Every year we seem to write the same thing regarding Arsenal’s transfer policy.
There have been agents in the past who have stated the Gunners are a laughing stock within the industry for how they do business, often dawdling and haggling over every last penny.
Nothing seems to have changed under Edu’s leadership with Chelsea now the favourites to sign Raphinha.
If that happens it will be because we were too slow in our negotiations and not aggressive enough.
I wrote 12 months ago ‘why are we always the club who are linked with players for weeks’ while a Chelsea and Liverpool seem to confirm signings within days of the rumours emerging?
That approach won’t cost us Jesus, it’s a case of when and not if that gets announced.
Yet, it’s been the worst kept secret we were in talks with Man City even before the season ended.
Why does it take so long?
That’s why your find some Gooners reserved, not wanting to believe anything until they see it official on our website.
Some of our fans have pencilled in what our starting 11 will look like, including Raphinha and Tielemans just because the media claim talks are in advanced stages.
I don’t want to put a pin in anyone’s balloon, but as I write this, our only acquisitions have been two youngsters who most have never heard of and a backup keeper.
Spurs who finished above us have strengthened more than us.
Yet I watched YouTubers question if this one of our greatest transfer windows, all on the basis of speculation.
I’m at an age where I been burnt enough not to believe anything till the I’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed.
I spent summers reading it’s when and not if Benzema arrives.
I recall a preseason where the bookies had us odds on to be Luis Suarez’s next destination.
It’s accepted we missed out on Higuain for the same reason we might now miss out on Raphinha.
Some may feel 50-60 million is paying over the odds to improve a position where we do have options.
Yet if Edu identifies him as a target, he should ask Leeds their asking price and quickly decide if he agrees with that valuation.
If not, move on to your next target.
Instead, we play out these sagas thinking Leeds will change their mind.
This is Edu’s job, something he gets paid a lot of money to do.
If he feels a player is overpriced then that’s fair but if we are missing out on Arteta’s first choice targets based on taking too long, that’s not okay.
Dan Smith
Learn more about Arsenal’s proud history – Decade by Decade CLICK HERE to visit our new Arsenal History section
The Just Arsenal Show – Matt Turner’s profile and his value to Arsenal
We didn’t want to pay what Leeds were asking, and Chelsea did. Different budgets, that’s the difference. I am kinda glad we didnt splash 65m when we already got wingers like Martinelle, Saka, SmithRowe, Nelson and Pepe. Now get Tielemans instead!
Arsenal is a laughing stock when it comes to transfers. Inexperienced negotiators like Edu are letting the club down. If you need a player, pay the transfer fees and move on. I bet you Arsenal will circle around Tielemans until another serious club comes and swoop on him. Bissouma really wanted Arsenal but same disease saw him move to Spurs. Edu should look at himself in the mirror and ask himself this simple question “What am I exactly doing in the transfer markets, sleeping or what?
We took dat stupid approach on Pepe,.. where has it gotten us?
I personally don’t feel Raphinha is worth that much.
There are better wingers for less
Agree on the fact that Raphinha was too costly, but we still played our cards really bad. You need a strategy when your budget is low. Now appears we are chasing Asensio from RM. But others are also interested. Any change in negotiating tactics?
It does not function that way my friend, three parties need to come to a single conclusion, the player and the two clubs. The player wanted a move to Barca so he would not be fully committed to us. Salute Mikel for taking a bold decision in favor of the club, knowing the prophets of doom would boo him night and day. And what does Dan have to say about Lukaku second CFC spell, is that called success? we made ourselves laughing stocks for paying 350k to Ozil, letting Sanchez go free when City wanted to pay 60M, hiring Chech for 10M, Pepe for 72M.Mikel and Edu are the football version of tag team champions.
I am sure I heard a rumour that kalvin Phillips was joining man city? Yet that deal still hasn’t been confirmed and that rumour was before raphinha/arsenal.
This site is rapidly turning into an anti-arsenal site. It seems anything the club does or doesnt do is deemed negative.
Lukaku score heaps of goals at utd and chelsea
fans want big name, big club and tag player
in Fifa22 fans do not have to wait ages for players to be signed
Chelsea came from nowhere when Roman took over all they did was to put money on the table and get what they want. You dont need experience to know money talks
Totally agree.
Edu seems to have quickly moved on to the next target, otherwise we would’ve heard about our new bid on Fabrizio Romano’s or David Ornstein’s Twitter pages. There is nothing wrong in bargaining and using delaying tactics to get the best price for his employer
In fact, Edu has been doing his job brilliantly this summer, by signing two hot prospects before other teams did. Let Chelsea sign the overpriced Raphinha, so they’d have to sell Pulisic, Werner or Hudson-Odoi
Thank you, Infact almost everyone think he is over priced for a position that’s nt urgent to us……. But now they are complaining we didn’t buy him at any price. They will never praise edu for the once he was swift to finish. Meanwhile Chelsea fans have been praising arsenal for wrapping up deals quickly dis summer and lambasting their club for not acting fast since the beginning of the transfer.
I think some fans are still disappointed with Edu over Willian’s performance, which wasn’t Edu’s fault since Willian was assigned into right wing position
We need to do better in getting our targets. We haven’t gotten a top calibre player in a while and we need to act faster in acquiring our targets. Still there are other players out there that we can get apart from Raphinha.
I think Dan has actually made an important point this time. It is probably one of the few times that I generally agree with his point of view.
There is no doubt that it is not straightforward to get these things done but we seem allow transfers to drag on for far too long.
In my opinion, Edu didn’t haggle over Raphinha because the rumors on Romano’s/ Ornstein’s Twitter pages only last for around one week and he smartly poked Leeds with some bids
I’m just concerned with our tendency to recruit highly technical players, while the Crystal Palace and Spuds are collecting physically powerful athletes
Wot 2 signings which won’t improve us we or to slow in dealing in the transfer market
We haven’t watched Marquinhos and Vieira playing for Arsenal yet, whereas Jesus has worked with Arteta and under Man City’s system for years. All of them are Portuguese speakers as well, so we could expect fast adaptability and good teamwork with our existing Portuguese speakers
He is good player and would not have said no. However its clear he did not want to come to Arsenal. Would have joined us if he did not get his move to Nue camp.
I have had enough of players who don’t want to be at Arsenal on big fat contracts and no way moving them on.
So while sad we could not get him its not the end of the world
Ravi
Our bid of 45m with add ons to 60m was not accepted by Leeds. If they had accepted our bid he would’ve come. Chelsea bid 55m with add ons to make it 60m. A difference of 10m. Its straight money matter
Were we really interested in both Jesus and Raphinha? Only the insiders know.
I am happy, we didn’t splash a lot of cash on Raphinha, once Jesus was sealed. We have mor eurgent needs at LB and possibly im midfield.
Credit to Arsenal for getting it right IMO.
I totally agree with you and the key point you made is “Only the insiders know”. A lot of the messaging is about tactics; nobody has heard of Vieira until he arrived, yet we have been chasing Tielemans since Christmas, only to pull out at the last minute – or have we pulled out? Edu and the team are doing extremely well; let’s allow them to finish their work before judging!
It takes at least 3 to make a transfer deal happen & just because an offer is made it doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s a serious intension to buy, regardless of the media speculation.
The player & Leeds were sensibly waiting for preferred options (Barcelona, Champions league football & the max fee & wages possible). Raphinha was never likely to end up at AFC.
I for one l am glad we are not signing him for that amount being quoted. Chelsea have to show that they are still relevant in the transfer market, following the departure of Abramohvic. What I will never understand about my beloved Arsenal is why we never seem to sign a defensive midfielder 😔
Cody Gakpo is young talented (improving) scores goals, assists forwards…..was once a top target for the gunners.
Save money, buy a top Dutch winger.
First choices are usually the best. Trevor Dearling
Thats not true. I believe Arsenal did not even try to make a bid. Why? Has anyone stated the actual amount of bid placed? No. (it is a sign of lazy journalism and agent/club gimmicks to raise the value of the player) Secondly, if you have Saka with similar or even better statistics (Scored 4 goals against 3 big teams; Chelsea, Utd and spurs), why would you go for Raphinha? I believe for the sake of Saka’s development, signing Raphinha was not called for
We all know Saka is a brilliant player, but he simply can’t play every single game. We need good backups to prevent him burning out like he did at the end of last season….
Admin Pat you have just given a very good reason why Raphinha probably was not keen on coming to Arsenal. Why would we pay over the odds for a back up signing and why would Raphinha be happy to be back up to Saka thus hampering his World Cup selection chances?
Admin raphinha didn’t want to come Arsenal. Is that anyone’s fault? Could you forcibly hire someone who doesn’t want to work for you!
Vipi bro
Safi trig
But why pay 65million (more than aubameyang) for “back up” is that silly ? I was happy we were going for raphina but after seeing the price tag for 11 goals um sorry but no
I think the chase after Raphinha was aimed at Saka.
Saka and his agent are haggling over a new contract at the moment. Apparently the Saka team want a buy out amount included in the new contract.
I believe Arsenal think Saka is acting rather cocky in these negotiations. He apparently thinks that he is irreplaceable and has Arsenal over a barrel.
So, I believe the signing of Raphinha was intended to show Saka that Arsenal can move on without him.
But, as usual, the “dream team” fall flat on their faces.
Perhaps Saka and his agent watched Nketiah absolutely mug Arsenal for 5 year 100k a week deal.
Based on that mugging Saka should be getting North of 150k a week. That ridiculous Nketiah contract will have ramifications as many renewals will be looking at that in their negotiations.
Arsenal overpay for average players, a good hunting ground for agents.
Nketiah is a bargain at 100k a week…
Saka’a agent is also Nketiah’s agent
A player alone does not change the overall fortunes of the team. Well, Leeds with Raphina is an example.
Again, Leicester from no where without highly rates names made it to the first position.
That said, if Raphina were in our budget level spending perhaps that outcome would have been different. The market with ready made stars and Organic blend should be balanced for efficient use of finances.
A player alone does not change the overall fortunes of the team. Well, Leeds with Raphina is an example..
are you sure? Messi at Barca, lewandowski at bayern, Ronaldo at Madrid, Henry at Arsenal. None of these teams would of achieved what they have achieved without those players..
And you forget cantona at Man U. But these players were the icing on the cake. Messi was on an other level but yet he had when super successfull xavi, iniesta, eto’o henry or ronaldinho, neymar, suarez…. Same for henry ar arsenal (vieira,lhungberg, pires etc…)
I disagree with you on that @Dan2. Especially the star-studded Barca: Eniesta, Xavi, Puyol, Alves in his prime. Then Bayern: Ribery, robin, Nuever , Lahm, Muler, I can go on and on. Do you remember the Porto team that won the champions league under Maurino? There was no well known star player. Do you remember the German team that won the world cup in Brazil? How many Ronaldos or Messis were in that team? I might arguably agree with you if you that about the likes Of Diego Maradona and Zenedine Zidane.
Sure, lets just open up the bottomless money pit and let every club and agent there take us for a ride….I’d rather we didn’t end up becoming the next ManU or spend silly money on someone like Pepe again.
Don’t know why we were so keen on a player who regarded Arsenal as second or third choice to Barcelona who he’ll be agitating for a move to move within a couple of years anyway.
We’ve brought in some good players and there’s weeks to go yet.
for a move to. ‘scuse my poor editing.
I wholly agree with you. Why even bother with a player who thinks he is too good for Arsenal when his current team barely survived relegation! It is nice that he has gone elsewhere. That is a man whose mind is fixated on Barcelona which is no longer the great team it once was. He is just living in illusions!
👍🏿
Once we signed Vieira then Tielemams was off the table immediately. With 100 mill on Jesus buying Rapinha was only possible if we had 400 mill to spend and was nothing more than joke reporting. We have three defensive injury crocks in Tierney Tomiyasu and Partey. Even if we get Martinez we will still be short on the left. Niles has to stay to cover RB. A loan LB should be sourced. If we could sell 29 year old 250k p/w Partey and or Xhaka that would be wise. Then buy one or both of the Lens DM’s.
Well said FF totally agree with you for once
Martinez can play as a LB too
we could have buy bissouma for partey… Too late. If we buy martinez, why need for another LB ? And why cover needed at RB ? IMO we should play there soon BW4, if Saliba happen to bw the beast he could be. Or BW4 could be put in a DM role too. What do you think about that? I used to like Maitland niles. Unfortunately, o dont see him coning back and even doing decently. He has probably his limits (and too much self-belief maybe in his capacities) but his confidence has been destroyed by arteta (remember last year when he played a good MOTM game and then got benched and never really re-appeared) and then with that Roma loan that did not go as planned. I guess at this point he just want to play and not cover and get 120mn in 6 months.
The situation Dan describes has been going on since David Dein left the club.
Cast your minds back to how he sealed deals for DB, TH and PV for example.
That’s why I, personally, put this down to the control that happened when Mr. Kronkie took overall control of the club.
Needless to say, Arsene, gazidis, Mikel and Edu have also to take some blame, but the history points to that terrible decision taken by the, then, board and kronkie to sack DD…. and we have never recovered.
Nice saying Ken, during the time DD was our vice-chairman we won 5 league titles, 1989, 91, 98, 02 and 04. He was instrumental during his tenure.
The case of Raphinha seems to have been overblown. I doubt that Raphinha was ever our top priority when we have many young brilliant wingers. I am not sure that Raphinha is an upgrade on Saka or Martinelli. Let us concentrate on Martinez and then perhaps another midfield player. I don’t see Arsenal regretting failure to sign Raphinha. Maybe it is a blessing in disguise that we haven’t signed an over priced player who may not add a lot of value to our team. That man could be better spent on strengthening where we are still weak.
correction: money instead of man.
I agree fully. our priority should be on areas of weakness such as left back. Arsenal should utilise the limited resources on the critical and weak areas
DM/CM is our weakest point and has been for years
Arsenal can’t win because if we say yes to the asking price half the fans moan we have paid too much, but if we haggle, the other half of the fanbase moan its a flawed methodology. Being realistic, would he come to us to be a bit part player, no of course not. Do we really need him, not in my opinion. Would he replace Saka or Martinelli, no not in my opinion. Is Pepé leaving, it doesn’t look like it at present does it? Edu was being praised yesterday because of his influence on getting in the three players so far, yet today because it looks like Barca favouring Raphinha could end up at Chelsea, now he’s a busted flush! Some people are never happy, about anything.
Your right exactly! i said from the start let us pay what they want and move on.
The biggest flaw in our transfer dealings is we are not in CL. We are peeing un the wind most times.
This was all about the money They’re paying 60m and we bid 50m. Period
We could bid 60 and he will still go to CL club. That was why he preferred Barca over us. No CL is a big noose, we have lost out on targets already we were after because we didn’t make CL. That is the biggest problem.
Total Crap…..
Is that your answer? Well thats total crap as well. At least i do answer.
And it is fact!!!!!!
@Reggie
Who have we lost out on so far this window due to lack of CL?
Is there any player yet?
We wanted Marquinhos and got him.
We wanted Vieira and got him.
We wanted Turner and got him.
Wanted Jesus and got him.
Wanted Raphinha but lost out on him due to us not willing to meet the £65 million Leeds were asking for. That’s what each and every media outlets is reporting.
We seem to be going in for Lisandro Marrinez and it also seems he is eager to join..
I might be wrong but I haven’t yet heard anything about us missing out on any player due to our lack of CL football.. Can you please cite me some sources?
We don’t know what our original targets were or are. As Edu and Arteta both said they had two lists of players so I would guess one list is with CL the other list without CL
CORRECT PALMER.
We do know that when we bought the 4 players Goonster listed above that it was early in the window and almost no other transfers had been completed, so any other targets were still available…
So we can be pretty darned sure that those 4 were primary targets.
N.B. You can’t include Halaand or Nunez since those were always going where they went, no matter who else was interested – and they were clearly decided long ago with the speed it was completed when the window opened.
Goonster, we had to change our targets when we failed to get CL. That is a fact. There were or are players that were on our radar but now are not and if you think that is not right then you are wrong.
@Reggie
You can keep claiming it’s a FACT. But I asked you to just a few of these players that we missed out on due to lack of CL football.
Can you just list only 2 of these players instead of talking about it’s a FACT and failing to back up our assertion.
Something can’t be a FACT when you can’t demonstrate it’s actuality by providing any sort of evidence to back it up..
I am waiting for you to back up your FACT claim.. EVIDENCE PLEASE 🙏!!!’!!!!!!!!
Both Edu and Arteta have come out ans said we have different targets because we are not in the CL. If you are so naive as to think it makes no difference, then you are only kidding yourself. I can name players but all you will say is, you dont rate them and didn’t want them anyway and you probably wont believe, so why waste my time just to appease you.
I will appease you with 2 Bissouma and Isaks. We were actively pursuing both but not now.
I cant help myself, Osimhen and Raphina.
I also have it on very good authority, that Sterling would have come to Arsenal if we got CL football but we got Gabriel, so not too much of a loss there, very similar.
Please provide a link to support that asssertion. I heard them say no such thing.
“I have it on very good authority…” but you can’t name this “authority”.
Right. Of course you do Reg.
Champions league participation is not permanent . Why would it be the most important thing for a player who was fighting relegation?
Every single club in the history of world doesn’t sign EVERY player they are after. What is the issue? That we didn’t sign a player we didn’t need for an over inflated price?
Yes, we do need more competition, but we have just signed Vieira, who can also play wide along with Saka, Martinelli, ESR, and even Jesus if needed. The priority right now is a LB and DM/CM. We haven’t got endless funds, so what we do have should be invested into those two positions.
Also, Saka and Raphinha play in the same position, hence he isn’t needed as Saka is already better, about 4/5 years younger, and far more potential.
Jonbo, I always enjoy reading your writings because they are full of logic which is a rare commodity among some people. Whenever I see your writing I expect common sense which is highly refreshing.
Interesting interpretation of logic, there. Only something that tells you what you want to hear? Let’s see what the season brings. According to the fake rumour. mongers Ornstein, Romano and Kevin Campbell Arsenal have been identified with every player on the market. Fake news, or what? More fool me for living in hope. I should just switch off and wait for August 6th, however even at my age I can’t help believing. At this stage we don’t know who else the club has lined up, nor do we actually know the quality of the players already brought in. But there definitely is room for improvement. You might enjoy supporting a team that features, Xhaka, Elneny, Cedric and ” the absolutely aweful Ben White” as one commentator recently described him, however these are not players who rate as champions, and isn’t that what the Champions League is all about?
But jonbo, you are missing the issue, SAKA HAS NOT SIGNED A NEW CONTRACT and isnt in a hurry to do so. He is our biggest asset and our biggest problem if he doesn’t.
Regarding Saka, ESR and Martinellii the process trusters shouldn’t be so smug about their long term loyalty. Only my speculation, of course. Smith Rowe could be the first to go, mainly because he is being relegated to a bit player who doesn’t seem to fit into Arteta’s game plan. He definitely is not a winger. I’m sure other clubs would be more than interested and he would learn a lot more playing under Klopp or Eddie Howe. Then there is Saka whose minders have always let it be known that they are ambitious for the kid. Similarly, Martinellii with his Italian roots will be tempted to see how he would look playing for one of the Milan teams or Juventus, not to mention Spain. How Arsenal manages to deal with these three will of course depend on their own ambitions and strong, decisive management.
Raphina is a good player but,he doesn’t feet in our system,he can do better in a team with long passes like chelsea and manchester united.secondly he doesn’t like Arsenal,we are his last option and this will affect our young team players,for me I wish him the better but I don’t want him around my lovely club,I think we should have been signing Tielemans and Martinez be4 we move to another forward players.I said it before and I repeat,I don’t no how Edu will get it!!It should be a matter of if you like us you can sign if you don’t move on.We should not repeat what cost us our top 4 spending all season on one player at the end he went to Juventus.Leeds united are using us to make good money on Raphina.Why westing time,go for Gnabry or hijack starling deal too.
No flaws, we did the same with Odegaard, Real wanted 45-50m so we had a try before you buy and then signed him for 32m. As the guys said above were were never 1st choice for Rafa and I can echo that we want players who want to be at our club for at least the next 3-5 seasons.
We could have spunked 65m and then when Barca came calling next year offering 40m and he wanted to go we would have lost him and money. I believe that is what will happen next season to Chelsea “if” they fail to challenge for anything.
Would have been nice to sign him for the right money and he was committed. But move on now theres Gnabry, Ascensio or Gakpo maybe who are all available
Yes I agree with fellow comments on this website we are promised big name signings linked with so many big names OK we have signed Jusus, but that was a done deal but the signings we have made a poor back up for our midfield, when we where promised top rate players two young signings not for now but for the future we have nearly 80 million in prize money plus 3% increase in ticket prices buy our players quicker.
I don’t agree with your premise re confidentiality, no one knew of Arsenal buying Vieira. I like Raphinha but it is not a priority position. Currently another defensive midfielder is required. I am happy with Vieira and Jesus. Definitely £60 million can be better spent, I expect a couple more signings in key positions. For Raphinha we were apparently third choice. We need players that love the club, we already have had enough journeyman chasing the money!
100% agree. A pure journeyman. Too risky. we have martinelli, saka, maybe Nelson and marquinhos to develop. Plus ESR up front and jesus that can play wide. And Pepe… This is not the area we need to splash the money on.
I didnt even finish reading ur article it is flawed and it says a lot about you.
Yet you cared enough to comment ?
I’d like to align with most of the commenters on here that I’m extremely glad we didn’t buy Raphina. He costs too much, is injury prone and didn’t appear to me as one who wanted to come to us. Chelsea can have him as I wouldn’t want anything or anyone threatening saka and martinellis positions , after all riess Nielsen is still in our employ and GJ can play in that position if the need arises. Let’s get another striker ( a tall one) , and a LWB then see howbtje season pans out . COYG
I am happy Chelsea got him.. The rumors of Afc being interested in Rafinha just never made sense.. Its like buying a car and you are homeless.. Afc have other positions needing immediate reinforcement.. The Partey, Tierney unreliability issues have to be dealt with first
Something of a relief frankly, that we are now set to NOT get RAPHINHA.
Paying far too much for a player who does not wish to come and then in a position in which we are not esp short, would have been a mistake.
Now. that mistake, it seems, cannot happen and so IMO its a blessing in diguise.
Though to SOME of us , just a blessing and no disguise whatsoever. I never thought he would come and said so often.
Agree with the comments on here. He himself didn’t fancy coming here and also it’s not a priority signing. His wages and transfer fee is about 65m and 250,000 repetitively which is too much IMO.
What’s your problem let him go😲😲 someone else will come more flexible than him with £40million… that was huge amount for him Gnabry is there we can take him with only £35million there is alot of options more than raphinha you seat back and wait to do there work they know…Arsenal never disappoint 🔥
You state, “I’m at an age where I been burnt enough not to believe anything till the I’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed.”
Yet sadly, you haven’t reached an age where you are self aware enough to realise that you have no idea about the details of transfers, whether what the media claims is actually true or even how transfers work in reality.
Yet still you choose to slag off the club for failings that neither you nor the media can evidence and whilst criticising others for speculating around transfers. This is exactly the sort of nonsense that destabilises the fanbase and causes unrest. Such negativity is in no way helpful to the club and is actually detrimental.
Detrimental ?
Man I have to say. I could not agree more here.
The comments seem to all be agreement that we “don’t need Raphinha anyway” but that is far from the point here. This way of doing business is all talk and no action. If we identified him as a target player and a first choice, then we should be in to get him. No team should swoop in last minute and pick him up and have us looking weak. We clearly have the money. This is what the board was crucified for when Wenger was in charge and we are still doing it in a transfer window that is “Set to be one of the best”.
People wonder why Arsenal is a laughing stock on the internet it is because of things like this. Not that this matters but there is a bit behind what everyone thinks about it. We are just in for players half assed, hence the term Rumour FC.
I am glad we are not getting this guy but you have to sit there and have some respect for yourself and think “If we were in pole position to get this guy, why did it change?”
Typical article from the usual suspect. I pretty sure author had another article titled amateur edu and arteta get mugged by leeds, overpaying for a player in a position we dont need had we bought raphinha.
I would also bet on that.
Yet you both comment ?
Am flummoxed Dan, why did they even comment??
Because they have a problem with Wenger who Dan defends and their loyalty lies with Arteta over the team because they want to be proven right that Wenger wasn’t good enough ,it’s a massive agenda that a few another posters have .
Sad really as they put their faith in a manager over the team .
Load of c…
You are obviously very ill-informed about my opinions on Wenger and Arteta, so here you go.
Wenger was a great manager in the first half of his tenure, but got caught up in the second half.
I am a supporter of the youth plan conceived by Josh Kroenke, Edu and Arteta, and I think we are doing fairly well according to that plan.
Therefore, I support Arteta stays in charge as long as that is the case.
So, yes I am overall positive at the moment.
So you were negative when Wenger was only finishing 4th but now positive when we finish 8th 8th and 5th ?
Sorry, It has been explained to you many times, what the difference is, but the problem seem to be in the understanding.
No your principle is flawed
When Wenger was finishing higher you were negative
Now we regress your positive ?
Which is your right
But you cant tell others they must be positive about 5th when you were not
Try reading this slowly, and see, if you understand:
1) I am not posistive about 5’th. I don’t think, that is where we ought to be. But we did it with a very young and talented team, so I think there is a good chance better things lie ahead
2) In Wenger’s later years clubs like Spurs and Liverpool, who used to be behind us were catching us up, because we were stuck in the same tracks like 10 years earlier, and it had to change IMO.
The notion that all managers should be judged on exactly the same past achievements is a total misunderstanding on, what a manager is judged on. A mangager is judged by the belief in the results, he can achieve going forward. Big, big difference, and it is a waste of time discussing, whether Arteta should be sacked now. That discussion can be relevant, if we get a bad start to the next season. At the moment, he has the belief of the owners, and as far as I can see, also of the majority of the fans.
So if your not positive about 5th you then understand why I am negative about 5th ?
Because they can’t have anything negative said about their club
So essentially because I think 5 th is not good enough it makes me less of a supporter
This is absolutely true, what annoys me is that sometimes, we haggle like idiots and still end up buying very low quality players.
Last season, we spent more money than any EPL club, yet none of the players we bought is a world class player .Even if we buy Jesus todays, it is not like we are still going to be in top four , this is a player that Man city believes is not the quality they need, they have offloaded him to their dumping ground Arsenal.
None of the players we bought last year was one of the best in their club, so why did we spend that much , do we really have scouts at Arsenal, do we have good squad analysts who give the technical report of the overall performance of the club and advice on where to strengthen and improve the squad.
I am so dismayed that this Arsenal board is so corrupt and inactive.
We have never made profit on any player , and we have always bought at expensive price after all the very quality players are bought
I think there is two reasons why we didn’t got this target, We didn’t have the enough money and the player and agent was probably hold out for a Champion League team
We just read yesterday how they are doing well in transfers now. Today a different story. Don’t let emotions swing based on one transaction either way. A window is a long process.
As a fan in his 76th year I have been around long enough to completely ignore the rumours spread by the sporting media. As many of our more rational subscribers have already indicated, as fans we have no idea whatsoever as to the negotiations going on behind the scenes and outwith the clutches of the media who have been known to create their own headlines to stimulate interest and circulation.The media did not identify the signing of Vieria until the deal was almost finalised which suggests to me that our recruitment team has been working efficiently behind the scenes, which is exactly should happen.As for missing out on Raphina, personally, I am delighted, as while he is a very talented player, he is highly temperamental and strikes me as someone who could be disruptive if he is not playing every game..The same applies to Richarlison.Jesus is a different kettle of fish would works his socks off to create space for others and during his time with Man City he has been a model professional on the pitch, displaying little in the way of histrionics when he has been substituted..Until Pepe is sold I do not feel we need to even contemplate bringing in another winger.
Well said Grandad (I’m older than you), perhaps some of our bench players from last season will get promoted to the squad full time, and with five subs we might even get to see the likes Omari Hutchinson who’s rumoured to be even better than Saka was at the the same age and has some very impressive stats.
The author’s use of the pronoun, we, is annoying and obnoxious. However, his assessment of the club’s business is accurate and valid.
Seems typical Arsenal. They cannot multi-task….plodders. A part of me expects an announcement they have finished doing business. The usual. I hope they don’t feck around with Martinez and just get him, and it seems we have lost Tielemans. We desperately need a midfielder to replace Xhaka, who WILL cost us a Champions League place. He did it with Emery when he seemed to deliberately give away a penalty against Brighton. Xhaka is BAD news for Arsenal. We must replace him.
ADMIN PAT, i think you might need to introduce the FICKLE FINGER OF FAITH AWARD on here real soon.the rowan and martin had it on their shows many years ago,and, i think it would be a good idea to introduce it here. i have never seen such changes in people, reminds me of a pendulum on a grandfather clock. this is a wonderful transfer window so far, i cannot believe that so many players have been signed. lets give the management team a chance here guys, meet you all back in september , then lets see what you have to say.have faith.
I’d rather support a team that tries to bargain the price down and once and a while miss out on a transfer than a team that pays the full price with foreign oil or gas money. As long as those “buyersteams” keep paying this, smaller teams will continue to ask those ridiculous prices like 65m for Raphinia and 150m for Rice.
£65m that’s Chelsea’s loss. I won’t be upset for not getting Raphinha. BTW a lot of Premier League defenders delt with him adequately. I don’t think he’s worth the price.
I am so happy we did not waste money on a player we don’t need.
We need Ruben Neves(45m pounds), Tielesman(30m pounds), Gnarby(40m pounds)and Martinez(35m pounds).
4 additions that will improve us further.
Gnarby Is top quality. He is very direct and aggressive.
Neves can anchor the midfield. He has the discipline to play there. He takes shots. A better player than Xhaka.
Tielesman has that close control. Always making forward passes. A goal threat as well.
Martinez a good left back who can also play DM.
Why pay 60m pounds for Raphinha? IN WHAT WAY IS RAPHINHA BETTER THAN PEPE?
I am so happy.
Arsenal fans don’t even know what we need.
No article on the Defensive and central midfield. Ruben Neves is an upgrade on Xhaka.
The club should sell Xhaka and bring in Neves.
The players you mention would definately prove the team. Not Getting Raphinha is not the end. It would have put us on cloud 9 for a few weeks and that’s it. We need players who really want to give 100 per cent to the team. Upwards and always arsenal.
Even if we offered treble Leeds asking price he would not have joined. He obviously isn’t into the Process/Project.
With Barcelona selling De Jong to Manure, they now or will have the funds to buy Raphina. What would be interesting though is if he joins Chelsea, the whole Barcelona thing was a smoke screen not to join us.
To be honest I’m glad anyway.
I’m more concerned about why hasn’t Jesus already signed. Transfer fee was agreed last week, players terms and conditions were agreed over a month ago and the medical was 2 days ago… and still not an announcement? So either something has shown up or someone else has banged on his door, and I’m assuming the latter.
Either way, again. I’m not fussed, as it isn’t what we need to play Artetaball.
Don’t get me started on Martinez… how many defensive players do we need to play on the left?
We have Gabriel, Saliba, Tesco, Tavares, Cedric and this is not including Xhaka and Saka as emergency back ups?
This whole transfer window makes no sense to me but that is only my opinion.
Can I also add that I am glad that we still have Eddie, but if the Jesus transfer falls through we will only have Nketiah and Balogun for next season. so they better have an ace up their sleeve as we will only have two recognised forwards for 22/23!? 😱
While I condemn the CockPeaks for their overcharging the Gunners a transfer fee cost price to agree to it before they’ll them to sign their Raphinha. But let me also at the same time extol Arsenal for their saying NO to the Leeds attempt to extort Arsenal of their hard gotten money. As they told Leeds we aren’t going to pay you that your overbloted transfer fee charged ud to sign your Raphinha. Therefore, we aren’t coming back for him with any improved fee to bid to sign him.
Leeds can sell their Raphinha to any top club side who they want. And who has money in excess of it to burn to sign him at the exaggerated transfer cost price fee they want from his signing.
But Arsenal who don’t have money in excess of it to carefree spend it to sign a new player they want, are wisely spending their summer transfer kitty carefully to sign a new player who they want to sign.
Let Chelsea therefore sign Raphinha this summer at the overboard cost price which Leeds have charged them to pay them to sign him. But which Arsenal have bluntly refused to pay saying they will never pay such a exubitant transfer cost price charged them to sign any new player whatsoever.
After all, is the player in question for their signing by Arsenal is already a finish article like the likes of CR7, Lionel Messi, Kum Aguero or even Thiery Henry when they were incredibly on top of their game?
Nevertheless, I think Arsenal have ,moved on from signing Raphinha this summer to look at other top quality grade RW targets in the transfer market. Who they will like to sign instead of them to pay a cut throat price transfer fee to sign Raphinha. Which if they have done, it will be unforgiven them by the Gooners.
What i dont get is, people on here saying we dont need Raphina, well people at the club obviously thinks we do. We physically tried to sign him. So you either trust the process or dont. There is a reason we are trying to sign him and you and i dont know the full story why.
I don’t trust the process…simples
Neither do a lot of the deciples with what we are reading.
Our offer was fare from Leeds United’s evaluation, which tells me he wasn’t an important prospect. We had enough time to increase our offer but decided to walk away.
While I condemn the CockPeaks for their overcharging the Gunners a transfer fee cost price to agree to it before they’ll allow them to sign their Raphinha. But let me also at the same time extol Arsenal for their saying NO to the Leeds attempt to extort them of their hard gotten money. As they told Leeds we aren’t going to pay you that your overbloted transfer fee charged ud to sign your Raphinha. Therefore, we aren’t coming back for him with any improved fee to bid for his signing .Leeds can sell their Raphinha to any top club side who they want. And who has money in excess of it to burn to sign him at the exaggerated transfer cost price fee they want from his signing.
But Arsenal who don’t have such money in excess of it to carefree spend it to sign a new player they want, are wisely spending their summer transfer kitty carefully to sign a new player who they want to sign.
Let Chelsea therefore sign Raphinha this summer at the overboard cost price which Leeds have charged them to pay them to sign him. But which Arsenal have bluntly refused to pay saying they will never pay such a exubitant transfer cost price charged them to sign any new player whatsoever.
After all, is the player in question for their signing is already a finish article like the likes of CR7, Lionel Messi, Kum Aguero or even Thiery Henry when they were incredibly on top of their game that can command a very high transfer fee?
Nevertheless, I think Arsenal have ,moved on from signing Raphinha this summer to look at other top quality grade RW targets in the transfer market. Who they will like to sign instead of them to pay a cut throat price transfer fee to sign Raphinha. Which if they have done, it will be unforgiven them by the Gooners.
Sorry but what exactly is a Cock Peak?
Signing for Chelsea on £115,ooo a week apparently so perhaps the attraction is CL rather than the wages we would likely offer?
Or you simply disagree with the evaluation and turned our focus elsewhere, nothing wrong with that.
Arsenal walked away from Raphinha, that price was too high for a player that has a 25million buyout clause if Leeds were knockout of the Premiership.
Martinez we need (forget Man U) hence the increase on 4th bid.
But after him we require height in the squad.
So I say the next 2 buys must cover RW/CM/ST and be 6ft plus and dominate the midfield like we use too.
Gnabry £25million scores much more then Raphinha
Gakpo plays across the front. Good buy and sting Leeds.
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes you walk away…
It reveals the delusion by some of our supporters not our transfer policy. We are not owned by an oil rich foreign government, which means we cannot buy players for any price at any time. I am happy with the transfer business conducted so far. It demonstrates there is a plan in place, and we are buying talented younger players that not only improves our squad but increases the chances of a greater revenue source in the future.
We can obviously do a lot and pay big money if we want to, but sometimes it better to walk away…
At this moment we don’t have a first 11 that can challenge for top 4 in that sense the strategy .. if there is one .. is a failure .. going after raphina ( who seems to want CL now) a player we don’t really need and not de jong (who it seems doesn’t) the kind of player we desperately need tells me we should be worried about the ambition and thinking that currently marks the people currently running the club
This is one we could not win, half the fan base wanted this signing and half thought it wasn’t right.
Maybe it was a blessing in disguise only time will.
It was the same with Luiz Suarez, half thought he was an over price indiscipline player that had no place at Arsenal, we not only would have won the season that year signing him, but his resale value actually went through the roof.
Now the rest is history.
Am not convinced we were that serious about Raphinha, it’s like we were just testing the water to see what happens, same with Luiz Suarez.
Once we are serious about a particular player we should break the bank to sign, what’s a 5 or 10 quid in a year time, only time will tell if Raphinha was the real deal
Raphinha didn’t want to come to Arsenal … he is not worth $60M for sure … Almost all deals we did last year were awesome … we had lot of deadwood , so we were compelled to do some panic buy and never had enough money
An article that claims to be able to show/conclude that there’s something wrong with Arsenal’s transfer dealings… but only shows that you can’t believe everything you see in the media.
The only “evidence” ever offered is that people were reading about Player X in the media and “pencilling them into their starting 11” based on that – and then suddenly it didn’t happen.
Well, what a shock – media outlet wrong about transfers! That never happened before 😉
All you’ve shown is that discussions about transfer rumours are a complete waste of time, other than discussing who might be a good fit, which positions need players – and even then, people need to realise that only the transfer team gets to decide who they buy/sell.
Bottom line: Don’t believe everything you read in the papers.
It’s an old saying for a reason.
This was reported by Skynews the same news outlet that is now reporting that Chelsea are going for Raphinha. I think news coming from are mostly reliable
Well said.
We have definitely got out of the starting blocks fairly quickly this time round. Whether or not the new arrivals will prove to be beneficial to the club will come to light in a few weeks time. The two areas of concern imo are the DM and attack. Even with Jesus I still believe we are short of goals upfront and definitely weak in the DM position
In my mind I believe that we are in a 3 way fight for 4th spot next season with Man U and Spurs. Personally I fear the Spuds more particularly with their additions of Bissouma and now Richarlison. They have a lot of goals and assists in their front two of Son and Kane. We have Eddie and possibly Jesus who is not prolific upfront with PL of an average of under 10 goals per season in an average 25 games per season. Maybe, as a long standing supporter, I’m expecting too much from a club building from roots up and some patience is required? I honestly believe top 4 will be tougher next season and maybe the club realise that and have chosen to give MA the time to build a team that can consistently compete in the future. Time will tell!!!
Im not surprised i have been saying it from the start Arsenal is doesnt have have in them to get this big deal over the line, Spurs paying 60mil for Richarlison we want to play games, we never catching up with them
What a joke we are !!
Central midfield is still our problem area.
Partey (injuries)
Xhaka (liability)
Torreira (wants to go, 1 year left))
Elneny (1 year left)
Maitland-Niles (1 year left)
Lokonga
Patino (inexperienced)
Azeez (inexperienced)
Sadly the Imposters from N17 have outdone us so far in this transfer window. We are so seriously, one quality midfield player, short. Xhaka has over the years cost us games and even fourth place under Emery. Bissouma was made for us, but Edu took his eye off the ball. Watching Edu on Arsenal.com he does not seems to be totally focused…too showy. Such a shame. Jesus is a good player, Viera I don’t know to be honest….I hope so. Tielemans, Madison and so many others would transform our team. Yet we still have Xhaka who cost us 4th place under Emery and is under a criminal investigation. We NEED at least two more TOP players, or City, Liverpool, Chelski and even the Spuds will leave us trailing in their wake. So far the window is JUST OK….we need much more. Sad really.
I think Raphinia’s demands that AFC change the club colours from red and white to yellow and green was the deal breaker. Seeing as we have 4 and he would have been the 5th Brazilian in the squad he thought this a reasonable request.
But alas.. Edu, although in total agreement with Rapha about the choice to change club colours was convinced by Mikel that the right decision would to be to keep the kit as is and to instead just play naked Jenna with the back room staff and party hard with pina colada punch provided by Stan Kroenke (apparently a speciality of his).
***now having read the above, you have consumed as about as much nonsense as is peddled by the daily rags that push such click bait.***
Chill peeps! The transfer window is just foreplay and although somewhat important the real measure comes with the performance during full Intercourse when the cigarette smoking starts (mid- end of season).
I’m short; He was too expensive and wanted to play for a bigger club, that’s life! As some have said it may not be too long but our young gunners for life become young ‘insert some other clubs related name here’ for life!;)
#thatslife