mosquera would rather for now be rotation players for us than going somewhere they most likely would start all the matches.
Madueke transfer again is one of those transfer no one really sees coming and questions the need as we always have more urgent positions to fill. We’ve had that kind of a signing every summer (2024 Calafiori, 2023 Havertz, 2022 Vieira, 2021 Ramsdale..).
Dajuhi well said 👍 just my tot exactly 💯 this is becoming an abity every season we most buy what we don’t need from London rival. WHY?
i’m worried if we spend 200M on outfield players, where are the funds for the LB? If Eze joins then it further complicates the matter. Tierney gone, Zinny going, we have the injury prone Calaufori and Skelly. Maybe Sesko was unwilling to play LB!
Finally, its good Bertha is showing Mikel who the boss is, hiring Gyoks over Sesko was the wise decision and Bertha is right. Seem to take a liking for this man’s vision and the owners for hiring him.
😂😂😂 maybe Sesko is unwilling to play Left-Back . . . on the bench.
I do think Nørgaard might have been signed to be a striker.
Oh, Arsenal…
Eager to see you play again.
😉
According to various websites, Sesko is getting offered around to other clubs like a set of car keys at a wife-swapping party
Always having a go at Arteta for everything and anything, Pathetic. Some really can’t help but be negative.
I rate Arteta the best coach in the EPL.
Yes.
Trophies or not.
And I do not rate Sesko, highly.
Not yet.
Maybe in your years he may be up there . . . .
But this is no kindergarten to babysit assumed prospects.
I’d rather waste money on Lewandowski for two years.
Yes.
That is a nicer way of wasting money.
Haha. Don’t worry, we can play Noni there too!
Good signing and atlas a real striker .
Only blemish is the way he went about getting a move , I would imagine the Arsenal fans that battered Auba for turning up late for training would agree with me and would have a strong opinion of the way he got his move after not turning up for training at all !
But I imagine they will remain silent .
There’s certainly no hypocrites here 🙂
Slight difference in that Gyokeres felt slighted and that he had a gentleman’s agreement to leave for a certain amount. New Predisent reneged on that
Cuba was consistently late to training etc and didn’t actually win us a league unlike Gyokeres for SL…and then went to Barca to force a move
So quite different circumstances in my opinion.
Morning DK
one of the silent has spoken
IMO different situation then Auba. he was our captain and should have set the standards. maybe there might have been some animosity between player and manager and the manager was waiting for a slip up b4 he could act, which auba gave it with both hands.
we took Adebayor from monaco who done the same thing to them and again to us when he wanted a move to city.
Fabregas threatened but never carried out when Barcelona came calling.
countless players have done it and will continue to do it and agents have a big say on how some players are perceived in there actions
the alleged gentlemen’s agreement VG and sporting we will never know if true or not.
if he scores 20 goals plus next season no one will be talking about it and everyone will say that was good business. unfortunately no player has the loyalty of the old days and money talks.
onwards and upwards
“IMO different situation then Auba”
Stopped there. Some of us have no shame. When our hypocrisy are caught its better to just remain silent and let it pass.
Just like they didn’t mind when Auba was doing it at Dortmund to push the move lol
Exactly
Big difference between going on strike to turning up late for training.
Going on strike is worse surely lol ?
Depends if you agree with the strike’s cause or not.
Of course going on strike is worse than being late for training.
exactly, the receiving fans don’t really care and if the player dose the business then it is forgotten quickly. the departing team fans if one of there top players will always gripe.
tapping up has always been the case either from players, agents, managers, brown envelopes, incentives etc.
and as said before “no loyalty and players have the power to do as they please now.
football was never clean and it is certainly worse now.
There’s more to this narrative though, didn’t the president negate on his gentleman’s agreement to let Gyokeres go for a certain price? Give the full picture if we’re doing comparisons
Where’s the evidence that was the case .
If you want the full picture ,he signed a contract and they pay his wages ,he refused to go back ,not a good look ,but like people have said as long as he scores goals none will care I was just pointing it out .
In this ‘beautiful’ game of ours everybody cheats, owners cheat, clubs cheat, managers cheat and finally, players cheat. It is part and parcel of the modern game which we continue to watch because we are all addicted and will make allowances to suit our own agenda. That said, I can’t wait for the start of the season.
I mean, you’re just trying to be the contrarian right now so I get it. But it’s well reported this is why Gyokeres and his agent are upset and they’ve had a pretty public war of words about it. That’s the sport though and as stated above clubs/managers/agents/players are all playing games with each other constantly so I’m not even sure why we are talking about some sort of nobility within a sport that is now littered with an endless amount of wealth and greed. It’s not exactly breaking news that every person on earth has been hypocritical in their values at one point or another and you’re not saying much of anything insightful by calling it out on this forum.
I’m not ‘calling out’ anything, I am merely stating a fact and not being naive about our ‘beautiful’ game.
Maybe those who were berating Berta,Arteta and the club should learn something from this. At the end of the day, they got the best possible deal. And the £5 million they were supposedly haggling about could just be what they needed to make an improved offer to Valencia for Mosquera.
Looks like all the priority signings are going to be there for the start of preseason.After Gyokeres and Mosquera, I think the focus will now shift to making some sales. By all accounts, the negotiations for contract extensions are also going well too.They must have been waiting for July and have managed to do a lot in just two weeks.So far so good for Berta and the team.
I agree. One regular contributor didn’t/doesn’t have a good word at all for Berta, even after the first three signings arrived. We now look, according to reports, to have Gyokeres almost done and there may be a couple more in the pipeline.
With six weeks still left in the transfer window, I don’t know what some fans expect frankly. I recall last summer it took Arsenal almost the whole ten weeks of that window to sign two players – Calafiori and Merino, with Sterling arriving on loan literally at the last minute. What a difference this time around.
By the way, the point you made about the club not leaking information, I don’t think that will happen with Berta in charge. From what I hear, he likes to use the media a lot and the leaked information is by design and all part of his strategy.
The evidence has been mounting since he arrived that he is a shrewd operator and fine acquisition for the Arsenal. Just what we needed at this time to help sustain the improved results of the last several seasons and get those so coveted trophies.
Look he’s just doing what he has to do. It’s his job. We need a striker. The deal should have been done and dusted pretty much as soon as last season ended. Why the heroics? Berta and Arteta are payed big money to do a job. Win trophies etc, just like Chelsea and Spurs.
It takes two to tango Joe and SL didn’t want to dance.
We were patient and waited, while Gyokeres and Sporting sorted out their problems, knowing the player had agreed to sign for us.
I don’t see what else our club could have done regarding the internal dispute with the player and his, then, club.
Ken, I concur. To get the deal done at the end of last season would’ve meant us paying the full asking price that SL wanted. Instead Berta played a great game of poker and we’ve saved a bit of dough, which can be used elsewhere.
It seems that those who were creating all the noise about not signing a striker, are now suddenly worried about the way the striker acted in order to get the move.
Every transfer is unique and the same goes for the player involved.
Bringing up other players like Aubemeyang and Fabregas is is pointless and happened under a different regime anyway!!
Gyokeres is adamant that he had a gentlemens agreement and made that point early on
in this saga.
Trying to score points against fellow fans is so pointless, especially when we’re celebrating the news that we’ve got our man.
OT Just booked my tickets for the Bilbao Emirates Cup and was told that there are very few tickets left at corporate level (treating myself and my family!!) so anyone thinking of going, I suggest you get in quick!!
Who knows what squad we’ll see out there?! 👍
I’m going to the Villareal game with my eldest son, his Mexican wife, her parents, my grandsons & 2 of their Mexican cousins. Quite a crowd, but sadly not in hospitality like you Ken1945. (£20 for concessions but £40ish for adults so not too bad. )
The Red membership didn’t do them any favours last season, so this will be 7 yr old’s first game. Let’s hope our new signings are on display!
I agree with the rest of your post by the way.
SueP, I was asked by Jon Fox to thank you for the idea of a petition to get him installed back into the JA family.
Can’t wait for the game, but, sadly, couldn’t make the Wednesday friendly before that.
I’m assuming both games will be sell outs and, when one thinks that our Ladies team are playing all their home games at the Emirates this coming season, it seems more and more fans will be able to experience the atmosphere – what a great club we are lucky enough to support!!
I am part of that petition. Even yesterday I indirectly hinted at the return of Jon. Some of us were not privy to the circumstances that led to Jon’s departure from JA. However, now that I have a vague idea that his absence was induced, I am all for the petition to have him back.
Why not be a man and come on himself and ask to be let back on .
A Petition 😂😂 whatever next …
Simply because he’s banned DK!!
I thought you might have got that simple fact, but I was obviously wrong.
I’ve been banned and simply emailed not hard is it ?
For someone so simple I managed to it .
I think some need to ask him what he was banned for and maybe respect pats wishes ?
Kind of sad that we would go against what he wanted
He was banned for a while
If he Pat wanted him back , he would have brought him back ….he didn’t
I was slightly tongue in cheek by suggesting a petition because it was in part as a response to the furore surrounding Madueke. However, that does not mean that I wouldn’t welcome him back.
I don’t know what caused JF’s exit but, as mentioned, below, he could try again to ask if he has been forgiven for whatever it was that caused it.
happy to put my name forward in getting JF back.
he gave me some rough treatment at times but miss the old bugger
onwards and upwards
Why “his Mexican wife” “their Mexican cousins” etc..?
Why not “his wife”, “their cousins” etc..?
I just had a look, Ken. Quite a few seats elsewhere, I doubt for much longer though 🙂 The Leeds red ballot will be announced tomorrow. Had a few successes last season, along with ST transfers. Looking forward to getting back to the Emirates so fingers crossed
Sue, glad to hear that you got some game time again.
I guess it was because I wanted the experience of another level then, because it took a few minutes to sort out the seats I wanted.
Has your red number changed at all over the seasons, or is it still just the same.
Hoping that the increase in capacity, plus, perhaps, a standing area might help reduce the waiting list.
Hope your lucky for Leeds game 🤞
Will Phil be there? It’ll be a fantastic view – I hope you all enjoy it.
It (red number) has changed, not a great deal though. It will be years before I’m offered a ST. But I’m still lucky enough to go, so all is good.
I’m really excited for the new season, especially with all the new faces. What great depth we’ll have, as well as a hell of a team!! I’d still love one more to be brought in – Eze – and it’ll be one of the best windows we’ve ever had!
Phil still has his season tickets and I’ll get in touch with him nearer the game to see if he’s going.
Hopefully the expansion of the Emirates will help.
Like you Sue, if we could get Eze over the line, it would be some window.
I think we have three or four signings still to see pen to paper, but, when you look at this potential squad, we are going to be a hard nut to crack open… Can’t wait either!!
Say hi to him for me please, Ken. Yes, hopefully the expansion will help.
Expectation is sky high – let’s hope we go one better this season 🤞🏻 Cheers Ken 🙂
Good to chat again Sue and I’ll pass your words on to Phil 👍
Sue how much luck did you have lol.
As l didn’t and don’t know what to do
I was successful 3 times in the ballot, Dan (Spuds, Everton & Brighton). I was also transferred tickets for United, Bournemouth, Fulham, West Ham and Brentford, and my nephew got me tickets for West Ham away. So I didn’t do too badly 🙂 Have you never had any luck? Keep persevering with it. It’ll happen!
I will admit not doing every ballot
Was in and out of hospital and work can be hectic
I used to do like a game a month but could like plan it around things
The ballot certainly has made it harder to attend. Remember to check the ticket exchange, Dan (of the ballots you enter), tickets pop up on there. Good luck 🤞🏻
Thank you
50 days to close the transfer window and it seems we are rapping up our business.
I hope those who were hurling abuses to Madueke can take back their words after we sign Gyokeres.
This may be one of the best Windows we’ve had in a while. But knowing our J.A team, some will be here crying a river on why we spend so much money on new signings 😂. It makes me wonder what we really want.
Simple answer is level raisers but also have to play with what’s available in the market. At this points it’s the wait and see game to see if these were good additions. Usually when teams sign so many players in one window you get a mixed bag of results. Will hope for all hits of course.
Let’s hope that Madueke has the same mentality shown by Havertz Cliff.
The same kind of negativity and abuse was thrown at him before he’d even kicked a ball for the club and now they’re singing his name!!
How they can think they’re doing anything positive regarding the player and the club is beyond me!!
Yeah I agree
Counter productive
Yes Ken.He has the ability.
Am wishing he does so well for us.
I agree with you completely. If there is one vital lesson to learn here, it is patience. Shakespeare said that too fast arrives as tardy as too slow! The window has just opened. There was, therefore, no need to panic. Some irrational people, though a tiny minority, have made our potential player feel dejected. This was a very cheap way to deal with issues! Recruitment of players is not like electing a local council official! This is an exercise for the professionals to handle. However, the way that tiny minority conducted themselves was very disgusting!
I’m not impressed on Andrea Berta transfer business so far because it’s throwing up cash for flashy players
Firstly 31 yrs old Christian Nørgaard is not a good replacement for Thomas Partey when there is Richard Rios younger with same ability
50m Noni Madueke is not a good deal, while Simon Adingra and Yankuba Minteh will serve a a good backup for Saka & Martinelli
In Striker position Viktor Gyökeres is another waste of money because i don’t think he will make players around him look good like João Pedro and Jean-Philippe Mateta always do
Maybe he will throw another cash on Rodrigo a player that has won almost everything
Hopefully Eze will arrive to trade place with Ødegaard
I suggest you post your CV off to the club Ps Swahili, it seems they’re missing out on you?!
To all you Gunners:
I’m a fan since 34 years. And a Swede. Let me tell you that Gyokeres is even better than Isak, though both are fantastic. We now have one of the best strikers in the world. Exciting!
that’s nice to know
when we look back in your opinion who do you think will go down as the biggest Swedish hit in future years
Limpar
Freddie
or VG
Hard to say. Freddie was a bargain considering the price Wenger paid, and yet he was later part of the invincibles. However, VG will likely be standing out more, and be a real goal machine.
I say VG.
But also now I will reveal something not all Gooners know.:
Viktor Gyokeres was an Arsenal fan as a kid. A devoted Arsenal fan. He loves the club.
This means he will play with his whole heart for the club, and this is also why he is sacrificing +2 million pounds to sign for the club. So please welcome him with love!
Freddie by a mile ( if your talking legacy at Arsenal )
Hard to say. Freddie was a bargain seen to the price, and was part of the invincibles. Gyokeres however will stand out more and be a goal machibe. I will go for VG.
What not all Gooners know:
Gyokeres is an Arsenal fan since childhood and loves Arsenal. As such he will play with his whole heart. It is also why he sacrificed two million pounds in salary to make the deal happen.
Welcome him with love!
Comparing the national team goal ratios for Viktor Gyökeres and Alexander Isak:
Viktor Gyökeres:
Caps: 26
Goals: 15
Goal Ratio: 15÷26≈0.577 goals per game
Alexander Isak:
Caps: 52
Goals: 16
Goal Ratio: 16÷52≈0.308 goals per game