According to the the British media Unai Emery is demanding that Arsenal sign at least one world class defender to strengthen our porous back line.
The four defenders reportedly on the radar are Leicester City’s Harry Maguire, Tottenham’s Toby Alderweireld, Chelsea’s Kurt Zouma and Getafe’s Djene Dakonam.
Apparently, Emery has seen how Liverpool have been transformed since the signing of Virgil van Dijk and wants to replicate that sort of purchase with us.
The big problem, however, is that Emery will only have a budget of £40 Million if we fail to reach the Champions League rising to £70 Million if we do qualify.
What remains a real option is the potential sale of Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Shkodran Mustafi with any funds being raised added to the transfer budget.
So, what are our chances of signing any of those defenders?
Kurt Zouma is currently on loan with Everton and will most likely return to Stamford Bridge in the summer. If the transfer ban on the Blues is lifted then a deal may be possible but if it remains in place it is hard to see how they will sanction any sales.
Toby Alderweireld is a possibility due to his release clause but would he really sign for us? Alderweireld would want a huge wage and genuine prospects of major silverware and would probably join a club more likely to deliver on both of those requirements.
Harry Maguire would cost a fortune, there is no way Leicester City will not demand a king’s ransom and I reckon he will be priced out of our reach.
Djene Dakonam is probably the most likely acquisition, he is experienced and has been pivotal to Getafe’s excellent season in La Liga.
The bottom line is that under the right circumstances we could sign any of the four named players but it will not be easy.
This whole budget thing ,is it true ?
Because there’s been a lot of media coverage about our spending power .
If it’s close to being true then I’m lost for words ,and we will be struggling for the foreseeable future .
Well the reported budgets have been absolutely spot-on for the last 2 transfer windows, so I see no reason to assume that this one is wrong.
That’s a fair point, why did you have to go and say a thing like that, now we know the BS rumors.
Nobody knows how much budget he will get only them upstairs and now is not the time to reveal it. It is like poker you do not show your hand too soon or you LOSE
Only alderweireld is world class, maguire is good also and if he stays consistent could be too. Zouma and dakonam aren’t what we need. One defender won’t transform is anyways, our problems run deep and we need a complete overhaul to transform us.
Every player is WC provided he isn’t playing for Arsenal. Admin why do you allow BS of article on JA. I saw it first on goal and my reaction is what the duck. Zouma world class?Djene? Even Toby and Maguire can’t be called WC. They are good defenders.
Alderweirld is aging. Maguire’s aerial ability is excellent, but he would be very expensive
Zouma is good, but Chelsea might not want to sell because of their ban. Whereas Dakonam is too small for a CB and we already have that technical CB type in Pleguezuelo
Konate looks perfect, but Arsenal have to compete with many top clubs
have you ever seen dakonam play before . He is very good , while maguire is good he is over hyped and too expensive . so lets be realistic here on our targets .
you are right though about a complete over haul .Arsenal lack balance as a team .
our wing play is wanting , our midfield wanting as well , our defenders are more open than a prostitute on peak season .there is no cohesion in the team and lets be honest 2 attackers up top is not working anymore . they should compete for a spot .
We should also give the youth a chance . so far the have been doing a good job .
We dont need to spend uncontrollably to fix our problems . we just need to spend wisely and get rid of a lot dead wood in this team .
We need cd, we need winger w have basie, speed and dribble, and another one cm and dm. My arsenal will win league next season
Them gals sure are winners all-right. Some of them ain’t half bad to look at neither, I guess that’s why the shirts are two sizes smaller than the wearer. The one doing the punditry, she knows her stuff and she’s a looker too, most AFC fans would kill for a partner like her.
Spurs will Never sell to us. They don’t want anybody snaking out of the club like sol Campbell did.
So we’ll have to dig deeper, maybe one of the youngsters that got promoted from the championship? Or reached the playoffs?
Alderweireld will soon be 31.Maguire is too expensive and we missed the boat when he was at Hull.Zouma has impressed me this season and will no doubt play for Chelsea next season.Dakonham is the interesting one.At 5 10″ , he is too small to make it as a centre back in the PL, but as a right back ,where he has played on occasion he would be ideal for us.A very quick ,intelligent player who loves defending.He played Suarez and Messi as well as I have seen any defender in Spain this season .A much better defender than Bellerin or any other defender on our books.
Why is Arsenal struggling for funds to buy world class players? Why did silent Stan Kroenke bought Arsenal ? Things are really going down the drain for our club and the so called owners are keeping quiet as usual. Arsenal need a complete transformation, not just defenders, otherwise next season could be worse.
Arsenal management seem to b d only problem of d club,
In Jan.’19,arsenal was in good position on league table on a good run
The team shld have been strengthened considering the small squad;the injuries; the many competition we are involved in.Strategically ,buying players (2or3) would have paid immensely
We wld have fresh legs and options going into d busiest and decisive end of d season and d these players would blend in well for a high level performance to kick start next season which is necessary in d league as we have seen….by the summer the Europa league cup could have been achieved, champions league place secured;their maybe need for little or no addition in d summer with a ready blended squad for next season.What a loss in strategic management!
The coach has identified one major problem with arsenal-d lack of physical dominance, d others includes pace and power(high energy and mental toughness) in d team…these are factors necessary too compete in d premiership. A player must have at least two of the three to thrive in the English league blending the skill,technical and tactical abilities e.t.c and if u measure arsenal players on this scale most in d present squad don’t measure up at all.
Set pieces and shooting and ability to win one on one challenges are ceremonial and poor.The defense see too many balls and are always under siege as they are always exposed by the lazy forwards and mid fielders who are not good markers and ball winners (when they mark u can see no intent to win ball back).U don’t need all d big boys to do well(yet u need to spend much more than the tight and selfish arsenal board)if d scouting is reliably efficient y can’t we unearth the next Messi,Rinaldo and others?The arsenal board need to wakeup :money(invested) is d seed of money(great profits)
I think the best scenairo would be to lose agaist valencia brighton and burnley to give Emery more chance of getting some funds i dont think it will happen that he will get much money off of this kroenke so if i was Emery i would resign he seems a decent manager too me at least he tries too win not like wenger who run the club as a hobby and i think we need too be more of a shambl3s too what we are now for this kroenke too maybe sell the club
I agree with you’re part of you’re post but the wenger hobby thing is not true ,he breathed football 24 hours a day and he said it took over his life ,for all the crappy last few seasons just remember what he did for our club and the players and teams that we saw and loved .
He bought us and England as a whole the best team to ever grace the premiership and for that I’m proud .
First part *
I think Alderweireld’s head has been turned already, I think he knows his next destination. If it was just money then he’d stay at Tott, so a bigger club turned his head, poss Liv, city or utd, or he wants a European move. Maguire, he’s tough and a good reader of the game, but you need to get a player that you know will hold his own when it is just himself and a couple others back. He looks a man mountain when he has lads all working around him, or he did at the last tournament. Read that about the Togo guy, I never seen him play so there you go. The Che boy, or is he man yet, he’s been around forever and Che are still waiting ( the one they sold – can’t remember his name Ike or something, he’d be better, but not the answer). VVD just has super physical qualities, and he can use his brain also, he’s the defensive definition of T Henry. I want one, rattle – floor, I want one now or am gonna scream!
To xxnofx thanks for your reply you have too remember what wenger inherited a great defence wright berkamp parlour it was Tony Adams who turned the tide in wengers first full season after the blacburn defeat at home where he held a meeting and told viera and petit too help the defence out more not wenger he never told berksmp what too do or wright or the defence these players were all winners Henry had natiral talent they were all given the will too win by Adams Keown and co not by wenger in my opinion if he had inherited the squad that George Graham inherited wenger would have got us relegated
@Raddy 7, Arsene worked on the team he inherited. We know which direction that team was going. Viera and petit weren’t world class when he got the job. Arsene transformed the habit of the club and bring in his own tactics which proves to be the best for some time in England. Arsene worked on the team and not the player u mentioned.
If Arsene had this team last season, he would be in top four comfortably.
Pls which tram
Team