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Will Arsenal still try and sign Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha?

Well, the short answer must be no, not if the Nicolas Pepe deal goes through within the next 48/72 hours as is being widely reported.

There are many reasons why Arsenal will not pursue the 26-year-old but the two main ones are that Pepe will now play on the wing and chances are Arsenal cannot afford a massive second signing this transfer window.

Now, I will say up front, that all this is guesswork, the truth is that I am no wiser than anyone else when it comes to what Arsenal may do next.

This Pepe deal has come out of the blue really, there has been the odd mention but nothing like what has been revealed today.

Arsenal has played a canny game this transfer window, they have allowed all the gossip, rumour and speculation to do their thing, they have allowed the fans to get frustrated and possibly had clubs thinking they have very little money to play with.

It would now be foolish to second guess what the club will or will not do for the rest of this transfer window but it does not mean we cannot give an educated opinion on what we expect will happen now.

I do believe that there will be more signings but not Zaha, it would not make any real sense and if they have the sort of money left to buy a player like Zaha then you would hope they would spend it on the defence.

So, in conclusion, I am of the opinion that Wilfried Zaha will not be signing for Arsenal this summer.

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80 Comments

  1. Defensive signings should be the priority now, unless we really enjoyed watching Firmino skip past Sokratis, Torreira and Mustafi last season. He made them look like amateurs.

  2. Palace priced him out of his dream!!!
    Greedy attitude may leave them with one star not at all happy!
    Well done Woy !!!
    Maybe you should retire!

      1. Niel and Sue, it’s a bit low to knock someone with a speach impediment.
        Just south of me is Woy Woy, home town of the late great Spike Milligan.

          2. Phil, Declan et al too bad many on here are not old enough to remember sitting by the radio listening to the Goons??

      2. Sue I’m sure you see Kola’s tweet where he said “Think were fine”. I think he got his English mixed up a bit and meant it as a message to everyone as “Thanks were fine”. Which I think is typical of the man.

    2. Neil Fitt, Mocking someones unimportant and very slight, in any case, speech impediment is hardly humourous. Except to shallow and immature people. Wouldn’t you agree? And Sue, stupidly, found it funny. Sigh! You would have thought this sort of rubbish went out with the dinosaurs. But obviously not. In case you thought I WAS TELLING YOU TO STOP BEING AN IMMATURE FOOL, YOU ARE CORRECT!

  3. NOPE, and thank goodness for it. I don’t know if he was only just a smokescreen, or if legitimately wanted him, but Pepe is by far the better addition to break your transfer record for. If Arsenal can just finish up Tierney after this they’ve done amazing this window, which seemed certain to be terrible. It’s really crazy how fast things can turn around. Also why I’m not 100% breaking out the champagne for Pepe deal. But I have chilled the bottle 😉

      1. If by tank you mean Kolasinac, proper defending, real purpose when going forward, good crossing and an eye for goal.
        Not such a good bodyguard though…… ?

        1. ?
          I concur with everything you said
          The tank is ok going forward but wow..his defensive duties are none existent
          Watched KT a lot of times and he will add benefit to us as a PROPER LB

          1. It seems a lot of Arsenal fans watch the Scottish League week-in week-out. Otherwise how could they be sure that a talent from the Scottish league would be vastly better than the best left back in the Bundesliga??

            Our defensive problems are mostly due to coaching not personnel.
            Think about it: Mustafi was good in Spain, but horrible for us. Kolasinac was Bundesliga’s best LB, but somehow forgot how to defend when at Arsenal. Even Monreal began regressing defensively after some time with us, and was only good going forwards… Not including Bellerin here because he was originally a winger.

          2. Diogenes
            Theees an d saying
            You cant teach a dog new tricks
            And we have a lot of old dogs at the back
            Let’s judge the boss at the end of the season rather then at the beginning
            If we conceed 50 goals rather then 51 like last season
            Does that make it a better season then last

          1. Diogenes, Valencia with Mustafi at CB shipped a lot of goals in his last season there.

  4. I don’t know why his name keeps popping up in my mind (Everton soares) I might be 95% Wrong but I feel Edu’s bringing him. Even after Pepe arrives.hmmmphhh! maybe it’s just the excitement.

    2. My gut feeling says so too.. but we might lose Aubame even though emery says he’s not for sale

      1. Given that transfer fees are more often than not paid by instalments eg Pepe, Everton Soares and a CB like Daniele Rugari (Juventus) are still possible.

  5. Given that the offer for Nicholas Pepe is based on paying in instalments, hopefully given the £60 million from Adidas, as well as Tierney, Arsenal may still have enough for Everton Soares and a CB such as Daniele Rugari from Juventus.
    Let’s live in hope!

      1. Sue I’m sure you see Kola’s tweet where he said “Think were fine”. I think he got his English mixed up a bit and meant it as a message to everyone as “Thanks were fine”. Which I think is typical of the man.

  7. Ligue one stats

    Nicolas pepe 107 apps/38 goals/17 assists.

    Gervinho 126 apps/36 goals/30 assists

    Just putting it out there.

    1. He played quite a lot of games as a striker when he got there though which he wasnt suited to that will have brought that ratio down, not to mention lille were relegation candidates a couple of seasons ago which didn’t help

        1. Decent return for me, at 24 so hasent peaked and with a decent amount of assists provided too, which should increase when feeding auba and laca, better option to zaha for me any day of the week

    2. Stats can be very misleading. Ozil has a ton of assists since joining Arsenal, but the majority of fans (Arsenal or not) do not rate him. He ghosts through so many games, and goes missing when it counts. Walcott outscores Pires from the wings, but Pires would cause more problems overall, and I do not think you would find a single fan that would pick Walcott over Pires.

      Lets just hope Pepe isn’t another Gervinho if he joins!

        1. If the majority of fans don’t rate him how come his name appears on more shirts than any other arsenal player ,your post makes no sense because the shirt sale date a fact .

          2. Oh dear. You’re of those fans that justifies a players time at a club because of shirt sales? All I can say is…wow!

          3. Unfortunately Dan shirt sales dont win games
            Ozil just dosent turn up enough in games that matter

            I am one of his biggest critic and slayer
            Not because he hasn’t got the ability
            Its because he doesn’t use it enough
            I understand he wont and never will be a player to consistently track back. Make last ditch tackles
            If he doesn’t do that going backwards then at least do more going forward which he doesn’t

          4. How many honours have shirt sales won over football history? Answer: NONE! End of your daft argument then!

        2. Wow, your dig at me was super quick! Nothing better do than troll people for stating facts?

          Clearly I am wrong. Ozil is one of our greatest signings, and one the best players in our league and in Europe. Just seems strange that ZERO clubs wanted this wonderful player on a free?

      2. Thats all im saying lets hope he isnt another gervinho because the prem is a different beast

      3. What you call “a ton of assists” I call a mere handful , at least over the last two seasons, which is what matters far more than his one prolific assists season several years ago now. You are correct though that many stats are extremely misleading.

  8. After Tierney’s transfer, a 60+ M winger would most likely be our last addition in this season. Zaha is better on the ball as compared to Pepe, but many Gunners are right-footed like him and the team are lacking a senior left-footed attacker

    The problem is Aubameyang excels on the right side like Pepe and he is lousy on the left side. One possible solution is re-assigning Lacazette as a false nine and Aubameyang/ Pepe as two inverted wingers/ forwards that play narrow:

    …………………..Leno
    Maitland-Niles . Mustafi . Sokratis . Kolasinac
    …………………Torreira
    ……….Ceballos ………… Xhaka
    …………………Lacazette
    ………Pepe ……………….. Aubameyang

    1. I suppose it kind of makes sense we don’t buy another CB unless we can sell some first, although we do need one. Chambers is back after a good season in a bad team, and Holding is to come back from injury, and we have Saliba for next season. I guess if we can offload Kos and Mustafi, then we may sign a CB? If Tierney does sign, and with Chambers back, I guess that would make the wings the priority position to fix.

      1. Arsenal scored 42 goals in 19 home games conceded just 16 and bagged 45 points

        Our season fell apart because of our poor away tactics/performances or both.
        Scored 31 and conceded 35 for
        25pts.

        Emery may not implement a true solution at heart of our defence in this window but he is probably thinking ….. More away goals and better tactics on the road….hmm

    2. I like this formation. Especially the three in the middle. Swap out the CBs for Holding and Chambers/Mav and Kolasinac for Tierney and that is a first XI I would never have dreamed of when the window opened.

  9. We were getting robbed both ways so if we’ve picked the younger of the two then I guess it’s alright.
    Now on to Tierney

    1. Everybody gets robbed in this current transfer market. Higuain was bought for 90mill by Juve not too long ago. I think Zaha would’ve been the bigger robbery, especially with how much Palace wanted upfront for him. And the money can sometimes be worth it if the player is that good. Chelsea haven’t thought about Hazard fee ever, because the amount of trophies and money he brought in for them made his fee look like a steal. Hopefully Pepe can lead us to similar success alongside our strikers. Too bad we still have a weakness at CB. Emery will need to find a solution for this. And still hoping somebody comes in for Elneny and Mustafi.

      1. But neither Pepe nor Zaha come close to Hazard in terms of talent.Also I don’t know what Pepe does better on the ball than Zaha.
        If Pepe and Zaha were the same age playing like how they are right now I’m sure more will prefer Zaha.Far more dangerous as a player

      2. Also considering the fact that Everton Soares who is just as good as both is available for far less than both it’s surprising we didn’t go for him

        1. I also thought we’d surely go for Everton before any of them as well. But hey, I wouldn’t underestimate Pepe. Guy has humiliated PSG by himself. I like Zaha, but just not for that price. Not even close to it. I’m more able to stomach paying this fee for Pepe.

          1. As I said both the same age, Zaha would have been more hyped.Also the uncertainty of what Pepe can do with Arsenal adds to the hype as compared to Zaha whom we have already seen in the EPL

      3. Unlikely anyone will come in for those two tripe players as Wenger is currently not managing anyone. He alone is to blame for buying them.

  10. Some of us have all along been urging for caution and patience because we didn’t believe that a Club of Arsenal’s stature would only have 40 million pounds for transfers. As Vinkantesham has aptly put it no Club would reveal the amount of money at their disposal as that would compromise their business. Perhaps this will serve as a lesson to some of our fans who take whatever they read or hear in the press to be gospel truth. It is always good to apply a bit of logic and analysis in such situations. This might turn out to be a very good transfer window for Arsenal.

    1. If Arsenal sign Pepe we would actually have spent only £18m this window if you look at instalments.We can have a tight budget and still sign players

  11. Let me say here that the board isnt responsible for our frustration, fans chose not to trust the officials and instead believe media BS, almost all of us are victim.
    I still believe we have budget of £45m though, looking at the structure of our transfers which i admit it a shrewd piece of business, though this techniq may come back to bite us if things didnt work according to board expectation and calculations(ucl failure), i still find it smart and a way of making the coach responsible(it means they gave UE enough materials and is expected to deliver ucl which will pay the deficits)
    Am still dreaming of Everton Soars and pepe though, and Tierny arrival, am not interested in CD ,a good attack will stabilize defence

  12. You just wrote the majority of fans do not rate him !
    Now I posted that he sold “what was it 4x more shirt sales than any other Arsenal player .so unless people like walking around with his name on the shirt and spending money on a player they don’t rate that would seem a little odd .
    Now I’m doing the math but that statement you made does not seem to be correct does it ?oh yea you made it up because it’s just you that does not rate him ,as for trolling you ,no mate you just talk a lot of old shit so I thought I would put that one right .

    1. Dan, please don’t talk sense man, you’ll confuse the likes of Jon Fox and others, who ALWAYS read what they want and not what’s being said.
      That way, they can bring in their different agenda.

      Just to confirm what you were saying, the most popular player, according to shirt sales, was one Mesut Ozil.

      As for shirt sales not scoring goals or winning games….WOW WOW WOW…that never crossed my mind, what it must be like to come up with these incredible and outstanding facts.
      I believe you have uncovered the dullard supporters so often referred to….if only they could read, digest and then follow the comment….or even better go to the ground and see the shirts.

      Never mind Dan, let them keep burying their heads in the sand…what was the famous quote? “He’ll be gone by July that’s a 100% certainty”!!!

      1. What you allege about me reading what I want is only your rather biased opinion Ken. As someone who knows me rather better than anyone else on here you well know that is an untrue thing to claim. What is “confusion” is your own odd obsession with a long term bone idle player and with the red herring of his world wide shirt sales, as if shirt sales equal trophies. And it was you who brought up shirt sales, not me. I only responded to your deliberate red herring to challenge it as irrelevant, just as I challenge you to show me just one instance of a shirt sale ever winning honours. Only dedicate players ever win titles Ken, as you and the football world, including me, know very well. I would be very grateful if you would stop lying about me and about what I read, as I back my judgement against yours on OZIL ANY DAY OF THE WEEK. By far the majority of fans on here agree with me and not with you as a recent OZIL POLL SHOWED. Doubtless you will now claim we are not representative of the whole world of GOONERS, SINCE MANY THOUSANDS OF HIGHLY NAIVE AND IMPRESSIONABLE YOUNG KIDS WEAR HIS NAME ON THEIR SHIRT. SHIRTS WIN NOTHING KEN; WORKRATE AND ABILITY DOES HOWEVER. BUT LAZY OZIL KNOWS NOTHING OF WORKRATE ON THE PITCH. As for sense Ken old chap , it is YOU who are confused by it. I always use it when posting my sound comments. You seem obsessed with his wages AND ON TRYING TO DISPROVE A PARTICULAR WAGE FIGURE, AS IF THAT MATTERS EITHER and his shirt sales. I am ONLY obsessed with a proven and long time lazy player harming the club we all love by his laziness. I care nothing about shirt sales for him or anyone else, as we are a football club not a sportswear retailer. I’D LOVE YOUR SENSIBLE ANSWER TO MY OWN DIRECT POINTS BUT NOT TO THE POINTS YOU FALSELY ATTRIBUTE TO ME.

        1. Jon, a perfect example of you not reading, digesting and understanding!!!
          I
          1. I didn’t bring up the subject of shirt sales… but in your confusion, you mistook me for Dan kit.
          2. I, nor Dan, have ever once said that shirt sales win trophies…you accuse me of doing that, simply to try and beliitle a statement that cannot be refuted.
          ! Ozils name sells more shirts than any other Arsenal player (fifth in the world actually), not a red herring, but FACT.
          4. I am not lying, because you turned these FACTS into a argument about shirts winning honours/trophies in order to belittle the post.
          5. So, because these fans who spend their hard eant money buying a shirt with Ozils name on and therefore disagreeing with you…they suddenly become “MANY THOUSANDS OF HIGHLY NAIVE AND IMPRESSIONABLE YOUNG KIDS” – my oh my Jon, your views on the younger generation of fans is something to behold!!!
          6. Glad to see you have changed your “vast majority of Arsenal fans” claim to a more sensible “majority of fans on here”…something I agree with, the what shall we say…2,000fans?
          7. More confusion from you Jon…obsessed with his wages??? Where did I mention that? Your “sound” comments” seem to ring a little falsely there don’t you think?
          8. Obsession??? Jon old fellow, you cannot seem to write a post without mentioning the man or his salary…pot calling the kettle?
          9.”Lazy Ozil”? My sensible answer to this, as with my sensible answers to the above, is that I trust the coach when he selects the player who he:
          sees every day in training – evaluates his contribution – makes him captain- has reiterated time and time again that he is part of his plans – never mentions he is lazy – or his shirt sales – you know Jon, the coach you tell everyone who cares to listen, is the most honest, wonderful, tactical genius destined to take our club to former glories.
          I care nothing for armchair supporters who judge players on personal dislike and condemn others as naive and impressionable kids, when they have the AUDACITY to disagree with their opinions.
          Just READ what Dan originally wrote! THEN apologise for what YOU FALSELY ATTRIBUTED to him and, latterly, myself.

          1. OK KEN! Answers to all your points as follows: 1/ No confusion with Dan. It is YOU who have several times in the recent past used the red herring of shirt sales, I even called you out on it, in an Ozil discussion we had, by YOU using the red herring phrase which is what I said you were doing. Red herring was my phrase for your changing the subject from Ozils laziness onto shirt sales. 2/ I never said that you thought shirt sales win matches; I merely made the obvious point that they don’t , and used this phrase to show how irrelevant the whole subject of shirt sales was and is.3/ see point two, which covers it! 4 / Ditto point two, but I would add you seem obsessed with shirt sales and cannot stop mentioning them seemingly. 5/ Yes, I do think most young kids, including me and probably you too, when we were both young kids ARE naive and9impressionable. Kids do not have the life experience and judgement of adults. Unless you disagree with even that clear TRUTH too! It explains why young kids believe in Santa Claus and the gradual disappearance of the magic fantasy in life, lessons and generally disappears with adulthood. 6/ Vat majority or merely a plain majority are mere semantics. What matters is that most agree in either description. 7/ You have often accused other Gooners, me included, of saying his wages are £350pw as unproveable comments. Despite wide press reports constantly using that precise figure too. 8/ UTTER NONSENSE. It is you who have often used this “unprovable wage” when trying to argue with the plain majority who agree with me that he is lazy and should be sold. To me his wages are another red herring . What matters is whether or not he gives 100%. HE DOES NOT. 9? I have answered this before as you well know Ken old chap, by saying that thanks to Kroenke andf his meanness, UE has had little alternative than to play him. There are no David Silvas , Eriksens or KDB’s inour squad challenging him for a place. But then YOU ARE FULLY AWARE OF THAT BUT CHOOSE TO IGNORE IT WHEN CLAIMING THAT UE chooses him so must like him. And no, of course no wise manager criticises any of his players publicly , including UE. But that does not mean they are content with the players they are often forced to pick. I suggrest that LAZY ozil will beused far less often this coming season now we have the new signing. On one point though I do concede defeat. OZIL REMAINS HERE ND YOU WON YOUR BET WITH ME. BUT not, IMO, for want of trying by the club to remove him. FINALLY , MY COMMENTS WERE ON YOU AND WHAT YOU HAVE MANY TIMES WRITTEN , NOT JUST ON DANS POST AND YOUR REPLY TO HIM The reason I DO NOT , USUALLY, CHALLENGE DAN DIRECTLY IS BECAUSE HE HAS NOT YOUR INTELLECTUAL POWERS, IMO AND IS THUS FAR LESS INTERESTING TO DEBATE WITH. YES KEN, A COMPLIMENT AND SINCERELY MEANT TOO! I await your reply but suggest we both continue it on a more recent thread than this one, which will soon be hard to find. I still like and respect you. But then you know that, I trust!

  13. Niel and Sue, it’s a bit low to knock someone with a speach impediment.
    Just south of me is Woy Woy, home town of the late great Spike Milligan.

  14. How dare the board stop our negative fans from being…negative by trying to make signings and be proactive!
    ?

  15. I suspect there will be two more signings not just one in KT as all rumours seem to point to. Rugani is a rumour and non starter in my opinion but a CB is a logical signing however just to put it out there Zaha is not a dead deal. Imagine a team that has pace and skill creating space from both wings a front two of lightning pace and finishing which then creates space for the middle to do its thing with a back line that has the pressure off it. Yes we will concede but given the attacking options teams won’t be so keen to pile forward. I could just be talking rubbish though who knows what the plan really is until the window closes. Adding Zaha and KT gives us a plan b and c in games where as a cb instead of Zaha removes a plan c

  16. i can see both Pepe and Zaha being bought in… if we sell Aubameyang. I dontvlike the idea off selling our golden boot winner but a front 3 of Zaha Lacazette Pepe is not to be sniffed at and gas age on its side.

  17. Think we will get Soares myself..

    Lets see…as Edu said;)/Would be happy with pepito of course!

    I just can’t see us paying 80mil on a player but I hope I am wrong.

  18. Last season was zaha’s best season ever and he had just 10 goals and 5 assists .
    Last season was also Fraser’s best season ever and he had 7 goals and 15 assists.
    Both play for average teams but their output are different..
    I am a huge fan of zaha but he doesn’t do enough for me, asides from his dribbling skills he has nothing more to offer .
    Plus he turns 27 in November so pay 80 million for him would have been too risky ..
    If he was as good as they say he is Manchester United would have resigned him , other big teams would have been sniffing around..
    As an arsenal fan , now is not the time to be sentimental toward zaha our best interest should be towards the club moving forward and zaha cant take us very far forward..
    Pepe might not be everyone’s cup of tea but he is miles ahead of zaha. He can score goals and create as well plus we dont have to be worried about him losing his head during games .
    Get KT and we will make top four ..
    We will definitely let in a lot of goals but we will outscore most of our opponents..

  19. What of Zaha/Everton coming in as well…it will be very sweet. We wont be predictable at all. With our golden boy Nketiah on the bench…we can be dangerous in all competitions. ofcoz Defence wise we need 1 CB plus Tierney, we done. Danny Alves can be brought for a bit of samba mood.

  20. Get Ryan Fraser for the left side. A lot cheaper than either of them and better than what we have

  21. Love the way we’re all calling for new players now that the rumour of £40, Million has been quashed.

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