Arsenal landed a club-record deal to sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund yesterday, but the transfer has been questioned by Gabrielle Marcotti.
The Gunners agreed a deal worth between £55-60 Million, depending on sources, for the arrival of the Gabon international, and were seemingly allowed a free shot at his signature.
Our move was in the balance over the last few days, with the BVB club said to be unwilling to sanction the deal unless a replacement was found to cover for their star striker’s exit, and we are believed to have arranged a three-way deal including Chelsea, which saw Olivier Giroud move to our rivals, in order to free Michy Batshuayi for a loan spell in Germany.
Marcotti has now questioned the move of the North-London club, claiming there were no other interested parties.
“This is a player that was offered to everybody in the summer and there were no takers,” Marcotti said.
“You still ended up spending a lot of money for him, if you compare him to other players who moved in the summer.
“He’s 29 years old, you already have a centre-forward who was the club’s record signing and has only been there for six months.
“I also think it adds to the cohort of players who are in their late-20’s between him, Mkhitaryan and Ozil extending.
“I don’t think it’s a good situation to be in when you’ve got three or four players who are roughly the same age who are really getting on.”
Is it risky having three of your best players all aged 29 and over? Was there a reason why nobody else challenged us for PEA? Was he worth the record fee?
Pat J
The amount of criticism of a signing who is top 10 of not top 5 forwards in the world is incredible!
Exactly. I have heard so much rubbosh about it might not be a giod signing blah blah blah. Well sanchez is the same age. He was also clearly a disruptive player at arsenal. Infact he was a disruptive player with a poor personality. Atleast auba has alot of likeability with his loving of super heroes etc. Every team needs a player fans csn really grt behind and aubambeyang will be ours.
Arsenal still have alot more to do but this is a step in the right direction. If we can build on this in the summer and get a good defender. “Absolutely no evans” and a strong DMF we will be back in it.
also @admin any update on our beloved tumbs up
And thumbs down button. ????????????
He said they should be back today
I think the Admin is pulling the same trick as Gazidis has done over the past years; promising something that won’t happen. He is trying to keep us all on this site. I doubt the thmbs will return at all. Hope I am wrong but time will tell. I f they do come back TODAY as he PROMISED, I will of course apologise to him. But I doubt he will give me the chance , by keeping his promise.
I have the Thumbs!
After my massive server problems on Tuesday I tried to load them, but the plugin is incompatible with my servers version of PHP.
I spoke to my host people and they said they would do update on Tuesday night, but I’m still waiting…..
Okay I’ll tell the truth, I got a bigger offer on deadline day and tried to put in a transfer request, but it was denied so I’m sulking lol…
??
It would make a nice change after a decade of stagnation and then decline … presided over by Wenger.
The most encouraging part for me is that we lost Sanchez and have replaced him with genuine quality in Mkhi and Auba – previously we would have lost one of our star players and replaced him with someone mediocre, or not at all.
We have a long way to go before we compete again and we still need a complete overhaul of our defence and goalkeepers in my opinion. The ruthlessness in the decisions made in moving on a lot of our squad players shows that we are in a rebuilding phase as our squad is massively depleted now so I reckon that summer will be an even bigger window for us especially with Sanlehhi and Mislintat involved!
Yes… if bloody ManUtd had sign him it would be greater then Ibrahimovic!
Having two best players from the best days of BVB history is G R E A T.
Now we just miss their manager Klopp 🙂
At a time when Arsenal were on a 9 year trophy drought he joined us from a club like Real Madrid and ended our trophy drought in his first season.
And now.. When we’re not in Champions league, placed 6th on the table and are losing to teams battling relegation week in week out, Mesut Ozil decided to renew his contact with us, even after seeing one of our stars leave us for our rivals.
Believe it or not. But he is an Arsenal Legend already!
And who cares about what anybody thinks bout us signing PEA, as usual they’re just trying to hit on us.
I don’t know how these guys became obsessed with Arsenal.
They always have something to say or question even when we are doing good
No Arsenal player is a legend, unless he can get another Premier League or Champions League trophy for Arsenal.
You’re basically saying that if a new Henry or Bergkamp or Pires came right now, he could not become a legend, because we would still not win the prem or the CL.
Sure the wages were important but he could have got that elsewhere.I believe he genuinely wanted to stay which means he is assured we will forward as a club.Ozil is absolute Quality and we will get more out of him now the contract is agreed and we continue to sign genuine class players for the yeam
Much love bruv
I thought about it too but here are the facts:
Özil had an offer from China for mega money, but rejected it
Aubameyang has had offers from China as well
Seems like they are both kind of ‘flamboyant’. When they are not good enough for top level, we can sell them to China for huge transfer fees. I am sure when they are well on their 30’s they want to go forlast, vast paycheck.
Even Pelle got £260k a week in there, and Tevez got 600k.
I’m not having Merson and others going on about spending 100m on two strikers while our defence is a bit of a mess. Yes we need more. But how many seasons have we and Merson along with plenty of others, said Giroud will not win you anything and Arsenal must get a top goalscorer. It was a huge issue for many seasons, but now we’ve tried doubling down on that position Merson starts moaning about what should have been done instead. We lost our biggest forward along with Giroud so for me the Auba deal had to be done. The next window is when I’d expect bigger improvements at CM and CB.
To get a new DM, I think Arsenal have to offload Xhaka. But they should get a CB, because they will lose Mertesacker and the others are getting older.
Exactly.
4 top quality players needed to challenge for things again:
1. DM
2. CB
3. Goalkeeper
4. a top winger who’s either very fast or a dribbler
I believe 2 of these issues will be resolved in the summer, but not more because this is Wenger and he doesn’t ever like to solve all of his problems.
Wenger isn’t having that much say in transfers.
Sven is the head of recruitment and he is the one who pushed for Mavrop, Mkhitaryan and Auba.
Wengers tactics are dodgy and that is what is costing us.
Signings appear to have stepped up since Gazidis hired Sven, one window isn’t enough to say for sure but it is a good step and one we should be happy about.
Rumors are that AFC want Low for next season… Wenger might not be here.
Gazidis is pushing through on that change he promised and although it wasn’t exactly what a lot of fans wanted, we are making steps (slowly).
Slowly is ok as long the change is going forward and includes a new progressive manager.We all know where we need to strengthen the team and I’m convinced the future is looking a lot brighter than it was before this window
Im surprised ? Chelsea didn’t try and steal Auby. Auby is better than both Morata and Giroud and they need more goals. Money isn’t a problem either.
Auby, Ozil, Lacazette and Mkhitaryan should be our main guys for a couple of years at least. We should invest in a top young forward and young talent to replace Ozil one day and also hope Nketiah and Reiss Nelson improve enough too
Otherwise attack is complete. Now this summer we should focus on centre backs and central midfielders behind Ozil.
Getting rid of Xhaka and Eleny would be a good start. Ramsey and Jack are injury prone too innit
I guess they still have faith in Morata and just need another backup striker that can offer different way of scoring and can also compete with Morata, but not replacing him.
if you ask me Morata gets very close to scoring but its just not happening for him ATM, lets not forget the great TH14 didn’t score his first goal until half way through the season in January everyone was ceiling him the “DONKEY” and then after his first goal there was no stooping him, lets hope Morata don’t find his scoring streak
When has it really ever happened for him?
I mean, for Morata to be a big scorer?
Morata has only scored 20 goals in a season once, all the other seasons is has been less, Morata is a creative CF though who brings others into play.
Auba has scored over 20 for the last 5 seasons consistently.
Giroud has proven to be more of a reliable goalscorer than Morata.
Same with Lacazette
And gk!!
They couldnt cos we have Sven now, and he obviously sealed the deal months ago.
Why were there no other club’s interests in Ozil?
Why did only Manchester clubs chase Sanchez?
Why were only Arsenal willing to meet Ozil’s 350,000 per week salary demand?
Why were only Manchester United willing to pay Sanchez the highest salary in Premier League?
We can make those questions into several new articles, but the answer is simple. Aubameyang, Lacazette, Sanchez and Ozil are not Mbappe, that is an 18 years old hot prospect, which could be sold again for much bigger price in the future.
we will find out soon who was after who, i’m sure there was plenty of clubs after Ozil specially in Turkey and i think Barcelona was interested but Ozil being Real Madrid man may not of fancied it and for shore they were not offering 350k a week that is 400K in Euros, and i also think Ozil loves London
Why wasn’t nobody in for Messi? Ronaldo? Aren’t they the best players in this world right now? Laporte went to Man city and no one challenged them, is he a flop?
Let’s see how our attack improves and shut the critics up.. we’ve been crying for a top level striker and now we have him everyone is losing their minds? Or are the scared how other defenders are gonna look when facing the LMAOs ???
We will not get a lot better until our entire training, preparation, tactics and game plan are overhauled from top to bottom. And this will not happen while Wenger is there, dominating all before him.
Chris – well done, i agree. we had quality players in Giroud and Walcott.
It’s just Wenger’s tactics and too many flair/attacking players with no defensive ability that is letting us down.
Also, Xhaka needs to be sold. He has been involved in almost all of the goal we concede. Essentially, its not his fault. He’s been played out of position in a role he is quite clearly not suited to him. We need a player like that Coquelin guy from Valencia.
That Coquelin guy is class, Valencia got a bargain, I wonder where he came from… =.=’
I prefered Coquelin to ElNeny and although I love ElNeny passion, Coquelin was equal in that passion and it was sad to see him leave when he did.
I don’t think he offered enough going forward and when partnered with either Ramsey, Xhaka or ElNeny that that flaw got magnified.
I wanted to see how he and Wilshere could do, now I beg to see Wilshere and AMN partner in the middle.
Wilshere isn’t a DM, like Xhaka isn’t a DM. Wilshere has more def awareness and puts the team 1st and he can carry the ball out of def to help initiate the attack. Last player who done that was Cazorla and look how well our CM worked with Caz/Coq.
IMO Xhaka is a lesser version of Wilshere, IMO they should both compete for that deep lying playmaker role. We need 2 top players for each pos ideally and Xhaka did do well before joining us when he played alongside a DM. I think we could give Xhaka a season or 2 competing with Wilshere as long as Wilshere stays fit…
Also, if I had to choose between Rambo and Xhaka in CM then it would be Xhaka, Rambo has less def awareness than Xhaka and his positioning is just as much an issue for us.
Correction – “…now we have TWO!”
Hardly anyone has got a good word to say about us, including former players (hey Mers?!)
Yes it’s a shame we didn’t buy a defender, but I’m really happy with Auba & Mhki!! Looking forward to seeing them in action on Saturday ?
Happy with our clear out too.. a lot of dead wood gone.
Need a few players in the summer, then hopefully we should be getting back to our best COYG
One or two of the dead wood are starting to do well elsewhere. And I expect Giroud to as well. They just need to get away from Wenger and enjoy a fresh start.
some of our dead wood become dead wood because we had to concentrate on feeding Sanchez with all the ball all the time if we didn’t he would throw a temper tantrum, if you watched the United game last night he dose not have that superiority at United yet and he looked like a fish out of water, he was tracking back to win the ball so he can get a touch
both players were unbelievably pampered by wenger and couldn`t deliver anything … thats because they are mediocre at best … pity we didnt offload ramsey and xhaka as well then that would have been a truly great window … but am happy with miki and pea … the big issue is that given our genuinely quality players … these two plus ozil wilshere and laca .. are all attack oriented whether wenger can find a working system that brings the best out of them … i have my doubts but lets see .. i have always wondered in monreal could play a DM role he has some of the required qualities that would open space for kolasinac on the left
RE= Monreal I’m surprised AW hasn’t tried it yet, he has played every player out of position in the last few years, me personally we have too much offensive play in our game great to watch but creates congestion in the opposite goal and no one is left to guard the fort when opposition counter attack
Arsenal has had a consistent record
of last minute trolley dashes.
where Manager Wenger has
played transfer poker.
31 August 2011: André Santos, Per Mertesacker,Yossi Benayoun Mikel Arteta
2 Sept 2013 Ozil 42 mill signed.
2 Sept 2104 Danny Wellbeck 16m
28 Jan 2015 Gabriel Paulista 16m
30th August 2016 Perez 16 m Mustafi 41m.
31st Jan Pierre – Emerick Aubameyang 56m.
The Sanchez saga well and truly messed up our recruitment.
City offered 60m and we could have bought a goal scoring winger like Mahrez
who was available for 50 mill and a defender but we became fixated with Lemar.
The Sanchez debacle so embarrassed the club that we were forced
to buy Aubameyang because no goal scoring winger was now available.
Strange when we had a goal scoring winger in Walcott.
We also have record signing Lacazette, Wellbeck, had Giroud and Perez.
We failed to land an experienced defender so will use
Mavropanos and maybe recall Alex Song.
“They all come back” so says Wenger.
Getting rid of so much dead wood and the PEA signing has
helped heal the wounds of the Sanchez saga.
Not to mention the “last minute” contract negotiations!?
I have to agree with some of the negativity regarding the lack of defensive signings. I for one thought that having the second worst records for goals conceded in the EPL this year would see us looking for options? What’s the point of attacking (scoring) if you can’t defend?!
I’m sorry to say but Mustafi is a liability in front of a keeper who looks like about to get a large tax bill!! I like Mustafi but, he just isn’t performing! Kos also looks like his nerves are shot!
And, all I hear from Wenger is how they keep making the same mistakes. Again, again, and again..
Great, we done some good business but, lets remember, a lot of players have left us recently and I was not impressed with Jiroud going to Chelsky!?* Walcott may come back to haunt us? and the Ox to Liverpool was a strange one too!
Yet, we still have Xhaka (Completely overrated), Iwobly (Completely not ready) and Elneny who, between them can’t find forward motion, let alone put a decent tackle in going backwards!? Our defence has more holes than a sieve ffs!
Yep, I’m not as impressed with the dealings this transfer window as some, sorry!
Auba may be a great signing but we are yet find out how he will work out? I hope to god it’s positive because “usually” Wenger does not go for players with “baggage”?! Time will tell i guess?
Miki, welcome to AFC. I think he will work out will eventually!
its a hell of alot of money to pay for a 29 year old, especially when realistically it wont get us top 4, thats over 100 million spent on 2 strikers, when our midfield is terrible, i think giroud will score more goals at chelsea than him.
watching spurs last night, they had the luxury of bringing wanyama off the bench, and toby alderwield not playing, and still beat united comfortably, those 2 players wud walk into our side, terrible transfer planning
He’s 28 years old
Good article.
I’ve been thinking this myself. In my eyes, Aubameyang’s demeanour might be the reason why other clubs – particularly Liverpool – stayed away from signing him.
Most importantly, however, I don’t believe Aubameyang will be effective. In my eyes, he is too similar to Walcott and Wenger’s current style doesn’t suit Auabameyang, nor does it suit Lacazette (perhaps this is the reason why he’s been ineffective?).
Aubaneyang should not have been signed. We did/do not need him. Would rather have kept Giroud and Walcott and Wenger change to a more counter attacking style of football or 4-4-2 (with Giroud and Lacazette) and use that money where we need it the most. CDM/CD.
Much of Aubameyang’s goals are very similar to Walcott’s – close to the goal, tap ins, counter attack finishes. I hope i’m wrong, but i haven’t been wrong all season regarding players.
Someone argue against me?
‘Demeanour’ as in spending too much time partying and becoming the poster boy of london’s nightlife
Yes,I do…” counterattack style using Giroud”?The man is fast as a snail.Keep Walcott,hopping for the best?We did just that for the last 10 years or so….results?If you follow Bundesliga you should see things different…PEA is not a “ different Walcott”…he knows how to dribble,he uses the head and both feet to kick the ball,better positioning and more enthusiasm in driving the ball forward…too old for that money?Messi is 30,want him?Ronaldo is almost 33 and Real Madrid is asking for 200k.
No, I wouldn’t dare argue with you, you do not have a point
Okay, i hope so guys.
With Giroud, i meant as a holding player at part of the counter attack and the faster players running off him.
I guess, i’m feeling that the system needs to change and accommodate the players. Lacazette has pretty much been useless so far and i don’t want the same to happen to Aubameyang.
Lacazette is a very good footballer but gets very little Service.
We have a top top striker with something we have been missing….pace!!! Ozil and Jack and MKh and Laca all backing him up….most important of all we have got rid of the sulky brat Sanchez.
Very happy with this window, very happy indeed. Especially when I saw that stupid face of his after Manure lost and I thought that heavens he isn’t an Arsenal player anymore! It’s a great feeling.
Before all the angry Sanchez lovers come on- we have replaced him with two very good players…you should all be happy, very happy!
First, let me comment on our transfers which i think we did an excellent job, we did not get everything we needed, but there is always the summer window where i think we will see more changes in arsenal, i have no doubt a DM and CB will be our priority at that time.
Second, our issue at the moment is our defenders, looking great one match then utterly crap in another and it is not they can not defend but more like a communication issue. I am quite sure we have defenders who can organise the others around him through proper communication.
Third, out of all our departures, the player i think will be missed the most is Giroud, he gave his all for arsenal, the fans and players did not truly appreciate the type of player we had in Giroud. We did not use his aerial ability to the full extent, by putting in proper crosses. I wish him all the best for his time at Chelsea.
Fourth and last, Arsenal is going into a new era, in terms of Wenger his control has been slowly diminishing, some old steps have been taken and my hope is we will continue with the transformation of the Arsenal family gradually
Giroud wasn’t too excited abt joining Chelsea…its obvious
If we didn’t get him, you would’ve derided Wenger for not getting him… You are wonderful human being
FFS, every signing is a risk, it’s how life works. No guarantees, but if you don’t take risks you don’t succeed.
PEA is a calculated risk of th type I am happy with. I’d rather play attacking football and lose than play for bore draws in the hope of league survival.
Plenty of clubs play negative football and can only dream of playing our style with creative flair.
Yes we need our midfield/defence to be more consistent, but there is only 1 team in the league who can virtually guarantee to win every game and that’s City. All the other ‘top’ teams are erratic this year. So stop whingeing and get behind this exciting team!! 😀
We needed defense players. We are the ninth defense in the league. Mustafi and kos are looking worse snd worse. The bfg cant run anymore. Holding and Chambers very unexperienced and easy to lose focus. None of them should be at Arsenal. Two CBs and one top class DM. Thats what we needed badly. Not another striker. Even more when we bought laca not a year ago