Ousmane Dembele? by Dan Smith
This is the time of year where every football fans reads a newspaper, listen to the radio or goes online to be linked with various big name players. Most of us get to the end of the transfer window feeling silly for ever believing such rumours.
While I’ve made no secret of my thoughts on the extent of our owner’s ambition there is one story that refuses to go away, one that I see that could happen. Barcelona have not exactly been in a hurry to commit themselves to Ousmane Dembele. The fact remains though this is a talent that less then 12 months ago they were willing to give Dortmund over 100 million for. Their manager Valdere would be under pressure not to give up on a talent with such an outlay. Let’s not assume either that the Frenchman would want to give up on the Nou Camp. You would expect any top player to have the mentality to back themselves to break into any first team in the world. So a loan option might be the perfect compromise
The winger could find a suitor where he could start every week proving to his employers he can be trusted for more game time in the future. In that scenario Arsenal would become the perfect destination. It would be the rare positive aspect of being in the Europa League. Barcelona might not want to help out a rival in Europe but with us playing on Thursday nights we are not a threat.
Meanwhile we play the type of football that Spain has always admired meaning we would be trusted to surround our loanee with values and philosophy which mirrors that of Cataluña. Meanwhile Stan Kroenke keeps gooners happy and improves the squad without having to splash out on transfer fees .
It’s a deal where all parties could win.
Dan Smith
Nope. Not going to happen. Sorry
Die hard fan from Ghana
my name is evans
please sign andre gomes for us.
Lol. I don’t think Emery hears you but welcome mate
Chale gomes wetin
To come and do what please?
Ramsey is better than Gomes
It would be a dream if we could secure Dembele on loan for the season. He’d be the X factor we need to keep up with Liverpool’s moves.
Why am I the only one that’s not scared of Liverpool? I feel really the real threats next season would be City, United and Arsenal…
Liverpool has been doing well, now they blew everyone away last season, but let’s not all forget it was cus of one player. Mo’Salah, now everyone knows the only 2 players on the planet who do that, stay in form seasons after seasons without switching off are CR7 and LM10.
The rest of the players are just spectators to them. Now I’m not writing Liverpool off or underrating them, bringing in 2 DM doesn’t mean they’ll boss every game, Yea they’ll get a good goalkeeper, but no matter how good you are as a keeper, you’ll ship in goals in the EPL, now Liverpool’s form will be determined by Salah’s form, who I’m expecting to be another Mahrez. Mahrez ain’t the player he was the season he won the PFA anymore is he? they both play alike, Salah’s just got more pace.
Down to Arsenal, everyone, including Blind and deaf ones knew we were threatening up front and scoring goals wasn’t our problem but the midfield and the defence was our issue. Now those are the part that Emery has sorted out, including a younger and experienced goalkeeper who I see doing well for us. If we can maintain our threat upfront and the defense do their job, we’ll win most of our matches. I don’t think next season is gon be a 2 horse or 1 horse race, I expect it to be very close this season and I’m certain we’ll make top 4 if not 3.
meanwhile Arsenal had an indoor friendly at London colney yesterday against Crawley, and won 9-0, Perez 2 goals, Lacazette 2goals, Adelaide, Nelson, Nketiah, Mhiki and PEA were the goalscorers. Next week our real pre season begins.
I don’t even care bout the pure season, they don’t excite me, I just can’t wait for the league to return
If you pay over 60m for a goal you would except him to not concede more than 10 goals a season and with the way Klopp play i don’t see that happening. To me there is nothing to fear about Liverpool because the buy some couple of ok player. Is Fabinho or Kaita better than Torreira. With the little i have seen of all these players I will choose Torreira all they long. They are have over 30 goal scorer in only Sallah ( only once in his career ), we have two on Lacazette and PEA.
” you would except him to not concede more than 10 goals a season”, are you for real, 10 goals, when has any team only conceded 10 goals a season! If you can keep it under 30 you’ve done well.
I guest this deal will really help us that’s why want arsenal to do every thing to him to boost our attack
We hope arsenal will get him before transfer window closes comments coming from a loyalty fan of arsenal in Liberia
Why would Barca sell Dembele. It’s only one season. Suarez is getting old, Messi is losing speed.
Where has all the TV money gone Mr Kronke?We seem to be shopping at Primark instead of Harvey Nichols.We need to know.
Arsenal are one of the top football clubs in Europe financialy yet whe are scratching round for summer sale bargains.Pray do tell .
I agree roy i cant get my head around it
its all gone on wages!
ozil – £300k+
welbeck £125k
cech – £100
ramsey £100k ish (until new deal at 200)
PEA £200k
Laca £150k (not 100% sure on this 1)
Mikhi £180k ish
This list above isnt necessarily correct but just those players are costing £60+ million a year in wages!
as much as i hate the spuds, most of their sqaud are earning well under 100k
On the plus side, statistically the prem table and wages tables tend to be exactly the same.
The top wage bill generally wins the league.
There is no way welbeck is on 125k, stop spreading false information.
“This list above isnt necessarily correct” Then why are you typing them as if they are? You’ve literally plucked some of those numbers out of thin air and then try to use that as evidence to back up the point that you’re making, it’s completely ridiculous.
I don’t see it happening,,,pal
More chance of winning the lottery then that happening!!!
if we were able to sign Ozil, Sanchez, and PEA then why not dembele??? above are much trickier (unlikely transfers) than this and better players than him when we signed them.
I don’t know why arsenal fans are just talking so gloriously about this Liverpool,what’s so special about them.let me list out Liverpool first team and arsenal first team and compare both teams when they are totally in form..
Allison>>>Leno=i believe people would pick Allison over Leno even though we haven’t seen more of Leno. So I give the goalkeeping position to Liverpool
Bellerin>>>>Alexander arnold=there is no argument on this one.we win here.. Bellerin was once rated the best right back in the Epl
Sokratis>>>Lovren=no argument on this one to..we win here…Sokratis is a better defender.. Sokratis is more experienced and has achieved more in football
Koscielny>>>Van dijk=no argument on this one.. Koscielny is the best defender in the premier league when in form
Kolasinac>>>robertson=we win here also.. Kolasinac is more experienced..rated the best left back in the bundesliga before joining us
Fabinho>>>torriera=i know arsenal fans will be quick to say that Fabinho is a better player just because he is a household name.. But i know Torriera would prove us wrong this season..but i give this one to Liverpool as for now
Ramsey>>>Keita=this one has no argument,ramsey takes this one.. I don’t see anything special in Keita..what does Keita do that Ramsey can’t give to us.. Energy,stamina,box to box runs, tackling and even goals.. Ramsey is a household name and a brilliant footballer know his day.. Remember Barcelona once wanted him for 50m
Ozil>>>shaquiri=Ozil takes this one by far.. I even apologize to Ozil for comparing him to Shaquiri..Ozil the assist legend.. The best 10 in the world
Salah>>>mikhitaryan=salah takes this one i won’t argue on that.. But waiting to see if Salah can repeat what he did last season
Aubameyang>>>Firminio=Aubameyang wins this one with a heavy scoreline.. I don’t even have much to say here
Lacazette>>mane=lacazette is a better goalscorer…he is someone who can assure you goals even from the wing….still managed to get goals even when the club was in crisis and was managed by a tactically deficient winger.. he was out of the team due to injury but still managed to come back strong
So with this arsenal wins 8-3…can you see that 8-3…..that means when both teams are in form only three players can get into our team
So why do arsenal fans like to belittle their squad,do you guys think our squad is so bad??… We have a great team and Emery knows this..Klopp understood the team he had and played to their strengths..that’s why Liverpool did well in the champions league….i dare say it that Emery is better tactically than klopp and he showed that in the Europa league final against Liverpool..Emery made a tactical move in the second half to win that cup for Seville after going into the break one nil down….
Let’s give Emery a chance with this squad and see where he takes us to this season
I believe in Emery,do you believe in Emery???
Let’s believe in Emery…… #believeinemery
If they’d have pulled off the Fekir deal I think it would’ve improved them for sure. Would have been three new faces in midfield and possibly very good ones. Fabinho’s a good player, no doubt, but I love the Torriera signing. The one from Germany had a great season when they bought him, but I think he dropped off a bit and he’s not a sure thing. He’s probably good but its not a whoa! signing. They needed money for GK and its a soft position for them so they backed off Fekir. Fekir looks like he could’ve become one of those signings that Liv charge a fortune for eventually, am glad they didn’t get him, he scores well for a midfielder and he has skills. So not as intimidating as it seemed with the way Liv were looking to revamp the first team further. We have terrific scoring power, clinical, which is huge, and hopefully our midfield and defence will stand up to the challenge. We aren’t far off turning our team into a real threat, but I do think we need more but its whether we have the money to add a fining touch or two, and then next season we could really add the finishing touches.
I agree arsenal have a great squad and you can see by the intense training the players are going through I have this feeling that arsenal will be a different animal this season these players will wanna prove a point
Well I hope we show how good we are by going to Anfield and coming away with something other than red faces! I want to cry when they thrash us! Think the last time we won there was when we had luscious Podolski
Van dijk is much better than koscielny
Fabinho has more to his game than torreira
mane is better than lacazette
Ozil can be relied upon
Sokratis got turned inside out by Borehamwood
I love arsenal but let’s be realistic about things
I think we can get 4th ahead of Chelsea and spurs but I will be surprised if we do better than that.
The defence is still a shambles and we need width in the team
Mane is better than Lacazette ?. His first season EPL he outscored Mane. He has ever done that in his career. I will love to hear how you think Mane. He is better than both Mane and Firmino put together.
No man don’t compare fabinho who will be on bench with Torreira!
ahahah do yu think Liverpool are gonna put Henderson on bench??? Haaaaaa I don’t dream about that
I also believe in Emery . I also believe your view that we better Liverpool in 8 of 11 positions is based on pure bias and ignores all reality. If you seriously believe Bellerin is better than Alexander- Arnold, there is something wrong with your thinking in general.
The Jeff has come back a different beast! He has grown about 3 inches and now built like the proverbial… Good to see he’s been on the Weight Gain 4000. Been singing his praises of his Angers loan.We’re excited about a ton of players, but I think he’s going to be one of the surprise packages.Also helps that in a team now lacking dribblers, he’s one that just a loves a good take-on.
For those of you mentioning flops like Adama Traore, Niang as potential signings , I’d rather our very own Jeff to be given a chance
also, another one to look out for is LUCAS PEREZ
He had a rough start but regained his scoring form in the latter part of the season, finishing with 8 goals and 6 assists.
https://www.whoscored.com/Players/135663/Show/Lucas-Pérez
But more importantly, he finished in the top for key passes in La Liga with only Messi and Kroos ahead of him: https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/206/Tournaments/4/Seasons/6960/Stages/15375/PlayerStatistics/Spain-La-Liga-2017-2018
So based on his La Liga 17-18 stats and what we briefly saw from his first Arsenal season, he seems much more interesting to keep as both a striker and a creative outlet for the team.
HE’S another player who I think is going to e good for us this coming season “if he isn’t sold”
COMAN, COMAN, COMAN is the only player to make us world beaters. SIMPLE and plain.
pity we missed out on another world class player in GELSON MARTINS.
Dembele is good but COMAN and MARTINS >>>>>>>>>>> him.
There are a number of players that will come good under Emery. I know there are a few that should can NEVER be better, their time is up. But MOST(something i know a lot of people will disagree will). For example, its no secret Iwobi has been just short of being terrible. But i believe he was entrusted with too much too soon when he still had a learning curve. Even if he had performed better, he would have been in the same boat as Bellerin, who because of pace and his attacking (weirdly as he is supposed to be a defender), he was always in the team, but without learning the basics of his position. I am one of those people that believe Bellerin will be world class, but he is not there and nowhere near being ready. A lack of proper coaching, management, and competition stagnated his progress and to some extend, made him worse off. Ramsey is good, but has been played a very different role to what he should. And by that i do not mean posionally, i am talking about what his role in the team is. Ramsey has been used both to push play forward and to cover our defense, which leaves us exposed. I believe he should play a false 10 role, almost like how Matuidi was used by France or how Man City used Silva when he played together with De Bryune. Ramsey will not give you full value if expected to give 50% defence and 50% to attack, much like Ozil. But with Ozil, he needs to be a number 10 who is almost a striker(i say almost guys, before i get attacked about his finishing) where his operational space 70-80% of the time is in the final 3rd. I believe the press we will have in the season will help Ozil and Ramsey, coupled with the extra cover from Torreira and whoever he is mostly paired with(hoping that will be Gendouzzi or Maitland Niles, and not Xhaka). Xhaka however will do better in a line up that pairs him with Torreira than without. Must assumption is based on an assumption that we will have at least a 3 man midfiled. (Eg 4-14-1, 4-3-3, 3-5-2, 3-4-3)
The way Emery has been doing these, his transfer business, closed door training and other, indicate he is preparing the team to change formations regularly(at least i believe so versus the traditional we are a bla bla formation team). It might either back fire or we can end up pulling a Leicester. Remember when Guardiola started last season, everyone was saying he will never make it in EPL. Then he fixed the problem with full back addition, before you know it, everyone thinks they are now the team to beat.
Whether Dembele, or other Winger comes in or not, I actually am happy with our current squad( of course not world class) because the level of effort itself will guarantee above Spurs finish. If we add a marque signing-I believe we are going to- we will challenge top four a little more comfortably.
Dan, why not try realism instead of punts in the dark nonsense? All realists know 100% this will not happen. Move on and write of something with legs in the story. You use words well, so why not write about things with relevence instead?
“Most of us get to the end of the transfer window feeling silly for ever believing such rumours.” Wait, so are you telling me that most fans actually believe these rumours? Ahhhhh, it all makes sense to me now. Because one of the main complaints from you lot is that Wenger would apparently always dither and then lose his man because of supposed “penny pinching”, when in reality, 99% of the time we weren’t even after that particular player, but because the like of the Metro said that we were, you all blame Wenger for not getting him! It’s absolutely absurd.
It honestly blows my mind that people actually believe these rumours, no matter how many times it is clear they were pulled straight from the arse of the journalist that made them up whilst having a pint down the pub.