Would £25M Man United star improve Arsenal first-team?

Arsenal have supposedly been quoted the asking price for Manchester United’s Chris Smalling.

The England international has been linked with a move to the Emirates since before he joined the Red Devils, and Arsene Wenger is supposedly a fan of the centre-back.

The defender is supposedly to come available in the summer, and United have supposedly slapped a £25 Million asking price on his head, but would that prove good business for our club?

If the defender isn’t good enough for United, then I don’t really understand why he would be good enough for us, especially as Mourinho’s side have already been well of the pace of the league leaders this term.

I’m not sure how Arsene expects to get any more from the defender, when Jose Mourinho is known for parking the bus and focussing on a solid defence, and at 28 years-of-age I do not expect him to improve too much in the coming years.

We have also been linked with a move for Jonny Evans, who may well become available for £3 Million, with a relegation release clause having been included in his contract.

The former Red Devil has proven to be a very experienced leader, who would no doubt bring some key attributes to our club, and knowing Arsenal, he will be the priority if he can be nabbed at that price, but there will no doubt be other potential suitors lining up also.

We keep being linked with United’s Phil Jones also, with Jose believed to be keen on building a new-look defence, but do we really want the unwanted scraps from United?

Would Smalling, or Phil Jones improve our defence? Should we not have bigger aspirations than to feed off the scraps of our rivals?

Pat J

Tags Arsenal Evans Jones Man United Smalling

32 Comments

  1. The thought of buying Smalling for £25m is definitely an option – all be it a cheap option. The question is, is it the right option? Especially when there are better options available for a range of prices.

    1. Yes, Smalling is good, but for 25 million Arsenal could get De Vrij, Koulibaly or Gimenez at the end of the season

      1. Smalling is good ?
        Bloody hell our fans are amazing
        We consistently look at man u’s
        Trash

        While they take Sanchez and rvp
        Amazing

        State of us

        1. Agree muff, are we gone crazy to target smalling or johnes, what’s happened to sven, is it not his job to recommend better targets for us?How can we expect Arsene to deliver with the quality his being provided? Pity him, he could gave been well of at PSG or RM, but he chose to stay with us and am afraid it should not backfire on him. Ivan out now!

          1. I’ve been a big Gazidis complainer, I have to say he has done a good job with getting Sven and Raul, they are a pair of proven people who can take us forward.

            I personally can see a difference in the Auba signing and the Lacazette one, AFC missed out on Laca due to lack of funds and ended up getting Perez while we still spent the next summer on Laca. That was becoming a bit of a pattern. Getting Auba in the window we set our sights on him is fast for AFC and the changes have moved us forward in that regarde.

            Raul wasn’t with us in the Jan for the window, he is now and will be (hopefully) ready for the summer window, this could see yet more improvement in AFC transfers.

            Just because JustArsenal have asked if UTD reject would be good enough doesn’t mean Gazidis will sanction the purchase because Wenger is a fan of the player (supposingly). Sven will have an input and if the scouting says yes then we have to trust our scouting, if it fails then that is on Svens head.

            I am forced to admire the change that Gazidis has done. It is easier to replace a head of scouting than a manager who had the influence that Wenger had. Instead of replacing the manager for lack of gem finding, we can replace the head of recruitment who should be good at that. I hope we can also do the same type of stuff to coaching and training, get a head of def coaching and let that person be responsible for teaching the players how to defend. That way, if we are not training our defenders good enough we can replace the head of Def Coaching instead of a manager who would be in charge of all coaching.

            I do not say this to suggest Wenger should stay either, this period in time during these changes could be the best time for us to thank Wenger for all his hard work and look towards the next decade. If we did have such a structural change then the type of manager needed would be much more of a tactician than a coach and having a coach over a tactician could be harmful.

            I have defended Wenger on so many occasions but the recent changes bring a new hope and it is time for Wenger to finish his time with us and hopefully for us to thank him for what he has done rather than the fiasco of the last few years which has had a lot of club politics happening in the background.

            1. What a lot of ramble , when it is clear you too want Wenger out. Why even consider thanking this strange man. For what? For ancient history? Not for me! Just cut to the chase and demand Wengers sacking NOW. All this thanking him nonsense is like thanking someone you invited into your home for a stay but who flatly refuses to ever leave. Just kick him out. Worry about the defence and team WHEN he has gone. Don’t give him the chance to ruin more players first.

  2. Completely pointless buying a defensive player EVER AGAIN whilst Wenger’s in charge. Certainly not a bang average one like Smalling! Koscielny, and Mustafi are definitely better CB’s than Smalling, but look how poor they are under Wenger.

    Bring Simeone in, then sign defenders!

    1. Smalling is much taller than our defenders (except the retiring Mertesacker). We don’t know yet whether his defensive ability is better than Koscielny and Mustafi or not, but he has better chances to score from set pieces with his towering height

      1. Height doesn’t always mean a lot in terms of heading ability. Sergio Ramos is only 6’0″, yet he’s the best CB in the world in terms of heading, especially from an offensive perspective.

        You also have to ask yourself, if Smalling is so good, why would Utd/Mourinho let him go? Especially Mourinho, who is a defensive manager, he loves quality defenders!

        We’re the equivalent of Sunday league side when it comes to defending under Wenger. Mustafi was not a bad defender before he joined us, yet he’s been shocking! Complete waste of £35m million! That’s my point. Let’s stop wasting money on defenders whilst Wenger’s here. Even if it’s another 3 years of Wenger, what is the point of buying defenders? Even our offensive players are struggling as well!

        1. My thoughts exactly! Buying players , any players , while Wenger stays is just wasting money by him ruining and wasting the cost of them. Just sack this useless fossil!

          1. ThirdManJW and Jon Fox are right on the money. The issue at the Arsenal is not wholly down to the players; we have international capped players. Arsene Wenger does not coach team defending in the same way that George Graham and Don Howe instilled teamwork, structure and discipline through practice (as attested by Tony Adam, Ian Wright and others). In addition Arsenal has one of the most experienced and competent defenders ever to wear the shirt, in Steve Bould as assistant manager, yet there is no apparent influence in his coaching of the team. What is Steve Bould paid to do?
            Arsenal have three young defenders, who need to be brought on; one would hope Steve Bould is working with them after all Tony Adams played first team football at 17 if I recall correctly.

    2. What about Sarri from Napoli and kinda look to raid Napoli for their def players?

      But then again, what about Luis Enrique? He did very well at Barca and it was Raul Sanllehi who helped him become manager… and Raul bought the right players for him to continue Barca up at the top…

      With such options available to us and restructuring of the club, now is the time to seriously look at post Wenger, we may be slipping in sporting terms but we have a big draw off the field in the fact we are getting people in who are/will push for spending and be in the area to really push for us to spend.

      We broke our record on Laca then again a few months later on Auba who is a CF as well, we didn’t clear out the clubs account to buy big and still have funds which could be spent if the CEO is convinced to do so. Gazidis being the CEO and the one who is hiring the new people to advise him has already had an effect, the effect Raul Sanllehi could have would mean we could be serious when going for a managers target.

      Sarri, Simeone, Enrique… whoever. They will all be aware of this.

      We can ride the wave and get a better manager than our position would indicate and that top manager will draw in top players, even if we do not have UCL. Jose and Money got top players to UTD with no UCL…

  3. It’s the media’s attempt to offload all manures crap to AFC .under Wenger we have become their feeder/ rubbish bin.of course the primary pre requisite for our sc called manager is that he is CHEAP.nothing else.maureen will prob totally take the piss & ask for Ozil in a swap.lol!the scary thing is the clueless one would do it.omg.

  4. There are far better alternatives out there than Smalling.We need CB’s who can dominate the defence and Smalling does not do this.
    Our recruitment team will be on to this and will no doubt have identified targets to pursue this summer.Kos and Mustafi have a lot to do between now and the end of the season to even warrant not being moved on let alone keeping there place in the side.But a CDM is just as important as our defence is always exposed with no cover.

  5. He’s bollox
    United fans have wanted him gone for seasons

    Wenger can’t build a defence an hasn’t since he started so this is pointless

    1. Phil,
      Re. Kos and Mustafi, they are both starting to show their age with reference to injuries this season and do need replacing.
      This will highlight our recruitment teams ability to do the business, so comments regarding Wengers ability to buy defensive players becomes null and void.
      I still don’t understand why Kolasinac has not been tried as a CDM with Ramsey and Wilshere either side of him.
      When we remember that Jones and Smalling are current internationals and looking at the defensive set up at Manure, I am not so sure that Smalling would be such a bad buy.
      Jones, on the other hand, is much more erratic and a no-no for me.
      Evans is a possibility as a £3million back up, remembering he is still playing international football and rarely gives a bad performance. But what we need are world class players to compliment the likes of Ozil, Abemayang, Myk and Lacazette.
      Our forwards and midfield attackers are good enough to compete with anyone, so let’s see if they can come up with the goods.
      For me, the biggest need is for a real CDM who can run the show (as per Gilberto, Patrick V.) and, if we keep with Kos and Mustafi, they will have some sorely needed protection.

      1. Ken-Mustafi is mid Twenties and a German international.He should be more consistent with his performances and certainly more vocal.Kos unfortunately has injuries and age creeping up with him.Keeping both with a World Class CB will be the start of the transition but we MUST get in a CDM oor it all becomes pointless.

    2. Thats spot on fiction Muff Diver,
      We don’t even know if Manure want him out, but it sounds good.
      That defence that made up the Invincibles were absolute rubbish? Wenger was the man who put them together.
      He has made some awful defensive buys, but please don’t forget the achievements of that team either and that was down to one man Wenger.
      How do I know this? I’m always being told that, up until last year, Wenger had total control of everything at the club.
      Now it’s changing, so let’s see what the next few years will bring.

      1. Christ, Ken 1945, the Invinibles were 2004; we are now in 2018 and have not had a top CB since Campbell, other than the younger Kos, who even then was not a Campbell, Adams or Bould. We have not had a proper DCM since Gilberto a decade ago, yet YOU still refuse to agree with the obvious cure; to sack Wenger. Why are you so wilfully blind?

  6. We already have Mustafi. Having a second one like him will secure our downfall for years.

    If arsenal hopes to become better then avoiding british players is the key. Overrated, overpayed trash.

  7. how can getting smalling be termed “feeding off the scraps of rivals” – after all he’s an arsenal fan and more importantly he has epl winning dna whereas none of our team can boast that (..not yet).

  8. So people moan about CBs…
    Article about CB rumor comes up and people moan about CDM…

    I expect a CDM article soon and people to moan about CB in that article XD

    I do not agree with the target in article as I would much prefer Koulibaly and Vrij. Picking 2 CBs from Koulibaly/Vrij/Mustafi/Chambers means we have a def that has competition and quality in depth.

    Per retire.
    Kos sold to a team of Kos choice (he has been loyal and I like his loyalty).
    Holding and Mavrop loaned to EPL teams that will play them.

  9. …after the invincible era i can recall anybody that wenger took a slightest of interest in buying was approached and snapped up instantly by our rivals who simply offered more because at that time they could while we remained with a policy that is frugal. The only time we ever competed and by it i mean we gave everything to get him was when we got Sol. it kinda makes me delighted at the thought because it was an elongated process, kind of like waiting for lemar but with a positive end result.

  10. Evans is a must if available for £3M in the summer with Per retiring. Invest big in a top class DM of the sort who is a leader and screams and shouts at his dopey team-mates. Chambers and Holding (my money is on Holding) to step up and Mustafi to settle if he has a ball-winning distributer ahead of him in place of Xhaka. If Butland available then buy him.

    1. Precisely the kind of players we should be AVOIDING AT ALL COSTS
      When City signs Laporte and Liverpool signs VanDijk we can only sign Johny Evans and label him a work class CB? No wonder they play for titles and we play for the CARABAo CUP.
      Have you all lost your minds?
      Arsenal need a complete rebuilt from DM and back including REAL world class defenders.
      Xhaka/Mustafi/Kos/Monreal/Cech can be coming of the bench but we need look across all leagues and find suitable replacements or real quality. You mentioning Holding stepping up is like me
      hoping to get a date with Margot Robie. Not happening.

  11. Why does this writer keep asking such banal questions, when it is already blindingly obvious what is the only transfer which wil improve Arsenal? That is Wengers immediate transfer OUT. He has ruined so many talented players already, some still here, some gone and if I ran the club I would do nothing else of importance UNTIL I had sacked Wenger. That would take ten minutes only, were I the club owner. But then I have real ambition for our club; the actual owner does not.

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