The 2015 Transfer Rumours Thread

[Ikechukwu1]

Most of what we do in the transfer market is embarrassing.

Buying Sanchez was not Wenger's doing, it was only because Barca wanted shot of him to get money for the Suarez deal that we got him. I'm glad we did of course.

You have a point somewhere there. You have to give Le Twat some credit as all signings are down to him. However.
People wax on about the Ozil and Sanchez signings like they were amazing bits of graft. That's not the case though: Madrid were desperate to shift Ozil, and nobody else would pay over £35m for him on deadline day - we paid £42m. Ozil is a great player but we got shafted ok that deal and he fell into our lap.
Sanchez is the exact same - Barca were desperate to get rid as they needed the money to fund the Suarez purchase.
The only choices were Liverpool or Arsenal, that was it.
A team that pays less in wages and is up North? Or high payers in London? No brainer.
There's another point, namely that these players' clubs both went on to win the CL and Treble shortly after ditching these players, so they must have known something?

However when it has come to the tricky transfer negotiations, Wenger and the club haven't a clue. Look at Higuain, losing out to Napoli. Look at Lars Bender, look at Julian Draxler last Jan (lol), look at Luis Suarez FFS - the biggest joke transfer negotiation ever. If the selling club puts up any resistance, then forget the deal being done. If we have to compete with another big club for the signing, then we'd sooner drop out and lower our sights to lesser quality - which is the kind of transfer market behaviour you'd expect from Villa or Spurs; and not the 5th richest club in the word

[Ikechukwu1]

I saw that Lars Bender story this morning and spat out my cornflakes!
Every outlet agrees the bid will be £18m. Can I just please remind everyone that 2 summers ago, Arsenal offered Leverkusen £18m for Lars Bender, and Leverkusen laughed Wenker out the room. So, if true, he'd wait 2 summers, and return again with the exact same bid. Just as he did by twice offering Everton £8m for Jagielka! And let's not even go into Higuain!
If he's serious then he'd offer £25m and be done with it. Oh but hold on Schneiderlin is "too expensive" at 25m, so let's try low-ball a CL German international midfielder instead. Bound to work! Wenker, what a joke.

Yes but Asamoah is coming - read above !

Absolutely superb! All we need is Kalou to join him and we are in for a brilliant season of more "progress" (what was Sanchez on about saying we'd underachieved?!)

[g88ner]

Most of what we do in the transfer market is embarrassing.

Buying Sanchez was not Wenger's doing, it was only because Barca wanted shot of him to get money for the Suarez deal that we got him. I'm glad we did of course.

What does "not Wenger's doing" actually mean? - surely he would have told Gazidis he wanted Sanchez and Ozil, and the club then went out and made it happen.

That's how transfers work isn't it?

Anyway, I'm assuming you mean they were "easy" signings, but there's no way in hell we can force Barca to sell a player unless they want to. They're Barcelona, not Bradford! they're a much bigger and better club than us.

I've heard the same criticism about us signing Ozil.

Yes, both wanted to move because they were being pushed out, but we still spent £70-80m on the 2 of them instead of losing out to someone else. After all, these players would improve most teams so credit where it's due for Wenger and the club getting these deals done.

I find it far more likely that at Barca and Madrid they were surplus to requirement after their latest galactico signings and their clubs contacted us regarding offloading them. Both improve our team no doubt. but we are no-where as bullish in transfers as we need to be.

To be fair, I've basically said the same thing

Whether we inquired first or whether Barca contacted us isn't important - it's simply a slight variation on the sequence of events. Either way, Wenger would have had to decide if he wanted these players, at which point Gazidis and Law would get the deal done.

And that's how you'd expect it to be done with Barca and Real Madrid. They're the dream destination for pretty much all players and have the financial clout and success to back it up, so it's kind of obvious that we'll only get a player from them if they are surplus to requirements.
- but that doesn't just apply to Arsenal. Even big spending Chelsea, United and Citeh haven't brought Barca/Real to their knees and forced them to sell Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, etc .

And credit where it's due - we still convinced Sanchez and Ozil to come to us (despite a decade of failure ) and got the deals done.

But anyway, I agree we need to be more bullish with lesser clubs though as we're defintiely punching below our weight.

[Ikechukwu1]

The Welbeck signing is The classic example: deadline day, fans seething at no striker signings, and Welwide just happens to be training at the Emirates with England! So errrr...I know what, let's pay £17m and £100k a week to a clueless donkey who can't score more league goals than Chris Smalling over a season. £17m down the shitter, when it could have gone towards far better.
In other striker news, I see Giroud was booed by the France fans and subbed off at HT after starting v Albania. He had as many touches of the ball as Lloris LOL. Still who needs Martinez. Vidal Sassoon will fire us to title glory!

[g88ner]

The Welbeck signing is The classic example: deadline day, fans seething at no striker signings, and Welwide just happens to be training at the Emirates with England! So errrr...I know what, let's pay £17m and £100k a week to a clueless donkey who can't score more league goals than Chris Smalling over a season. £17m down the shitter, when it could have gone towards far better.
In other striker news, I see Giroud was booed by the France fans and subbed off at HT after starting v Albania. He had as many touches of the ball as Lloris LOL. Still who needs Martinez. Vidal Sassoon will fire us to title glory!

I've never seen him play, but I wonder if people are turning Martinez into superman simply because we're not getting him. he's 28 and played his career in Colombia, Mexico and Portugal, so something has been stopping the big teams from signing him... he hasn't played many games for Colombia either (why? ) and now he's (apparently) choosing Milan over United and Arsenal? hmm... something doesn't add up. Is he really THAT good?

I'm all for an upgrade on Giroud, but I'd rather spend our money wisely on a player who genuinely improves us like we did with Sanchez than spunk it on a player who ultimately prevents a more significant signing later in the window.
- And I'd say it's too early in the summer to know if Martinez is the best player available, so I'm not going to be overly critical just yet.

Agree with your asssessment of Welbeck. £17m for a non-scoring striker is too much. I also fear our collection of average strikers may also make signing an upgrade unlikely as I can't see Wenger selling Theo, Giroud or Welbeck.

But, like I said, I'm dubious about whether Martinez is the world beater he's being portrayed as. Although, Wrighty and Drogba were late bloomers so who knows.

[Ikechukwu1]

Fair point - I'd just point you to Martinez' CL record: 13 CL goals in 3 seasons.
Giroud has 6 in 2 years, playing as the main striker for a better club. That's pathetic.

[g88ner]

Fair point - I'd just point you to Martinez' CL record: 13 CL goals in 3 seasons.
Giroud has 6 in 2 years, playing as the main striker for a better club. That's pathetic.

Good record - although Giroud missed most CL games this season with a broken leg I think but, on the other hand, he could have scored 13 goals in the first leg against Monaco alone!

Giroud is always going to be hit and miss. He's too much of a confidence player and will always have dry spells.

We NEED an upgrade. But I'm not expecting one

[mcdowell42]

I'm presuming at some stage Martinez said he wants to join arsenal ,I must of missed that memo .Must be great to think you actually know what's going on ,oh I wished I lived in islington ,or that other part of north London.

[SydneyGooner]

The Welbeck signing is The classic example: deadline day, fans seething at no striker signings, and Welwide just happens to be training at the Emirates with England! So errrr...I know what, let's pay £17m and £100k a week to a clueless donkey who can't score more league goals than Chris Smalling over a season. £17m down the shitter, when it could have gone towards far better.
In other striker news, I see Giroud was booed by the France fans and subbed off at HT after starting v Albania. He had as many touches of the ball as Lloris LOL. Still who needs Martinez. Vidal Sassoon will fire us to title glory!

Apologies. I know I shouldn't be laughing at something so tragic.

[I Hate Hleb]

Welbeck will come good. Just you mark my words!!

[augie]

Welbeck will come good. Just you mark my words!!

Depends on how you quantify that hlebby doesn't it ? In my opinion he will never be a top quality striker and I cant ever see him justifying the £17m price tag - I never rated the guy when he was at manure and used to always refer to him as wellshit, but I'm no longer allowed to refer to him that way He seems a nice guy and seems willing to work for the team (more than wally for example) so I don't like slating him, but in my opinion he isn't good enough to be any better than a squad player at the big clubs

[kiwomya]

I'm presuming at some stage Martinez said he wants to join arsenal ,I must of missed that memo .Must be great to think you actually know what's going on ,oh I wished I lived in islington ,or that other part of north London.

To keep the full act up you'll also need to go to countless amounts of away games because that's what real fans do.

[I Hate Hleb]

Welbeck will come good. Just you mark my words!!

Depends on how you quantify that hlebby doesn't it ? In my opinion he will never be a top quality striker and I cant ever see him justifying the £17m price tag - I never rated the guy when he was at manure and used to always refer to him as wellshit, but I'm no longer allowed to refer to him that way He seems a nice guy and seems willing to work for the team (more than wally for example) so I don't like slating him, but in my opinion he isn't good enough to be any better than a squad player at the big clubs

And that is precisely what he is augie - a good squad player that can offer you options in a number of positions up top. Much as we fans might desire it, it is practically impossible to have a 25 man squad packed full of top quality stars. There will and should always be places for some youngsters and not quite there players to grow and become the finished article.

[augie]

Welbeck will come good. Just you mark my words!!

Depends on how you quantify that hlebby doesn't it ? In my opinion he will never be a top quality striker and I cant ever see him justifying the £17m price tag - I never rated the guy when he was at manure and used to always refer to him as wellshit, but I'm no longer allowed to refer to him that way He seems a nice guy and seems willing to work for the team (more than wally for example) so I don't like slating him, but in my opinion he isn't good enough to be any better than a squad player at the big clubs

And that is precisely what he is augie - a good squad player that can offer you options in a number of positions up top. Much as we fans might desire it, it is practically impossible to have a 25 man squad packed full of top quality stars. There will and should always be places for some youngsters and not quite there players to grow and become the finished article.

Do you think then that he represents value for money at £17m ? Personally I feel that 17m should bring a player that is good enough for the first 11 even if he isnt top quality, and like I already said, wellbeck isnt good enough to be first choice imo.

[rigsby]

17 mil is actually pretty accurate price for Welbeck in this market. Premier league winner, full England international with a very good goal record. Not top draw, but certainly a very good player. Considering the prices banded around for players these days, that's about right.

I still think he'll turn into a very shrewd signing. He showed flashes last year and certainly 1 year is not enough to judge a player on. Plus that goal against United is still a thing of beauty.