Arsenal have been linked with the Celtic defender Virgil Van Dijk since the end of the summer transfer window and it looked odds on that he would be moving to the Emirates in January, but it seems that Arsene Wenger is playing it cool so far.
It has been rumoured that Celtic are holding out for £10million before letting the Dutchman move to the Premier League, but the player himself has now basically issued a come-and-get-me plea to the Gunners. “It’s [Van Dijk’s time at Celtic] gone awfully quickly,” he was quoted as saying in De Telegraaf.
“I have recently been thinking a bit about it [his career]. I am now 23 and have played at Willem II, FC Groningen and Celtic and am now linked to clubs like Arsenal. Isn’t that great?
“There are a lot of clubs interested, but Celtic is holding on to a big transfer fee. The club is clear: they don’t want to let me go in the winter, because we’re playing for four trophies.
“I understand the point of view from the club and I see it as a compliment that they don’t want to let me go. But we have to be realistic. If there’s a nice club from England, we have to talk. I want to develop myself as a player, that’s for sure.”
With half the transfer window gone already, Wenger really needs to start making moves for the two (at least!) players we need or we will end up disappointed yet again come the final day of January. Now both Sissolo and Van Dijk have expressed the desire to join us, I would be quite happy if Wenger just went ahead and paid the asking price for both of them.
Who agrees?
I’ve read Debuchy is out for 3 months. I feel sick.
Hope he returns healthy as soon as possible
And please no bang or boom.
Well hopefully, since Arteta is out too, it will mean we get more than one signing.
I don’t trust any of these rumors
I read today of a double swoop for Gundogan and Hummels. I’ve read today about Reid, Van Dijk.
With Debuchy out for a while, we must get someone of top quality
I honestly don’t know much about Van Dijk.
Interested to read other people’s comments on him.
I think the lack of business is making sites make sh@t up to keep viewers coming. I think I heard Messi say he wanted to come to Arsenal! Van Dijk is a great player for Celtic, I doubt a coach would let a fan favorite disappear mid season.
As a Celtic fan, I will be sad to see Van Dijk leave. As an Arsenal fan, I hope he comes as quickly as possible! He’s tall, quick, athletic, and scores goals too. He’s also good enough on the ball to play in the DM role occasionally. I would easily pay 10 million for him. 12 million may be a bit of hesitation though.
He is not what arsenal need! why gamble on a player that may turn out to be good.
what arsenal need is proven talent dont you think?
Debuchy and Arteta out for almost the rest of the season
Jenkinson doesn’t even have it in his contract that we can recall him
Poldi let go
Sonogo let go
We sign a 17 who has only played 6 games in a average league
You couldn’t make this S%#$ up
Who allows a buisness to be run like this
Here comes a panic cheap buy
Why? Is Sanogo or Podolski a RB? Last time I have checked we had 2 RB in the team. Where is the drama? We played 15 games without Debuchy so far. I am sure we can cope. And Jenkinson is not the savior. I am sure you don’t watch WHU games because he is hardly the best man on the field.
Regarding Jenkinson tell that to Garth Crooks.
He has a valid point, you are simply being obtuse making the reference to RB’s when he mentioned strikers.
He mentioned 3 defenders before he spoke about strikers but you chose to try to make him look stupid.
We currently have Giroud as the fully fit 1st team striker, super Sanchez playing from anywhere has scored a lot more goals and don’t talk about injuries, even if you take them game for game Giroud is dead in comparison.
We have Akpom who has no PL experience, once again anorexically thin up front.
Jenks has been instrumental in the Hammers success this season but you felt the need to shoot him down.
Where’s the drama? The drama is that we are 13 points off the top of the table and outside the top 4 with top 4 teams to play and we haven’t beaten any of them so far this season!
Wenger may bring Kim again
Wenger get Van Dijk and youngster Beilek.
Call back Jenkinson.
Wenger should also keep tab on Dortmund. Lot of stars like Rues, Gundogon, Hummels, Bender etc are going to leave in near future. all are affordable and wages are also managable.
We cant miss Rues.
I also feel this season lots of other teams like Manu, Southampton, Spurs, Everton, liverpool are fighting for 3rd and 4th spot, so wenger might buy for his 4th place trophy, which we might lose if 1 defender is injured.
We cannot recal Jenkinson we forgot to put it in the contract, no I’m not kidding Arsenal have confirmed this on sky sports
another reason to disslike Wenger
lol u mad?
nah, having a blast
Bud you jackass you would not say that to me personally so don’t do it on here, check sky sports the CONFIRM ARSENAL DO NOT HAVE A RECALL OPTION
You are making things up. Who the hell said we forgot to put in on the contract? It was part of the agreement that we couldn’t call him back or else West Ham wouldn’t have taken him. As you can see it was a good call on West Ham’s part.
Check jenkinson on sky sports it’s not a lie
Personally and statistically he is behind both chambers and bellerin
Jenkinson is good on the ball but lacks disapline, tackling and heading
This is a lie. The loan contract allows Jenkinson to be called back. Wenger said he will not use the option. He did not used it when Debuchy was first injured, he will not do it now. Why call back Jenkinson who can play EVERY GAME at WHU when he does not have a guarantee first place. Bellerin and Chambers are just as competent and they had trained with the team until now. Arsenal best interest is to have Jenkinson play as much as possible.
Budd you need get your facts right, on sky sports they asked jenkinson and he said he doesn’t think so, so sky sports contacted Arsenal and they confirmed they do not have the option to recall him
Check sky sports before you blindly follow Wenger
LOL……and the corollary being it would not be a waste of time arguing with a rabid AOB like your good self?
John, “he doesn’t think so” means what? Mind posting the link to the story referencing? I don’t see what you describe based on my searches of sky sports news and jenkinson, and that includes his tv interview. I’ll tell you what though, “he doesn’t think so” doesn’t mean that Arsenal “forgot” to put in the recall clause. This is professional big money contracts reviewed by highly paid barristers/solicitors. Do you really think they forgot? Budd’s probably right, it was likely negotiated.
Smile it was on sky sports this afternoon and again at 1930. I’m not into making things up mate, a bit to old for that childish BS , I’m arsenal through and through but I’m also straigh and if the club is taking the P I will say so, I won’t do a Budd and polish the hairs on werngers arsen
Most of what you say may be true – the “forgot” bit is absolutely made up. Why would WH or any team for that matter plan a season around a player who can be recalled instantaneously at the whim of the parent club? There is nothing unusual going here – move along.
Lampard ?
le Coq ?
Van Dijk will definitely do as a depth investment, dude has big potential and he can grow under the wings of kos & BFG.
Man Dick! Just what we need…more potential.
We might potentially win something! Potentially the champions League or the interplanetary toto Super Ultra Infinite Cup..
Lets say this, it will be very tough reaching the wenger trophy. I am an Arsenal fan by heart but i want Southupton to end up in a Cl place.
City
Chelski
Southupton
Inferiour not so mighty Arsenal.
Wouldn’t mind seeing Southampton getting a position but I would much rather them have the playoffs and we qualify directly with at least a 3rd place finish…
I dont want to see Arsene archieving his goal, Southupton ending infront of us would be a good reminder to him and the Wengerits that we are not good enough and that we need to do better.
Folks are saying whether Van Dijk can adapt to the BPL or not, why not??? Wanyama and Forster came from Celtic as well and they seem to be doing very well with Southampton in England to me. Also from what I’ve been reading about him is that he has had a bigger impact on Celtic than the previous 2 mentioned so for that reason I think we should get him. He’s young and could be the perfect long term replacement for Per…
We need to actually buy someone before they can adapt , personally Wenger says poss two in , the 17 yr old is one so maybe 1 more cheap buy
I don’t know awful lot of him but the little I’ve read about him is that he’s very average..
Sissoko and van djk are my two prefered choices as we are not going to get kondogbia or schneiderlin. We sell tv5 who was always injured for 15m but wont pay 10m for a young defender even though we all know how difficult it is to find a good cb available. Dont get it! 25m and we could have both of them.
We wont make a move for him every club knows that Arsenal are is a desperate situation and they will hike the price which is why all this stuff should have been sorted before the window opened so as to just spend the month finalising the details the board and wenger are inept and have NO ambition David Dein not wenger gave us the 49 unbeaten squad since he went our club is run by idiotic amateurs
Van Dijk, Laporte, Dybala, and Carvalho are just a few of the young talents I think we should be looking to bring in. Yes they might look average now or the price tag might not fit the end product yet but these guys are young and the talent is definitely there and what better place for them to come and fully develop that than with us…
I don’t know why I care about this so much in all honesty, but I cant help but get angry at the way things are being run Im going to join the BSM and try and get involved that way F*CK KROENKE AND F*CK WENGER
I’m amazed at why true arsenal fans would thumb you down, I guess its easier than actally coming up with a decent argument against you
There are those that would thumb donanything they think is adverse to their total support of the bord and Wenger mat I used to believe in AW and the board but season after season of lies and rubbish have left me with no alternative. I suppot the club and the institution that theclub stands for NOT the money mongers or our once clever and tactically adept manager who no longer seems to have lost the plot, scared of chang???? support arsenal seems to be the battle cry
Mate – being amazed that anyone would have the temerity to disagree with you is probably the precise reason why not many listen to you and you get the thumbs down. I am not in love with the board nor overly enamoured with some of Wenger’s dealings/decisions but I still find myself disagreeing with nearly everything you say – and if it is not the content of what you say then it will be the manner in which you say it which will leave people non-plussed – all fire and brimstone with little substance or logic.
Everyone who can should join the BSM. If you want wenger out, why wouldn’t you?
Dijk WHO?!
Arteta out – so what .. No big deal ! Le coq, flam, Ramsey, etc..
Debuchy out- slightly better than bellerin ( only through experience) but no big deal.. We got chambers ..these are Arsene’s thoughts..
Problem is was and has been since vermalen and jenks left is that an injury to kos makes us extremely vulnerable and weak..
Gibbs is made of ice and Monreal has to cover along the back line if we have other injuries..
NO MANAGER WORTH THEIR SALT WOULD ALLOW THEIR TEAM TO BE SO DEPLETED …
I believe Arsene will sign a player or 2 – it’s a shame it will never be the type that will make us stronger.. (Unlike city..) ffs even sunderland are showing more ambition!
Phil-thomsons-nose
I think you forget last years January transfer window when we were desperate for a striker what happened nothing f-all happened, the only diferece this January that he has admitted that we do need reinforcement wether we will get someone and if we do will it be a deacent player or a injured unknown player, one thing is for shore we are always short of expectations always.
Tas
It’s just my personal belief that he will sign someone.. 2 players out for 3 months..it’s a crisis!
Like I said – any manager worth their salt would not allow their club to become so depleted..if arsene doesn’t strengthen.. Then Im afraid top 6 never mind top 4 will be a bridge too far- and it still could be even with a signing or 2?
A 17 year old can’t replace Patrick viera and expect to come in and hit the ground running in one of the most competitive leagues in the world..
I will put my nose on the block if we don’t sign AT least 2 come end of this month.
Be careful phill you will have budd after you, if he can get up off his knees in front of wenger( and no he’s not praying )
Don’t know Bud but that made me chuckle lol
Some of you are in for a shock.You need to lower your expectations or risk heart attacks. I was expecting we will sign only one player this January and seems it is Bielik.Not expecting Wenger to sign anyone else.Unless ofcourse City give us a good spanking on Sunday.
OFF TOPIC:
From 2003/04 ManUtd spent 301.95 mn pounds net. won 5 titles and 1 UCL.
From 2003/04 Chelsea spent 582.2 mn pounds net. won 3 titles and 1 UCL.
From 2007/08 ManCity spent 503.95 mn pounds net. won 2 titles and 0 UCL.
From 2007/08 Liverpool spent 173.38 mn pounds net. won 0 titles and 0 UCL.
From 2004/05 Arsenal spent 52.85 mn pounds net. won 0 titles and 0 UCL. But only team to maintain UCL qualification in this period(that is the only achievement).
Clearly this is not a level playing field. It is not reasonable to expect Arsenal to compete with these teams. To compete or play at same level we clearly need to spend at least 150 mn pounds.
So spend some f@cking money already!
It’s no coincidence teams who invest end up winning things..
Jeez
What is it with the “jeez”? Everyone knows that the more you spend the more chance you have of winning. Everyone. The sole issue is that some have more money to spend than others. How do you personally spend money you haven’t got? Ever wondered why only CFC and MC have seen fit to spend half a billion? Do you think there is a connection between that an the ownership of the clubs? You think Wenger and co should have spent that odd half billion down the back of the sofa to try and narrowly squeak past the post with a PL title in the past 6 years just to keep up with City? That is nearly half the total market value of the Arsenal global business. Why haven’t Burnley spent half a billion in order to win everything in sight? If all the clubs spend half a billion who wins the PL?
Why did it take half of the transfer window to sign a 17 year old after TWO!! rejected bids. When is this man going to learn the world he lives in now is different than in 1997, that he’s harming his legacy, that he’s causing dismay among the supporters. He knows he needs a cb/dm AT LEAST, reid is basically begging to come to the arsenal and so is carvalho yet we spent half the window with failed bids for a 17 year old boy. smh.
Someone says we shouldn’t expect much not get heart attack, that is just it. 17 year old DM, that is not what we need now. Wenga can’t change.
where is leo when we need him !. here we are right in the middle of a transfer window and the lad is nowhere to be seen . does anybodu know where he is holed up ?. i would gladly pay for his return to this fine page , his honesty and knowledge of our beautiful game are so badly missed at this time .his predictions that always turn out to be so true , his way with words , his superior knowledge of the game , his contacts within the game ,all are badly missed . come back son , dont mind the detractors ,you are a great writer , we need somebody like you here on this forum again . what would it take for you to come back home ??.