Arsenal FC Thread

[AriseForLife]

Originally Posted by Thade2532

i think we need 5 more players another GK, young decent CB, backup LB, a expirenced CM, A backup striker or a world class one should Adebayor be sold

Well we definitely need another keeper, any CB will do, it doesn't have to be a young CB. Depending on how we use Ramsey he could be the back up LB, but to be honest there aren't really any good back up LBs, most of the LBs are either starters or lalalala.

The need of a CM is 50/50 because we have so many CMs as it stands. Cesc, Gilberto, Ramsey, Denilson, Song, and Diaby are all CMs and Denilson, Song, Gilberto, and Diaby all play the same position so that means we don't need another holder.

I think we are loaded on the interior, we need more players that can actually play on the flanks. Right now Walcott, and Van Persie are our only 'true' wide players, but Rosicky is put out there Cesc occupies his role. I think Charles N'Zogbia would be a good addition since he is left footed and can play LB and LM. Supposedly we are leading the chase to sign Andrei Arshavin, but I personally pray we are not spending £19M on him since I do not think he is worth it.

If we sign N'Zogbia I can see Martins coming over to us also, especially considering the instability at Newcastle. I think Huntelaar is a good possiblity even if Adebayor doesn't leave because there is always the possibility that he will leave next summer because we are not increasing his pay. I think if we sold him to Barca as well as Hleb, we could get Yaya and still clear £20M or more.

[Thade2532]

yeh i do actually start to agree with you on N'Zogbia because of his verstallity, but really in my opinion i think we shouldnt have let Diarra go, possibly he should have gone on loan because he is a great all round player and could have slotted in a RB when Sagna got injured but there Wenger could have trusted Hoyte or just put Eboue back to RB instead of keeping blind faith with him a RM, but hey that was last season and im confident and exicted about next season.

[AriseForLife]

I am actually happy that Lasana was sold because he was complaining about wanting games, but whose place was he going to take? He felt he should unseat Cesc and Flamini and that just ain't happening. I could see Lasana pulling a Flamini if he would have stayed so I am glad he was sold because we netted a nice little transfer fee and 10% of any transfer fee if he leaves Portsmouth in the next 2 years.

I think Wenger has Eboue in the midfield because he doesn't see him starting over Sagna when Sagna is healthy, and I would have to agree. I think he should try Eboue at CB and holder because I think he would be able to play those roles also.

[AriseForLife]

Here is that information that Thade mentioned regarding Samuel Eto'o and cash for Adebayor.

According to the Daily Star, Barcelona have offered £15million plus Samuel Eto'o for Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor. Sounds like a good deal to me!

I find this rumor to be interesting seeing that Barca value Eto'o at £20M and they are giving another £15M for Adebayor. Why not just complete a deal with another club and then just give us £35M to seal the deal.

[Scuba Steve]

Looks like this Barry bit may be serious:

Originally Posted by Sky Sports

Gunners hint at Barry bid

Manager O'Neill reveals conversation with Arsenal No.2

Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill has confirmed that Arsenal have hinted they may enter the race to sign midfielder Gareth Barry.



Premier League side Liverpool have made no secret of their desire to land Barry, and have been locked in negotiations with Villa over the player's sale for several weeks.


O'Neill said on Saturday that a deal still had not been struck between the two clubs, although he was hopeful of a resolution soon.


Over the weekend, The Gunners were linked with making an offer for England international Barry, with right-back Justin Hoyte potentially involved in the deal as part-exchange.


And O'Neill has revealed that Arsene Wenger's assistant manager Pat Rice spoke with the club, intimating that Arsenal could be set to step their interest in Barry as they look for a replacement for Mathieu Flamini.


"Myself and Steve Walford both know Arsene Wenger's assistant Pat Rice," O'Neill told The Sun.


"He phoned Steve to ask how the Liverpool thing had gone and said that they might show an interest.


"At the end of the conversation Arsenal said 'that's fine' and that they'll let us know. That is exactly what happened."

[DBond5]

Originally Posted by AriseForLife

Well we definitely need another keeper, any CB will do, it doesn't have to be a young CB. Depending on how we use Ramsey he could be the back up LB, but to be honest there aren't really any good back up LBs, most of the LBs are either starters or lalalala.

Don't rate Traore then?

[Thade2532]

i dont want Gareth Barry and i hope Wenger doesnt spend the £18m that they want for him.

[DBond5]

There's a reason our highest transfer is still Wiltord at 13mil

[MaschPotato]

You need Barry more than us now Flamini has gone. We have Xabi and masch. although the fact that barry wants to join us will probably see you lot go after sum1 else

[DBond5]

I wanted Veloso but that ain't happenin'

[chemicalrubber]

Or Maybe other French mids such as Jean Makoun.

[Scuba Steve]

I seem to be one of the few on the entire forum who seems to be a fan of Barry. He is a decent player, who is a pretty good passer. His abilities should not rate him at 18 million quid, but there are reasons why thats what Villa want. He is the club captain, and they do not want to part with him. So they are going to jack up the price for those reasons.

I think a good transfer for Arsenal would be 10 million + Hoyte. I have never been the biggest fan of Hoyte, and I don't rate him that highly. So I think that would be a decent deal to add more experience (alongside Gilberto Silva) in the holding/defensive midfielder alongside of Fabregas.

[Scuba Steve]

Arsenal midfielder Gilberto has rejected the chance to stay in the Premier League with Everton and will sign for Panathinaikos when he returns from his summer break on Wednesday. (Daily Star)



Wonder if this is true or not. How much longer does he have on his contract with Arsenal anyways?

[AriseForLife]

Originally Posted by hokiegooner

Arsenal midfielder Gilberto has rejected the chance to stay in the Premier League with Everton and will sign for Panathinaikos when he returns from his summer break on Wednesday. (Daily Star)



Wonder if this is true or not. How much longer does he have on his contract with Arsenal anyways?

1 year.

[AriseForLife]

Originally Posted by chemicalrubber

Or Maybe other French mids such as Jean Makoun.

Already signed for Lyon.

[AriseForLife]

Originally Posted by DBond5

Don't rate Traore then?

Not like the rest of you do. I don't dislike him, but I don't like him either.

[AriseForLife]

Originally Posted by Thade2532

i dont want Gareth Barry and i hope Wenger doesnt spend the £18m that they want for him.

Arsenal won't pay £18M for Barry if we move for him, it will more than likely be a player and cash in the range of £10-12M.

[AriseForLife]

Originally Posted by hokiegooner

I seem to be one of the few on the entire forum who seems to be a fan of Barry. He is a decent player, who is a pretty good passer. His abilities should not rate him at 18 million quid, but there are reasons why thats what Villa want. He is the club captain, and they do not want to part with him. So they are going to jack up the price for those reasons.

I like Barry and he would be a good signing for us and offer something we haven't really had since Emmanuel Petit left Arsenal years ago. Barry plays excellent defense and he is very versatile which is something we need badly. The only reason that he has been priced at £18M is because Villa want to scare other teams from signing him. I don't think it has anything to do with him being captain because they have a number of players that could captain the side.

I think a good transfer for Arsenal would be 10 million + Hoyte. I have never been the biggest fan of Hoyte, and I don't rate him that highly. So I think that would be a decent deal to add more experience (alongside Gilberto Silva) in the holding/defensive midfielder alongside of Fabregas.

I would rather see us send Senderos over Hoyte. I have supported Phillipe over the seasons, but he is not getting any better so I think its time he moved on. Hoyte could end up being good, but I wouldn't mind seeing him sold either. I think the money and player deal is the best for Villa and us and I definitely think it could happen.

Barry doesn't particularly want to play for Liverpool, he just wants to play in the Champions League and that is something we can offer him year after year easily.

[DBond5]

Originally Posted by AriseForLife

I would rather see us send Senderos over Hoyte. I have supported Phillipe over the seasons, but he is not getting any better so I think its time he moved on. Hoyte could end up being good, but I wouldn't mind seeing him sold either. I think the money and player deal is the best for Villa and us and I definitely think it could happen.

They're the same age and both showing the same potential and we need a CB over a RB.

[AriseForLife]

Originally Posted by DBond5

They're the same age and both showing the same potential and we need a CB over a RB.

They aren't showing the same potential. Senderos hasn't improved for years in my opinion. I thought at the 2002 World Cup when he started out well he would end up showing his potential, but injuries and lack of form have derailed that.

We don't need a CB more than a RB. We have Eboue and Sagna at RB. If Sagna gets hurt again and Eboue is kept in the midfield then we will have a filler at RB instead of a true RB. We have plenty of people that can occupy the central defender spot and Toure and Gallas don't get hurt that much. Gilberto, and Diaby can both play CB and parting with either Hoyte or Senderos wouldn't hurt our team at all if it meant landing Barry who can play a plethora of positions.

[Thade2532]

Senderos isnt actually bad but he has lapses of concentration at key moments in matches and cant cope with a big striker, like Drogba, i like Hoyte very much and would like to see him stay as he has potential to be great, and Senderos didnt play in the 2002 World Cup he didnt even play for Arsenal until 04/05 season.

[AriseForLife]

Well whatever, then the 2006 World Cup.

Senderos is bad and there is no debating that. He can't handle speedy players of any kind, he isn't good with moderately sized ST even though he himself is a big guy. His lapses in concentration are only 1 of his many issues.

[AriseForLife]

This article is a good read and spot-on in my opinion.

Frugal Wenger keeping Arsenal afloat
By Norman Hubbard

Arsene Wenger has between £70 million and £100 million to spend. Arsenal need to produce a £24 million surplus every year to repay the loan required to build the Emirates Stadium. The former managing director Keith Edelman, speaking last year, and Arsenal's long-serving manager, talking last week, have delivered wildly different interpretations of the club's finances.

What is apparent is that Wenger is not about to part with £70 million this summer; £100 million may be Chelsea's average annual expenditure on transfers in the Abramovich era but for the Frenchman, it is wasteful in the extreme. Having acquired a palatial new home, the decorations Wenger supplies will be rather cheaper, if no less illuminating. As he has already committed £17 million to the signings of Samir Nasri and Aaron Ramsey, poverty is relative (though the word is not in such need of a radical change of definition as slavery, if Sepp Blatter's comments are to be heeded). Yet if - or when - Alexander Hleb and Emmanuel Adebayor depart, Wenger could have a second successive summer transfer profit.

It would also endorse his analysis of the club's bank balance. For the next two decades, Arsenal may be a selling club. That may bring a perverse pleasure to Wenger. With a kind of inverse snobbery, some prefer to deem themselves poor; certainly if the alternative is being nouveau riche, like Chelsea. The Arsenal manager takes pride in his husbandry. Yet, while he often appears too cerebral to involve himself in the murky world of commerce, he has long adopted the salesman's mantra of 'buy low, sell high'. Arsenal could get a 400 percent, or even a 500 percent, return on their investment in Adebayor, barely six months after Wenger made a quick profit on Lassana Diarra.

Moreover, a change of status may suit the Frenchman's style. Wenger enjoys more autonomy and popularity than most managers but such criticisms that have been aired recently concern Arsenal's three successive seasons without silverware. Yet a public admission that they are operating on a very different scale to Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool means the parameters change; success becomes continued qualification for the Champions League and the development of players who become assets on the balance sheet and in the transfer market.

Given Wenger's obstinacy and his faith in his discoveries, that may permit him more leeway: with less expectation of an arrival to reinforce his defence, he could permit Alexander Song more opportunities there; rather than a big-money replacement for the departed Mathieu Flamini, he could move Abou Diaby infield; only in attack, where the loss of Adebayor and Eduardo's long-term absence would leave a void, would he need to buy.

It also makes the club's long-term strategy still more dependent upon Wenger. Perhaps silverware becomes a secondary consideration to balancing the books, but it is hard to think of a comparable manager who would willingly forego a transfer budget and continue to deliver top-four finishes. While Chelsea experienced a rare summer in the black last year, January was more costly with the £24 million paid for Nicolas Anelka and Branislav Ivanovic already looking misspent and a greater outlay can be anticipated this summer.

Manchester United may produce a seemingly healthy profit this summer, but that would involve Cristiano Ronaldo's departure; their only recent summer when income exceeded expenditure came courtesy of John Obi Mikel's complicated choice of Chelsea. In comparison and largely because of Thierry Henry, Arsenal took in more than they paid out last summer. It is starting to look like a pattern.

There are contrasts in the capital. Peter Kenyon's much-quoted comments about Chelsea's intention to break even by 2009 continue to look wildly optimistic. Tottenham, habitual big spenders, have exceeded £100 million in outgoing transfer fees in the last 14 months. West Ham are experimenting with frugality now; their problem is that the players bought over the three previous transfer windows are almost entirely in the second half of their careers. Their values will decrease as those of Arsenal's youthful collective increase. As the arrival of the 17-year-old Ramsey shows, Wenger's focus on potential has never wavered.

While Arsenal possess the carrot of Champions League football to help them compete with bigger buyers beneath them in the league, so does their style of play. Listening to Wenger and eager converts such as Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas on the playing staff, there can be an evangelical element to their faith in Arsenal, even if some attempts to claim the moral high ground are misguided.

But when such an ethos produces a constant stream of talent and enables Arsenal to challenge the large spenders who covet their status, eschewing short-termism is justified. The question is often posed of what Arsenal could achieve if Wenger possessed more of a pragmatic streak, but perhaps the idealist is proving the best businessman of them all.

[Scuba Steve]

Looks like Gilberto is set for Greece, at least according to reports in Greece.

If that happens, I think Arsene needs to get someone with some experience. I like the Barry option, but it does not have to be someone as expensive. But someone with a little experience.

[elementkid1021]

Originally Posted by AriseForLife

This article is a good read and spot-on in my opinion.

bit long but still a good article. like i said in the other thread if he spent money wit his tactics they'd be a dangerous team.