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There are no excuses for Arsenal not buying a defender

It’s no exaggeration to say that the next few days will decide Arsenal’s season. At best it’s naive to start the campaign with the same back 4 or 5 as 12 months ago (weaker if you consider the Koscielny situation), unless the assumption is that Chambers will improve us?

If Raul Sanllehi is telling the truth that our budget is bigger than 45 million then why should we fail to buy a defender? If money’s not an issue, the only other reason can be that Unai Emery does not think there is a centre back or full back available that is better then what he has, which must be a sackable offence?

The excitement of buying Pepe perhaps overshadows the real success of our recruitment team, getting Lille to accept a payment plan, the reason we couldn’t get close to getting Zaha.

Gooners might think because the likes of Sky are quoting our current outgoings over 100 million that suddenly Stan Kroenke is showing ambition. Yet break down our figures closely and it still looks like we have a limited transfer kitty.

We replaced Ramsey with someone on loan and brought in a defender, loaning him back to St. Etienne, meaning the majority of the fee is not paid now. Two deals where value was prioritised over making the squad as strong as possible.

The Ospina money was free money as we brought back Martinez, while we just recouped 9 for Beilik. Meanwhile our wage bill is lower than this time last year. So, if we are outlaying 18 million a year to get Pepe, there should be more left over for new faces.

Remember it’s only the window in the UK which closes Thursday, so we still have the option to make money.

Whatever you believe the budget is, there is zero reason we should be starting with a worse backline then we saw in Baku, yet expect different results

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73 Comments

    3. Sue I’m sure they just try to make it as difficult for gunners as possible
      I can rarely listen to any punditry anymore it’s so fking biased
      Ruins all the game build up and normally match of the day aswell
      Hopefully we prove them all wrong soon and they can stf up

      1. Yes Solly, I turn it on just as it’s about to start.. turn over at half time & when it’s finished ?
        I like listening to Martin Tyler (on Sky) and sometimes even Gary Neville is quite amusing, but BT… urgh!!!

    1. I bet you love watching those thunder thighs motoring forwards eh Sue? They don’t call hum the beast for nothing. ☺

  3. Now is Emery really counting on having Sokratis and Chambers as our first choice back pair? Holding is yet to return and there’s no guarantee that he’ll be back to his best. It might come to that point where we’re desperate to end Saliba’s loan prematurely

  4. @Sue and since that day kolasinac has been rubbish, I really don’t know what you like about him as a footballer but I know what you like about him as a fine sexy muscle man???

  5. I think it’s pointless trying to evaluate the financial position of the club unless you are a director sitting on the board with full access to the finances. No one really knows how our deals have been structured, which are being paid for this year or the next, how much is being paid, how much is being saved, etc. It’s all guesswork.

    I do agree though there are no excuses for not fixing the defence. We shipped in tens of goals last season and it would be absolutely unacceptable to wing it with the same personnel again. Guys like AMN and Mustafi have proven they have certain limitations that do not allow us to depend on them even for a simple backpass or clearance. Changes are very necessary at the back!

    1. Quantic Dream, you’re right we don’t have access to the financial figures and now that Arsenal is owned by one person, that person doesn’t have to disclose that information publicly, in fact he doesn’t have to answer to anyone. Looking at the way we do transfers it’s clear we don’t have that much to spend otherwise we would’ve bought players in much more quickly.

      1. What is different in the way manu is doing business and the way we are doing business. They just agreed for Maguire after how many months of negotiation. We are played for fool by the press about the 45m TF. When the club exposed their lies they are defending themselves now with installment crap. Buying Pepe showed that we have much more.

        1. MN utd have the worst negotiations team. They have overpaid for every transfer done in the past 5 years. £500K Sanchez? £80M for Maguire? £50M Wan Bissaka? C’mon man..all they know how to do is desperately throw money at problems and inflate the whole transfer market for everyone.

          1. You are right but my response is to Welbeck suggestion that it took long time to complete a deal because we don’t have more money. I was simply letting him know that manu with shit load of money didn’t get deal a week into their interest on a player. And that they also pay in installments

          4. Point accepted Mobella but I’d also like to point out United’s pursuit of Maguire shows they identified their target and didn’t stop until they’d acquired him. Also you and Quantic are right: United, Chelsea, City and now Liverpool are responsible for over inflated prices. That’s what happens when teams backed by foreign money, try to buy their way to the top ?

  6. We have 3 days to seal any defensive signings. Is that a possibility with arsenal?

    Raul please blow my mind and get us Tierney and Upamecano and I will love you forever!!!!

    Imagine a team like this.

    Aubameyang.. Lacazette.. Pépé..

    Ceballos.. Torreira.. Willock..

    Tierney.. Sokratis.. Upamecano.. Bellerin..

    Leno.

    All I see is speed speed speed!!!! Young, balanced and skillful players. Goals, creativity, work rate!!
    This team will blow almost anyone apart!!

    Please Raul make my dream come through

    1. I Like this squad…But right now we have a bid for Rugani on loan being challenged by Wolves. Since they seem interested in a defender, we should offer a trade-in for Boly for Mustafi and we can pay them what they want and withdraw from Rugani (He want Arsenal over wolves), Then we can go out there and look Upamecano options (I’m sure we can sign a quality defender with 15-40M as backup. So we have Boly and Sokratis as a mainstay with Holding returning. We can sell some players in the centre – Xhaka, Elneny and Mkhitaryan – Trow away prices to finance these changes. Then we plan long term going forward – Sokratis, Aubameyang will be in wrong side of thirty and Ceballos will be going back home. We Should start planning for next purchases now, even buy options in January

        1. Ceballos might decide to stay if Real Madrid buy Van De Beek from Ajax; so please make him feel welcome.

    1. Good stuff sue
      The guy wants to leave and they’ve stopped being silly with his price
      Get it done move on

      2. Every club is being silly with valuation of their players why should we be different. Is Maguire with 75m? Upamecano worth 70m?. We are the only giving away players for cheap. Even fringe players in other clubs are being sold for far more players than ours. And we fans are part of the problem.

        1. Another good point, a few posters have mentioned this before.

          How comes our rejects go for knock down prices as if we need to raise money quickly to pay the bailiffs?!?

          1. Could you imagine the look on their faces?!!!
            We’re going to have to bring in one now surely! That’s interesting with Jenko, if it is a loan!

          2. We shouldn’t be loaning Jenkinson again tell forest to stump up the cash I mean how many loans has he been on ? And selling Jenkinson means we’re keeping Mustafi ? haha it would be classic Sue ? with option to buy over a 8 year period ?

          3. ? good old Jenko, at this rate, he’ll be an Arsenal player for life!!!
            Haha you’ve got it all sorted, maybe you should have applied when Sven left ?

          4. Haha I’m not sure I would have identified Rugani or Tierney all summer long Sue ? still can’t believe utd paid 80 mil for Maguire that’s absolute madness ? haha yeah give him new contract and just keep loaning him out ? do you think Mustafi will leave? Emery can’t think he’s actually a good player can he ?

          7. 80m… wow!! Will he live up to the hype? (I hope not ???)
            I really don’t know about Mustafi..maybe UE does like him, just the same wayas Xhaka.. maybe he sees something completely different to all of us.. although with those specs, it should be crystal clear!
            I read that Laca/Pepe will be on the bench Sunday, how true? Who knows…

          8. And souness thinks we’re not good enough for top 4 ok that’s his opinion! But how does Harry Maguire make utd strong enough? They have a pub league manager, the midfield is average, Paul pogba doesn’t even want to be there nor does Lukaku they still have Ashley young Marcus Rashford thinks he Cristiano Ronaldo Juan Mata over the hill Alexis Sanchez over the hill and far away and Lingard is as average as they come and matic is as mobile as tick tock from return to Oz and De gea is more like loris karius these days have I made a valid point Sue ? So young Edward up front with Aubameyang on the wing ?

          9. Omg Kev, I couldn’t have said that better myself!! Bravo young man ??? young?? Where did that come from hahaha!!
            Souness drives me crazy, I try not to listen to what baloney they all come out with!! The only Manc I think is any good is Lindelof.. although that probably only comes down to the fact that I detest United!! (Tick tock ? love it!!) ? what an imagination you have, Kev!!
            Eddie might be going on loan – Leeds or Bristol City…

          10. So all of a sudden Harry Maguire makes utd a force ? He comes in with his massive chin and thick hair and takes all they’re problems away ? And apparently he has the van Dijk effect never heard such utter nonsense he’s not anywhere near van Dijks level van Dijk with swine flu is a better defender than Maguire! I could pick 20 centre backs I would have over Maguire for less money! I can’t wait to see utd fail this season see the look on his miserable face! Haha cheeky ? lol well I am imaginative Sue ?? how about DC derby county link up with Rooney ?

          11. I could read your descriptions all day long ???
            Yes I’m really surprised about that, thought he was doing ok at DC… what will they get out of it? No fans coming to the match dressed as Shrek anymore!!
            Will he play for them? And score from the halfway line ?

          12. Apparently the roo is coming in January you excited Sue ? let’s hope we don’t draw derby in the FA cup as he always bloody scores against us ? so what’s your thoughts on Rugani Sue he kinda looks a bit slow ? and finally this Tierney craziness will come to an end this Thursday thank god as I can’t deal with anymore articles on him ?

          13. It would be January, so he can do his pantomimes ?
            Tbh I don’t know a great deal about him, you’re the go to for info.. I go by what you say ?
            But if we end up with him, then it’ll be non stop about his injuries, fitness, return date etc!!!

          14. Haha yeah the Shrek tour ? I’ve seen plenty of KT not so much Rugani anytime I’ve watched Juve he wasn’t playing ? I’d prefer the other fella at Leipzig he’d have more of a presence but ATM Don’t see that one happening.. I always worry about Italians in the PL they don’t have a great track record if you take away di canio and Zola ?

          15. Bayern Munich in for Joe Wilock so tell Bayern 100 million and he’s yours and you must take Mustafi as well or no deal ? ?

  10. I believe we will get a Defender by Thursday evening

    I don’t want to think about another season with Mustafi

  11. Some of you are talking like a pillock Just WAIT AND SEE then you can say what you want I think the board are doing a good job they know more and are better than us at doing there job

    1. Agree.
      When the window started nobody thought that we would spend over £70 million on a player. We were all quoting the £40-45 million budget that was just based on rumour

      We don’t know what goes on behind the scenes. Let’s see what happens by Thursday. Maybe nothing, maybe something

      We owe Emery and the board that especially after doing so well so far

      1. I hope they sign a quality CB. Signing Pepe is great, but means little for the defence. They have had the whole window to sign someone. They knew Kos would be going. They know Mustafi is a liability. They knew Saliba was going back to France. I hope you are right but it should have been sorted by now. How is Mustafi actually still playing for us. It’s like a bloody Greek Tragedy. It doesn’t make sense.

        1. @Sean……I was chuffed to bits with the Pepe signing, and like everyone else was on a real high. That high has been steadily waning.
          I keep thinking how Pea, Lacazette and Pepe will feel knocking in the goals only to see the clowns behind them undoing all their good work.
          We need a strong CB now, not January, not next summer…..NOW!!

      2. That’s 72 million over five years, Arsenal are now catalogue shoppers. We never had that much upfront.

  13. Wolves are challenging us for Rugani Loan. We should ask them for a Boly trade-in with Mustafi for us to withdraw from Rugani (They can only get their man if we get out of the deal as Rugani want’s Arsenal) then we can pay them extra cash, say 5-12M for the deal. Then we go looking for a cheaper option than Opamecano, We can even get this option – someone 25-29 years old who has a final shot and is performing ok.

    We can sell throw away in the centre. We release Elneny, Xhaka and Mkhytaryan – Get about 15-20 for them.

    We start January with

    Aubameyang.. Lacazette.. Pépé..

    Ceballos.. Torreira.. Willock..

    Tierney.. Sokratis.. Boly.. Bellerin..

    Leno.

  14. It would be criminal of the management team to think we do not need any further defensive signings.

  15. Will this Dauot Upamecano happen? And if he does, @20 year old in AFC defense-line, would he not be a bit young to strongly mann or co-mann the centreback position in games for Arsenal in the PL against older than him players who are strong coming at him to attack? Or he’s such a gifted talent CB endowed with strength and power despite his being a young man?

      1. Also think beyond this season and what these young players can become and the potential length of their careers.
        Why is Emery agreeing to invest in the future, when he may not have one himself? If he does not meet the expectations of Arsenal’s Management and Board, the option to extend his contract into the last year. Maybe he thinks more of the future of the Club than himself?

      2. He’s not as good as De Ligit. We’ve just bought Saliba for 30mill. We don’t need another young CB that simply put, is not going to be at the immediate quality necessary right off the bat.

      3. Juve have Chiellini, Bonucci to fall back on if De Ligit struggles initially. We have Mustafi, Sokratis and Chambers.

  16. Bouboukar Kamara was another option who we could potentially get for around $20m with his contract expiring next year.

    Upamecano would be the dream though!

  17. Fixtures

    Sun 11 Aug 2019
    Newcastle
    Vs
    Arsenal

    Sat 17 Aug 2019
    Arsenal
    Vs
    Burnley

    Sat 24 Aug 2019
    Liverpool
    Vs
    Arsenal

    Sun 1 Sep 2019
    Arsenal
    Vs
    Spurs

    Sun 15 Sep 2019
    Watford
    Vs
    Arsenal

    Sun 22 Sep 2019
    Arsenal
    Vs
    Aston Villa

    Mon 30 Sep 2019
    Man Utd
    Vs
    Arsenal

    That’s our 1st seven games with our current squad how many points can we be hoping for looking at those fixtures..

    Intresting times ahead

  18. Well your Article is 100% right. What I do not understand about Arsenal is that we are two days away from the end of the transfer window. They knew Kos was going. The knew Mustafi is poor. They knew Saliba was going back to France for a year. I’m sure almost everybody on this thread is scatching their head. How has it taken so long? Have we blown it? Phew. What’s going on?

  20. What did Einstein say: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result”. Well, there you have it!

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